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Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 479516" data-attributes="member: 6971">10.12.2002 - Session 2, Part 3Shoji, covered in soot, stumbles out of the fading fires, pulling Nym's mangled corpse behind him. He begins to shake as the adrenaline of the fight wears off, and the realization of what happened sinks in. He bends down, and, with trembling hands, closes Nym's eyes. "May the spirits welcome and comfort you," he whispers.Erendil takes a small vial filled with a red liquid from his backpack, and, realizing that he can do nothing for Nym, pours its cinnamon-flavored contents down Taminnyd's throat. Taminnyd opens his eyes, groans, and groggily stands up.Laurel emerges from the smoke and flame leading the bear that she had freed. "It's Greatpaw," she announces to the group as she gently scratches it behind the ears. She stops short when she sees Nym. "Oh dear gods," she says, turning away in horror. She squeezes her eyes shut and makes a silent prayer to Ehryssa for Nym's soul.Taminnyd looks at Nym's corpse, shrugs, and dashes over to the area behind the forge from where the dragon had emerged. He grins in anticipation as he eyes the dragon's horde, but, after digging through the pile of rusted chain mail, broken swords, and bent plowshares, and finding only a few gems, he turns away in frustration. "There's nothing good here," he announces, the disappointment evident in his voice, "let's go."Erendil wonders if it would be possible to lodge as many arrows in Taminnyd's head as he did in the dragon's, but keeps the thought to himself. He and Shoji carry Nym's body back out of the forge and up to the ship while Laurel leads Greatpaw to freedom.The flight back to New Charleston is quiet and solemn. Laurel spends the time bandaging Greatpaw's wounds, while Erendil and Shoji discuss what to do for Nym. By the time they land, the front has moved to within a few hours of town, and the city is in chaos. Erendil arranges to bury Nym's body, an acolyte of Proudclaw arrives to claim Greatpaw, and Laurel is summoned to General Talvyn's command tent."You did well in recruiting Proudclaw," Talvyn congratulates Laurel."We lost one of our party in the process," Laurel says angrily, "we ended up having to fight off a dragon.""I'm sorry for your loss," Talvyn replies. His face wrinkles and his shoulders sag slightly as the emotional burden he is under becomes evident. Laurel frowns, but her anger subsides somewhat, so she motions to him to continue. "There is a prison in Avengard where the Emperor sends those that he personally hates. It's a dark pit, carved into the Serpent's Knot mountains. They call it 'Áit ar Chúl Éaga', which, in their old language, means, 'the place behind death.'" He rubs his forehead, the stress visible on his face, "It's the most horrific place on the planet, I'm told."At any rate, we had a spy in prison in Redburne. We were negotiating with the Avengardan government to trade him for one of their spies, but then they decided to invade us. The latest information we have is that he was transferred to Áit ar Chúl Éaga." He hands Laurel a set of papers, "We need you to break into the prison, retrieve our man, and return him here. His name is Edmon of Willoughby, and a description of him is in the papers I gave you. If you need a cover story, there are forged orders directing you to deliver a prisoner. Use one of your crew as a stand in, if need be.""Why can't we just forge papers that order his release?" Laurel questions.Talvyn stares at her for a second, "Maybe I didn't explain well enough. Nobody gets released from that prison. Ever. Even after they've been slowly tortured to death.""Oh," Laurel says quietly."We'll be providing you with a small squad of soldiers who are trained in close quarters combat. They are not," he says gravely, "expendable." He motions to one of the guards at the tent entrance, and, after a few seconds, six young soldiers march in. They salute the general and Laurel, then present themselves for inspection."Hagamus of Arios," the squad leader, a young dwarven man in plate mail, introduces himself."Millicent of Blackrock," says the second in command - a young human female who wears a breastplate."Don't you mind what they say about the people from Blackrock," Talvyn interrupts, "Millicent is a good soldier. Quite stable and dependable.""Thank you, sir," Millicent replies, blushing slightly.The general motions for them to continue, and the next solder, a human male in plate armor, steps forward, "Ian of Brownfield."A male lizardman and a human male, both wearing plate armor, introduce themselves as Lethlas Miller and Randolph Thatcher, respectively. The last to present himself is an elven male in studded leather armor. "Sebastian of Illya," he says with a lazy grin."Very well, Sebastian," the general says brusquely, and the elf steps back into line. "Take both of your ships," he continues, addressing Laurel, "You have permission to fly Avengardan flags once you're behind the front.""One last thing," he says as he goes back to studying battle plans, "You leave immediately."More to come...</blockquote>

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