Anyway. Deserter from a Hellknight order impersonating Sosiel's brother? Well we have six cells in this here prison and only two of them currently occupied, so... arrest awaiting trial! Abramo is quite happy to have this highly Lawful solution available!

Makes sense! However, to be clear, this sort of thing obviously doesn't apply to high-level companions with mythic ranks, right? Those people can kill a few crusaders to heal the spirits, without anyone getting in their face about it, right?

To be clear, Anevia put Abramo on the killer's trail without notifying anyone else or naming any names, specifically so he could deal with the situation that way if he chose. Not making policy decisions here! That's the Commander's job! Just thought he might... like to know that there was a decision to be made.

*Rubs forehead tiredly*

Yeah, no, killing people on your own side is, actually, illegal. Yes, even for people with mythic ranks who have A Theory about how to close the Worldwound and self-admittedly no ability to actually communicate with the spirit they're allegedly feeding. That's... look Abramo's standards for 'insane' have been raised by recent events and he will admit that Camellia at least has enough contact with reality to try to hide her deaths and not, for example, kill anyone who would be crucial to later steps in her plan. So, good on her for maintaining that much sanity, he's not going to give out any medical diagnoses, he's not qualified. (He'd insert a joke about his mother being disappointed that he was a mere head of state instead of a doctor but actually that's a different branch of Jewish culture.) So... would Camellia care to come quietly to a nice cell to await trial? It's not even padded, they don't seem to have invented that here.

She would not! Look, I understand you're not exactly thrilled about the killing-crusaders thing but really, if I can close the Worldwound that has to be worth some deaths, right?

Abramo is in fact making precisely that tradeoff, on a large scale, every day, when he sends soldiers into battle. Which they signed up for, knowing the risk they were taking. And he has, like, an actionable plan that isn't based on vibes and wishes. And he doesn't stab them in the back. 

Woljif broke the law too! How come the tiefling gets away with it and the human doesn't?

The tiefling didn't kill anyone. Kind of an important point, that. 

Spirit Weapon! Charge!

Oh, this is a bit unfortunate. Abramo wasn't expecting to fight anyone, and went alone; he'd usually have Seelah or Regill up front to keep the sharp pointy metal at a distance while he summons the fight-finishers. Worse, he used up his Bolts of Justice at Blackwater and really needs to rest to be much use in a fight.

Yeah! This here's a duel, logistics boy; let's see how much good your fancy support-role spells do you now!

Stab! Stab! The spirits demand your blood!

Abramo is twice Camellia's age and rather dislikes up-close-and-personal fighting; he doesn't rate his chances highly in hand-to-hand combat with a spirit shaman who wields that magic rapier like her finger. However, there's a saying about age and treachery as opposed to youth and enthusiasm, and also he still has Fortress of the Faithful up from the aforementioned fight at Blackwater.

That stab looks pretty deadly but, actually, his throat is over here.

Dimensional Hop.

Blindness.

That's... not great, but Camellia is a high-level shaman, she can work with this. Aspect of the Wolf.

Sure, sure, that was only to keep her busy for a moment. Summon Bogeyman. Incidentally, in Abramo's home culture a monster called a 'Bogeyman' wouldn't be dangerous to anyone who confronted it boldly and maintained eye contact at all times; do they work like that here?

Spirits guide me, spirits protect me, spirits lead me to my enemies...

I, too, can call spirits from the vasty deep. And they indeed come, when I do call.

Air Elemental Swarm.

But - I was useful! Was I not?

Make that argument to Pharasma's court, if you like; their judgement is less easily refused than that of the Drezen military tribunals. 

Goodbye, Camellia.

There is a rhythm to all things, especially war. In Calistril the fighting, already slow merely because it is done by men who have to get to the front using their own personal feet, grinds to a near-halt. The scouts can find no more armies of demons, to be met in formal set-piece encounter by the massed ranks of pike and priest. There is only the constant pinprick attrition of skirmishing patrols, ambush and raid and reconnaisance - all at the pace of infantry marching through the coldest February Abramo has ever seen. By Mendevian standards it is practically peaceful.

Abramo does not believe any such thing, of course; you have peace when you sit in the enemy's capital and dictate terms, and not otherwise. (Or, to be complete, when they dictate terms to you; defeat is still peace.) But there's such a thing as a lull, even in industrial wars fought at the speed of rail and truck; with these pre-steam logistics he's actually somewhat surprised the fighting went as deep into winter as it did. And he has learned to his cost that you cannot fight the lull, cannot force the pace; "to appear fast or slow is what happens when the rhythm is out of synchronization", as his Japanese allies kept quoting him. What you can do is to take advantage: Fill the supply depots, strengthen the fortifications, drill the troops, get ready for the next beat.

Ferret out the thieves from your supply organisation!

And hang them!

Or give them another chance. Second chances are important, actually.

How about a nice sensible flogging and five years at hard labor? The thing about incentive gradients is that they need to be a gradient; the result of theft should not be the same as the penalty for desertion and cowardice-in-the-face, nor the same as the reward for faithful service.

But these are details, and he has them well in hand, now. The main thing the lull gives him...

...is time to think.