The cycle of improvement

[Anastasia]

Jarem eyes his mug, stares down at the remainder. "Good enough," he agrees, "As for that..."

Shar doings are entirely relevant, but I'm going to punt any report on them until after levels up, so it's fresh and ready then. More.

A little later you go to walk. You find Emily in a cleared out instruction room as you go, a peek in. She practices against a dummy made of radiant force, a simple projection that she savagely slashes and shield bashes, attacking it with a steady, furious flurry of attacks.

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa conjures up another opponent for her as she enters, having it come at her from a blind angle.

[Anastasia]

A vicious stab through the head. Emily's expression is stormy as she regards you, not a word said.

[Iron Dragoon]

"Get it out or it'll fester. Say your piece."

[Anastasia]

"I'm not angry at Jarem or you," Emily says as her divine will spreads for privacy, "The injustice of what we must do burns. I know enough to be worried about Gathgorian, he's constantly kept going and going forward for a long time. Time and time again he escapes justice, and grows stronger each time now.  Will he reach a point he's too strong to challenge?"

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa nods, "That's part of why I want to feel out his operations and strike now, but... Jarem's also right. Gathgorian is a powerful enemy, but in our current context... He's a powerful ally. The thought of him as Lord of Ninth is staggering.

In the end it comes to a choice: tolerate him now and stew on the injustice, or potentially have none of it matter when every living thing dies. Can't save anyone if there's no one to save, after all. Jarem and I came to an understanding, though. He's going to recon out Gathgorian's operations and contacts as much as he can. We'll have the information in hand, ready to use."

Alyssa tilts her head and continues, "It's winning a battle only to lose a war. Talk to Jarem and see if you can help map out the slave trade. As he finds Gathgorian's outposts and fortresses, begin studying them. And take solace in the number of people we freed today."

[Anastasia]

"I already have," Emily says, lowering her blade and starting to unstrap her shield from her arm once she sheathes her sword. "Gathgorian's new, but all accounts he hasn't done much in the slave trade. His workers are more military, I wouldn't be surprised if Asmodeus transferred some of his old servants and battle mates to serve under him."

Emily snarls, and in a face of boiling rage, throws her shield hard against the wall. The wall cracks heavily from it, stone yielding to a moment of anger. After Emily deflates she magics a chair over and sits. "It hit me, Alyssa. We cost him nothing. He doesn't use slaves - he uses soldiers. He agreed right away because in his mind, he doesn't have many if any slaves."

The rage is gone from her now, a momentary phantasm of fire burnt out. "It's a pedantic, meaningless difference to anyone with eyes, but that's where devils excel. He wouldn't have them as slaves, he'd have engineer battalions from the Blood War seeing to his fortifications and city. He has a work force that doesn't need to eat, sleep or rest like mortals. They're used to going all out for years at a time to hold back the demonic hordes. Hard labor in this is part of a Baatorian soldier's life."

After a long moment, "Though, I did briefly check the lore. It's good, he held nothing back. It's almost all about demon fighting tactics and strategies, but it's the best I've seen this side of some of Honeydip's lessons from Androlynne. When we face demons again, it'll be good practice to study it all. It has some useful information I've never seen anywhere else, Gathgorian looks to collect and make his own observations about them. He's spent more years than I can care to count in the Blood War, too, he's one of the experts."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa smiles, but it's a nasty smile, "Ah, but dear Emily, even in that he's given up more than he thinks. A proper strategist can study the formations he's created to fight the demons and reverse engineer them. We can learn how he thinks, how he plans, how he likes to fight. With a proper application of psychology, we can, to a degree, figure out his thought process and priority.

And then study ourselves from that point of view. Figure out how he would attack, the weaknesses he sees, and then use it to our advantage. Knowledge, Emily. Knowledge is the ultimate weapon and the ultimate tool. It might take significant effort to make use of it, but that's just part and parcel of it."

[Anastasia]

"Yes and...at least this time, we did it," Emily meets your gaze, "We didn't leave them behind."

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa smiles, "Yes, I thought you'd like that. Consider it a sort of apology for it."

[Anastasia]

AT those words you feel it, a resonation with Emily. It's strong and solid, felt throughout yourself.

Node update.

[Iron Dragoon]

"Making strides today. Happened with Jarem earlier, too."

[Anastasia]

"Then I'll keep making them," Emily promises you, as...

Congratulations, you've made it to level up time!

[Iron Dragoon]

Yaaaay.

[Anastasia]

Congratulations! I'm locking thread now.