Lann has spent his childhood aboveground. He always wanted to return, but... not like this. 

The people in the city desperately need their help, and he certainly won't turn away from them. Providing that help is going to be dangerous for the tribe, though; his duty is to guide them safely through the crisis.

She must grow stronger to survive in this strange new world; the ground here is thick with weaklings who perished.

Wenduag sticks close to Gord, and watches out for ambush.

Gord hears a voice he recognizes up ahead.

"My beloved brother! I admire your zeal, of course, but would you not agree this is hardly the time to be standing guard over a hole that no one will ever emerge from?"

Ramien is good with sarcasm.

Less good, perhaps, at deciding when to deploy it.

"Don't you call me 'brother', heretic! To my mind, you're no different than the demon worshippers!"

It's bloody Hulrun again. Gord has sometimes daydreamed about killing the man, but he's too strong for a clean fight and too paranoid with his henchmen for Gord to make a getaway afterwards.

He almost casts disguise self, reflexively, before remembering Hulrun already saw his face the day before, and anyway he shouldn't trust Horgus Gwerm or Camellia to take his side in deceiving the Prelate.

The other sensible option is to just walk away, but it sounds like Ramien might actually be in trouble?

"Everyone knows, my dearest prelate, that in your zealous pursuit of order in the city, you have long since forgotten how to tell friend from foe, and good from evil."

Wait, is Ramien picking a fight with the Prelate? Here? Now?

Horgus Gwerm lets out a half-involuntary sound of astonishment, and that is when Hulrun finally spots them.

"You! I remember you! You appeared in my city and then demons attacked and Terendelev died and everything fell apart! What are you doing here?! Answer me at once, or I'll have you strung up by your ankles! Don't think that the demons have wounded me - I still have enough strength to take on a hundred of your sort!"

"How is it my fault that Terendelev died? I'm helping people, is what I'm doing! I fought the demons with Irabeth at the Garrison earlier today, and now I'm escorting people to safety!"

Gord knows that Hulrun is his enemy, but long years of experience have taught him to respect and, frankly, fear the man's strength. Attacking Hulrun would mean most everyone on the city turning on him, inquisitors hounding him to his death, and the Mendevan crown would be out a diamond and Hulrun would go on to torture and enslave everyone around him forever.

But now his combat instincts are catching up with his preconceptions, and Gord is noticing that don't-think-demons-wounded-me Hulrun is looking rather the worse for wear.

"A Chaotic Evil cleric appears in my city the day the demons attack, and doesn't even bother to make up a story why he's there. You hid your aura, lying to the authorities, but now you discard all pretense, walking about with monsters in tow! Surrender to the Inquisition's judgement, or die!" And he draws his sword.

"Wait, Prelate, please! I know this man, and he's no demon worshipper!"

"Traitors, the lot of you!" And Hulrun takes a swing at Gord.

Oh shit, that man can smite with the best and Gord is almost out of spells.

When he said he might be able to kill him, he meant an assassination at full strength, not a desperate fight for his life! That makes it the third time today, damn it!

Can he, um, run away? With Lann and Wenduag? (But he promised to lead Horgus Gwerm to safety, and the Prelate will probably make him pass through the fire or something...)

Hulrun's two junior inquisitors run after Lann and Wenduag, who were sticking close to Gord for safety and are now desperately trying to make some distance appropriate to their role as archers.

Camellia judges this to be the right moment to stab Gord in the back. 

Of course a proper young noble lady will side with the rightful authorities of the city in putting down a dangerous cultist! She is helpful, is she not?

"Everyone, please, stop! Fighting each other only serves the demons!" Ramien shouts as he keeps channeling indiscriminately at everyone present.

"Traitor!" Doctrine is to take out the enemy's healers first; Hulrun abandons Gord momentarily to go after Ramien.

He can probably take the two other inquisitors, but Hulrun will be back before he finishes dealing with them. And while the two might be of roughly equal strength as fighters, Hulrun smote him.

The rage bubbles up again. Who is this man to stop him? This torturer, this slaver, a despot ruling a city and killing the guilty and the innocent alike at his whim? Gord will not stand for this. He will not abandon his allies, he will not submit. He would rather die fighting, but he refuses to die.

He rushes at Hulrun's back. "In Gorum's name...!"

At a certain point even Ramien has to admit Hulrun will not stop and has to be stopped for his own good. He summons a bralani azata to help Wenduag and Lann.

Hulrun is slightly impeded by not being able to smite Ramien to death, but he sets to his work with a will.

Even while Gord is hacking at his back?

He is surrounded by heretics and traitors and he will die as he lived, hacking at the demons and their cultists till strength fails, till reason fails, until all light and hope are extinguished and beyond.

Though all the world but his goddess stand against him, he will fight on tirelessly. He will see Her will done, and justice triumph.

In Her name.

Ramien doesn't choose most of his spells to harm people, even today.

But he can heal himself and Gord as quickly as Hulrun can hurt them, and that leaves only one outcome.

The two junior inquisitors will not surrender or stop.

After Hulrun goes down, one of them tries to run away, to spread word of what happened here.

Wenduag's arrow punches through his neck.

She's only been following Gord for half a day, and already she feels stronger than before. More sure of herself, her path in life.

Now all that's left is for her to figure out who the guys they just killed were and why they were fighting.