"I am playing a game, Jarlaxle Baenre, with all the worlds you have dreamed of as a prize for the winner. I have every confidence in my ability to win, but I have a weakness: I am incapable of deception, and most of those who are attuned to me lack skill in this area. You are a fascinating exception to that rule."
The use of his house name, in conjunction with the fact that it came out of a face he didn't recognize, was enough to put him on edge, but the elf just smiled instead, spreading his hands.
Guard was up.
"So you have found me out so quickly. I'm humbled and curious as to how you are aware of something like this."
"There are many more rules for those such as I than for those such as you. My co-competitors represent rival archetypes, different visions of what the World should be like. There are seventeen of us at present. I win if my archetype is ascendant. What I require of you is... optimism, vitality, joy, enthusiasm, and confidence. Approach every challenge in that spirit and I will grow stronger."
"You make it all sound so terribly easy to me." After all, he was nothing if not optimistic and confident. And did he not seek to spread around a little joy?
"What a splendid game this is then, if this is what I must do to win."
"You will face others who represent different ideas. Illusion, mystery, apathy, arrogance. Some of them may, at times, be hostile, although most of us prefer to avoid that."
"If I win, I will give my representatives the power to Travel without our aid, and trust you to ferry your companions safely home. If others win... there are sixteen different outcomes, and not all of them have revealed them, or revealed them truthfully."
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Guard was up.
"So you have found me out so quickly. I'm humbled and curious as to how you are aware of something like this."
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He'd sure like to have it.
"And I've resonated with you somehow? This is a curious situation! What exactly are the rules of this game? And who else is competing?"
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"What a splendid game this is then, if this is what I must do to win."
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"And what will happen of you, if you win? And of the others? And of your game pieces."
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