"Are you looking for armour, or just outdoor layers? And do you have any particular aesthetic preferences?"

The display of potions is near the cash desk, and kept locked; it seems like these are one of the more valuable items in the store.

"We've got the basic potions, Oakhide, Blackthorn, and I think we've got two Surging Flame left. A crown for Vitae or Anodyne, crown ten for Bloodharrow, Feverfail, Ossean, Oakhide; two ten for Blackthorn or Surging Flame - those are special Broc rates, normally it'd be more."

"What's your potion budget, Felicia? Vitae gets you back on your feet from most things, Anodyne for anything more complicated - at least for long enough to drag yourself to a physick; Bloodharrow cures poison and Feverfail cures weakness, Ossean will mend a limb, Oakhide makes you a bit harder to drop in the first place; Blackthorn gives your blade a shot of poison that will knock down a vallornspawn, Surging Flame lets you get yourself back up once - but it makes you overconfident in the first place, which has been the downfall of many a fighter.

Normally I'd expect a lot of poison in the Vallorn, but the Eternal boon might well cover all of that, so I'm less concerned with that than I might otherwise be. Weakness - possible, but unlikely, I suppose there are a few Druj to clear out but I expect that will be well in hand by the time we get there."

"Just outdoor layers, we have our own armor. My companion doesn't care much for aesthetics, but I do. Browns and earth tones work well for me, so I think I'd prefer those if you have that sort of color of fur or cloth in stock, preferably if they're on the lighter side." 

She leans closer to Allegra and lowers her voice somewhat.

"I'm tempted to buy one of each potion to try how they work, but it would be more sensible to buy potions with effects that are hard to replicate with my magic. Vitae is Cure Wounds...hm, Anodyne doesn't cure things, I assume, from the name. In that case, that would be Delay Pain. Bloodharrow is Neutralize Poison. Feverfail is Restoration. Oakhide is Aid or Virtue, or False Life, although I can't cast that. I'd be interested in Blackthorn. There are no spells I know of that specifically empoison a weapon, rather than directly infusing poison into the person – I can prepare Poison as a spell, but it functions as a touch spell. Surging Flame is Breath of Life. 

Ossean is the one I'm most interested in. Regenerate is a seventh-circle spell. It is remarkably difficult to restore limbs using my magic, whereas it seems like it's easier for you."

Then, back to her normal speaking voice.

"I think I want to buy one of Vitae and Bloodharrow for Elias, in case I'm unavailable, one of Surging Flame for me, and three of Ossean. That will be...six crowns and sixty rings...which is nine crowns." Hopefully she did the math correctly. This currency system is breaking her brain.

"Let's gather up the rest of the stuff and see if we can get a bulk discount," replies Allegra.

She looks up at Helyn and begins to follow and direct him around the store, gradually accreting survival supplies. There's pretty much everything you might want, mostly at a Golarion-minus-magic tech level but with weird exceptions where there are strangely mundane-but-advanced solutions for things like lighting fires, purifying water with little blocks of material, even little bags which claim to make your waste products dry and sterile for easy carrying out of places you can't bury them - all the weird stuff seems to be limited-use, but not actually magical, more like it's using some kind of mundane alchemy.

It makes sense that artisans would spend more time crafting items for water purification and lighting fires if you don't have clerics and wizards to cast Purify Food and Drink and Spark for you. But...the waste product bag seems really weird? She supposes that in some areas you can't bury your waste, because the ground is frozen, like at Sarkoris Scar, but in that case you can just leave it on the ground. Sure, it's not very aesthetically pleasing, but it's the wilderness, not a city street. And it doesn't seem like a druid-like thing either, because even animals do that.

She'll let Allegra pick out the rest of the items. She doesn't anticipate Allegra buying anything totally unnecessary, and Allegra would be more familiar with the sort of items that would make life better when camping out here.

She does indeed not pick up any of the waste product bags, although she does pick up some waterproof bags of pre-soaped damp cloths, which might not actually be quite so necessary with prestidigitation.

"Is it going to be useful for me to pick up Purify on the way, or do you have water purification handled?" she asks. "Trades off against repel, I think I'll only be able to get one before we're there. And what's your favourite trail food, I don't think the hunting will be great."

Felicia tells Allegra that it's possible to use Prestidigitation to clean your body, and that that's what they use to clean themselves, but that she's not opposed to Allegra buying cleaning supplies for herself. "Elias and I are close enough that I can Prestidigitate him clean without it being awkward – you have to strip naked if you want me to be able to clean both your clothes and your body – but I understand that you might not feel the same way." Elias would definitely not say this, if he was her, and ask Allegra to get over it if she complained, but she's more accommodating, partially due to theological reasons.

"I can handle water and food purification. Purify Food and Drink will remove contaminants and poisons so long as they aren't of magical origin. Better for you to have Repel. Hm, trail food. I can conjure food with magic, but I agree that it's not the best use for spell slots – I'll prepare it if we get stranded, I guess. I'm partial to dried fruit. Jerky too, if they have it. Elias will like that too, so get more of that. Oh, and nuts. Walnuts are great. I'm not sure what sort of trail food you have – the usual Golarion adventurer trail food is wandermeal, which is this grainy dried cake that tastes really bland. They make it using cereals, I think."

"I think we call that cereal bars, although they generally put honey or maple syrup in to make them not awful. That's all pretty standard, I'll just get a selection. Oh, I normally get non spicy jerky but I know other people have different preferences there?

I'm definitely happy to carry less cleaning supplies if you are happy to sort that out, I left my nudity taboo behind in Reikos over a decade ago."

"Ooh, it does sound better with honey. And yes, non-spicy jerky is good. I also don't really care about modesty, but...I wasn't sure if this place cares about that? I know people can get sensitive, especially when it comes to women – some places in Golarion are like that, like Osirion."

How much will the camp supplies plus the potions cost?

"Oh, lots of people do care about it, not particularly more one way round than the other - it'd be impolite to be naked in public because you don't know if anyone who is bothered by it is going to show up. I've never really understood it, but it does seem to upset some people a lot."

After a bit of friendly haggling, the whole lot comes to ten crowns, which the cashier makes very clear is a special deal because of the opportunity in Broceliande and not something they should expect to be repeated.

It's a bit cumbersome to carry everything; Allegra can just about manage one full backpack but there's another full one for Felicia and some leftovers in the extremely large pack purchased for Elias. "It'll be easier when we're wearing more of it," Allegra explains apologetically as she tries to get Felicia to carry Elias' bag.

Eeeeeeh. Well, at least it's only a short walk to the Clearview. Elias will have to carry his bag the whole journey. She reluctantly accepts the bag: she is stronger than Allegra, though not by a lot. She tightens the straps on Elias's bag, then puts on her own backpack, before putting on Elias's bag on her front, so she has two packs on both sides of her. It's awkward and bulky, but she has more core and leg strength than arm strength – there is no way she would be able to carry Elias's pack with her arms with her own pack on.

Hopefully they don't run into anyone or tip over while walking back. She would make conversation, but it's already taking all her breath not to crumple.

Allegra is not exactly in the mood to be interrupted on the way back - she usually travels much lighter than this, but also she doesn't walk actually into the heart of the Vallorn, and expects to find a wayhouse at least one night in two - and leads them very efficiently, if at a somewhat sedate pace to avoid total exhaustion, back to the Clearview.

She stays quiet until they reach the Clearview, at which point they'll probably be able to find a porter or someone else to help them carry their stuff. Even non-fancy hotels have them, so she'd be really surprised if there aren't any.

Once they've dropped off their items, Felicia goes to talk to Allegra before dinnertime, in the corridor.

"Aside from talking about magic items and preparations to fight the Vallorn, what other topics do you think I should broach with Verys? Oh, and we should discuss what sort of arrangement we have, in terms of obligations we have toward one another." 

She lowers her voice.

"It's better to talk to me about it so that I can relay it to Elias, because Elias will probably react badly if we negotiate in front of him. It's theologically problematic to make deals with outsiders, for them, whereas with us it's less so. It's only problematic in the sense that doing it might upset them. What sort of payment arrangement do you think is good? We would prefer that there are no debts between you and us – being indebted to people is theologically problematic to both of us."

There isn't an obvious porter hanging around, but the person behind the front desk helps them carry their stuff; she apologises that the Clearview is short-staffed at the moment, apparently a lot of the kind of eager young people who would normally be carrying bags have run off to Broceliande.

Allegra starts to say something about the first question, then stops and starts again when Felicia goes on to talk about payment.

"Okay, let's talk about that first," replies Allegra.

"I'm doing this for two reasons; probably three, now I think about it. First is for information. I've already heard quite a bit about your capabilities, probably more than I'd have ever found out if I'd just pointed you at Seren and left you to it, and I expect to learn more when I actually see you in action. Also, I get to find out what happens next, which has always been something of an obsession of mine.

Second is for control. I don't believe for a moment that I have any firm control over either of you, but so far as it advances our mutual goals, I can keep you from making a terrible mess in my back yard - like, we're onto my metaphorical back yard now, but I do feel some responsibility for Navarr and the Empire as a whole. I'm fairly sure it goes badly for everyone if you have to go loud because you made people suspicious, but it certainly goes badly for people I kind of like.

And third is also kind of control - I get to point you in directions where you're likely to be more beneficial for causes I care about than detrimental, at least to some extent.

I appreciate this is all kind of vague and illegible, and I know if you were Freeborn - they also really hate interpersonal debt - you'd probably walk out on principle about now, but I'm betting that you're not actually much like that and you'd like to continue working out where we can help each other and doing that."

Her face is neutral when Allegra tells her first, then changes into a look of vague displeasure when she gets on to the second and third.

"Could you elaborate on what you mean by a 'terrible mess'? I don't want to assume and infer what you mean by that. I'm mildly put off by your third reason, because it implies that you would be willing to mislead us. Which is exactly the opposite thing you want in a guide. 

We offered you money because money doesn't create a bond when it's given. We can go about our business, and you get something out of it. It is against our way to bind ourselves to outsiders. Normally, we would indeed just walk out, but I do like you and would prefer not to abandon you. I'm fine with taking into account your preferences, but that's because I'm a cleric, and clerics can be looser with being aligned with their deity. Antipaladins are selected much more stringently, and have stricter guidelines for behavior.

Also, he's a Conradian, and they're less...mmm...they're less tolerant of ambiguous loyalties. They have a 'you're with us or against us' attitude, whereas Damianites are more flexible with people whose goals only align with ours partially.

I deliberately asked you this without involving Elias because if he heard me accepting a deal like this, there's a chance that he'd just walk out on me. Or, more likely...he'll decide he ought to kill you, and I will be powerless to prevent it unless I decide to rebuke Damian. Which I won't."

Dealing with non-church members is such a pain. She really does like Allegra, and doesn't want to hurt her, but she has always looked out for herself first ever since she was young. She is honest when she says that she won't stop Elias.

"If you would prefer to leave us now, I am willing to pay you a throne for your services thus far, and for your silence on the information we have given you. I'll use Zone of Truth to verify that you actually mean your promise if you decide to leave us." 

"I mean, for instance, that if you killed me in this hotel, I expect the militia would tirelessly hunt for you across the entire Empire and call in an army or two once you'd dispatched the first couple of escalating-sized parties of militia members.

That would be a terrible mess, and it'd probably have happened if you offed a random priest as well, although they might have fewer international friends to prolong the hunt. Basically, if lots of Imperial citizens get killed trying to kill you, that's a terrible mess.

I'd love to know if I could genuinely be 'with' Elias, but I'd have to know a lot more about what you're about than what you've shown so far - all I really know is that you like shiny magic things and would like to try to get home with armfuls of them, and that's the kind of motivation almost anyone could have?

I've definitely tried not to mislead you, because I'm not stupid and I don't expect it'd take much of a hint of betrayal to get bisected once we're off in the woods and you can disappear quietly. But there's always a choice between directions - there's an awful lot of world out there - so as I said, I've picked directions for our mutual benefit rather than just thinking solely of you. I'm pretty sure everyone you meet will be doing that, it's just some of them will be less inclined to be honest about it."

"I see. Well, I would consider that to be a terrible mess too, so my initial guess wasn't off.

I don't think you can really do that unless you join our church...which, even if you wanted to do that, I'm not sure if I have the authority to let you in. I'll have to pray about that. Especially since I cannot seem to conjure any of the outsiders that would normally officiate the joining.

The Conradians definitely just want to get magic items and also tomes about this world's magic and how to learn it. For myself, I want to bring back food – new food that our world doesn't have – new plants, especially those useful for alchemy or chirurgery, or those which are good for perfumery or have good aesthetic value. Maybe art pieces. Nice clothes. I suppose luxury items in general. My goal here is for Elias to tolerate you and not kill you. It will be impossible to get him to like you. My church values – experiencing depth and breadth of experience. It's difficult to describe it in few words.

I'm sort of in a bind here, in that we have very specific instructions not to reveal too much information about us. We prefer to keep a low profile. However, I do need to tell you the sort of things we want if we want you to figure out which places we ought to go. The usual solution, if we had a wizard here, would be to just tell you everything, Geas you to prevent you from talking to outside people about us, and then remove your memory of us and dispel the Geas when you decided to leave, or when our business is concluded. I can't cast the memory removal spell, but I can cast the Geas. Which I have refrained from doing, because generally cursing people makes them upset at you."

She pauses for a moment and breathes, then continues.

"Basically, we're fine if you break with us because we decide to do something displeasing to you. I just want your word that you won't oppose us in that case, and to leave us in peace. It will be very hard for me to convince Elias to get along if you're unable to swear to this."

"So, it sounds like I should tell you under what circumstances I would oppose you, and we can see if we can come to a set of promises that work?

If you were attempting to strengthen the Vallorn, or generally increase its spread or ability to resist us, I'd be oath-bound to oppose you. If you were trying to actively harm my people in Foundhome, I'd oppose you. If you were aiding a foreign power to conquer the Empire, I'd probably oppose you absent a good reason that it wouldn't be spectacularly worse for the average citizen; after all, that would count as harming Foundhome, for a start.

Short of those things, I can promise a limited duration of not opposing you. I won't be happy if you start, I don't know, casually murdering Imperial citizens, but if they're not my people then it's not directly my business. I also consider the spire of Shatterspire in Urizen, the Steading of Bont Goch in Hercynia, and fewer than a dozen specific people across the Empire that I can list for you if you'd like and indicate if they become relevant, my people.

I won't promise to never oppose you - I take my oaths extremely seriously - but I can promise you a year head start if you can agree to these conditions, and it's very likely that it would be more than that; I'm not actually sure what you could do which would be a dealbreaker and I haven't yet mentioned, but one thing I have certainly learned is people are very inventive."

"Yes," she affirms, and lets Allegra speak. She listens intently.

She doesn't think the year's head start will be relevant – if they were to fight against the Empire, either they or Allegra would be dead before the year's passing. Still, it's a nice thing to have, she supposes.

"Okay, that seems reasonable enough to me. Here's how I'll explain your position to Elias: you're the leader of Foundhome, or something like it, and so would prefer that your settlement comes out on top – or at least does not suffer – now that we have come along with our magic. I'll say that you'll help us so long as we do not harm Foundhome, and preferentially take actions that also benefit it.

It will be more difficult to get him to agree with the part about opposing the Empire, or special protections for Shatterspire or Bont Goch – your relationship with them doesn't seem strong enough for him to accept – although I can get him to agree not to harm the special people you mentioned. Generally, the Conradians are only amenable to refraining from taking directly harmful actions, not indirectly harmful ones: they are willing to agree not to attack Foundhome's people and property, but they won't agree not to attack the Empire for the simple fact that Foundhome is in it. They are likely be willing to partially offset the indirect harm to Foundhome with money or supplies. Also, the Empire is vastly larger than Foundhome: they will only tolerate so many people to take shelter under your aegis.

Likewise, we also cannot promise not to oppose you, but I will tell you whether we're planning on doing something that might be displeasing to you, and you can tell me if you want to leave us, or propose some alternative course of action. If you cannot swear to not opposing us when you leave, then it will be...difficult for us to let you go. I would be content with you swearing to a lesser oath of silence about our capabilities and intentions, but Elias will definitely not be. I can...stretch the truth when talking to him, but I can't plainly deceive him. I'll surely be excommunicated if I do that."

She pauses for a moment to think.

"Let me elaborate on why it's theologically problematic. Our gods are what we call Chaotic – this is a technical term – as opposed to being Lawful. To be Chaotic is to be unfettered, unbound, free, to affirm one's inherent capacity to make choices. Making promises and keeping them is Lawful. As a Chaotic organization, we are more reliant on strict selection, trust, and maintaining exit rights to ensure we can work together. A Lawful organization would set up a system of binding oaths and promises. A Lawful organization would be fine with an oath not to do something, whereas a Chaotic organization would demand that the capacity to do that thing be removed.

To make too many oaths is to restrict one's self, which is against the spirit of Chaos. If we lose our Chaos, we are liable to upset our gods and have them take away our divine magic, or also nullify the mechanism by which we go to their afterlives. Antipaladins must adhere to our god's concepts more strictly, so if he loses his Chaos, he loses his status. Whereas with me, I can lose my Chaos and become Neutral and still be fine. That's part of why I'm negotiating on his behalf. 

Of course, we could totally just say an oath to you and break it, but we do understand the value of promises – we are amenable to making short term promises with escape clauses, but not unbounded or undispellable promises. Also, that would constitute deceiving you, which I'm not keen to do."

"I don't expect us to get anywhere near Shatterspire or Bont Goch particularly. I'm mostly just listing my pre-existing commitments; I haven't sworn to defend the Empire, it's just where I keep my things.

All I'm after is an agreement along the lines of - you acknowledge that there are some things that are important to me that I won't betray for you - the fight against the Vallorn, Foundhome, the immediate safety of my friends. I understand that if I start messing with you then I'm probably not walking out of the woods alive to continue to do so, and affirm that I'm genuinely trying to help you with your own ends, and will continue doing so if they're not in direct conflict with the first set of things, in return for finding out what you can do and what you're doing with it.

Ideally, you also agree to ask me about what's going on if you're suspicious instead of killing me out of hand, and in return I agree to your truth-telling magic whenever you feel it's necessary?

If you feel like covering my expenses that's convenient, but otherwise all I'd be doing with money is buying weirwood for better buildings in Foundhome, which isn't much use if the place has been burnt to the ground or suffocated by encroaching Vallorn."

Allegra doesn't sound particularly afraid at the prospect of getting murdered in the woods; this is all in the tone of an ordinary negotiation, like one would expect to do on a fairly routine basis.

"Okay. I think now that you phrase it like that, both Elias and I can get on board. That isn't the extremely limiting sort of agreement that would be problematic. I'll talk to him about it before we go to bed."

She starts to speak as though reciting from a book.

"I acknowledge that there are important things to you for which you will not betray us – the Vallorn fight, and your friends' safety – and that trying to harm or mislead us would end badly for you. I also agree to tell you if we have misgivings about you and talk to you about it rather than neutralizing you out of caution."

She returns to her regular voice.

"Given what you've said, we won't pay you for your general services or pay you a retainer fee, but we may give you a portion of the rewards given to us – perhaps one twentieth of the value we would receive – both as a gift to you, in the spirit of continued cooperation, and also to incentivize you to lead us to business prospects that would be most profitable."

Felicia is a little surprised that Allegra is taking this in stride, but not very. Even without direct measurement, she suspects Allegra is very Wise, and besides, she is the leader-figure of her settlement.

"We can talk about what to ask Verys in my room, since it's fine if Elias hears that. Besides, he might have something to add anyway, though I suspect I'll still be doing all the talking." She has a look of amusement.

"I agree to avoid harming or misleading you unless you're directly threatening the fight against the Vallorn or my people's or friends' safety; even then, I'll tell you straight and attempt to talk you out of it rather than acting against you, unless that would be totally stupid - and I don't currently expect the latter situation to occur. If you feel like doing some truth magic to confirm this, I'm fine with that, and prefer it to there being suspicion between us.

Let's go strategize about Verys. I did to some extent call on him because I thought he could evaluate your character as well as be useful, but it turns out he's being very useful anyway, and I'm not sure I can think offhand of who I'd go to instead for a pile of magic items if I wasn't also hoping for a second opinion on you."

"I don't have Zone of Truth prepared today, but I can do it tomorrow. Mm, I'm not sure what to think about that, but it's all past now. I don't blame you for doing that."

She knocks, then opens the door. Elias startles and sits up from the bed, then lies back down when he sees Felicia.

"Verys seems like more than just a merchant. Does he have pull in Anvil? It would be good to have friends in high places when we actually go there, especially given the potential controversy raising the dead might have with the church."

"He doesn't, but his family does; the Eternal family are one of the most prominent Broker groups in the Navarr at Anvil, his brother Idris has been sitting on the Bourse on the Navarr national seat for a long time now.

Shatterspire still has one member that attends Anvil, Alcuin, and he's the proxy to the Seer of the Gateway, who I also know well; they're the ones who take the records of those who have True Liao visions. It's a fairly soft power kind of position but they do write accounts that influence the spiritual basis of the Empire, although they can't go too far astray from what the visionaries report without losing trust.

I'm pretty sure Ariadne's still the senator for Morrow and I'd expect her to remember me. My first approach to Anvil will probably be getting a political briefing off Alcuin Shatterspire and Saeros Splitroot - both of them are magicians who are relatively open-minded, Alcuin is basically just a friendly and curious soul although not necessarily much for discretion, Saeros has serious ambitions for the Navarr and doesn't really mind what anyone does to help him secure them.

It's also possible we'll make sufficient contacts at Broceliande to make all that irrelevant - it's a high profile expedition, I'd expect to meet a lot of current Anvil-goers and have an opportunity to work out how the situation has changed since I was last paying attention."

"Wow, you have...a lot of connections. Er, please don't take that the wrong way. Is it accurate to say that you...'retired'? You were originally from Urizen, right? 

How open should I be with Verys about our capabilities? I won't tell him everything, much like how I won't tell you everything, but I'm willing to open up to him about most other things in case they might be relevant to our fight against the Vallorn, or simply because it would be profitable in this world, so long as you think it's wise. More specifically, I wonder how we're going to test the Raise Dead spell. It can resurrect any once-living creature – provided they have no external animating force currently operating on them, like the Vallorn – but it requires that that creature originally held a soul. We can test it on an animal, but I don't know whether animals have souls here.

The body additionally must be fresh, and I'm quite sure that Verys or you will be upset if we go to a hospital and steal an unclaimed recently dead body from the morgue."