Dahme'dre interjects. "what voice has guided your fate? What has lead you to this place, Ashehee?"

"I am not surprised by your reaction, in fact I expected it. I have heard the voice in my soul. It is like nothing I've ever experienced. It is not a dream, or a vision. I cannot explain it. I don't know why it spoke to me, only that it told me to come here. I don't know what I am supposed to do. Am I doing the right thing now?" Aurelia's voice suddenly seems weary beyond her years.
"I haven't asked for any of this. I have no proof to offer you, nor do I have reasoning to convince you. All I can appeal to is faith."

"We should rest. We have been attacked by bloodthirsty madmen. I've seen gruesome deeds of torture that churn my stomach, some of them from you very people. My arms are weary and my mind is fatigued."

Ashehee wipes the cultist's blood off her dagger and puts it away casually, She affixes her Warhammer to her back and takes some water.

"I found my calling to the Sliver Flame in an untraditional manner," Ashehee says to Dahme'dre.  "Put simply, before the Sliver Flame entered my life, I was a lost soul. I belonged to no noble houses. I had no family. My elven mother was raped by a human father, and she left me in the streets out of shame at an age when I was just learning to comprehend  Consequently, I fended for myself, and sinned beyond anything you can imagine. I've murdered. I've stolen. I've partaken in every pleasure and sin. But that was a different life, and a different time…."

Ashehee gauges the reaction of her companions and continues.

"One night I broke into a church, hoping to recover gold that I told myself should belong to me.  During this fog of debauchery, I plunged this dagger into the gut of a disciple of the Sliver Flame. Someone who was trying to spread the goodness that the Sliver Flame has to offer. But instead of crying out and begging for mercy, he forgave me for my sins, and he told me that I have a purpose, and that purpose was to serve the Sliver Flame. It was his last dying breath, and from that moment forward I have proceeded to learn the ways of being a warrior on behalf of the Sliver Flame. Something inside me stirred, and I now I have a purpose."

Ashehee, sits down, eying Aurelia. "Like you I'm weary. I take no pleasure in torture or killing, but the means do justify the ends - eradication of evil and showing everyone the light that the Sliver Flame offers for all of us who repent. You sound mad Aurelia, but I'll pray on it and we can discuss these voices soon enough…."

(suggest a rest now even for role-play reasons as we've been fighting a ton and could probably use it).

Dahme'dre sees Eleth sitting quietly, choosing not to share her tale just yet. 

"A rest will be wise. Lets make sure this building is safe, and bring in the children to shelter. We can post look outs on the second floor."

Dahme'dre begins checking the rest of the building.

From his chair, half hidden in the shadows, "The ends justify the means, huh? I fought in the Last War for two decades, and let me tell you everyone thinks they are the good guys. These corpses lying on ground near us. They had parents, lovers, dreams...and in their own twisted way were doing what they believed in. I bet those who torched Cyre thought that was a great idea too. Now I do my duty to protect my homeland. I will cut down all those who threaten queen and country...but I'm under no illusions of righteousness. I do what I have to do and that's that." 

Stretching a bit, "Anyway, I think a short rest is just what the doctor ordered. No telling what the final push to the keep may hold."

(you are able to take a short rest, which is about an hour. It's definitely night now. I assume you bring the NPC's into the house with you. There weren't any other enemies in the house, and there aren't any items worth "borrowing" ;) )

About 15 minutes of repose pass as everyone is tired of the near constant fighting you've experienced since coming into Ardev. Klobs and Zomith are together in a corner of the room. Linan and her family seem to be sitting with Louise in the corner with Lucien. 

Feel free to roleplay or indicate that you would like to progress time to the short rest conclusion.

Dahme'dre absently practices twirling her staff with her mage hand. She looks to her companions. "Do you suppose we should have Zomith, Klobs, and the townsfolk hold this position while we continue, until the sky's clear? Or will they be better protected darting through the streets with us? Either way, we should get moving again soon."

"The talons aren't ones you should underestimate, friend," Eleth speaks up, but her voice cracks somewhat. "I don't know if we are even safe not being on the move right now... They are..." She considers her words. "Aggressive."

Standing up from his meditative pose, "The keep is possibly the only safe place in town. I say we keep everyone together until we reach it. It should be close at this point."

(OOC ready to progress)

Dahme'dre lifts one of the cultist's Scimitars, asks Slade to join her, and drags the kobold prisoner outside. 

"Due to the small aid you've given we will grant you a swift death. Due to the nature and circumstances of your crimes, and your admission of guilt, you will not receive a trial. I, Dahme'dre d'Cannith of House Cannith, in the name of Barron Merrix d'Cannith, of House Cannith in Breland sentence you to die."

She hands the Scimitar to Slade and holds the kobold's bound hands behind his back with its head and neck against a wooden stump.

Slade tosses the scimitar down with contempt, "I'm no servant of your house. If House Cannith wants to execute someone you can do it yourself. I'm fine with knocking out this wretch and throwing him in the river for the fates to deal with. Or do it your way. I'm not going to stop you and we need to get moving."

(OOC: ...Slade is not part of your system...)

Ashehee watches Slade and Dahme'dre with amusement.  Nonchalantly, she gets up, takes her warhammer, and smacks the kobold with a swift blow to the head, intent on killing "it".

"There should be no hesitation in purging the world of evil."

She walks back inside and lays down for a rest.

(ready to proceed)

(Short rest heal as I took some damage (6 HP) when I tried to interrogate the cultist: 1)

(EDIT: UGH, what is up with these horrible rolls!. I believe I'm down to 8 HP so could use a heal)

(OOC: You do add your Con bonus to each hit die when you roll to heal during a short rest. However, I don't think anyone has any heals to give. The cleric is out of spells and the pally used up lay on hands both of which are tied to a long rest. I'm fine to move along.)

(OOC: I new I should have asked Zomith. You threw my speech on the ground... Dahme'dre's weak and has no practice with any suitable weapons, didn't want a botched execution on my hands.)

"Very well, let's get moving... Lucien, lead the way."

She wipes her hands and knocks the kobold's corpse off the stump with the heal of her boot.

The group manages to successfully rest without much any sign of cultists. Linan's husband seems to be doing a lot better, but still limps as he walks. Lucien nods at Dahme'dre, glad to be addressed by her than Ashehee. He seems to have calmed down a lot since finding him shaking under the stairs. He rises up from his seat and peers out a window carefully, he frowns.

"There's company out there..." Lucien sighs under his breath. Linan clutches her spear tightly as she turns to look at her husband. She seems to whisper something to him. "Doesn't look pretty."

No need to roll stealth to peek out the window: You can see three kobolds waddling near a more terrifying looking cultist. They look similar to the ones you have run into so far, but their robes are black with red trimming. The mask they wear extends to cover their snout, so you can safely assume they must be a scaly humanoid. They tower over the kobolds. They wear plate and are brandishing a large mace. 

It seems they are all laughing about something, then the cultist pulls their head back and breathes fire toward the home across the street from you. They start talking among themselves, but you can't quite hear. 

"That's one of the Talon's acolytes..." Eleth sneers, reflexively making a fist. "More than likely the bastard can use magic."

Your search of the house earlier gave you the following information:

There are windows on the other end of the home. Here is the layout around you as far as you are able to see. Green circle is your current location. Red circle is enemies. You can roll perception if you are worried other enemies may be lurking within this sight range.

Dahme'dre catches her staff as it is tossed to her by her mage hand a few feet away. She softly incants the Hex spell as she had before altering the incantation to target strength as she points her staff at the nearest Kobold.

"I'll move to the upper level to attack from high ground. Take out the little ones quickly then the Acolyte. I'll wait 'til you move."

Dahme'dre moves to the second floor window and peers out down the streets. (Perception 17)

She reaches out with her Awakened Mind to speak at the cultists. "There! In the flames. You see? There's someone in there. The big guy Missed! Ha! His breathes not even hot enough. Let's go get 'em!" She tries to draw their attention away and lure them into the empty burning building. She starts adding insults hoping to provoke them to fight amongst themselves. "You couldn't fry an egg on that! Ha!" (Persuasion 13 if advantage: 7)

The kobolds immediately look around them, confused. They seem to be talking amongst themselves as the leader looks down at them. The leader smacks one on the head and points straight up. The kobolds nod apologetically and leap.

They are flying in place, but seem to be looking around themselves to find something.

As this scene unfolds, Dahme'dre doesn't notice anything in particular about what is going on in front of her that hasn't already been described.

Everyone roll stealth with advantage! (Unless you want to be seen, of course.)