127
When the last of the fighting is done, you eye the chained darkspawn. They’re still watching you quietly, not moving, not blinking. (Not that darkspawn ever do blink, which is probably part of what makes them so unnerving.)
Suddenly, they start hissing—not at you, but at something behind you. You whirl around to discover that the ragged group of darkspawn you met earlier in the tunnels has reappeared at the entrance and they’re climbing down into the chamber.
“Why’ve they come back?” Tarquin wonders aloud.
“Maybe they know it’s dangerous for us to have them fighting alongside us,” you say. “If one of them accidentally injured one of us…”
Tarquin shudders; you’ve made your point.
The leader of the group is the first to reach you. “Free,” it says, indicating the imprisoned darkspawn.
Tarquin looks wildly at the darkspawn, then at you. “Are they mad?” he asks.
You have no idea what’s going on, but you say, “I don’t think they intend to hurt us. If they did, they’d have done it by now.”
Ashur says, “They helped us before. We should help them now.”