Russiet did her best to put on a brave face, as it was. She may have been hurting, but she would force herself through this training hiding her limp as best she could. She was made for this kind of thing.
Despite the pain, she broke out into a wide smile during the training. She was pretty sure she fooled even the instructor at one point.
The priest seems at least partially satisfied with nearly everyone in the group as they proceed through the exercises. Russiet and Senrin receive no comments whatsoever. Bohrs, Senrin, and Elvar all seem to escape criticism at first before the priest begins pointing out a few tells that were still giving them away. Favoring one foot over the other, a slight bounce, a scuffing of the foot: the priest is more observant than one might expect. "You all might be ready to go out into Tamran soon," the priest compliments. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves yet."
About twenty minutes after the end of the service, new pain suddenly wracks Russiet and she collapses back down to the ground. The priest pauses as the sorceress falls. "Ah, was that the one that Krant punished? A pity. Her walk was nearly perfect. But her faith is lacking. Moving on."
The priest is content to leave Russiet there on the ground as he launches into the next part of training. "Before you earn your dinner tonight, there's one more thing to practice. When we go to the streets of Tamran, we talk to lots of people. And we need to add to Razmir's coffers so he has the resources to fight against his enemies. Razmir has many enemies. So we need to part people from their gold. How do we do that? We tell them about how much better Razmir is than their god."
He turns to each of them. "I don't particularly care what god you followed before you saw Razmir's light. But you know enough about them and their false promises. So here's what I want you to do. All of you except the napper here," he gestures to Russiet on the ground, [b]"Pair off. Find out what god the other one used to worship and then mock them. And when they're done, give them feedback. Be specific; dig into their beliefs; hit them where it hurts."
Senrin steps up immediately. "Sir? I understand the exercise, but what if we face a total non-believer? Before I heard of the power of Razmir I refused to accept any of them. None of them ever gave me a reason to believe, or worship. I'm a wizard, but I even refuse to worship Nethys. If I worshiped anything it was magic, pure and powerful."
"How would I mock that? Hit that belief where it hurts?"
Tamin is feeling slightly better about their performance so far... until Russiet keels over. He bites back on a curse, glad for the fifteenth time today that the mask hides his expression. Dammit, did the healing just-- go away? How? Why?
Again he's torn between preserving the cover and basic compassion for one's fellow, to say nothing of responsibility towards one's battle-companion (even if they have yet to see battle together). He tries to think of a way to check on Teloda that won't immediately draw the ire of his 'superiors.' Senrin's question buys him a few seconds time to think...
"Point out that worshiping magic isn't gonna do you much good against a god?" he drawls sarcastically with a little shrug. "After all, that b!%+~ on the ground there's been showing off plenty with her magic, ain't she? And Razmir's found her wanting, like the officer-- er, the brother-- says.
"Sir! Permission to drag Sleeping Beauty there the hell outta the way before I trip over her haughty ass, sir?"
The priest's expressionless gaze lands on Senrin, even as Tamin gives his own response. "As he said: how would you mock your former self, or this sleeper? Surely if you are a true disciple, you can be sufficiently creative."
As Tamin asks to drag Teloda away, he shrugs. "I know it is discomfiting to see a fellow member of the faith failing so. You wish to check on her to ensure she has not been struck dead, yes? Fine. Take a moment. We have time."
The priest takes a few paces away and leans against one of the outer walls of the courtyard, watching what Tamin chooses to do.
"Discomfiting? No sir. Just want to know how severe the consequences are for failure."
Tamin gives a salute to the brother, more to perpetrate his cover of being a career soldier/mercenary, then jogs to Teloda. He grasps the other man by the ankle and starts unceremoniously hauling him out of the center of the square, as if he didn't really give a damn about the other man's welfare....
...though he is actually trying to be careful as possible with Teloda's limp form and not cause any further injuries. But that is not what he wishes to give the appearance of.
He tries to deposit 'her' in the shade, anyway. While he doesn't dare to perform a full medical check (nor does he know how) he tries to make sure Teloda's breathing, at least, with a quick glance to the torso.
Can't tell. Dammit. Perhaps Tamin is distracted by absently wondering how Russiet constructed the fake bosom? In a strictly professional wondering, as one disguise-artist to another.
Leaving the unmoving body, he jogs back over to Senrin. "So-- magician! You think you can wiggle your fingers, say a few words, and that's power?! I heard you whining about them taking your spellbook earlier! Some power, to need scraps of words written on paper to do anything. The faith of Razmir needs no such crutches! The Living God does not need to 'prepare his spells!'"
Tim/Bohrs wanders over to Russiet, as if curious. "So, is she dead or what?" he asks in a tone that effected no compassion. He drops to one knee and makes small slapping motions against her mask, while checking her pulse with his other hand, shielded by his body.
"Oi! Anyone home??"
The priest continues to watch impassively from the side as Tamin and Tim make their efforts towards demonstrate that they don't care one way or another about Teloda's well-being.
"You can both drop the act," he says, hopefully referring to the show of apathy. "I said it's fine." The priest leans back, stretching his arms behind his head.
Usually calm and collected, Tamin seems too distracted to remember anything like checking for a pulse. The mask and robe make looking for breathing difficult. But as "Tim" comes up after Tamin leaves, the trained healer does put his medical training to use. Hopefully Father Prasst would be proud of that, at least. Sticking his fingers underneath the mask, he feels a strong pulse indicating that Russiet is still very much alive. He dare not remove the mask, but as he checks her over with a cursory scan, it seems clear to him that she's in rough shape. There probably isn't any internal bleeding, and he'd need to move the robe aside to check for bruising, but knowing the size of Krant's fists, he can imagine that she took quite the beating. This was three punches?
As for exactly what happened--why she had passed out again after being healed--Bohrs isn't sure.
"Razmir is a jealous god. If you accept him, then he will raise you up. But he knows our hearts. If you are found wanting, then he will strip you of his blessings and all will know. All will see. And all will believe. All hail the living god."
Senrin had suffered an injury earlier and been healed. His injury hadn't opened back up. But now Russiet had re-succumbed.
Was there something more to what Egarthis had said? Bohrs knew Russiet decently by this point, but to be completely honest he still didn't know Senrin all that well. Maybe Senrin was actually buying into all this...
Tim/Bohrs rises to his feet, at least reasonably sure Russiet wasn't going to die. He returns to the rest of the group and squares off with Elvar.
"Do you want to go first, or should I?" he asks. "I paid my respects to the gods of the sea, fate, and fortune; you know, the ones that might be the difference between me holding fast or pitching over the side and drowning in a gale. I tried not to play favorites. I was afraid of Gozreh, but I had a bit of a thing for Besmara."
Senrin mulls over the words from Tamin, followed by Brother Egarthis. "Valid points, and I misspoke. I do not 'worship' magic. The arcane power that I can wield is useful, as a weapon or a tool. It isn't sentient so of course it isn't divine or worthy of worship.... But how to mock it? You've both given me that. Simply mock that I rely on the preparation of the spells. They aren't granted by a God. It takes work everyday to hold what power I can."
"But that doesn't really cover what I asked, how to mock a non-believer, someone that doesn't worship anything, or maybe someone that worships material possessions or gold rather than a God. Hmm... I think I have it. That one" He points at Russiet. "She has given me the answer." He moves over to her/his prone body. "You unbeliever! Even when you are healed by the Divine power granted by Razmir you don't accept it! Now you know that the rewards can be taken back with your unbelief! You think that you will become a great and powerful sorceress and impress The Living God? The only True God on this world? He's not impressed by trivialities! You are nothing but a foolish mortal and you will be nothing but dust in time. But Razmir will live on forever! All Praise the Living God!"
He turns back to Tamin, "I'm not foolish enough to believe that my magic is divine or remotely similar to the power of the Living God. But what do you believe in 'soldier'? You sword? Your armor? The 'chain of command'? Things and people, nothing worthy of worship! Open your eyes and see the true demonstration of the power of the Living God! Open your ears and hear of it! Open your mind and Believe it! All Praise the True and Living God, Razmir!"
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