"Baphomet cultists. Can you -"

Can she? - oh the water spray spell would be so good right now but - can she just knock the cultists out.

She can do that!

"We gonna - leave them here?"

"They're just gonna wake up and get back to it."

I didn't pack any rope before my planar travel accident. Maybe we'll have a chance to swing by and grab them after some more carefully recorded looting that might include something to tie them up with.

"- sure. The Count'll probably have some."

"Pretty likely they get eaten by demons by then."

"You have a clever solution?"

"Oh, I say we leave them, I don't care if they get eaten by demons."

Assuming Baphomet is a demon it's kind of what they were signed up for.

"They will in fact be put to death anyway assuming they weren't mind controlled. That's not cause to let people die if you could protect them, but - we can't, we haven't got the means. There are plenty of innocent people who need saving."

"Cool, sounds like we all agree, we keep going."

(Ember does not comment. She does Sleep a demon up ahead.)

Right.

On to the Count's house.

It's barricaded, with demons in the middle of trying to batter down the doors.

Can Ember handle them?

She gets two, not the other four.

Will the sword do the thing THIS time?

Glow and be soothing? Sure!

They can batter the demons to death even if Bella's sword is only being a normal slightly magical sword. Seelah does get her face ripped a little bit off.

"Out of healing," she says, once she's fixed it.

I don't suppose Count Arendae is a conveniently different species from everybody else who'll be in his house so I can say hi to him through the walls and ask him to come out.

" - actually he's an aasimar? So maybe, if your magic can distinguish that?"

Oh. That's very convenient.

Aasimar?

Yep- 

- and also there's something else, there, watching, listening, hungry and terrible even at this remove -