Tabitha glowered at Leigh when he questioned the length of time she'd been alone without any response from her patron. "Does that seem so much like madness to you? Should a being as great as he be bound to mortal timescales? I believe my patience will be rewarded."<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote from: Leigh</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Vathymia... That's a country. I assume Brenmarsh is an area or a town there. And I'll be a marlin's mother if The Silken Key isn't the name of a tavern. But maybe that's the sailor in me talking."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>"A tavern..." Tabitha looked almost disappointed by that prospect. "...I was hoping it would be something more significant than that. But if it is a tavern, I'm sure I'm being led there only to find the next clue."<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote from: Mirish &amp; Torner</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Tollmouth has a library," she muttered, while unpacking an a-stand to place over the flickering campfire. "I would start there, gather knowledge to guide our actions."<br/><br/>"The answers we forge for ourselves are better than any answer given to us by things beyond us, whether those beings are gods or not."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Tabitha looked from one to the other. There was still a slight petulant resistance on her features, no doubt born of her conviction in the sufficiency of her guiding patron, yet there was also weariness and doubt.<br/><br/>"I have comitted too much already to waiting for truth from above," she said weakly. "I will wait longer if necessary. But if other information can be gleaned in the meantime, I do not see the harm in it."<br/><br/>Her face turned towards the fire and she inclined herself towards the warmth, seemingly grateful for the comfort. She set down her staff and sat near to it, raising her face to sniff curiously at what was brewing in the pot.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote from: Torner</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"What drove you to live in solitude for so long, Tabitha?"</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>"It was his voice," Tabitha replied simply. "I was in the hills, north of the halfling village, playing with my friends. There was a cave. Inside the cave there were some ancient books made out of that thick, brownish paper you see on the high shelves in grand libraries. The others - Tomba, Hattie, Milo, Leesha - they all insisted the pages of the book were blank. And indeed, I saw no words written on the pages...yet nonetheless I was able to read them.<br/><br/>I didn't even especially understand what it was I was reading, yet my inner eye was guided upwards. But not to heaven, or the realms of the Fey, but far far beyond. The being I heard was not calling to me, as such. It does not know I exist. It does not care about me. Yet it can be heard, if one has ears to listen. And, in a passive way, I believe it is showing me the path to full communion with it."<br/><br/>Her head drooped slightly, as she added. "I did try going back to my old village, but found it abandoned."<br/><br/><strong>Eveyone make a History check as part of your next post.</strong><br/><br/>"So," she said finally, looking around at them all. "Since you all have such strong opinions about how knowledge out to be gained, and since you were so quick to come to the aid of a farmer being terrorised by a single halfling, am I to assume you are willing to assist me in what capacity you are capable until my patience bears fruit?"