Bearzy:

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Idalia paced as she was handed down the orders from her superiors. They were to move out to one of the far reaching sections of the kingdom. The Emperor had taken much of his kingdom by force and now he was having difficulties with pockets of rebels. She just assumed they were being sent out to quelch an uprising. Still she had the wax sealed letters, one open saying to move out. The other still sealed for the arrival of her co-leader.

Most small troops were lead by either a duet or a triad of highly skilled mages, paired off for either their skills meshing very well, or as a balance of their tactics. Similar to "Good-cop, Bad-cop" but more like "Bad-cop, Worse-cop". War and battle were still waging in parts of the newly formed, yet broken country.

She sighed, tapping the sealed letter on the splintering table as she waited. She wanted to tear into his letter to see if his orders were any different from hers. Being impatient she wanted to know, but she knew the repercussions of breaking a magic seal meant for someone else.

Cain hurried along the corridor like a student late for class, just about tripping over his boots and robes in an attempt to be slightly less late than he already was for his new assignment. He'd just been promoted, and he was finally going to get a leadership post. As he narrowly avoided smacking into a doorframe he hoped to himself that he wouldn't have to do much exercise in this new job. He was huge and imposing as long as he was standing still and slicing himself open to raise the dead, but as soon as he moved... not so much. He barely made it into the army, he was that clumsy.

Eventually Cain reached the stern looking woman that he had been sent to meet, and gulped, she looked like she would put up with absolutely no nonsense, and he'd heard whispers that she was against unnatural life. How was he meant to work with her as a necromancer? He reached a hand out tentatively.
"Cain Lang, intel and defense. I hear we're supposed to be working together." Cain fought every urge to wince as his voice cracked slightly on the word intel. Damn it all, he was 23, he was supposed to have left all that behind ten years ago.

She glanced at the door as a young man stepped into it. He introduced himself and she just wanted to walk away, /He's clumsy and by the look of all those scars, very clumsy indeed. I do not need a bumbling idiot following me out to the end of the kingdom. By the gods I hope he's good at whatever he does./.

"Idalia Bellerang, inquisitor and high mage. And if you are Cain then you can open this." She handed him the sealed orders. They would probably mirror her own. A standard report of insurrection and orders to move out and stamp out. She had mixed feelings about being sent so far out; she loved the idea of greater freedom, as there were some in the castle grounds who disproved of her more radical techniques, but she also hated the idea of being in bumblefucknowhere.

Cain took the letter and tore it open, unwilling to meet the eyes of this imtimidating woman. Idalia Bellerang. He reminded himself. Though he'd probably stick to "Ma'am" for a while.

He read his letter quickly, skimming over it with his years of scholarly training, pulling out the important knowledge.
"Wait, where's this place... West shore? I mean, besides the obvious." He corrected quickly. This woman looked like she might fight idiocy with sarcasm.

"The far reaches of the kingdom. Assuming our letters are identical we're to go there and put down a small rebellious group. But knowing our people, our letters are not identical." She wished she had the foresight to take the jug of water when the slaves offered it. Her letter didn't actually say much, just that she was being offered a chance of redemption after her last bout of inquisitioning by being "promoted" to leadership of a small garrison to be sent to West Shore. The last rebels she had questioned didn't last as long as they had wanted them to, she did however get plenty of information out of them despite them being were-rats. Being sent away from her department was something she resented, but she also resented those she had worked with.

"Well, we should go inspect our troop before heading out. It's a long way to West Shore."

"Mine basically says that." Cain shrugged. His also told him that he was to establish a governer for the coastal town, but not to reveal that part of the mission until he was sure that the rebels had been stopped completely. He didn't understand the order, but he wasn't going to question it either. He wasn't so incompetent as to do that. This was going to be a trying assignment for him, he could already tell, not only because of his no-nonsense coworker (or boss, he wasn't sure) but also because he had no experience so far beyond the emperor's home city. He knew he had the capabilities for the assignment in theory. But practice was always a lot more complicated than theory hinted.

"Anyway, lead on to these troops. Do you know what kind of soldiers we'll be getting?"

Well, they had the same thing. Should be as simple as get there, stomp them out, come home. She could treat it as a vacation with the added bonus of still being able to do her job. Moving past her new partner she pushed open the door.
"Assuming they're tiered soldiers. Most of them standard foot soldiers, with mixed specialties. If we're lucky we'll get a few mage hunters too, in case those rebels have some." For whatever reason she got along with hunters so she had hopes that they would get some.
The stairs spiraled down to the courtyard where the troops were milling about, waiting to roll out. There were a few horse drawn carriages with supplies and belongings set up. Everything was ready and waiting for them.