Ser Karnel Rabassa arrives by Teleport in Kenabres the next day, hoping to interview the adventuring party in question for the incident report, as well as any other parties with potential information on what the Church should have done differently. (Per the Communes the full story is somewhat more complicated — sufficiently so that they got a slightly nonstandard answer to their question about the vision — but they definitely still want the incident report.) Where can he find them?

So, funny story there.

This morning the Queen declared a new crusade, announced that they would be marching on Drezen, and appointed the Calistrian priestess as knight-commander. They have apparently already set out for Drezen, but they haven't made it very far yet, he could probably catch up. He looks kind of old but he's probably not slower than an entire army.

Well. Okay. That... is presumably going to be in a second incident report.

Before he goes off to catch up with the army, can he find anyone here in Kenabres to interview about the incident?

Yes! Absolutely! So, what happened was, basically everyone in Kenabres who could still fight went off to fight all the demons at the Grey Garrison so they could save the Wardstone, and when they'd been fighting for a while there was a giant flash of light above the Grey Garrison, and the adventurers who were supposed to be fighting at the Wardstone somehow made it back alive.

As for what actually happened in the Grey Garrison... Iomedae personally came down from Heaven and fought alongside them. Iomedae gave them a really cool magic sword that let them easily kill all the demons. Iomedae personally appointed the Calistrian as a paladin even though normally that wouldn't be allowed. Iomedae converted the Calistrian to worship of Ragathiel and then appointed her as a paladin. Iomedae sent the Calistrian a vision telling her the demons' secret weaknesses and she just killed them the regular way. Everyone's wrong about the miracle being from Iomedae, obviously the Calistrian got a miracle from Calistria. No, Sarenrae, everyone knows if you see a giant flash of light it's from Sarenrae. No, Asmodeus, someone tells him conspiratorially, he's just really sick of how the Iomdaeans can't stop fucking up. No, it actually was Iomedae but the Calistrian part is a cover story, obviously Iomedae bestowed the miracle on her actual paladin.

Most people agree that the demon they were up against was a lilitu named Minagho and that traitorous fucking bastard Staunton Vhane (the Queen should've hung him when she had the chance), but some people say it was actually a balor, or Areelu Vorlesh, or a thousand dretches all packed into a single room, or Deskari again, or all of the above at once.

He... sees. What do people know about the adventurers involved?

Well, first of all, there's the Knight-Commander, the one who got a vision. She calls herself Justice — that's the Taldane word for justice, if he didn't know. She's a priestess of Calistria. (No, she's a Calistrian but she's not a priestess, she's just a sorcerer who's really devout. No, she's an Iomedaean, Iomedae's holy symbol just looks different outside of Mendev.) She showed up in Kenabres around when the Wardstone attack happened (this person saw Terendelev heal her from some sort of horrible injury! At least, she thinks so, but it might've been some other teenager from down south). 

She defected from a Chelish fort and fled to Kenabres. No, she's an Andoren pirate who's sheltering under the treaty. No, demons killed her family and she's here to get vengeance. No, she's a whore, she only started fighting the demons because she had to to survive. No, she's just a regular adventurer fighting at the Worldwound for regular adventurer reasons. No, she vengefully murdered a bunch of people and now she's here because she doesn't want to go to the Abyss. ("She channels positive, I've seen her." "Well, yeah, obviously she channels positive now.")

She saved Horgus Gwerm's life ("for some reason"). She saved Irabeth's life. She saved Anevia's life. She saved Queen Galfrey's life but Queen Galfrey was disguised as Irabeth at the time so it's understandable that people got confused. She saved some guy from the Pathfinder Society's life but he's an asshole so he told her she still had to pay him a fortune if she wanted him to help with anything. She saved a bunch of whores at Count Arendae's mansion (also some nobles, but she's a Calistrian, obviously she was there for the whores). She saved this person's life. Also this other person. Also this other person but he thinks he'd have maybe lived anyway, he's not sure. Arguably she saved all of their lives actually, if the demons had overrun the Defender's Heart they weren't surviving that.

She killed Hulrun the inquisitor (and good riddance). She killed Hulrun the inquisitor (and if there were any justice in this city she'd have been put to death for it). She killed a whole bunch of demons. She killed Staunton Vhane. She killed Minagho. She actually killed Irabeth but it's okay because Irabeth was working for the demons. (Someone threatens to knock that person's teeth in.)

She fights with a spear. No, with a crossbow. No, with her sorcery. No, she dual-wields rapiers. No, she uses her sorcery to summon wasps to sting her enemies to death. Actually she does all of those things depending on what's best for the given fight, if you show up with just a spear you'll be in trouble if you need to fight anything at range.

Interesting. Do they know, does she say her name like this, or like this, or like this, or like this?

It's like this. Probably. 

Fascinating. It's a very Andoren name but that's the Chelish pronunciation, the dialect in Andoran is a little different.

What do these people know about her companions?

Well, first of all there's Irabeth, obviously. Irabeth is a paladin of Iomedae and in charge of the Eagle Watch. She's really cool, does he want to hear half a dozen stories about how cool Irabeth is? Anyways, they've fought together a bunch of times, including at the Grey Garrison. She... might or might not have been there for the miracle. If he pays close enough attention it kind of seems like she was not actually present for the miracle and people are just assuming she was because of how cool she is.

Then there's Ember. Ember's a sweetheart, everyone loves Ember. She sleeps on the streets during the winter and somehow isn't dead of it — people would let her into their houses, he has to understand, it's just that every time anyone makes the offer she asks them to take in some other homeless person, and either they end up filling up their house with other people, or they refuse and she won't sleep there. She's got some sort of healing sorcery, and she spends it freely on injured people, or sometimes injured animals. No one will admit to having seen her spend it on an injured demon but she's some sort of Sarenrite or Shelynite or something, she says a lot of weird things about the gods but people like that are usually Sarenrites or Shelynites. (This older man heard that Hulrun tried to kill her, but he thinks that's probably a rumor started by demon cultists to make Hulrun look bad. It's Ember.) Ember definitely went to the Grey Garrison with the Knight-Commander. (This person thinks the 'miracle' was actually just her sorcery. This person thinks sorcery can't do that.)

Then there's Seelah ("but I might've pronounced that wrong, she's from somewhere really far away"). Seelah's also a paladin of Iomedae. She's the horse kind and not the sword kind, probably, or at the very least she has a horse. One woman volunteers that the horse's name is Ragathiel and no one challenges it. Anyways, Seelah isn't as cool as Irabeth but she's still pretty cool, and even though she's a paladin she's hardly annoying at all. Some people think she was the person who actually got the vision from Iomedae, which would really make a lot more sense. (But obviously you can't have a paladin in charge of a crusade, they're too squeamish to do some of the things that have to be done, so the Queen brought on the Calistrian as a figurehead.)

There's some Desnans? People disagree on which Desnans. Someone heard the Desnans were from Tian Xia but they don't really look it. And of course there were plenty of paladins and archers and casters and so on who were with her when they went into the Grey Garrison, but a lot of them didn't make it out again.

...So, those are the normal ones.

Then there's the... other, more confusing... Iomedaean. He looks really really weird, like a tiefling but weirder. People aren't actually sure he's an Iomedaean at all but supposedly he's been seen channeling from a sword symbol? No one has actually seen him cast a spell. Maybe he's just really Splendid, and Iomedae picked him as a priest so that he'd be able to channel and save the wounded? During the battle for the tavern he was mostly just shooting arrows, though, he didn't do channels at all. He was pretty good at shooting arrows, though! This person thinks he's a weird-looking tiefling. This person thinks he lives underground, like the drow, but he's rejected his Evil heritage and is now fighting for Mendev to atone. This person thinks he's actually just a normal human but he was cursed by a demon to look like that. This person is, for some reason, pointedly reminding everyone that Shelyn does not teach people to murder the ugly, even though no one even suggested murdering him for being ugly.

Then there's fucking Woljif. Woljif is definitely a tiefling and definitely a thief. Irabeth had finally managed to lock him up, and by rights he should've hung, or at least lost a hand, but the Knight-Commander said she wanted his help and he'd be worse at helping with only one hand. People have a lot of nasty stories about Woljif stealing things but none of them are recent. Probably the Knight-Commander is sleeping with him, that's the only reason it'd make sense to spring him, he's kind of cute if you're into tieflings. (No, she's sleeping with the other tiefling. No, she's sleeping with Irabeth and Anevia. No, with Queen Galfrey. (That rumor is unambiguously illegal to repeat in Mendev, but that's not stopping people.) No, she was one of Count Arendae's whores until the mansion got attacked.)

Someone clarifies that Anevia is Irabeth's wife. He knows that probably sounds weird, since they're both women and all, but Anevia is under a magical curse that makes her change back and forth, and Irabeth is a paladin so she wouldn't abandon her spouse just over that. Anevia's travelled with the Knight-Commander before but she definitely wasn't at the Grey Garrison, she was back at the tavern with the civilians — that wasn't her fault, to be clear, she got cursed by a demon during the initial attack during the festival and now she can't walk right.

She is also rumored to have previously travelled with Horgus Gwerm, Fiducia Rathimus, several tieflings that no one knows the names of, someone named Camellia, this really obnoxious elf dude from Galt, and Queen Galfrey, but none of them were with her at the Grey Garrison. ...Except possibly Queen Galfrey, if she was disguised as Irabeth. Maybe Iomedae actually sent the vision to the Queen and that's why no one's admitting to it?

The Knight-Commander used to be working with a different wizard (way better than most wizards, people say, but — well, it'd be rude to speak ill of one of the only other countries that's taking the Worldwound seriously). That wizard died in the tavern battle, though. There's a rumor the Knight-Commander brought her back to life but it doesn't really make sense, she's not fifth-circle yet.

He has several additional questions but the fastest one is probably 'what circle is the Knight-Commander?'

Third. No, second. No, this person's pretty sure he overheard her talk about swapping out her Hold Person, and that's third, right? ...Is he asking about what circle she was during the tavern battle, or when she went to fight at the Grey Garrison, or when the miracle happened? 

He was primarily wondering what circle she was when she prepared spells on the morning of the attack at the Grey Garrison, but if she reached a higher circle during the attack that would also be useful to know. It's alright if they aren't sure.

...Probably third. But maybe second.

The other wizard was definitely third circle before she died. People think the other casters were weaker ("but paladins suck at magic anyways, it's not a fair comparison"). 

Well, he sees why they needed the miracle.

If third-circle clerics are enough to make a difference, Lastwall can almost certainly spare some, assuming that the attack in Kenabres doesn't precipitate a similar pattern throughout the Wardstone line. But it would be much worse to say that and then not provide them, so he isn't going to mention it.

Instead of saying any of that, he's curious to know what they think about the Crusade. 

—The people he's talking with abruptly seem very nervous.

"We are all very grateful for Iomedae's blessing," one of them says, which is not remotely an answer.

Right, he can take a hint. Was there anything else they wanted to tell him about the Knight-Commander?

This person got her to bless a rock for him! Does he want to see the rock?

...Sure.

It's a rock.

He's not sure what he expected.

...One of them will eventually say, cautiously, that although of course she trusts the Queen's judgment, and of course the Knight-Commander is blessed by Iomedae, it's surprising to hear the Queen call for a crusade so late in the year, given how quickly the army will need to push on towards Drezen. And that from everything she hears, the Knight-Commander has done admirably well at leading a small party of adventurers during the city's crisis. And that she, personally, is staying in Kenabres to rebuild the city.

He's very grateful for everything they've told him. 

Karnel reports this over a Scry, and is instructed to catch up with the army and attempt to continue his interviews. The surviving Lastwall agent in Kenabres is travelling with the army already, but she's differently specialized from him. He is to continue making reports by Scry, and receiving updates in the same fashion, though not daily.

It really ought to be easy to catch up to the army. In practice, it is... somewhat more challenging than expected. He has a map, but the Abyss's taint has warped the landscape to the point of being unrecognizable, and half the time 'safe' routes turn out to depend on passages that have long since caved in or bridges that have long since been destroyed. He keeps having to route around the bizarrely frequent vescavor swarms. More than once, he catches up to the last known location of the army only to discover that they've already moved on.

He's not well-positioned to collect rumors himself, but he does receive some information via a Message over a scry. The Knight-Commander freely identifies herself as an Andoran adventurer; she has allegedly made references to 'growing up in Cheliax,' but there's a sense in which that's true of most people in Andoran, and it's not clear whether that's the sense she means. Most people involved with the Worldwound defense are at least vaguely respectful of Cheliax's contributions; by all accounts she is not, and is not particularly interested in pretending to be. She has additionally been overheard saying that the Queen is, quote, "actually surprisingly cool, you know, for a queen, like if you're stuck with a monarchy she's the best queen I've ever heard of." In addition to her primary holy symbol, she wears a leather cord with holy symbols of Milani, Desna, and Ragathiel, and an additional Calistrian symbol; she separately wears a holy symbol of Iomedae on her belt, though reportedly she has repeatedly expressed frustration at Mendevians treating her as if she were herself an Iomedaean.

Pay is timely, though it sometimes takes the form of items recovered from battles with the demons rather than actual money (the Church of Abadar is taking point on allowing people who would prefer actual money to easily sell these items, and no one is ending up with items valued at less than they would fairly be owed). Mendev has commissioned a number of emergency Teleports to bring additional troops to Kenebres (this is not in dispute, Lastwall's Teleporters were among those called in); excluding people who are clearly making things up, various people allege that was funded by the Knight-Commander, the Queen, the Church of Abadar, or Irabeth. In addition to her adventuring companions, the Knight-Commander regularly converses with a halfling scholar and a priest of Shelyn, though she isn't known to have adventured with either of them. Lastwall's informant has heard reports that she is having a sexual relationship with one or both of them, but doesn't think they're credible (particularly in the latter case — the Church of Shelyn strongly discourages prostitution).

Casualties thus far have been shockingly low; most people suspect that the demons are saving the full strength of their forces for Drezen. Baroness Gaunther, a Mendevian sorceress, is commanding that armies in the field; reportedly she is one of the only people in the entire Mendevian army competent to actually organize a post-battle channel. Her appointment was announced publicly by the Knight-Commander.