<i>&lt;Not, to be a stick in the mud... But from a tactical standpoint, trusting a once slave, if that is indeed your origins...&gt; </i>Began Zixx, letting the group, and only the group hear his thoughts,<i>&lt;Would be a grave, and dangerous leap of faith... One we simply can not, afford...&gt;</i>he craned his head, glaring at the girl, wings and all. Ever since they had stepped into the marketplace, he had been doing something of a broad spectrum detection of the thoughts of everything within range that he couldd... Not to actually read them, but get a 'smell' of their personalities... In his experience, every person and sentient thing had a personality, or 'scent' to their minds which was unique. With any blind luck, he would catch Ariel's 'scent' as she was being bartered here in the market place. From there, it would be much easier, and possibly cheaper to bribe or bully (He preffered 'suggesting' for a lower price) to get her back, and the prince would be left out of it...<br/><br/>Turning his lense hidden gaze to Orlando, the mind flayer decided to pitch his own idea.<i>&lt;While I do not trust her, I must also, agree... That a fair fight in the arena will be anything but, down here...&gt; </i>Rolling his shoulders, the aberrition looked about, eyeing the wares, pondering his luck at finding some jarred brains, or a rare tricket to add to his arsenal.<i>&lt;Let me gather additional thralls, and get me to a grave yard...&gt; </i>Stoping and looking to the group, his detection passing over each one in turn, to measure their reactions next...<i>&lt;Given time, I can create, and bind to my service a retinue of greater undead... They will not be many, but they will be stronger then the bulk of what we face down here...&gt; </i>He stopped 'speaking' for a time, to gauge their reactions, thenresumed his wide spectrum 'scan'.<br/><br/><i>&lt;The plan is this... We find her, by way of my tracking...&gt;</i>Stopping to tap the side of his leather wrapped and crest adorned head,<i>&lt;If a fight is needed, or stealth required... My underlings, will distract our foes, lure them out and into an ambush, by yourselfs... All this, however, is but a distraction. A ploy, or cat's paw, if you will...&gt;</i>He made a subtle show of stopping to inspect a jewelry merchant... And quickly losing interest when he saw no truesight gems or resonance stones.<i>&lt;As her captors are distracted, I will use guile and craft, to slither in, then spirit her away and to safety...&gt;</i>Glancing over his shoulder, he once more narrowed his scan to measure how his allies would feel about this.<i>&lt;it is, however... But an idea...&gt; </i>And, yet again, resumed tracking for Ariel's scent to the limits of his range...<br/><br/>As all of this transpired, his three underlings were kept especially close. The drow and durgar constantly looking in alternate directions, their rogueish perceptions and attention to detail lending themselves to their master's cause, the brute's actions, though, were allowed to be a bit more free willed. Her leash not as tight. Then, what was perhaps the most random of all things happened... As a glossy blue stag beetle, with the length and width of a house cat actually descended from the sky, to land comfortably in the illithid's offered hands. Once the venomous bugger was within his grasp, Zixx casually held it in one crooked arm, the other stroking over it's wingplates.<br/><br/><i>&lt;Ah, I was wondering when you would get tired, my beautiful girl... I do hope the transition here, was not overly painful?&gt;</i>, then, thought back to the party.<i>&lt;To find her, we use process, of ellimination... She is a being of celestial descent, and reputable power... Our best bets, are that she will be sold, in a market like this one... Taken to that arena, to be used as entertainment... Or kept by the prince himself, as a personal toy, or pet project...&gt;</i>What he did not allow the other's to track in his thoughts, was just how appealing that last sounded to him... Best not to let them know how enticing he found the idea of making her a fuck toy...<br/><br/>((He can scan out to a range of 160 feet in all directions, including up and down. And being part ranger, it sholdn't be a stretch for him to find someone based on the 'scent' of their thoughts... Assuming her personality isn't -overly- changed from her norm when his scan passes over her.))<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>