As the man named Quinn takes his leave, you flip a coin. Not just any coin, but the one you found amidst the village you've taken that can answer a simple question each day. When it lands on heads, you nod to yourself.

"Alright lads, this isn't a trap," you inform your force of skeletons. "Looks like the enemy is waiting for us in the next village. Would have been nice for Mr. Quinn to let us know how many adventurers Kettleburn hired, but expect them to be more seasoned than the militia. I wouldn't expect these to be as strong as Abigail and her party, give how they've holed up, but we can't be careful. Here's how we're going to do it..."

You dismount your pale horse and take out a map of the region. Folding it appropriately, you show them the Hamlet you're about to raid.

Twenty houses neatly pressed against the road, surrounded by a fence to keep the animals out. Annoying for a determined invasion force, but certainly no curtain wall that your skeletons would need to climb over. The warehouse sits near the edge of the village, slightly away from the houses on its row. Auspiciously, it's the closest structure to your approach, giving you easy access once you've baited the ambush.

"Detlev, we're gonna pretend that you're me," you tell him. The near-mindless revenant cocks his head, as if to say - how am I supposed to do that when I've hardly got a brain? - but you put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "All you need to do is ride out there with the other revenants, and hold this blade aloft. My little bird friend will bait them out."

To that end, you use a certain art of reliquary invocation: the ability to bestow relics on your allies. A pale horse appears now for Detlev, and though his cannot stride across the waters and snow as yours can, it is a steady worthy of a dreadknight. In his hands, a lesser version of your Blade of the Defiler. While it cannot cause a wound that festers with corruption, as you had done with Abigail, those slain by it will still rise again as your loyal minions.

And lastly, a raven leaps from your signet ring and lands on Detlev's shoulder.

"I can speak for you through this," you say through the raven. Its beak opens as though to caw, and your voice comes out of it. Deeper than it should have been, sounding with the same distortions of a demon's voice when possessing one of their loyal servants. "In the dark of night, they will only see a man clad in steel, raising a blade aloft and demanding their submission. They will not see the bird upon your should speaking."

Turning to the skeletons, you speak normally. "As for the 2nd and 3rd squadrons... while Detlev centers all of their attention on himself and the Revenants, your task will be to encircle the hamlet. Take out any patrolling guards, and provide counterfire against the crossbowmen that are set up in the windows."