- They can do that!  These are still pretty miserable conditions but he certainly feels much less miserable about being in them.

"You don't get to go inside till the Commander says so," says the sergeant sternly. "To be clear. You've gotta be checked and account for yourselves to him."

"We are happy to cooperate with safety measures!"  Demons seem like a bad thing to exist.  "As long as there's still someone to double heat from, or we will die."

"That's the stupidest power I ever heard of," someone says.

"Stay where we can see you," says the sergeant.

Nod nod!

Nod.

It's another thirty minutes or so from there. They pass a patrol going the other direction and pause to give a brief report of the weird situation.

That's!  A!  Really long time!  To every few seconds feel like you're stepping out into notably-colder-than-freezing weather!  But it's very preferable to the alternative.

(The other group has a cleric, if that's interesting.)

Fia is almost entirely concentrating on staying warm and picking up the language except when it seems like there's something important that wants other context, but the subtly weird look Feradi's giving that person sure is that.  - Oh that's weird.  Oh, that's weird - he can't really - see it - but -

And then it's time to move on, and move on they do.

The fortress comes into view. It's huge and severe and grey and there's something in it that is anchoring or otherwise related to the wardglow that they've been following.

The patrol they're with won't even approach the door with these weirdos. They have a shouted conversation with the archers up on the parapets instead explaining that they found these weirdos, who, exasperated sigh, say they didn't spot any demons and also the following other claims.

The archers send them to stand back a little farther to await the Commander.

That seems fine!  Or, it's awful but they clearly have some sort of situation that makes keeping people desperately uncomfortable necessary.  In any case, cooperation.

Here is the aforementioned commander!

"I'd hear your explanation," he says to the aliens.

Fia has been mentally rehearsing this.  "Hello!  I'm Fiaten; this is Feradi.  We were on our planet where it's very normal that everyone can double traits from other people onto themselves, and then there was a creature like nothing we had ever seen before and it transported us here!"

Oh huh the commander also has that - weird thing - this is not the time.

"I expect this ability to be very helpful in dealing with, well, whatever the demon situation is.  I would like to," (Aten is also provisionally fine with this; it seems like something that probably won't fail bother them if somehow they can avoid actively helping, Fia has reasoned) "and Feradi presumably also will if it means not dying."

...Nod.

"Explain 'doubling traits'."

"For example, we've been doubling body heat and the ability to understand this language off of these people.  We don't seem to be able to get Endures directly, and you have - something - that I can't really see very clearly, but we're used to being able to copy almost any other trait a person can have onto ourselves."

"How's that managed with respect to secure facilities on your planet?"

- Glance at Feradi - "In the country we were in, all citizens take on certain personality traits, that make them... these words don't quite capture it, but something close to 'Lawful Good'.  Other places do things differently."

The Commander turns to somebody. "Go get Detected and fetch out a copy of the Worldwound treaty."

"Yessir."

"The Treaty covers and protects contributing soldiery and adventurers of all alignments," the commander continues. "But if you have no prior exposure to it and your usual means of managing your abilities with respect to their security implications is just being Lawful I want you familiarized with it before you set foot inside my fort."

"...Can we at least be brought out warmer clothes while we do that?  It's very unpleasant to lose this much heat, even when we can get it back."

"Can you afford them? We don't operate on generous margins here and I'm not presently committed to letting you in at all."

"Surely you can take them off our corpses if you decide to let us die??  We can't leave."