<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/7b/BanditLeader.JPG)</div>The bandit shrieked when Curra grabbed her collar with enough force to jerk her off her feet. "I'm talking, I'm talking!" she insisted, struggling feebly in Curra's grasp. It may not have been Curra's best performance, but it didn't take much to frighten their prisoner, now that she was subdued and restrained.<br/><br/>"Alright, fuck, let me think..." She looked around at the rock walls to either side, and appeared to be sorting through her mental map of the region. "There's only two good roads out of the plateau. One northwest - that's what we're on now - and one to the east. We approached the monastery on that eastern road, and I don't see how they could have gotten past us, not with our scouts, and not in the numbers they must have had. You guys came from Lansite, right? Then they couldn't have gotten past you either. So..."<br/><br/>She bit her lip, obviously thinking much harder than she usually needed to, since her life was on the line. "Going slightly off either road just takes you straight into tall mountains. You can do that... we've done it a few times... but it's rough going, especially for a large group. South will take you down a big slope and into the backwaters of Cordovia. Could go that way, I guess, but the further you go, the deeper into civilization you'll get, so that might not be what they want. There's... huh. There's a valley northeast of the plateau. There's no path, and the way is very hilly, but it's passable. I've been that way once, a few years ago, to get away from a Cordovian guard search party. There's a tribe of goblins in the valley, but they don't bother anyone. If I had to guess, I'd say that's where they went."<br/><br/>Senna found one mana crystal in the bandit's pouch, and another three in her backpack. The surface of the crystals was smooth like a river pebble, but each crystal was an identical rectangular prism, the precise shape that fit into the socket in the wand.<br/><br/>Rosa came over to stand with the others, her fingers twining with Kye's. "The treasure isn't what's important, and most of it is probably with the bandits who got away. I need to know what happened at the monastery, and where the sisters are, if they aren't dead." She looked around at the party. "Let's press on to the monastery, and make the best time we can. We can look for more clues there, and we'll need to go through the plateau anyway if the perpetrators are hiding in that valley. When we get there, I'll pay you all for the trip, as agreed, and then maybe we can talk about hiring you for a rescue mission." Her face was haggard, almost overwhelmed with sorrow and anger, but her jaw was set with determination.