So with the rescued girls in tow, we began to make our way down to a small village three or four days away. The road was less treacherous than the ground we had covered to cut off the caravan, but it was still cold and miserable. We managed to find a nice cave to spend the night in the first day. Not liking the look of the sky, I divined the upcoming weather, and foresaw that we would be snowed in unless we took the proper precautions. I also got an image of a large fiery-skinned man-creature attacking us, not that very night, but an upcoming one. So we had those worries hanging over our heads.
Hmm, that night, apparently Cass and Wil were fooling around during their watch and when it came time for Grey and I to relieve them and Trent, I noticed the two of them crawl into a bedroll together. Cass claims they were just keeping warm, but I knew what she really up to.
The next morning, Grey jury-rigged some things for the cart to make the travel through the snow covered roads easier. We were making okay progress despite the weather, but Trent's bird, Swiftwind, noticed we were being shadowed by a lone rider on a black horse.
We found an alcove to stay in for the night, and Grey reshaped the earth to form a ceiling to protect us from the elements. During our watch, Grey and I had been talking at each other, the hotness of some of the girls with us apparently lost on him. Suddenly, a warrior clad in black heavy plate appeared by the fire. We weren't sure how he got there, he appeared out of nowhere. The dark knight claimed we had property of his (the girls) and politely asked us to return them. If we just left them there, someone would pick them up, and no harm would come to us, nor would we be pursued. We told him to frak off of course and he calmly turned his back on us and walked away. Well, I wasn't gonna stand for that insult, so I was on him in an instant, but my blade ended up slashing only air, as he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.
But between that and my vision the previous night, we didn't think we'd make it to the village before we were attacked. Instead of heading off, we decided to fortify our position and hole up until I could rip open a gate back to the Occluded Rainbow Inn. I took me almost five hours, but I got the shimmering gate to appear. I was intending to open it into the common room, but when I tried imagining the inn, my mind kept on drifting to Liri's room. We sent the girls through to safety.
With the girls most likely safe, we changed course and headed for Wil's outpost. It was a rough trek, and the first night, Grey narrowly averted the burning man from showing up by quelching our campfire. Trent noticed someone in the spirit realm causing the trouble, but he was able to stop that threat.
The rest of the way to the camp, we were no longer harassed. Worried that whoever was after the girls would be on their way to Alestia to try and re-acquire them, we thought time was of the essence and we needed to get back as quickly as possible. So, I opened up a gate and we stepped through back to the inn. The girls seemed to be safe and under close watch. However, we learned Elector Talpin was back in Alestia, his two chickies in tow. The local constabulary was keeping a close eye on him, but Judge Falric said they really had no cause to arrest him only on Larkis' word that it was the Elector was who hired him. Even the documents showing the payments for services rendered weren't enough.
While the rest of the party was at a loss what to do, with all that's been happening and where it may lead us, I wasn't sure if I'd have the time to continue my research any time soon. So while the others kept and eye on Talpin and Grey did some research (which I helped a little with), I was studying feverishly at Rego's.
Meanwhile, Grey seemed to make some headway in his own research. The strange beings we had encountered on our way back from rescuing the girls seemed to be diabolical in nature. Grey found old records about an archdevil named Azranael, who often took the form of a beautiful redheaded woman. Perhaps this plot was somehow linked to her.
When I wasn't working on my research, I was attempting to peer into the future, to see if this conspiracy would try to attack and grab one of the girls, and if so, who? I saw a castle with a banner flying overhead. I had a sick feeling in my stomach, and knew who's banner it was before we looked it up. It was the Madrigal's. Hilda and her father left Alestia a couple of weeks ago, thinking the threat over. I was still worried for her, and my intuition was right. We had about a week before the attack (which later auguries showed me were carried out by dark elves, which were a much tougher class of opponent than the common street thugs that had been sent after the girls previously!), which gave me enough time to finish my work up at the shop and for Cass to pick up some supplies for our trip.
We left posthaste, it would take us three days to get there, leaving us a couple of days to get ready. Of course, our presence there might change things, so I might have to consult the future again. It would be good to see Hilda again. She pretty much left before I could really say goodbye, and I really wanted to see her again.
On the way there, some Ogres attempted to ambush us, but we turned the tables on them. Grey had teeked the large log the ogres had set on the road to bar our path and used it as a weapon. I however, didn't need to rely on such clumsy weapons, opting to make short work of these brutes with my sword work. But all Cass seemed to notice was Grey and his piece of wood, fawning all over him like he was so great. I was the one who ducked into the ogre attacking her, easily weaving through his clumsy attacks and slicing his throat open. If the durned thing's neck wasn't so frickin' big, that would have killed it. But did she care?! No! She just kept raving about monk-boy and his big stick.
Needless to say, I was annoyed. My mood did brighten when I found a pretty silver necklace amongst the loot carried by the now-dead giant-kin. I figured that would get me in good with Hilda. I hadn't been sure what I was going to do about Hilda when we first set out, but the way Cass was carrying on with baldie, I made up my mind.
Okay, I'm making it sound like I was intending to use Hilda to make up for some slight, but really, that wasn't the case. I did think she was pretty, all sweet and innocent and she had that cute little accent going. So, I definitely would've been putting the moves on her anyways. Its just now I was definitely gonna try to get something to happen.