He salutes her on instinct, then thinks better of it and flushes more, his arm dropping back to his side.

"I'll relay that to them now."

She salutes back, but ironically.

Ember still hasn't arrived by the time that Ramien emerges from his prayer.

"The good news is that Desna has agreed that I ought to be 5th circle for this, which means I now have breath of life, burst of glory, and two castings of dispel evil. In more mixed news, she seems to think I need repel vermin in addition to the holy smite, greater magic weapon and crusader's edge I asked for, which means we'll probably have to deal with that at some point but at least should be prepared for it. The bit that makes me nervous is that she supplied me with an unorthodox miracle to put a number of targets to sleep without going through spells, which is either a very serious warning about what level of resistance we should expect or a sign that she's prepared to back us all the way."

"Repel vermin? Like the locusts yesterday?"

"Yes, or other insects, rats, and so forth. It's got a radius of 10 feet or so around me it should keep clear for an hour and a half after I cast it."

"Good to have the heads up. If Deskari shows up again will even a repaired wardstone do anything?" she asks, beekeeperizing herself.

"... if Desna thinks Deskari will show up again in person, I think this wouldn't be the approach she'd take. A demon lord's intervention that she knew was coming is the kind of thing she or Black Butterfly would manifest in person to deal with, or at least tell Iomedae to send a few hundred paladins to kill him from ambush. But he can still command swarms from a distance, and some of his followers have related abilities; it's those that I would expect this to deal with."

"Oh, good. Does anyone else want paper netting? I don't think it'll hold up without reinforcement against a determined bug, let alone a rat, but it'll buy you a moment."

Most of them will take it, Daeran in particular seeming to delight in how outlandish it looks.

Camellia will also make her way out at this point, and accept the netting on the condition that Kybele make it the proper shade of blue.

"I've got evil eye and several second circle spells, including barkskin, so I think I can safely say that was a success."

"Marvelous." She can blue the paper net for Camellia; she doesn't want to ruin her allies' images. Even if they don't work like her.

"I'm starting to get worried about Ember."

"I see your point. Shall we go looking for her?"

"I don't know where we'd start, but maybe a quick jog through likely areas to see if we can find her or Soot. Anyone else up for joining the search?"

Ramien will join them, in case the issue is that she's injured; he asks Daeran and Aranka if they'd be willing to stay by the temple in case she shows up, since with their horses it should be relatively easy to ride them down to deliver the news.

It's actually not too long before they find Ember, but that's because it's not an especially difficult task. She's squatting in the streets on the route from the temple of Iomedae, surrounded by a massive group of rats.

"I don't think this is what Desna had in mind, but I think I should be prepared in case that's me being overly optimistic."

"Uh, Ember?"

"Oh, hello Kybele. Is it that time already? I'm sorry, they came to ask me for help with their injured and I figured since I was ahead of schedule it wouldn't be an issue, but there were more of them than I thought. I'm nearly finished, though."

"Ah, okay. You can talk to rats?"

"Yes. They're one of the smartest kinds of animals around, and they usually care a lot about their families. I'm not sure it's as important as helping people, but most people don't care about rats at all whereas humans can go to their friends or a cleric for help."

She says something incomprehensible to the rat she just healed as she sets them down, and gets back a similar response.

"He says that's the last of them. Did I keep you waiting very long?"

"Just enough we were starting to get worried, but we can run back right now and probably beat the paladin contingent."

They do in fact manage to beat most of the paladin contingent, which has to keep pace with the slowest common denominator, but Irabeth is waiting when they get back.

"Inheritor bless you, Kybele. Is there anything urgent to deal with, or should I fill you in on what we've planned?"

"Go right ahead."

"We've gathered up most of the city's defenders - the eagle's watch, the knights of the flaming lance, Hulrun's inquisitors, Rathimus, most of the other paladins, and whatever of the city watch is still fighting. It's not exactly clear if that'll be enough, especially not with a Lilitu leading them, but it's a threat she can't discount, and Hulrun is strong enough to give her some trouble if she shows in person. We expect as long as she's not sure where you are, she'll be very reluctant to commit herself anywhere where you calling down another one of those blasts lets Hulrun get to her before she recovers, which should keep us in the fight with the amount of healing available.

"Of course, a frontal assault with you in it means she just tries to prioritize killing you well before you can get to the corrupted area of the wardstone, which doesn't sound like a winning strategy. That's why I tracked down the thieflings yesterday and got them to share a back route into the grey garrison that they normally use for smuggling. Our idea is that while we draw attention from the front, you and a small team can slip in through the back and find your way past during the distraction, ideally solving the situation and getting out before they can notice. We'll also be providing some flasks of alchemist’s fire in case you do get caught; if stealth is no longer an option, try to break them away from you and we'll take it as a signal to intensify the push."

"Is there anyone suited to tank the concentrated fire if I wrap them up in paper to look like me?"