Faced with a wizard who's willing to fight in close quarters, Gord instinctively runs towards the danger: if they think they can survive in melee, they're definitely too dangerous to fight at range.

Then the first swing of his greatsword takes the caster's head clean off and he just barely manages to turn his blade so the instinctive follow-up only knocks the other one unconscious.

What the hell were these couple of greenhorn wizards thinking, attacking a party of five?!

Wenduag is impressed.

With Gord, not the two cultists. If Lann hadn't noticed them, she was willing to let them stick around in case she ended up siding with Hosilla after all, but idiots who don't even try to surrender when outnumbered and so clearly out-matched don't deserve to live.

They carry the unconscious captive back to the more-defensible antechamber and tie him up. Because Lann and Seelah are still at the baby-adventurer stage where every bolt and missile wound counts, Gord heals them with a channel, which serves to wake up the cultist at the same time.

The first thing he sees is Gord's face looming over him. "Surrender, by Gorum's rule of battle," he intones.

Nodnodnod he surrenders!!!

...does that mean they won't kill him like Iomedae's inquisitors or put his hand in the fire like Iomedae's inquisitors or torture him before killing him anyway like (he heard) Iomedae's inquisitors or just torture him for fun anyway like the even-scarier Baphomet's inquisitor or...

Oh, this poor kid who never had a real chance in his life because he lives in fucking Kenabres.

Gord is too damn well practised at not letting this show on his face (and whose fault is that?!) but somewhere inside him, the fire never goes out completely.

"We're going to ask you some questions. We won't torture you. If you cooperate we'll set you free, somewhere you won't die of it, just not where you can let your friends know we're coming. And if you don't cooperate we'll keep you tied up, and afterwards set you free unless someone accuses you personally of something we feel justifies killing you."

Anevia approves of not torturing captives but she very strongly disapproves of letting them know she won't torture them, because that in fact takes away her best way of interrogating them without torturing them!!

Obviously she's too professional of letting this show on her face. And showing dissent would be counterproductive during this interrogation. Afterwards, they should probably talk about who leads the party and what rules they're operating under; it's honestly her oversight for not doing it earlier.

Seelah obviously wouldn't torture a prisoner or let anyone else do it, but isn't it... the law, in Kenabres... to execute cultists of Baphomet?

Technically she's not in Kenabres right now but only under it. And in any case she's not obligated to execute the laws of the city, even though she thinks this one is probably just and is definitely justified. So this isn't a problem for her Law. 

What really troubles her is that, if this goes well, they are likely to shortly end up with even more surrendered cultists, and a capture-and-release program is probably going to create some problem down the road, and especially so down the road that the mongrelfolk tribes are planning on travelling in the near future.

But what choice have they got? Operate an underground prison for cultists while demons assault the city above?

Inheritor, help this person, she prays. Help him see the light as I did, help him see that it's the right thing and also actually the best thing in his circumstances, to be our ally and not our foe.

Actually...

She can help him literally see the Light... can't she?

Seelah reverently takes out the angel's sword (she's not using it to fight with, just carrying it around like the holy relic that it is) and sort of - pulls it into her ongoing state of prayerful-meditation and just - asks it to do its best, which is definitely better than her own.

Shiiiiine.

The terrified cultist was in the middle of frantically spilling out all his secrets (not particularly in order) when suddenly AAAAAAH?!

There's an overpowering light that dazzles and blinds, physically and metaphorically both. That makes him suddenly unsure of every conviction he ever held in life, while paradoxically making him more sure of himself. A light that offers a hand up when he's at rock bottom, that makes him feel brave for the first time when he's only ever hurt people out of terror.

It can't be Baphomet; he proved himself an unworthy servant today. It can't be Iomedae; Her light burns and scours away Her foes.

Is this... Gorum?

Oh come on, he had such a good rapport going! Why do paladins have to drag their Heaven into everything?

"Let me serve you! Please let me serve you! I swear I'll never betray you, just let me live and follow you and prove myself worthy! All I've ever wanted is a master who'll use me well and I can see now you're that master!!!"

(The ex-cultist is not very clear on Gorumite and/or Gordian theology, apart from not torturing surrendered prisoners.)

It seems he's not such an idiot after all! Truly, there is hope even for the meanest who grovel.

Yesyesyes thank you thank you thank you she's never doubting the miraculous light of Heaven ever again!!!

...wait, is the cultist swearing to follow Heaven (yes!!) or to follow her (he really oughtn't...) or - Gord? Swearing yourself is serious business!

...

"Don't grovel."

"Everyone is born free. Follow a leader, defend your friends; never accept a master."

"I can tell you how to follow Gorum. I don't want you to follow me, because you're not strong enough yet to survive the kinds of fights I get into. And I don't trust you with my back yet. But we'll get you somewhere safe, like I promised, and I'll try to help you find a way forward, after this. You'll have your chance, if you're willing to fight for it."

Wenduag swears privately to prove herself strong enough to follow Gord.

Assuming he can beat Savamelekh. But - Savamelekh would never tell her not to accept him as her master.

...is this what the 'love' Lann keeps nattering on about feels like?

Seelah is very relieved that Gord told the cultist not to follow him and by implication not to swear any oaths for now! That means she'll get to tell him all about Heaven first, maybe get him a place working for some paladin order! A wizard is always useful, they won't turn away one who can swear repentance under zone of truth and if they get him out of the city (and maybe the country) they won't be sheltering him from the law.

...wait, he's still talking. She missed out on the first half of his confession, on account of praying for his immortal soul.

What's his name, anyway?

Rovaldo! His name is Rovaldo!

...and past the bunk room and the refectory they'll be back at the far end of the hall where he attacked them he's very very sorry and there's a fountain of blood he doesn't know what it does he never heard of vampires here maybe it just looks cool and then there are stairs down to the other dungeons and he last saw the Left Hand going there but that was hours ago and the other way is a big room they're told not to go but he thinks that's where he came through when they brought him down from the city only he was blindfolded and he smelled something horrible there and there are earth elementals fixing things after the earthquake and a crazy water elemental trying to drown them all and...

Gord stops him when he starts repeating things for the third time and Anevia can't think of any more questions.

The first mongrelfolk have begun gathering outside, so they leave Rovaldo with them (sans spellbook and crossbow) with strict instructions to both parties, and press on. The other cultists probably haven't discovered the bloodstains (Lann has been watching the hall), so they go back to being sneaky.

Unfortunately, the barracks and refectory are full of cultists, and they can't really go around them.

"We're here to clear a path, not just sneak around," Lann points out.

Then Gord will acquire a mix of dead bodies and more captured prisoners!

(He's sorry, but these guys just aren't on his level, alright? With suppressive fire from three archers and Seelah helping tie them down, he can take on their strongest fighters one by one and they're not, really, a threat.)

Questioning the new captives is more difficult because there are several of them and they will glare at the first one who tries to betray the rest.

"It will take time to move everyone to the mongrelfolk's custody and not be attacked by their friends on the way. Do we even have enough rope to tie them all up?"

Well they're not killing prisoners!!

She tries to shine the Light of Heaven on them, but it doesn't seem to work as well on groups of captives who haven't been given any promises or threats or really explanations. And they don't, really, have even ten minutes to spend on each prisoner, especially if they keep getting more of them.

"We can break their fingers so they can't fight us if their friends free them," Wenduag suggests.

"Their friends would have to heal them anyway before they could fight again. So if we give them wounds that heal cleanly, it won't help, and if we give them nasty crippling wounds then why did we even take them prisoner? I'd do it if we had no better choice, but so far I'm not impressed by the strength of these cultists so I think we do have a choice."

They end up disarming them as best they can, tying all their hands together in a way Anevia claims will stop them from freeing each other very quickly, and locking them all in a little room that opens off the dormitory. Along with their friends' dead bodies, to hopefully scare them out of staging a break-out very quickly. Gord pushes one of the two-tiered bunk beds in front of the door in case that helps.

"If you break out and I see you again doing anything other than running away, I will kill you," he warns them before shutting the door.