This child is scared of demons!

This child is scared of that bigger child who shoved him.

This child is sad because his daddy died.

This child is sad because his daddy is away fighting and might die.

This child is sad because she wants an apple and no one will give her an apple.

This child is sad because he was promised cake at the festival and then not given cake.

This child is sad because his daddy is a cultist and was executed in front of him.

This child is sad because he lost a TOOTH and when he told his mother she just burst into tears instead of praising him.

Well. She can congratulate the one who lost a tooth on this achievement, and let the one who is scared of the bigger kid sit near her in case that's deterring.

Anevia's people manufacture an excuse about identification of bodies and call some people over one by one, including the three demons; Bella can't see from here what happens after that but Anevia looks more relaxed, when Bella next sees her. 

And a while after that some people carry in the remnants of the Garrison assault, most of them in pretty poor shape. The wardstone fortress is held by extremely powerful demons, apparently, and was not retakable. There were survivors only because demons are not very strategic and did not bother much with pursuit.

Is Seelah alive? Irabeth?

Seelah's alive! There is a horrifying hole straight through the front of her armor that presumably until recently corresponded to a horrifying hole straight through her, but paladins are pretty tough.

Irabeth is dead. The Church might in her case be willing to pay to raise her; Anevia is arguing about it with a priest of a different god in the corner of the tavern.

"Bella!" says Seelah, exactly as cheerful and optimistic as she sounded this morning. "You made it here safely!"

Yeah, and found three demons in here too, I think they got handled. Uh, is there backup coming to try again with the fortress...?

"The Church'll send us backup unless somewhere else needs it even worse, but it's not rare for somewhere else to need it even worse, and I don't know for sure if anyone successfully got word out that we need backup. Irabeth had some plans if this failed, but -" Gesture at Irabeth's mangled corpse. "I guess we should ask Elin, the Eagle Watch second-in-command, where we're needed now. ...probably I should see if I can get the armor mended first, actually, or find any new armor in my size."

I can come with you to talk to the Eagle Watch if you think I ought to whenever you're re-armored.

"Sure, I'll catch you then." She smiles at her. "Hang in there, we aren't beat yet."

Thanks.

There's a little kid crying because a bigger kid pushed her, and another little kid crying because her daddy didn't come back with the others. There's someone drunkenly expounding on a unicorn-hunting adventure he went on, and someone else playing music, not very well.  Anevia stomps away from her conversation with the priest, not looking very happy, and then immediately gets distracted by breaking up a fight among some refugees, one of whom accuses another of stealing his coin purse. 

Well, at least Anevia can stomp now. Bella occupies herself with the kids for lack of anything immediately pressing to occupy her. She can sing to them. Keeps a metaphorical eye out for demons.

Seelah comes and finds her about half an hour later, wearing armor that's notably worse-fitted but does not have a giant hole in it. "Shall we go ask Elin where we can help out?"

Sounds good. She pats a kid on the shoulder and gets up.

Elin is a very tall very young man, kind of twitchy. "The main things we're trying to do right now are find survivors and bring them back here, and find a way into the Garrison that's not through the front door. There's supposedly a tunnel, but I don't know where its entrance is, or who would know. Before the attack, we were warned by this kooky old elf calling himself the Storyteller, and if he's still alive it'd be pretty bloody useful to talk to him again, now that we know he wasn't just kooky. 

- also, if you find any scrolls of Sending, or anyone who can cast it, we're out."

"So we can't tell anyone we need help?"

"We told them. When Deskari attacked, and again when the Wardstone was moved. I think we should figure we're on our own, but I'd try one more time, if we had the means. We can make use of scrolls of most everything else, too. -  Oh, you also have permission to bring supplies back to the Defender's Heart from any abandoned residence you run across. Irabeth wrote an emergency order for it, just note what you took from where and the Church'll try to compensate people later, if anyone survives."

"I can read a bit but I can't so much write - Bella, can you write -"

Uh, not in this language, but in mine yes.

"That probably works, you can read it out to someone when we get back who can copy it out to our language. Elin, do you have anyone who can go with us? Bella's really useful and we should be trying really hard not to get her killed."

Elin pinches his forehead between his fingers. "I don't really. - do psions do truth spells? There's a prisoner in the basement, an accused thief, who says he'll help if we let him out but I am assuming he's full of shit. If he's not you could take him, he's a bit of a wizard. I need Anevia here unless she manages to wheedle a diamond out of Rathimus so we can get Irabeth back. Count Arendae's got a substantial security staff, but you'd have to fight your way to his place and it's on the other side of the chasm Deskari opened."

Not truth spells per se but if he wants to let me read him I can do that. - diamond?

" - as the material component for a Raise Dead. Rathimus can cast the spell but he's a bloody Abadaran and won't give us a discount. A loan, yes, but I don't have the right to spend the Church's money like that."

Bella rummages in her pocket. Rubies, agates - there, this ring has a diamond in the middle of all the garnets, it's a shame to wreck Mahtan's lovely setting but he would certainly understand, she pries the prongs apart and offers it.