When lunch concludes Urik politely takes his leave and makes the journey back to the shrine of Irori. He makes his way into the altar room, unsurprisingly sparsely populated at this time of day, where he sits down to pray for guidance and centres himself. After a time he heads towards the office of the high priest.
Urik knocks. "You may enter," comes the voice from within. The half-orc gently pushes the door open. Inside is a relatively austere looking office with a small bookshelf and a low desk with woven mats on either side. On the far mat sits an elderly Vudrani man. "I sense this is not a social call," his superior says without a hint of dismay.
"No, your holiness," answers Urik. "I have just returned from a social call at the Deverin estate, where I received an offer of employment that might take me from my duties here."
"Your duties are of great importance," says the high priest a bit reproachingly. "None of the acolytes are quite ready to take over for you, and I suspect your students will be disappointed as well."
"Yes, but I-I," stammers Urik uncharacteristically. He quickly shuts his mouth and takes a deep breath before continuing. "I might not even be gone for very long. I thought to inform you primarily in case I should be grievously injured or die. Though I suppose I hope that this work leads to more, and..."
The high priest closes the book on the table before him and pushes it to the side. "Urik, your duties are of great importance," says the priest more firmly. But something about his tone catches the half-orc off-guard. "That includes your duty to seek self-knowledge and personal growth. I do not know the details of this 'job' you speak of, nor do I need to know them. But I recognize when someone is feeling the need to 'move on'. How, after all, do you think I came to Varisia so many years ago?"
The two of them sit in silence for a moment as the question, rhetorical, hangs in the air. "Thank you, your holiness," says Urik simply. "Word will be sent, either me or by my employer, should my absence become protracted."
The old man lets out a great sigh and motions for him to leave with one hand. "Yes, yes, I have just received word that I have more work to do so take your leave and send in one of the acolytes. I will have instructions for them."
Urik nods and gets up. He quietly opens the door and exits the room and heads straight to the acoyltes' chambers to find one. He thinks to himself that that meeting had gone much more smoothly than he had anticipated, though he had created some headaches for the high priest. But he supposes he had gotten wrapped up in considering the administrative burden his leaving would place upon the shrine, rather than thinking about the personal religious aspect. And for the adherents of Irori the religious was always very personal.
Back in his own room Urik prepares his things. From a chest he takes a suit of chain links that he has not had much use for since coming to serve as the shrine. His father had always insisted that it was important to be ready for the worst though. He dons the chainmail, placing his tabard overtop of it. He grabs the morningstar propped up next to the chest (which had seen somewhat more use, mostly for show) and gives it a heft. Soon it would be splattered with goblin blood and bit of gore, he imagined. There was not too much else really. A dagger shoved into his belt, a crossbow slung across his back, a backpack with a few things and a satchel with his own copy of Unbinding The Fetters. His silver holy symbol, of course, had never left his person.
He had not brought many personal effects with him from home, and soon he is ready to leave. Exiting the shrine once again, he heads out into the city. He had a few hours left before the appointed meeting time, but there were always useful things to do if one merely looked for them.
I don't think I have to pay the 1/2 price for this but if I do it will cost my 3sp to do this. I am pretty sure I can only do this once but it does not spell it out anywhere I saw...
