He chuckles. "We have many positive experiences on offer. Have you tried praying? I assume Rendon talked to you about it. Who knows, you might actually become a cleric. Then you could become a mystic theurge like him – an otherworldly mystic theurge."

He eats more before continuing.

"Let's take a break from boring theology. So, you were a hero from Urizen? Were you popular? Apparently you ran away from your parents. Why? And I'm curious about your ushabti – it doesn't sound like they're slaves, and more...magical constructs?"

"Rendon mentioned prayer, but didn't exactly encourage me to do it," she replies. "He did say I could stick around and watch him pray, but he was just totally motionless and silent, and also I wanted breakfast." She eats a little more breakfast, just to punctuate the sentence.

"Our unit was pretty popular, we did a lot of extractions from the Druj, everyone likes a heroic tale of infiltrating a bunch of torturer orcs and smuggling out high value prisoners. It's a fun puzzle and I quite liked the adulation, but not exactly the most comfortable line of work.

My parents wanted me to be a musician; there's a whole school of magic where I come from around abstruse mathematical properties of musical scales; that was, uh, not my thing, so once I was old enough that people wouldn't just bring me right back to them, I left.

Ushabti are magical constructs, yes; I don't know if the background magic is high enough here to support them, I know they don't work in other areas of the Empire. I know the basics of maintaining one, but I've never built a whole one from scratch. There's a whole range, it's a huge field - right from very simple ones that just do one movement over and over, to ones that can do a sequence of tasks and basic collision avoidance, to ones that can do really complicated things like take dictation and serve drinks. They're pretty fragile, strong enough to do farm work and mining if they're built that way, but it doesn't take much violence to turn them inert."

"Yes, that's the most common form of prayer. Prayer is the process by which you focus your thoughts on your deity to connect with them. That is, however, the only necessary component of prayer, so it is totally possible to pray while doing...other activities." He smiles. "It's just harder."

"Mmm, well, see, we are kind of the torturer orcs in this scenario. You've heard about our prisoner keeping habits, haven't you? Though we take care not to capture anyone high value if all we want to do is torture them. It's not wise.

I'm sorry to hear that. Funnily enough, we have totally failed in attracting any bards to our church. We have people who have musical talent, but not anyone who's a professional bard. Then again, our church is young and small. It's only twenty four years old – younger than me by half – and we only have about five hundred people. 

Yes, that sounds just like our constructs."

He eats some more before continuing.

"What motivates you, Allegra? What makes life worth living?"

"I haven't heard much about your prisoner keeping habits," admits Allegra, "other than the Conradians think they're frivolous, but the Conradians think shampoo is frivolous.

Anyway, you are much more interesting than the Druj - they certainly haven't learnt the bit about not taking it out on each other."

Hmm. What does motivate her, anyway, and what of that should she tell him? She doesn't want to obviously hesitate, although fortunately the food is good for plausible deniability there.

"I pretty much find life intrinsically worth living?" she replies. "I haven't found anything that makes me want to stop yet, and not for lack of being in situations where that might be expected. I like - interesting things, new things? I'm mostly used to being motivated by survival, honestly."

She has thought about some of the implications of saying this next thing, whether he'll take it as a challenge, but the Remove Fear is buoying her up and Felicia did say he liked confidence.

"I can find something to enjoy in just about anything, really - that's who I am."

"Aww, you shouldn't malign the Conradians so much. Our tenet against harming others of the church is something that came about because of them. We are separate churches, yes, but our churches are joined similarly to how our gods are joined in their relationship. Conrad is very tribal – he has a very strong us-versus-them mentality – so he values that all members of the church be treated nicely, but that everyone outside not be afforded this same treatment. We have adopted this tenet as well as part of our compromise for living together."

He makes an expression of fake shock and covers his mouth.

"Really now? You can find something to enjoy in anything, you say?" He draws out that word. "Even in the fire and lash of Hell?" He smiles.

"I just finished praying earlier, but...it might be an edifying experience for you to pray. I...think that you're more aligned with Damian than you are with Conrad. Would you like to try now? It might actually be easier while you're eating."

"I mean, I haven't tried being in literal hell," replies Allegra, "but pain can be interesting as long as it's not, monotonous?" 

Recovery is always the worst bit, but they did say they had some magical healing here; hopefully it's just as nice as their magical invigoration.

"I can give it a go; it sounds a lot like the mental motion of calling forth a Virtue aura, just a different set of emphasis. Sorry, that probably didn't mean much to you."

"Mmhmm, we do have magical healing here too. Cure Light Wounds will set you right. And I should tell you Lesser Restoration invigorates the whole body." He laughs.

"Alright. It's important not to be distracted during this step. I'll prompt you on what you should be thinking." His voice becomes a little more serious.

"Damian's concept is usually thought of as 'pleasure and beauty', but it's a little more complicated than that. In particular, it is impossible to truly grasp the entire concept of a god, because gods are much more expansive than humans – it is the same reason that receiving visions from gods usually results in headaches. Damian is an ascended human, though, so the vision backlash is greatly reduced: He maintains a human aspect of himself that He can use to communicate to us, something which the ancient gods lack.

As you chew the food now, pay attention to the taste and texture of it, and which parts are pleasant and unpleasant. Yes, you are able to sense the taste of the food, but are you really tasting it? Think now of blind people who learn to navigate based on touch, memory, and sound. Their touch, memory, or hearing is not supernaturally sharper than us, but, through practice, they have learned to become discerning to the subtle variations in pitch and echo of sounds, and to the ridges and textures of different materials. They pay attention to them in a way others do not. Damian asks of us to taste – really taste – when we eat something, to carefully separate out the different miniscule sensations that then come together to form a sum greater than its parts, and not to analyze such sensations dispassionately, but seek them out and immerse ourselves in them."

Oh, she can definitely do that. She'll close her eyes and absolutely lose herself in teasing out the individual sensations; it's much more relaxing than trying to engage in a battle of wits with Magnus for her life. She loves just doing this when she thinks she can get away with not paying attention to her surroundings, and right now it seems like it's safer to dive into the individual sensations than continue to keep a wary eye out, which is... nice.

There's a sensation like falling, and then – 

Allegra is now standing inside a pavilion in a garden in the height of summer. The pavilion has delightfully scented flower bushes surrounding it. The pavilion itself has a varnished wood floor, and the inside is painted white. In the middle of the pavilion is an octagonal hole or depression that's shaped sort of like a bowl or a pool, except the inside is padded like a sofa, with cushions strewn about.

On the side opposite Allegra, there's a Chelish man lying on his side with a large linen cloth or blanket draped carelessly on him. He is, just like Magnus, unbelievably handsome, although he appears younger and of a slightly different ethnicity. He doesn't appear to be wearing anything else other than the linen.

"I was wondering when you'd come talk to me, Allegra. Come and sit," he says, and suddenly, Allegra is now standing just on the edge of the hole.

"Or lie down, if you want."

Okay. This... sure is a thing that is happening. Maybe the food was drugged.

Anyway. If she's trying to do this right, she should probably not just sit on the edge of the hole. Not taking her eyes off the man, she lies down. The whole 'jump cut to the edge' thing made it abundantly clear that 'running away' wasn't a thing that was going to happen here, anyway, so it's really no more vulnerable than sitting.

She feels the absurd urge to apologise for being bad at this, but that is very obviously the wrong move, so she just waits to see if he's going to ask her something.

He turns on His hips and sits up, crossing His legs at the knee. There's now a pleasant breeze flowing through the place, carrying the scent of cut grass and sweet summer blossoms.

"Congratulations on receiving your first god-vision. You know, many people don't get one in their entire lifetime, but I'm generous like that." He looks incredibly smug.

"You really are from another world – I've never seen anyone with a soul shaped like yours. It's quite delightful." He stares at her like he's peering at her soul, which, well, he is.

"The food was not drugged. If I wanted to have you drugged, we would have done that a long long time ago. Put some faith in us." He makes a face of mock offense. "If I tried doing that to you, Conrad would pout at me."

Conrad is stuck between a rock and a hard place: He refuses to work with anyone who isn't personally loyal to Him, but He also doesn't want Allegra to leave because who wants to let the wizard who knows an entirely new school of magic go? Which leaves Damian to take care of it – He's more amenable to...shenanigans, and to people being less-than-perfectly loyal. Oh, if He wasn't in love with Him, He would have totally abandoned Him a long time ago.

"No need to apologize, my sweet. I probably should have waited before giving you a vision, but I just couldn't help myself. I wonder what would make you feel more assured of your position here. You seem terribly anxious, you know. Is it the shampoo? I'll make sure you'll have all the shampoo you could ever want." He laughs.

Okay, so, he's reading her mind. That shouldn't be all that surprising? This might all just be a figment of her imagination to start with, and that would definitely read her mind.

"You might have done it in a way you thought was beneficial," Allegra points out. After all, drugs that induce a vision are her own religion's highest rite, and liao dreams are another popular sacrament; it makes perfect sense for other religions to use hallucinogens.

"Relaxing hasn't exactly been the best plan for staying alive so far in my life," she admits; he's reading her mind anyway, he was going to know whether she said it out loud or not. "Is Magnus going to know we had this conversation? He seems to be pretty keen on assuring me he's dangerous, and I know Felicia said he liked confidence, but 'I had a polite chat with your god' doesn't sound all that convincing without proof." It is pretty relaxing to just be able to say the things that she was going to be worrying about anyway.

"I feel like I should be trying to impress you, but also that you would probably just laugh at that," she offers.

"Mm, I do love me some drugs, but I assure you that we have not done any of that. Yes, he'll know. Hah, that's just Magnus for you. He won't hurt anyone that's a part of the church. Visions don't have a visual component – but he'll definitely know it happened. It's a thing."

He taps his fingers together rhythmically and frowns.

"Impress Me by answering My question. Conrad always says that the way you get someone to trust you is to credibly signal to them that you are willing to tie your fate to theirs. Hm, would you like me to ask Conradia to dispel the geas on you? No, no, Rendon would have a conniption. How about I ask her to recast it on you, but remove the 'I command' wording, and also remove the need for a minder so that you can wander more freely?"

He rests his head in his hands.

"You know, I could just use my godly powers to remove your anxiety about having trespassed into our secret base, but we actually do want you to consider the possibility of maybe joining us."

He rubs his chin.

"As an aside, I should tell you that giving visions is a costly thing for a god to do, and costly for you too. You'll probably end up getting a headache afterward."

"Not even if they ask nicely?"

Where did that come from. Clearly all these distractingly hot men are, uh, distracting.

"The sixty foot thing is kind of annoying, but not really the problem."

The command thing isn't really a problem at all; Conradia hasn't used it yet and doesn't really have to anyway, 'Conradia can disintegrate you whenever she feels like it' is much more salient than the geas.

What would do it. No, she can't ask that - well, she's thought it now, so she might as well.

"Magnus could be bound to protect me," she replies. "He's strong enough to definitely do it even if the others object, and I'm not sure anything else would make me not afraid that someone would just decide to turn around and kill me for some reason. Maybe protect and avenge, if everyone is actually as chaotic as they like to say, then they can't just weasel round it and say 'oh no, never mind'."

She can't quite believe she just said that, but this doesn't seem to be the kind of conversation where you shouldn't ask for what you want, even if the answer is actually 'no'.

She's mostly unmoved at the prospect of getting a headache, other than that it might make her less able to protect herself. She is a little more worried about wasting Damian's time and energy, but there's no point expressing that; it's fundamentally his problem what he decides to do with it, anyway, he can stop whenever he wants.

"Well, that's different. Depends on how nice you ask." He smirks, then adopts a neutral expression.

"It is not Our way to bind people of our church like that, and, in any case, My church is already going to do what I want. Any of My ordained, My clerics, antipaladins, inquisitors, and warpriests, receive their power through Me, and if I so chose, they would lose all their power in an instant." He snaps his fingers.

"The same is true for everyone not ordained by me which has a soul contract, which is everyone here save around two dozen. I could rip up their soul contract and excommunicate them, and that would mean they'd lose all their status within the church. 

Right, you probably didn't know that, given that you asked that question. I should say that I, Myself, cannot remove the ordaining or soul contracts of people from Conrad's church, but you should know that We are lovers: if I tell Him to remove someone because of something bad they've done and He doesn't, for no good reason, then I'll break up with Him – and so would My church.

However, if it will comfort you, then I'll send Magnus instructions to protect and avenge you from anyone from our two churches or their employ who might harm you, on pain of being stripped of his power – social and physical – and expulsion from My church. This is a very indulgent and generous thing, but I'll do it if it is what it takes for you to feel comfortable around us." He thinks she's overreacting, but, well, he also kinda understands. He gets it. And besides, it would be very very bad if they lost her and all of her Delightful New Magic.

Well, it would just be ungrateful to not be comfortable after that! Of course she's immediately worrying that she won't actually live up to what they want, that she won't deliver any results from the magic because it turns out it all relies on power sources they can't replicate, and then the god himself is going to be angry with her because he was indulgent and generous and she didn't adequately repay him, but she tries valiantly to squash that fear down and put it back in its box.

Maybe if she could use her magic without permission it would be quicker to test some things. She's not asking any more out loud, but she's thought it now, right. At least then she'd know. It's not like she can actually hurt anyone with any of the spells she can cast, and they've got her hugely outclassed even if she did rederive the whole set. Anything really significant takes crystal mana, which they're pretty much in control of her ability to access.

"Thank you," is what she actually says. "It's nice here, but I probably shouldn't waste all your time? Or my ability to actually do anything else for the rest of the day, or however long the headache lasts."

"No, no, no." He waves his hands in the air like swatting flies. "That is the reason that I'm being generous, but I wouldn't squish you even if your magic failed to replicate. Your soul and values are aligned with mine – I wouldn't dream of wasting someone like you. It's not as if you'd be useless anyway: you are very Intelligent and would likely pick up our world's magic with ease.

Hm. You're right. I can...see, from your thoughts, the limits of what your spells can do. I think Rendon would be fine with removing that restriction on the geas as well.

The headache will last for a day. Get someone to cast Lesser Restoration on you afterward, though they'd already do that if they knew you had a vision. It helps with the pain."

He waves her goodbye, and there's the same falling sensation again – 

Magnus is clutching his head, and then straightens up when he realizes that Allegra has recovered from her vision trance.

He stands, walks over to Allegra, and genuflects. He takes her hand and kisses it.

"By the will of Damian, the Fragrant Petal, I, Magnus Sundheim, shall protect you, Lady Highspire." He is totally milking this for all it's worth. Receiving a divine mission doesn't mean you can't play with it.

"Of course, my lady, I shall send for our cleric to Restore you." His voice sounds haughty and overwrought, but also a little pained – it seems that his vision affected him too, although much lesser.

Allegra is a little busy not reacting to the splitting headache to be particularly startled from Magnus kissing her hand, it's just one more Weird Stimulus To Be Ignored. She's sure there will be plenty of time to feel weird about it later.

"Sorry about the headache," she says. "Sounds like you could do with a Restore too?"

Magnus calls for a nearby cleric, and a second-circle cleric of Damian enters the room wordlessly and casts Lesser Restoration on them both before promptly leaving. She doesn't introduce herself.

Magnus sighs with relief as the energy of the spell washes over him. It's very good. He dusts off his robes and stands back up.

"Would you like to take a nap? If the pain is too much," although he doesn't expect that it is, "I can have the cleric, Lili, cast Delay Pain on you. The issue with it is that it removes all your capacity to feel pain for several hours, so you'll have to move carefully."

"I've had worse," replies Allegra, a little shortly, but mostly she's doing remarkably well at pretending she doesn't have a headache at all. "The restoration's taken the edge off it.

So. Praying seemed to go quite well. What's next? I think Conradia wanted to play magic school this afternoon, and I should probably get my room stocked rather than steal Felicia's clothes and makeup every morning."

"You sure? I can ask Conradia to reschedule. I imagine magic research is the sort of thing you want to do with a clear head. But still, whatever you want." He smiles. "Oh, yes, she also needs to recast your geas to a looser wording."

"I can get you to our warehouse and tailors' workshop to see whether there are clothes there you might like. I think late afternoon or early evening will work, depending on whether you want to ask someone to sew something for you – some people might offer to do that to be able to talk to you about your world's clothes – or just find something already there."

"Haircare and makeup, or are those also in the warehouse? I suppose this is the time you also tell me that there's some kind of terrible equivalent of the Conradian fitness test before I can get a stipend from your side of the church either?"

Her tone with the latter is somewhat teasing; in general she's got a lot less tentative and fake-confident and a lot more actually confident. It seems like pushing it is not a losing strategy here, so she's inclined to see how far that goes.

"Yes, those are also in the warehouse. Also, you will be sorely disappointed – our church does the fitness test too. No test, no pay. You cannot escape the fitness test. There are two certainties in life: death, and fitness tests. We don't pay taxes.

We do it because we respect the Conradians' commitment to combat readiness, but also because we'd encourage or even mandate that people exercise even if there was no danger to us. This body," he gestures towards his own, "does not come about without effort.

Come to think of it, we need to test your Wisdom and Splendor too, but we can take care of that some other time. Even if you fail the fitness test, you won't lose your pay or have it be reduced, you'll simply be unable to claim it until you pass. We do the fitness tests a week before the solstice and equinox celebrations, so that's...three weeks from now." He smiles.