Their ascent back up through the sewers and tunnels is uneventful. The ghouls Tencednil remembers were located in a different area, at the broken seal, which is far from their current location. They make it up and out without being accosted. The trek to Citadel Volshyenek is a familiar one. It seems to pass them by quickly. 

A lack of undead is always appreciated. Those ghouls didn't impress the guard at all, the fight got her nothing. This is far preferable.

They walk through the doors of the Citadel and arrive back in the planning room. Navarro leaves to meet with his superiors in a debriefing.

Twenty minutes pass in relative silence.

Navarro returns. "We have our target. We will hit the cult tomorrow with a large formation. Shadi, I have a list of spells the Guard would like tomorrow. We will appreciate anything the Church can spare."

She takes a slip of paper from him. "Noted."

"You are all dismissed." He turns to Tencednil. "I'd like to see you back here tomorrow for the raid, if you want to help with a larger operation."

She breathes slowly for a moment, before exhaling strongly and nodding. She speaks a little slower, more apparent thought behind each word. "Yes, if there's a cult down there it need to be gone. If I can help, I want to." 

That said, she springs back to the bouncier, bubblier tone she's been using for most of their time together. "See you tomorrow!"

He nods. "Have a good rest of your day, Tencednil."

Back home, then. And tomorrow she's going to be facing the high-circled casters she remembers, which means planning for them.

Hopefully the prior warning will suffice, and she won't need extra intervention... but she's seen King Eodred's responses to her letters. He avoided apparent death by Glarataxus only to be killed by most likely exactly the same wizard, one day later, and had seemingly done nothing to improve the results of his death. She's not going to rely on him handling forewarning of the Urgathoan cleric well. She also doesn't want to rely on the Marines to finish off the cleric this time. That seemed too much like luck, and there were many ways it could have gone wrong. She has no way to prevent a Flame Strike natively...

Wait. That... might be false. Especially a Flame Strike used immediately on entering the room, with minimal time to look around. If someone can cast a Silence for her...

She buys a bullseye lantern casing on her way back home. Mother casts her a Deeper Darkness to practice with, and she spends the rest of the day testing.

KORVOSAN CARRIER
OATHDAY, SARENITH 4th, 4708

TURMOIL IN THE GREAT HOUSES CONTINUES

The weather is bright and sunny. The trade galleon from last week pulls out of port, bound for Cheliax. Rumors spread about danger beneath Old Korvosa, but no official statements are forthcoming. Unrest grows slightly. The high nobility continue their current fit of squabbling, although none seem to agree on what exactly they're squabbling about.

Time to prepare for the raid! She went to sleep early, and walks to Citadel Volshyenek early in the morning, or at what humans would call a reasonable time. Humans, of course, are wrong.

The receptionist sends for a guardsman, who takes her far into the Citadel, up multiple flights of stairs. She's led into the larger planning space from her memories. It's full of guardsmen and assistants, like last time, and the ambient discussion is quite loud.

Navarro is seated at a table and having a discussion about something. He doesn't notice her arrival.

She walks quietly until seeing him, and then makes sure her footsteps are a little louder than normal. That's a perfectly acceptable way to get attention.

...he's still busy talking. Fine. "Hello Detective! How is today going to be different?" If they're just going in with a larger group, that's how it goes. Hopefully there's something more than that.

"The current plan is two formations. A smaller one up top and a larger one in the sewers. We have intelligence that vertical travel within the warehouse is bottlenecked."

"I guess we're in the sewers, because I can see in the dark? ...oh, if there are people with lanterns it doesn't matter much. I can only see as far as a lantern's light shines."

He nods. "We're with the lower formation in the sewers."

Nod. "Are we getting a Blessing of the Watch? I've heard of it, but I've never had it cast on me! It sounds interesting. And if we might be fighting clerics, will there be anyone who can cast Silence? I think my friend might be able to use it. If you Silence something inside of a lantern like that, does it make a cone of Silence? She can shine it at casters!" And, of course, it can do this non-obviously and immediately when the fifth circle cleric enters the room, and therefore stop that initial Flame Strike.

"We are getting a blessing of the watch. We have a wide variety of other spells but I don't expect any of them will go to you. Two of the Pharasmins have silence but I don't know if it works that way. You'll have to ask them."

"I will!" Ooh, other spells (probably besides the Haste from last time? It doesn't sound like he just means round buffs). What a useful idea. Maybe this will go better after all, even without her additional help.

She wanders over to Shadi. "Do you have Silence today? Do you know how it works if you put it inside a lantern like this? If we're going to fight casters, my friend can shine a lantern at anyone who seems important to Silence them if it comes out in a cone. Maybe you have a better way to use it, but she can fly and pay attention to just doing that, so I thought I should check."

"I have one silence today. I've never tried putting it in a lantern, but silence doesn't travel through walls or around corners. It sounds like it could work?"

"Maybe we can try it! It might be a bad idea, but if it doesn't work and you need your Silence we can always take the pebble out and give it to someone else instead, as long as we test it before a fight. ...oh, but Silence doesn't last long enough for that, does it. Maybe not then."

"I'm willing to try when we breach the temple. We'll have to stick close together, but I think it's a good idea, if it works within the formation's layout."

"Okay! I hope it works!" She should probably ask a wizard at some point, if they have the time. Wizards might know more about how spells interact with things, and this probably isn't too strange a combination.

Over the next thirty minutes...