"Is there," how does he put this, "a specific one which would be less disruptive than one slightly shorter than it?  Long enough for some sort of delivery to come in, for example?  Which is less than a," season?  No, the years here are longer, "month."

"As a general rule we are meant to expect supplies on a weekly basis but it is not particularly unusual for them to be delayed such that they're doubled up, and they are typically responding to requisition orders from longer ago than that for anything that isn't invariably recurring."

"If," he rifles around in the commander's knowledge for stuff that's approximately the sort of thing which can happen, "a party showed up and offered to teleport us somewhere on the other side of the Worldwound, because they were going to give us another spell that we could use to save many lives there that were in immediate danger... well, first off, is that something you'd prefer we do?"

"Assuming they passed checks to make sure they were not demons, which they probably would be since there is no way for a letter to have gotten very far with you among its contents yet, but for the sake of argument, yes, the availability of strike teams floating between different sections of the border is important to its overall stability."

"Not necessarily soon, just as a reason we might want to someday leave without warning."

"Strike teams normally have permanent postings from which they travel and to which they return. Since you do not come with your own teleportation power that is slightly less obvious as an approach for you but if you are absent for less than a day the need for notice is reduced, we can keep enough wands to cover that even in inclement weather on hand."

"What if they didn't have a teleport for us to come back with?  Or would they, always."

"If... the teleporter who fetched you died? Teleporters are worth Raising, this would still usually not delay you more than a day. If there were more emergencies in rapid succession? Then #11 not having unlimited Endure Elements wouldn't be one of them and we'd ride it out."

Context - "You can raise people from the dead?"

"It's fifth circle, and requires a diamond, but it is in general doable, yes."

Can that happen to them???  Probably if they get enough money somehow.  In between all the charity.  "I see."  Wow.  "If we won't leave the Worldwound in general without at least a month of notice, does that approximately satisfy your concerns?"

"Yes."

"This is if we don't learn that all the demons are actually just fine people you happen to have a grudge against.  But perhaps you're willing to bet on that."

"It has crossed my mind to be concerned that you will meet a demon and adopt its properties and be best described as a demon thereafter. You might also meet a succubus quick enough on the uptake to present an appealing pack of lies with or without enchantment backing them. I do not expect you will come to an accurate assessment of demons and decide that they are fine; they can't even agree on that amongst themselves."

"...I am not very concerned that we'll decide to risk taking traits from demons and then turn - automatically evil.  Perhaps I should be concerned that we could be made to do that without deciding it."

"If you have not already been made aware of the existence of enchantments you should catch up on that immediately, do you require instruction or just permission to 'double' what I know?"

"Saying some things out loud will give us a better idea of where to aim?"

"Succubi in particular can at will mimic charm and suggestion spells, and once a day attempt an outright dominate. The main protection against the former is to have in mind rigid limits on what you can and cannot be persuaded to do by people you believe to be your friends and by compelling arguments, the latter you just need a good Will save and to operate in groups such that one person being compromised doesn't ruin the entire enterprise. There are other enchantments but succubi are the most common threat of this kind here."

This is, Aten decides, less alarming than the torture dimension, especially since that one also turns you into a bad person and you get tortured.  Does the commander's knowledge think that it's normal to do practice runs against Charm Whatevers?

No, but there is some extracurricular Charm Person use among the wizards and anyone who knows what's good for them can navigate that.

ACK.

"You expect demons to be obviously different in disposition from people here?"

"Yes. Even if there are Chaotic Evil people among my soldiers they're human levels of both."

Nod.  "I'm not sure that we can relevantly operate in groups.  Except to the extent that I'm always doing this.  I don't know that I expect that to help here."

"What would you expect to prevent you from operating in groups?"