Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

The man looks at Erk cautiously.

"We need none of your gods' works, priest. You do not control these sunset men, but you fight by their side and are little better than they. Your kind stays to the mountains, which is your rightful place, and we have no quarrel with your people."

You, however, fight at the side of the sunset men who steal our land and push us into the Tall Grass. You bring the quarrel of the The People upon your kind."

He sets his jaw and looks up into Erk's eyes.

"I will answer your question, nonetheless, as it is no secret. We attack to drive the sunset men from lands they stole from The People. They have no right to the shores of this river, and must be driven back to their stone villages like ground squirrels before a wolf."

At this, the guards shuffle their feet in the background, but say nothing. It is obvious that this sort of thinking makes them uncomfortable.

Subject: Re: Approaching the Prisoners

Erk nods sadly. "This is no surprise. Men have always butchered each other for the bits of ground they wish to hold. My people have fought as fiercely for our mountain halls, when they were threatened. I serve a war god, and there is a reason the god's of war are so powerful. It is in our nature to offer them many sacrifices.

"I do not hold you to be evil for such warring, lest all men be found equally evil, for all will fight when backed into a corner. My purpose here is not to judge you for these acts, nor is it to help men take your lands. If I fight by their side, it is an accident of circumstance and because there were many innocents in this town needing protection. I notice you did not bring your women and children to battle.

"If you help me with a few more things, I and my band will move on to other business. What is this 'tall grass' you speak of that the men drive you into? We are following an expedition of men from my city who may have gone into it. Would you know of them? When they were lost, other men followed to find them, and were lost as well. We seek either or both of these bands. Can you tell me anything of them, or the land they went into?"