'Jane' gives very good hugs.  Lila is welcomed into her embrace, and soothed, just a little.  The worry isn't gone, but another will helps bear the burden of it.

"...Does he have to know where the person he's mind-controlling is?  Does he have any form of prescience?  Does he regularly make an appearance somewhere predictable?"

"I don't know.  My invisibility ring does also keep me silent, but... even if I get in, I can't, er, do it quickly enough."

"...do what quickly enough?"

"What's wrong with being a Chelish tributary? Isger gets protection from Cheliax, gets social services from the Church, and gets Hell-made manufactured items. Regardless, I'm sure an alternative arrangement could be made. Cheliax and your kingdom could benefit greatly from an exchange of magical technologies, Your Majesty." He smiles. It's a very practiced smile. 

"Ah! Mind-control. We have many ways to get around that. For one thing, wizards receive lots of training in concentration and clearing their minds. It's a necessary component for spell preparation and casting. It helps resist mind-affecting spells. There are also spells to prevent, or at least greatly reduce the chances of, mind-control. Enchantment Foil is a fourth-circle spell. My teachers can cast it for you – it lasts several hours, up to more than half a day. Mind Blank is an even stronger spell that lasts a whole day, but is eighth-circle. Few can cast such high-level spells. As for removing existing mind-control, there's Dispel Magic (which can also dispel other forms of magic, as the name suggests), or the more specialized Break Enchantment."

He thinks about the broken crown. "The crown's effects seem similar to a magic item we have on our world: the Cap of the Free Thinker. It improves the wearer's ability to shake off mind-affecting spells, which include mind-control. It's quite expensive though, at 12,000 gold pieces at market price."

"Er... kill him.  Or send him to some other world like our god of tyranny.  Just get him gone."

"The crown did more than resist mind control - but that would be helpful - if we can learn what else Barvid does have.  Each magical item tends to follow some theme..."

"We could just kill him from beyond the range at which he'd have any hope of even seeing someone to control them, and I know I can make a magic-piercing projectile.  Or, given half a chance, push the crown right off his head; it's a trick I've made quite a lot of use of, since I picked it up.  ...Themed magic items, okay.  Can he use more than one?"

"Yes he can; I still had my ring" (she holds up her finger) "when I had my crown.

"And if he wouldn't know you're there, and if you can pierce his magic shields - pretty much every witch has those - I think that'd work!"

"...I'm very good at counterspells and wardbreaking.  Though I do think that it would be best to have a bit more of a plan than 'sneak in and hope I'm good enough to get through his wards' before we go at it.  Thankfully, we have as much time as we care to take, on that front.  And more supplies would probably be a good idea, for that matter.  And, hmm...I wonder if I could kill him with lasers?  There aren't very many people who think to protect against an overabundance of what lets them see...  ...ugh, and now I'm considering the Heartbreaker problem.  We have to consider his victims, in addition to killing him dramatically enough that he doesn't get a narrative of vanishing to come back again later.  And if he has contingency orders to do horrible shit in the event of his death...We'd need to make sure everyone he's whammied is in the same place, for supervision and hopefully defusal.  And how do we do that on a budget?  It's possible that we can rule that out, if we know enough about the method or the man, but I'm not sure we do or can, with just what I know we know.  Do you have other allies, Lila?"

"I know I've got some - a small underground - I'm afraid it's a bit smaller now.  And I expect most of the people will welcome me when it's safe, and when they know I'm still alive.  I tried asking people sometimes when I was in disguise, and... well, I can't think of anyone who was clearly sincere in saying 'no.'  And then I know some of the Fay, too, though they might not want to interfere in human politics.

"... Yes, we need a good plan... What's the Heartbreaker problem?"

"Heartbreaker is a specific villain who was reputed to have left people his power had whammied into absolute loyalty behind as sleeper agents, thus presenting a threat of mutually assured destruction against any seeking to take him out.  He didn't have any agents like that, but his minions were quite a lot to deal with all on their own."

"My world has similar magic – it's called Geas. If it's anything like that, it should show up to Enchantment Sight. Sadly, I can't cast it either. That's a second-circle spell. I could get scrolls of it though, relatively cheaply. It's not a popular spell."

"I don't want to be casting that on my own people!

"But - hmm, could we cast Geas on his patron spirits?"

"I don't think that a Heartbreaker scenario's likely; megalomaniacs tend to believe their own hype and he's even more secure in his power than he was before.  I'm just trying to find worst-case scenarios, because it is in finding them that we can prepare to avert them.  Anyway, what I'd want for that is a good Remove Curse or three, and then I should hopefully be able to engineer it from its components.  ...He has patron spirits.  Hm.  What, if anything, do you know about their goals, their methods, and their natures?"

"Yes, it works on any creature. Ugh, I am much too weak to be casting any of the good spells, though. There are two forms of it. Lesser Geas is temporary, and won't work on any creature very strong, but it's only fourth-circle. Standard Geas works on anyone and is permanent, but is sixth-circle."

He eats more stew before continuing.

"In my world, there is a limit to how powerful a wizard can get just by study. You can get very good at spellcraft just by study, but you wouldn't actually be better at casting or advance to higher-circles. It has to do with channeling capacity – wizards must imbue their spells with their own energy, and stronger wizards are able to channel more energy each day. The only way to develop channeling capacity is to be in a situation with high stress. Usually, that means a situation where you are fearing for your life: battles are the most common scenario. I can feel that I'm very close to advancing to second-circle, now. With your leave, Your Majesty, I would be honored to join you in defeating him and sharing my world's magic with you. Although I'll have to trouble you to explain to my superiors what happened afterwards."

"They like people hurting each other and swaggering around.  Or at least that's the sort of person they give power to... or once someone's been a witch for a while, they end up that way.  And, well, nobody knows much more about them.  They've been in the world since our old god of tyranny, at least.  They were probably working for him, but nobody knows for sure.

"You can't see them.  They can see you, but they can't tell you apart from other people unless a witch helps them.

"If we can Geas them - well, if we can Geas them to answer questions, I have a lot of things to ask them... but how strong is too strong?"

"I see. They sound similar to entities who live on the Ethereal Plane, on my world. We would need to be able to see them in order to cast Geas. And yes, Geas can be used to ask questions of someone. Hm, how to explain...Lesser Geas will not work on anyone who's more than fourth-circle, on my world. I'm not sure how that translates to your spirits. We can try, though. With regards to detecting them, See Invisibility will work fine. It can detect ethereal creatures, or creatures that are mundanely invisible. It's a popular second-circle spell; I should have no trouble procuring a scroll."

"Oh boy, asshole spirits.  I'm not sure we're going to have much luck with them, but everything's worth trying if it can lead to better outcomes.  As far as 'how strong is too strong', well.  I could show you the math, but I'm not sure it'd help any...say, speaking of, how reified are the numbers I'd see if I was playing this out, on your end, Conrad?  You've been talking about spell levels already, and I'm guessing that a lot of the fiddliest bits cache out into the actual battlefield circumstances, but if I asked you what your Intelligence was, would you know?  More pertinently, I have access to a significant amount of resources that I wouldn't feel very bad about leaving in even Cheliax-loyal hands...what is the demonym for people from Cheliax?  Regardless, I'm thinking that we should hit up the magic item market, and get the good shit.  Maybe even custom gear, but I doubt that our luck will be that favorable, and waiting the umpty days necessary would be rather a strain, even if it has no practical import."

Lila is rather glad that he isn't asking her to promise to explain anything to the country that's somehow sponsored by a god of tyranny.  She really wouldn't want to get involved with their rulers.

She nods to Jane.  "That's how they are.  Or at least I think so."

"Great.  Let's get those Geas scrolls in case they'll work, but let's be prepared if they won't.  And let's definitely get a way to see invisible things; that'll be useful either way... and test it with my ring."

She suddenly feels really vulnerable at the thought of someone being able to see through her invisibility... but she tries to hide it.

"I could also cast Interrogation and Zone of Truth on them. Interrogation is a first-circle spell, and I know how to cast it too. Zone of Truth is, sadly, second-circle, but again, scrolls for it are easy to find because it's popular. Zone of Truth prevents creatures who enter the emanation area from speaking things they know to be untrue. It's not infallible, though. It's possible to shake off the effects of either spell." 

To Jane: "Er, quite reified, I'd say. Cheliax invests a lot of money into magical research. Where other countries or wizard academies would rate wizards simply on the most powerful spell they could cast, we are able to measure things more granularly. Yes, I know my Intelligence score, it's 16. We can measure it using magic." He's going to elide the fact that it reads your thoughts, too. "Everyone gets universal education in Cheliax, but only those with an Intelligence score of 14 or higher are eligible for wizard education subsidies. The demonym is either Chelish or Chelaxian. I prefer the former. Magic items? I can show you around Ostenso and tell you where the good shops are. It depends on what your budget is."

"My budget is 'diamonds are actually rather easy to make, chemically speaking'."

"I suppose the shops want cash up front?" Lila asks before Jane mentions the diamonds.

"Then we shouldn't really trust Zone of Truth, if they can shake it off.

"And if we're talking about magic, then we should definitely at least try to mend my crown.  It was supposed to be able to do all sorts of moving-at-a-distance and force spells - though of course I didn't really have a chance to fully test it."

"...moving at a distance and force spells?  Well, that'll be easy to fix.  Do you have it on hand?"

"No; I left it in the woods by a badger holt - not that far away; I remember where."

She turns to the Bar.  "Sir Bar, if I leave for my world, will I be able to get back here again?"

Diamonds through alchemy. Wow. He has to learn that.

"Well then! They'd prefer gold pieces, but any self-respecting magic shop will take payment in diamonds. We can buy a bunch of scrolls of See Invisibility, perhaps True Sight, Lesser Geas, Geas, maybe Enchantment Foil, ooh, or Mind Blank." He doesn't look forward to the process of having to read the scrolls, but he should not be thinking of that right now.

:Yes, provided someone is holding the door while you're out. You can come back in by coming through the same door. But if the door closes...I'm not sure. I'm not the one who manages the doors.: