:She has a way to get a message back to Leareth for us if we want to talk more. And - I think you're right. I told our King that I thought I would probably die doing this and might not even accomplish anything, if Leareth turned out to be - not possible to negotiate with - but I'm only one person, and - the thing in the Foresight dream where I end up trying to kill him in one-on-one combat was always stupid anyway. I feel like the rest of Valdemar has the 'all out war' angle covered. And I think it's worth someone trying to cover the other angle. I think Leareth doing an about-face and handing you back to us is - at least some evidence he's possible to negotiate with.: 

:We have a Truth Spell. I guess it's not impossible he could throw it off but it seems not that likely he could do it while making it look like it worked. I don't think there's any reason to think he could throw off your alignment-detecting spell, if he's never seen it cast before and hasn't had any time to prepare. There isn't a kind of shield that makes you generically immune to magic effects but fakes it looking like it worked - even if it's possible at all, it would have to be a specific countermeasure spell he invented and I can't see how he would have.: 

:I don't expect him to have Undetectable Alignment, so I'd go in with an Aura Sight or just Detect Law. I'd expect him to make the save against Zone of Truth but it sounds like your kind of sorcerer has something that works more like Abadar's Truthtelling, where if someone does that a visible effect winks out? That I'd be comfortable relying on.:

:We have air elementals that can detect intent and someone invented a - it's basically a degenerate summoning spell that Heralds with any kind of Gift can cast - and I can imagine it being possible in theory to shield it out, but not how you would trick the air elementals into acting like it worked normally. ...I don't think I would be absolutely sure of it by itself, but if he does also read Lawful to you then - I think that's enough to go on that I would be convinced he's been telling Vanyel the truth.: 

:...So should I tell Feniss to relay to him that we want to send you to detect his alignment? - actually we should maybe be nonspecific about what you're checking for, so he can't possibly prepare for it in advance. Jisa, I don't actually want you going before we've checked that.: Or maybe at all, actually. 

But she waaaaaaaaaaants to see what Leareth looks like to Mindhealing Sight Vanyel does kind of have a point. 

:Maybe he'd be willing to let me Truth Spell him. He's - been hesitant in the past to offer to meet somewhere neutral rather than sending a messenger, because of the thing where I could probably kill him - at least his current body - with a Final Strike even if he's shielded and ready for a fight. But if he's really that motivated to convince me he doesn't want this war, maybe he'll be willing to take that risk.: 

:I won't be able to prepare a Detect until tomorrow at dawn, so there is some time to refine the idea. Uh, if you are absent without leave, should you perhaps regularize that situation sooner than that?:

That sounds agonizing and what if Randi orders him to come back to Haven and he has to explicitly refuse  it is probably still a good idea. Ugh. 

:I should definitely send a message. And, er, give him a chance to respond and - if he orders me to come back to Haven with both of you then I...don't actually know that I would listen...given how I am not sure any of the other Heralds can think straight about the possibility that the Star-Eyed Goddess detonated the Heartstone in k'Treva, and Haven has a Heartstone too. But. He does still deserve to know what I'm doing.: 

:...well, he can't order me anywhere, I'm not in his command structure.:

:That's also true.: And they're honestly really lucky that Blai is the sort of person who wants to do everything he can to help Valdemar anyway. 

Sigh. :All right. I'm going to talk to Feniss and then - write a letter for Randi, I guess, and deliver it in Waymeet. And we should be able to exchange written messages with Leareth to coordinate, once he knows we're interested in talking, he has these mage-construct bird things that can carry letters.: 

Feniss has been waiting very patiently through what she assumes is a contentious Mindspeech debate on what to do next. She's mostly trying to keep her thoughts from containing an awkward amount of admiring how pretty Vanyel is, even though this is the best available distraction from worrying that Kernos or the Star-Eyed is going to kill them all with an unlucky earthquake or something. 

....Also he should probably update Stef, who's still been waiting in the forest with Yfandes in case something went wrong and they needed one of them to be able to make a quick getaway. That's - probably not necessary? It's still nervewracking to tell Stef to join him, but - he did agree to Stef being a part of this. 

Stef is honestly pretty mad at Vanyel at this point for apparently repeatedy forgetting that he's waiting in the forest with no idea what's going on! It's not productive to have a yelling fight about it right now, though. He will be mature even if Vanyel isn't being.

He's happy to be introduced to Blai, though they can't actually communicate unless one of the Mindspeakers pulls them both into a link and relays, so that's awkward. 

:I prepared a Comprehend Languages today but it doesn't work the other way around at all.:

It's okay. Stef will get the quick run-down and then, once he's properly warmed up inside the weather-barrier, play some music. 

It's getting dark by the time Vanyel finishes his letter. Also the mages in Waymeet are not keeping up with weather-working to counter the disruption from all the Gates, and there is absolutely a nasty blizzard on the way. 

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh. 

:I don't want to ride to Waymeet in this. - or leave you all, the weather-barrier might come down. I...guess I could Gate there and back, but that's going to do the opposite of help with the weather and it might make someone over there panic.: 

Jisa considers. 

:I can summon an elemental and get a message to Brightstar that way. It's a White Winds technique we both learned, it should be at least as secure as a letter. Limits the length of the message some, especially if I want to use a cipher for it, but - you'll still be able to send a letter, right, it'll just be easier in the morning? I can tell them to expect it.: 

Vanyel doesn't like it - it makes him feel like he's avoiding Randi on purpose - but also he really doesn't want to have to do more Gates tonight, even if it's only twenty miles and back. 

:All right. Message with an elemental now, letter to Randi in the morning.: 

Does Blai seem to have any concerns about this as a plan? 

:I have the Minor Prophecy in pocket and might as well try it about this rather than let it go to waste and not have any experience with it the next time I want to prophesy something.:

:...Sure. Remind me how it works again? You have to pick one of us to cast it on and it shows you a vision about any important events in the next few days?: 

:I think so. I wasn't trained in it, it wouldn't work on Golarion, but that's about what it sounded like from the Acts.:

:How does it work if it's, er, something that was going to happen, but then we make a different decision because of what the spell showed us, so it doesn't end up happening?: 

He wants to know if he should have Blai cast the spell on Jisa rather than himself. If it shows anything bad happening he can tell her to get to safety - maybe not back to Haven, and she can't go to k'Treva anymore (a pang of grief that he doesn't let himself look at), but - surely there's somewhere she could go where she wouldn't be in danger, whether from Leareth or from...whatever the Star-Eyed might do next to try to force Vanyel's hand. Rethwellan, maybe, except that's probably not within her Gate-range from here... 

:I don't know. It would be a fairly useless spell if you couldn't use the information, so probably you can just go ahead and make a different decision?: