No clues and no time left to search!

You were running out of time. The random battering upon the oak door you'd been hearing as guards uselessly clattered their swords against its frame had turned into a repetitive beating. The soldiers had organized themselves into a battering ram and soon, the door would either loosen itself from its padlock, or else, fly off its hinges, possibly hitting you one of your party in the process.

There wasn't a single thing in the room you could identify that would help you track down the false saintess. For how slovenly Mertz was otherwise, he was very good at covering his tracks on any relationship with your target. Unless one of the pairs of used panties strewn around the room was carrying the name of the false saintess embroidered upon it, you were out of leads.

Furthermore, you had no escape route in mind. Were you going to have to fight your way through every guard in the barracks to escape? You weren't sure if even the saintesses could handle this many trained men without some incurring some losses... or at least the loss of their rookie squire!

Finally, you had some luck: the rattling of the door in its frame seemed to be accompanied by a similar noise below your feet. For a moment, you thought the wood was just old and rickety, but you were surprised to find that when you shifted the rug out of the way, a secret hatch gave way to a ladder, leading down into a dark cave. The cave was dimly lit by recently lit lanterns, enough to see your way down and into the tunnels. This would have to be your escape route.{if Belit = True}

"Don't worry! I can pull the rug back into place once we're through. Don't ask me how-- a master thief has to keep some secrets. It involves a little length of wire and--" she began, but you really didn't have time to listen.{endif} You led the saintesses down into the darkness as quickly as you could manage. The guards would be right behind you. You'd just have to pray to Geod that the dimwits took a while to discover the hatch and that, once they did, the wooden bar you'd set across to hold it shut would last for a while.

On your way out, you'd grabbed all the documents you could see on the guard captain's desk and stuffed them into your pack. You hadn't seen anything helpful, but maybe that would be different once you found a place to rest and read them over.