" - I think it's a good idea for it to be you. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He leaves this bunch of weird people in his room and goes to Carissa's cell.

"Hey."

"Hey. They have a new i- they have combined their ideas into a slight variant idea."

"- oh?"

"The slight variant idea is they set everything up like he's going to marry you but then he doesn't actually do it until you say so, which could be never, and he still does the geas thing but his friends check up on him to make sure he isn't touching you. The purple one thought this might give you more space to think or something?"

" - huh. I ...don't see what would appeal to them about this idea."

"I assume he would probably still take the money you make off magic items and also they don't seem to like slavery and this way they don't have to call it slavery."

"...I guess? But it gets him strictly less than doing the same thing and calling it marriage, and his friends have to bother checking in. Unless they're just intending to assure the paladins they'll do that and then do it very halfheartedly?"

"I'm not sure. You could ask them next time they come by or I could go ask now?"

"I guess it'd be interesting to know what they say." She does not sound like the reason for this is that she'll believe it.

"They also had me try to talk to Abadar again about why Cheliax can make everybody Evil but he didn't say anything."

"It's really really rare, for the gods to talk to people at all. I don't - didn't - know anyone it'd happened to."

"I don't even know why it happened to me."

"Maybe he felt bad, that his clerics couldn't explain it to you and so you didn't know, even though you wanted to... maybe it was strategically important...I don't know what moves the gods." Weak smile. "Pretty convinced that they exist, though."

"I'm pretty convinced of that at this point."

"Thank you for telling me. I do - like that plan, if I could figure out why they're putting it forward and whether they mean it."

"I'll go let them know, then?"

A flicker of anxiety. "Yeah. Thank you."

"- do you want me to come with them when they show up to explain?"

"If you'd want to do that."

"Sure," he says, and he goes looking for the adventurers.

They have left his room and are in a courtyard talking about the Worldwound.

"Carissa likes the plan but can't figure out why it's on offer and would like to be told."

"Can't figure out why it's on offer? I mean, we've been - trying to find an alternative to killing her, right, and this seems like it is one."