"-make for the windows!"

That gets Minagho's full attention, and she starts making gestures similar to what Brenda might remember from some of her own spellcasting.

Any demon that tries to get between the Eagle Watch and the windows can answer to Lariel's sword. If they all get out safely she'll be right behind them.

She can kill the vrocks and Babau interposing themselves, but even she isn't fast enough to kill multiple at once, which means they're only halfway there when a fireball detonates at the center of their group.

Irabeth will slow down to channel, then, since she made her save.

And get grabbed by the Lilitu's tail, pinning her in place; its touch leaves an angry red mark along her flesh.

"I suppose you'll make a fine consolation prize."

She starts gesturing for another fireball.

Time to find out if an angel's sword can chop a demon's tail off! And also whether having her tail chopped at will break the lilitu's concentration enough to slow down the next fireball.

Her scream of "GET FUCKED!" might also be useful for concentration-disruption but mostly it's just how she feels right now.

Minagho yanks her tail out of the way, dropping Irabeth in the process; the blade slices off the tip in a spray of blood, but the rest of the tail remains intact. Unfortunately for her, this does interfere with her ability to maintain concentration on the fireball and it fizzles out.

"Pitiful insect, you'll pay for that!"

Rather than continue the fight in melee range, Minagho ascends into the air. This time, whatever she's doing doesn't take a gesture or chant.

"Prostrate yourself before your mistress!"

That is the most fucked up incantation she has ever heard, wow. Does Irabeth need help getting out of here?

She's struggling back to her feet on her own, but it's definitely a struggle.

Brenda picks her up with all the grace of someone picking up an equivalently sized bag of packing peanuts while having never picked up a bag of packing peanuts before and gets them both out the window, hopefully before another fireball can happen. It's not the most comfortable exit, but it's the fastest one available.

There are a couple of vrocks harassing the last of the crusaders headed out the window, though they're treading cautiously around getting in range of Staunton Vhane and mostly lashing out with shrieks or probing strikes. As Brenda arrives, some of them turn to try and impede her, but this gives the rearguard enough space to make their own jumps to the street below, where they're promptly healed of the injury. The eagle's watch has apparently decided to make their retreat in clustered squadrons, separated enough that a fireball can only hit so many of them but with enough concentration of force to quickly deal with any demon that teleports too close.

Brenda puts Irabeth down as soon as the heal goes off, then joins the nearest group and bugs out.

Minagho tries another fireball, but it doesn't take anyone down and pretty soon they're past the inner city wall and out of the line of sight from the fortress. They don't slow down then, but no pursuit seems to be materializing; none of the Vrocks are trying to fly after them, nor is anyone teleporting in. Nobody actually relaxes until they arrive at a small hill with what looks to be a temple on top though.

"Thanks for the save there, Brenda. I don't think I would have gotten loose on my own."

"No problem. Sorry if I contributed to it turning into a fight in the first place. I still have a lot to learn about what kinds of demons there are." Her wonderful headband has prevented her from forgetting any of the kinds she's seen or any of the abilities they've displayed, but if there's a pattern there to extrapolate she hasn't found it.

"It's possible we could have talked her into letting us go for not being a threat, but I doubt it; I expect nothing we said could have gotten us out of there without her trying to kill someone. Out-talking a Lilitu is tough at the best of times, and Minagho's particularly tricky for a Lilitu; she's the one that took the city of Drezen in the second crusade. We'll have to warn Terendelev that she's here - I don't know what it is that let her ignore the wardstone, but if it's her in charge I expect Deskari thinks he can use it to take Kenabres too."

"Will Terendelev be able to take her out, if the rest of us help? It looked like she'd done something to the Wardstone to disable it, but if she's right there guarding it we might have to incapacitate her before anyone can fix it."

"I expect so; there aren’t a lot of things that can take on an ancient dragon, especially one that's prepared. She's to all-but immune to hostile magic and her own sorcery is significantly stronger than the spells Minagho was showing off, plus of course if they fight in close I'd never bet against a dragon. The only thing that concerns me is that Minagho should know this too but she seems too confident about it going her way. 

"And you think the problem is with the wardstone? I couldn't tell anything was wrong, but I'll admit I barely know the first thing about magic."

"The red mark on it looked pretty out of place to me but for all I know it's supposed to look like that." She wants! To study! Magic! She has no clue how anything works and it's like being a kid in a candy store with no money.

"I didn't see any red mark on it - it definitely shouldn't have one of those, the wardstone is just gold and blue."

She asks the other members of the eagle's watch, in case it was just her not paying attention, but when none of them remember seeing it she nods to herself.

"Are you certain you saw it, and aren't just misremembering? Because if so, that's almost certainly the culprit; it's not easy to make an illusion good enough to catch Paladins since we have excellent will, so if the demons went through the effort to do that there's definitely something important going on there."

"It was a really big red mark; I don't think I could be misremembering it."

"Then we'll have to tell Terendelev, and hope she can convince Morgethai or Clepati it's serious enough to be worth their time and risk to help with."

She claps her hands together, and murmurs a prayer.

"Inheritor, aid us in this solemn hour..."

Brenda is split between two or three hypotheses on the purpose of prayers that aren't spells in a world where some prayers are spells, but it would be rude to ask and it's off topic anyway.

"Staunton mentioned a Storyteller who might be able to figure out more. Think it's worth trying to find him and tell him what we know so far?"

"Probably. I'm not sure how much he could help, but it's extremely unlikely to hurt and I don't like our other options. It's not like legendary spellcasters are the kind of people you can just call up with a sending."