The name's Niles. I'm the resident thought extractor. Not got much to say to you just yet. Still uncertain whether I interrogated you before the Templars exiled you. Would put us quite at odds, wouldn't it? But I interrogated so many, I hardly remember their faces anymore. If I don't remember you, it probably means you broke easily...
I know a thing or two about figureheads using mystery to evoke faith. It's how they deceive the masses, you see. One can never find fault with a god if one never meets him! Who, then, spreads all these tales? A Karui told me that Tukohama cut Kitava's face with a tooth. I asked him, how do you know about it if you weren't there for it? So, he stabbed me.
That's what you'll get if you start asking around about the Boss. A stabbing. Only - unlike Karui - this knife won't come from the front.
It seems only I am privy to the truth of this world. Innocence doesn't exist, Sin doesn't exist, and the Templar faith is a lie. You can tell them I said so. I'll go down shouting it! And the Karui and Maraketh gods are probably fake, too. It's all a scam, you see. A convenient belief system to keep the rabble in check. The Karui way, Maraketh tradition, the Templars' militant faith, and the Azmeri—well, they're fine actually. Inoffensive. You won't catch me living in the forest, though.
I don't know how you convinced a city full of people that you slew some sort of rampaging god, but I've seen artists' depictions of Kitava's supposed rampage. There is no way that the ground could support a being that large. Did you see the footprints? Clearly fake, carved by Templar artisans to deceive the populace. The river of blood was accomplished with diluted crimson mud from the Plains of Vastiri. It's really quite simple when you think about it.
As for your own experience, there are records of gasses seeping from the crypts that once caused a whole village to believe they were fish. They flopped on the ground, gasping for air. They even died! Have you considered you may be a victim of a similar occurrence?
When I was younger, I served next to some very powerful men. I once caught a stray thought from the High Templar Venarius. A simple picture, nothing more, possible to perceive only because of his overwhelming fear at that moment. I have to assume he was insane, because the image he had in mind was that of a single beleaguered jewel adrift on an ocean of madness. If that was how I saw the world, it would almost be a comfort to believe in gods. At least then there would be somebody who could stand against the tide... but even then... against what I saw... Just an old man's idle fears. Pay no mind.
Ah yes, Exile, I was hoping you would aid me. I have a very simple mission: to prove that gods do not exist. Yes, yes, I know that you believe you have faced them yourself, but I am intent on proving the fraud. You are a victim, like many, of an elaborate facade painted for you by clever con artists. In order to expose them, I shall need a certain piece of equipment, the Thought Extractor. Forced confessions shall save us from mysticism!
I immediately performed my tests with the device we stole, of course, but the random people I accosted with the Thought Extractor truly believed divinity is real. I don't know what else I expected. Instead of finding the truth, all we did was dig up the false narrative they hold dear. In order for this plan to work, we would have to force confessions out of the ones responsible for the divine facade, but if we knew who they were, then we wouldn't need their confessions! The Thought Extractor is useless! We shall continue our search for the truth some other way.
Interrogation is a flawed art, as we learned together, but now I know of a better method to prove that divinity is false. I have learned the location of a renowned Azmeri artefact known as Viridi's Finger. It supposedly causes enormous plants to grow from almost any soil. Once it is in our possession, we can prove once and for all that Viridi's Finger is a fake and expose the liars for what they are. Prepare yourself, Exile!
Hmm. Viridi's Finger did indeed cause enormous plants to grow. You know what that means, don't you?
We've fallen into one of their traps. Clearly, someone has created this to fool us. I don't know whether it is some unknown species of plant, or some sort of hypnotizer, or perhaps some sort of illusion machine, but Viridi's Finger is too dangerous. I shall destroy it, so that no one else will ever be fooled by it again!