Ahead of the Storm - Day 15

Alhaster, Five Months Ago

Life has been quite the whirlwind these past few weeks and months. First I was forced to flee from the Temple of Wee Jas near Diamond Lake, after the Betrayer brought the veil of Shadow upon the world. Then, when High Priestess Elena became Queen of Alhaster, she offered that I become her assistant at the new Grand Cathedral, as reward for my hard work in the past. I therefore serve her now as friend, advisor and cohort.

Yet, my time here in Alhaster has been short, as she is now sending me off on what she deems a quite urgent mission - to negociate a deal with the heads of the Amalgamation. This is for the simple reason that ever since its creation, the Amalgamation has refused to ally itself with the faith of Wee Jas - likely out of spite over the whole fiasco with Embril Aloustinai and Ike Iverson, there in Cauldron. And while Elena could care less about us being a part of such a silly notion as the Amalgamation, she can't deny their ever-growing influence and power. This growth has her worried, and as she has always been quite suspicious by nature, she now fears that the Amalgamation may be conspiring against her, and against all Weejasians. Therefore, she wants me to negociate our entry into their ranks, at last. She feels that enough time has gone by for them to have gotten over Embril's actions. Also, she has gathered substantial proof to the effect that Embril was a cleric of Nerull all along - and in no way represented the true faith of Wee Jas.

Thus, I now head off the Cauldron bearing this proof, along with all my diplomatic skill, hoping to secure an alliance between the church of Wee Jas and the Amalgamation. And should negociations prove difficult, Elena has also granted me the necessary funds to make a large bribe - hopefully cementing their acceptance.

Yet, personally I have my own misgivings about the entire matter. I doubt they would be conspiring against us, to begin with. But furthermore, why bother joining them if even Elena finds the idea of an Amalgamation to be blasphemous against our true faith?

What I truly wonder, is how many of these so-called "priests" of the Amalgamation have asked their Gods what they think of the matter? For I truly doubt, for instance, that Pelor would approve of association with the likes of Vecnites, Erythnulites and Nerullians. And the same must go for the evil gods as well. Were not the Gods created by AO the Overgod in the first place to represent all the varied interests of the peoples of the world? If he believed they could all be joined beneath a single faith, then he would have simply reigned alone as Overgod, without any need for others, no?

In my heart, I feel that this whole thing is a dark omen for this world. We've witnessed death, plagues and disease everywhere across the land in these past few trying years. Are we now witnessing the decline of religion as well?

I fear that things do not bode well for our world...