I love these ideas so much! Moonsprout would absolutely not have participated though. Would've been fun to RP through thoughSo, if things went differently and we managed to not kill Carl, just knock his ass unconscious, I had some ideas. Obviously blackmailing and ripping him off completely. There was going to be me and Nac preparing a stew pot over a fire as Carl wakes, as I sharpen my ax for fish stew. I also thought that Moonsprout could deceive Carl by placing a shiny light on Carl and saying that ita a death spell that would trigger in like an hour unless Carl goes off to find us some treasure he has hidden. Potentially us letting him keep some of his gold if it's good stuff. Lastly, considering the random mushrooms in the cave, maybe one of the folks could've went and found some nasty hallucinogenic or very bad for your stomach ones to feed Carl as well.
If things went well he'd get set free.
... thanks to Carlson popping up we could've also grabbed him as a hostage. That would've went well with everyone, right?