Ugh. Desecrating corpses is generally considered Evil, but he supposes it's not as if they were going to bury her.

The way down isn't really all that long, but they move carefully because they need to protect the children.

The room where they left the prisoners stands unlocked and empty, with a clear trail of bloody footprints leading from the dead bodies in dormitory to a side-door they hadn't explored yet.

Gord carefully opens the door, mindful of ambush, but there's nothing past it but stairs down into the darkness, and the sound of lapping water. (Rovaldo did say something about a water elemental.)

"You're not welcome in the maze anymore," he shouts into the darkness. "If you're still here when we come back, you'll die." He leaves Hosilla's head down on the top stair, and turns away.

"I'm not at all criticising you," Brun says, "only trying to better understand. Does the threat mean you won't accept their surrender in the future?"

"I always accept honest surrender."

"Then - did you mean the mongrelfolk host would kill them if they found them here?" That makes a lot of sense, actually, but he's still surprised that Gord has so much apparent concern for the cultists' safety when they are, in fact, his enemies.

"They probably would, yeah." Gord can tell he isn't getting through. "Listen, there's an ancient stratagem that paladins aren't taught, but it works really well in war."

"When I first took them prisoner I told them if they escaped and I saw them again, I'd kill them. I lied."

Obviously he can lie, this man is Chaotic and Chaotic Evil at that, but then how does he think surrender even works -

Brun doesn't, in fact, want to antagonize the powerful Chaotic Evil cleric of Gorum who is tentatively their ally, and so he won't question this further, but he is confused.

Lying to enemies is fine, the only problem is Lann not being able to tell when Gord is lying and when he wants his party to honour his commitments! ...he supposes this is something of a theoretical worry at this point.

There is a crowd at the entrance to the Maze; around a hundred people are present and more keep arriving. It seems the tribes took Chief Sull's message seriously. The mongrelfolk children are reunited with their joyful parents.

Brun goes off to brief Sull and the other tribal chieftains about the state of the city and to figure out the best allocation of fighters between helping fight off the demons and keeping the mongrelfolk civilians safe. If Irabeth decides to assault the Gray Garrison again soon, they can join that effort; otherwise they might want to come up through the fissure where Gord fell in. The paladins need to secure the square above it at least temporarily and lower enough rope ladders, but it should be much easier than taking on the demons in the garrison with anything less than their full force.

Gord finds Rovaldo (he is fine but still pretty terrified) and gives him back his spellbook and explains the options he'll probably have.

"You're free to go if you want, but it's risky to be on your own. I know the head priest of Desna's temple and I can ask him for ideas. The paladins said they wouldn't execute you but they'll enslave you as a miner or soldier, so I really can't recommend that but you technically have that option if you want to make Lawful for some reason."

"My own advice, if you don't have family or strong attachments here, is to get a new start in life. Leave the city, maybe the country. You're a wizard, you can always pay your way, you just need to fall in with some people you can trust, unlike Baphomet. Maybe there's a merchant caravan or mercenary band that'll take you on. Lots of people are probably looking to flee the city right now and won't turn away someone who can cast ant haul and endure elements for passage."

Having people he can trust so he doesn't have to spend all his spells on self-defence sounds terrific and also he has no idea how to get there! He tried trusting people a few times and it never really worked out. And, uh, some people tried trusting him and that didn't work either, but he's really really willing to put that behind him if it means he won't have to fight terrifying people like Gord anymore! 

...he knows he can't have that Light that he glimpsed but, maybe, if he's really lucky and Gord is very kind, he can sort of - live with people who've seen it?

His family does still live in the city but he kind of left them already, what with the cult thing, and he doesn't really want to back and. Explain everything.

Gord will ask Ramien, but most likely Rovaldo will need to lay low for a few days while the fighting's going on. Maybe the mongrelfolk will let him stay with them in return for his spells, or maybe Desna's church is safe - Gord doesn't know what the city is like yet.

He wishes Gord wasn't fighting all the time so it wasn't dangerous to stay with him and have Gord protect him yeah, ok.

The mongrelfolk won't all go through the Maze immediately, but they'll send a few people up to establish contact with Irabeth and coordinate, because they do actually really want to go up to the surface. Being the underground crusaders is a central tenet of their society, the self-concept that let them survive down in the darkness, and the situation up there sounds pretty crusade-y.

They're really lucky they didn't decide to go crusading during the Fourth, let alone the Third! It really wouldn't have done anybody any good!!

Lann will naturally be the mongrelfolk emissary send to the paladins! He can't honestly say he's been training for it all his life, but he's still much better prepared than anyone who's never been upside.

Gord will go back up with him, then, and also escort Horgus Gwerm for a thousand crowns. (And Camellia, apparently, ugh. He won't refuse to go if she's there, but he won't be risking his life to protect hers, either.)

Wenduag will follow where Gord goes! ...she means she's also a very natural candidate for ambassador. She spend the most time upside and met the most paladins out of anyone in the tribes besides Lann.

Rovaldo also wants to follow Gord and maybe stay at the Temple of Desna if they'll have him! If he follows him around everywhere Gord won't just abandon him, right.

He's a free man! Gord can't tell him what to do! And he's not going to turn him away if he didn't refuse Camellia, it's an open party.

Brun will tell them Irabeth is based in the Defender's Heart inn, a well-known gathering spot for adventurers in the city, and give them the latest intel on how to get there safely from the Garrison. Because the giant crack in the ground is blocking the most direct route, they'll have to detour through Clydwell plaza. Deskari's long gone, so it should be more or less safe, but the city's pretty chaotic right now.

Then the party can set out!

Chief Sull embraces Lann and Wenduag; sending them as official emissaries to The Crusaders is a pretty big deal.

Nothing bothers them on the way up, or while leaving the Garrison, but they can see a vrock flying overhead and hurry to leave the vicinity.

Clydwell plaza has been split in two, filled with rubble, lit on fire, and infested with giant vermin. It is strewn with dead bodies, human and demon both.

The Cathedral of Saint Clydwell has been destroyed so comprehensively that Deskari must have struck it himself, and the smaller Temple of Iomedae is also looking the worse for wear, but Desna's temple stands miraculously untouched. A few people have taken shelter in it; only one low-circle cleric is there but he says Ramien is probably nearby, trying to guide more people to safety.

Gord hadn't really thought about the scale of death and destruction before. Knowing intellectually what even a minute of Deskari's personal attention might mean isn't the same as seeing it with his own eyes.

He's used to scenes of war and carnage, at least in the sense that they don't make him puke anymore, but he wonders how the mongrelfolk are dealing with this introduction to the world above ground. He has no idea how they imagined the city, but he wouldn't blame them for deciding a life eating fish in the dark wasn't so bad, actually, compared to this whole crusading deal.