The first thing she notes is to remember that evocations are big

Throwing that at Lhín was clearly not far enough.

Second, she quickly notices this is only the light. It doesn't seem to have actually hurt her. She rubs at her eyes, hoping it will help. It doesn't. The spots dancing in her vision do slowly calm a bit, but even ten and then fifteen seconds in, she can't actually see anything usefully.

"Not hurt! But I can't see, only feel. That was very bright. Now I know why you don't like the light."

The same to both of them, then. Interesting.

The final thing she notices, as her vision is finally clearing, is that that was a Burst of Radiance, like Shadi's spell. It was pretty unmistakeable. Shadi said her version hurt everyone in the area who was Evil, and the Sarenrae clerics seemed to think the same of theirs.

She isn't hurt.

Were they lying to her? The spell definitely did hurt the ghouls, though. And the Sarenrite hurt cultists with it, it's not actually undead. Clerics definitely get more judgy spells than wizards, but Protection from Chaos is a wizard spell just as much as it is a cleric spell.

Maybe her version is a different kind of judgy? Or maybe she just isn't Evil.

...hmm. Is she Evil.

Well, she probably was. Recently, though, she has... sort of attempted to prevent an assassination, been critical in destroying a cult of Urgathoa, assisted in the creation of a cure for a catastrophic disease — though not as quickly as she could have — caused the overthrow of a queen who was trying to sacrifice thousands of humans, and then contributed to the eviction of another murder cult.

She's done other things as well, of course. She did send those letters to the conspiracy, and maybe those helped with something. But perhaps she isn't Evil.

Well, it's good to know. Not urgent right now. She has no intention of dying, and the Boneyard isn't said to be incredible. Mostly it's tactically useful to not be hurt by her own spell, but it does still blind her, so even that might not be too relevant.

And with that, to sleep.

Toff Ornelos is reading his mail. It's been magically screened and verified to be safe by servants of House Ornelos.

He finishes the current letter and pulls another one off the stack. This one was delivered by the Bank of Abadar as an intermediary. The sender is anonymous.

For the Eyes of House Ornelos.

You know you have a problem with shipping deals. You will find Morgethai more willing to assist than you anticipate, and with more reserves for necessary investment. The Bank will detail my credentials on request.

Toff is confused. What does Felandriel Morgethai have to do with anything? Why does a foreign archmage care about their shipping deals?

Hmm. She might care about the ones with Cheliax. He didn't realize she was paying attention to Korvosa. Of course, this letter could be nonsense. He will request those credentials from the Bank in the morning.

The next day arrives. The papers don't print much of interest, only more of the same as recently. Tencednil doesn't have any mail. Her subterranean patrol for the day is boring and uneventful.

She didn't expect an immediate reaction, given how late she sent the letters. One person was available for dinner, but said his House would not be open to any sorts of bargains aimed at Chelish shipping relief. (Well, he communicated it clearly enough. The actual words were different, but everyone understood the meaning.) This was always going to be slow and likely to fail, though. She can keep going down the list.

Mother continues to do something mysterious to prepare. Today, though, it seems she has completed it to her satisfaction; she smiled when Tencednil asked how her endeavors were proceeding. Her actual response was entirely nondescript, but Tencednil can identify signals when they're that blatant, and Mother wouldn't send signals like that unintentionally.

She spends her spells that evening getting her and Lhín and practice moving around while invisible. It turns out to be mostly intuitive, but the inability to see where she is does cause some issues. They work on moving efficiently and quietly, and eventually they go to sleep.

The Bank of Abadar sends the credentials to House Ornelos. The letter is from the same account that predicted the outcome of the Breaching Festival and warned the King of his upcoming death.

The likelihood that this really is an agent of Felandriel Morgethai has increased substantially. Was she responsible for Ileosa and Togomor's disappearance? If she knew Eodred would be assassinated in advance, why wait until after he died to intervene? To what extent is House Leroung's branch in Korvosa in communication with her? He will have to risk direct communication.

Toff does know how to reach Felandriel Morgethai. There's very few wizards of such power and he can theoretically reach all of those who are active. He pens an encoded letter and sends it through the Bank of Abadar.

The next two days pass mostly without incident. Tencednil's patrols contain nothing of interest. She helps House Vianu find some alternate sources of trade. For now, they have rejected the offers from Cheliax. Her charisma and charm are quite something. 

The nobility at the summit still haven't come to a decision. One wonders if they ever will. The papers want you to know that Ignasi Arabasti is a bastard and a servant of Hell and a host of other even nastier things. They claim to have received threats, which they've started printing in full for the public. It's unclear who's backing them, but at this point the censorship apparatus seems to have failed completely. Or perhaps the censors are part of the anti-Cheliax faction. Either way, it's not clear if anybody really knows what's going on. Somehow, the economy has continued to improve. The blood veil was truly horrible for everyone involved.

House Arkona has never been more popular than it is now. Their joint effort with the Leroung to swing the papers against Cheliax has been a tremendous success. Sadly, it seems Glorio won't be able to manage the kingship. The others are too opposed, and their alliance is predicated on the abolition of the monarchy.

Even in these dark times, House Jeggare makes money. They wanted no monarch, but that was before Cheliax decided they wanted Korvosa for the empire. There were those who resisted. 'It's not worth our souls' they said. Pathetic. Have they spent all these years and learned nothing? The Jeggare will sign all the trade deals they need to. Queen Domina delivered a working economy. They have been assured King Ignasi will do the same.

House Leroung was once above the petty squabbling of their lessers. For once, their Korvosan branch is united again. Unfortunately, the summit has stalled out. Cheliax has pressured much of the lesser nobility into accepting Ignasi as monarch. Not enough to crown him, but enough to stonewall attempts to do anything else. The unfortunate reality is that they need to declare independence from Cheliax and remove the Church of Asmodeus to succeed. In practice, Korvosa has been independent since the start of the Civil War, but they've never made it official. Getting the votes for this has been... difficult.

Felandriel Morgethai has a private meeting with Lady Eliasia Leroung. Her presence in the city is a secret known only to one.

House Ornelos has failed at uniting the lesser nobility. There are many things an eighth circle wizard can do, but the threat of Toff's wrath did not deter enough of them. Toff has a long and fruitful conversation with Javier Vargas. He may not be able to unite the nobles, but he can unite the wizards.

Volshyenek prepares for war.

House Zenderholm is tired. They can see the winds of chaos spiral out of control. Soon they will smother the city. Cheliax will not back down. The other Great Houses will not back down. The nobility is almost perfectly divided such that they can make no progress. In some times, the future is shrouded and dark. In these times, it's blindingly bright. The most likely outcome is obvious. The end is near. Perhaps that cultist of Groetus was right.

At least they won't be damned when Cheliax destroys everything of value. Axis is sounding very nice right now.

This is taking too long. If the nobility won't give in, they'll simply have to take the city themselves. These worthless 'Great Houses' and their petty servants will be destroyed on the altar of their Lord.

KORVOSAN CARRIER
FIREDAY, SARENITH 26th, 4708

INCREASED NORTHERN TRADE FROM MAGNIMAR

The city holds its breath. None can know the day or the hour of doom.

She probably should be staying with Mother at this point. The ability to leave in the space of ten seconds instead of fifteen minutes is a valuable one. Patrolling gives her some chances to change things, though. She hears things on patrols she wouldn't otherwise, and she sees signs that might build into a larger picture.

So she goes out to the Citadel. Mother did a strange ritual this morning, as she has every day after she was finished with her preparations. Tencednil did... something... and touched a spider Mother provided, and suddenly had an extra vague sense of it. Mother said that if the spider suddenly changes, Tencednil should run to it immediately so they can leave. It's not as good as her being available immediately but it is much less constraining. Nothing happened yesterday, or the day before. Maybe today will be equally calm.

Her squad will be doing a surface patrol in the Heights today. The Guard has been increasing their presence and visibility within the city recently.

A reasonable choice. She knows her squad, by now, and they know her. And she has quietly encouraged the Asmodean's sympathies towards the rest of them — she might be reliable in a moment of crisis, depending on how it happens. That looked like much less of a risk when the squad was new.

For all that Korvosa is restless, the procedure is unchanged. Meet up, get the Blessing, follow Captain Paras on whatever route he gives them, and stay on watch for any trouble. And make sure Lhín does as well. She has become slightly less distractable since she started to speak, but only slightly, and it's much more obvious.

It's time.

Toff is invisible and incorporeal and flying and under mind blank. He clothing emanates a silent table.

From the air, the Temple of Asmodeus in Korvosa looks like a large blood red five-sided star.