(He’s also still pretty weak and shaky - he could probably stand and walk to the door just fine, but it would be a struggle to do anything in armor.)

Seldan is still getting more oomph out of a Lesser Restoration, and since it has had the energy to harass people in Mindspeech about what’s going on and what exactly the plan is.

:…I think we’re still dying, that was another temporary fix. There’s an obscure fourth circle spell that will, er, fix the underlying damage according to the - High Priest of Nethys? Who Joshel spoke with? But they’ll need to prepare it at dawn. In the meantime they’re trying to figure out if Companions count as comparably strong to a third-circle cleric, someone has a spell that does a longer lasting Remove Sickness effect and can maybe give someone else the ability to do it if they’re powerful enough. And can concentrate on it all night which I don’t think I can. - they’re going to Raise Yfandes today. I guess they decided she’s a higher priority than Leareth.:

Given Vanyel’s apparent state and the fact that the Heralds have demonstrably been getting along fine with Leareth’s people even in the absence of the man himself, Seldan doesn’t disagree with that prioritization. 

Shit, Blai forgot the High Priestess of Nethys existed until just now, is Joshel like okay or has he gone mad. She's insane. Incredibly powerful and knows things that should be impossible to know without prophecy but insane. ...Blai is a literal third circle cleric? He's feeling a lot better now and could maybe concentrate on something all night? Though maybe he shouldn't if they have another candidate and he's still getting worse in case he gets too worse to do that over the course of the night. What if there is not enough room for Yfandes in the room and Vanyel is grouchy about her being away. What if Vanyel dies in the middle of the night and then Yfandes and Stef follow right after him.

(Anxious Blai is so so so reassuring and not even just because it means he isn't DEAD.) 

Joshel seems fine??? Had an embarrassing moment where his pocket with the Restoration diamond dust had become full of brown gooey stuff and that was in some way the fault of the High Priest of Nethys but he seemed, like, embarrassed about it in a normal way. 

Seldan thinks that the backup plan is just that the cleric who can do it themselves needs to stay all night slash that if some larger emergency happens outside this room then they'll stop getting the Remove Sickness effect at that point. Seldan thinks Blai should NOT do anything that would require him not getting any sleep for the next fifteen candlemarks which is about how long they need to wait. ...Maybe more like sixteen, fifteen until the next dawn but the spells won't be available for a candlemark after that. There will definitely be enough room for Yfandes and Vanyel...is in fact probably the most at risk tonight, he only got a Lesser Restoration and it sounds like unlike Seldan he didn't get much benefit from it, but they have a backup Remove Disease for him, in fact there are two left and Seldan thinks he's not at risk of dying before morning even if he goes without. Also they have...Heal?...as a backup spell, which the Nethysian cleric here apparently informed them will not fix the underlying problem but it does "most things" so it should definitely keep Vanyel alive until a candlemark after dawn. 

What else, oh, Joshel says that the High Priest of Nethys agreed to convey a message to the archmages doing the Chelish Constitutional Convention? Because she...babysits...their children? Is that at all wise if she's insane? Whatever they're not his children. (Joshel also asked Seldan to please stop Mindspeaking him for the next candlemark while he figures out all the logistics.) 

Oh yeah Heal is REALLY good. They should use it before dawn even if there isn't an emergency, it's like getting as many Lesser Restorations as you could possibly need all at once plus a gigantic Cure plus a Remove Sickness And Also Lots Of Other Stuff That Might Be Wrong With You. It's weird if it doesn't get the progressive damage. Are they just taking Nefreti Clepati's word for it. Like she probably KNOWS, sure, but that's different from whether she was honest. Not that he knows enough to impugn her honesty really but. .......it actually makes a lot of sense that she'd babysit the archmages' children, in the sense that she'd be responsible for preventing anyone from kidnapping them. Not very many people are competent to do that at such a high level of potential targetability. It doesn't necessarily mean she does the actual childcare? Though maybe she does, Blai has no idea. What if there is an emergency and Joshel HAS to be interrupted and drops something important, is there anyone helping him on logistics - should Blai be trying to talk to any of these people or are they all Osirian, they look Osirian and he doesn't speak it but some of them might have Taldane, lots of people do, and Blai has more mutual context - probably the Mindspeakers are on it but what if they've all been overusing their gifts -

Oh yeah Joshel has plenty of people to delegate to and is in the process of doing just that, he just has a ton of context to hand off because he spent six and a half candlemarks in another world and also he seems kind of stressed about how much money they agreed to pay all these clerics to come on short notice, even though Leareth's organization can ABSOLUTELY afford it and won't at all be mad at Joshel for not negotiating harder on price. Apparently the sixth circle cleric of Abadar - this guy, his name is Raad - said that the High Priest is usually right and then everyone said "okay fine" and also it sounds like the obscure spell is lower circle and doesn't even need diamond dust like Restoration so it seems worth testing, as long as they also prepare enough backup spells to keep them alive another day. Seldan is definitely getting pretty tired of stretching out whatever spells to keep them alive another day without fixing the problem but it is SO MUCH BETTER THAN BLAI BEING DEAD and it won't get nearly as bad as this morning. 

(Does Blai in fact remember any of this morning after the stimulant wore off? Seldan is aware that this is unfair, because it did in fact work and they're both still here and alive, but he still has an urge to kick Shavri in the head every time he sees her face. Apparently that feeling has no difficult coexisting with feeling moderately worried about her, she looks pretty not okay and has...definitely not slept...at any point in the last thirty-six candlemarks and someone should really tell her to go lie down, they've got this, but no one has yet and Seldan is not in their chain of command.)  

...If Blai is feeling up for it it's probably not a bad idea for him to sync up with whoever considers themselves in charge and tell them everything he would consider relevant to report about the last few weeks and the conditions in Velgarth generally. Joshel would have done his best but he was under a lot of time pressure and he indeed lacks mutual context that Blai has. If none of the new arrivals have Taldane then Seldan could relay. 

If there are this many clerics around somebody should channel soon and then Blai won't pronounce words wrong because of his mouth being fucked up. The people of Sothis probably know more about Nefreti Clepati than Blai does unless it's one of those situations where people close to the situation just get really used to it and can be more easily shown specific things they find to be exonerating or whatever whereas only the big news makes it across the sea but he doesn't specifically have reason to expect that. Blai's sorry about being dead, he didn't do it on purpose but probably should have tried harder at something at some point to avoid it anyway.

...he remembers that it was unpleasant but it's kind of mostly faded, like a nightmare that he wakes up knowing was a nightmare but can't reconstruct in terms of events.

Raad might be in charge though that Sarenrite also looks pretty imposing, that's a very nice headband he's got there. Probably it's Raad though in terms of logistics because Joshel would have gone to the Abadarans first and they'd be the ones organizing everything. He would like to thank them? That seems appropriate if they're not too busy? But the Taldane for "thank you" would put his teeth RIGHT on this one sore and he'd sound weird.

Poke poke Mindspeech harassment. Seldan should in fact stop doing this at some point, he's not nearly back up to his normal stamina even if he's feeling a little better, but it's a particularly high value time for it. 

(If Blai doesn't remember enough of the details of this morning to be upset about it then Seldan is certainly not going to dwell on his Shavri revenge fantasies where Blai can see it, and...he actually just doesn't endorse it, at all, she did a truly spectacular job of triage and kept them all alive for almost a week and even if it only saved two diamonds and two Raise Dead castings, that's still two more dead people who can come back however much sooner - or two marginal people who might not be Raised at all otherwise, Leareth's organization surely can't afford infinite diamonds - and that is worth something.) 

:Gemma's trying to count up how many channels everyone has so they can decide who to send to the border and who to keep in Haven, we need - Shavri said every three candlemarks and Van's holding his last one for something but he'll do it soon -:

Seldan can totally do math. Hmm. 

:Then we need at least...four?...more, I think, it would be a more pleasant night if we get them more often but we won't die and I'm getting the impression there are still towns and towns full of injured people on the Iftel border and a few more of them die every night they have to wait for healing. ...Oh, they're hauling Brightstar and one of the other mages who did the return Gate in here to catch Van's channel in case it helps, to speed up finding a routing that won't drain someone unconscious every time we do a Gate. ...They'd probably have an optimal routing by morning if we got Leareth back but only if he was healthy and I - you were brought back with a different spell, I don't know if Raise Dead is better, but you still had all the things wrong with you -: 

If Blai was only dead for a moment it was probably Breath of Life, which should have filled him up on what Cures do so maybe the sores just won't respond to Cures. In which case he should just talk to people. Someone brought back with a Raise Dead will be a bit weak till they get a Restoration; Breath of Life only does that temporarily. Do they have enough dust to Restoration everybody they're going to bring back, or at least the ones whose robustness is at all a concern?

"Thank you," he croaks aloud in the general direction of Raad and the Sarenrite.

"You're welcome," smiles the Luminary benevolently.

"It's all covered, no thanks are necessary."

Awww. These people are so– Seldan has no idea if they all read Good but they're certainly being very, very helpful. 

(Maybe a channel will do more after the Restoration? Shavri was certainly very adamant that they do their daily Lesser Restorations before the first channel of the day and it seems like the progressive damage was hitting their ability to benefit from channels, given how they had to move them closer together this morning as everyone deteriorated. ...Seldan does not think there should be a lack of diamond dust. Joshel was sent to Sothis with twenty Raise Dead-size diamonds and a few more of the biggest diamonds that Leareth's organization could procure on short notice and Seldan is pretty sure that wasn't their entire stock. One reason it would certainly be nice to have Leareth back sooner rather than later is to clarify the alliance terms, since Seldan isn't sure anyone is entirely clear on how much direction Valdemar has over the use of all those diamonds, but in the short term he really doubts that Leareth's people are going to begrudge the diamond dust needed to get everyone with Restorations.) 

He addresses Raad and the Sarenrite in Mindspeech. :I'm Seldan. Select Artigas' Companion. If it would be valuable to you to get a situation report from someone with more Golarion context, we're happy to provide one sometime in the next few candlemarks.: And he'll leave it at that for now, they probably also have a lot of logistics to sort out with Joshel. 

Brightstar accompanies Jisa into the room a moment later. He looks...all right, he's more or less steady on his feet after a Lesser Restoration, unlike the other Adept following him who's still squinting and trying to shade his eyes like the light is giving him a headache. 

He tries to catch Blai's eye, with a slightly plaintive expression, as though he's trying to ask with his eyes alone whether he did a good job. 

Vanyel still can't stop crying because he is a useless waste of a person, but channeling doesn't require a verbal component. He can do that fine. 

It doesn't help much with backlash but it does a little for the specific element where, even though he's not that drained, Brightstar still feels like he sprained his mage-channels and it comes with the dizzy-sick feeling of having hit his head really hard. 

It seems to help a little more for Leareth's Adept, who hasn't already had seven candlemarks to rest and in fact was still unconscious until the Lesser Restoration; the man still looks a bit woozy but he'll be able to talk through what he did with the others. 

(The Abadarans are probably overwhelmingly Lawful Neutral. The Sarenrite probably Lawful or Neutral Good.) ...the channel did help, though there is still a bit of a sore in that one specific place. Vanyel's channels don't hit very hard. Which should not be a huge problem since he already said thank you. There's something alarming about the prospect of powdering a diamond that's big enough to be useful whole - they should be finding ones that are slightly too big, and shaving off a little of those, or ones that are too small for anything and pulverizing those. Do they know that?? Is that not obvious - what if they don't know and they destroy thousands of gold in value that way - why is Vanyel crying, is something Blai doesn't know about already going wrong now - what is Brightstar looking at him like that for -

Seldan feels like Leareth's staff are intelligent people who can probably infer that a diamond big enough for Raise Dead is really useful and they should not powder it and should use smaller diamonds, but he can Mindspeak someone to make sure - actually are there diamonds smaller than Raise Dead that are still useful for different spells - 

Seldan's interpretation is that Vanyel is in the immediate term crying because, one, the emergency is over and it's pretty common for non-Chelish humans who just had to deal with an extended stressful emergency to break down a little bit once it ends, Shavri was crying before too though she pulled herself together once it was clear that she still needed to coordinate. And two, he probably feels really bad because it took him eighteen seconds to successfully cast Stabilize and by that point it didn't work anymore and Blai needed the Breath of Life - this was in no way whatsoever Vanyel's fault, to be clear, it's really impressive that he did manage to cast it a couple of times before that when he'd been able to get a Guidance up on himself ahead of time, the last two times were just too close together - oh and of course in the less immediate term he still has a broken Companion-bond but they're fixing that soon. 

Seldan's interpretation of Brightstar's expression is that Brightstar...wants to know if he's forgiven now that he helped fix it? But it's not like it's really Blai's place to forgive him. He should talk to Vanyel. Ideally once Vanyel has had more healing than a Lesser Restoration that barely even did anything and once he has Yfandes back. 

(They're almost certainly going to be getting stronger channels next now that Vanyel used his last one and nearly everyone who came is higher than first circle. Not that anyone can really benefit from the additional oomph except for Blai, Seldan thinks he himself was previously benefiting a lot more but he missed several days of the Lesser Restorations and something is definitely interfering with it now and he's very much looking forward to having that dealt with tomorrow. And also not being nauseous, he's really very tired of being nauseous. It's nice at least that he's gotten a Remove Disease and it now feels a lot less like something with teeth is slowly consuming his insides.) 

Blai appreciates that when he thinks something that isn't garbage he now has a telepathic relay to get it where it needs to go immediately so he does not have to worry (as much) about forgetting to deliver the information himself.

That is a weird tendency for non-Chelish humans to have. Is it... useful in any way, or just hard to train out so most people don't.

Blai does not really have a working model of what forgiveness is or what it's for let alone how to do it, or he would consider offering Brightstar this service!

What is stopping them from getting Yfandes back, did no one have a Raise prepped? Have the diamonds gone missing? Did they already powder them all

Forgiveness is...mostly relevant in a relationship that was affected by a shitty thing someone did, which is why Brightstar should talk to Vanyel, who is both someone Brightstar was relevant close to and someone who considered Leareth a friend. Though it would be reasonably to thank Brightstar, who is very significantly responsible for all these lovely clerics being here at all, and who bought it for them by getting himself set on fire six times a day and spending the last seven candlemarks suffering from horrific backlash.   

The diamonds are definitely not missing and someone specifically has a Raise prepped and it's been, like, less than ten minutes, the delay is probably just that everyone is kind of frazzled and someone needs to remember where they put her and walk the cleric over to that location. Where did they put her, Seldan feels like he should know this... 

Joshel is in fact in the middle of confirming with Leareth's contact person who can authorize things like that that yes they agree to allocate one of the diamonds they contributed for Raising Yfandes today! And after that they can go get her! 

They should of course do that first, for Vanyel's sake, but afterward the man currently in command of Leareth's organization would like to discuss with Raad the timeline for raising him. And Nayoki. They really, really need both of them back. 

"I can prepare a Raise Dead twice a day - three if I use my sixth circle slot which may be called for - and the Luminary can do the same, and the three fifth circle clerics we brought can do it four times a day between them. So we will be able to get all of your priorities tomorrow, and in the meantime should set about getting Gentle Repose cast on anyone who, on that schedule, we will not reach before they have been dead for longer than eleven days - that's my and also the Luminary's Raise Dead time limit; the lower-circle clerics have shorter ones. We can each do several of those a day, so can all but the very most junior clerics, and we have a wand along also if the number of targets is too great to cover but the wand has resale value equal to what I paid for it if we can cover it with normal castings only."

…They will have to do some math. More complicated math than expected, given how it's been ten days since all of their casualties. That and some other questions can wait on Yfandes.

Who is over this way in the Healers’ stillroom. 

Raad goes where he is led, receives a diamond, and - sings; he learned this incantation to music well before he was able to cast it.

whatthe—

- Vanyel -

Where is she why is she on a table - not a table, some kind of raised slab of very cold stone - she at least noticed in time to avoid scrambling up first and breaking something - 

- Vanyel Vanyel Vanyel where is he - 

She lifts her head to look around and - very quickly parses some things. 

She wouldn’t be waking up in the Healers’ stillroom if she had merely been injured. The person standing in front of her isn’t Valdemaran and isn’t dressed in any style she recognizes. He is also definitely not Blai, but there’s something reminiscent.

….So she did die in the avalanche. And she’s been - dead - Leareth must have gotten a Gate to Blai’s world but that means it’s been weeks - 

:Thank you: she sends to the man, with as much dignity as she can manage. :Excuse me, but do you know where Herald Vanyel is, I - how long has it been - how did you—:

VANYEL VANYEL VANYEL she can’t feel him, the stillroom is shielded at least since Sandra started using it for alchemy experiments, she can’t feel him and what if he’s - but why would they bother bringing her back if he’s dead, he has to be - but she can’t feel him - but he has to be -