in principle I think you should be able to guess the entire premise from the title
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"Okay. But it doesn't seem like it's likely to be the result of a goal-oriented process aimed, specifically, at people like you winding up believing things accurately."

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"Oh, definitely not. I ...can't really think why anyone would want that, honestly. Obviously I need to be right in some domains like how magic works and who to take orders from."

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"You are at a very interesting level of self-awareness regarding the quality of your beliefs in domains where it behooves people to deceive you."

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"Is there a specific thing you think I am wrong about for reasons that don't come down to 'it'd be convenient for Asmodeus for you to believe that'?"

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"I feel like no matter who is making it illegal to believe things they are not contributing to an epistemically healthy environment, but I don't have a specific thing I care to challenge you on right now." Stroll stroll where is a church o' Abadar.

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They're big and conspicuous and gold.

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Carissa chews on the set of bizarre assumptions encoded in the phrase 'contributing to an epistemically healthy environment' and looks out for assassins (she also has Detect Scrying up, which would hopefully be a prerequisite to assassins, but she doesn't want to count on it). 

 

They find the Church of Abadar. 

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"Fancy," Cam remarks of the architecture. "Really has more of an impact when you can't just make things out of gold for kicks." He looks around for insurance salespeople, though he is inhibited by being unable to read in Osirian.

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It's sort of illegal to be in a temple to another god but she's not likely to have to answer for it until she's dead and she'll have a lot to answer for, once she is. More of a problem is that there's only a few people around; one sweeping and some kneeling quietly, praying.


She goes to the sweeping one. "Can I buy resurrection insurance here?"

         The kid looks at her skeptically. "Yes. It's - past normal business hours, is it urgent?"

"It's urgent."

        "That can mean up to double price," he warns her.

"That's fine."

        "I'll go get someone."

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"He didn't insist on talking to me instead of you! Good for him."

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"I don't actually know how bad Osirion is for normal people, just that their adventurers were all men, treated other places' women like bizarre curiosities, and were all planning to marry a  teenager once they got bored and wanted to settle down."

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"Oh dear, are we talking like thirteen year olds or like nineteen year olds here?"

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"I think the civilized churches have been pushing it up over time. In Garund - this continent. In Avistan it was always higher, because if you give women a choice they don't marry as young and Avistan was ruled by Cheliax and Cheliax doesn't hate women."

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"I will give it this one point in its favor, yes, you do not seem to have grown up affected specifically by misogyny."

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Carissa has no idea what to make of that but his approval makes her feel vaguely concerned that her pride in Cheliax on this point is somehow heretical. She...is pretty sure Asmodeus finds human details like sex to be, outside of their obvious usefulness for producing more loyal followers, beneath his notice and definitely not worth running your entire society off of. She tries to think how this could be heretical. 

 


Eventually the kid comes back, with an adult in tow. "You want to pay me 5000gp to do resurrection insurance tonight?" he asks skeptically.

"Is that the going rate? Yes. I do. It's for me."

         He takes this in stride. "You're a caster?"

"Yes."

         "Married?"

"Does it matter?"

           Blink blink. "....yes."

"Can I get insurance if I am unmarried."

           "You're going to have to affirm you haven't lied to me under a truth spell at the end," he warns her. "We sell insurance to unmarried people."

"I'm not married."

           "Living children?"

"No."

            "Do you have a will?"

"No."

            "Source of income?"

"...adventuring, interplanar trade."

             "Are you to your knowledge wanted for a capital crime in any countries with extradition treaties with Osirion?"

"...no."

             "Have there to your knowledge been attempts on your life in the last month."

"No."

This goes on a while.

               

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Cam transcribes the conversation surreptitiously. He supposes for all they know he's just a random guy she got to come along so she wouldn't be arrested for curfew violation.

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           "We don't cover the Starstone."

"Understood."

            "We don't cover retrieval if your soul is trapped, Maledicted, attached to your body because you have been raised as undead, or is otherwise impaired in responding to a resurrection."

"Can I pay extra for that?"

            "You can give us.....eighty percent of the bounty you want us to offer for it, up front."

"I'll do that."

                "We don't usually see success with a bounty of less than 50k. "

"Okay."

                "Can you affirm that the money you're paying with is yours, to your knowledge acquired legally, that you have sole authority over your finances, that you do not know yourself to have any debts or liens you haven't declared..."

 

 

And eventually they will take the three diamonds and give her a copy of a certificate. 

             "Can I help you, sir?" the guy says.

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"Oh, I'm just here so she doesn't have curfew issues, thanks."

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"Casters can apply for exemptions to that! You just need to demonstrate adequate good sense, Law, and self-defense ability."

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"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

 

And they head out. 

 

"Wow, that was closer than I'd hoped."

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"On the expense? You could have told me 'hey give me another one' and I would have pulled it out of a coat pocket." Speaking of coat pockets, if he has any replies from Sothis now would be good, he will conjure for his latest mail and stick it in his computer.

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"No, the 'are you wanted for capital crimes in any countries we have extradition treaties with'. I don't know if they have extradition treaties with Absalom or Cheliax, but it'd have been really inconvenient if I'd happened to!"

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"Oh. I guess that's one advantage of not being very well-informed."

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"There are some of them!" - her Detect Scrying pings something. She grabs him and Dimension Doors.

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"Yeep!" he says, stumbling. "What was that about -"

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