Rescuing The Captives

Yaz leads the way back to the door with the snarling animal noises and puts his ear to the door, listening for the language of canines. He listens intently at the door for a while, and soon determines that the animals behind the door are not canine.

Curious, he listens for a bit longer, trying to figure out what creatures they could be. After a while, he comes to a startling revelation:

"They are speaking our languages - Bohavian, elven, dwarven," he says with surprise. "But it sounds all wrong - primitive and bestial, little more than grunting. I can't really make out any sort of conversation from here, as the door is too thick and the words too difficult to make out, but it just sounds like mad rambling to me."

Winnacer frowns as he sits quiet in thought:

"It seems like those rooms are more of a display of sorts, one of the range of human emotions. I wonder if these too are people tampered with to make them perpetually one way or another?"

Yaz scowls:

"Nah," he says. "The crying women are prisoners, I think. The laughing ones live here, prob'ly the ratmen's concubines or something. And the animals... Well put it this way. I'm f***in' goin' in there! Bennett, you coming? Put these creatures out of their misery?"

Will reasons with the druid:

"Yaz, what if Winnacer is correct and within that room lies decent people who are under sorcery which leads them to bestiality? If you open that door, there may be no other choice than to kill them, when dispelling the curse could bring them back to their right state of mind peacefully and without bloodshed."

Yaz stops, and screws up his face in thought:

"Hmm," he says, "and what if you're really an evil necromancer under sorcery to make you decent? Then what?"

Yaz grins sardonically, clearly teasing the bard:

"OK," he concedes, "let's just look inside, and if they are cursed, we'll shut the door and remove the curse later."

Yaz has an odd smirk on his face as he turns to open the door.

"And what's exactly wrong with bestiality?" he asks rhetorically.

Willl turns a sly grin to the druid but says nothing as he stands to the side so he can see past Yaz into the room when the door opens.

"It doesn't sound like they are really animals if they are speaking proper Bohavian..." the LawBringer continues.

Winnacer takes a hold of the Ripper as Yaz approaches the door:

"...more like feral people..." Winnacer continues, making ready to fight as it becomes obvious that the door is being opened one way or another.

Yaz goes to the door and tries the handle, only to find that it is locked:

"Jihan, can you see to it?" he asks bluntly.

The elf does not respond, but rather just sighs and takes his lockpicking tools once again and sets to work upon the door. To the surprise of both himself and the rest of the party, he manages to open it. He opens it a crack and peers in, with Yaz peering in along with him.

It is dark inside, but with both of them having infravision, they can see many heatforms inside, perhaps thirty in total, all of them still snarling and growling as they fight with each other.

At the opening of the door, which sends the light from the corridor spilling into the room, several of the creatures inside charge towards the door at alarming speed. As they charge into the light, Yaz and Jihan can see that the creatures are obviously humanoid in form, but seem to have been horribly mutated, with most of them covered in hair and having sharp pointed teeth and glaring bright eyes. All of the creatures seem to be slightly different from one another, with some of them having tails, others cloven feet and a few having scales instead of hair.

As the two of them hesitate with the surprise of their discovery, several of the creatures lunge towards the door and one of them scratches Jihan badly across the face, setting his cheek bleeding immediately. The creatures are obviously trying to rush the door in order to try and make their escape.

Yaz and Jihan immediately recoil as Winnacer, Gronk and Bennett all try to push the door shut again. It's a very hard task, as the creatures seem to possess a strength much greater than normal men. Several of them push their hairy and scaly arms through the crack in the door, swiping at the air and stopping the door from closing. Jihan stands in the door trying to beat the hands back so that the warriors may be able to get the door shut before the creatures burst it open and are let loose.

As Jihan continues to fight them off while standing in the mouth of the door, he hears a familiar voice cry out above the grunts and snarls of the other creatures:

"Jihan Prirodnasson?" the voice cries out in surprise and hope. "It's me, Mirek Rohlik, from the Cartwright's Arms in Vysoke Myto."

"Help me," the voice continues. "Please!"

Jihan tries to see where the voice emanated from. Although it is too dark to make out Mirek's features, he sees a form huddled up in the far corner of the large room containing the creatures.

Winnacer takes a hard breath, his shoulders hanging low with both physical and emotional fatigue:

"Never have I imagined such evil truly existed in the world as exists in this place. Pure evil for evil's sake alone. There is no gain from the acts of cruelty we have seen, it is just random abhorrent acts."

He shakes his head in disgust:

"Well, we have a choice to make here. Is it feasible to believe that these feral creatures can be saved? Or have the mutations that have set in beyond the scope of reasonable curative measures, as with poor Darius so many months ago. If we wish to save Mirek, we must decide soon."

Winnacer waits to hear any opinions before proceeding. Yaz is the only one to speak:

"Well, we did say we were going to save the guy. And although I didn't say it myself, we're kinda in this together. I don't think we have a choice. In the morning, I could ask Prirodna for the power to erase curses to see if that does anything, but by then Mirek might be dead. Except they don't really seem to be killing each other -- only fighting. Which is weird."

Winnacer nods his head and then responds:

"Well, if the decision is that we cannot save them, then it would be best if they were destroyed, to bring peace to their twisted bodies and souls. It seems that if we were to manipulate the door, we can have them herd out towards us. With only one exit point, we could put this flame machine to good use, opening the door and getting clear to cleanse with flame what these Nemotz devout perverted. They'll think twice about charging straight towards that fire after being burned, and without means of putting out the flames we should be able to quickly reduce their numbers."

The druid looks a little sad at hearing the LawBringer's words:

"They're obviously in pain, and not obviously fixable. But maybe Mirek can tell us."

Yaz moves next to the closed door and waits for the excited snarling to die down. It takes quite a while, but eventually it does quieten a little when the creatures realize that the party has no food upon them, although the creatures continue to growl and squabble amongst themselves.

Then Yaz cries out as loud as he can:

"Mirek! Can you hear me?"

Mirek's voice cries out above the din inside the room:

"J-j-ust about, but you'll have to shout out. It's really noisy in here."

Yaz nods and then starts to question the missing innkeeper:

"Mirek, do you think that you're in danger at the moment?" the druid starts.

"I-I-I'm not sure," Mirek stutters in return. "They savaged me quite badly when I was first put in here, but I've learned that if I keep out of their way, then they don't bother me too much. I haven't eaten anything since I got put in here four or five days ago. That's what the biggest fights are always about. They fight for food and also for leadership all the time. If I sit in the corner and keep out of their way, then they don't usually bother me."

"I'm hungry, but I can survive for a while longer. The thing that really scares me though is that I'm changing into them, I think. Hairs are growing all over my body slowly and I can feel my teeth getting longer and sharper and can see my fingers turning into claws."

"I-I-I don't know how long it will be before I .. . turn into one of them."

"Ever since I got in here, I've been praying to Lechit to save me and Zuzana, wherever it is that they have taken her. Lechit must have brought you here to rescue us from this terrible place."

"H-h-have you found Zuzana yet?"

"Not yet," Jihan responds, "but we will, don't you worry."

"So how did this happen, Mirek?" Yaz asks next. "What did they do to you?"

"As soon as the monsters brought us down here, they stripped all of us naked and then separated the men and women, and that was the last that I saw of Zuzana," Mirek starts. "Each of us the men were taken into some well-lit room and the ratmen strapped us down onto a wooden table. They then tried to force us to drink some red liquid. I held out as long as I could, but the rat creatures forced my jaws open while the filthy priest poured the liquid down my throat. That was it. Then they threw us in here with these beasts."

"And now we're turning into them ourselves," he adds nervously.

"What do you know about the liquid that they gave you?" the druid finishes. "Do you know whether the effects are reversible?"

"I-I-I really don't know," Mirek replies. "I-I-I hope so. I-I-I'm sure it must be. Lechit can solve everything. If the Fathers from the Cathedral saw to me, then I'm sure that they could stop it, to turn me back the way I was. Or Guildmistress Matulova at the Apothecaries' Guild. Her remedies can cure anything. Or so they say."

Mirek sounds hopeful as he utters this last, but not entirely confident.

Winnacer grits his teeth in anger and frustration as Mirek speaks:

"Again, the question of the value of life returns. Is it worth the sacrifice of forty cursed men in order to save just one? Or are we obligated to try to save them all, and put a whole city in jeopardy of a similar fate as we see here? The evil we face forces our hand against those whose only offense was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Winnacer takes a deep, dispirited breath:

"Unless somebody else has an idea of how to release those imprisoned inside this cage or sorts without resorting to mutilation of the plagued ones inside, we have little choice but to destroy what were once the peoples of Bohavia."

Winnacer has a thoughtful pause then calls out to Mirek:

"Mirek, are there any other people in there with you that have not transformed? Are there any other exits from the room other than the front door? Do these beasts ever sleep?"

"There were ten people brought into here on the wagon including Zuzana and myself, six men and four women," Mirek shouts out in response. "The other five men underwent the same experience as myself and they are in the same condition as me. They are not too bad at the moment either, but all of us are starting to change slowly. They are all as terrified as I am."

"I'm afraid that there's no other way in or out of this room other than the front door. We've all had thoughts about trying to escape, but none of us have been able to find anything."

"The others sleep at times, but the slightest sound wakes them. They all sleep at different times as well, so it never happens that all of them are asleep at the same time."

After listening to Mirek's response, Winnacer looks at the rest of the group, a glint of hope in his eye:

"You know, I think I may have been looking at this all wrong. I wonder....if the beasts are concentrated at the center of the room, if we could just have Mirek and the others that have not yet been fully cursed to come over to the door, quickly open it, and slam it back shut once they've escaped. He'd be free, and we wouldn't have to slay these unfortunate people. We could then leave them behind and notify the first cadre of holy men we can find to cure them all. We could leave the two guards behind to feed them in the meantime to sustain them long enough to get cured. If it's possible, that is."

"Anyone ready to take such a chance?"

The Padre has been listening intently to the conversation and nods his head dourly at Winnacer's words:

"Aye, we can't jus' leave them an' I wouldn't feel good killin' or leavin' t'others knowin' they be innocent Bohavians that were cursed b'these vile priests. If there's a chance th't they c'n be sav'd, th'n I thin' we've got t'try an' save their souls."

"Didn't Mirek say th't the main reason th't they fight is over food? If th't's the case, then p'raps we c'n go back t' th' kitchen an' take some o' the food an' throw it in there. While th' beasts are busy wit' th' food, t'others can escape an' no blood'll 'ave to be shed."

Kokal pauses for a moment, thinking deeply about the situation:

"The idea o' gettin' Mirek an' Marek t' stay 'ere an' feed th' beasts while we're gone is a good one. If we're still plannin' on 'eadin' to Olmutz after we leave 'ere, then there's no better place that we could be 'eadin' for us to get aid at savin' the souls o' those kept 'ere, an' purgin' this 'cursed place o' all its filth an' evil. There be no way th't th' Church o' Lechit be lettin' this place exist once th'y knows abouts it. They'll be sendin' a team o' FaithHealers an' Samaritans t'rescue the folks in 'ere an' cleanse it o' every trace o' their evil, mark my words."

He turns to the rest of the party:

"So what d'ye all think?"

The majority of the party readily agree with Kokal's thoughts, pleased to have come up with a way of getting Mirek and the others to safety and of giving the others a chance of redemption.

Winnacer, the Padre, Xavier and Bennett all head back towards the kitchens. Avoiding the pantry containing the human remains, they take haunches of the fine meats that were obviously intended for consumption by the priests and bring them back to the cell containing the beastmen.

Once the warriors are standing before the door with the meat, Jihan shouts instructions to Mirek and the others that have only recently been infected by the curse:

"Mirek, we're going to throw meat through the door to beasts," Jihan explains. "As soon as their attention is taken by the meat rather than us or you, all of you should run for the door as fast as you can."

"I understand," Mirek replies. "We're ready when you are."

Knowing that they are the best protected to deal with the beasts should they try to attack while the meat is being distributed, Bennett and Winnacer stand by the door as Jihan opens it wide. Immediately, Bennett and Winnacer each throw a haunch of venison into the room. The beasts immediately start to run towards the door as it is opened. However, as they smell the meat flying over their heads to land towards the back of the cell, they immediately change direction and head towards the meat, howling and snarling as they do so. For good measure, Bennett and Winnacer throw the rest of the meat, consisting on two sides of lamb and one of pork into the room.

The scene inside the cell is now one of total bedlam as the beastmen start to fight each other for the meat. The party members' ears are filled with the sound of frenzied snarling and growling as as they start to attack each other.

Seeing that the beastmen are oblivious to anything save for the fight for the meat, Mirek and his companions charge towards the door, totally ignored by the beastmen. Once all six are through the door, Jihan immediately closes it behind them.

As Mirek and his companions run out into the light, they party finally takes a look at them. The captives are all naked, but the party sees that their bodies are covered in what appeals to be stubble, giving their skin a suede-like appearance. They all have beards and their hair is long. There are also slight differences in their faces. Their pupils seem to be wider and their eyes have a yellow tinge to them. Their jaws seem a little distended, as if they are on their ways to becoming formed into a snout. Their ears are also changing shape, becoming more angular and look similar to those of half-elves. Their teeth are growing larger and sharper, and they have trouble keeping their lips together. The nails on their fingers and toes are thick and hard and becoming sharp. It is obvious that they will mutate into the same forms as the others unless some way of reversing the curse is found in the next couple of weeks.

Winnacer looks relieved at having rescued Mirek and the other recent arrivals without the need for bloodshed.

Will too is seen breathing a sigh of relief for the bloodless rescue:

"Excellent work, gentlemen."

The LawBringer then turns to the others:

"So are we finished here for the day, or are their other tasks that we need to perform here today before we prepare for the final battle against the priests tomorrow?"

"Aye," Gronk says, "We needs ta be gettin' some rest. Iffin I be gettin' zapped again I be done for. I says we head up an' bolt ourselves in upstairs."

Xavier's mind, however, is in turmoil. He strides over to Winnacer:

"Mein lord, if I may have a quiet vord....."

Xavier gestures to a spot out of earshot of the others:

"Mein heart is troubled about these poor unfortunates ve have just rescued. Vhat I may say, I fear, may trouble you, but it is a necessary evil I must speak of. Vhat courses through the veins of Mirek is unknown. Ve know not the rate of its spread. As horrible as it may sound, I feel ve may have to bound them to safeguard against them turning against us as ve sleep. Yah ..."

Xavier puts his hand upon the young Lord's shoulder:

"....before you go off half cocked in denouncing vhat I say, Mirek is indeed a friend and I vould imagine he vould also fear vhat he may become. My reasoning is sound. You just need to look beyond that door to see .. ."

He points towards the prison behind them:

".. .vhat has become of good townsfolk. Monsters they now are. No reason remains within them. Ve cannot afford to fall victim to the poison destroying them. Such measures as I suggest are but a safeguard until ve can get aid to not only their physical wounds, but also their very souls."

Somehow, Xavier's words bring a tired smile to Winnacer's face:

"I cannot denounce your reason at all. They must be segregated from us once we set up camp, locked up tight for the night where our watch can keep an eye on them. We control the upper levels of this accursed place, and so we'll find a comfortable place to hold them for now. However, let us first see what we can do for them before we confine the afflicted. The ministrations of Lechit and the sundry foods we've gathered may go a long way in their well being."

Winnacer then returns to the others and looks at the other two doors, the ones through which are the laughing and crying women:

"We should escort Mirek and his comrades out of this place now. But perhaps we should consider peeking behind these two doors to see what horrors lie beyond. It still concerns me that the Priests would slay the prisoners out of spite, knowing that we are making an effort to save them. It may be best to call it a day after we check out the laughing and crying women."

Winnacer waits to hear the opinions of the others.

"Yes," Yaz agrees decisively, "let's get them out of here, too."

He then pauses, and looks several of the hairy men up and down, unconsciously touching his own upper lip at the corners of his mouth thoughtfully as he does so.

Winnacer nods in agreement with Yaz:

"We are close to done here. But let us escort Mirek and the rest of the afflicted downstairs. We probably would be best off if we left Faewen'il and Jihan down there as well. It seems they need some time to work off wounds that healing of the flesh cannot touch. I worry they will be unable to react if true danger again rears its head."

Aneira speaks up at this:

"I can take Faewen'il, Jihan, Mirek and his colleagues down out of further danger. I have the ability to cure disease one more time today. I would very much like to try it upon Mirek to see whether his condition is reversible so that I know whether to pray for more healing spells tomorrow."

"I shall meet you all in the room above the doorway so that we don't have to stand in the filthy water while we wait for you."

As Aneira starts to lead Faewen'il and Mirek & Co. away, Jihan stops:

"I-I-I think I'm OK now," the elf says as the others make to leave. "I realize that there is nothing to be gained by feeling sorry for myself. I'm the only one that has any chance of getting through those doors without having to spend ages hacking them down."

Winnacer puts a comforting hand on Jihan's shoulder:

"Thank you for your help. We could do with it."

The young Lord then watches the Aneira depart with Faewen'il and Mirek & Co. and then turns to the others:

"If it is amenable to the rest of you, I think that Yaz and Will should team up to man the flame machine. We are too low on spells to put up a prolonged fight, and such a machine can both help in our escape and provide an offensive punch if it is needed. I hope it is not. The rest of us can encircle you two to keep anybody from getting too close while you are so encumbered, but we'll be ready to move out of the way if necessary."

Will replies:

"I'm willing to try if we must use the thing."

"Ye're goin' t' trust th' druid wit' th' flamethrower?" Padre Kokal exclaims in alarm. "I cannae thin' o' no one I'd less like t'see operatin' tha' machine. I think we be facin' more danger from him wit' th' machine than if th'accursed ratman had it again!"

"Let's take a better listen and look at the laughing and crying women," finishes the LawBringer. "Perhaps we can aid them without any bloodshed as well."

Jihan then makes his way to the next door, behind which the sound of the crying women. He once again checks the doors for traps, although he has done it once before. He then listens once again to the sounds that emanate from behind the door, but still hears nothing except for the sounds of women weeping.

He tries the lock once again, to find that it is still secured. He retrieves his lockpicking tools once more and sets to work upon the lock. He works upon the lock for a little over four minutes, sweating profusely as he wrestles with the locking mechanism and then sighs with relief as the mechanism slides back and the lock is disabled.

Bennett and Xavier, who are the least damaged of the warriors, take their position before the door and draw their weapons, ready for action should there be any surprises behind the door. Jihan then opens the door wide and they all peer in to see what the room contains.

As opposed to the room to the east containing the beastmen, this room is dimly lit by one continual light spell in the center of the ceiling in the room. The contents of the room, which are illuminated by the light spell, comes as no great surprise to them. The room is packed with small triple-decker bunk-beds, all of them looking particularly filthy and uncared for. In each of the bed lies a woman, each of them as filthy and uncared for as the beds that they lie upon. They are all naked and the majority of them are sobbing quietly to themselves.

With tear-filled lifeless eyes, as if all life and self-respect has been stolen from them, they look up at the party sadly as they enter the room in order to investigate further. As the party beholds the sad sight before them, Jihan starts to walk through the cramped room, which contains some twelve bunk-beds and around 30 females. He sees that the majority of the women are Bohavian, with a few elves as well. None of them seem to be terribly attractive, even were they not looking as filthy and neglected as they are. He looks at each of them carefully trying to see if Zuzana is among them.

As he walks past them, each of the girls sniff back their tears and speak to him:

"Prosim pan, muzyes spal se mnye?" they seem to ask.

Not understanding, Jihan carries on investigating each of the women in turn and in each case they ask him the same question as he passes them:

"Prosim pan, muzyes spal se mnye?"

Confused, Jihan turns back to the others:

"Does anyone know what they are saying?" the elf asks. "It is not a language that I understand."

There is a vague look of understanding on Xavier's face as he hears the words. He walks forwards into the room and stands over one of the bunk beds. Once again, the reaction from the three women is the same as it was for Jihan:

"Prosim pan, muzyes spal se mnye?" each of them ask, with sad eyes.

"Gott in Himmel," Xavier replies as he hears the women speak. "Yah, I understand vhat dey are saying. Dey are speaking Slovene. A little of dat tongue vas I taught by der Shaman during the time ve spent together."

"Vhat dey are asking is 'please Sir, vill you sleep vith me?"

Confused, Xavier looks around at the rest of the party, searching for an explanation.

As the Saxon tries to figure out the reasons for the women's words, Jihan finishes investigating the occupants of the room. He returns to the rest of the party, shaking his head:

"Zuzana's not here," he says, not sure whether or not to be upset or thankful at this.

Winnacer's eyes narrow as he glances at the ratman's slave brothel:

"The depths of horror within this place seems to know no bottom. It will take years to repair the psychic torment inflicted upon these women."

"We need to find them all some clothes, whether it be priestly robe or guard's uniform."

His voice grows soft:

"We've all seen enough women shamed in our lives."

Winnacer shakes his head; his face stony, as he turns to Xavier:

"Tell the women that they are free, that this nightmare shall soon be over."

Xavier's mind thinks deeply, rare has been the time that his gift for languages has been put to the test. In a mismatch of Slovene and Rus, he says the following:

"It is ended now. Thank what gods you give favor to that our swords have brought you freedom. As of now, forget the phrase, 'Prosim pan, muzyes spal se mnye?' Soon shall you all return home. This nightmare is ended. The whoresons responsible shall face their maker within hours. Mein lord says food and clothing will be on its way soon. So be at peace"

There is not even the faintest glimmer of recognition of understanding or hope on any of the women's faces. They simply continue to repeat the phrase over and over again in a lifeless, robotic fashion.

"Let us check the other room," Winnacer says once the fate of the women has been discussed. "Perhaps Zuzana will be in there. We can come back to deal with these women once we have investigated the other room."

Jihan leads the way to the next door. Once again, he makes a second sweep for traps and then listens to the door once more. As before, he can hear the sounds of female laughter and excited chatter. He tries the door again, but finds that it is still locked. Once again, he takes his lockpicking kit and sets to work upon the door. This time, he is not so lucky and after five minutes of work, he is still nowhere close to opening the door.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes.

"So has anyone got any idea as to how to get through the door?" Winnacer asks.

Bennett has been getting more and more frustrated and moody throughout the investigation of the rooms, annoyed at missing out on most of the day's fighting:

"Yes," he replies hefting 'Regret'. "We smash it down."

With that, he hefts the axe into the door with as much force as he can muster. Which is quite a bit. Even so, the door is a thick one and Bennett's first blow seems to have little effect upon the woodwork. Gronk gives his a hand, adding blows from Thunder to that of Bennett's Regret, making an almighty din as they do so.

However, less than a minute after the pair of them started, they suddenly hear a deep voice bellowing from behind the door:

"What the hell are you crazy freaks doin' now?" the voice asks. "Forgotten your key or somethin'? Hell, you only needed to knock. You're makin' the kids cry."

The door then swings open to reveal a striking figure. It is a male Bohavian that has a physique that even Konan would be jealous of. The man is in his late twenties and some 6' 6" tall. He is wearing just a loincloth, which shows off the fact that he is just one mass of muscle from head to toe. His striking face is set off with a pair of crystal blue eyes and a mass of perfectly coiffured blonde hair that rests upon his shoulders.

Bennett and Gronk hesitate for a moment upon seeing the unexpected sight before them. They see that he is totally unarmed and seems to be as surprised to see them before him as the party is at seeing him. As the man stares gaping at the party, and they stand gaping at him, they can hear the sound of infants screaming and crying from the room behind him.

Curious, the party peers into the room to see what it contains. They see that it is in total contrast from all of the other rooms that they have seen so far in the Temple, as the room is brightly lit by several continual light spells and is richly decorated. The walls are hung with expensive looking wall hangings made from fine lace and there are also vases of flowers spread throughout the room. They can see that the room contains eight large beds, each of which is occupied by a beautiful woman aged in their teens or early twenties. The young women are all exquisitely dressed in silk nightgowns and are perfectly made up. The party also notices that the majority of the women seem to be in various stages of pregnancy. The vast majority of the women seem to be nursing babies, varying in age from just a few weeks to a few years. The majority of the infants are screaming their heads off, no doubt as a result of the racket made by Bennett and Gronk attempting to batter the door down. Most of the women are trying to console their babies, trying to calm them down. They are also trying to peer at the party to see who it is at the door and are talking excitedly amongst themselves. As the party looks at the beautiful women laying on the silk and crisp linen sheets, they see that Zuzana is among the women. It is hard to recognize her at first, as she seems very different from the 13-year-old girl that they saw in Vysoke Myto a couple of weeks earlier. With her face perfectly made up, she appears to be a great deal older. She appears to be in fine form indeed and is smiling and helping the other women to sooth the screaming infants. As she looks towards the door curious as to who has caused the commotion, she does not seem to recognize the party at all.

The muscleman in the doorway finally speaks as he gets over his surprise at seeing the party before him:

"Who the hell are you guys?" he asks as he continues to look them up and down.

Winnacer's face is chiseled stone as the strong man leers at the group. His fist is curled tight around The Ripper and it takes him a moment to find calmer words than the ones initially in his mind. With great effort, Winnacer relaxes his features and adopts a friendly tone of voice and makes a slight bow.

"I am Winnacer Duene Stradheim, LawBringer of Spravedelna. These are my companions."

He cordially introduces them one by one, with true courtesy:

"May I enquire who might you be and what exactly is happening here?"

The muscleman shakes everyone's hand as they are introduced to him politely, but it is obvious that he is still confused as to what's going on.

"My name's Libor Kishka, my friends. I'm here to look after the girls .. ."

".. . if you know what I mean," he adds with a grin and a knowing wink.

Bennett lays a shoulder into the big fellow as he walks past, almost more disturbed at the sight of these women than the ones in the prior room. He then spits on the floor in disgust and turns away. At the slightest provocation, he seems ready to kill this ox.

"So what're you guys doin' here?" asks Libor the muscleman. "D'you work for the priests? Please tell me that they've brought you in to replace those filthy ratmen. Boy, I hate those critters. Filthy they are."

"Filthy you all are," Bennett grunts, looking the fellow in the eye.

From the way in which the muscleman speaks, it is quite plain to see that his head is as musclebound as the rest of his body, as Libor is no alchemist.

Gronk steps forward, a plan coming into mind:

"Uh, yes, we be replacin' da ratmen. Been a small problem, there has. We needs ta be gettin' ya an' da women up ta da temple so as ta make sure you's be safe. Iffin ya could have da ladies gather up da little ones it sure would make things a mite easier."

Will picks up on Gronk's scheme and follows up with a very officious sounding voice:

"Absolutely, some of the toxins have been detected leaking near this area, and it may not be safe for habitation any more. Try not to startle anyone, but gently inform them all that we are moving to a bigger and better place."

Winnacer also continues along Gronk's line:

"Yeah...those ratmen really were not working out. We're here in the capacity of exterminators, of sorts. The vermin were too treacherous to be left to their own ways. They've forced us to take action, but unfortunately that means we need to relocate. We're here to escort you out of here to even better digs once we finish with the rats. We're making temporary accomodations for you all upstairs."

Bennett, of the mind that this fellow should join the rats, concedes to Gronk's plan, amazed that he could muster up so much thought.

Libor does not doubt the truth of the party's words for an instant. He nods his understanding as he listens to the dwarf and the LawBringer:

"I ain't surprised in the leastest," Libor replies in his regular slow drawl. "I been tellin' them priests for the longest time that them ratmen don't be no good for nothin'. Glad to hear that they's finally come to their senses."

He then turns to the women:

"Alright li'l ladies, looks like we's gonna be a-movin' on out o' here to somewheres even more nicer than here. Get the little 'uns an' as much o' your stuff as you can carry an' follow me and the priests' new helpers."

The women, all of whom gaze upon Libor in awe, immediately nod in agreement and start chattering excitedly among themselves as they start to prepare themselves and their young for the journey out of the place. As the women make their preparations, it becomes obvious to the party that the women are not going to be moving out too quickly, as the first thing that they do is head for the mirror to make sure that they look presentable for the journey.

Bennett walks in and roars:

"Move it! Right now!"

He continues to stare at Libor in disgust and that disgust appears to be spreading to the women as well.

"While we wait for the women to make their preparations for departure, let us obtain clothing for the less fortunate ones in the next room," Winnacer suggests.

They all head off back to the priests' quarters and take all of the robes that are contained in the lockers at the foot of each bed. After going through them, they only manage to obtain twelve sets of robes, which are not sufficient to clothe all thirty women occupying the room. The matter is solved by Jihan, however, as he slashes each of the sheets on the beds in two with his blades before adding another slit in the center of each of them, thus forming some crude ponchos in order to hide the women's modesty. As Jihan is doing this, some of the others return to the kitchen and pile up all of the edible foodstuffs into baskets and crates in order to feed the refugees during the period that they are in the party's care.

Bennett gathers up the food, not wanting to go back into the room with the pitiful women. He hangs his head in shame as the others go in to help.

With the majority of the party encumbered with the clothing and foodstuffs, they return to the room containing the traumatized women and bring the clothing to them. There is no light in the women's eyes as they bring the clothing to the women and they keep repeating the same question over and over again. As a result, the party are forced to clothe each of the women in the priests' robes and makeshift ponchos as if they were rag dolls or helpless children. Once the party has managed to dress them all, they pull them up from the beds, but their lethargy continues and they make no move of their own accord. The party finally manages to get them to move out of the room by dragging some of the women along with them and herding the rest of the women out as if they were nothing more than sheep. Eventually, the party manages to herd them all out of the room and leave them in the corridor while the party returns to the room containing Libor and his harem.

Although they have made some progress in getting ready for departure, Libor's harem are still busy making their final preparations, packing up their dresses and other miscellaneous items ready to move out. Getting somewhat impatient now at the women's actions, which resembles packing for a holiday rather than making a quick exit, the majority of the party decides to give them a hand.

Bennett does no such thing, however. He walks into the room with a menacing glare:

"Come on, you stupid sheep! Move your asses!"

The women ignore him totally, however.

Bennett then turns with the bag of food on his arm and takes point, relatively less encumbered than some of the others.

As Jihan enters the room, he looks around and lets out a low whistle as he surveys the contents of the room:

"The contents of this room are worth a small fortune," he says as he looks around.

"Look at this, for example," he says picking up some cutlery. "It's solid silver, all of it, and the plates are of the finest bone china inlaid with gold."

He looks around at the wall hangings and the rugs upon the floor:

"All of it is of the highest quality craftsmanship," he says looking around further. "Altogether, I'd say that it must be worth around 1500 gold pieces, give or take a hundred or so."

Winnacer takes a look at the items and shakes his head:

"We're going to have our hands full getting everyone up to the surface this time as it is," he says. "Let us leave it for tomorrow and then we can take it at our leisure."

The party continues to assist the women and children to get ready, but it still takes the best part of half an hour until they are all set to move out. There are more babies present than Libor and the women are able to carry between them, and so some of the party are needed to assist in carrying them.