Torm caught the glittering necklace incredulously, unnerved by the torture followed by the extreme display of wealth. He gave it a cursory glance, and satisfied the bejeweled cord was at least in the vicinity of what was promised, he sequestered it away on his person as he stared at the dark woman. She was indeed beautiful, but there was something off-putting about her, even without the displays of magic he saw mere minutes before. The adrenaline had worn off, and now he felt fatigued and a tad acerbic. First things first, however.

"Bianca? We might-" He began, but she was already moving. The lieutenant set her scouts to comb the area in case there were any tribesmen or thugs lying in wait, hoping to strike when all was calm. They rushed to follow orders, one scout pouring the last of his water flask over his head as he moved. 

"I better go make sure." Bianca said with a skeptical eye, reining her horse in close to Torms, before she leaned in conspiratorially. "Can you... handle things here?" She asked pointedly, eyeing the dark woman. 

Torm gave a sardonic: "We'll see..." response, and motioned that she could go ahead. She gave him a look, and then set her horse at a canter, disappearing into the brush with her men. Torm called for his knights to make a perimeter around the temple, but a few remained behind the make certain the dead were truly dead. Torm set Lycurgus forward at a walk, the massive warhorse a scant meter from the mysterious woman, who had bent over to search for something in the tunic of one of the attackers. A man with a brass circlet around his great forehead, now caked in blood.

"Who are you?" He asked her, not impolitely, but his tone showed he did not view her as a damsel in distress, either.  

"Calliope," she said without pause, pocketing something and drawing herself back up. When she looked at him, he felt like he was staring into the eyes of a serpent. 

"Just Calliope?" 

"If I told you my surname, would you recognize it? Are you a local to these parts?" She deigned to ask casually. 

"Good point." He conceded, but she was dodging the true question. 

"And I take it you're a knight of the northern realms?" She asked, at ease as if everything was under her control, and he was but a puppet on her string. 

"What gave it away? My armor or my haircut?" 

She smirked, and gingerly grasped Lycurgus's bridle. The horse shied away and nickered, uncomfortable at her presence but not yet ready to defend himself. "That, and your beast here. He killed a man with the deftness of a Zhaipurian duelist. You handled him skillfully as well, I'm not often impressed." 

"I'll remember that," Torm remarked dryly, looking past her at the ostentatious and loudly dressed corpses. Opals, emeralds, lapis and lazuli, and even red diamonds shimmered under the every shifting light of the sun as it tried to peer through the canopy. Calliope glanced over her shoulder. 

"The baubles? Much of it is real, though that is small issue compared to what you might be able to gain elsewhere," she remarked cryptically. Torm was about to ask her meaning, when he saw a great shape moving amongst the bodies. He flinched, only to realize the sinuous thing was a python of immense length. It slowly slid up her body, before resting upon her deceptively dainty shoulders. It's tongue flicked out lazily, and she scratched its throat gently, smiling at it as if it were a favored pet.