He'll try calling them sooner to catch them up on his conversation with the king.

It'll take half an hour for Xrn to pick up Klbkch again, and then they can get briefed.

"Troubling," she says. "It is too late to prevent the spread of at least one god, then. It is at least not obviously offensive."

After a pause.

"We agree to talk to the King."

"Should I just bring this device to him?"

"Yes. Do you intend to do it now?"

"I'll at least go make the request now. He's usually able to see me promptly but I can't presume."

The King is available. After they make sure the call is working, and introductions are made, he'll ask Blai to let them speak in private.

That's fine by him.

They're shut in for not very long. Forty minutes. Then Blai is invited back in. The attendants previously in the throne room are absent; only the King and the communication device are present.

"These two have agreed to confidentiality on our matters to a degree satisfactory to us. We have no reservations regarding reciprocal exchange of intelligence with them. Ensure that means of communication are retained by your successors after your departure."

"I will construct and send a more suitable long-term communication solution."

"They have also informed us that they have been aware for a long time of an active local god, and that it gains power directly from knowledge and worship, and that knowing of it in greater detail results in vulnerability to its powers. Is that the only danger you wished to avoid impinging on?

"That is the only specific rather than general uncertainty derived concern, yes."

"And the reason you advised the Quarass that allowing the church of Tamaroth into Germina may have unintended side effects is that it may... strengthen Tamaroth?"

"And normalize the idea of gods in general. I don't know that we can rule out the possibility that an entity empowered by knowledge of it could also benefit from knowledge of the class it belongs to."

"Limiting general awareness of gods is a lost cause, at this point. Reim will have taken Hellios by early next year, unless all the northern nations rally, but the defection of Germina draws a fault line in any prospective counrter-alliance, which the King of Destruction no doubt did on purpose. He will have plenty of staging ground for his religion. Khelt is unusual in its isolationism; if Flos wants the idea known, there is little that will stop its spread."

"Understood. Are there any clues as to how he found out?"

"You may be best placed to speculate on the question, as you were kidnapped there and have the most obvious connection."

"Gazi Pathseeker was in your house. Could she have transcribed—methods of worship, or other information, from memory, and employed them to attempt to contact gods?"

"Or perhaps merely the knowledge of gods as an extant phenomenon is sufficient to be contacted, and it is related more to the preferences of the god than specific conditions on the selected. Xrn, Wrymvr and I did not attempt any outreach and were contacted."

"She was in possession of my copy of the Acts of Iomedae. If there are Skills as fast or faster than Scrivener's Chant it would be possible that she copied it."

"For how long?"