General Pana gazed down on a rat-faced beastman. His face was bloodied and one eye had swollen completely shut. According to her guards, he was caught suspiciously trying to climb the walls of the city. His behavior was clearly that of a spy, so they needed to figure out why he was here.
Seeing that the beating did not work to get any information out of him, Pana decided to come down herself and speak to the man. If he could not be swayed by violence, then maybe he could be tempted by mercy.
"I am Pana. General overseeing the city of Alvora. And you?"
The man spat on the ground, with it came a tooth and a glob of blood. "Your new dad. Your mom says hey."
His guard stepped forward to strike him for his insolent behavior, but Pana waved them off.
"Charming, young man, but I am old enough to be your mother. And thanks to my wizened years, I am above that taunting. So, shall we try again? Who are you."
"King Zethis of Alorek. I came to piss away my honor in a backwater hovel."
Pana stepped back and sighed. This was going nowhere. He was currently wearing nothing but commoner clothes... but he must have come in with something else right?
"What did he have in his possession? Did he have a storage ring with him?"
One of the guards deposited a ring into her hand. Using it's interface which told the user what it contained within the user's mind, she scanned through the items. Most of them were simple things such as armor, weapons and rations. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, something was sticking in the back of her mind.
To satiate this strange curiosity, she took out the set of armor to visually inspect it and maybe see where it came from. When the armor fell onto the floor, the prisoner seemed to make a tiny amount of noise. This made Pana very curious as to what it was that she had stumbled onto.
The pattern of the armor as well as its color made her realize that this prisoner they were dealing with was not a normal scout, spy, or soldier. She was, however, aware of the reports that detailed sightings of people wearing armor like this. It belonged to one of the King's Shadow warriors.
"I see. So you are a Shadow then. Now why would such a valuable resource be sent into my humble home? You clearly had no intent to assassinate me or else you would not have been scampering around the city before leaving without at least tailing me once."
Being identified as a member of the King's Shadow organization made the man tense up. At least one of the things she said here today was accurate, though he would likely not do anything else to potentially expose whatever plan they had going.
"Pana!"
A voice echoed across the battlefield. She saw a man in a sand-colored cloak with leather armor underneath. Every time she tried to focus on a piece of his body to see if she recognized him, she was met with a strange dizziness and was forced to move her eyes from the man.
"What is it!"
The cloaked man raised his hand and fighting around them seemed to stop, as if waiting for their orders to come down and resume the war. However, Pana felt something off... why was he talking and why like this.
The man slowly approached the gates as if he were not walking across a battlefield.
"I've been excited to talk with you a while." The man said.
Pana tensed. "About what?"
"Mostly about your surrender."
Pana laughed hysterically. One glance at their available forces told her that even if they did wipe out her men on the outside of the walls, they would not be able to breach the city defenses before their reinforcements arrived.
They had already received word that the Sand Wyrms had been dealt with by Lady Tierga and the additional forces were on their way now that the march could proceed unimpeded. When those forces arrived, not only would they have the advantage of fighting from a defensive position in the city, but they would also out number Eroa's forces nearly two to one.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all you lot will be doing is throwing your lives at my walls. In a few days' time we will not only route you, but also crush the remnants of your army. Alorek will be victorious."
The man fell silent. Though she could not see his face behind his mask, or even really look directly at him without feeling uncomfortable she felt like her words gave her a little bit of a victory.
"Let the record show that I tried to do this amicably, General Pana." The man said in a deeply sinister tone.
Though it seemed like she held all the cards, something in her heart told her that was not actually the case.