The various parties are still talking and still in the Work Room. Malduoni has under a minute left on Invisibility. Fortunately, this time they didn't bother to close or lock the door; he can slip out easily. 

He does a final check of what the Asmodean cleric is thinking about right now. 

Ebet has just finished relaying that he's heard from Nayoki and she'll be ready for a Gate in half a candlemark. 

It should be interesting to meet Leareth; Laborda doesn't think he at all has the man figured out. Lawful Evil, at war with his world's lawless gods, with an army of hundreds of high-level casters which he might be planning to use to invade Valdemar and might use to intervene in Iftel - on either side, plausibly. It's really hard to guess what the best angle is, there, but there are several promising ones. For one, it sounds like Leareth and the church of Asmodeus have shared opinions on all of Velgarth's gods. For another, well, any ambitious person has to see an enormous opportunity in this rift between worlds.

This is going to be fascinating. 

Malduoni slips out and uses his remaining forty-five seconds of invisibility to get as far away from the Work Room as he can and slide into a bush - he's still, at this point, a gas. It seems like even if the wards sensed his Detect Thoughts earlier, it wasn't enough for the Heralds to locate him. And re-casting Invisibility alone is a much smaller display of magic.

He dismisses Gaseous Form, times it for the exact instant Invisibility expires, and re-casts Invisibility. At this point he might as well wait here. His permanent Detect Thoughts magic item should be sufficient to get through on someone, enough to make sure he's ready for the Gate. 

Inconveniently he only prepared one of Detect Thoughts at seventh-circle. The less powerful version should be enough to read some of Leareth's people, though, if not the man himself. 

He waits, invisible, and thinks. 

Rolan and the other Companions are still combing the Palace grounds for the source of the Web-disturbance. They're not making much headway. 

It's worrying, but Rolan has a feeling - looking in the blue place - that whatever it was, it's not necessarily hostile toward Valdemar. And nothing has happened since, which is something. 

The situation with the Chelish diplomats is occupying rather more of Rolan's attention. 

Rolan's Chosen has not exactly failed to notice that her Companion is incredibly preoccupied!

He's been barely paying any attention to her for days. Dara is trying not to be hurt or upset about this. Rolan told her not to worry, that it's all under control and she doesn't need to help. (Translation: she was Chosen only a few months ago and is completely useless to him. She's trying not to be hurt about this either, but it's hard.) 

He seems MORE worried today, though. And the rumours all over the Palace, regarding the diplomats from the country in another world that's invading Iftel, would have been hard to miss. 

...Dara does not want to get in any of the adult Heralds' way. She's not misbehaving or doing anything that would get her in trouble. She's just - going for a walk. That's all. It's not like Rolan is even going to notice, but if he did he wouldn't have anything to complain about.

She's going for a walk and it just happens to take her past the diplomatic guest quarters but it's a public path - 

Stef has been lying in the stupid cramped attic for ages and he is, at this point, finally convinced that the diplomats and the Heralds aren't coming back anytime soon. Which means it's a good time to crawl back out of the stupid attic and sneak back into his Bardic quarters before Medren can no longer cover for him. 

He really wishes he had overheard something that left him with answers, rather than just ten times as many questions. Questions are interesting too, though. Maybe they'll be time to learn more later. And he really should make sure Jisa is all right - though it sounds like she might be in a lot of trouble - not real trouble, of course, not the kind that'll get her actually hurt, she's the King's daughter, but still the kind of trouble that could get Stef hurt. He doesn't have anyone to protect him. 

Dara is just happening to take a walk past the flower garden across from the diplomatic guest quarters and this is why she's in position to hear a creak, turn around, and see a very small, scrawny child slither out of an attic window and shimmy down a drainpipe. It's quite dark by now; the nearest torch is a ways' off. She can't make out his face or clothing in much detail. 

She crosses the path before he can run away. "Hey. What are you doing?" 

Stef freezes.

"Nuthin'," he mutters, eyes on his feet, unconsciously slipping back into the gutter-rat accent that he's worked so hard to lose. 

A lowborn kid? Sneaking out of the attic - after, presumably, having snuck into the attic in the first place? 

...is this some sort of crime plot. There are definitely criminal groups in the poor parts of Haven, and some of them employ children. Or keep them as basically-slaves. 

She lifts her hands. "It's all right. I won't hurt you, I promise." 

Stef doesn't believe her even a little bit. 

He's scared. Dara can tell. 

"I promise," she says quietly. "I - I won't even tell anyone else I saw you, I swear. Just - tell me what you were doing? No one wants to tell me what's going on here either." 

Well. She might be lying but she - doesn't seem like it? Stef is a Bardic trainee, he's already had lessons in reading people, and before that came the hard-knock lessons of the streets. 

She could hurt him, if she wanted to. But - she's just a child too. Stef can see now that she's only a few years older than him. Thirteen, maybe. And her accent doesn't sound highborn either. 

He spends a long moment in thought.

"- Not here," he says finally. 

Elsewhere on the Palace grounds: 

The half-candlemark passes. Ebet checks in a final time with Nayoki. She's ready. 

He raises the Gate. 

Malduoni is ready. 

He's just re-cast Invisibility, and - timed exactly to when the Gate-energies start to build, hopefully overwhelming the Web - he casts Extended Polymorph. Transforms himself into a gnat - the tiny, harmless, almost-transparent kind that drift around gardens in summer.

An invisible gnat follows Leareth's people and the Chelish cleric of Asmodeus through the Gate. 

- there is, in fact, a slight interaction of magics. Nayoki, if she had cast the Gate herself, might have noticed it. Leareth almost certainly would have, though he wouldn't have had the faintest idea what to do with it. 

Ebet is the one raising the Gate, though, since Talli did the one here, and this is a straightforward Gate from one known location to another, not from a map. It's only the distance that is a challenge for him. Ebet is a highly trained Adept, but nowhere near the level he would need to properly register that something odd just happened. 

The invisible gnat goes unremarked. 

Nayoki exchanges a polite nod and greetings with Laborda, and then crosses in the other direction. 

"Should I see Leareth at once?" Laborda asks when they cross through. He's taking in his surroundings but not with too much curiosity; his presentation is very much that of a healer accompanying the diplomatic expedition, not its leader.

Spellcasting while in the form of a gnat is obnoxious. 

Malduoni has to assume that Leareth's operations centre is also thoroughly warded to detect foreign magic, but the Gate is still up. 

Many of the people here are quite well-shielded, enough to defeat his permanent Detect Thoughts. He casts a Still Silent Persistent Detect Thoughts. Each additional specification bumps it up one spell circle, but Detect Thoughts is only second-circle, so it's still not especially costly to him. 

Laborda is still screening him out; he might be enhancing his protection against mindreading with his own spells at the moment, actually. 

Well, fair enough of him. Malduoni will save further tries for once the healing is done and the interesting conversation starts. Trying a second time now is risky; the Gate's down. 

He can read the others, at least. 

Ebet is limp with relief that that's FINALLY OVER, and trying to hide it. 

"Do you need any preparations for your healing magic?" he asks. 

"I'll need to touch him, and if he has magical shields they'll need to be down so they don't block the healing."

"I understand. This way." Ebet starts walking, trying very hard not to show his fatigue. 

     :Do you need me: Talli asks him. She isn't especially interested in being around for this part. 

:- Not in the room, but stay nearby, please: 

     :Fine: She does not seem especially pleased about it. 

The Healer follows. He's not happy at ALL about Leareth making himself this vulnerable to the Evil people, but - well, apparently they do take their word seriously? And they don't seem to want to start a war? It still makes him very nervous, though. 

In Malduoni's opinion, paranoia is a reasonable response to Cheliax and its representatives anywhere, even in places with longstanding treaties that fully recognize Asmodeus' Lawfulness. Lawful is different from 'not trying to screw you over at every possible turn.' 

He apparently hasn't been noticed, at least. He follows, unseen.