"I would not expect the savage barbarians of Avistan to comprehend it, but Iomedae is supposedly a god!"

He'll grumpily fold his arms.

... "At any rate, crafting you Boots of Teleportation will take valuable energy away from devising a CURE FOR DEATH, but I suppose it's established enough I can delegate it to my engineers." 

(That means 'forty-eight hours.")

"Thank you."

"... Uh, the Whispering Way might include millennia-old liches or ghosts or something?" she hazards. "They might be smarter than they look."

(Telri feels that his comments about 'savage barbarians of Avistan' are uncomfortably similar to the ones her mother uses about 'lesser races' but is really not sure how to bring this up when in fact Avistan has all these people who beat their wives and then the wives take it instead of leaving or establishing a mutual equilibrium of coordinating armed force to expel anyone who keeps doing it.

He has a point, is her point. They're all so young and they don't get older.)

"Undeath is not, in fact, good for the creative imagination. Even lichdom, which supposedly increases the intelligence of the lich, has resulted in an astonishing number of stagnant fools endlessly retreading old ground, and only one Tar-Baphon." (Razmir will grudgingly admit the Whispering Tyrant is a pretty good spellcrafter. Not, like, on Razmir or Aroden's level, but they had the advantage of growing up in a functional world and Tar-Baphon didn't.)

... Hopefully the Living God is smart enough to know what he's doing? She does not actually have a solution better than hoping that. She is presently paid mostly in bodyguards and randomly useful magic items, and is not, actually, in charge of Razmir's government, such that she is capable of solving his problems for him even if he doesn't consider them a risk.

Meanwhile, in the city of Caliphas, Razmir's viceroy, Vision Gerhardt Vermendyen, fifth-circle wizard (and a bit) and present governor, is paying a personal visit to the house of an attractive young noblewoman who expressed an interest in learning Razmiran theology with potential intent for becoming a priest, and since abusing your privileges of power is what.the Razmirani faith is all about, he intends to enjoy this valuable opportunity for all its worth.

The Razmirani are really new to this game, aren't they.

Knowing how to convince mages their mind-affecting spells worked on you? Not actually that hard a trick. 

Feeding information to your servants selectively so they think you aren't hiding anything when mind-read? That's effortless.

In the collective opinion of Caliphas, their conquerors might be good at this in a couple of centuries, if they get that long.

Arcanist Fainalach casts the Teleport, since he's needs anyway for the next spell.

And then, suddenly, there are two additional people in the room. One of them is Morthalas, and the other is a full-blooded elf who appears to be a very high-level wizard.

(The noblewoman looks unsurprised. "What, you thought I was actually interested in this crap?" she says to her significantly less unsurprised companion.)

Evil Eye.

Dominate Person with a Rod of Extend Spell in hand.

"Obey all of Morthalas's commands as if they were my own, excepting only those to harm elves."

And then he'll teleport out.

"Follow me," she says to Vermendyen, and leads him through the city to her Countess's mansion.

Vision Gerhardt Vermendyen has not gotten past being incredibly horrified, but has no alternative to obeying Morthalas, since he's under Dominate Person.

Countess Carmilla remains under the Vision's control, but she's under orders to pretend not to be, so she'll simply invite him inside her fortress-estate and see what he has to say.

"Do not attempt to contact Razmir or any other member of your organization, including via proxies," she says to the priest.

"Dispel any and all mind-affecting spells which she is under, followed by Greater Magic Aura to make them appear to still be in place."

He is still firmly under her control, and so does precisely this, screaming inside as he does.

(If he had more Wisdom and less Intelligence, he might realize this was equivalent to an order to kill himself, and so perhaps muster the strength to break free, but in fact he's better at talking himself into thinking he'll be safe when his invincible god finds out anyway, and so cannot quite drag himself to the life-or-death fever pitch required.)

"Ah, thank you, dear," says Carmilla with a winning smile, not appearing to anyone with less Sense Motive than the present pharaoh of Osirion to be at all ruffled. "I believe Razmir sometimes watches through their eyes? So they believe, at least."

"I just need to ask him a few questions, then we can speak in private, but at any rate we had best finish this before He thinks to look," she tells her Countess.

"Fail your Will save," she tells the priest, and casts Detect Thoughts.

He is horrified and thinking that his god will save him, his god will save him, this is a nightmare, he needs to wake up and stop just doing what she says -

"Under what circumstances do you expect Razmir to learn that the Countess is free or that you are under our control?"

"When you err. The god can learn anything; he is a god. If I or she is dispelled."

Mostly he's just relying on Razmir being a god.

Which he isn't, so they're safe.

"Does Razmir or anyone in his hierarchy currently have plans to kill the Countess or any of her servants or allies, or to remove the Countess from her position?"

"He is considering replacing the Countess with one of her cousins. He has not decided which and has not decided if he will do it yet. He has no other such plans." Caliphas was safe.

"If you are in any position to advise him as to whether the Countess should be replaced, advise him not to do so in the strongest terms that would not arouse suspicion. Report any further developments in this matter to me or the Countess as soon as would not be suspicious.

"Obey the Countess's orders as you would Fainalach's or mine," and then to the Countess, "Anything you'd like to add?"

"Tell no one of this. Use Greater Magic Aura to disguise the Dominate Person spell. Do not attempt to draw attention to yourself. Place yourself in no situation where you would be dispelled unless doing so would disobey the order not to draw attention to yourself. Enter no antimagic fields. Act as you would if not controlled except for obeying our commands."

Another smile. "Can't think of anything else." Inviting him to her basement's shrine to Zon-Kuthon will need to wait until they don't need him any more, though she'll certainly want to stop in at the shrines to Callistria and Asmodeus to thank them for her deliverance.

"Return here at some point between ten and fourteen days hence, at such a time and in such a manner as does not draw attention. You may contact Razmir as you usually would as long as you do not tell him of this or draw his attention to it. Now go."