The Great Conflict

With the walls continuing to flash red and intermittent very loud alarm noises you quickly run down the hallway, PEAB in hand to reach the clerics before they mobilize. You enter the main hall of the monastery which has two staircases leading up to the second floor where the living quarters are most likely located. In the room several peasant guards have mobilized in defensive positions and you instinctively mow them down from the PEAR before they can react. As you enter the great main hall which contains an alter of worship along with many rows of pews along with a large dining and mess area. You notice clerics coming down the staircases at the rear of the hall and peasant soldiers pouring in from a ground level door which must lead to a barracks. You notice that the vanguard of the clerics coming down the stairs has a blue hue surrounding him. Your time is running thin and you will soon be surrounded. You have to make a battle strategy. You may release nerve gas to kill all combatants currently in the room and then travel deeper into the monastery to capture any remaining clerics. This is the safest strategy in terms of survival but is risky in terms of your primary objectives. Another option is to attempt to incapacitate the clerics as they come down the stairs while simultaneously fending off the peasant guards. Your final option is to temporarily retreat and call in your PEAB reinforcements and then try to take them on. What will you do?