- The City of Yar

Marcus sat in a tavern.

Across the room, he could faintly make out the tell-tale hair of Roxy. The pair's eyes met, and spoke an understanding.

It had been six months since Marcus had joined the shadowstriders. Yet this was only his second mission.

'When Tess told us what was happening, I couldn't believe it.'

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"Listen up, you two," Tess said. "There are reports of a cultist led city near this location. It's our mission to go in there and monitor it from the inside."

"This is going to be a long one, right?" Marcus asked with a shocked expression.

"If we're going undercover, then why do we need so many weapons?" Roxy asked, gesturing to a nearby table that was covered with them.

"They're part of our cover. I'm an adventurer, looking to start a new life with two kids I picked up along the way. And yes, it'll be long."

"How are we going to communicate with the outside?" Marcus asked, questions about the safety of the mission forming on his mind.

"I'll handle that. Don't worry, I'll make sure you two are okay," she assured them.

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They had gotten into the city without trouble.

Despite his preconception about the city, Marcus was awed by the scale and grandeur of it.

The city was built around and towards a large temple dedicated to Yar-Anar. Learning of this, the trio headed there first. They investigated the temple under the guise of paying their regards to the god.

It was horrifying.

The temple itself was a standard temple, albeit a large one. The horror came from what corrupted it.

Putrid growth enveloped the temple. It was as though Yar-Anar itself had the temple in its grip, and the growths were its fingers. The growths secreted a vile, slimy substance. This corruption also spread through the city very slowly, threatening the purity of the surrounding buildings.

The situation inside was even worse.

Living creatures, spawned by the deity slithered around the place, leaving trails of the same substance. There was very little light inside, and what was provided came from an unnerving source.

Eyes peered into the temple, assessing the worshippers and illuminating their path. A staircase found at the back of the temple led underground but Marcus was unable to go down there. All they knew was that whatever was down there emitted a vomit-inducing stench of rot, decay and death.

Acolytes lined the pathways, leaving a feeling of being watched despite their faces being shrouded. Marcus almost glimpsed past one of the shrouds, and swore he saw the person's face replaced with a gaping maw, complete with sharpened fangs and a piercing eye.

The large city still impressed the trio.

The large walls that guarded the city stood so large they instilled the feeling of pure isolation from the outside world, as though the city was the only thing inhabiting a small island.

Those walls, and indeed the walls of individual walls, shone with a beauty comparable to that of water on a summer's day. Even the poorest of buildings, even the poorest of people were comparable to nobility in this city.

Marcus smiled as he stared at the table, remembering that notion.

'Such a beautiful lie,' he thought. 'It's a true shame it has to burn.'

The danger had started two months ago.

Shipments began arriving at the city's gate in larger numbers.

"Not a big deal, cities grow all the time," Tess had assessed. "But it could be something we have to keep an eye out for. Marcus, Roxanne, I want you two to try and figure out what exactly is in those shipments."

Roxy tried and failed.

Her plan was simple. Get close with a shadow veil, take a quick look and leave. She had to abandon the plan when the guards began to get suspicious of someone hidden nearby.

Marcus had a simpler way to find out.

With two snaps of his fingers, he shifted the materials covering the shipment and replaced it. What he saw confirmed their fears.

"They're bringing in weapons. And armour. And other resources. It seems they prepare for war." Marcus had immediately told Tess of his findings.

"Okay, good job. I'll tell the commander. But who would risk war with us? The last one destroyed many nations, and the two other major nations are our allies."

"it's most likely Kerrun. After all, they have the closest border to us in this part of the country. They could easily be inciting rebellion to prepare for western expansion," Roxy offered.

"Kerrun aren't that stupid. They're dealing with their own rebels; they wouldn't start a war with Rovinia."

"The rebels then?" Marcus stood as he talked. "Maybe the rebels want to incite war here in Rovinia, so that they can get help with their rebellion?"

"That's more plausible, but I'd like to think no one has any connections to a crazy as shit cult."

"So then another chapter of the cult? Somewhere else in Rovinia, or Kerrun?"

"Possibly, but would that be tactically astute? Roxanne, I guess your family are good tacticians, so maybe it is that. In any case, I'll alert the commander of our theories."

'Two months. It took two goddamn months for the commander to come up with a plan to burn this city.'

After this discovery, the state officially recognised the cult of Yar-Anar as an enemy of the state. As the nearest garrison, commander Garnell had been given command of the operation to take the City of Yar. Of course, this motion took time, but that knowledge did little to alleviate Marcus's feelings.

Marcus glanced over at Roxy once again. In unison, the pair stood and left.

The plan was simple.

They were to open the gates and kill the defenders along the northern wall. Setting fires would give the signal for the guard to attack. Once the assault began, they would have to attack supply depots, disrupt supply lines, identify and remove key targets, and generally harass and disrupt the cultist support lines.

They had waited for many months, but the plan was finally beginning.