Commander Braghaman Larethian

It had been hours since Braghaman had spoken to the imp, perhaps a day or so. Time seemed to have a different feel for him in this place. Every now and then, one of his jailers would float by. Sometimes they would unchain someone and drag them off. Other times they’d just stare, their masks fixated and unmoving. So Bragh waited. He would test his bonds occasionally, but that never accomplished much. The floating jailers never even seemed to acknowledge his attempts.

Braghaman watched as the jailer silently floated away. He could hear screams echoing nearby, but couldn’t see anyone being tortured. Then, from out of the shadows, a beast started moving towards the chained paladin. As it got closer, Bragh could see it more clearly. It was a felhound, the first he had seen in this place. The felhound stalked closer and closer before finally stopping a foot or two away. It sniffed at the air and then seemed to look directly at Braghaman, letting out a low growl.

Braghaman tensed, expecting the felhound to pounce on him at any moment. But the felhound never moved closer. It just kept growling. Then a hollow voice loudly said “Stop!”

Bragh looked over to see one of the floating jailers coming towards him with its hands out-stretched. The felhound turned to face the jailer and continued to growl. The jailer’s hands began glowing and Bragh tensed, expecting an attack. But then there was an explosion and flames splashed across the jailer’s back. The jailer grunted as another wave of flames splashed against its back, and then another and then another. The jailer turned around just in time to see a fel-green bolt of flame before it struck the jailer square in the chest. There was another fiery explosion and the jailer dropped to the ground.

Braghaman looked up and saw a person in brown robes and a mask running towards them. The felhound stopped growling and sat on the ground waiting. The robed person stopped at the jailer and examined the body. Pulling something from the body, the robed man then ran to Braghaman. 

“What?” Braghaman managed to get out.

“I’m here to get you out,” the robed man said, his voice muffled by the mask. He reached forward, holding a key and placing it to the manacles that held Braghaman chained to the ground.

“May not be that easy,” Braghaman responded as he slowly stood up off the ground. “Look.”

The robed man turned to see more of the guards running towards them. He raised a hand and spoke a word of magic. There was a roaring sound cutting through the air and a giant, fiery boulder crashed into the ground in the midst of the guards, knocking them over. A large form rose up from the smoking crater.

“What?” Braghaman asked.

“Infernal,” the robed man answered succinctly. 

The infernal let out another roar and began attacking anything that moved. The guards, their attentions turned, began fighting with the giant demon. With all the chaos going on, the robed man put his arm under the paladin’s and started pulling him away.

“Where are we going?” Bragh asked as he was led away.

“There’s a way stone near here. It’ll get us out of this place and back to somewhere safe.”

“I hope it’s close.”

“It’s not,” the robed person answered. 

“Did you bring reinforcements?”

“In a manner of speaking,” the robed person said, glancing down at the felhound that was now walking by his side.

“Just another day in the Dawn,” Braghaman said with a chuckle.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got too much to do. We’re not meeting our end here.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Braghaman looked at the person who was helping him to walk across the rocky outcroppings. Finally, the robed man noticed, his mask turning towards the paladin and then looking away.

“What?” the robed man asked.

“Nothing,” Bragh answered. “We can talk about it later.”

“Then let’s get out of here.”