"I have only the Storyteller's word to go by, but he seemed to know what he was talking about and I'm prepared to try."

Ramien nods, decisively.

"In that case, if you think my help will be useful you'll have it. I'm not sure if we can distract a Lilitu very well without Hulrun's assistance and he's unlikely to take my working with him well right now, but if he's willing to put it aside I won't be the one to start anything and I'll do my best do de-escalate. Either way, you'll have my spells and healing - if you have any requests for what I should prepare, try to let me know before dawn tomorrow, but otherwise Desna will help me select what we need. Is there anything else I can help you with while you're here? Healing, supplies, information? I can't promise we'll definitely have it but the temple is well stocked for emergencies if it's a question of material goods, and I have my share of connections."

"I'm not an expert on what your options for spells might be but now that you mention it I have not had breakfast."

Breakfast can absolutely be provided; they've actually been serving meals here and making extra in case of late arrivals, so there's more than enough to go around.

"Desna gives me cleric spells up to fourth circle, save for evil spells which she wouldn't grant and I wouldn't ask for. I most closely embody her aspects of freedom and as an Azata, so I have some extra abilities there; most notably compared to a normal cleric, I can give out flight and free people from all but the strongest kinds of mind control, as well as a host of other negative effects. For my more normal repertoire, I can identify magic, bless large groups of people for almost 10 minutes at a time, force people to tell the truth, enchant weapons and armor, make people stronger, tougher, wiser, more dexterous, or more splendid, ward against evil enemies, temporarily summon outsiders, counter death magic, or shield against elemental attacks - there's actually a lot of other stuff clerics can do, but most of it isn't terribly useful for this kind of adventuring. I also have a spell that can force demons back to their home plane, but a lilitu will just laugh it off, same as any damaging spells.

"With how serious this sounds, I'll be asking Desna to bump me up to 5th circle for tomorrow; if she accepts, I'll probably ask for healing good enough to revive the recent dead and another communal support spell like Burst of Glory, but I'm less familiar with the list of 5th circle spells and she might think of something I've forgotten to ask for that I really should have."

"- defense against mind control sounds important to me."

"This temple is hallowed, so anybody here can't be controlled, but I'm not aware of any way to make a person rather than a place permanently immune. Protection from Evil is a first circle spell that is almost categorically sufficient if you cast it ahead of time but only gets one person a go and only for a few minutes; there's a stronger version at third circle that I can keep up for almost an hour and a half per cast and covers anyone near whoever I cast it on. I can also free someone at a touch if they're already affected 8 times a day, but that one technically only answers one effect so it'll need a use for each individual instance if there are multiple effecting you. You can also become more resistant to mind control with magic items - I think your bracers might do this - or just by becoming a stronger adventurer, but that method can always be bypassed by someone that's enough better than you."

"Might they? I don't remember making them, they're in the lost time between being at home and appearing here."

“I’m not an expert in magical item crafting, so it’s possible I’m mistaken on the details, but it looks to me like an extremely comprehensive defensive enchantment with an unusual method - that’s a good thing, it means it should work cooperatively with most other defensive items and spells rather than only the strongest one taking effect. It’s not impossible that that doesn’t include mind control but if I had to guess it’ll help hedge out everything.”

"I wish I knew how I'd done it - maybe I had help, that seems most likely, but from who -" She shakes her head. "Seems worth loading up on anything that will help more there."

“The standard magic item is the cloak of resistance; lots of spells improve resistance, but the reason resistance is common is it's easy and covers everything. Headbands like mine make you wiser, which is mostly for good decision making and divine magic, but it’ll make you that much harder to read or control. If you’re working with an wizard or sorcerer they can cast heroism, which helps with almost everything. Spell resistance is very useful if you can get it but the spell doesn't last long and the items are very expensive. There might be rarer spells or items that also help, but not in Mendev.”

"Would I be correct in guessing that all these things would be hard to come by for someone without local accounts in a crisis zone?"

“I’m afraid that’s correct. Obtaining magic items in Mendev is tough at the best of times, and in a crisis like this people are going to be even more reluctant to part with theirs. Some of the stronger demon cultists might have some you can confiscate after beating them, but they tend to be… irregularly equipped, and outsiders typically can’t make use of magic items as easily as mortals so demons are rather unlikely to be carrying that many, discounting weapons of course.

“Arcane casters are, if anything, even rarer in Kenabres. You could count on one hand the number of them I know to be currently in the city, and there’s only one of them I’m confident is able to cast Heroism.”

Ramien pauses for a moment, wrestling with something.

”If you’re confident it’s the going concern, I can lend you my cloak for today, but it’s not especially powerful and I’ll need you to be careful with it since I can’t afford to have it replaced.”

Judging by the shocked looks on their faces, this is not exactly a normal thing to offer.

"I don't know it to be more of a concern for me than for you."

"Forgive my lack of clarity. I am not going to be mind controlled either way; I am extremely hard to mind control in the worst of situations, and at the moment I'm spending most of my time in a hallowed temple and can freely use more active defenses when I need to leave it; I can even replicate the exact bonus indefinitely if I'm willing to stop and use an orison every minute, though I'm usually not so I don't prepare it. My reluctance is more from the fact that I get a lot of use out of it in general and it's a fact of life that sometimes when you hand out magical items to good people in a crisis this means you lose it. I thought about it and decided that risk was worth it to me if it appreciably made you more likely to survive, I just want to be sure that you're asking because you expect it'll be helpful and not just for the sake of it."

"I would find it of enormous benefit to my peace of mind and probable benefit to my ability to navigate all the nests of demons there appear to be throughout the city."

Then Ramien will unfasten his cloak and hand it over. It's a deep purple with flecks of silver like stars and is surprisingly light for its size.

"Don't worry about tearing it, against anything that can do that you have bigger problems."

"Thank you very much." She sweeps it around her shoulders and does a shallow appreciative bow.

"I hope you make good use of it."

One of his parishioners asks him for moral guidance on a dilemma they're having, and Ramien steps away for a bit to give them some private advice. When he returns, he looks a bit rueful.

"Sorry about that, I lost track of what we were talking about before I loaned you my cloak; did you have any further questions for me?"

"I wonder if you have an idea who else might be useful to recruit for the incursion to repair the wardstone tomorrow."

"Ah, right, that was it. In terms of paladins and fighters, I'm sure Irabeth would know better than I where to find them now, but I can help you locate casters at least. Aranka is currently sheltering in Count Arendae's estate to the south of town; if you ask him about her he'll probably pretend he doesn't know who you're talking about but don't hold it against him, I asked him to cover for her and he won't actually prevent you from talking to her. The count is himself an oracle of some skill but he's not one for risking his life on crusading and despises the Prelate with a passion, so I wouldn't count on his assistance. There's an elf girl named Ember who lives on the streets, usually to the east of the temple of Iomedae, who has some witchery. She doesn't think too highly of us clerics which, fair enough, but she might respond to you. Let's see, I wouldn't send Ilkes near something this important yet, Thall is running around pretending to be a paladin for some reason so if you see one of them ping chaotic good that's him, and I think Frulliatros from the Ancientries and Wonders Shop has some wizardry but only first circle."

"I believe there's a fellow who owes me some money so maybe we can patronize the shop even if the wizard himself isn't up to it. Could I trouble you to sketch me a bit of a map?" She appears some paper as her hand extends.

Sure, he can sketch out a quick map for her.

"I appreciate it enormously," she says, looking it over and then tucking it into her hat. And if there are no further expected pleasantries she'll head toward the mansion.

The approach to the mansion has a barricade up behind which stand a handful of liveried guards, but the building looks almost completely untouched. The sounds of music and partying can be heard from within.

"Halt! Who goes there?"