"Your priorities for the next several hours," he says.

“—I guess that depends on where there are vampires? But yeah, it probably won’t take me several hours—I guess trying to figure out what the fuck is up with this country, the vibes are gooky.”

GLARE.

“—Nothing to do with you, as far as I’m aware—there is something going on, here, that is not going on in Lastwall or Geb or even at the Worldwound! Something magical or metaphysical or something that I can sense with my star powers.”

She turns to Tiriac again. “Am I missing social context?”

"Miss Whitman, I believe he is attempting to determine if you intend to kill his superiors."

"--Well, if I do, I'll probably bring them back?"

"Ah, but will you leave them vulnerable for his enemies to finish the job?" He'll turn his head. "Colonel, Geb escaped Miss Whitman. Arazni owes her a favor. I strongly recommend allowing her to go about her business and cleaning up afterwards."

"Will it make you feel better if I assure you that I don't at this time know you to be worse than any other faction vying for control of Ustalav." 

"Not particularly," he says.

And that is when Wielki Ksiaze runs out of ability to fight his geas.

Take her head.

"Are you, in any respect," says the captain, doing one last check before a completely suicidal attack, "allied with Lastwall or with Razmir?"

"Lastwall yes." 

Shit.

No asking for polite confirmation of insane orders from there, the way there - otherwise - might have been.

Behind her is Korkaghan the Mighty, failed graveknight, Tyrant-Headsman of Urgathoa in his life in Belkzen and in his death afterwards and called to undeath for a second chance in his lady's service.

Smite Good. And a single overpowering swing with an Unholy axe, straight for her neck, as the rest of the hit-squad moves into action, wizard casting Haste as the small room erupts into bloody chaos.

Oh yeah her head comes right off. 

And while some of the troops hack at her head or body to make sure she's unrecognizable, more swarm Count Tiriac - 

- Who turns with absolute horror as he watches her fall, head stricken from her shoulders - 

- Lucy -

- and then he's being stabbed a lot - really quite a lot - but he still has Shield of Faith and Greater Magic Vestment and rather a lot of other spells active - 

"Lucy!" - she can't just die - her body's sinking to the ground - 

- 

- well, it's not as though they don't have the diamonds to resurrect her - 

- And he will dive through the melee, taking hits left and right, grab her head and burst straight out of the tower's narrow window, Fly spell still ongoing.

Lucy is floating, moving somewhere else; all around her is a great mass of people, not quite looking like themselves, with vague blurred silvery outlines. They're floating with her, most looking sort of asleep as they travel.

Through them, she can see the blurred outlines of outsiders standing guard, great angelic beings and fearsome devils and mechanical soldiers watching in all directions, and then nothing but endless space.

...Does movement work as normal? Can she fly towards one of the great angelic beings?

It's very difficult to overcome the flow of all the souls moving together, which drives her on towards the very distant destination. It's not impossible if she wants to, though, being quarter-Messenger as she is?

...She doesn't want to accidentally hurt anyone, shoving past resistance. 

Man, this is a lot of dead people. 

She tries to see if she can get the attention of a shade immediately adjacent to her. 

Sort of dozing, but can be brought to wakefulness with some difficulty.

At which point she runs into the difficulty that, while dead, she doesn't have Tongues active on her. 

Oops. 

Well, that was futile and embarrassing. 

She's...just going to...light up really bright, clear out all these currently-dead people, and head back before she worries her friend too much. 

As of the time she lands in the River of Souls, her friend is fleeing! Arrows are being fired and javelins and handaxes are being thrown! He still doesn't have most of her magic items, but his attempt to plummet towards safety is going reasonably well; he can put a lot of distance between her head and the arrows if he flies like hell.

Either way, though, it'll still take him more than a couple rounds to make it to where the rest of the party is preparing to break them out -