Oh that sucks a lot! "Isk- iskander - get -"

He's in no condition.

"We've got wounded over here! Someone get a healer!"

"Or, and here's a thought; maybe we could take them to the healers? Perhaps in an infirmary, or even a temple? They're on perfectly good stretchers."

"Nevermind that, make me some room! Stop crowding them, I need space to work. And what happened here, anyway? The boy's injuries are bad enough, but whatever injured the girl looks incredibly nasty."

His voice is that of someone used to demanding respect, and equally used to getting it; age has robbed it of a little of its vigor, but it still carries enough to be readily understandable through the pain. Somehow, he appears to be speaking their native language, so wherever they ended up can't be too far off.

"Demons, sir! We found them just outside the city walls, nearly dead."

There's a short pause while the old man does something, then he replies.

"Demons? This close to the city? Not weak ones either; she's strong enough to have an aura, so I doubt she went down easy, and most of those couldn't deal this kind of injury besides. If one this strong managed to slip through the barrier, there will be others. Tirabade, tell your wife I need to speak with her about beefing up the patrols. Now, as for you two..."

He chants a short prayer referencing someone called Iomedae, and then there's a flash of light that seems to heal Iskander. A second, slightly more elaborate prayer follows, but despite making a brighter flash it only slightly lessens the pain Kybele is experiencing.

"AUGH where the fuck am I - Ky! Ky what the hell -"

"Nmrrgh!"

"My powers aren't enough here, she needs some real healing. You there, make yourself useful and fetch Terendelev!"

"Prelate, surely there is someone else you could send to fetch her?"

Before the old man can snap at her, someone else speaks up.

"I'll do it, sir."

She then takes off at a run, calling out to ask if anyone had seen Terendelev.

"Be quick about it, then, I'm not sure the injury won't get worse."

The apparent Prelate then turns to Iskander, seeming to make walking a few steps look like an incredibly serious affair.

"Now, who are you two? I'm good at faces, and I've never seen either of you."

"This is Kybele the Curator, called Gazette. I'm her brother Iskander."

"That's the first I've heard of you. Who are you two? What is your business in Kenabres?"

He does sound somewhat suspicious, but his words aren't especially accusatory in tone; it's more the background radiation from someone who absolutely doesn't trust anyone he meets.

"Gazette runs the newspaper in our region - I help with the woodcuts and stuff - I have no idea how we got here, I've never heard of Kenabres."

"In your region, hmm? And where's that, that you end up wandering in northern Mendev without knowing-"

"My dear Prelate, please, calm down and stop interrogating these people. For the sake of the festivities, if nothing else; they've had it bad enough already. I'll take care of it from here."

With a gesture and a word, the wound on Kybele's chest seals up and the pain almost completely vanishes. She frowns, then attempts another; it might also help a little, but the drop from the first is large enough it's hard to be sure.

"Hmmph, if you insist. But be on your guard; there are powerful demons outside the walls, including whoever gave her that injury. No shortage of spies inside either, and the festival will hardly change that. You and I need to be prepared to ensure it stays safe."

He walks off, grumbling for a bit, but doesn't seem especially upset at what amounts to a dismissal.

Ky shifts and catches her breath and reaches for Iskander's hand.

She'll give them a bit before continuing.

"Aside from the injury in your chest, is there anything wrong? Any numbness, itchiness, or localized pain?"

"I think I'm all right other than that."

"I'm glad to hear it. Try to avoid anything extremely strenuous for the rest of the festival - something like darts should be fine, but try to avoid the tests of strength. I managed to treat the worst of your symptoms, including the bleeding and pain, but the actual wound itself isn't fixed and that might reopen it early. I did several patrols this morning, so the rest of my high level slots are being saved for an emergency, but if you stop by the temple of Iomedae tomorrow I should be able to try a Heal and see if that gets you anywhere. Tell them you were sent by Terendelev, guardian of Kenabres."

The woman then smiles, doing a relatively good job of looking reassuring.

"......Terendelev, guardian of Kenabres," Ky repeats obligingly.

"How are we speaking this language."

"That is a great question."

The woman frowns, her eyes glowing a bright blue.

"I don't see any magic on either of you, other than the wound and my own, but even if it was the wound that wouldn't explain why he can do so. Would you mind attempting to speak to me in draconic?"

The last sentence sounds slightly different, despite also sounding like it's in their native language. You wouldn't notice unless you were paying very close attention, but if you were the effect would be a little odd.

"I don't know what would constitute trying to do that but I'm doing my best?" she attempts.

That works!

"How curious. You seem to be under the effect of Tongues, or some similar spell, as well as something to disguise the resulting magic aura. Not an especially difficult task, but not one most demons are capable of, nor is it clear why they would bother. Iskander, do you mind if I dispel the effect to see if there are any additional surprises?"

"Would... that mean I couldn't talk to anybody here."

"If I dispelled the tongues, yes, you would only be able to talk with me and your sister, but dispel only removes one effect each cast, starting with the strongest. If that and the tongues are the only two effects, it would be an equal shot I remove either, but if there are any nasty surprises it would almost certainly hit them first. Rathimus might also have one prepared I can prevail upon for you; he sometimes preps one in his fourth circle slots on festival days since we have visitors from outside of Mendev who might buy one.

"If not, I could try to just use an Augury to check, but they're unreliable - especially against magic that interferes with divinations."

"I rely on being able to talk to people. Like, I can't stop you, but that would be very inconvenient if I had to go through Ky for everything."

"Very well. In that case, I will attempt to check first; this requires concentration, so please bear with me for a minute or two."

Then Terendelev closes her eyes, concentrating on unzipping the spellform into a usable shape. If I use Dispel Magic on Iskander, will the result be Weal or Woe?

Woe!

She frowns. That wasn't the result she was expecting; most likely, she figured she would either get no result for the spell failing or it not helping him notably, or weal if it was a good idea. Perhaps there's some fail-deadly spell hidden under the abjuration that reacted poorly to her dispel attempt? Or...

She focuses again, for another minute. If I don't use Dispel Magic on Iskander, will the result be Weal or Woe?

Also Woe!

Oh dear. There's an obvious explanation for getting that result, and she doesn't like it; she was really enjoying this festival too. Well, duty calls.

And suddenly in front of them is an enormous silver dragon, which then leaps into the sky, magic swirling around their claws as they ascend. An enormously loud voice that still somehow sounds like the woman from before sounds out.

"Hulrun, Irabeth, Rathimus, we have a situation!"

....Does Ky have her paper hat or did it get lost at some point during her adventures that she can't remember.

She does! What, did you think the world would be so cruel as to deprive her of a hat?

...She does also seem to have a new set of bracers on her arms, though.

Are they paper? She doesn't want anything that isn't paper right now.

They are, apparently! It responds a little oddly, and seems to have a weirdly impressive amount of work put into it; the outside of it is covered with extremely fine silver calligraphy, and it seems to somehow be a single whole rather than something that can come apart, but it's paper all the same. They're impressively durable, too, and not just for paper either.

She must have made them during the lost time. Though she can't reconstruct what the calligraphy is for.

The hat unfolds into its full size, bright colors and rustling panels of paper, so she can hide herself and her brother under it if anything scary happens.

Something scary sure does seem to be happening. Like oh, say, a whole bunch of demons suddenly appearing in the market square. And in the sky above the market square. And replacing the people they were disguised as. And in the surrounding buildings-

An especially astute observer might notice they seem a little disorganized, as though they launched the attack before they planned to and with some last minute prep work still not done, but it's hard to differentiate that from the general disorganization demons always tend to have.

Ky and Iskander have no preexisting opinions on demons but they are not exactly acting reassuring! Is there a good place to hide?

There's nothing amazing; unless she wants to join the throngs of frightened civilians trying to force their way out of the square, her best bets are probably to either take cover behind one of the stalls and hope she doesn't get seen or head for a corner and at least have two of her sides covered by walls. The demons do seem fairly distracted, though; there are guards moving implausibly quickly and swinging around glowing swords, Hulrun just stabbed an enormous one hard enough to kill it instantly, someone is shooting flames, and of course the dragon in the room is busy tearing her way through whatever Vrocks and Nabasu can't get away from her quickly enough in between freezing some of the denser groups of demons solid.

Do any of the stalls have more paper. There is a reason she normally hangs out in her library or printshop!

Not selling it, though a few of them have some sheets for recordkeeping. If she wants paper, she'll have to grab it from the decorations; some of the strings used to liven up the city are festooned with various colored paper polygons, though by no means all of them.

Right. Come to Kybele, paper decorations. She wants a spear and a breastplate and a cloak of the stuff.

The paper will oblige her in making variously colorful pieces of equipment.

She reshapes it as it flies into her hands. Backs up against something sturdy with Iskander huddled under the cloak.

For a short bit, things seem to be going well. One squat, hunchbacked demon tries its luck, but it doesn't carry a weapon and isn't especially strong; the only thing that would make it annoying is that it's difficult to injure. Meanwhile, in the rest of the square the defenders seem to slowly be getting the better of their attackers, albeit not without serious casualties.

Ky has never killed anybody before and she will process this sometime after she stabs the demon a lot. Why is it so tough, is this some kind of weird skin illustrati thing.

It's not volunteering answers! A particularly strong hit will injure it, but only slightly; weaker hits will leave it no worse for the wear. It's not immune to physics, though, so if she hits it hard enough it'll still be moved around.

Then, in the space between breaths, everything changes. An enormous, insectoid creature appears, towering over the defenders and buildings alike, and with it come immense swarms of insects. All the defenders within reach of it immediately begin choking as the swarms surround them, but the creature could not care less about the humans scurrying around. Instead, with a prodigous leap it takes to the skies, and swings an enormous scythe once, twice, thrice, each one scoring Terendelev's hide. When it comes down to earth, the dragon comes with it.

Terendelev responds instantly, ignoring the fliers to immediately focus on the real threat here. A part of her is confused, wondering why and how Deskari's here in person, but the rest of her is split between trying to survive and sheer rage at the demon lord for attacking her city. She lashes out with her largest jet of cold yet - he dodges, of course, but it takes out most of his swarms and puts him right in range of her tail-

Ky's hat sprouts a lacy beekeeper-type veil to keep them away from her face. The cloak shifts around Iskander, cinching up and sprouting little airholes. The spear isn't really heavy - it's serving as a weapon by Ky's domain powers but it's not the kind that knocks opponents off their feet - but if stabbing the demon enough works, then it works.

Eventually, the demon gives up and goes after easier to target decorations; it's not a fan of her, but there's less pointy art around here and now it's rather worse for the wear. Some of the bugs do make a go at her, but not in any great numbers and they're not very dangerous without the corresponding density of swarm.

The problem with demon lords, Terendelev thinks to herself, is that they're infuriating to fight. Well, that and being evil abominations spearheading the attempts to destroy golarion in general and her city in specific, but right now she's pretty confident it's the fighting. Deskari can dodge her breath attacks all day, and hitting some of the other demons that happen to be in the cone is poor consolation. Whenever she goes after him with her claws and limbs he dodges half the time and barely seems to feel it when he doesn't, and she's already burned through what's left of her heals trying to survive his attacks. She can't win like this, and if she's being honest with herself couldn't win even fresh and fully prepared; it's time she faces the music and fetches help.

Plane shi-

Absolutely not.

Riftcarver lashes out in an enormous overhand blow, faster than any he's done so far today, and tears straight through the forming spacial warping to slam straight into her neck while she's unable to dodge-

-ift.

The spell goes awry, the tuning fork set into her necklace shattering from the spacial perturbances and the spell structure itself starting to come apart from direct magical interference, but the spell completes at least enough that both head and neck-less body vanish.

Riftcarver, its momentum scarcely abated, hits the ground with an enormously loud noise and a kilometer-long chazm cuts straight through the center of Kenabres. As luck would have it, Terendelev was almost exactly between Deskari and Kybele and Iskander, which means the suddenly vanishing earth puts them right over the crevasse. Unlike most times you might suddenly find yourself taking a tumble, however, that might be a blessing in disguise if it gets them out of ground zero for a pissed off demon lord.

Ky's hat and cloak fluff out to form parachutes and they flutter to the bottom of the crevasse, Iskander clinging to her as hard as he can.

Outside the chasm, things are still very much happening, including what sounds like one of the larger buildings being... aggressively demolished, but once the falling rocks settle the crevasse is much calmer. They're not the only ones who ended up in it, though; about 50 feet away there looks to be a young woman in armor picking herself up, and if Iskander has a good memory for people's appearances he might recognize she's the one who ran to get Terendelev.

He does, in fact. "Hello? You okay?"

"I've had better days. But you know, any fight you can walk away from."

She looks around, peering in the dim light.

"Anevia was right next to me - I was covering for her while she tried to pick off some of the fliers - but I can't see her now."

Ky deparachutes her paper. Cloak breatplate bracers hat spear. "Do you have a way to get back up - presumably not right this second, it sounds bad up there -"

"I'm not nearly strong enough to cast angelic aspect, no; you've got to be a pretty experienced paladin to get that one. And yeah, it rubs me the wrong way to not rush to help them, but I'm not sure how I'd get up and I'm all out of smites and lay on hands for today anyway, so I'm not sure how helpful I would be."

She starts, noticing something.

"Oh, there's Anevia. Crud, I'm not sure I can lift those rocks off her safely myself. Are either of you any good at lifting?"

"Yeah." Ky isn't very much stronger than a normal adult man yet but she's getting there, and between her and Iskander they can get some rocks off.

"Thanks! Gotta say, that's not the least favorite place I've ever been stuck, but it's definitely up there."

She winces as she takes a step.

"Though I don't think my legs are especially happy with me even now that I'm out. Scaling this would be tough at the best of times, but I'm pretty sure I definitely can't now. Does anyone see a way out, or are we stuck until someone comes by with some rope?"

"Well, the crevasse is pretty big, but it can't all be the same depth. If we make our way to the other end, it's probably a lot shorter climb."

Ky hems her cloak and gets the remaining paper into a layered roll around the injured leg by way of a splint. "I don't know what I'm doing but I'd bet this is better than nothing," she says.

"What you want is to immobilize it - a bit more like that, yeah - and then wrap it so it stays in place."

She tests her leg gingerly.

"I can't put much weight on this, but I think I can walk unassisted if it's not very fast and I can probably still shoot as long as I don't need to move at the same time. I could go faster if someone helped me, but there's a tradeoff there between movement speed and being able to respond to emergencies and not tiring out the people who would have to do most of the work."

"Well, do we have anywhere to be in a hurry?"

"I work with the Eagle's Watch on tracking down demon cultists, and we're going to be overworked with everything going on even if we're not missing manpower, but that's not urgent enough on the scale of hours that we should be taking risks for it. A bigger concern on my part is I'd rather get some distance between here and ground zero in case Deskari starts swinging his scythe like that again. He's not likely to stick around too long but it would still really help my peace of mind.

"Plus, in the state the city's in I'm not sure when they'll be in a position to send a rescue party to look here as opposed to, say, unburying people from collapsed houses, so getting out before water becomes a going concern could be pretty important. Unless one of you is a cleric?"

"Don't even know what that is."

"If we could get a fire started we could hot-air-balloon out of here but we should make a little more progress along the crevasse first, so as not to be right there."

"Cleric is the hallit word for empowered followers of a god - not paladins like me, the ones everyone gets. They do healing, diseases, and in this specific case they can make pretty much as much water as they want. I'm not sure what a hot air balloon is, but I'm definitely enthusiastic about getting some distance."

 She walks over to Anevia and puts her shoulder under Anevia's arm. With the armor, it's clearly not the most comfortable support possible, but Anevia can make a decent enough pace with that assistance.

Hike hike.

There's a woman there, leaning over a body. From the looks of it, the person in question is dead.

Of... the collapse?

...Probably not? He definitely looks injured by the fall, but there are also a bunch of other injuries.

"What happened to him?"

"Demons, I'm afraid; the fall was the straw that broke the camel's back. I went to heal him, but he was already dead and I'm not strong enough to cast breath of life."

("What the hell kind of illustrati do they throw here anyway.")

("No idea, not the time to dig into it.")

"That's a pity. We're going to keep walking along the crevasse till we find a place where the surface looks clear and then maybe float out with a hot air balloon, if we can get a fire going."

"When I prepare spells tomorrow, I can ask for create flame, but I'm not sure how much good that will do without a fuel source and I'm not strong enough to spontaneously grow plants either; thorn spears doesn't work either, they disappear if they ever leave my hands and they're not terribly big. Hopefully there's just a way out that doesn't require waiting that long - I assume by the fact that you're coming from that direction that there's nothing at that end?"

"Didn't try the other direction, but there was nothing obvious."

"In that case, if you don't mind I'll join you."

She has a pretty fancy rapier, and her clothes are all high quality - judging by the lack of further adornment, she's probably not the wealthiest person in the city by any means, but definitely well to do. Unfortunately, as it turns out, there isn't an easier way up at the end, but there is what looks to be a natural cave.

That has some giant bugs coming out, of course! I hope you're prepared for centipedes that spit venom.

Not really specifically, no!! The guard of the spear flares out to block the venom from hitting Ky and she spears them.

Camellia will stab one of the others, and then the last two die to Anevia's arrows.

"Are there a lot of those? What the fuck do they eat?"

"I'm not sure! You see a few of them in the city sometimes, but not often enough they could be taking it back down or anything."

She pauses, considering.

"Well, it's not the way up we were hoping for, but there's probably a way out through that cave; the bugs do have to get food from somewhere, and in a way their size is encouraging since it means there's better odds we can fit."

"There are some fortresses from the first crusade that extend underground, from back when they were fighting demons in the tunnels. They're mostly abandoned now, but probably one of them is the exit in question."

"What, and go tromping through a cave just to maybe get back to the surface later? I can't say I'm a fan of this plan."

"We could see if the centipedes will burn, if anyone's got a firestarter - Iskander?"

He pulls out his flint and attempts to ignite the dead scorpions.

There's too much water in the insides for that to get a good flame, and the chitin in the exoskeleton doesn't burn. They can get some wispy smoke if they work at it, but it's not really a roaring fire.

"Yeah, I don't think this will catch even if we sacrifice some clothes and paper."

"Spooky cave it is, I guess."

Once they commit to the plan to traverse the cave, Camellia admits that she can cast light as many times as they need. It's not the most amazing buff imaginable, since the light coming from right by their heads ruins their ability to see too far in the distance and alerts anything that somehow failed to hear them, but that beats the heck out of not being able to see anything in the pitch dark. The cave system is pretty sizable, but inside the hour they start to hear echoes from some people talking a corner or two away.

Oh, and what are those people saying?

"I'm telling you, it's got to be around here somewhere. We just need to figure out where it got buried in the quake."

"And I'm telling you, you're wasting your time. Even if you could find it, it's not like an angel's sword would respond to you."

Well, better not to startle them when they come around the bend. "Hello?"

"Hello! Woah, are you guys from the surface?"

"We fell down when the crevasse back there opened up. You live down here?"

"I've lived down here my whole life. All us neathers have. There's another way up to the surface now?"

"If you can fly."

She grins, sharply.

"Unfortunately, I'm not exactly swimming in wings. I might give it a look to see if I can climb it at some point, but even if I can it's going to be beyond most of us."

"Should we conclude that this direction is not necessarily an easier way up?"

"The shield maze isn't normally safe, but if we can find the angel's sword here it'll be a lot easier than normal. With that, we can rally all the tribes to go with their best warriors at once instead of individual hunters trying their own luck - and we need to anyway, some kids decided to explore it and went missing there yesterday."

Wenduag doesn't say anything, but she sure looks doubtful.

Do Seelah and Anevia and Camellia seem to think this is a reasonable thing to spend time on?

"Well, an angel's sword would be pretty cool. Maybe it'd even respond to me; I know some paladins get a celestial spirit to empower their sword, even if I can't do that yet. And I don't want to let kids get hurt if I could help save them."

"I'm not one to really buy into the hype around angels, but at least it would make a good story. We might as well get something for our time here, and if it lets us get out of here faster all the better."

"I think it's probably not here. Most of the items angels left with us are priceless relics of the first and second crusade; it seems unlikely there would be one down here still, not if it's a genuine article, and finding  a sword under all this rubble sounds like a tough task anyway. Plus, it would feel weird recommend it when I can't really help with the digging."

"Would make a good story" is enough for Kybele. She starts hauling rocks.

Seelah and Camellia will join her and Lann, though the former certainly seems more enthusiastic. One would be forgiven for assuming that Camellia mostly wants to be able to truthfully say she participated rather than find the sword herself, but she is helping and it's unlikely she'll be able to claim she found it at least.

Before long in her digging, she'll see a hint of something metallic through a crack between some rocks; the material flashes with reflected light from the glowing sphere above her head.

"Ooh, might have it -" She shifts a couple more stones and grabs it.

It's a very impressive sword! When she picks it up, it glows, much brighter than any of the lights, bringing with it a sense of surety and security - and then the wound in her chest opens up, bleeding but still not hurting - and Kybele finds herself in a vision. There's a feeling of hurt and betrayal, clearly foreign to her but somehow still experienced, and she somehow knows that this is the experience of the angel Lariel. They were stabbed in the back, all but one of their allies turning on them, and the last lay on death's door at their feet, having been terribly wounded in helping them survive. Even despite this injury, they are mighty, but they cannot do everything - they must choose between saving the life of their comrade, and taking down those who turned on them.

"Hnnnng?!?" she pants. She has no idea what the fuck is happening and will err hard in the direction of healing in case her ally (???) has more idea what the fuck is happening than she does!

Within the vision, it's nearly a primitive action; as instinctual as controlling paper, if not more, to direct a spark of the brilliant gold into her companion. The girl opens her eyes, and tries to say something, but her voice barely rises above a whisper.

"Lariel... you said that everything was going to change soon? That you and the other angels would go on a mission to stop the source of the demons, and leave us? If that's true... then you shouldn't have saved me. The mission is more important."

The angel shakes his head. "No. Even if I fall here, another will take my place; heaven will not leave people to die alone for lack of one angel. But if I struck them down and left, there would be nobody here to save you. To help someone, to save a life... sometimes you cannot manage it, but it's never the wrong thing to do." He then smiles; visibly tiredly, but with genuine warmth. "When you get to heaven, do not feel obligated to act on my behalf, but know that if you choose it you would be an excellent angel. I will not permit your soul to fall into his clutches."

Then he speaks more loudly, challenging all within earshot, and his sword glows again to drive back the darkness a step. "Deskari! Show yourself!"

Out of the darkness comes a horrible chittering and rustling. The traitors fall to their knees, and the shadows part to reveal the same creature that slew Terendelev. With an unhurried gait, he advances, his terrible scythe swings almost faster than the eye can track-

And Kybele is back in her own body. The sword is glowing, just like in the vision, and a halo of light surrounds her. She has a headache and her chest wound pounds with pain, but even as she blinks away the spots in her eyes those begin to fade.

"Aaaaaaaaugh!" she says, clutching her sternum. "Fuck fuck fuck -"

Seelah rushes over to her and helps support her, only mildly slowed down by the rubble covering the floor.

"Are you alright? No, stupid question, what's wrong? I wish I still had a lay on hands left in me..."

"I don't know! Sword made me hallucinate and now my chest hurts again!"

"Oh dear. Angelic swords aren't supposed to do that - I'm not detecting evil on it, but if it was a good fake it would be able to beat my detection anyway. What was the hallucination? Do you need me to hold it, paladins are usually resistant to most kinds of hostile magic? I can try and heal you tomorrow but if Terendelev didn't manage it I probably won't be able to solve the problem."

"It was like having a dream that I was the - angel - and deciding whether to heal somebody or go after some backstabbing allies who'd hurt her to begin with?"

"You had a vision of the angel? Of them helping people? What was it like - what were they like? We're not even sure we really know his name right."

Lann appears to be looking at her with no small amount of awe.

"That does sound a bit more like an angel, but that was awfully rude of it to make your chest injury start hurting - I guess it does make some sense that a demonic wound would react badly to an angel, but still. Does it feel like there's any ongoing influence, or like your injuries might be getting worse?"

"Lariel. And I think it's calming down again now."

"That's good to hear, at least. We ought to get you some water, though - Camellia, do you have that one?"

"I do indeed. What would you lot do without me?"

With a gesture, she fills Seelah's canteen up to the brim.

Seelah then offers it to Kybele. "Drinking water doesn't always fix headaches, but it rarely hurts, and we've been doing quite a bit of hard work."

She drinks about half the canteen; hauling rocks is thirsty work.

"I suppose it figures. Thousands of bells go by, and nobody who touches the sword gets a single reaction, but the moment people show up from the surface the first one to try gets vision and shines with the light of heaven. You're as mortal as the rest of us, but I guess that hardly matters to an angel's sword."

She sounds more than a little bitter about it, but it doesn't seem to be mostly directed at Kybele at least.

"It's because we're mongrels, Wendu; we're tainted. Old Sull might talk about a glorious history as underground crusaders, but it's not like anyone can't tell the difference between us at a glance."

Despite his self deprecation, he seems more upbeat than he was a few minutes ago.

"With the angel's - Lariel's - sword giving that kind of reaction, we can definitely rally the tribes. Er, you can repeat it, right?"

"I'm not sure I have enough blood for that to be a great idea to try, exciting though the possibility is!"

"A shame, really. I hear bleeding out from chest wounds is a common fashion statement these days."

Lann seems somewhat disappointed, but also abashed.

"Er, right. Hopefully just the sword will be enough, then - it's not like I was going to be able to light it up anyway, and a group from the surface is going to be big news even without making it glow. Would you be willing to come to Neatholm?"

"I wasn't expecting to be able to make it to any of my other appointments."

"I suppose not. Well then, follow me!"

It's immediately obvious the difference that having Lann and Wenduag to guide them makes. The two of them are excellent archers with even better vision, but most of the advantage isn't there; if anything, they're somewhat held back by the fact that both of them are extremely careful with their arrows. They don't make shots they might miss, which is great for their accuracy but less so for eliminating all the critters before they get close, so it's not actually three times as good as Anevia alone. Instead, they are good at avoiding false turns, unstable ground, and on one occasion an entire colony of giant spiders. Anevia is starting to flag a bit, but less so now that she's not stumbling on uneven rocks, and it's not that long before Lann remarks they're almost halfway back.

During the aftermath of one of the fights they don't manage to avoid, Wenduag hangs back to speak with Kybele while Lann collects his arrows.

"I don't know if you really can't call up the light without being injured or not, but either way, it's the right choice. If you go around waving the light of heaven, the neathers will follow you like moths to the flame even when they really shouldn't, and the shield maze will chew them right up. They'll die for nothing and the kids won't even be saved. Numbers help, yes, but only so far, and once people start getting injured the rest will exhaust themselves trying to keep them safe. If you want, I can guide you and your group through, but that's about my limit; I've never tried taking more than a small group with me, and I definitely can't help anyone who can't carry their own weight."

"Maybe we could clear a path on the way up and then go back down later to hustle them out, if they want to go all things considered?"

"I've never managed it, but I don't know that it's impossible; it depends on what kind of help you can get on the surface, but I don't have any issue with you trying and I'll even help if it seems like it'll succeed. It might end up making more sense to chart an alternate path through wherever you came in, though; I expect you'll know better than I once we're through."

"Well, we came in via a giant chasm that opened down the middle of the town, but I guess with a ladder it would work all right once things have died down up there. I think I don't have enough paper to make a ladder... how many neathers are there? I think I'm close to being able to make more paper of my own."

"Definitely in the hundreds. If you count everyone in all the tribes, including children, it's over two hundred but probably not twice that. If you made a ladder I'm not sure how many would follow you; definitely some, but probably not most. Lots of them are scared of the idea of anything new, and it's a pretty common belief that we're stuck down here because we deserve it, the idiots."

"No, I mean, if I did the glowing thing, then would they go back the way we just came, and up a ladder, if in the course of this I became able to make such a ladder."

Wenduag frowns.

"I'm not sure. You might well get more takers, since the quakes have gotten some people very nervous and the idea of listening to angels is... culturally persuasive, but heading up a ladder is less like the idea of crusading most of them have stuck in their heads than getting themselves killed trying to rescue some kids is and I expect some of them would have second thoughts if they ever actually found themselves on the surface. You could probably get a good portion of the hunters, at least, and even if I doubt the surface is exactly safe right now it's better than the lot of them trying to cross the shield maze on their own at least. It's not what I would do, but I don't know exactly how it would end up."

"You think you're a couple hundred people watching you glow a sword close to domain genesis?"

"Maybe, it's just hard to tell!"

Soon Lann finishes up his arrow collection, and Wenduag leaves Kybele to think about her options while she returns to helping guide their group to Neatholm.

It's not a very impressive village. The buildings, such as they are, are mostly mud, rock, and chitin, and there aren't terribly many of them. Wandering or working nearby the buildings are other neathers, almost all of whom have some immediately visible mutation or deformity, and the first thing that comes to mind on seeing them is that they're poor. Nobody immediately visible is starving, but there are definitely signs that a lot of them have had months or years where they didn't eat too well, and Lann and Wenduag's clothing are somehow relatively higher quality than what most of them are wearing. The city is also absolutely filthy with caked on dirt and dust, although at least the people aren't; the benefits of living beside an underground lake, most likely. A few of the nearer people seem to notice Lann and Wenduag and call out to them, but are astounded at the appearance of visitors.

"Ugh. I'm not sure what else I should have expected of mongrels, but the sooner we get out of here, the better."

Camellia seems to really wish she was holding her nose right now, but while the smell isn't exactly pleasant it's not that bad.

Anevia is mostly looking around to assess the various possibilities of places to sit down. Seelah's support or not, her leg has been killing her, and her arm and side aren't exactly happy with it either.

"Welcome to Neatholm! Chief Sull will want to talk to you as soon as you're available, seeing as you've got the sword, but if you want to wait it shouldn't be an issue."

It looks reasonably safe here; Ky compacts some of her cloak into a stool shape for Anevia to sit on and says, "I would be honored to meet with Chief Sull at his pleasure!" in a carrying but not shouty voice.

Chief Sull is, apparently, a heavyset and elderly mongrel with white wispy hair and one working eye. He speaks with a lisp and his lungs rattle with every breath he takes.

"Uplanders, eh... with that and the quakes, the end times are upon us now."

"Chief Sull! We - well, she -" he pauses, gesturing towards Kybele, "found the angel's sword! And someone who can wield it! She drew it and she had a vision and glowed with the light of heaven and everything. Gather everyone from the tribe who can hold a weapon - we should gather everyone from all the tribes! We can still save those kids!"

"Ah, Lann, always the dreamer. An uplander here to help us with an angel's sword and the light of heaven? I'm not one to believe in miracles, Lann; that kind of thing doesn't happen to us underground crusaders. You say it's the angel's sword, but you trust people because you want to believe. If I'm to rally the tribes, I need proof."

Wenduag shoots Kybele a meaningful look, but doesn't say anything.

Ky exchanges a look with Iskander, considers her odds with and without a couple hundred very excited people backing her at getting out of here, and then she takes a step forward and holds the sword aloft. "Chief, I will show you if I can. If the miracle won't repeat itself, that too is worth knowing."

Is everybody looking? Yes? Good. Sword, do your thing.

The sword shines with a brilliant light, giving Kybele the appearance of an angel. The light feels almost apologetic; rather than reopen the wound, it instead suffuses her with a surety and warmth that some part of her instinctively knows will help protect her from harm. Everyone else has a similar glow, though lesser than hers, and a few of them seem to be blinking spots out of their eyes.

Chief Sull is staring at her in awe. "So, it's true. The angel didn't forsake us... and even now, he seeks to help us save our children."

"Angel's sword or no angel's sword, trying to conquer the shield maze by force is madness. We won't manage to rescue the kids, just get everyone else killed trying. If an angel really did bless us, it wouldn't be so we could all die throwing our lives away for nothing."

"Please, say more about the risks. What is in the maze?"

"Trying to navigate it is a nightmare; it's full of traps and false turns, any of which could have a monster lurking inside. Practically everywhere you go is the prime position for an ambush, and some of the inhabitants are more than willing to take advantage. It attacks the psyche, leaving you jumping at shadows or ignoring the signs of attack. And sometimes... the ones doing the attack would be old friends, but they wouldn't recognize you anymore in their madness. When I was younger, there used to be a whole group of us that would try and brave the shield maze to find a way out, and now I'm the only one left."

Okay. Moment of truth. Did the thing with the angel sword get her domain genesis.

Not yet. Fuck.

"The choice of whether to venture through it seems like a momentous one. I don't know how such things are normally decided among your people; is it perhaps time to call a council of all the tribes, describe the situation to them and hear what they have to say, and go or stay as one?"

Chief Sull nods gravely.

"Yes, indeed. I'll send runners to the other tribes; we'll need them assembled anyway if we're going to take the shield maze."

"If we wait that long, there's no guarantee they'll still be alive - in a crisis situation, every minute counts."

"Lann, there's a difference between heroism and foolishness. Even if you alone were enough to conquer the maze, it would be unwise for you to rush in while already tired. What if by the time you made it to them, you were already halfway asleep and in no condition to guide them out? We'll discuss it first thing in the morning, and make our decision then."

"That sounds wise to me too. Where can we sleep?"

"Neatholm is open to you. Those that went missing had their own place to stay should you wish it; if you do not wish to room together, you may prevail upon the others here for lodging, or sleep outside if you prefer."

"I don't know about you, but underground or not, I think I'd prefer a roof over my head. That said, I'm not exactly tired just yet; are you interested in taking a bit of a look around first, or should I let you get some shuteye?"

"I'd love to see more of the place. I've never been anywhere like it."

"Great! Lann, Wenduag, what would you say are the best places to see here?"

Lann looks much less antsy now that he has something useful to do rather than feeling like he's wasting his time while kids are in danger.

"Sure! Over there we have the docks - being able to fish on the lake was the main reason we built Neatholm here, but you won't catch anything all that big outside the shallows, and it's also useful when you need to get across the lake in a hurry instead of climbing around the edge. And that over there is the storage hut, where we keep supplies of the kinds of food that doesn't go bad. And that's-

Whatever Lann would have said next is interrupted by someone coming around the corner and into sight of the Neatholm entrance. His appearance makes it clear that he's from the surface as well, and his clothing that he'swell to do; their exhaustion and stopping to pant makes it clear they aren't especially fit. When he spots Kybele's group among the neathers, however, he seems to pick up a second wind and start making his way over to them.

"- who's that?"

"That's-"

"Horgus Gwerm, gentleman and noble of Kenabres." The man seems to have an incredible ear, at least when it comes to people talking about him. "You lot - you're adventurers, right? From the surface? Horgus Gwerm will pay you handsomely for a route back to Kenabres, and you guaranteeing his safety while he travels. I'm prepared to offer a thousand gold."

"That's a handsome offer, Mr. Gwerm! We were just discussing that and have decided to stay the night here, but I don't see why you shouldn't travel with us; we're going to be gathering more neathers and there's safety in numbers. I'm Kybele the Curator."

"Of course it is - Horgus Gwerm is always generous when it involves ensuring his safety, my life is far too precious to waste it cutting costs."

Despite his words, he seems quite pleased at her easy acceptance. Then the second part of what she says seems to hit him, and he nods rapidly.

"Naturally, naturally; it only makes sense that you would wait and get a good night's sleep first before setting out, quite sensible of you to stay safe." If Kybele is looking closely, his eyes might seem to linger a bit on Camellia while he says this, but it's gone to quickly to interpret closely. "I'm charmed to meet you, Kybele the Curator. When you have a finalized plan, please let me know, but I won't keep you any longer than necessary."

She sketches a little bow.

"Are we going to get dinner at some point? Fish or something?"

"Normally, we do rely a lot on fish, but with uplanders and an angel's sword in town I expect the cooks are going to want to try and impress. Nothing but the best rats for you!"

"Somehow, I feel like I could have happily gone my entire life without eating a rat."

"Well, there's no accounting for taste. Over there's where Dyra has set up shop; she's really big on trading things, but there's less call for that kind of thing than I think she'd appreciate."

"I actually love fish. It's my favorite. Also Ky's favorite. We are fish fiends. Oh, and do you have mushrooms? We love those too. You don't need to waste rats on us."

Ky will drift over to see what's in the shop.

"Huh, I'll go let them know. They'd never forgive me if I let them miss out on a chance to make your favorites! If you have any questions while I'm gone, I'm sure Wendu can answer them."

Dyra appears to be selling a number of useful goods and services. In terms of items, there's arrows, fishhooks, a few kinds of weaponry, firestarters, and so forth, but also a handful of bottles that are apparently healing potions and pain removal. The sign, which they can also somehow read, lists prices for "channeling," "cures," "truthtelling," and "carrying capacity," as well as mentioning to ask her for a quote for other castings. Around her neck is a necklace with a stylized symbol of scales that a native might recognize as one of Abadar's holy symbols but is almost certainly meaningless to Kybele and Iskander.

"Uplanders! Feel free to let me know if anything catches your interest or you have questions, I love to trade with new people! I'll take trade in barter, not just gold, but prices are higher if I'll have to liquidate it myself to get value out of it."

"Ooh, healing potions. The sign - hm, we're from very far away, not just above the ground but also many miles off, and I'm not sure I recognize the services, can you tell me about them?"

"Certainly! I'm a cleric of Abadar, the god of trade, which means I give him my worship and do my best to foster trades and he gives me tools to help me out at doing that! When I want a specific spell from him, I have to ask for it that morning, and normally I pick things like ant haul, which makes you better at carrying things, delay pain, which means that things that would otherwise be painful aren't for a while, and truthtelling, which prevents you from lying and is great for proving you're being honest. Sometimes I also cast that one on myself, when I say I haven't been cheating people in trades or stealing things, so people know they can trust me. I can also turn any of these spells into cures, where I heal one person, and I have a couple of channels a day where I heal everyone around me. I usually sell one of those every day after dinner to the villagers here, but you could buy one too if you wanted. If you want a spell I didn't ask Abadar for today, you'd need to make a deal with me ahead of time so I can ask him for it tomorrow and then sell it to you."

"Oh, how neat. Do you sell paper, by any chance?"

"I do! I'm mostly the only one here who uses it, so I've got some supply, but it's pretty hard to come by down here so it'll probably cost you more than you're used to. If you just want something that you can do some figuring on I can also sell you slate and some chalk, it's not as good for keeping things long term but it's much cheaper especially since you can rent the slate rather than buy it."

"Nope, it's paper I want." She taps her hat. "I could improve the quality of whatever I don't buy, if that would suit you."

"Oh, I see." Dyra is a little disappointed that she didn't find someone else as enthusiastic as she is about written records and instead wants paper for a practical purpose, but she recognizes that in retrospect it was silly to expect it of everyone on the surface and there's no reason that the first person she meets would be like that. Plus, this does open some opportunities.

"Certainly. Does this mean you're fine with purchasing paper that has writing on it already at a discount? And what does improving the quality mean in practice, can you make them longer lasting? Less likely to tear?"

"I am happy to take paper that has writing on it already. I don't know how what you have now is in those capacities but most likely both! Smoother, friendlier to a pen, if it's thick enough I can thin it out and give you half again as much total surface..."

In that case Kybele can receive almost two dozen sheets and some gold in exchange for doing maintenance on records for stuff that mending doesn't catch and expanding her paper supply via standardizing sheets.

"Do you happen to know what circle that ability stabilizes at for clerics, if it does? I try not to ask Abadar for too much since I'm already near the limit of what I can cheaply do for him, but for the ability to improve my paper supply I'd definitely be tempted."

"- I'm sorry, I don't know that you'll be able to do at all," Ky says, adding the extra paper to her ensemble.

“That’s a shame. I’ll ask, then, but expect to be disappointed. Is there anything else you’re interested in getting, or items you’re willing to sell? We don’t get a lot of goods from the surface, so even some common things have unsatisfied demand and plenty of things will pick up some value from novelty.”

"Healing potions sound like they'd be great to have on hand. I don't have much else on me - we didn't pack for a trip, our departure was far too abrupt - but I could make you little ornaments, say?" One of the sheets of paper turns colors and twists itself into a seamless openwork bauble.

“Hmm. Not much practical use, but what with you being exotic visitors and waving that angel sword around there’s sure to be some value in it. I’m hesitant to spend too much of my coin on something  with a value that speculative, though, so I’m going to keep my volume low and my offer a bit lower than if my expected payout was a sure thing. I’ll take three of them at thrice what you paid for the corresponding amount of paper, or a quarter again that for four in most goods.”

She makes three similar ornaments. She has enough paper to make her angel sword a scabbard, now, so that's cool. "I'm afraid I don't expect much call for most of the inventory, but if I think better of that or meet anyone who needs something you carry I shall certainly think of you."

“Certainly! It was a pleasure doing business with you. If you wanted healing but were time agnostic on getting it, stick around for a bit after dinner starts to wind down to catch my channel. Normally I would charge you or them a nominal fee for an extra target, but we’ve just conducted a bunch of positive sum trades and the marginal cost is pretty minimal.”

"I would appreciate that! I have what is apparently a pretty treatment-resistant injury but throwing more healing at it wouldn't hurt."

At this point, Lann returns.

"You're in luck! I caught them just before they got started and told them, so they made sure to make some fish for you. It's not too much longer on the food, either; we've probably got enough time to go swing by the empty hut so you can decide who is sleeping there or not, but then it'll be ready to eat."

He grins.

"I'm not sure what you were trading with Dyra, but I can't remember the last time I've seen her that upbeat. Sometimes it feels like she's a bit suffocated, being down here with us mongrels, but I don't know what we'd do without her either so it's good to see."

"She seems lovely! Though I agree it's possible she'll have more scope for her business up top."

The hut is not, in its details, particularly different from its neighbors besides being abandoned, but it does look reasonably sturdy and insulating. If all five of them try to fit, it'll be a mite cramped, but there is enough padding for each of them.

"I'll sleep outside. I've got warmer clothing than any of you, and Anevia needs to get as much rest as she can so she can heal for the treck up, not to be crammed in like hay in a bale."

"Hopefully it's nothing a channel can't fix, but I'm not optimistic. Walking on it all day can't be great for it either."

"There is a channel this evening, and I've managed to scare up a bit of money to buy any into it who want."

A bit of the tiredness seems to leave her at that.

"Oh, that's excellent news. I assumed they didn't have anyone - most towns of this size won't, on the surface - but that's great news. I'll pay you back whenever we get back to Kenabres; I only have some pocket change for the festival on me, but we've got some money put away for a rainy day that should cover this, and if she's used that up buying out Rathimus' help because Hulrun is too busy there's always money in adventuring here at the wound."

Her stomache rumbles a bit.

"Food. That's important too - we shouldn't keep our hosts waiting."

"I hope they do have mushrooms. They ought to, being underground and all."

They do indeed have mushrooms! Both the normal edible kind and some of the excitingly toxic kind, the latter rendered fit for consumption by a casting of Purify Food and Drink. Thankfully, once prepared the fish look surprisingly normal and the taste isn't much different from river catfish. There are also roasted rats and a few kinds of insect on offer, the former of which Lann and Wenduag tear into enthusiastically, and once the meal gets underway there's some kind of mushroom moonshine that Seelah pronounces to taste terrible (but evidently not terrible enough she doesn't go back for more later).

As the meal progresses, Kybele will definitely note some of the neathers looking at her with what might be an uncomfortable amount of awe.

Uncomfortable? No, not at all, she lives for this. She will let Iskander poke all her mushrooms and devour her fish with relish and will if nobody stops her retell the tale of finding the sword.

(Iskander isn't nearly as famous as she is but he has enough mostly-spillover standing to make mushrooms taste amazing.)

Then she can very easily start converting that awe into hero worship! As she continues talking, more and more of the neathers will start listening in.

"So Iskander, does your prestidigitation only work on mushrooms or is it a stylistic thing?"

"Only mushrooms. Got a worse draw than Ky."

"That's unfortunate. Still, it's not like there's nothing you can do with mushrooms; you could raise a barrier, or trip people, or grow mushrooms in someone's lungs." She smiles at him. "Besides, perhaps when you've gotten stronger you'll also get some more versatility."

"I'll be able to do stuff with mushrooms, sure, but mostly I'm Ky's support person. Someone's lungs, gruesome."

"With adventuring, I think that's usually part of the idea. I'd say I'm disappointed by the lack of ambition, but I don't doubt Kybele is going places and even her supporter is liable to be at least somewhat interesting. Well, enjoy your mushrooms."

She wanders off to go talk to Anevia for a bit.

When it comes time for the channel Ky will carry Anevia over if she'd like! It's easier than it would've been this morning.

It won't get her all the way back to better, but she's pretty sure walking on it won't make it any worse from here and it'll heal fine on its own even if she doesn't get it further attention, which is really better than you'd dare hope for after falling into a chasm and then exploring a cave system on it. Once she gets the channel, she heads back to turn in early for the night so she'll be in the best condition she can manage should she need to help out tomorrow.

If she notices it being easier, she certainly doesn't say anything about it.

The celebration is starting to die down a bit, with some people wandering off now that the channel is done, but there are still people willing to listen to any stories Kybele cares to tell. If she wants it to stop at a reasonable hour, she'll have to be the one being responsible, because they certainly won't.

She will stay up telling stories for another half an hour, maybe, making sure everybody remembers the shit out of her name, and then she will go to bed on a bed of fluffy curly springy paper.

In the morning, the various other neather tribes start to trickle in. Objectively, it's not all that many people, but the gathering point is starting to get crowded and there are dozens of small factions to keep track of. Among the newcomers, there's skepticism mixed with anticipation, but the confidence of the locals is enough to keep it down below a simmer. By the time chief Sull tells Kybele that probably everyone who plans to come already has, there's a little over three hundred people waiting; counting those that didn't come, that suggests a neather population near the upper end of Wenduag's estimate.

She can find a conspicuous place to stand and do the sword trick again!

One might naively expect that seeing the light of heaven is less impressive if you had to walk an hour or more to get to Neatholm and see it. Not so; if anything, the extra work and wait while everyone else showed up seems to have built up the anticipation, though it's not like the locals aren't impressed the second time either. Some people fall to their knees, while others start crying. Kybele might have noticed a slow buildup as people arrived and took note of her, but it's hard to compare the previous gentle incline to the current enormous jump.

The light is still as it was the second time, warm and reassuring and no incapacitating chest pain.

NOW can she make paper?

Absolutely! She's a little stronger than that requires, even.

Fuck yes. She will be able to make them a ladder out of the chasm. She nods genially to the assembled neathers, sheathes the angel sword, and goes to update Chief Sull on her ability to do this, demonstrating with a small ladder.

Chief Sull is by some of the other chiefs of the visiting tribes and Lann, discussing the feasibility of an attack on the shield maze to rescue the kids inside and how the help of an angel (or angel's sword, they aren't entirely clear on the difference) might change that. When she arrives, however, they'll all happily make time to speak with her or include her, as she prefers.

"I propose that anyone who doesn't feel prepared to take on the shield maze - children and other noncombatants, for instance - go back the way we came and climb a ladder I will create to the top of the chasm, emerging into the aboveground city. My hope is that things up there have had time to die down. Then a more focused team can attempt the maze to attempt the rescue, and I'm willing to be among them if that is desirable."

Some of them are pretty nervous about going up to the surface! They know a lot of people up there aren't necessarily going to be fans of neathers, and it would mean leaving behind everywhere they've ever known. But the quake and the tunnel collapses it caused were also fairly terrifying, and Kybele is basically an angel so she's obviously trustworthy. If Kybele is willing to flex her charisma, she can convince the doubters.

When the talk goes to logistics of a small team and who should be on it, there is a bit more disagreement. Everyone agrees it would be foolish to try without Wenduag, and Lann is also an obvious contender, but how many others they should bring depends on how much the danger scales with number of people. There's nobody else quite as useful as those two, save of course for Dyra who doesn't fight, and between the uplanders and them it's already starting to be a fairly sizable group.

"I'm willing to go up first and look for a suitable place to receive you, but I won't force anyone to climb out if they prefer to remain in their homes; I'm no kidnapper."

If she'll go first to make sure it's safe then obviously that'll be sufficient, most everyone will be willing to go then.

Not everyone brought the things they wouldn't want to leave behind, but some of them did and some of the inhabitants of Neatholm are willing to head back with the fitter visitors to escort any stragglers and pick up important things that got left behind; they probably won't get everything but they'll grab most of it. A few of the best hunters will go take the path back to the chasm and pick off any monsters that have wandered near it since Kybele's group went through yesterday, but she should have at least an hour before they get here and another before they get to the point that they can start climbing out; how soon she wants to leave depends on how long she wants to spend scouting it out before the Neathers arrive to head for the surface.

She'll go up now and see how things have shaken out, why not.

Iskander will go with her, naturally.

Anevia wants to get back to the eagle watch as soon as is feasible and expects she'll be helpful determining where is safe and proving their bonafides; she'll come with, making much better time than yesterday.

Camellia is hardly going to stay behind in Neatholm a minute longer than she has to, much less if that means that she misses out on what happens next.

Seelah is going to go wherever Kybele leads at this point, if she'll have her.

And Dyra will also ask if Kybele minds her attendance; getting to meet and trade with people from the surface is unquestionably something Abadar wants of her, and if there was a demon attack recently there might be a market for her channels. She's not interested in adventuring in general or else she'd be volunteering for the shield maze trip too, but she promises that if they need any healing while escorting her she'll consider the price paid by the journey and patch them up.

"I'd be delighted to have you. You can be a bit of a bellwether for how people react to neathers."

They'll hardly get attacked by anything on their trip; apparently most creatures territorial enough to attack armed humans over intrusion in their space or a light died attacking them yesterday or the scouts that went ahead today. Seen from the bottom in morning light, the chasm is extremely tall and looks like a nightmare to climb, but it's also relatively straight shot up and shouldn't give a ladder any particular difficulties.

Ky constructs the ladder, climbing it as she goes to anchor it with more paper - pulped and squashed and firm as wood - into the wall of the crevasse. When she's up at the top she pokes her head out and has a look around.

It's a mess! The square is filled with bodies, human and demon alike, and there are a handful of probably-demons flying a ways overhead. The human corpses seem to be split into roughly three groups: civilians, mostly dead by tearing, trampling, claws, and so forth; some kind of irregular force, which seems to have been primarily armed with glaives, scythes, and crossbows; and of course uniformed guards and soldiers, which primarily had longbows, swords, and spears, as well as better armor. There are plumes of smoke rising from elsewhere in the city and the large fortress at the center of the keep has some enormous glowing... rock thing sticking out of it, but at least the terrifying bug demon from before doesn't seem to be present anymore, nor are there a lot of locust swarms buzzing around. The nearest people to her actively making noise instead of hiding seem to be past this next street and in the festival grounds proper; there's some smoke rising there too, but also a hubbub of voices and no sounds of metal clashing with metal.

"It looks like things are at this moment reasonably calm. Seelah, Anevia, I'd like you up here to look official for us."

Anevia can lead the way, since Seelah might be a paladin but there's pretty good odds whoever is there won't recognize her. As they get closer, they hear a scream of anguished pain, which is certainly not a good sign but not absolutely disqualifying; Anevia will move more carefully from then on, and then peer around a the last corner to see what's happening on the festival grounds.

Prelate Hulrun is there, standing on a stage nearby a roaring fire. In front of the stage are various people, some bound in rope and chains, others just held in blace by threat of weapons from the guards surrounding. The guards are mostly the same livery as the better-equipped corpses they've been passing, but there are a handful of people in less fancy versions of Hulrun's clothing stiffening the line. Outside of the stage, fire, and the prisoners, there are two other things of note; a pile of corpses, most of them human, stacked up to the side, and a grimacing pile of people under lighter guard with burnt arms.

Hulrun currently seems to be interrogating one of the prisoners, who has a look of mortal terror on their face.

"- Prelate Hulrun! A moment of your time, if you please!"

"Kybele the curator! And Tirabade too, we were wondering where you ended up."

He gestures to two of his subordinates, who escort the person he was interrogating back into the group of prisoners at swordpoint as he heads over to speak with her.

"It's good to see you haven't succumbed to your wound yet, that's the crusader spirit. I'll need to check some of your companions are who they say they are, but that should be quick. And who's this?" he asks, turning to Dyra. "You've captured a demonspawn for me to interrogate?"

"No sir, this is Dyra, cleric of Abadar, one of the population we found beneath the city upon falling into the chasm! Their homes are no longer safe due to the recent quakes and they wish to come to the surface, where I'm sure they will be delighted to contribute to the rebuilding efforts. What are these people here accused of?"

Hulrun's eyes do something, twice over, as he looks at Dyra; whatever he sees evidently surprises him enough that it shows on his face, but he doesn't seem displeased. "Good for her, rising above her kind. Kenabres could use more Abadarans. The city's not safe at the moment - there's still fighting house to house, and plenty of demons have slipped past the lines to hide or disguise themselves among the mortal population, but if they can fight it's safer than being crushed to death. The people here are captured on suspicion of being enemies; cultists, looters, deserters, and of course demons. We've been hard at work sifting out the guilty, although of course it's hard to be sure with the clever ones; those ones over there are mostly clear." He gestures at the group with burnt limbs. "In a couple of days things will calm down enough that we can spare the channels to heal them safely, and they can return to their lives under supervision, but if we let them loose while the situation is this chaotic we'll have to recapture some of them."

"Understood. Then your advice would be not to bring noncombatant neathers to the surface at this time?"

"Not unless it's about to collapse. They'll be attacked by anyone looking for easy pickings, and if the demons start pretending to be them it'll be harder for me to notice - not to mention any cultists among their numbers."

He turns to Iskander and Camellia.

"I'm low enough on spells that I'll have to trust you to know whether your brother is a cultist, and I'm fairly sure Camellia isn't unless she's given you some sign, so we just need to make sure that neither of them have been replaced by demons while you had your back turned. I'll need you two to stick your hand in the fire; we'll heal you afterward if it burns you, but it's a foolish risk to take and we don't have enough holy water going spare to use that."

Camellia looks faintly mutinous, but not nearly enough to try and argue with prelate Hulrun in a crisis from inside sword range.

"Camellia has not exhibited any obvious signs of being a cultist, and of course neither has Iskander. It seems like it might be easier to control the damage if we touched a hot coal rather than an active flame, or do I misunderstand the purpose of the exercise?"

"Demons are resistant to fire; some of the stronger or more clever ones can fake it, but you'll catch a lot of them by forcing them into flame and then seeing if they get burned. Coals work fine if they'll definitely be burned from them, but you don't want to grab something too cool and then end up with a false positive from not being burned."

Anevia has enough control of her face to not let on how incredibly distasteful she finds this entire process, but some of it is leaking into her voice.

"It's just that as you can see I am wearing a lot of paper."

"You're fine, I can tell you're Good. Any demon strong enough to fake that result isn't going to get caught out by the fire anyway, it would be a waste of spells. The same goes for Tirabade and Seelah. It's just those two that don't give a read, which is much easier to fake."

"Are you sure this is a good idea," Iskander whispers to Kybele.

"No. Dyra can heal you."

Iskander approaches the fire and elbows something hot and yelps and displays the burn.

Camellia will do the same, albeit with more stoicism.

And one of the guards will place his hand on their shoulders, praising Iomedae, and they'll be healed! He looks grateful to finally have a chance to actually help someone.

"Thank you," says Iskander, and he scurries back to his sister.

"By your leave, then, we'll go back down and let them know that things are still somewhat chaotic up here. I will leave the ladder in case of sudden quaking making it more urgent that they come up, though. Where would you assess I'm most needed?"

"If your paper can exert significant force, there's a lot of collapsed houses and rubble in the streets it would be valuable to move and difficult to do by hand. If you can fly or use long distance attacks and are confident in your strength, doing something about any of the Nabasu or Vrock hanging around would be immensely valuable but my guess is that they would kill you if you tried. If you have some form of truthtelling or can tell when people are evil, there's always plenty of call for that; Dyra, if Abadar gave you any zones of truth this morning I'll pay above normal market rates even if they've got an easier save - Rathimus is too busy to sell me his. Otherwise, I recommend linking up with the army or eagle's watch and taking the fight to the demons - last I heard, Tirabade was preparing to take back the grey garrison later this afternoon. Oh, and if you catch sight of Ramien or any of his Desnans bring them to me, they're wanted on suspicion of treason."

"I'm afraid I didn't prepare that, Prelate. I have two of Abadar's truthtelling but no zones of truth."

"Ramien, Prelate? Surely you're joking - I know you've had your disagreements, but Desna is a Good goddess and Ramien has always worked for the wellbeing of Kenabres!"

"Desna may be a good goddess, but she's not reliable where it counts, and this time I have more than that. Those out of town Desnans of his broke into the wardstone building yesterday to sabotage it before the attack, though they denied everything when we caught them in the act, and the Voyager broke them out of custody last night. Best case scenario, some succubus hit him with a dominate and he'll be fine once we snap him out of it, but it's possible he's been replaced by a demon or was a traitor all along."

"I'm afraid I wouldn't know these people to look at them and my range and exertion of force are both pretty limited. Where would I find the garrison?"

"It's the big fortress building over there - the one with the wardstone half sticking out of it."

"Thank you. Iskander, perhaps since you're less of a combatant you ought to go back down and tell everyone what we've seen."

"What if they decide I've been replaced with a demon while we were separated?"

"Then you will have to poke a hot object again. It is a terrible sacrifice." Pat pat.

Luckily? none of the neathers are are paranoid as Hulrun is, so there isn't any tests for demonic infiltration on that end. Opinions are mixed on how to feel about not going up regardless, but they mostly take news coming from the angel's brother reasonably well and are willing to wait a bit on the triumphant return to the surface deal.

Well, most of them are. Once confirming with Iskander that Kybele is delayed again, Lann slips off towards the shield maze on his own.

One of the people down there is not a neather! Specifically, it's the person who hired Kybele earlier.

"Iskander, there you are. From what you told the mongrels, it's not safe for them, but it shouldn't be any more dangerous for me than if I'd never fallen down this hole. Do you know where your sister is? Horgus Gwerm owes her a thousand gold, and I have another job I'd be looking to hire her for if she's in the market."

"She's up top joining up with the Gray Garrison but I'm sure she'd spare a minute to talk business as long as she's not fighting a demon when you meet her! The ladder's right there if you want it."

"Capital! It's excellent news our fair city has such an efficient hero in this dark times. Well, don't let Horgus Gwerm keep you!"

"Have a lovely rest of your day, Horgus Gwerm."

Meanwhile, Ky is on her way to join up with the garrison.

The eagle's watch is currently dispatching some Abrikandilu and Dretch a bit over a block from the entranceway. There are clouds of some noxious gas floating around, and some of the guards are distracted by retching, but the dwarf and half-orc leading them seem scarcely bothered and it's not remotely sufficient to stop them from winning.

Anevia recognizes all of these people and will immediately begin contributing with arrows.

Is... Ky's comparative advantage here fans, because she can do fans. And also a paper lance, sharp as and stiffer than any natural paper, and also she's shedding bits of her cloak in the street as she goes, as tactical surprises as-needed.

The fans will be greatly appreciated! Removing the gas won't instantly clear up the symptoms, of course, but it helps out anyone who was still holding their breath and keeps things from getting worse. The demons are just as resilient as before, but they definitely seem more vulnerable to individual good hits than manifold small ones.

Once the fighting is over, Irabeth will run over and embrace Anevia. "Nevy! I thought we'd lost you!"

"It'll take more than that to count me out. This is Seelah, who was covering me before Deskari showed, and these two are Kybele and Camellia, who we met up with in the caves under Kenabres. Dyra here is a cleric of Abadar from down there."

"It's a pleasure. Dyra, if you have any channels going spare we'll happily buy them off you - if you're willing to fight, even better, but I assume that you feel the same as Rathimus about that? We don't have gold on us, but we can write you a promissory note and then Rathimus will transfer it from our accounts, he's with the civilians we've been gathering at the defender's heart."

"You assume correctly on the fighting, but a channel I can do." She waits for Irabath to tear off a strip of paper and write down the note, then glows and heals everyone in the area. "I also have several delay poisons and what seems to be a communal delay poison, the latter of which I've never got before. I was confused as to why, but if you're encountering a lot of these gas attacks then probably it was so I can cast it on you."

"If you would, we would be much obliged. Staunton and I can essentially ignore it, but it slows down our whole group whenever the vapors get too thick. Kybele, Camellia, do either of you need it or can you handle poison on your own?"

"I'd as soon not have to wave fans around with quite this much urgency!"

"If you can keep up that gas clearing, I think that makes you one of the priority targets; we should make sure you get the full length of a normal delay poison, not split duration."

Then Dyra can do just that before heading taking the second promissory note and heading off in the direction indicated for the defender's heart.

The rest of the road to the grey garrison is pretty clear, other than one person hiding in a second story window who tries to snipe Irabeth as they pass; Anevia fires her own arrow before his bolt even hits the target, and it skitters of Irabeth's armor without injuring her - he doesn't have time for a second shot before Anevia takes his life. When they arrive at the doors; Irabeth gives a quick briefing.

"According to our sources, they're here to do something to the wardstone and we can't let them succeed. The cultists we interrogated also claimed the whole operation was being run by some big-shot succubus, so definitely be on your guard there even if we don't take it on faith. If any of your fellows start acting odd, report it immediately. If they turn on you, disable them if you safely can, but prioritize your safety and that of your unenchanted comrades above their health. Melee fighters, your first priority is making sure nobody gets by you to attack our archers; archers, focus fire on the cultists - especially any wizards - until the succubus shows herself. Don't get distracted, don't go chasing down enemies away from the group, and keep your guard up for tricks and illusions. Praise Iomedae!"

Then she forces open the doors of the garrison - inside is a mix of the irregulars whose corpses she saw earlier and demons, mostly Dretches and Abrikandilu but with one particularly nasty one with a spear covered in a glistening... something that someone identifies as a Babau.

How do babaus feel about papercuts, writ large?

It's significantly more difficult to damage than either the Dretch or Abrikandilu - about twice as much, though it's not easy to be precise. Any paper that makes contact also seems to start getting eaten away at by acid.

"Try and stick to the humans or lesser demons. Babaus are basically impossible to injure if you aren't using cold iron and aren't a paladin or a veteran adventurer."

"Gotcha." She'll focus her fire paper on the little demons. Just the demons. She doesn't feel quite right about killing the humans.

If anyone considers this noteworthy, they don't say anything, but it probably makes strategic sense anyway; arrows mostly don't injure the Dretch or Abrikandilu unless they're cold iron, whereas her attacks at least reliably manage to harrass and injure them at a range, or kill them outright if she focuses her efforts. There are plenty of others with no such compunction - like Camellia, although her weapon does seem to go straight through any demon she tries it on.

Wow it turns out that glorious battle is not actually fun at all. She'll have to dress it up for the stories a little. Slash slash slash.

In short order, they'll have cleared out the entryway and fought their way to the stairs, at which point the combat dies down for lack of enemies and Irabeth will call everyone over to do a channel of her own. Only two people seem to have died, but a few other people do have some injuries the channel didn't fully fix. The resistance on the second floor seems even less concentrated, but then somebody tries to shoot Kybele with some glowing projectiles.

She is not sure how her armor will hold up to that, so she tries not to find out.

No such luck! Magic missiles categorically don't miss and go straight through most armor. The first one hits like she just got punched by Irabeth without armor, and while the second is a comparative lovetap it's still not pleasant.

Whoof that was unpleasant! Let's kill everybody on the side responsible!

That will prevent him from casting another, especially since the paper in his spellbook has no objection to joining in the effort to kill him! Neither of the other wizards next to him has an especially better time of it.

Oh, were those books important? Sorry, they are part of Gazette's arsenal now. Muahaha.

With Kybele taking down the wizards so quickly, the second floor was notably less dangerous than the first; two more of their people perish, but one of them was already injured and fewer of the living have comparable wounds. Another channel from Irabeth fixes up pretty much everyone besides Kybele entirely, and Seelah can heal her the rest of the way with a lay on hands.

"I really like the magic healing around here, it's better than the kind at home."

“It really is convenient, isn’t it - one of the biggest advantages we have over the bad guys. Paladins mostly aren’t as good at it as clerics, but my ‘Beth is strong enough to make up for it anyway. It’s almost enough to make me consider following Iomedae.”

"Good to know." She gives herself a little shake, fixes up her armor.

It's on the third floor that everything goes wrong. Most of the enemies are just more of the ones they've encountered so far, but the last one is enough to give everyone pause. The demon appears at first glance to be an attractive woman, with the horns, tail, and hooves somehow not doing anything to take away from that, but then it becomes disturbingly clear that she has no eyes. She's also completely terrifying.

"Oh, if it isn't Staunton dearest. Darling, did you come to deliver me another city from the crusaders?"

"Minagho! This time you won't get away!"

There's no mistaking the sheer rage and hatred in the dwarf's voice. He really wants to kill her, whoever this is.

Anevia frantically gets Kybele's attention. "If you are hiding any tricks, now would be a really good time to whip them out! First Deskari, now an abyss-damned Lilitu of all things... damnit, this shouldn't be happening."

...she can pull out the angel sword and see if that helps!

It's hard to focus, through the thick and cloying sense of hatred and fear around her, but inside her she feels a core of light. At first, it's somewhat dim, but the moment she calls upon it it ignites, blasting away the miasma like it's not even there. Golden wings lift Kybele up into an air while a halo manifests above her head and her entire body glows like the sun. Her chest hurts, a bone-deep pain, but the sensation is somehow almost unnoticeable next to the torrent of power flowing through her, just waiting for Kybele to direct it-

AT the lilitu, howsabout!!

A beam of blinding light comes down from the sky, smashing through the roof like it wasn't even there and slamming straight into Minagho. It lingers for several heartbeats, then vanishes. The demon lies facedown on the floor where she stood, her clothing burnt and her skin scorched and smoking. Around her the floor is cracked and blackened from the impact, though it stops short of driving her body down to the next floor.

As the bolt fades, so too does the energy animating Kybele's body, taking with it the wings and halo. The feeling of immense power is replaced by complete exhaustion, and there's nothing to drown out the feeling of agony coming from her chest. It's almost as bad as when she first woke up in Kenabres.

Everyone, demon and mortal alike, is struck speechless.

Oh that feels bad. She takes a couple of steps back, coccooning herself in paper to compensate for the lack of dodging ability she is presently experiencing.

For a moment, nothing changes, but then the Lilitu's arm starts to twitch.

"Do you think you have another one of those in you? Because if not, now seems like a great time to make a break for it."

"I don't think so."

Then Irabeth will grab Kybele and jump out the window, the rest of the crusaders and adventurers coming with her. The demons are too surprised to really have a coherent response to this.

The dwarf will channel twice, once as they hit the ground, and again once everyone has landed.

And they'll run as fast as they can to break line of sight from the fortress.

"We'll have to send a runner to Hulrun; I'm not sure we have anyone else strong enough to take out a Lilitu."

"Frankly I'm not sure Hulrun can do it. He couldn't pull anything half as impressive as that blast. Maybe if Terendelev were still with us, we could dislodge her, but that might need to wait on whenever the queen arrives with the army from Nerosyan."

"Is that soon?"

"At least a week out, most likely. They could get a strike force here faster of course, but I don't think we have a team strong enough to take down a Lilitu without the support of an army. Maybe if the queen fought it personally? But if she lost, that'd be it. Maybe Lastwall has some people who could manage it, but after our last sending I'm not optimistic. Inheritor, I really hope we can find an option that doesn't involve asking Cheliax for help."

The last part is said with particular emphasis.

"What really gets me is that this shouldn't be possible. The wardstone ought to fry any demons that try and cross the barrier, much less that hang out in the same building or throw it halfway across the city."

"How do the wardstones work, who made them -?"

"They're a miracle of Iomedae - thirty-six major artifacts straight out of heaven, delivered to us when we thought we were going to lose the second crusade. The way they're supposed to work, they make a barrier between each of the individual wardstone pairs. Demons can't cross it; teleportation is blocked, if they fly they fall out of the sky, walking leaves them dead at best and knocked out cold at worst - easy enough to take down for patrolling squads of soldiers. The effect is strengthened the closer to the wardstone the effect gets; some of the sections along the barrier near Kenabres are relatively weaker, since we're better able to deal with demonic incursions than most forts, but nearby the wardstone itself it should be operating at full power. If the  demons really have some kind of countermeasure... it's hard to overstate how bad that would be."

"That does sound like something must be wrong with this one. Who'd know how to fix it?"

"I'm not sure we have anyone like that in Mendev; we're not exactly a center of learning here. Outside of Mendev... maybe an archmage could figure it out? It's not like Felandriel Morgethai or Nefreti Clepati want the world to get eaten by demons. The problem would be getting them to take us seriously."

"There was that one elf - the storyteller, or whatever his actual name was, from Kyonin. He was here to study the wardstones, so it seems possible he'd know something. He was researching in Blackwing library before the attack yesterday, but I don't know if he's still there now."

"It'd be a place to start." Is her wound better?

Not all the way better, but it's stopped bleeding again and the pain has died down to a dull roar. The exhaustion has also mostly passed; she feels some amount tired, but only moderately more than you'd expect from all the fighting and moving she's done today.

Which is still too much, she's a fucking illustrati, but it's tolerable. She will let herself be carried as long as her bearer is willing.

Irabeth has 19 strength; even counting her own full plate armor, carrying Kybele is not even a particularly heavy load. She can quite literally keep this up all day, though it won't be as effortless as it would normally be because she only has one lay on hands left and is saving that for an emergency like getting Kybele back on her feet in a hurry, and thus can't just heal away any fatigue. Unless Kybele indicates that she wants to be put down or Irabeth needs her hands free to fight, she has no intention of forcing the person who just exhausted themselves probably saving their lives to be responsible for their own transport.

"Do you think you'll be recovered enough inside the hour, or would you rather we drop you off somewhere relatively safe like the defender's heart or the festival plaza? Rathimus probably has at least one lesser restoration left, if that effects your calculus, but we picked the spot to be a bit out of the way for a reason; it's a fair bit further from the library."

"I don't know, I don't have very much experience with this wound yet to guess what it's going to do. It doesn't seem to be getting worse right now."

"Let me know if that changes, then; I still have one lay on hands left I'm saving for an emergency."

With that settled, they can make their way to the Blackwing Library, though not before Irabeth dispatches three of her people towards the festival pavilion to let Hulrun know that they're dealing with a Lilitu. He'll be suspicious of how they survived, of course, but frankly suspicion is an entirely sensible response to dealing with a Lilitu so she's less inclined than usual to hold it against him.

Inside the blackwing library there are:
1. Lots of books, some of them on the shelves and some of them piled up on the floor
2. A group of what appears to be crusaders and an elf, tied to a pole at the center of the pile.
3. Another group of what seems to be crusaders, standing guard to prevent the other group from escaping.
4. Someone with a flint and steel trying to get books to light on fire and at least thus far failing horribly.

"Whoa, there, folks, what seems to be such an emergency as to burn books about it?"

Their apparent leader startles at the sight of them and takes a moment to reply, although it's hard to be sure what he's startling at.

"Demons, ma'am! We've caught some cultists here masquerading as crusaders, and we're trying to get a blaze going so we can find out which ones are only pretending to be human. They're a tricky lot; baphomet cultists, I think."

"I see. And your side of the story?" she asks the tied-up folks.

They're gagged and can't reply.

Yeah that does seem like an impediment. She and a little paper knife will start slicing gags off.

"They're lying! We're the real crusaders and they're the baphomet cultists!"