"Well then, you certainly made it here quickly. I have to say, I wasn't expecting to see another attempt for at least a few more days, but I suppose the first try also went about as well as could be expected."

"Areelu Vorlesh..."

The normally cheerful man is visibly nervous, even through the heroism, but he readies his starknife in case it'll get a chance to matter.

Ky hasn't heard that name before but she clenches her weapons in case that's going to matter in a moment.

"No need to be so alarmed, Kybele the Curator. I'm primarily here today as an observer, not an actor. I assume from the knife that you're here about the wardstone, and not simply to settle a grudge or earn the reputation of having defeated a Lilitu?"

She doesn't sound especially threatening, but her complete confidence when outnumbered four to one and the reaction of Kybele's companions might add a fair bit of menace to it regardless.

"Oh, I like to have more than one reason to do a thing like this."

"Well, I could hardly say I disapprove of the attitude; it's not like I don't often do the same. The speed of your success here has admittedly upset one of my plans, but it's nothing I can't salvage with some work, so it seems a bit gratuitous to hold it against you. Very well then, don't let me keep you."

At the conclusion of her sentence, the woman vanishes with nary a word nor a gesture.

"Anyone have light to shed on that?"

"Frankly I'm shocked we're still alive and not her puppets; if that really was Areelu Vorlesh, she could kill everyone here including Minagho without any risk to herself. She's supposed to have been an archmage before she ascended to become a demon, and a strong enough one that she could open up the worldwound itself. Deskari, Nocticula, and Baphomet might be more powerful than her, but nobody else on their side, and from what I understand wouldn't have half their issues sticking around on the prime material for more than a minute or so at a time. I wouldn't have expected to see her in Kenabres, though, especially since she's apparently not here about the wardstone."

"...okay. Nervewracking, but not mission-relevant."

Onward.

As they ascend to the third floor, the damage to the wardstone comes into view. It looks like an angry red blotch on the otherwise golden object, when no such coloration was visible yesterday. There are barricades set up around the stone to allow a smaller force to hold it against attackers, but they seem to be currently unmanned.

Paper scraps whisper forward across the floor to see if there's anybody invisible in there.

The paper will go right through the area as though there's nothing there!

Correction, her eyes will tell her that the paper goes straight through. Her domain sense, on the other hand, insists that actually her paper is brushing up against a number of bodies as it passes through the room, and that her eyes are playing tricks on her. If she tries to find the outline of the discontinuities, there is apparently a large force of demons in the room with her, but they aren't reacting like you might expect them to to being covered with paper.

"There's some invisible demons there, illusioned," she whispers, "though they're not reacting to the paper."

"From my perspective, it looks like your papers are moving through empty air, but I can't think of any effect that would make you think there are demons there when there's absolutely nothing going on, that doesn't happen by accident. I'm also not seeing anything with detect magic but I wouldn't be, not for something strong enough to hit us through a magic circle that cared to hide it."

"I can feel the paper. I see what you're saying you see, but I feel it stopping around demon shapes."

"If there is an illusion affecting us, Desna's blessing of freedom isn't enough to let me break it in two tries while under a heroism, guidance, and a magic circle, which until just now I would have said I expected to be categorically sufficient against anything a Lilitu could do. I could try again after a prayer, but I'm not sure there's any reason to think it's just barely sufficient to get me, which is concerning. Dispel evil ought to be able to free one person a cast if it's affecting us and not the world around us; do you have a guess as to which it could be? The other point of confusion I have is why they wouldn't have attacked us already if they could; you outlining them in paper ought to give the game away and demons are not known for their impulse control. I'm half tempted to say we should buff up and just walk past them down the side of the room, and see how far we get before they react; the only other thought I have is seeing if you can outline them in paper at enough of a distance I can see it but close enough I can use Desna's gift to put them to sleep, on the theory that this is why I have it."

"I have no idea why they're not reacting. It's like we mutually don't exist except that my scraps of paper are fetching up at their ankles. Sneaking past them might just straightforwardly work."

"If we can get by without fighting them, I think that would be a really good thing. We'd probably have to kill a lot of them before they ran away, and I think it would be pretty noticeable. The fact that it works through a magic circle is also probably a good sign, since it either means whoever is doing it is strong enough that they can hurt us if they want to anyway or they aren't evil. We should be ready for if they do notice us, though."

"Yeah. Let's go, but - keep an eye on that general area."

None of the demons appear to notice them, even as they finish making their way past the barricades. According to her paper sense, the area around the wardstone itself is clear of anyone except them.

"Anyone have a reason I shouldn't head straight for it right now?" she asks, once her scraps have checked the surroundings.

Nobody can think of anything, so Camellia and Ramien will stand guard against the demons suddenly snapping out of whatever is going on while Ember readies herself to supply healing if needed.

And onward she strides, taking soft but long steps, dagger in hand.

As soon as her knife makes contact with the wardstone, there's a feeling like the vision from when she first picked up Lariel's sword. This time, instead of inhabiting the experiences of an angel, she finds her perspective changing. From this angle, the wardstone appears to be a cage - both of the demons inside the barrier, and of the angels inside the wardstone itself. Within this enclosure, a war is being fought, with angels on both sides.

One of the armies still shines with golden light, and speaks to Kybele of duty and sacrifice. This, they say, is the truth of the wardstones; angels that volunteered to seal themselves away, so that the demons might also be contained. They do not resent their lot, nor do they ask for respite from their imprisonment; were the call to come again, for them to descend from heaven to help mortals, even knowing it might well be to their own death and suffering because heaven cannot spare the strength to win, they would choose it again. They warn Kybele of Deskari's plan to corrupt the angels within, and transform the artifact from a link in the chain guarding the world to a demonic beacon, and ask that she eliminate the poison and any who have fallen to it.

The other army glows an angry, crimson red, and speaks of suffering and disillusionment. The truth that maintains the wardstones is the suffering of the angels within, and any injury dealt with it is painful to those trapped. The poison that currently infests it is merely the worst they have experienced, and is beyond their ability to bear. Even now the pain is driving them insane, and the promises of duty and salvation feel like naught more than a burden that chains them down. Some beg for freedom, an end to their suffering in the world of mortals and a return to heaven to heal, while others ask only that the poison be removed, that their torment simply be easier to bear. By far the most common refrain, though, is begging for death; oblivion, they say, is better than continuing as they are, and even were they freed they have no guarentee that it would not come again, for they have no hope that the wound in the world would be closed.

Throughout it all, Kybele can feel within her and the dagger an immense, thrumming power. She could shatter the wardstone, freeing those held within, or slay those experiencing torment, or simply eradicate the poison, had she a way to ensure that this did not mean the fight merely continued. And beyond that, it whispers to her of freedom to chart her own choices, that she could pick some other option if only she saw what-

- ah. Can she tell if killing the ones who want to die will render the wardstone otherwise nonfunctional.