Sitra raises an eyebrow. "We know that he says he has some way of ushering the souls of the dead to a different afterlife. And that there is a time limit on when he can do it. What did you learn?"
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 16:24, Sat 17 Oct 2020.

Well, here is what happened:
I went  into the temple and there was a room with a counter.  A monk entered through the door behind the counter, there was a small gong above it.
He said, "I am Brother Huass'a, how may I be of service?"
I said, “I wish to learn more of Duvia.  Can you enlighten me?”
He says, "there is little I can offer you that Duvia has not already given you.  But if you feel that you must be nearer to him, you can join the others in the Grieving Hall." Then he exits the door.
I being brave and such follow him.
So, the door opened into a short hallway, with a door on either side and one at the opposite end. I saw on the right dozens of dark robes in various sizes hang on pegs here, and benches are pushed against the walls. A monk was inside.

"This is where the mourners don their mourning robes before going forth into the Grieving Hall." comments Brother Huass'a.

"And this is where we sleep and take our meals." says Brother Huass'a as we pass the door on the left, there were a dozen cots standing against the walls and the long table with chairs where four monks are eating.

He continued "Beyond this door is where those who have lost a loved one will pray for their loved ones and give over the body to Duvia. I ask that you do not interrupt their mourning, this is a trying time in their lives."

Now the Grieving Hall was large and had a thing called the Entrance to the Underworld. It was an arched opening that resembled an enormous mouth. The mouth looked more human than anything else, but the painting is primitive, making it difficult to tell what sort of creature it was.

A gong hangs above the Entrance to the Underworld. Six benches filled the floor of the grieving hall, enough seating for twenty-five or more mourners. There are two monks sitting with half a dozen mourners, softly chanting with them as a body is carefully wrapped in linen.
So I ask the Brother if I could wear a robe for my loss.
He tells me:  “I was not aware that you had had a loss. Do you wish Duvia to guide your loved one to their promised afterlife?"
The Monk takes me to the hallway and sits me down saying: "You may certainly grieve as you feel a need to, but you must understand that Duvia does not care for the living.  Duvia guides the souls. He safeguards them from the Sakhil. The Sakhil do not care about the living and so, Duvia does not either. Your sorrow means nothing to him for your loved one has already left and may have been taken by the Sakhil. You did not hear Duvia, so you did not save your love one's soul."

So I ask how I can find Duvia and he says: “"Renounce your worldly connections. Remove all loyalty to friends and family and bring them here so that they may be guided to their afterlives through Duvia.  It is only through absolute dedication to Duvia's cause can we, his servants, help those who transition."
I ask where the money and belongs of those who find Duvia go.  He tells me:  "Duvia has no need for the trappings of this world. We use the donations from those we help to provide food, but that is all.  Duvia's servants are many, only He knows the true number, but I don't think you understand.  To be a servant of Duvia, you must have no connection to this world. No friends. No enemies. No family. They must all be brought to Duvia where they can shed their mortal trappings and be escorted to their afterlives."
So then he leaves and sends in Sister A'ihliam.  I ask her how Duvia collects and guides ones soul after death.
She basically says she doesn’t know but that "Duvia rings the gong above the Entrance to the Underworld when a soul has been successfully guided."  Which sounds all kinds of nasty.
So I ask her if she has ever seen Duvia and what does Duvia look like.
She says:  "he rings the gong. A god does not need to appear to his servants."
So, there is a dead body, and a giant entrance and gong that is being rung.  As my twenty minutes was ending, I decided it was time to get out.

Batri listens in silence to the tale, “So...  Did the gong ring while you were there?  I’m sure that there are more than a few ways to fake that, but I’m curious. And the leader you spoke to, did you have any sense of if he believed in what he was saying? “

He tugs on Sitras robe, “And have you heard of anything like this?  Or you, Speaks?”

My gut feeling is that something comes out of the mouth in the Grieving Hall and takes the body.  The gong is hit I. The process. 

“I get that.  Did the people you spoke to seem truthful?  That’s the question I asked and really the only thing that matters.  What do you think, Beuren?”

The storm rages as Beuren considers the conversations he had in the temple.

Batri gives a look of frustration, “Let’s find somewhere with some shelter while everyone has their think.”

OOC! Batri will lead them to somewhere nearby where they might be able to get out of the rain.  A tavern or even a covered area.

A short walk away is a small inn with an attached beer garden. Judging by the clientele it seems to cater to travelers and farmers or hunters that stay overnight after bringing their goods in for sale.

Like the rest of this side of the city, the jungle seems to be as much a part of holding the building together as the stone and wood that it was originally built from.

"Food or drink?" asks a waitress as you seat yourselves under a palm frond covered roof that mostly keeps the rain at bay.

“Drink.”  He looks up at the roof before continuing, “Though, if this continues that might change.”

She nods and heads back into the inn before returning with four tankards of wine.

Wine is the most common drink in this part of world.

"Sakhil are a real thing. They torture souls they catch." Sitra sips his wine.

"Yes.  My people call them the Soul Eaters."

“That makes sense...  The best lies start from truth and the fear has to ring true to gather the masses, but what about the rest of it?  Does that seem familiar to anyone?”

"Maybe with more information. If it's just some monster that eats corpses and has tricked people into feeding it? That could be anything. So far the only thing we really know is that either it is intelligent or something intelligent is speaking for it.

"Well we also know that if the monks are there to assist people whose families have died, then there will likely be someone around at all hours to receive mourners."

Batri looks at Sitra, confused, “Wait.  Monster that eats corpses?  Did I miss something?”

He looks to Beuren, “We should refrain from reading too much into anything until Beuren answers.  For all we know, the priests take money, wrap the bodies and then have a mechanism to ring a bell so the mourners feel like something has been done.  There is nothing inherently supernatural so far.”

"We don't know that there is anything eating corpses, but the Faithful of Duvia seemed completely uninterested in Beuren when they thought there  was no dead body involved.  Curious."

Look, I tried to pay attention to everything I could. I think the priests genuinely believe they are helping folks find Duvia.  Did I see a wrapped up body.  Yes.  Did I see a huge hole in the wall that looked like a mouth.  Shit, yes.  Is there a gong that is struck when a soul is. saved.  Yes.    Do any of the priests see anything.  No.  Is there fucked up shit going on.  Yes.   I certainly wasn’t going to run into the mouth. 

“If you ran into the mouth you would have deserved what you got and stick to the facts, you heard a bell ring, but that doesn’t have anything to do with souls necessarily..” Batri frowns, “You said that they claimed helping your lost relative was impossible, that it was too late...  You also said they wanted you to separate yourself from your friends and family and to bring them here to send them to Duvia.  That sounds a lot like wanting converts to sacrifice their friends and family.  Did you see any weapons, Beuren?”

In reply to Batri Shom (msg # 86

It was a gong, and no weapons. 

He shrugs, “What made the noise is unimportant.  What is important is that now I can see why this cult has caught the eye of our employer.  What do we think is our next step?”

In reply to Batri Shom (msg # 88):

What makes the noise makes a difference.  I tiny bell on the floor can be run by anything.  A gong hanging from a mouth cave entrance would need to be rung by something at least human size if not bigger.

I think that reporting this to our employer is a good idea.

He winks at Batri.

"Did you see any other way into the temple? Do you think we could sneak in?"

“We have nothing to report that they couldn’tQ learn in an afternoon.  Sitra is right we need more information.  Did you notice any other doors that they didn’t point out to you?  And weapons, you never mentioned if they were armed?”

OOC: also Jason, did the panhandlers do anything when it started to rain?

In reply to Batri Shom (msg # 91):

No, doors to mention that I did not see.  They were not armed.

The monks did not seem bothered by the rain.