"When? For how long exactly? How dangerous will it be?"

"The night of 10 Desnus. Between 3 and 6 hours. There might be trouble, but not the kind of trouble that would threaten a third-circle wizard."

She does some figuring... if Alieta is busy during the night, they should let her sleep in the following day and prepare spells and make a second-circle scroll, rather than spend the day on wand crafting and nothing else. "We'll want you to buy all her spells for the 10th, and compensate us for losing her crafting labor on the 11th. There's a small fee for the danger" - they might need to confirm that he's telling the truth about how dangerous it is - "and for additional spells she uses from items. That comes to 1700gp. We would prefer that she not be alone, but we'll add a skilled fighter of ours for only 300gp, which brings the total to 2000gp." She's expecting him to haggle a bit.

He does haggle a bit, but the deal is soon sealed, almost, pending his confirmation that he did not mislead them about he danger at the next morning's casting of Zone of Truth.

"Do you have a scroll of Riversight available, or is your cleric for hire to cast it?"

"That's third-circle, she's only second. In general, Marran clerics above second circle are rare."

Hm, what circle is Felicia?

"I'll ask around and let you know at the Zone of Truth tomorrow if we can arrange a Riversight."

Tos checks the inns in Bellis. Can any of them pass a message to their guests, an aasimar with armor and a greatsword, and a half-elf woman?

All of them say they don't have any guests of that description, except for one of them says that they don't give out information on their guests. They would be happy to convey a message for a couple of coppers, though.

He tries to appreciate their Lawful commitment to their principles - he needs the practice - and pays to tell the dubiously-existent guests that he might have a small cleric job for them. Ideally they should come by before tomorrow's morning spellcasting, that is, while the circus tent is still partially shaded.

Then he stands by the shop where he met Elias for a few hours.

She and Elias receive the message slipped under their door. She reads it when she wakes up.

What!? That sounds like a horrible trap. Before she can prepare spells? Although, if this is meant to be a trap, she won't be walking into it defenseless. She hadn't used any of her combat spells since she got here, and they've still been sitting there unused. The same goes for Elias. The message said to meet at the Marran camp just before dawn.

She's hoping it's not the Marrans looking to pick a fight, but it might come to that.

The two of them mull it over for a few minutes and decide to go anyway. It's highly likely to be related to their mission here, which they still haven't gotten extra information on. Perhaps it will become apparent once they go.

They prepare quickly and ready their weapons, but don't pray for spells just yet.

When they reach the Marran camp, the sun has only barely risen above the horizon.

What is the state of the Marran encampment like? Are they busy?

There are guards around as before. A thin stream of smoke comes from the hidden inner courtyard. The magic tent is closed.

Someone is giving a speech in the circus tent.

"...might say that obviously you're the same person, since you have the same soul. I disagree. There exists magic that can change a person's alignment, edit their memories, write them a whole new personality. Are they the same person afterward? They don't behave the same way. They themselves might not even think they're the same person, if that question could be posed to them.

Consider outsiders made of multiple souls, or fragments of souls. Are they not people? They have thoughts, feelings, goals, well, most of them. Do they have continuity of consciousness with their - raw materials? I don't know... But we were just talking about how mortals don't have continuity of consciousness within a single life!

Arguing from the other direction, when a single soul becomes an outsider, clearly this is sometimes capable of preserving the person. Those of us who hope for a better afterlife are clearly imagining that it will be us experiencing that afterlife! Yet the soul is significantly transformed in the process, filled with the essence of its plane.

By arguing that souls are not the same as people, and that we are constantly creating a new person to take our place, I hope to render the Question of the Autophage irrelevant. As Marra did planned, she did, as we all do, all the time. We say that vanity is liking yourself, and that may be accurate as applied to the emotion, but what is it that we like, if we ourselves are constantly changing? If I may speculate on the feelings of a god, always a foolish proposition, what is Marra's vanity? Does She feel vain about each momentary version of Herself? Is She vain about Her overall pattern of change? Does She have a false sense of Herself, as we mortals do, which She treasures?"

The two of them enter the circus tent, since it's the only thing that seems to be open. The guards don't stop them as they enter. She might as well listen in on the speech.

Her position on the problem of continuity of consciousness is that it doesn't matter, really. Whether one's shape is similar from one moment to the next is unimportant, so long as there is a consciousness. She's not interested in litigating whether, say, she's still 'the same person' as she was yesterday before she slept compared to today. Although people do vary on this axis: many people care about their souls still being in a roughly similar shape when they reach the Silver Garden. Damian and Conrad do seem to care about it, though, and they maintain a one-to-one ratio of mortal soul to outsider when creating half-fiends.

They don't sit, but stand at the edge of the tent, near the exits. 

It's very important that his soul occupies a single outsider body and that his soul is not mixed with others!! He would like to retain as much of himself – the strong parts of himself – when he dies, shedding only the parts of him which are weak. He would like to have continuity with his old self, thank you very much. Being able to survive and overcome is like, the other half of Conrad's thing. That's why he was ordained.

"Or perhaps She does not have vanity Herself, but only desires it of Her mortals and marrenai.

That's all I have to say."

"Okay! Ponder that if you will.

Anara, Tos, Alieta, Lekie, Barid, Jefarri: come to me now to talk about scheduling.

Morgan: come to me sometime today. I have a new experiment for our rations!

Dismissed!"

About a third of the people stay and talk among themselves. Many stream out, mostly by the gaps in the internal walls, but a small group leaves through the main entrance and heads toward the magic tent.

Ellin notices Elias and Felicia and splits off to approach them. "You're here, excellent. Did you get our message? There are two job prospects. The first is for a casting or scroll of Riversight. Are you able to cast that spell, Felicia? The second is a guard job tomorrow night. I don't know if the customer is looking for additional guards beyond those already engaged, but he seems willing to pay well, so if you're interested, we might as well ask. He should be here within an hour."

"Good morning." She bows slightly. Elias follows.

"Yes, we did." Riversight? What an obscure spell. She has only cast it once, during training, after she first received third-circle spells.

"I can cast Riversight, yes. Is the person asking for it the same one as the one giving the guard job? I'm tentatively interested, but would like to talk to him first before we accept."

"Yes, it's the same customer.

Ah, here he is!" She greets the man and explains.

"The main job is to guard us as we carry some goods from Bellis to an unknown location somewhere to the south along the Sellen river, where a ship will be waiting for us. The Riversight is for finding the ship."

"What are the goods?"

    "None of your business, as far as I know."

"Is your operation legal?"

    He smirks. "No."

"Then be advised that our guards will primarily be there to protect you and your collaborators. We will protect the cargo as well as we can without breaking the law, but we will not directly assist your illegal operation. We will not interfere with the Bellis city watch. If you attack someone unprovoked, you forfeit our protection from actions they take against you."

    "That's acceptable."

"Please describe the dangers the guards will face."

    "People unhappy with the operation might try to stop us or destroy the cargo. I do not expect them to want to attract attention by starting a fight. I do not believe I am likely to have been misled about that."

"Any other dangers?"

    "You might trip moving along the river at night. People you meet might be suspicious of you and take a more aggressive stance than they would during the day in a less unusual situation. You might get lost. You might -"

"What danger is the worst, in expected amount of damage, of dangers you have not mentioned? Consider that we would want our wizard resurrected immediately, we would want intact corpses of our other followers, and please value the loss of Marran bodies as if we intended to resurrect them."

    "...Someone might try to rob us. I think it's extremely unlikely that they would proceed with the attempt after discovering that we have a third-circle wizard with us."

"Would you be interested in hiring this cleric to cast your Riversight? Would you be interested in hiring either of the cleric or the antipaladin to guard you? For any of those contracts, we would charge a 1% fee for introducing them to you."

    "Hm, what are their prices?"

Ellin looks around and addresses Elias and Felicia. "The Zone of Truth customers are not all here yet. Do you have other questions for this gentleman?"

The two of them bow upon meeting the man. The two of them listen to Ellin and the man talk.

Would this quest lead them to what they're supposed to do here? Is this what they're supposed to do here? She's honestly getting a little annoyed Damian hasn't sent her another clarifying vision yet. The best she can do is to try and expose herself to as many opportunities as possible, and hope that the reason Damian hasn't sent her a vision is because she's been on the right path.

"Please give us a few moments to discuss." She takes a few steps back and whispers to Elias in Abyssal.

Prices? The church pays her 15gp a week. What price would be fair? She has no idea. It's not like she's an adventurer. She knows that wizards and Abadaran clerics use the same formula for prices of single castings of spells. She could tally up all the prices of the spells she would have been able to sell today (i.e. all of her spell slots), and then charge for those. But that's not all her value: she can channel negative energy selectively, she has domain abilities, and she has weapons training. 

She's just going to make up a number. But first, she has to sound appealing, so she can charge a higher price.

"I will be able to cast both Riversight and guard the boat and cargo for you. I have low-light vision from my elven heritage: I'll be able to navigate on a moonlit night just as if it were day. It also works through Riversight. Even if the boat were concealed, I believe I'd still be able to find it. I think it would be a good idea for you to take me and my coworker on. I am a third-circle cleric, he is a first-circle antipaladin.

And he has darkvision, so navigating at night will be even easier for him.

We are no strangers to combat. You can see for yourself, with our enchanted arms and armor."

"Buying the two of us for a twenty-four hour period would cost 3000gp in total. However, we prefer to work together, so we would only accept if you decide to hire the both of us. To help you make your decision, we will discount it by a tenth to 2700gp. This price is inclusive of the casting of Riversight."

He normally doesn't bother to pop open his visor to let them see his face. You give off a more formidable appearance that way. He has to give evidence to his claim to darkvision, though. He opens it to show his face and his bronze-colored eyes. Hopefully he'll know what aasimars look like.

The man scowls. "The Marran wizard was only 1700gp. I'll take the cleric for 2000, which includes the Riversight if you're going to cast it directly and won't be able to use that slot for something else, and I'll take the antipaladin for 500, almost twice the price of the Marran fighter."

Huh, so their prices weren't too far off after all. She wants to smile, but knows she shouldn't. She makes a show of whispering to Elias in Abyssal again for a few rounds, and then comes back.

"We accept. Do you have an idea of what sorts of spells would be useful in this specific situation? You are the quest-giver, after all. If not, we will use our judgment as to what sort of spells we ought to prepare."

Well of course he costs more money than the fighter, he can cast divine spells. Not many, but it's not zero. He glares at the man's eyes for a split second and averts his gaze.

"It is almost time for us to pray. I believe the Marrans have to pray too. I assume the mission takes place this night?"

The man flinches. "... Yes... So... 2500gp total, to be delivered to you at the beginning of the mission? And 25gp for the church of Marra. Is meeting here at sunset convenient? Uh, yes, tonight.

Will you state in the Zone of Truth that you intend to complete the mission to the best of your abilities?

Something intimidating might be good for scaring off would-be attackers."

At the beginning? That is...odd. Yes, they have the Zone of Truth, but words are just words. Does he not understand that most antipaladins are Chaotic Evil? Elias would have expected the man to only want to give out the money after the mission, or perhaps do half-up-front-half-after.

"You are very generous, giving us the money up front. Yes, dusk works for us. Who will be casting the Zone of Truth? Yes, I will state so."

"Intimidation, hm. Would you prefer us to try to resolve battles without deaths, or is your cargo the sort of thing such that it's best not to have anyone be around to speak of it?" Elias smiles, but there is no mirth in the smile.

"...We'll be supervising you the entire dur- uh. You would do well to remember our generosity and trust.

Our priority is avoiding attention. If you can scare people off while seeming more ordinary than a disappearance, that would be best. Otherwise, well..."

"Our wizard will cast the Zone of Truth." She looks around again. There is a small nervous crowd in front of the magic tent. A pair of people are whispering vehemently. "Alieta!"

"I declare our conversation this morning, including all four of us, to be covered by the Zone of Truth to be cast by our wizard this morning."

Alieta springs out of the magic tent brandishing a wand. (Doing the Zone of Truth in public means more witnesses, and it's good advertising.) "One minute to go! I'll center the Zone of Truth around myself."

Zone of Truth.

She points at each person in turn. "Have you lied in the conversations declared to be covered by this casting?"

"Nope!"

        "Nope."

        "I have not!"

            "No. Satisfied now, bitch?"

  "... I don't think I have."

"I have not lied. I also affirm to complete the mission to the best of my ability."

Felicia repeats the same words.

She's planning on preparing her full set of combat spells. She's not good at intimidation, unlike Elias. Nor does she have good fear-inducing spells. Conrad is the one that has the Fear subdomain.

She moves closer to Alieta.

"Alieta, since you'll be joining us, it would probably be best to decide collectively what spells to prepare so that we can work together. Since you cast Zone of Truth, I assume you've already prepared all your spells? Or have you only prepared that one?"

"I prepared my spells, but I can change them if needed.

... Uh let's step inside the magic tent, it's more private.

My cantrips are Detect Magic, Read Magic, Light, and Ray of Frost. If both of you can see in the dark, maybe I don't need Light? I could change it to Message...

My first circle spells are Expeditious Retreat, two of Mage Armor, and two of Magic Missile.

My second circle spells are Resist Energy, Detect Thoughts, Pilfering Hand, and I don't have any super combat-focused spells in transmutation, my specialty school, so I have Eagle's Splendor there, maybe it will help getting someone to leave us alone.

My third circle spells are Dispel Magic, Communal Resist Energy, and again in transmutation I don't have anything great, so I have Fly.

I can cast one spell spontaneously with my bonded dagger, which also has Spell Storing with Cure Light Wounds loaded. Yes, that means I need to cut someone to heal them.

I also have two scrolls of Infernal Healing and one of Merciful Fireball, Merciful because I'm expecting to fight people, not monsters.

Oh and with my transmutation school I can punch people at a distance 6 times.

I have two questions for you: what exactly are our obligations to protect each other, and who's in charge? I think Tos should be since he's done stuff like this before."

"I think Message would be better, yes. I'll prepare it too, so that we can communicate even if we somehow get separated." She holds herself back from chuckling at her Infernal Healing dagger. It's very amusing.

"I'll prepare the following spells. Do you know the cleric spell list? I'm going to assume yes, since you're a wizard."

0: Guidance, Purify Food and Drink, Message, Stabilize
1: Cure Light Wounds x2, Burning Disarm, Cause Fear, (Entangle)
2: Silent Still Charm Person, Communal Protection from Law, Communal Protection from Good, (Touch of Idiocy)
3: Dispel Magic, Prayer, (Suggestion)

"I'm not preparing many Cure spells since I have a wand of Cure Light Wounds with at least two dozen charges remaining.

Would you rather I prepare something else? Unlike you, I can't swap out my spells once I have them. Clerics don't have many direct damage spells – not many good ones compared to wizards." She had been hoping Alieta would have had better combat spells, but it doesn't seem like she has many. It's understandable, but saddening. She'll have to pick up the slack with her negative energy channeling.

"We've gone on missions before, but I admit that we haven't done any escort missions. Most of our missions involve killing demons or exploring Sarkorian ruins. I would be willing to tentatively defer to Tos, provided Elias doesn't see anything wrong with it. I will treat the two of you as though you were allies, except in the cases where I have to choose between saving ourselves and you. Otherwise, I will not be stingy with healing and buffing – at least, not any more so than I would be with someone of the church.

I'm skilled in negative energy channeling, and can choose to exclude allies from its effect. So long as we're not facing against undead, it should be very useful against people who might try to attack us. My connection to Damian's Plant domain also means I can cause a patch of thorns to grow in a location to impede movement or inflict minor damage."

"Okay, I'll switch Light to Message.

Are you expecting that we'll be stranded? Purify Food and Drink doesn't seem useful to me...

It's very important that if I die, my body is returned to the Marran church. It's somewhat important for Tos, too... he's not worth raising and he was still Neutral Evil a few weeks ago, but, well, Lawfully participating in high-stakes contracts is supposed to be good for his soul. Do you have a preferred way to specify that obligation?"

"We have a habit of casting that spell on anything we eat, even if its provenance is known. It's for safety. And I can cast it on any food you might want to eat too. I don't know what spell would be useful for us. But I think we can forgo it in this case – I'll prepare Guidance instead.

So, how much of the body has to be eaten for it to count? Does it need to be the whole body save the bones? In the case where we're unable to recover your body – either because we need to flee in a hurry or because your body is rendered unfit for raising – could we simply chop off a finger and give it to your church? Would that be sufficient to fulfill the requirement?"

"A finger is not enough. A whole body with one missing finger is enough; that has happened. The exact requirements are unknown, probably because Asmodeus liked it that way and Marra agreed since it doesn't actually cost us much.

Actually, I suppose that for me in particular, a finger is enough for a Resurrection.

I meant, like, how is our arrangement going to be enforced? For us, we have standard punishments for failing in our duties, both as ordered and our duties towards Marra, and we have superiors who know us well and can thoroughly interrogate us in a way that avoids bad incentives, like, if we were only punished for deliberate betrayal then we would develop tendencies of thought that lead to accidental misbehavior, and of course our superiors try to stop that kind of thinking but it's hard to completely stop, but on the other hand if we punished all failure that would lead to fear and withdrawal, so our superiors have to know how we think...uh, anyway, how do you set up your incentives? What does it mean to you to treat us as allies?"

Really? Alieta's worth enough for a Resurrection? Is she the daughter of the head priest? She smiles a little, but manages not to make a surprised face at that.

"Ah. See, that's kind of not a problem with us, because anyone who either betrays us or who deliberately misbehaves is simply kicked out of the church. We spend time thinking about positive incentives, but not so much negative incentives. Rather than a sliding scale, we operate on an all-or-nothing principle. We expect that simply talking to someone sternly will be enough to correct them, because if that weren't the case, then they would be unfit for the church and would be expelled. 

Treating you like allies means...caring about your welfare. Not wanting to see you harmed. Taking your preferences into account. Being truthful and forthright with you, and...trusting you. Well, perhaps not the last part – we aren't truly allies. We are allies only incidentally. But I will be able to apply the rest to you. You may interpret it as though I were...subject to a permanent Charm Person by you." Perhaps that's a better comparison for a Lawful Evil person to understand. Charm Person makes you treat the caster as though they were an old friend of yours.

"I cannot make it exactly clear what 'ally' means in this context, because how an ally should act depends on what sort of situation you find yourself in. Yes, that position is probably terribly disconcerting to you, but we do not operate Lawfully. That doesn't mean that we'll break our word, though – our gods are very much against betraying your allies." She makes a humming noise. "Perhaps that's sufficient to establish a negative incentive for us. If we affirm your are our allies, albeit temporarily, and betray you or deliberately act against your interests, then we will suffer disfavor with our deities."

"Huh, okay, I see the benefit of your way of filtering who you accept!

As long as you're committed to pretending to be under a Charm Person no matter how you actually feel about me and Tos, I guess that will do." Sigh.

"I might be able to do the same?

How much do you value your life? Are you worth raising by the standards of your church? Is there anything else you value more than fulfilling the task we're hired for?"

Pretending to be friends with someone is not actually heretical!

She's only seen Charm Person used in training, so she's not clear on how much it compels assistance in a fight...

"Er, I do value my life very much, but I'm not sure that's something I could give a monetary amount for, you know. I'm not...I'm not a cleric of Abadar. Yes, I would be worth revivifying via Raise Dead, but I wouldn't be worth a Resurrection." Mostly because their church has no one capable of it.

"It's difficult for us to be raised, because our soul contracts make it difficult for non-Damianites or non-Conradians from raising us. The soul contract binds us to our gods and lets them direct Their outsiders to fetch us from the River of Souls, but it also means that those who worship other gods cannot easily bring us back, sometimes, not at all. We have to do all of our revivifications in-house – we cannot take out an insurance policy from Abadar's church.

Well, I value serving Damian more than I do completing the task, though I very much don't anticipate there'd be anything that would cause me to break away from the mission for His sake."

The sun rises a little more, and from the angle that she's standing, she can feel its glare in her vision.

"It's almost time for me to pray now. Is my spell list good for you? Elias usually prepares the same two spells every day, but if there's something you want from him specifically, you should tell him. Do you know what spells antipaladins can cast?"

"I usually prepare Barbed Chains and one other spell I feel like would be appropriate. I might just prepare two of them today, honestly."

"Okay, that sounds good...

I don't know much about antipaladins, but if that spell is as violent as its name sounds, okay! Ooh, Who were you a paladin of?"

"Yes, it can trip and slash enemies. Very versatile spell. I love it. And yes, I'd be fine with Tos leading. He seems like a savvy person."

He blinks at her a few times.

"Huh? What do you mean? Oh. I get what you're asking. No, I was an antipaladin of Conrad through and through. I was never a paladin. The High Priest of Damian used to be a paladin of Iomedae, though. And yes, their High Priest is an antipaladin, not a cleric. He's the one that wields the intelligent spiked chain enchanted personally by Damian, so he holds that title."

"Aw, I was hoping you had fallen from Someone who really sucks like Erastil or Ghenshau...I didn't know you could go straight to being an antipaladin!

Does the Damianite High Priest have to be some kind of divine caster?"

He laughs.

"What's so wrong with Erastil?

Well, yes. Otherwise they couldn't be a priest, now could they? The same is true for the Conradians. We do permit arcane casters to hold positions of significance in the church, though only as advisors. They do not have the power of final decision. Arcane casters are beloved by both of Them, given that They used to be wizards."

"What, do you like Erastil?

I have several problems with Him. The first one is that He wants people to be humble. When people say 'humble' they usually mean a particular flavor of 'proud', and that includes His followers. So actually, He's kind of similar to Marra is some ways. Like, He wants people to be proud of their farming and hunting and proud of fulfilling their role in society. There's nothing wrong with hunting and farming as vanities, according to Marra, and it's good to feel useful! The issue is that He wants people to limit their aspirations. He likes when a farmer decides to stay a farmer instead of leaving home to become a scribe or a merchant or a artist.

Now, you might ask, isn't it good that the farmer is loyal to their family? I'll get to that later, but no, there's no contract or proper power relationship there; if the farmer actually belonged to someone then their superior would want them to be as useful as possible!

In Marra's afterlife, we are shaped to fit our roles, and we have to accept our limitations. A gofiere or cantor is always just a gofiere or cantor, and even if you become a regulator or some incredible kind of marrenai that's even more powerful, you're still subordinate to Marra Herself. Accepting yourself as a farmer seems pretty similar, right? Well, the archon is in the details. Like I said, Erastil wants His followers to be small while they're alive, but Marra wants us to try to be as awesome as possible while we live, and only puts us in our final places in the afterlife. If it were possible for outsiders to keep growing, Marra would love that!

And Erastil's farmers mostly aren't even vain about farming, they're just doing it to survive! It's possible to force a vanity on someone - like for an obvious example I don't really have the scholar's temperment of a wizard but I'm excellently vain about magic now - but they don't do that!

My second reason to dislike Erastil is petty, and now that I think of it, I should get rid of it... anyway, 'Svabiad' is not a real halfling family name, it just means 'free'. Because I used to be a slave. My fatherline goes to the Katalisha family of Isger, which was destroyed by slavers two centuries ago. Nowadays, there's a bunch of free halflings who call themselves Katalishaktie again, who follow Erastil, and would absolutely despise me for being Evil, and liking that I'm Evil, and being raised by an opposite-sex single parent, and oh probably being a clown and performing with illusions and a bunch more things I haven't even thought of. Obviously, they're not really Katalishaktie! The Katalisha family doesn't exist. No halfling would call me a Katalishakti, so I shouldn't even care, but here I am getting angry and hoping that they all wither away to - to mindless constructs in Requius.

Finally, most importantly, Erastil is the worst sort of Good. Like, for comparison, if Sarenrae wants Her followers to go heal people, that's fine, you know, none of my business? I'm really glad I don't belong to Her - Nirvana is horrifying and I don't want to waste my life healing gross useless people who are just going to get sick again - but, like, if She and Marra were to be the only gods on Golarion I'd accept that. And Iomedae is - cool, in the Marran sense. I don't share Her values, and again, I don't want to throw my life away fighting Kuthites, but I can see the potential for real vanity there. In fact, Marra permits secondary worship of Iomedae; She's the only permitted Good god.

But Erastil is definitely my problem. His sort of Good stands in opposition to ever being awesome, ever prioritizing yourself, ever having a clear sense of what you're even allowed to do. He likes small villages where everyone has the power to 'shame' people for any reason that sounds justified by their tradition. A Marran would be able to resist that kind of emotional manipulation, of course, and I hope you would be able to too, but, first, He wants people to be vulnerable, to be easily hurt, and second, they actually severely punish people too. Even worse, with strict enough traditions, everyone is in violation of something all the time, so the real reason for pointing out an infraction and punishing someone can be any whim at all, and you might not ever find out why!

Marra's rules, and the rules we create on Her behalf, are always enforced absolutely. We are only in the power of our superiors, not everyone we know! And our superiors must rule us properly or be punished themselves! We are always clear about our duties and our freedoms.

I hate Erastil, I endorse my hate of Him, and I would have been very happy to hear of one of His paladins falling - to anyone, but especially to Conrad.

...I know you have a sort-of-Good arrangement within your churches. Do you filter to avoid people who would want to randomly punish others?"

"No, I don't, but I don't see why you would be so against Him, since He's Lawful too." He listens to her explanation.

"You shouldn't put stock into what your family thinks. Your life is your own. It's not up to them how you ought to live your life. Svabiad is a good name – the meaning is very pleasing." Wow, that was really out of character for him: he usually doesn't care about other people's predilections and neither does he like preaching. He just felt like interjecting in that moment.

"I agree with you. Erastil's followers do seem like the type to be very holier-than-thou and I find that really annoying. It's tiring to deal with. Sadly, it's not Conrad's thing to corrupt people like that. He wants people to willingly come to Him – it's more Damian's thing to corrupt people."

He thinks about that for a moment.

"That depends on what you mean. Being quick to anger isn't a disqualifying factor for being in our church, so long as that anger is not directed towards harming people in the church. But feeling the urge to hurt others for the sake of hurting them is fine – we often round up people from Nerosyan and Caliphas to use in experiments to test spell effects or new alchemical mixtures. Once the experiments finish, they're repurposed for people to do whatever with. Some use them to get their anger out. That's not my thing, though, I don't like fighting someone helpless, if you can even call that fighting at all."

She's kind of annoyed at Elias expressing his opinion about her name, and in particular his characteristically-Chaotic opinion, but this is great practice for controlling her emotions!

Huh, holier-than-thou, what an interesting phrase. It makes sense that Chaotic people who don't do hierarchy as much would say it disparagingly, but Marran clerics are literally holier than Alieta and that's exactly as it should be! It's unearned and ill-wielded power that she objects to.

The archaic 'thou' reminds her of Halfling pronouns, and then the fact that non-Marran halflings have a word, 'onuk', for a person who, without justification, tends to think themself superior than everyone they meet. She's glad she's Marran.

"I meant more like the kind of person who thinks they're the superior without actually being qualified to rule - or assigned a charge as practice - and does a sloppy job of it and then punishes their imagined subordinates through social manipulation because they don't actually have formal power. Do you have people like that?

Oh yeah, sadism is fine, as long as it's controlled and used for Lawful punishment or shaping or clearly-marked whim or Lawful revenge... Why Nerosyan and Caliphas?

If you could pick which gods could operate on Golarion, which would you choose? If the answer is just Conrad or Damian or both, we can make it more interesting by saying that you have to pick exactly one of each alignment, uh and two demon lords can count as one god, or two demigods of the same alignment in general. And you get Pharasma for free."

"We don't have that because we don't really have the concept of superiors and inferiors at all. Unless we're on a mission or working on something, all of us have equal social status, even if we might differ in power and expertise. In the context of a mission, we would assign a person to be the leader – the one to make any final and binding decisions – but that's decided either by consensus or by the Head Priest. The leader doesn't have to be the most powerful one in general, only the one that seems most well suited to the task at hand.

A person being a sloppy leader would simply not be selected as a leader next time, and if they try to torment or punish others, they would be reprimanded. We don't have people like that because anyone who might be like that is either not selected or has been excommunicated." He seems distinctly annoyed at the concept of such people existing.

"Nerosyan because Mendev is a shitshow. I should know, I was born there. Since the Worldwound closed, no country has been sending it aid or supplies, and so the situation there is terrible. Caliphas because Ustalav has lots of vampires in it, and no one thinks much about people who disappear in the night. Both of them are nearby and are capital cities, which means that we can pick up some people along with sundries when we go on shopping trips. We absolutely do not want to go to Vigil because that place is swarming with Iomedans. Absolutely not."

He considers that question for a while.

"Obviously I would pick both Conrad and Damian for Chaotic Evil.

I'd actually swap out Pharasma for Nethys, because Nethys is more closely aligned with Conrad. They both love magic, and Nethys is...unconcerned with how magic is used, so long as it's magic. Which I like, and Conrad does too.

I would pick Erastil for Lawful Good, not to spite you, but because Erastil is...much less...'militant' over rooting out Evil than Iomedae. And because Iomedae is much more effective at that in general – She's unconcerned with tradition.

Shelyn for Neutral Good, because She's aligned with Damian. Damian is fond of Shelyn, but the reverse is not true. I prefer Her over Sarenrae. Fuck Sarenrae.

Cayden Cailean for Chaotic Good. I'm not a drunkard, but He knows how to have a good time.

Abadar for Lawful Neutral. He's similar to Nethys in that he is unconcerned with what you're trading for, so long as you do it fairly. Conrad had a high opinion of Abadar in His mortal life, and that extends to now.

Calistria for Chaotic Neutral. I might have even become an antipaladin of Her, had things gone differently. Probably not, though. I dislike Gorum because, although I am aligned with His violent nature, He's not concerned with winning, only fighting. If I fight, I want to win, and I'll use trickery and indirection if I need to, although I prefer not to.

Neither Zon-Kuthon or Asmodeus are appealing, and while I disagree with many of Marra's opinions, She doesn't sound all that bad to me. I'd pick her. 

Norgorber for Neutral Evil."

"Ah, it makes sense to combine multiple errands.

Do Iomedans give you a lot of trouble?

When I said Pharasma is free, I meant, you can have Her and another Neutral god. Some people like to argue about whether you're required to pick Pharasma or else Her Creation never existed at all, or, if you're excluding Her from just Golarion, then Golarion might stop existing or get ruined by outer gods. They also sometimes argue that you have to pick Aroden if you want prophesy here to be broken, or pick Rovagug to make history work out... I don't care about that; I'm more interested in what gods you personally favor.

Wait really Shelyn is aligned with Damian? I would have expected Them to be enemies given how you talked about Her, Felicia; would you pick Her too?"

"No, but that's mostly because we've kept a very low profile. I'm not sure Iomedae's church even knows we exist. We have respect for her – she's direct, forceful, and effective. Conrad's title is the 'Contender' because He is the god of growing in strength, of rising up from low places. But that doesn't mean you stupidly take the fight to the giant head-on. We tend to avoid Her and Her ordained people."

"Shelyn and Damian are aligned in the sense that both value beauty, although their conceptions of beauty are somewhat different. Shelyn would be upset with Damian because He's Evil, and also because He wants to destroy ugly things, but He doesn't have any problem with Her. I don't expect that to be a problem though, because Shelyn's church is not militant. Sarenrae is more violent than her, it's just that they train to render people unconscious nonlethally rather than training to kill.

Still, Damian and Shelyn are close enough in that aspect that I'd pick Her over Sarenrae."

"I see!

My answer is that for Good I choose Iomedae, Sarenrae, and Kofusachi, a Tian god of happiness and prosperity who seems pretty unobjectionable for a Chaotic Good god although maybe He's hiding something awful.

Lawful Neutral is Valmallos, who's like Nethys but with fewer explosions. Neutral is Brigh, an obscure gnomish god of inventing cool things. For Chaotic Neutral, Calistria would be okay but I have a god of revenge and don't want two, so I'll pick another Tian god, Hei Feng, of storms and the ocean, who has a bit of pride, which is not vanity, but is better than nothing.

Lawful Evil is Marra, of course, but the other Evil ones are harder. For Neutral Evil I'd go with a pair of demigods, Arazni and Stygidvod; Arazni is the god of revenge who I'm taking instead of Calistia. Both of them are only okay but I don't like any of the other Neutral Evil options. Conrad and Damian are better than my previous pair of demon lords, Zura and Socothbenoth."

She decides to answer the earlier question even though she's not entirely sure whether it was directed at her.

"Oh, I had implicitly assumed that we were only talking about the Inner Sea gods. I confess that while I did learn about Tian Xia gods from seminary, I'm not as familiar with them.

I think I'd pick similarly to Elias, but that I'd swap out Erastil for Iomedae. Iomedae has better aesthetics than Erastil. Erastil is so...stodgy and old-fashioned. And not in the good way. I'd pick Erecura for Lawful Neutral. If it wasn't for my Chaotic nature, I'd love to be able to visit Erecura's gardens in Dis. It's the one good thing in in Hell, I'd say.

Actually, what does Marra's domain look like? Is it beautiful? Do you have pictures of it? I know some of us in our church have made paintings of the Silver Garden during our glimpses of it when we scry outsiders.

I didn't think of Arazni and Stygidvod at first, but now that you mention them, I'd totally pick them. They're rather obscure, so they didn't come to mind at first." 

"Oh then my answer is: Iomedae, Sarenrae, Desna; Irori, Nethys, Calistria; Marra, Norgorber, and Conrad and Damian; previously Rovagug was my best Chaotic Evil pick widely known in the Inner Sea.

Marra shares Stonepeak with Minderhal, and His stone giants were there first, and claim all the inhabitable caves, the grazing land on the Axis side of the mountains, and the defensive positions on the Hell side. That leaves Marra with the wastes on the Hell side and a few burrows too small for the giants.

The landscape is pretty if you like rocks. The people are prettier, especially the sietaziz. If you search, there are lots of murals and sculptures. In the camps, the artists dance and play music and recite. When I next have a Silent Image I can reproduce the images that were shown to me!

Marcus, one of the grooms, made a tapestry inspired by one that he saw in a scry. He says it shows influence from the stone giants."

"One of the grooms? That's probably a terminology thing that I'm missing."

It's about time they got started on praying, so she'll probably break off the conversation soon.

"A groom is someone who takes care of horses."

Oops, yeah, it does mean that. They don't use horses at the Bronze Orchard: they just Teleport or Transport Via Plants. She doesn't think she's even ridden a horse before. The cleric that took her to the Orchard after she got ordained was traveling with a fifth-circle wizard.

"Yes, right. It is time for us to pray now. Please excuse us."

The two of them move to a quiet corner to do that.

The inner courtyard of the Marran camp is filled with a snaky loop of people variously engaged: carving wood, reading, brushing a horse, slicing up the leg of a guy lying on the ground, lying on the ground vigorously regretting errors, wrapping thread around shawm reeds, cooking over a fire, drawing in the dirt, grinding pigment, sitting perfectly still, juggling, spreading clay over a foot-tall dome of twigs while a child watches, sparring with sticks.

The cleric ambles around the loop touching those who reach out to her.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Touch of Law.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Guidance.

Alieta approaches her, gesturing I-want-to-initiate-a-conversation-in-order-to-learn-(addressing-a-superior).

Yes-let's-initiate-conversation.

She heels herself to the cleric and follows her around the loop. "The visitors are joining us for the job tonight, but they wouldn't state rules for fighting together; we agreed to pretend to be under a Charm Person towards each other.

At the time, I didn't think this was heretical...

Also, I don't know what Charm Person does during combat."

"Well that was foolish! Don't agree to things you don't understand!

Luckily, Charm Person does not compel reckless action, only makes the target listen in good faith to entreaties to act recklessly.

Pretending is not heretical, but you will probably require correction after the first half-dozen times you do it, for the reasons we discussed earlier. Tos will be fine, he's more experienced with this."

Alieta nods.

(After her first conversation with Felicia, she had talked with the cleric about the Chaotic visitors' emphasis on mindset over rules. Meicona had taken Alieta into her private tent and explained that mortals, even Marrans, actually take most of their actions with little thought. Marran shaping of mortals mostly gives them careful habits and trains out their sloppy impulses - gives them the mindset of expecting people, including themselves, to follow rules, and the mindset of avoiding the worst Chaotic and Good instincts.)

It makes sense that pretending would cause the wrong habits of thought even if it doesn't break any rules.

I-think-we're-finished-with-this-topic-do-you-have-anything-to-add-or-do-you-have-another-topic?

Alieta describes her outburst about Erastil.

"You either need to satisfy your anger at the Katalishaktie or remove your anger. Can you remove it yourself?"

"Yes."

"You are correct that Erastil is opposed to Marra. Are your feelings because you're afraid that you could be captured by Erastilians? That is vanishingly unlikely - you belong to Marra. If you know that you shouldn't worry about capture but the thought still haunts you, remove it.

Do you want to crusade against Erastil? Do you feel pity towards His victims?"

"I want to destroy Him. Because He opposes Marra... I do also have some altruistic feelings."

"Distinguish altruism towards a person you have some interaction with from acts with an abstract altruistic motive, and that from aimless altruistic feelings. For example, giving food to a beggar you meet, giving money to a temple while never stepping inside, and causing yourself useless distress over a god's treatment of His followers. The first is a vanity of yours. The second is not a vanity of yours - you have not shown interest in the outside society or prayed to Iomedae - but it is permitted. The third must be stripped from you.

Today, you are crafting and time is short. Tomorrow, get a medium-duration semi-mild negative reinforcement on your altruistic intrusive thoughts. To maintain your altruistic vanity, do three nice things of your choice for people you see before you. If nothing strikes your fancy, I loosely suggest giving the clerk a wizardry lesson."

But that's obviously useful for the whole church group, which is a problem, because Alieta needs a more Evil altruistic outlet.

"For at least one of your altruistic acts, find a non-Marran of little use and do something beneficial to them that pleases you. You may use a spell."

I-think-we're-finished-with-this-topic-do-you-have-anything-to-add-or-do-you-have-another-topic?

"The visitor Felicia asked about Stonepeak and I mentioned Marcus's copied tapestry. She didn't seem interested but she did have to pray right then so I'm not sure... orders, cleric?"

"Hmmm, help Marcus prepare to present it to her. Even if she doesn't care to see it, the exercise will be good for him."

Now that she thinks of it, preparing to brag but not doing it might be better for his soul than actually bragging, which leads to pride, not vanity. Yeah, that's an idea! Each month she should have her ten least confidant charges prepare a presentation, but randomly select only one to actually perform at morning sermon...

Half an hour before sunset. Alieta and Tos stand outside the magic tent discussing tactics.

A man sits on the ground by a red-blue-and-white blanket.

The two of them arrive.

"Good evening. I have not cast any of my spells since I prayed, so I still have all of them." Not that she was planning to use any of them, but it's good to state that explicitly.

"Hello. First draft of the plan:

When the customer arrives, Alieta will cast Mage Armor on herself and keep one casting in reserve.

Elias will walk in front and I will walk behind, since he has darkvision and I am experienced with skulking through the night expecting to get jumped.

The casters will stay near the cargo. Alieta will keep Detect Magic up whenever possible. I don't know how the cargo will be carried or how many men the customer will have, but if it's possible for Alieta to ride on the cargo, that would be ideal, so she can turn to face all directions easily as we move and so she won't slow down the group.

Felicia will look around with her darkvision, using Guidance to aid her perception as much as possible.

If we encounter a non-hostile person, Felicia will do the talking, unless the customer takes point. She will hold out her hand towards Alieta, bent into a claw, if she wants Eagle's Splendor. She will gesture with one finger if she wants Alieta to cast Detect Thoughts.

If the encounter is hostile, Elias will immediately fight, focusing on defending the party in the short term even if he takes a lot of damage. I will evaluate the situation for a round or two, confer with the casters, and then take his place. He will drop back for healing and resume fighting at a more sustainable pace.

Thoughts?"

"I'm going to have a Silent Image tomorrow, so I can show you Marra's realm!

This is Marcus, who made the tapestry - er, not actually a tapestry - fabric art I mentioned this morning."

He's no stranger to planning, but the way the plan is structured really screams Lawful. See, Lawful people just do not trust people's judgment at all. It's likely that battlefield circumstances will be such that they have to adjust it. What then? At some point, you just have to make the best decision you can in the moment, and not get too hung up about what was planned previously. It's really rather annoying. He's not going to unnecessarily antagonize his teammates by going on a rant against Law right now, though. Perhaps later.

'Even if he takes a lot of damage'? That phrasing is so strange. Of course he's likely going to take a lot of damage if he fights, that's like...what fighting is all about. It's probably because Tos's afterlife situation isn't great. Elias isn't afraid of death, since he has already secured a nice afterlife for himself. He couldn't imagine going to Hell.

"There is no need for me to fall back. Felicia is comfortable fighting in melee – she is trained in using her spiked chain – and she's Dextrous enough to be able to have a good chance of dodging attacks. She can heal me then. Also, we have Rings of Protection and Cloaks of Resistance. You don't. Unless your weapon – I actually don't know what you fight with – requires that you be in melee, then it's fine for you to stay back. If someone attacks us, then dispatching them as quickly as possible seems best to me. Killing them quickly means they have fewer chances to damage us or the cargo."

Okay, I am trained in melee fighting, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

"What he says is true. The plan seems good to me. I notice that you – the Marrans – use gestures a lot. It's really quite interesting, although that's getting off-topic. I can follow those gestures.

I can walk in the front with Elias, unless you need me to bring up the rear."

"Approved. You two stay in front."

He picks up a scimitar that was lying on the ground and rests it on his shoulder.

"I fight up close, but I'll still plan on taking a round to observe before charging in.

You can silently hold a gesture while waiting for a superior to respond at their convenience. Many people at once can hold gestures for their superior to look over, without interrupting each other. That efficiency is the religious motivation, but, already committed to investing effort on learning gestures, there is further benefit available cheaply: silent gestures are good for night guard shifts, stealth, and simultaneous conversations, when adding phrases like "give me that", "put it down there", or "do it again".

"We have gestures to describe spells and the forces on them as they fit in three dimensions!" She sketches out the shape of Detect Magic, falters - "Do you know much about spells, or just how to recognize the ones you pray for?"

"Why? If they attack us, then they have already proven themselves to be a threat. There is no reason to hold back. There is even less reason for you to hesitate or consider attack options, because you cannot cast spells at all, nor are you a rogue who specializes in precision attacks. Or are you?" He sounds very confused. "The great thing about being a non- or partial caster is that your job is very simple."

"I should talk to the clergy and wizards and see if we could implement a similar system. It seems very useful. Of course, we do not have the concept of 'superior', not in the same sense as you – all of us hold equal social status in our churches. We speak Abyssal there, so that we can communicate with our outsiders more easily. Learning how to speak it is a requirement for initiates."

She looks mildly embarrassed. "They teach us spellcraft in seminary, but I'm average at it for a cleric. Compared to a wizard, it's very poor. I only know enough to identify which spells I'm granted, yes. The wizards would probably love to talk to you about your spell gestures."

"I'm assuming that someone who attacks a well-armed group is not so foolish as to throw themselves on the fighters' blades. They will have a hidden ranged attacker, or someone flanking us invisibly. I'm not going to cower behind the casters, but I think it's worth a round checking for other threats before moving to the front.

My experience is mostly in cities like Bellis proper, where flanking ambushes are common, not wilderness. Am I making an error?"

"What do clerics with better spellcraft do with it? I know your churches have mystic theurges, is that the reason for teaching spellcraft to clerics?"

"Yes, you make a good point. I'm too used to fighting demons at Sarkoris Scar. Demons don't really hide from you, and with them, getting first blood is more important."

"Clerics with good spellcraft might train to become mystic theurges, yes, although the most common pathway to becoming one is already being a wizard, and then becoming ordained. They might also choose to learn how to craft wands or scribe scrolls, since those magic items require that the crafter know the spell, unlike when crafting wondrous items or magic arms and armor, where it simply makes it more difficult. We have many such clerics, so our scriptoria and armories are well stocked with divine magic items.

I'm personally looking into taking the scroll scribing course in the future – calligraphy is a hobby of mine – so it would be a good fit. Right now, I can't make any magic items at all.

I think the biggest reason we are taught spellcraft is because of theology. Damian and Conrad were wizards in Their mortal lives, and Conrad is especially fond of magic – He grants Magic (Arcane) as a domain. He has a pleasant relationship with Nethys, I believe, to the extent that one can meaningfully have a relationship with Nethys. Knowing how magic works is seen as...edifying in and of itself." She doesn't really agree, but like, she is being given the magic just by asking for it, so she doesn't begrudge them for wanting her to know more about spellcasting. Learning spellcraft isn't particularly interesting, but neither is it terrible. 

"Ah, that makes sense. I can make divine scrolls and wands with guidance from our cleric, but it would be more efficient if she could make them herself.

I love calligraphy! It's like dancing with your eyes."

The man with the ring in his beard shows up right on time, with two other muscly human men, one with blond hair and one with his hair and beard in braids, and a younger man wearing a belt with many pockets. Ring and Blond are carrying a large wooden chest.

Braid looks over the escort party and nods. "Let's go."

The first destination is a house at the edge of the Pit. Not a very nice house, but still a house, not a tent or a room in a loggers' barracks.

Braid stops the party in the shadows. He and Blond stay with the chest. Ring kneels by the lock on the door.

Belt stands ready a few feet away.

Ring stands up abruptly as the door opens into him. A woman holding a knife glares out of the door. "You rending scoundrels get out of -"

Charm Person.

She fails her Will save. "- huh?"

"Hi, sorry to bother you, can we come in for a moment?"

Felicia doesn't have the spellcraft necessary to reliably identify spells, but she can recognize the spell. She's cast it many times herself. Very interesting: this guy is a caster too. She wonders what circle he is.

Elias and Felicia remain with the group with the chest and wait for the man to finish 'negotiating' with the woman at the door.

"Yeah you should come in, it's dangerous outside at night. Just knock next time, okay? You really know how to scare a girl."

Belt nods with his hands loose at his sides. "Sorry, ma'am."

Ring, Blond, and Braid follow Belt and the woman into the house.

A few minutes later the four men exit, staining to carry the chest. There is no sign of the woman.

Ring points towards the river.

Belt walks close to the chest, which Alieta is riding on. "That's a pretty robe."

"It is!" Without looking away from her Detect Magic sweep, she pulls it open to show the pockets on the inside. "It also has straps to hold my most common focuses and material components against my skin so I don't have to reach for them.

Come to the Marran camp within the next week to commission one!"

"... Not as pretty as you are, though."

"Indeed!

If you want to look nicer, we don't have anything for sale to mortals, but Marra's outsiders are beautiful! What's your alignment?"

"Lawful Evil."

Braid slaps him. "Quiet, boy!"

It's only a minute more until they reach the river. Ring and Blond rest the chest on the ground and Ring approaches Felicia. "The boat is about 40 feet long, with a single mast and a row of oar-slots on each side."

Felicia looks a little taken aback when Braid slaps Belt, but she shrugs it off. Right, they're Evil. Her church is the anomalous one that doesn't do any slapping. Anyway, she came here to do a job.

She subvocalizes the description to herself and casts Guidance on Elias before breaking off their handhold. She kneels and begins chanting and waving her hands in the air for ten rounds before she plunges her hands into the river. It's much more pleasant doing it here in Bellis, rather than the freezing and occasionally tainted waters at Sarkoris Scar. Her eyes widen and glaze over as her sight is taken over by view from the magical sensor.

There are nearby forks of the river downstream, and there's one small tributary a little ways downstream that feeds into the main river. The boat is where the tributary meets the Sellen. Fortunately, the boat is on the same side as them, so they won't have to make a river crossing. It takes three minutes to find it, since she had to backtrack.

She stands back up and shakes the water off her hands. 

"I've got it. It's at a meeting of a small stream with the Sellen. Let's go."

The boat is pulled close to the shore for easy boarding, near a rock that partially obscures it when viewed from the main river.

The customers lift the chest onto the deck and then - "Stay up here and keep watch" - down a ladder.

After a minute, there is the sound of angry mutters, then a clatter, and then grunting and thumping and a ringing blade.

The two of them do that. The sounds are getting very concerning, so they ready their weapons and divine foci.

What are those sounds? There seems to be fighting belowdecks. Aren't they supposed to be protecting the cargo from external threats?

"That sounds bad. Alieta, let's go down. If we see something we're not supposed to see, we will act in all ways as if we didn't see it - I hope that's a deal the customers would have taken. You two, can you commit to that?"

Tos looks intently at Alieta and gestures am-I-correct?

"No, we can't. And not just because of alignment: it is unwise to do so. What we're doing...probably isn't exactly legal...so if we simply do not see what happens, we can truthfully testify that we didn't see anything. We're not stopping you from going down, but don't ask us to. We can ensure no one else comes down, though."

What is Tos asking? He's in charge! And why did he ask am-I-correct and not do-you-approve, if he's faltering and wants her to take the lead?

Oh. He's asking if his plan is Lawful enough. He's asking for spiritual guidance. That's scary - she's not qualified - but if she wants to be a cleric she needs to learn the skill, even if it's hard and stressful.

They were hired to guard the cargo and the customers. They did not agree to obey arbitrary orders. She thinks there's an implicit understanding that they should obey reasonable requests, but not if that conflicts with their explicit agreement... Except that requests to stay away could be understood as partially waiving the agreement?

Ah the key here is that it appears that the customers were mistaken about the safety of going below.

She nods at Tos and runs for the hatch. The ladder is sized for humans but she easily drops from rung to rung.

"Fine. Cover us!"

The ladder leads to a corridor. The customers are peacefully standing around the chest twenty feet away.

A Fireball zips from behind and explodes.

The customers are all dead. The chest is burning.

Alieta lost most of her skin. She falls to the ground and screams uncontrollably.

Tos spins around and charges the attacker.

He almost calls for help, saying that there isn't anything secret down here, but remembers just in time that he can't say that, because he needs to act exactly the same whether or not there's a secret to protect. Stupid Lawfulness.

Infernal Healing has a verbal component that she can't manage, but she can reach her Spell Storing dagger and stab herself.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?

She can see fire. Why is there fire. She should have prayed for Create Water. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She jumps down the hatch, not bothering with the ladder. She's Dextrous enough to land gracefully. Where's the person that cast Fireball? Okay, nevermind, it seems Alieta is injured. She seems stable, though. Who's the person that's attacking?

Elias also jumps down. He's not Dextrous, but he's Strong enough to bear the impact without much difficulty. Lugging around all the armor means that he stops there for the round.

The corridor is on fire.

Tos is charging towards two people:

A brawny pale human woman who sings to herself and casts Sleep (it has no effect) and reaches for the hand of...

...a person in a cloak who takes her hand and - Dimension Door - vanishes. Leaving her behind.

She smirks. Invisibility.

Ugh, no one prepared See Invisibility. Alright, they'll simply have to either wait for the invisible person to attack, if it's standard Invisibility, or for their Greater Invisibility to run out.

She presses her back to the corridor wall and casts Prayer. It's an area-of-effect spell, so it doesn't matter where the attackers are, so long as they're near.

An faint and invisible wave of divine energy pours into the room: a very minor and limited divine intervention to make things go better for her and her allies, and worse for her enemies.

Smart idea! He does the same, on the opposite side of Felicia. If the woman is to attack, she'll at least have to attack them from the front.

He holds his greatsword out in front of him.

Ick, now she feels just a little worse at everything. Fighting people is awful.

Tos swings his scimitar right though where the woman was standing, but doesn't connect.

Eep!

Ghost Sound - gentle footsteps pass Tos and approach Elias and Felicia. Hopefully anyone who recognized the verbal component will stop trusting their hearing...

Hopefully she can get around to the chest without fighting the guards. She sneaks away in the other direction... and walks into a wall. She can't even blame it on not being able to see herself while invisible; since her teenage growth spurt, she's been a little larger than she thinks she is.

Alieta notices the thump. "She's sneaking away!" Why? Is she still a threat or not? Alieta is still in a lot of pain, but has adjusted to it enough to cast. Detect Thoughts.

She fails her Will save but it will be two more rounds before the spell has analyzed her enough to read thoughts...

Felicia sees Alieta casting a spell. Hopefully that's Detect Magic. After three rounds, that would let Alieta see the Illusion aura of the Invisibility spell and become their spotter.

The belowdecks is one long corridor, with the hatch in the middle. The group is on one side, with Alieta near the ladder, and the chest on the other side.

What spells does she have? Think, Felicia, think! She can't use Entangle because there aren't any plants in the area. She has no area-of-effect or cone spells. But she does have Channel Negative Energy and Selective Channel. Elias does too, although he doesn't have it. She'll have to move away when he does it.

"Elias, channel negative energy next round! Alieta, go to Tos."

She can exclude two people in the area. She moves ten feet away from the ladder, halfway to the other side. The boat is forty feet long, so that's more than thirty feet away from Tos, and she can exclude both herself and Elias and Tos, so that will keep them safe.

Channel Negative Energy.

She hopes the person isn't disciplined enough not to hide her cry, because then she'll be able to pinpoint her location.

Elias is slower, so all he can do this round is run to where Felicia is and ready himself to Channel Negative Energy next round as well, once Felicia has moved out of range. His Channel is stronger, since he's more Charismatic, but he has no ability to control the shape of it.

He really should get a Malleable Symbol.

Two hostile spells, presumably aimed at her illusory footsteps, and she didn't feel either one!

Ah here's a ladder to the lower level, which is hopefully a single open hold. Down she goes! Oops that ladder trumps a lot as she clambers down.

She manages to get to Tos in time to dodge whatever Felicia just did but she would have liked more warning!

"Remember, our job is to protect the cargo. Is it safe to move there now, Felicia?"

A Fireball hits the deck above them. The amount of fire on their level is unchanged but it sounds bad up there.

A bottle smashes on the deck. Another falls through the hatch and splatters acid on the floor.

The two of them are far enough away that the acid doesn't hit them, although she would rather not splash around the area.

"Yes, safe now. I don't think we got them. Her, I think. Do you need more healing? I'm not sure how we can protect the cargo now. I'm racking my brain for ways to detect the invisible person. And we don't have...flour or anything."

"I'm resistant to both fire and acid. I'll go upstairs and see what's up."

He goes and does that. What does the situation abovedeck look like?

"Healing would be nice, but it's not urgent.

We need to find the recipient of the cargo to take custody, confirm that the recipient is dead, or... confirm that the attackers are way stronger than we agreed to fight?"

"I need healing; I used my stored Cure Light Wounds but I'm still in bad shape."

The second round of Alieta's Detect Thoughts says that the invisible woman has intelligence of 10. It's not yet attuned enough to detect her thoughts that aaaaah it's full of skeletons down below! The undead kind! Well possibly someone's macabre and impractical artwork, since they're not moving, but come on, they're sitting in rows grasping the ship's oars.

The deck is burning. On the shore, visible in the light of the fire, are four human-sized figures, including the person in the cloak who was just on the ship. Two of them have harnesses covered in bottles and bags and bundles. One drinks from a bottle and spits at Elias.

The fourth person shoots a longbow at Elias.

Inside the boat, a human with metallic skin dashes around a corner and flops down to touch the customers. Animate Dead. The customers stagger up, chunks of burnt flesh slipping off their bones.

"Defend me and the ship!"

Formerly-Braids and Formerly-Blond creep towards the ladder.

Healing Alieta using her own spell would be better than using the wand. They've tested it on prisoners before. Wands don't take into account the strength of the user.

Cure Light Wounds.

Her hand becomes wreathed with golden light, which she presses on Alieta's shoulder. The glow from her hand seems to flow into her, and now it's Alieta's burns that glow before healing, closing over with regular skin.

"Do you need another one, or is that fine for now?" She'll probably use the wand if she needs another one.

He manages to dodge both the spittle and the arrow. It's difficult with how heavy his armor is, but his antipaladin boons are really coming through.

Right. Two alchemists, an archer, and the wizard. Let's take care of the wizard first. He lets out a roar and Charges, holding his greatsword like a lance, tip straight forward.

Power Attack.

Interesting. The wizard doesn't seem to have Mage Armor on. You get a feel for that once you've fought enough combat arcane casters. Better for him. The sword pierces the wizard's robes cleanly.

Cleric healing is so much prettier than Infernal Healing. She wonders if using her dagger was pretty; she wasn't looking. "Mmmmm." She can feel her body again! "Another would just about bring me to perfect shape." Which Alieta wants her to do, but that's Tos's decision, or Felicia's, if she has something better in mind to do this round...

Formerly-Blond climbs up the ladder without any apparent issue with acid.

The wizard was expecting this fight to be more one-sided! "Block the hatch - !" Elias hit hard, but not hard enough to kill immediately. The wizard steps back, to be no longer enveloping Elias's blade, and hurls two bulbs of rock at him with Stone Discus.

Alieta's Detect Thoughts now reports that the invisible woman is:

* Startled by the undead skeletons around her clattering out of their seats.

* Relieved that the skeletons aren't attacking her, just running by her and up to the level where the chest is.

* Desperate to get to the chest before it's burnt any more, in order to rescue the person inside, who she - respects? Some kind of Good feeling.

"She's below us! And a bunch of skele-"

"The undead are all mine!" shouts the person by the chest, behind Formerly-Belt and Formerly-Ring. "Cleric! I have desecrated this area - use your channeling!"

The person with the bow shoots Elias again.

Another swig and spit.

The fourth person leaps onto the boat and throws a bottle down the hatch, right into Formerly-Blond's face, which burns, melting his head and shoulders into sludge.

He successfully dodges both the spittle and the arrow. He's having a very good day today.

Something must have gone wrong with the wizard's casting, because the discuses go veering off to the side. 

Channeling energy would hit all the enemies, but that's a Will save. Touch of Corruption is irresistible, and he can add a Cruelty with a Fortitude save. It would be difficult for the wizard would be able to resist it. He can make the wizard Fatigued, and hence less able to dodge his attacks, despite it dealing much less damage.

His hand becomes wreathed in a sickly dark sea-green glow, and he lunges. The negative energy flows through his hand and into the wizard's torso.

Right. The undead person has their face melting off. She Channels Negative Energy again, this time tuning it to heal only undead and not affect the living. Formerly-Blond's head and shoulders reform into something more akin to their former shape.

"The invisible woman's below, got it. Can you pinpoint her location? If you can spot her for me, I can Channel Negative Energy in her vicinity, even if you can't tell her exact location."

She seems like a caster, with how she cast Invisibility and teleported in here. She might use Touch of Idiocy.

The wizard staggers back, flings a handful of mud at Elias's face, misses again.

The person who was spitting at him splashes a beaker of glittery blue liquid right into his chest, where it spreads over his armor and freezes.

The bowman fires again and misses, then turns and fires at Formerly-Blond, and misses him too.

Another fire attack on Formerly-Blond melts his upper half again.

Alieta gestures vaguely downward.

Is that person's cloak covered in maggots?

There's no way out at this end. She turns back and follows the skeletons back up, hoping the noise will cover her steps on the rickety ladder. She'll just have to sneak by all the guards.

Or maybe she could talk to them? If they're willing to let Abram go, she's not their enemy. Before going up, she casts Aspect of the Nightingale to boost her diplomatic ability.

"She's coming back up, with a charm effect!"

Tos addresses the person with the zombies. "Are you the recipient of this cargo?" They recognized Felicia and knew she was an Evil cleric...

They kick the burning chest and scoff. "What cargo?"

A charm effect on herself? Strange. She goes with her original plan and casts Touch of Idiocy. The spell settles on her fingertips, and she can feel the energy of it in her hand. So long as she concentrates on it, the spell won't discharge. Unlike the spells involving positive and negative energy, there's only a very faint shimmering at the very edge of her right hand's fingers. She readies herself to lunge at the invisible caster once she figures out where she is, staying close to the ladder.

She addresses the cleric. "Our original task was to defend that box. We were supposed to bring the cargo here and protect it. Is it yours?" She sounds a little snappish.

Elias is having an excellent day. He gets paid to fight, and his enemies are incompetent. That archer needs training. He gasps and grimaces as the cold liquid settles on his skin and freezes. Feels awful with armor on. He's mildly resistant to the cold, but that doesn't nullify all the damage. 

No time to get distracted with the alchemist. Time to attack again. He swings his greatsword at the wizard one more time, and it makes a nasty gash across their chest. He almost misses, but the wizard's reaction was a touch too slow, and they receive the brunt of the attack.

In this moment, he really understands why people follow Gorum. "Die!"

The cleric shrugs and casts Protection from Good on themself. "Nice job defending it."

A bunch of skeletons run up... and stand around the ladder waiting for the zombies to get out of the way.

"Alieta, did that wizard Teleport out of here? I think a fifth-circle wizard is beyond what we agreed to fight."

"I didn't recognize the spell; it was not a Teleport. I'll take a look outside. Heal me!"

She drops the Detect Thoughts. Fly.

Oh. The chest looks pretty badly burnt.

She knew she might fall to rescue Abram. But she didn't expect him to die.

The villains who killed him are already going to Hell, of course, but she's going to send them there now.

She dismisses her Invisibility and spreads her empty hands. "I have no quarrel with you! Let us ally to defend ourselves!"

The wizard retreats again, farther from his comrades, and casts Stone Discus. Misses.

The bowman fires at Elias and snaps the arrow.

The alchemist throws another vial of liquid, this one slippery and clear, right onto the ground, where it crackles and flashes.

The other alchemist attacks the zombies, burning a few more inches off Formerly-Blond, who is no longer in any way blond.

I'll heal you more later, Alieta. Right now, the invisible caster just revealed herself. Sorry, honey. I have a touch spell ready. She's fought too many treacherous shapeshifting demons at Sarkoris Scar to trust mere words. She lunges once she hears the voice, managing to touch Neferueten on her chest. 

The beauty of Touch of Idiocy is that, once it hits, it is irresistible. Not even a ninth-circle caster can save against its effect. The spell coils around Neffie's mind tightly like an anaconda.

Again. Let's go. Power Attack. He isn't going to let up on this wizard until they die.

He manages to hit the same wound again. Great! He's having a lot of fun. Blood gushes from the wound, and the wizard topples over. Are they dead? They look dead. He pulls out his greatsword, soaked in blood.

"Yeah! Let's go. Come at me!"

Alchemists next, he thinks. They've been the only ones who have been able to hit him thus far. Better get rid of them. The archer pales in comparison as a threat.

Where are the other people? Why haven't they come out yet? He's kind of dealing with four...no, three people at once here. He kind of doesn't trust Felicia to be able to hold her own alone in a combat situation.

The bowman and alchemist attack, shouting. An arrow sticks in his armpit. Slime oozes down his back, separating into clumps, and lines of pain snap between pairs of clumps.

The other alchemist, standing by the hatch, continues to throw fire down it, aiming at Alieta as she flies out, and hits her. Today's just not the day for her to have skin.

"Heal!"

She fires back a three-fold Magic Missile and flies upward, hiding behind the furled sail. The half of the deck closest to shore is on fire, but up in the rigging it's fine.

Looks like the attackers aren't much of a threat - the wizard is dead already. "Elias! Status?"

...What?

Non-lethal attack... friend?

Oh no, they don't trust her. That's wrong! She smiles and wordlessly sings, a slow tune with syncopated leaps. Inspire Courage.

...Why did she do that?

She remembers about avenging Abram and sucks in her breath. She needs to fight! She pushes through the skeletons around the ladder... and um what was her plan? She turns to look at Felicia, pleadingly.

Huh? She can feel the bardic magic flow through her. She's not that educated with bards – the Bronze Orchard doesn't have any – but it's definitely not a hostile effect. She is so confused. Um. She doesn't think the bard is a threat, exactly, now that she's been Idiocied, but she is technically her enemy. No time to think, act now!

"Stay here and protect yourself. It's dangerous outside." Then, to Tos: "Watch her."

She infuses her words with Suggestion. She's confident it will take: the Touch of Idiocy reduced her Wisdom, and the more reasonable a Suggestion is, the harder it is to resist.

She clambers up the ladder and starts to run toward the bottom of the rigging.

"Need to touch you to heal. Come down for a moment."

Alieta is more fragile than Elias, so she wants to focus on her.

He grits his teeth when the arrow hits him, but he screams when the liquid starts shocking him. Okay. He's injured, but not on the verge of death. This is no time to feel fear. The thing that the alchemist threw on him exploded with bright light, and he can still feel his eyes smarting from it.

Hm. The alchemists and archer are close enough together that if he positions himself correctly, he can hit them all with Channel Negative Energy. It will be his last use of it, though.

He moves and does that. Color drains from the area around him as it fills with negative energy.

Felicia used a Suggestion? If it worked, then the bard probably doesn't need watching? And if it didn't, Tos doesn't know what to be alert for... He stands by the ladder with his back to the wall, out of touch range. 

This also lets him keep an eye on the cleric. "I believe that the cargo is yours. Once the defense is complete, we will withdraw."

The skeletons and one-and-a-half zombies don't react to Felicia pushing through them, neither blocking her nor moving out of the way.

The cleric, flanked by Formerly-Belt and Formerly-Ring, walks to the ladder, stares Tos in the face in passing, and peers up the hatch. "Move. I'm going to channel."

Looks like Elias needs help, but she should get healed first. She dives down to Felicia. Flying is fun... maybe she wants to be a sietaziz after all. Wheeeee ow ow ow flying is more fun when you have skin.

The remaining attackers flinch at Elias's channeling. The two on the shore keep bombarding Elias - the arrow and liquid are deflected by his armor. The one by the hatch burns Formerly-Blond a bit more.

Neffie stays still and looks around for things attacking her so she can defend herself. Nothing yet, aww, so she can't obey that part of what her friend told her yet.

She reaches up and touches Alieta. Cure Light Wounds.

Now it's time to heal Elias. She starts walking in his direction.

He has no need for spells. Only slashing and thrusting.

He attacks one of the alchemists now. There's a halfling and a human. He decides to attack the halfling first. Power Attack.

The halfling presents a smaller target, but he manages to hit anyway. He smiles.

The halfling alchemist (the one crouched by the hatch) is now in multiple pieces! The head-containing chunk screams and throws a bloody splash of fire vaguely in Elias's direction, further soiling the grimy planks.

The other alchemist screams in despair and hurls another Frost Bomb. It hits Elias right at the base of his neck and immediately soaks him under his armor, freezing into splinters of ice.

The archer misses.

Yay pretty cleric healing! Boo everything else tonight!

Elias said he's resistant to fire. As soon as Felicia is clear she's going to use her scroll of Merciful Fireball and finish this.

"Fireball as soon as you heal!"

The cleric grins and addresses each of his undead: "You three, pick up the buckets on the starboard railing and give them to you...You fill every bucket in your hands from the river. You two, take filled buckets from you and throw them on the fire. You, pick up empty buckets on the deck and bring them to you. You four," three zombies and a skeleton, "come here and" - he turns and slaps Tos with a Touch of Blindness - "restrain him, keep him from breathing."

Tos resists the spell. "Help! Over-"

The undead squash him before he can lift the scimitar off his shoulder. They're not good at subtlety.

He's definitely not breathing now.

Oh no, they're fighting! They should stop fighting and be nice. Sleep.

(The spell has no effect. It doesn't work on undead, and it's not strong enough to wrap around Tos or the cleric.)

She hears something. Tos screaming? Right, she'll go deal with that later. She'd rather not be in Alieta's Fireball range, Merciful though it is. Rather than run to Elias, she walks well clear of the Fireball's range, and readies herself to tap Elias with her wand.

He can feel his wounds catching up to him. He's not going to last much longer. He's going to take this attack of opportunity to finish off the halfling alchemist, and then run over to Felicia's side to get healed.

He grazes the halfling's leather armor, but not enough to touch flesh. Whatever. Alieta will finish them off.

Felicia is there to tap him with the wand when he gets to her. The feeling of the positive energy is great, but he barely gets anything out of it. Right. Cure spells are variable like that.

Fireball now, then? Okay.

Merciful Fireball.

She should have used her Communal Resist Energy, set to resist fire, on the whole party before the fight started. And prepared more Fireballs.

The attackers are knocked around but keep fighting, except for the halfling alchemist. The other alchemist runs back and stops to drink something.

The archer, who must have heard Alieta shout and tried to find her, shoots at the source of the Fireball and impales her through her shoulder against the mast.

That really hurts, but the pain focused in one part of her body is bearable, unlike losing most of her skin earlier. When this is over she's going to need more training to handle that kind of pain - don't get distracted - what now? Attack, heal, buff, flee... She holds her breath tightly and flies forward. The arrow, stuck into the mast, pulls out her back with a snap.

Huh, she can't feel her legs.

She already has her scroll case open. Infernal Healing.

They're still fighting! She sings loudly, an intricate microtonal melody. Fascinate.

Neither the cleric nor the closest zombie care for music.

Oh gods, now Alieta needs more healing too. She really wishes she had positive energy channeling right now. She's going to tap Elias with the wand another time.

...it's definitely much more refreshing this time. He can feel the frozen skin weave back together.

He should make use of his fiendish servant. He got it recently as a boon. It's going to be bad if it dies, but the battle is coming to a close anyway.

He raises his hand, and a dretch appears several feet before him. 

The dretch ambles nearer to the human alchemist. Cause Fear.

The alchemist stumbles over the gangway to shore and runs.

It's not working! Sing harder!

What the rending tyranny of Hell on a rending trencher is that?! It attacked the alchemist, so it's probably one of the undead belonging to the cleric below?

Magic Missile or Resist Energy (fire) for herself? Or resist a different kind of energy? Aaah... Resist Energy (fire). There's a lot of fire.

The archer turns in alarm and fires at the dretch, catching it through the edge of its... skin? Border.

She's going to give Elias one more tap before he goes to attack the wizard. She takes a moment to look at Alieta and see what her condition is – still holding up. 

The Cause Fear won't last forever, so he should take care of this archer now. Charge.

He lands a solid hit. The blade makes a satisfying crunch as it slashes through the turtleshell brigandine of the archer.