Aww. Even when Leareth is (if he's honest with himself about how he's feeling) very stressed and kind of miserable, he appreciates seeing Carissa that excited. 

"Right. So I think the plan now is that I Plane Shift you out, retrieve Iomedae's people from the Worldwound, and then bring all of us to Velgarth?" 

(Malduoni did not prepare nearly that many transport spells. It's a good thing he keeps lots of scrolls with him, but today is adding up to being very expensive.) 

Zahra takes his arm and offers Carissa her other hand.

Carissa's mood is going to be impossible to ruin even if 'Plane Shift you out' is a euphemism for torture or something. She has a HEADBAND.

Leareth takes Carissa's other hand. He's distantly curious what Iomedae's paladins will be like and whether Carissa's impression here is even slightly accurate. 

And Malduoni Plane Shifts them to his other demiplane, the hallway one that opens onto his office in Rahadoum. He walks them out.

"I am going to bring us to the Worldwound and collect Iomedae's people, and then we can go from there." He's not sure exactly how many paladins he'll be hauling with him, or whether he can do it in a single Plane Shift, but they'll see. 

And he gets out another scroll of Teleport, and transports the four of them back to the Worldwound to look for Iomedae's people, who have hopefully been warned and are expecting him. 

He has MAGIC AGAIN! This is a significant boost to Leareth's mood, and means that he's actually able to appreciate the headband as well. 

...It's fascinating. He almost immediately gets distracted testing himself on mental math. 

It's the best kind of headband. This was implied when he said 'my best headbands' but she didn't know for SURE and now she DOES and - she hadn't known it was possible to feel this uncomplicatedly joyous about anything -

The paladins are armored, and the armor is singed. They look dead on their feet. When Aroden teleports in they troop over towards him anyway. Their faces are - wary, but not frightened.

"The Inheritor sent you?" the man in the lead asks. He appears to be about fifty, and his face is covered in soot.

"Yes. The plan is for you to go to Velgarth and set up there so that She can see things there, I think?" 

"We can do that." He gestures at the others, and they walk closer. "Ignasi Vidal. I don't think we've met."

"We have certainly not met. I am -" And the words catch in his mouth. He's definitely not about to speak of this out loud in a semi-public place. "I am Malduoni. Keeper of the First Law in Rahadoum." 

He raises his eyebrows, slightly. "Well met. I apologize for being so blunt, but this is an extraordinary situation, and - your companions are powerful and Evil."

Ah, paladins. You can wear the sparkliest shirt and the fanciest headband but they can only see one thing.

- right. They can just look at him and tell. This is...really surprisingly inconvenient. 

Leareth isn't sure what to say. He - isn't that much in the mood to apologize or defend himself for reading Evil over here.

Sigh. "This is Leareth. He is a powerful mage and important leader in the other world, and he is on our side. Iomedae vouches for Him - and he was able to reach Her via prayer despite his alignment, which ought say something. And this is Carissa Sevar, who is Chelish, but is - working with Leareth now." There's a slight hesitation there; Malduoni isn't entirely sure what the situation is.

"You'll forgive me if I don't believe that at all," Ignasi says to Carissa. "If Iomedae vouches for him we'll go with them, though. Thank you for the ride. I wish Rahadoum peace, safety, and freedom."

Normally a Plane Shift can only take eight people, and they're nine in total, with five of Iomedae's people joining. Malduoni, however, has a more efficient version of the spell. He can take everyone in one go. 

He takes his daughter's hand and holds out his other hand to Ignasi, and then he Plane Shifts them back to Velgarth.

(Aiming for a point very far south, just to be absolutely sure that Iftel won't be within the spell's error range.) 

...okay, being surrounded by paladins who hate you and aren't treaty-bound to assist you is actually fairly stressful. Carissa clings to Leareth's hand a little.

Leareth is also a nonzero amount stressed! But at least he's going home. He squeezes her hand back. 

They land on a flat, arid plain. It's windy; the wind whips at the dry grass and blows dust in their faces. There's a dark blot of figures in the distance, on the horizon. 

In the other direction, probably fifty miles away but still quite visible, there's a...spire, of some kind. It must be HUGE, to be visible from so far away. It also looks kind of...half-melted? 

Leareth takes a step closer to Carissa, protectively, and flings up a shield over both of them. 

"Star-Eyed territory," he says tightly. 

Iomedae's people spread out, cautiously, staying within reach of Aroden in case the plan is to immediately teleport out of here.

- maybe she and Leareth should be invisible. Invisibility never hurt anyone. 

"I will need to make two trips," Malduoni says. "Leareth and Carissa first - I can take up to six total -"