"Do you want my second or shall I take it?" he asks Seelah again.

"You can take it. I'm not at full strength, but I could hold my own in a fight."

Arguably this is also true of Blai but he won't argue with her. He casts and then leads the way back to Defender's Heart.

They are attacked by yet another group of dretches on the way back to the Defender's Heart, but even with Seelah still feeling the effects of the shadows, they make short work of them.

And here's the Defender's Heart! Irabeth is in her usual corner. Horgus Gwerm is sitting in a different corner, with most of the tavern keeping a wide berth, save for a single crusader.

It's crowded enough that a wide berth is pretty noticeable! But Blai will report to Irabeth first before investigating that. Maybe she will tell him to leave Gwerm alone.

"Select! Report?"

"We located eight shadows and dispatched them but our luck on the Lesser Restorations was poor and we're out with Ser Seelah still not at a hundred percent. We are otherwise unscathed. There were several Continual Flames about and I don't know who originally owned them."

"Supposedly the patrol, ah, repurposed them from the nearby temples. I expect that returning them is not a strategic priority. Myrna has one Lesser Restoration prepared today; she has some... unusual policies... about how she spends her spells, but Ser Seelah should qualify." She indicates a Brevic woman wearing a holy symbol of Gorum.

"Understood. What are other errands we might usefully undertake today?"

She has a list! Their most important priority is recruiting additional participants for the attack on the Grey Garrison; in the best possible circumstance, they could potentially launch the attack tomorrow shortly after dawn, preempting the demons' plans, but they don't expect that either force is currently strong enough for that to be a good plan. It would be helpful to reestablish contact with Prelate Shappok, Voyager Ramien, or both, both because either of them could be a relatively powerful asset to the assault on the Grey Garrison and because it would be useful to coordinate Sending spells so they don't waste time contacting the same people.

If they don't have the strength to attack the Garrison tomorrow, they intend to do a smaller assault on the Tower of Estrod, since that seems to be a secondary base of operations for the demons, but today that mostly implies that they shouldn't actively draw attention to themselves in the area.

Apart from that, there are various other tasks that would be useful but non-essential: hordes of undead (though thankfully no shadows) spotted in one of the cemeteries, suspected succubus activity reported in the south of the city, reports that the Temple of Desna is sheltering civilians, and so on.

"Is there some plan to ensure that the Inquisitor and Voyager can collaborate on such an assault? ...I think my party being as it is out of Lesser Restorations and diminished in channel strength should not likely take on undead preferentially if others are available for this but I do have a Communal Protection from Evil to go investigate the succubus with... what action is meant to be taken about the Temple of Desna sheltering civilians?"

"Right now neither of them has agreed to participate, so even if only one of them is willing to take part, it would still be helpful. I don't know if Prelate Shappok would be willing to commit not to take advantage of such a collaboration to arrest the Voyager, but if he did make such a commitment, he would abide by it; the Voyager is not Lawful, but also not an idiot, so I don't expect him to actively sabotage the Prelate. We currently are not coordinating with the Temple of Desna and it seems plausible that it could benefit both our efforts and theirs if we were."

"So probably if I intend to do both I should find the Inquisitor before looking for the Voyager?"

"That seems reasonable, but don't feel the need to actively avoid speaking to the Voyager if you happen to encounter him first."

"Understood. Is there more recent word of him suggesting he is anywhere other than 'guarding that hole' - mustn't he sleep at some point, where does he do that -"

"Our most recent intelligence suggests he is still guarding the hole, though he was last seen before sunset. The Inquisition's headquarters includes sleeping quarters" (she marks it off on the map) "but inquisitors do also get Keep Watch, so it's not impossible in principle that he was simply guarding the hole all night."

"Understood." He will take a moment to plot a route on the map - what highest priority things are on the way to what other things -

The Prelate's hole and the Temple of Desna are surprisingly close, only a few blocks apart from each other. The Inquisiton's headquarters is a little bit further to the west, near the Gray Garrison, though not so close that Irabeth expects the journey to endanger them more than walking anywhere else in the city. The possible succubus is much further to the south, past some particularly damaged parts of the city; the most convenient route will take them past the Tower of Estrod, and routing around it will delay them slightly. The graveyard is not that far from the Temple of Desna, but it shouldn't be too difficult to avoid.

"Perhaps we can notify some Desnans of the undead situation in case they are helpfully inclined and just not moved to - organized relief efforts..." He sketches out a line, hole and temple and then an annoying long walk to the succubus report if nothing waylays them too badly first.

Nod. "Most of them aren't very good at following orders, but some of them are fine at listening to suggestions."

He nods and goes to assemble his party.

His party can be found! Woljif is attempting to explain the concept of prostitution to Lann. (Nenio is taking notes.)

"I just don't see how you'd get anyone to pay for that. Wouldn't they rather have... food?"

Tail-twitch. "Some people have a lot of money burning a hole in their pocket."