Rygel stands from his chair and bows slightly.  "I wish you good fortune on your journey, Balrog.  Please, if you should encounter grave difficulties, do not hesitate to send a message - I am sure that Maestri can accomplish this - and I will come with all possible haste."  He turns to the ladies and crosses his arms over his gleaming chest.  "I will not be so presumptuous as to think of myself as your bodyguard - I know you all have strength aplenty for the task ahead.  I am sure we will obtain all the success that steel and spell can bring.  We, too, should likely move as soon as we can make the necessary arrangements.  I prefer to travel with only the most minimal entourage, myself..."  He shrugs.  He disdained tools other than his books of spells, but several of his colleagues pleased to use them in plenty, and made people into tools as well.  He could not prevent them from slowing down the group with weakling hangers-on any more than he himself would be able to accommodate the irrational taboos of some arcanophobic barbarian.<br/><br/>He arched an eyebrow at Ansalia and Alyx, ignoring Soma's boastful outburst.  "Do you have any particular requests to make for this journey?  I can accomplish many things, but not all things at once.  What are our priorities?"