Re: Temple Hill
Hograth walks off, but Goran lingers. The emblem of the Sage's guild on the ring of the strange gentleman gave him considerable pause. This wasn't some backwater isolated group that might be exposed to this sort of evil religion. It was a mainstream group with distinguished citizens in the city, who were in theory doing respectable work. The possibility they could be compromised by this sort of tome was something that he took very seriously, and could not walk away from as easily as Hograth could. The corruption that a book like this could spread was almost too much to fathom, depending on what sensitive locations converts to this sort of demon worship ended up in.
At the same time, the very mainstream nature of the sage's guild meant that it was large, well organized, and had the usual layers of bureaucracy. It wasn't like Goran could walk in there and start sorting through their library to find tomes tarnished by demons or worse. Scholars often valued their secular works with equal or higher esteem than their religious works. For them, the pursuit of intellect was far more valuable than their spirituality.
Most of them had been exposed to religion, and typically had made a conscious choice to go without for one reason or another. Goran consistently found this sort to be misled and oblivious to the larger meaning of life. They clung blindly to what they knew, and measured others by knowledge rather than faith. However, many were well-meaning dispite their handicap, so Goran tried to meet them with kindness. There were none so blind as those who chose what they saw, rather than accepting that much of the world was in the hands of a greater being.
Finally, after a very long pause where he measured his possibilities, Goran reluctantly turns to follow Hograth. He can't do it without stopping to look wistfully backward several times. Given the political situation, the potential corruption of the sage's guild wasn't a problem Goran could handle in the moment. He had more acute issues out at Temple Hill that needed to be addressed. Still, Goran promises himself that he will come back to the issue. He would go with Hograth for now, to do the work that needed to be done. Once that was complete, he could start working on a plan to handle the bigger issue of the sage's guild.