Thinking fast, Pema crouched down and extended out her staff to them. "Ms. Toshi! Professor! Here, grab onto Salem, and I'll try to pull you out!"
Of course, Pema was far too small to support the weight of two people, so Salem piped up.
"Someone, grab hold of Pema while she tries to pull Toshi and the Professor out! Then, someone else grab hold of that person, and so forth! We need everyone to use their weight and pull them out together!" Salem proclaimed to the group.
(Basically, I see this as a quicksand situation, and Salem is the "stick" used to pull them out. And everyone participating is like tug-of-war, in a way.
)