So, [[farne:protagonists:cassie:index|Cassie]] and [[farne:protagonists:grey:index|Grey]] went to arrest [[farne:actors:larkis|Larkis]] while I stayed away, so he wouldn't know I was working him the other night. You know, just in case I need to associate with the more unsavory elements of Alestian society again, they won't learn I was an undercover deputy from him. While they were getting him, I went to let [[farne:actors:judge_falric|Judge Falric]] know we got the proof we needed and went ahead and arrested Larkis. It was a little early though, as Cassie and Grey decided to hit him right as he was retiring from another night of drinking and debauchery.

[[farne:actors:sina_falric|Sina]] answered the door, clad only in a nightgown, and I could tell she was cold from the little points on her chest poking through the thin fabric. She definitely cleaned up nice. When all this is done I should ask her out. Surely she wouldn't deny her rescuer the chance to treat her to dinner for her ordeal? And who knows where dinner could lead? Anyways, I remembered I was here on business and asked to speak to her father. I told him what had transpired, and he said he would meet Cassie and Grey at the local Constabulary first thing to formally charge Larkis and put the weight of his office behind them in order to get more information about the missing girls or the guy that hired him.

So while they took care of that, I went back to Larkis' house and showed them my badge and the warrant, saying I was just following up on the case. Cassie and Trent had grabbed the ledger and the deeds that were hidden in the house and we had found, but didn't touch the cache of jewels. So, I went and pocketed those. Its not like he's going to need them. Plus, its a final "frak you!" to him. He's prolly not too worried about his assets being frozen because he thinks he has this little rainy day jar to fall back on. If he survives prison, he's not gonna get out and still be sitting pretty if I can help it.

Anyways, I find out afterwards that he was actually hired by an Elector, [[farne:actors:jain_taupin|Jain Taupin]]. One thing of interest about him was that he always seems to have a couple of beautiful women in tow, both of whom seem to have a scary aura about them, according to Larkis. In any case, Larkis let us know he sent the girls to [[farne:locations:kalin_s_pass|Kalin's Pass]] in the [[farne:locations:samprin_hills|Samprin Hills]] 10 days ago, Elector Taupin would be picking them up himself. If we took an airship, we could get ahead of them and stop the handoff. The judge recommended we take an airship up to a nearby Alestian outpost and look up an old friend of his, [[farne:actors:wil_hintermarz|Wil Hintermarz]] of the 103rd Pathfinders. Falric said he'd be able to take us through the wilderness to cut the caravan off.

We used our payout from [[farne:actors:dragoth|Dragoth]] to buy supplies for the trip and get some armor. Bought some nice new shiny lamellar armor. The others offered to magic it up for me, but I turned them down. I'm nimble enough that they don't need to waste their energy on me, I'm good. Anyways, after we got back from our shopping, I was sitting in my room, polishing my new purchase when I heard a knock on my door. It was [[farne:actors:liri_fossil|Liri]]. It was a little surprising, Liri seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder after she walked in on me and [[farne:actors:hilda_madrigal|Hilda]] almost kissing. I don't know what she was so mad about anyways. Liri's the one who didn't want to become a thing. I mean, at least with Cass, I knew where we stood. It happened the one time, and she had no interest in repeating the experience. Which was a little disappointing but its not something I'm broken up about. 

Though I thought things had gone a little better with Liri. I mean, we were having fun and I didn't expect to us be all "...and they lived happily ever after!" but I wouldn't have said no if she wanted to take things public. I wouldn't have minded seeing where things lead. But she shot down that idea, so I don't see why the Hilda thing bugged her. Was she gonna be this way if I asked Sina out? It had me really frustrated. But all that went away when I opened the door and saw her standing their bleary eyed.

Apparently Grey had paid her [[farne:actors:bagram_fossil|pops]] for "all his help over the years" and she saw the others packing up. She asked us if we were leaving, and I told her, yeah, first thing in the morning. Then she asked if I was going to even say goodbye. I mean, I guess I would've if she was up by that time, and she like hits me when I say that. I ask her what's the big deal, me and the guys (and girl) haven't really gone on any extended trips since we got to Alestia, but I didn't think we'd be gone for more than a couple of weeks at most. Apparently there was a miscommunication somewhere because then she just look confused. I told her we were going to rescue those missing girls. I noticed her cheeks flush before she told me in a low voice she thought we were leaving for good the way Grey was carrying on. "Oh," I thought. I laughed and told her not to worry, I'd be back bugging her soon enough. She wished me luck and told me to be careful.

The next morning, she got up early to say goodbye again, and we sailed off. It was an uneventful trip to the outpost, which was little more than a tent city. It was cold and dirty and just all around sucked. We found and hooked up with Wil. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to get some leave to help guide us at first, but after hearing that Sina was taken at one point and rescued, he vowed to do something about the brigands. Apparently Sina was like a little sister to him. I'm guessing he wouldn't be too pleased if he knew the things I had been thinking about her then.

In any case, he said the trip would be extremely dangerous. Apparently there was a bandit army lurking about and raiding caravans. Their symbol was a sword stabbing through a domed building, surrounded by black wings. And that was in addition to the supernatural danger permeating the area- creepy green campfires of long dead soldiers, thinking they're still fighting in wars that have been long since done. Overall, the trip was miserable. The others were miffed at my lack of wilderness skills, but hey I'm a city boy now, I don't expect to be trekking through miles of cold wasteland all that often. Hmm, Cassie sure seems to have taken a liking to that Wil guy. When we were divying up watches, she was quick to make sure she'd be up with him.

On our way there, an army of Kobolds tried to kill us, but we dispatched them rather easily. We eventually made it to an intercept point in front of the caravan but a short ways before the Kalin's Pass. and I divined when they would show up so we could better set up an ambush. Once we had a general idea of when they would be showing up, Grey blocked the pass and muddied up the road so the carts would be mired in it. Once they stopped to investigate the hold up, we would strike. Cass would spook the horses to get the guards on horseback out of the picture, then Wil and Grey would call forth lightning bolts from the overcast sky to hit the guards in front and back of the caravan.

As for me, I would hit the driver of the rear cart with a rapidly expanding spatial warp bubble before running in and attacking. Alas, my distance attack buffeted him harmlessly, but I was on him in a second- I was already running as soon as I had released the spell. I quickly cut him in half and rushed around and cut down one of the horsemen who had been knocked off his horse from Cass's spooking. I tried to find some more guys to cut down, but the other driver was already dead, and most of the other guards were knocked out on the ground. I moved to the other horseman, but Cassie had already de-horsed him. I turned my attention to the last remaining footman just in time to see Grey knock him out with a well placed fist.

Afterward, we stripped and disarmed the guards, giving their warm cloaks to the kidnapped girls, many of whom were sick and dying. We figured it best to try and take them back to the outpost rather than press on to the Pass. Wil had made it sound like the townsfolk there were possibly in league with the bandits the way they'd been untouched. Hopefully we'll make it back to his outpost quickly, as some of these girls need urgent medical attention. In the mean time, during my visions of the caravan, my mind had focused on one particularly cutie, so I figured I'd try chatting her up on the way.