As winter bled into spring, S'karn found himself near the notice bulletin board that he often saw pretty female adventures lurk about, none of which were here, so he decided to have a bit of adventure as he had missed the company of others for a long time. Scanning over the board brought a few interesting posts, but in the corner just barely on the board was a scrap of paper with his name on it. Seizing the paper, he began to read in earnest. Getting to the bottom, he read something about a relative of his.

"My family?" He dropped the paper in shock, never having known his mother or his father. "This demands my attention NOW!" He took off flying north of the small village he had been prowling around during the winter. He headed directly towards Hangman's Bridge.

As he flew over forested hills and open plains, his excitement blinding him to the views beneath him or above him for that matter, he flew on with such urgency that he failed to see the large dragoness, Lady Vashel, plunge into him, forcing him to the ground.

"You there, S'karn. As an honorary member of the Gray Ghosts, you are needed in the battle ahead. We must retake the bridge so we can supply the forces further west!" Lady Vashelle stood above him, her worry and authority rousing S'karn from his daze from being thrown to the earth.

"Certainly, Lady Vashelle. I'd be honored to help one as lovely as yourself. There are of course gentler ways to get a male's attention that don't require such painful landings, my lovely." His blatant flirting and her own agitations blocked her normally advanced telepathy, causing her to lash out at him with her tail, which he used telekinesis to help himself dodge, snickering before bowing. "Lead on, my lady," he teased, knowing full well that it normally didn't bother her, but unable to pass up the opportunity.

As S'karn and Lady Vashelle walked to the outpost, the sky darkened in promise of a heavy spring rain. S'karn pranced around the now calmer and impassive Vashelle, still trying to get a rise out of her.

As they reached the Gray Ghosts' base camp, the rain started to come down. With sounds of distant thunder jarring S'karn back to the task at hand of finding his family, he became distracted as Lady Vashelle began to give orders.

"We must destroy the fortifications at the middle and far end of the bridge, at all costs! Our supply lines need to be reconnected to bring valuable food stuffs to our armies further west. We march in two hours!"

S'karn approached Lady Vashelle. "My lady, I may have a way to rid you of those fortifications, if you can protect me while i recover. This is going to be a storm the rebels will not soon forget! But i must be on my way. I have pressing matters to attend to up north. In fact, I'm sure this bridge will be yours again as of tonight. I'll call in some friends to cut off their retreat as well." S'karn smiled mischievously as he pulled out the small bone flute, given to him by his old friend Grimsone, and played three haunting notes on it. "Now we wait for the storm and the answer."

A short while later, Grimsone erupted from the earth directly in front of S'karn, with a dozen of his undead warriors.

"You called, friend? Is this bag of scales tormenting you again? Shall we rip her flesh from her bones?" he said coolly in his eerie, hollow voice. Lady Vashelle growled threateningly back at Grimsone, unnerved a bit by the sudden appearance of the host of undead.

S'karn reacted fairly fast avoiding the confrontation by stepping between the two. "Grimsone, I have other prey for you tonight, my friend. We're going to pay a little surprise visit from the other side of the bridge." S'karn winked and pointed at the heavy fortifications on the bridge. "Seems your hoard could do with some new equipment, could it not? I assure you, those enemies are quite well equipped, and you may loot any you so choose."

Grimsone looked at the keep and smiled a grim, skeletal smile. "Tonight will be a good feast." With that he disappeared into the ground from which he sprang up from, and S'karn prepared for the battle ahead, sure of his victory with the oncoming assault on the front and rear of the fortification.

S'karn concentrated all his powers on the gathering storm, collecting the lightning into a terrible bolt of power and launching it at the sealed gates of the fort, blowing them wide open on both the front and rear access, starting the battle on the now surprised army within.

Grimsone and hes legion of undead warriors poured through the smoking ruin of the back gate. Their sudden appearance terrified all but the most seasoned warriors into a flight into the front line forces of Lady Vashelle and her Gray Ghosts pouring in the front gates, eager to rejoin there brethren on the other side of the bridge and reenforce the troops there with supplies and numbers.

After the initial attack, S'karn flew north on his hunt for his ancestry, counting on Grimsone's experience to carry the battle in Lady Vashelle's favor. [/QUOTE]