The commander of the warband listened to each suggestion intently, his own excitement growing more obvious by the moment. His favorite seemed to be the notion of eating their captive alive. It had been a long time since the warband had feasted on the flesh of a living being, and this one seemed like she would be particularly sweet. He didn't say that he had made his decision, but he drew his dagger from his belt, making it clear that a choice had been made.<br/><br/>"Gather round, everyone! Get it while it's fresh! I w..." he trailed off as a thick layer of smoke started to fill the room. It was as if a great fire had started in the next room, but he couldn't feel any heat coming from the corridor. "Magic," he hissed the word like it was a curse, and it might as well have been. Clearly, this adventurer hadn't come alone, though he found himself wondering why her comrade had waited so long to start to fill the room with this thick, almost dizzying smoke.<br/><br/>He dropped Atalia to the ground, trusting in her bindings to prevent her from being a problem. The rest of the warband was already spreading out, looking for the source of the concealing smoke. It had been a long time since they faced off against a wizard, but they knew the basics of that sort of combat. Standing too close together left them vulnerable to a fireball or burst of electricity. Better to spread out and force the wizard to consume his spells. After that, he would be easy picking.<br/><br/>It took a few seconds before a smaller orc approached Atalia and got on his knees beside her. With the thick smoke blanketing the room, it would be a moment before she would see that it wasn't an orc at all ,but Erdan, wearing the chestplate and helmet of a fallen orc. He eased a knife from his boot and started to cut away at the bindings at Atalia's feet. "I hope you're happy," he grumbled as he worked, his voice hardly audible over the sounds of the orcs searching frantically for him. "I only had two smoke arrows on me." In truth, the arrows he had been carrying weren't enough to generate this kind of effect, but he had augmented them with a bit of his magic. The effect wouldn't last long, but he planned to be long gone before it expired.