[h2][color=af9d80][b]Roger Falkner and Shortclaw[/b][/color][/h2]

[color=af9d80]"No offense taken, Lady Valmyra,"[/color] Roger assured the snake-woman.  [color=af9d80]"It was an honest mistake, don't worry too much about it."[/color]  The mercenary was right, a slip of a tongue wasn't worth getting upset over.  Trained Griffins could become ornery if someone failed to address them by their correct name, but Roger suspected that was primarily due to the perceived offense of being ignored.  Besides, like the mercenary said, anyone that would make a big fuss over an honest mistake probably wasn't worth associating with.

Speaking of the mercenary, Roger had a feeling that Urden was sizing him up.  Probably trying to figure out if he was a snooty elitist or not.  It was, after all, generally a pretty good approximation that any knight with a griffin mount came from a position of considerable social standing and wealth.  There wasn't much Roger could do about this other than being on his best behavior and not give Urden a reason to resent him.

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Shortclaw crouched down like a lion some distance from the other ambushers.  The duo maintained some distance from the other ambushers for safety's sake, and in order to have plenty of room to flank.  The trap had been set, now all that was left now was to wait for the necromancers to take the bait.

The night was dark enough that they could probably take to the air without being unseen.  Griffins like Shortclaw had excellent night vision- a benefit of their feline side- and would have no trouble navigating the air even on a cloudy, moonless night like this.  However, doing so would be an inefficient use of energy, and they couldn't be entirely sure that the necromancers' camp wouldn't notice them.

Once the battle began, it would be imperative that they not allow any of the enemy vanguard to slip back to the main camp.  If any of them managed to bring back word of the trap, it'd give the necromancers more opportunity to dig in and prepare accordingly.  With the lives of the hostages in the balance, it was all the more imperative that they not give the enemy any wiggle room.