With a snap of his fingers, Gild funneled a small amount of mana into his cantrips and released part of the binding spell. The ropes gagging the elf dissipated into thick, oily smoke that smelled of fire and dirt and quickly vanished into nothingness. To her credit, the woman did not cry out once and instead renewed her deathly glower at the two men, shifting between them smoothly.

“I’ll give you one shot at this. What are you doing her?” Gild asked, preparing his mana again. The elf didn't answer and instead spat at their feet. Gild wiggled his fingers, working more mana into the cantrip and tightening the ropes. They gave her a squeeze, eliciting a small gasp of pain.

“Gildy, I think you’ve made your point,” Turwyn murmured. He looked between the elf and gnome, his eyes lined with worry. Damned hiding as a mage. Even if the paladin was a bit naïve about magic, there was only so far Gild could use his warlock spells before even the giant man would start to question him. Gild released some of the mana and the ropes slackened slightly, letting the elf breathe again.

“You better free me,” the elf spat as soon as she’d gotten her breath back. “I have incredibly dangerous friends in high places.”

“You don't know the meaning of dangerous friends,” Gild smirked at her.

“You may have heard of me,” she smirked right back at him. She tried to straighten up as best as she could under the constraints of the ropes. “I am the Night Rose.”

Turwyn looked at Gild who just shrugged his shoulders. The elf looked at them with dismay.

“That doesn't ring a bell at all?”

“Never heard of you,” Gild said.

“Not the faintest idea who that is,” Turwyn replied.

“I steal from the rich and corrupt, give it to the poor and downtrodden?”

Her comment was met with blank stares from the two men.

“Are you serious?” she said. Her eyes rolled back in anger and she slouched down in the ropes, defeated.

“I’ve heard of people doing that or similar style things before, but why you?” Turwyn asked. He seemed genuinely interested in her as soon as she had mentioned evil and downtrodden.

“Someone has to make the world a better place,” she said, her head still hanging. “And my choices as a Star Elf were very, shall we say, limited?”

“Why would they be limited?”

“Turwyn!” Gild snapped. “We just went over this. The hierarchy of elves? They have this backwards way of viewing the world and your role in it depending on the entirely observable and not at all magical alignment of the celestial bodies?”

“I remember that,” the large man said dejectedly, furrowing his brows slightly. “I still just don't get it. Why would being born under the sun or moon or stars make any difference?”

“Because it's a way of keeping those in power there and keeping everyone else down,” the elf said before Gild could answer. He turned to her with a little bit of surprise.

“She's exactly right. Everywhere there are systems of keeping power in a select group of hands. Sometimes it's birth rights or nobility, sometimes it's straight money, other times it's the color of your skin. But the end goal is always the same. I’m sure your own paladin order is guilty of the same thing in some way.”

The paladin's face fell before his normal stoicness came back on. “Surely not! Paladin and clerics uphold the glory of holy light and all that is good.”

“Sure thing buddy,” Gild gave him a small pat on the arm. “But in the real world it happens everywhere and with everyone.

Turning back to the elf, he continued, “Since you claim to steal from evil only, I'll have you know my friend here is a paladin. You stole from a paladin and member of the holy order or whatever he said.”

“I didn't take anything from him,” she protested. “I went through his bag, saw the sigil, and immediately left.”

“Then you came over here to steal from me?”

“Are you an evil lord?”

Gild stared at her for a moment before laughing. “I have to admit, you are an incredibly bold woman.”

She met his laugh with a fierce glare of her own.

“No, I am just a mage on a simple mission of retribution and demon hunting.”

Turwyn pulled on Gild's robe sleeve and they stepped aside for a moment.

“Why don't we have her join us?” he whispered.

“What? She just tried to steal from us!”

“Not me, she just admitted she wouldn't steal from me. And I’m sure as she went through your room she wouldn't have stolen from you either.”

Gild couldn't help but glance at the pack near the elf, containing all sorts of incriminating documents and tokens that would identify him as a warlock to anyone but the thickest person. Even if Turwyn was gleefully naïve, his sigils and items from the Other Realm couldn't be ignored.

“Look at her,” Turwyn said, taking his glance toward the elf as hesitation on Gild's part. “She isn't doing well here. I can't condone stealing of any kind, but if someone has to do it isn’t it better to steal from the evil and give back to the good? Between the two of us, we could probably use someone who knows the town and has a bit of sneakery.”

“I thought you knew this town.”

Turwyn shook his head. “I just came in and got the kobold contract, that's it.”

Gild scowled and rubbed his chin. He looked at the elf who was watching them silently, trying to appear aloof to the whole situation.

“A rogue with a code of laws?” Gilds finally asked. Turwyn shrugged again.

“Fine, let's talk to her and see if she can help us.”

Gild focused his mana and released the cantrip, dropping the elf to the ground. To her credit, she caught herself and landed nimbly on her feet.

“What's your name?” Gild asked.

Rubbing her wrists where the rope had held her, she said, “Prisolyna.”

“Well Prisolyna, we have an offer for you.”