He has the Paladin holding the books for them.  He gesture to each book.

"This booklet is the standard handbook rules of war the teach all their literate soldiers and have all their soldiers learn at least the basic outline of.  It covers illegal orders, and is fairly short, but it is intended for common soldiers, not high circle wizards or sorcerers who might have a few spell remotely comparable to your potential destructive power." 

The booklet does indeed look short, they could probably get through it in under an hour if Jon reads at a constant pace.

"This book is a set of guidelines and procedures for higher circle casters, including those directly part of the army, and those on some form of contract as mercenaries, adventurers, or hired on a per-spell-basis.  Lastwall doesn't want anyone working for them to have to risk their alignment and their procedures are definitely adequate to avoid an Evil alignment in the course of working for them.  The chapters on large scale destructive magic are at somewhat relevant to your capabilities, enough to potentially be a useful guide on what policy you would need to avoid counting as Evil."

The book is thicker, but they could probably get through a chapter within an hour.

"This book is a much denser treatise, covering many case studies, Commune results, consultation with Outsiders, moral reasoning, analyses of magic, and theological reasoning, all aimed at a definitive study on ethical uses of magic in warfare.  The author is often hesitant to pronounce definitely correct policy and instead usually frames things in terms of tradeoffs in moral and systemic alignment versus achieving military goals.  As you can see, it is a much longer read, but I might be able to find some subsection relevant to you to start with?"

The last book is very thick and hefty.

"What about guidance for field commanders and operations planners? At the risk of repeating myself, magic is not the most destructive force available to the Germanian army, and my or any one mage's personal abilities are rarely decisive in an encounter and never in an actual battle. ...arguably excepting the times I used the cursed orb, but I never achieved a power output combined to an actual artillery barrage. And I'm - not used to thinking of the rules of warfare as being different for mages, although that might be because my second Earth has not had aerial mages for long enough to develop such rules."

"As a mage, but I started out as an aerial artillery spotter. Later I commanded a battalion of forty-eight aerial mages each with an orb as powerful as my own, which I helped form and train, and my decisions while in command surely had more affect on every conceivable outcome than my personal use of magic. By the time of my abduction I commanded a combined-forces unit of upwards of a thousand men, including infantry and tanks."

"Normally I would of course start by learning the rules for common soldiers before considering the officers who must command them, but we are pressed for time and I'm not sure the second step after that should be something specific to local mages working with tools very different from the ones I have."

"Lastwall has books written specifically for field commanders, sorry I did not realize I should get one.  I could leave to go get one if you would guess that is the area where your procedures most likely differed from Lawful Neutral or Lawful Good procedures?  The book on guidelines and procedures for high circle casters does cover operating as a commander of them, but it isn't its primary focus."

"I don't know where my procedures differ, it's just that - most of how I got anything done, including harming or helping other people, was by commanding soldiers and making plans and decisions as a commander, so that might be relevant. I don't know if the handbook for powerful mages is relevant, unless Pharasma's rules care about magic - does the means matter or only the result? I should probably start with the rules for individuals if we have time, but we'll need the rules for commanders when we're back in Kenabres." How much time do they have before the teleport back, with all this going back and forth?

There is at least half an hour still to go before it will be time for the teleport.

"I would say mostly the result, except insofar as the magic may have less obvious or hidden effects.  For example, making mindless undead, such as animating skeletons, may seem to the ignorant like no worse than simply desecrating a corpse, but actually even mindless undead can indirectly cause suffering to the soul who originally had the body in their afterlife.  I digress, I don't think your magic is likely to have esoteric harmful effects, so it is mostly a matter of what mundane effects your spells have.  Anyway, I should have time to get an appropriate book on ethics and rules of war for commanding officers without delaying the teleport.  I can leave to do that now, unless you had any other requests?"

Tanya is so tired of having to come up with ideas. She doesn't understand anything about the system she's operating in, she's taking the Iomedaens' word for literally everything because she can't leave and ask anyone else or the cursed wound will kill her and she's already offered them everything she has and can do but they still want her to tell them how to solve this problem that is fundamentally in their domain of expertise -

There are no excuses in life. Excuses are for other people, not for the oncoming train. Even if the conductor is a reasonable man, the trains cannot be stopped for the benefit of an individual. ...this analogy is not working. Why is she wasting precious time on stupid thoughts?! Focus, Tanya!

She can't propose a better plan for curing the cursed wound or being acquitted by Pharasma, she must ask others for suggestions. The Iomedaens are already asking their allied powers and individual actors for help, she's not needed there except to set terms. And she doesn't know anyone they don't, so there's nothing she can do...

...actually.

"No requests, but two more thoughts occur. Could other 'gods' help, and should I - if left with no better choices - pray to one of them offering... something better than this, or are you fully covering that angle?"

"Secondly." When bargaining, you must sweeten the pot beyond your individual offer. Tanya is not a private person, she is a cog in a great and terrible system, and she really should have kept that in mind. "My own understanding of technology is, like any one person's, very limited. The knowledge that can be gained by studying my orb is a drop in the ocean compared to the total sum of knowledge of Earth-2's civilizations. Whatever the truth of alternate realities, we have proof of concept of people and objects being brought from there, and we know who knows how to do it. I put it to you that the highest priority of your alliance should be capturing Areelu Vorlesh, or whoever really captured me. I believe that I can be of aid in that endeavour, and that resources should be correspondingly spent to keep me alive and able to help commensurable with the true stakes."

There is one option... he is unsure if Tanya will actually think of it as better.

"I don't think any major Gods have a better method for helping you with your afterlife situation and alignment than an Atonement.  But... there are several minor Gods which could offer reincarnation.  As in, when you die, instead of being judged in Pharasma's court, you would be reborn as a baby to someone on this planet.  The would mean losing most of your memories, I think you implied in the reincarnation you previously experienced you retained most of your memories.  And to be sure you had correctly applied for and been accepted for such a reincarnation in advance of dying, you would need to consult with one of their clerics, and as far as I know they tend not to have many clerics on this continent, we would need to locate one from the continent of Vudra."

He considers her offer.

"Soul-trapping Areelu Vorlesh is a high priority target.  …I don't think taking her alive is doable, even with as much valuable knowledge as she has.  I will note to anyone considering taking her alive the value of the technological knowledge she might have obtained while capturing you."

He waits to see if Tanya has anything else for him.

...Tanya thought she was being clear but apparently even that was too roundabout?

"Areelu's value as a captive isn't any technological knowledge of Earth she may have gained herself, it's her technique of transporting people from Earth here. If you can get some world-class scientists and engineers, think of how much you could learn! Morgethai would pay just to get a look at my orb; I could introduce her to the man who designed it!" (This might in fact be a terrible idea, but how much damage could Dr Schugel really do on a planet full of people granted magic by Beings? Anyway, Tanya's concern is to motivate them to go above and beyond to keep her alive so she can make the introduction.) "I was transported with my belongings; what if you could get someone with technical textbooks, an encyclopedia...?" Earth might be left worse off if aliens keep stealing its best engineers, even if they don't invade outright, but Tanya's life is paramount.

"It is very possible Areelu's method of travel might be something unique that depends on her.  You didn't explain in detail earlier... what can you recall about her abducting you from Earth?"

Tanya casts back in her new-found memories. "Very little. It felt in retrospect like a teleport - of course I had no reference for it at the time - except impossible to resist. I think I saw her for a brief moment after that, but the next thing I remember is coming to in captivity. I assume she would have been ready to incapacitate me on arrival."

"However unique her method is, if she's captured and faces execution surely she could be convinced or forced to teach it or use it on our behalf. Or the method reverse-engineered from her knowledge and memories. With all the magic available here and considering the stakes, surely that is worth trying?" In other words, with all your profligate mind-reading and mind-control, how could a captive mage possibly keep her 'unique' method a secret?

"Powerful spellcasters are harder to mind control and mind read, there is a common factor to resisting them referred to as 'Will', literally translated Will.  It isn't impossible, for example you can curse down the will of an enemy spellcaster... but that would be assuming Areelu Vorlesh doesn't have any unique tricks to resist control or divination, which she might.  It depends how long she would need to be kept alive... if it is 'just' a novel wish wording, that knowledge could be obtained quickly, if it is a novel spell, perhaps she could be forced to scribe it on a scroll and that shouldn't take more than a few days, which is still a big risk given her likely capabilities.  If it is a unique ability she has induced in herself, reverse engineering the method may not be doable in the first place."

He considers.

"There is another problem I should make you aware of in the event you do manage to acquire the capability of alternate reality travel.  There are some divine factions that would strongly oppose mortals having that capability just on general principle.  I think the Inevitables,  literally translated as Inevitables, a Lawful Neutral faction, would be a particular problem.  You would want to, at a minimum, keep experimentation with such a capability warded in a way to make divine observation harder, such as in an isolated demiplane under a mage's private sanctum.  And of course other divine factions, such as Hell, would oppose anyone not aligned with them gaining such a capability."

...of course other factions don't want you getting such a capability and that's exactly why you need to get it first - no, this is not a war and she can't treat it as one even if it would be extremely convenient for her personally. But from another angle -

"I don't know to what extent this is better modeled as a tacit non-proliferation agreement it might be wise to hold to in order to avoid open conflict, versus a race between the factions to be the ones who'll get their hands on it first. Remember that others may already know about Areelu's achievement or may learn of it later. She herself might bargain with the secret to gain allies if she feels endangered. Just as she can sell her knowledge of my orb she might sell access to Earth, or even just release one or both anonymously to create chaos in the avoidance of pursuit. I won't presume to judge what's best, but I do want to note the immense potential upside." Tanya doesn't want to push too hard and give the appearance of giving biased advice; one should be either wholly impartial or very openly partial.

"I will keep that in mind.  I should note Inevitables are Lawful Neutral, it is possible but very difficult for a mortal to negotiate with them.  You might be able to work out an arrangement limiting your ability to use alternate reality travel to some restricted amount or restricted way they find relatively more acceptable in return for them not working against you about that issue."

"Should I go look for more books now?"

At least someone around here understands that laws are not for negotiating with duly noted.

"Yes, please."

The half hour passes quickly.

Jon, Sorcha, and a group of various other people all arrive at around the same time.

Sorcha addresses Tanya in her native language

"I should explain this sort of teleportation procedure..."

Teleport can normally only transport a small number of people, so several people will be going into a bag of holding.  Importantly, there is only enough air for around ten minutes, so they will need to teleport quickly once the people load in, and help them exit quickly once they complete the teleport.  Their is around a 1 in 25 chance the teleport doesn't take them to their target destination, the procedure in this case will be to immediately attempt another teleport.  If that teleport also fails to take them to their target destination they will get everyone out of the bag and figure out what to do from there.

"...We should get you healed up before we start loading people in the bag, if you will step out of the antimagic field we have lots of healing ready."

A 1 in 25 chance of not teleporting doesn't sound like a big deal compared to the 24 in 25 chance of instant long distance travel. That is such a technology. And crawling into an extradimensional bag is, other than being conceptually weird, not actually inconvenient on the scale of the things Tanya has had to do. Honestly, this isn't even as terrible as one of Dr. Schugel's rockets.

Tanya braces for pain and steps past the yellow line out of the field.

Everyone has their healing readied, so Tanya only has to suffer for under 3 seconds before the Wound is down to a tiny trickle, a tiny itch of pain, and a persistent insistent pull.

Sorcha clarifies that Tanya will stay outside the bag, they don't know if it might interact with her curse.

The procedure for loading into the bag seems well rehearsed for the most part.  It unfolds into a 3 foot by 6 foot opening, with about the space of a closet inside, and 5 people, including Jon, squeeze together inside.  Ser Abban, Tanya, and one other person will be outside the bag with the teleport.

They hold hands, and with a tug, Tanya finds herself inside the room of another building.  There is immediate relief in Tanya's wound, the trickle of blood has stopped, the pain is gone, and the pull is rapidly fading away.

"This is the Kenabres Cathedral."  Their teleporter announces.  He begin unfolding the bag and helping everyone out.

Long-distance transport is the foundation of civilization. In this one regard these people are ahead of even Earth-1. If they weren't shackled by their 'gods', what technological wonders might they build? But equally, the dangers of a war fought with the weapons of either Earth added to teleportation are immense. Tanya can only hope a way can be found to import the good without the bad, in either direction. Even if her life was not at stake, the cat is out of the bag now; repeated contact with other planets offers too much value to expect everyone to cooperatively refrain.

Is there someone here she should report talk to besides Jon? Is Terendelev there? For that matter, did she get a confessor assigned?

A middle age man in chain mail exiting the bag addresses her.

"Von Degurechaff?  I am Select Finn Thun, I've been selected to serve as your confessor for the immediate term.  Theologian Rosin Agnew-" he gestures to a young woman "- will be assisting me."

"I understood there was possibly some urgency?  Should we find a confessional room?"

Tanya is still mentally adjusting to operating in a context where a 'theologian' is a empirically-grounded engineer who can be profitably consulted by private individuals. She has to remind herself to think of him as a legal advisor specializing in the proceedings of an abstruse foreign court, not a social-revolutionary-wannabe-philosopher calling for greater obedience to the correct interpretation of a holy book.

"I look forward to working with you. We'll need to ask for a room more secure than an ordinary confessional, I don't know how much you've been briefed - Jon, do you know who we should talk to, will there be guards posted again and so forth? And will you be joining us, at least first?"

"The confessional we had earlier was actually under a Mage's Private Sanctum, and that is sufficient against divination, although I do not believe it was overall sufficient against all the approaches of a dedicated adversary... I do not think this city will have anything as secure as Lastwall has."

"I will stay with you, I can help with some communication issues, and I have some useful abilities for various contingencies."

Another man answers "I'll ask about additional guards, and we can have our paladins and our wizard help guard you as well."  Their wizard apparently only has illusions prepared for the day, but they needed him anyway for another spell as part of some complicated combination of spells they've worked out.

Ser Abban gives a firm nod at that.  "I don't have any spells left for today, but I do still have all my smites and my sword bond."