As a human, she'll give herself something she deserves

In the end, certain unspoken needs of Ursula's won out. The esteemed counselor knew that if she approached in angel form, bathed in light and slinging holy spears and chains, the thieves would either be completely demolished or otherwise would retreat off into the shadows like cockroaches. On the other hand, if she approached as the church counselor, alone, with no halo, no wings, and no weapon... if they perceived that they had the jump on her... what might ten thieves do to a woman like herself in that situation?

"And I can punish them afterward for their hubris," Ursula's internal reasoning managed to convince herself, trying to make this course of action sound more dutiful in her head than it really was. She might be able to interrogate the thieves this way, but only if they got so overconfident that they spilled the beans... truth be told, this method wasn't good for anything other than her own increasingly frustrated carnal desires.

Ursula took a moment to push her glasses up, determined to at least look respectable as she walked this questionably righteous path, then entered the alleyway, with a dubious level focus upon reclaiming the lost feathers and interrogating the thieves.

Seeing her, the leader of the thieves turned, causing his brown cloak to swish around his muscular form, clad beneath the robe in a sleeveless brown top and dirty, patched pants. His lower face was obscured by a cloth mask, wrapped into his hood, but his eyes were sneering, seeing a lone, unarmed woman approaching him. "You lost, ma'am? No, judging by that rosary around your neck, I trust I've got something you're looking for," the leader of the thieves chuckled, patting a small satchel looped into his trousers' belt. Right next to them, a dangerous-looking, well-used knife was tucked in, its hilt and part of its blade exposed.

"I'll have you return what you stole from one of Geod's most sacred servants, then further, explain to me why you risked stealing them," Ursula prompted the thief, standing with one hand upon the pronounced curve of her hip; moonlight reflected from her glasses, obscuring the cold, blue eyes behind them. That expression of hers made her look like a haughty agent of the church, fully relying upon her clear authority to cause the thief to back down... perhaps with nothing else to back up her request.

The bandit's laugh made just as clear that he had no reverence for the church whatsoever. "Ha ha ha! If you're tellin' me I stole something Geod wants back, that just makes me want to hold on to it more," he snickered, then held up one hand. He made a gesture, hooking in one finger, as if telling someone to come closer. Ursula soon realized the gesture wasn't for her... the man's fellow thieves began to emerge from the shadows, carrying various weapons, such as knives and clubs. "Kinda makes me wanna rob you too, when you hold the church over my head like that. Common folk give so much to your damned institution... only fair that you give some back, right?"

"Ha! As if I have anything that belongs in the hands of miscreants like yourselves," Ursula laughed, not dropping her attitude, even as she was surrounded. Her goading of the bandits was quite intentional. "If I had any soap, I suppose I would give you each a share."

"Bitch! You're talkin' to Gedd, leader of the Band of Ten Thieves!" a short, snub-nosed man with curling hair behind her complained, flexing a length of rope in his hands, which looked strangely over-sized for the rest of his body.

"Easy, easy... We don't want soap, but I'm sure you've got plenty besides that would interest us," Gedd smiled, raising both hands to his sides to shrug his cloak away as he approached.