Swamped

Well. You don't have a better plan than going along with it. But there's also no need to hurry.

"Guess I'm taking another way, then," you grumble. You hold the reins and make a show of pulling on them, without actually doing it. "Oh, come on! I just need you to turn around!"

While you pretend to be struggling with an uncooperative desert-horse, you keep your eyes and ears open.

The first thing that strikes you is that nobody is talking at all. There's this whole crowd of greblings, and as far as you can see, there's not a single conversation going on in it.

Now, the Marshguards aren't exactly the most disciplined group around. But you doubt that many Bogknights could keep quiet either, unless someone was actually speaking to them.

You already worked out they were fighters. But to keep this quiet in what looks like downtime... that's something else entirely.

The leader seems fixated on you. You try not to look at him for too long at once, just so he doesn't catch on. The first thing you notice is that he's got both hands at his hips - probably fights with two weapons, then. A bit more observation makes you think he typically uses handaxes; his hands move up and down a little around where the handles would be, but don't go near the edges.

It takes you a few more glances after that to notice there's a symbol on the clasp of his cloak. When you manage to sneak a better look at it, you realize it's the same symbol that's on Jebediah's tent.

Once you catch it, you start looking at some of the other greblings for comparison. But you don't see any symbols on them.

So you might be dealing with some sort of holy warrior. You wonder if he's sanctioned by the church, or simply thinks himself close to Reth and everyone else is going along with it. Hard to say... but at least you have some idea of who to ask now.

You finally start making a real effort to move your desert-horse.

"Finally! Gods, what a lot of trouble that was."

As you say it, you get the idea to look at the leader one more time to see if he reacts to the word "gods". You think you catch him recoiling slightly. But you don't get any more trouble as you get on and ride the desert-horse away.

You take another route and drop it off at the stable, as you said. You shouldn't need it to get back to where you found the strange sphere.

But the group is still uncomfortably close to Dominique's tent, and you're not confident they'll let you get in. So you think it's time to gather a little information.

You head into Jebediah's tent. The two priests are sitting far apart from each other - probably to maintain some measure of peace, you suppose.

Well, it's probably best to just pick one and start talking. So who are you going to consult?