"...So, Baphomet cultists." Sigh. "They might know something about the kids, if we manage to take any of them alive." 

"And I'm guessing that sleep wasn't one of the spells in your new book. How worried are we about them sounding an alarm versus injuring someone? I expect I could injure someone enough to make them not a threat without putting their life at risk, but it wouldn't stop them from screaming."

"Sleep wasn't one of Millorn's spells but it was one of mine. I only have it prepared the once, though. --My first thought was that we probably want them to not sound an alarm, but my second thought was that Grease I do have two of prepared. So, uh, it depends on how many entrances the room has, possibly. Wenduag do you happen to know that off the top of your head." 

"Counting this one, just three."

"Okay, so Greasing both of the other entrances and drawing more cultists in on purpose is an option. ...My cunning is much higher than my wisdom, can someone for whom this is not true confirm that this is not a bad idea?" 

Lann shrugs. "It seems like it could work. Depending on how many cultists and so on there are. And assuming we only get cultists, and not spiders." 

"It's definitely a risk. Trying to take people alive without overwhelming force pretty much always is even when you aren't also trying to stop an alarm. I think the bigger question is if it's more risk than the alternative; we've been pretty lucky so far, but if we keep looking down every passageway for kids it's hard to say how long that'll last. Wenduag, I'm getting the impression that there are more dangerous things in the maze than we've seen so far?"

"Yes. We've only explored a pretty small fraction of it, and we haven't encountered anything I would usually try to avoid."

"Alright. Well I only heard four of them, so we should have the advantage of numbers. Luzai, are you confident you can grease them without catching us or making it harder for us to take them down? I won't judge you if the answer is no, but friendly fire here would be pretty bad so please be honest."

"I don't know that I could grease them without any friendly fire if you've already engaged them in melee. If I can get the spell off before that then all you have to do is not step on the big shiny patch. I do not know how difficult it is to not step on the big shiny patch while attempting to take down someone who is on the big shiny patch." 

"We've got enough ranged fighters here that I think it's worth risking. Try and hit the ones further away from the door instead of the ones trying to stop Seelah and Camellia if you can. As for capturing them alive... if it goes smoothly, we can refrain from killing the last one, but don't hold back until then. We're going to have to make the most of the element of surprise if we want to get out without injuries."

And then at Anevia's command Seelah can burst down the door and make for the nearest man to the entrance. There seem to be four of them in the room, but only two of them are wearing armor and instead of instantly responding to the intrusion they're left scrabbling for their weapons.

Presumably a big shiny patch of being difficult to stand up will obstruct this goal! 

Also, you know. Being arrowed in the face.

Both things that are well known for being distracting!

The probable-cultists aren't weak, and under better circumstances might have posed a serious challenge, but outnumbered and taken by surprise they're far from at their best. One of them goes down to Luzai's grease right at the start, and Anevia's skill and Seelah's heavy armor offer a commanding advantage over their respective opponents. All told it's less than three moments between when the fight starts and when Anevia pins and gags the person struggling to get up from the grease, and most serious injury they have to show for it is a solid punch one of the men landed on Seelah's cheek. 

"I'm going to question him now. Anyone who thinks they can't stay composed while I'm doing that should step out and keep watch."

Luzai stays. 

She doesn't, really, want to witness the interrogation; but if she can't bear to look at even this tiny droplet of the suffering caused by the Worldwound, then she has no right to try to balance having a good relationship with her mother and being a good person. 

And, uh, on a practical level, she grew up in Mechitar, she doesn't think she's going to cause problems by staying. 

Lann looks briefly conflicted but ultimately decides to keep watch. 

Camellia stays. She's probably going to be disappointed, but if she's not she's not going to miss it. 

Seelah considers sticking around, but thinks better of it. Anevia's with the eagle's watch, it'll probably be fine, but... 

Anevia finishes securing their prisoner, then holds a knife to his throat. "Scream and you'll regret it." She then carefully ungags him.

    "Who- who are you people? What do you want from me?"

"Anevia Tirabade, Eagle's Watch. We're closing the book on this cultist operation of yours."

    "The eagle's watch? Now? The city’s overrun by demons, how could you possibly find us now? And how did you get here - this is the far end of the maze!"

"We have our ways. Personally, I think the middle of a crisis is the perfect time to stop traitors like you from sticking a knife in our back. But I'm a reasonable woman; if you cooperate, you can wait out this crisis in a cell and do your time in hard labor. If you don't, well... the inquisition is always looking for cultists. Have you ever been burned before? It's not a pleasant way to go. The sizzling of your flesh, the smell of cooking meat, the smoke-"

    The man shivers violently. "You're crazy! You think you're in a position to put people in jail? Terendelev is dead, the city's burning down, Hulrun's probably bit it, and nobody's going to save you. Do you really think your queen is stronger than a demon lord?"

"I think you know full well our situation isn't that desperate. If there's one thing paladins are good at, it's killing evil things, and if we were stretched that thin we wouldn't be here interrogating you. Demons always lie, and suckers like you always fall for it. Now, are you going to start talking, or am I going to have to retract my generous offer and see how you do with broken fingers? There are more cultists here, you need me much more than I need you."

    The cultists stays silent for another moment, but when her left hand clamps down on one of his pinkies he breaks before she can twist. "I'll talk, I'll talk. But I'm new here, I didn't do anything important, I swear!"

"Then you had better hope your information is good. Who's in charge here, and how many of them are there?"

It takes her a bit to tease the answers out of him, especially when she catches him lying and has to up the terror to get him to tell the truth. In the end, it's his own acts that get him - once Anevia points out that he's already shared too much for his boss to ever let him live, he folds the rest of the way.

According to his testimony, the shield maze is a fairly major cultist base; there are several dozen of them down here, including several wizards and clerics. Their leader is a woman named Hosilla who has their prisoner completely terrified, and their ranks are supported by a handful of demons. The man didn't know nearly enough demonology to identify them, but Anevia is guessing mostly cambions from the description. He was not remotely senior enough to know about any plans for captured kids, but it's probably related to how Hosilla closed the doors of her sanctum and demanded not to be disturbed. Only her  hands - a pair of relatively senior cultists with leadership positions under her - are authorized to get her attention, and only for emergencies.

Honestly Luzai is glad she stayed; what her own imagination came up with was much worse than this, starting from the priors "Anevia is from Nidal." Maybe she should feel worse about having thought Anevia would do worse but it's not like she knew that Anevia could get the information without doing worse, and...

Better an adult cultist, who sort of brought it on himself, than several kids who definitely did not. 

"What are we going to do with him?" she asks quietly when Anevia is done, looking around for places they could possibly hide a bound and gagged cultist so the others wouldn't find him if they wander in through the other door. 

"There's no shortage of dead ends we just passed that would work. It's not the safest place I've ever left a prisoner, but if I have to choose between risking this guy getting eaten by something and risking the cultists learning about us it's a pretty obvious decision to me."

"--Yes, I agree." She's just really glad they don't have to kill him! "Probably not the one with all the spiders, though." If the prisoner won't walk on his own then Luzai can help haul him, even if she isn't very strong.