Exterior Monologue from Adeodatus. Feel free to have overheard if you go to churches in the city.

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God, my weakness has led me to sin again. Anything that wants in my head gets in. A man of sorts walked into the tavern and commanded me to attack someone. The nearest soul was a Shara gentleman – a very forgiving gentleman. To say I had zero control would be to place the blame elsewhere. I am to blame for never learning how to defend myself from such an attack on my mind.

And this is not the first time that it has happened. Many years ago, that ghost got into my mind and cause me to maim myself. And a malefic called ‘The Butcher’ tried to get me to eat myself the other night. Is it just a fact of life that there are monsters out there that can just force you to do things against your will? What options of improvement can we do to protect against such problematic sources?

I want to do my job and lead these people in these trying times. My atonement for wrath is to learn to read. The goal is that I can learn from books what is needed to ward my mind from such influence. I have been stubborn about learning to read my whole life. It was a joke to me, especially once I became a Bishop. It was something to hide behind.

I have never been ready to lead men. I have never felt my promotions were warranted. It was always a momentary need or nepotism from a noble to garner favor. Most recently as you are aware, it was because no one wanted to do the job, so I begrudgingly stepped forward. I clung to illiteracy as a bastion of where I came from; a farmstead. Not even all the priests knew how to read there. I clung to that past in hopes of being able to go back to those simpler times.

But here in Stragosa, that is not possible. Nor is it possible for mankind to get closer to you if we remain stagnant. I accept this atonement, and I will meat the challenge. Thank you for providing me with a path, and I acknowledge it is up to me to walk it.

Amen.