Orodyuke was just about to start on his pipe when the friendly stranger pulled up a chair opposite him. He looked very young, and short for a human. Though he wasn't sure, Orodyuke vaguely felt he might have caught a glimpse of him before back at the clinic. In any case he cast the new arrival a dull, lustreless look. He was weary after his long day, and considered asking him to leave, but a couple of things the small man had said struck a chord in him and prompted his interest. He nevertheless took a long draw from the pipe before replying, leisurely exhaling the smoke to one side through the corner of his mouth.

"Well met, Harvey the well-mannered" he rumbled. "You may hear of mine travels if you so wish, though I doubt they will bring you pleasure. It is optimistic indeed to look for stories of hope from beyond these walls. Alas, all news of promise that I have heard of late has been regarding Urenda itself. It is impressive what you have accomplished here, and many speak of it, though I wonder how long it can last." He wondered if those toiling here knew how much of a symbol they were becoming to the surrounding travellers. "Else, my tales are all of evil and misfortune" he said, gesturing at one of the fresher gashes on his forehead and scars from a few older wounds. "Or of the glory of an era gone by, the sorrow of which still weighs heavily upon mine heart."

Orodyuke paused for a moment to nurture his pipe, further appraising the young priest as he did so. "You say you serve the Lady of the Night" he prompted eventually. "Hmmm this would be Elanom, yes?" he queried, recalling the deity's name in the trade tongue. "Then maybe I could use your help." The Goddess of Reath's three moons was an entity the dwarf was particularly interested in, as unless he was mistaken, she was one of the miscellaneous deities who had experienced a large increase in worship after the descent, and was an important example of the power flux that had occurred among the gods. Orodyuke regarded the remaining priests of post apocalyptic Reath with a mixture of pity and intense envy. "I too once followed a god," he murmured slowly, for a moment becoming absorbed with tracing the knots in the wood of the heavy tavern table. "And in doing so, I led my people to their deaths." he finished flatly, resuming eye contact. 

"Now I seek answers. About what a mortal man can do against the Creeping Death and other calamities, but also about the nature of our enemy. What [i]is [/i]a god? What constraints on their power do they face? And how [i]exactly[/i] do us mortals fit into it?"

"Superficial answers to these questions are known of course, but in the past there was never a necessity to discover more, and so these topics never seem to have been studied in any great depth, particularly the latter. Or if they have been, the knowledge was lost in the Descent." The intensity with which he spoke led to a fit of coughing, which he attempted to stifle, remembering what the healer had said. "That....Is why....I came here" He said in-between coughs. "To the place where so many priests, like yourself are gathered."

"Forgive me, but we may need to hold this for another time" he wheezed, rising. "It has been a long day."

"But I have yet to introduce myself! Orodyuke Equites, at your service" he said, presenting the man with a weathered hand to shake.