"Dangerous experiments on living subjects? Care to be any more specific?"
"... no?"
"Well, dangerous or not, I don't think we'll benefit from dragging him with us. I say leave him tied, and leave his dagger nearby. He'll be able to free himself in a few hours and by then we will be on our way. Neither of us ever has to see the others again."
"Still, for an unprovoked attack, he should forfeit all his possessions, save food and water...and of course, the dagger that we shall leave him."
Thora rolls over on to her side and groans.
"I was having the most wonderful dream," she says. "Pancakes. Pancakes stacked to the heavens."
"Ayesha is right, we really can't start collecting prisoners to bring with us."
Millorn nods enthusiastically, all the while writhing at his bonds.
"That weird elf IS right! You should let Millorn go, especially before my poor darkmantles go stale and the flavour is lost."
Meriui looks unconvinced. "We leave him his camping gear and a dagger? Taking his spell book would be akin to taking my arms and armor. That will seriously hurt his chances to survive after we leave. Not much difference between that and killing him while he's bound, is there?"
"Meriui, this dwarf had committed terrible and evil acts I'm surprised you even want to let him live. If we let him live so be it, but we must take all the tools he can use to commit more evil upon anyone else."
"Maybe we should take him with us. He may come in handy navigating this place...and we can always feed him to a creature if push comes to shove." Rowena grin maniacally. "Do you know your way around here, Dwarf?"
Millorn looks around wildly.
"You came into my home! I am persecuted! I just want to be left alone! There's a shaft near here leading upwards but I haven't been that way, last time I went I was attacked by mongrels!"
"What terrible and evil acts has he committed? Do you know that he's not already been punished for whatever crimes he's actually performed? I don't. How, exactly, are we suppose dot reform people if we keep punishing them over and over for the crimes they originally performed?"
Millorn groans and slumps against the ground, having given up working on his bonds.
"Just let me go! Take my stuff, I'll be fine! Look - anything dangerous down here is probably going to get killed by you anyways and I've got food for a week at least!"
"I agree, beyond attacking before finding out if we were hostile, he has done nothing wrong that we know of. Let us leave him with enough to survive, and be on our way."
Ronan shakes his head muttering under his breath 'what does he think dangerous experiments on living subjects are, if not evil, and I thought paladins were sensitive to that'. He pockets the two scrolls and walks away toward where Sarkart entered the passageway. "Come on Jinxx".
Ayesha picked up the dwarf's spellbook and considered it for a moment, then glanced at Meriui. Carefully she tucked the book under the restrained dwarf and whispered, "Mercy is given that you may understand it. Next time, think of talking before you attack."
"I was talking before I attacked," wails Millorn. "Just not to you."
The group leaves Millorn tied up with a dagger jammed into a rock at an awkward place. He will get out. Eventually.
The passage leading upwards is more of a shaft. The liberal handholds make ascent easy for most of the party, but it is laborious for Aravashanial and Anevia thanks to their injuries, and Horgus thanks to his poor physical condition. After 60 feet of huffing and puffing, the group finally reaches the top of the tunnel where it levels out.
Horgus groans and collapses face-first while Aravashnial finally arrives at the top, white-faced and shaking. Anevia is quite, and in a lot of pain. Horgus is not so quiet.
"This... wheeze is the most painful wheeze moment of my life. Arduous climbs, crazy dwarves, unmannered company... wheeze. And this does not look like the surface. These damn tunnels go on forever!"
Horgus rolls onto his back to stare at the ceiling through the dim glow of the various light spells. He looks thoroughly miserable.
The group manage to pick up and start heading what Sarkast's compass indicates is the northwest. They fall into order with Sarkast sneaking ahead to keep an eye out for danger. You march for a half an hour.
As you creep ahead the cavern widens a great deal. Echoing from within you hear the sounds of digging, and the call and response of muffled voices. They're probably fifty feet in front of you. The voices sound like they are panicked, but the language is bizarre; you can pick out some common words but a lot of the vocabulary is absolutely foreign.
In order to see anything you'd have to shine your light, which would certainly alert whatever is digging to your presence.
"The exertion is proof that you are alive. The lack of breath is proof that you are working to remain that way. If you choose to stop trying to remain alive, you can do so at any point. You can see the stress Aravashial and Anevia are suffering, trying to continue moving and choose life, as well. Do you acknowledge they are superior to you? If not, why do you choose to allow them to demonstrate better behavior as they suffer silently, their eyes on the goal?" Meriui winces as he realizes the mistake he just made. "Be the man you claim to be."
Horgus lets out a groan.
"I'll... give you what for once I catch my breath. It is the custom of well-manned people to be silent wheeze around their betters."
"Hear that? He called me well-mannered. I may make a lady after all." Anevia bites back a yelp of pain as she begins limping along with the party.
Rowena follows Sarkast into the shaft ahead. She senses danger. " Sarkast. What do you see?"
"See, there's a problem. Well-mannered people don't claim to be anyone else's better. Everyone has something unique to contribute. Everyone is valuable. We need to encourage people to be accept that they can be better than they already are, and to strive for improvement.:
Sarkast whispers to Rowena, "I hear conversation, but can't make out the language. I'm going to see if Thora can come look in, she can see in the dark without drawing attention to us with a light."
Sarkast carefully moves back to Thora. "I hear voices but can't understand them. There was a digging sound, and a note of panic in the voices. Can you look in before we shine a light and reveal ourselves?"
Horgus snorts derisively but chooses not to respond to Meriui's lecture.
Rowena tries to creep ahead like Sarkast, but is not nearly so stealthy, kicking a rock down the hall.
The entire group hears a voice call out loudly, in strangely accented common.
"Who's there?! Be warned, we are armed!"
"As are we. Perhaps we can avoid all of the messy results of a misunderstanding and simply talk for now. We are a middling large party deposited here by the earthquake earlier. We are looking for an exit to the surface. Would you be able to help us find one? Or at least be able to point us on our way?"
You hear a weird sort of blubbering sob that sounds like it came from a second person. The voice is male, raspy, and urgent.
"Hush Dyra, they may be friendly." He raises his voice. "If your intentions are good, can you help? Misfortune has befallen us and my companion is trapped beneath rubble! Otherwise, please leave us in peace so we can continue digging."
Ayesha looked at the others before stepping forward. "I am Ayesha, and my intentions are good. I think we might be able to aid you. Do not be disturbed at our appearance. Though we are many, we are mostly of like minds. We offer aid freely, and return violence even more so. How may we be of assistance?"
Ayesha steps past Sarkast and Rowena with her light up, the rest of the group following.
The tunnel opens into a large cavern, about seventy feet across. Cylindrical rock formations along the walls arch up to make a domelike chamber, but the walls and floor are riddled with cracks. At the center of the cave, a stone tower that may have once reached the fifty-foot high ceiling has collapsed onto its side.
Two humanoids are attempting to dig out a third, who is trapped under the rubble. They have dug out a great deal, but now a boulder remains wedged above the small space where their friend is trapped. It looks like they have had no luck lifting the boulder.
As your light shines upon the humanoids, you hear a gasp of horror from Horgus. The one who stands in the front, speaking to you is a man whose features meld an elven man, a goat, and a lizardfolk. His oversized fingers end in dull, spadelike talons. Behind him is a woman, her face so warped by tumors she is unable to make any intelligible speech.
The one speaking for the group lets out a sigh of relief, he keeps his distance and is obviously distrustful, but ushers the group closer.
"My name is Lann. As you may have guessed we are mongrels, something happened on the surface and our tower collapsed. Crel here is trapped. If we dig more that big rock will fall on him, but we can't move the rock."
These strange humanoids are commonly known as mongrelmen. Every mongrel is different; a random collection of parts from different creatures and mutations. They are known to live in small communities and in secret, due to the persecution they face from other humanoids.
Sarkast steps in with the group. He is surprised at the appearance of the group before him, but composes himself and considers the problem at hand.
"I am Sarkast, of the Kellid people. Allow me to examine your situation."
Lann and the mongrel woman, who Lann introduces as Dyra, step aside to let you have access to their friend Crel. Both of them are obviously very suspicious of you but their postures are defensive, not threatening.
Sarkast steps in to investigate the situation; his skill with complex mechanisms is of no help here. Brute strength is the most obvious solution, at least six people could get their hands on the boulder. The rocks could be dug out from around the boulder which would make it easy to move, but it would collapse down upon Crel and possibly kill him. A miner or somebody with some knowledge of engineering could dig out the boulder without hurting Crel, but it would be risky.
Aravashnial taps his staff rapidly on the ground to find his way closer. His bandaged face is agape with a smile of sheer delight.
"The mole people! I knew you were down here! Please tell me of your ways, I have wanted to study you for so long! Are you like normal people?"
Lann and Dyra are distracted from watching Sarkast to stare incredulously at Aravashnial. Lann mutters something in his language to Dyra. Aravashnial has obviously offended them.
"Leave them be, Aravashnial! Or at least question them with at least some shred of dignity. Treat them as people who might do you the courtesy of answering a few of your questions, and things might go well for you."
To the mongrelmen she said, "Please excuse his rudeness. He was injured rather severely in the accident, and I am afraid his wits fled with his sight. If I understand his previous rantings correctly, he has made a rather in-depth...study? conjecture is more like it...of your people, and is one of the few above ground that is convinced you exist here. I think his enthusiasm gets ahead of what I will for the lack of a better term call his good sense."
She looked at the trapped man for a moment, and gnawed at her lower lip. "I don't know if I'll be much help on lifting that thing, but I have a Grease spell prepared that we can use to help slide...Crel was it?...Crel out from under there once everyone gets in position."
Cast grease on Crel to help slide him out when the time comes.
Ayesha plants her feet and begin heaving at the enormous rock. Despite her slight frame, she puts in a superhuman effort, and the boulder nearly moves!
Lanna and Dyra rush over to help Ayesha, and they both begin heaving at the boulder.
"Somebody pull out Crell when we say go!"
Both of them work hard at the boulder, but more help is needed. They can't quite move it.
"My wits and good sense? My dear woman I think you fail to recognize who I am!" shouts Aravashnial over the din of the boulder being moved. "My theories on the pitlings have been presented as far as the University of Lepitstadt! Now I have real live specimens and - damn these eyes of mine!"
Aravashnial slumps miserably on the ground.
"You're right. I apologize to you good people - you just want to free your friend. I've received enough abuse from ignorant humans to know better."
Thora, looking mildly embarrassed at being distracted by nothing in particular, runs up to help.
Horgus snorts derisively. "All of it deserved, you meddling twit." Aravashnial simply sits despondently, not responding to Horgus' insult.
Sarkast adds his shoulder to the effort.
"Horgus! Get over here and help save a life! Ronan, when we manage to get the boulder secure enough, pull Crel free." As he talks, Meriui points at a spot where Horgus can help lift the stone, before stepping in and trying to add his own strength to the effort.
Ronan gets into position to pull Crel free. "Jinxx get over here and get a hold of some of Crel's shirt in your mouth and pull when I say." and to Crel he says "Don't worry about Jinxx he will be very gentle and he will not bite you."
if needed
With Lann, Drya, Meriui, Ayesha, Thora, and Sarkast on the boulder there's actually no room for Horgus. However, he reluctantly heads over to help Ronan withdraw Crell.
The group all braces, and with a loud groan, everyone lifts the boulder a scant inch, but that's just enough. Horgus and Ronan grab down, and yank hard. The greased mongrel pops out from the rocks, and the boulder collapses down. Horgus withdraws and continues to watch the mongrels suspiciously.
Crell has a bestial, dog-like look to him with strange patches of hair, horns like a tiefling. He is seriously injured, but breathing shallowly. Drya lets out a muffled squeal of joy and gives him a hug while Lann smiles.
"Thank you. Thank you so much. Our home, Neathholm is near here. Our people are unfriendly to topsiders but you have done us a great service. We will be happy to give you a place to rest and answer any questions you may have."
"We have injured among us, so if you have any healers who would be willing to help them, it would be appreciated. Do you know of a route to the surface that is still open?"
Rowena looks Crell over and decides not to heal him. His people will take care of him. "How long have you people been down here? How do you live?"
Lann helps Crel up, who leans heavily on Drya for support.
"I can see. Well, none of us are skilled healers but we shall take you to Neathholm. They must learn of the collapsed guard tower and we must repay you for your kindness."
Drya and Crel begin to investigate the rubble. It looks like there were other deaths, but it would take hours to even recover one body. Lann looks around sadly before answering Rowena's question.
"We have a settlement not far from here. It has good water, there is plenty of food if you know how to find it. As for how long my people have been here, I'm not sure. It is hard living down here so not many of us live to an old age, but my parents and grandparents have all been from Neathholm."
"Thank you, erm, Lann." Rowena considers pawing through the rubble for bodies, but decides to sit pay. Pharasma would take good care f these people. She makes a small prayer.
The young man shakes his head. "I recognize you as people who need and can offer help. But your forms are . . . distracting. This may prove to be more difficult than it should. I apologize now. I will attempt to watch myself, but I expect I will slip, somehow, and not offer the respect due to people."