"Here are your thousand crowns, as promised. Horgus Gwerm always keeps his word." He almost throws the money at Gord, and heads off in a clear ill-temper.

Unsurprising. A rich merchant needs the protection of the local lord, and cultivates good relations with him; Horgus Gwerm was always going to come down on Hulrun's side, no matter the dispute.

While Gord is familiar enough with the tavern (and the barman), it's crammed full of refugees now, and very noisy. He doesn't want to bother the poor folk who made it here, so he just hangs out at the bar and drags the news out of Gemyl.

(Gemyl Hawkes likes to pretend he's the silent type, but there's an art to getting news out of him: you drink one mug for every story, and spin your own tales in a way that would please Cayden, god of drink, bravery, and bravely drunk adventurers.)

He also buys some scrolls and potions from the cleric of Abadar in the corner. No adventurer in a fight ever lacked for coin, as the proverb goes, and Gord happens to have rather a lot of glaives to unload.

He'll have to find someone else to buy the enchanted cold iron longsword and bloodstained coat of adamantine chainmail, though; Abadar frowns on goods looted from the self-proclaimed rightful authorities. 

Eventually, it is time for sleep.

Well done, little cleric! You have advanced all My purposes. Here, have another circle.

I'd say it's on Me, but you really earned it this time.

Gord makes it through the night entirely un-stabbed! He goes through his morning ablutions; it's always a relief to get back to civilization. (Civilization consists of trading create water for prestigitation.)

Then he finds the most secluded place he can in the back corner of the yard, takes out the polished skulls from his bag which he stacks into a neat little pyramid with his sword leaning on top, and starts praying.

(Hulrun's skull doesn't belong here; these are personal.)

Everyone approaches prayer differently; at least, everyone who hasn't been Lawfully instructed to pray in the exact fashion prescribed by their deity.

Gord doesn't talk to Gorum when he prays. He doesn't really have anything to tell him, and he doesn't expect Gorum to answer back. But meditating on the same concepts for an hour every day is hard, and worse, it is boring. So Gord has acquired a habit of talking to himself, reviewing everything he'd done the previous day with a fresh mind.

Did he achieve what he set out to do in the morning? He made it back to the city, helped other people get back to the city, rescued the mongrelfolk kids, and gave Camellia's amulet to Ramien (and still needs to give him his own copy). On the other hand, he didn't learn anything about his mysterious wound or his missing memories. Still, that's a solid four out of five.

Did he do any other good things? Well, he survived an impossible fight! Twice! But neither one was due to amazing performance on his part, so he gets only half credit. 

Also, he saved Ember! And helped a cultist repent! Those were really really good things and he's allowed to bask in pride for a few minutes.

And he killed Hulrun, which - was better than running away and letting him kill Ramien and the others, obviously, but he's not satisfied with it. If he kills someone he wants it to be by his choice. Still, it's not a net loss.

And did he make any major errors? Well... Uh...

He didn't spy on the vrolikai in silence, but it lasts a very short time and he couldn't have known he'd need it or when to cast it.

He didn't stay to listen to the vrolikai, from behind the corner where it couldn't see him. This was - mostly due to panic, to be honest, and probably a mistake.

The fact that he panicked was a definite mistake, and a big one. Panicking gets you killed nine times out of ten. He only survived due to blind luck. He let his party stand around talking a few rooms away instead of running all the way out of the maze. He tried to hit the vrolikai with his sword, which was very definitely useless even if he'd managed to hit it, instead of using the scroll of piercing banishment which had a tiny chance of working. He wasn't thinking clearly or planning or even reacting intelligently, from the moment he glimpsed the vrolikai to the moment it fled.

This is very clear and it's tempting to linger on it, because there's a certain morbid attraction in dwelling on your own shame, but he forces himself past that, to consider what happened next.

They went after Hosilla. This was foolish; the vrolikai could have come back, or sent reinforcements. They should have retreated, rested, and then scouted much more carefully the next day.

On the other hand, the vrolikai could also have returned the next day (but so might Seelah's super-smite?) The next day which is, in fact, today. Gord had impressed on the tribes the danger of crossing through a powerful demon's territory; it's their decision now. For himself, he's not sure he should have taken that risk. With the right spells, he could have climbed back up the chasm.

He joined Irabeth's assault, even though he was mostly out of spells and had just been made painfully aware that they had no idea what the opposition really was. He still thinks he made the right decision; retaking the Wardstone was important enough to justify taking a big risk. And after that, when the lilitu Minagho made her appearance and they were saved only by her own ineptitude, he didn't really have any better options.

He assaulted and accused Camellia but let her live, making her an enemy, if a seemingly weak one. On reflection, he thinks that was a mistake; he should not have let a necromancer, all but certain to chain another soul, walk free. But he accepted her into his party; it was wrong of him to do that and then attack her, and it would have been very wrong to suddenly kill her.

Why did he do it, then? Why not wait for the day after disbanding the party to confront her, as he originally intended? Because the shock of killing Hulrun and meeting Ramien, on top of the shock of fighting a vrolikai and a lilitu, had - impaired his judgement. Worse, he hadn't noticed and reflected more on what he was doing, even after the strange voices in his head and sudden rages really should have clued him in. This was his second biggest mistake of the day. He'd felt so tired of making decisions, and that is completely unacceptable on the battlefield. He must do better.

In summary: it had been a wild ride of a day and he isn't going to even try to sum it up as positive or negative! It was just a lot of things that happened, alright?

And now Gord has the spells he prayed for!

He also has a new spell he didn't ask for. It... makes people who scry you see an illusion of your choice? And it feels - bigger than his other spells.

He belatedly notices that he has two more similarly large spell-slots, as well as an extra one at second circle.

OH FUCK YEAH yesterday was the best day of the last year!!! (Except for - and also - but it sure feels that way!!!) 

Today, he can fly.

It's hard to achieve your goals in life if the only thing you're capable of is killing and destruction. Through struggle you become stronger and better, but the thing you're better at is still killing people.

A man isn't a real fighter if he can hit people but couldn't kill one to save his life. Killing is the first thing a fighter learns to do, and the main thing he keeps on doing.

A cleric learns healing early on, but that's really not enough, is it. You can't just heal people while someone is trying to kill them. Healing doesn't bring back the unjustly slain.

Today Gord is a real cleric, because he can bring people back to life.

He's going to need a ton of diamonds, but that's what all the practice at killing people was for, wasn't it.

Also, today he can go bug Ramien for a fork attuned to Elysium and go! see!! Liberty again!!!!

...except that he needs boots of teleport first. And if he's going to keep doing this, some way no enemy of his can ever track him to her -

...waaaait.

Is that why he's been getting nondetection every day, and now this new extra anti-scrying spell on top?

For possibly the first time since he was clericked, Gord feels actively appreciated by Gorum.

Going undercover never seemed to him like Gorum's preferred kind of war, but now, now he finally understands. These spells aren't for fighting. Oh, he can use them for that, because anything is a weapon if you're clever and desperate, but - these spells are for winning. For building the thing you actually want, once you've killed everyone who stood in your way.

Gord arrives at Irabeth's war council in very high spirits and he's happy to let everyone see that! He hopes everyone else also got stronger after yesterday!

Seelah has become immune to fear and disease! She wouldn't have noticed, what with not being afraid or diseased at the time, but her lay on hands now makes people less tired, and she noticed that because paladins, like clerics, generally know what their spells do, so she talked to some experienced paladins and figured out the rest.

(Seelah is running an hour ahead of Gord and Irabeth by virtue of not being granted any spells yet.)

She'd be as happy as Gord, reassured of the support of her Goddess, except that - she doesn't think the Light of Heaven has grown any stronger. She's afraid not sure it even got a proper night's rest! Wouldn't it be better for Heaven to give any extra power to it, and not to her? It shines for her, just as before, but she's not sure if it's up to super-smiting Minagho.

Well, at least Seelah is now cheerfully unafraid to try it again!

Wenduag shoots things. How is she supposed to know if she's better? The light here is disorienting, the practice-targets unfamiliar, even the arrows they gave her are different from what she's used to. Maybe she's a little better, but it's not a big and obvious change like the one from the ritual.

Irabeth is strong enough not to have grown stronger by fighting a lilitu, which is its own accolade.

"I will recap the last two days, to bring everyone on the same page."

"After Deskari's attack, we sent to Nerosyan; they acknowledged but couldn't immediately say what help they could give. The evening of that day, their reinforcement party arrived by teleport. The teleport-wizard isn't a combatant, they went back. The reinforcements joined up with Hulrun's party and fought multiple actions through the following night, sustaining heavy losses. A few of them are still waiting to be raised, because while we have diamonds or in some cases insurance, we don't have enough fifth-circle clerics left in the city."

"The next day - yesterday morning - survivors from various forces, and some independent adventurers, began to gather here at the Defender's Heart. This wasn't intentional on our part, but once we realized it was happening we began directing and helping civilians to come here for shelter. Some of the people here are soldiers and adventurers who won't go out to fight demons, but they'll fight in their own defence, making this the most secure place in the city that wasn't built as a fortress, and most of the actual fortresses are no longer in our hands."

"Scouts reported that the enemy was gathering at the garrison. We decided to prioritize securing the Wardstone and launched an attack, but were forced to retreat. The demons there are led by the lilitu Minagho, a very dangerous opponent." 

"Some hours later we received word that the Lord Prelate was killed in action. The remaining stragglers of his command have since made their way here. I am now in temporary command of the city's remaining guard and inquisitors, and most of the surviving paladin orders. There are many still missing who I hope are holding out in various places across the city; they wouldn't know where to go to rally, and the streets are dangerous." 

"This morning we received a sending from Nerosyan. The army is marching to Kenabres, its vanguard led by the Queenin person , but it will take them a week or more to arrive and we cannot expect reinforcements before then; perhaps some scrolls via teleport, no more."

"Now, the tactical situation."

"Deskari threw the Wardstone from the Kite to the Gray Garrison. This left the western half of the city effectively inside the Wardstone perimeter, with demons free to move in. At first we thought that was all, but we were mistaken."

"Some demons were already inside the city, and even in the festival - illusioned or polymorphed. They could have been transported across the Wardstone lines by cultists, in bags of holding or the like, but we don't know yet whose magic enabled them to pass surveillance and mingle with the population undetected. In other words, some very powerful mage or mages are working with the demons, and they may be among the cultists now in the city. There are no known powerful wizards residing in the city, or adventurers who advertise themselves as such." 

"Even that is not all. There have been reports - too many to dismiss - of demons moving on our side of the new Wardstone line. And the demons in the garrison yesterday were operating practically under the Wardstone. Either these unknown mages have provided powerful protection to very many demons, or Deskari damaged or disabled the Wardstone somehow when he struck it."

"We do not know how effective the overall Wardstone barrier is, if the Kenabres stone has been taken out. A team is out investigating that and will hopefully report back today. The direct line between the two stones on either side of us passes on the other side of the river."

"Of the strongholds in the city, almost all have fallen. The Kite and the Garrison are lost to us completely. The Inquisition headquarters has a skeleton guard left, but all the strongest men went with Hulrun; we're only holding it because no-one has tried to take it from us. The cathedral is wrecked, and the church of Iomeade is at least a little damaged. Nestrin Alodae was killed during the first day and is among those awaitng later resurrection; Sunnestier is with us. The walls have mostly been abandoned, not being very defensible against attackers on the inside."

"During the first night, cultists attacked some other locations in the city; Abadar's cleric, Banker Vissaliy Rathimus, decided his temple was not safe from looters and relocated here as well."

"We have, broadly speaking, two courses of action we can follow. We can defend the people of the city, retreat from indefensible positions, and wait for the army's arrival to take back the rest. We do not think the demons have their own reinforcements coming up - they would have timed them sooner if they could - so in that sense, time is on our side. We would patrol the streets and engage enemy forces, take some measured risks to clear out parts of the city and save as many people as we can, but ultimately conserve our strength."

"Or we can try to dislodge the demons from the Gray Garrison again. We know better what to prepare for, now, and we have more forces to call on. If we succeed at killing Minagho or driving her away from the city, the other demons might flee as well. And if we could reactivate the Wardstone, it would become much easier to hold the eastern half of the city."

"If we plan on making such an assault, tomorrow seems best. We will be stronger after we have raised as many people as we can and hopefully found more scattered soldiers. After that, the Garrison will keep becoming stronger, as the enemy we defeat in detail rallies to it and those already there prepare it against assault; if we wait any more, we should wait for the army to arrive."

"I invite your opinions on the matter." This council includes people and factions not formally under her command; Irabeth wants to sound them out before presenting her own reasoning.

"If we don't attack, are we sure to hold? Can you say more about Minagho's abilities? It's dangerous to leave a lilitu alone for a week in a city."

"That's true. And Minagho might well be stronger than most lilitu, in her own right or through magic items."

"I am reasonably confident in protecting everyone in the Defender's Heart, with enchantment sight and other spells and judicious spot checks. Patrols who venture out will be in danger of capture, not merely death, if Minagho actively hunts them down."

"Worse, if she still has the help of the mystery mage who masked demons from our detection at the festival, she might be able to slip enchanted agents here, to spy and to assassinate."

"If she were feeling adventurous, she could come here herself in the guise of a refugee and charm or dominate people directly - she can keep trying every round until it works, and teleport out if caught. Going by her behaviour yesterday, she's not likely to risk it, but" - Irabeth spreads her hands - "that is indeed one reason to press the attack."

"Then we should attack. And if we don't, evacuate the city. Why stay if we're not going to recover the Wardstone before the army arrives and the demons have free run of the western half? But I don't want to just sit here and wait."

"There'd be far more casualties on the road if the demons come after us," one of the other paladins says, "we can't evacuate civilians without the army here."

"...you're right, if they come after us we're toast. I'm too used to relying on the Wardstone line, but we're already outside the border, both the old and the new one."

"Alright. Then I think we should attack, or work aggressively to get everyone still alive over here, but not just sit and wait for rescue."

"If the Light of Heaven can smite Minagho, it will solve all our problems, right?" Seelah offers uncertainly. "Can't we... find out if it will do that, before we try? And obviously I'm willing to try if we don't know, it's cheap at the price, except Irabeth thinks we maybe shouldn't risk the Light..."