[x] Right back at her.
-[x] She's right, you don't have any basis to compare her to. Fairy tales from another world are useless here. For the same reasons, you can't know whether she's the "trustworthy" type - her own words - or the type you have to be cautious with. Her story about the Priestess seemed reasonable given the circumstances, but also served to make you careful about exact details. Maybe that's terribly unfair to her, but it's the impression you got.
-[x] At the same time, based on her assumptions, you're fairly sure she doesn't have any idea what you are either. If she's looking for new experiences, it doesn't get much better than a talent that can randomly portal you into a dragon's lair, or to any number of places that no one on this world has ever seen before. At this point you're farther from home than she is. Does that sound remotely interesting to her?
[x] Explain how you're from another dimension and only in this world temporarily. Weeks at most. And no, you're not sick.
-[x] Her prison seemed like the most interesting of your last set of choices. Satisfying your curiosity is pretty much why you chose to come here.
-[x] That said, given that you have to make snap decisions on where to travel, knowledge and safety are your two biggest challenges right now.
-[x] Do you have anything to fear from freeing her?
"You were actually right the first time: I don't have anything to compare you with. The fairy tales I'm familiar with, ones from another world, are utterly useless here. For the same reaso—"
"Rewind. What?"
You're not sure if you should be annoyed by the interruption or happy that Delight finally stopped acting bored. Or both. You'll go with both.
"I was going to get to that in a minute. Could I please finish?"
The Astral chokes and lowers her head.
"Can't you lead with that part?"
You absentmindedly drum the fingers of your free hand against your opposite wrist. The light elemental sitting on your palm stops eating and bobs its head to watch them go up and down.
"I guess? I can travel between worlds, which is how I got here. I'll only spend a few weeks here at most. The stories of my homeworld portray demons as almost universally evil and 'good' red-eyed individuals are pretty much nonexistent. I don't think you've said you're a demon..."
You trail off and give Delight a chance to speak. She looks like she desperately wants to, but is too polite to actually interrupt.
"'Demon' is just a derogatory term for an Astral. Gods, demons, and Astrals are just three different titles for the same type of being. Those called 'gods' are just lucky enough to have been born first."
"There aren't any demon gods?"
"Still a derogatory term. There are some Astrals which are called demon gods, yet they're usually just called such because they're too powerful for the word 'demon' to be sufficiently descriptive. Now, you were saying?"
You wrench your brain away from analyzing the new information and back to what you were trying to say.
Demons, Astrals, derogatory term, stories—right, basis for comparison.
"As I was saying, I don't really have anything or anyone to compare you to. I don't even think real Astrals of any sort exist on my homeworld, so..." You shrug. "I don't really know if you're what you called the 'trustworthy' sort or the type who would just cut and run off if left unbound. I've been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and everything, and you seem reasonable, but I noticed you've been pretty careful about details. Like, your story about the priestess? It seemed reasonable, true, but you were sparse on the details."
Delight closes her eyes and mouths something you can't identify. After a few silent seconds, she opens them again, appearing significantly less enthusiastic than she was a minute ago.
"I was trying to keep it brief. This cage isn't exactly comfortable. Now, when we first made the contract, I believed the High Priestess thought it was fair. I thought it was a little odd that she'd tie her amount of time serving me to the amount of time spent alive, but it was her idea and she was highly resistant to preset durations. One of my guesses was that she would attempt to commit ritual suicide once she'd discovered the secrets of lichdom. Still, at the time, I believed it to be a fair contract and thought she felt the same way. She showed me to the acolyte's quarters and promptly ambushed me with what felt like the entire local Paladin garrison. As they were not attempting lethal measures, I extended the same courtesy while completing misinterpreting why they were doing so. I expected a trial. I did not receive one and was imprisoned here within a day. I've been here ever since. Is that enough detail?"
Homeworld, homeworld, homeworld... you mentally chant, trying to keep your train of thought.
"Maybe. Need to finish before I forget. Um, what else, what else...?"
Delight slowly smiles. "Fourteen, thirty-seven, sixteen, eleven, one thousand, six thousand, five, four, three, two, zero, one..."
You try to tune out the unhelpful Astral. Not counting, ignore numbers, ignore words. Homeworld, homeworld, portals.
Delight only stops counting when you force yourself to speak over her. Overcoming ingrained manners is hard.
"I'm not actually sick, that was just a side effect. Your prison looked like the most interesting option open to me and I was curious. If you want new and interesting experiences, I don't think you can do better than making portals to new dimensions; each of them has been pretty different from the last, including one which had these really pretty nonmagical lightshows. If you don't think exploring different worlds would keep you from getting bored? Then... I don't remember how I was planning on finishing that. Um, since I have to decide where to go pretty quickly, remaining safe is my biggest concern right now, with knowledge as a closeish second. So, do I have anything to fear from freeing you? If so, what?"
Really, you should be paying me to come along.
You're not quite sure why Delight starts rapidly clicking her teeth together. It sounds like she's shivering, but the rest of her body is relatively still. After a few moments of this strangeness, you receive your answer: she was trying to fight down a yawn. She ultimately tries, and fails, to cover it with her bound hands.
"Gaea's followers are an obvious first, but I'm willing to take you somewhere safer if you free me and my hands. Cross-Realm travel is unreliable at the best of times, yet the mana-gems in this room should be enough to use for a proper jaunt. My Realm has a respectable library if you can read and wish to stay there for your time in this universe. I promise I'll give you whatever other rewards I believe to be a fair trade for freeing me, likely starting with inoculation against the more common diseases."
"I don't know what that word means."
"Which one?"
"Inoculation?"
Delight's eyebrows twitch upward before quickly returning to normal.
"Introducing dead imitations of diseases so your body can safely learn how to fight them off. Have you never had that done before? Areas with an excess of Followers will sometimes even do it to livestock."
You shake your head. You're not even sure how that makes sense; if a disease isn't a threat, why would your body bother to learn how to fight it? If it is harmful, why not just take your chance with the original disease?
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Quite frankly, yes. You could be a walking plaguebearer if we don't take proper precautions. Now, could you please free me already? If nothing else, you should know I want to come with you. Betraying you would be rather counterproductive with that in mind, wouldn't it?"
"You said an obvious first. What else?"
Delight cranes her neck to look back at the ant-infested crystal.
"Ant bites. Your Elementals devouring the mana-gems and getting too powerful for you to control. Needing to save one of the gemstones for me to use for the Jaunt Array. The hatred of Gaea's local High Priestess if your involvement is discovered, which I will endeavor to avoid. Temporary nausea from being transported to and from my Realm. A mandatory day spent in my Realm until I'm positive you won't be a walking plague rat. Resummoning and rebinding your Elemental posse unless you know how to modify a Jaunt Array to inexpensively bring them along."
You doubt the mass resummoning would be a problem; they'd still be in the same dimension, if not the same Realm. A day of glorified imprisonment wouldn't be so bad if you had access to Delight's library or her own store of knowledge.
You may vote for both "ask more questions" and "free/don't."
[] Ask more questions before you decide on whether or not to release Delight.
-[] Write-in
[] Free Delight.
-[] However, tell her you want a set of rewards YOU think is fair for saving her from indefinite imprisonment. Didn't she say madness was a concern for this sort of thing?
[] Admit you still don't trust Delight enough to let her go.
-[] Head upstairs.
-[] You'll be back if you can find some other sources which verify what she's said, OK?
[] Write-in
