When the door smashes, there are six people in the room. One screams. "Marines! ALARM—"

The sound of a great bell ringing echoes through the room.

The guard captain leaps forward and slices twice into a cultist near the door with his long halberd. The wound looks horrible.

The Sable Company marines are Korvosa's greatest military force. Even without their hippogriffs, they're strong enough to fell mighty threats on the regular.

Faster than the blink of an eye, each marine has loosed three arrows. Three bodies hit the floor.

Two clerics of Pharasma sprint for the cultists, but they don't quite manage to land their strikes.

Two more of the cultists are down under the walkway. They probably have spells, and spells mean they can hide under those walkways and angle things. It took several arrows to drop them, so they're not first circle; it didn't take too many, so second. If they're normal clerics. As Shadi demonstrated, second circle cleric spells can be devastating if they're allowed to land, but spells don't go through walls. She can't make one, but they don't know that.

"Trying the new spell!" Silent Image. The nearest stairwell and most of the opening extending out from the walkway is covered in what appears to be solid stone. There is still a way up, but only by going out to the far stairs and walking up that. Line of sight from beneath should be nearly impossible, and a real stone wall here would make perfect sense, so it shouldn't be obviously fake. Fortunately, you need to look closely at an illusion to have any chance to spot the truth.

Shadi strides forward. A bolt of ice forms in her hands and slams into a cultist. It breaks against their skin and doesn't seem to do much.

The doors on the right wall of the room opens, and two cultists run through! One of them slices a gash across a marine's arm.

The doors on the left wall of the room open, and four more cultists enter the room. The pause before the wall of stone and cast spells. Bless and three of spiritual weapon.

The cleric of Sarenrae casts burst of radiance through the illusory wall. The four cultists from the left door scream and burn.

A man in robes strides in from the left door. "Idiots! That's a wall of stone. Go around!" He sprints up the onto the railing and sees the formation. "Marines and guardsmen and clerics and wizards!"

Two squads of guardsmen surge forward each, four men each. They move in synchronized steps, skewering two cultists to death on their halberds.

Garril moves forward and aims his crossbow at Rolth, waiting for a good moment...

The single remaining cultist from the original six screams and slices a guard across the chest with her battle scythe. He stumbles backward but doesn't go down.

Meanwhile, on the surface...

The light on the second captain's device goes out. "Now!"

Guards stream forward and break down the door of the warehouse. The interior is dim and musty and full of crates covered with cloth.

"THIS IS THE KORVOSAN GUARD! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! WE HAVE A WARRANT!"

The warehouse is silent.

"Spread out and find the way down."

The guards search the building. "Found something!" one yells. "There's a cargo elevator here, with winches and everything!"

The captain swears. "Damn, only a few of us can fit in there. Detective, check it for traps, and then we'll take our best down."

He looks. "It's not trapped as far as I can tell."

He points to three guards. "Detective, wizard, with me. We're going down." He pulls the lever on the wall.

The elevator begins to move...

In the temple under the earth...

The first guard captain slits a cultist's throat in one swing and runs forward up onto the railing.

A robed man with a headband shouting about spells is almost certainly a wizard or cleric. Always kill the spellcaster first.

Twelve arrows fly through the illusory wall! Eight tear into him. He stumbles backwards but is not down yet.

Two clerics of Pharasma both back out of melee and cast spiritual weapon. The phantom daggers fly at Rolth but fail to strike him.