"There's someone here - Wenduag!"

"Peace, friends! I'm a paladin of Iomedae. We're looking for a way back up to the city."

Oh good, maybe they can foist off the bloody sword on the actual paladin and send her through the Maze.

Lann relaxes minutely; someone saying they're a paladin doesn't exactly prove it. He at least has the experience to tell that the markings on her armor are authentic.

"What's happening up there? There was a strong earthquake..."

"A horde of demons attacked Kenabres, and Deskari personally punched a hole in the earth, and we all fell through it and ended up here."

This is true and also unbelievable and he's curious what these people will make of it.

He's also curious what kind of people they are. They look - not demonic, exactly, and not tieflings, but - like blends of humans with animals, or vermin. Wenduag's robe hides most of her body, but his instincts are that this is less of a normal kind of creature, and more like something - misshapen. A curse, perhaps?  

Camellia is less circumspect. "What are you?"

"Deskari attacked Kenabres?" Lann exclaims.

It feels so validating to have picked approximately the winning side.

"We're neathers. Descendants of some of the first crusaders cursed by demons - supposedly - we've lived below Kenabres ever since."

"Mongrelfolk," Lann insists.

"I've heard of you... I wasn't sure if you were real or not."

"Mongrels is the name upsiders gave us when they cast us out. What did you hear of us?" Wenduag asks pointedly.

"...That you were some kind of tieflings." Anevia tries to look a little embarrassed.

Yes fine Wenduag you win let's get on with the important thing here.

"The way to the surface - the shortest one we know of - is through a dungeon called the Shield Maze. Only the strongest hunters survive it; most who go in don't come out again. Some of our younglings foolishly decided to brave it, to try to get to the surface." 

"We're looking for a sword left by an angel who fought with the first crusaders. It was kept in this room, with other artifacts, because we couldn't use it ourselves, but it can still serve as a symbol to rally the tribe to action and go rescue them before it's too late."

A roomful of First Crusade artifacts, you say? Gord's magic sense is tingling!

Unfortunately, only one actually magical artifact seems to have been kept in this room, but that just means he immediately zeroes in on the right pile of rocks. Carefully moving them out of the way reveals the dusty hilt of a longsword.

If these 'mongrels' can't bear to touch it, Gord doesn't care to try it himself. He already has a magic sword that likes him fine, anyway. He gestures the resident paladin forward.

Seelah grasps the sword's hilt. And - stands there, swaying a bit.

"Are you all right?" When that fails to elicit a response, he pokes her cautiously with the pommel of his sword.

As if released by his touch, a flash of warm light sweeps through the chamber. It leaves everyone feeling just a little bit more vibrant and alive. It doesn't dazzle your eyes, but it might dazzle your mind a little, if you're unused to the touch of Heaven.

In its wake, Seelah looks metaphorically as well as literally radiant.

"I saw a vision", she says reverently. "Lariel, an angel from Heaven, who fought in the First Crusade, was killed here. By a monster who looked like Deskari, though he wasn't really Deskari. And he left his sword, here in the stone, for someone to find, and to - pick up his struggle, his war to protect the innocent."

"I can't serve in the place of an angel. But I can carry this sword, until I find someone who will."

Lann has almost literal stars in his eyes.

"Will you help us rescue our younglings? If you bring the sword to our village and show it to Chief Sull, I'm sure he'll agree."

Then he remembers the surface was just attacked by Literally Deskari. This probably-important paladin's duty is presumably back in Kenabres. "The quickest way we know of to the surface is through the Maze, for those strong enough to make it and clever enough to navigate it, and our village is almost on the way there. We'll help guide you if you help us in return; Wenduag is the best of us at navigating the Maze."

"I am completely out of spells and intend to wait until tomorrow morning before trying this maze. Of course you don't have to wait for me, if you think you can save these younglings and the delay is too dangerous." It sounds like a fine and noble mission, but Gord isn't going to risk his life for strangers and in the company of strangers while he's weak and disoriented.

Anevia has very much noticed that Gord is, in fact, the strongest of their party; if he wants to rely on his spells more than his sword, then she definitely wants him at full power.

"I don't think my returning to the city a day sooner is important enough to risk dying on the way there," she comments. "We would all be better off with some rest."

"I hate to say this, but Chief Sull definitely won't get the tribe into the Maze before tomorrow morning, no matter what we do. The younglings are in great danger, but we wouldn't be here looking for the sword if we thought we could go after them alone."

Seelah really hates sitting around not doing anything while there are people waiting to be rescued. She's also the only one of them who isn't out of spells (by virtue of not having any to begin with), other than Anevia who has a broken leg. But if even the kids' relatives think it's too risky, she's not likely to persuade them otherwise, and she's not going to try it alone against everyone's advice.

...she still hates it, though. How can she be worthy of carrying Lariel's sword to its rightful wielder if she won't even risk herself to save some children?

On the way to the mongrelfolk village, Wenduag taps Seelah's shoulder and gestures for her to drop back for a bit so they can speak in private.

"Lann's idea is madness. He wants the whole tribe to go through the Maze and to the surface, because he lived on the surface as a child and he dreams of going back. He thinks a magic sword will solve everything, and he is going to get everyone killed. The maze is dangerous, and no place for any but the strongest hunters. Leading more children and old folk into it would be sacrificing them, as prey."

"When I was young and foolish, and Lann was playing with dolls up on the surface" - she hisses the last word - "I and my friends tried the Maze. We died, one by one, to traps and monsters and things we couldn't even see in the dark, and in the end I was the only one who made it back out alive. I had to step over my friends' bodies and leave them behind to survive, and I'm not going to do that again."

"When we get to the village, don't show them the angel's sword. Tell them you fell down, and are going back, and will rescue the younglings on your way if you can" - Wenduag does have some idea of how to appeal to a paladin - "don't tell them to follow you. I will guide you through the Maze, and without any weaklings to slow us down we might even make it through alive."

Seelah can totally appreciate the idea of not asking noncombatants and the young and old to follow her into a dungeon!! She's not very clear on why Lann wants to do that.