Iomedae looks around for privacy and then realizes 'looking around' is a very stupid amount of precaution to take -

"Let's bring them supplies now, and proceed on the assumption they're real and Arazni constrained in what to do about it, and - there's something important I want to tell you but I don't think this is really the time."

"OK. Suppose they're real, what does that mean we should do -

...first priority I guess is learn everything they know about how Menador became - will become - might become - you know what I mean, becomes Asmodean. And then I guess everything they know about how the Crusade goes if that's not related...

First actual step is probably...getting them somewhere secure? Do you have the authority to arrest them? Did you agree not to, I don't remember...?"

"I said I intended to present the situation to the Doux. The situation is puzzling enough that it seems reasonably likely I can persuade the Doux to handle it however it is good to handle it if we wind up confident there's a good way to handle it, even moreso if we wind up persuaded it's what Arazni wants. I did not specifically represent that I wouldn't arrest them sooner but I'd prefer not to - they were trying not to arrest us, when they weren't sure which world it was -

I don't think I have the authority to arrest Narikopolis's son. I definitely have the authority to arrest an orc for claiming to be Narikopolus's son. I'd really be happier to get some more specific authority first, if they're not going to make things worse..."

"I think executing them is a bad way to handle it and letting them go free is a bad way to handle it and I don't really know what a good way would be besides - something that gets them away from situations where they're likely to be executed or escape."

"It seems like - the kind of thing that almost has to be some error, like you could show them Hell on a scry and they'd go 'well, nevermind', but I think people mostly don't work like that and especially not when they're feeling cornered. 

And without Arazni's support I don't think we can take them on crusade. It'd be very bad to have Asmodeans, if we don't have assurance He's not up to something.

I tried talking to them. Maybe you should try."

"I can prepare another tongues. In my fourth. But I'm not very persuasive."

"I find you very persuasive when you are right. It's a good trick, being right."

"I'm not any more right about Hell than you are! I think."

"I would be surprised to learn we disagreed about Hell in any important ways! I guess maybe what order to evacuate it relative to Xovaikan.

But - I think there's a sort of person who does not want to be persuaded, and will back away when they sense you trying to persuade them, and expects paladins to be opposed to their religion, and - maybe you have a better angle. Certainly your continued employment does not directly depend on you sharing Aroden's opinions of Hell, that counts for something."

"I'll try."

Guim is sort of unclear on whether they're expecting to be able to shelter in town tonight, so he's working on building a lean-to in case they're stuck out here and it rains. It's not big enough for everyone, so it's pretty unlikely that Guim will be the one who ends up using it if it gets used. He mostly stops being annoyed about this when Ferran and Oriol start helping him build it. 

Ivet is tending to the horses, who have worked quite hard. Under normal circumstances they would probably want to alert another party to help them transport the centipede corpses - they hadn't expected to kill anything that large, but they do have edible meat and the carapaces are very hard, suitable for fine armor if you handle them right.

These are not normal circumstances, and she has a very bad feeling about the town. It's better to know where the corpses are than not, and have something to trade that they're not especially attached to, but it seems likely that only a few of them will be able to enter the city without causing problems. 

One of those people is Ferran, who of course they do need to strengthen. Perhaps it's good fortune for him after all, to have something necessary that demands that he and not Carles do it, but Ferran seems unlikely to see it that way.

Chosen Vallvé takes a few minutes to find and clear a spot to kneel, says his preparatory prayers, and then begins giving his report of their circumstances to his master.

At which point a wizard nearby breaks invisibility and the imp on his shoulder chirps 'your Lord commands you come with us' and the wizard reaches for his hand.

Huh. Well, under the circumstances that seems pretty likely to be genuine. He accepts the teleport.

He leaves. 

"What just -"

Carles has drawn his sword without forming any firm ideas about what to do with it. No point now.

"Iolanda?"

" - I'm sorry, I have no idea. Obviously it indicates that the situation is - of personal interest to Asmodeus -"

She almost instinctively checks her belt pouches for devil's blood. She has it with her, of course. It's now their only independent source of healing.

"Or to someone else."

"But why take the Chosen, then? I suppose if some - fairy, or something, thinks he's easier to manipulate by impersonation, but I don't - augh."

At the gates of Kantaria Iomedae can barely see the men at the edge of the forest, and is only half attending to them, but she doesn't miss a man appearing, or one vanishing. 

"- cleric's gone," says Iomedae, jumping onto her horse, immediately furious with herself but not in a way that proposes an obvious better action - she could have incapacitated him alive, maybe???

" -oh. We should've - " stopped him, somehow, but she didn't think to because she didn't really believe that they were important instead of delusional and she was hoping Arazni would tell her what to do -

"What the hell just happened?" she demands as they crest the hill, which probably, come to think of it, answers itself.

He still has his sword out.

"I don't know. A wizard with an imp appeared and told Vallvé to come with them, and they teleported out a moment later. He didn't say anything to the rest of us."

"Just - out of nowhere, he didn't use a scroll of sending or anything -"