The Silver Crusade

"What's going on here?" Sanryu is the first thing he says, looking at the scene before him. He's happy to hear that Lysandra has recovered, but he doesn't understand why she's completely still.

"Goddess Lurue, please! You cannot abandon the people of this city...there are even innocent children who would become the victims of the evil that dwells in the shadows of Strath." Lysandra tries to convince Lurue to help him.

"My answer does not change, I will not help you carry out any mission you have to do...the people of this region do not know my name, and I am not the type of goddess who, if she sees injustice, must necessarily intervene, not I'm Torm." Lurue explains why he rejected her. "Not to mention that I still haven't recovered my full power, if you have a mission to carry out, you have to do it with your own hands, not asking the gods, otherwise what use would believers or paladins like you be? If you want a hand, why Don't you ask the two who are there?" Lurue points to Sanryu and Fenrya who just came out of the bathroom.

"I understand, you're not entirely wrong... but I don't fully share your vision." Lysandra doesn't push Lurue, she turns to Sanryu and Fenrya. "You two are the guys who rescued me from that cell, I sincerely thank you." Lysandra thanks the two of her for saving her from those sewers. "I don't remember if I did, but I'll introduce myself again, I'm Lysandra, a Torm crusader, nice to meet you."

"Nice Lysandra, even if we already introduced ourselves to the sewers, it's not a problem, I'm Sanryu, and she's Fenrya. Did you say something that intrigues me, Crusader? Aren't you a paladin?" Sanryu doesn't know this crusade thing.

*Grumbling*

"I think someone here is hungry." Fenrya says this, as he looks towards Lysandra, making the latter embarrassed.

"After all she was imprisoned inside that cell for almost a week, most likely they only gave you water to live on." Lurue says this, echoing what Lysandra said earlier.

"Now that you make me think, it's almost time for lunch, let's go down and eat together." Sanryu suggests they all eat together, but Lysandra says one thing.

"Um, could I take a bath first?" The girl asks with a little embarrassment.

"Oh yes, of course! I'll go get some water so you can start washing yourself." Sanryu exits the room, carrying buckets of water, making several trips from the room to the bottom floor, filling the bathroom's large basin of water. "That's it, now you can wash." Sanryu tells Lysandra that the basin is full.

"Thank you very much, with permission." Lysandra enters the bathroom and closes the door, starting to clean herself.

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After almost fifteen minutes, Lysandra comes out of the bathroom, smelling much better than before. "I'm done, thank you so much for your patience, if you want, we can go." Lysandra tells the group that they can go to lunch now.

The four go down the stairs, to reach the lower floor, Sanryu is the two girls who are with him, they have already paid for lunch, while Lysandra pays for it herself, apparently the mysterious men have not confiscated anything from the girl, to part of the weapon is the shield.

Making themselves comfortable in the chairs, and with their dishes served on the table, the four can begin to have lunch, Lysandra almost seems to devour her dishes, a clear sign of a voracious hunger.

"So Lysandra, now can you answer the question I asked?" Sanryu is very curious about the history of the crusade.

"Ah yes! As you said, I am a paladin, but I am part of an elite of paladins, called Crusaders. The Crusaders are paladins chosen by the divinities themselves, they are responsible for bringing order, discipline and justice to Ethia, and purging evil is those who purge it." Sanryu is happy to discover something new, he didn't know these crusaders. "You haven't heard of it, because here in Alterac there isn't a great deal of evil like there is in the rest of Ethia. This kingdom is very small compared to others, and you're also quite isolated from the rest of the world, even if you have open trade with other kingdoms." Sanryu is even more intrigued to know more. "I am not originally from Alterac, but I come from a very distant region, Sephila that is its name, and it is located far east of here, beyond the great expanses of savannah also known as the Burning Steppes."

"I've heard of them, they're to the east, on the edge of the Wild Lands." Sanryu has heard of these Bruning Steppes. "Only a few have managed to get to those lands, since after having overcome the Wild Lands, this undertaking is already no small feat, you also have to choose to either climb the great mountain range of Khaz Modan, or pass through tunnels and underground, beneath the mountains. Each of these two choices has its own risks and dangers, which should not be underestimated." Sanryu continues his speech. "And after you overcome these obstacles, you reach a land full of monsters and wild creatures, ranging from strength to cunning at high levels."

"Exactly! I see you are approximately familiar with the regions beyond the Wild Lands, Sanryu, how did you learn about them? These are not places people casually mention." Lysandra asks curiously.

"My father was an adventurer, but his origins are from a country far away, west of here. He spent most of his life traveling on high-level missions until he decided to settle here in Alterac with my mother. So sometimes, he told me stories about his adventures and misadventures." Most of Sanryu's knowledge is due to his father's teachings, he owes much to him.

"Now everything is clear, back to us. As you said, Sanryu, in these borders of this continent, there are these very inaccessible regions, which make trade by land impossible. So Alterac is forced to trade by air or by sea, I arrived via a merchant ship that was supposed to stop in this region." Lysandra explains how she got to Alterac. "You should know that from the region where I come, there is an order of paladins called the Argent Crusade, this order has various headquarters scattered throughout Ethia, where people worship the gods connected to this order. The Argent Crusade is Founded centuries ago by powerful paladins under the guidance of gods dedicated to bringing hope to this world, Torm was one of these gods. Here in Alterac there are no headquarters of the Argent Crusade, but the church that worships the main goddess of this region, is in contact with the Crusade." Lysandra is revealing a lot of information about the world out there, exciting Sanryu, who is developing a passion for travel. "A few months ago, we were sent a request for assistance from the church, asking for our help, but that letter didn't specify what the problem was, only that an evil was about to invade Alterac, so I was chosen to come to investigate. They arrived on the shores of this region only a month ago, and now, my faith in Torm, has guided me to this city... and indeed I was right, something is happening in Strath." Sanryu and Fenrya's eyes become more serious, while Lurue is calmly eating her meal, not interested in the matter.

"I'm sure this evil is connected to those men who kidnapped you, right?" Fenrya speculates on an idea.

"Exactly! I still don't know exactly what they are planning, I only know that they need all those prisoners to sacrifice them... the reason is who they want to sacrifice them to, I still don't know." Lysandra reveals the plans of these mysterious men. "Just when I was investigating more deeply, they ambushed me and I was overwhelmed. After putting me in prison, every certain amount of time, they cast a spell on me to weaken me, so as not to let me regain my strength. It's my candies." That's how they kept Lysandra quiet in her cell, it turns out those men cast a spell to weaken her.

"So they intend to sacrifice those poor people... is it possible that no one has discovered anything until now? What the hell is the Marquis of this city doing? Berdo Floga would not have allowed such an event, even if unfortunately now there is no 'it's more." Sanryu compares the marquis of this city with that of Deria, she and she cannot believe that these kidnappings continue to happen.

"Berdo Floga? The Marquis of Deria? I was his guest for a few days, he has respect for the gods of the Silver Crusade, so he hosted me in his mansion. What do you mean he's no longer here? " Lysandra can't believe Berdo is dead.

"He died inside her mansion a week ago, there was a skaven invasion, and Deria fell-" As Sanryu mentions a skaven invasion, Lysandra's eyes widen and she immediately interrupts the boy .

"Deria has fallen?! And there's a skaven invasion?! How come no one knows about this?" Lysandra seems shocked by this news. "That's where that group of survivors those mysterious men were talking about came from." Lysandra is clearer on the matter now that she knows about the skaven.

"Does anyone know anything? And which group are you talking about?" Sanryu looks more confused than usual. 'How do you know no one's talking about it? After all, when she was incarcerated, Deria was still intact and there was no invasion... and she's only been out for a little over an hour.'

"If a nearby city falls to the Skaven, usually the nearby cities prepare for an invasion, or send contingents of soldiers to counter the threat, and yet, I see none of this." Lysandra looks around, in the canteen of the inn, people are eating peacefully and out in the streets everyday life is going on. "People are too calm and I don't feel any tension in the air." Now that Sanryu thinks about it, it's all very strange, as if people didn't know about Deria's fall.

"Most likely I don't know about it yet." Fenrya exclaims this, continuing her meal.

"This is a logical perspective, but I don't understand why no one was notified. The group you mentioned earlier, what did those men talk about?" Sanryu tells Lysandra to talk about that group.

"Those men said that a group of survivors had arrived two days ago, but they did not specify what they had survived from." Lysandra is probably talking about Zaria's group.

'And definitely Zaria's group of survivors...so she arrived safe and sound, thank goodness.' Sanryu is relieved to hear that the girl arrived in Strath alive. "So the marquis must certainly be aware of the fall of Deria, in that group there were nobles from Deria, as well as Berdo's daughter, not to mention many soldiers and knights. Where did they all go? Is it possible to hide all those people? " Sanryu begins to think about this fact.

"If you are an influential person like the Marquis, most likely yes. I have a feeling that those people were incarcerated and kept hidden by the Marquis, he will only have housed the most important nobles and soldiers with the highest rank and position in the army." Lysandra hypothesizes an idea of hers. "However, an invasion of skaven is a very bad omen, usually they invade only at the behest of their guides, and the latter are in contact with their god, Skartik, the god of rats is of greed. It is difficult to purge a skaven invasion of skaven, since most of them live in the underground and in the city sewers, you might have skaven under your feet, and you wouldn't even know it... until it's too late." Lysandra seems to know the skaven. "We of Sephila have lost a portion of the region, due to the skaven, where they pass, they pollute the surrounding environment with their cursed warpstone, the material they use to do everything. The warpstone is capable of absorbing the life around it, is to convert it into raw power which is then used by those rats, that's how they bring death around them."

"Bad news, so if they don't act immediately, it will be the end for Alterac." Sanryu sees it badly for this kingdom, if its rulers don't wake up and start taking precautions. "So what do you propose to do, Lysandra? We'll have to start by step, I suppose? Then start with Strath." Sanryu understood that if Alterac falls, his family will also end up badly, so if he can do something, he will do it.

"Thank you for your support, I would start investigating the city, and ask the citizens if they are noticing anything strange these days. And then I would go to the mansion of the marquis of this city, if anyone knows anything, it must be for come on him. But if our guesses are correct, the Marquis himself is entangled in these problems, so we will infiltrate." Lysandra proposes her ideas, and Sanryu and Fenrya listen attentively.

'The Burning Steppes ehhh.' Lurue is not interested in these problems, she is thinking of a specific region.