"- does that come up much? Lastwall seems very - you have your mission from Her, and you do it."

"...Does what come up much? That She is backing us up when we fail? It comes up. More often than we'd like."

"Huh." She feels like she is rotating ideas in her mind, trying to get them to fit into place. "Does She get mad - no, She wouldn't, that'd be stupid - does She relate to us all as very stupid toddlers -" Aroden didn't, Aroden related to everybody as prospective gods. Made everyone into prospective gods, so that He could relate to them that way.

"The Goddess does not relate to us like we relate to toddlers. In part this is due to Her limited ability to intervene - even if She would otherwise relate to us like that, I imagine you would relate very differently to a young child in your care if you could watch them but only speak to them once a year - but in general She does not relate to us the same way that we relate to other mortals at all. In a sense, She is lacking certain capacities that you and I have. She chose on ascending to give up the ability to be frustrated with, or angry at, or disappointed in mortals the way we might feel frustrated or angry or disappointed towards each other. She cares for us, but not the way we care for each other, we think. She grieves for us, but not the way we grieve. It's not very useful to try to explain the way She relates to mortals with analogies to the way we relate to each other."

"Thank you."

Iomedae doesn't, she thinks, have theological reasons she doesn't trust the goddess Iomedae. She just has her foster-child personal issues around authority and she has the fact that the goddess Iomedae is a substitute for Aroden, who she loved and trusted and who is dead. There's no theology which will make that stop hurting.

And it really is good enough reason to plan on doing what she is told until the wars are won and the world's problems not best solved by winning them.

Iomedae is indeed assigned, as spring approaches, to running radio broadcasts once the war begins, daily rather than weekly. It's good for morale, and for recruitment, and as they conquer bits of Isger and Cheliax it'll be good for giving out instructions in conquered territory; they have spare radios and can sell them in towns they pass through. Someone on the weapons project's staff gets a permanent Telepathic Bond with someone in Cansellarion's staff, through which information for broadcast will be reported along with information relevant to weapons supply and manufacture, though they're almost always going to be broadcasting news on a delay of a week or so. 

Iomedae has read precisely one book about World War II but it gave her some ideas. "I think sometimes on Earth they'd read notes from a soldier's family, on his birthday, can we do that or is it too strongly suggestive I'm in Lastwall? Also news like a baby born at home. Does it cost Iomedae if we do interviews with dead soldiers called from Heaven? …and if so can we also call dead Chelish soldiers from Hell and have fairly awful interviews with them?"

"It costs Heaven a little - not very much, though. It's probably worth it, except that it'll be a couple weeks at least before any soldiers from this campaign are in Heaven. We'll call some when they are, though. I am not sure it would be good for morale to broadcast to our troops reminders of what it means that all the soldiers they are killing are damned, though."

Iomedae nods seriously. She can't really imagine forgetting, but she can imagine not wanting to think about it in very much detail. "I can't think of anything else I need from you." She had wanted to send them off with chocolate, that being the other thing she remembers about World War II, but it's not really a defensible research priority. 

Cansellarion moves first. The weather is unseasonably perfect for it, which isn't how he'd use his very limited access to seventh-circle cleric magic but is probably the work of a sympathetic priest. Iomedae finds herself full of nervous energy; she skips sleep less because she's scared of nightmares and more because it's hard to spend her time not helping. 

They first acknowledge the war on the air three days after the surrender of Citadel Dinyar. 

"This is Freedom Radio, with some exciting news. The liberation of the last five archduchies of Cheliax has begun! We're going to be switching for a weekly schedule to a daily schedule from now until the end of the war, to bring you the news about the fight for Chelish liberation. Abby, if you're disappointed that means Mysteries of the Pharaoh's Tombs won't run until the eleventh hour on Oathdays, you can always just surrender, and we'll return to our normal programming right away!

I don't think we can expect Abby's surrender, and that means that this war is going to last a long time, and it's going to be awful - for the people fighting to free Cheliax, for the people living in Cheliax who don't know when it's safe to join the cause of freedom, for anyone who makes the mistake of being in the room with Abby when she gets bad news, which I expect is going to be nearly every single day. 

One of our priorities is making sure you know what you need to know to keep yourselves safe and your families safe. Where we've achieved great victories, where the remains of the Chelish army are rumored to have run to, and what to expect. But we're also going to tell you that there is, in fact, more to be done here than cowering in your homes. -I'll speak to that more in a bit.

First, I have joined the Glorious Reclamation in its fight to liberate Cheliax. I joined them a few months back, actually. The Glorious Reclamation is led by the Lord Marshal Alexeara Cansellarion, a paladin of Iomedae. His family is from Nirmathas, from what was once the Chelish Archduchy of Tamran, which like most of the archduchies of Cheliax declared it would have no part in Asmodean rule. In Nirmathas the forces of the Glorious Reclamation have assembled, and it's there you should go if you want to help, to join the army that will make our people free.

Some of you may be wondering what it means for the radio show that I have joined the Glorious Reclamation. It does not change that I will never lie to you. My oaths do not permit it; were I so ordered I would disobey, and no one including Iomedae Herself has the authority to give me such an order. It does mean that I will learn some things and keep them secret. If the army has planned an overnight march to surround and capture a Chelish city, for example, I won't betray it by telling you that on the radio. I'll say nothing at all, instead, until the operation has concluded. I will typically report events here some time after they happened, both to protect our soldiers and because it takes time for me to learn things and verify them. I joined this war effort because I believe it will triumph, but only an idiot imagines that every single battle will be a triumph, and only a fool would believe what I had to tell you if I told you only good news, so I'll tell you the enemy's successes, too, if they manage to have any. 

The Glorious Reclamation began our campaign at Citadel Dinyar, in Isger. I'm going to talk through the geography of Cheliax, quickly, for those of you who haven't seen a map. Isger was once part of the empire; a week ago it was a Chelish possession, but a lightly defended one. We're taking it back. Now, Citadel Dinyar guards the pass between Isger and northeastern Cheliax. It's built high into the Aspodel Mountains, well positioned to ride out and strike at Cheliax or at Isger. Our news reports from two days ago tell us that the walls have been breached and there's now intense fighting for Citadel Dinyar." Her news reports from today tell her that the citadel has surrendered, but she'll break that in tomorrow's news. It's good to let people form their expectations about what's going to happen instead of having it all dumped on them at once. "Why should the Glorious Reclamation start at Citadel Dinyar? The geography is one obvious reason; it's a poorly-defended border, on a river, giving our forces a clear shot straight to the false capital Egorian and past it to the true capital in Westcrown. If Cheliax decides to pull its forces off the border with Andoran to try to stop the Glorious Reclamation - well, they can try it. It's been a whole three months since Andoren freedom fighters last carried out successful operations inside Cheliax's borders. Maybe Abby is hoping they can't do it again. I am sure she's hoping Andoran won't join the war - but personally, I'm betting they almost certainly will. The free Chelish territories know the difference between Hell's rule and freedom better than anyone. 

In fact, I talked with some experts on the military situation in the Inner Sea, and what they told me was this: Cheliax knew that a war was coming this spring, because they practically started it in the fall, with the effort to kidnap people by Wish. They spent the winter building up their forces on the border with Andoran, and Andoran did the same. Now, both sides have fortresses entrenched in the mountains that stand between the countries, prepared for an invasion. Now, half of Cheliax's forces are tied up there. If they move, Andoran will take them. if they stay, the country will fall behind their backs. Andoran hasn't declared war, yet, but even Abrogail Thrune isn't stupid enough to think she can turn her back.

Anyway, that's one reason to start at Citadel Dinyar. There is another. Iomedae herself, in the Shining Crusade, wielded a sword of great power, which in the hands of a paladin becomes even more powerful than that, an incomprehensibly strong force for Good. Not only is it deadlier and more dangerous than almost any sword known, it can combat any magic, and protects its wielder, and can bring sunlight in darkness and terrible realization to its enemies. …after the Crusade, Iomedae fulfilling an old oath of hers gave it to the Archduke of Menador, and his line treasured it for a long time, until the Chelish Civil War, when it went missing. It turned up in Citadel Dinyar, and the Glorious Reclamation means to wield it as we return to free the last five archduchies of our homeland. Iomedae is with us. Iomedae is with us more than She has been with any war effort since Her own crusade. Iomedae is, Herself, from Cheliax, and wants to see it free, and will see it free.

You may also have heard rumors that the forces of the Glorious Reclamation wield weapons like none ever seen before on the face of Golarion. That is true. I have tested and fired those weapons myself. They are extraordinarily powerful and extraordinarily dangerous. I don't really expect you to believe me about this, even with my oath, even with all kinds of fancy priests telling you I've never lied. I think you'll believe this one when you hear how the battles are going. I will tell you that on the walls of Citadel Dinyar, men started falling when the invaders were a mile away. 

I said earlier that there is more for the people of Cheliax to do, if they wish to be free, than cower in their homes. You may be called upon to fight, and if you are, my recommendation is just to proceed as slowly as you possibly can, so that the war is over before you have to die in it. Lose your armor, lose your supplies, get confused and wander off in the wrong direction. Asmodeus is strangling your country. He is not owed your service. It may not be safe for you to openly defy Him, but I promise, it's not safe to serve Him either. Do a bad job of it. Delay as much as you can in arriving where you are ordered, and we may well have triumphed before you do. 

I also want to give instructions on how to kill a first circle cleric of Asmodeus with four of your friends. Just, you know, in case anyone finds themselves in the situation where your village would be safer if someone knew how this was done. Such a priest has few spells, and they are not well suited for defending them. Their most dangerous ability is the ability to channel negative energy, which will cause injury to anyone within six paces. Outside that range there is very little they can do, except cause you to feel afraid and believe yourself doomed. Use a hunting bow and ambush them. A first circle priest is scarcely harder to kill than an ordinary man. Alternatively, catch them sleeping; a priest needs a holy symbol to channel or to spellcast, and without one is approximately powerless. It is a dangerous thing, and I would not do it without allies, but with allies I think it is often less dangerous than not doing it. We'll send your village a real priest, of a Good god, who can heal your loved ones with their channel, as soon as it's feasible. 

I want to conclude, today, by leading a prayer for our troops, and thanking them, for the dangers they have undertaken to make our country and our world free of Hell. We'll win, but it's not going to be a quick war, or an easy one. But our soldiers are brave, and they know that House Thrune cannot stand, and they are willing to risk everything to be the ones to make it happen. Iomedae, be with the people of your homeland, as they fight for freedom! Guide us, strengthen us, deliver us from evil. Your will be done, in this world as it is in Heaven, and make us the instruments of the doing."

"Two Miracles," Lilia says to Myrabelle. "For a permanent Gate to Hell through which its forces can come to our defense. …I really wasn't expecting that." Admittedly the first engagements of the war have been terrifying. Lastwall does seem to have secretly built guns that actually function reliably and beat longbows for range, accuracy, and damage. Thousands of them. She wouldn't have imagined them capable of it. 

Somewhat surprising. It might be that Abrogail is panicking, spending down resources she'll need later to try to fix the problem now. Unlikely, though. Miracles go through Aspexia, who is diligent enough to check what her master can afford to spend... so most likely Cheliax can afford more than she thought.

"How many diamonds do they have left, after that, in your best estimate?"

"I thought one, but if that was right I don't think she'd have gone ahead with two right now."

"Who knows about the gate? Who knows where it opens?" How can we give Abrogail an alternative explanation for how this information fell into enemy hands?

That's the problem, isn't it. The plans to Wishnap the little bitch failed, and now Abrogail's being careful. "Myself, Lrilatha, Gorthoklek, Rugatonn. If Rugatonn brought in anyone else in the church she wouldn't have told me." 

"Hmmm. Any of them planning to come out of their hidey-holes? Is Gorthoklek planning to lead any armies in the field?"

"He is, yes. If it goes poorly, well, once there's a Gate through which the forces of Hell come to our defense it's not that costly to send another pit fiend." She would really have expected 'a permanent Gate through which the forces of Hell come to our defense' to be, itself, too costly, but she never really understood the rules the gods played their little game with the world by.

"How soon?"

"Before the invaders get out of the mountains."

"Soon, then."

"They're terrified. And shocked. We were prepared to fight Andoran this spring, and prepared for Cyprian to sweep in once we were winning that one. Lastwall gave a very compelling impression of being - overstretched and out of options -"

"Clearly they weren't."

A solid wall of hellfire meets the Glorious Reclamation at the pass through the place where the Menador and Aspodel Mountains meet.

Gorthoklek's devils can pass through it, and plan A is for them to quickly overwhelm the invaders with more devils than anyone would have dreamed they could bring to the material and retake Dinyar and Isger. But Abrogail isn't actually an idiot and she notices that 'win in the field against unfamiliar weapons' isn't a plan you want to count on, and so the wall of Hellfire is insurance. The devils can travel through it freely; the invaders won't be able to. And it means that she doesn't need the army at the pass, either way; even if Cansellarion's put together an army that can stand up to hundreds of powerful devils summoning thousands of lesser ones, it won't get him onto Chelish soil. They can continue to keep their forces concentrated on the border with Andoran, where they plan to attack as soon as they have determined the capabilities of Good's new guns and the best counters to them.

When the army has approached the hellfire and doesn't appear to be approaching any closer, the devils fly through it. You think you can kill a pit fiend? Fine. Lots of people think they can kill a pit fiend. Try two dozen of them, and immolation devils, and handmaiden devils, and belier devils, all of them surrounded by the lesser devil cohorts they're empowered to summon.

Whatever happens,
We have got
The Maxim Gun,
And they have not.

They don't have that many machine guns, and they haven't yet figured out how to directly enchant them with special qualities, so they are in the hands of powerful paladins with a weapon bond, and in one case a powerful inquisitor with a weapon bond. They are firing silver-electroplated bullets. They are blessed by the good gods. They are enhanced with greater magic weapon.