Attack on Sylica

[Anastasia]

Syala merely inclines her head, "Yes, not right now but soon. Losing an avatar would cripple me," Syala admits. She then smiles, "I'd have to leave home to beat people up."

[Ebiris]

"So yes, this is more a commitment of forces we have available to help anchor your side of things rather than turning the place into a divine battleground," Alicia nods. "But I think we can work with that."

[Anastasia]

"Within that, we can," Empress Sulia says, "Are you familiar with how they fight?"

[Ebiris]

"Tentacles, slime, and psionic powers?" she summarises her basic understanding of aboleth methods. She's never fought one herself but she hears things.

[Anastasia]

I believe one was fought in the gnomish ruins, but that may have been Shamal. Very minor detail.

"Essentially," Empress Sulia concludes, the faintest frown on her face. "Almost every aboleth in the empire has various magical or psionic potential. Sorcerers are common as grains of sand, expected, even juvenile aboleths can manage the 1st circle of sorcery if they have no other talents. Kin'ah - their title for their branch of wizardry - is less common but far from unknown. They have a natural flair for chaotic and evil magic, able to convert spells such as unholy blight or word of chaos to arcane spells. Intelligence suggests it's always an even number of both evil and chaotic spells, and that many of them develop split personalities."

"Demogorgon's imprint is strong on them," Syala makes a noise like a grunt, full of distaste and disgust. "Insane aboleth wizards, alright. What else?"

"Psionic gifts are reasonably common, too. It's one of the most psionically gifted races I've come on. In most races, a psionic is a rare thing, a fluke. Aboleths have a remarkable penchant for it, developing the art in all manner of ways. Dears, these aboleths have a distressing talent at coming up with chaos and evil tainted psionic abilities as well, even more unusual. Psionics seldom delves into matter of ethos and morality."

[Ebiris]

Alicia nods along with Sulia's summary. "Do they have much in the way of notable minions or servitors? Golems or undead?" she asks. Funnily enough those two things tend to work well as counters to psionic races, though Sylica isn't able to provide much in terms of either.

[Anastasia]

"They took down a kraken empire," Empress Sulia says, "They have krakens serving them, as well as sahuagin, corrupted sea elves, mermen, tamed sharks and dire sharks raised to war creatures, various aquatic undead including drowned, oversized dire jellyfish, several clans of tojanida they've enslaved and mind-broken, a sort of steel and slime golem they call assault golems, several ancient dragon turtles spliced with chromatic dragon blood, water merrow, water nagas, Unseelie fey nixies and more aside, as well as demon servants sent by Demogorgon. You have to understand it's an actual empire, before even getting into all the slaves they've captured and any reinforcements they buy or negotiate in. They have a tendency to spring surprises on us like that."

Empress Sulia sighs and rubs her forehead, "One time we were ambushed by a mercenary squad of astral stalkers and devastated. Another time they manage to direct a gaggle of slaads at us, who were more than happy to try and eat us. They're very good at mixing it up, so much so that you have to go in flexible and assume they will have surprises."

[Ebiris]

"It sounds like this'll take a heavy commitment to deal with," Alicia says, mulling over what she's hearing. "Like I said, I can put together an initial battalion to work with your forces and provide a spear-tip for ours. Once the lessons learned from Lifasa and Benfal have been passed out to newer recruits we'll look to scale that up considerably. So you can expect our first forces within a few days, and then full armies within three months."

[Anastasia]

Syala sits back, "Even then, it sounds like a hard fight. How good are they at protecting power outside of the oceans?"

"Quite adept, with forces trained for it and the use of slave armies," Empress Sulia says, "You'll need an army that can do both, though securing the land is our more immediate goal. We can't win if all the land kingdoms have fallen."

[Ebiris]

"Focus on the battle ahead before worrying about tomorrow. Like I said, we can manage underwater to a degree, but it's more the domain of small units with biologies or innate talents suited to it. The bulk of what Sylica can supply is of more use on land."

[Anastasia]

As you say that...

'Alicia.' The voice that speaks in your mind is calm, serene. Self-assured and yet powerful, overwhelming in a way. The voice of Asmodeus is heard in your head, known to you on a level without having to think, simply aware of it.

[Ebiris]

Her brow furrows and she holds up a finger towards Sulia and Syala, her usual signal for when she's distracted with a deific message or particularly important prayer. 'Asmodeus,' she returns the simple one word greeting, not giving anything away.

She could gloat about Lixer, but Zariel isn't a done deal yet, plus it would be beneath her. She rather suspects this has more to do with what occurred Beyond than on Avernus.

[Anastasia]

'Congratulations,' Asmodeus continues, as if you know exactly what he's talking about.

Syala merely holds and Empress Sulia nods, seeming to understand immediately.

[Ebiris]

And why wouldn't she know? She's not stupid.

'Antenora achieved this on her own merits, but I believe I provided an environment where she could best grow into what she is now. Nonetheless I will pass on your compliments,' she responds with her own subtle criticism of Hell.

[Anastasia]

'Do so, let her understand.' Is the answer you get back.