Somebody lets Aniol know that someone wants to meet with him, an Irorite. He's generally very interested in Lawful Neutral practices - he's going to have to do something dramatic to dig himself out of the Evil hole once he's metaphysically even able to do that and would like to find a stable state to plan for after that - and has mostly been talking to Abadarans, but Irorites are neat too. He will send his valet to meet them and show them up to his suite.

And there is a tall muscular young woman, dressed in formal grey (bleached from black?) monk robes.  She is wearing a symbol of Irori.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet me.  I hope you don't mind I have a student with me, she won't be any bother?"

Dia smiles shyly.

She thinks this whole plan is a bad idea, but best Thea has her with her.  None of this shows on her face.

"Why should I mind? Have a seat. Sorbet?"

"How kind of you.  Of course."

She takes a moment to enjoy it before getting to discussion... wow it is really tasty.  Is this decadency what motivated the old nobility to their treachery?

She of course figured eating might be a possibility, so has detect poison already active and concentrated on before entering the room, with no outward sign (save to a detect magic).

Dia will take one also if it's on offer.  If it's a poison that can hide from detect poison (and there are ways of hiding it she's sure), well, the other Sisters know where they last intended to go.

The sorbet is just fruit juice somebody Ray of Frosted and maybe Prestidigitated sweeter. It is completely harmless. "So how did you sisters come by Irori, were you devotees prior to all the hullabaloo or did he reach out His hand afterwards?"

There is no excuse to get sloppy!  Even if they can confirm this is a Good noble!

"After the Four Day War, the elder, fully initiated Sisterhood of Eiseth abandoned one of their hidden monasteries, leaving the acolytes behind.  I was one of the oldest acolytes and I sought a new divine patron.  I have since sought to follow and led my sisters in following Irori's teaching."

She'll skip the story about her "liberation" of a copy of Irori's holy text from an Asmodean priest.  No need to appear unlawful here.

"Congratulations! I talked to Abadarans once it was legal for them to pass through Juncosa, but have less exposure to Irori. God of - self-improvement, yes?"

She smiles at that.

"Exactly yes.  Not so far philosophically from where I started, but a different way of approaching it and a different way of applying the results."

"I appreciate your initiative in securing His patronage, then." He has some sorbet himself.

She enjoys a bit more of her sorbet, and then moves on to business.  She settles into a partially rehearsed speech.

"So with Asmodeus pushed out, and non-Evil Gods slowly filling the gaps by selecting clerics, there is quite a bit of demand for clerics.  And with the general chaos, there is demand for adventurers, possibly even more direct retainers.  And well, the pamphlets are overall dreadful, but they do represent some sentiments going about, and there is some dissatisfaction with many institutions of the old order, such as the schools.  And of course, there is always orphans and such.  I have an offer that solves some of all four of these problems.  My monastery is able to take orphans and raise them, and potentially additional students, and I am myself a cleric, and my fully trained students have need of suitable tasks to apply their martial skill to.  All of this, of course, requires funding.  I have made do with the shortage of clerics driving up the value of even cantrips, but a more stable situation might involve a patron with finances to spare and the problems I listed in need of addressing."

"Now, my understanding is that monks fight barehanded. Would this require more money than what is needed for food and lodging? It's an attractively inexpensive prospect if you could turn an old Asmodean temple with a dormitory and some grain tax into an anti-monster force that further absorbs stray children; I'm from up north and we have monsters forever coming out of the mountains."

"You are correct, our primary means of fighting is empty handed.  And as monks grow stronger, our fist become as good as cold iron and silver at overcoming monsters that normally require weapons made from such."

He's possibly already preparing to low ball them?  Well, this is only the first noble she's approached.  And the way he phrases implies he might take a hands off approach, which could be good?  But first... how to feel out what sort of noble he is?

"I must confess, to my embarrassment, the Sisterhood of Eiseth did not see fit to teach much about titles and geography and I've only just started to rectify this... your lands are?"

"The march of Juncosa! A positively lovely spot less the monsters. It's up north in Menador on the Molthune border. I've got just the spot in mind for you, there was an excessively religious baron under me who had no tolerable heirs after he was purged and left behind a great big religious academy, now empty as you please but in excellent repair. I'll cover the paint job if you tell me Irori's colors."

The mention of a purge seems as good an opportunity as any.  Now, how to say it without too much offense.

"Ah there has been several cycles of purges, hasn't there?  Did you gain or lose much with them?"

Not as smooth as she would have liked, but as good as she might have expected from Thea.

"Some of my barons, aforementioned, and a nephew in the war itself. Happily I have been deemed relatively inoffensive and hope to build on that."

So... probably at least a little evil, maybe not too evil?  She can feel things out and she has the perfect excuse for delaying.

"That's good.  I must admit I'm not planning on finalizing a decision about moving my monastery at least until the conclusion of the convention.  There may be some law or term of the constitution the Queen wishes for that substantially impacts such an arrangement."

She is emphasizing her most inoffensive theory of the convention.  If the Queen is planning on using the convention to restart a civil war to purge the remaining nobles of the old regime no point hinting at it to a noble themselves.

"Of course as a delegate you won't be well placed to migrate until the convention's wrapped up, though if you'd like to send a student to see the place I'd be happy to write a letter to show my people back home."

"I actually do have an older student competent to carry out such a task.  My geography fails me again... the best route on foot would be how long?"

Competent, but they won't have to sign anything as opposed to getting a feel for the area.

Dia clear her throat a tiny bit as she eats her Sorbet.  Signaling her recommendation it is a bit too much of a commitment.

"Some six hundred miles, three weeks if you're a fast walker. Quicker with a series of horses but my retinue found some of the waystations abandoned during this most recent trip."

"My students are indeed fast walkers... but as you note with the waystations the country is still in a lot of turmoil, even for someone able to handle themselves in a fight.  I think I must refuse for now.  Perhaps after the convention they could return with you and at least then they would know the journey well enough for their way back."

And that gives her more time to research this noble and entertain other offers.

"I'd be happy to have the company. And maybe a teleport or a caravan to Kantaria will become available, that's the overwhelming majority of the trip."

"That's excellent.  I'll keep that in mind."  And if he tries anything, well, her students know how to defend themselves and haven't forgotten Eiseth's teaching, for better or worse.

Is there anything else to be gained here?  She verified her basic idea is sound, has avoided revealing anything secret, and has talked to a noble without anything going disastrously wrong.  She could feel for a little more information?

"Did you have any questions for me?  As a delegate or as a Student of Irori?"

"Would I be correct in guessing that Irori does not consider it particularly self-improving to misplace one's soul? It's a bit of a pet issue of mine that I hope to see resolved."

Good job Thea, Evil Asmodean Noble revealed!  Now they should make there exit gracefully but swiftly.

"Indeed not.  Irori believes Asmodeus badly corrupts the souls he obtains.  The Sisterhood of Eiseth claimed Eiseth properly trained truly committed souls into Erinyes, but in hindsight I question this.  Do you have any reason to believe the owner of the soul in question is unusually careful at strengthening souls instead of ruining them or using them as raw materials?"

"Tragically I do not. I am hoping to resolve the situation without the individual in question ever taking possession."

"Hell is said to hold tightly onto all the souls it can... I'm not well versed in diabolism, but perhaps it would be easier to transfer the soul's ownership to another devil (one that had been vetted for producing strong devils of notable rank, if not mercy) as opposed to outright undoing the sale?"

She's finished her Sorbet, so she can clearly make a slight barely audible hum, to signal to Thea to back away from probable heresy against the new regime!

"I don't know that that would really be a satisfactory outcome, though if you happen to know one I'd take a meeting."

She has a non-heretical direction she was going for with this!

"The Lawful Neutral Goddess Erecura lives in Hell and apparently provides some alternative to the rest of Hell to a select few.  Perhaps she or her devils might qualify?  She isn't proscribed, she has a cleric in this very city, Theopho of the Runes, who can channel positive energy.  Although I should be clear she is not so well accepted that he is a delegate of her faith to the convention.  He is however an elected delegate."

And maybe Theopho can leverage this into something and will be fair enough to provide a cut or kickback to her.

"Oh, what an interesting proposition! I should send him a letter, do you know where he's to be found?"

Thea gives direction to Theopho's temple.

"He holds regular services, and regularly gives advice.  A letter might be more discreet than directly approaching him.  And he is said to provide wise and sage counsel, so even if my idea of soul ownership transfer is flawed, he might have some other suggestion."

"A letter sounds right to me too. I've spent all this time contemplating replacing my name on the contract, but it's not previously occurred to me to substitute the other party's."

That seems detestably weak to Thea, and bothers her for some other reason she can't quite articulate.  But no point in saying that.  Thinking in terms of weakness and strength actually sparks another idea.

"Well, you've exhausted my knowledge on the subject.  Do you know what happens if someone summons the devil and kills it?  Does the contract pass to a higher devil?  What if someone dominates the devil into passing the contract off?"

Dia remembers something relevant, and will actually risk saying it if it moves the conversation along and gets them out of here.

"Dominate person only works on living humanoids... I think there is probably a variant for outsiders, but it sounds like it would be higher circle?  Maybe even archmage territory?  Especially considering how strong devil's will are"

"I think devils have heirs, and Dominate Monster is archmage territory. I don't expect our resident archmages to bestir themselves over my own singular soul, though if I can come up with something that works for large groups there's a contingent of wizards in need of the same service."

"Maybe the Archamagi could get a list of names of all soul sold willing to self identify as such and give the names of their owners, draw lots randomly on them, and then go through summoning, dominating, and finally murdering devils according to names provided.  They could only do a small portion, but perhaps this would serve as leverage for a larger scheme.  And it would give each individual soul sold more motivation to work on perfecting themselves away from Lawful Evil."

And if the Archmagi want to use this convention to purge the remaining diabolic nobility they will have a ready list of names.  As opposed to needing to draw them out via unpopular to nobility constitution terms and civil war.

"I am not tremendously optimistic about such a scheme but it is well thought of."

“Like I said, I’m not well read on diabolism. Did you have questions on any other topics I might be able to answer?”

"Have you an idea where I could get a copy of Irori's holy texts?"

“I have a copy.  It’s a mix of practical instructions on standard monk things like diet, meditation, exercise, and training and more esoteric instruction, with layered metaphors and riddles and mental exercises.”

Of which Thea has still not understood most of them, and isn’t confident in her understanding of many of them.

“Do you have a scribe you trust?  A female scribe, that is, our monastery is women only.  I could let her in anytime from a hour after sunup to sundown to copy it.  It would mean we wouldn’t have access while she was busy with it… so 2 silver pieces a day for each day she needs access to work on it, and that is in addition to your payment to the scribe, and you could purchase a cover and binding for it as pleased you.  And it is a rather large book, if you’re not a monk you may be surprised at, for instance, how many techniques and ways to mediate there are.  But if the scribe’s good with scriveners’ chant I think she can finish in only a few days maybe only a day.”

He’s a noble maybe she should charge more?  2 silver pieces is about as much as a scribe will charge him per day.  But on the other hand spreading her God’s holy text is important?  And Dia is going to imagine how this could be the start of an assassination attempt or something.

"My wizard's a man, more's the pity. If you come by a second copy such that you can lend one please do let me know."

“It hadn’t been a priority before now, but it does seem sensible to have another one made.  I’ll see you at the convention I assume?  I’ll let you know when I have one.”

Yes! One less vulnerability against assassins and schemes.

"Yes, they've invited all the nobles left standing and those they installed of count or better, though I have no idea if the seating arrangements will allow more than a nod across the room. I don't know if I will stay in this inn for the duration but will leave word of where I've gotten to if I leave it."

“That would work well thank you.  Yes, 600 people or so, it sounds… large.”

Actually she doesn’t want to speculate with a diabolist on the Queen’s intention for the convention’s size.

“Anyway, I’m sure I’ll see your face among the crowd then, goodbye.”

Did that offend his pride?  Best be on her way either way.

"Good fortune, and I hope to hear from you about that vacant temple!"