Now seems like a good time.

(Or rather, she rolled the dice for "where do we start the preemptive maintenance from for this month" and they came up with this wardstone.)

...Unfortunately, they can't give a day's warning to the commander of this wardfort like they usually do, because nobody she can get to dream at anyone has met whoever's responsible for the barbarians, that they know of.

So the first notice they get is...

...an eagle dropping a note tied around a pocket-mirror on the most important-looking building present, actually, because there's better ways to arrange for this to happen than just showing up.

The scroll is sealed with red wax, emblazoned with what is recognizably Lastwall's sigil, albeit with an extra rampart beneath it because Diana's command is beneath the Precentor of Garrisons and Sieges.  On the portion that shows is written "From: Lastwall.  To: Whomever Is In Charge."

Dear Occupant,

 

You may not know this, but Wardstones, such as the one in your fort, require yearly maintenance.  Lastwall, as the originator of Wardstones, strongly prefers to do this ourselves.

The forces encamped here are not presently signatories to the Worldwound Treaty, to the best of our knowledge, and thus not obliged to let us access the Wardstone at all.  It will not falter, though it may become more vulnerable.  It is not impossible for any good cleric to do the necessary ritual, either; if you wish to send someone to learn, that can be arranged.  But it is Lastwall's contention that it helps the defenses when the forces who hold the line can work together, and utilizing our expertise in the Wardstones is a good baseline to start from to build the foundation of cooperation between our people.

The mirror this is attached to is a command-activated divination focus, paired to a specific counterpart in our hands; I plan to be available as the sun sets this evening if you wish to speak with me personally, but if you simply wish to arrange our maintenance team's visit, I have left its matched pair with the cleric who is on rota for this, and once you have confirmed this reached you, there will be someone listening for a call at every hour of every day.  We try to keep coordination across forces up; if there is something you wish to tell us, or your neighbors, it will be passed along with alacrity.

 

I am glad to hear of another force willing to fight for important things, even with the prices we pay fighting here.

With hope,

Watch-Commander Diana Pallas

Paladin of Iomedae

Lastwall Worldwound Border Garrison

One of their hunters is the first to notice the unusual eagle, but he notifies the Herder fairly quickly, so she's the first to read it.

This is not something she knows how to manage. Helping each other out? Sure. Negotiating terms for that? Still pretty much a foreign concept.

Fortunately, she has someone for that. So, after training is done for the day -

"'Stel, we got an advance message from Lastwall about the Wardstone. With a communication mirror. Doesn't sound complicated, but - read it over?"

"Of course. Lastwall won't be trying to pull anything deceptive, that's not how they see themselves. Still..."

She looks it over.

"This seems straightforward. I think we should meet in your tent just before sunset, I'll need to do some of the talking and at that point we should just have all our leaders together."

"Yeah, Corl can just be there quietly if he doesn't think of anything. Anything I should keep in mind?"

"They'll probably be disappointed in us to the degree that we're - partly here to spite the Grandmother and remove her claim on Kellis, not just to push in the Wardstones for their own sake. But I think they'll be pleasantly surprised in - a lot of the rest?"

"Yeah, that's - well, no one's pure Good. But it's fair. Do you have a telepathic bond today?"

"Haven't used my mask's scaffold. I'll link us up just before, good thought."

And so, as the tribe is mostly getting the cook-fires ready for dinner and the sun is starting to set, Corl and Estel meet Ata in her tent to talk with Lastwall's Watch-Commander.

And the Watch-Commander is present.  Her office is - warmly spartan, smooth stone and a steady light-source that's probably light-on-a-rock, from what they see of it once she's opened the chiming mirror; she was idly working over some figures, judging by the clacking of the abacus she promptly puts down to give them her full attention.

"Ah, hello.  This is Watch-Commander Diana Pallas of Lastwall.  To whom am I speaking?"

"Hello, Watch-Commander. I'm Herder Ata of the Steel Exiles Clan, which I founded this past year; all the activity you've seen around this section of the Worldwound border is under my command. Also with me - I'm not sure how well you can see them - are my main lieutenants and advisors; Corl the Tower, who is a fourth-circle shaman - or priest, by your terms, I think - and Estel the Forge, who is a fifth-circle swordmage and our main training officer."

"I was formerly a Signifer of the Order of the Pike, but I have resigned and been renounced."

Do you really have to-?

Yes. They would consider it important information. It's a Law thing

Your call.

Whatever flickers of emotions showed, she pushes away.

"Do you have particular topics you want to discuss, other than the obvious one of maintenance?"

"I would like to note that I prefer to not say that a priest is a shaman or a shaman is a priest without much more information on what they do and how they do it; there's been a few of both with quite the range of abilities on our lines at one point or another, beyond the forces Lastwall considers itself competent to raise - which would mostly be priests and paladins, as well as the ranger corps.  Regardless, it is a pleasure to meet you, Herder Ata of the Steel Exiles Clan," which she is already committing to memory, from the way the name falls from her lips with deliberate distinction, "Estel the Forge, and Corl the Tower."

She doesn't comment on the ex-Hellknight.  That's really none of her business.  She might ask the Pike for records, just to get a better sense of the woman, but really, she leaves the paranoia about "is it secretly demons" to Mira.  Mira is good at her job.  (She's pretty sure that someone who resigned their oaths is not a demon plot, anyway.  It doesn't have the same panache, to have someone resign instead of dramatically explode mid-crucial-task.  And - perhaps this is colored by the news she gets, even despite her efforts otherwise, but the demons that infiltrate far enough that they're worth the effort stopping, rather than watching and hoping Good rubs off on them, tend to have a dramatic streak.)  "I'd like to - well, compare notes, if you've the time and I don't get interrupted by some demon thinking they're smart for trying to sneak over the lines at night, and see if there's anything we could help with by virtue of having relative advantages, in exchange for similar assistance.  I imagine you don't have much cold iron, for example, unless there's a lot more demons making their way to your fort than I'm under the impression would try you.  You don't...have a very large piece of the wardline.  And...well.  Irrisen's quarter of the wards has a bit of a reputation, too, from what we've overheard."  She grimaces.

"I'm not sure how much or how long that will last, but I do think that if we can take advantage of the surprise your forces represent to a demon expecting casters, to pull the lines in, we should.  To that end...I think my best option, support-wise, is pulling some of my deeper strike teams - hunters, rangers, that sort - and enduring support casters - mostly alchemists, strangely enough, since if you do the "obvious" things with that skillset it's practically throwing money away - and a couple clockworks that cure at-will, but also definitely some paladins - off my lines where they're under less stress, to support your forces as we move the stone; unless I miss my mark your battle lines are going to be a lot more mobile than mine out of sheer necessity, and you'll need the backstop - not against a fodder flood, but against the biggest threats the Abyss has, because when they catch a hint of the wardstone moving - and I've yet to see them not - the bigger demons will show up.  It's the time when a Wardstone is weakest, even if, properly maintained, they're invulnerable to anything short of gods."  She hums, briefly, and calls out to someone who's not in the mirror's view, pretty loudly.  "...Mira!  Is the Chronicler available!  We've got a shiny daring thing in the offing, probably!"

"...There is the option of getting in touch with your neighbors to see if they'll commit to helping, but I imagine there's a reason why the first I heard of you was now, not that the chicken huts tell us anything.  I'm Law-bound to not disadvantage you for your having told me, and it would also be strategically bloody stupid to use any such information for harmful purposes, so, uh, is it Irrisen or Cheliax?"

Oh, for goodness' sakes, Diana, at least wait until the call's finished to start throwing plans around.  Still, the précis she got from the Ranger-Marshal did seem to support the idea that throwing whatever song-sorcery the Pathfinders have dug up, at the sort of people that tend to cleave right through the swarms, especially, would help.  Paladins, clerics, inquisitors, they're very good at focused strikes.  Not so much mass combat.  If you mix skirmishers with a bit of heavy infantry to stiffen them, they work a lot better than either alone, but Lastwall doesn't really have the skirmishing tradition necessary.  It's more of a smiting tradition.

...The Commander's going to end up doing something stupidly heroic again, she just knows.  May the gods preserve her.

"The issue is Irrisen. She's been our enemy since before she conquered the Ulfen west of the mountains, and she's taken the Worldwound as a pretext to claim authority over all of our lands. It would likely be better for the world for us to make a treaty with the Ugly Grandmother, but we're not willing to and probably never will be."

"Our supplies of cold iron are... adequate. Before returning her and founding the Steel Exiles, I did some adventuring for hire, and didn't put much of it into my own equipment. That bought a company's worth of cold iron and steel surprisingly quickly. Enchanting it would be hard, of course, but being used to much worse weapons, our warriors haven't complained - they all have at least a cold iron axe. But I should have spent more of it on arrows; I hadn't realized quite how much would be fought at range."

"Aye, and that's as is your right to be, to wish to determine your fate yourselves.  And you've much better reasons than the Mendevian nobles I must suffer.  ...Though I imagine it would be possible to set you up on better terms for the aftermath than you'd otherwise get, if you had another power backing you when you signed on...Regardless, I think that might be over even my paygrade."

"What sort of bows do your people use?  And as far as enchanting goes, I'm told that if you can't find the spellsilver demon blood works in a pinch, and if there's something any Worldwound battle-line has in excess, it is yet more bloody demons."  She allows herself a bit of a wry smile-and-eyeroll at the line.  "We have some specialists we contract that out to; they sell back to us at-cost in exchange for preferential access to our, quote, certified not acquired by human sacrifice, unquote, raw materials.  You'll want to talk to Genevieve Costanza, with Aroden's Dream, about setting that up and the right sort of collection procedures, if you think it'll be worthwhile.  My gut says it will be; they produce the automata that keep our forces from dying even when the priests are out of spell slots.

"...And, because I'm sure that if you've heard of Aroden whatsoever that you're wondering about why they're devoutly Arodenite just as much as I was when I got the offer from them in the first place - well, they say they mostly aren't?  That, quote, their vision is not to build a single man's dream, but build the foundation of hopeful aspiration upon which he dreamed it for everyone who's come after, end-quote.  I'm pretty sure I don't get it, honestly, but I think they'd appreciate what you're doing here."

He was the dead one, right? Who died with prophecy?

Yeah. God of - building civilization, mostly. Lawful Neutral. Used to be Cheliax's state church. Presumably civilization is what his 'dream' was.

Seems alright. Might set the more traditional men on edge...

"We don't pay enormous attention to gods in Kellis, but I've heard of him. Our shamans can make some talismans out of the bodies, but yours sound much more useful; we'd be happy to trade with them."

"Kellids almost all have recurved shortbows for hunting, made for them personally with an appropriately high draw strength - we're notably stronger than you on average. We've been replacing them with longbows as they break, but every warrior can make a shortbow and most don't know how to change the design to make a longbow, so we haven't switched aggressively, hasn't seemed worth setting aside people as dedicated bowyers."

(Well, if you asked the Order about what Aroden's dream was, they'd have a couple dozen opinions on what Aroden actually wanted all quietly warring with one another in the background as they shrugged and said "That's pretty much what we think he was after, but - the funny thing is that no, actually there are a lot of people who shouldn't go to Axis, who would be hurt by it - and we don't want to make that happen to people against their will?  Unlike certain Hellknight orders, cough, Nails, Rack, Coil, Wall, cough.  Which is why what you're doing here is so impressive.  You're forging a new path to take, laying a new foundation to build upon.  And it's important that people have a solid, secure foundation, from which to pursue their own dreams and aspirations."  But they're not in this conversation, so this insight into their motivations goes un-presented.)

"Oh, we can definitely arrange bows and arrows for you, if that would help.  I'd have to ask the Ranger-Marshal about the specifics, because I'm mostly delegating the non-siege ranged weapons to him, but there's craftsmen to spare in Lastwall, and failing that, credit extended by Osirion, to keep us in mundane goods for a long while; we're shortest on combatants who will actually survive a fight.  Compared to Cheliax's...meatgrinder strategy.  Or Mendev's, though at least Mendev has St. Clydwell's Ward!

"...Realistically, though, the problem is sourcing cold iron or equivalent effects.  There's a lot more spells and effects that replicate silver's properties, and while I'm trying to adapt the ones that show promise, it's not been easy going; I can only get what I'm calling the Cold-Iron Wardirge - tentatively; I'm adapting Kintargo's Song of Silver and you just have to use some assonant name when you're emulating a legend - to take...maybe half the time, yet?  And I'm composing the bloody thing.  ...In the meantime, I recommend getting bleeding arrows to use Abundant Ammunition on, because the damage they do is a property of the shape of the arrow and thus 'sticks' in a way that apparently cold iron's resistance-piercing doesn't, because that's meta-physical.  Or so I'm told, not being a wizard myself.  Magic weapons of sufficient potency would also work, but those are more expensive and less likely to be readily available; even with all the work-speeding tools you can shake a fist at, there's only so much work a person can do in a day.

"...Speaking of vocals, though, I should send you a recording of the words to St. Clydwell's Ward; we have that to spare.  It's not perfect; strong-willed demons can overwhelm it, and it doesn't stop the ones that have area spells from happening to deploy them on an area including ward-ees, but it is an effect that will keep your people safe from backstabbing demon surprises long enough, if they're quick, and on top of that it isn't a spell effect, no matter that it replicates sanctuary.  Doesn't help with cultists unless they're demon-grafted, but you're not Mendev, so I suspect you don't have that problem.  ...If you do have a cultist problem Mira's told me she's gotten things as secure as she can around here save for necessary spot checks, and she could thus be loaned out to do investigative work for all that her combat-power's often necessary, but I don't expect that to be something you need, considering that you wrangled all these people out here to begin with, unless I miss my mark?  And that's not the sort of thing that breeds cultist-flavored discontent."

Estel, what are Abundant Ammunition and St. Clydwell's Ward?

"Not sure we have enough spellcasters to make plans relying on that spell. It's what, first-circle? Number of targets maybe scales with caster circle, lasts maybe an hour?"
  (Neither, Estel knew the details, but this seems more polite.)
"We've got about one spellcaster per ten combatants and I expect that to, if anything, go down as we grow. None of them below second circle and probably a quarter of them at third, but even if it's available for all our shamans and witches-"
  (It isn't, but that part she actually doesn't know.)
"- it's still probably going to only be half who can cast it, our arcane casting is mostly sorcerers. We probably can't cover whole squads that way. An Absalom pound per hundred is - about half a squad's worth of quivers, but no huge trouble. If we were really pressed for supply, Estel could probably spend a week selling teleports in Absalom and cover two year's supply including a stockpile assuming we double to six hundred fighters by then."

"I've never heard of the ward, is that a thing for skalds?"
  (Estel didn't study religion and so has no idea either.)
"We don't have many, but it sounds worth learning. And the Wardirge if you get it working, of course. We don't currently have cultist problems - Rovagug and demon lords have worshipers here, but mostly giants and berserks, not subtle things - but that may change as we get bigger. The deal I've made with my people is that they hold the border for so many months or years, and if they return to their home tribe alive, they leave with steel - weapons, shields, chainmail, more the longer they stay, less for the people who support rather than fight themselves."

"Also, most of our warriors have been finding the morale effects of training as squads unexpectedly compelling, that's why they spontaneously started calling me 'the Forge'. I don't know how much that translates to lasting loyalty or a sense of duty, especially long-term, but it's encouraging for them not treating it as a pure transaction."

She winces.  "That's not a lot of casters, even if you're pulling as many useful tricks as you can with your spells."  Lastwall certainly has some for arrowmaxxing, though it's mostly in the vein of 'you know, the spell doesn't technically care much about how big the container is, or what sort of ammunition it's replicating...'.

"The ward isn't a caster thing, though, it's just A Thing, you can tell by how the stronger fighters have stronger wards - which is why I make sure that everyone we bring to the lines knows it.  Even a balor lord's will would break on that bulwark if there's enough people who use it when - well, when you're unexpectedly facing a balor - and that gives you time to - recover, intercede, for all that it's maybe half a minute unless you're particularly Splendorous - though that's - cold comfort to the people it didn't help in the meantime.  Regardless, that's...getting into minutiae.  ...I do want to note that that thing Estel's noticed is a thing Lastwall's seen too, before we refocus; grueling training - or doing something reckless - in small groups forges sturdy battle-bonds.  ...I expect that that is also an explanation for why there are parties of adventurers that don't explode out of sheer social friction, but I'm only guessing."

"Anyway.  We were scheduled to be discussing Wardstone maintenance, I believe?"

"Yes, it's not ideal. But if we're going to hold the Kellis border we're going to hold it with a way that works with Kellis resources, and - it's not just our shamans and witches, everyone seems to be as tough by reaching adulthood as southerners with a decade of experience. Estel thinks it's probably for the same reason that mammoths and the other great beasts thrive here, and you rarely see them anywhere else. We're pretty sure we can make it work."

"For the actual maintenance - 'Stel?"

"Right. Obviously you're free to do maintenance, we want it strong as much as anyone. We'd like to observe, at least the first time and possibly further ones. We meaning primarily Corl, who is a Good cleric and can probably carry it out himself, and me, partly because I think I'll better understand what is needed and partly because I'm curious for its own sake."

"Indeed. I'm no kind of scholar, so if we need to record anything for future instructions, Estel will capture it more clearly. Unless it's unwise to commit instructions to writing, which I think it ought not be but would bow to experience on."

"Ah.  Well, that's good, at least."

"As for whether it's a good idea to write down the instructions - I wouldn't write down the details, though writing down generalities like 'you're going to need some time to meditate' wouldn't be an absolute disaster.  Obviously you don't really want to spread that around, though.  Mira tells me that the secret to good information security is making them think they've found what they're looking for."

"We'll keep it to the three of us, then. If that - I doubt I need to know much."

"I know a cipher or two. Which probably the Order of the Pike could break, if they got ahold of it, but this seems like somewhere they can be trusted. I'll use it on any notes I take."

Diana nods, though it looks like she had to think about whether she trusted the Order of the Pike that far.  "Really, the thing is that you want to have a decoy, that's - well-protected enough that they'll think they've found what they're looking for, but hides your actual secret.  Something like a rigged shell game.  Or so I'm told; there's actually a surprising number of paladins who play cards, but very few who practice sleight-of-hand."

"Hellknights are the same. I couldn't possibly imagine why."

"Not something any of us is an expert at, but Kellids aren't generally curious about magic, if we don't talk about it very few will consider there might be anything to know."

"The ones who do, though - you'll never be more surprised.  It's oddly popular with kids, apparently."

And then Ata speaks.

"...I am - really quite surprised at that, but I will certainly take your word for it.  Even if I knew I was going to be a paladin from, approximately, three, I personally was incredibly curious about how and why things worked, and that definitely includes magic.  But I don't think I think like many people."

I'll take this one, love.

"Anyone raised in the True Kellid way is suspicious of magic. Shamans are - respected, listened-to, but also, to a substantial extent, feared. Anyone else who works with magic, generally just feared. The general term is 'witch', and the tie to Irrisen and the Ugly Grandmother is not coincidence. There is a proper way to live our lives, and it does not involve magic, except as the spirits require it. We are not a traditional tribe or following, but thinking of magic as something to be explored is very much foreign. You would not - I'd guess - look into how a devil's soul-sale works, or how a demon eats souls. It is like that."

"...I mean, I wouldn't if the process actually involved damning souls forever, because some prices are too high to pay for uncertain knowledge, but if Lastwall doesn't have a black archive of notes on Malediction somewhere -

"To not understand the function of your enemy, is to invite defeat before you have begun.  And that is advice important enough that every pathbook of Lastwall's Primers has it, often in the exact same words."

"I'm no expert, but I think that is mostly a way that Lastwall is strange. Most people do not - weigh the value of possibly helping a goal against touching something taboo and decide whether it is worth it. They simply do not touch it."

She nods.  "I do think I agree, that it is a way that Lastwall is strange and I am also strange.  It is just - important that you understand that I am, in this way, strange, and - do not mean to suggest that a choice is somehow inherently wrong if I do not understand why one would make it, or something.  That magic is a powerful thing best not trifled with is, after all, very true, no matter how it fascinates me.  Just as an example."

"It's definitely worth remembering. Anyway, whatever the logic, it works in our favor here. Do you want any sort of formal agreement in advance of sending a maintenance team? Should we send Estel to teleport them?"

"I believe the Desnan that's doing our teleports for this circuit hasn't wandered off yet," she quips.  "I'm comfortable with simply having your word that if we send a maintenance team, they won't be impeded in their access to the Wardstone - in the sense that they will be keyed to any protective measures you may have in place for the duration, to the best of your ability - which is not in any way to suggest that you should actually take down any protective measures you may have that can't normally be altered like that unless it's truly necessary - and that they will be treated no worse than any other proven soldier, should they need to stay longer than the best estimates of maintenance time requirements, as far as agreements go.  If there are discipline issues, which I don't expect, but have ever had happen, the hard lines I draw are that no wounds that require something more specific than a cure to heal be inflicted, if you practice corporal punishment, and that there be no executions of my troops.  If it is critically necessary that someone be lastingly incapable of further action - Estel, do you have flesh to stone?  Which is perhaps too spooky for most Kellids, but is an accepted punishment for things that are often otherwise resolved by deaths when practicing Iomedaean justice, because it deprives the lower planes of fresh souls.  

...Theoretically that's only something I have the right to ask for my forces - which is to be read to include the whole team, in this case, since they'd be operating under my command no matter whose emblems they bear, though if the hypothetical altercation is something that would normally be resolved with something - dramatic - happening to your troops, I do wish to avoid that unless something particularly egregious happened.  Which would mostly be 'did somebody get raped or murdered, or Fall'.  That hasn't come up before, but - better prepared than surprised."

"Oh, the two of us are broad-minded, don't worry; we'll do spooky things if they're worth it. That all seems reasonable and I'm comfortable giving my word on it. They won't be impeded unusually or except as necessary, they'll be treated with all dignity and fairness, and the rest."

"My oath on it as well, for whatever it's worth."

"Despite that minimizing, she's only broken one oath in her life. But technically she reads Neutral Good like us two. In any case, my word on it as well."

Diana gives a solemn nod.  "So it shall be, then.  When's a good time to arrive?"

"I wouldn't say there's any particularly bad times. When's the next round of training break off?"

"Eight more days, unless an attack interrupts us. We'll have enough to start another round, but I usually take three days between. So, that would be - it's Starday, right? So Moonday to Wealday, not next week but the week after. Make it not Moonday, Toil or Weal, in case I have to delay a day. Or, if you prefer, tomorrow or in the next few days or really anywhere in between, we don't really need to plan it in the training gap."

Diana nods.  "I think we can make that happen.  Better to have less variables."  Just shuffle this there, that over a day, memo to give the Desnan something useful to do tomorrow...

"Alright. When you know, please give us some warning, though a few hours morning-of should be enough if you'd prefer. Thank you."

"Just let me know when your cohort's graduated, and I'll have the maintenance crew out in the next three days.  It's been a pleasure meeting you all."

"Likewise."

And so, a week later:

"Yeah, these boys will be ready tomorrow. I'll prod the mirror after dinner."

"I met a few of their paladins while I was still wandering the border. I wonder how similar they'll be?"

"I'd guess not that much. Front-line soldiers and - people who deal with magical problems - don't really pull the same people. But I guess we'll find out."

That night:

"Hello, Lastwall Watch? This is Estel of the Steel Exiles. We're ready for the maintenance crew for at least the next three days."

There is a brief clatter, as if of a die rolling.

"Looks like we'll send them over tomorrow.  Thank you for letting us know.  I will be in touch tomorrow to do as much as I can to make sure they don't vanish into the Astral mid-transport and get replaced by succubi with malicious intent."

"...Not that that's happened to us before, but there's always a first time someone accomplishes something previously thought to be impossible."

"Should be one fifth-circle Desnan priest - for the teleport - one technically-not-Arodenite alchemist and a construct who are coming along to talk to your people about crafting, trade agreements, and possibly how to make potions and spells stretch since from what I hear you need those tricks, two of Lastwall's rangers, and obviously a cleric of Iomedae for ritual purposes.  There was spirited debate about whether to send a paladin along as well; we won't be put out by one less blade on our lines, if that's a relevant factor, but the consensus was that we should inquire with you."

"No objections to a paladin. If you happen to have someone available with experience training new soldiers, talking our training decisions over with someone with a different background might be valuable, but don't delay on that account."

She makes a hmm noise, from the dim of her own office.

"I think I know of any, for the sorts we regularly request.  Paladins, or rangers?"

"Training rangers would probably have a more similar group of recruits, of the two."

"Then I'll make the request of the Ranger-Marshal that he do so.  Is there aught else?"

"No, that should be everything, thank you."

"Then do expect a party of no more than eight to arrive tomorrow; we will be drawing from the morning-shift troops and sending them out after mess."

"We'll be ready for it."

The mirror closes with a 'click'.

The morning finds Genevieve Costanza practically buzzing with nervous energy.

On the one hand: She's honestly pretty excited to hopefully break new ground in organized herbology!

On the other: These people don't like magic!  What is up with that!  Magic is exciting, from minimum safe distance!  And so is alchemy!

Honestly, the OSI disagrees with Genevieve on that one - magic most often means Wizards Getting Up To Shit.

They have a whole checklist of Wizards Getting Up To Shit and if they can make it through a month without filling the damn thing, head office - well, makes sure nobody's lying or suborned or dominated, because while they trust their people it's just so implausible, even with Lastwall's limited number of wizards and the OSI's limited external presence - but then they have a party.  It's a very quiet party; they have canapes and a soft burbling fountain and everything's peaceful and not exploding.

And then they go back to the fruitless and - outside of their command, at least - often thankless task of making sure there's no more Tar-Baphons.

It's really quite exhausting.  But it's necessary work.

Lastwall's rangers are pretty interested in learning about these people.  They're no chroniclers, but - they want to know about new and strange beasts, in case they're useful and someone can get the nature's ally to stick.  Or an aspect, for that matter.

The three are waiting outside the Wardstone enclosure, which they've left basically unmodified; it's inside an unusually-large chicken hut which is more-or-less-permanently kneeling, not moving like the smaller ones Baba Yaga left elsewhere on the line. There's four fighters on each of its two doors, and another squad in a perimeter around it - not because they think it's necessary, but because they want to be in place to be an earlier line of defense if the demons make an attempt. (Most of them regard this as a mild punishment detail because it is boring and they have to be constantly reminded that they're still relying on Baba Yaga.)

They're all in full gear (clean, not that that's saying much given it's all at least mildly magical), not having anything resembling dress uniforms. They have a telepathic bond ready to go whenever they see the delegation arrive - social situations they just get much better if they can rely on each other's instincts.

And lo, there is a ranger.  "Ahoy the fort!  We're with Lastwall!"

The bond goes up.

Reads Lawful Good, matches a non-priest storied adventurer, Corl says. Nothing suspicious to arcane sight, Estel adds a round later, And he's a divine caster, first circle. So, a hunter.

As expected, then. Thanks, dears.

"Welcome to Kellis! Any checks you want to do before we meet the rest of your group?"

There is a brief moment in which the hunter rolls to disbelieve everything, just in case.

"Ehh, not like we're gonna outdo the professional paranoids; I hear tell they've already done 'em!  What's your forecast for today, as far as demons go?"

"Not expecting anything serious, but we don't have extensive patrols inward, and the major threats usually elude scouts anyway. Corl and Estel" - she indicates the two beside her in turn - "made sure to keep the spells for a major threat response in their preparations for the day, so if we're interrupted at the Wardstone we'll still be able to fight at peak capacity."

"Cloudy, the usual light rain with a chance of lightning strikes, gotcha!"  And the ranger darts off to retrieve the rest of the maintenance team.

"When I suggested they might send a trainer, I guessed that their rangers would be more likely to be like our warriors. I think I was right."

"He sure doesn't seem as rigid as most of the Lawful fighters I've met. Let's see who else they sent."

Another, stronger ranger!

A strongly CG-aura'd person with Desnan symbology, and a similarly strongly-LG person!

Someone whose outfit manages to scream 'alchemist!', a metallic bird tweeting away on her shoulder while she fusses with a mechanical contraption that's radiating an aura like a Good cleric as it pushes through a snowdrift!

And a paladin, who looks like he's expecting a Demon Lord to show up and run him over, a trade he is entirely happy to make if it protects the Wardstone but boy would it suck.

"Welcome! Take seats, if you'd like. Thank you for coming and working with us, we've been waiting on planning any actual moves until we could talk with people who knew the Wardstones better."

"I'm Ata, Herder of the Steel Exiles clan, so I'm ultimately in charge of our people here. These are my two lieutenants, advisors, and serious threat response team. Estel is our training officer and general 'explaining how to do civilization to Kellids' expert; as you may have heard, she's a fifth-circle swordmage and teleportation specialist. Corl is my more traditional second-in-command and when necessary enforcer, also from Kellis; he's a fourth-circle shaman or priest, cross-trained with a more direct frontline combat role. I believe Estel's assessed all three of us as on par with an adventuring party with a sixth-circle wizard, so I'm the last third of the response team as well."

"Gravis Tennyson," he inclines his head respectfully because You Do Not Salute In The Field, seeing everyone else hesitate; "angel-bonded paladin specializing in defensive tactics.  Not a spellcaster, though, which might be why the Watch-Commander picked me of all people out of her close-protection roster, since I'm told you do want training advice.  I'm here with the primary mission of keeping our ritualist alive, in case something goes horribly wrong such as surprise demons, which is unfortunately never not a possibility and apparently moreso as of late," the - huh, a tiefling - finishes wearily.  (And also somewhat warily, though not of the various people he's speaking to.)  "I am primarily sworn to protect the Wardstones and those who maintain them, but insofar as it will not interfere with my duties I can offer some thoughts on training and how it compares to the Shieldwall's regimen."

And with the ice broken, Genevieve can cut in!  "I'm Genevieve Costanza; I work with Lastwall on secondment from the Order of the Foundation of Aroden's Dream - my apologies for the extremely long name, unfortunately it really does mean something specific - and I helped build up Lastwall's alchemicals section, although it's practically running itself, these days.  In addition to alchemy we do clockwork anima, mostly produced at the Order's Alkenstar works; I've brought a clockwork priest and a songbird with me today as examples of powerful-but-expensive and cheapish-but-often-useful.  Zahra, the Order's founder, also does some absurd thing with magical pigments that we are still trying to figure out how to replicate in a reliable way but produces Some Bullshit when it works out, for all that it's more in a 'surprise helpful adventurers' way, but I think she'd get a lot of inspiration from working with you and would pitch her on it if you think rolling the die on adventurer genesis is - worth it.  She's done a lot of work on that, I'm certain there'd be something she would wring out.  Though she's very...Arodenite.  Which is ironic, considering it's me saying that and you'd think that's one of the selling points on why I joined up in the first place, but I mean - she's not going to get why y'all do things the way you do them, even less than I do.  I at least think I share some level of valuing fending for myself with your forces, if what little I've heard and observed is leading me to correct guesses about your philosophies, though I approach that goal with my wits rather than brawn; Zahra is going to be so bemused at why there isn't a proper city here.  Not that she'll be - an ass, but there's something she just hasn't been thinking about that working out here would poke.  Anyway.  Tangent aside.  I do crafting and I'm here to trade lore and demon bits for lore and various crafts."

"...Alright, let's get a semblance of order in this, shall we," says the halfling ranger.  "I'm Vallora Bellis, blessed ranger of Iomedae; I focus on defensive skirmish and have trained others to that effect.  My apologies for missing the initial introductions, I thought I saw something that needed to be shot.  Reasonably confident there's actually no invisible quasit here, despite that, though you can never be quite sure.  I'm in overall command of our party, though with the number of warrants and people operating under allied contract we have in the group it's a bit misleading.  Still, if it's not directly about the wardstones - which should go to our priest - or about alchemical whatnot - which would obviously be Genevieve's warrant and indeed her entire purpose here, though in this case I do outrank her because she's not properly field-rated and this is the field - I'm in charge of everyone except our much-beloved Desnan mascot, who goes where she pleases and also where the Commander asks nicely.  Ciara," she turns to the Desnan, "anything to add?"

"Um!  I'm looking forward to working with you for a little while and I hope we can be friends?"

"Oh, and, um, proper introductions, Ciara Volare, fifth-circle cleric, obviously I worship Desna, I go where I want and sometimes where I want to go is out here to help, but I'm kind of pants at fighting?  It's important so if it's necessary I'm not going to just - run away on somebody, I wanna be clear, I'm just - not of the proper temperament, was that what you said that one time?  I prefer talking!  Talking is good!  But hard to do with demons..."

The surprisingly young-looking catfolk allows herself a small pout.

"Much good is done by not fighting," nods the enormous armored bluish-skinned man with a massive mace who looks like he was born on this planet solely to fight and was described as the herder's 'enforcer'.

She nods.  "Yeah."

Genevieve is also nodding in considered agreement.

It's the Obvious Iomedaean Cleric's turn to speak, and she is in fact an Obvious Iomedaean Cleric.

"I'm Bonnie; technically my parents named me Tiffany but it never stuck.  I'm here because I know how to do the Wardstone ritual and because I'm good at making demons regret seeing me in case they think now's a good time to try something, though that's not a bet we're actively making, just one we've got enough slack overall to hedge against.  's sorta like - what was it, Valora, tripwires?  You hook 'em up to a bell, and it works like an alarm but it's all mechanical.  Just in case.  's so if a big demon we haven't found out about shows up, we hold long enough to be reinforced.  You'd have more people than just us out here if there were big demon armies on the horizon like that and we knew."

"We're not anticipating trouble either, but I appreciate being ready for trouble, nonetheless. Something bigger could show up, and we don't have defenses against snooping that would work if something strong tested them, so they might be able to time it."

"I doubt we'd have a city here even if Kellids wanted one," Estel says to Genevieve, "there just isn't the population density. They're adapting, and we may have a proper town made of tents in a decade, but people change slowly. And, well, no one knows quite why even the runts of Kellis are taller than southerners and as tough as veteran soldiers, but they think it comes from the 'old ways' and I can't really contradict them."

"That's why we used a source of randomness to determine some things on our end, though you're right that if they're spying on you somehow they could probably try some shit just from deducing we're here.  We do try to keep under divination wards, though."

Genevieve, meanwhile, replies to Estel: "I mean, yeah, I'm pretty sure they're right about that, just off the top of my head.  You gain power beyond the regular limits by pushing yourself beyond what you can easily overcome; that's well-attested everywhere someone's checked.  And - this culture exemplifies that mindset.  From what I've heard, which is at best thirdhand information, but I don't think I'm wrong about the - valuing overcoming what you 'shouldn't' 'be' 'able' 'to'?"

"Certainly an appreciated value, though perhaps not the chiefest. Other traditions have no obvious tie, though - revering spirits rather than gods, following and taming the great beasts but never 'domesticating' them." (the word is obviously foreign and borrowed in his mouth) "And yet - I have seen the Ulfen, west along the coast, and they seem more like adventurers by culture and nature, but still a head shorter than a True Kellid even as children."

"That I think I am inclined to attribute to Druid-Like Something-Or-Other, albeit...well, this isn't actually my field of study?  No matter how well-read I am, which is very, I'm an alchemist, not a - theurgologist.  Not to be confused with a theurgist.  ...I think that that'd be Zahra, actually, who - makes a study of how faith works.  Things like how to inspire.  Which isn't quite the same thing as studying individual faiths, because it - takes a step back from the individual practices, and looks at things like what rituals of various faiths have in common.  Useful when you're..."  She wibbles a hand, "trying to build a religion from scratch to accomplish a very ambitious goal like making the conditions for another Aroden's starting to exist."

"...not that we actually think it's likely a genius will show up, but.  One really must try, if one can, to encourage people to grow into the selves they want to be in their heart-of-hearts.  It's - a very Good act.  And while Aroden was Neutral...he wanted Good things, y'know?"

"...'vive, maybe get into the weird theories once we've sorted everything else out?  Is there anything else you or we need to know, Herder Ata?"

"Don't worry, I occasionally get distracted by pondering it as well. But yes, now is not the time. About how long should we expect the ritual to take?"

"It depends; this is usually one of the quicker stones to reinforce, but I've had to do days of effort before, and on the shorter end I've completed one in fifteen minutes.  It's a mindset thing. as much as a ritualism thing."

"I imagine we'll have questions afterward, then. But nothing else we need to know or say now, I believe."

"I suppose I'd best get started, then.  Gravis, you know the drill, with me.  Is anyone else intending to observe."

"Just Estel and Corl. I'll be with our troops, but Estel can retrieve me in two rounds if needed."

"I'm inclined to suggest I and Genevieve go with you, unless you would prefer otherwise.  She's useful for harvesting demon bits.  And where would you prefer the Clockwork Priest?  If you've got wounded you haven't gotten a channel for yet, they can Cure Light at will, mostly.  Vive, this is one of the ones that has cures, right?  Not inflicts?  Not sure I recognize the symbol on it.  -- Actually what other spells does it have?"

"Yeah, it casts Cures.  As for the domain spells - enlarge person at will, then bull's strength thrice and magic vestment once.  Dedicated to Kurgess; do you not...know about Kurgess?"

"Oh, I know about him.  I just think brawn's much less useful than finesse so I never made much time to know about him."

"...Okay, that's fair.  Anyway, at will enlarge person is very useful for melee frontlines, which is why we brought this guy," she pats the clockwork's shoulder with a clank-clank, "in particular, Herder Ata.  I'm hoping that was the right call?"

"Certainly could be! I imagine we'd need to train squads to get full use out of it - how fast could a team of eight cycle through to get it, eight rounds? - but it would help. I'd say the thing we pointlessly wish for most often is fly but that's a lot harder to get."

"Yeah, we have some options there, but they're only one a day.  Could get an at-will jump, though, with bull's and fly.  Not very helpful, probably, but possibly not as bad as not having anything.  And yes, one spell a round, unless you get a really good Pathfinder Chronicler to run herd on them.  I've seen them get multiple turns of effort out of people in the same round, though that's a pretty - high-circle, for all that...they don't really have circles like that at that point, it's a specialization that leans heavily into the song part of song-sorcerer - thing."

"I think jump would do more harm than good - not great for keeping the squads fighting in formation. We'd still need to do archery volley drills, I'd guess, where if we could do aerial charges we might be able to ease off that. That's probably the hardest lesson to make stick. Holding back and covering the air in arrows isn't much like hunting or normal - normal for Kellis - fighting."

"Oh, yes, I was thinking 'some poor sod does a leaping tackle', not about - formation-ness.  Though, what do your forces think of javelins as things to hurl at your enemies?  There's thorn javelin in the big book of domain spells, at first-circle, and I think that it'll stabilize in an item; I've seen baby hunters cast it.  It's definitely something we can get into the clockworks, though that clusters your men closer than is ideal if you have them all grab one a round to volley.  I suppose magic stone slings are right out, since they're a bit too costly to equip regulars with, though we have seen zombies, which I'm sure Diana would say makes it more worth it...  Maybe if we do birds with - oh, but do they cast, I don't think so, so the orange prism trick isn't viable...probably not worth it anyway, most of the flying ones have spell resistance, but it would have been really cool to see a swarm of clockwork birds beaming a demon to death.  And of course there's the problem where you're trying to pierce damage resistance with low-enchantment gear so you really need to get every available erg..."

She's going to be occupied thinking about solutions to this problem for a while, even after she exhausts her readily available thoughts, unless someone prompts her otherwise.

"I'm probably hopelessly constrained by attempting to solve the problem from within my idiom, which is to say I'm a crafter and not a fighter, but preliminarily I think I would solve this with potions.  Well.  That and my favorite way of cheating more magic out of less magic.  ...which requires field-capable alchemists to scalably deploy, gah!  And you're not going to have anyone chomping at the bit to learn magic stuff, not around here.  Every time I think I'm on to something I suddenly remember I'm not.  Maybe it's worth thinking about arming the birds some more, though..."

"A lot won't work for us, but if there's something one on-site alchemist can keep available for a dozen or two men, that's probably worth considering. We have one or two, I think, southerners who-" are probably criminals in their home countries, but actually she shouldn't say that. "-Who didn't like Lastwall or Cheliax and found us rather than switch teams."

"Better here than in there, certainly.

"Wonder what your people'd think of one of Vive's ballistae.  I bet they're actually strong enough to lug the thing around."

"What's it weigh? I think we've got a few who could handle sixty, maybe seventy pounds of kit without slowing down, a hundred if they're berserk, and they're mostly wearing thirty pounds of armor." Ata herself can run with 120 pounds if she's got her belt on, 300 while she's berserk. But she's not going to brag.

"...Hmm.  It depends on the construction - the works put out a 'build your own' kit, for an army on a budget, which is maybe thirty in metal parts, but you'd need to have some sort of ability to rapidly hew and assemble wooden parts - or some equivalent - in the field, because I imagine that minor creation's right out for supporting infrastructure...there's the collapsible tripod, which is about half that, overestimating, and isn't necessarily battle-tested, it's mostly used by surveyors, though one of them wrote in to say it made a decent bludgeon in a pinch...I think that one was from Ustalav.  Anyway.  I think a mostly metallized ballista...

"Oh, hmm, you could base the tripod off of the same spell, come to think of it...ah, wait, no, it vanishes after a round...

"Anyway.

"You'd want to split the parts up a bit, probably, but you could add it to a two-man or three-man team and they could crank off a shot a round, or more, with training, especially if you had the budget for good support equipment - throwing what's effectively a spear with much more strength, distance, and accuracy than any man.  Maintenance might be a pain point, though.  With the - preferring it to be magicless, and possibly less overall understanding of metals and care requirements thereof?  I'm - imagining that the name 'Steel Exiles' has a meaning, because unfortunately if someone told me one way or the other it has completely gotten lost in my head somewhere."

"It does. We don't fight or live or recruit like other tribes and we'll take people on loan for a few years, hence 'Exiles', and we have steel and they, overwhelmingly, don't. Before I came up with the plan to found this clan, I had been exiled for breaking taboo - nothing life-ending, but I couldn't go home without making restitution - and if I'd brought home a dozen master-made steel longswords, that would not just have paid my debt but probably got me made Herder. We don't have the tools to mine iron, or to forge it. The toughest armor you usually see is lamellar horn, arrows are usually bone, and axes and such are often stone. Steel comes from trade, to Kellis, and there isn't much trade."

"...I have a thousand questions about the steel and smithing situation and most of them are probably 'why not?', but that's a lot to get into.  Still, if you're looking to get into that, it is positively our sacred duty.  Erm.  The - me, not, um, Lastwall.  But seriously if you haven't a forge across your nation - my Order would be pretty much honor-bound to remedy that, if you asked."

"We've been planning to get a forge here, since we won't move that often, but nomads can't bring one with them. For all that it's entirely tents, this is the most permanent Kellid settlement there is. And I don't think there are any rich ore deposits either."

"There's a lot you can do with just a trench - well, two trenches, one for coal and one for water - and the occasional charcoaler.  Getting the ore is harder, though.  And anvils are pretty heavy.  Not that I know a lot about this myself; I'm am alchemist, not a smith - but we'd be happy to consult on getting you stuff that works for you.  Diversity of vision is one of our greatest strengths, as mortals.  Can't imagine Pharasma deciding one day that she really wants Cayden Cailean to exist, y'know?"

"...Really, what has always surprised me the most about the gods is that Iomedae was a mortal woman once.  Touched the Starstone and everything.  It - wouldn't feel right, living in a world without her.  And there aren't many gods that feels particularly true of, to me?  ...My apologies to the Arodenite in the room.  You've surely had worse, to have had and then lost yours.  But the thought that she had to invent herself just...staggers the mind to contemplate."

She shrugs. "Honestly, I think very little about gods. A lot like smithing, really - it just isn't part of Kellid life, it would have to intrude awkwardly to start being part, and no one bothers to question it because life is fine without it."

"Yeah, I don't spend much time considering Absalom."

"...You don't?  It's only the biggest city in the known world, with the Starstone in it, and...okay, yeah, I see what you mean, it's just sort of all the way over there, and we've got a lot more locally important concerns going like...presumably getting you to what you need to be doing, Herder Ata?"

"Eh, it's mostly 'being here, visibly leading'. We're training like an army, but everyone here is still used to - what did 'Stel call it - 'kratocracy'. Having the reminder that there's someone more dangerous than you around watching to see if you break discipline matters to them."

"Ah.  Like the Commander, but backwards."

He pauses a moment, thinking, a gauntleted finger held up.

"...Which is, I think, to say that - Watch-Commander Pallas is the bulwark upon which we are fearless in truth, rather than in the way that paladins just simply do not rout - because even as we are risking our lives, we trust her and her venturers to bring their support to bear upon the lines that cannot hold.  It's not a matter of discipline, but...it's adjacent, in some way.  ...It's not unlikely that I am not truly saying what I mean, though; I've the Splendour, but hardly would I credit myself the wisdom necessary.  Bonnie?"

"...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 -