"Goddess protect you," Maximilian said this a most severe look.  "I shall pray for you swift and safe victorious return."<div class="floatright">(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e9/11/49/e911499557e1bdedda223d4cf153a83b.jpg)</div><br/><br/>The massive halls of the Cathedral were full of winding spires and spiraling staircases, landings and alcoves and shrines, all under the steady gaze of the Templars.  It was simple enough for one so versed in the architecture of the church to find their way out however, and soon Delia would be descending the Almsway--the series of ramps and ramparts that constituted a "road" besides the clifftop behemoth overlooking the city that was the Assumption of Merriam.<br/><br/>The city splayed before her, the sum of the place was writ large.  Humans stacked on humans, the light and lofty above the low and downtrodden.  With limited capacity to expand due to the poignant corruptions of Gaia beyond the walls, as the city had grown more and more prosperous it had built upwards, never so high as the holy site reared above them all, but each in their own way striving for that Godliness.  Some from hubris, some from devotion, others in an attempt to survive.<br/><br/>After Delia passed through the final gatehouse of the Almsway into the Marketplaatz, even as business was concluding for the day, the wealth was tangible.  Poignent odeurs of perfumes, a variety of fruits not possibly grown here on display being carted away, inns with boarding to befit a king, storefronts with rose-tinted windows, it was all wealth.  Of course, the day labourers trundling goods away or tending shop rarely appeared wealthy, but those who lived up here clearly were.<br/><br/>Lower down things grew to rely less on facades and style, and more on what was practical--metal for the main structures that formed the foundation, wood for the shanties and additions.  The signs of the place being well lived were everywhere, but Delia was well accustomed to them.  She passed by several places the daemon had struck and felt the taint.  It was fresher and fresher as she progressed along the Serpentine Dagger, cutting between the curves for the straightest line to the hilt.<br/><br/>The vastness of the river fully struck her, the far side barely visible and shrouded in fog, as she reached the harbour district.  Street toughs, bravos, and prostitutes all made way at her advance.  The garb of her office brooked no unbecoming behaviour.  Even though she was alone, she walked undisturbed by armed gangs.  Nefarious people in alleyways receded into the darkness swiftly upon getting a good look at her by lamplight, the sun now fading.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Finally, Delia had arrived at the place the attack would occur.  The warehouse was storing an exotic spice, and besides that a vast amount of cut stone.  There were only two people there when she arrived, a lady-clerk and a male thug crisscrossed with tattoos across his naked arms.  Both seemed alarmed to see her.<br/><br/>"Ah, hello m'am," the clerk said, hurriedly.  "A-are you here to make an inspection?  I assure you everything is in order, stamped, I have it here in... in..." she rummaged about in a desk, pulling out papers left and right.  "Triplicate!  Yes, triplicate."<br/><br/>The thug, for his part, just tried to stay out of the way.  He did take in an eyeful of her, however, likely never having seen an Inquisitor up close before.<br/><br/>Delia saw that upper windows of the warehouse were shattered, a likely point of entry for the daemon.  Aside from that, there was a large door at the center of every outer wall and a single southern personnel door inside the clerk's chambers.  Any could be the daemon's point of ingress in its shadowed form, but it would require a human victim to perform its task here.<br/><br/>Delia was well within her rights to<strong>send the civilians away</strong>, but the clerk or thug could both<strong>make good bait</strong>, and the thug could perhaps be pressed into some<strong>light violent service</strong>--assuming he didn't turn white at the sight of D'zuk.  Aside from all that, Delia knew of many magical means to deal with the daemon--it was simply a question of time commitment.  She could also prepare a more traditional trap, although the stone and spice to hand did not offer any obvious uses against D'zuk.