Kei 

"I think you're wasting your time. That thing is either evil or has been brain washed. Whichever, your noble words won't do much to sway its allegiance." Kei has a small chuckle to himself. Our prince, always trying to save everything. "I say we dispatch it and continue upstairs with Boko. Nothing more can be done here. Oh, and don't lose that rod, it seems handy." Kei follows in Boko's steps to whichever staircase she heads.

Gerrard senses that this creature only comprehends but a fraction of what he is saying. 
"What do you want of me?" it asks, thickly.

Gerrard:

Trying to simplify, he asks, “Tell me about any areas of this warehouse that are hot and wet—they might signify the presence of this Aboleth or its minions.”

Boko moves to the NE stairwell and quietly steps up to sneak in just to take a peek. Staying out of sight, but trying to get a sense of what's up there.

Stealth: 22

Kei 

"I'm telling you, just end it and be done." Kei grumbles at Gerrard as he walks towards the NE stairs behind Boko. Whispering he queries "What's up there?"

"Everywhere is hot and wet. Too hot. Too wet. The boat up top is filled with hot water. And the pit out back. Everything wet," replies the manticore.

Boko quietly climbs the iron spiral staircase in the northeast. She finds a huge room filled with dusty crates. It appears to be unoccupied. The staircase continues up to a third floor, or rather a broad upper walkway that rings this floor.

Gerrard:

Looking at Kei with some insight, Gerrard says, “A hot and wet pit sounds like a likely lair, especially if that boat can be raised and lowered as an easy means of entry for the webbed assassins.”

Turning to the manticore, Gerrard says, “I really hope that Mister Dory is a victim of the Aboleth and not a willing agent.  Still, we cannot allow you freedom to report on us before we can deal with the threat.”

(Is the office secure enough that we can lock him up in there?)

Kei 

"Hmph. Seems it did have something to say" he concedes. "So now we can go? We really need to find Diry and thus aboleth. Not that I'm looking forward to fighting it, but the longer we tally the greater the chance it's more than this thing getting in our way." He approaches Gerrard and leans in to whisper "I can attempt to blind or deafen it so it won't know which way we've gone."

The office is reasonably secure, although without a key, its door can only lock from the inside. Nevertheless, the manticore is securely tied up; its initial efforts to wriggle out of its bonds were not fruitful. 

Upstairs, Boko gets a better look at the crates. This floor appears to be long-term storage, as the dust on the boxes suggests that they have not been handled in months or years. She can hear the quiet sounds of running water somewhere above.

Gerrard:

”Thank you,” says Gerrard earnestly to the manticore, “I hope we may yet find ourselves on the same side.  For now, though, we will need to secure you until morning.  By then, we will either have succeeded in freeing the city from the Aboleth’s influence, or we will have failed, and the morning shift will be able to free you.”

To Kei, he says, “Let’s move him into the office and leave him bound in there, then barricade the office door from the outside.  I HOPE no further measures will be needed.”

Gerrard retrieves the iron rod and starts pulling on the rope to slide the manticore towards the office.  He responds quietly to Kei, saying, “Use your best judgement.”

Kei 

"Always the saviour." Kei chuckles at the always optimistic Gerrard as he helps drag the manticore to its overnight accommodation. Just as Gerrard is about to close the door he casts his spell on the beast hoping to give them an advantage if it was to escape its bonds.

(Deafening the critter on a CON17 save)

DC17 Con Save: 9

After dragging the large beast into the office, as you shut the door, you hear the manticore gasp as Kei's spell takes effect. 

Boko continues up the stairway to the third floor, quietly scopes it out, and then descends back down to report what she saw on both floors.

The third floor is really just an upper walkway that rings the second floor. It is vacant. A single iron door leads south. 

Kei 

"We have about one minute before it'll be able to hear us again. We might want to move on now" Kei says authoritatively. He heads back towards the staircase Boko had ascended. He catches her on her way back down and reiterates his urgency. Once he's heard her description of the floors above he heads straight to the iron door.

Gerrard:

Nodding, Gerrard follows Kei and Boko to the iron door.  He remains quiet and thoughtful as he tries to remain stealthy, hoping they are actually right about the evil puppeteer in the depths and aren’t just assaulting a legitimate councilmember’s business.

Kei 

Unless Boko has other plans Kei reaches out and tries to open the iron door without delay. If it opens he cracks it just a touch and peeks through the small opening.

Perception 5

The party ascends the iron spiral staircase to the upper walkway on the third level, and approaches the iron door. Key tries the handle and finds it locked. There's a keyhole, but the door looks pretty solid. You may try to open it with a Dexterity check using thieves’ tools, or you may attempt to batter it open with a Strength (Athletics) check (and probably a lot of noise.)

The faint sound of flowing water originates somewhere on the other side of this door. (The interior of this warehouse is quite dry.)

Boko follows the group to the door, and tries to use some of her darts to pick the lock, unless someone has actual thieves tools proficiency. (Rolled a 13+4=17 dex check, so feel free to use that or contribute the roll to a help action for someone else who can take point.)

Can we see through the keyhole?

Is there water anywhere on this side of the door?

(I believe we are still within the 24 hours of when Boko cast water breathing on the group, right? It's been a loooooong day I know, but I remember doing it.)