Taylor and her group passed by the outer guards to the cellblock with no trouble. Word of a band of true souls had spread like wildfire, and the rank-and-file practically jumped to open doors for them as they passed. Taylor paid them little mind, focusing her attention on the task at hand (as well as on maintaining her balance, given her recent blood donation and the extra weight on her shoulders).

The plan was simple and straightforward. Even better, it was an unambiguously good deed. All the dead goblins Taylor's group had left in their wake were, at the end of the day, people just trying their best to survive in the world, even if their methods were deplorable and their leaders sadistic. But devils were evil incarnate, immortal beings personifying the corruption of good intentions. Killing them could only make the world a better place in the long run.

Taylor, Wyll, and the trio of Tyr would head straight for Karlach while the rest of the group dealt with the guards quickly to avoid anyone sounding the alarm. Wyll would scan her, so that he could honestly tell the archdruid they knew she was a fiend, Taylor and Cyrel would use their abilities to subdue Karlach's mind before she could threaten them, and then everybody but Taylor would converge on the devil to send her back to Hell where she belonged.

As was often the case, unfortunately, the plan did not survive first contact with the enemy.

Everybody filtered into the makeshift prison, two at a time. There was a platform here with a room on each side - likely one for processing prisoners and one for storing contraband, given the contents Taylor could sense within each of them. From there, stairs lead downwards to another small platform, this one fully open to the sides. There were tables and chairs and makeshift beds, with four goblins playing cards.

The guards looked up from their game as the group approached, and one stood up to make noises about needing to know what they all wanted. Taylor didn't bother listening, since dealing with them wasn't her job; soon enough, the others answered the goblin's concerns with swords and sorcery. Her friends were quick and efficient; by the time the last goblin guard fell to the ground, it had been a mere six seconds since they all entered the room.

The stairs lead further down to the final landing, where there were six cages in plain view of anyone lounging on the level above. Three cages were currently occupied - one by the goblins twisted wolfhound things, one by a large grizzly bear, and one by the devil. Taylor had initially focused on Karlach, wanting a good look at the fiend who had so far proven too hot to get a good feel for via her bugs, but her attention was very sharply dragged towards something else: three very little creatures near the cage keeping the bear prisoner.

She had felt them before, when they had been making plans in that little room. Taylor hadn't had enough bugs to get as complete a picture as she'd wanted, at least not this close to Karlach, but the wireframe of them she'd been able to feel hadn't matched up with her expectations for a goblin. Given their size, more akin to a large cat or a small dog, and the way they sometimes dropped to all fours and scurried around, Taylor had assumed they were some kind of weird animal native to this world that she was simply unfamiliar with, but instead...

Goblin children. All gangly limbs and bulbous eyes and scruffy hair and high-pitched voices babbling in not-quite-Common the way young children often do. Taylor's lip curled a bit as she took in the scene in more detail - the sharp rocks clutched in their fists, the bear's fur matted by fresh blood - but she tried to not hold that against them. They were clearly quite young, if they weren't even speaking properly yet. They were the size of babies, although given how small goblins in general were, they were likely more akin to toddlers.

Taylor glanced towards the three unoccupied cages with a critical eye. The bars were too far apart; this place could hold full-grown goblins, but the children could slip right through even when it was locked up tight. Gale still had that spell that could magically bind a doorway closed, maybe she could get him to use that on the door at the top of the stairs. That would keep them locked up while-

THUNK

Her eyes snapped back as Anders raised his sword again.

THUNK

Her voice caught in her throat as she stared in horror.

THUNK

It had now been twelve seconds since they all entered the cellblock.

It was strange, the details you noticed at times like this, especially when your senses reach as far and wide as Taylor's did. She felt the hunger of the giant spiders caged elsewhere the temple, which hadn't been properly fed in days and were eager for anything satiating that crossed their path. There were a handful of normal spiders near the drowess that resisted her commands whenever she wanted them to move away from the woman - a resistance Taylor had thus far only felt from the phase spiders. Were they special in some way?

Her focus shifted back to the devil-woman. Karlach was an imposing figure, standing a full head taller than Taylor even without accounting for her one unbroken horn. Her statuesque body was covered in old scars and fresh wounds, the latter of which seemed to have been cauterized shut. Here and there along her dark red skin, there were metallic holes punching into her body, from which thin wisps of acrid smoke constantly seeped. A haphazard mesh of black leather straps and chains had been lashed together into something resembling an outfit, to provide the fiend some semblance of modesty.

The heat coming off of her was immense. Taylor could see slight singe marks around her feet from where the dirt was burning, and even from several yards away, it was like stepping out into a sunny summer day for the first time in a week. The heat didn't seem to bother the woman, although both Wyll and Anders seemed to be working up a sweat due to their proximity. Taylor's eyes flicked to the woman's noticeable chest, where a deep yellow glow could be seen almost trying to escape out through her solar plexus. Taylor more felt than heard it thrumming along steadily, more like some mechanical thing than a proper heartbeat.

Despite Karlach's significant injuries, she stood firm on her own two feet, hands gripping at the bars to keep steady. There was a fire in her eyes as she gazed out at the paladins, and not just in their color: there was a hardness to the way they glistened, to the set of her jaw and the grimace on her lips, that Taylor found maddeningly familiar in a way she couldn't identify.

Where her sense for body language and facial expressions failed her, though, her new mental senses rose to the occasion. Karlach's mind was a shredding guitar solo, screeching defiance to the heavens, declaring survival against anything that would try to put her down. The instrumentation differed, but the song...it was the same song as Taylor's own. And as their souls harmonized, she could heal the smallest notes of discord - of Nightmare's counter-melody, twisting its way through the devil-woman's mind, driving away the Absolute.

Wyll was locked in a staring contest with Karlach, a look of disbelief etched across his face as he clutched the amulet tight. Cyrel was casting her spell, but the fiend - fiend? - didn't seem to notice, so focused was she on the Blade Of Frontiers. She turned towards Taylor, as if expecting a spell, but she couldn't bring herself to attack. Anders turned to Wyll and spoke, although the words washed over Taylor.

She could've listened in; her bugs didn't exactly distract her from her other senses usually, after all. But she didn't want to listen, she didn't want to be here in this moment, and so she let the conversation pass her by, burying herself in everything else going on within her range. Deep beneath the earth, where she could feel but did not dare control (for fear of the Absolute leaking in), countless ants waged war on each other. They died by the hundreds as she idly observed, and yet it did not affect them the way she had been affected. There was not enough of a soul to be weighed down by the murder they were drowning in down there. They did not doubt they were doing the right thing, an ignorant confidence she couldn't help but envy.

Eighteen seconds.

Wyll began to argue with Anders, something about giving her a chance, and that drew in the others. Everyone was speaking at once, not listening, and so there was no real communication. But it didn't matter. Taylor could see the truth of what was happening here plain as day. Karlach was no fiend, else Wyll would be running her through, but she wasn't, and his conscience had stilled his blade for the moment. The paladins were more dogmatic, and thus insistent on ending her per the decree of their lord of justice.

Taylor's gaze flicked to the bodies on the floor at their feet.

Nightmare had been protecting others, he had mentioned; Karlach must be one of them. She was some refugee of Elturel who was just surviving literal Hell and got a wanted-dead bounty for her troubles. Nightmare had seen there were three paladins and a folk hero after her head, and had decided to cut his losses, losing one pawn in exchange for gaining four that would be easier to lead around by the nose.

On the first level, in the processing office, far from the reach of any prisoners, there were seven levers. Six were next to each other in a row; of those, three were still connected to the wall by cobwebs, while the other three bore signs of recent use. The seventh was across the room, much larger than the rest and with a shiny red handle. Each lever's purpose was obvious.

Twenty-four seconds.

Anders and Wyll had their weapons out, but seemed more concerned with each other than Karlach. Astarion had Wyll's back - he would, the paladins would never accept him - and Shadowheart was questioning their faith. Gale seemed conflicted, but couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise for once. Lae'zel was watching Durge, and Durge was just staring at the bodies.

Taylor's gaze flicked back to them for a moment before she managed to tear her attention away once more.

Neither Wyll nor Anders was going to back down. Lines were being drawn in the sand. And Taylor knew exactly which side she would be on: Nightmare and child-killers hiding behind a bible, or a woman who's reward for surviving Hell was a death sentence and the one hero willing to hear her out?

A hand of magical force manifested at the top of the stares and drifted into the office. Had anyone examined it in great detail, they might've noticed it look identical to Taylor's own hand. It settled onto the largest lever. The one that would release both Karlach and the druid at once. They could help get these guys locked up, and then help with the assault on the rest of the fortress. Finally feeling like she had an acceptable path forward, Taylor found her voice.

"You're supposed to be heroes."

Wyll and Anders turned towards her in unison - the former with a troubled expression she couldn't parse, and the latter with a disgusted sneer. Before either could reply, she pulled.

THUNK

Karlach was chatting away, explaining how she'd come to be here. "-so that's about when the big ship appeared in the sky. One of those tentacles snaked down and touched me. I gave it a good whack before I got zapped aboard, but I guess those things are pretty tough."

Taylor had collapsed into a chair and was barely listening. Stupid. Fucking idiot.

"The squiddies froze me in place and put that thing in my head, then left. When I came to, I ripped my way out of the pod they put me in, and tried to find wherever you go to steer a boat like that. Ship crashed before I could find it, though."

The lever had released the worgs as well. Her friends had been distracted just a touch by the monsters, which left the Tyrrans to focus on Karlach.

"I picked a direction and just started walking. Enjoying the fresh air and whatnot."

Karlach was like Taylor, unbreakable. But she truly belonged in this world, for her primary tool of survival was killing the other guy first.

"I came across goblins raiding an inn, and decided to have some fun with it. Only problem is, didn't realize that whatever the squids did left me weak a kitten. I got overwhelmed quickly, and woke up in that cell."

Taylor would've preferred the paladins alive. Get the druid out, get Karlach free, and the lot of them could lock down the paladins. Maybe get them to listen to sense once the adrenaline was out of their systems. But they had been intent on murder, and Karlach had been happy to reply in kind.

Halsin spoke up. "I can confirm that part of the story, at least. My information is secondhand, overheard by those that have come here screaming at her over the death of loved ones. The goblins lost a baker's dozen to her axe before she fell. I'm to understand they lit the inn on fire as a kind of ironic punishment for her attempts to defend it."

Taylor kept her focus inward very intentionally. She was not going to ogle the elf man built like a brick house. Again. She had conducted herself poorly when he's initially undone his shapeshifting, but in her defense elf druids were supposed to be wispy ethereal creatures.

"Actually, that reminds me," Karlach said. "There was a drow lass helping people get out the back while I was fighting my arse off. Don't suppose they're with you?"

"They are not," Durge replied. "But I saw them escaping into another building away from the inn." They glanced at Taylor, before adding "Zhentarim has a hideout in the area, maybe including secret passages. Easy money says that's where they were going."

It made her feel better that her attention was initially on him due to the fascinating way he appeared while demorphing. Either Halsin was extremely gifted at making the process of transforming look graceful and elegant, or Animorphs had straight-up lied to her.

Wyll remained unconvinced. "It's all well and good that you weren't serving willingly...but you still served Zariel, and not in a small capacity. You made that choice. The same as you chose to put these three down for good, instead of knocking them out."

Taylor didn't blame Karlach, not really. It was Taylor's fault, she should've taken it slower, maybe just released the druid first. Instead she'd acted on impulse, freeing the kindred soul from her cage. The druid had tried to help, interposing his bear body between them when he could, but none of the four combatants had eyes for anyone but each other.

"Choice? What, between living and dying?" Karlach huffed.

"A choice between dying on your feet or living on your knees," Gale replied. "Sometimes, the right thing is spending your life so that the forces of evil can't spend it on furthering their own machinations. I can't even begin to comprehend how an archdevil might have benefitted from wielding you as her weapon of choice."

Privately, Taylor agreed. The best argument Karlach had for why they shouldn't kill her for following Zariel was that she was just following orders. But that isn't an acceptable excuse for evil actions even if you're from a world where afterlives aren't a place you can just go visit. Taylor wasn't sure how well her own morals might've held up in the face of certain death back home, but that didn't make it any more acceptable. And things were different here.

"I wasn't exactly corrupting the innocent, mate," Karlach shot back. "I was fighting on the front lines of the bloody Blood War. Not a single innocent soul in sight. There's no way I was doing more than a blip on the balance of the cosmos or whatever."

Astarion spoke up for the first time in several minutes. "There's a line to be drawn on these things, though. Even if she had been corrupting the innocent, I think we could all agree that she wouldn't be culpable if she was magically compelled. You think a lord of Hell would be less manipulative than outright enchantment? Do you think you would do any better, if you'd been in her place?" There was a note of challenge in his voice.

Wyll's expression turned uncomfortable. "Be that as it may, there's still three dead servants of Tyr-"

"They were agents of Zariel, I told you I recognized them-"

"Enough," Taylor spoke, before realizing she'd spoken at the same time as Lae'zel. The two caught each other's gaze for a moment, before surprisingly, Lae'zel nodded, giving Taylor the floor.

Taylor eyed Wyll. "You think she needs to die, because she's evil for what she's already done. That means if you kill her, she goes right back to Hell, right?" He nodded. "But that just lets Zariel wield her again, this time forever. She's not actively threatening innocent lives. The only maybe-innocent deaths on her hands right now are from people who were actively trying to kill her and maybe were themselves agents of evil. Killing her right now isn't saving the innocent from her attention, and it robs her of the chance to become better."

Wyll didn't reply, but the fervor in his eyes was tinged by doubt.

Taylor pressed on. "You could give up. Take the easy way out. Just give up on things getting better and hack and slash until everyone who disagreed with you is silent as the grave." Out of the corner of her eye, Shadowheart shifted in place, but Taylor stayed focused. She waved at the room in general. "Look around you. There's noone here to save but Karlach, right now."

Wyll screwed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath. When they opened again, Taylor caught a glimpse of what she could only describe as dread. "...so be it. This may be a mistake, and the end of me...but okay. I'll stay my blade unless lives are at stake." His gaze flicked back to Karlach, and he offered a small smile. "Maybe we can start over, on a better foot. Wyll Ravengard, Blade Of Frontiers."

Karlach smiled back, looking relieved. "Karlach Cliffgate, a pleasure to meet you proper. Was worried I was gonna have to take your head."

Wyll chuckled. "You'd have died in the attempt."

Lae'zel cleared her throat. "If you are not dying here today, you are to come with us to the creche, where my people await. They can cleanse the tadpole from your skull. But first, we must deal with the remaining goblin leadership." She glanced at Taylor, and her eyes hardened for a moment. "Passionate appeals to your better nature aside, there still remains people in need of killing." Her tone was harsh and disapproving, but not disgusted. It was...an improvement, Taylor supposed.

Karlach nodded, a fierce look in her eye. "Agreed. Best to cut off something like this before it really grows out of control. You've got my axe. As soon as I've got my axe, anyway."

"Speaking of the remaining targets," Shadowheart said, directing her words at Taylor, "We didn't catch their attention, did we? No force of goblins amassing themselves outside the cell block, waiting for us to emerge into an ambush?"

Taylor shook her head. "Nope. Still clueless, as far as I can tell."

"Right." The half-elf hummed to herself. "We're not just charging in this time, there's potential for forces behind us to actually get involved."

Karlach nodded. "Easy enough. Squishies in the center, next rank out is healers, next rank out is bruisers. Three-two-four split there, yeah? Me and gith-gal can take point, with Halsin supporting. Wyll, you and pretty-boy take up the rear with Shadowheart supporting. You three have better range than us three, so you can defend the backline if we get flanked, or snipe a the drowess if we're not." At the surprised looks, she scoffed. "I mean I get I'm not the brightest candle in the church, but I've been fighting a war for a decade. I'm pretty good at the whole tactics thing, just not used to needing it is all."

Taylor nodded along. It all sounded reasonable to her. With any luck, this plan would go much better than the last one had.