Requiem walked purposefully towards the city gate. Lieutenant Marwin Awedin had called for her and then sent her off with a report in her hand, claiming it to be of "utmost importance" that she be quick and discreet. She showed her badge to the guard at the gate and was let out.

Earlier that day...

She tugged her sleeves and adjusted herself one last time as she reached the briefing room where she found the lieutenant, "Rune Knight Requiem, reporting as ordered sir!" she snapped off a salute, "Heh, at ease soldier." She lowered her hand and stood with them folded in front of her, "Now then, I've heard that you have a unique talent for getting places you aren't supposed to be undetected. I'm going to need that talent tonight." Lieutenant Awedin stood at attention, causing the page to do likewise, "There have been reports of numerous undead amassing and organizing themselves like an army in the woods nearby. No one has been able to confirm these reports though. Normally, undead simply shamble about aimlessly attacking anything that's alive and comes close. These guys are definitely showing high levels of intelligence. What does that tell you?"
"The zombies are being controlled by a person or persons capable of high level necromancy. Such events have almost always led to great tragedy so it is imperative that we find and stop them before they can act."
"Good, now take this and read it carefully. Go search the area in question and then report back." Requiem accepted the papers and then left. She noticed that there were others who came and went who had also received the same orders as herself. She checked the time, 1900, plenty of time to get ready for the mission.

Present...

Requiem quietly walked down the road to the forest. The night was clear, which was both good and bad. She would have plenty of shadows to work with, but that also meant that the other side would have quite a bit of light to see by. She recalled where the report she had been given told her to go, slightly to the north of where she was and then a little further east.

She slunk into the nearest shadow and practically vanished into the inky dark. She repressed the dark memories and moved on, looking for a sign that she was on the right track. She thought she heard something for a moment, but when nothing happened she started moving again. Requiem would occasionally stop and listen, taking game trails and stepping on rocks and roots to avoid leaving a trail behind. It was long and slow, but the lack of action meant either it was working or...well, she didn't want to think she was on a wild chase. Personally, it felt like the guards and scouts were being paranoid. Requiem shook her head, this wasn't the time to let her mind wander. She climbed a tree and took a moment to refocus on the task at hand.

A sliver of moonlight poked through the branches, bright enough for her to reread the report she had been given. There had to be something, anything. Returning without information would be a huge dishonor. If she failed to find even a whisper, that would be enough to prevent her from becoming a true holy knight. Requiem had to bite her tongue to not make a sound. This wasn't going to end in failure, she would find the bastard(s) responsible and bring them to justi- no...no...she shook her head again. The mission was to investigate. She wasn't supposed to do anything that would jeopardize the grand scheme of things. Requiem quietly climbed back down and went further in. It had taken another few minutes before she finally saw two zombies marching side by side in lockstep, Crapbaskets, this isn't going to be easy. She saw another pair not too far away. Staying to the shadows, the assassin did exactly what she had been raised to do: get somewhere she wasn't supposed to be without raising an alarm. It was slow going as she moved, stopped, counted and then moved again in the blind shadows that protected her. A particularly heavily patrolled path line proved difficult for a moment until she realized there was a shadow not too far laying across the path. She knelt and made a handsign, turning into a shadow herself and raced along the mild darkness. She hid behind a tree and waited to hear if she had been spotted. No sound beyond what the stepping of the undead and a faint chanting could be heard. She continued on her way until she came across a clearing with a hill. On top of the hill was a worn pagan statue. Requiem's heart turned to ice when she saw the emblem. "Echidna. Of course it would be them." She wanted badly to go out there and kill them all. That, however, would've been suicide. She had never been particularly strong in combat. She stood crouched in the shadows trying to get a good look at how they were casting the mass necromancy spell. She moved slowly and quietly along the edge and studied the spell as it was being cast, I see, one person is casting the actual spell while everyone else is providing the power needed to spread it among so many corpses. She watched a few more minutes before sneaking away. having memorized the patterns on the way in, Requiem was able to get out pretty easily and sneak all the way back to the city. Morning was starting to peek over the horizon and the young woman decided a few minutes sleep by the gate would be acceptable after her success.

She woke up right as the gates started to open. After showing her badge again, Requiem hurried back to headquarters and made her way to where Lieutenant Awedin was, "Rune Page Requiem,
reporting as per instructions sir." She saluted, "At ease." he seemed a bit tired, perhaps something had happened? She eased her stance, "I located the source of the undead. There is a cult of Echidna resurrecting them. The leader appears to be casting the actual spell while the members provide the magic necessary to make the spell affect as many corpses as possible. The zombies were also patrolling the area in pairs though they followed simplistic patterns" She couldn't get the anger out of her voice entirely. Lieutenant Awedin gave her a look but said nothing, "Anything else?"
"Nothing stood out that I can think of sir."
"okay then. Dismissed. And Requiem, don't drive yourself into the ground again, your talents shouldn't be wasted like that." She bowed, "Th-thank you, I shall take your words to heart."

Requiem walked towards the barracks, she was tired and needed a bath. An ominous feeling hovered over her. For some reason, she felt like she would look back and wonder what possessed her superiors to give her this as her first mission.

(1238/1000)