"...I think you did well enough, Gravis.  The other example I can think of, of that sort of morale effect, is how Kenabres holds; Terendelev serves a similar purpose there, as far as the common morale.  ...Perhaps too much so.  I cannot believe that Iomedae would continue to permit Mendev's Inquisition use of her name if things were not truly dire.  I didn't train for a 'quisitor myself, but we've all had the illegal orders classes and there's so much that you hear about, working on the Mendevian line..."

She shakes her head.  "Cheliax is at least honest that they want to damn you.  Mendev might well have tried to burn Gravis alive had he not been traveling with me, and that is positively abhorrent to actual Good."

"What I hear of Mendev sometimes makes me think that they kept all the superstitions from their Kellid ancestors and completely lost all the virtues that went with them. We'd - distrust and probably turn away - a fiend-blooded stranger - but no one would waste time on torturing one or on covertly manipulating people to make them unwelcome; that's just a waste of energy."

She nods.  "Righteousness is not a virtue of Iomedae.  Only rightness is.  Mendev...is very righteous.  But we are not here to talk about Mendev.  We're here to do Wardstone maintenance.  We should probably get started; sooner begun, sooner done, and all."

Meanwhile, at the site of the Wardstone:

"-- aaaaand, there!  Bonnie, are you --"

Ciara suddenly realizes that Gravis and Bonnie did not actually follow herself, Estel, and Corl to the Wardstone.

"...Huh, I thought they were following us.  Did you think they were following us?  Lemme go find them real quick -"

And Ciara Volare is in motion, once again.  She feels most comfortable that way.

"Not worth burning my dimension-step capacity, right? This distance for one-then-three would be -- two-thirds of what's left."

Ciara's already vanished before Estel can ask the question; she didn't teleport, so she probably wouldn't think it's worth it?

And shortly there she is again, coming back the other way with Gravis and Bonnie, who she is busy exhorting to hurry up already, the circle's already set up, c'mon, c'mon, she wants to get started.

"Ciara, you really shouldn't wander off with strangers, you know that, right?"

"But they're friendly!  And not the creepy sort of friendly!  And I thought you said we were going!"

"Our apologies," rumbles Corl genially.

"Nothing to apologize for; the misunderstanding was our doing, and the conversation proved worth the time we spent hearing it, I think.  Even though most of it would have bored you to tears, Ciara - it was mostly Genevieve thinking aloud about weaponry."

She is just going to nod silently and hope that her blush is taken to be at the friendly chastisement, and not at the butterflies Corl just caused to appear in her stomach with that rumble.  Why is this!

...Alright, a distraction!  Is necessary!  What can it be!

"So Estel, any questions about the process so far?  Now that Bonnie's here?  I can never sit still for long enough to learn the theory, honestly, aheheh."

"I did wonder whether the surroundings make a significant difference. Obviously this one's in the Grandmother's hut - we've checked its defenses, I assume so have you during past maintenance - and as you might have gathered we're not planning to leave it there."

Corl definitely noticed, but he keeps his smile internal.

"Theoretically, no.  In practice - we try to avoid leaving them in the open where demons can waltz up and slobber all over it unopposed if they're strong enough?  Even if they're actually invulnerable, as best we know, it's just - a bit rude.  Plus if it's out in the open proper a demon can just walk off with it if they're hardy enough, so that makes it harder to maintain.  As far as taking the stone from the hut, though...  We've not got much communication with Irrisen, but I think someone who'd have half a clue said that these huts are positively broody over the stones, the once, so...good luck with that?  I'm not sure the hut won't follow you or us, at least.  I'll admit that we haven't tried moving this part of the line yet; we're a bit focused on pushing in from the mountains and Ustalav - the Sarkorian remnants are a lot more willing to pitch in if they get a bit of land out of it, and frankly we want to have the option of telling Cheliax to go screw themselves, so we need to get the northern forts into positions that don't require teleports to get to.

"As far as whether the surroundings make a difference in effect - that's a big honking sort of?  The shield's maintained by all the wardstones collectively, but the forbiddance is something that stretches between individual stones based on a bunch of math and magic that you'd probably want Genevive to explain even though I have at least learned how to apply it; if a stone goes down, then the associated segment of the forbiddance goes with it if the neighbor stones can't pick up the slack.  Most of the time that's not really something they can do; having extra Wardstones in the network trades off against other important things."

"We'll see how it reacts when we move the stone in, I suppose. We're working on a large warded tent; weaving spells into the cloth is something the native traditions are familiar with, so it's adapting well to incorporating spells they don't know."

"I bet 'vive'd love to take a look at that - smart as a whip, she is, even if she's not as much a direct crafter as the bunch back in Alkenstar she talks about.  She figured out how to do some interesting distillations of demon gunk all on her own.  But if you can get a big warded structure like that, that can come down afterwards - be reassembled - Lastwall would want one.  Want multiple, probably.  We don't have anything near as handy for short-term fortification when we're moving stones around, so we have to basically have a fort up first.  Mostly the adventurers do that, they're the sort that charges into demon-infested territory for the money - but if we could start stealing marches...I bet we'd get far."

"It won't be nearly as good, assuming your field fortifications are about as good as the Godclaw's. We're planning to put our camp around it. And if the cost numbers are like the ones I asked for from the Godclaw, it will cost more. But it uses the crafters and materials we have here, and hiring southern mage-masons would be ruinously expensive."

"Also, being able to make small advances frequently will probably suit our way of war."

"We have to camp there to put up proper fortifications to begin with, unless someone's dug up a mobile fortress I don't know about.  So a moveable tent to work under for the keystones or whatever - it's not my field at all - would add another layer of - confidence.  Plus I bet 'vive will take one look at the setup and have half a dozen ideas to improve its effectiveness."

"Bonnie, we probably ought to do the ritual before we move the Wardstone; Ciara set it up and everything."  Not that they are actually going to try moving it yet, but that they are somewhat sidetracked.

"My apologies, I do tend to get caught up in discussions like these.  Shall we?"

"Please do."

Then at her direction, Bonnie and Gravis and Ciara will sit in the indicated places in the chalked ritual circle, and -