Adaly and Sam leave the campsite. Adaly knows a high level cleric in town, well knowing is a big word, she knows their reputation, but they might not be willing to work with the angel of death. Adaly looks at Sam, his head still gross.
“So what is your favorite color?” Adaly asks and Sam chuckles “What kind of question is that?” Adaly smiles widely, “Well you said you love me, but you know, you don’t even know my favorite color… we should learn more about each other.” Sam chuckles again “Sure… I don’t have a favorite color, what is yours?”
Adaly smiles, grabbing his arm as she has seen many couples do “Purple, and you must have a favorite color… it is not possible to not like one more than the others.” She says firmly, Sam laughs, it is a beautiful sound “Um okay… I guess I like the colors of the sunrise, so Arilana’s colors. Like golden” Adaly looks at him “What is your favorite food?” Sam rolls his eyes, which looks weird in his see through head. “Eggs, I always loved eggs.”
Adaly smiles thinking on what other questions are she heard others saying on dates “What would your perfect day look like?” Sam laughs and stops walking “Are you serious with these questions?”
She puts her most innocent face up “What? You can learn a lot about somebody by their favorites… for example my perfect day would just be laying in bed, with some bed partner, fucking and cuddling. That is very informational for you, when you ever doubt what I want to do you know I just want to cuddle… now what is your perfect day?”
Sam scratches his head, but they start walking again “I do like fighting and action, so mine is not as peaceful.” Adaly nods in understanding “Have you always been a follower of Arilana?” Adaly asks, changing the topic. “No… I have been a follower for her about 50-ish years. Before I was a follower of S’Iltaya, together with Elsin… I rather not talk about that right now, let’s keep things light. Do you have interest in gods?” Adaly nods in agreement, yesterday was enough heavy conversation for a while.
“Well, I do like clerics, they are very calming. Most of the time… I went too many clergy of many different gods. Gni is a god I visited the most temples of, I think. Those clerics also share information, most clergy just want to recruit or convert people to their fate. I am not a good follower though.” She winks. Sam looks her over “Sounds like you tried” Adaly chuckles “I have always wanted to be free of my father’s influence. One of the ways that was suggested to me by a diabolism teacher was too find another connection, one that is stronger than my link with my father. He suggested getting a contract with a different devil, but I tried the holy path. Not my cup of tea. Now I have Grishbalan” she nervously strokes the palm of her hand with the mark.
“Do you regret getting the mark?” Sam asks and Adaly shyly smiles “No… it does feel like a safety net… in my soul sight visions it even came up. But after the mission I do have to figure out how to get 10.000 Grishbalan crowns, but hopefully the auction will help with that.” She chuckles.
Sam strokes her back gently while they walk “How is the soul sight?” Adaly swallows before replying “It still is straining, but I can see souls if I do the effort” Sam audibly swallows and insecurely asks “Have you looked at mine?”
Adaly this time stops walking and looks at him “I have glanced at it, but not that detailed, as I said it is a bit straining. Would you like me to?” Sam nods and Adaly activates the soul sight. She can see the white of his soul she has seen whiffs of before, but something else, something demonic intertwining with his soul, trying to rip apart and colliding over and over. She blinks deactivating it and starts walking again.
“It looks like 2 souls colliding. Yours and the demons… that must be painful” Adaly says, Sam nods “Yeah, but I learned to live with it. But let’s go back to light topics, when is your birthday?” he asks, and Adaly rubs her arm a bit “I don’t know… I was dropped at Muddy sometime as a baby, we had no information of the time before. But I have my naming day. It is the 5th of Shiningmoon. And you?”
She can see Sam wants to ask about Muddy, but doesn’t, keeping it light “22nd of Budburst.” Adaly smiles “Spring… that is nice”
They walk for a bit in silence before Sam asks “So what is your plan when all of this is over?” Adaly rubs her arm insecurely “I… I don’t know if there is an after… and I don’t mean if I survive, even if I survive, I will always be Itaniel… devils will want me death, tieflings want to recruit me… you know I… I guess just same as now, surviving. Speaking of which, the cleric we are going to… she might not be happy if she realizes who I am… It was mentioned before in Grishbalan but I had bit off a reputation in Suzal.”
Sam swallows before saying in his most dramatic voice “The angel of Death… sounds rather dramatic don’t you think.” Adaly chuckles “Not my choice…. There is a part of my life that I embraced it, though. I did some truly nasty stuff” Sam rubs his head “Well, I have also done plenty shady shit… so you know… nobody is perfect.”
Adaly chuckles, “Sure… and it is my past, not my present. But let’s just hope the cleric doesn’t recognize me, otherwise you need to do some convincing” Adaly says with a wink while they walk near the tree line, the city of Suzal visible in front of them. Sam nods in agreement, hides his head in his cloak and they walk into the city.
They enter the clergy Adaly knows has a high level cleric, she walks up to one of the clerics “Hey, is Sophia in? We need her assistance.” The cleric looks at both of them, Sam trying to hide his face, so Adaly continues “My friend got cursed… we would need her help recovering.” The cleric nods in understanding and leads them to the back.
Sophia looks at Adaly and narrows her eyes “Hello high priestess, we are sorry to disturb you, but my paladin friend got cursed while we were fighting a demon, so I hoped you could help us, recover him too normal.” Adaly gestures to Sam to take of the cloak.
“That looks severe. How did this happen?” Sophia asks and Adaly and Sam look at each other before Adaly replies “We are fighting a Leviathan, their corruption having some permanent effects. We came to you, because I know your reputation, and I know you are one of the few clerics in the world who can cast greater restoration. We shall pay for you services of course.”
Sophia touches Sam’s face he flinches but allows it “Does it hurt?” she asks and Sam shakes his head “It feels foreign, weird, but not painful. I am exhausted though… but I am not sure that is related.” Sophia nods and looks Adaly over once more. Adaly feels that it is a look of recognition which makes her nervous. “Please, just let us know the cost, and we will cover it.” Adaly says almost desperately.
Sophia takes a few steps back. “Greater restoration could work, but it might not. You observed correctly this is no regular curse, so normal remove curse spell wouldn’t have worked so you indeed needed a high priest. Restoring him… I can remove a bit of the exhaustion and it might help, but I am not sure… It is not cheap, I charge 300 gold for this.” Adaly knows that the price is bullshit, it cost Sophia only a 100 gold, but she doesn’t care and collects the money putting it on her desk.
Sophia looks a bit in surprise at her, but puts the gold in a cabinet while she starts casting greater restoration, the magic lighting the room.
Stories of my brain 