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"Err.. aye, he's doing much better now." Pint made an attempt to follow up on Galiena's act, though he was remarkably a bad actor. Thankfully, the other dwarves were very distracted and looked like they hadn't caught on to his whispers. Which, turned out to be unsuccessful as the cleric refused to be rescued without her partner. Pint looked back at the miner dwarves, it'd be easy to push through them and make a run for it, he -might- even not need to kill any of them. So what if that soured relationships, his mission was to go rescue the clerics.

As it was though, now he had yet another problem to deal with. These uppity dwarves that suddenly decided they were authority here and needed to delegate any decision. Pint rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Well, regardless of that.." He said and walked back towards the group of dwarves crowding the mining cart. "Oi, Adan! Can ye tell the longshanks-- I mean, Lord Percival, that I'll stay down 'ere to keep an eye on the clerics?"

He looked to Galiena and then back to the dwarves of the committee. "Donna think we'll have a problem with that, eh lads? Just trying to make sure our 'Snow White' is well protected."

((I suggest sending a PM to Malcolm, StereotypeAgain!))

She could only hope that "Habek" had gotten her meaning. It seemed like he had, but she never could quite tell with dwarves.

The cleric brought her light back over to Kaynin and the other committee members to help locate the incense. "I need to rest and pray before I can work such a spell, Kaynin. Is there a place I can sleep for a few hours?"

What if she was able to pull off this charade and the committee still didn't allow Fr Michael to leave peacefully? She shuddered to contemplate living out the rest of her (possibly very short if things went south) life in this mine.

"Got the incense" says one dwarf at last, lifting a tiny parcel triumphantly from the mess of goods spilt from the cart.
"Now we've got to load up this cart again" says Kayin, "Comrade sister, you go back to comrade Ursa, no, on second thoughts, I'll go with you and find somewhere to sleep. Habek, you want to stay do you? OK, that can be arranged. Please give me that weapon - we don't want any fighting in Dwarf Mine".

"If you'd just let sister Galiena onto the surface briefly" says Adan, "we wouldn't need to be suspicious of you."

"Comrade Ursa says no-one is to go up the shaft until we all go up" says Kaynin, "which will be shortly. But we don't break solidarity with each other."

Pint has insinuated himself in between Kaynin and Galiena, and Kaynin obviously doesn't like it.

"I ask you again" he says to Pint, "Hand over that weapon".

It had taken Pint a few moments to connect the dots of Galiena's insinuations. Like most dwarves he was slow and methodical and needed a little bit of momentum to get his gears going. Once he did though, he understood what was the cleric trying to hint at. So they had Fr Michael in a cell? Yeah, looks like this was still a rescue mission after all then.

"Ey, brother." Pint turned to look at Kayin when he asked for his weapon. "Ye wouldn't take a hammer away from its dwarf would yeh?"

"If the humans come down into the mines I'll want to stand against 'em with ye, and I'm no good to nobody if I'm unarmed."

Pint glanced at Galiena, gesturing with his eyes that she ought to try reasoning with Kayin to not try to confiscate his weapon. Pint figured that between the two of them the cleric was more convincing, at least without intimidating anyone which thankfully Pint had enough sense to know that would be the incorrect approach.

The cleric certainly did not wish things to come to violence, but if they did, having someone like this "Habek" on her side with a weapon would certainly be welcome. Of course, Kaynin and the committee surely knew that too...

"Insisting the Dunstans lay down their arms seems like no way to win them over to your cause, comrade Kaynin," she said, still under the assumption Pint was one of the Dunstan dwarves.

"OK", says Kaynin, "Habek stays. But the rest of you Dunstans go back to the surface."
"Can't we have sister Galiena with us?" says Adan.
"No, she stays here" says Kaynin, obviously getting tetchy like a schoolmaster losing control of an unruly class.
The Dunstan dwarves make as to move to the surface.

Meanwhile on the surface Lord Percival is getting anxious, "They've been an awful long while" he says, "It seems every time I send someone down that mine, I lose someone. Maybe sending down dwarves is a mistake, they're not the most diplomatic of creatures."
"Never trust a dwarf with a delicate job" says Malfey (an elven woman), "but look, here's a man with only one leg. He'd be a good negotiator, the dwarves wouldn't see him as a threat."

Galiena felt a small satisfaction when Kaynin caved to the request to allow "Habek" to keep his weapon. There was one small victory at least.

"Adan?" she said, wondering if perhaps she could subtly pressure the committee into the decision to free Fr Michael. "Tell Lord Percival to look for us after dawn."

Hopefully that would buy her enough time to get Michael out before things came to blows.

"I will see you after dawn" says Adan, and leads the Dunstan dwarves back to the surface.
The supplies are strewn around the mine cart, and the remaining dwarves scramble around to reload them.
"Chicken soup is getting cold now" complains one.
Eventually you all go back to the diamond workings. Ursa is there, and looks over the goods.
"The longshanks has caved in" he says, "it is not long before we go back to work, now as free dwarves instead of as mere labourers. I see you sir," he gestures to Pint, "have chosen to remain with us. What is your position within clan Dunstan?"

The chicken soup is doled out. Galiena and Pint receive portions, together with a piece of cram, familiar to Pint, but to Galiena a sort of hard biscuit that you have to dunk in the soup to make at all chewable.
"All that remains is for you to cure the cleric" says Ursa to Galiena, "you have the incense, and we can easily get you a bowl of clean water. Then we can all go back to the surface. The dwarf revolution has been a success."

Pint smiled slightly when Galiena's diplomacy came through and she convinced Kaynin that allowing him to keep his weapon was in his best interest. He could not help the Dunstan dwarves with their own plight of trying to get Galiena back to the surface, but right now he was willing to take any small victory, and having his prized Urgrosh was no small accomplishment.

Pint kept quiet as they descended deeper into the mine shaft. He sat next to Galiena and kept a wary eye on the rest of the dwarves, trying to perceive any ill intent towards the cleric. The words 'Snow White' hadn't left his mind, and it was troublesome that these dwarves would latch on to the human woman like that, like some kind of symbol. Experience told Pint that the moment people started being viewed as symbols they stopped being viewed as people.

It isn't until Ursa, the apparent leader of this motley crew, addresses him that Pint speaks up. He sets his soup aside and stands up. "I am not a Dunstan dwarf. I am from clan Bloodhorns, a warrior forged in battle, and I've traveled far to join in this dwarven revolution. I am eager to put my skills to the test and show the supremacy of the stout folk once and for all!" This time it was easy for Pint to speak since he wasn't technically lying. He omitted his first name since he knew if the McCain dwarves searched for records they wouldn't find a Habek Bloodhorns.

Pint wasn't really good at the negotiating, but he was an exemplary dwarven warrior and if the McCains started depending on him, that'll give him some leverage to eventually pry Galiena away from them. For now, time would tell if he joined in this dwarven revolution or not.

"hmm..?" said the cleric to Ursa, having nearly fallen asleep against the wall of the mine where she had sat to eat her soup and the hard biscuit.

She rose to her feet and faced herself in the direction of Fr Michael's cell. "I need to rest and pray for a few hours first, Ursa. There was a cell next to Fr Michael's, wasn't there? Where I could sleep for short while?"

"A Bloodhorn?" says Ursa, "we know the Bloodhorns well, and they are doughty warriors against the orcish foe. But how did you know about our dwarf revolution, and how did you know that the longshanks may be planning to attack.?Pray brother, share this with us. "
"But from what I know, Lord Percival is about to come to terms. Why else would he have sent supplies? The next stage is to spread the dwarf revolution beyond Dwarf Mine, beyond the McCains and into the other clans. But the Dunstan dwarf Adan was very counter-revolutionary - I don't know why."
"Galiena" he says, "wouldn't you rather sleep in m y chamber.?I know we don't have fit conditions for a human woman in Dwarf Mine yet, but it would be nicer for you."

Pint's chest swelled with pride knowing that the reputation of his clan had reached these lands. He was a true and proper dwarven lad that one.

"Ye dinnae, eh?" Pint chuckled when Ursa asked him why he was here. "How long ye've been stuck in these mines I wonder?"

"Either way, news had spread that the humans were having some kinna problem 'ere and being the sell sword I am I traveled to check it out. It wasn't 'till I got 'ere that I found out what kinna problem they were having. I'd almost peg 'em for greedy basterds but honestly it's probable that its just human incompetence that they didn't go into the specifics. No offense, Galiena." All of that was the absolute truth as well, Pint had sort of just wandered into this mess hoping to make a couple of easy gold and hadn't realized this was a dwarf and human conflict until he got fully involved.

When Ursa offered Galiena his quarters though, Pint tensed up again, hand clenching on the handle of his Urgrosh. That sounded like bad news to him but he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't come off as confrontational or questioning Ursa's motives for letting a woman sleep in his quarters.

Galiena, on the other hand, was hoping for that offer exactly. "That would be appreciated, thank you, Ursa. Excuse me then. If I don't go now, I may fall asleep right here."

She raised her brow at "Habek's" comment... "none taken," she replied, still trying to gauge him. But her gaze did not linger there long and she turned to head to Ursa's chamber, curious to see if she would provided with an escort or would be permitted to go alone.

Ursa grins triumphantly and knowingly at Pint, then escorts Galiena off to his chamber.
"Have a good night" he says, "I've a meeting with the comrades, then I can join you. See this diamond?" He takes out the big, glass like diamond for his pocket, "When it's cut, it can be yours, that's traditional."
He shuts the door, and leaves Galiena snuggled up in the rough dwarf blankets, which are too small for her, alone.

He returns to where Pint is talking with the "committee".
"You said the humans were considering an attack?" he says, "So are these supplies to lull us into a false sense of security? As soon as sister Galiena cures Fr Michael, then we can all get out. But the attack might come before then. What is your information?"

The more these dwarves interacted with Galiena the less he trusted them. Pint kept his mouth shut when Ursa grinned at him, though by the tightness of his jaw it was clear he was refraining himself from saying anything.

He almost didn't hear when the committee asked him questions and he looked towards them abruptly. "Eh!? Oh.." He cleared his throat, deciding that he was going to have to deal with Ursa and his suspicious fondness for Galiena later.

"From wot they told me, the humans are only planning on attacking if the supplies fail to serve as a peace offering. I figure they'll take the two clerics not returning to the surface as a sign that they should attack."

"I'm also pretty sure I saw an elf woman up there talkin' with 'em. Ye got any idea who that might be? That Lord Percival seemed to be keen on listening to wot she had to say."

"That's Malfey" says Kayin, "an evil elf woman. She's a witch, and she's wormed her way into the Percival household as Lady Percival's personal adviser. She does her no good, either, I'm telling you, with purges and funny foods, and making her imagine she's all sorts of things wrong with her when in fact she's perfectly healthy."
"But, yes, she'd like nothing better than for the humans to destroy us. She hates dwarvenkind. Fortunately Lord Percival doesn't pay her too much attention."

He would join her? Galiena wrinkled her nose in distaste at the very thought, wondering what she'd tell him when he returned. In this case... the truth, or at least some of it, would probably suffice.

Once the door closed, she counted to 10, then got up and made her way toward Fr Michael's cell, trying to be quiet, but still nonchalant, in case she should happen upon another dwarf.

Galiena hears the committee talking with Pint. Most of Dwarf Mine has quietened down now for the night, but the fan is still being pedalled. She stands outside Fr Michael's cell. It is barred from the outside, and it will be obvious if the bar is removed that someone has entered. There is a small window in the door for ventilation, but of course it is too dark to see anything through it. What has she done with her light?

"Soddin' knife ears." Mutters Pint as he's told that the elf woman is unlikely to help the situation. While Pint isn't exactly a traditionalist he's always kept a hearty dislike for elves and is quick to take any excuse to rekindle that ancient enmity.

However, for now, he's keeping an eye on Ursa, making sure the other dwarf doesn't slip away and back to his room where Galiena lays vulnerable.