[The irony of such an attack isn't lost on Blanche. Unlike these nobles, however, her plan was justified and saved the people long-term suffering. So she thinks, at least; either way, she nods her head at that first bit, gritting her teeth before responding to the second.]

Nor did I. For all of my research into the noble territories, it seems there is still much that they have hidden from us. Enough so that they attempted to make an example of the lot of us...

[There's no use in dwelling on it now, she supposes. Alaric's words echo in her mind; they have to take this one step at a time.]

But we are still alive, and that will more than prove to be their folly once we have all of the information that we need.

[Blanche looks up through the brush of the trees--she can see Landow in the distance, at least, but Blanche startles at something she sees from the distance.

The good news is, it looks like there are people there. The bad news is, it looks like the villagers are running from something from deeper inside of it. Blanche's eyes widen.]

The town is under attack? At a time like this? [There's no panic in Blanche's tone; more than anything it sounds incredulous, but Alaric knows Blanche by now. If the people are suffering...] Alaric, we need to get closer to the town, with haste. Something is going on there!

[who's ready for a ~bandit routing chapter~]