Beneath the city of Deranel Sunhale finds himself surrounded by his fellow elven spies in the large chamber they had created for this operation, as he looks around he is observing their movements and they in turn are doing the same to him. They all take a moment to scan each other and soon all eyes are back upon Sunhale, the elf that Sunhale had followed here makes his way forward and begins to speak in their native elven tongue.
"As Otaper looks down on you how do you respond?" The man asked
"Blissfully as the darkness embraces my path forward" Sunhale responded with getting the other spies to raise their eyebrows in interest
"Whose eye do you serve as?" The man asked
"Our monarch eternal, I am their third eye of the right hand, Sunhale of Lar'Tureak" Sunhale said drawing the shock of the other spies in the room
"Well, good to know we have a high ranking member in our midst. We were not told another of us would be coming here" The spy Sunhale followed said
"I was in Gantoral, I am with the necromancer for now, we just took the Kolakinta Mountains Fortress and this city is his next target, what can you give me?" Sunhale said getting a few looks of shock from the others
"The necromancer? Well we can tell you anything you need to know, got anything in particular? This Pira'Kole is at your disposal" The other spies responded
"First off who here is the leader of you lot?" Sunhale asked
A female elf in the back of the room steps forward.
"I am, my name is Fel" Fel said
"Well then Fel, we should discuss some things while the others get back to their spying" Sunhale said
"You heard the man go on!" Fel commanded and the other spies began to take on human forms before leaving through different tunnels and stairways
"Now I need to know a few things, best way to siege the city, important people in the city, anything specifically about the captain of the guard and one certain noble that looks like this" Sunhale said as he used magic to show what the noble who previously threw him into a wall with magic looks like
"Ok the first three I get but why that noble in particular? Sure he is actually very important and I have a lot of information but you don't know that so why him specifically?" Fel asked
"To put it simply he is a magic user and one I do very much believe has an evil soul which the necromancer could make use of" Sunhale said
"Alright well you asked about important people in the city we have any information on them on a table on the other side of the room, siege related matters we'll create before a siege happens and finally the Captain of the guard. He basically runs the city there are people above him technically and he still abides by the hierarchy but should anything happen to jeopardise his guards or any normal citizen he'll forgo the normal hierarchy and take matters into his own hands" Fel said
"I saw as much of that earlier, he told that particular noble about what I reported as a guard and that noble attacked me as a result, he then used what seemed to be mind control magic on him" Sunhale said
"That is one of the reasons people don't stop him either, he is a good person and uses something people would generally see as immoral for the good of people, certainly someone I at least respect" Fel said
"Given the agreeable nature of this man would he really even fight a siege or negotiate to stop one?" Sunhale asked
"Now there's an idea, if your necromancer agrees to it I imagine the captain would" Fel said
"I need to relay this to the necromancer, do you have Otapers gift set up?" Sunhale asked
Fel nods in response as she leads Sunhale down a few tunnels to another chamber this one darker than the others and in the middle of the chamber is a small platform, upon the platform is a series of patterns visible even on the impossibly dark ground. Sunhale walks up to the platform and as he begins to channel magic through the darkness and the platform he begins to speak.
"In the name of their imperial majesty Isaile and the Necromancer, I request to access the Darkness of Otaper" Sunhale said into the darkness
"Request... Granted" A dark mysterious voice coming almost as if they were from the shadows themselves said in response
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Sunhale holds his right arm out and as he does so the darkness springs forth and grabs onto his arm so quickly it almost seem like hungry animals snapping at their food. Sunhale begins to mould the darkness before him into a shadowy sculpt of the Mountain Fortress. Back in the fortress Yorun is in the map room with Golanier when the room darkens, they both either grab or summon their weapons as he look around wondering what is happening, the darkness all begins to move from the walls, ceiling and even the floor all to one spot where it coalesces into the form of Sunhale.
"Sunhale? That you?" Yorun asked
Sunhale speaks but still in the elven language and as such Yorun doesn't understand.
"So this is the illusive 'Darkness of Otaper' well interesting to see for myself anyway Sunhale you may want to speak the human tongue" Golanier said making Sunhale immediately switch
"Sorry, got so used to speaking my native tongue again and I never speak a non elven language when using this so I forgot to switch back, given how often I speak to you both these days I guess my mind forgot you don't speak it" Sunhale said
"It's alright Sunhale, how are you contacting us and why are you contacting us so soon?" Yorun asked
"Well to say it simply the way I am contacting you is something called the Darkness of Otaper as Golanier so quickly revealed but I cannot tell you more than that I am bound by a code of silence on the matter. Anyway I am contacting you this soon as well there is an elven spy network within the city and I've contacted them, there is at least one evil magic using soul in this city that'd be useful and it turns out this may be a city we need not even siege" Sunhale said
"Okay a lot of information there, explain" Yorun said
Sunhale explains what has happened within the city up to this point in time and puts a lot of focus on the noble and Captain Wonakri especially how he acts and how the people see him.
"The possibility of not needing to do a siege is rather useful, a lot less fun but it will give you more control of the region, keeping this place as your central point with the city as your forward outpost basically" Golanier said
"A forward output with a lot more lives in it but sure, now Raeknar, thoughts?" Sunhale asked and Yorun notes the use of Raeknars name assuming someone else is in the room
"Well definitely worth a shot but it is a significant risk with that mind control magic of his" Yorun said
"A risk yes but what isn't a risk in warfare?" Sunhale asked
"Point made, how do we send the message to talk?" Yorun asked
"Well could always walk up to the city with the undead, request a parlay while showing your power and likely instilling fear" Golanier said
"Not a great idea, that sort of thing would likely just piss him off since we are directly threatening those who Captain Wonakri cares about" Sunhale said
"Indeed, maybe we lean into the god side of this" Yorun said to himself as he looked at a map of the city
"Getting an idea Raeknar?" Sunhale asked intrigued
"The city has a large temple to the gods, soldiers in the Fiernian empire are usually happy to have a priest come see them as it is typically seen as a good sign" Yorun said
"I don't follow" Golanier said
"Sunhale get one or more to go to the walls, I'll teleport outside the city, they'll likely be on alert due to your report and as a result notice me quickly if the priest is there on the walls they'll likely recognise the Scythe and Cloak" Yorun said
"That is definitely one way to get his attention, the priest would certainly end up convincing the guards not to attack you and to getting an into an audience with Captain Wonakri" Sunhale said
"Think we could get some priests there?" Yorun asked
"Let me check" Sunhale said
Sunhale still firmly in the grasp of the Darkness of Otaper which has taken the shape in the room of the map room and Yorun as well as Golanier made of the darkness, Sunhale looks back to Fel who is still in the room watching and listening to what is happening, Sunhale begins to speak in the elven tongue once more.
"Alright Fel, are some of the spies within the human temple here?" Sunhale asked
"Yes, there are a couple there at different stages of the human religions hierarchy, one a novice and one posing as a priest themself, I could have the novice suggest a trip to the walls and the priest second the idea which apparently the High Priest of the city is a big fan of those wall trips anyway, however our spying priest would not actually be the one to go for obvious reasons" Fel said
"Fine, if you think it will work" Sunhale said as he turned back to the darkness sculpted version of Yorun and Golanier then he begins to speak in the human tongue again
"Alright we have a plan to get a priest there so your plan should work but are you sure you want to do this?" Sunhale asked
"Yes but just in case get your spy friends to prepare any sabotage or anything else useful for a siege and Golanier you have the connection to my soul so should it all go completely sideways I can telepathically speak to you" Yorun said
"Oh Raeknar you are thinking about this the wrong way, did you forget you can control one of your undead?" Golanier asked
"Ah fuck me, I am a fool. I'll control the undead and bring the scythe to its hand I'll keep the cloak on my actual body though no risk losing that should it all go sideways" Yorun said
"Now you're thinking, which undead will you choose?" Sunhale asked
"It should be a human one and at least one of some import so they know outside of the scythe I have done a lot, maybe now is the time for word to spread about a certain Captain Forina being in our ranks" Yorun said
"This'll certainly be interesting" Sunhale said
"Start with the temple and once a date for their trip to the walls has been sorted inform us and I will arrive that day" Yorun said
Sunhale nods and the darkness that made up the dark sculpture of Sunhale in the fortress disappears as if it were never there while the fake map room in the chamber where Sunhale stands returns to normal darkness throughout the room. Sunhales arm gets freed from the darkness and he steps back from the platform he stood upon.
"Thank you for granting me access" Sunhale said
"By... Otapers... grace" The dark mysterious voice from the darkness said
Sunhale and Fel begin to get to work on the plan for the temple and over the coming days the spies in the temple begin to put it into motion, Sunhale and the spies move carefully and slowly as to not arouse any suspicion from the temple or guards, the sabotage of certain things in the city such as some structurally significant parts of the walls around the city begin in earnest as well. After a couple weeks the temple decides a date for the trip to the walls, two weeks from the deciding date.