See if the mage cooperates

The first thing that you notice, upon entering the web-sealed room, is the sundered remains of the stick-and-mud architecture. Rather than being burnt, frozen, or dampened with water, the wood seems to have all been broken with blunt ****. In her attempted escape, Miss Mage must have tried to literally break her way out. A blast of air pressure, maybe, you think, trying to pin down what spell the elf could have used. Whatever it was, these shoddy old sticks didn’t stand a chance. Curious, you test your footing. The floor feels solid underfoot, assuaging your doubts about its integrity. Despite the damage to the original construction, the spider silk seems to be holding everything together just fine.

Next, you turn your attention to the bound and gagged woman sitting against the far wall. The cobalt-haired elf is giving you her most dignified glare. Her physical condition is mostly the same as you saw it yesterday, aside from a few fresh scrapes and bruises that she must have earned during her escape attempt. In particular, you notice how beaten up her hands are. It wasn’t an air pressure blast at all, then, you realize. She actually tried to punch and claw her way out. Probably with strength enhancement or pain nullification buffs. Or… maybe she didn’t use any magic at all? The more you look at her, the more you realize that the elf doesn’t look nearly as exhausted as yesterday. Ticking off the possible reasons for her recovery, the first is, of course, sleep. She didn’t get much, though, because she tried to escape at some point in the night. Next, there’s the chance that she used healing magic on herself. Again, unlikely, given her fresh cuts and bruises. Third would be a nice, hearty meal, except you haven’t allowed any of the prisoners to have food, yet. All that’s left, then, is the natural regeneration of her mana. If she didn’t use any magic in her escape attempt, then she would have naturally replenished some, or most, of her mana overnight. Considering how close to passing out from mana fatigue she was yesterday, this natural recovery could account for Rowena’s renewed vigor.

It would also make her dangerous. If she hasn’t used mana to heal her hands, then you can only assume that she’s saving it to use against you.

“Good morning, Rowena,” you say, stepping aside so that Blythe can follow you into the room. The bound elf’s glare intensifies when she notices your busty blonde partner. While Rowena tries to melt her with imaginary laser beams fired out of her eyes, Blythe lights a mana crystal and jams it into one of the air holes left in the webbed ceiling. Once the spiders finish resealing the door, the light of the crystal adds to the bits of sunlight poking through the rest of the air holes and lights up the room nicely. “Sleep well? I hear you had quite an eventful night,” you say. There is no furniture in the small, ravaged, makeshift prison cell, so you have to either level with her and sit on the floor, or remain standing and look down on her. You choose the latter.

“Whdsshhr?” says the gagged woman. You smirk at the garbled attempt at speech, despite the knotted length of cloth tied over the woman’s mouth.

“Let me make something clear,” you say. “Unlike last time, today you don’t get to talk. The gag stays on.” Although she tries to hide it, the elf’s eyes widen a bit when she hears the news. You give yourself a mental pat on the back for foiling her plan. No spellcasting chances for you, bitch. You saved up your mana all night for nothing. “I am going to ask you some questions. You will answer either yes or no.” You nod and shake your head, illustrating Rowena’s options for her. “If you lie, or refuse to answer, then I will make you watch while I punish Roy for your disobedience. Do you understand?”

The elven mage stares into your unforgiving eyes, daring to test your resolve only for a few seconds before slowly nodding her head.

“Good. First, let’s talk about your lodgings here.” You make a show of looking all around the hut, taking in every broken stick and pile of torn out dirt. “Did you do all this damage yourself?”

It’s an easy question, and one she knows that you already know the answer to. It would be stupid to lie. Even so, her stubbornness makes her hesitate. The elf takes a moment to think about it, but ultimately makes the correct choice. She nods.

“An honest answer,” you say. “Good. Have you eaten anything since yesterday, Rowena?”

The elf seems confused by the sudden, seemingly random question. What does her eating have to do with anything? Surely, you must know that she hasn’t been brought any food. Rowena shakes her head.

“I’ll have to order meals brought in for you and your friends, later,” you say. The promise of food doesn’t do anything to clear the confusion from the prisoner’s expression, but that’s only natural. Of course you intend to feed her, eventually; there’s no point in keeping someone a prisoner if you’re just going to starve them; if you wanted her dead, she would already be dead: those are the kinds of thoughts that must be going through her head.

“Next, tell me about yourself. You’re a mage, correct?”

Her confusion about the food question is still bothering her, so she nods with less hesitation this time.

“I watched you in the battle yesterday,” you say. “It looked like you were casting magic to strengthen your allies. Is that right?”

Now that you’re getting more specific, you have her full attention once again. She glares at you for a solid ten seconds before finally nodding her head.

“Supporting your companions with magic. Temporarily boosting someone’s physical abilities. Is that your specialty?”

Again, she hesitates to answer. Again, you’ve asked a question that she has to believe you most likely know the answer to. There’s no room to lie, so after thinking it over, Rowena nods.

“Good,” you say with a smirk. “I take it you used that magic on yourself last night? To aid you in your escape.”

Rowena nods immediately this time. She breaks eye contact and grimaces, wearing the frustration of her failure clearly for you to see. It’s a shame, really. If she hadn’t hesitated on every question before this, you might have fallen for such an act.

“I warned you not to lie,” you say, before crouching down to get nice and close to the mage’s face. The move commands Rowena to resume eye contact, and her skin goes a little pale when she sees how dead serious you look. “You’re brimming with mana right now. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? You saved it all up, just for me, didn’t you?” Rowena’s eyes widen for a moment. She’s been caught red-handed. A weaker woman would start to cry, or panic, out of fear, but not her. Not Rowena Melissari. Her dignified glare returns in full ****.

“Iwsywudai! E’un!”

Her garbled speech continues to be as amusing as it is unintelligible.