At the bottom of the stairwell, the trio of travelers and their two new companions found themselves wandering in the dark. Much like its upper area, the layout of the tomb's bottom floor was simple. It consisted of a straightforward passageway that led deeper into darkness.
They had two sources of light: the soul-orbs. The silver light emitted by the soul-orbs was incredibly useful for the adventurers, and though Althos could see in the dark without difficulty his companions couldn't. The other adventurers relied on the sound of Althos's footsteps and the light his familiars gave off to guide them. Their divine partner was quiet but he allowed his footsteps to be heard for their sakes.
He was beginning to be unnerved by how calm their trip through the dungeon had been. All they had encountered was a single mummy and a single scorpion, and the deity himself had only slain the mummy. At this point Althos's thoughts were scattered.
Part of him was thinking about how he could return to his allies. He focused on remembering the events of the past few hours, specifically what had happened when he "accepted the campaign". There was something he was told when accepting it, that stuck out to him.
When I took on the first quest I was told that no time would pass between my acceptance of the quest and the time of me returning to my body, assuming I completed it... but it is necessary for me to go along with the campaign's rules? It never said I couldn't leave Infernius... What if I could find a way to return to my body preemptively, and bring my companions back with me here?
He cleverly noticed that there was no requirement that he actually stay in Infernius. But his other thoughts were more immediate.
This dungeon is weird. It's like its a testing ground or something, that isn't intended to kill people but to block them from getting something. Or... maybe even designed to keep something from escaping.
That last thought was particularly cryptic.
His emotions were all over the place as well. But he was mostly annoyed, annoyed at the dungeon in general and at Tristan specifically. And though he couldn't do much about the dungeon situation, he could do something about Tristan.
He was tired of walking around without any significant knowledge and under the current circumstances she held the knowledge he wanted. And so he figured this was a chance to change that since they had nothing else to do.
He began to scheme, and explore the variety of illusion spells he had acquired. Some of them had a lot of potential, and relied on his own imagination. With them there was a lot he could do to the little priestess.
In a matter of moments, he came up with a dark scheme and began to explore the few mind-magic spells he had access too. Just in case he broke her mind.
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Behind him, Salifinos was excitedly flying through the air. The imp was moving with renewed energy, excited to be the first of his species in thousands of years to have a tail capable of poisoning enemies. His thoughts were considerably more joyful than those of his companions.
I can't wait to get out of this tomb! I'll be able to inject anyone who crosses me with poison... Oh man I hope I get a chance to do that really soon! What if I could sting that damn police officer? Oh that'd be sweet!
He felt filled with energy, and though he hadn't completely let his guard down he was far from watching out. This was mostly because he couldn't see much, and not because he was distractedly overjoyed by his tail, though his tail certainly didn't help.
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Tristan couldn't see at all and followed the footsteps of Althos, coupled with the sight of the soul orbs, one of which was between Tristan and Salifinos and the other of which was further ahead than Althos was.
The half-devil didn't feel comfortable in the tomb. She knew that it was part of the ancient prophecy that said that the Cathedral of the Dark Saint would be a place of rest for either Althos or whoever it was that was meant to reunify Infernius, but that didn't tell her anything about the person the tomb was presumably built for.
And there was the true, tragic nature of her connection to the dungeon. She knew that sooner or later she'd be forced to tell Altho about her connection to this place. She dreaded that moment, knowing that depending on how Althos reacted to it she might face a fate like that of the mummy they had encountered earlier.
Much like Althos, Tristan was left uncomfortable by the lack of life in the tomb. It was odd that a dungeon was so deserted, it was almost like whoever designed it wanted it to eventually be conquered. And if that was the case then whatever was waiting for them at the core of the dungeon was something that was imprisoned.
The thought of that left Tristan on edge, but the deeper they descended into the dungeon the more a curiosity filled Tristan that made her want to see this through.
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The two familiars of Althos were constantly communicating with each other, sending mental images back and forth as they floated through the dungeon. They shared feelings, observations, and neat things they saw illuminated by the light they emitted.
Out of the five creatures exploring the tomb, they were probably the happiest, though Salifinos was likely a close third.
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After wandering around in the dark for a full five minutes, Althos began to grow impatient. He stopped walking forward and spoke to his allies.
"We're stopping. Until that damn skull appears and explains to us what's going on, we aren't taking another step in the dark towards... whatever we're headed towards."
Though Althos didn't turn back to confirm that his allies agreed with his actions he suspected they wouldn't disobey him. In the case of Salifinos, this was because the deity knew how much his poisoned tail meant to him. In the case of Tristan, he was basing this off of a hunch that the priestess valued him for his role in the prophecy she believed him.
The three of them stood still in the dark and waited for several moments. Then the three of them felt the faintest impressions of dark energy begin to emanate from the depths of the tomb.
The dark energy seemed to be slowly crawling towards them, and they felt it like the faintest traces of tiny insectile legs crawling across their skin. Althos gritted his teeth in response to the emerging dark energy and had to suppress the part of him that was excited to meet the source of that power.
That was when the floating skull finally revealed itself once again. It played up its ethereal nature by coming out of a wall in front of the adventurers, and the ghostly light it gave off painted the part of the passageway it occupied a sickly shade of green.
"WELL WELL WELL... ARE THE ADVENTURERS GETTING COLD FEET? BUT YOU'RE SO CLOSE. SO CLOSE TO MEETING MY MASTER. AND HE'S BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG!"
The floating skull's voice had real emotion in it for the first time since it first appeared in front of the trio. Excitement made the voice of the odd creature tremble, and all three of the creatures who could understand language heard it. Each of them felt a bit nervous but because of this they also independently predicted that the creature wouldn't let them leave willingly.
They were right, and the reason it took the creature a few moments to appear in front of them was that it was actually locking the doors they had gotten here through behind them. They were shut in the dungeon and didn't know it.
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"AGOWRAITH IS WAITING FOR YOU. NOW IF YOU'D KINDLY FOLLOW ME WE'LL GO STRAIGHT TO HIM. AND DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO ESCAPE. BY NOW YOU'VE MOST LIKELY BEGUN TO GLEAM THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS PLACE. IT IS A PRISON THAT EVEN THE UNDEAD CAN'T ESCAPE, LIVING CREATURES WHO ARE NOT THE MASTERS OF THIS PLACE WILL HAVE AN EVEN HARDER TIME ESCAPING IT THAN MY MASTER WOULD."
The skull's voice, booming but still filled with the same odd edge of excitement as before, and diction may have included kind words but each of the creatures knew they had no choice but to go forward. Into the darkness stretched out before them.
Althos assessed the situation that laid before him and his allies with a calm gaze at the skull.
So... we're almost certainly stuck here until we clear the dungeon, aren't we? Well, in that case, we ought to make use of an opportunity to go straight to the boss of the place, shouldn't we? For now... I'll just send my allies a mental message.
And that was precisely what the deity did. He quietly established mental connections with the two devils who had become his partners in Infernius. The connections he established with the devils in his party were individual ones, not a group connection so the resulting conversations were private affairs.
[I'm going to go along with this. For now. We've been given a chance to head straight to the boss of this dungeon and clear it out immediately, so why not take it?]
Salifinos's response to that decision was simple. It wasn't particularly enthusiastic, but it also wasn't a declaration of an intent to not go along with the plan.
[That's as good a plan as any other I suppose...]
Tristan, on the other hand, was more cautious.
[Is this really the move? If you say it is, given your variety of powers, I guess I'll go along with it but... is this it?]
Althos contemplated how to respond and quickly decided to be simple. And while he was at it, Althos decided this was a perfect chance to gain more knowledge.
[Yes it is. And since we're having a private chat, I'll gonna give you a reward for not telling me everything that you know about this damn dungeon.]
At that point Althos fired a silent spell at the priestess. It was a single cast of the spell known as "Mark of Fear".
Mark of Fear targets objects and places a mark on them. To be affected by the spell it is necessary to see the marks themselves.
Althos aimed the spell at Tristan's habit, inside of the hood of the piece of clothing. And then he used an evocation spell to conjure a gust that came at the trio from behind them.
The second spell pulled Tristan's habit over her head, bringing the mark itself right in front of her. The effects of the spell were instantaneous and enhanced by the closeness of the mark. Her mind reeled from the vision that was suddenly beamed directly into her brain.
In the split second before Tristan's sensations were gripped by the spell, she realized that the spell was a particularly powerful mark of fear spell, and tried to gather her wits about her to protect herself. She wasn't particularly successful.
Althos received a fascinating notification just then.
[ALERT: WHAT YOU'VE SCHEMED IS EVIL. THIS ACT OF EVIL IS MOVING YOU EVER SO SLIGHTLY TOWARDS A DARKER ALIGNMENT. THE PULL OF EVIL WILL BE A BIT HARDER RESIST GOING FORWARD. IN EXCHANGE DOING EVIL THINGS PRODUCES BETTER RESULTS THAN THEY HAD IN THE PAST.]
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In her mind, Tristan was no longer in the tomb of Agowraith. Instead, the amber-skinned woman was somewhere else, an altogether more grim location.
In her mind, the priestess was chained to a wall in a lightless cell by tight chains that bit into her skin. She felt the effects of starvation and dehydration render her incredibly weak all of a sudden but she knew it was the spell's doing.
It was difficult to stay on her feet, but she could somehow remember the pain that accompanied partially falling while chained to the wall she was mentally chained to as if she had experienced it dozens of times. That gave her a reason to fight to stay on her feet. It was also another example of the spell's trickery.
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Her senses were bizarrely assaulted. The smell of rotting flesh filled her nostrils, as did the smell of long-dried blood. She could hear the faint sound of pain-filled moans and gasps but they were the pain-filled moans of a sort of creature she had never heard before.
The sounds were undeniably alien, nothing remotely humanoid or devilish sounded like that. It was like listening to the death throes of a particularly large reptile, perhaps a dragon or something.
In her fearful vision, she remained chained to the dungeon wall for over two entire hours, struggling to stay on her feet the whole time. Eventually, the darkness that surrounded her began to change. The darkness went from being an amorphous mass and a part of her surroundings to taking on the terrible shape of a massive creature.
Within seconds the darkness in front of her wasn't just a feature of the dungeon, but a gigantic and living shadow monster the shape and size of a cart with milky white eyes that turned and focused on her. They blazed with hungry wrath and the creature slowly opened a maw filled with egg-white knife-like fangs.
The last thing that happened in her hallucination was the creature coming at her with its maw open. The vision ended right as the creature was millimeters from penetrating her soft flesh with its fangs.
Tristan felt her sanity take a hit, as even though she was aware she was in no danger the sensations she felt were weakening her resolve. They also played up the dark potential of the creature she was with, as in her vision he orchestrated for her to be slowly tortured through neglect and then eaten by a mighty shadow beast.
But in the time in the real world that had passed Althos cast another spell that suddenly plagued her mind giving her no time to rest.
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In the real world, the world outside of Tristan's brain, the devilish nun had fallen to her knees. The spell had immediately affected her brain and its effects were drastic.
The nun slowly fell to her knees and her mouth was wide open. Her eyes, normally focused and sharp, were unfocused and slack. The effect was drastic enough for Salifinos to notice and be worried for a moment.
Althos walked over to her, and placed a hand on her head, his hand large enough to hold her entire face easily. And then the creature began to use a variety of mind magic spells to explore her memories and her knowledge, having grown tired of her coyness.
He smiled grimly, his mouth not opening but the lines of it stretching in a frightening way. His knowledge was increasing with every passing moment, as he learned what she knew and used it to craft a vision for her future that he could share with her that would play to her hopes and dreams.
This was an unusual act of cruelty and invasiveness that used powerful magic and involved the construction of an elaborate illusion. It also greatly expanded Althos's knowledge. It was rapidly increasing his progress along a variety of domains and subdomains because of how many different things it involved.
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The sudden influx of knowledge the godling was receiving by scouring Tristan's mind for things related to the dungeon reinforced his decision to do what he had done, and made him aware of her philosophies. It also made him keenly aware of the half-devil's tragic connection to this dungeon. And to the 5 trials of Dark Sainthood, the things Althos would need to do before he could be recognized as an arch-devil and begin to reunify Infernius.
One key bit of information that both the system and Tristan had omitted from the deity, that Tristan was aware of was the eerie fact that eons ago the arch-devils stopped appearing in public. Althos' quest to become an arch-devil, if accomplished would make him the first arch-devil to appear in public since the days the dark saint walked the dimension.
Tristan was one of the few creatures outside of the hierarchy of Infernius to come to a dark conclusion: the arch-devils may well have vanished completely. And that information was now stored securely within the mind of Althos.
Tristan's father had perished exploring this dungeon in the ancient past. At least, that's what Tristan herself suspected. It was part of why she was hesitant to tell the godling the truth about the dungeon itself. Though the half-devil wasn't lying about the tomb being part of the prophecy either.
None of this made Althos sympathize with her plight, though the mystery of the supposed disappearance of the arch-devils was quite intriguing to the inquisitive deity. The fact that she hadn't been forthright with him was annoying. That said her knowledge was vast, and she had a sort of fanatical charisma that had made her a successful member of her faction. Her memories revealed as much.
Tristan is... for her all of her faults passionate and wise. Even now that I possess her religious knowledge and know her beliefs like I know myself, I want her to become my servant. Actually... I want her more now than I did before. I guess I should just make use of this chance to make her want to worship me.
Althos thought about Tristan's own desires, what she herself wanted. She wanted power and respect, and she wanted that in a particular way. She didn't want to become a true-devil. She wanted to worship one. And she wanted to lead others in their worship of that true-devil.
Althos's exploration of her mind revealed that Tristan was a true priestess. She had a heart that valued worship and tradition, even if she hated the current traditions of Infernius because they rendered Infernius static and unmoving.
She hated how creatures who were basically powerless lorded over Infernius, protected by tradition despite their inability to promote devils.
Devils like Paimon, and the other lords of other cities throughout the dimension were true-devils but the order of the dark saint had long confirmed that the lords lacked the ability to promote devils. It was one of the secrets that Paimon and his peers kept hidden from the public, and one of the things that distinguished the second dark saint from them.
It was part of what Tristan hoped Althos could do. And Althos himself knew that he'd soon gain her as a real worshipper when he completed this quest and promoted the soul-orbs to imps.
But he wanted to lay the foundation for her to become a worshipper first. And it was that desire that caused Althos to gain a powerful notification.
[ALERT: THIS DESIRE, COUPLED WITH THE POWER OF THE PERSONAL MIRACLE YOU PERFORMED EARLIER FOR SALIFINOS THE IMP HAS GRANTED YOU THE FIRST TIER OF INFLUENCE OVER THE FAITH DOMAIN. CONGRATULATIONS!
THE FAITH DOMAIN IS AN INFLUENTIAL ONE THAT WHEN USED AGAINST PEOPLE CAN MAKE THEM MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE MIND-ALTERING NATURE OF THINGS LIKE MIRACLES AND ILLUSIONS. THIS IS A POWERFUL BUT BASIC DOMAIN THAT GOVERNS SUBDOMAINS LIKE MIRACLES, TRADITIONS, AND CLERGY. IT ALSO GRANTS THE ABILITY TO GRANT SPELLS TO BELIEVERS AND THAT ISN'T JUST FOR THE FAITH DOMAIN BUT FOR ALL DOMAINS.]
Immediately following this impressive accomplishment, Althos was alerted to his acquiring a new feat.
[FEAT GAINED: BASIC DIVINITY
BENEFIT: AS A BASIC GOD YOU ARE NO LONGER A GODLING. YOUR ABILITIES THAT AFFECT OTHERS ARE GREATLY IMPROVED. YOU NOW ALSO GAIN AN AWARENESS OF ALL OF YOUR WORSHIPPERS. YOU GAIN THE ABILITY TO TRAVERSE THE PLANES EVEN MORE EFFECTIVELY AND CAN WILL YOURSELF ACROSS DIMENSIONS. ANY DIVINE ABILITIES THAT HAVE LIMITS HAVE THOSE LIMITS DOUBLED. ANY LIMITATIONS PLACED ON YOUR PHYSICAL SENSES ARE WEAKENED GREATLY, AND YOUR TREMOR-SENSE IS NO LONGER A TREMOR-SENSE. IT IS NOW A CONSTANTLY ACTIVATE RADAR.
METHOD OF ACQUISITION: EITHER GAIN INFLUENCE OVER FIVE DOMAINS AND/OR SUBDOMAINS OR GAIN INFLUENCE OVER THE FAITH DOMAIN.
AS AN IMMEDIATE AND EXTRA BENEFIT YOU CAN ALSO SELECT ANOTHER DOMAIN AND SUBDOMAIN TO IMMEDIATELY BE ABLE TO EXERT THE LOWEST TIER OF INFLUENCE OVER. PLEASE NOTE: YOU CANNOT SELECT THE FOLLOWING DOMAINS: SOUL, LIFE, DEATH, FATE. ALL OTHER DOMAINS AND SUBDOMAINS ARE SELECTABLE. PLEASE MAKE YOUR SELECTION NOW.]
Althos read that, and in doing so caused it to take effect. The effects of the power boost were dramatic, and Althos's newly enhanced vision suddenly expanded dramatically outward. Off in the far-off distance, Althos was able to see the area the group of adventurers was heading towards. And that was just one effect of the boost.
Another effect was that Althos was suddenly painfully reminded of what was waiting for him on the first world, the world he came to life in. He gained an awareness of Silander, his one worshipper, and her static condition. For Silander, time was frozen.
When Althos focused on her he could see her health and her stamina, as well as the fact that she was currently worried. He knew she'd be worried for a long time, in his perspective. if he didn't do something to get back to the world he sprung to life on, so he decided that he would do something about that.
Althos informed the system that the domain and subdomain he was selecting were the domain of knowledge and the subdomain of teleportation. His mind was immediately assailed by a variety of sensations. The first of which was the addition of another voice in his mind. A new voice.
[SO YOU SELECTED THE DOMAIN OF KNOWLEDGE? THAT'S AS WISE A MOVE AS ANY YOU COULD HAVE MADE IN YOUR SITUATION LITTLE GOD. AND FOR THAT I CONGRATULATE YOU. MOST DOMAINS DON'T DO THIS, BUT I MANIFEST MYSELF AS A VOICE THAT IS AUDIBLE TO GODS OF ME... GODS OF MY DOMAIN. I AM THE VOICE OF KNOWLEDGE. YOU COULD CALL ME THE VOICE OF REASON. AND I AM SOMEWHAT AT YOUR SERVICE.]
This voice then faded from Althos's mind as it began to explore his own brain. This exploration wasn't made with hostile intent though, and Althos found that his knowledge of a variety of things was expanding the more the voice explored his mind.
The domain itself was granting Althos bits and pieces of knowledge as it explored the god's memories. To Althos this was a worthy tradeoff.
The deity targeted the mind of Tristan and activated the power of the faith domain. The effect took hold almost immediately.
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Tristan's vision was suddenly changed again. Now she stood in a small and dark circle, not in pain but in jubilation. Like before she recognized the alienness of the emotions deep inside of her and her situation, aware this was the effect of an illusion spell.
All around her was a significant amount of darkness like this vision was only partially complete. This small circle was totally empty, aside from one odd feature.
In front of her was a podium. It was made of bones, and at a glance, the half-devil could tell the bones belonged to a variety of creatures. Tristan was excited to not be in the dungeon anymore, but she was also confused. That was when Althos's voice penetrated her brain, and boomed throughout the strange hallucination she was experiencing.
[Tristan... why do you refuse to share your knowledge with me? To me, that shows a lack of trust and that makes me distrust you. And I am not nice to those I distrust. But we don't have to have this distance between us. Let me show you, a priestess, what sort of a future you may have with me if you trust me and believe in me. If you worship me.]
The circle of darkness she was trapped in expanded. Behind her, she noticed that what was suddenly visible was the interior of the back wall of the Cathedral of the Dark Saint. And in front of her, the first row of pews of the chapel was visible and they were occupied.
The pews were packed and they were packed with a variety of creatures. Tristan could see orcs, animals, humans, and a variety of devils, eagerly awaiting something. She wasn't sure what they were waiting for though. That was when Althos offered some clarity.
[Tristan... my priestess. They are awaiting you. Well, actually they are awaiting your words. About me. These are your congregants. My worshippers. You are their high priestess.]
Tristan absorbed that information and felt a powerful emotion well up within her. In front of her were eager congregants, worshippers in need of her guidance and her dark piety. Only she could communicate the will of their dark master to them, and only she felt his dark power in everything.
This illusion played into her faith, it preyed on her values, and on her hopes. She had long envisioned herself as a successful cult leader, a charismatic presence who was partially responsible for the successful infiltration of darkness into societies.
Suddenly a book materialized on the boney podium. Tristan walked over to the podium and opened the book. To her surprise the book was blank. She didn't have time to react to this, as Althos willed the illusion away and instead manifested himself in her mind.
He did the mental equivalent of gently cupping her face in his hand. The half-devil waited to hear what he had to say.
[Tristan... if you become mine, we can craft my religion, my church, together. I know you resent Infernius's traditions, traditions which have brought this place to a halt. I know you want to be the high priestess of the second dark saint. I want that too. But the thing is... you've kept secrets from me. I don't trust anyone who keeps secrets from me. One day you'll willingly divulge everything you know and have ever known to me. And when you do... you'll become mine. Until then I won't take what you won't offer, aside from what I've already taken of course.]
As he finished thinking the word "mine" to the half-devil, Althos prepared to fully deactivate his spell. He wanted to offer her an impression of her future, something to chew on. It was a future she could only have if she gave herself to him and became a priestess of his.
He wanted her to be able to clearly visualize it. To remember the faces of the congregants, and the place of worship. It was an illusion that relied on her own understanding of the world around her.
As Althos undid his spell and released the girl from its hold, he activated his teleportation ability.
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Althos was intent on returning home and bringing his allies with him. He had selected the teleportation subdomain for that very reason. And when he activated it, shortly after deactivating the illusion spell cast on Tristan, he received a surprising notification.
[ALERT: IF YOU RETURN TO THE PLACE YOU SPRUNG TO LIFE IN, TIME WILL RESUME ON THAT WORLD. IF YOU COME BACK, WITH OR WITHOUT YOUR ALLIES, TIME WILL CONTINUE TO PASS FOR THEM AGAIN. IS THAT ACCEPTABLE?]
Althos notified the system that such a change was acceptable. And he turned to look at his allies for a single moment. He wanted to inform them of what was happening.
"I'm gonna be right back. Don't move forward without me."
Althos actually did wait for Salifinos to respond. He wanted them to be aware of what was going on, and felt that it was worth taking an extra moment to await confirmation of that.
His imp nodded at him, and the deity nodded back. Then the deity vanished, leaving the groggy and shook half-devil with the imp and the two soul orbs.
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The effect was instantaneous. One moment Althos was in Infernius with his new allies, and the next moment Althos was back in his human body on the world he came to life in.
He could see the faces of his companions around him, and he could see the clear sky above him. After nearly a day in one of Infernius's subterranean layers, the deity was once again in a world with a sky and a real sun. He felt the pleasant heat of the sun on his skin and enjoyed it for an instant before springing back to life.
To his companions, the deity appeared to have fallen unconscious for a few moments, during which they approached and surrounded him, and then suddenly woke up, as if he was just taking a brief nap. Each of them were shocked but pleased to see him once again awake.
Althos was on the floor, surrounded by his companions. The one directly in front of him was Silander, the great-frog he had awakened when she had been a simple but poisonous frog. She was shocked that he was awake again, but he suddenly reached out and pulled the girl into a tight hug. Silander smiled and relaxed in the arms of her master.
After a few seconds, he released the girl, and then turned and spoke to his companions.
"Boy... do I have some stuff to tell y'all."
Althos intended to come clean about his status as a deity. And the group of adventurers was all listening, quite curious about whatever their master would be revealing to them.