"- Well, my general heuristic is that when a situation looks suspiciously convenient - or inconvenient, usually - it is usually because the gods are nudging things in a certain direction. ...Though I am in fact unsure why nudging toward my escape would have accomplished the goals of Valdemar's god. It must have been Them - the Star-Eyed Goddess is the only other Power who would have significant influence in Haven, and I do not believe at all that She wished for us to escape -" 

Vanyel is maybe just going to quietly absorb that and move on, since he doesn't have a useful or safe answer. 

"Your envoy seemed to be getting along pretty well with the Chelish diplomats? Are you allying with Cheliax, then?" 

Leareth should, plausibly, also have thought through the fact that Valdemar has no context at all on any of Leareth's most recent updates, and prepared a way to explain that. 

Unfortunately, he doesn't even actually KNOW the exact letter of what commitments and agreements he's made to Cheliax, because SOMEONE thought he should 'sleep' or something before doing that. 

"...No," he says, tonelessly. 

"...Oh?" 

A pause. 

"Are you - going to add anything about that?" 

Where can he even start. 

"Do you know of Iomedae? The Lawful Good god. I - think Her existence had been mentioned to me before you captured me but I...do not exactly have good recall of that."

"I don't think so." 

Vanyel thinks it's pretty plausible that Leareth did mention this god (goddess?) and he just hasn't had enough sleep in days or any chance to review his notes on that conversation.

"...She was Aroden's paladin and then ascended and became a god by using the Starstone– did I mention that before? You can touch it and become a god. Aroden was the god of - progress and flourishing and humanity? Who died - who was believed to have died - a century ago in Golarion? And then... What Carissa had told me, I think, so probably what I told you, is that Asmodeus killed Him. But that is not what happened - he was betrayed by an ally but Iomedae thinks that She got the math wrong..." 

"...She thinks She got the math wrong...?" Vanyel repeats, blankly, stupidly, that isn't even slightly the most important here it's just the most curiosity-inducing. 

"- She said that, yes. But She did not show me Her math so I cannot exactly vouch for it." 

He apparently keeps getting distracted and kind of losing the plot of this conversation, though to be fair Leareth isn't exactly being easy to follow. 

"Sorry, you were explaining Iomedae - why is that relevant?" 

"- I apologize, I am not managing to explain this very clearly."

He pauses. "...And it occurs to me that there are information security implications - the Chelish diplomats are still in Haven?" 

"Um, yes. I'm not going to just go around telling them things, though?" 

Leareth badly wishes there had been any more of an opportunity to talk over with Nayoki how he should be approaching this. How much information sharing is actually a good idea.

It - seems very relevant, to tell them about Iomedae and Her church's presence in Velgarth. (The paladins are, honestly, likely to get along a lot better with Vanyel than with Leareth himself.) It would presumably be valuable to Iomedae to consecrate a space and set up a shrine in Valdemar as well. 

But there are, in fact, infosec concerns. It would be very costly to Aroden and Iomedae's plans if Asmodeus learned that Aroden is still alive. And Leareth's current assessment is that he basically trusts Vanyel to take this appropriately seriously and have good judgement, and...feels much less sure about the rest of the Heralds. 

The safer option would be to wait. Decide once he's rested and - in generally better shape, and then send an envoy to Valdemar, or convince them to send someone. But that could plausibly take a while to arrange; the Heralds will probably be reluctant. He can't count on having the dream again soon, and events are moving very fast. It feels like doing Vanyel a disservice, not to give him accurate up-to-date information on what's going on...

"- Leareth? Are you all right?" 

Why does everyone keep asking him that question. 

"It has been a very stressful day," he admits. 

"Is that, er, related to your envoy running off with no warning?" 

"Yes. Do you think the Chelish envoys are suspicious about that?" 

"Maybe a little? But, er, I think not in a very specific way. My guess is that they're worried you - changed your mind about something related to Cheliax, but it sounds like your day was more eventful than that." 

That is such an understatement. 

Leareth takes a deep breath. "I am going to tell you everything that happened, but I - would prefer you be cautious in deciding who else ought to know. I will not ask you to make any promises on that. I do need to know if you are on board in general, with...potentially not conveying all of this to the other Heralds." 

Vanyel snorts, despite himself. "Leareth, I kept your secrets for over a decade." 

Leareth ducks his head. 

"Thank you. ...The sequence of events is that Carissa and I were kidnapped," AGAIN, "- by a man calling himself Malduoni. A ninth-circle wizard - that is the most powerful they can be, in Golarion - and a political leader in Rahadoum, the country that banned all of the gods and Their representatives. It turned out he had been spying on us in my facility in the north, without attracting notice, he has absurdly powerful magic that our defences were not prepared for, and -" 

Leareth breaks off. Falls silent. He's pretty sure he had something in mind to say next, but he's suddenly remembering far too vividly how it felt to be trapped in Malduoni - Aroden's - demiplane, stripped of his magic, of his senses, stuck...

"Leareth?" 

"- Sorry. Right. So he kidnapped us to his personal demiplane, where our magic was blocked but his was not - it is honestly incredible that doing that is possible - and he very quickly informed us that he was intending to conquer Cheliax and take it back from Asmodeus." 

"He– wait, what?" 

"...I should flag that this next part is - particularly sensitive, and I think you should plausibly not tell any of the other Heralds about it."