You drop your hands from her shoulders. 

"Sorry," you say.  "I guess I just kind of automatically responded to the suggestion." 

You turn to the gnome. 

"We're not throwing anyone out," you say.  "Look, the balloon is floating just fine!" 

Sure enough, the balloon maintains the same altitude as floats from its moorage point.  The ground seemingly falls away as you leave the hill behind.  You drift toward the steaming, boiling lake. 

The gnome abruptly pulls a pair of miniature crossbows from his boots and aims them at the rest of you. 

"Poison-tipped," the gnome says.  "One move, and you're dead!" 

"Oh this is bad," Eusibius says.  "And sad.  And I'm kind of mad, yes just a tad -- " 

"Hey, Hornhead!"  The virgin makes a chopping gesture across her neck. 

"We need more altitude," the gnome says.  "One of you will have to leave!" 

You look over the side.  "Actually, I think we're hitting an updraft from the lake now, our altitude seems to be rising." 

"Not fast enough to avoid the volcano's eruption cloud!" he snaps. 

You point to the volcano.  There is no cloud over it, the eruption has ceased. 

"Well . . . . " the gnome says.  "Just to be on the safe side, we need to gain more altitude faster." 

Eusibius nods to the bottom of the basket.  "We could throw out those spare sandbags you have there.  They probably outweigh the four of us together." 

"No rhyme?" you ask. 

"Well, since she doesn't appreciate it -- " 

"NO MORE TALK!" the gnome bellows.  He rubs the back of his neck.  "Grifflemub, you're all so tall!"  He climbs up on the edge of the basket, so that he's on everyone else's eye level.  "Now, listen to me.  I'm going to shoot one of you, and then the other two are going to throw the body over.  And I don't need a reason, it's just something I want to do." 

"Do we get to vote on who you'll shoot?" the young lady asks. 

"No.  And there's nothing you can say to persuade me, either." 

"I actually like shorter guys." 

The crossbows swing to you and the minotaur. 

"I realize this is kind of off-the-wall," Eusibius says, "but that poison of yours might not work on minotaurs.  Right now, we don't know for sure, so I'm not going to try anything. But if you shoot me, we'll find out, and if it doesn't work on me, then your weapons won't intimidate me anymore." 

The crossbows both concentrate on you. 

You hold out your hands and shake your head.  "Give me a moment, maybe I can think of something -- " 

The gnome fires both crossbows. 

The tiny arrows bounce uselessly off your chain mail. 

The tiny arrows gouge into your throat, their poison coursing through your body, leading to immediate agony and instant paralysis.