Meeting with Riltyn
A few more moments pass in silence, and you approach a small stone building. The elf opens a rough wooden door for you, but does not enter.
Inside, you find a few chairs and stools. A table is set in the center of a large square room, which has maps and mapping tools sprawled upon it. A small halfling woman - Instructor Riltyn - stands upon a wide stool near the table.
"Dralin 18." She says as you begin filing into the room. "Sit down." She indicates the chairs and stools.
Once you are seated, she picks up a long stick that was leaning against her stool. "You will be journeying quite a long way." She says. "It is estimated that it will take you five days to get to the Ashkian compound. In six, Dralin 16 will be interrogated, and our whole operation will be revealed and destroyed by the end of that day."
"You will be riding roughly north-west. Along the way, you will find scouts who have been sent ahead to hold fresh horses for you. You must ride as hard and as fast as you can. You will rest only as long as you need to. Anything more, and all of our efforts will be lost."
"You must break into the compound by cover of night. You will break Dralin 16 out of their cells, and you will escape the compound. A contingent of archers, which will be sent after you, will cover your escape - but they will not be there until dawn. If you must leave earlier, or enter the compound too early, you will not have support. The archers will be there for one hour - after that time, they will assume that all is lost, and will scatter."
"Make as little disturbance as is possible. We don't want to give the Ashkians any hint that we are as organized as we are. If you do use force, you must kill all who see you, so as to prevent any information leaks. The Ashkians are suspicious enough as it is - anything that could hint at our existence would be a very bad idea."
"Use common sense while you are there. Don't do anything stupid. Don't show off. Go in, free Dralin 16, and get out. There is nothing complex about this exercise. So far as we know, no magic-users are at the compound - they are primarily incompetent guards who are useless for anything but guard duty."
"When you get your final set of horses, you will be given exact directions to reach the compound. All of the other scouts will give you simple directions and rough distance to the next set of horses. Should you fail to follow these directions, you will become lost, your horses will be fatigued, and you will lose time... and you cannot lose time in this venture."
"Do you understand? Do you have any questions?"