The Rime Tower (Afina, 86 days left)

[Corwin]

"I actually hoped some trouble returned...." Jaela laments, waiting for everyone to cross before following suit herself.

[Anastasia]

The party returns uneventfully.

"I am not one to begrudge a successful mission, but that went with a smoothness I rarely expect," Crystal says, "Thus I wonder if it was too easy, and then I realize I may well be falling into meaningless mind games thanks to the devils."

[Ebiris]

"For a long time we've convinced ourselves that Lifasa belonged to the devils, that it was an unassailable bastion only confronted when we could muster our full strength," Afina reflects. "But the truth is that barring direct support from Nessus the forces there are stretched thin and not of the same quality as veteran Blood War units. The traitors themselves are individually potent, but... well, they're tactically inept when left to their own devices. I don't mean to encourage complacency for us, but we should be aware of our own advantages and use them."

[Anastasia]

"I've read that trillions of forces on all sides are busy in the various wars and  tasks each plane has," Bubbles says, "That must be it, there's only so many to spare from Blood War, personal bodyguards and other such things. Sugar, perhaps our strength is now sufficient to overcome any, save for the greatest warriors of Hell, for too many are occupied with..." she trails off.

"Love," she says, "Perhaps the only reason we have a chance is because of the demons and evils being eternally a-war."

[Corwin]

"To be fair, the one event we were always afraid of took place." Jaela shrugs with visible discomfort. "Since we're already past that, nothing's holding us back anymore."

[Anastasia]

'Apologies for the delay, but Balyss was not able to help further,' Tepen replies.

Meanwhile, "That is true. We have nothing left to lose." Crystal agrees.

[Ebiris]

"And we'll have to pick up the pace even further as time slips us by. But for now we can rest and prepare for another raid tomorrow. I'll have a look through our intelligence to get an updated target list since we've mostly worked through the last one."

[Corwin]

"Plus, the more times we escape these inescapable, sure-kill traps the more it feels like a trend than mere luck?"

[Anastasia]

Awesome. Plans, you two?

[Corwin]

I'll invite Afina to go bug Balyss for why we can't catch a traitor and what to do about it.

[Ebiris]

I'll go along with that, and afterwards dig for further Lifasan places that would be improved by volcanoes.

[Anastasia]

Easy enough. You find Balyss in Selune's holy grounds, resting in contemplation.

Go ahead.

[Corwin]

"Hi again," Jaela greets Balyss. "Listen, we really need to do something here. So far, we've hit zero traitors for five attacks. Seeing their holdings burn is nice and all, but the sooner we get the rings, the sooner we can push for liberating our world, so I'm really hoping you have a more definitive insight for our next destination."

[Anastasia]

"Taelfagn is scared," Balyss says, in a voice that is not her voice at all. "He his hiding them. They are the keys to his victory, or at least to deny Aurora victory. However, all is not lost and he cannot hide them perfectly."

[Corwin]

"We're ready to go after the ones who aren't hidden perfectly!"