Unfortunately, Gord isn't wrong.

A short walk later, they find that a portion of the wall has collapsed - presumably in the recent earthquake. Climbing the pile of rubble leads into a storage room. Stairs lead upwards, and they can hear the sounds of fighting ahead.

Oh what now? Gord was really looking forward to finding some friendlies (even city guards would do at a pinch) and finally relaxing for a few minutes!

...Is he just stressed after a near-death fight? Or did those weird voices affect him in other ways?

The ever-mysterious wound has closed again on its own, but he casts the lesser restoration he had prepared for it anyway. Just in case. 

"I think we're in the Garrison," Anevia says grimly as she pushes past Seelah to carefully pry open the door and peek into -

Pandemonium (*).

At least fifteen assorted demons are fighting as many humans (and half-elves and half-orcs and human-sized enlarged dwarves), all mixed up in a crazy melee without any apparent battle order.

(*) Not really; this is oligodemonium at best, but they're making a spirited go at sounding like a lot more than that!

She signals them to be quiet. "Take them by surprise. Gord, Seelah, we'll fire when you charge."

Wonderful.

He is so not up to explaining how and why he doesn't rush into battle without checking who is fighting whom and why, and this does not - usually - change just because one side is composed of demons.

That said... Demons who attacked Kenabres under Deskari, and made it to the garrison... It's clear enough they're the attackers, and if half of them aren't there of their own free will, that probably goes for the guards too. He can't just make them stop fighting, or even run away from this one little room inside a big building.

This battle won't end until one side is entirely dead, and if he has to choose in a fight for the survival of everyone in Kenabres, he - doesn't choose the demons.

And he has to start killing them now, before they waste another round, or things will get strictly worse.

Gord charges in, with a mighty cry of "surrender to Gorum's might!"

He hesitated. For a moment she was genuinely unsure which side he'd fight on. But then he started killing demons with great dispatch, so she'll help him finish that before having the martial might side of the family help with the intrigue.

He, uh, was probably waiting for the best moment to attack them or something? Seelah is aware Gord being much stronger than her means he's that much more experienced. 

...she hopes that's what it is, anyway.

And then the fight leaves no more room for thought.

With the unexpected help, the fight is soon over. Nobody died in this room, which is really the best outcome she could have hoped for.

Then she sees Anevia, and realizes she should have adjusted her hopes up ten or twenty notches.

"Beth! You're alright!"

The two don't collide in the middle of the room in a frantic hug. Irabeth would be embarassed and maybe ashamed and probably even manage somehow to find herself at fault for showing undue affection to a woman she has, in this context, a work relationship with and not just a personal one. And Anevia is far too sensitive to what Irabeth is thinking to do something she wouldn't appreciate.

But, well. It's the thought that counts, right?

After a brief but heartfelt embrace and even briefer introductions, Anevia leads Seelah aside for a quiet debrief, which includes a verbal report and some paperwork she found on Hosilla and the other cultists.

The other men in the room are very grateful! They might be looking askance at Lann and Wenduag a little, because because they're Kenabrites wary of anything that smacks of demonic taint.

They're also looking very warily at Gord; this one might be because at least half of them are paladins.

They must be seeing what she saw: he's Evil, and since he's Gorum's probably Chaotic Evil at that, and so they don't trust him (even though he just helped save them) and that's. Not exactly wrong, but - they don't know he might be enchanted! (Yet.) He helped them fight the demons, and he has a paladin in his party. How can she make them see him as a potential ally and not a potential threat?

Wait, she has a new tool for this sort of situation, doesn't she? Seelah takes out the angel's sword and prays.

Light of Heaven, help us trust those who deserve it. Help us find allies in a common cause. Help us see the Good in each other, and overcome demonic spells and corruption.

Shiiiiine.

They're quite impressed! Unfortunately, it isn't Gord they're impressed with.

"Kinsby, tell the rearguard we've cleared the first floor. Ask them if we can still add people to the party escorting the wounded," Irabeth directs briskly. Another probably-paladin salutes and walks out of the room.

"Seelah. Gord. Wenduag, Lann. I thank you for your help, both here and to Anevia."

"And I welcome the descendants of the first crusaders. I confess I thought you a myth; I am glad I was wrong. But this is an ill time for any but warriors to come to this city." 

"We are short on time. This building is the Grey Garrison. It's used by the city watch and some of the paladin orders, and so contains weapon stores and is highly defensible. The demons and cultist hold the upper floors of the building, and we must dislodge them before they receive reinforcements."

"But even more importantly, when Deskari attacked he managed to throw the Wardstone out of its fortress and into the upper floor of the garrison. We must recapture and repair it; this will neutralize or drive away most of the demons and make it much easier to retake the city."

She can tell them this much because if Gord is being dominated by a high-ranking demon they'll know this already. Vrolikai aren't known for enchantments, but one never wants to rely on a powerful demon's known strengths and weaknesses.

"What are your intentions now? Do you want to escort the children you rescued back down, and how many of you would that require?

Seelah really wants to help fight the demons! She promised to rescue the kids and she won't shirk her fair share of the duty, but she hopes Lann and Wenduag will judge it safe enough to escort them back on their own.

Teaming up with paladins to fight demons isn't one of Gord's favourite activities. There are parts of the Maze that still need to be cleared, Hosilla's two 'hands' are still out there, and he's perilously close to being out of spells. He could go back down and take it easy for the rest of the day.

He imagines guiding the mongrel tribes back up, Horgus Gwerm who he promised safe passage, Rovaldo who he promised to find a refuge.

Imagines them emerging into a charred ruin of a building, Savamelekh standing cackling on top of a blackened Wardstone.

...He really hates this thing where, every time you choose to help people, you end up having to help them even more. Especially when those people are paladins.

Wait. Stop. He's not normally like this. Why is he so gloomy? They won against a vrolikai! Why can't he stop feeling depressed ever since it happened? Sure, there were weird voices in his head, but the Gord of yesterday would have thrown it off and kept going.

Gord steps back into the stairwell they came from, bends down at the waist, creates as much cold water as he can over his head, and shakes himself rather like a big dog.

...yeah, all right, that actually helped!

"Do you need my help to take this place?" he asks Irabeth.

Kinsby steps back into the room and looks around. "They left already," he tells Irabeth. "The square outside seems clear for now, but I couldn't see past the smoke from the cathedral."

That's code saying neither enchantment sight nor detect magic see anything on Gord, so he's either clear (and has no long-lasting buffs) or under nondetection. But that's not a cleric spell, and requires the vrolikai or one of its servants to have come back invisibly to cast it on a dominated Gord; the balance of probabilities is against.

If he's an enemy, better to fight him now than have him turn on them at the worst possible moment. If he's an ally, better to remove the suspicion between them. And she can't, actually, think of a way to tell him they don't want his help without saying they don't trust him. She signals her people unobtrusively to move away from him, which in the rather tight confinements of the room inevitably means they come to surround him in a loose half-circle, with Wenduag and Lann behind him near the door to the stairwell.

Gord's years of battle-instincts immediately make this the most salient feature of the room. He shifts his sword to a ready stance.

"What's going on?"

"You have an aura of Evil. We're afraid the demon may have enchanted you before it left, or returned to do it later under invisibility."

They're paladins, of course they care about his aura more than anything he says or does to help them. The idea of Savamelekh returning invisibly is honestly scary, but -

"I've detected Evil for years. Ever since the end of the war! Tell them, Seelah!"

"I didn't check you, until after we fought Savamelekh."