"The Wardstone's supposed to be in the Kite - that's almost a quarter mile away! How the Abyss did it get here? Demons aren't supposed to be able even to come near it! Deskari's not a normal demon, but - were we only protected all this time because the demon lords were too afraid to come out?"

"I don't think it was just moved here. There were demon bodies outside, they shouldn't have been able to stand right beneath it without being cooked. And even if it's still working, the whole center of the city is west of here, and now demons can just walk in - this is worse than the day Khorramzadeh attacked!"

"Then it's even more important to help the remaining defenders of the Garrison! And if there aren't any, find whoever's left in the city and retake it! I don't even know how we'd move the Wardstone back to the Kite, it's massive -"

"I'm not hearing any fighting? Perhaps we should find a safe passage to the city, to bring the Neathers out, and find the defenders."

"There were voices - they might be our people up there. Can we check safely?"

Anevia grimaces. "We're really bad at sneaking around as a group, and it's not even dark in here. I think either we send one person to scout ahead, someone who's willing to die rather than talk if they're caught - and frankly, I'd be best at it - or we take a look outside first."

Seelah really, really hates the idea of Anevia sneaking in alone and maybe being caught! "If the people here aren't fighting right now, they probably don't need our help urgently?" she suggests.

"I don't like the idea of sending a scout into danger." At least half the reason is that usually he's the one being asked to do that, but unfortunately he isn't really qualified to scout an uplander fortress.

"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.