Wow, this manages to be a worse situation to be in than "ambushed on the road by a monster he's never heard of". Are the sprinklers doing an adequate job such that his first priority doesn't need to be the fire?

The sprinklers seem to have the fire contained.

Okay! It's possible this is complicated somehow but it looks exactly like monsters attacking a human town and he doesn't understand any of the shouting so he's not going to get a clear explanation of why that might be today and he can't start channeling till there's a calm moment to get people into a radius without any of the bug things in it! But for extra safety margin he's going to open with a Burst of Radiance at the most accessible concentration of monsters.

The attackers - a quick count shows five four-legged insectoids and three big reptiles - are mostly stunned! All of the reptiles crouch flat, and two of them are badly burnt. Two of the bugs are out of the area or effect and two more manage to evade the worst of it, more dazzled than stunned - though one gets burned - and keep shooting bolts of glowy fire from their weapons.

The radio shouter seems to be some sort of officer- He shouts a rallying cry and four soldiers reply - "Uraa!". They stand and fire at the hostiles.

Inquiring projectiles would like to know if Blai is in half cover, full cover, or no cover.

That really depends on what direction the projectiles are coming from, everything's relative. Let's say half.

A lucky hit means a ball of plasma grazes his arm, burning it through the chain mail as the hideously hot material is briefly in contact. Not too bad as hits go but a more direct one would have been nasty.

The exchange of fire continues. Flashes of light and thunderous bangs. The lizards are taking hits with gouts of red blood but are visibly regenerating. A bug goes down with purple blood. One of the soldiers goes down too, headless.

One of the cops, apparently too injured to shoot, tries to offer him a shotgun.

Blai doesn't know how to use that! He'll convert a Forbid Action into a Cure for him instead.

"Blyat!" -But there isn't really time to question it. It is time to shoot back.

The attackers' weapons, it is quickly becoming clear, are astonishingly deadly. The wild spray of mini fireballs is blasting apart sturdy brick walls and metal shelves with relative ease. The humans' weapons are also deadly, definitely moreso than a crossbow at least. They fire with long strings of clattering bangs, and the violence occurring is going very swiftly.

One of the bugs throws a yellow object into the store, and the soldiers all shout and scramble away from it.

Okay?? Thing is bad news in some way Blai doesn't understand and therefore can't assume anything in his repertoire will solve, he too will get away from the thing.

Probably a good decision, as the thing promptly explodes in a greenish not-quite-Fireball. Everyone is out of the sphere, but only because they fled. One of the soldiers takes a hit in the arm as he scrambles away. This, plus some of the stunned aliens getting up again, seems to have broken the morale of the soldiers; They are now fleeing to the back shelves.

New combatant count: Three bugs (another one went down in the meanwhile; They seem a lot more fragile than the lizards), three lizards, two cops, four soldiers (two badly wounded), a bunch of bodies, and Blai.

Are they all or at least mostly in range of a Prayer if he drops one?

They're all in range but they have the look of people totally lost to panic and useless in a fight right now.

Prayer helps with that! Maybe they'll notice! He drops one and then draws his mace for the oncoming monsters.

Why engage in melee when they have these perfectly nice guns? Repeat previous question about cover status, please.

He's not behind cover but they are going to be taking a penalty to their shots if they didn't make their saves. Look, the fort needed the crossbow bolts, and also he has both channels left for once the monsters are down, or, failing that, Axis is lovely at all times of year.

Blai takes two shots directly to the chest and one to the shield, which punches a hole clean through it but does, at least, not hurt him much.

These do a LOT of damage. It's not quite enough to drop him in one round, though.

They were focus firing on him as an easy target, giving the fleeing soldiers a chance to rally and try to shoot back...

...And also, there seem to be reinforcements. No less than eight human figures in silvery armor burst from an alley, getting the attackers in a crossfire and a salvo of grenades a moment later.

Ow.

Is Blai not recognizing what a grenade is going to be a problem here?

Not unless he actively runs out to whack the hostiles before the round is over.

Well, that was his original plan, but maybe he can pick up from the newcomers that they've dropped in delayed area effects in time to get behind something.

The only hint on that front is the aliens scrambling away from the thrown brown objects that resemble the thrown yellow exploding object from earlier.

This means they aren't shooting back, or in cover!

Yeah, that's good enough, he ducks behind something.

There are some explosions. One of the lizards runs at Blai but is taken down by gunfire before reaching him. One of the bugs shoots at the new arrivals, scoring a hit. The new arrivals fire back, and keep firing.

And then everything is quiet save for the dripping of water and more distant sounds of combat.

The newcomers in different armor don't really relax. One is having a shouted conversation with the local officer while the others double-tap the lizards, reload their weapons, and take up defensive spots. One is approaching the store, holding a red box with a '+' symbol on it.

If the monsters are all down can he get everyone here in a channel radius?

They aren't preparing for a channel. Red box guy looks quizzically at his armor, then pushes past him, pulls a spray bottle from the red box, and starts triaging and spraying wounds with it. The soldiers and cops come over and receive more spray bottles and bandages.

...The one he Cured keeps pointing at him and trying to explain the matter, but it doesn't really sound like the others believe it? This at least prompts the officer to come over and try about eight languages on him.

Are they "not preparing for a channel" or are they "positioned so he can't prepare for a channel".