[fortunately, he's cut off by viarault, who is intent on doing the talking today, and hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. the fact that alaqa is unusually small for a xaela male doesn't bother him — instead, viarault's problem is simply that alaqa is non-elezen, and the prospect of spending too much time in non-elezen company makes his skin crawl.

then again, alaqa isn't a midlander, at least. midlanders are the worst.

clearing his throat with a pointed glare in alfeoux's direction, viarault takes his own tome from his belt-loops, opening it quickly to an appropriate page; he closes it shut as he weaves a protective barrier around all three of them.]

Alaqa, then. I will be... brief. The bandits have taken residence outside of this cave system — Alfeoux took the measure of it earlier. There appears to be but one entrance and exit, so a full frontal assult appears to be our only option. The group is not particularly large — we've counted at least six different individuals moving in and out of the cave, but there may be more inside.