Fantasy Light In The Darkness (IC thread)

[Clockwork Syringe]

Sildar Evans
LumaThePhoenix Trektek​

Sildar turned red again only for a moment when Monica uttered the exact same phrase that Suva had last night before mentally shaking himself out of it and walking back with her to see Suva. Upon being thanked for having the conversation, Sildar nodded and spoke as well. "I as well Monica, I will continue to keep temptation at bay and besides. You look like you need some magical assistance after all." Upon returning to Suva and hearing Monica speak, Sildar speaks up as well. "I hope so as well Suva and I also wonder what Blue has found," Sildar continued as he leaned up against a nearby tree.

 

[Trektek]

The Goblin Camp
LegoLad659

As Catherine continued to deftly infiltrate the goblin encampment, she managed to sneak past some unobservant guards. There were a few in front of the skull shaped building. One was picking his nose. He had an ugly boil above his right eye and had a short sword at his side. Another was loudly talking to him in goblin speak wearing a hood that covered his face except for his bulbous nose. One of their wolves was loudly munching on a pile of meat attempting to gain every single inch and morsel of meat off of that bone. The other was digging widely into the ground with reckless abandon, it's paws loud and unwieldy. It was attempting to dig a deep hole, but the ground seemed unusually hard. ON closer inspection, it looked as though some of the camp was on top of clay.

Looking around, there was a window on each side that appeared open to the outside, with only an overhang preventing the elements from entering inside. It would be easy enough to get inside while the goblins at the front were distracted. Should she make it that far, she would have an excellent view of the inside of the large structure. A throne was placed high up at the far end, a pile of bones chewed through by wolves at the base of the steps leading up to the throne. The throne itself was made of heavy looking metals.

In the center of the room was a cage with a female goblin curled up with her knees into her chest while some other goblins oogled and leered at her, catcalling and making rude gestures. The Warlord seemed to not be in the room.

Suva Pyrewalker
@Clockwork Syringe , LumaThePhoenix

Suva was practicing her swordplay in the air as the two of them walked back up. She placed her sword back in its sheath and turned back to the pair. "I'm definitely more than ready to go once our scout gets back. And don't worry, I have plenty of ways to keep myself busy." Suva pats her sheath with her sword in it.

"Besides, I get that you two needed some alone time." She gave a playful wink to Sildar and Monica as she continued to tease Sildar in her typical manner. He was just too easy of a target. The man didn't get out very often apparently.​

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek
​

Catherine climbed in through the window and found somewhere to hide while she took note of the area. Since there were goblins here, she opted to come back once she was done scoping the place out. Helping Straps is important, but not as important as reaching the warlord. She left the goblins to whatever they were doing, and snuck her way through the tower, making a mental map of whatever she could reach without being seen. She favored using columns, rafters, and other structural support columns as hiding places if they were available, while she did so. Her main goal was to find the warlord, what he looked like and what gear he had on him, and hopefully wherever he hung out the most. Who knows, maybe she could catch him in a war meeting or something, and she could get information on what exactly he planned to do and when. That would be invaluable, for sure.

 

[Clockwork Syringe]

Sildar Evans
LumaThePhoenix Trektek​

Sildar responded to Suva's teasing remark this time with not a red face, but another sigh. Upon seeing her pat her sword, he began to ask her about it. "That sword of yours, how long have you had it? Looks like it has seen quite a few battles here and there." Sildar had his own heirlooms, over 70 year old heirlooms in fact, but if asked he was going to say that they were just his mother's. If anything was going to give his age away it was the bow that he kept in his dimensional storage bag. That under any circumstanced he was not going to take out whatsoever.

 

[LumaThePhoenix]

Monica Battaglia​

Trektek Clockwork Syringe

Suva's remark got a chuckle out of Monica. Here she is teasing the nurse and professor about having alone time just moments after Monica teased Sildar about him and the mercenary. Quite the game of hot potato was developing. The pink-haired woman didn't bother looking to see Sildar's face to keep her own face from reddening. She did hear the sigh that preceded his question about Suva's blade. This drew her attention to the sword. Likely enough blood had been shed by that blade to flood a pond. Monica placed her left hand on her hip as she listened, curious to know more about both the sword and its wielder.

 

[Trektek]

The Goblin Camp
LegoLad659

Catherine continued to move along, using the terrain of the room and it's construction in order to avoid detection as only those that could move and live in the shadows could. Traveling along, further and deeper into the structure, she could over hear goblinoid voices and a partially lit room that seemed to have a handful of goblins in it. After managing to get into the rafters above the room, Catherin would be able to see what must be the Warlord. He had a spiked metal eyepatch over his left eye, wearing chain mail with a thick heavy large metal spiked axe over his back. At his side were two bugbears, looking mean and itching for a fight. In front of him was a map on a table that outlined the forest and the surrounding goblin village with small disks on the table that probably represent troops.

The warlord seemed to be speaking in goblin to two other goblins across the table. One was wearing dark robes with a gaunt face and the other seemed to be wearing almost nothing but some leather pants, looking very muscular for a goblin and having a bright red mohawk. The warlord seemed to be pointing and enunciating. From what little Catherin could figure out, it seemed as though they might be attacking the village soon, or just raiding it. It was difficult to tell.

Suva Pyrewalker
Clockwork Syringe , LumaThePhoenix

Suva looked down at her blade that was in her sheath. "My sword? I guess that I've had it since before I joined the army. It was my Father's blade. It's gotten me out of many jams to be sure. It's mostly got sentimental value though. Other than being quite usual in combat to someone that is proficient with it." She smiled as she took it out and started to swing it around. "This long sword has saved my life and ended those of my enemies more times than I can count. You could say that it was my best friend at times."

The mercenary laughed. "I know that it's a silly thing to say. But it's true. There is nothing special or truly unique about this blade, other than that it belonged to my father before me. At least, not that I know of." SHe started to look it over intensely. "Unless of course it's got secrets that I don't know about. But you'd think that I would have found that out already."​

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek
​

Once Catherine found the war room, she couldn't help but smirk a little to herself. What do you know, they were discussing their plans. Catherine listened closely to what they were saying, being careful not to get too close so they wouldn't see or hear anything that would call attention to her. If she couldn't make out what they were saying without getting too close, she would give up on that and make her way back to where Straps was. Otherwise, she'd be sure to stay as long as she could get away with before leaving, committing as many details as she could to memory about what they talked about. This could be until she felt like she'd be spotted if she stayed any longer, or until the meeting itself ended and they dispersed.

 

[Trektek]

The Goblin Camp
LegoLad659

Cartherine got herself a bit closer while trying to maintain enough distance that she would not get spotted in order to hear what was being said at the meeting. The one that looked like the warlord was speaking while pointing at the map on the table. He spoke with a far deeper voice than one would expect from a Goblin.
"Bloodmore, I need your mages back from their ritual soon. I've gotten word that the Emperor is finally taking me seriously. I've heard that they are sending in a band of powerful warriors to take me out." He laughed heartily at that. "Not that I would make such a task easy." he bellowed as he tapped his chain mail and the two bug bears at his side chuckled and gave an enthusiastic head nod.

The one in the robes seemed unperturbed by the motion or the words. "I know that, my lord. But you can't rush the ritual. If you do, it could be disastrous for the cause. After all, you want complete control of the forest and the Marbourettes. If this isn't taken with the utmost care, it might just backfire and get us all killed. Along with losing the subject."

The warlord slammed his fist down on the table attempting to get some sort of emotion out of the mage, but failed. "Dammit. Well, still. Try to move faster. I need those spellcasters."

The muscular goblin with the bright red mowhawk laughed.

"And you think this is funny, Red Axe. Your barbarians are still out in the field as well."

"Yeah. They're still fighting the gnolls. Putting up a lot of resistance, but I think we'll get em good soon. Then we'll have some more wolves for our troops."

The Warlord looked as though he were going to pop a blood vessel as he slammed both hands down on the table and knocked over the figures on the map. "Then both of you get back to your troops and finish up as soon as you can. I'm sure that those pesky adventurers sent by the Imperium will be here within a day or so and I at least want to be ready."

With that, all three left the room and went elsewhere, leaving Catherine all alone.​

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek
​

This was certainly some great info she could bring back. First, the goblins weren't expecting them to arrive until tomorrow, which meant they had surprise on their side for the rest of the day today. Second, their forces were already preoccupied with fighting the gnolls in the area. That meant that the forces guarding the camp were weaker than normal, which opened up a number of possibilities for them.

And third, while this ritual sounded like a bad thing, the mage mentioned a 'Subject', probably a sacrifice of some sort in order for the ritual to complete. It was reasonable to assume that this subject was Straps, as it'd be more favorable to send a prisoner to something like that than one of your own men. So her resolve to help Straps was renewed, if only to throw a branch in the warlord's plans.

With all of this information in mind, Catherine headed back to Straps' cell to see how she was doing, and if those goblins had left or if she'd have to take them out first.

 

[Clockwork Syringe]

Sildar Evans
LumaThePhoenix Trektek​

Sildar nodded at Suva's words and pulled out his mother's dagger. "Indeed Suva, I have my own memento from a parent. This was my mother's dagger and is one of the things I inherited from her along with her bow. I haven't had the need to use it unlike with your father's blade, but I like having it around due to having my mother raise me. Similar to how your father's blade has nothing special about it except for sentimental value, i mean my mother was.." Sildar shut himself up again before he spoke too much once more and tried to change the subject. "Anyway, your father was a fighter and my mother was a huntsman and she taught me how to survive in the wilderness after all.

 

[LumaThePhoenix]

Monica Battaglia​

Trektek Clockwork Syringe

Monica listens as Suva talked about the origins of her blade. By the way it sounded, the mercenary was proficient, but lonely at times. She also mentioned a possibility of there being a hidden secret within the blade. Even though it wasn't a serious comment, it still piqued her interest. Then, Sildar takes out a dagger. Much like how Suva got her blade from her father, the professor got his dagger from his mother. It was surprising that Monica had such an unexpected thing in common with them. However, unlike them, Monica lacked true combat ability despite being the daughter of a knight. She could act out of desperation, but would likely struggle heavily against skilled combatants. When Sildar stopped himself after bringing up his mother, Monica made sure to keep a straight face as she believe she knew why he quickly changed the subject. After he finished talking, Monica held up her pendant. There was still a bit of shyness in her voice, but it wasn't as strong as she felt more comfortable talking to her new friends.

"I find it really sweet that you two carry the weapons that your parents used. Kinda like passing the torch in a sense. It also sounds like you both inherited a bit of their skill set as well. I uhh...don't really have a weapon like you guys do. Honestly, excluding my...abilities, I'm not very good with them. It's kind of shameful considering my dad was a knight, but he did have this pendant made for me. I cherish it dearly. It keeps me from losing control of myself. I want to make my parents proud, so I've been trying to work on controlling myself and mastering my skills. That way, I can be of better use to you all as well."

She holds a hand out and looks at the sword Suva held. A water ball forms above her palm as she concentrates on the weapon. After a few seconds, the water morphs into a sword. She grabs the blade and lifts it up, but it quickly deteriorates and splashes to the ground. She sighs lightly. Suddenly, she looks at Sildar.

"Hold on. You said that your mother taught you how to survive in the wild. Does that mean that could give us a tactical edge since you would know about what to look out for in the environment itself?"

 

[Clockwork Syringe]

Sildar Evans
LumaThePhoenix Trektek​

When Monica noted that she found it sweet that Sildar and Suva both carried their parental weapons Sildar internally thought, ~You have no idea Monica.~ Of course, she then ended up bringing out her own parental item, which was her actual Pendant which surprised Sildar. Raising an eyebrow, he watched as she attempted to form a sword of water similar to Suva's, but it fell short in its' abilities. Of course, Sildar was caught off guard by Monica's sudden remark about his mother training him in how to survive in the wild. Coughing before continuing Sildar spoke. "Well I do indeed know how to hunt game in the wild as well as a few given territories such as open plains, deep forests and rocky mountains, but apart from that I don't know much. I can't say for certain my training will give us an advantage unless it is in one of the three territories I mentioned previously.

 

[Trektek]

The Goblin Camp
LegoLad659

As Catherine made her way back careful not to attract any attention, she could see that all but one of the goblins had left the cage that Straps was in. He seemed to be oogling the female goblin as she had no where that she could go. Straps still seemed to have her knees pulled up to her chest and her head face down into her knees. It was clear that she was trying to ignore the events that had been going on around her.

The room itself was high up, the throne still higher than the surrounding areas of the ground floor with the cage in the center of the room, on display as a trphy of Dirken's conquest of the Marbourette's greatest warrior. In his mind, he was clearly a tactical genius and great warrior that could taken on everyone and anyone.

Suva Pyrewalker
Clockwork Syringe , LumaThePhoenix

It seemed that they all had some sort of heirloom from their family, an interesting thing to have in common. She wondered if Blue had something similar. Of course, knowing her, she wouldn't reveal it even if she had one. That thief seemed to put people at arms length, unless of course she was just a standoffish woman. Perhaps time would tell. After all, she hadn't interacted with her for very long.

Suva noticed that Silvar had stopped talking when he began about his mother. Just as though he felt he was about to give something important away that he was trying to keep hidden. Not that she would push the envelope, but it was something that she picked up on.

"Surviving in the wilderness is an important skill to have. There is still lots of wilderness in the Kelarin Imperium, especially the further that you get away from the capital."

She listened to Monica talk about herself. It was unfortunately her belittling herself on her own abilities. Even though the water sword that she created fell apart as soon as she grabbed it, the feat itself was still impressive. If she could manage to hold it together, than she would be able to teach Monica proper swordplay to go along with it. The possibilities were endless since she wouldn't need to carry a blade on her.

"Monica, you have plenty of skill as a Nurse, but if it's fighting you want to excel at, I can most definitely teach you the finer points of the art of the sword."​

 

[LumaThePhoenix]

Monica Battaglia​

Trektek Clockwork Syringe

Sildar's response was still optimistic to Monica. After all, she jumped pretty far to conclusions and would've been more surprised if that were to be the case. She was still certain that his training and survival expertise would pay off at some point. That point was backed up by Suva's mentioning of the wilderness away from the Imperium. "If it isn't one of the areas you're familiar with, that's okay. With your wisdom, Suva's combat skills, and Blue's stealthiness, I'm sure we'll have at least something favoring us regardless of where we are."

Suva's next words took Monica by surprise. In addition to the compliment, she had actually offered to teach her how to fight with a blade. First, Sildar volunteers to help her learn to control her powers, and now this? It was unreal. The nurse felt like she didn't deserve it, but she was incredibly thankful for it. She felt like she owed it to then to return the favor, but she didn't know how. "Really? You'd do that for me? I really appreciate it. If you want, I could try and teach you some of the medical techniques I've learned. I-I'm not sure how much they'd help, but hopefully they could be helpful if I'm too far away." She continues talking in a slightly quieter tone, unaware that she's thinking out loud. "Now that I think about it, I probably should've offered to give some of the vials I brought to Blue in case she needed them. I'm confident she wouldn't given her skills, but it was a mistake for me to forget like that." The nurse finally realizes that she's been airing her thoughts and her voice returns to it's normal tone. "Oh my, I didn't know I was still speaking. S-sorry. I definitely appreciate your offer. I need all the help I can get."

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek
​

Catherine was incredibly confident in her ability to take out the one remaining goblin and open the cage with Straps inside it. The uncertainty came from if she could get her all the way back down to ground level without anyone seeing them or raising any alarms. Catherine was perfectly capable of getting in and out quickly and quietly... By herself. But with someone weighing and slowing her down, she knew she'd be far less capable of that. Not that it was impossible, she could still find a way to do it. But it was riskier than just bailing and coming back later, there was a good chance they'd be caught under a number of factors.

...On the other hand, the satisfaction from pulling it off and possibly completely ruining the warlord's plan for her sounded tempting, despite that she wouldn't get to see his face when he found out about it. And she knew their forces were diminished from fighting the gnolls in the forest, so that may help in their escape as well.

It'll be easy. It'll be fun. She'd never stolen a person before. Why not start now?

Catherine ran in, her boots silent as a whisper, before she took the goblin out with a swift kick to the head from behind. Once he was down she dragged him over to the nearest piece of cover and searched him for a key to the cage. If he didn't have one, or had more than a couple of keys, she would opt instead to pick the lock herself. Either way, once she got the door open, she held her hand out to Straps "Hurry. Quietly." She whispered to her, sternly. As much as she'd enjoy pulling this off, it was still dangerous, and she didn't want the goblin to do anything stupid like draw attention to them. Once Straps was ready to follow, she led her as best she could to the exit of the building.

 

[Trektek]

Goblin Camp
LegoLad659

The goblin that was oogling Straps didn't know what hit him as the hard surface of Catherine's boots came careening into his head, knocking him out and down like a sack of potatoes, but far more silently. As she checked his personal belongings, she did not discover a key. Among them were a handful of copper coins, a small dagger, a silver amulet and a fancy looking metallic ring.

Picking the lock was easy for Catherine as the lock was not even that high of a quality lock, allowing her to only use a fraction of her skills and still succeed with ease.

At the clicking sound, the goblin in the cage peeked up with her eyes before raising her entire head. Getting a good look at her face, even through the tears, she seemed very beautiful.

Straps nodded her head and exited to cage as quietly as she could. She ran over and gave the knocked out goblin a good sift kick to the face before following Catherine. Straps gave an apologetic look before crouching down low to follow as quietly as she could.

As they approached the entrance to the building, they could hear at least two voices and the growling and nipping of two wolves fighting over something, probably some food or a bone. The goblin voices seem to be talking about Straps and how they can't wait to get off shift so they could look at her.

Straps seemed to be violently shaking and looked prone to do something stupid and dangerous.​

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek
​

Catherine, of course, pilfered whatever she could off the unconscious Goblin's body. Money was always good, and she could always find a buyer for weapons and jewelry, wherever she went. Naturally she didn't have any plans to mention any of them to the others.

Instead of going out the front door, Catherine took Straps' arm and led her over to the same window she'd climbed in from so they could climb out the same way. Then she led Straps through the camp, searching for a way out of it. She jumped the fence coming in, so she couldn't easily do the same thing backwards, with Straps alongside her. She took note of what the guards were doing, hoping for a gap she could exploit somewhere. If not, then she'd have to make it as far as she could manage without being seen and book it the rest of the way, unless Straps had any better ideas.

 

[Trektek]

Goblin Camp
LegoLad659

Straps fought for but a moment and then gave in as Catherine pulled her towards the window that she had came into the building from. Straps easily crawled up the wall with her trained reflexes of someone that constantly climbs trees with ease. There would never be any doubt that if she were not in the cage, she could have escaped. It was obvious that Straps was skilled, but the superior numbers of the enemy were what did her in.

Watching the guards silently from a hidden location, Catherine was able to deduce the pattern to their movements and patrols, giving the pair an opening that they were able to exploit to escape the camp without having to fire a single shot or slice a single throat.

Once they were a ways away from the encampment, Straps finally turned to her savior and spoke. Her voice was not as high pitched as other goblins, but her voice sounded a bit apologetic and down. "Thank you for rescuing me from that Dingus and his cohorts back there. You really got me out of that bind. Sorry that I was a hassle I shouldn't have allowed myself to get caught in the first place."​

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek
​

Catherine was glad that they were able to get out without being seen or needing to fight their way out. Not that she didn't want to hurt the goblins, she honestly didn't care. She was just worried about the fallout of afterwards, when either they started fighting or someone found the bodies they'd leave behind.

...Hmm. On that note, maybe she should've done something about that one goblin. Well, it wasn't like they could do anything about it now.

Once they got a safe distance out of earshot of the camp, Straps started expressing her gratitude to her, apologizing for getting caught in the first place. Catherine shook her head in response "Don't worry about it. Anyone would have trouble going solo against an army like that." She told her, making sure they kept moving back towards her allies while they spoke "I'm more interested in what they wanted with you. I have an idea of what that could be, but just to be sure, did you hear or see anything that could answer that question?"

 

[Trektek]

Forest
LegoLad659

Straps gives a side grin. "Thanks. I needed that. It wasn't easy going up against Dirken and his men."

As they continued to move, they put further and further distance between the goblin encampment and became closer and closer to the Marbourette tribe. The trees started to get thick and thicker once more as they traveled deeper into the forest and away from the goblin made clearing.

Straps spit to her side, allowing it to go backwards before speaking. "That asshole Dirken wanted me as a trophy so that all could see how "he" defeated the warrior Straps and that none could stand before their might. Not even the great Kelarin Imperium. After all, they hadn't stopped him yet, which in his logic, meant that they couldn't."

She looked up with a smile. "But they must have sent you, right? That's why you're here? To stop him and save the village?"

As they moved at a quick pace, she seemed to give thought to the question if she had heard anything. "I once heard Dirken say that they were getting support from somewhere but he didn't reveal where. And I did once see him talking to a shadowy projection, but couldn't make out any of the words. Sorry that I couldn't be more helpful."​

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek
​

Catherine listened as Straps spoke, hoping she'd have had more information than she had. Still, it did answer one question, chances were Straps wasn't the 'Subject' that was brought up in the war meeting she witnessed, or if she was then the goblins kept it under wraps. But Catherine doubted they had the intelligence for that. Then again, plotting with a dark force wasn't exactly high on their priority list either, at least from what she knew about goblins. So what was Dirken doing? This couldn't just be a campaign for land, he wouldn't see a need to corroborate with another being for something so trivial... There had to be something else going on. They just didn't have the answer as to what yet.

"Sure, let's go with that." Catherine replied, when asked about the Imperium "I dunno how we're gonna go up against a goblin army with just the four of us, but we'll deal with that problem when we get back. Do you have a family back home? I'm sure they'd like to be the first to know you're safe."

 

[Trektek]

Forest
LegoLad659 , LumaThePhoenix , Clockwork Syringe

"I'm going to help you too. As soon as I get a bow in my hand....I'm a really good shot. And with all that you're up against, you'll need to extra help. After all, I learned the hard way about taking it with not enough people. Dirken has an army y'know."

Straps began to pick up speed. She knew this part of the forest and knew that sooner rather than later, they would be back at the village. Back home where everyone else was waiting for them.

"Yeah. I have my poppa near the village. I'm sure that they've been worried sick about me. He adopted me a long time ago, but he still means the world to me."

She grabbed a stick off the ground that looked like a good choice to try and later wittle down into an arrow. "Come on. We're almost at the village!" Straps continued onwards and shortly enough, they arrived at the village.

Suva Pyrewalker

"Of course I mean it Monica. I don't say things like that without meaning it. And besides, if you can manage to hold onto that water sword with some actual bladed weapon training, you'll be an unstoppable force on the battlefield. Or at least be able to defend yourself in a dangerous situation. It really depends on how well you'll take the training."

A goblin, followed by Blue running out from the forest caught her attention as she turned back to the others. "Looks like our scout is back and I think she brought back the missing goblin warrior."​

 

[LegoLad659]

Catherine Terra
Trektek LumaThePhoenix Clockwork Syringe
​

Catherine nodded at Straps' offer to help "If you feel up to it, then we could use all the help we can get. Go see your dad first though, we've got some things to talk about before we leave." She told her, patting her on the back to send her on her way while she approached the group "I gotta admit, that was easier than I thought it'd be. How'd these guys take over again?"

 

[Clockwork Syringe]

Sildar Evans
LumaThePhoenix Trektek LegoLad659​

Sildar listened as Suva and Monica discussed Monica's potential fighting skills with her water blade before it was made aware to Sildar that Blue had made it back to the village; and even with Straps." A big toothy smile appeared on his face as he took in the situation and watched as Straps made her way into the village before Blue made their way over to them. "Fantastic work Blue you got Straps back!" Sildar spoke in genuinely excited voice. "You've certainly upset Dirken I bet, anything to get his judgement clouded. Sildar then went into notetaking mode. "What did you find out about the village? Any sense of numbers? Who are the major players? Anything else that might give us an edge?" Sildar was also about to bring up magical enhancements, but wanted to see what Blue knew and was able to discover first.

 

[LumaThePhoenix]

Monica Battaglia​

LegoLad659 Clockwork Syringe Trektek

Monica smiles and nods at Suva's assurance. The mercenary made a valid point. The potential was there. The nurse just needed to learn how to piece herself together and get the most out of her abilities. It wouldn't exactly be a surprised if she got separated from the group at some point during some of the missions. She would have to fight, and the more experience she got in combat, the better she'd be able to fight.

Suddenly, the half-mermaid heard footsteps approaching. Running. She turns her head and spots a beautiful goblin lady running with Blue towards them. Between those two and Suva, she couldn't tell who was prettier. More importantly, they had returned safely. A joyous smile runs across her face. "Thank goodness you made it back safely, and it looks like you have rescued the captive as well. Well done, Blue!" Her tone was filled with happiness and relief. She then heard Sildar calling an all out blitz of questions at the thief. Monica was curious to know Blue's answers. With a softer, curious tone, she thinks out loud again. "I imagine they're aware of their captive's escape by now. There's a good chance Dirken has troops on the way here to look for her considering this is where they originally captured her if I'm not mistaken. Though I doubt he'd put all his eggs in one basket and send his whole army here. Perhaps we could take advantage of this."