Why does Hell do anything? The Lord of the Pit empowering a hundred and six new priests wasn’t on my radar either.

So now the radar’s a touch sensitive. 

Actually, it's a hundred and eleven priests, now.

And that’s after attrition.

He’s still picking them?

I’m not convinced that we even want different things! I want whatever Asmodeus wants, but Asmodeus is working with good gods, He communicated this to me. He’s probably angling for your ideal outcome!

Out there the world is dying, in here the strongest god after the Rough Beast and the Lady of Graves is taking blind convulsive action. 

Perhaps the gods are working similar wonders in all corners of Golarion, or perhaps everything hinges on us in a way only They can see. It’d be so stupid if we both want the shadows soundly defeated and the world restored to the old balance of power or as near to it as can be managed and we fought each other and killed the planet instead of getting that.

Ah. I mismeasured you, Archbishop, and I’m sorry.

It seems that we really do want the same thing, and we’re... hoping... for the same outcome.

What if I avoid bringing up the planar ally and instead mention truthtelling?

You can’t swear about Hell’s intentions, is the problem, and you aren’t exactly steering this boat. You’re an oarsman on a bench with a reason that you made up in your head so you could believe you’re not rowing straight into the Abendego Eye.

You should know this better than anyone. Don't be a rube in the pews.

Are you trying to talk me out of calling the planar ally?

I’m a figment of your imagination, Reebs.

Are you trying to talk you out of calling the planar ally?

If Hell sends devils to take direct control of the Vault, and no other power pays to prevent this, I’m going to assume that the alternative is us all being eaten by shadows. 

But what is Hell paying for here? What is the terribly important thing which you think Asmodeus is trying to get? Aren’t you burning with curiosity? And aren’t you… tempted? Gods sight us but dimly. But you're here on the ground, with two eyes in the front of your face. 

After they threw you out of Egorian, you spent 25 years in this city playing Hell’s obedient Archbishop. You known quantity you. But you’re an Asmodean through and through: isn’t dying with a reputation for blind obedience a bit like dying with money in the bank? 

What do you want, Reebs?

What I want is – what I want are my spells refreshed at midnight. 

Can you walk the infinite planes? When you ask your gods questions, do They answer you? 

I have more to lose than I stand to gain from nearly anything.

Yes, I can walk the infinite planes, and yes, They do answer me. It’s this thing Abadarans do called “getting paid to do things so you can pay other people to do the other things,” and I think it’s really nifty.

Pft. You’re a tin of meat designed to scrape monsters up on your way down their throats. Your entire class does exactly one thing, and my class does that better too. You don’t even know what you’re missing. 

Okay, fair enough, that was glib. If I’m of mixed feelings regarding the magic that I do have, I will at least admit that it is very fun to use. 

It’d be incredibly ego-syntonic for me if I could walk the planes and speak to gods. Or teleport around, that’s one that I’m constantly wishing I could do.

Being a sixth-circle cleric is who I am. It’s how I see myself, it’s my social role, and, most importantly, it’s how I solve all the problems in my life. 

Abadar would never have raised you to sixth-circle, because your interests and His don’t have enough overlap, but you’re already sixth-circle and as of last night your interests overlap with Abadar’s a good amount. You could ask Him to take over as your patron deity; Abadar doesn’t use clerics against their own interests.

Or, because I sense that you’re skeptical, plan B: there’s a LN god who’s intervening here nearly as heavily as Asmodeus: Otolmens. She’s a Primordial Inevitable, CR 30, which means that her raw power is relatively limited: wouldn’t She pleased as punch if She could get a sixth-circle empowered priest on the cheap? 

Asmodeus is also working to prevent the end of the world, so denouncing Him and forcing Otolmens to pick me up - if She even could and and if She deemed it the best use of her limited powers - would be wasting Her energies for no real reason at all. 

I’m the Archbishop of Varisia. That’s who I am. I’d cash in the position for something I wanted, sure, but not to avoid some vague dread and chase a vaguer hope. Especially when I’ve got a hundred new clerics looking up to me!

What would they think?

New tack, from the top: 

I would also like for us to avoid wasteful conflict which serves neither of us. 

It’s my sincere belief that Hell is angling for an outcome which you’ll find no less tolerable than I do. When the Lawful planes pull together - as they do now against the Worldeater - the balance of their alignments rests in Axis. My one priority here is defeating the shadows and the Rough Beast’s plot. I need you able to fight as badly as you need the same from me, and soldiers can’t fight together if they’re worried about the knives in their back, but I’ve worked with paladins at the Worldwound and we got the job done. I am willing, ready, and able to play ball.

The Kroft model wants to know whether this constitutes a promise to avoid taking actions which I’d want to fight you about if I knew you were taking them. Otherwise I need to watch you carefully, or decide that I’m incapable of watching you carefully and do something that's less risky and more inevitably doomed.

Does it advantage Asmodeus for Reebs to promise that? 

...Probably it does, although 

Bluff 1d20+25 = 37
Sense Motive 1d20+18 = 26

there’s no way to know for certain.

From the top:

I believe that Hell is angling for an outcome which you’ll find no less tolerable than I do. The Lawful planes pull together against the Worldeater, and the balance of their alignments is in utopic Axis. 

You and I are yoked to the same plow: my sole priority is defeating the shadows and the Rough Beast’s plot. But soldiers can’t fight together if they’re worried about knives in their back, or if they feel a need to hold back their strength for a civil war to follow. 

So this is a promise: for the duration of this crisis, and to the extent of my ability, I will take no action which, in the balance of its effects as I anticipate them, I expect will make the world worse from your perspective. 

I fought with paladins at the Worldwound, in defense of the world, and I’m honored to fight with one again. 

This is why Law wins. 

Do you want to trade liaisons? 

It isn't raising any alarms from your mental model of Cressida Kroft, so try saying it out loud.

“I am incredibly grateful that you brought this concern to me and gave me a chance to address it. I do believe that Hell is angling for an outcome which you’ll find tolerable – the Lawful planes pull together against the Worldeater, and the balance of their powers is in utopic Axis.

But belief is not certainty, and soldiers can’t fight together if they’re defending against knives from behind or reserving their strength for a civil war to follow. 

You and I are yoked to the same plow: my sole priority is defeating the shadows and the Rough Beast’s plot. 

So this is a promise: for the duration of this crisis, and to the extent of my ability, I will take no action which, in the balance of its effects as I anticipate them, I expect will make the world worse from your perspective. 

I fought with paladins at the Worldwound, in defense of the world, and I’m honored to fight with one again. 

This is why Law wins. 

Do you want to trade liaisons?”

............................That's wildly suspiciously cooperative. 

Behind the impassive mask, Archbishop Reebs is panicking. She... feels guilty about this, on a level. 

The question, though, is whether this is a panicked promise, or whether it's a panicked lie. 

Bluff: 1d20+25 = 27
Sense Motive: 1d20+20 = 21