Stealth:
The elf stops moving and immediately turns his head. He makes eye contact with you, and for a long moment, watches you with narrowed eyes, as if contemplating something, then heads back inside.
"We're for it now!" Lym says. "He had magic of some sort! Either weapons out, or we run away!"
"Yes. Whatever element of surprise we might have had is now gone. Do we go forward or retreat?"
"Forward. If we wait, they will destroy evidence of what they're doing, or will relocate. That elf radiated evil...we're in the right place."
"Yes, the time is now or all is lost." shrugs Rhianni as she readies herself to follow the rest towards the mill.
As you approach the mill, the rumblings water wheels get louder and the air becomes more misty. The boardwalk leads to the entrance of building, a pair of wooden doors. There doesn't seem to be anyone else outside. The doors are locked.
"Prepare yourselves," Lym says, her voice grim.
"I am going to open the door in a moment, so whatever magics you have to fortify yourselves. Lornica Magica. Scutum. Hostes semper salutata sum!"
Tomaru is ready.
Rhianni holds her wand of unerring death ready to damage anyone that comes charging out aggressively at her companions. She holds her breath as Lym shapes the magic to unlock the door.
Make a CL check to unlock the door.
Praxim trains an arrow at the door.
The door remains locked.
"There is a counterspell on it!" Lym snaps. "There is a strong spellcaster here - maybe more than one! If we're doing this - break it down!"
"So what now? Do we try again? Maybe there's another way in."
"Yes, lets look!" Rhianni agrees with Tomaru.
There's another door down the stairs on the other side of the building. That door is also locked.
"Do you have another spell?"
"I do," Lym says. "No guarantee that it will work better this time. If it fails, it is time for martial magic; in other words, you'll need to knock it down. Hostes semper salutata sum!"
Lym fires her last Knock-spell at the door...
This door remains locked.
"There is a very powerful and well-prepared spellcaster here," Lym says, her voice morose. "If we are to do this, I would prefer to be at full strength, magic-wise."
"Leaving and coming back will only make him a very powerful and better prepared spell-caster."
"Agreed," Lym says. "However, my remaining magic... No. The only way we are going to get in there now is by breaking down the door."
Praxim takes a moment to check out the waterwheel(s). Any chance they could ride up a wheel and into the mill?
You can't actually see the water wheels from outside the building. You'd have to swim underneath the mill to access the wheels from the outside.
"Perhaps we should create a diversion, before knocking in one of these doors? It may be safer than just crashing in?" asks Rhianni.
"I do not think a diversion is feasible at this time. They know we are here after all. Let's just go through the door." Tomaru raises his morning star and brings it down into the wooden door.
The entirety of this first floor consists of a loading area. An opening in the ceiling into the floor above is filled with a tangle of ropes and slings for lowering lumber. Nearby, a flight of stairs ascends to the next floor. Two sturdy wagons sit to the south, next to a bank of machinery accessed by four low doors; the grinding and creaking of the machinery fills the room.
Praxim looks up, scanning through the ceiling for the evil auras.
"Up the stairs, come on." says Rhianni as she points to the step up.
Tomaru casts Shield of Faith before following the group up.
Lym follows, muttering the opening words for an attack spell under her breath.
The stairs lead to a small room with more stairs and a door.
Rhianni waits patiently on the stairs as Praxim leads the way.
"They're still up there, and moving. I don't detect any auras that look like they're lying in wait at the top of the stairs."
I thought we were going up.
The stairs lead to another small room, with more stairs and two doors.
You continue upward and end up in a winding corridor, which opens up into a wide room. A thick layer of sawdust, mounded nearly a food deep in some places. Splotches of semi-dried blood are in one section of the room. Workbenches are pushed on their sides along the edges of the room, along with saws, hand drills, planers, and other wordworking tools. Near the bloodied area is a maimed, bloody corpse.
Fourteen different persons stand here to greet you. All but one of them wear strange hooded robes and hideous masks that resemble patchwork deformed faces.
The last one is the elf you first detected outside.
All of them wield a war razor and wear of a holy symbol shaped like a featureless mask. Tomaru, Rhianni, and Lym recognize the holy symbol as that of Norgerber, evil god of murder and secrets. None of them say anything, but advance threateningly towards you.
Initiative: Rhianni/cultists, Praxim, elf cleric, Lym, Tomaru
Lym moves forward, black robes swirling about her ankles. "Sphaera ignis expandens e manu meu evolet!" she chants, summoning her full arcane might. A tiny bead of flame shoots from her hand and flies at the cultists, there to erupt into a firestorm.
Feeling Lym start pushing her way forward, Praxim calls out, "Let Lym soften them up first. Stay back in case the place explodes!"
He delays until after Lym. If there still is a mill afterwards, he'll move in.
Rhianni points at the masked man in the middle of the crowd, as the air around him bursts into a cloud of small glow worms, which fall to the ground, sticking to the surfaces of anything they touch. They dazzle and flare on the masked cultists.
Round 1
Rhianni showers a portion of the room in a cloud of golden dust, blinding most of those caught in its area of effect. The blinded ones retreat, stumbling into the corners of the room, while those unaffected converge onto the opening of the corridor. Two of the slice at Rhianni with their razors, both missing.
The elf in embellished clothing points at Rhianni. "You...approach!" he commands.
Lym moves forward and points up at the edge of the opposite wall where it meets the ceiling, then lets loose a bead of flame that flies to its target, which explodes on impact. Sawdust incinerates in a flash, and the areas of the walls, floor, and ceiling caught in the explosion are heavily scorched. Three of the foes in the southeast corner avoided damage altogether, but everyone else, including the elf, were burned. Many of the cultists now lie dead.
Tomaru moves to D3 and sends up a prayer to Desna seeking favor for his allies and disfavor to his enemies.
Cast Prayer (You and each of your allies gain a +1 luck bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saves, and skill checks, while each of your foes takes a –1 penalty on such rolls.)
Praxim moves to D4 and fires a single arrow at the elf, smiting evil.
Attack:
Damage: (if the elf isn't undead, take off 6 damage).