I said this a while back, but I am not sure we can trust Valendra to tell us how the teleporter works. She might send us to the wrong location, etc.
If we are going through for the sake of reuniting the party, then I'm onboard and will accept the risks. If it's purely in-game, though, I don't think it would be rational given what we know to say that the Lizardfolk are better guards for Valendra -- that actually feels more irresponsible fro Urgan's perspective than bribing the kobolds, especially if our plan is to come back right away and continue on from here.
Certainly Urgan can hold onto her notes and promise to give them back later, if we wish and if she behaves. I don't know if that is much of a threat, though; a spellbook would have been better.
I suppose, if she tells us how the teleporter works, two people can go through first and, if they don’t return or come back with a report of trickery, she gets her what’s coming to her. If we come back and confirm her instructions are accurate, we know she’s dealing in good faith.
We don’t have her spell book but we can try to get it back for her. It’s not so much that I want to make a deal with her but convince her we are going to let her go when we are done. And the threat is that any attempt betrayal means she loses:
1. The opportunity to research
2. Her spellbook
3. Her life.
Of course, she may think that betraying us will get her back on track but I’m hoping that she can see that cooperating with us will be easier and more beneficial for her than the status quo
We could even put a rider that, if we don’t return in 48 hours, the lizard folk are instructed to let her go. Basically, she has to sit tight and, regardless of what happens to us, she can restart her research.
I don’t know. I feel murdering prisoners is brutal. But I get we can’t just let her walk away.
My preference is the kobolds too, but I don’t know what we would pay them. The lizard folk seem more reasonable to me but what do do I (or Merrick) know?
It’s too bad our NPC left. She could have guarded them.