"On Golarion, yes, lots of them, but I don't know how to get back save by dying and there are no very important resources I possess or know of here other than myself and Aroden, who I think operates here only at great expense."

"You go back to your world if you die?"

"Aroden has a very strong claim on my immortal soul, values it highly, and I believe quite confidently will grab it, if I die here. Then He'll likely tell His Church at home to resurrect me."

... "Churches do not usually resurrect people here." Her god sounds... fearsome.

Pause. "What do you think is likely to go wrong for us if you ally with us that wouldn't if you hadn't arrived here?"

"I think you'll almost certainly get more of what you want than you would if I weren't here, and I intend to bargain openly with you where I want something you don't. There is the possibility I'll draw a lot more of the Empire's attention a lot faster, and cannot in fact survive it, or that I'll survive it but no one else in the vicinity will. There is the possibility that I'll provoke a god-war somehow, and while Aroden would only do that for a really good reason by my own lights, I could imagine you regarding it as a pretty bad deal if Oris got drowned in order to save everyone Evil on this planet from eternal damnation or something. The Church of Aroden will probably have political prominence if we win and you will probably dislike some of its teachings which I do note you haven't yet inquired about.

If the Empire captures my equipment intact then they'll be much better at what they do, which is probably extremely bad for you.

I have told Aroden to look also for the souls of any here who follow Him. They'll be harder for Him to grab, but He may, especially those He can see will be judged well, and then they'll go to Golarion's Judge and on to His afterlife. This could conceivably make things worse if you currently have something better than the Judge and the range of judgments She makes.


That's probably not comprehensive but I haven't withheld anything I thought of."

"Fair."

He pauses. "Tell me about Aroden."

She's been telling this one every night; she has it down.

He was human, a great mage, a great man, a hero, the founder of empires, he realized that there needed to be gods who were human and who understood, he raised the Starstone and became one, He left the stories of His life for them to learn from, He'll return someday to bring the Age of Glory. His afterlife is a paradise whose wonders He mostly isn't permitted to show them, but she knows of some of them. 

"I did spend most of the first decade of my career vetting Him - asking other churches, tracking down other sources on the things in the holy books. Eventually I had satisfied myself I could accept His oath, and arranged for Him to give it, and He did."

Arranged for Him to give it.

Well.

That makes it much less likely she's telling the truth about... any of this.

The gods do not, Jean of Jenona, puppetmaster behind the strings of "Marshal Orestan" knows, give oaths. They serve their ends. It happens that their ends (destroying the Eastern Empire) and his ends (turning Oris into a utopia) coincide, and perhaps some of them may genuinely agree with his goals. The gods will guide you to victory if they like, stirring fate in your favor with the ten thousand coincidences that greased his path to a successful revolution, but they will not speak.

"That... sounds extraordinary. Gods do not usually speak so directly, here."

"In Golarion the ancient inhuman gods find communication much more difficult than the ascended mortal gods. ...with a few exceptions, Nethys is ascended-mortal and all those who receive His visions go mad from them. But generally, it's much easier to commune with Aroden or Irori or Cayden Cailean than with Abadar or Erastil or Desna."

"... Right. Do you have more questions for us?"

"For your Marshal, yes, if he'll speak to me with the spell up."

:Sorry to tell you this, but I'm not physically capable of making it to the room, and I don't think you paying a visit to me would be very justifiable for other reasons, unless your healing works on spines.:

:...it does.: What kind of healing would have a spine-specific exception.

:... Right then. Officially I'm one of the minor staff officers. Get me out of my chair and I'll take your spell.:

And Samien will rise very swiftly. "Ready? Need anything?"

"I don't need anything." She will also rise.

And he will lead her to one of the private rooms in the fortress, nodding to the guards with absolute assurance along the way.

... To a room containing a horrifically scarred man, so covered with old burns it's a wonder he survived, who is an exceedingly comfortable non-wheelchair at a desk, his lower half covered by a blanket. There's a quill pen and paper by his hand, and a portable shelf of books within easy arm's reach.

:Hazards of war.:

He is, incidentally, Evil.

:Less so, where I'm from, or at least it doesn't stick.: She's powerful enough these days that her Lay on Hands cures amputated limbs. 

Of course he's Evil, he's leading a peasant rebellion. She was honestly suspicious of the fact the other guy wasn't.

She offers him her hand.

And he takes it.

Lay on Hands.

(Five of those to go, or one to go and two channels. Until Aroden has enough of a church here to start granting her spells like normal.)

He - 

sort of freezes in a deliberately not crying sense -

And stands up, very carefully and precisely, and bows very low.

:Now. You wanted to ask me some questions.:

(And whatever he says to Samien, Samien heads out, closing the door behind him.)

"Can you think of any reasons why I might, fully informed, regret supporting your revolution?"

"I don't intend to give up power once we've won," he says, "unless we find a claimant who happens to be good enough at the job or I think he'll listen to me. You might decide that I've done too many evil things to support. You might decide to seize power from me and fail. You might have totally alien morality. You might be opposed to the policies I'll institute if I'm in power. We might lose. The Empire might kill or compulsion you. You might learn of some better opportunity to serve your god or your cause that I'm completely missing. I can probably think of more."