"Would you like to be alone for a time?"

Nod.

Jojo ushers the others away. Nathyrra goes to join the war council.

Belmarniss is left alone on the steps of the Temple of Eilistraee.

Well, she was going to take up prayer anyway.

Hi, Eilistraee. Belmarniss does not know how interventionist you tend but this would be a real nice signing bonus if you wanted to pry the geas off her.

There's a distant sound of harp music, which somehow manages to sound apologetic.

Yeah-huh, not really sure why she bothered, that can't possibly work on anything like a routine basis even if you really really want stuff or the world wouldn't look like this. It's nice to get an answer of any kind though. Makes it feel a bit less awkward to be trying to telepathically contact somebody if they ever react to that.

The music fades away.

Belmarniss writes.

Eventually, Jojo comes back, the others in tow. It's been a couple of hours.

"The Seer sent a message telling us her council is over and requesting that we meet with her. Do you want to go in with us?"

"For some values of want." She gets up.

The Seer is waiting for them in the war room she was in before. Nathyrra and the tiefling are with her, Nathyrra still occasionally scratching nervously at her own skin.

"Ah, it is good to see you again. Nathyrra and Valen can tell you about the plausible avenues towards weakening the Valsharess, strengthening our forces, and drawing her out of her citadel. General Imloth, our military commander, says that we can likely send you on three major missions before she retaliates in force; it's up to you which ones you want to take on. We'll send commando groups to try to weaken the support structures you don't assault, once you head towards your third objective, but truth be told, they're less likely than you are to succeed, because most of our high-level strikers need to remain in Lith My'athar for reasons of defense. Questions?"

"Where's the estimate coming from?"

"Knowledge of how the Valsharess has behaved in the past, mostly. She has very predictable patterns of behavior. She'll ignore one major strike against her, thinking herself invulnerable. After two, she'll try to send assassins. After three, she goes into a rage and demands a full-scale offensive."

"I have received visions from Eilistraee supporting this, as well."

Valen heroically refrains from rolling his eyes. "Yes, that as well."

"Okay, so whatever we do third should dovetail well with fending off assassins, I guess."

"Yes, that's probably a good idea. Would you like to hear your options?"

"Sure."

Nathyrra starts. She casts Silent Image, bringing up a map of the cave system west of Lith My'athar. "Many of those who support the Valsharess, like the illithid and the beholders, dwell in the caverns to the west of the village. The western caverns are also the likely source of her undead horde. We may be able to remove these allies from her cause."

She points to a dot at the northwest of the map. "These are the Beholder Caves. Predictably, they contain beholders. The Valsharess has somehow induced the Eye Tyrant of the caves to ally with her and provide military support, despite the aberrations' notorious loathing for 'lesser' humanoid races. This mission would be simple, though not easy: destroy the beholders, leaving none to join the enemy army on the field of battle."

She points to a circle on the map. "This is... the general location... of Zorvak'Mur, an illithid colony with which the Valsharess has secured an alliance. We would want you to either break her treaty with the mind flayers, secure a treaty of our own, or simply eradicate them." It's clear that Nathyrra herself would prefer the last of these, but she doesn't state it outright.

She then points to a dot to the south. "This is the ancient temple where the Valsharess's pet necromantic cult is based. They supply her with undead shock troops, which comprise, we would estimate, a solid thirty percent of her army. If the necromancers can be defeated, this would be a massive blow against the Valsharess."

Valen, in turn, rolls out an actual map, larger-scale, on a nearby table. He points to an island in a nearby lake. "This island is known as the Isle of the Maker, for reasons unknown. On it is a dungeon which contains powerful golems, or so I'm told. These golems could be enormously helpful to our war effort. There's also rumored to be a small camp of duergar treasure-hunters staying there, which indicates a significant amount of treasure... if you like that sort of thing."

Another island. "This island contains a village of avariel, winged surface elves. They appeared here overnight, and despite their seeming weakness, have not yet been devoured by any number of roving monsters. This, to me, indicates powerful magic at work - magic that we could turn to our own ends."

"Don't like beholders, don't like mind flayers, not in the mood to strike out from not my comfort zone to even more not my comfort zone." She takes out her notebook and opens to a fresh page. "Scrivener's Chant." Maps copy themselves. "But since they might just crop up again later if we ignore them now I'll hear counterarguments."

"I hate mind flayers and think killing a lot of them would be great stress relief. But I recognize that's a pretty weak reason."

"Deekin think winged elf village sound very interesting. Some kind of story behind that, Deekin thinking."

"I've told you before that I'm always ready to destroy undead, and it's no less true now than it was then," Jojo says, his tail swishing. "I've also been working on a technique that would allow me to destroy them even more effectively."

For once, Enserric speaks up as well. "This Isle of the Maker intrigues me. I appreciate that you rescued me from Undermountain, but with a proper golem-maker's lab, perhaps I could be instantiated in a body. Now that would be truly glorious."