"All right then.  Good to hear."

"We have, for what it's worth, now screened everyone previously in the villa for being secretly a cleric - though we had to consult with Hell to determine that was even possible, and how it could be tested - and it is all negative."

"Also good to hear, but do keep in mind that if that 'trope' governs at all you have somehow missed her anyways.  I agree that it probably doesn't govern, and I hope that nobody was too much inconvenienced by the screening."

"Perhaps I should not ask, but if you'd pardon me one question..."  Aspexia waits for the nod.  "And also, if you can, please answer this quickly rather than thinking about it for long.  If 'tropes' govern, who is the ultimate antagonist and what is their plan?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm really not comfortable answering that, under these circumstances.  I cannot just point an accusing finger at somebody especially if the cleric thing turned out to be wrong, Asmodia has no superpowers, and there was no significant conflict with the Queen.”

Keltham immediately thought 'Isidre'.  Isidre plans to convert the world to Lawful Goodness.  She is carrying out this plan via a program of illegal emotion-reading and mind-control, which has penetrated Chelish Governance to a far greater degree than the Grand High Priestess or the Queen would think even possible.

"I am sorry for having asked, then, and see your point."

"Should you change your mind regarding the wisdom of answering, keep in mind that I am, in principle, the member of government who would be most responsible for dealing with 'tropes' if they existed."

Aspexia gives him a polite nod and departs.

Ione, Pilar, and Asmodia are also away from the site, in queue for additional Security screening supposedly.

Keltham might want to make inquiries, upon seeing them again, regarding prophecies, or excursions outside the old Forbiddance, or trips to Hell.

So somehow those three will only manage to get to the new site after Sevar is back, and functioning sufficiently to authorize any necessary lies.

And as for why all this visit is happening, really?

When Aspexia read Abrogail's proposed outline of what she intended to do to Sevar, it occurred to Aspexia that perhaps, if Sevar is out of communication with the Project Lawful site for an extended period, maybe somebody who can read Keltham's mind should be on the Project Lawful site as a substitute for Sevar.  Just in case Keltham picks this particular morning to suddenly go closet himself and think for three hours.

It seems like prudent policy even before considering how much that could plausibly be a 'trope'.

So... study magic, learn more about Cheliax and Golarion, see if they can teleport in a metallurgy expert so Keltham can hear about the current state of art in mining and refinement of metals, maybe ask Governance to send him the politically convenient version of the gains-splitting bargain to see how loudly Keltham screams about it...?  Keltham isn't currently thinking of anything else he can do with everyone missing.

Carissa is going to be okay though, right oh my ass brain, would you stop that, I decided this was a good idea it has all kinds of safeguards and you won't find out what the results were until Carissa gets back so right now these are not productive thoughts to be having at me.

PL-log timestamp:  Day 4, late afternoon
PL-log placestamp:  Egorian

And now once again Pilar has found herself somewhere holding a cake, and this place doesn't even seem to be inside the Palace!

Instead it's a private room in a classy inn; from the window, the palace grounds are visible across the street. The room is presently empty except for an unaccompanied Unseen Servant, which is sweeping.

Pilar has a sense of what her curse wants to do (sigh) and she's not going to fight it without a reason, so she lets herself leave the room, go down a hall, go down a set of stairs, still holding the cake.  It's one of the nicer and larger ones she's delivered, now that she looks at it, very formal.

The first floor of the inn is a busy restaurant, presently in the middle of serving lunch. It's clearly an upscale adventurers' inn, not one for nobles or rich merchants. You can tell by the decor, which is awfully cosmopolitan for Cheliax, and by the security, who look like they mean business potentially against very dangerous adversaries, and by how quickly the waitress takes it in stride to have a very conspicuous girl come down stairs she definitely at no point went up. "Can I help you?"

Pilar hands her the cake, and lowers her voice about as far as it can go.  "This cake is for the party of Osirian adventurers who'll be arriving shortly.  Please wait until two minutes and forty-five seconds past the early-hour bell, then give this cake to them with compliments of the cake girl."

WAIT WHAT

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

The woman blinks at her.

"That'll be - five silver for a special timed delivery on short notice," she says, "and no guarantees about what happens to the cake if they fail to show and you don't return to claim it in the next hour."

Pilar seems to be holding five silver.  Somehow this surprises her, even though, if her curse can do all these cakes, there's no reason it couldn't do small amounts of money.

Pilar hands the money over more or less on automatic, thinking furiously.

Pilar has by now worked out that, whenever she appears for somebody without her having chosen that, they have at least heard of her.  Maybe they know her as Pilar and not the cake girl, back in the villa when this first happened; or they've heard a rumor about the cake girl, in the Imperial palace, but not the name Pilar.

But she has never suddenly found herself with a cake for somebody, who has no idea of who she is or why she'd be there.  And that goes by the final recipient, not by anybody who hands the cake over on instructions.

Pilar does not, in fact, know any Osirian adventuring parties, or anybody who'd plausibly be on one.

Which leaves the question of how an Osirian adventuring party knows either Pilar Pineda, or the cake girl.

The waitress pockets the money, takes the cake, and walks it over to a heavily built man by the door who squints at it and then shrugs. She takes it off to the kitchen.

Pilar starts to turn back to the main room, with the intent to talk to that impressive-looking inn security about where Pilar can find the highest possible level of Church or Crown security, on very short notice and very near by.

...her curse really really doesn't want her to do that.

Because the Osirians will be captured.  And probably tortured.  And that's not nice, not at all.

Pilar directs a furious thought at her curse about how these people are not street orphans, they are here to kidnap and torture her and would eventually figure out a way to do that in a way she finds genuinely unpleasant.  Furthermore, in case it has escaped her curse's notice, she is Lawful Evil, operative word Evil, and an extremely loyal servant of Lord Asmodeus and His interests.  She doesn't think her curse can actually stop her if she tries, or at least, Pilar is very willing to fight and find out.

Pilar is Lawful Evil, operative word Lawful.

Her curse trusted her with this.  She can well serve Lord Asmodeus's interests here, but she has to not do horrible things from the perspective of Chaotic Good, using her curse's power and knowledge, in the course of that.

Her curse wouldn't have steered her into the trap, obviously.  That wouldn't have been nice either.  But her curse could have just let the whole thing fly by without Pilar noticing.