Meeting Hell (Afina, Jaela, Tryll)

[Corwin]

"I think that's the most important one, although getting your impression of what Vla'akith wants and expects would help. I like the idea of having her in our corner, even if the actual meeting ends up a wash."

[Anastasia]

"In our opinion, Vlaakith is playing both sides against the middle," Morniel says, "She has good relations with Tiamat and to Hell through that. She's been openly interested in Aurora since the beginning, likely to find out more about Medi's works. Her end game is likely one where both groups owe her something or otherwise benefit her."

Antenora speaks up then, "So she wants to be the winner of all of this, no matter what our outcome is?"

"That's right. I would speculate that she may not even care about the negotiations as long as she achieves her goals. The better question is to ask how she'll reach that point." Morniel says.

[Ebiris]

"We owe her for setting it up, that already gives her leverage," Afina points out. "And she probably positioned it with Hell as us crawling to the negotiating table thanks to her diplomacy so she could get credit there."

[Corwin]

"That's pretty disappointing," Jaela notes. Also, perhaps she didn't leave clear instructions originally, so it's good she's coming along now. "Onto the loopholes you can perceive, then?"

[Yuthirin]

"Devious!" Calleigh replies, tiny squid wrapped around the top of her head flopping in agreement. "Unless everything falls apart, the big winner here is Vlaakith. Do we want her to win?"

[Corwin]

"She hasn't actually won anything yet," Jaela feels obliged to point out. "If we don't get what we're going for, or if we end up killing some bigshot devils at her invitation, her standing will tank. Same as if we get betrayed while under her roof. She won't live that down, and she's an immortal. As for winning with Hell, that's pretty much an oxymoron. She can win there all she likes."

[Anastasia]

"Really? You think a lich would do something out of altruism?" Antenora asks Jaela, an eyebrow raised.

[Corwin]

Jaela snorts at Antenora's question. "I thought she realized we were more awesome than those losers. It's such a no-brainer, too! Who out of us can you actually trust, and who will always, always betray you?"

[Anastasia]

With a curl of her lips into a smile, "If all of evil thought clearly like that, there wouldn't be evil." Antenora says.

[Corwin]

Jaela gives a nocommittal shrug, before saying, "For the benefit of those who hadn't seen Vla'akith in action, it's worth keeping in mind that she's a beast in battle. If we end up taking out the devils, let's put in a proper effort to show her that she's better off siding with us. And speaking of potential battle...." She eyes Morniel.

[Anastasia]

"Ahem," Morniel clears his throat and begins.

"There's surprisingly little to work with there for either side. The guarantee comes from Vlaakith's hospitality, rather than any precise offer the devils made. It's an interesting angle to take, since this rests on not offending the Gith Queen."

Antenora frowns at that, "That is unusual. Normally everything's laid out and neatly so. May I see it?"

Morniel nods and produces the letter, passing out copies as well.

It's written in Infernal, with translations into Common, Celestial, Sylvan and all four elemental languages. It reads (more or less in the case of the translations) as follows:

"Asmodeus, His Dread Majesty, Lord of the Ninth, Archduke of Nessus, Keeper of Malsheem, Great Master of all Infernal, Final Judge of All, Supreme Devil of the Pit, His Most Serene Royal Highness The King of Hell, wishes to invite Aurora to a summit about the fate of Muirfinn. The summit will be held at Shir'kandor, a personal holding of Vlaakith, Queen of the Githyanki.

Representing Hell will be Duke Martinet. He will be accompanied by eight personal attendants, an imp servant, a selected gelugon Infernal Master of Contracts and Records and a single observer from the following: Lord Bel, Lord Dispater, Lord Glasya, Prince Lixer, Duke Malphas, Duke Taelfagn and Duke Gathgorian.

Aurora is invited to match those numbers as they see fit but not to exceed them.

A response may be sent to Queen Vlaakith within nine days."

[Corwin]

"I find it extremely unlikely that 'summit' doesn't have any precedent when used by Hell."

[Anastasia]

"As did I," Morniel says, "I did research into it and found that while not widely known, Vlaakith has hosted a few summits for Hell and other parties before."

[Corwin]

"I can barely hold onto my suspense, here," Jaela tells him, grinning. "Go on."

[Anastasia]

"The first was a tense negotiation between Raziel and Mammon, through divine proxies. The details of this I'm not allowed to share as they are private to Celestia, but the matter was settled in a way that was acceptable to all. Not satisfactory, but acceptable."

Morniel coughs after the first, "The second was between a faction of the mercane and Duke Leonar of Cania. Through means I'm not clear on, somehow the mercane managed to contractually leverage a third party arbitrator against Leonar. That ended up being Vlaakith, who ruled in favor of Leonar. The matter of dispute is lost to time, though magic suggests it was mercantile in nature. My guess would be the soul trade."

Antenora adds to that, "It's likely. Leonar is one of the leading authorities on the Dark Speech for Baator; I have found developing the Dark Speech requires souls to torment." Her voice is cool, disdainful.

"It would, wouldn't it?" Mirajane sighs a little bit, "Evil always consumes others, if not itself. Does developing the Words of Creation require anything?"

To that Morniel cuts in, "We digress. Though I would guess that it requires nothing, as it is the force of life and creation. What else does it need but itself?"