Gate of Memoirs/A Goddess Worth Fighting For

With eyes that glare very far.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Mirage"	Music: "Mirage"
 	
*Saerenthis: Ohh, that thunderous brute.
*Saerenthis: How dare he fling a bolt at my face?!
*Saerenthis: Tell me, Father. Have I already lost Her favor? Will my scales never heal?
 	
*Uln'gha: <Ah'legeth...>
*Saerenthis's skull relic mutters darkly and floats away from him in apparent annoyance.
*The High Priest's crippling defeat against an awakened dragon spirit had sent his Naga slinking back into their depths.
*Losing their beachhead into the Vale as well as a number of good soldiers was a substantial blow to his pride.
*Thus did Saerenthis order the head of the treacherous human Baelfyr for his duplicity.
*But when the assassins, too, had failed to return, the High Priest feared the worst.
*The Deep Goddess would be furious at this turn of events.
 	
*Saerenthis: Aahh...My Goddess...
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "A God"	Music: "A God"
 	
*Saerenthis: ...My deepest apologies, my Goddess.
*Saerenthis: Unfortunately, we have no idea who that spirit is—
 	
*Saerenthis: *hissss!*
 	
*Saerenthis shrinks away from the great shadowed form of the Deep Goddess Tsovinar.
*As she wades into the dim light, her pallid skin strikes a strong contrast against the inky darkness.
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*Though her face remained inscrutable, her displeasure was made known through eddies of water around her body.
*Tsovinar: <Ah'legeth.>
*Tsovinar: <Had I not answered your pitiful, mewling cries, you would not be here before me.>
 	
*Saerenthis: Certainly not, my Goddess.
*Saerenthis: I am grateful and humbled by your timely aid.
 	
*Tsovinar: <Mmm.>
 	
*Saerenthis: For the moment, we have no choice but to recede from the Vale.
*Saerenthis: I will ensure that this shall not happen again...but it may take us some time to recover.
 	
*Saerenthis: In the meantime, my Goddess, there is nothing else you should be concerned about.
*Saerenthis: So long as I am here, the Naga shall hear your every word through me.
 	
*Tsovinar: <Do whatever you deem fit!>
*Tsovinar: <But know this: I will not tolerate further incompetence.>
 	
*Tsovinar: <Return without an offering again and I will devour you instead.>
 	
*With a dismissive flick of her wrist, the swirls of water intensify as the Deep Goddess slithers back into the darkness.
 	
*Saerenthis: My Goddess!
 	
*Saerenthis: Ahh...
*Saerenthis: (Those fools before me made her this way...)
*Saerenthis: (Priests, daring to siphon power from their goddess! Such heresy.)
*Saerenthis floats alone in the vast darkness, searching in vain for the smallest glimmer of the goddess's narrowed eyes.
*Saerenthis: (Delicate politicking may belong to the realm of lessers, but one day, she must rise on her own.)
*Saerenthis: (She must know I cannot guide her forever...)
*Saerenthis: ('Tis a long and arduous task, but I gladly shoulder such a burden.)
*Saerenthis: (Even a goddess must learn, after all.)
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Mirage"	Music: "Mirage"
 	
*Maudlin that the Deep Goddess had not deigned to answer his invocations in several weeks,
*the High Priest had taken to brooding atop his perch.
 	
*The Naga under his command grew impatient, and some yearned for retaliation against the humans for this slight.
*It was one of these upstart, disobeying soldiers who brought the news.
*Naga Soldier: Hafh'drn!
 	
*Saerenthis: How dare you barge into my chamber!
*Saerenthis: Guards!
 	
*Naga Soldier: Please, wait! 
*Naga Soldier: The humansss...they've been inching toward the outskirts of the village...
*Naga Soldier: They're being pursued by those wolf-masked land-walkers!
 	
*Saerenthis: (Baelfyr's guards...!)
*Saerenthis: Have they breached our gates?
 	
*Naga Soldier: No...I do not know what the land-walkers are planning, hafh'drn.
*Naga Soldier: But they are raising armssss against each other, and the wolves are intent on slaying the others.
 	
*Saerenthis: Is that so...
 	
*Saerenthis: Hmm.
*Saerenthis: Send a squad out, and monitor the situation carefully.
*Saerenthis: This could turn out to be quite interesting.
 	
*Saerenthis: And if the wolves perish from their..."injuries", so much the better, no?
 	
*Saerenthis: Go. Do not disappoint me.
 	
*The soldier bows reverently and slithers out of the chamber in haste.
 	
*Saerenthis: Well now, Father...what an interesting turn of events.
*Saerenthis: I would love to have another audience with the wolf-boy...
*Saerenthis: Pick his brain a little, you know. What do wolves think about?
 	
*Saerenthis: I suppose I'll know after I remove that pretty little head from the rest of his body.
 	
*Uln'gha: <Fhtagn...>