She flexes her will to have the man awaken with a start.

Anevia is going to wait for the man to speak first, just silently stare at him.

He is glancing back and forth between his sleeping allies and the dismembered corpse of Hosilla.  He thought crusaders didn't usually go for that sort of thing!  Even in his prime Hulrun favored burnings.

"I..."

He is at a loss for words.

"We can kill you now or I can make sure you have some time for a confessor to try to get yourself in order for the Judge."

"I..."

He wants to say something clever and rude about going to the Abyss and becoming a powerful demon and coming back to murder her, but he still can't think of anything.

"You're supposed to be a crusader!  You're Anevia, you're with the Eagle Knights, you're not allowed to just dismember me!?"

The last part comes out more like a question than he meant it to.

"She is with the Eagle Knights. I," Occlus says, "am not. My understanding is that she would prefer I not dismember any more prisoners." Her tone is even and pleasant, perfectly matter-of-fact.

"I am not allowed to dismember prisoners.  I am allowed to summarily execute cultists caught in the act, and in fact I am encouraged to do so under circumstances where keeping them prisoner would be impractical."

"So what, I beg for my life and you keep my around for another day or two for some fool to try to convince me to 'repent' before you all execute me anyway?"

"That's the offer.  Well, more 'provide materially useful information' than 'beg for your life'.  You can skip the begging entirely if you like, I think I would actually prefer it that way.  Anyway, I figure at least one or two of you all will be eager to take my offer, I have a lot of you to try it out on."

Anevia's inclines her head to the unconscious cultists.

He glances nervously between his sleeping comrades, the pieces of Hosilla, Darth Occlus, and Anevia.

She keeps a constant level gaze on the cultist wizard.

If he's looking for relief, he'll not find it in the Sith. He gets the sense that whatever passing amusement he might offer in his life or death is not something she will extend herself for.

"You're, you're not a Paladin yourself, right?  How can I trust you'll keep your word about giving me a few more days to live?"

"First off, I'm not promising a few more days. I am promising long enough to talk to a confessor and a few hours to think over your life.  Depending on circumstances that might be up to a few days, it might be by the end of the day.  And that is of course conditional on you making absolutely no attempt to escape.  Secondly... if you really want a Paladin."

She glances back over to the Wardstone and yells.

"Seelah, I need you for something."

Seelah comes over quickly.

"Yes-"  She didn't actually get Anevia's title or rank or whatever, but she isn't sworn to Anevia or even in the same command structure yet and she did get introduced so they are kind of friends.  "-Anevia."

"This cultist wants a Paladin guaranteeing the deal I'm offering."

"Okay... I mean, I should hear the deal first before I promise anything."

"He provides useful information.  We delay his execution until, at minimum, a confessor has provided spiritual counseling and he has had a few hours to contemplate and reflect on his life.  He tries in anyway whatsoever to escape, and our end of it is off.  So you would be agreeing help hold him prisoner according to those terms.  Are you competent to act as an arbiter as to if the information is useful?"

"I... I'm sorry.  I can help keep him prisoner, but I am new to Kenabres and the Worldwound and wouldn't be a good judge of the information."

Anevia looks back to the cultist

"Okay, for me to confirm this deal, I want to know the general categories of information you have.  You don't have to tell me the information itself."

This deal keeps getting worse and worse, but he really doesn't want to die, and even a few hours might buy time for other groups of cultists and demons to counterattack and free him.

"I know what the plans for the Wardstone are and their overall effect.  Big picture stuff, but really important!  I... I mostly know cultists from this cell, but I can match a few faces and a name or two from outside of it.  And I don't think everyone was with us, so that is a few more names.  I've heard lots of rumors and hearsay, and I know that isn't the most valuable but you're an intelligence expert, right?"

He wracks his brain for more...

"I know about some ongoing plots tied to these caverns.  And a few people you could rescue right now!  Not exactly innocent, maybe as innocent as your average tiefling, but you know?  Uh..."

That is actually a lot of information, he should demand more in return.

"And about your deal, just because the Paladin says so, how do I know she-" head nod at Darth Occlus "-won't get impatient with you all dragging me around and decide to speed things along?"

His voice has gotten more confident as he has decided that actually he has quite a bit of useful information.

"At the moment, your fate is in the crusaders' hands. I suggest you make of yourself a cooperative prisoner. Should your behavior become an annoyance to me personally... Well. I think we would all prefer to avoid that." Invoking her was not a correct choice, he feels. She is the sort of terror in the night it is best to let silently creep by.

Okay that was probably a mistake, but he wants to be sure.  Or maybe he should just try to ignore her and not bother her.

"Acting annoying in a way that potentially sets up a slip in guarding you in fact counts as trying to escape.  I'm happy with the type of information you describe.  Ser Seelah, are you confident you understand them?"

She thinks carefully.  "I think I understand, but are you obligating me to execute him as soon as he tries to escape, or... ?"