"Count me as appropriately worried about that!"

"I don't know it'll be detrimental, but, yeah. We should be able to get it banished at some point if it continues after our opponent - while we're here don't say his name, by the way, I don't remember if I mentioned that - is defeated."

"Well, it's only happened once, so it might only happen the once. ...that'd be nice.

Is there a particular reason we shouldn't mention him by name?"

"It's unlikely but some high level people can sense if they're being talked about when someone is close - that's more on the 'godling' side of the power scale, but caution doesn't hurt."

"He seems big enough that godling sized powers don't seem to be too impossible. So, uh, noted, wont use his name.

...does it detect insulting nicknames?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Good to hear!"

"I'm not good at nicknames, but you have fun."

"I mean, I'm not good at them either, but if I'm going to have to avoid Lichy McLichface's name, I may as well have fun with it."

"Heh, yeah."

Getting into the city proper is a bit of an adventure, though more of the 'Rune jumps off a ridiculously high cliff' kind than the 'fighting' kind. The streets near their entrance are largely flooded as the river cuts through them, but Rune's able to get them to higher ground and circling over to intercept the group they'd sensed soon enough.

If Zerri were more paranoid, she'd worry that things were too quiet. But she's mostly glad that things have been relatively quiet after the 'mirage' incident, it's nice not to have to fight through everything.

"So, what's the general... ettiquette? for meeting up with adventurers?"

"We don't want to shout, not here - they should guess we're not local, we don't look it, so depending on how paranoid they are either we'll all approach each other and talk, or both party's faces will approach each other. Mom's our best talker, and also durable."

"Sounds reasonable. I was worried it was something unintuitive, like 'pretend we haven't seen each other until we basically crash into each other' or something equally weird."

"Nope, nothing like that. Though we should keep looking, they'll have moved by now - "

"Looking for someone?" a feminine voice calls.

There's a woman leaning against the edge of a window frame in one of the crumbling upper floors, greatsword strapped to her back. She has glistening lilac skin and white hair that undulates as if in water, and large, brightly purple eyes, with a darker purple sleeveless shirt and off white pants.

Zerri is assums she's an adventurer. ...it seems a safe enough assumption.

"We're looking for other people who want to beat up a lich."

"Excellent! That just so happens to be my life goal. Well, that and becoming the most famous swords-person in every world," she says. "None of us have a detect evil but the paladin looks sufficiently shiny, so, hey, you all look trustworthy." She jumps down. "I'm Jet. This is my sword, Piece Maker."

"That is an excellent name for a sword. I'm Zerri Merrydirk, and I've unfortunately skimped in the weapon naming department."

He puts up a hand. "Kaemoque."

"Khelresse. Pleasure to meet you, darling."

"Heh. No one else seems to appreciate my puns," she says, voice teasing. "Come on, my group's hanging around over this way. Probably still arguing whether they should send someone to meet you all."

Zerri looks over at Liliane questioningly, trying to work out whether they are meant to follow.

This doesn't feel like a trap, so she nods.

And so Zerri follows!