"I'm going to go check on the cleanup operation briefly. Then we'll leave. If you require more water, more will be provided. Food can be provided at the holding area. Questions?"

"Do I need to do anything to cooperate with transport?"

"Do not attempt to remove your seat restraints." He points to the corresponding belt on another empty seat and pulls it demonstratively. "These devices keep you safely seated while the vehicle is in motion. They are a safety standard, and required in most cases when travelling in any motor vehicle. If there is an emergency such as a crash, fire, or similar, you can remove them by depressing this lever."

He does not need to actually say they'll cuff him again if he's disruptive. Blai Artigas is disinclined to be disruptive right now, and making obvious threats is not always productive.

"Understood." How often do these things crash. Carriages don't have restraints like this, so probably more often than carriages.

Red Cape vanishes outside for about a minute. The black-armored grunt is still there. Silent and hardly moving except to breathe and fidget slightly with the huge weapon. (The Sectoid who landed his probe is still reading his mind.)

What if they are just pretending not to know who Iomedae is and actually they're all Baphomet cultists and are about to blow this conveyance up complete with their soldier. He's a very disciplined soldier, though probably the fact that he shares no languages with Blai is helping, the negative examples he's comparing against in his head would mostly have started their ventures to the boundaries of rank-and-file behavior with verbal prodding, and while Blai could understand him he probably doesn't know that. What if the conveyance crashes and everybody dies except Blai because he can't reach his holy symbol to heal them. Maybe he should just hold it the entire way. They had surprisingly few questions about Iomedae. They didn't take his armor, should they have - should he volunteer it when the guy comes back? - they're really being very nice about all this which means they are probably very genuinely unfamiliar with magic as he does it, maybe no gods have ever touched this planet at all. What if he is somehow violating a god treaty just by being here. Iomedae he didn't mean to please strike him dead on the spot if that would be more in line with Your obligations - okay he's still alive which either means he should be alive or it would be expensive in either expended resources or in the lost cleric to strike him dead on the spot. That means he has to figure out what to do here. If they have no magic on the planet at all he can probably install himself in a hospital and do channels and cure blindness and do Lesser Restorations. He's pretty sure if you have exactly one cleric it doesn't make sense to send him into combat in hopes of more circles so he should assume he will go to his grave third circle. He should learn the language. What if they have a bunch of languages in circulation and he has to learn six of them, that would be a lot even with Comprehend Languages helping. This is all assuming that no archmages show up three weeks demanding to know where the fuck their Iomedaean delegate is, but he can't just go around counting on archmages to do anything about him, he can't even assume that they hear him when he thinks at them and choose not to do anything about it the way he can assume that about Iomedae. So he should probably not pick up any obligations that would be hard to discharge Lawfully should such an archmage appear but otherwise conduct himself like he will be living out his life on this planet. Probably he should translate the Acts once he knows the language. Is there any writing in this conveyance that he could study while he waits.

Red Cape comes back. He speaks through a small window at the front: "Driver, when we are secured proceed to Gate 7 Holding Area. Guard, sit and secure yourself."

"Acknowledged," two voices reply.

And then to Blai, as the officer himself also sits and puts on the seat harness: "Medical evaluation of the casualties that remained on-site support the version of events where Stabilize works as advertised and was cast as described. Our casualties are being taken to the Yangon Trauma Center for treatment now. It's time to go to the holding area. My superiors have many more questions for you, if you would be willing to answer them."

"What are the questions, or will they ask in person?"

"How do 'gods' generally operate and pursue their goals? Can they be contacted and negotiated with? What are your instructions from Iomedae, in more detail than 'defeat evil and triage'? Followup questions depending on answers."

The truck lurches into motion. It accelerates a lot faster than a wagon would.

"Gods do most of their work among mortals by empowering mortal followers, mostly clerics like myself but also if they are Lawful Good, Neutral Good, or Lawful Neutral, sometimes paladins. Iomedae in particular selects more paladins than clerics. They can also grant visions, adjust which spells they give their empowered servants instead of granting the specific ones we request, and perform ad-hoc miracles, but all things they can do which impinge upon the mortal world - as opposed to for example merely affecting their own domains in the Outer Planes, which are among other things afterlives for the mortals of the corresponding alignments - are 'expensive', not in currency but in a sort of treaty-limited budget. This is presumably a massive oversimplification because gods are complex and the details are not worth communicating.

"Gods can be communicated to through prayer, speaking or thinking in a manner that addresses them. This normally has no concrete effects at all because those effects would be interventions and therefore expensive. Communication from gods most paradigmatically takes the form of the spell Commune, which I am not powerful enough to cast, answering yes-or-no questions with some mild deviation from the format possible in extreme situations, but I surmise based on the fact that my" not superiors, he isn't qualified for such a luxury, "seniors in the Church told me not to cast it even if I could that it is itself costly for the communed god.

"I have two copies of Iomedae's holy book in my backpack. The language I gave you by spell is modern Chelish and the book is written in archaic, and also poetic, Taldane, but it may be moderately comprehensible to you now and I can aim for the correct dialect with my next casting if that is desirable. I have only read it all the way through once and had intended to meet a catechism instructor at the end of my interrupted journey. On Golarion there are many evils threatening people's well-being such as demons, the undead, unnecessary warfare, the forces of Hell," like him a few months ago, "and things like pirates, orc raids, and banditry, but I don't know what forms it may take here. The advice I had from the Church was to remain at my Worldwound post, which at first I did, but then my country was having a constitutional convention and wanted clerical representation, so my intention then was to attempt to vote with the Church at the convention in the hopes of steering the governance of the country in a more Lawful Good direction."

"We are willing to provide translators effort to translate the book into English, the de-facto world language of Earth humans, and Tacchin, the dominant language of ADVENT, if provided with Share Language casting. Is there a formal description or test for Lawful, Neutral, Good, and Evil?"

"Not a formal one. Broadly, Law - opposed to Chaos - is about abiding by one's agreements while Chaos admits of no such constraint, and Good is about helping people and Evil about harming them. There are many subphilosophies in each alignment, though."

"If you are willing to speculate, why would you guess that gods do not select any clerics on this planet?"

"It could be for all I know that the gods do not select clerics on most planets. Golarion has a Chaotic Evil destruction god imprisoned inside it and may accordingly be a relatively high-priority battleground for their several interests. Alternately this planet may be interdicted by divine treaty, perhaps one that predates Iomedae's ascension or that my irregular arrival circumvents; or it could be that it's difficult to reach with magic - I haven't noticed any impairment in preparation or casting but that doesn't mean there isn't one in a respect invisible to me." Iomedae, if it's expensive, he will cope with it if You can't grant more spells tomorrow, he knows it's a bad year... "Or they do, but it's all cults that operate in obscurity or secrecy."

"What other gods are you willing to tell us about?"

He'll start with the Good and Neutral ones in case these people think it would be a great idea to try to get Asmodeus's attention or pray to Deskari or something, but the mindreaders can pick up blurbs about those on top of the ones he's verbalizing more about Erastil, Abadar, Shelyn, Sarenrae, Desna, Pharasma, Nethys, Calistria, Gozreh, Cayden Cailean, and after a moment's thought Shizuru.

(Sarenrae being associated with 'healing' seems potentially promising for the Key Problem Behind Everything. Though there will be quite some debate as to whether it's worth the attempt, behind the scenes...)

At length they get to the holding area.

There are guards. There are energy fields over the doors and windows. There are cells. They're about 3 by 4 meters, all hard surfaces, thin foam mattress, toilet and sink in the cell. The officer puts on handcuffs again to move him into one, but then removes both hand and leg cuffs.

(There's a slight rigamarole with the Sectoid- It's getting tired but hasn't dropped its read yet, and maintaining proximity without alerting Blai to it takes some maneuvering behind a few more strategically parked trucks.)

"I have been ordered to stay in this building until Share Language elapses. Lunch and dinner will arrive at noon and six hours after noon. If you have further questions or requests, this button will activate the communication system. Thank you for your cooperation."

He's not sure if this is a culture where you say 'you're welcome' about being thanked for being arrested politely, so he doesn't, just bobs his head. "How does the communication system function, please?"

"It will alert the warden manning the console that you want to speak. Then, the console can relay your voice to itself and the warden's voice to your cell."

"Very well. Should I continue to refrain from casting spells?"

"I have not received specific instructions on that topic, so I will use my judgement." He sounds faintly disgusted at the idea. "We do not typically restrict activity within cells beyond rules designed to prevent damage to the cells, self-harm, and attempts to escape. Do not cast spells for any of those purposes, otherwise, you may cast spells."

So valid to be disgusted about a situation where you have to use your judgment! "Understood, thank you." Guidance!!