"That will, I think, be very useful.  I'm quite happy to have you.  And - Diana, if I know you at all you were absolutely planning to send Inquisitor Quirin on this madcap scheme, but we appear to also be up one of your rangers, which was not expected."

...He's not getting in the middle of that, whatever it is; he knows better than to think to try it.  Two people with absurd Splendour having a social fight is just not something you interrupt, especially when one's your boss.

Diana shakes her head minutely.  To push another agent of Lastwall on this team by force is not something she wants to do; it would not be in keeping with Law or Good or law or good.  "I'm not altering the deal, no; I'm offering you his assistance, because while Kalara knows how to navigate, Morris knows the land much better than she.  And I know you're a city girl.  If you're hunting demons...You really do want a proper hunter."

"Well.  My apologies, then; I would be happy to have him along."

....Does Diana know this woman from somewhere, before she got into this line of work?  The communication that just happened was interspersed with far too many overtones of meaning to be starting from no shared ground!

She doesn't think she's met anyone Ophelia used to be.  But they share the same goal - one they both hold in common with Genevieve, for that matter, for all that they've chosen very different ways to approach it - and that's ground enough.

Her gaze flicks over to Morris, then back to Diana, which she holds for a good few seconds before she minutely shakes her head and rolls her eyes.  "If you're wondering, Marshal Morris, the Commander and I have in all honesty interacted for a grand total of a day's worth of hours, perhaps; the rest of our familiarity would be from my hearing the rumors and her reading my reports.  The connection we have is in what we're looking for, rather than anything we've done.  And I do believe Mx. Costanza also knows the thing for which we all search, though I can't be anywhere near as confident of her disposition."

...Well, that's certainly someone who's very good at reading people, not that she didn't already know that.  She feels a bit like someone just peeled her back to her soul.

...Okay, she's about as scary as Quirin, just the other way 'round.  ...She must never come to know this, or they will become a terror.

...wait.  Shit.  Quirin already does.

The Marshal pinches the bridge of his nose, and gives up.

At least they're pointed at Iomedae's enemies.

It is completely unknowing of all of this, that Inquisitor Mira Quirin's fist raps upon the door to the briefing room.  "The adventurers I could round up, and trust far enough, are ready for their interviews."

...Right.  Game face on, Diana.

"Then start sending them in."

Ophelia falls into line with the rest of the Lastwallers, and waits to see who arrives.

Mira returns, escorting the first potential, and whispers a Message to the one person in the room who might not have heard of her exploits by name.  "Arna Kithara, Sarenrite rogue; responsible for cult deconversion, Kenabres standoff, Fourth Crusade era.  Normally unwelcome in Mendev.  Not a Bellflower.  Don't ask.  Steals weapons mid-combat."

Arna is an older halfling woman, unassumingly dressed and bearing no obvious weapons or armor - unless you can see magic, like approximately everyone present, in which case she glitters with a dozen minor auras. 

She waits for the Message to end with a polite smile. "I prefer to steal weapons and all other items before combat starts", she says, "it can be very effective at preventing combat altogether. I can also scout, infiltrate - not purely demon groups, alas - and if all else fails, I can mercifully stab people."

"I'm also trained in diplomacy and deescalation. Unless your goal is simply killing people, you need ways to avoid fighting, and you need to be prepared to deal with prisoners. Demons are very hard to help - although they can be convinced to leave peacefully, if they think they're not going to win - but they often have mortals with them. I'd like to be there to try and give you a better choice than killing them. And of course we might rescue some captives, and should be prepared for that as well."

"...Mira, did you not tell them this was primarily a close protection mission?"

"...'With highest possible secrecy', ma'am."

Diana pinches the bridge of her nose.  "Tell the rest of them that there are two prongs to the operation, and if they cannot do item retrieval, live-combat healing, or close protection, they had best be able and willing to harry balors."

"As you command.  Immediately?"

"I would prefer your insight here."

The Inquisitor nods, and inveigles herself into the half-curve standing around the war room's sand table.

"My apologies, Arna; while your work is much appreciated, we are presently trying to apply leverage to an opportunity provided by a specific asset and capability, and thus it is uncertain how useful the skills you're proudest of will be.  On the other hand, I am given to understand that Drezen does have some standing non-demon population, which would be useful to infiltrate - Ms. Vascilia?  Is that still accurate?"

"Well.  Yes, but then again, no.  A balor, Darrazand, stands atop the city's hierarchy of power, these days, and quite a bit of the...latitude, you could achieve when, exempli gratia, Vhaune was in charge, is consequently disrupted.  On the other hand, the tyranny allows different infiltration options - and the scheming's certainly still afoot; it simply cares more about not looking like the problem is your fault.  Because looking like it is your fault results in facing an angry balor.  If we wish the defenses in disarray, and the Sword of Valor recovered with more surety, there could be options to sow chaos amongst the lines before a dawn raid."

"Thank you.  Arna?"

"...the Sword of Valor is - an artifact that was lost with Drezen? And you've learned it's still in the city, and wish to retrieve it?"

"I could try to learn where it is and how it is defended" and steal it if she can, which goes without saying. "And to disrupt any defensive coordination that doesn't run on powerful demons personally teleporting around. Whether I succeed depends on how much the lower-ranking cultists know, how trusted they are, and how much time I have."

"I can also be a bodyguard. It isn't my specialty, so I can't promise that I'll see an assassin in time to steal their weapon, but if you're short on adventurers, every pair of hands helps."

"Lastwall's impression of the unique capabilities this mission is planned around, trend to the impression that the targets you will need to be most ready to disarm, should you deploy on this mission, are those whose talents lay in durability and strength, or use of magic, more than those who rely on stealth.  However.  This is uncertain, and it is highly likely that the more time we spend on threat analysis, the less use the  capabilities that have just been acquired will be, in the field - in direct proportion to the time spent out of it."

...She takes off her mask.  Not in the sense of removing a literal mask from her face, but in stepping out from behind the code, because she is a person too, and should not hide behind this bulwark of dispassion.