Nilia's vow not to betray anyone, and several other promise-like things from the others, go a long way towards improving Adriaan's mood.  The oread's idea also endears her to him a little, and he starts thinking.  "Well," he says, "one obvious idea involving rope is to weight it, make a bola that can tangle horse legs.  I've even heard of ropes that had special, heavy knots tied in one end that made them good bludgeoning weapons.  I think they're called..." he pauses to think, snapping his fingers as he does so, "mmm... gullwhackers?"  He nods at the other strategizing.  "And if you can keep them at a distance," he says, "I can sling bullets at them."