"Understood. I can escort him to a holding cell. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"Do you want me to repeat what I remember also from the confession or is it inadmissible?"

"I'm not familiar with the spell. Do you have any reason to think it might induce someone to confess falsely?" It seems very unlikely that the Goddess would give out a spell to elicit false confessions, but in principle it could be a side effect of a spell with a more useful effect.

"It handles like a more intense Qualm and is from that same domain. The incantation was forced repentance. It did have a duration which expired less than a minute later and he continued to corroborate his confession afterwards. I do not have any reason to think that it would induce false confession."

She nods. "In that case, I would appreciate hearing a report of what he confessed to, we don't have a policy against using information gained through similar means. I do think it's worth exercising caution about information that implicates others, in case it doesn't actively prevent false confessions."

"He did not give any names. Or his own, for that matter." Blai rattles off what he confessed to, missing some details like how long ago the potions thing was.

He stares at the floor. "All of that's true, Commander."

She nods. "Anything else I should know?"

"I'll tell you whatever you want, I don't know all their names but I know some of them—"

"—Apologies, I was asking the Select. I will have questions for you as well, but those can be handled in a few minutes."

"In case something like this comes up again what are my actual guidelines with respect to questioning and detaining suspicious people on the streets?"

"You are permitted to detain and question anyone that you have reason to suspect of committing a crime. You may question anyone you suspect of having witnessed a crime, but as a matter of policy we strongly discourage members of the Eagle Watch and those working with us to detain or arrest people simply for being uncooperative witnesses, if you don't suspect them of committing a crime beyond not cooperating — it would be within your legal rights to arrest them, but we believe it to be generally counterproductive to do so. Eagle Watch policy is that 'being a tiefling' is not considered reason to suspect someone of committing a crime, in the absence of any other reason to think that they were. Interrogations under magic are supposed to be done in front of a second witness when at all possible, but it sounds like that wasn't feasible in this case. We have special procedures surrounding Chelish military forces."

She goes through them. There are some laws that are enforced against them, Chelish forces can't show up in Kenabres and murder Mendevians any more than a Mendevian could show up at a Chelish fort and murder someone, but they enforce a much more limited set of laws, they provide notice to Cheliax before imposing punishments on members of their delegation, and anything members of the Chelish army do to each other is handled as an internal matter.

"Cultists do occasionally attempt to impersonate Chelish forces, and separately Chelish troops do sometimes defect to the demons. You are permitted to question people to determine whether they are in fact legitimate and current members of the Chelish military, but if you have any uncertainty you should err on the side of treating them as if they could be. The same general principle applies to Lastwall's forces, but there are some offenses they've specifically requested that we still prosecute." She lists them. 

"A fellow the other day did claim his pentagram was an Asmodean one but he did not have an understanding of how to impersonate an Asmodean priest beyond that."

Nod. "If you're completely certain they're a demon cultist you can treat them as such, it's just that if there's any room for doubt it's much worse to accidentally execute a member of the Chelish delegation than to take extra time handling someone who's really just a Baphomite."

"Understood. Do you have a spare bit of rope or anything, I keep improvising."

"Yes, if you'll accompany me on the way to the holding cells we can stop by our equipment storage on the way."

"Thank you, Ser." He'll go with her.

Now he has a coil of hemp rope.

The woman he cast the Mark of Justice on is no longer in the holding cells, but there are still a few others still left. One of them is praying. A couple of them are trying to sleep. One of them spits at Irabeth's feet when she walks past.

Blai remains quiet for the sleepers. They need sleep to make good decisions, this he knows.

Irabeth gets the prisoner squared away in a cell and bids goodnight to Blai.

"Goodnight, ser."

Back to the tavern.

"Good evening!" (It is getting awfully late for a wizard to still be awake.) "I have been surveying the inhabitants of this tavern on their knowledge of topology. Would you like to see my results?"

"...I would hear a summary that doesn't take longer than getting my armor off." He begins that process.

"Overall, their knowledge of topology is even more dismal than their knowledge of theology! The vast majority of them were unable to explain even basic principles of topological equivalence..." She is happy to explain her results for as long as he'll listen. 

"Do you want help getting out of your armor?"