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Nothing??

Pint hesitates but then recalls ancient dwarven wisdom.

When the only way left is to go forward you must advance.

Thus Pint begins moving towards the exit with his Urgrosh still drawn and eyes on full alert.

The behavior of the two dwarves was puzzling. Why didn't they either challenge them or sound the alarm? Perhaps they were running off to get help.

Pint was starting forward again, so Galiena ducked and headed after him, with Fr Michael in tow. If only they could make it through this last stretch of tunnel, they might see the light of day again...

Pint and the two humans run south, to the exit shaft at the end of the rail tracks. You hear a commotion from deep inside the mine, probably from the rooms to the east of the machine room - you don't know exactly where.
"The passage to the shaft will be guarded," says Fr Michael, "If we're not careful we'll find ourselves trapped."
The tunnel is a bit too low for for the humans to run comfortably, so Pint, despite being slower, can make the faster progress. To the left (east) there is a collapsed are where the coal has been taken out, which Pint knows is termed the "gob" - it is similar to the area you crawled around earlier near the coal face.
"I've got a Thaumaturgy cantrip" says Fr Michael to Galiena, "when we encounter the McCains might be time to use it".

So, there was no trap after all, but if there was a commission at the back it meant the dwarves were already keen that something was not right. Perhaps Ursa had woken up, Pint assumed-- now he was really regretting not tying the sucker up.

Hearing Fr Michael's warning that there will likely be guards up ahead, Pint slowed down a bit and began trying to stealth once again. "Alright, let's see if we can take a peek at how many are guarding the entrance. If it ain't that many I might be able to lock em up in a melee while ye two make a run fer it."

"We might," she whispers to Fr Michael just before they start hurrying after Pint. "I've none left."

When Pint slows and begins taking quieter steps, she partially obscures her light under a thin cloth, leaving just barely enough dim glow for her and Fr Michael to avoid knocking their heads on the low ceiling of the tunnel.

"Let's hope they've got the ponies ready," she says quietly with a nod to Pint's plan.

Pint sneaks down the tunnel. His dwarven darkvision shows the temperature variations in various shades of red - cold for the tunnel walls, slightly warmer for the air, very cold for the rail tracks. Then he sees the unmistakeable glow of a body of dwarves, about five or six of them. He presses himself against the wall to hide, and tries to work out what weapons, if any, they are carrying. His foot catches against a railway sleeper and he comes crashing down with a big thunk. Galiena and Fr Michael hear him fall. Then there is the sound of dwarves running up the tunnel, "There he is" they cry, "the Bloodhorn dwarf".

"Oof!" Pint grunts as he plants face first into the ground. Fortunately he had his weapon drawn already, so as he hears the McCain dwarves shouting and running after him, he pushes himself back up to his feet and immediately gets into a fighting stance. Spear end of his Urgrosh pointing towards them, the dwarf gives them a vicious grin. "Bah, that's alright. I felt like fighting ye lot anyway. Let's see wot ye got, laddies!!"

((How close are we to the staging area at the bottom of the shaft?))

Galiena rushes closer, her weapon still not drawn from her belt. As a cleric of peace is she honor-bound to not attack first. She uncovers her light, as there is little point now in keeping herself and Fr Micheal nearly blind.

"Committee! Let us pass! Comrade Ursa has violated the trust placed in him and brings dishonor to clan McCain. I cannot support your cause with him in charge." In her hunched position to avoid hitting her head on the roof, the speech may not come across as she hopes, but still she must try to bring this to a peaceful resolution.

The McCains are not intimidated by Pint. With six of them and only one of him, it was an impossible attempt. They draw their weapons, which are mining pickaxes, not real weapons at all (and very inferior to Pint's urgrosh) and take attacking stances. Then Galiena and Fr Michael appear.
"Wait" says one of the dwarves, who she recognises as Kaynin, "how has Comrade Ursa violated our trust? If you can't answer, we will cut you to pieces. We're not just anyone, we're the committee."

Kaynin... he struck her as the worst of the lot; greedy, conniving, quick to violence. And that catch phrase of his was beginning to make her wonder if he had suffered some blow to the head. She'd addressed them as the committee, after all.

"I did not think you a murderer, Kaynin," she stated, searching his eyes for a moment, then glanced to the other committee members to gauge their appetite for murdering two clerics and a fellow dwarf. Their attack stances were far from reassuring.

"Ursa tried to force himself upon me, a married woman and a cleric acting in good faith to do what I could to find an acceptable and peaceful resolution to this conflict," she began. "He then offered the diamond to me. An insult to me, as if I were a common whore. And an insult to you, that he would give away the McCain's property like that without seeking the committee's permission."

She let that sink in for a few seconds before continuing, "He still thinks of himself as more equal than the rest of you, whether he will admit it or not."

The six dwarves, some of who you recognise as the committee, face you off with pickaxes. The party is standing in a triangle arrangement with Pint at the top tip, and Fr Michael and Galiena at either side, and slightly behind. Galiena is to the left of Pint, the tunnel to her left isn't designed by a solid wall but by the "gob", an area where coal has been taken out then allowed to collapse.

Kayin pushes to the side of Pint, and faces Galiena. His face is pushed up against her chin, his beard straggling down her breast. She can feel his deep breaths. "He gave you the diamond?" he says, "Where is it? Where is the big diamond?"

Pint scowls as Kayin pushes past him and keeps his Urgrosh at the ready. Giving the other dwarf a hateful look as he stares down at Galiena, Pint considers skewering him from behind. It'd be easy, Kayin has his eyes away from him and is wide open.

However, before doing anything reckless, Pint looks up to Galiena and makes a subtle motion with his Urgrosh. Should they give him the diamond or stab him? Pint's good with either.

She resisted the urge to physically push Kaynin away from her.

"I did not accept it," which was technically true. Though she had seen Pint pick it up. How many white (or not so white) lies had she told tonight? Did the end justify the means? "Perhaps you should go fetch it."

Kayin's face distorts into hate. "I know you are lying" he says, "why would you not accept it? Give me the diamond!"

The other five make ready to attack.
"Keep them alive" says Kaynin, "they might have hidden it somewhere. But take them into custody."

Alright, looks like it was going to be a brawl after all.

As much as Pint was confident in his own fighting skills to get him through a battle even against multiple opponents, he always liked to stack the odds in his favor even if it meant fighting dirty.

He reached for his pocket in his cloak and pulled the large diamond that Kayin was looking for.

"Oh, ye mean this diamond?" He held it up over his head to make sure that Kayin couldn't just dart for it. His other hand was still clutching the handle of his Urgrosh, ready to spear whoever dwarf made the daft move to simply reach for the diamond bare handed.