Meeting Hell (Afina, Jaela, Tryll)

[Anastasia]

Morniel's soon back with another angel. An astral deva, clad in simple and unremarkable clothes. The only notable thing he wears is a golden pendant with the holy symbol of Erathaol on it.

"Aurora, I am a Lawgiver. May I see the fiendish contract?" His voice is smooth, kind, enthralling. You feel like you could listen to him all day.

[Corwin]

"Here you go," Jaela says, passing the papers over. "I'm Jaela. Thanks for coming to help us on such short notice."

[Anastasia]

He takes them and pauses to shake your hand, "No thanks are needed. Now what are your priorities for the counter contract?"

[Corwin]

Since she's discussed this earlier, Jaela says, "First, let's figure out what conditions they snuck in that we don't want to live with and deal with them. Next, equally important, we need to ensure reasonably tight restrictions on the Father's use and the best deal we can get for Muirfinn's recovery. Lastly, some way of making sure he's not a security risk afterwards or some sort of sleeper agent. I take it Morniel explained the matters at stake to you, as well as the dangers of the Father?"

[Anastasia]

"Alright, it'll be a matter of balancing and making a proper offer," Lawgiver remarks, "What of those are your highest priorities?"

[Corwin]

"I listed them in descending importance. Above all, we have to make sure we're not signing away the keys to the Aurora and all of that. If some obscure detail nulls the whole thing, the rest isn't important anymore. The next two are of equal importance, like I said, but if you need to pick aim for what comes easier. So long as we do acceptable on both we're good. The last is more of a wishlist, but if you manage to swing that I know a lillend that'd be really grateful."

Jaela frowns. "One thing to keep in mind is that while Muirfinn's important to us, where it comes to Hell they have to value an ancient nigh-unkillable demon that depopulated a Prime more than a single hero opposing them that they've already defeated and damaged."

[Anastasia]

Lawgiver merely murmurs agreement as he reads the contract, "What worries me is that Hell rarely ransoms back prisoners of Muirfinn's magnitude, let alone ones touched by the Lord of the Ninth. Do you know what about The Father motivates them so?"

[Corwin]

"He was spawned by Demogorgon and Pale Night, looks like? The same Pale Night that acquired that unruly pit fiend, Zguujaj or whichever? There's also that major victory against her some years back, and some weird rumors about her. Maybe Hell smells blood in the water, maybe they're afraid of what she's planning, but I figure it could be linked to that." Jaela shrugs. "Or they might want to make some crazy golem from the Father's messed up soul. Or maybe he's a target of opportunity. For all we know, he's target ten thousand and seven on their list of enemies to execute if they get the chance, and the chance is Aurora gaining his prison recently."

[Anastasia]

From there Lawgiver works. After a few hours he has a draft ready. "The contract had some nasty catches," Lawgiver sits and sips a glass of fresh berry juice, "No time limit on The Father's demise, the means obscured though I understand that's probably not a point they'll budge on, Aurora being liable for any complications, arbitration of any points being done in Hell and more. Mostly well hidden but nothing to compromise the underlying deal. They want The Father enough not to aim directly for your souls, though Aurora itself could have been at stake if arbitration went wrong. I've removed that entirely, any arbitration in our proposal will be done through the offices of Primus himself."

A pause to sip more juice and then smile, "With the names involved in this contract, Primus himself may hear any arbitration. Primus is all about the letter of the law, so I've cleaned up the counter proposal to be extremely clear and have no wiggle room that can surprise Aurora. The original contract's no good, too self justifying. I don't know who wrote it, but they're talented."

[Corwin]

"So the main goal's been achieved," Jaela muses. "Can we push on both time limit and means, only to concede on the latter to secure the former?" That should get the Father dead on a timely schedule, which is good enough. "Also, what about Muirfinn? We want him back, body, mind and soul, as recovered to the point he was taken as possible and with no lingering strings attached. That means annulling anything and everything he might've signed over while in their possession, the works."

[Anastasia]

"That's in there. As for the rest, depends on negotiations over the contract language. I will serve as an advisor, who will be the main diplomat for the contract language negotiations?"

[Corwin]

"Morniel will take the lead," Jaela says without a second thought. "I'll assist. Any last minute suggestions, from either here or back on Aurora?"

[Ebiris]

Afina wordlessly shakes her head, deferring to the experts in this arena.

[Anastasia]

After a short delay Tepen says back, 'We'll defer to the experts,' he says.

[Yuthirin]

"We're good!" Calleigh replies. "Wait, are they gonna return his stuff too? I bet he had stuff with him when they kidnapped him!"