With the affirmative replies from her soldiers, many of them determined to bring justice to the cult that was lurking among the ancient graves and rocky outcroppings, Velvetica nodded to herself.

However, there were still others who had questions of their own.

Among them was the nem merchant, Lirrah, who had journeyed from the far south. As someone who had only rarely interacted with her kind prior, Velvetica had to admit it was easy to think of her as childlike and defenseless. But that wasn't exactly true. She was an adult, and did possess weaponry of her own, even if it wasn't exactly suited to full-blown combat so much as self-defense.

"You'd have to be an idiot to unnecessarily place a merchant and supplier directly into combat," she commented, with an idle wave of her hand, "With that being said, it would also be foolish not to take advantage of your eyesight. You'll be placed in the backlines, at a higher vantage point near our archers."

Not only would this keep her out of direct danger, but it would also capitalize on her excellent nightvision and allow her to keep the supplies out of direct combat as well. It also wouldn't require an escort.

"As for you, Lambert, I believe your skills will best be suited to the second phase of our assault," she replied to the assassin, "Which brings me to our plan of attack."

The blonde girl cleared her throat.

"While I am quite certain of our enemy's nature, it's worth noting that it would be discovered far more swiftly if they had been utilizing undead in their raids," she added, "Isn't it curious that a necromantic cult has not been doing as such?"

She clapped her hands together.

"Simply because they worship necromancy does not mean they are any good at it, you see, and I suspect they're not utilizing their undead for their raids for that reason," she continued, "The undead are likely being used exclusively as guardians for their camp, and for the purposes of labor in order to locate whatever it is that they're seeking. To put it another way, we can likely expect mortal resistance for the most part."

It was a hunch, admittedly, but for a cult that embraced necromancy so clearly, not to actually use any undead in their attacks was a curious choice. Going through the effort of collecting the bodies, but not using them for anything else, meant that there had to be a reason they chose not to.

"Our approach is thus to draw their defenders from their hole with a tantalizing prize: Strong and well-supplied soldiers in seemingly manageable numbers, carrying valuable materials. Bait, in other words. So close to their camp, it will be difficult for fanatics to ignore the new supply of high-quality dead, slaves, and necessary supplies."

Turning their raiding habits against them was the most logical choice to be made, especially given their seeming boldness.

"We will then ambush their raiding party and destroy it, before proceeding into their camp. As I mentioned, Lambert, once we've commenced our ambush, I would like for you to break off of our main force in order to seek out and slay the one raising the dead. The sooner they our slain, the quicker the possibility of raising their own dead is ended, as well as the threat of whatever undead they might possess."

[@Raineh Daze][@Rin][@AzureKnight][@Psyker Landshark][@The Otter][@VKAllen][@Eisenhorn][@Crimson Paladin][@Conscripts][@HereComesTheSnow][@Octo][@PigeonOfAstora]