Potions and things (Afina)

[Ebiris]

"Maybe 27 catches it all for us?" she wonders, a momentary whimsy. "Anyway, I better have a look at this material," she holds up the scroll. "Thanks again for gathering it for me, Vul'lath," she says, flying off to her room so she can go over the layout of Bleakcrest and plan how it might be infiltrated.

[Anastasia]

The outer setup is a patron perimeter around the fortress, out to a range of 5 miles. Barbazu and hamatula scouts patrol, while the skies are patrolled by a detachment of nightmare riding narzugons. They stay in contact through telepathic relays, while commanders (as well as a few selected random common soldiers chosen and unknown to anyone but watch commander, in case of subversion or attack) are connected through a telepathic bond spell.

The ground around Bleakcrest is rocky, cliffy and difficulty. Falls are common and likely points for climbers to ascend are watched by erinyes archers. There's a few stagnant, salt water lakes around too, fed by geographically anomalous connections to the ocean.

[Ebiris]

Those lakes look like good ingress points, with plenty of cover available via rocks after that. What sort of aquatic defences are in place?

[Anastasia]

The active defenses are minimal. The lakes are all poisoned so that a creature who tries to swim in will not live long once out. It's particularly foul, as they use rancid devil waste as the contaminant.

[Ebiris]

Afina knows well that outsiders don't need to eat, and thus waste is optional. This sinks her opinion of devilkind a bit lower.

What about the keep itself, how's it laid out in regards to things like golem manufactories or vip quarters and things of import to an assassin or saboteur?

[Anastasia]

Your information is unfortunately much patchier there. It's laid out fairly linearly, with the golem bays and manufacture centers in the west wing somewhere.

[Ebiris]

Well, devil psychology helped her find Willah at her fortress without even knowing the layout, so there's ways. What about spellwork? Is there dimensional interdiction over the fortress? Its surroundings?

[Anastasia]

Yes, with two exceptions: Right at the front door and in an inner sanctum. Both are known traps that will overwhelm any foolish enough to use them in an instant.

[Ebiris]

Afina hums as she considers this all, sparing a glance at Crystal's slumbering form. Sneaking in and wreaking havoc from the inside seems the best route to her, but neither 27 nor Hanna are particularly stealthy individuals. But for a frontal assault she'd probably want a bit more than just those two backing her up.

What she'll do is wait and see if Jaela comes back. If she hasn't by the time they get close to the twenty four hour mark she'll use a sending to ask her if the mission should proceed or not (to take advantage of her destiny defeating spear), but ideally she'd like to have Jaela present on the mission so if she shows up and can be asked in person it smoothes things out a lot more.

[Anastasia]

"Yes," 27 agrees from right behind you.

[Ebiris]

"Don't do that!" Afina hisses from the corner of the room against the ceiling where she'd flattened herself after briefly stopping time by sheer reflex.

"... How did you do that?"

Maybe 27 is suited for stealth missions after all.

[Anastasia]

27 smiles and hops up onto the dresser you were sleeping on, curling up as if to sleep.

"Learned from anarch," he finally says, then sighs. "I miss Ithea."

[Ebiris]

"I do as well," Afina agrees, flying down to perch on the post of her headstand. "I hope she comes back soon."

[Anastasia]

"I'm worried about Jaela," 27 goes on.

[Ebiris]

"Immediate or long term worry? Do you want to go look for her now?" Afina asks, perking up.