Arkady shrugs, and discusses signal discipline and some of it's various ramifications.

Edit: after that, a thought crosses his mind and he turns to Vanire: When you get a chance, please pass along to His Holiness that I have discovered it is actually rather easy for someone with our testing gear to tell Zemoch gold from the ordinary kind. If he is interested then I think we can arrange for someone to do the testing for him."

Felix should probably get used to that at some point.

"Let's put a pen in it for later, I guess," he says. "I should go properly arrest Harparin. Doubtless he's earned his execution but I think the staff would appreciate not having to clean his finely misted remains off a quarter of the castle."

Felix double times it to the closet.

"You can?" asks Vanire, grinning widely. "Oh, this allows for such fascinating opportunities... I'll send a note as soon as I can."

Platime knows very little about Terran technology, but it turns out that he's an absolute master at the art of passing information when you expect a competent enemy to be listening to every word you say. He listens attentively, and nods along at the right places, but Arkady gets the impression that he hasn't really taught Platime anything new by the end of it.

Felix finds that Harparin is still out cold.

Arkady considers for a second, then asks Platime: "In your old professional opinion: if the Elene Church asked the bankers or goldsmiths of Chyrellos whether they did some perfectly legal work in their field, would they tell the Church the truth?"

Arkady half grins and says: "If they have done any work with gold that's too soft for anything but ingots in the last year or so. How much they did and who they did it for would also be of some interest if they have." After a second he adds "It would also be interesting to know if anyone has done that in this city, because it would almost certainly be the same batch of gold."

Felix makes sure the claymore is disarmed then bundles up Harparin so he's in a presentable package to deliver.

Platime considers. "It's all about the phrasing," he muses. "Imply that the gold was somehow clearly illegitimate and every banker would claim that they certainly didn't handle it, but their untrustworthy rival certainly did. ...I could get the truth, from Chyrellos... let me see... within perhaps a week, though there will be a fair amount of additional bother due to the siege... let us say, within no more than two weeks, then. I could find out if it's been seen in this city before this time tomorrow, of course."

Harparin is overweight and rather oily; but if one ignores these deficiencies, then one could probably consider the resulting bundle to be fairly presentable.

Arkady nods. "There are other ways to get very soft gold, but the largest source is from Zemoch. Apparently their god supplies it to them. I am not thinking it is a good idea to be hoarding it."

He looks over at Vanire and adds: "If that gold was cast into anything but, maybe, an ingot then they had to add something else to stiffen it. Nickle or lead or some such. To properly test it after that we would need a sample of whatever they alloyed it with as well.

Then another shoe drops and he turns back to Platime. Ah, yes. The priest I mentioned? We know that he had the run of this place for a while; he walked right into Raven's office once while we were paying attention. Unfortunately he had already been told, probably by his god, of how to avoid revealing much that was useful before he led Raven away to somewhere we weren't keeping track of. To anyone who looks at him he's just a man in a brown robe, with a face no one can remember: he is very good at spells which control the mind, at least of someone in the room at the time. Something to consider as we discuss how we can help you protect the Queen, and whether you may want the cameras that let someone who isn't in the room at the time see what is going on.

"Raven wasn't in town long," says Platime, idly. "He got back to town, spent less than three hours in the palace, and left on a fast horse with well-packed saddlebags. He hasn't been seen in town since. If that soft gold is Zemoch gold, then no-one will admit to seeing it - the sort who will handle it knowing where it's from won't risk being found out - but I'll be able to get that information anyhow."

Arkady's mention of spells that control the mind makes Platime frown. "Hmph. I've heard of such things and myth and legend - it's hard to think that I may be facing someone who can do that. As for protecting the Queen - when it comes to defending against that sort of thing, you'll find none better than the Pandion Knights. They train for this sort of thing. Keeping one - no, two - of them with the Queen at all times sounds like a very good idea."

Arkady nods. "I am thinking their order would agree to provide another one;" he says with a glance at Vanire: "but how well disguised does a squad of assassins need to be if the guards will not be looking? This fellow can bind demons; I would not want to be betting that he can't distract several people at the same time."

"The safety of the Queen is of some importance," nods Vanire. "Nonetheless, there are tactics that protect against that sort of mental diversion; we'll ask Lady Sephrenia to help us ensure that this Zemoch fellow doesn't slip by under our noses with a dagger."

"There will be a limit to what he can do without attracting attention," nods Sephrenia. "There always is... and I can always ask my goddess to ensure that the Knights with the Queen are alerted of anyone nearby attempting to use magic to cloak himself."

Arkady considers for a second, then says: "I was not thinking he would wield a dagger. It is not seeming to be his style. Lady, how many people could he shield before he hits those limits? And how well can this place be warded against demons or their summoning when you aren't here? We've already had one of them materialize inside the lungs of a talkative mercenary; and that sort of thing could make killing an assassin just as entertaining as not killing them."

Sephrenia considers. "The major limits are going to be the number of people watching, and how closely they are paying attention. It is possible to avoid a large crowd if they are distracted. It is another thing to avoid the sight of a trained, alert bodyguard; it is yet another thing to avoid the eyes of a Pandion Knight; and it is yet another thing to avoid the gaze of a Pandion Knight whom I have specifically asked my goddess to ward against such things. I do not believe that the person lives who can defeat the last of those; if such a person did exist, then I do not see how we could possibly not have been already conquered. It is always easier and more effective to ward oneself than others; there are many factors that affect the size of a group that can be hidden, but I would be surprised if he could hide more than three people from an alert bodyguard, or more than himself alone from a lone Pandion Knight, even unwarded."

"As for demons; they cannot be summoned at a great distance from the summoner. What I imagine you saw was a previously bound and summoned demon being released when certain conditions were met - possibly the mercenary said something that the summoner wished kept secret. Releasing one from an assassin on death is certainly a worrisome strategy; but the Pandions can face demons and destroy them."