Enter the cave.

As you near the tunnel leading into the hillside, you hear a few more noises of embarrassment coming from the head in your arms. Flushed, her head squirms left and right. There's no way for her to tell them to stop, and no way to even cover her own mouth. Knowing what sort of things have flustered her in the past, this situation is probably having quite the effect on her.

"They tied... my wrists..." Alice mutters.

"All right. Hold on there, Alice. Don't pass out on me," you reply.

"I see a light," Eva says. "From inside the cave. Look."

You all peer inside to see the flickering glow of fire deeper within. At first, the entrance is pitch black--even darker than outside. With every step, you worry you'll trip and fall. Though as you near the source of light, you start to notice an open cavern ahead lit by torches and a small campfire in the middle. Two figures stand before the flame, and behind them, Alice's body bound by vine ropes.

"You bastards!" the man screams as he draws his sword and leaps into danger. "Give me back my girl!"

As your eyes adjust, you notice two familiar faces.

Chula--the harpy with raven black feathers and hair, the latter of which reaches her neck. She still wears a black top that's no larger than a bikini, and matching booty shorts. You remember her from back when they did something similar with one of your own party members, before you all became allies and bested the Flame General, and they're the ones that gave you the necklace to begin with. One of her sisters--not by blood--is Chini, who is with her. She's the harpy with long pink hair and matching feathers, an ample bust covered by a white top, and blue shorts. You remember that she was was a lot more soft-spoken and sweet than her more angsty siblings.

"You girls," Eva says. "**** again."

"Hey. How're you guys?" Chula asks.

"Don't you hey me!" Niki shouts.

Chula flaps her wings. "Relax. We didn't realize it was you guys back there. We just saw this girl and grabbed her, but we weren't going to turn her into a harpy. It doesn't look like we could do that anyway. She's definitely not human."

You peer over to Alice's body struggling in her bindings.

Chini shivers. "So scary..."

"Where the fuck is my girl?" the man butts in. "Give her back!"

"No." Chula reaches down and snips the vine ropes with her powerful talon.

Alice's body stumbles to her feet and over towards you. She looks uninjured at least, but she squirms as she grabs her head from your arms and pops it back onto her neck. If she needed to breathe, you imagine she'd be panting right now by the look on her face.

"What do you mean no?" the man snaps back.

"And what did you do to Alice?" you ask.

Chula laughs. "All I did was grope her a little bit. You're acting like I deflowered her or something."

You turn to Alice. "You were reacting like a lot more was going on."

She turns away bashfully. "N-No I was not..."

Meanwhile, Chini strolls slowly up towards you as everybody else is speaking. When she reaches you, she has a bright smile on her face. Though her sisters have an intimidating aura, even the smaller one who isn't present, she radiates the same energy as a sweet candy. She wraps her soft feathers around you, and presses her even softer chest against your arm in a warm embrace. "It's good to see you again." You notice that her top has been stitched back up where it had been previously torn.

"Answer me!" the man shouts again.

"I did." Chula stares at him with no fear in her eyes. "Patricia made her decision. Get over it already."

"Wait. What decision?" you ask.

Eva and Amara perk up and look in the direction of a tunnel at your left.

"I heard a girl scream," Eva says.

"Patty!" The man begins sprinting in that direction.

With no time for explanations, you hurry behind him, and everybody follows suit.