“I know the Wound still has need of men, but I’d served for some years and thought it might be time to be warm instead of cold and not in quite so much mortal peril and to see what all the rumours were on about how things had changed back home… This mornings pamphlet implied you might be hiring for a bodyguard? Though it looks like you have at least one.” 

He nods at the big dude with a sword. 

"The president of the convention was generous enough to offer the delegates a chance to avail ourselves of bodyguards today, yes." He technically has the budget to hire another but he's not sure of this guy right now.

"Well, I'd be willing to offer my sword if you have need of another. Regrefully, the priest that would have most recommended my work didn't survive the loss of his spells. I'd be interested in hearing how you managed that yourself, if you'd be willing to share that story?" 

This guy absolutely does not have the Asmodean energy Diego was expecting to find here and he's now a bit more confused than he had started out, but a job is a job if he wrangle it, and he's been drinking through his savings at an unsustainable pace. 

"I owe my continued control of the fort substantially to my second in command, First Arcane Grec, who proved loyal to me personally and did much of the work of breaking the news in a favorable order and corralling restive elements. One of the junior priests committed suicide and another I had to execute for desertion but the rest were still there folded into patrol squads as martial combatants at the time I left. I was - focused very intently on discipline as a tool to keep the demons contained, and possibly this was - instructive - to anyone who might have otherwise seen an opportunity... I stopped permitting the wizards to prepare Detect Thoughts shortly after I lost my spells as I needed their slots for other things that the clerics would previously have covered, so I do not have a detailed internal picture of the common soldier's mind on the matter."

No response to the offer of a sword, so he guesses that’s a no then? Kinda confusing that he talked about how he had been as Asmodean and needed a guard and then when he gets here he doesn’t want to be referred to as such and also doesn’t need a guard anymore, but so it goes. It’s a confusing world.

“That speaks well of the strength of the discipline and hierarchy you maintained at your fort. If only more forts had that. 

I did not personally see eye to eye with many of the other men at the fort as to how to react to our priests loss of spells, but I was out on patrol when the news got out and when I got back I was too late and in need of defending my own position.”

"- I wasn't aware there were forts where the upheaval required the martial enlisted to defend themselves as well."

"It didn't quite come to deadly blows, but it did look dicey for a bit. Might not have made it into any reports that went out though." 

"- Was the bloodshed really so limited everywhere, just the priests that were torn apart? It did seem quite fraught for a time, especially around the issue of whether there would be executions for the mutiny, and of whom. How did most forts wind up handling it? From my view it seemed like we got lucky that the fighting didn't escalate, demons at the walls be damned." 

"I did lead a squad at the time, and was known to be personally loyal to the priests myself, which probably complicated my position. But most of what I did then was barricade myself and my squad in one portion of the fort while negotiations and forward looking expectations were discussed, and things cooled down without ever boiling over further. Maybe the external threat did help with that." 

"So, reports from forts more than one farther along the line were always spotty, and the supply issues starting at the Four Day War and continuing from there didn't help, so I don't have a complete picture. What I heard about definitively was mostly priests killed and increased unattributed losses that could have been demons or the cold."

"Well, like I said, I came by to offer my sword - I always got on better with the priests than most folk in my fort, and was heartened to hear that you survived and are doing well for yourself. It's... reaffirming to know that the key was sufficient discipline after all. I've been lately lacking in it, myself, without the proper guidance that I used to have. 

But if you have no need of my services I can depart. Do you have any potential need of me or any parting words of wisdom?" 

"I think you should be clear that Asmodeanism is and was always wrong, and while I cannot fault you for - cooperating with the system that you were emplaced in to accomplish the worthy goal of holding back the demons - it will not behoove you to hold on to Asmodean habits going forward."

Maybe the existing bodyguard is spying on the priest for the archmages, Diego muses. That would explain why he's sticking to the script even when Diego's been trying to give him opportunities to veer off the party line. This insight helps him make more sense of how the conversation has been going thus far. And anything that he did to try to get the other man out of the room to would make him more suspicious. Probably not worth trying. 

This seems like more complicated maneuvering that he had expected and that isn't particularly his strong point. And if the priest is being carefully watched, that probably means he wouldn't get to do anything particularly fun for the priest, unless he was very discreet about it, and he can discreetly have some fun on his own time even without orders. He still needs to wrangle getting paid before his money runs out, but he can always get pay and pleasure from different places if it comes to that. 

He still hasn't heard a firm no yet on getting hired, but he isn't particularly optimistic. 

He nods. "Understood. Are there any habits that you think I should particularly strive to leave behind?

- I won't repeat the mistake with the titles again, Select." 

"I don't know much about your habits or by virtue of which such you tended to get along well with priests. - if you are concerned about your reputation but need more specific advice based on more specific information, I can take a meeting privately, though I will not consider myself competent to offer ironclad confidentiality until I have finished my catechism course."

Ah! It looks like his thoughts about the bodyguard had been on the right track after all and he had just been given an opening. Diego feels smug. Maybe he is cut out for this kind of maneuvering after all. 

But what does the line about finishing the catechism course mean? That it would be better if he came back later? Maybe it would be less suspicious somehow. 

"I am concerned about my reputation, and would be glad to discuss further privately. Do you mean to say that I should return for a conversation sometime in the future once you've finished your catechism course? Or would you be interested in having that discussion now?" 

"If what you want is to not speak in front of every other person in this temple including my bodyguard, you and I can go sit in that room and talk. If what you want is an oath on my Law not to repeat anything you say no matter what it is then that will need to wait, but I can without an oath on my Law exercise ordinary judgment and discretion."

Diego puzzles that over. Maybe the concern is that even in the private room, the priest will not be able to ensure against some forms of eavesdropping, so while he can be more forward in private he shouldn't be too forward? He also hadn't been too cognizant of the other people in the temple - no one else seemed to be standing close enough to hear their conversation though some people were looking over at them, and of course some people can read lips or otherwise overhear. He reviews the conversation in his head. Nothing too incriminating, he hopes.

"A private conversation now would suit me. Let us sit and talk."

Blai nods to the bodyguard, who takes up a position outside the chosen room and does not follow them in.

Diego follows him in, closes the door behind them. 

"You wanted to know why I got along well with priests. Well, I'd like to think that I was better at making myself an instrument of their will than most. Was - better disciplined, myself, when they were in charge. Didn't drink on duty, wasn't late, followed orders well. Was reliable. Took initiative. 

Helped ensure that others followed orders also. Sometimes I'd turn up infractions that the Detect Thoughts wizard hadn't caught. Once I caught a Detect Thoughts wizard falsifying records, that was well rewarded.

I was one of the lay people most chosen for administering punishments, was better than most at remembering to not get carried away and didn't forget about infection risk and keeping people useful if they were supposed to be kept useful. Had a knack for drawing things out in entertaining ways if they weren't needed anymore. The Chosen thought I was creative at it and came at it with the right spirit." 

He'd have to cut back on his drinking, if he got the job. Which he was fine with, really. He was waking up too often with a bad hangover and less coin in his pocket than he'd hoped. He was better at being his best self when he knew there would be consequences for it. More immediate consequences. His doubts about Asmodeus after the deaths of most of his priests had been bad for his self-discipline. 

"Many of those qualities are good in other contexts as well provided you can be motivated by things other than fear. Definitely not the one about drawing things out."

“What ought one be motivated by?” 

"A lot of people are just motivated by money, which is fine as far as it goes, works well for mercenaries. Law itself but I'm not sure if the temperament can be easily taught. The cause, when there is one."

“ - the cause, sir?” 

"Holding the Wound, at the Wound. The good of Cheliax, at the convention. Writ smaller - if you were to guard a specific trading caravan or protect a particular village from monsters, that would be a fine cause."

“And what would you recommend if it turns out that that some only find fear motivating?”

"They could then stand to fear Judgment instead of a fellow mortal."

Diego contemplated whether he was afraid of Judgement. He hadn't spent much time thinking on Hell, and when he had, he'd vaguely understood that he would have his spot on the hierarchy, and he'd had some hopes that this would be a spot with a favorable balance of torturing to being tortured given that in his experience he usually had such a favorable balance. Was it unwise to say as much? 

It could be that this was a test of his loyalty to Asmodeus, it could be that this priest had truly repented and now feared Hell himself, it could be that they were being watched. Asking probably wasn't a capital crime, and it seemed like there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm in administering other kinds of punishments. 

"What is there to fear in Judgement?"