But Vicar Esta is not the sort to have his life narrated by a voiceover.

Permitting himself to have such a dangerously uncensored internal narrative would be a luxury that exceeds his risk tolerance.

A 2nd-circle wizard opens Esta's office door and enters without having knocked first, and begins speaking rapidly from the moment his head pokes through the door.

"7th circle emergency response to Worldwound fort #14.  Teleport at indigo room."

Vicar Esta will move, then, as quickly as a man can move when he has reached middle age and his Dexterity has dropped to 11.  He does not scramble to grab items, he does not tarry to put on items.  When you are on Worldwound emergency response that day in the palace at Egorian, when you have prepped your spells with your approved loadout as a 6th-circle of Asmodeus's Chosen, everything that you are meant to take with you is already in a Bag of Holding at your waist.  So he just runs to the Indigo room outside the Forbiddance, as fast as he can move; and with a belt of Constitution he will not be too out-of-breath on arrival.

(His office is near enough to that rendezvous, compared to the most distant responders on duty, that the wizard sent to fetch him has not also tapped him with Expeditious Retreat.)

He is not the last one to the Indigo room, which is good for his reputation, and also for his continued pain-free health.  He'll start to put on clerical combat armor, if he's got that time.

Worldwound fortress #14 is Mariona's fort.  Esta hopes she is still alive, or failing that, resurrectable by him with only a Raise Dead diamond.    He has invested much effort into Mariona, and not really as yet been paid back for it.

The 7th-circle wizard who is to be their Greater Teleport direct ride, and fellow combatant, is the last to arrive.  This might reflect greater distance from the Indigo room within the Palace; or, alternatively, it might just be that he is least scared of punishment.  Cheliax is harsher on its wizards than some, but once its wizards reach 7th circle even they start to consider their pride above lesser torments for lesser infractions.

Esta knows all of those present.  They have trained together often, and fought together sometimes.  If your fellow emergency response team members are strangers to you, something has gone wrong on an organizational level.  Esta would have fixed the problem himself, if such a thing had occurred, and not troubled himself to request permission from any higher cleric before fixing it.

Greater Teleport.

"Oh.  That's not good."

What's wrong with this picture?

1:  Some demons are much larger than the other demons.  That part is relatively okay.  That part was what led the fortress to call for a 7th-circle response, which is now here.

2:  Some demons are using relatively powerful magic.  That means the 7th-circle response is not going to have an easy day, but eh, if you wanted easy days you should not have been born in Cheliax.

3:  Cultists have also shown up, and they are staying out of the combat and doing some kind of magic which, if it were real, would be a--no that doesn't make sense.  You can't Gate in or out of the Worldwound volume covered by the Wardstones.  That is the entire point of the Wardstones.

Among the jobs that fall to a 6th-circle cleric in the presence of a 7th-circle wizard is to have the highest Will save in the party; and also, be the one Wise enough to realize when to use it.

Vicar Esta attempts to disbelieve.

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

"I do not disbelieve.  Hadrian, do you know what that thing is that looks like a portal?"

He's started casting, obviously, but Hadrian spares a glance in that direction.

"Conjuration.  Ritual.  Not a Gate, not a summoning, unusual topology in spell.  Equivalent 7th circle.  Esta, why are you not casting?"

Because he needs his mouth to speak, ruling out spells with verbal components.  "Commander.  I strongly suggest that if you can't take down that ritual in five more moments, you use any available means to contact Egorian including Greater Teleporting back to report, and fetch an 8th-circle response."

"Esta, what the Abyss?"  Doing that and having it turn out to be unnecessary would not be a career-ending mistake, because there is nothing that ends your career in Cheliax except going to Hell permanently.  It would however be a very, very painful mistake.

"Whatever that is, it's not something that should be castable inside the Wardstone barrier and their ritual is working anyway."

"This is not a problem that we know can be handled by 7th circle emergency response.  We are outside the pathway of plans we know will work."

"Not risking it.  They could just be a bunch of idiots."

"I predict Aspexia Rugatonn backs me up on this.  You can tell her I said so."

(That is a significantly greater career risk for Esta than Hadrian would be taking upon himself.)

"I'll think about it.  Now shut up and start casting."

Esta obeys, of course, without further argument or hesitation.  It is the Asmodean system.

He casts.  He casts.  He casts some more.  Mostly buffs.

Esta casts for moment after moment, without stopping, for the same reason that archers don't dawdle about firing their arrows.  Dividing your firepower across time can be as fatal as dividing your army across space; you want to reduce the other side and its firepower before they reduce you.

And then they're out of time.

The thing about fighting Chaotic Evil generally, and its Abyssal subtype specifically, is that where plain old Neutral Evil might draw from the set of all good ideas for defeating you, demons draw from the set of all ideas.

Theoretically, all of Creation Itself is under a Wardstone-style barrier laid down by Pharasma and Her Seal and Their Spiral that prevents things of the Dark Tapestry from entering or intervening.  Sometimes They do so anyway.

If Yibb-Tstll or Tsathoggua decides to tell the Seal of Pharasma what It doesn't care about, is It going to stop because of some Wardstones?

The answer, if you were wondering, is "No, actually; no, It will not."

So one way you could give a Worldwound fortress a bad day, would be to run a Dark Tapestry manifestation ritual next to it.

Now, is this a good idea?

No.  No it is not.  There are some strategies which are terrible irrespective of your utility function.  There are things which are such bad ideas that Dou-Bral and Zon-Kuthon would both prefer not to do them.

Is it, however, an idea?

Yes.

...hey, Esta.

Roll a Will save.

...what DC?

That's kind of an interesting philosophical question, actually.

But what do such tiny, tiny details matter in the greater cosmic scheme of things?

Just roll a Will save, Esta.

Okay.

He rolls a 31.  That's pretty good, right?

Y̷̰͇͒̍͋͑͒̊̀͒́͋̒͐ò̸̡̙̖̻̱̺̹̹̦̝̲̠̹̑̽̑̃̃͊̿̅̉̕͝͝g̸̥̻̺̰̘̖̟̯̹̥͓̟̓̋͒̈́̈́̀͛̑̒̀̀̋͜͝ͅ-̶͚̼̌̈́̐̊̌̃̅̌̇͗͑́̈́Ŝ̶͍͎̮͖̠͖̹̔̆̄̒́̓̋͊̐o̴͎͆̇͑͑̾̂̈́̈́͂̓̈t̴̨͕̱͇̟̬̖̯̩͉̫̟̒̑̀͂̀̃͆̓̀͊͐̎ẖ̸̺̦̺̯̜͆̐o̶̱̺̘̗͕̰͓̽̎͘͠t̵͍͓̣̣͙̺͇̝̉͒̚h̵̩̓̊̎̒̏́͐̆̐͋̈́͐̈͝ ̷̝̐̐̋s̴̨̧̢̛̱̗̤̈́̒̇̊̔͂̐̔͒̃̕̚ͅa̸͍̣̅̅̏̕y̴̨̦̪̱̹͓͕͋̀̐̇̈́̌̃̔̈́͛̕s̸̡͖̩̙͒ ̷̙̎̔̾̍͒h̶͕͍̪͔̉̀̿͌́̒͑̄̐i̵͕̦̻͉̰̭̲̎̃,̴̛̮̀ ̶̞̙̲̮͈̬̰͍̲͍͕̩̙̗́͛̃͂̋͊̅̓͠Ẽ̵̢̖̥̰̬͔͙̲̗̝̝̱̹̩͋͐̀̆̉͊̈́̓̀͋̏̀̾͘ͅs̸̨̧̗̭̖͕̺͔̤̑t̴̛̰̖̖̳̦͍̙͉̀͐̒́͊̂̆̒̃̀͋̿̆̕ͅặ̵̛̛̖̲̠̼̲̻̖̦̙̽̓͆̒͌͆͋̎͆͝ͅ.̵̧̛̞͚̘̙͇͕̦̝͈͖͔̼̆̅̏̀̀̾̓͛̌̕̕͠

N̶̢̖͇̯͚͓͙̮̰̉̕o̷͖͈̜̦̞̥͔̙̥̰͇͍̪̲͛w̵̝̰͆̉̀̀͑ ̷̮̖͉̠̰̟͖̪͚̲̱͕̬̫̆̈̅̈͑ͅb̸̨̢̈́͗̑͌̏̆͑̄̕ẽ̵̹̱͑̋͐͘̚͝ ̸̢̢̪̼̯̫͔͓̯̖͉̌̽͊͂̀̈̕͝s̵̛̛̜̮̺̣̗̅̓͛̔̂̎̈́́́̃̚͝ò̸̢̢̪͖̝̰͕͉͙̺̬͉͈̾̋̇͋́͛ͅm̴̨̡̨̗̯̺̜̥̘̹̥̲͇̼̣̓́̒̂͆̓̕ę̴͖͙͍̠̮̯͇̋̿̒̇̊͐͗́̈̀̎͛͛͠w̵̢̘̲̭͔̗̾̑̈́̓͜h̷̨̹̣̪̖͎͓̩̝̖̩͖͖̃̔̅̍́͋͝͝ȇ̷̲̝͉̭̯̥̭͉̙͈͊̔̋̽̄͗̐̑͒͆r̵͉̓̈́̄̍̆̏ę̸̛̥̳̯͂̃͂͑̓̈́͂̎́̏̎͋ ̵̧̻̏͊̎͑̚ę̷̝͇͎̣̻̝͔̋͜͜l̴̡̠̥̪̮̮̅̑͂͂̀̓̎͜͝ͅͅs̶̨̭̫͓̹̘̰͚̜͐̈́̅̔̄̎̔̓͋͘̚ȇ̴̝̱̳͛͒.̵̧̩͚̱̠͔̻̻̱̬̦̘͚͗̑̃̓̉̎͗͊̎̃̋̇͛͜