Plans Proceed

It takes longer than Michael had expected to actually calm Tiffania down, but eventually, he manages it and explains the situation to her. They still had a few hours until night rolled around, so Michael handed Tiffania his spare sword and started running her through the basics of using it... She had literally no talent for it, but it'd at least scare away some peasants while he was dealing with the tougher enemies.

After this, Tiffania showed him what spells she'd managed to glean from the book... Well, not spells, spell. Aside from Erase, Levitation, and her weak breeze spell, she managed to pick up Combustion, a weak flame burst that hurt a peasant a point-blank range, but not much else. She primarily learned it to burn down the granaries however, as Michael didn't really have a way to do it efficiently.

His Shadow Shaman spells did scorch thing's they touched, by they weren't really designed to cause fires... He was quite shocked that Tiffania went to such efforts though, as it was clear she'd had a massive phobia of fire ever since her 'death'. This was the first part of getting past it, he supposed.

Once the duo had gotten everything ready, they stealthily left the cave as the sun sets and night reigns.

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Michael and Tiffania sneak through the forest and slowly make their way towards Cendri, Tiffania was wearing his cloak and had the hood up to hide her ears, leaving him in just some chainmail. He wasn't using Cloak and Dagger yet of course, as that'd prevent Tiffania from following him.

He'd actually tried to dissuade Tiffanai from coming, as she'd be put in far more danger than Michael was comfortable with. She refused however, wanting to confront her fears and take back the control that these people had taken from her.

The group eventually reach the treeline overlooking the first granary, and Michael wasn't surprised to see a couple guards loitering around it. They probably suspected that something was up, but wasn't sure enough to commit all their troops to protect the granaries instead of the town.

He glances at Tiffania and gives her a meaningful look, "Are you ready?"

She quickly nods, psyching herself for the impending battle. Her knuckles turn white as she tightly grips the handle of her sword, reminding herself why she was here in the first place.

Michael activates Cloak and Dagger, causing his form to ripple and quickly disappear, rendering him completely invisible to the human eye. Of course, his steps displaced foliage still, and he still produced sound, so there were still ways to locate him if his enemies were smart about it.

He leaves the treeline and sneaks towards the two guards, easily getting behind them and swinging his sword at their necks, hard. In one fell swoop, two heads hit the floor as their lightly armoured bodies follow soon after, blood spurting liberally from their necks.

Michael gestures for Tiffania to come once he looks around for anyone else, noting that the area was clear. Tiffania comes awkwardly running out from the trees, grimacing at the headless bodies but doing her best to ignore them.

Michael kicks open the granary door for her, allowing her to start a small fire inside, giving them some time before flames completely overtake it. They also make sure to start a small fire in the farm next to it, the dry crops making it entirely too easy to ignite.

"Quick, let's hit the next one." he says, knowing that they still had ten out of the eleven granaries to go.

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Four dead guards later and two more burning granaries, Cendri had finally started to notice what they were doing. The first granary they hit was already completely on fire, not to mention the farm next to it which looked like a scene from hell. The other two granaries had also started smoking, causing many peasants to start waking up and trying to deal with the fires... At least, they would have had they not spotted the corpses of the guardsman outside of it. No one was brave enough to step past them and try to put out the fires as they feared they'd be next.

Of course, this also meant that many guards had been sent out to protect the remaining granaries, and strangely, Michael noted that they were far more prepared and equipped than last he saw them. This time the guards were equipped with swords, shields, spears, and even bows. There were even a couple of men riding horses and using muskets...

Tiffania had just lit the fourth granary on fire when a large group of guardsmen start charging their position. Michael was already invisible of course, allowing him to make his way into the centre of their group and start cleaving people to pieces.

Shouts of pain and terror erupt from the guards as they all turn to see what was happening. Many were shocked to see six of their comrades already butchered by the suddenly appearing enemy. The backline using bows and muskets were rendered completely useless as they'd more likely than not cause friendly fire if they tried to interfere with Michael, leaving the melee units to try to counteract him.

Michael easily fends off the panicking guardsman, occasionally throwing out a shock spell to thin out their numbers. There were around thirty units in this group, and he'd already wiped out sixteen of them.

Just as the guards are about to surround and collective attack him, he uses pounce and leaps of their heads, landing in the midst of the archers and musket man, beginning a new assault on them instead.

By the time the melee units reengaged him, all of the archers and musket man had already been killed, leaving only the seven melee guards left. Of course, by now they were completely terrified of Michael, so after one of them gets cut down, the rest throw down their weapons and start fleeing towards the town... Only to be pursued and cut down by Michael as he didn't want to allow Cendri any time to properly gather its forces and start a large scale battle.