Keiran takes a map right away and peers at it. 

"We have come to see if we can help with the Worldwound," Moondance says, and briefly describes the Tayledras Healing-Adept magic. 

"That sounds like it could be extraordinarily valuable as soon as the area is clear of demons. It seems likely to us that our acquaintance in Rahadoum has a way to achieve that, and that if we're prepared we can move the ward-stones in at least a few miles and take some land back from the demons. What would you need, in order to work on the land, there..."

"I do not need special equipment. Ideally we would bring in other scouts and Adept mages from k'Treva who are used to working with me, but if that were too difficult, Starwind and I could make progress alone. I do need a source of magical energy - Vanyel says that there are nodes, here, but I am not sure if the damaged lands would have usable local magic." 

"We don't know much about that at this time but could send some people ahead to check - and should send some people ahead anyway, so that we can Gate people in when the time comes." He glances at Hagan. "If you and your friends wanted to head up there discreetly -"

"We can do that, your majesty."

"Is there interest from any of you in participating in the offensive in Cheliax? We know even less of that, but they can certainly make use of soldiers."

Keiran looks thoughtful. 

"This isn't something Valdemar would normally get involved with, but - it sounds like the situation in Cheliax is much better grounds for an invasion than has ever been the case in Velgarth. Maybe. Though we can't spare that many soldiers, especially on short notice - the situation in Karse is still kind of unstable and it's worsened after we pulled so many people to the northern border, though fortunately we've been able to reverse that now." 

He nods. "Osirion is committed to attempting to raise anyone committed from Velgarth who is lost in the course of the war. This is much, much easier if we have a body, so please prioritize retrieving those, if you can. Resurrection uses, and destroys, a diamond as a focus." He looks at Vanyel. "We thought it was possible you might be able to make those. Conjuring them doesn't work but we think imitating the conditions under which they form in the earth...might."

Slightly awed looks are exchanged by the Heralds. 

"Oh. Hmm. I don't recall how diamonds form in the earth but I'd be happy to try. Was that Leareth's idea?" 

"Yes. I think he had an idea of a specific spell to try, too. Also, we are aware that when Heralds die their Companions usually do, too - is there anything that can be done to hold onto them for a day so we don't need to do two perfectly timed resurrections?"

Yfandes, listening through Vanyel's ears, jumps in to answer. :I think probably? Assuming that whatever killed the Herald didn't get us at the same time, we - it's not usually instant when a Herald dies of old age or something, we get time to say our goodbyes, so I think if we knew they were coming back we could probably hang on. Might be a good idea to keep us asleep or something for that day: 

He nods. "I think it's plausible that Leareth has more ideas about what can be done with additional help from Velgarth. However, he's very busy on the interworld Gate and also under a spell placed by his acquaintance that restricts how much he can tell you about the plans for the war. I could remove it, but it would be a substantial resource expenditure and potentially taken as hostile by the acquaintance; if Abadar tells me to do so anyway I will, of course. 

You must have a lot of questions, both about the war and more broadly - may I answer them?"

Keiran is still looking at the map and Callia (a newly-graduated Herald as of a year ago) is kind of overawed by being in the presence of another kingdom's royalty and with all those fancy protocols too. 

The Tayledras visitors have questions, though. Mainly they want to know what the pharaoh and Abadar have learned of Leareth. 

In this world, there was an immortal survivor of the Azlantl empire named Aroden, who somehow returned from the devastation of Earthfall when no one else did (they think now that he did not return in the same body, but his histories elide this, probably so as not to inspire imitators.) He founded another empire and worked to prevent the magical knowledge of ancient Azlantl from being forgotten forever, and he led an army into the Abyss and fought a demon lord, and he became a master of magic unparalleled in his world, and then he dragged the Starstone out of the sea. It was a remnant of the moon that hit Golarion during Earthfall. It's said that it contained the essence of two gods, the ones killed when Earthfall happened. Abadar implies it is more complicated that that but that that's close enough for humans. Aroden set a series of elaborate precautions around it, and then ascended, and became a god. He was destined to return and usher in the prophecied Age of Glory, but instead he was murdered and prophecy broke and his ancient immortality method caught him again, or at least one tiny piece of him.

Leareth thinks - and Abadar agrees - that Leareth is the same person, in many important ways. He has the same motivations and a strikingly similar history. There are differences. Leareth is Evil, when Aroden wasn't. This is probably partially because Aroden, being aware of the alignment system, would have tried harder to mostly avoid being labelled by it as a servant of Hell, and partially because with Evil magic like blood magic in their world, ruthless mages are incentivized to commit mass murder in a fashion that, in Golarion, they largely are not.

But Abadar thinks there is the same core. And - this makes the people of Golarion want to work with him. Because Aroden was the god of humanity, the god who died trying to end the small horrors of ordinary mortal lives, and Abadar knew him, and trusted him, and because Asmodeus is the god who obviously benefitted the most from his destruction and being on the opposite side from Asmodeus is often a pretty good plan. Leareth says that he will learn from Aroden's mistakes, and not attempt any plans like the ones that failed here, and he wants to fight Hell, and Abadar would like to keep a close eye on him - has offered, in fact, to make him a cleric - but thinks that this alliance is advisable. 

"Though the gods can't see farther than us, not anymore. More, but not farther."

There are nods, and then Starwind glances at Vanyel. 

Vanyel lowers his voice. "I don't know how much you still feel it'd be useful to know more of Leareth's past, but - we think we know a place in Velgarth that has written histories of the Mage Wars period. It would be with the Shin'a'in people, who are in a pact with the Star-Eyed Goddess, but it might be - easier to interpret as a human, than whatever she's given you." He looks over at Moondance. "The Tayledras are a sister people, they're on good terms, and Starwind and Moondance would be willing to accompany whoever wants to go." 

"I have Foresight hunches, sometimes," Moondance said. "And - I have a feeling this would be a good idea, if we can spare the time and resources." 

"That sounds worth it to me. Since we are betting a great deal on Leareth and his counterpart being capable of pulling this off and, well, better than Asmodeus is a low bar and 'as bad but more tractably toppled' seems extremely likely because Asmodeus is one of the most powerful of our gods but...still, if we could learn more of him, I think we ought to. You'd need a Gate, for that?"

"Yes. It's a long way south - we can give you the location on a map, but none of us have ever been. We could Plane Shift back afterward, though, or I could just do my kind of Gate to Haven and join the other Heralds. ...We really could use better disambiguation between those spells." 

"We do. My spell can target from a map, and I could do it tomorrow for this purpose."

"I think we should go. We ought know more of this man, if we are to trust him with so much." 

Vanyel nods. "We'll be in kind of a hurry, but hopefully we can make it work. - oh, and I should try the diamond thing before we go."