Menya cast a spell and multiple images of herself appeared. "They're everywhere!" she shouted back rather needlessly as they were plunged into a melee into darkness. Her wayfinder allowed her to see clearly in the dark, and she and her mirror images became multiple whirling dervishes of claws that sent many a gnoll to their early graves that night.<br/><br/>In the end, though, their combat prowess was for naught as the gnolls brought them down with dirty but effective means, a poisoned arrow for the ranger and a hold person spell for the bard. The catgirl glared daggers at the gnoll priestess as she was shackled, ultimately unable to put up any more resistance that that. Seeing her equipment, worth a small fortune, taken, she hissed and then fell silent as she realized that the gnolls might not know the true value of her notes. If the Aspis or Hellknights somehow managed to get their hands on them... her best hope was that the gnolls would simply burn the things they didn't understand and keep the obviously valuable magical items and jewelry.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Of course Menya tried to slip out of her chains while they were marched to Katapesh, gaining nothing but a painful shock for her efforts that made her stumble. One of the gnolls keeping watch on her laughed its barking laugh as it recognized what had just happened to the catgirl. That ended the last of Menya's resistance attempts; the gnolls were apparently competent at their evil trade and she resolved to bide her time until she had a proper opportunity to escape.<br/><br/>Changing out of rags into better clothes was a relief - but like the perfume, Menya recognized it was just a superficial cover-up until they could be sold. "I know it's hard, but play along," she whispered to Hanifa. "We want a better buyer to make our lives easier, at least." She herself responded with forced enthusiasm when commanded to present herself and strip, playing up the part of a slutty catgirl. She would never admit it, but it was also a matter of personal pride that she fetch a high price at the very least.<br/><br/>So it was a small consolation, but better than nothing, when they were purchased not in the currency of magic, not gold. Their new owner must be a rich and powerful man, to be so used to the trade of items beyond the purchasing power of mere gold that he did not carry it around. "With any luck, he'll have a large harem which will give us free time to plan, and a well stocked treasure vault to re-equip ourselves with," Menya whispered to Hanifa.<br/><br/>Of course, when they boarded the giant turtle Menya began to have a suspicion that her plan had worked too well, which was unfortunately confirmed once the apparent sultan made it known that he was so rich and powerful that he lived on another plane entirely. "P-plane of water!?" The catgirl squeaked, the tone of her voice making it clear that she was not liking the sound of it one bit. Someone else might attribute it to the natural animosity between cats and water, but Menya herself was thinking how much harder an interplanar escape would be.<br/><br/>Menya wondered whether she should gamble everything on revealing the true nature of their quest to al-Samara - in the end she decided against it, having no evidence of her mission, and remembering the Pharaoh's explicit statement that he would not interfere should they be captured. "Sultan al-Samara, w-what will we be doing?" she asked.