Lirrah's body was still on high alert, despite the fact that the fighting was over. Almost everyone that wasn't [i]ripped apart, stabbed, or exploded[/i], Lirrah was relatively certain she had killed while their backs were turned. Or, had she accidentally missed a vital and left a few alive, they were probably taken care of by the other Lions on the way to the cultists' hideout.

Lirrah did not particularly care to look, if a few needed to be finished off.

Once they got to where the group supposedly made their dwelling, however, they were greeted with an unexpected sight: destroyed effigies and barriers. Ones that [i]they[/i] hadn't seen to. There was a lack of manpower, and a good deal of blood at the entrance. The blood was fresh, but there were no dead bodies in sight. Lirrah's eyes wildly scanned everything she could see, because she was still under the dominion of her adrenaline-soaked brain, but she heaved the sort of not-at-all-bothered smile onto her face that she was used to affecting. She was a Lion, for the moment, and Lions weren't bothered by [i]all the things that tore into her own little Nem heart[/i].

[color=f49ac2]"I-it would have had to [i]p[/i]e near-simultaneous, wouldn't it?"[/color] Lirrah mused, smiling with an almost disturbing amount of calm for someone's first sortie, despite the shaking words nearly getting caught in her throat.

Lirrah dare not go further than anyone else to investigate. That was for the tough ones. The brave ones.

[color=f49ac2]"A coincidence of such enormity that it must [i]p[/i]e elevated to the level of a miracle,"[/color] she went on, trying to figure out how and why such a thing might happen, hoping to be of at least [i]some[/i] use as long as she was going to be there, [color=f49ac2]"which is to say, something like an impossi[i]p[/i]ility. At almost the exact time they left to take our [i]p[/i]ait, a different force rushed in to take their hideout. However, since I cannot [i]p[/i]elieve in such miracles, the only explanation for [i]that[/i] is that the other force somehow knew our plans to the moment. A most distur[i]p[/i]ing thought, [i]p[/i]ut that is only one theory. If that was the case, though, then the other force must [i]want[/i] something that they think the cultists have. Something that we might [i]take[/i] if we were the ones raiding. Otherwise, why put their own lives on the line if we were just going to take care of it?"[/color]

Though Lirrah's response was an extension of Velvetica's initial confusion, she spoke to anyone who might listen. The longer she was talking, the more likely someone [i]else[/i] was to get closer to the entrance and not her.

In a way, this theory may have been a reflection of herself. She could come up with it, because under different circumstances she could see herself selling the Lions' information for coin and collaborating with a third party. Cultists get killed either way, less strain on Lion resources. Everyone wins! Only, Lirrah would not do that. Information like that is precious, and could easily be sold back to any number of people who intend the Lions harm. Or maybe the group she was collaborating with were very good liars.

Though it made her nauseous, Lirrah knew well that there might be a world in which she did just that and counted her coin as her compatriots got slaughtered in a counter-ambush. Lirrah, looking slightly sick, shook her head.

[color=f49ac2][i]"But I didn't, and wouldn't, do that."[/i][/color]