"If you intend to assassinate me, Your Majesty, do it with your own sword."

WORLDWOUND TREATY says a voice in all their heads, very loudly and very angrily.

"Why, you know, I think that's the most convincing vision from Iomedae yet. A brilliant innovation, not demanding we pluck out our eyeballs."

No, that was her. Her. The nerve, of Her, to use her voice - now that's not exactly a reasonable way to feel about that, is it -

This is ridiculous and everyone involved should be deeply embarrassed and -

I'll handle it. 

No deal. 

Oh, I wasn't dealing, I was just telling you I'd handle it. Abadar paid me to already. Given our mutual interest in the success of the Fifth Mendevian Crusade.

He'd rather have Marit and Alfirin up north. Or wants Her to think so, or wants them to think so - 

"Who has a Teleport location in Drezen?"

"I do."

"Who else?"

"No one else. If poked with demons repeatedly, eventually paladins get serious about security."

The door opens. 

"Commanding protection as an ambassador under Article II, Section IV, paragraph 18 subsection c, I am honored to convey, on behalf of Her Magnificence Aspexia Rugatonn, High Priestess of Asmodeus in Avistan, the will of Hell, as it is communicated to you worms upon the earth, which is to say, you are about to be in violation of the Worldwound treaty.

Now, it's not illegal to be about to be in violation of the Worldwound treaty, but your honored allies have the right to station an observer if they suspect such a matter, that responsibility for a treaty violation may subsequently be adjudicated in line with the law."

"Interesting move, to show up quoting the treaty as your shelter while you accuse people of intending to break it."

"Well, see, I bet Alexeara's planning to imitate a bit of the statuary for whatever nonsense you're fighting over. But if you're trying to murder the treaty observers, I think all the paladins lose their paladin pants for that, no matter how ignorant of politics they've endeavored to be. And it'd be very funny if he had to stop you."

She looks familiar, in an unnerving way, but he can't quite place her and can't take the time to try right now because whatever else she is, she's right.

"She is correct. That I'd be obligated to stop you."

Really? Hell is saving them from this one?

(Why is Lilia the messenger, surely Hell has other messengers - maybe it's a message, they know who she is and what she's plotting - a threat, a reminder of what they have - Hell isn't involved at all and Lilia's acting on her own initiative, but no, that would be risking too much -)

"Well that's a shame. Does that change if we resolve our dispute so she has no fig leaf of an excuse for being here?"

"Have you considered not working for Asmodeus?"

"Have you considered working for Asmodeus? You won't be surrounded by half as many clowns and you get to hurt them when they wreck your things for no reason."

"I don't believe treaty observers have any right to talk."

"No one's going to be breaking any treaties. We had an argument, that's all. Not the first one in history, sure won't be the last."

Marit's eyes flicker impatiently to Galfrey. 

Fine, Galfrey will do the thing which is exactly as honorable or dishonorable and has exactly the same consequences but is technically permitted under the wording of the treaty. "In that case, Knight-Commander Aspex is removed from command of the Crusade for refusal to follow a legal order." Meaningful look at the self-appointed treaty arbiter sent by Hell (Hell has the budget for this but not the budget to send devils to participate in the Crusade?) and at Lord Cansellarion.

Oh, she's just paying patient attention and not saying a word. She's not a treaty lawyer, she's a treaty observer. Whether this is legal or not will be someone else's job to figure out later.

Why would you do any of this in front of the Asmodeans who are specifically here to spy on what you are doing on the orders of Hell. "Her Majesty has every right to remove the Knight Commander of the Crusade, for any reason or none," he says.

"Aspex, I name you under arrest on suspicion of treason and heresy. Will you surrender peacefully?" She does not look like she thinks there's any possibility that he will.

"Technically, as you just removed him from his post, you don't have jurisdiction over his person, and the Fane is outside of Mendevian territory so you don't have territorial jurisdiction either. You can't legally arrest him until we're back in Drezen any more than Regill here can legally arrest you." She doesn't know if it's true or not but it sounds plausible enough and buys time.

"By the laws governing the defense of the Wound, I have the right to arrest him for crimes committed on Mendevian territory," she says. "To shelter him from justice itself violates the treaty." She doesn't remember which subsection but she is damn sure that when Cheliax demands she hand over some guy who wanted to be part of the Mendevian army instead of the Chelish army she has to hand him over, and it works the same way here.

"Section seven, clause twelve." says Regill, unhelpfully.

It's kind of funny, that he does take this as a very different matter than ordering his people off into the Abyss when out of spells and low on healing. Galfrey clearly doesn't see it as a different matter at all, which is informative about whether this trial will last any longer than, or take any form different from, the first one he witnessed on arriving in this time, Hulrun with the Desnans.

But she's not dragging his men into it. And she's not pretending it's something that it's not. That is different. 

Which isn't to say he feels obliged to cooperate. But - if he fights his way out he shows Hell his hand, and he would in fact rather die than do that. Alfirin's here. It won't be permanent. 

"My existing will and testament, which I hereby revise, leaves all my possessions and all my resources to the Fifth Mendevian Crusade. I think I'll instead leave them to Felandriel Morgethai. de Litran, if you want to do litigation on my behalf, get out of this Abyssal place and go argue in Absalom that my insurance should pay out. It usually doesn't, for treason, but treason charges are rarely so transparently pretextual."

He drops his sword. 

That was unexpected.

She'll turn to one of her bodyguards "- Search him." Eyes are on everyone... they'll need to haul him back to hold a trial, but the first priority is getting him shackled. She has a pair of mithral manacles in her Bag of Holding, which ought to help with spellcasting, and then they can worry about arresting Daeran, who is almost certainly not going to go quietly...

(Another of her bodyguards will pick up the sword with tongs and put it into a Bag of Holding.)

Indeed he's watching this whole proceeding with disgust and fury. "I hope, Aspex, that you were not deceived by the shiny armor into concluding that paladins conduct fair trials."

In the midst of the unexpected assassination attempt turned - by the intervention of Hell! which should be presumed to have none of their interests at heart! - show trial he forgot the urgent request from Liotr. Don't give Daeran reason to believe he's at risk. The Other will emerge, and we can't handle it. 

Shit. There is no credible way to communicate that to Galfrey now. 

(His Bags of Holding don't open. His armor is very expensive and all of his gear is very nice. He does not resist its removal.)

"I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being determined, at trial, not guilty," Daeran goes on consideringly. "Except paladins. Really, it's a damning enough fact about the rest of us, that we're not paladins. In a just country, all nonpaladins would be killed, and there'd be only virtue as far as the eye could see."

Now there's someone who should maybe be talked around to Asmodeanism. Tyranny but it's honest! 

Marit is blindingly angry with himself and Galfrey and Hell and - mostly himself - 

Telepathic Bond. He can make the spell still so he can cast it in handcuffs but he can't make it silent at the same time; he mutters the incantation angrily to himself and hopes the paladin searching him doesn't recognize it. He targets Catherine and Alfirin both, separately.

If the powerful entity possessing Daeran believes it's under threat it'll kill everybody in this room. Well. It'll try. There's a lot going on, in this room. But I don't want to bet on us. Catherine should take Daeran's arm and leave for Absalom - they'll figure it's boots - I know it's a leak with Hell watching and I'm sorry -

Galfrey does not have the energy to put up with Daeran right now. It's a shame his parents had such a rotten kid.

"The trial will be fair," she says flatly. "Count Arendae, you are also under arrest."

The what now?

Hell already knows. Probably. 

She puts a hand on Daeran's shoulder and says "Don't resist, it'll be ok, somehow - " as if she's talking about the arrest while she conspicuously hides the fact that she's tapping her heels together as they teleport.

"Yes, I'd have arrested the Galtan first," she says dryly.

"I don't believe treaty observers have any right to talk." Okay, who else do they need to arrest?

"It's dangerous to teleport under these planar conditions! I must ask them if they experienced any interesting mishaps."

"Chief, what do you want us to do -"

"I"m not in charge of the Crusade, and none of you are obligated to obey me. But if you are asking a friend for advice, go back to your people and tell them to keep holding the wall against the demons, that's not any less important than it was yesterday."

Sosiel is confused and upset but not in a way where there's an obvious person to beat up about it (he knows beating up the Queen would be bad.)

Seelah is also confused and upset and is blinking kind of miserably at the place where Catherine and Daeran vanished.

A couple of Marit's men who are adventurers recruited from Absalom have drawn unhappily together in the corner, hands pointedly not near their swords, and are murmuring about their contract terms.

Ulbrig is glaring at Galfrey. "I can't think much of anyone who turns on their own men."

That is a very reasonable thing to feel but not to say, Ulbrig.

Yes, Galfrey knows that Aspex has been winning the loyalty of all his lieutenants while poisoning them against her. "Following the flight of Daeran Arendae and Catherine de Litran, it is clear that more than Aspex were involved with his expected treason. Bianchi, Nagy, Emerollo, you are free to leave." She waits for the sound of feet to die off. "Further, as your sorcerer and his ally have just departed, there is a significant chance the rest of you are under hostile enchantments." Also there are many other reasons to suspect they have unexpected powers, like the fact that there are a lot more succubi than there are adventurers with extraordinary grace and Boots of Teleportation. "Knight Seelah, please hand over your weapon until we can verify you are not enchanted." She has an inquisitor present (in the same armor as the paladins, obviously) and she looks Lawful Good, but appearances can be deceiving.

She looks at Aspex. 

They all need to STOP DOING THAT quite aside from all the other mistakes he should have talked to his people about having an OUNCE OF POLITICAL SENSE OF ANY KIND 

" - yeah, all right. Your Majesty, no one's - this is all a misunderstanding. Aspex wouldn't betray you." But she hands over her sword.

"Perhaps that may be so," she says, "but that will be settled by the trial. Sosiel, Ulbrig Olesk, Nenio, Lann, I regret I must place you under arrest as well. Should you be innocent, no harm will come to you." She should probably not be doing that with Seelah but she saw her throw smites around earlier this day, even if she was just under Bestow Grace of the Champion this is strong evidence she's Lawful Good.

"Is she lying," he asks Aspex.

"I think she is using a definition of 'innocent' under which no one is, but it won't go better if you fight, and I would prefer that you don't."

"Why."

"...we'd have won, I think, in the first place, but we wouldn't have won anything worth winning, and if you fight now you won't win, and will die, and if you surrender there is the possibility of negotiating something better."

"She's a dishonorable woman."

"It is often possible to negotiate with those. - I will find it personally upsetting to watch you die, and will consider it a favor if you don't."

"Hmmph." He turns to glare at Galfrey. "I have no sword for your vultures to steal."

"Your belt and amulet will be returned to you, should be found innocent," Galfrey says calmly. She's encountered too many succubi to be overly moved by people talking.

(Galfrey is fundamentally confused by Aspex giving in, that's totally unexpected, but it's a precached fact in her brain that letting people go when they surrender is not a winning strategy.)

Then they will surrender. Very unhappily. 

Marit is also confused. He didn't expect Galfrey to decide to kill him and that means he's missing something important but he's too angry to think what it is.

Well. One feature of the situation can be made to go away. "I think at this point there is no conceivable matter on which the Worldwound Treaty impinges, and it grants no right for signatories to watch each others' treason trials, though if Cheliax wants to propose an amendment to that effect I for one would be delighted."

"I am aware of no such provisions," she says, apparently regretfully. "...Alexeara, care for a Teleport to Vigil? It's on my way home."

"I will make my own way." And inform the precentors-martial that this somewhat familiar Chelish teleporter has a teleport location in Vigil, which is not in any sense objectively surprising but still useful information.

She nods, and turns, and departs in a swirl of really too much cloak.

"Seelah, ask Anevia to figure out how she got in. - not an order, just advice."

Seelah nods.

Then their magic items will be taken (yes, all of them) (yes, all of them) and they will be hauled back to separate Forbiddanced prison cells in Nerosyan under considerable guard. Seelah is not arrested but they would like her to walk in and out of a different Forbiddance fifty times without saying anything and also accept some Dispels.

Seelah can do that and to all appearances continues to be a paladin of Iomedae. 

Once she has - "your Majesty, I've been following the Knight-Commander since Kenabres. He's a Good man. I don't just mean that he's on our side, but he is on our side."

"He has no recorded history prior to his arrival in Kenabres, vast wealth, extraordinarily powerful magical items and the full resources of an adventuring party. He purports to be Lawful Good but no Good church or state has ever heard of him or his party. He has ordered the execution of three of the appointees I sent, as well as hundreds of Mendevian soldiers and one of his own companions." And Erastil confirms he is neither a celestial outsider nor a dragon, though of course the priest could have been secretly Dominated or another disguised cleric of Baphomet.

"- Camellia had killed people, she admitted it, to appease the spirits that gave her power. I don't like killing anyone but I'm not sure what you're supposed to do about that! Your Majesty."

"Did you Detect Magic during her testimony to see if she was Dominated?"

"...no. But when we found her in the caves, Aravashniel was dead at her feet, mauled something awful, and in her house we found all these horrible torture instruments. That's what got the Knight-Commander suspicious enough to look into it, I think..."

"Did he resurrect Aravashniel? If so, we could speak to him and ask him what he saw."

"No, your Majesty. We didn't have a priest who could raise the dead, this was back in Kenabres."

"But Aspex has a wizard who can teleport for him and considerable wealth of his own, and so if he had wished to resurrect Aravashniel he could do so. Had he done so, we could hear his testimony." Without that, he's a year too rotted to Speak to.

Seelah doesn't think this is a very reasonable argument but she hasn't got any business arguing with Queens and it's hardly going to be useful to just point out to the Queen of Mendev that you can't resurrect everybody even if you're very rich. "Well, I guess you should just ask him, but I'm sure he's got a good explanation for everything."

When he's not in the Abyss any longer Marit is - not less angry, not really - there's a lot to be angry about - but it's no longer an overriding white-hot anger such that every train of thought bends towards it, and while he's still exhausted and terrified it no longer feels quite as impossible to attempt to take some perspective on the whole situation. It is...very bad. The Crusade's probably over. He'll probably survive being executed but it'll be very expensive, most of his men won't, and he does not in fact trust Galfrey to try to obey his last will and testament with respect to the disposition of hundreds of thousands of solidi of magic items - 

- no, that's letting himself get bent back towards anger again. 

What does Galfrey believe about the world? What has she been observing, what have people been telling her - 

That her cousin, a claimant to her throne, is now sixth circle and the assurance he doesn't have political ambitions comes from an unknown quantity, a Knight-Commander who was conveniently in the right place at the right time to become an overnight hero, assume command of her army, and notice that a quarter of its command staff were demon cultists -

- oh. Well, when you look at it from that angle, he's been an idiot, hasn't he. 




He is under close guard. No one competent in a guard role at the Worldwound listens to anything that prisoners have to say, but - "If the Iomedean Inquisitor Liotr is in Nerosyan, or can be reached, he should be contacted as quickly as possible."

One of the guards will write something down without saying anything.

That's the first thing you train them to do, when some people around are succubi. Galfrey has as many as several flaws but she's not an idiot or she wouldn't have lived this long. He doesn't ask them for anything else. He does not possess the means to escape, at the moment, though Alfirin could get him out, if she decides it's necessary. She could also kill him. He doesn't think Galfrey possesses the means to make him betray her, but he's not sure and so she wouldn't be sure. 

Alfirin being free to figure this out is a comforting thought; she's better equipped to do it and so he doesn't need to. He just needs to figure out what to say, if the fashion in Nerosyan is the sort of trials where they let you talk. 

Galfrey will come to see him in the morning, after he's had time to sleep and eat. 

(What, Galfrey sleep and eat? No, she needs to learn that apparently her cousin Daeran is neither just a hedonistic libertine nor merely working for the demons, he's apparently the host of a nigh-divine undead spirit of mass murder! There's been calls made for his arrest and all of his lands and properties have been sequestered, but so far they haven't found him.)

"You are dismissed," she says, and the visible guards will file out. Then she'll turn her attention to Aspex.

These are not exactly good conditions for rest but eventually he convinced himself that what was the worst plausible outcome, a demon eating him? Which would speed his death by, what, twelve hours? 

At this he did manage to sleep, and eat since they took his Ring of Sustenance, and wash some of the blood and grime off himself with the water they gave him to drink. 

"Your Majesty."

"Aspex. If there is some defense that you wish to offer for your actions, now would be a good time to offer it."

"I'm not optimistic, actually. I can say, under a truth spell and without any particular quibbling over the phrasing, that I have to my knowledge never while in Mendev broken the laws of Mendev, nor those of the Crusade, nor acted contrary to her interests, nor collaborated in any way with any enemy of Mendev, nor plotted against you or yours, and so on, and so forth, but were I persuaded enough of a man's guilt this would convince me only that he had a way around truth spells. 

Did you get the chance to speak to Liotr?"

"I have."

"Can we speak in some language your guards don't speak? Celestial? Kelish?"

Galfrey raises an eyebrow. This is the Do You Assume That Just Because This Is One Of The Most Secure Places In The Country We Are Safe From Eavesdropping Baphomet Cultists eyebrow raise, not to be confused with the Do You Think I'm Crazy eyebrow raise, which in some respects it rather resembles.

There absolutely might be eavesdropping Baphomet cultists! They probably don't speak Kelish! "In that case I offer the obvious defense of my actions which I'm not going to say aloud," that with respect to Daeran I was following to the letter instructions from your Iomedaen inquisition.

An invisible miniature quasit with Comprehend Languages doesn't need to speak Kelish. "The conversation did not particularly enlighten me regarding your actions." He isn't on trial for failing to report to her, he's on trial for conspiring for her overthrow, executing her loyal men, et cetera, et cetera.

"...sorry, actually, let's back up. Which actions." He thought this was primarily about Daeran. If it's not - there is a pretty long list of things he genuinely did that you could interpret as suspicious were you so inclined, and an even longer list of things that a cultist could have reported to her as things he did.

"- You have spent the past year lying to me and my officers, executing your Mendevian advisors while promoting foreign adventurers, simultaneously stating under oath that you have no policy differences from Iomedae and stating that you consider her an enemy on the same level as Asmodeus." She already knows he can beat truth spells. "I can further add your support for Daeran Arendae, currently on the run with your second-in-command, though that is neither the sole nor primary reason for your arrest." Since he didn't go on the run until after the arrest took place.

"...I don't believe I've lied to you at any point, your Majesty. I brought in foreign adventurers because we need to win and the rest of the world has a stake in the outcome too and ought to be induced to spend their own blood and treasure on it. I executed a lot of people because they kept being traitors. On every occasion that a charge struck me as politically sensitive, I wrote Nerosyan about it, and delayed the execution in case you wished to send out your own team to investigate, request the prisoner be transferred to your custody, or otherwise intervene. If you were in doubt that any such trial was justly conducted or that the prisoner's guilt had been adequately established, I wish you would have spoken to them yourself; I can of course testify under a truth spell that I believe all of those trials to have been justly conducted, and believe everyone executed to have been guilty, and would have released them had I believed that they were not guilty of a capital crime.

If you wanted me to run a Crusade without executions - I don't really think it could have been done, but I would have tried if you'd asked. Nurah Dendiwhar tried to burn the camp down under cover of a night attack by demons. How did you want me to handle that?"

The charge wasn't bringing in foreign adventurers, it was promoting them. "Do you have any evidence of this other than that you Dominated her into saying so?" 

"I caught her in the act carrying alchemist's fire, in the middle of a burning section of our camp. Lann and Seelah were both present. I suppose I could have also Dominated her into actually burning the camp down, to which I can only say that, firstly, I didn't, no ally of mine did either, and any method of verifying the truth of someone's words you can think of will show it, and secondly that if this was a concern of yours I wish you had sent someone to talk to her yourself. Which I gave you the opportunity to do; I could have executed her on the ordinary schedule, if I didn't want the matter looked into too closely."

"I trusted you then." She cannot particularly remember why she trusted him, which is a very bad sign vis-a-vis Suggestions. In retrospect it should have been a bad sign that he took over right when Terendelev and Hulrun both died. "Then the casualties mounted. Harmattan? Karsalis? Were Terendelev and Hulrun's deaths both coincidental?"

She has genuinely convinced herself of this and she's going to kill him and be convinced the whole time that she saved Mendev from yet another demon plot, and if he leaves or Alfirin grabs him she'll probably kill the men who trusted him. 

Anevia reviewed nearly all of these cases with him but if he says that he'll just get Anevia arrested too. Ember talked to condemned prisoners all the time and would certainly have raised it to his attention if any of them had been enchanted into it - it's moderately entertaining what a bad witness Ember would make in any kind of trial - he has transcripts from all the trials, which is a lot of work that was done by very busy people entirely so that there could be a record for the purposes of justice and which Galfrey will just cheerfully disbelieve.

Hundreds of people witnessed Terendelev's death. 

Hulrun can run around Kenabres executing anyone who blinks wrong at him and the Queen of Mendev has nothing to say about it- 

There is no point in being as frustrated as he is. It is actively counterproductive, really. 

"Terendelev was killed by Deskari, your Majesty. There were hundreds of witnesses, including Hulrun, who has been Raised and who you can ask about it. Karsalis was a second circle cleric of Baphomet! Harmattan sabotaged my boots to try to kill me. As an act of loyalty to you, I think. I -

- I thought he was mad, and you wouldn't want that. I wrote you for guidance on how to handle it. ...your Majesty, if I were working against you and needed to get rid of some people, I'd have arranged for them all to die by demons, as many hundreds of other men did who you're not blaming me for, presumably because our casualties are lower than anyone expected they'd be. Someone dead of demons does not leave an entire week in which the whole game is up if you or anyone else happens to Detect Magic. That would be a careless and stupid way to commit treason - ordinary Dominates would be obvious anyway to everyone who spoke with them, are you further hypothesizing I have the good Dominate?" To Marit's knowledge the only people to have the good Dominate are two specific vampires who died a long time ago but if it happened twice it's probably happened since then. 

The specific Dominate tactic she thought he was using was Dominates to enforce confessions, which she hasn't banned because practically nobody in Mendev can cast the spell, and so the legal status of 'Dominate is illegal in peacetime and legal in wartime' held. 

'I'm not an idiot' is a genuinely fascinating argument under the circumstances, but there's only one thing she's confused by - "The good Dominate?"

"There is a version of the spell that can get through a Protection from Evil and that, with finesse by the caster, does not make the target obviously act oddly. I have only known vampires to do it, but I don't know if only vampires can do it. It caused me and a lot of other people a lot of trouble, a couple decades back. If you were going to try to conceal that someone was Dominated during their trial, that's the spell you'd want. I think the scheme you have attributed to me wouldn't work without it, as someone would say 'hey, that person is obviously Dominated at their trial, seems pretty suspicious'."

Galfrey will add that to her list of horrors that might or might not exist, but, since she lives next to the Worldwound, probably do.

... She thought that they were obviously Dominated. She had, indeed, thought that what happened was that they were Dominated at their trials. She's going to need to recheck the documents herself, isn't she, instead of relying on summaries. Which of the interviews does she have time to carry out herself?

"Yes," she says, simply. "Can you tell the stories of how you discovered the alleged treasons of Karsalis and Harmattan?" She wants a story she can check against the documents.

"Do you want me to unseal my notes so you can read my contemporary account, or do you want me to try to give it from memory?"

"What do you mean by 'unseal your notes'?" This sounds like a trap.

"I take notes on Crusade events. They are typically only a few sentences long each - I'm very busy - but it'll have a date and then a description of what happened. I keep these notes in a notebook, which was on my person when I surrendered. Little black leather-bound book, faint abjuration. The notebook is enchanted and opens to a password; a Dispel Magic opens it too, but if it's opened with a Dispel it'll be empty."

(He keeps another notebook, which was also on his person, but which has no auras of magic around it and looks blank,)

(He doesn't write the important secrets in the second notebook, either.)

That sounds like it's the sort of thing that has six hundred Explosives Runes and three Sepia Snake Sigils and a Symbol of Death all on the front page. "Assume your notes will not be available."

"All right. Harmattan - I own boots of Teleport." He bought them to explain why he could Teleport. "Once a week I loaned them out to Regill, who was commanding the emergency response team, and on this occasion he returned them with a charge left, three hours later, as we'd agreed. I happened to be out at that time, we'd taken one of the unusually powerful demons alive and I was involved in determining whether we could safely hold it to try to study what was going on with them. He left them on the command floor in Drezen, to which ten people have access. When I returned and put them on - I sleep in them, I worry they'll be stolen - I noticed something off about them. I took them to Nenio and asked her if they'd been damaged. After an examination she determined that someone had, indeed, swapped them for nearly identical boots; they were getaway boots, which take you only to the place to which they've been attuned. We did not test the place to which they'd been attuned but the obvious guess was that this was an assassination attempt.

 I called in Arsinoe for truth spells and questioned Regill, everyone on his squad and everybody who had leave to enter that room. Harmattan refused to answer my questions. I had him arrested, had him Dominated, asked what he'd done. He said that I was an enemy of Mendev, and a traitor, and that he'd been part of a conspiracy to kill me. Out of loyalty to you. He'd given his co-conspirator - which was an incubus serving Mutasafen, we think, though it was long gone - a detailed description of the boots, and gotten the doctored pair, and swapped them when he had the opportunity. Which he'd known he would, because I loaned out the boots regularly. It was a decent plan. Both auras of conjuration, of the same strength." It would have worked if I hadn't been a wizard. "I had the Dominate removed," pointedly, "and gave him the opportunity to clarify anything he wanted under Arsinoe's truth spell. He wanted very badly to clarify that he was loyal, to Mendev, to the Crusade, that he'd done it for you. There's a trial transcript in Drezen.

Karsalis wore a minor Cloak of Resistance, which was not especially notable but - an abjuration aura was what you'd be covering if you did have an Undetectable Alignment up, so I asked an invisible air elemental in my service to keep an eye on him, just in case. I did this for everyone in the army who had any magic about them that I hadn't accounted for. The air elemental reported that he prayed for spells in the morning. I had his quarters searched and there was indeed a pentagram among his possessions, which could technically be legal since we're tolerating the Godclaw apparently but which was certainly troubling. I had him arrested, had the Undetectable Alignment he was under dispelled, and he was Chaotic Evil and a priest of Baphomet. I had someone - Henrys, I thnk - mindread him for any confederates, but we'd already arrested the only people we could get off his thoughts. He declined a truth spell at trial."

Galfrey wants to know how the demons can afford getaway boots and how Aspex can afford to summon invisible air elementals. 

Actually, she can just ask that.

"... How can you afford to have a staff of sufficient invisible air elementals sufficient to follow everyone in the army with unexplained magical abilities?"

"One of the first things I did when I was appointed Knight-Commander was go to Absalom to see if the Church of Abadar could be induced to pay more for the Crusade. I know Abadarans and I know how to persuade them to structure financial instruments, and it seemed to me that they were probably underpaying, given how close the collapse of the Wardstone line seemed. I gave them a number of prized personal possessions as collateral, and I took out a loan at three percent annual interest." He says that like some adventurers talk about killing ancient dragons.

How in Aroden's name - oh no, he's just lying. "You will forgive me if I am somewhat skeptical of this achievement," she says.

"Of this, of all the things I've said? You can confirm this! They have their copies of the paperwork!"

Oh no, she's suspicious of all of this. "Which, one presumes, only you have the legal right to access." She's wondering if he is just a dragon and offered his hoard as collateral? He's apparently not a dragon, but nonetheless...

"I can give you permission to read the contract. I had what I think is a very clever argument, which is that the likeliest circumstances under which I'd fail to pay and the purchased magic items would be irrecoverable is the complete collapse of the Worldwound line, and if they confidently knew that that was about to happen, they'd spend notably more on the Worldwound - perhaps even another four hundred thousand Absalom pounds on the Worldwound - and therefore we ought to do all the calculations around risks that didn't entail the collapse of the Wound and use a different form of actuarial accounting for the actual full loss scenario. 

- the last war I was involved in, there was a great deal of wrangling over financing." 

Aside from the first and last sentences this is gibberish to Galfrey but she is good at keeping a poker face.

"I will want that permission." She pauses. "The last war?"

He ignores the question. "Her Majesty Queen Galfrey has permission to review the loan agreement that exists between myself, aliased Aspex, and the Church of Abadar in Absalom, for a twenty-year loan of four hundred thousand Absalom pounds. I don't know if they'll want it in writing. I think if you weren't a paladin they would. If presented some paper I'll write it. They may Send me."

"You will have paper."

"- It would be considerably easier to believe anything you said if there was any evidence you existed prior to your arrival at Kenabres."

"....that makes perfect sense. But. A scenario that ended up featuring quite prominently in those actuarial tables was that I get soul-trapped, and this is considerably easier to do to someone whose name is known." If you were actually an Iomedean paladin instead of just a nice-brave-person paladin...there's no way to say that diplomatically. "And my name is not the only information that would be conveyed by giving my name, right.

It's possible I'm being very stupid about this but I'm not going to change my mind while I'm a prisoner and can't discuss the merits with anyone I trust. Or put a headband on. Or - I don't suppose you have the good paladin aura." The one Iomedae had up full time, that actually erased fear rather than taking the edge off it. 

"I have a number." Right now she is not within ten feet of him, and relatedly does not have her sword drawn.

"I am like other people who aren't paladins in that I think more sensibly and more carefully when I'm not afraid, but I'm really not sure whether this is a mutual interest or just an interest of mine. Maybe when we stop discussing my defense of my deeds and move on to Drezen security handoffs it becomes also an interest of yours."

Galfrey's first instinct is to move within ten feet of him and cast Greater Aura of Courage. Her second instinct is that this is obviously wrong, because if she moves to within ten feet of him he might turn into some horrible monster with arms ten feet long and then kill her before her guards do anything. This happens altogether too often for her tastes.

"I can have someone cast Remove Fear," she says.

He looks very slightly surprised. Thinks about it for a second. "Thank you." It's not as good as the paladin aura but also comes with less strong associations of Iomedae which is probably a good thing. 

Galfrey will briefly walk out, leaving him without any visible guards!

Marit feels slightly insulted that she thinks that he'd think this was a good opportunity to escape. Obviously there are invisible guards. 

She doesn't think he thinks this is a good opportunity to escape! She thinks he might have already escaped and been replaced by a shapeshifting fiend that thinks this is a good opportunity to escape.

She returns with a serious-looking middle-aged person with no particular holy symbol.

Remove Fear.

"Thank you."

He closes his eyes and tries to think harder and let anger deflect him from one topic to another less. What can he prove, which doesn't require a trip to Absalom. Without dragging other people into it -

- no, that's probably a foolish constraint. She is not particularly likely to execute Good Mendevians serving in the Crusade for having also served him. Hulrun fell.  

"Anevia Tirabade helped me with the murder investigations and can describe them to you. The Select in Drezen did spiritual counseling for everyone executed. She spoke to them privately and would have been in a position to notice odd behavior - or magic, though I bet she didn't think to check them for magic. Ember sometimes assisted her. ...I didn't name them earlier because I was afraid you'd kill them too but on reflection I ...think you probably won't.

...you could scry the dead. If my account is true, they're in the Abyss, or gone. If it's false one assumes they'd be in Heaven."

This sounds like it might remotely be evidence. Not the scries, they're almost worthless, but the interviews might be useful.

"I would expect to find them in the River of Souls," she says. It's entirely possible they aren't, but even then that's not strong proof, because Malediction would do it and he could easily afford a lieutenant with a scroll or two even if he can't cast it himself.

Can she afford to take a day off to talk to the interviewees. Probably the Queen cannot. Probably she has to. She doesn't have Message, though, so though she could scry she would need to delegate any interviews.

...does judgment take longer these days? It probably does. He should have looked that up. There are too many things it would've been useful to know.

"Or you could ask Iomedae. You will notice I haven't disputed any of the heresy charges - you can probably have my head on heresy, if that's how you want to handle this - but I am very confident that She would've said not to do this."

"How old are you?" Galfrey asks.

"Why do you ask?"

She raises an eyebrow.

"Soul trials used to go faster. If you caught that I am moderately impressed."

"They did," says Galfrey, who had been adventuring for more than a decade when Aroden died.

That's not confirmation that she did catch that and that it's what inspired the followup question, but he tilts his head in a measure of respect anyway. "Why not ask Iomedae? You think Lastwall'd lie?"

Possibly, but she's more concerned that Iomedae might lie. She's goddess of winning, not honesty. If Aspex wants to be King of Sarkoris off of the backs of millions of dead Mendevians, she's probably in favor. "No comment," she says pleasantly. "Heresy is chiefly of importance insofar as it is strong evidence you are an enemy of Iomedae, all the gods of Good, and the state and people of Mendev, and an ally of their enemies." Such as Daeran Arendae.

"Is heresy strong evidence of that? It has always seemed to me that almost everyone is a heretic. They arrested Iomedae for, ah, 'believing that the prophecies of Aroden's return are false'."  Someone who was born after the end of prophecy might have said it. They would probably have said it a bit less bitterly.

"Hatred of and enmity to Iomedae is clear sign of hatred of and enmity to Iomedae's allies, yes," Galfrey says. He is doing exact words shit and she really dislikes exact words shit.

"I don't hate Iomedae and just told you that I am confident she does not regard me as an enemy...Your Majesty, I cannot help but return to the point that the Commune which actually would be strong evidence about whether I were an enemy of Iomedae and all the gods of Good has not been run and, it appears, will not be run. If you don't trust Lastwall, and are reluctant to command your clerics to ignore their idiotic Commune policy, ask Erastil, or Sarenrae, or Torag, or Desna. If there is some insurmountable logistical barrier I would be gladdened to know of it.

Otherwise, the obvious conclusion is that any defense on this point will be rejected for the same reason the Commune has been rejected. I am not an enemy of Iomedae nor any Good god, and you could easily determine this if you wanted to know it."

She already asked. Erastil said UNCLEAR. If he hadn't, Galfrey would have been much less worried. As it is his desperation for a Commune is genuinely a good argument that in spite of regularly slandering the goddess he is aligned with her interests, if not those of the other good gods. "Your statement has been noted," she says. "I am more than slightly surprised you so freely slander the goddess and then then expect her assistance."

"I think that on encountering such a contradiction I would wonder if the purported slander that was reported to me was accurately reported."

Yes, she did do this. It took her quite a while and him quite a lot of conspiring with Daeran to arrest him. "That you doubt the Good gods are opposed to Asmodeus." He's also, himself, strongly opposed to Asmodeus, which is morally correct but very rude to bring up. "That you see no difference between Asmodeus and Iomedae. That in private you regularly insult her and those who follow her."

"The first one is at least half true. The second is mostly false. I might have said that the differences were fewer than I had expected to find them, and the differences are indeed fewer than I had expected to find them, but I do not think you could interpret my resource expenditures as implying any indifference over whether my soldiers go to Heaven or Hell. 

I do not think you heard that last firsthand." The one person who was privy to such complaints would not have reported him to the Mendevian authorities over them. "But I will confess that I have complained in private that it was upsetting to witness summary executions of foolish teenage Desnans in the streets of Kenabres during Deskari's attack, and that I think Ember should not have been burned at the stake, as her patron is to the best of my ability to determine Andoletta, Empyreal Lord of protecting the innocent, and that it strikes me as the case, in general, that whatever specific virtues the mortal Iomedae embodied, whatever there was to her conception of the Good beyond that demons shouldn't eat the world, under the exigent circumstances it is not in evidence. 

None of this gives me any pause about what the Commune will say. It is in evidence that She cares about the Worldwound and I am trying to close the Worldwound. Or assassinate some demon lords until the Abyssal side collapses into infighting and can't sustain organized operations on the Material, that was my backup plan."

Galfrey is very tired. He is being inspiring and charismatic at her and she is sick and tired of people being inspiring and charismatic at her. Just one more thing she needs to cover, fortunately. "Where is Daeran Arendae?"

"I don't know, your Majesty. 

I will observe that if I were planning to betray you, or considered it an acceptable price for any other plan I had, I'd have fled myself with de Litran, left Arendae, and then returned to Drezen after the predictable thing had happened."

"Not if you wished him to take the throne." If Daeran Arendae walks out of there covered in the blood of his entire adventuring party and half a dozen paladins, he wouldn't inherit without a civil war. The Worldwound defenses would collapse, and if Aspex isn't working for a demon lord (or if he wants to be in position to betray that demon lord), he wouldn't want that. They might be thinking that they could claim the demons got Galfrey, but she doubts they could say the same for everyone else in the room.

And also not if he thought he could talk his way out, as he is presently attempting to do.

"The Fane is strewn with the bodies of appropriate hundreds of terrifying enhanced demons. You noticed it was a good place to lay an ambush; the demons could have noticed too. I think if only a few of us had walked out of the Fane, gravely injured and calling at once for a priest to raise everyone else - but most of the bodies were too damaged - it would be an advantageous position to be in....unless you have a clone, which now that I say that I suppose you might. I would have looked into that in advance, if I'd been plotting to overthrow you. 

All right, I'm persuaded I probably couldn't've gotten Mendev out of it. I still think it would evidently have been in my interests in that I could have left, with all my resources and then some. Surrendering is a very foolish thing for a guilty man to do. He would need assurance that there is no powerful wizard you trust, and no powerful cleric, and that you can't cast from a scroll, and that he can beat a truth spell without any preparation, and that Arendae will evade capture, and that you won't just decide to kill him anyway."

She nods soberly. (There are powerful wizards she trusts sufficiently to Dominate him, but not to not be impersonated by his wizard.) "Is there anything else you wish to say?"

"The elementals and archons in Drezen will all report to Anevia, in my absence, or if you bring the archons here I can convey instructions to work with whoever the fort commander is. Or banish them, if you'd like, but they are all of them people who are risking their final death for Mendev and it's not because the pay is good.

This month's loan payment is six thousand Absalom pounds, due on the first, and this month's payroll is nine thousand; the treasury should contain enough silver for both. If you kill me I'll at that point terminate the loan and the Church of Abadar will reclaim the magical armor and weapons purchased under it, all of which are clearly marked and numbered. I might be able to make one more payment so there's more time for Mendev to figure out an alternative, depending if my insurance pays out and if my will is respected. 

The mongrels are Mendevians, and many of them are children, and they won't be able to make it alive back to Kenabres if you kick them out of Drezen this time of year.

Sosiel has a drinking problem and should be followed by a man whose job is to lose some money to him and hustle him off to bed when he's had enough. 

The bridge is out to Fort Heinri and I've been supplying it by Teleport; I was planning to repair it when the ground thaws, but you could maybe do it midwinter with a bunch of elementals.

There's no password for the Forbiddance to the treasury and my private rooms, but the password for the rest of the command floor is 'turnpike graves engagement'. Almost everything in my rooms is trapped. 

Sunhammer is in his private demiplane, crafting magic items for sale to support the Crusade according to a list of commissions I got from the Church of Abadar. You will probably just need to execute him, if you don't have a way to hold him securely, he's seventh circle. I can arrange for someone to return him to the Material, or I can give you the tuning fork but you won't take it." Only an idiot plane shifts with a tuning fork they haven't vetted. "I was also using his spell slots to supplement the food in Drezen. Without it I don't know an adequate supplier for fruit, vegetables, or hardtack men get strong off instead of just not starving, but I didn't look very thoroughly."

This is too many things this is a perfectly reasonable number of things to be done as part of the handoff.

"Understood."

Right. 

Interview his party members, get Lastwall to authorize an urgent Commune with half-a-dozen near-synonymous questions, scream at Liotr more, get Aspex paper, investigate the people who were summarizing his reports to her to see if they're Baphomet cultists, organize scries to see if he got too-tricky-by-half and had his victims Maledicted...

How much of this can she delegate? (Not much, since the people she was delegating spying on Aspex for her were apparently doing a bad job.) The Queen doesn't have time for this. She's going to have to deal with it anyway. Just not while she might be under a Suggestion.

Well, she's not under a Suggestion, at least. She'll get started drafting the letter to Lastwall.

"All conduct I have witnessed from Aspex has been lawful, a quality rare among the so-called forces of Good."

" - it occurred to me that he might be Minagho. I don't think she'd have the patience, though, or the head for numbers, or the - have you heard demons try to be Iomedaeans?"

"Is the Crusade over? How disappointing. It will barely even merit a page in my encyclopedia, in that case."

"Is the Crusade over? But - why? We haven't accomplished anything yet, not anything important, not - closing the Wound, or killing the demon lords -"

"If you're saying Count Arendae's up to something, sure, everyone knows that - and knows not to look into it too close, if they have anything else they're doing with their head still attached to their neck. But he and Aspex didn't get along."

"Hmm? Well, 'didn't get along' is putting it a bit strongly, but if you told me they liked the same girl and weren't speaking to each other about it I'd say I believed you."

"I like the Knight-Commander. He's a good man. I like Daeran, too, but he's not a good man, and is mostly only kind if he can think of some other reason for it. He can still be kind, though."

"I told you already, you're wrong about this."

"The Knight-Commander's a traitor? Oh. ...do you need a priest for him, before you kill him? Or did he make that rule up because of being a traitor?"

"He didn't have them Dominated for trials. ...I guess I couldn't tell the difference between having the spell up but no orders and having the spell gone entirely, but I could tell if someone was fighting it."

"That would be bad scientific practice! Their testimony might only reflect the will of the wizard controlling them! There is no mention in my notes of any such practices."

"Oh, I don't usually attend the trials and executions, they're so horribly depressing. I don't know how a man's soul can endure when his enemies are other mortals. In Andoran at least they always repent."

"I don't think the dead men deserved to die. But they had all made very bad mistakes, that hurt other people."

"I don't know how trials are supposed to be run but the Crusade's took longer than they used to in Kenabres, and everyone got a truth spell, which was nice. I've never seen a Dominated person, I don't think, I'm not sure I could tell, but the Knight Commander taught me how to watch a truth spell with Detect Magic to see if it really took and there wasn't another enchantment on them, I'd've seen that."

"- a pentagram, an Undetectable Alignment up, and Evil under it, yes. If I'd caught someone in Kenabres, on the same evidence, I'd've killed them. You could walk the whole length of the Wound and not find a single commander who wouldn't."

"Of course the defendants were not enchanted during their final testimony. That would violate the Crusade's and any sensible rules of criminal procedure. I would have notified the Knight-Commander if any such violation were observed."

- "Your Majesty's virtue is without a doubt," Hanselin Bech says. He is one of the realm's six assessors, which does not sound like an important title. He is no more corrupt than average. "But, Your Majesty, he has been lying to you."

"Apparently not," she says, in a tone which invites the listener to share the joke.

(Hanselin is not a noble, will lose most of his income if he is dismissed due to selling her secrets and has not visibly turned out to be a Baphomet cultist yet. Therefore she distrusts him somewhat less than average.)

He chuckles long enough to be polite. "There are many magical arts known to few. Perhaps he found a way to trick the spell, perhaps to fake it. His own words show him disloyal, whatever the spell may say."

Well, no, he's not loyal to her. The question is if he's loyal to her ally, the goddess Iomedae. "- And yet, if he is not a foe to Us and Our state and Our goddess, he must be let free."

Of course he's your foe! If he wasn't yesterday he sure is now!

"In this sad age, who can be trusted? You yourself pronounced him ambitious, ambitious beyond measure, and there cannot be two kings in one realm." 

"You have investigated, you have discerned, and no man could ask you to do more. His allies are free; he is the only one who must pay for his treason. Your Majesty, he would know this was a good trade."

"Perhaps he is not an ally to the demons now, but what if he was released, his ambition intact, burning with the desire for revenge? Knowing that You are his enemy?"

"I am Mendev's servant," she says. "My duty is to the realm and the Crusade. The Goddess shall say whether he is guilty or no."

Oh dear. He bows.

Is, or was within the past month, the adventurer known as Aspex, former knight-commander of the Fifth Mendevian Crusade...

An enemy of or in opposition to the goddess Iomedae and Her church?

NO

In service to, or league with, any demon lords or other Evil gods or godlike entities, excepting signitories to the Worldwound treaties and their subordinates?

NO

In violation of the Worldwound Treaty?

NO

Attempting, planning or designing any enterprise which would be a betrayal of Mendev, its queen and its interests?

HE'LL ANSWER HONESTLY

Dominated by the enemies of Mendev, its queen or its goddess.

NO

Did, at any point during the past year, the adventurer known as Aspex cast Malediction.

NO.

These answers are grumpily conveyed by Lastwall which particularly resents the three-word answer, they warned that 'did this person plan any enterprise that would be a betrayal of Mendev's interests' was not a good question to Commune about.

Lastwall can go jump in a lake receive Her Majesty's apologies for the urgency of the situation and the necessity of the imposition on the gatekeepers who prevent her from consulting her most trusted ally the goddess.

Marit is staring at the ceiling of his prison cell being entirely sure that she's going to kill him because when, truly, has being excessively pessimistic served him ill in life?

Galfrey will, again, enter, and, again, dismiss the visible guards.

"Your majesty," he says, and straightens to his best imitation of respectful attention given the constraints. Excessive pessimism is rarely a mistake but excessive sounding like you're mad at powerful people often is. 

A regal nod. "The Goddess Iomedae informed me that if I ask about those of your enterprises which would betray Mendev, myself and the interests of the state, you would answer honestly."

" - well, yes, because I'm Lawful Good and your ally, but my first answer would really have been that I have none. I have - contingency plans for various unlikely circumstances. None of them were contingency plans to betray you, if I'd been thinking about that enough I'd have had a better plan for if you tried to kill me. 

If She thinks it's not an uncomplicated 'no' it is over liberating Cheliax from Hell. My intent has always been to close the Wound first, or to assassinate enough demon lords that no organized offensives threaten it. It's the much better way to go about it. It's ...not the only way I would ever conceivably be willing to see it done. 

I would never break the treaty over it; I couldn't've quit my job and go run off to fight, either, because one of my loan conditions was that I not do that before I pay the loan back, and because it would be unfair to Mendev, and I would not betray you as I understand that. But de Litran was open with me about the fact she might poach half my retinue for her war, and I told her she should wait two years until they were stronger. I presume that your Goddess foresees a - possible situation, which could have arisen, which I would have counted as fulfilling my obligations to you and to Mendev and which you wouldn't have."

Should he say it or not - probably not, and yet - 

"There is no circumstance I can think of under which any action I would have taken, to see Cheliax delivered from Hell, would have removed from Mendev's defense more men, or other men, than you ordered to their deaths yesterday."

She nods again. She really doesn't have a response to that. It would have been worth it if she'd been right. "As you have committed no crime, I will order your release." And she'll turn to leave.

He really wasn't expecting that. Perhaps she actually is a paladin.

Not that he is not in equal measure eager to never see her again, but -

"Have someone convey where to leave Sunhammer. I'll pay the loan through Calistril, and then collect the arms and armor it purchased if you haven't renegotiated."

"I will do so." Everything takes words. "You have my apology." Then she can leave, and give the orders for him to be released.

"Her Majesty did not specifically say that I was exiled from Mendev, so if you need me you can Send me, but she might well do it once the oversight is brought to her attention, so only do it if you really need me."

"Where will you be going?"

"I don't confidently know yet, and might not tell you if I did. It bothers me that Hell intervened in this. I might lie low a while, in case their hope was to assassinate me once the treaty does not attach."

There is no way he'd tell them what he's planning next. Anevia thinks he should stay, really, but she's thought and thought about it and doesn't actually think she has a convincing argument. Unless he just handed her one. "If Hell wanted you to quit, seems like reason to stay."

"It would be, but one can't take Hell's word about what they wanted or even what they did. And - it does not make sense to stay, even if I presume I could secure indefinite permission. There is great need here, but there is great need in many places. The reason to commit here was if we could win here."

"We can win," says Irabeth firmly. "It's seemed far more hopeless than this before."

"If I think of a way to win, I'll come back." And yet there is a finality in his voice, and in his eyes, and when he hugs them both it's goodbye, not goodbye-for-now.