Laia has decided to try all the cafés in the neighborhood one at a time. Ooh, this one has pistachio buns. She gets one of those to go with her sandwich for supper.

Oh, it's Laia! 

"I'm glad I managed to catch you, sister, when we're not busy with the committee. Do you have a moment?"

Shelyn's holy symbol is, as ever, readily visible in front of her shirt.

"Sure, sit with me! - Eloi, just pick something, don't press your nose against the glass like that -"

She can sit, and do a bit of chitchat before getting to business - she's not a theater person herself, not primarily, but she knows her stuff.

"I know we're all busy at the convention, but I think this is important enough that I feel like I need to ask anyway. I'm on the committee for rooting out Diabolism, but the one thing that's come up that we can't easily do anything about the people writing the constitution itself. And while I'm sure most people will vote against it when they see it, I doubt all the diabolists will be as easy to identify as Theopho was, and even he could just have someone else propose something with whatever loopholes he wants for him. That's why I'm trying to put together a bit of a cross-committee group of people we can trust to keep each other informed of things, so it's harder for them to catch us off guard with it. Are you interested? And do you know anyone else trustworthy you'd recommend I talk to?"

"I'm not really sure what to think about Delegate Lebanel. The Abadarans were allowed to operate, a little, in a few cities at least, before, and they're still allowed, and Abadar's lawful neutral like Erecura, but maybe it also matters a lot where the gods make their homes... I remember being favorably impressed with Enric Porras, from our committee."

Alicia nods.

"I expect he's one of the cleaner ones, if he's bold enough to still be operating openly. Still bad enough that I'll be second guessing what he does, and of course it could be a double bluff, but if I'm being honest I'm just as worried about the ones I don't have any reason to suspect yet. As for Enric Porras...  I didn't see too much that made him stand out to me, but on the other hand considering some of the other options like the hellknight that ought to be a point in his favor. Do you happen to know what other committees he's on?

"I don't, I'm sorry."

"That's not a problem - it's not like I know either, and I was at the meeting same as you. If you learn something urgent after hours when I'm not at the convention, I'm renting a room at the Dominech for storing my notes and hosting meetings, but hopefully it doesn't come to that."

"Where's the Dominech?"

"It's one of the old asmodean adjuncts, right by the river in the old city. Obviously the new owners are trying to distance it from that now, so I gave them some help with redecorating when I arrived and now I'm renting one of the rooms in the evenings for meetings and such - I'm rooming at a cafe myself, which has a much preferable aesthetic, but if it comes up I'd rather it be slightly harder for any diabolists to learn about what objections we plan to raise."

"That makes sense - I haven't really looked into the lodging here, I'm just staying at our temple. Dominech, by the river in the old city." Nod nod.

Alicia nods. She'd have been staying at the temple herself, but whenever she'd considered it she'd felt terribly embarrassed about it and therefore settled for merely frequent visits. Part of her regrets that, but it's good to see Laia is making good use of the place.

"I haven't seen you there - I cover the morning channel shift, most days - but probably it's just a matter of schedules. I appreciate you hearing me out on this - Eternal Rose guide your steps."

"Oh, yes, I keep theater hours. I wake up at dawn because I must and spend an hour telling Shelyn all about my dreams and then I fall right back asleep. Lady of Chrysanthemums, guide this heart."

Then with another friendly smile, she can set off in search of her next recruitment.

A familiar face is eating a fast dinner, talking to a teenage dressed in similar monkish attire.

Dia is trying to both absorb as much about the convention as possible and mentally prepare for the halfling confrontation conversation.  At least Thea has realized she can bring people, so Dia can tag along to "take notes" and try to pick up on any subtler cues Thea is missing!

Thea she Alicia and her face changes from intense concentration to a warm smile.

"Hello-" it takes her a moment to recall the name "-Alicia!"

Her committee was so much more functional than the open floor.

Oh! There we go. An Irorite is in some sense not her first choice for a member, but any diabolists are likely to speak much more freely around one of those than a Shelynite, so that's definitely a positive. Plus it's unlikely they'd lie about anything. She'll swing over by the table to chat.

"Thea! And who's your companion?"

"This is Dia.  She is one of the sisters at my monastery."

She gives a shy smile and a soft "hello".  She'll let Thea take the lead and try to nudge things as needed.

Aha, so probably not a disguised diabolist unless Thea is, and certainly not one who can do things at the convention. No point in angling for privacy, then.

"Do you have a minute? I have a few things I'd like to talk to you about, but I don't expect it's urgent on the matter of hours. About the convention, but not specifically committee business."

More time to delay before the halfling conversation of death mutual appreciation and goals!  Dia stays silent.

"That's fine, we can easily spare minutes, maybe even up to half an hour.  And I trust Dia with everything, if anything she's the one with more common sense out of the two of us."

"Right. I don't know if you've heard, but I'm also on the Committee for Rooting out Diabolism, not just the one for supporting Good gods."

"I didn't remember that.  I actually mean to try to join that committee myself tomorrow.  I think I'll have the time, and there is one evil diabolist cult in particular I would like to see hunted down."

Oh wow this is already paying dividends!

"Oh, excellent - if you don't have the time, I'll make sure to let everyone know anyway. Which cult is this?"

"The Sisterhood of Eiseth.  Dia and I were former acolytes of it before they abandoned us after the Four Day War and I turned to Irori.  They are devoted to the Demigod Queen of Hell Eiseth and operated as assassins and thugs even before Aroden's failed return."

Dia makes an appropriately sad and solemn face.

That's... not the most encouraging news, in one sense, but on the other hand the fact that she's sharing this information is a really good sign! And Alicia knows a lot of people who have repented since the war, and most of them weren't even chosen by a god about it, so she's probably sincere too.

"That does sound concerning. Do you know if they had any tricks to avoid being found out as evil? We know that detect is hardly flawless, but I'm sure there's ways around most of our other proposals too."

"I've only put a little thought into the matter... before your and the Lictor's examples today I thought channeling positive was impossible to fake by anything short of a cleverly masked mass cure light wounds.  Still, examples of... alternately sourced... channeled positive energy aren't common, so it still sounds like a good initial test.  There is the standard cleric spell undetectable alignment, but it is second circle so I haven't practiced with it myself yet.  I have a friend I could ask if you want to see it in action?  You'll need detect chaos or detect good to see the difference.  Other tricks..."

She glances to Dia...

Dia wouldn't tell this woman any Ki based tricks... if she knew any.  But she doesn't see the harm in revealing spellcasting based techniques.

"Some spells can give you an alignment aura temporarily I think, or have an alignment aura themselves?  So get a scroll from a good caster of a good aligned spell, cast it on yourself, and you will detect as good?  I'm not sure how that interacts with layering over techniques for hiding an existing alignment aura?  And a detect magic with decent spellcraft should tell you the other spells are there in the first place, unless they've hidden them?  I'm not actually sure, Thea just trusts me because I'm always worrying and thinking about the Sisterhood coming back for us."

"I've got detect magic and fiendish presence, but not any of the other ones. I think the other tests will work fine with those but I should really find someone who knows more about magic to be sure, especially if we want to be able to catch any of the leaders instead of just their pawns."

She shakes her head.

"On to the other matter, the other main concern I have about the committee is that everyone at the convention is being covered for by the archmage, and Theopho obviously isn't the only diabolist among them. I'm putting together a bit of a group to try and have members sitting on as many committees as possible, so we can get advance warning of any tricks people try to pull. If someone tries to sneak in a weakness in inheritance laws that would let diabolists inherit, say, I wouldn't be able to figure that out on the fly once it gets proposed to the floor, but if we knew what they were planning to do a day or two before it got presented we could have people who know the nobility look over it for loopholes first so we know whether or not to vote it down when it comes up. I think most people won't support evil that they know is evil, but that doesn't mean it's always easy to figure out which is which."

She could bring Estella to help with spellcraft, she's pretty knowledgeable for a 1st circle, but Estella does seem to like stirring up minor problems for her own amusement, so maybe not.

And now she needs to address the issue of Theopho.  He gave her good advice once, she can't just abandon him, especially since it looks like her goals for the convention will be achieved well enough with strength to spare.

"Could you clarify what you mean by Theopho being a diabolist?  I haven't known diabolists to free their slaves given the first chance, or to go around healing the sick and needy for free."

Oh shit.  And she can tell Thea isn't in a mood to stop.  She frames her face to show concern at her friends naïveté in trusting a possible diabolist. 

"He works for Erecura, of course. I'm sure he puts on a good front - if he wasn't capable of it, he'd have gone underground like the rest of them, but that just means he knows which way the wind is blowing and wanted to save whatever power he could for something that matters more, like the convention we're at now. Erecura might be a neutral goddess, but... not all neutral gods are created equal. You've got Pharasma and Abadar, sure, but you've also got Gorum and Besmara who are barely a step over being evil, and that's the group Erecura is in. Actually neutral people don't marry archdevils or get Asmodeus to tolerate them as his vassals."

Ernest nodding along in agreement with this 'Alicia'.  If she gets Alicia to trust her, she can get her to reveal stuff she won't say to Thea's face!  Concerned look at Thea to sell it.

"He kept up that 'front' for years while the Thrunes ruled.  He may not have been brave enough to get all the way to Lawful Good under the circumstances, but that doesn't sound like someone simply following the wind with which way is convenient."

"Not the usual Asmodean business, no, but Erecura is the goddess of trickery, deception and secrets. Fooling people about that sort of thing is her clerics' jobs. And if you think about it for a minute, you'll realize the fact that he had slaves to free is an indictment in itself - I'm inclined to give a man far less credit for only renouncing evils when holding to them would hurt him. If he were as virtuous as he claims, he would have made use of the year he's had to make Good by now, but the fact of the matter is that if he did Erecura would renounce him."

Okay, time to bail out Thea and to turn this diabolist committee away from Theopho in one move.

"I think you should seriously consider what she is saying Thea.  Diabolists are always great at sounding nice while damning souls."

And now for the redirect.  She turns toward Alicia.

"I heard there was hellknights at the convention!  Are you preparing to stop them also?  They summon devils and one of their orders outright venerates Asmodeus and they were really brutal and cruel under the Thrunes and I don't think they've changed much!"

Her voice gets increasingly stressed as she continues.

Okay, Dia thinks this is serious.  She needs to play it carefully.  She won't outright lie, but she can choose her words well.

"I guess I wanted to believe there could be a way not to be Evil and prosper even under the Thrunes."

And to take the hellknight redirect.

"Yeah, we have a hellknight in our virtuous churches committee.  I guess I forgot to mention that.  She wanted to be able to round up anyone who was worshipping a God not approved by her, even worshippers of Empyreal Lords."

She thought the hellknight was interesting and impressive, but the hellknight hasn't offered her good advice like Theopho has, so she can be bait for whatever it is Dia is apparently concerned about.  She assumed the committees were all saner than the open floor discussion, but maybe she assumed wrong.

"And the lawyer in the virtuous churches committee, is, you know, a lawyer... so likely under diabolic contract as part of her lawyer training."

Is this how Galt's bloodshed spiraled out of control, everyone looking for someone else to put under the blade instead?

Also, Alicia has a dangerous misconception about how fast and easy it is to change your alignment, but Thea isn't sure she can risk explaining to her how long it actually takes.

"Yes, we're also planning to watch the hellknights - they're not the most dangerous sort of diabolists, since they're pretty obvious about it, but if I could toss them all out I definitely would. I didn't think about that with the lawyer, thank you."

It looks like Thea is probably not a good fit for her group, since the girl seems overly credulous and something about this whole conversation is ringing a bit off, but the sisterhood and the lawyer are both good to know about. She'll try not to burn this bridge until she has to, just in case she can get more out of it later.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for keeping you when I came over knowing you both were busy. I hope you can both stay safe, and look forward to seeing you at the committee tomorrow. May the Eternal Rose watch over you."

Is 'Alicia' buying it?  She think Alicia bought it.  Dia is proud of herself, she is a master social manipulator!

Anyway, Thea needs to stay away from the diabolist committee, they are at best a political deadweight and at worst the instigator or even core members of a future violent mob.

She gives a serious nod.

Stiff smile.

"Thank you for the warning!  May Irori guide you in growing in knowledge!"

Thea remembers something from an earlier conversation with Nuria and Tetula.  Good means people shouldn't have to be afraid of you.  Well, Alicia is only a lay priestess, no guarantee she is actually Good or even Neutral.  If the committee has real Good clerics they should be better.