Same. Not that any of us can hear us, either. This is all just hypothetical.

Argh. Sometimes, we just kill ourselves.

It seems like it actively fights back, which is not how this usually works... but if there was a fight, seems like Ipaxalon won. It's gone; no active spells on the spearwoman, and only an ordinary 'powerful soldier who's Neutral Evil' alignment aura.

Ipaxalon is heartened. Perhaps he can save these people. Well, for certain values of "save." Rehabilitation may be a touch more difficult.

Hm. Fully clearing the remaining known Eyes would take at least three seventh-circle spells. Possibly more, if Nerat could potentially resist. He has tentative plans for handling the (by now fairly distant) possibility of unknown Eyes, but he can only cast two more seventh circle and three more eighth circle spells (or lower) today. One of those needs to be a demiplane. Another needs to be a limited wish for a private sanctum.

He should not delay setting up a demiplane; even if he can't conceal it from Kyros, it remains important to have a fallback point. Later, more than one. And it's unwise to use all his powerful spells when the day is far from done.

Ipaxalon reconvenes with Matthias to deliver the mixed news. "My test results were unusual, but the upshot is that I believe I can remove the magic that makes someone an Eye, with some caveats. One caveat is that it burns resources which, while renewable in principle, are somewhat limited in practice. I have already cleansed one victim of Nerat's influence, assuming he did not manage to fool my senses.

"I believe every wounded soul is worth attempting to save, but one must nonetheless triage. I tentatively expect that, after I make preparations, I will be able to safely hold the majority of the prisoners beyond the reach of Nerat, with three likely exceptions. I think I will be able to purge those three within a day or two, if you can hold them that long, although two of them are among the strongest captive fighters. I understand if you would prefer not to take the risk.

"In the meantime I propose to begin my preparations, after which I would return to examine the prisoners again."

"Crimson Spears or Furies? ...For a few days, I suppose we can, tie them up and cage them. I think you can go ahead."

"Quiet Squall is the latter, I believe. Also one slinger, more weakly tagged than the others, and Jagged Remedy himself."

"...I don't think I can hold Jagged Remedy alive for two days. I trust my men's discipline pretty far. But monsters like Remedy are, well. Not that far."

"I understand. I will see what I can do." 

Ipaxalon takes to the skies, powerful wingbeats hammering against the storm to carry him high above the unnatural winds, where a few wisps of cloud remain. He rests upon a drifting cirrus and fills his vicinity with fog that does not hamper his vision in the least. And then, while still periodically glancing down to check on the Unbroken, he puts the first step of his full plan into action.

Ipaxalon forms an intention to cast lesser create demiplane, then apply to it a permanent mage's private sanctum by means of a limited wish; then to keep prisoners the Unbroken do not accept (and who prefer imprisonment to death) in his demiplane under a permanent private sanctum; thence to deliver them to a place that will accept them as prisoners (possibly Duskwatch or Sentinel Stand), or else an allied or neutral province if he can find one, or in extremis to hold them indefinitely, but in any case to allow them to exit the demiplane under supervision at least once within the week.

He intends to exclude Quiet Squall, Jagged Remedy, and the slinger from this demiplane, as possible Eyes.

Holding this intention in his mind, he withdraws from his chest-mounted haversack a small portion of incense, and casts a ten-minute divination, pondering the question: To what extent will this course of action risk exposing the fact of the demiplane's existence to Kyros or his Archons, as compared with killing all the prisoners? (Within the next week, that being the maximum time horizon of the spell.)

A divination framed this way at least sometimes gives Ipaxalon likelihood ratios rather than cryptic omens, but foresight is a fickle thing.

That's an interesting question. Will Nerat notice they vanished? Absolutely. But what will they do about that?

Well, that... No, no good.

Then that? Even if fails, it narrows it down. No, wait, it won't.

Well, it's not going to crack fast.

Yeah, not within a week. You're clear.

Create lesser demiplane takes two hours to cast, which gives Ipaxalon plenty of time to think about his next steps. He already has dozens of potential high-priority uses for his high-circle spells and several locations he would hope to urgently visit. A plethora of options is a good problem to have, but now is a good time to reevaluate his top-level priorities.

Ipaxalon desperately wants to have a conversation with an authority figure under Kyros who is not literally Nerat. On the one wing, his conversations with the Disfavored made it pretty clear that even the servants of Kyros consider this a blatantly unprovoked war of conquest (and the Choristers seemed to agree). On the other wing, they are literally called the Disfavored, they were reportedly conquered themselves, and they might be somewhat biased sources. The so-called Archon of Law sounds like someone he could negotiate with.

But it's easier to negotiate from a position of strength, and right now it seems very unlikely that the forces of Kyros will make meaningful concessions or agree to restrain the Chorus. There's significant risk they break or ignore an offer of truce, or that appearing in person this early earns attention Ipaxalon can't afford until he's better established. And there's the further problem of still lacking important context on the lands outside Stalwart and what they might want to negotiate for.

The two hours also afford him the time to study his current surroundings carefully for the purposes of retargeting a teleport.

When the spell finishes, Ipaxalon disappears temporarily into a pocket space carved out of the Astral Plane. There he permanencies the plane, drops a private sanctum also reinforced by permanency, attunes a spare rod to the plane, and replaces his plane shift contingency with one that redirects here instead of his (now inaccessible) previous demiplane. One plane shift and teleport later, he's back atop a cloud, about eleven minutes having elapsed since he left Terratus.

To all appearances, no one notices.

There's the early stages of a cage/cell being constructed in the ridge camp, but that's about it.

Ipaxalon does a flyby of the prisoners to check aura strengths, then lands nearby to check in with the Unbroken. Are they prepared for him to heal most of the prisoners? He won't demand that they refrain from executing Jagged Remedy but he does plan to select a random previously-unconscious soldier to attempt to deliver a letter to Nerat. (On reflection, Quiet Squall should not be released, on the off chance Nerat doesn't yet know his Eyes can be closed and sending her back with or without the magic could give the game away.)

Sure, just give them a minute to have everyone on alert... Done.

"No problems with your preparations?", Mattias asks.

"None so far. Before I heal the prisoners, there is something you should know, a fact I don't intend to hide but that it may be advantageous to delay reaching Kyros. My magic can bring the dead back to life."

Mattias is appropriately stunned. "...I'm going to think more about that when we don't have a difficult population of prisoners to secure. I think Kyros can have that done, if he really wants it, but that may just be exaggeration about Orphan Midwife. Still good to... keep quiet."

"There is an argument for demonstrating this ability openly, to bring hope and boost morale, among other things. Though there is also an argument for delaying. I will follow your judgment when it comes to your troops, in any case." And in the meantime: healing for the injured Choristers! (Presumably not Jagged Remedy, at the moment.) And then Ipaxalon would like to speak to the rank and file separately from the suspected Eyes.

"I can recognize a decision that can't be taken back easily. A week of morale isn't worth it."

And they can separate out the rank and file from the also rank and vile, if he needs it. And yes, they would really rather Remedy stay very, very down until the rest are gone.

The Choristers are largely happy with this development! They're kind of surprised Scamper's being dragged off somewhere else but nobody's surprised about Misery, Remedy, Skullmulcher, or Squall. Maybe a little about the smaller gang bosses, if those are going away.

(Misery is not pleased to be woken up alive. Ipaxalon may be surprised by this, especially if no one's referred to her by name yet. There's a couple others who take health and wakefulness with more 'grim perseverance' than 'happiness' but it's more subtle.)

Misery has been identified to him as "the one in the fancy bronze armor" other than Remedy. Nominative determinism wasn't entirely outside the hypothesis space, given the nature of Archons and magic items, but even without it, it's hardly surprising that those in the compulsory service of Nerat would have mixed feelings about their continued existence.

"Greetings. I apologize for the delay in healing your injuries. I am called Ipaxalon, and I am a silver dragon. Some have named me an Archon, but this is not strictly true; my abilities differ greatly from those you may be used to seeing. I come from a place far outside the reach of Nerat or Kyros, a place which has seen the rise and fall of countless tyrants. I oppose unprovoked wars of conquest, and I oppose Kyros in his conquest and subjugation of the Tiers.

"I understand that many of you did not join Kyros willingly. I am told the choice offered by his servant Nerat is to join or die. I can hardly fault you for choosing life. Although I consider myself at war with your masters, I bear no malice towards you, and I aim to treat you as fairly and kindly as I can afford. You are prisoners of war, not slaves. I do not torture prisoners of war; I do not kill those prisoners whom I can safely hold instead.

"I have separated you from your captains, both because some are suspected to be linked to Nerat and because your decisions moving forward ought to reflect your own will, not theirs.

"It is my intention to stall Kyros' conquest, defeat or suborn his champions, defeat Kyros personally if necessary, and bring about a lasting peace. I cannot guarantee that I will succeed in this, but I believe my odds are good enough to make it worth the attempt. If I succeed, I intend to free you and bring you to a place of your choosing to live your life as you see fit, subject to the laws of your chosen destination. In the meantime I intend to hold you beyond Nerat's reach, and to seek arrangements with Stalwart and its allies for longer term handling of your imprisonment and eventual release.

"I cannot offer you your old lives back, not now and perhaps not ever. But I will do my best to offer you safety and a fresh start. I am told the Unbroken would welcome back their own, if I am able to confirm that there is minimal risk of defection to the Scarlet Chorus. For the rest of you, I would explore options for your freedom which minimize the risk of being reclaimed by Nerat. And for any who prefer death to imprisonment, I can offer you a warrior's end."

Ipaxalon has more to say about the rights of prisoners, but first he checks whether his audience seems to be following or has questions.