And Galfrey can give a briefing about the Sword of Valor, which is not in fact a sword but a banner; at least it's not named for a kitchen utensil like some non-swords we could mention. As a side note, the upper-class Received Pronunciation accent of her voice actor is presumably intended to translate some archaic sociolect of Galfrey's Taldane, which will completely fail to land on Abramo because he didn't grow up with this language.

At least she understands the importance of money for raising armies - although this is not the same as understanding the limitations in converting money into physical bread and bucklers which must flow over bridges made of actual bricks. But when she speaks of a war that has lasted "over a hundred years", Abramo is not immensely impressed. The Long War began before the Pyramids were built.

Also we can conscript Daeran, and while Abramo doesn't object to conscription as such - well, he does, but it's sometimes the lesser evil - he does wish that someone would write some "Lawful" dialogue that didn't sound quite so much like he has a stick up his ass. "Frivolous gesture", indeed.

Ok, then we'll bop around the camp. Some personal backstory from Irabeth, who also has the ability to teleport in troops - and Abramo appreciates her understanding of physical march times and the difference between raising troops and having them on the battle front! Crusader lore from Nurah. Hilor also has mercenaries available. Liotr will point out some of the holes in Daeran's official backstory, which is fair enough but not obviously immediately tactically relevant. Sosiel will tell us about the Desnans who died, his friends, and about Desnan doctrine in wartime. Abramo will praise their devotion to duty, even though condolences would really fit the Desnans better, because Lawful dialog options that are not actively stupid are few and far between. Seelah will talk about being chosen by Iomedae, which again makes Abramo deeply uncomfortable, he really needs to sit down and have a think about these so-called "gods". When he can spare a moment from running an army, that is. It's an all-absorbing activity, as he well knows - if one for which he's better suited than personally applying maces to demon faces. Woljif will suggest setting up a Razmir-style monarchy, and thank you very much Lawful dialog writers, being "heresy" against a set of gods that Abramo doesn't think are anything of the sort is not actually the problem with that. We'll go with "I'll think about it" instead. Camellia's point about mythic powers as noble privilege is well taken! 

And then there are all these level-ups and mythic powers. Hmm, multiclass into war-priest? ...I think on the whole not, it seems very in-your-face about the "war" thing and that's not really Abramo's style. I'll just continue as a straight priest of Abadar. Level six isn't a very interesting cleric level, apparently, but I did get the Mythic Hero rank so I'm not going to complain. I think I'll single-class everyone else as well, just for simplicity. Ember's "Hex" powers go really oddly with her backstory, by the way; I think I'll give her the Evil Eye, because she ought to have the power she was nearly burned at the stake for. And Lightning Bolt because sometimes you really want to end a fight by hitting That One Target. And Abundant Casting for the mythic power, that sounds really useful.

For Seelah to be able to cure Sickened would have been really useful at lower levels, when we didn't really have a defense against Stinking Cloud, but now we have spells and also much better Fort saves, so I'll go with Disease instead. And for her mythic ability - I would really like to take Perfect Cavalry actually, but attacks of opportunity are highly situational while Seelah hits someone with a sword basically every combat turn, so Unrelenting Assault it is.

Nenio can have Elemental Barrage on the grounds that it seems to fit her ugh no unfortunately Abundant Casting is just too overpowered, I'm roleplaying a bit but there are limits to my ability to ignore optimisation. And Lightning Bolt because I'm a bit lacking in the fight-finishing direct damage.

Woljif can get Best Jokes because it's funny ugh no sorry he's a caster even though I'm mostly using him for sneak attacks. Abundant Casting it is. Sigh. I despise overpowered no-brainer options, they leach all the fun from leveling. At least he can learn the Hideous Laughter spell, maybe I can take Best Jokes on his next mythic rank. At least Lann can't take it, he can get Distracting Shots instead, adding debuffs to damage I would be doing anyway is great.

And Camellia gets, sigh, Abundant Casting.

Then we can have a rest to fill up our (smiles cheerfully) abundant new spell slots, and then we'll head out!

...to learn about the army mapmode, right. Hum.

Well now, this is more like it! This is the sort of war Abramo knows how to fight - counters on maps, road capacities, supply stockpiles, known enemy concentrations, fuel depots, naval artillery support, fighter and bomber sorties per day, tradeoffs between forward airbases and rear-area rail... well, at any rate it's more like what he's used to than hitting demons with a mace.

We'll recruit a few extra soldiers in Kenabres, on the grounds that nobody ever lost a battle by having too many soldiers... ok, fine, except for that one time in Crimea but that was a total fluke and also could easily have been avoided by having the Japanese actually coordinate with their liaisons. No allies to herd like cats manage in this war, at least. And then we'll march, direction Drezen.

...with a quick detour to the Houndsheart camp, why not? This war is being financed by the sale of magic weapons; it's not as though we have an actual tax base.

Right we should not underestimate the combat power of two brimoraks when we don't have the mythic spell resistance available, should we? Ouch.

So the quasit leads us to the halfling, the halfling grabs the ring and disappears, and while leaving, summons - three babau. That's... a bit of an issue actually. 

Mass Protection From Evil.

And we'll have a brisk little fight, but Lann has a really impressive damage output and so does Seelah.

Elan accuses Curl (the halfling) of setting a trap, and says he was justified in striking him before he teleported out, and Seelah should not have stepped in. So let's see: Seelah has a good point about trials, mind control, and accusations without much formal evidence; Elan has a good point about people who summon three demons. And also about the heat of battle; inter armes silent leges, and usually trials and such are reserved for people not actively fighting. But then, the heat of battle covers Seelah's action as well; she could reasonably have thought it was Elan who was mind-controlled - and she might have struck him, instead of shielding Curl. 

"Done is done and eaten is eaten; let's not fight among ourselves... any more than we have already."

Elan accuses us of, in effect, leveling too rapidly, and setting bad examples of trusting too much as a result.

Perhaps so. But without that trust we would not have been able to get the levelling. And, again: Seelah also trusted Elan. She saw him strike, without warning or apparent cause, at a comrade - and she did not put her sword through his face, as a mythic paladin might easily have done. She put her shield in front of Curl. It's entirely possible that was a mistake; but it was clearly a much more recoverable mistake than an immediate counterattack would have been. Abramo will back her on this, and on believing that allies are Lawful until the opposite is proved.

Seelah will nonetheless take Elan's words to heart.

Sigh at the "Lawful" dialogue implying that one can never make alliance with someone who has not acted perfectly in every respect in the past - and also that Abramo should, by the same logic of "no thieves", remove both Seelah and Woljif from his retinue. That's well into Lawful Stupid. It'll have to be the Good option. Don't give up on extending second chances, Seelah. 

Ok for the record: Abramo is utterly oblivious to Daeran's apparent romance subplot; he knows that homosexuality exists but it is entirely non-salient to him that people in his immediate social circle might be so, especially in his direction. Likewise for Sosiel. As for Galfrey, haha no, a Doge of Venice does not romance any queens thank you. 

Yeah Abramo is definitely drifting towards Lawful Good here, sigh. But it's not as though any Evil dialog option we've seen so far has made any sort of sense for his character. 

Let's knock off Sosiel's funeral as it's here in the south and we're heading north.

...ah, zombies. Of course. In hindsight this should not be a surprise.

For the record, paladin-bonded horses can absolutely climb ladders if their Athletics DC is less than 20. You monkeys think it's difficult just because you use your hands to do it.

Sosiel will rush in among the zombies and confront the necromancer, because Neutral Good means never having to think about optimal tactics!

The necromancer will insert himself into the recent discussion by begging for mercy once all his undead are unundead.

Sigh. Summary execution of enemies trying to surrender is not, actually, Lawful, even if they do deserve it. Will nobody think of the incentives?

Taunting a priest of Shelyn into a killing rage and making him Fall is totally worth an eternity in the Abyss!