kapuchu said
Well, he could if you wanted him to, but at this point I feel like it'd be sort of meta gaming to do so. Also, what does he have to lose? Amaretto has just proven himself to have the artefact of a God, shown that he's willing to steal from one, all to get back what he lost. That should convince most anyone that he's telling the truth is he dares to go to such lengths just to get the chance to see the again. And even then, if just one of the maids end up as being "mindless," that's all he needs. ...Sorry if it seems like I'm trying to control the flow of events, but there is quite a lot of things to take into account here, so him just "suddenly" asking if Amaretto is telling the truth would seem a lot like "I don't want your character's plan to work, so I'm gonna ruin it with meta knowledge." Don't get me wrong, if Scalpel retains his immense paranoia and he does end up asking (provided all 3 are sane and have their memories), then I won't complain because it would make sense. I just really want to avoid meta-gaming to happen.
Thats fair enough, and I don't plan on metagaming my way into discrediting him, but you are missing one vital fact, Scalpel is investigating ALL of the people currently in contact with him. He is paranoid enough from experience to know when something is going to well for him and to question when and how his luck is going to turn, The fact that Amaretto seems brave enough to go against the gods either means he is stupid enough or mad enough to do so, it doesn't rationalise HOW he managed to get away with it, or WHY the gods aren't on his heels for it.
You have to take into account that even his closest associates don't even know what he is actually up to as well, Nokky knows its something big and world changing, but Scalpel has been keeping it a secret. Probably the only two people who know fully what Scalpel is actually up to is himself and to a lesser degree Honey, but both are going to pretty tight lipped about it because it's something that WILL get you killed, whether it be from an angry god or the inquisitors of Moon and Star.
Also another thing to be aware of, Scalpel is going to be running tests on these people, and one of these tests is going to be on how well they have retained their memories, he wants the best result for the prize he is about to claim, otherwise he is aware it could go south. If I was going to go through with one of these test myself however, the first thing I'd ask them was if they remembered their name. Furthermore the attack on Amaretto's distilleries doesn't seem to have been very quiet, there were doubtless onlookers or witnesses to its destruction, including those who actually attacked the place, people Scalpel can ask and investigate. Furthermore if there are any pictures of Amaretto's family, or records of who was in his household, or even newspapers, the whole thing could collapse very quickly simply because Amaretto has already lied to him about how many died in the first place.
Unless Thea is actively covering up as much as Scalpel is investigating, this case would be very easy to pull to pieces from a realistic standpoint. The simple fact being I can find out via means other than Metagaming. also I'd like to point out that you aren't the only person being targeted out of this, the Monolith meeting is essentially a deathtrap for instance if anything goes wrong, so he doesn't even trust Lens even though the meetings with her have been going quite cordially.