“That’s a good idea. I expect they’ll have some fireballs and such prepared to try and burn you out, but we can get a paladin to volunteer to have protection from fire cast on them and hang back. I’m not sure how convincing it’ll be without the ability to throw around paper like you do, but if we have them hanging back near Hulrun it could just be you saving your effort. The longer she spends second guessing herself, the better.”

“Do you have an idea of who you want with you for the stealth mission? Most of my abilities are best used to empower large groups and are fairly loud, so I’m maybe not the best choice if you have a way to talk Hulrun into being reasonable about my going with the main force, but I can at least top your team up with heroisms ahead of time.”

Aranka is a bit nervous about advertising herself to a paladin working directly with Hulrun, but this is important enough that she’d feel horrible about holding back if it got someone killed.

"I think I want Ember, to quietly put anybody we meet to sleep... and maybe Camellia... but I'll take recommendations."

“I think it would probably make sense for me to go with you; you’re the one who’s death here is least retrievable, and I think it would probably be wise if I gave Hulrun some space. Other than that, perhaps Anevia if we need someone who can disarm traps, and maybe a paladin or inquisitor for some extra firepower, or Thall if we need wizardry. Irabeth, do you happen to know if Inquisitor Hawkblade is currently in town? 

“He’s not; there was a rumor of a succubus in one of the border towns he was tracking down, and he hasn’t made it back yet.”

“Then there aren’t any of them I’d have particular cause to reccomend for a stealth mission.”

“I am quite good at picking locks and disarming traps if we need it, though I don’t have dispel to clear anything magical.”

"I'd appreciate your company," she tells Ramien. "Are we expecting traps? Didn't we hear about this passage from people who use it?"

"Not in the passageway itself, but they tend to be a popular way for demon cultists to secure their flanks; they tend to be an untrusting and untrustworthy lot, and mechanical defenses are another layer of security. Baphomet's people are much worse about it than Deskari's, of course, but we wouldn't want you to get caught because you made noise bashing down a door when you didn't have to."

"Who does have Dispel for magical traps, anyone?"

"I have one, as well as two of the stronger version that only work on evil casters, but for me it's trading off against magic vestment, magic circle against evil, and communal energy resistance. Rathimus should also have some scrolls of it... have any of Hulrun's hit third circle in the attack?"

"One, but last I heard they were planning to spend their third circle slots on Heroism since Rathimus can't give that one out."

"Pretty much any caster can use dispel from a scroll, I think. Want to make the pitch we should get them?"

"Aranka was offering to hand around advance Heroisms, if that helps?"

"Those definitely ought to go with you, Heroism makes you better at sneaking. I bet I can convince Hulrun you should get a scroll because the alternative is leaving you solely reliant on Ramien, begging your pardon Voyager."

"Clever."

Irabeth will run off to do that, then.

Shortly afterward, the main force of the Iomedaeans will come by, though they head towards the gate to the inner city instead of climbing the hill towards the temple of Desna. At a glance, there are probably about 50 paladins and slightly more than that in more ordinary soldiers, as well as a small handful of people who seem to have some kind of magical ability, such as Rathimus, who is willing to waive the usual fee he charges for examining magic items under the circumstances but informs her that the well her sword draws upon is still dry. Fyllemen Frulliatros apparently thought better of joining them at the last minute, but his golem is there, walking near the front of the column. As they pass by alongside the temple, Irabeth returns with a scroll and an antsy looking man with horns on his head, who she says is their thiefling guide, and tells Aranka and Thall that she has provisional permission for them to go with the force and she's basically sure that Hulrun won't go back on his word here but it might be smart for them to stick near count Arendae anyway if they aren't going with Kybele.

"Good morning, I'm Kybele, or Gazette. What can you tell us about this passage?" Ky ask the fellow with horns.

He glances around a bit, as though trying to make sure this isn't a trick with somebody else waiting in the wings, then starts.

"Well, sometimes you want to move some items around without paying the fees, right, and what better way to do it than to get them straight out of a guard outpost. The guards bring stuff right in through the gate, then they drop them off in a basement and you ferry them off. Nobody gets caught, nobody's hurt, it's a win win. So we went looking and found a path from the middle ring that comes up underground in the grey garrison, and we made sure to block it off enough that nobody would see it on casual inspection. It comes up in the basement of the garrison, right past any guards. Of course, there's also some tunnels leading further down, but we don't truck with that kind of thing; way more risk than reward, exploring the underground in Kenabres any more than you have to."

"Did you run into underground monsters coming up, those big centipedes or anything? How long is the path?"

"Mostly, yeah, or occasionally some kind of venomous lizard. Some of the older folks love to talk about rumors of crazed half-human abominations or even outright demons, but I've never seen anything of the sort if you do stick to the upper levels, so I don't know if it's them telling tall tales or not. In terms of distance it can't be more than about a third of a mile, though of course it's shorter as the crow flies and the tunnel isn't straight."

"Are there parts with low ceilings, uncertain footing...?"

"No, none of it got damaged in the earthquake two days ago, but it is a bit grimy in parts. Some places the water starts to accumulate whenever it rains and then takes a while to go anywhere."

"Gotcha. Do you want to come with on our stealth mission or are you assigned elsewhere?"