The trip to the Contender’s office was not terribly enlightening. The Contender and his cronies refused to address him further here, and the guards just formed a tight ring around him, intent on preventing escape. He wasn’t sure that they could actually stop him if he really wanted to leave. Using Nyxlas’s Augment with his Jump ability would likely get him out faster than any of them could react, and he could then get away faster than anyone could chase.

But they knew he was from Cotanaku. Even if they didn’t know his name, they could probably go to Garyung and make demands. And while the Bhogad might be able to negotiate something from the Contender in exchange, it would put Kaldalis in much hotter water than he wanted to be in. It seemed in everyone’s best interest to go along with them for now. It wasn’t like Nyxlas’s Augment couldn’t get him out of trouble any time he could plant his feet on a solid surface.

The group went almost all the way to Baimer’s castle, stopping nearby at an unreasonably opulent building. At a glance, Kaldalis would have guessed it was a cathedral, with its towering spires of black stone, and large gold-rimmed stained glass windows. There were a pair of huge grand doors, but the group didn’t go through there. Instead, they went around the side of the building to a much smaller door. For a moment, he guessed it would lead to much more modest administrative offices, but he was only mostly right.

The door led them down a brief stairway, beneath the cathedral.

There were indeed administrative offices here, but they weren’t terribly modest. The place was well-lit for an underground area - something Kaldalis recognized as superfluous in a world where everyone had 30 feet of darkvision - but the lighting fixtures looked like wrought iron and not gaudy gold. The floor was a green carpet, but it wasn’t plush and excessive. It just felt comfortable, and while that was a fair bit nicer than most office spaces Kaldalis had ever seen, it wasn’t a display of gross Vaticanesque excess.

The room he was eventually led to, however, looked vaguely familiar. A few rows of benches faced a long dais with a long desk lined with tall chairs. It looked like a recolored copy-paste of the War Council room. The floor in here was green carpet, and a lot of the accents on the wood furniture were painted metallic yellow, but otherwise, it was the spit of it. There were two guards present, and two men in ornate robes already seated at the council table, and the group accompanying Kaldalis fanned out to join them.

Without hesitation, the Contender and his two attendants took their seats - the Contender taking the center spot, and making a show of drawing his scepter and resting it on the table before him. Most of the guards took up positions flanking the council or the door, presumably to prevent Kaldalis from running or attacking, but it seemed unnecessary with three of the accompanying guards staying right on top of him. One on each side and one right behind boxed him in as they led him almost bodily to the podium before the council.

There was one more person here. An elderly Suyon woman who had escaped Kaldalis’s notice until now was calmly scrawling unreadable shorthand on a growing stack of paper. She glanced around periodically, apparently describing the attendants in meticulous detail before the meeting got underway.

“This sorcerer-” one of the council members began.

“Alleged,” the Contender corrected. “Alleged sorcerer.”

“Right,” the man said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “This alleged sorcerer stands accused of the use of evil magic. This interrogation-”

“Inquest,” the Contender corrected again. Clawed fingers traced the gemstones in the head of his scepter slowly. “Not an interrogation.”

“Right. Yes, of course.” The man paused for a moment, lips pressed into a thin line. “This inquest is to determine possible guilt or innocence, identify the magic that was used,” he said, pausing for a moment before adding: “if any,” and looking to the Contender for approval. With the tall Talsar’s nod, he continued. “Any information that can be obtained about the source of this magic will be recorded and reported, in case it will help in any cases investigating evil magic by this office in the future.”

Kaldalis had four or five smartass remarks he wanted to squeeze in edgewise, but he elected to keep his mouth shut. Antagonizing the church didn’t sound like a good long-term plan.

“Let us start at the beginning,” the Contender said. He took his hands off of the scepter and steepled his fingers. “The alleged sorcerer was seen to vanish into thin air, and reappear a moment later. The number of witnesses make it unlikely that this was a mere illusion.” He gestured to Kaldalis. “Please, tell us in your own words what you did.”

Kaldalis looked around for a moment, suddenly feeling self-conscious. He wanted to ask what the fuck was going on, but he didn’t know how much of an answer he was likely to get. He was also suddenly a lot less invested in getting his name across. He wasn’t sure where these records were going to go, but if he was right about the way things would work in this world, having “alleged sorcerer” with his name next to it in a file somewhere might come back to bite him. Especially with Demriv out there somewhere looking for some way to sink him.

“Whenever you’re ready,” the Contender said. Their tone was patient, but their expression was drenched in contempt.

“All I did was use an ability,” Kaldalis said. “And my only intent was to avoid getting my skull smashed in by an assassin. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.”

“Your intent is immaterial,” one of the other council members said. This one was an elderly-looking Vathon, with high cheekbones and sunken eyes, giving them a vaguely skeletal appearance. “Your innocence or guilt will not be based on harm or intent. It is the use of evil magic in defiance of the Glorious One, polluting your soul.”

Kaldalis didn’t know what to say about that. When he’d talked to Onirioago about the ability, he’d thought that the evil magic that the church would smack them down for represented in-game hacking or cheating. Now that he was facing down the actual accusation, he had to admit that he didn’t know if he was innocent or not. Was his soul a physical entity in this world? Could they measure its purity? Was he actually an evil sorcerer?

“The ability I used was not magic,” Kaldalis argued, even as his own doubt grew. “It is the result of science and research. I found it in an ancient library.”

“Yes,” the Contender said, nodding. “Please, continue. Where did you acquire this supposed ability?”

Kaldalis explained - in more detail - the dungeon outside of Cotanaku. He was as meticulous as possible about the whole experience, including the scrolls that they retrieved for the researchers. He even told the story of Kaia, describing how she was a researcher studying the abilities that were the cornerstone of Lataxinan culture, and that an amplified version of her Flicker saved a whole island from calamity.

The Contender had further questions, probing into the nature of the ability, the nature of the Paths Between Paths, and - eventually - Nyxlas’s Augment. The guards shifted uneasily as Kaldalis described the second Lataxinan ability, but the Contender seemed not to notice or care. He was deeply engaged in questioning Kaldalis. The other robed figures had questions of their own on occasion, but the Contender ran the show.

When Kaldalis had nothing else to say, the Contender doubled back, asking further questions about the dungeons. And then asking about the assassination attempt. And then slipping in questions about Kaia’s Flicker. And then Nyxlas’s Augment. And then Kaia’s flicker again. And then the dungeons. And then the Lataxinans. Eventually he teased out the existence of the Jormongumo, and started a line of questioning about them.

It took Kaldalis a while to realize what was happening.

The questions kept going in circles, doubling back and repeating and distracting him. It was a police tactic. Asking the same questions over and over was an easy way to catch someone in a lie.

Kaldalis was sticking to the truth, though, and so his answers were always the same.

The only thing he actively hid was the presence of the tablet in the Jormongumo town, and it was easy to avoid questions about it because his interrogators had incomplete information. Kaldalis had only described tablets in dungeons. He never mentioned the broken tablets in the aboveground ruins.

Ultimately, it would be up to the Contender and his cronies if the Lataxinan abilities qualified as evil magic or not. Kaldalis didn’t have any information that would lead to a clear answer one way or the other. The Contender, at least, seemed more interested in exhausting him with a constant stream of questions, instead of trying to talk him into incriminating himself. So long as Kaldalis kept his head on straight, he felt like he could get through this in one piece.

After what felt like hours of circular questioning, his salvation appeared.

There was a rumble of voices through the door before the doors burst open dramatically. Garyung stormed in, putting on his best aggravated face.

“Contender,” Garyung said, his voice making the address into a demand somehow. “You are acting outside of your authority! The city-state of Cotanaku does not yet have any sort of agreement to be policed by the Glorious Chapel. You have no authority to hold one of my citizens - let alone one of my personal agents - for questioning without my explicit permission.”

Kaldalis wasn’t sure if he was happy about this or not. He didn’t think the Contender was going to pin anything to him, but he also wasn’t sure how this “inquest” was going to end. It was nice to be rescued, but he was afraid that he was going to be standing here with a dumb look on his face when the other shoe dropped right in front of him.

“Very well then,” the Contender said carefully, with a bemused smile on his face. “May I have your permission to continue this inquest?”

“As much as I would love to cooperate with your investigation,” Garyung said, “I need him for other matters right now, such as the attempt on my life. If you could please reach out to my council in Cotanaku, we can follow more appropriate channels than abducting my people off the street.” He took a moment to clear the aggravation from his face and gave a respectful bow. “I don’t mean any offense against the Chapel, I only want this to be done by the book, and at a more convenient time. For example, when my life is not in danger.”

“You-” one of the robed figures began, slamming hands to the table to stand suddenly. He didn’t even get a second word out. The Contender raised a hand and the next syllable ended as a strangled squeak as if the tall scepter-wielding Talsar had force choked him.

“The Chapel recognizes your sovereignty,” the Contender said smoothly, “and we have no desire to upset the natural order. We, too, live by a book, and we will not disrespect those who do the same.”

With a gesture from the Contender, the guards parted from around Kaldalis, and he found himself stepping over to stand at Garyung’s side. As much as he felt Garyung was digging himself a hole, it was nice that he’d done it to get Kaldalis out of the one that had opened up beneath him.

“You are dismissed,” the Contender said, gesturing for them to leave. “We will be continuing this investigation, using the information freely provided. But we will be in touch soon.”

Garyung nodded and turned, leading Kaldalis towards the door.

“We’ll be seeing you in Cotanaku,” the Contender said, just before the doors closed behind them.

With the drop of the other shoe, Kaldalis hoped the look on his face wasn’t as dumb as he felt.