Irena, the woman's name you shortly learn, nods with her eyes wide and her pulse racing. She does little to fight you even when your claw digs into her skin ever so lightly. Her heart beats faster and you can tell she's likely to pass out with any more provocation.
Gregor spins around, blade in hand but sees his daughter caught in Ella's grip. The blade clangs to the floor, thankfully not cutting the cooks foot or boot. He speaks up, his voice hoarse and quiet "Irena...it's alright, I won't let em hurt you." he said to her before addressing you.
It doesn't take much of guess to notice the family resemblance or his love for his daughter. "Easy, easy....we won't be doing no yelling. Please, just let her go. Here, take my cloak to smuggle the large one. I ain't wanting you lot to come back, I ain't about to risk me life or me daughter's for this prison. Once past the gate, you'll need someone to tell the bridgemen the password. It's HESTERFIELD. Just teach that big oaf how to say the word and you lot can scurry across once the bridge lands." he offers.
He holds out his hands, hoping for mercy looking hesitantly over towards the large Pantry. "Take the food, you can put a chair up against the door once we're inside and you'll know we will follow through with what we say." he says with a begging tone.
Ella nods at the man's words. A father's love for his daughter... despite the years a lump forms in her throat. Covering it with a cough, "Okay then... if all you say comes to pass, you have nothing to fear from us. But if anything... ANYTHING... goes wrong..." she trails off knowing she doesn't have to complete the threat, and not feeling particularly threatening either anymore.
With an almost shy smile to herself, she'll gesture for him to get in the pantry, and lead the little one into it as well. Grabbing a sack she'll start filling it up, while keeping herself between the normals and her new friends. It isn't that Ella doesn't trust them, she just doesn't know them. A promise made is steel, her own father would say.
It would be a shame to kill each other now.
Ileosa followed Ella into the pantry to help load all they could carry into the sack. "Do as she says and you'll both make it out of here alive." Ileosa agreed with Ella's idea. As before she wanted as little spilled blood as possible. After all while it would have sent a message for sure, so would getting out with little to no one knowing.
"I'll find another sack." Ileosa told her as she began to look around for another bag to put even more in. She had no idea how long they would be out in the wild and wanted more than enough to get there to their destination.
Drack nods as he walks in, his figure tall and imposing ”well handled. Did you check to make sure they didn’t have a signal whistle?”
----
Ella grumbles at not thinking about that, though she is reasonably sure they would not chance it. Still she'll do a quick search of the two.
As Ileosa enters the cupboard, Ella stiffens a little worried she'll decide to silence them for surety, but her words, and Ella's memory of her fellow prisoner's repeated desires calm her down and garners a brief smile.
Drack's compliment regarding Ella's handling of the situation draws a noncommittal sound from Senara. While the noblewoman doesn't consider herself to be a bloodthirsty person in the least—every life she has taken to this point had a specific, calculated reason behind it—she also isn't above killing the help if it is in her best interest. Neither would she lose any sleep over her companions venting their aggressions on the two, if they chose to do so. Better the servants than her, after all. But evidently, not all of her fellow escapees are of the same mind, or so it seems. That, the Lady feels, could be a problem.
But as much as she would like to suss out the reason behind Ella's sudden empathy, Senara thinks the better use of her time at the moment might be to focus on other matters. Such as not so subtly expressing her displeasure over the group's newfound altruism. "Your willingness to put stock in the promises of strangers is inspiring, truly. But considering we have nothing guaranteeing they won't start shouting for help the moment we leave and nothing to bind and gag them with, perhaps we might at least consider moving them somewhere that's not directly guard adjacent." A beat. Then, "The cells, perhaps?"
"You know I don't think she honestly means that." Ileosa told Ella with a grin. Then taking a moment from looking for a sack she stopped and turned to Senara. "No one wants to waist their time on doing that. Nor is splitting up to put them in the cells a grand idea. The longer we take the more likely we are to get caught, the more groups we become the more likely we are to get caught." Ileosa stated bluntly.
"If you're so worried about them calling out or not being tied up, maybe instead of sarcastically complaining, you could look around for twine from meat packages and we can bind their hands with that." Ileosa suggested.
Ella's eyes narrow at the Senera's tone. Holding her gaze, and considering... for several long moments. Ileosa's interjection breaks her out of contemplation, then turns to the father. "Your shirt" she demands in her even tone, waiting until he manages to pull it off. Being more forceful if he complains.
Moving out of the cupboard, she'll flatten the piece of fabric on one of the work tables, and using the butcher knife, claws, and strength, she'll cut it into strips. The two sleeves being the strongest, she'll turn the father and then the child around, lashing their wrists behind their backs with them.
Then she'll shove another strip into their mouths, using the last to wrap around their heads to keep the gag in place.
Turning to Senera, "Better?" a question, but said with the blunt force of a hammer to the face, making it much less so.
Gregor puts up little fight, more worried about his and his daughter's life than his pride or comfort. Irena occasionally starts to do something only to balk from cowardice. With all of the party in the room, the overpowering amount of terror is simply too much for them to act out.
A quick search of them while stripping poor Gregor of his shirt reveals they had nothing on them, save for about half a ration worth of dried fruit and meat for their travels back and forth to the prison.
Two sacks full of food later, the party feeling secure in their setup, wedges a chair into the cupboard so that that the poor servants can't get out. Good thing the pantry breathes.
The group heads out and slips into the night air. Ella is sent to scout as her sight in the dark is best suited and with a bit of awkward hiding and signaling, the party makes it across the fields without any apparent signal being raised.
The Warden's tower is unlocked and they slip into the safety of the bottom level.
"Well, Asmodeus forfend we waste any time making smart choices," Senara snarks. "'If I'm so worried'. Of course I'm worried! The only reason I'm in this prison to begin with is because I made the mistake of leaving two servants alive to run to the guard. So if you insist on making me repeat past mistakes then we can at least take steps to lessen the risk to ourselves by not keeping a pair of unrestrained enemies a room away from Lord knows how many sleeping guards."
Pausing for breath, the highborn conjurer tries to recall that she was the one insisting that there was no room for infighting if the group was to escape Branderscar alive. Of course, that was before she realized how difficult it was for her to work cooperatively with them. After all, Senara's idea of cooperation involved her saying one thing, and then everyone quietly following through with her orders. Being countermanded seemingly at every turn was leaving a rather sour taste in her mouth.
When Ella gets to work making makeshift bindings for the servants, lashing their wrists together and gagging them, Senara is somewhat mollified by the compromise. It isn't the ideal option, certainly; that would involve silencing them in a more permanent manner. But it is a close third. "I suppose we'll find out," comes the Lady's reply, sounding somewhat resigned.
Inside the warden's tower, Senara is relieved to note that no alarms have been sounded since slipping out the kitchen door. She might not have agreed with the plan, but she's thankful that at least Ella seemed capable of tying a durable knot. After a quick scan of the barren room, Senara focuses on the one notable feature of the first level: the staircase leading up.
"You're in the prison because you did something the King decreed is wrong." Ileosa corrected her as she picked up the sack she had filled with food. "While yes, that may have been your down fall it was your choice at the time. Remember each action you do has a consequence, and it was you who said that we can't be fighting." She stated with a shrug. "As long as the majority within the group agrees upon this, then it is what we will go with." Ileosa explained before she made sure to get Grumblejack the man's cloak.
Though when she hears Senara at least take in that this will be what happens Ileosa, though in a kinder voice than before, says "Remember, your noble blood means nothing here. You're a prisoner, just like the rest of us. I am not saying to insult you Senara, if I was I'd be much more harsh. I just mean your voice doesn't carry any more than mine or Ella's, or Drack's, or even Grumblejack's. It is only one part of the whole."
As she slipped out into the darkness to scout across the open field, Ella encountered something truly delightful.
The open night sky.
If Ella had the words of the others, she would have whispered something like "Divinity is in the simple pleasures we thought lost."
In the cell, she had accepted she was going to die. Oh, she planned on making them suffer for every second life had left. Still the end had been near.
Now... the large woman paused, just briefly, and smiled.
Then got back to it, leading them across the field. To the tower, where she followed Serana up the stairs, as quietly as she could.
"We only need to take out the Warden if he sees us." Ileosa said with a shrug. "Remember the less noise we make the more likely we are to get out of her alive, which I believe is the goal no?"
An empty room... Ella sighes. Not out of relief but of knowledge this complicates things. If the warden was sitting here, drinking tea or something. They would kill him as a group. Without any strife, but now...
Ella is not the best read of people, but she knows something is driving a burning need in Senara to kill this man. Drack's reasons are tactical, the ones he expressed at least. Senara though has yet to really say why.
A quiet nudging, and a shrugging of her large shoulders, asks the noblewoman. Why?
Although Senara has come to realize that her nobility makes her no better than her fellow inmates, that discovery still makes her no more receptive to the idea of being figuratively or literally pushed around by her companions. So when Ella's gentle nudge nearly unbalances the unsteady conjurer, she turns, intending to stare down the larger woman. But the heat in Senara's glare is quickly tempered when she meets only Ella's curious gaze.
Lowering her eyes, the summoner breathes a quiet sigh. She had hoped to be able to count on the other prisoners' violent tendencies when it came time to fulfill her bloody task, but their senses of self-preservation now seem to outweigh all else. In any other circumstance, it would have been a quality she admired in her allies. As it is, it might just be the thing that dooms her to an early death.
"The first night we all came here, the night we received these cursed brands... The Warden took away something... someone... very dear to me. When he burned me, he broke the connection I had to my brother's soul. I can't hear him anymore... I can't feel him," she whispers, sounding haunted. After a few moments, realizing her loss of composure, Senara sniffs and tries to pull herself together. "This isn't about petty vengeance to me. It isn't because the Warden took pleasure in hurting me. It's about bringing my brother Kaellan back. ...The blood of my enemy, the one who took him away. That's what I need to perform the ritual again."
Unable to bring herself to look her fellow escapees in the eye, Senara does her best to focus on calming her tempestuous emotions following her confession, but she is fighting an uphill battle. Love for her brother, hatred of the Warden, embarrassment at asking for help from others and fear of losing her life attempting to slay the man alone all fight for supremacy in the Lady's conflicted heart. But, eventually, it's love, dark and twisted, that wins out over all else.
"If you had one chance to bring back the person you love most in the world, wouldn't you risk everything for it?"
Ella silently watches the dark haired beauty explain. The reason was not what she expected, Ella admitted to herself. Vengenance is easy, this though... She has read many tomes about the arcane, but resurrection was well beyond her scope of understanding.
The person you love the most... Ella's gaze fades off, thinking, remembering... ending in a harsh shake of her head. Seeing her companions shift from her reaction, she realizes discounting her own thoughts was being taken the wrong way. She would have to face her father someday, but not now.
She switches to a nod and a simple "Okay"
Looking at Ileosa and Grumble, she'll raise an eyebrow in question. Wondering if they will be coming or meeting up later.
"I love no one so... no." Ileosa answered with a small shrug and smirk. "But I do believe I understand what you are saying." She quickly went on as she held up her hand. "Though I would like to know a bit about this ritual, tis something that intrigues me." She said honestly, crossing her arms. "Do not take this the wrong way, but you don't seem so powerful as to be able to bind a soul to yourself. How did you come about to do that the first time?"
"Oh and before you ask, no. I never really knew my father or mother and had no siblings, I've no sympathy at all." Ileosa explained, a small smirk following. "I agree with things that align with my goals and disagree with those that don't. You're asking me to risk my life... for your brother's soul? Why should I?" She asked. "I gain nothing from it and risk everything. Not to mention, are you even sure that is what will happen? If you where bound to your brother without the blood of the one who removed him from this world the first time why would it matter this time?"
Drack Vakarin
Drack rolls his eyes Tactics my dear, when the opportunity presents itself to strike down a foe at a time of your choosing, it is best you take it lest he do the same to you at a time of his choosing”
Ella understands the tactic of taking out the leader. Like at the orphanage, chop the head off a chicken and the body will die.
Unless it grows back, but that only happened once.
Arguing that route, like Drack was, would be strictly an academic exercise... since that is not why the warden is marked for death.
So Ella remains silent, crossing her big arms across her chest and waits.
"Except is hasn't." Ileosa countered. "We could leave. Right now. In fact, we have to go out of our way to try and find him. Our exit is over there." She said as she pointed the other way. "He might, not will, might be up there. We've no way to know for sure from right here without alerting him and those around that we are here." She pointed out with a simple shrug. "No to mention it took us a great deal of effort to take down the guards, this is the Warden we're talking about. His armor will be far better and his experience with combat greater. Logically and tactically, this is a fight we should avoid at all cost if we want to leave here alive. Fighting makes noise, noise brings attention, and for us attention is the last thing we want." Ileosa explained simply. "We are so close to freedom we can taste it, but still one miss step will cost us all of it." She went on. "If they alert the gate at the end that we've escaped do you really think the password we got will work?" She asked.
"And while you're getting yourselves killed I can just leave." Ileosa said with a shrug. "They'll know that we're out once you attack so I'll have to move quickly." She commented.
Ileosa grinned as she held up the unholy symbol of Asmodeus. "I have spells that can get me out, as if I was a guard. I just have to make it to the gate." She told him before she returned the symbol to her pocket. "And I know the password. Really the only reason I remain with you is because it suits me. If this is the path you plan to take then it no longer suits me. I get nothing from this and risk everything, I will not do that. Tis a fools errand and you know it."
Ella shakes her head at the bickering, remembering clearly why she tends to avoid people... she simply doesn't like them.
Still she remains silent and separate from the argument, until Drack mentions killing Ileosa. Then the big woman uncrosses her arms and takes a single step toward him. Just a step but the meaning is clear enough.
At least she thinks so.
"Not at all, I would simply slip away. I'm rather good at that if you haven't noticed. Even when I trip over an uneven stone I still am not heard." Ileosa stated. "I could even lie and say I am running to get help and they would buy it."
Ileosa's eyes shot to Ella as the changeling moved. A look of shock flashed upon the young woman's face before she forced it away. She prided herself on her cool, and could not lose it now.
Senara pats the large, scaly hand on her shoulder and favors Drack with a weak smile. Ella's concise show of solidarity similarly earns the robust woman a smile and nod of gratitude. Ileosa's admission, on the other hand, garners a long, quiet look from the noblewoman. Once she has said all she needs to, Senara softly shakes her head. "Then I feel sorry for you," she admits without a trace of irony or condescension. "Perhaps one day that may change for you. Perhaps you think love a weakness and that you're better off without it. Regardless, surely by now you've realized that precious little can be accomplished by one's self when everyone else is against you. Logic and tactics are all well and good, but they make for poor bedfellows when you find yourself needing someone to risk life or limb for you."
Folding her hands over her heart, Senara continues, "Come, sister. I shouldn't have to tell you that many things Mitrans would have us think is impossible can be accomplished with the Lord's help. But such things require devotion, sacrifice. ...Blood. I needed the blood of our enemy to complete the ritual the first time I brought back Kaellan; with our bond severed, I'll need it again to forge it anew. So make no mistake"—Senara tightens her grip on her dagger as a look of determination steels over her face—"I'm neither asking for your help nor your permission. If you choose to help me in this, then you will find lasting allies in my brother and me. But I will get the Warden's blood myself, if need be. Thankfully, it doesn't look as though I'll have to resort to that." Senara nods gratefully to the larger two of their group before regarding Ileosa with a curious tilt of her head.
"The choice, it would seem, is yours. Will you come with us or do your best to escape alone? Before you answer," Senara quickly adds, holding up a hand to forestall Ileosa's reply, returning the other woman's smirk as she does. "I'll remind you that is was you who said something to the effect of 'nor is splitting up a grand idea'."
"You say you understand the cost of such an agreement." Ileosa began as she uncrossed her arms, looking Senara up and down before stepping up. "Then you'd have no problem making a bargain upon this would you?" She asked with a small smile.
"I never said I saw love as a weakness, I just don't know it or feel it. Simple as that." Ileosa shrugged as she stepped around Senara, "If The First truly sent your brother back to you first, than by his divine will it will happen again." She began as she gently wrapped her fingers around Senara's wrist with the knife, lifting it up to run her finger down the edge of the blade. "As one of his own chosen, we can attempt to us my blood with the ties to Hell being so strong it should be more than enough." She told her as she removed her finger from the blade. "Of course we would be doing our Lord a great disservice if we didn't follow proper decorum. So a contract of our blood must be made." Ileosa went on with a smile. "I will forever be the anchor, none will break the bond by overlying the mark, and your and your brother forever my ally." Ileosa glanced to Ella for a moment and stated "It applies to you as well dear, should you wish it to."
Senara turns a wide-eyed gaze down to her wrist, the former Lady—so unused to being handled by others in spite of her imprisonment—shocked by the nerve of the other woman. But the boldness of the blonde's actions is quickly forgotten about in the face of her audacious request. "A blood oath?" Senara scoffs. "No," she replies definitively but not unkindly as she takes her arm back. "You might not think very highly of my noble blood, as you call it, but I do. If my studies have taught me anything, it's that there is power in blood. Power I don't intend to give away injudiciously. I will forever be the anchor of my bond with my brother," Senara says, her tone indicating she will brook no further discussion on that point.
"But as I said before, if you help me secure the component I need to bring him back, you'll be able to count the both of us as lasting allies. I will give you my word, but not my blood." Drawing herself up to her full height, Senara looks at Ileosa squarely, as equals. "If those terms are not agreeable to you, then I suppose we're at an impasse."
The party finds itself in a bit of a conundrum, they seem to be at odds but the group agrees that it would be too risky even with Ileosa's considerable capabilities of deception.
Ella wasn't too invested in the conversation as the other females batter back and forth on how to handle the situation, her eyes flitting about, watching carefully for signs the enemy might find them. However, what she noticed, was a rather expensive book. She snatched it up and looked at it to be sure and quickly got her confirmation. The book, "The Floralegium” by Branthus Hart, would make a wonderful gift or even worth selling to a collector.
Ileosa's eyes catch a small glint of gold filigree but ignores it till it seems she's at an impasse with the group. Her lips purse and she scoffs "Fine, we'll kill the damned Warden. It doesn't benefit me in any way beyond an alliance we already had...but I'll take this as payment." she says stepping past Senara and snatching the book off the shelf. Sure enough, it was one of the pricier book on astrology, “Astra Mysterii”.
She waves the book at them and then points it at the stairwell "But if we're doing this, we're doing it quickly and quietly. Follow me." she says, quietly stomping her way to the stairwell before her footfalls softened completely.
Your group manages to get up the stairs with no problem, and stop a bit confused as it seems the stairs were meant to go further. Most likely, they were meant to go to the roof.
They look around at the landing and notice a door that has a small plaque that says Office on the door to the north while the south has a similar one labeled Private: Keep Out!
While happy to be moving again, Ella's body is still a beaten and battered mess. Her normal light steps feel like a steel golem clomping up the steps. Thud Creak Thud. Over and over. There is can be no way this prison hires anyone but the deaf, she muses.
At the top of the stares she gestures toward the office doorway, hesitating to see if there are any strong but silent objections, before turning the knob.
Senara neither smirks nor gloats when Ileosa concedes, merely nods graciously when the woman takes one of the Warden's books as her due and gestures to the staircase when the blonde tells them to follow her. And follow Senara does, her eagerness to spill the Warden's blood making her perhaps slightly less stealthy than she would ordinarily be. And while she would prefer to prolong the old man's suffering with a slow, excruciating death, if the others want to kill him quickly and quietly, Senara supposes she'll just have to extract as much pain as she can from him before the rest of the group get hands on him. Because she can compromise.
As Ella indicates the door marked 'Office', Senara shrugs. Considering how old she estimated the Warden's age, she doesn't think it likely that he'll still be awake. But given that there are only two possible choices, she doesn't object when the warrior woman goes to open the door, only tightens her grip on her dagger and prepares to conjure another infernal minion.
The team of prisoners have decided that the Office should be the first door to be opened and Ella moves up and leans against the door for a brief moment to listen. She indeed hears someone moving about inside but finds no traps to be had on the door. With the team prepared, she flings open the door.
There is some surprise to both parties, the Warden sits in his office chair turned to face the door with a dagger in one hand and his spellbook in the other. An owl perched on his shoulder. The Warden, knowing that no one comes into his tower except to deliver food and that had already been delivered, had been on guard and looks like had been preparing himself for an unexpected visitor with magic. The surprise for him was expected one or two people, but the Ogre and six prisoners!
Although she hadn't expected to see the Warden awake and in his office, Senara is more surprised at the spellbook that rests open on the old man's lap. That explains how he knew about the bond. I wonder what sort of magic the good Warden has been dabbling in. Masking her surprise, Senara gives Matthias Richter a smile that anyone else might consider charming. For the Warden, though, her smile is anything but. "Good evening Warden. Surprised to see us? I'm afraid that's mostly my doing," she says, feigning contrition before going on to explain. "A few of my allies just wanted to escape and leave you be, but I was able to convince them otherwise. You see, you have something I need." The Lady doesn't elaborate on that any further, merely narrows her eyes at the Warden and let's the man's knowledge of her prior crimes and his imagination fill in the rest.
"You may have temporarily severed my connection to my brother, but my connection to Lord Asmodeus's realm is still strong as ever. Here. Let me show you." Raising an open hand in the Warden's direction, a portal to the land of eternal hellfire and suffering opens up mere feet away from the man, letting loose another nightmarish scorpion. Pointing her dagger at Warden Richter, Senara commands, "Rip him apart!" and the infernal arachnid eagerly complies.
Ileosa gave a small smirk as she noticed the Warden. "I tried to tell them, but in the end I couldn't get them to true away. Seems you did a stupid thing and took someone they love or loved. Don't know for sure. Just know I've come to deliver... my form of Justice upon you!" Ileosa explained before she grinned and bestowed Judgment upon him.
She then moved up, getting into position with the Scorpion so as they flanked the Warden and targeted his side with her dagger.
Warden Ritcher was almost certain he was not long for this world, but he knew his job had to be done. With little chance of success and almost no chance to live beyond the next few seconds, he did what he could to stop the evil from escaping. The pages of the spellbook flitted through and the fired began pouring out of it to condense in front of his face.
He pointed the tip of his dagger at the lizardfolk and the ball of fire imploded before it exploded suddenly up, engulfing the prisoner in fire and burning him to a crisp.
Grumblejack seeing magic blast suddenly forth beside him did what any extremely superstitious creature would. He bolted back downstairs afraid for his life.
The two tieflings dove to the sides away from the crispy serpent. The Warden turned his only eye towards the blasphemer and smiled "I've taken your muscle from you, don't make me take your life as well! Surrender so that you may die humanely and be absolved of your sins in Mitra's holy light!"he said trying to show his resolve and bring fear to the prisoners.
"Our muscle?" Ella would feel insulted if it was under a different circumstance. Given the result, she is relatively okay with the misperception if her strength. The retching stink of burning flesh reminds her that to live she must kill and quickly. So grabbing hold of her rage, she lets out an animal like growl and charges...
… past hellish scorpions, burning lizard men, and a desk... finally to slash down with her claws at his face.
Senara instinctively raises her arms to shield herself from the sudden blast of heat, only dropping them when the flames die down to a degree she can withstand. Seeing what's become of her former companion, the Lady briefly lowers her eyes in something like mourning before fixing her black glare on the sanctimonious Warden. "Die humanely?" she scoffs, casting another glance to the charred corpse behind her for effect. "Well, considering I'm slated for the pyre myself and I've just witnessed firsthand how painful immolation looks, I'm afraid going to have decline."
Whipping her arm forward, Senara sends the dagger in her hand flipping end over end toward the Warden as the scorpion latches onto the man with one of its claws.
The fight with the Warden is vicious, the poor old man can't even get out of his chair. Senara summons a fiendish scorpion that lands in his lap. It's claws snapping and it's tail stabbing into him. Ileosa uses the chance to slip in herself and give him a stab in the side.
Like a man driven of passion and some divine purpose, he ignores his nearly fatal wounds and cries out. His words, not cries of anguish but arcane, summon fire up from his book to condense and sudden appear with great power on top of your former fellow prisoner, the nagaji. Emboldened by the words the man speaks, Ella dances into the fray around allies, flaming dead body, and creatures alike to strike her claws into the Warden's flesh. She feels her claws connect but she is surprised when blood doesn't drip from them.
Angered by his words and his former actions, Senara edges the scorpion on and throws her dagger in for good measure. The Warden's thrashing about to avoid blows from the scorpion cause her blade to miss but a final claws drains the life from his eyes.
The group doesn't waste time, Senara grabbing the blood she needed in a vial off the warden's corpse and the others each manage to grab something of use. A map of the moors and the Warden's own spellbook.
Ella toes the charred corpse of the man who once picked at her birth. He was a good killer even with his snapping tongue, she thinks, deciding he will be missed in the remaining dash to freedom. At least he died on his feet instead of in chains. With a shrug, she'll kneel to pull the extra set of keys from his belt.
"Grumble's gone." she points out to the others, in case they missed the massive ogre running like a toddler. "He will hopefully serve as a distraction." saying in her own way she doesn't think they should go after him.
As quickly and as quietly as the large woman can, she'll pad down the stairs to the door leading to the battlements. Listen... then open.
Ella come to a dead stop when she nearly runs into their cowering OGRE. Giving the massive brute, who had been using dead bodies as clubs and who just ran from a bit of fire, the closest approximation to a WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT glare. She then shakes her head and goes to the door.
Ileosa took a moment to gather the Warden's spellbook and a few other valuables that might just be handy. "There, you have your blood. Now let us depart swiftly." She requested as she headed back down to the second level where she figured Ella ran off to.
Though she swiftly comes to a pause as she finds the changeling glaring at their ogre ally. "Ah, he must have fled combat... let me guess, you didn't like the fire ball?" She asked.