"Or we can find a way out, and then come back and shout, and run away if the wrong people answer."

"Let’s look for a safe way down, at least."

"We can drop down to the ground floor, the front door was unblocked... but there might be someone outside watching it. Let's check the other door first."

The other door leads to a series of storage rooms (and a little kitchen), with dead bodies in a couple of them; these are unarmed and unarmored and may not have been fighters, or might have just been caught unaware.

Eventually it leads to stairs down and a room that opens into the same ground-floor open space that they saw from above. The Garrison doesn't have side entrances, or at least not easily discoverable ones.

"We could try to sneak to the front doors to surprise any guards that might be outside... But someone might be watching from above, from an angle we don't expect. Or we could abandon stealth and just run for it, they're unlikely to be set up to block escapes."

"I still hope they're friendlies. We shouldn't attack them on sight unless they're very obviously cultists."

"Let's try to get through, and see what happens."

There are two men in a shielded alcove outside the doors, but they don't dare challenge a large and impressive-looking band of adventurers, especially one that's going out and not in! 

(One of the two has a glaive.)

The Gray Garrison is surrounded by streets and houses; St Clydwell Plaza is not immediately visible. But the streets are full of rubble, dropped valuables, and the occasional dead body, and there are faint cries in the distance which are likely of fighting.

Sigh. "These aren't our people."

"Where should we be going?"

"The plaza is just past the corner. If Deskari hasn't demolished all the buildings, people would rally there. Most of them were already there when he attacked."

"I think he got the cathedral, I don't see its spire. But there's still Iomedae and Desna's churches, and the Kite, the Prelate's manor, the Inquisition headquarters... Plenty of places to make a stand."

Lann never visited Kenabres, but he'd seen it from a distance as a child, and he always had good sight and a better imagination. 

Seeing it now, half-ruined but still a city built out of stone and wood, with great manor-houses and fortresses and roads and walls and towers, makes him feel - something. Something that he can't name, but feels very strongly about.

He really, really wants to help defend this city.

Ugh, the light here is so bright! And everything is so - strange. Wenduag feels exposed and vulnerable. (To strangers, not just to her party anymore.) She tries to find a shadow to hide in, but the sun that she only heard of in stories and still can't see properly is right overhead.

She's going to be even weaker up here. She must adapt, to survive.

"The plaza is where Terendelev's body would be, right? Let's find our way there."

The two human guards (?) certainly won't try to stop them from going there! In fact they will run inside the garrison as soon as the party turns its backs.

The plaza is split in two by a great chasm. The wooden carts, stalls and seats brought out for the festival lie in heaps intermingled with bodies and bloodstains where bodies were removed (or walked away under their own power). 

Fighting is ongoing on the far end of the chasm, tens of men and demons clashing, but there's no immediately obvious way across. 

The great cathedral of St Clydwell has collapsed. The smaller temples of Iomedae and Desna also look damaged, but seem to be structurally sound. There are people in Desna's temple, which is on their side of the chasm; they can see this because its door hangs half off its hinges. Iomedae's temple is on the other side of the chasm and its doors are shut, but there seem to be guards posted outside a small wicket gate.

Terendelev's body is not in evidence, at least not on the spot where she died.

Anevia squints. "There's the Prelate leading the fight on the other side. All is not lost!"

Except for Terendelev's corpse, that seems pretty lost. "I really hope whoever took Terendelev's body is an ally... The Prelate would have raised her by now, but Deskari cut off her head; maybe it's still missing." Her head is small enough for a Large demon to steal (not to mention Deskari himself), or even just to throw down into the chasm, and it's an obvious move to stop the crusaders from raising her.

"Who even could take her body? She's huge..." Seelah is really hoping to hear an answer besides the obvious one.

"Maybe someone Called a really strong outsider?" Yeah, she wouldn't bet on it, but she'd like to keep hoping while she can.

"Who is the Prelate?"

"Lord Prelate Hulrun Shappok. Governor of the city in Her Majesty Queen Galfrey's name, head of the Mendevian Inquisition - which is Iomedae's - and incidentally the strongest anti-demon fighter in the city after Terendelev, and one of the strongest in the country, at least out of those who actually work for the country. He's an inquisitor, not a paladin, but a really strong one."

"I think you know better where we should go next. Lead on."

"I think we should go over to the Prelate - around the chasm - but let's ask the people at Desna's really quickly if there's a reason we shouldn't."

Desna's temple is crowded with people seeking shelter; people who were at the festival, survived the initial attack, and wisely decided going home was too dangerous. It's defended by a mixed group of city guards, adventurers, and clerics; they can't make it 'everyone who can hold a weapon' because they do not, in fact, have enough weapons for everyone.

A man with Desna's butterfly pendant greets them at the door. His hair is curly and golden - almost literally so; it shines with a sourceless light that would do a member of the Golden Lineage proud.