After hearing Lam reciting the contents of the text, Saoirse is left speechless for a moment. Looking amazed, she finally says:

-... The Crown of Divine Right? That is the crown of the True King himself! So this is the artifact Samantha and the HMC are after...? It is said to have been given to the King by a Celestial god, but we had never interpreted it that literally! What I do know is that it has been missing since the King's death, a hundred years ago. Could it be possible that the crown is in this mines, Hássan? If that was the case, then there's no wonder that Strixwell wants these mines reopened. Though, why where they closed in the first place?

Hemlock shrugs his shoulders. "My people have heard of the crown, of course, but I know no great detail of it's history or legend. How could such an item be lost here though? The crown image is not one I have seen before. Could this be a similar but different crown perhaps?".

He looks around the room, "You stole this code from the sorceress? I wonder where she got it. My quick witted friend here has translated the code, what more would Hamza have of us Hássan? All we have now is speculation and more questions".

- Yeah, I agree. It would be extremely weird that it ended up in a mine. But why would they be looking to reopen the mines then, and what is the point of Samantha having that coded text with her? They must have found some clue that led them here. Or perhaps they want to create a copy of that crown, and they needed to mine for materials to do that - she points at the gold ore at the end of the cave.

Saoirse stays silent for a moment, thinking, and then adds:

- The Crown of Divine Right helped the True King to unite all factions into a single unified nation, powerful enough to withstand the force of the darkness that threatened Eoclus so many years ago. I'm not going to ask that you share my Order's beliefs, but ... if Strixwell, Lord of Springdawn, were to find that Crown (or a similar one that looked like the real one) that would probably give her the support she needs to be named ruler of all lands. And, with what you've seen so far from her rule in the city of Springdawn, how her Hammerstone Mininc Company is behaving here in the valley, do you think she would be a worthy King?

She shakes her head as she asks that question.

- But I'm probably getting ahead of myself, and as Hemlock's said, all we have now are theories, questions and speculation. Hássan: what has become of Samantha and her guardian? Has your people imprisoned them? Could they perhaps be questioned about their intentions here?

"What if these words are not just flowery language, but actually describe the artefact's powers? I would find such a thing quite unnerving. You are right that there are more questions than answers. As for whether the crown is in here, I can confirm that no such relic is in these mines, or in our colony beside them. I believe that these mines exist specifically to find and enter our colony. Our colony is an ancient ruin, and perhaps they hoped the crown would have returned here."

Hássan begins walking back down the hall you came into this room through, and adds: "You have finished the first test, that of cleverness. Now comes the test of judgment. It is good that you ask about the sorceress and the knight, we are on our way to see them."

He walks what feels like a long way through dim halls, along a mine tunnel clearly dug and expanded recently. Finally, you get to the end of the tunnel, where it forks into two sides. Samantha and her guard are restrained at the two ends here. Their hands are bound, and attached to steel spikes driven deep into the wall above their heads. Neither of them still has a visible weapon, and they both have cloth gags in their mouths to keep them from shouting or speaking. A kobold guard stands near each, spear ready and hatred in their eyes. The captives killed many of their friends on the way in here. At a word from Hássan, and a flash of blue light from his gem, the guards reluctantly walk away, leaving you alone with the captives. 

"This is the test of judgement. You decide how to proceed from here, how to handle them now, and what is to be done with them later.  Speak to them for as long as you like... well... up to an hour at the most. The colony does not have a jail or dungeon, and we will not keep living prisoners indefinitely."

Lam thinks about Hássan’s idea that this text describes the artifact’s powers. “You mean… king’s words are true and orders are obeyed… because of crown? Crown makes it true?” If that is correct, it makes the crown pretty scary, especially if the wrong people found it. He tries to think on the rest of the text- only knowing the basic details of the old story of the True King, he asks Saoirse, “How did old king die?”

When they are left with the captives, Lam looks at the others, clearly uncomfortable with the situation and not wanting to make the first move. He does mutter, “Careful- humans can do magic with just voice.”

Hemlock listens to the others as they speak and finally regards both Samantha and her guard from the fork in the tunnel.

"Very wise, Lam. But how do we question them without allowing them to speak?", he asks out of the captives earshot. His gaze lands on the guard. "Perhaps we start with the guard, although I doubt he has any power when it comes to making decision".

He looks to Saoirse and Sha to see if they have other ideas.

- It may not necessarily be that the crown makes the words true, or obeyed, but the fact that they are pronounced by a rightful king. The crown makes the king, and it should be a king that uses the authority given by the crown to pronounce words that are worthy of being obeyed. What I mean is that the crown should be a tool that, in the right hands, no one should be afraid of. Like Hassan's stone. It seems to have the ability to make his fellows follow his orders. Is the stone dangerous in itself? No, as long as the one using it uses it with the right purpose. What I find interesting about that text is that it states that even the meekest could be king, and not only rich and powerful people like the ruler of Springdawn - Saoirse is saying all of this on their way to find Samantha and her guardian. To Lam's question she replies - From what I know, the True King was murdered by some young woman who snuck into his castle. It was never clarified who hired her, but the common agreement is that it was someone with money and power. The thing is, everyone with that profile was supposed to be allies to the king. So he must have been betrayed by one of his own...

When Hássan tells them about the next trial, Saoirse says:

- I think none of us has experience with interrogations, so I'm not sure how we will handle this. Those two seem tough and dangerous and I don't think they will give any kind of information willingly. Do we have any means, anything they could want, to force them to speak? Hássan, can that stone of yours have any effect on them? To make them speak - and speak the truth - to us? If not, well, I guess we can offer them a choice: what they know, for their freedom. And if they don't give us anything ...well, this is the point of the test: what are we going to do? I think we should have that decission made before we speak to them. In my opinion, we should deliver them to Jonah when he comes back here tomorrow, along with the dwarven prisoner. But, meanwhile we could tell Samantha and that man is that if they don't give us any info, they will never leave these mines alive. This will hopefully make them talk. I'm sorry, I'm not happy threatening no one, but I also believe we have to be practical about this. We need something to make them speak even though we know beforehand we will not harm them.

Regarding what to do about their magic:

- Well, removing them from their focuses and material components, and binding their hands, should prevent them from casting most spells. But not all of them. That's a very good point, Lam. I'm afraid I don't know what to do about this. We can only prepare ourselves to try to resist their magic if they use it, and untying only the man's mouth first is a very good idea, Hemlock. We could have only one of them be able to speak at a time, just in case. Because that man could also be able to cast some magic, for all we know.

- Hássan, where they been removed from all their belongings? A caster's arcane focus could come in many forms: holy symbols, necklaces, rings ... so we need to make sure they don't have anything like that on them before we begin.

"This stone lets Hamza speak to me, and when my brothers and sisters see it, they know that I am speaking for Hamza. Otherwise, it has no effect on anyone other than myself. It will not sway these two, and it is best that they know as little as possible of Hamza. There is magic which can make a person speak true, but none of us practice it. We believe that magic which takes control of another's mind is abhorrent, and while the truthfullness magic is not an evil spell, it is the sort that we would avoid using ourselves. Let me ask Kareem about their belongings." Hássan calls to one of the kobolds who had been standing guard, and they have a brief exchange. 

هل جردتهم من ممتلكاتهم؟

نعم ، تلك التي يمكن أن نراها. لم يتم تفتيشهم، ولم نرغب في لمسهم. المدرعة تحارب بدون شفرة.

شكرا لك ، اذهب بسلام.

"They have not been searched and stripped. Only those items we could see have been taken. The one in armor fought on without his sword. It is for you to decide what should be done. Hamza says he intends to follow your suggestion." Hássan glances at the broadsword that Hemlock picked up on the way into the mines. Sitting in a pile near you are a few more daggers, the shield Samantha's defender had been carrying, her book, and a javelin still in its backstrap.

 https://www.owlbear.app/room/5nRs1L_uFdxM/HeavyistheHeadPBP

After listening to Saoirse and Hássan, Hemlock thinks for a few moments and ponders their predicament.

"I think it is fair to tell them that their choices are limited. If they tell us what they know, we will ensure they are delivered to Captain Jonah. If they do not, we will leave them to the kobolds, who do not keep prisoners. I believe in this circumstance this truth is a good course of action. They made their choices, Captain Jonah and his people and the kobolds here were those effected by those choices. Whatever happens to the sorceress and her guard should be by their hand. Even if that means death. That is my opinion", he says solemnly.

"And I can help search them, my people are quite adept at seeing things magical in nature. Of course we will look for the mundane as you suggest as well, Saoirse. It only lasts a short time, so we search them both before we interrogate either".

Action: Uses racial ability to cast Detect Magic when they are ready to search the prisoners.
Special: Concentration - Detect Magic - 10 minutes (from when we search them)

Lam nods in agreement with Hemlock’s wise words. “Whatever we tell them we will do- we should do,” he says. Hemlock’s plan makes a lot of sense. These two humans should face the consequences set by those wronged by them. By instinct, he starts pressing his fist into his other palm and shifting in anticipation of letting the humans talk- but he follows as they search the two humans.

- Wait a moment. If they decide not to talk and are killed here, it will surely mean war between this tribe and Springdawn. And I don't know how well equiped your people are - Saoirse says looking at Hássan - but Springdawn is strong. Very strong. I don't know guys, but I think I prefer risking not being able to extract any information from them and having to investigate somewhere else, than provoking such a catastrophe which would most probably mean the death of hundreds! Kobolds take no prisoners, but Coldwater does! And even more so: Jonah has reason enough to have these two (or at least, Samantha) locked for a long time! Even if that weren't the case: don't you prefer one evil human alive than hundreds of kobolds and other humans dead if conflict arises?

Lam looks at the ground and mutters, “Kobolds are already dead.” But he knows Saoirse is right. If you hurt a human, more of them tend to come around- this time with larger numbers and scarier weapons. He looks between Saoirse and Hemlock with a pained expression, and then brings up another concern as soon as it pops into his head: “But Jonah’s prison is not unbreakable. We got out.” Then another thought comes to him, but it takes him longer to express this one. “And… if magic woman is so powerful and important… and Springdawn is so strong… would locking her up not start war?” The way Lam sees it, the woman has already hurt enough people unprovoked to justify her own death, but in an attempt to distance himself from that mindset, he does not say it out loud.

Hemlock watches the sorceress and her guard whilst their fate is debated, and looks around at the kobolds close by.

"The sorceress and her master are looking for this crown, and will do anything to find it. They are not going to stop anyway, no matter what we do and even if the kobolds tell them it is not here. If this Springdawn is so powerful, they will have more sorceresses than this one. If she and the guard decide not to talk, they seal their own fate, it is their decision. If the kobolds decide to kill them, that is their decision. And if they talk and we deliver her to Captain Jonah, he may well kill her for what she did to him anyway, which is his decision. And be in no doubt, Captain Jonah did not want bloodshed, but from what I overheard he was willing to go there if the kobolds did not give him what he wanted".

He looks at Saoirse and smiles warmly.

"Who are we to think our judgement is above theirs? Why do we get to decide the fate of others?".

He then looks to Sha-Gravis, who has been quiet up to now, wondering what he thought.

Sha begins to speak twice but both times stops and gives consideration to the observations of his friends, “I wish this decision was not ours.  It is my great hope that everyone may have the opportunity to make mistakes which they can learn from.  Our mistakes can help others who might make similar choices.  I personally want to turn the sorceress over to Jonah.  We should... I... I don’t know what the future will be but I want to defend our allies from the HMC there is an evil feeling behind the manipulations and actions we have seen so far.”

Sha starts nervously fidgeting unsure of himself.

Hassan says nothing, and merely waits while watching you. While standing so still, it is easy to be reminded of the similarities between kobolds and nonsentient reptiles. He does not seem impatient. Kareem walks off down the hall, leaving you alone with Hassan and the two humans. 

Hemlock can see that there is a magical item under Samantha's robes, resting against her abdomen. It is rectangular, with a very strong aura of Enchantment magic. The broadsword he himself picked up on the way in has a magical aura as well. It is a greatsword +1.

- Oh yes, they may escape Coldwater. And she is surely not the last sorceress Strixwell will send. Captain Jonah may still kill her. And he, along with Springdawn's forces, may attack this mine anyway. Everything can still turn terribly wrong if we don't send those two their deaths. But allowing them to live creates chances for different choices.... while letting them be killed today ... there's no turning back from there - Saoirse sighs and begins rubbing her temples. She can't really say anything about the guardian, who was apparently only doing his job protecting the sorceress, but does she really believe Samantha will learn anything from what she did, given the behaviour they had seen from her so far? Or is she just she's just shying away from making the though decission? - I don't know what else to say. I just ... don't feel good about this. I really hope they decide to collaborate.

The genasi crosses her arms and looks for a moment at a distant point, before speaking again.

- Well, we haven't reached a decission but I think there's no point in lingering here. Shall we go speak to them now? We can start with Samantha. I think she'll be the toughest one. Have you detected anything magical on her, Hemlock?

"You speak of us allowing them to be killed today, Saoirse. But these people attacked the kobolds, and the kobolds can right now do as they will with them. It is only by means of this test that we have any power at all. My point is, I don't want that kind of power. I have no allegiance with the sorceress and her guard. I merely wish them to be responsible for their own fate and accept the consequences of their actions. Is that not the choice you want them to have?", Hemlock asks, genuinely curious. "If you are sure your path is the right one, and Lam and Sha-Gravis agree, I will not debate further, but we must be of one mind before we interrogate them, lest they turn the tables on us and pit us against one another".

When Saoirse asks about magic items, he replies. "As for magic items, the sorceress has a magic object which is strong in enchantment magic. It is an oblong, and set against her abdomen. And this sword is also magical", he adds holding up the Greatsword.

As we enter into the presence of the Sorceress and her guardian Sha- gravis reaches out to Lam with Vigilante blessing and Saoirse with guidance 4. He will try to listen for deception or misdirection, insight 25

Lam nods again in response to Hemlock’s words. “I like Hemlock’s plan. But… what we say in there is what we should do. We should not threaten death if we will not allow death. And we should know what to say before dealing with magic human.” He is worried that he will be little help in the meeting, as humans don’t usually consider him very articulate, and he is not always great at following their words. He is still fidgeting a bit.

Lam walks closer to Saoirse and stands near her, looking like he wants to help but isn’t sure how. He speaks again. “It… is hard. I do not want them to die. But I do not want others to die because of them.” Still tense, he takes a few deep breaths. He looks to the others hoping they have an answer for what to do about the magic item still on the woman’s person. If they look like they are going in to face the human, he stands tall, gratefully feeling Sha’s magic flow through him and make him more alert, and does his best to keep his face neutral as he follows.

Saoirse shakes her head in response to Hemlock:

- No, I'm not sure my path is the right one. I'm not sure about any of the paths. Both can have consequences I cannot foresee, and I think we will be responsible one way or another for whatever happens after today. But you are right: we need to be of one mind. And follow it to the end when we deal with them - she nods to Lam when she says this.

The blood hunter sighs deeply before speaking again:

- Fine. I will follow Hemlock's proposal - she says looking to the group, and to Sha she adds - I'm sorry for changing my mind, Sha - then continues - What Hemlock has detected is most probably her focus. I can take it before we remove the cloth in her mouth and this should prevent her from casting most spella. Be prepared, though in case she manages to attack.

To Hássan she asks:

- Will you be present during the interrogation? Can you tell any of your companions to stand ready just in case anything happens? That woman tricked Captain Jonah into attacking you when he didn't want to. We hope she won't be able to do that anymore, but be prepared to knocking out any of us if that should happen again.