Arkady shakes his head. "Lady, an assassination is not a battle. If nobody notices half a dozen Zemoch killers until they're close enough for the Queen's bodyguards to see them, then it's pretty safe to wager that she's about to die."

"As for fighting demons? I've seen it happen. Pandions can certainly hurt one. But I've seen no sign of them being able to really obstruct it or force it away from its target. Put a squad of assassins and maybe a demon or two together and we are having problems."

"So if we don't want the bodyguards overrun, then we need to keep them from being put in that situation. And so the question I am asking is: how many attackers could this priest sneak past the regular guards without being noticed?"

"Thank you, Lady."

He turns back to Platime. "Then up to three trained assassins, with free choice of equipment and possibly a demon or two, could pretty much have the run of this place. How would you rate their chance if this is what they try?"

"That depends upon many factors. For one, the Zemoch peoples are largely a mixed-race people - part Styric, part Elene, and visually distinct from both. These assassins would not merely need to pass a trained guard - they would need to pass unremarked through an entire country before then. Am I correct, Lady, in imagining that an increased number of eyes looking upon a hidden person makes it harder for them to stay hidden?"

"You are," nods Sephrenia.

Platime nods back. "I can do nothing about the rest of the country," he muses, "but there are a lot of eyes in this city in particular that report back to me. I can have them look for both any mixed-race people, and any of the known assassins of the neighbouring Elene kingdoms."

"The Zemochs do also include a number of people of pure Styric genetics," points out Sephrenia.

"Indeed," acknowledges Platime with a nod. "Styrics like yourself are very rare in Elene cities; indeed, aside from yourself and Zalasbra, virtually unknown. Nonetheless. Such a network of eyes will suffice to provide early warning of some percentage of assassination groups, but we cannot rely on it to stop all such attempts. So. Let us consider the worst-case scenario. Up to three assassins, with their choice of equipment - though I assume that they would be limited to equipment that can be easily concealed under a cloak?"

"If there were three, then I believe so, yes," muses Sephrenia. "One could bring more elaborate equipment."

Platime nods again. "Then I imagine that their first attempt will be via poison. This has been countered. The second attempt will likely be a crossbow bolt at short range - I would need to talk with you, Lady Sephrenia, about which wounds you can and cannot heal. Either way, this assassin will be swiftly killed, likely but not certainly before he can fire; he will need to be a fanatic to even make the attempt. The third attempt, I expect, will be some form of poisonous gas; the best counter here is to ensure that the Queen is never exactly where anyone expects unless the area has been thoroughly checked." Platime considers the matter, looking into the middle distance for a while. "I estimate... in the face of a truly determined attack, and if most matters of luck go against us... about a four, maybe three in five chance of keeping the Queen alive. However, putting that level of effort into killing her will certainly re-ignite the war against Zemoch. He'd be risking his entire nation to kill one person."

Arkady shakes his head. "The Church knights I have heard seem to think that war is both inevitable and more or less imminent. I would not be relying on the threat of it to protect the Queen. It is more likely to be the cause of the next attempt." He shrugs. "And from what I have heard they lost the last war anyway; but this kingdom is the one still trying to rebuild. I am not thinking Azash will be too worried about it. The Rose, yes; but not the threat to Zemoch."

"We did win the last war," says Vanire. "Both sides took terrifying losses, but our side at least had an army left at the end of it. ...which then had to go back home to work the fields, and still the years after that war are the worst famine on record. Azash hasn't dared to openly attack us ever since then - though the resumption of the war has been imminent for most of the last five hundred years."

"Well, given that there seems to be a lot of subterfuge and sabotage being conducted at the moment I think it might stand to reason that the imminent war is a touch more imminent than it was," Felix says. "So far we've encountered no less than four different plots to subvert the leadership and nobility of non-Zemoch nations."

Felix sighs.

"And every single one of them resulted in loss of civilian life to one degree or another. Either directly or tangentially. If Azash isn't stepping up his game in preparation for an invasion he's obscenely dedicated to being a pain in the neck."

Arkady shakes his head. "And heaven help us if the one the priest sneaks in is the next Seeker. That would not be fun."

"One Seeker was enough, thanks," Felix says. "Just that one... how many hundreds of people did it take? Just that we saw?"

Vanire nods. "It has been continually getting more and more imminent for decades, yes. I believe that the aim is to make it continue getting more imminent all the time until we ignore the signs, and then to strike at us the moment that we let our guard down."

Sephrenia looks pained at the mention of the Seeker.

"It will take... some time... before another of those creatures can be introduced. Time more than likely measured in years. ...though there are creatures of similar or worse potency and Azash likely has those in reserve, as well."

Arkady looks back at Platime: "The Seeker was a monster used by Azash as his hand. It could pass for a human in a robe if someone didn't look closely; and if they did look closely it was usually the last thing they ever saw. It enslaved several armies by itself and basically could not be killed. If something like that shows up, unless the Rose and the rings are in hand then evacuation and calling for help by radio are being your best choices. You will not want to be waiting for a runner to get where they have to go."

Platime nods. "Some tactical usage of radios is sensible. But if the Seeker was so terrible, then why did it not take down the Church Knights as a whole, while it was active?"

Sephrenia, however, smiles grimly at Felix' request. "I do not know a tenth of the monsters which may be under Azash's command, and even for those I do know, we would take so long merely going through the list that the Elene kingdoms would fall before we were done. The Seeker was... uniquely suited to the uses to which it was put; among other things, the Seeker has very little reason to go against what Azash would instruct; and as I understand, it was the little reason that it did have which was used to defeat it. Moreover, every single one of Azash's monsters can be defeated - by the Rose, used in conjunction with the Rings. It is a general solution applicable to all of them - and while one does need to take incredible care when using the Rose, it is not hard to destroy a specific monster - or, indeed, being - with it."

Arkady shakes his head. "Azash didn't think he needed to. Beside some minor opposition from the Pandions they were not in his way. And if any of at least three of his plans had worked, then either the Elene church would be irrelevant or it would be run by one of his allies." He shrugs. "As far as I can be telling, they were not bad plans."

Then he grins slightly. "But the Seeker could not enslave someone through a camera."

"I guess I'll just have to prep a grab bag of tricks and hope I have the right trick for the right time," Felix says.

"It's kind of hard to visualize the usefulness of tools you've never seen or conceptualized before, I reckon," Felix says while shrugging at Arkady. "I think the best we can do on this front is come back later with examples and see if anything catches on. I think the best thing we can do to help in the long term is just increase production of necessary goods. Food and medicine to help proof against famine and disease should war break out."