The two men in the bath leave in the next few minutes. No others come from that time to midnight.
Soliel easily finds the loose stone and takes a moment to wiggle it loose. Behind is a small lever, which when activated causes the a portion of the bath wall to slide into the ground, the water rushing out into the small opening beyond. She has to squeeze through, but is soon in a narrow passage, now damp with water.
The passage runs east for a distance of 40', then opens into a larger room beyond that is lit by candle light. A man in a robe stands at the end of the passage. As Soliel approaches he steps to block it, until she shows the sign. "Welcome sister." he intones.
From other passages come other robed figures. And in a few moments there are some twenty people gathered the chamber. Many come from a passage to the south, though a few come on their own, as did Soliel, from passages on the east and west sides.
At the north end is a dais with an altar on it. There is nothing remarkable about the altar itself. No carvings, or symbols, or anything else to give indication to what god this group has gathered for. Those assembled appear to be from all walks of life, and include humans, elves, half-orcs, halflings, dwarves, and undine.
A woman with a mask steps up behind the altar. The mask is intricate, and when she speaks the jaw of the mask moves in a mock imitation of her. All present turn to listen to her words. Soliels best guess is she is quoting some deities holy texts.
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Once past the man guarding the entrance, Soliel rapidly took in the surroundings and found a location in the back of the room off to one side. There she used her innate cloaking to vanish from sight (DC41 Perception to detect) while all eyes were on the woman at the altar.
Wasting no time, she began pulling out elixirs to consume and poisoning her two curved swords while keeping an ear out to what the masked woman's specific words were. When she reached the last of these actions, she reached out to Wraxus with the Message spell:
In a large room 40' down from eastern bath, one guard at end of hall, roughly 20 others in room, one priestess leading a service, 2 other exits out of room. Uncertain deity worshipped. Bring the team, arrest or eliminate all in the room.
After sending the Message, Soliel stayed in Stealth, and moved up the side of the room to a position just next to the masked woman. She then waited a short time more before lashing out with her poisoned sword at the masked priestess.
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Ian is drinking and talking, to Edmond and Wraxus, or a random bar patron if neither of them will listen.
"--and this bastard had quite a reputation, charming and fighting his way across Coran. Minor crimes, like walking out without paying, starting brawls, harassing people. Name was...Duke? Something like that, not actual nobility, just liked the title. Anyway, I was tasked with tracking 'Duke' down and throwing him in a cell for a week or somethin', grow him up a bit."
"Takes the whole day, keep seeing the trail behind him, a dead man who picked a fight with him, a crying woman, a destroyed bar. One tavern to the next. Finally kick the right door in, and there he is f!$%in'. I pull him off the woman and he's laughing, and laughing. I punch him a few times but he keeps laughing, so I keep punching him. And he keeps laughing, hard as a rock still, pointed at me. Now his face is a bloody mess, but he's still wheezing and chuckling, smiling. Wasn't until he shit 'imself that I realized he'd been dead awhile and it was just spasms making it sound like he was laughing. He stayed hard the whole time."
I left the Duke there on the floor, his woman screamin', and him no-arm saluting like the mast of a ship, covered in shit and blood," he laughs, thoroughly cheered by the memory, and takes a drink, toasting. "To the Duke!"
A noise down the east passage, and the one of the guards turning to see what the disturbance is, is Soliel's cue to act. She stabs the masked woman, catching her completely by surprise.
The hall erupts in chaos of shouting.
"Got someone coming" the guard in front of the passage calls. He moves into the hall drawing a short sword and taking a swing at Ian.
Two of the other guards move to block the passage as well while the other three cast about trying to determine who attacked the priestess.
Wraxus casts a magic missile spell on the guard.
The crowd mills about, several making for the exits that are not blocked. Someone from the crowd yells out, "I will hunt down anyone who leaves." In the chaos of the group though Soliel is unable to determine who shouted, only that it was a male voice.
"We're the Tower, lay down arms and surrender!" Ian shouts as he swings at the guard who attacked him.
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Seeing the priestess howl in pain as Soliel's curved blade sliced off almost all the skin on the side of her right leg while clipping the femoral artery bolstered the tiefling's resolve to continue the attack. She lashed out in a flurry of blades, hoping to drop the priestess immediately, then fade back into the shadows.
Edmond will buff Ian with Flicker/Diffuse body, and have Snake Man ready an action to attack any enemies that approach Edmond.
The priestess falls unconscious from Soliel's relentless attacks, while Ian cuts down the guard foolish enough to challenge him.
Two of the guards move forward to help the priestess, while the other converge on the passage where the other three party members are, weapons at the ready.
Wraxus casts another magic missile at the closest guard.
Those crowds milling about draw daggers, but take no other actions to engage, casting about for an enemy, except for the one who spoke earlier. He intones the words of a spell and the room fills with a thick mist.
Map prior to the mist obscuring everything beyond 5'
Ian runs at the guard at the end of the hall, shouting, with his greatsword pointed forward and tries to impale him.
Edmond pulls out his flute and plays, and a fiery light washes forth and attempts to burn the mist and any enemies within.
Bright light shines forth from Edmond, filling the hall he has backed into and enveloping the nearby elemental.
Ian rams his blade into the guard, it doesn't kill him, but does leave him with a painful wound.
He counters, but is unable to connect.
The second guard likewise misses, trying to attack from a poor angle around the corner.
A third comes into view by the south corner and has better success.
Shouts of pain erupt in the hall as the Edmonds flames fill much of it.
The guard in front of Ian falls unconscious to the ground.
Wraxus casts another spell, quickening the parties movements.
The noise in the room is suddenly silenced for the three in the hall a the male caster invokes another spell.
Many of the those in the room scatter to anywhere they can get to to get out of the flames, though one steps in front of Ian and tries to attack him.
Edmond will tap on the back of Ian's plate mail, and point forward to indicate either that Ian move, or that Edmond is going forward. Then Edmond goes forward, and maintains concentration on the his spell.
Ian turns to the guard who hit him, swinging three times with hasted speed.
Map prior to the listed events in this post
Ian lands two hits against one of the guards evoking shouts of pain.
Soliel stabs the old man leaving a painful bleeding wound.
Wraxus, unable to cast in the silence pulls out his crossbow and loads it.
The priest, cursing loudly hacks at a woman next to him with a shortsword, cutting her down, then moves into a side passage to try and escape the burning flames.
One of the guards collapses in the burning flame, the other attacks Ian, missing, then steps back out of the flame.
Ian 5' steps after the guard, right through the flames with his greatsword raised high and chops down, following up with two hard slashes, grunting. His sword sparks off the wall with the final slash and a yell.
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Soliel smiled a wicked grin no one saw as she saw her foe limp away both partially flayed and bleeding. She lined up a parting shot as he fled .
Using the Message spell she relayed to the group: Edmond can fill the whole room with light, many remaining up to his right. I am pursuing the fleeing spellcaster, assist with summons to block him if able.
Afterward, she darted down the passage after the hobbled man, again striking from the shadows when she arrived.
Soliel stabs the priest as he tries to flee, then chases him down to leave him bleeding out on the floor.
Ian pursues the guard and brutally cuts him down.
Edmond moves into the room to block any who might dare the flames to try and escape.
Wraxus waits in the hall, still silenced by the priests magic.
The cultist closest to Ian tries to stab him with a dagger, then steps back hoping to avoid the same fate as the guard.
The two remaining guards jostle their way forward and attack Ian.
Three of the other cultists try to flee down the northwest passage, braving the flames.
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Seeing her prey fall, Soliel assessed the man's status. After determining he was not in fact yet dead, she attempted to stabilize him in hopes of having a captive to question before execution.
Afterward she bound and gagged the man while ensuring he had no spell components within reach. She also reached back over the Message spell informed Wraxus of the situation.
"Surrender! It ain't worth your life."
To emphasize, he lays into the guard on the left. If the guard dies, he'll hit the one on the right too.
Ian brutally hacks apart one of the guards, the other throws down in blade, shrinking back in fear. The remaining cultists do likewise.
Soliel stops the bleeding on the priest, who remains unconscious.
After glaring at the surrendering guard, Ian checks the spot on his leg where one of the cultist's daggers sunk through a joint in the platemail. Dark blood was coating the chainmail there.
"Everyone alright?" He shouts, looking around for Soliel, then starts restraining and processing people in an efficient manner, rounding them up for the guard.
Edmond cordons off the area with flames until the others are ready to progress.
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Seeing the fight over, Soliel slowly dragged the bounded, unconscious priest over towards the rest of the group. She kept her face hidden, but otherwise dropped out of her natural stealth-camouflage. She nodded at Edmond when the halfling came into sight and pointed at the bound man. Please incinerate this man if he awakes and so much as seems to be casting a spell. Seeing Ian already proceeding with the roundup, she looked over to Wraxus. Sir, request you summon the local guard contingent for assistance in processing the captives.
Soliel then looked up at those that surrendered, the deep black of her eyes visible above the mask that hid the rest of her face. You have now all made one late, wise decision. Any attempt to go back on that decision and complicate our mission here will end with a rather painful death. Cooperation is the best way forward.
Afterward, Soliel began checking the room, looking for anything not obvious to the casual observer. She also searched the bodies of the captives and deceased, while waiting for Wraxus to return with the guard.
The city watch is summoned and the prisoners dealt with appropriately as Soliel's recommendation.
The Masters concurred that the Cena cultists need to be dealt with, tonight. That will be our first order of business. Tomorrow I will visit the Iron Gullet at noon for information on Banmor. Assuming that is not urgent we address the d'Alkenov's manor and Firyin tomorrow as well.
Getting a couple of religious texts in front of someone with more knowledge shows the cultists are part of a sect of Norgorber, the god of thievery, assassination, and secrets.
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After resting for the night following the raid, Soliel rose in her typically early fashion and, after reciting ritualistic prayers to Abadar and brewing several elixirs, sought out one of the guard captains at the Tower. She instructed the man to arrest Librarian Cena and determine the identity of the priestess killed in the cultists' hideout. Afterward she returned to the group to confer on interrogation plans and then descended to the cells where the prisoners were kept.
Soliel ensured that the priest was bound and that at least one of Edmond or Ian was present for the interrogation. She then proceeded to gain what information she could from him.
It takes a while to piece together the various stories of the half dozen cultists that were captured.
An interrogation of the cultists reveals that four of them were impoverished and there was a promise of wealth or power or influence. An easy draw for such downtrodden in society. Some of them describe a balding priest who gave them these promises, and from their descriptions, this is likely Bannali.
The other two speak of a foul-mouthed half-orc who recruited them. He gave praise to Father Skinsaw and promised retribution on their enemies. These few had been wronged (or imagined they have been at least) by their neighbors or family members.
There had been several meetings of the group, with Bannali leading the first one, and the dead priestess and captive priest leading the others.
Blood is Life is the passcode they used to recognize one another, none seem to recognize Cena as either a name or part of the passcode, though they did not use their real names in their meetings so would have no reason to recognize the name.
The questioning of the priest is a little more arduous, and it takes a little painful coaxing to get him to speak.
"My name is Deton, and she was named Mezil. We met at the behest of the high priest Bannali. This location has been used off an on by those who adhere to our beliefs, there are other locations, but you would need to locate someone of higher station than I to find them."
"I do not know who you mean by the exiles."
"Our goal was to for the betterment of our society." He goes on name several minor government officials, guardsmen, and the like that they would sometimes bribe to look the other way while they performed petty crimes, helped with embezzlement of funds, and so forth.
He does not know who Lt Banmor is, nor recognize any descriptions you give of the various rebels that were prisoners.
The priest is rather confused about the claim that Bannali was a follower of Zon-Kuthon. "No, he is a servant of the great father."
Several names of guards and government officials are provided.
The half-orc could match Sic, but does not sound as though it matches Hazan in any way.
Three names are given for higher ups, though it is likely these are not the actual names of those involved given the general secrecy of the cult. Lor, Noler, and Yaru.
The guard reports back the Cena's residence is empty, though quite a mess as it has been ransacked.
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Following the interrogation, Soliel reported back to the Masters, as usual preferring to include Masters Hast and Bellafini. She recommended a quick execution of Deton, and long prison sentences with re-education to the Norgorber followers. The tiefling also ensured the Masters were aware of the situation with Cena, the possible Sic/Criminals connection to the cult, as well as the names of the others provided as being involved in case further follow up was desired. However, she clarified that she felt that her, Edmond and Ian were best utilized focusing on their current leads.
After conferring with the Masters and Ian and Edmond, Soliel headed out to the Iron Gullet. As usual she took great pains to ensure her disguise, while also keeping in stealth until nearby the establishment. She emerged from an alley as "Lyle" and proceeded to head through the front door to the bar, where “he” purchased a boilermaker for personal consumption as well a glass of wine for each of the two women. She then headed upstairs, and upon seeing the two said, Greetin's to ya both Ladies! She then placed the glasses of wine next to Ky and Sela. I've got good news, she added in more hushed tones. Seems my employer's still is interested in that Army feller. You got info? 'Cuz if so I can get ya in on the cut like last time.
Ian follows protocol with cold efficiency, helping with rounding all the suspects up, processing and interrogating them all.
After the interrogation, Ian tells Soliel, "That half orc is Sic, no doubt about it."
"You want me in the Iron Gullet just in case, or are you going in alone?"
Ian is ready for wherever he's needed.