"Fraught, at times, but I hope to make it less so. I find all people worthy of preserving from suffering and death, regardless of how fancy they may seem, and that includes you, Quiet Squall. I do not believe it will be necessary to restrain you to that extreme. Thank you."

And now it's time to tell the Unbroken that he's ready to make arrangements for the prisoners. First, though, Ipaxalon will take Mattias aside and quietly alert him to the three suspected Eyes or potential Eyes. "I am tracking the very likely possibility that Nerat is already listening in on my conversations with the prisoners," he adds. "I am moderately confident, not certain, of several things: that I can detect the magic Nerat uses to prepare his Eyes, that I can defeat said magic with some difficulty, and that it would be unwise to hold potential Eyes alive if I cannot sever the connection. I suspect Nerat will be able to infer eventually that I can observe his magic, though it is possible he is presently unaware. I have thoughts on how to proceed from here, but would welcome yours first.

"I would also ask your leave to release the one called Quiet Squall to deliver a message - not because I particularly expect diplomacy with Nerat to work, but because there are things worth communicating even in situations of minimal trust and this is one way to demonstrate sincerity." And for another reason, but that's one he isn't planning to communicate at all.

"...He's never respected the blue flag, or parole, but it's not like three Furies getting out is much worse than two. If you think it's worthwhile, and that she'll go instead of harass us more, I'm not inclined to argue. Anyone else you think we should send off with her? And should we stay quiet about where you're planning to go, if the Voices might be overhearing?"

He's probably guessed that Ipaxalon has tested some of the magic, though unless he's a better liar than he looks he's not sure and doesn't think Ipaxalon is confident either.

"I won't go far, for my preparations, and afterwards I may be changing my intended destination anyway based on what I've learned here. There are a few things I'm refraining from discussing on the off chance they might be overheard, but that's not one of them.

"I might be tempted to try to conceal my detection abilities from Nerat for a time, but I think it is simply worth it to be able to openly screen Choristers for being potential Eyes. If you agree, then I think I will attempt to dispel the magic that I suspect ties them to Nerat, after my preparations are done. I only moderately expect to succeed, in this." 

"...Yes, I think he'll work it out soon enough you might as well go ahead. Mostly by reputation; he hasn't been the main opponent we've had since the Edict. Hmm. They probably can't repeat the tricks they did before, in the first war, driving mad men and beasts who had any sympathy. Not from a distance. And we - well, we won't open ourselves up to the other tricks again."

"I think I would like to hear more about what happened in the first war, and why you believe it is not repeatable?" 

"All the beasts we had laboring - never that much - would go mad if the Chorus mages came by, and there were a lot of fake defectors before we stopped accepting anyone without someone who could personally speak for them. Also a number of people killed themselves when they were approaching but I don't thank that was supernatural, and maybe not deliberate, the horror at what they might do was enough to overwhelm some civilians."

Yep, horrible Abyssal death cult makes war even more awful than it already is. What was the Earth idiom? Thanks, I hate it. 

"By 'beasts' you mean the 'beastmen' whom I understand to inhabit parts of the Tiers, not animals?"  

"Well, some of both, but mostly the Beastmen, and those were the dangerous ones."

And Ipaxalon does not see any beasts or beastmen with the Unbroken, so presumably this concern wouldn't apply.

"Would you like me to attempt to sever the connections now, or after my preparations? I lean towards the former, even if it does expose more of my capabilities a couple hours earlier."

"I don't think a few hours will make much difference, unless Bleden Mark happens to be speaking with Nerat today, and also cares. And I think those two are very different types of monster. Go with your judgment."

"Now, then." After alerting Matthias, Ipaxalon will take to the skies and conjure a screen of mist to hide his gestures, then attempt a dispel magic on Quiet Squall from a hundred feet away. 

Well, isn't that interesting, no one's tried this in ages. The Voices are made of sterner stuff than that, whoever you are. Better phone home, though, this newcomer will be a challenge...

Huh. They can't. And actually they've only just woken up and looked at Squall's memories and they're already exhausted. Well, that's not great. Our vengeance will be prolonged, enormous cretin!

It's not gone, but both magic aura and alignment aura just dropped in strength a tick.

Really? That doesn't usually happen. Well, as the saying goes, if some blaggha* works somewhat, you can always try more blaggha.

*n., Draconic, informal: "breath weapon"

Dispel magic.

Wobbles a little but doesn't change. Or, rather, it changes a little bit but ends in exactly the same state as it did after the last try.

He needs to be closer for the next attempt, about sixty feet. New cloud, and break enchantment.

Ow! That hurt! You woke me up and it hurt! ...Not enough to keep me awake, though, damn you.

It bites deeper into the remaining magic, but ultimately it doesn't go, everything still there stays.

Hm. Dispelling and cursebreaking are usually all-or-nothing. This magic does bear some resemblance to magical items, though, which are only suppressed by dispelling.

Traditionally one might try rather a lot of spells before concluding they don't work, but Ipaxalon may well end up needing to conserve his magic. Well, he can try dispelling the slinger, the unconscious spearman, and Jagged Remedy the same way, see if he has better luck there. (The spearman on general principles; Ipaxalon hasn't forgotten that flash of magic when he attacked.)

The aura on the slinger shivers like the second try on Squall, but doesn't drop. Jaggedy Remedy, no effect. The other Crimson Spear... now has auras just like Quiet Squall did before he started, as Chaotic Evil as a lilitu and a strong aura of divination.

Bad news: Nerat can probably invoke something like a mind blank. 

Good news: It's gone now. And Ipaxalon has a nice, juicy target for his Maximum Blaggha, namely the Crimson Spear.

At this point, someone with a wider spell selection might be tempted to try dispel evil. Ipaxalon didn't scribe a page of that in his own blood, so he's out of luck. He does know limited wish.

A limited wish can mimic the effects of dispel evil...but dispel evil does not in principle behave all that differently from a successful dispel magic, so the benefits would be marginal at best. 

However, there's a more obscure way to use limited wish to directly counteract curses and effects that lesser spells can't handle, even permanent magically-induced insanity. Ipaxalon wasn't strong enough to cast this variant two hundred years ago, but he is now, and he's seen it used to remove particularly nasty effects inscribed by rune giants into the flesh of their mind-controlled slaves, so he knows how to structure it properly.

Given how resilient the Archon's work has been up until now, there's a good chance this fails too, but it's worth a shot. 

Suck carbon-based reality warping, you moral abomination.

Limited wish.

(From an invisible necklace around Ipaxalon's neck, a tiny synthetic diamond crumbles into dust.)

What the devil is this? Clearly we didn't inform ourselves sufficiently of the enormous non-Beastman lizard thing killing our lovely bloody minions. He's trying to put us out of our Misery!

...

...

...

Hey! Us! Right over there! Pay attention, this is important!

Can't hear you, still asleep from exhaustion. Also the ties are all cut.