Move 148:  Hanging Out in Tunnels

The Garlstone Mines--Afternoon, 2 Eleint, 1374 DR

Aloysius' olfactory investigation of the bandit had two result.  It revealed that the man smelled fishy, and it prompted the man to spit on the mage.  A visual inspection of the man revealed that he wore little of value, except a silver brooch and a silver ring on the second knuckle of his left pinky.

Cethyran administered another healing spell to Blacky while Arachne attempted to patch up some of the damage Daelen had sustained.

Aloysius grimmaced and wiped the spit off with his sleeve.  "That passage," he said, pointing to the one he had inspected earlier, "appears empty.  It may have been where the halfling hid until we passed by.  If we are going on, mayhap we could put him in there.  If we are not, then I'm sure Garyld would gladly deliver him the justice he deserves."

Ceth asked Blacky, "Are you well enough to go on, Eric?"

"Yeah, I'll make it. We've got to procure some healing potions or other magic if we keep getting beat on like this." Blacky said

Jana look a the ring curious to see if it matched the one she'd taken from Chainmail Chick back at the old keep.  She also took a look at the chain mail on the dead men to see how well it seemed to be made.

"Oh," Jana said, smiling coldly at the man, "I have a much better idea.  We need a way to see if that ward's still on the ladder, right?  I'm sure this... gentleman will be more than happy to help us.  In fact," Jana added with a decidedly bloodthirsty grin, "I'm sure he'd be absolutely delighted to walk ahead of us, touch every door, ladder and lock for us.  Wouldn't you?"  Jana leaned near the man, keeping his head turned away from her by placing an immoveable hand on the side of his face, using as much or as little force as the man himself dictated.  She whispered something in his ear as she tapped the fingers of her free hand on the pommel of her sword, then backed away.

Ceth turned to Renn with a worried look, "She does not mean it does she?" The small elf looked quite upset at Jana's words.

"Truly, I do not know," Renniorlas whispered as he warily watched the scene begin to unfold.  "I have not
seen Jana act in such a manner with prisoners before, but we've obtained but this one since I have been accompanying this band."

The prisoner looked far less upset about this proposition than Ceth.  "Yeah, sure," he replied.  He listened to the words that Jana whispered to him and nodded.  He made the best approximation of a shrug that he could in his tied up state.

Ceth shook her head. Her expression was one of patent confusion.

After Eric's and Renn's response, she turned to Arachne.

"Do you need healing, Arachne?"

Aloysius rubbed his chin earnestly as he observed the exchange between Jana and the captive.  "Janathell?"
he asked nervously.  "Might I have a word with thee?"

Jana turned to Aloysius, eyes narrowing.  "What d'you want?" she asked evenly.

Aloysius spoke quietly to Jana to insure that the captive wouldn't hear his words.  "Methinks it would
be  . . . unfair . . . of us to use this man in the manner thou hast suggested.  Suspect do I that he has somehow had his will o'ertaken.  He smells of fish, much the same way that most of Ranchefus' other minions have.  Besides, if we treat him harshly, are we any different than the black priest?"  His eyes glanced around nervously as he spoke with the woman warrior.

"Unfair?" Jana replied with clear disbelief.  She tried to keep her voice low.  "What's freakin' fair got to do with a gods-be-damned thing?  Tell me, mage, have they treated those they've taken fairly?"  She glared at Aloysius, her dark eyes hard and cold.  "I didn't make the rules.  They did.  I'm just following the battle plan they laid out.  And I will do," she said emphatically, "whatever I have to in order to defeat them.  If it means using that man as a shield, I'll do it, and I don't care one damned bit about his will."

Perhaps unconciously, Aloysius leaned back slightly as if to create as much space as possible between himself
and Jana.  "Actually, they did not make 'the rules'," he replied, "they simply act as if they have.  Simply because they are cruel and barbaric does not justify such behavior on our parts.  'Tis exactly the reason why we oppose them."

Aloysius continued talking to Jana in a low tone.  "If memory serves me correctly, Andren did mention that he
gave Jellenth a signet ring as a gift.  It had the letter 'J' engraved on the inside.  Wonder do I if the ring this man wears be one and the same.  I doubt he will willingly permit us to examine it, but if it is Jelleneth's, then mayhap we are getting close to locating her at long last."

"He either surrenders it freely or I cut off his damned finger," Jana retorted.  "Either way, problem solved."

The mage's eyes widenend slightly as he realized Jana was not jesting.  "Thou hath developed some sort of .
. understanding . . with this man, Janathell.  Mayhap thou canst persuade him to part with the ring so we
can examine it."

"I'm glad you're seeing things more clearly now," Jana said, a nasty grin on her face.  She walked back to the prisoner, no longer smiling.  "I need to see that ring, please" she said, her expression and voice neutral.  "Where'd you get it?"

Etienne slid his scimitars back onto his back and stood. Taking his medallion in his hand he placed his free hand on his chest and  whispered a quiet prayer. When he was done, he walked back toward the direction Daelen
and Jana came from, "While you all decide what to do with this rogue, I'll go watch and make sure his friends don't sneak back up on us." Etienne then quietly padded off into the darkness.

"Let's get after them after we see if that is the ring in question," Blacky said.

"I'll go with Etienne," Echo said.  She had pulled her cowl back over her head again.  "No one needs to be
alone in here."  She walked off in the direction that Etienne had gone.

 The little gnome was still shuddering after her remarkably successful effort to remove the chill from Daelen.  "I hadn't thought..." she muttered.  "It's _very_ effective... very painful, too -- hm?"  She looked up at Ceth.  "I don't
know," she admitted.  "I guess I'd been hoping that we would withdraw, rest, and recover from this debacle.  I mean, it seems to me that we'd learned a lot more from this encounter than our enemy should've.  We know more about the opposition we'll likely meet than we did coming in to this mine.  We know that there's a hasty fighter to contend with as well as a fondness for traps that freeze.  But Ranchefus should already have been expecting us -- and I don't think we showed any tricks that he hadn't seen before.  So his knowing we're on his doorstep isn't really knowing that much.  And we no longer have an advantage of surprise.  I really was hoping we'd withdraw...

"But even if we're going to insist on charging ahead..." she sighed and smiled at Ceth.  "I wouldn't be the most efficient recipient for your healing magic, if you're offering it," she said.  "I have a policy regarding combat which is to work fairly assiduously to avoid it.  So it'd be better to patch up someone else -- someone who's more likely to get their health further compromised in the near future.  On the other hand," she shivered again, "if you happened to have a hot water bottle with you, I wouldn't object to that."

"I do not have that. And, I have used all but one of my healing spells at this point." Ceth took off her cloak. "Perhaps if I wrap this about you?" she asked.

"And, there is no shame in not fighting. A love of bloodshed is certainly not a desirable trait in anyone."

Regarding the wizard's ethical qualms, Arachne said, "I think I'm in more agreement with Jana than Aloysius.  In part, it's because of the spitting:  By spitting at Aloysius, our prisoner is positioning himself as a continuing participant in the battle between us and his side.  If he'd really wanted us to consider him no longer active in the battle, he wouldn't have spat.  But he apparently wants to continue an active participant, which isn't a very prudent
choice, considering that we have him tied up...  And we all _were_ trying to kill one another a few minutes ago, weren't we?  So by spitting, he makes himself available for whatever useful abuse we might think of."

"Using that line of reasoning," the mage replied, "we would currently be justified in slaying the man as he
now stands.  After all, the battle yet continues, does it not?" he asked sarcastically.

"Either stance that is taken will have the means to readily back up their arguments," Renn sighed.
"It's the very nature of opinion, one must have reasons to prefer one side or the other."

"Perhaps it would be best if we withdrew, as Arachne has suggested.  We have used many incantations and
have as yet seen none of their spell casters.  We could renew our magics and deliver this man to Garyld."

"The only issue with drawing back is that those we've not been able to capture will alert the remainder
of their fellows, which they've probably done already," Renn said with pursed lips.  "It would be well to
deliver this man," Renn peered over to the prisoner, "unto the proper authorities however."

Ceth shook her head shyly, "I don't think spitting warrants torture. She turned, catching the nasty grin on Jana's face. "Will they do this to me if they do not like something I do?" she murmured.

"No, they will not," Rennirolas said quietly, but firmly.  "If you are still feeling the cold Arachne, I do have a
blanket in my pack here," the moon elf added.

"A clean death is one thing. I cannot stand by and condone torture though. It is against what I value in this life. If she tortures him, I must try and stop her." Ceth said to Arachne softly.

The mage further considered the options available.  "Howe'er, it hat occurred to me that, in the event we
leave and return, that would give Ranchefus the opportunity to relocate his entire operation.  Mystra
knows how long it may take to find him again."

He looked down at the prisoner.  "You there, man, how many more of thee are there in this place, and why
dost thou reek of fish?"

Etienne cast a spell on himself, healing all of his remaining wounds.  He and Echo walked off into the darkness.

Cethyran cast another healing spell on Blacky.

Jana walked back to the prisoner, no longer smiling.  "I need to see that ring, please" she said, her expression and voice neutral.  "Where'd you get it?"

"Got the ring in a dice game," the prisoner told Jana.  He made no move to give it to her, but that could have had a lot to do with him being tied up.

Aloysius looked down at the prisoner.  "You there, man, how many more of thee are there in this place, and why dost thou reek of fish?"

The man made his approximation of a shrug again and answered the second part of Aloysius' question with, "Maybe the same reason you smell like...."  He glanced at Jana again and shut up.

Jana knelt down behind him to take the ring.  "Relax your hand," she told him.  She pulled the ring off and handed it to Aloysius.  "Well?" she asked the mage.

Still reeling from the captive's assesment of his bodily hygiene, Aloysius held the ring in the beam
from the lantern and tried to determine if any engravings were on its inside.

Aloysius held the ring in the beam of light emitted by the lantern.  After turning it slowly and examining
its inside edge, he nodded his head.

"Aye!  'Tis her ring!  She must be here, or nearby at least.  If we were to go now, we may never find her
again.  Let us proceed.  If we have any more healing incantations amongst us, mayhap it would be best to
expend them now."

He handed the ring back to Jana.

Daelen had nodded his thanks but didn't seem to be in any mood to speak as he knelt beside his dog a way off from the party. Tearing a long strip from his cloak, he tried to bandage the hound's wounded leg, with only limited
success as his hands were still numb and Snow kept licking his face.

He did look up at the man's comment but didn't seem overly concerned if the man wanted to dig his own grave.

"If we leave they'll just put up more traps. And I'm not too keen on giving them another chance to finish the job." he said, rubbing his arm.

 "I really must learn to speak more clearly -- or loudly, or something," Arachne sighed.  "Both you and Aloysius missed an important part of my point:  I try to be practical, not that I succeed much, but...  I said USEFUL abuse and I meant it.  Killing a tied-up opponent is hardly useful, though it might be convenient, if he obstreperously makes himself difficult to drag around.  And I couldn't condone torture as a form of entertainment.  But _useful_ abuse...  If our fishy friend is still of a mind to kill us and is prevented only by the ropes that bind him, then what's the difficulty with using him to test doors and ladders for traps, as Jana suggested?
        "And what in Waterdeep is a 'clean death'?"

"I don't believe in abuse, Arachne, I'm sorry. In my experience only those I've opposed have held that belief and those that serve the dark. The man tried to kill us and would have if he had succeeded, so while I would not have as much of a problem with killing him as quickly and painlessly as possible, so that his gods may judge his deeds and send his spirit to wherever it should go, I do have a problem with making him feel pain for expedience or any other reason. I serve Sehanine Moonbow, and she is a goddess of the light. And while I understand that death is necessary, there is no way you can convince me that hurting someone is necessary."

"And, a clean death is one that is given quickly and mercifully, rather than drawn out over a long session of torture. Torture is a drow weapon. I will not make it mine. Nor will I condone it." Ceth said, softly but firmly.

"Well, I do hope you never have a need to change your belief -- or act contrarily to it," Arachne said sincerely.  "For myself, I find myself living in this world, which includes drow and also evil priests like Ranchefus. And I am only a weak little gnome and not Sehanine Moonbow, nor do I aspire to be Sehanine Moonbow.  I'm probably not even worthy to be a servant of Sehanine Moonbow, but I manage to sleep nights in spite of that.  And being who I am and in the world that I find myself in, I'll not forswear a useful means to advantage over an evil foe because it might be morally tainted.  I won't be _happy_ using it and I hope I'd be reluctant to resort to it, but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand either."

   She sighed and drummed her fingers against the tunnel wall.  "'...Given quickly and mercifully.'  That sounds like something that is a luxury of the powerful.  I don't think I _could_ give anyone a quick death, if I wanted to.  I duck away from fights not because I think that trying to gut an enemy is unethical, but because I'm not powerful enough to do anything effective.  I mean, I couldn't push my knife's blade through orcish skin... well, maybe a little.  Anyway, by your lights, avoidance is the morally correct thing to do because I could hardly expect to inflict a clean death or clean defeat on anyone."  She nodded.  "Actually, I like it.  I just don't believe it.  Must be nice to live in clear moral certainty.  Me, I muck around in situational ambiguity.  Among other things, it'll help keep Ranchefus guessing." She grinned -- a faint echo of Jana's.

Ceth looked at the gnome woman quite seriously, "Please do not insult my faith, just because you do not share it. It has served me well in the absence and death of many of my family and friends. It has served me for over a century."

"Nor do I claim to be more or less powerful than you, for surely you have great magics. And, anyone can slay that which has already been rendered helpless, which is what I am talking about. I am certainly no great warrior or judge to be able to assign death or moral certainty to everything that is done on Faerun, or under her surface. Yet, there are some lines which must be drawn, and hurting someone to gather information is one of them."

"I am a healer, Arachne. I prefer not to fight unless attacked, though if need be, I do what I must. I have never seen a need for torture. There is always some other way to gain information. If there is not, then the information is
not worth having. As for living in clear moral certainty, I do not. But there are some things that are evil acts. Torture is one of them. I would not forswear my faith, myself, all my people have died for, to simply find out some
information."

"Just as I do not mock your beliefs, please try not to mock mine. I do not think it is so much to ask, not to give someone pain."

 "I was not trying to mock _your_ faith," Arachne said.  "And for any insult that you feel, I apologize.  But I distrust unwavering certainty.  I distrust an unwillingness to think and consider possibilities.  Sometimes, often perhaps, faith looks to me like that, and for that reason, I distrust arguments or positions taken on faith.  Your absolute that harm or a threat of harm must never be given in order to gather information --"  She shook her head.  "I do not absolutely agree.  I would prefer not to resort to torture, but I cannot rule out the possibility of having to if the information is valuable enough or time is short and too many other considerations are unknown -- "  She shook her head.  "We'll get mad at each other if we pursue this argument.  Your way of thinking is not mine and mine is not yours and while we might persuade one another to appreciate our diversity if we went at it carefully for as many hours as we liked in a safe tavern with a steady supply of mead on tap --  That's not where we are or are likely to be soon.  We have work to do here.  We don't need torture to get it done.  I just wish my bones weren't so chilled."  She shivered.  "Do we really have to go after them _right_ away?" she asked, a whine creeping into her voice.

Ceth smiled. "Trust me, Arachne, faith only opens you to more possibilities. I do not mean to make you angry, however and I would never presume to tell you what to believe. I only state what I am not free to do. And, who knows, perhaps if the need were great, I would be forced to agree with you, though I have a feeling I would be abandoning all if I were to do so."

 "Amen.  I said, before all the rest, that I hoped you'd never be so forced.  I still do," Arachne added.

"Be free of your beliefs. Does not Renn's blanket and my cloak warm you? Perhaps we should retreat and come back." She looked at Arachne with great concern.

 "The chill runs deep," Arachne sighed.  "And it's my own fault.  I so wanted to heal Daelen.  I had no idea how cold he really was.  If everyone else is determined to go on, then I'll tag along.  No point making everyone else wait for just me.  I've done that enough already."

"Arachne, how much rest do you require afore thou art reasonably reinvigorated?" asked Aloysius.  "If a
small delay will enable thee greater exercise thy talents, then mayhap that would be prudent.  I suspect that we shall be in need of thine healing talents once again."

 "Oh, um..."  Surprised at having had her question treated seriously, Arachne frowned.

 "I'm not down to nothing _quite_ yet," Arachne allowed.  "But it would take me a few hours to recover fully.  I don't think that's a small delay.  And I was also trying a different method to help thaw out Daelen.  It worked -- much more effectively on him than my usual physic would've.  But it did so because I was drawing the cold damage into me instead of directly repairing it.  So I've also got that to heal before I dare try that treatment on someone else again.

        "I guess you could call me so-so," she admitted.  "Maybe about half as much capability (or a little less) as when I first wake up in the morning.  But I feel like a congealed stew."

"Would that we all had time to restore ourselves," said Aloysius sadly.  "Howe'er, this is the best
opportunity we have had as yet to free Jelleneth.  If we delay too long, I fear that we shall lose it."

His eyes followed the beam of the lantern as it illuminated the opening Etienne and Echo had gone
through moments before.  "Eric and Janathell as yet appear to be strong, and Daelen is better for thy
tendings, small one.  Those three seem likely to bear the weight of conflicts renewed.  Stargazer has yet
remaining incantations.  I say that we move forward, lest we lose track of these villains once again."

He returned his attention back to Arachne.  "No doubts have I that thy formidable skills at combat avoidance
shall serve thee well.  I shall proceed to speak with Etienne and Echo to discern their wishes.  Let us act
promptly, one way or the other."

The mage took the lantern and headed off in the direction where Etinne and Echo went.

"I'd hardly think of combat avoidance as a _formidable_ skill," Arachne muttered.  Huddling in blanket and cloak, she sat trying to think overheating thoughts, until it was time to go somewhere.

Jana took the ring back and asked the prisoner, "Who were you dicing with? I want the person you got this ring from way more than I want you."

"He's dead," the man replied, nodding his head in the direction of the bodies in the tunnel.

"Don't be obtuse," Jana advised.  "Where'd he get it?"

"Off one of the prisoners," the man answered.

"Is the prisoner still alive?" Jana asked in a neutral voice.

"Enough. Let's get moving.  Don't worry Ceth, we won't be torturing him.  He won't get hurt unless there are traps and if there are traps he likely knows where they are. So it would be in his best interest to tell us that they are there before we push him into them, wouldn't it.  Call it sort of a guided tour of his lair."  Blacky said and prepared to move forward.  " By the way what is our new friend's name?" He asked

"And if he doesn't know about them he'll have the pleasure of feeling what I did when I grabbed that ladder. I don't like the idea of pushing someone into a trap but I'll get over it if it's for a good cause." Daelen said as he rejoined the party.

"But that's what Ceth and I were debating about --"  Arachne pushed hood and blanket out of her face.  "Not that we got to any resolution.  And I didn't argue with a _lot_ of enthusiasm for employing the prisoner...  _I_ don't know!"  Upset, she turned to Ceth to see if the elf would object, and if she did, how strongly.

"No, you will not." Ceth said calmly, moving up to walk near the prisoner, eyeing the prisoner, Jana, and Daelen with equal wariness.

"I assure you I would and I will if the situation calls for it." Daelen replied with an annoyed growl.

"And I hope someone was still climbing down the ladder when I dropped my pack down there." Daelen grumbled.

"I tossed my pack so it'd hit one of the bastards on the way down." Daelen said defensively. "And yes, I'm aware that's not nice."

"Then you will likely have to go through me first." Though Ceth was almost 2 feet shorter than the strange human, she did not seem to either grow angry or back down from the surly man. "Because you did something you regret now, is no reason for you to take it out on anyone convenient."

Ceth continued, "But you just said you didn't know if anyone was down there. That makes no sense at all. So, you lost your pack simply because you hoped you might hit someone that might or might not be at the bottom of the hole and, if they were, would have to be standing right under the pack to be hit?"

Ceth added, "We're not talking nice, Daelen. I think we're talking irrational vs. rational. It is against my nature to let you injure or harm someone merely on whim. We have enough enemies, I would think, that are actively trying to hurt us, without you needing to attack that which cannot fight back."

"I don't know if the prisoner's still alive," the man said, "since I don't know which one it came off."

Jana untied the man enough that he could walk and the rest of the party headed off after the three who had already gone.

The tunnel the party had been currently standing in curved around into the darkness before opening into a large dimly lit cavern.  The northern wall of the chamber looked like a sculpted frozen waterfall, water dripping slowly down its entire length.  Aloysius, Echo, and Etienne stood near the apparent entrance to the lower level of the mines, a sinkhole shorn up with wooden beams with the iron rungs of a ladder visible from within.

Aloysius appeared to have been studying the ladder intently.  Once the others arrive, he addressed them.
"Janathell said that the other men went down this ladder without ill effect, yet Daelen triggered a cold ward.  Suspect do I that certain rungs of the ladder are warded, and others are not.  'Twould explain how the other men used it without harm.  If this man," Aloysius indicated pointing to the prisoner, "shall not advise us as to how the ladder may be safely employed, then someone will have to expend a spell for detection of magics."

Aloysius took his lantern and directed the beam into the hole as he tried to ascertain how far down it was to the next level.

 At the back of the party, Arachne huddled down onto the floor again.  "Climbing down a ladder's bad enough," she harumphed to herself. "Humans always build their ladders with the rungs too far apart.  Now he expects us to _skip_ rungs?"  She sighed and waited.

"I don't have a detect magic spell," Echo said.  "I can look for traps, but magical traps are hard to find."

When Aloysius tipped the beacon lantern sideways to direct the light into the shaft, oil spilled on his foot.  There was light from some source at the bottom of the shaft.

"It's about forty feet down," the prisoner offered.  "I'll show you how to get down safe if you want.  It's not hard, once you've seen someone do it."

Ceth nodded. "That would be good."

"Shall I untie him? Do you wish perhaps to put a rope around his waist so he does not run away once he reaches the bottom? Or, would it be best if he told us how to do it. I will try it and if he has lied, which there seems to be no point in him doing, you could deal with it then."

"Please do not untie the human yet Cethyran," Renn said as smoothed his surcoat over his mail.  "At least, not until we are sure he has been thoroughly searched.  Has he?" Renn asked as he shot the group a questioning look.

Aloysius hopped around on one leg momentarily until the oil dripped off his foot.  "Curses," he muttered. "This lantern must be defective . . . ."

He looked back at the others, the reddening of his cheeks apparent even in the minimal light of the
lantern.  "Perhaps it would be best if this man simply told us how to descend the ladder.  Certain am I that
he would gladly go down the ladder first, yet doubts have I that he would remain at the bottom once he
arrived.  Ceth's suggestion that one of us employ his instructions while the others watch him up here seems
wise."

"Indeed it does, and I believe I should be the one," Rennirolas interjected.  "Lord Corellon blesses me with the ability to sense danger for an hour each day," Renn explained.  "If there were inherent danger that we were not told of, I would have perhaps the best chance of avoiding said danger."

He turend to the prisoner.  "So?  How is this done?"

"You've got to whisper the names of the high priests of Cyric," the man said quietly, "one for each rung of the ladder."

"Everyone who touches them," Jana asked, "or just the first?  And what are the names?"

"Doubts have I as to this man's forthrightness," said Aloysius.  "Perhaps we could simply drive a spike into
the floor and lower a rope down?  I like not the idea of relying on this man's guidance, as vulnerable as he
may be."
 

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