Sadarth waited a few days for rumor to spread of what happened in Sunley. The countess overthrow, humiliated, and replaced by a City Assembly. Every peasant and burgher would be emboldened by the tale. Each city Sadarth liberated was easier than the last. The people bolder, the nobles more timid and her reputation larger. Dozens of cities and towns named her Empress, and the Empire of Sadarth grew by leaps and bounds. Dumbfounded, their former lords were forced to retreat, or be captured by Sadarth herself for punishment by her new protectorates. All this time, however, she was seen by not a soul, nor did she dare attach a strip of fabric to her person. She would not yet dare reveal herself, and the army of paladins and clerics was still out there.
It was months before an organized response to her uprisings could be organized, but when it came it would come with unimaginable force.
The High King of All Oloan had managed to convince his vassals of the threat of Sadarth's free cities. For the first time in generations, the squabbling warrior elites of Oloan had united under one cause, to put down the rebels and demonstrate their superiority. Joining them were the rival kingdoms of Oloan who had also perceived the need to crush the rebellion which was springing up wherever Sadarth went.
Sadarth could not summon enough magic to destroy this army. She knew it was at last time to call her Empire to war. Untested, and comprised of many fresh but levies, the Empire of Sadarth would have little chance against the combined might of the nobility. Sadarth would have to rally her people to war, and that meant revealing herself.
In all her nakedness.
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