Advancement

[Ebiris]

"Antenora wasn't so quick as all that to denounce Hell in the beginning," Alicia says, a brief apologetic glance to her friend before she returns to looking at Robeaux. "But all journeys begin with a single step. What destination one begun on spite over Malcanthet's favouritism will lead to I couldn't say," she goes on, making clear that even if Antenora didn't start on the best footing, she doesn't think much of his either.

[Anastasia]

Now Antenora comes, laying a hand on Robeaux's shoulder. "Come sit down, join us," she offers. "You can turn and leave with your freedom. Both are a choice that determines how your life will unfold."

> roll 1d20+83 (+10 voice of the archon)
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d20+83 (+10 voice of the archon) --> [ 1d20=6 ]{89}

Robeaux follows - a table with chairs is here, sturdy and well made. Antenora sits once the demon does, while the demon's eyes are unfocused, hands shaking.

"S..she demoted the people I were in an a-alliance with," Robeaux blurts out. "I couldn't stay, not with all those bitches scheming against me. I'd end up in a dungeon somewhere."

[Ebiris]

"You're being marginalised," Alicia concludes, following Antenora and sitting at the table. "So you hope that money will give you a head start and everyone else will be too busy dealing with what happens to Rosewater to pursue you?"

[Anastasia]

"Y-yes," A lick of his surely dry lips. "Know when to cut and run, show up in a few thousand years somewhere else, once it's all blown over and most of them are dead."

"Logical," Syala agrees, "With whatever goods and gold you have plus that money, you'd be in a position to buy yourself somewhere safe."

A vague gesture with his hands, a sweep of them, his hand visibly shaking. "Yes."

[Ebiris]

"It's a daring plan. One that puts you in far more danger if things don't line up just so," Alicia says. "Antenora isn't the only here that you'd call a traitor... but we can talk about that later," he should know of course, Ebony and Marchalu are fairly high profile and there's a not insignificant number of others calling Sylica home. She doesn't make it the focus for now though, just putting the seed there for him to think about while they discuss things. "First: Rosewater."

[Anastasia]

"Rosewater," he agrees, "The sky's rose and gold, unlike the rest of the plane. Pretty, most of the succubi there like it. It lulls people to notice the fine green grass, to sit down, undress, sunbathe and then sleep. Easy prey. A pretty l-lie to fool anyone who stumbles on it."

[Ebiris]

"That's it?" Alicia asks disbelievingly. The fact that it's in Hades makes unwitting travellers stumbling across it and being stupid enough to take a nap vanishingly unlikely, but the place is under a strict veil of secrecy that none of her previous probes has been able to get past. That hardly fits for a bright lure to draw people in either.

[Anastasia]

Syala coughs, "Please, there has to be more."

"T-there is," Robeaux says quickly, "That was j-just the first one I mentioned since I mentioned the s-sky!"

[Ebiris]

Alicia waits a moment before prodding. "Well?"

[Anastasia]

"The entire place is shielded. I don't know how - the daemons did it," he says, "The ones that come up from the Styx. You can find it if you've been touched by the Styx and know the location." Taking a deep breath, "W-we all had to give up a memory in the ceremony that lets us come in. You have to be blindfolded or immersed in darkness to enter, or blind. Or with sunlight, real sunlight, not the i-illusion in the sky. B-but you die if you come in with real s-su-sunlight."

[Ebiris]

"This already doesn't make any sense," Alicia says impatiently. "How can anyone blunder onto it to go sunbathing if such artifice is required to enter?"

[Anastasia]

Here a shrug, "I don't honestly know," he finally says, "M-my lady, perhaps it's like using a shield as well as using armor?"

[Ebiris]

"You said earlier that you know a lot," Alicia says, leaning back as she regards the blustering tiefling coolly. "So far all you've given us is a contradiction you can't even explain."

[Anastasia]

"W-wait, I can tell you more," The fiend begs, "Just listen and let me talk!"

[Ebiris]

"We're listening." She hasn't thrown him out yet after all.