[sylvanSpider]

“Never heard us called that before,” the halfling mused with a bit of a smirk. Theaffa seemed to be in fairly good spirits considering she was a prisoner of war. “But ah, your common tongue interpretation is wanting. You see, the term you're looking for here is 'woman.'” She chuckled, realizing the futility of her statement but Theaffa kept her eyes on the bird man. He was certainly something new and exciting to look at. The Strix she'd seen in the past were only from a distance. This was her first up close.

Theaffa watched the small bird land, only to leave immediately. Some sort of messenger? Probably. Maybe his people cared for him more than her people cared for her. Then, what could one expect already being the odd one out in an adventuring party full of humans? “Ah, so you're the reason my rations got smaller. Clever, clever, aren't you?” Theaffa leaned forward again, wishing that the cage was even just a little bit wider. “Ah, but you're wrong again there. I haven't been defeated. I'm just losing at the moment is all. Even you noticed my small stature, yes? Well, if I tried to escape without the right opportunities I certainly would die. I've just been waiting for my opportunity is all.” She scowled, a bit insulted that he would even consider that she had given up.

Theaffa tilted her head with the man's sudden silence, wondering what he was doing, jumping up with the shriek of pain from the Strix. She blinked a moment watching as he was wrenched from his holdings and moved to more permanent...more painful ones. “Come now, was that really necessary?” she asked one of the guards who'd brought him down. The guard's attention snapped to the halfling and he grabbed her bars, Theaffa not backing away as anticipated.

“You think you can tell us what we can and can't do with our prisoners, imp?”

“Well, I mean, you obviously don't have to listen, but I feel as though I just did,” the halfling was wearing a shit-eating grin, antagonizing him just for the sake of the humor of it.

“C'mon, Jared. Don't feckin' listen to the imp. She's not even liked by her own friends, remember? She doesn't mean anything to anyone, and her opinion matters about as much as 'is,” here, the corresponding guard tossed his head at the poor new prisoner and their pair walked off with a scoff and an eyeroll from the prior.

Theaffa sighed, turning her attention back to the unconscious man. He was like that for the next half hour, but Theaffa had nothing better to do, so she watched. “Ah, so you did live through that...And yes. That's been my lifelong struggle hasn't it?” she asked, laughing at her own lame joke, squatting down to the best of her ability given the width of the cage. She adjusted her cloak to her front so her hands were hidden, “I've been waiting for your consciousness for the past half hour...now if you can stay awake and you can still move, I might be able to aid in your escape. Just...play along with it, alright?”[/b]

With that, she cupped her hands, ducking under her cloak. Through the fibers one could see a bit of light seeping out, but only faintly. She looked around to make sure no one else saw, ducking back under whispering into her cupped hands. When she opened them again, something that sounded like a Strix north of the camp sounded and immediately the camp was awake, men shouting at each other. “They're 'ere for th' prisoner! Up and at 'em, boys!” Theaffa then repeated this, aiming the sound to the west, and coincidentally, the same sound came from that direction.

To the actual Strix, it would have sounded like gibberish. The halfling, after all, did not know his own tongue or the specific screeches or anything. But, the humans also didn't know. So far as they knew, they were under attack. “My magic isn't that strong, and I'm afraid I can't do much more than that. However, the pandemonium is what I needed. You will have to move fast, alright?” With that, she grunted as she thrust forward with her cage landing with a loud crash—conveniently placing the halfling within arm's reach of one of the Strix's arm's stakes. It was on this that she now latched onto, “This...this might hurt.” She began to lift the stake up.