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Atop Arion, you wonder how Pronax fares on his cattle drive to Argos – he must be drawing close to the City now, your brief sojourn into Arcadia providing him with a head-start. The hostage is still motionless in the donkey-cart behind you. You sigh deeply – her fate rests in your hands, and you are uncharacteristically unsure. You are a man of decisive action, but the appearance of the divinity last night has rattled your senses, interfering with your decisionmaking. The goddess' ambiguous words are difficult for you to interpret - can you trust that she truly did not care what you did with the Tegean noblewoman, or was their some hidden meaning that you failed to decipher?
Crossing into the swamps in mid-morning, you are still undecided – until you gaze upon the village through a screen of swampy vegetation with fresh eyes. The sheer poverty of the place strikes you – you had managed to forget the true indigence of these people. Their remarkable in comparison to your own luxurious estates (not too far from this place, truly), or your uncle’s truly extravagant lodgings in Argos proper. The thatches of the huts are moldy, the villagers here are clothed poorly, and they are short and thin – the waifish physiques of men and women used to hungry summers and starving winters. You’ve crossed through the village many times in the past, but now, with the prospect of dealing with Gryllogus in the future, your eye is attuned to such things. Any payment you collect from Gryllogus is stealing wealth from his household; taking livestock from the hungry families that depend on the beasts for their hardscrabble livelihood. The families here would then risk starvation until Gryllogus collects the ransom from Archigeiros directly – presuming that he is successful in this. If he fails to act, or fails to collect reasonable payment from Archigeiros, his village may be brought to the brink of failure. The thought of bartering the hostage and jeopardizing the survival of the village itself in the process strikes you as wholly unsatisfactory – Gryllogus simply may not be able to afford it. As a prince of Argos, you have a higher duty than most - these men are your countrymen and must be cared for - and so you elect to make yet another change of plans.
You simply collect your Heraclidean panoplia (trivial for you to hold atop Arion when it is safely bound together into a single package), drop the donkey-cart by the side of the trail, cut the reins and immediately lead Arion and the pair of Argive steeds around the village itself. It’s trivial to stay out of sight, as you do so. The woman will be discovered before noon, you’re certain of it, and equally certain that she will be brought to Gryllogus.
Gryllogus might have a decent chance to ransom the women for profit, or simply return her to Archigeiros for a Tegean favor in the future, and thereby improve the lot of his estate and his people.
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