"They do not appear to be enchanted," which probably means they aren't but she's not confident, it seems like it should be possible in theory to hide enchantments on a person even if she doesn't know any way how short of mind blank. "I could try reading their thoughts but that only tells us if they believe it. You can check the priest?"

How Evil is the priest.

He's pretty evil. If he weren't an evil priest he would have to be really quite powerful, for the reading he has, but more likely he's just an evil priest who has reached second circle by adventuring.

(The two older half-orcs are faintly evil. No one else in the party is detectably so.)

Iomedae doesn't actually know how the strength of an evil cleric's evil aura relates to their strength as a cleric. If they were all dead she could make some pretty useful inferences from how evil they are. It has been her operating assumption for the whole conversation that if there were a fight, she and Alfirin would win, because they are wandering around on horse and therefore don't have a fifth circle wizard and in a fight among humans, the side that does have a fifth circle wizard wins.

But she should not kill them, though realistically Narikopolus probably will when the orc opens his mouth and accuses his house of bestiality. 

It's slower going, at the pace of merely mortal horses, but still not that long to the edge of the forest. She draws closer to Alfirin as they approach it. If it's not their Kantaria they should teleport out immediately. She doesn't even bother to sign this. It is obvious and Alfirin is definitely also thinking it.

If it's not their Kantaria she has no idea where to teleport to but a mishap is better than walking into a city run by Asmodean priests.

If it were her she'd try Oppara or Absalom, which have existed with identifiable landmarks for many thousands of years and are probably there even in alternate dimensions (though it sounds like Kantaria-run-by-Asmodean-priests isn't part of the Empire, which makes more sense than the Empire tolerating it...) but Alfirin can figure that out herself. 

They crest a hill and she realizes in a panic that she isn't sure how to tell Asmodean Kantaria from the city as it ought to be. There isn't a big yawning portal to Hell or church of Asmodeus or anything.

She's looking to see if the strangers are alarmed by the appearance of the city. Maybe they're expecting a different skyline or a moat of fire or Asmodean banners and skulls everywhere.

He's not expecting a moat of fire or Asmodean banners or skulls (not on the outside, anyway), but he is expecting a city with updated wall and gate construction. Really he's gotten tenser the closer they've gotten to the edge of the forest, since the snow has failed to reappear. The appearance of the city seals things, though. It's where Kantaria should be, but it isn't their Kantaria.

"Well, fuck."

Right. 

Iomedae is enormously relieved, of course, because it would have been very bad for the Crusade if she got herself lost in another universe and also because if the only signs of their story are that they confusedly believe it then maybe it's not real anywhere and Kantaria will never be ruled by Hell.

...also she can imagine how she'd have felt if it'd come out the other way, and that's how they feel, probably. 

She pulls up her horse. "Well," she says. "Welcome to Kantaria. Dealing with devils is illegal here, as across the whole civilized world. If you ...would like to understand why that is the rule, I am happy to try to explain it as it is commonly understood. I have not been asked to assist the Doux in enforcing the law in his territory, but I will assist him if so asked."

Presumably it's simply the same thing in reverse. They have some other state religion here and don't want anyone worshipping others. 

"We don't mean to cause trouble. We'd appreciate a rundown of the local laws, including what the religious limitations are and what constitutes dealing with devils."

He's surveying the nearest fields, when he can do so non-obviously. He's trying to determine if he can tell from whoever is out of the walls at the moment what the population breakdown is.

There aren't orcs, if he specifically means 'are there orcs'. There are humans, and on the road there's a caravan with some dwarves. But no one in the fields is visibly an orc, and at this distance it'd be visible.

"The faiths of Abadar, Aroden, Pharasma, and Erastil have an honored role in the health and growth of the Empire. Their priests can travel freely and they can be relied on to speak to the law, should you need to know it. Naturally a travelling priest may be ignorant of the specific concerns of a place where he visits, and must obey its lords or depart if their guidance does not comport with his own oaths. The Empire is very large, and the present war concerns peoples from all over the world, and the followers of Sarenrae, or the faiths of Vudra and Shu, may practice their faith so long as this does not involve breaking the law. And our inheritance is Aroden's; He wants men to become gods. His saints and those who ascended after Him we may worship, even if they are evil - it's probably a bad idea, usually, but it's not illegal.

The other Evil gods are the enemies of civilization. Asmodeus does not want men to be gods, because He wants all to be His slaves. With Urgathoa we war right now over the question of whether life should continue at all. The demon lords - it sounds like you understand already why a place would ban the demon lords. It is not permitted to be a supplicant to the enemies of mankind. It is not permitted to accept the powers of a priest from them. It is not permitted to make deals with them. It is not permitted to carry their symbols, or their unholy texts. 

I have never before encountered a people raised in a place where they were expected to worship Asmodeus but reasoning from the case of those who escaped from Zon-Kuthon - I think there is an argument that such people are the best equipped to warn others of the evils, and I would think it unreasonable to hold against anyone believing that which they were born with. But they'd have to figure it out pretty quickly, once they were out of Nidal."

It's not surprising to keep field slaves separate from the peasants. But even among freemen, there are usually at least a few men with visible orc blood in any sizeable group. Initial appearances suggest this Kantaria wants half of his men as neither gods nor slaves. You could say Asmodeus is winning, there, but this would be giving the entire sphere of theology more attention than Carles is used to giving it.

"What would you suggest a stranger from such a land do first?"

Iolanda sighs and takes off her jacket. She glares at their Chosen meaningfully until he at least puts away his unholy symbol and the worst offending pieces of his uniform.

There's not really any good reason to let him keep the symbol and it should probably be confiscated rather than just tucked away. But that can wait until they've brought this to the Doux' men, as long as it doesn't get overlooked.

"I think there's a case to be made for joining the Crusade, if you would choose life's side of it. I would say that - I recruit for our cause - but it will get you out of being damned and that's really the most important matter, and people are more tolerant of - oddity - from people who can fight, when there's fighting to be done. And the most provocative of your claims are less provocative far from those they have implications about. And there are orcs, on the Crusade." She hasn't met any, and certainly the overwhelming majority of the orcs fighting are fighting for the other side, but looked at from one angle that makes orcs on your side useful for espionage, doesn't it.

'I want to go right the hell back where I came from' is clearly a wrong answer here. If you imagine them as Nidalese refugees that makes some sense. 'I want to get someone else out' is at least comprehensible, if completely doomed in practice. It's possible that getting back at all is doomed in this case, though they should really try at all before giving up. 

The most provocative of their claims... right. This would be a very stupid imposter-with-a-claim plot, but no one likes those no matter how stupid they are.

"Coats of arms, too," he tells Ivet. "We don't want to confuse anyone, do we."

"There are no orcs here?"

She begins removing her armor. She hasn't said a word this whole time, and isn't starting now.

Ferran doesn't want to remove his armor, but not as much as he doesn't want to have to decide what to do about any of this.

"There's orcs in the mountains but we have not negotiated peace or trade with them." She doesn't really think they want peace or have anything to trade but it's probably more neutral to observe that this hasn't happened than to guess why.  "There are free orcs in the Empire but I wouldn't know precisely where to suggest you find them. I have not heard tell of any independent orc state, but the world is large and has many corners I haven't visited."

They're not orcs.

They're not exactly orcs, but it wouldn't be helpful to argue the point. She seems to see them as orcs, and is very generously giving them instructions on how to behave like law abiding citizens anyway, even though she's very possibly recognizing them as raiders from the mountains.

Gods, he's going to need to figure out if anyone else in his party can be trusted to have a successful conversation with anyone under these conditions.

"We haven't negotiated peace or trade with them in 4714 either," he says, instead, which maybe isn't that much better.

...well, that's to their credit, one shouldn't negotiate peace or trade with Asmodeans. It would probably not be diplomatic to say that. 

"I really think that it would be wise to come to the Crusade. If you know things about - a future that could have come to pass - then that's valuable, as we can learn from it and surpass it, and there's steady pay, and I think very very few of the men end up damned, however they started out."