Their party headed south as they fled the area where the Greater Steel Bear was; the only other party to their north was too strong for them to take on safely. The main pass ran north to south, and according to their prisoners, the enemy camp was located somewhere further south.
Their enemy wouldn't expect the Baroness to detach her strongest soldiers from the vulnerable civilians, however the security of even a basic keep, like Callum's, gave them greater flexibility that their opponents likely wouldn't expect.
Captain Xinyi's party hoped to find the enemy camp lightly guarded and lax in its security. If the prisoners were still there, they could free them and bolster their own forces while simultaneously depriving them of potential hostages when the castle was discovered.
The group traveled in silence for a while before the Paladin spoke up.
"So is anyone else jealous of that bear's armor or is that just me?"
"Garrett, you're the only one crazy enough to wear that damn heavy armor, so I'm pretty sure it's just you. However, I've been thinking of what I wouldn't give to be able to <
"Just my luck that my girl can change shape and she's only interested in changing into blasted monsters that are even hairier than I am," Garrett said in a loud and dramatically aggrieved tone.
"Just because I occasionally invite you to my bedroll doesn't make me your girlfriend," she quickly countered.
"Of course you're not my girlfriend, you're my wife! I've even got the ring to prove it."
"Oh, gods, why did I marry Hairy Gary again?" Cadiwynn theatrically raised her hands up in supplication to the gods.
"Magic fingers babe, you know it's the magic fingers," Garrett took off one of his gauntlets and raised his bare and noticeably hairy hand into the air. Small tendrils of lightning crawled across his hand or into the air.
Captain Xinyi coughed to hide a laugh as the Druid buried her red face into her hands. Most of the rest of the party quietly hid their faces except for a confused Callum; Garrett noticed the confusion and leaned in to whisper into Callum's ears.
"I have a very minor elemental affinity to lightning. I can't really do anything with it in battle, but just imagine what it can do to a woman's nervous system," he waggled his eyebrows and winked as he leaned back.
_____
They surveyed the camp below them from a ridge some distance away; Amarok's senses had been crucial in their ability to avoid several other patrols.
They felt that they could have taken down one or two of those patrols with a careful ambush. However, most of their party had various abilities that had longer cooldown timers, and they wanted to have access to their full strength should the camp prove to be less vulnerable.
The ridge they were on now was too far from the camp to make out details. Terrel had been sent to take a closer look while the rest of the party maintained a distance to avoid detection; he was just now returning to the party.
"There's somewhere around thirty of them staying in the camp itself, with an additional two parties of six who patrol near the camp. Both parties don't stray too far from the camp and I don't think we can remove them without alerting the camp."
"Any sign of the prisoners? What about any defensive measures?" Captain Xinyi questioned.
"I didn't spot any obvious defenses other than the rotating patrols. I didn't want to risk getting too much closer, in case they have something magical up that I couldn't sense. They do have at least two Advanced classes in there though, with the potential for a third."
He sighed before looking back at the enemy camp and pointed at a dark smudge set into the cliff that the camp was set against.
"That is a cave and it is constantly guarded by several soldiers. There's someone being held inside because I saw some food being delivered, but I don't know how many are being held in there."
"There's no door to the cave entrance?"
"No ma'am, just a couple of guards. There could be something further in though, I just can't tell."
Captain Xinyi digested the information before deciding that the group would wait for nightfall to confirm if the patrols returned at night. At that time, Cadiwynn would <
The party faced superior numbers of enemies, but this time their opponents had two or three times the number of Advanced classes to go along with their advantage in numbers. They would need to know as much as possible before deciding on a plan.
Some seemingly insignificant detail could be the key to making a breakout attempt possible. They needed to grab onto whatever advantage they could if they hoped to overcome their foe, because they had too few things going for them.
_____
Darkness fell as the enemy patrols returned to their camp and the party waited in a fireless camp. Their Aeromancer was able to create a bubble of air around them in order to trap their body heat and keep the wind from making things worse.
The couple shared a quiet moment of affection before it was time for Cadiwynn to shift into the form of a bat. The rest of the party offered encouragement as well as advice that she didn't really need; everyone was nervous because she would be entering the camp by herself.
"Guys, I got this. I can sense magic even in my animal forms, so I won't trip any magical wards. And yes, I'll surrender if I'm discovered and I can't escape. That way I'll just be someone else you lot will need to rescue."
Her body transformed into a small bat as her clothes fluttered to the ground. She flew over to land in Captain Xinyi's hand; a tiny scrap of paper with a coded message was tied around her leg. Jia Xinyi gave her one last word of encouragement before she took flight once more.
To everyone's surprise she flew right over Garrett; that shock only increased when he suddenly cursed out loud and dove to the side. Tiny chitters that sounded suspiciously like a laugh trailed after the bat as it flew off into the night.
"Godsdamned woman promised that she'd shit on me next time she transformed into a bird. I thought she was joking; how was I to know that was the last of the chocolate," Garrett grumbled as he dusted the snow off and carefully inspected himself for any new 'gifts' from his wife.
"That gives a new meaning to the phrase batshit crazy. Middle of your back about halfway down," Terrel guffawed as he watched the paranoid man. His keen eyes let him know that she hadn't actually carried out her threat; but he couldn't pass up the chance to mess with his friend.
Callum smiled as he laid his bedding out onto the cold hard ground that had been previously cleared of snow. He didn't have first watch and wanted to get as much sleep as he could before he had to take his turn at watch.
It would take her most of the night to fly there, investigate, and then return. Most of the group was soon settling in to sleep; Garrett had volunteered to take the first shift and everyone knew that he was too worried about his wife to sleep much anyway.
Callum gladly welcomed Amorak flopping down onto the bedding with him. He had warmer clothing and a better cold resistance than when he was first exiled, but Amarok was practically a furnace with the heat he gave off.