The interrogation of the false Kelithar took days. I wasn't present for it, celestial security being what it was, but Urgala briefed me afterwards in one of the palace's side chambers.
"It was good the Archon Seraphiel was there for the extraction and not away, as he is incredibly busy," she explained, her expression grim. "He's an Esper, and he specialises in hostile telepathy; it's effective against even the most heavily protected minds."
"Zariel placed multiple mental blocks, layers of protection designed to prevent exactly this kind of interrogation. Seraphiel tore through them anyway." Urgala's voice carried a note of satisfaction. "It took time, and the process wasn't pleasant for anyone involved, but we extracted what we needed."
"And?"
"The real Kelithar was killed months ago during a reconnaissance mission near the first layer of the Nine Hells. Zariel's forces captured her body, and one of her brass dragons took her place using a combination of illusion magic and stolen celestial artifacts. The infiltrator has been feeding intelligence to Zariel ever since."
That explained the deterioration I'd noticed during our ascent through the heavens. The disguise had been straining under the weight of the growing holy energy, growing harder to maintain with each layer we climbed.
"The information she provided led us to additional spies scattered throughout Excelsior and the lower heavens," Urgala continued. "Minor agents, mostly. Informants who'd been bribed or coerced into passing along intelligence. We've already arrested most of them. The rest are larger and are being monitored to see who else they contact."
"What about the leak in the caravan information?" I asked. "The devils knew too much about Captain Mira's route and cargo."
"One of the Parliament members in Tradegate. A human who'd accumulated significant gambling debts. Zariel's agents offered to clear his debts in exchange for information about celestial-blessed weapon shipments. He provided the routes and cargo manifests." Urgala's expression darkened. "He's been arrested. The Parliament is deciding his fate now."
So the entire operation, from the initial devil attack to the assassination attempt in the palace, had been personally coordinated by Zariel. An archdevil with resources, intelligence, and patience enough to plant sleeper agents and wait for the perfect opportunity.
"I never got to speak with the trumpet archon," I said, somewhat disappointed. "I would have been interested in meeting them."
"Archon Octavi sends his regrets," Urgala said. "He's been occupied with coordinating the counter-intelligence operation. Perhaps another time, should you visit Mount Celestia again."
"Perhaps."
Urgala studied me for a long moment. "Lord Bahamut wanted me to inform you that we're not mobilising additional forces in response to Zariel's actions. We've been at war with the Hells since the beginning of time. This is just another skirmish in an eternal conflict. We're allocating more resources to monitoring Zariel specifically, increasing security, but no major military response."
That made sense. Overreacting to a failed infiltration would signal that it had been more effective than it actually was. Better to respond with measured countermeasures and let Zariel wonder how much damage she'd actually done.
"I understand," I said.
"Good. Now, Lord Bahamut mentioned you have free access to the first five heavens. Are you planning to explore, or will you be returning to the Outlands?"
I considered that. The spell notes Bahamut had given me was valuable, incredibly so, but again, knowledge without practical application was limited. I needed to actually build something, even if it was only something minor, to test my understanding.
"I'd like to stay for a few days," I said. "I am planning to do some crafting, if there's a workspace available. Nothing major that would disturb anybody, just some personal small projects."
"There are workshops in the third heaven, Venya. Some craftsmen and artisans serve the celestial hosts who work there. I can arrange access. Lord Moradin is away, otherwise he would definitely see you to examine those bulls of yours. If it's something minor, then Venya is better than Solania. You can visit it later," Urgala paused. "What kind of crafting?"
"Small protective items, mostly. I have some ideas about combining local materials with techniques from my plane, but I don't know enough yet and would like not to blow up the borrowed workshops."
"The Materials can be requisitioned from the celestial stores within reason. Given what you've done for us, I doubt there will be objections to reasonable requests."
"I'd like angel feathers," I said. "Some freely shed ones. The naturally shed feathers carry different properties than the taken ones."
Urgala's expression shifted to something like approval. "Many Immortals don't understand the distinction. I'll have a collection sent to the workshop I arranged for you. Anything else?"
"I just need some time and space to work."
"You'll have both."
The workshop in Venya was much smaller than my forge under Etna had been, but what forge wouldn't be? It was adequate for my current purposes. It occupied a corner of a larger crafting complex where celestial artisans produced weapons and armour for their eternal war. They'd given me curious looks when I arrived, but after Urgala's introduction, they'd left me to my work.
The angel feathers arrived the next morning, delivered by a young celestial who seemed really excited that someone was interested in using them. "We shed them regularly during spars or obstacle courses for trainees and the military," she explained. "Usually they're collected for bedding or decoration. I didn't know they had crafting applications."
"Everything has crafting applications if you understand its properties," I said, examining the feathers. They were beautiful, each one pure white, edged with faint golden light. They hummed with residual holy energy, the essence of the angel who'd shed them still lingering in the structure.
I'd been thinking about this project since the devil attack on the road. The exploding corpses, specifically. If Zariel was willing to turn her own forces into bombs, she'd certainly try similar tactics in future encounters. I needed protection that didn't rely solely on my divine durability and that I could give freely, but first, I wanted to experiment with making something else from the given materials.
I spread the feathers across my workbench, sorting them by size and energy signature. The largest ones carried the strongest resonance, the smallest were more delicate but more flexible. I selected twenty of the largest, each one approximately a foot long.
The concept was simple: create an item that would negate fall damage and provide resistance to radiant and fire damage. Two functions that should have required two separate items, but I thought I could combine them if I structured the enchantments correctly.
A belt made the most sense. It would be worn constantly, always accessible, and easy to activate in emergencies.
I started with the base material. Leather from the celestial stores, treated with holy water and already blessed by multiple archons. It was Strong, flexible, and receptive to enchantment. I cut it to size, measuring carefully, creating a belt that would fit comfortably around my waist and stretch enough to fit both genders.
The feathers came next. I arranged them in overlapping patterns, each one positioned to channel energy in specific ways. The largest feathers went in the center, forming the primary power source. The smaller ones radiated outward, creating distribution channels.
The stitching took hours. Each feather needed to be attached with thread made from angel hair, itself donated by the celestial artisans who were increasingly curious about what I was making. The thread conducted holy energy better than any mundane material, allowing the feathers to function as a unified system rather than individual components.
As I worked, I wove enchantments into the structure. Runes from Olympus, adapted to work with the local script that I was studying in Aldric tomes. Divine will shaped them into patterns.
The featherfall effect came first. I channelled the concept of weightlessness, of falling without impact, of air becoming as supportive as solid ground. The enchantment settled into the feathers like water finding its level, natural and effortless.
The resistance effect was more complex. I needed to create a barrier that would blunt incoming energy, specifically radiant and fire damage, without interfering with my own divine abilities. The feathers already carried holy essence, which made them naturally resistant to infernal fire. I enhanced that property, amplified it, and structured it as an active defence rather than passive resistance.
By the time I finished, the sun had set over Venya. Or whatever passed for a sun here, the gentle luminescence that marked day from night in the heavens.
The belt lay on my workbench, feathers arranged in a pattern that resembled wings spreading outward from the center. It glowed faintly with contained power, humming with the combined energy of twenty angel feathers and countless hours of focused enchantment. I might have made it too strong? Instead of just Feather Fall, you might be able to fly briefly with this.
I picked it up to test the weight. It was light, comfortable, the leather soft against my hands. I fastened it around my waist and immediately felt the enchantments activate.
My weight decreased subtly. If I jumped, I'd fall more slowly. If I were thrown from a great height, the impact would be negligible. And the barrier around me, invisible but present, would absorb incoming radiant and fire damage up to a certain threshold.
I wanted to test it properly, but throwing myself off a cliff in the middle of a celestial paradise seemed like poor judgment. I didn't want to destroy the ground for no reason randomly. The featherfall effect could wait for actual field testing. The resistance, though, I could verify now.
I pulled out one of the captured devil spines I'd saved from the road attack. The spine carried residual infernal fire, enough to cause painful burns if it struck unprotected flesh. I pressed it against my arm, channelling a small amount of activation energy.
The spine flared with cold fire. The belt's barrier activated immediately, intercepting the energy before it could reach my skin. I felt warmth, mild discomfort, but nothing that would qualify as actual damage.
It worked!
I stored the spine again, satisfaction warming my chest. This was good work. Exactly the kind of item that would serve me well in future encounters with infernal forces and others I might travel with.
And I'd done it using local materials and local magical principles. Proof that I could adapt, that I could learn and grow in new realities rather than just relying on what I'd always known.
One of the celestial artisans approached, an older angel with silver threading through her wings. "That's some beautiful work," she said, gesturing at the belt. "I've been crafting for centuries, and I've never seen feathers integrated quite like that. May I ask what it does?"
"Feather fall and energy resistance," I explained. "Combined into a single item rather than two separate pieces. Although this particular piece might be a bit too much for the average person, I have a suspicion that you could fly with it"
Her eyes widened. "That shouldn't be possible. The enchantment structures would interfere with each other."
"They would, if you layered them traditionally. I wove them together instead, using the feathers themselves as the integration point. Each feather carries both enchantments simultaneously, and the belt as a whole coordinates them."
She leaned closer, examining the stitching. "The technique is... I don't recognise it. Where did you learn this method?"
"Trial and error, mostly. I've been crafting for a very long time."
"May I study your work? just to examine the enchantment patterns. This could revolutionise how we approach multi-function items."
I considered that. Sharing knowledge seemed fair, especially since I'd just been given access to Mount Celestia's entire magical archives. "You can examine it. Just be careful with the feathers. They're delicate, and I still need to test them."
She produced a crystal similar to the ones in the archives, holding it near the belt. Light flowed between them, the crystal recording the enchantment patterns in perfect detail. "Thank you. This is generous of you."
"I think knowledge should be shared with those who work hard," I said. "That's how we all improve."
She departed with her crystal, leaving me alone in the workshop with my new belt and a head full of ideas for future projects. The spell notes from Bahamut's archives sat in my dimensional storage, waiting to be studied. The feathers I hadn't used could be saved for other items. And I still had access to four more heavens' worth of materials and inspiration.
Tonight, I had a new belt that would keep my future people safe from falls and fire, knowledge of magic up to the tenth level, and the gratitude of one of the most powerful beings, Celestia.
Tomorrow, I'd start studying the spell notes in earnest. Try experimenting with adapting some of the principles to my divine crafting. Visit the other heavens and see what else Mount Celestia has to offer.
Time to see what other wonders there were to craft.