Lead the women to freedom

Tessa, the older woman who was being **** by the goblins, picks up one of the dead creature's blades and cuts the ropes tying her shapely daughter. She pulls the gag from Ruby's mouth and the two women embrace and hold each other tightly. They cry with relief as you wait for them to recover.

"Thank you," says Tessa finally. "Did you... see my husband?"

"I'm sorry," is all you have to say. Grief furrows her features and she pulls her daughter tight against her bosom. You put your hands on their shoulders, unable to help yourself from admiring the shapely young Ruby, with her big blue eyes and milky white skin. Her freckled cheeks are stained with tears. "I have a horse not far from here. You can ride and I'll walk."

Tessa nods and holds her daughter's hands as they follow you to where you left Aegis. You help them onto the back of the big stallion and take his reins to use them as a lead. You resume your journey towards Gerlangen, though traveling through the woods at night makes you wary. Tessa seems to share your apprehension.

"There is a logging outpost not far from here. If you can find the main road I will lead you to it." She hugs her daughter tightly. "We were headed there to trade grain for the timbers to build a farmstead."

"I was headed to Gerlangen," you say. "I am on a mission from my order."

"Of course. You're one of the sisters of the Burning Rose. I should have seen your innocence. One of my distant cousins is a sister there. Have you heard of Constance?"

Constance, the beautiful, shy sister who tends to the library, has surely suffered a fate too grisly to mention now. Tessa and her daughter are dealing with enough trauma. They need not know the abbey is lost and that daemons are loose upon the land.

"Yes, I know Constance well," you say. "She is in the library. She has taught me much in my time at the abbey."

"Well, that is... oh look, there is the freight road just ahead." Tessa points over her daughter's shoulder and past you towards a wagon road cut through the forest. "If you just follow that to the left it will take us to the logging outpost. They surely won't refuse aid to us."

True, the loggers would be glad to see three comely women arriving in the night and would offer their hospitality. The way ahead is a long, dark walk through the forest, unable to see if someone, or something, might lie in ambush for you. Perhaps Tessa is right. It is worth losing some time to divert your path to the logging outpost.