Well Luzai's first idea is to take Stick Guy prisoner and make him tell the elementals to stand down, which may or may not be remotely workable, but if it is, a rapier and cursing people could be very useful!

"Could we just kill the cultists and then run away? They don't have legs, they're probably not that fast - actually, I don't know that much about elementals, so maybe that's horribly wrong. And we'd still need to get the key off him."

"Well, it's a reasonable backup plan, if all else fails. If we close the secret door before they get there they probably won't be able to get at us...?"

"I think earth elementals can sort of swim through the earth? I'm not sure if the door counts for that but if not they could probably go through the walls."

"Great. So--we try to make stick guy translate for us, probably, or we try to communicate using pictures, possibly painted on the wall using blood because I'm not thinking of any other medium that they would definitely be able to see without first having to be persuaded to hold still and look, orrrr we kill them. I don't love this as a set of options but I'm not thinking of any better ones..."

"And the longer we wait trying to think of something, the more likely it is that something will happen to the kids. If it hasn't already." 

"And if we're going to hold them prisoner long enough to order the elementals to stand down, we absolutely need to keep their hands away from their unholy symbol."

She frowns.

"Well. I guess Luzai would be fine, but the rest of us not so much."

"I could...try? To steal his holy symbol? While somebody else distracts him from stabbing me?" She is sort of dubious about this--her resistance to negative energy is not a resistance to glaive--but she can't ask someone else to take risks for her harebrained scheme. 

Wait. 

Actually. 

"I could...pretend to be a cultist, maybe...or, like, an allied vampire, if he doesn't know enough about the undead to realize that the fangs and the negative energy healing don't mean I am one...and try to get close enough that he can't effectively hit me with the thing..." 

"Not to be too harsh about this, but are you that good at grappling? Or lying? Even if he does think you're a vampire, I'm not sure you'd be able to pass for it without some evidence, and it's not like we're swimming in forbidden books or have a bound demon on hand."

It's really terrible when reality gets in the way of a clever idea. But Luzai refuses to be one of those wizards who causes problems by being too much more cunning than wise, and that means listening to wiser people. 

"I'm terrible at grappling, but probably more importantly not especially good at sleight of hand. I...don't think my ability to lie would be the limiting factor, which I don't mean as a claim that I'm a brilliant liar...it'd probably be an easier sell if I had my dress on hand--never mind. I don't have it." Deep breath. "No, you're right, it probably wouldn't work. I just--" really really don't want to have to murder innocent elementals "--grew up in Geb, but probably there aren't any Baphomet cultists here at all with enough context that speaking Necril would be particularly convincing, let alone my accent in anything else." 

Perfect is the enemy of good when it comes to plans. What’s much harder to learn and accept is that sometimes holding out for a good option when you need to make a decision is just as bad.

”I think our best option to to hit their leader as fast and hard as possible and drop him before he can give any orders. Hopefully they aren’t already under orders to attack intruders and that solves things, but we’ve got at least one harder fight ahead of us and we have no idea what the city is looking like right now. We can’t afford to use up all of Seelah and Camellia’s healing here.”

"Yeah." 

She offers a quick prayer to any Good gods who happen to be listening and feel like helping, that this works out and they don't have to kill the elementals. 

And then they can get into position to surprise the cultists. 

Then once again they can open a door and start loosing arrows. 

Like the last of Hosilla’s hands they fought, he’s not an easy target. The cultist is a fit, well built man made sturdier by the favor of Baphomet, and his vitals are covered by a well made breastplate. Unlike the last hand they fought, they have the advantage of surprise; of the eight arrows loosed before he has a chance to respond, half land true and connect with his flesh. By the time Seelah’s armor turns aside his first blow, he’s already more than halfway dead.

Luzai splashes some acid but does not really expect to be decisive in this fight. Someday she will be a strong enough wizard to be able to carry her own weight in combat but that day is not today. 

Her acid leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to damaging opponents, but it does have the significant advantage that it almost completely ignores armor. Both of her first two globules strike true, and the second scores him particularly viciously across the face. When combined with Anevia’s third volley, it’s enough to drop him, and from there neither of the other cultists are even individually a match for Camellia and Seelah, to say nothing of fire support. In short order the fight consists of a a pair of earth elementals trying to land a solid blow on Seelah while the paladin struggles to keep their attention on her without seriously hurting them. 

Luzai sprints over to the downed cultist, falling to her knees as she skids the last couple of feet. 

She checks herself before she can slap his face to try to wake him, pulling out some rope to bind his wrists and ankles first. 

Then she tries to slap him awake. 

Camellia will assist with a cure light wounds, since Seelah seems a little too preoccupied.

The cultist starts struggling as soon as he comes to, but he doesn’t have enough leverage to really stress the knots.

Luzai grabs his hair and pulls his head back, none too gently, to look up at her. 

"Call off the elementals. Now," she hisses, baring her fangs. 

That… was not remotely the conversation he was expecting to have, not that he was expecting to wake up somewhere other than the abyss to begin with. They took him down, what would make them struggle with the elementals? Still, if the girl wants something from him he has leverage. 

“Now, why would I go do that?”

"Because if you don't, I'll tell Hosilla you gave us the second key willingly, and leave you to whatever she will do to you." 

Ah, so she's good. Not an undead, then. He laughs in her face, though the effect is somewhat spoiled by their relative positions.

"Your plan is to lie to an inquisitor? If that's the extent of your plan, I see no reason to fear you."

"Eh, I just figured that was a reasonable opening move in case you were more afraid of her than of me." 

Then she bites his neck. 

The cultist bites back a scream. It's not more painful than his other wounds, per se, but they haven't suddenly gone away and the shock is just as bad for his efforts to stay composed and in control.

She drinks for about a round and then pulls back, smiling at him with a red mouth. 

"Call off the elementals."