"I think we've all fought a few guys like that before."  Rose commented, as Aria mentioned the obvious 'cultist' type that would make dark sacrifices in the name of evil gods while wearing a skull mask.  They certainly seemed to be pretty ubiquitous, springing up just about everywhere in spite of all the adventurers repeatedly stopping their various nefarious plans on a regular basis.  Just about every adventure she'd met had at least one story about how they'd put a stop to a cult, or slain an evil necromancer, or at the very least foiled the schemes of some priest of one of the dark gods somewhere...<br/><br/>Between the rogue's educated guesses and her own slight suspicions, the shifter found herself at something of a loss as to what might actually be going on.  That Garland had had a plan in place to kidnap the Lady Sara had been clear;  They'd been able to gather that much from the goblin, and even the band of brigands they had encountered fit in with that plan.  This latest encounter could also be made to fit in somewhat, but it was too much of a rough fit her to really settle for it, and overall it gave her the impression that there was something larger afoot, possibly even some third player in this game.<br/><br/>That told her nothing about what their next course of action would have to be, though.  The only place Aria could think of to look for the Lady, and there was no one there but some undead knights.  Rose herself didn't know the layout of the Quarter very well, nor did she know anything about any potential safe zones for her to be hiding in.  All she could do was mull it over while she helped her companion loot the bodies of the enemies they had slain.<br/><br/>Of course, eventually the rogue found that set of directions hidden in the one death knight's boot, and between it and her one suggestion, the shifter was able to sum up two basic plans.<br/><br/>"That's not a bad idea."  She noted, since her companion was the one who had come up with it.  "If we could track down a spellcaster to get in touch with the Lady, we'd be able to confirm quite a bit without having to do a lot of pointless running around.  If she can't answer, we can probably use this scarf for a scrying focus to at least find where she is, too.  On the other hand, from those directions you found, I think we've just learned where this pirate, Bikke, is keeping his ship docked.  If that's where Garland planned to make his exit, then we might be able to put a huge damper on his plans by heading over there right now.  Which one do you think sounds more likely to get results?"<br/><br/>Rose herself really wasn't sure of which way to go.  Both ideas seemed to have some merit to her, as finding a spellcaster was likely to lead them to the lady faster, while taking out Bikke now meant that they were likely to catch all the badguys on this particular adventure.  On the other hand, they also both seemed to have some flaws.  Finding a spellcaster could take too long, giving Garland the opportunity to slip through their grasp, while the man might have had some other plan for making his exit from the plane, thus potentially making capturing Bikke a pointless exercise.  For her, it was something of a difficult choice...<br/><br/><br/><br/>Sorry to take so long to reply. ^^; I was having a bit of internet trouble.