The young man blinks wearily at Elyan and, obviously too fatigued to argue or put up a fight, subserviently lays his head back down on the floor. The man's good right eye, however, watches Karl approach with a flicker of fear. Karl slices through the thick hemp rope roughly binding the man, freeing the prisoner. When released from his ropes, the young man flexes his wrist once then rolls over onto his back, as if even that minimal effort at movement has cost him dearly.
After retrieving her pack and the second torch, Kaeleen hurries into the narrow (and now crowded) prison cell to examine the quarry. The man is young and certainly has seen no more than a score of summers. Judging by his swollen left eye and the nature of other bruises about his face and torso, he has been beaten with a blunt object--either a large fist or some other equally forceful bludgeoning instrument. Three ribs seem to be broken and his knees have been hobbled, which even if healed, will likely render him victim to a permanent limp. A distended bit of the young man's mid-section attests to a probable internal injury, and a festering gash on his left forearm sports tell-tale red streaks of infection that aim for the heart.
Kaeleen judges that with long-term care and enough healing, he might live, but it won't be an easy or a short ordeal.
Grotzkoshter keeps a wary eye on the doors and the large fountain room to the north. Meepo pantomines practicing fencing while waiting for the other three to exit the prison cell. The kobold is quite animated at his show of arms, and affects theatrical grunts of exertion at every exuberant thrust with his blade, stabbing at the wall, the fountain to the south, or thin air.
