Mesaraih's mouth went slack as he saw the elven woman conjure fire in her hands and send it flying towards a distant hurloc, incinerating it completely. He blinked hard and looked again. Yes, that had definitely just happened.<br/><br/>"Show off," he finally said, finding his words again. "Anyways, I think it's time to ditch this place." He looked around at the other cages.<span style="font-style: italic">Poor wretches</span>, he thought.<span style="font-style: italic">If only I had the time to sit here and pick all your locks.</span><br/><br/>He looked back at the elven woman and measure her. She intimidated him more than anyone had in recent memory, of that he was sure. "You coming with? I could use your help, to be honest," he said, looking from her to the now encroaching band of darkspawn. "I'm Mesaraih, by the way. I guess it's a pleasure?"<br/><br/>He decided against extending his hand in greeting as the first of the hurlocks swung a battleaxe at him. He sidestepped it, grabbed the handle of the axe to pull the hurlock closer, and thrust a dagger into the eye socket of its helm. It shuddered and gurgled before falling to the ground.<br/><br/><span style="color: #00FF00">Valehna smiled at her guard sweetly before twisting her features into a snarl. "Thank you, shem. Fen'Harel ma halam." <span style="font-style: italic">Dread Wolf ends you</span>. She twisted her hand in the direction of a nearby tree, whose root shot out and wrapped the man in a tight coil around the neck, choking him without even giving him the chance to scream.<br/><br/>She whipped around and looked at the darkspawn. About half of them ran towards her, arms raised in the air like barbarians. <span style="font-style: italic">Strange,</span> she thought. <span style="font-style: italic">Why aren't they all coming for me?</span><br/><br/>Valehna wished she had her staff. It was a better conductor for magic, made her less tired. She didn't have that luxury, however. She could only hope to pick a staff from one of the bodies, though he hadn't seen any emissaries in this particular band of darkspawn. She stretched her hands out in front of her, feeling her mana reserves deplete more than she'd like as the attacking darkspawn all fell and tripped over themselves. A small earthquake all around them was hammering at their armor with moving plates of earth and a smattering of rocks. <br/><br/>That was when she saw a ball of fire engulf a hurlock in the distance. <span style="font-style: italic">There's others!</span><br/><br/>She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or apprehensive about that. If they weren't elves, which they were unlikely to be, they wouldn't be likely to receiver her very well. Though clearly one of them knew magic, so that might be a good starting point for mutual help. She ran around the flailing darkspawn and towards the other group before releasing her hold on the small earthquake she created. There, she saw an elven woman and a shem amidst a field of cages much like hers. Had they all been sent here as prisoners?<br/><br/>Valehna extended her consciousness through the plant life between her and the elven woman. <span style="font-style: italic">This way, lethallan! There's a horse and carriages over here!</span> she tried to communicate her message. It was a complicated thing, to send messages of her own voice through plants, but the elvhen were more attuned to nature than humans, and she had studied long and hard to commune with her surroundings very well.</span>