Year 50

With all business taken care of, you tell Talia to let you know if anything important comes up since you're going to catch a few moments of sleep. Seems like you don't do much of that anymore.

As you settle down for some much needed rest, you drift off thinking about all what you've managed to accomplish.

Quala is essentially under your thumb and you haven't even resorted to an army to do it. You've got people from there paying you left and right to assassinate their enemies whether it is in tangible goods or simple favors that you intend on calling in some day.

It doesn't stop there either; you've even had a few people travel all the way from the Arat province and even Rask to use your services. It of course helps that you've never failed to assassinate a chosen target.

As a result, you've accomplished much of what you first envisioned. You've managed to put enough dread into those in power to not want to invade Delerg for fear of their own deaths or on the more pragmatic side of things they'd prefer to have you around in case they want to get rid of someone.

"You're enjoying all this aren't you Eternal? I know you're playing the emotionless cold hearted assassin guild leader and all, but deep down you're enjoying every moment of it. It's okay to admit it, not like I'm going to tell anyone."
"Of course I am, but not for the reasons you believe. I'm enjoying this because things are going well for the shadows for once AND I'm not terminally bored while leading them. For the longest time I could achieve one or the other but not both."
"Going well? Haven't you had to execute ten shadows, including two of your own council? Theo and Yvette I believe?"
"It was necessary. They were conspiring and disagreeing with the new direction the shadows needed to go in order to thrive. Besides, I didn't say we were without problems. I just meant things were good in general and you don't seem to have a problem with what I'm doing. You even encouraged me when I made the effort to consult you about it."
"Of course I don't. In fact you've actually made the shadows more interesting than they have been in a long time. So…now that you're on top of the world so to speak, what's your next move?"
"Nothing major though I imagine it won't stay like that for long. I don't delude myself that the calmer times last forever, just that I should enjoy them while I can."

Those words prove to be true considering that Delerg sudden gets a large influx of svelk mercenaries in the town of Sinkhole one day. What's more disturbing is they weren't detected until they were in the town. This could be the precursor to an invasion for all you know and you personally go with Cyrus and several other Blades to sort this out.

When you arrive, a few shadows that were in the town report that the svelk haven't been doing anything except carousing at the tavern. He says they've been obnoxious, but nothing serious yet. Besides Mistress, the only dark elves you've had to deal with were those that were hired by the Empire to kill you during your time in Rask, so your opinion of them isn't exactly high to begin with, but that probably makes you the same as everyone else in that aspect.

You know damn well they have to be here for a reason other than spending money on booze though.

You enter the tavern and it gets suddenly much quieter from the revelry you heard before entering. The staff looks miserable, particularly the waitresses and only a few other customers remain trying to hide in a dark corner, probably too scared to pass the dark elves to leave.

"Ah! The great Shadow Master graces us with his presence! I was wondering if we could be expecting you. I told my soldiers here that if we showed up unannounced that we'd get your attention. It is truly a testament to your patrols that we found ourselves hard pressed to evade them undetected until we arrived in this dismal town." One dark elf says while sitting at a table with his fellows. You presume he's probably their leader.
"What do you svelk want and make it quick." You say.
"Straight to the point eh? Very well then. My name is Tyren and what I want is to hire your services."

You don't believe it.

"You? You want to hire the shadows to kill someone? Since when did svelk rely on assassins? Doesn't your race learn such a trade from birth and gleefully kill as a matter of course?"

Suddenly Tyren stands up as if he's offended by your remark.

"And what do you know of us, shadow? What do you know that you haven't heard second hand from the grubby ignorant peasants?"
"Trust me, I know your kind well enough that your senseless posturing and fake attempt at being offended are not going to intimidate or second guess myself. You're a race of sadistic murderous mercenaries that go from battlefield to battlefield profiting from conflict which I don't have a problem with. What I do have a problem with is when a bunch of them suddenly show up in my backyard where there is no conflict. You come here saying you need our help, yet show up unannounced and without coming to us directly. That shows a severe lack of disrespect, and there is no reason why I shouldn't just kill the lot of you now and throw your worthless carcasses to the Sul-Monkeys."

You and your shadows take a step forward and Tyren's demeanor changes immediately though he tries to play it off like he was joking.

"Sheesh, calm down. I didn't realize you shadows were so fucking serious all the time. Fine I'll explain in greater detail. I want you to kill the leader of another Svelk mercenary company. She goes by the name of Edolith. Currently she's located in the eastern part of the Quala province fighting for one of the half assed warlords there. I want her dead because she's been taking all the good paying jobs for years and also with her dead I may even be able to gain her warband which has no other viable leaders to take her place."

Tyren takes a drink before continuing.

"Now I know what you're thinking why don't I do this myself or even join an opposing side and kill her on the battlefield that way. Well it is with great risk in front of ALL my soldiers that I admit that I am neither clever or strong enough to take her on, though I would remind my soldiers that I could easily kick all of their asses." And with those words he quickly draws a dagger and stabs one of his men in the throat. The dark elf spits out a glob of blood and falls backwards gasping for life until Tyren finishes him off with a crushing stomp to his head.

Naturally all the rest of the svelk look upon this as a normal thing, Tyren then turns to you.

"So I call upon you, the shadows for help, the greatest assassins ever known in recent history. I believe that your order has the skill to pull off her assassination. So do we have a deal?"
"Not really considering you haven't even described payment yet. What could you possibly offer? Svelk mercenaries aren't known for their wealth and trust me you'd need a considerable amount for me to even consider this."
"Hmmm, well what about we owe you a favor?"

Now you laugh.

"A favor from you lot? Not likely. We have no need of mercenaries and I doubt if you'd come through with it anyway. We'd probably have to slaughter you all and while that would be doing the world a favor and maybe even sort of fun, I'd like to at least have something tangible if I'm going to help you."
"You're incredibly suspicious of us. You sure you don't have svelk blood? No probably not, you're pretty ugly even for a human, but what can you do seeing as you all evolved from those Sul-Monkeys out there right? Ha ha ha ha! Okay but seriously… Zarren! Get over here with that big bag!" Tyren shouts at one of his underlings.

Zarren comes to Tyren's table with a big bag and dumps the contents out on it. What is revealed is more than just regular valuables. There are also some books and other objects as well. So much that part of loot falls to the floor.

"Hey, I recognize that book…its one I read during my days at Gloom! I thought it was lost forever." Dravin suddenly exclaims. "In fact a lot of these objects are from Gloom! These ceremony rings, these cups…where the hell did you get this stuff?"
"Oh we svelk do a lot of trading with all kinds of people in our travels, those rock eating dwarves just being one of many. We sort of thought you all might be interested in lost objects from your old stomping grounds. Along with the gems and gold, I'd say this should be more than enough payment shouldn't it?"

While you aren't overly attached to any "lost objects" from Gloom, you can see Dravin is pretty fond of some of them. You imagine the older human shadows that are still around would be happy to see such things again. Even Cyrus is looking at a couple things, and you know Talia would be interested in them. The actual valuables are probably a fair payment for a job such as this.

Still part of you doesn't trust the svelk. Something about all this seems a bit sketchy. You don't know what exactly, but it just doesn't feel quite right to you.

You decline the contract

While it probably would make some of your shadows happy, you just don't trust Tyren at all. This all seems too straight forward and with these objects from Gloom he's offering…well its almost as if he's over eager for you to take the job.

"Tyren, I'm sorry you traveled all this way from wherever you previously were and dragged a bag of treasure with you along the way, but I'm going to have to say, this contract is not in the best interest of the shadows at this time."
"What?!" Dravin asks.
"Are you serious?" Cyrus exclaims.
"Since when do the shadows turn down a contract?" Tyren asks.
"It's been known to happen. Now if you please, leave these premises and don't return." You say ignoring Dravin and Cyrus' outbursts.

"But this part of our history he's got here! How can we not take the contract?" Dravin says.
"I realize that, but it's the past, not the future and I believe taking this contract is not the best for our future."
"But…"
"Dravin! I am Shadow Master here, do NOT question me further on this!"
"Hey, he's asking a valid question. You don't need to pull rank like that." Cyrus adds.
"Cyrus, don't you start too. This is not the time or place."

While you bicker with Cyrus and Dravin, Tyren and his men begin to snicker which causes you to snap at them.

"Didn't I tell you merc scum to get the fuck out of here?"
"Okay, okay, we're leaving." Tyren chuckles though they're taking their time gathering up the valuables that they spilled on the table.

Meanwhile Dravin insists on arguing with Cyrus backing him up naturally.

"Look, I don't mean to question you Shadow Master, but I just think Dendrin would want us to have our history back, if only part of it."
"I agree. Besides I'm sure Talia would like some of these things as well."

You can hardly believe the insubordination going on here.

"The both of you are unbelievable right now. Questioning me and arguing in front of fucking dark elves? Did we turn into a pack of orcs overnight? Attempting to use my wife as some sort of support for your disobedience? You want the past? Fine, let's just take it!" you shout and you draw your weapon. Before anyone can do anything else you grab the nearest dark elf and run him through.

"Treachery! Defend yourselves!" Tyren shouts and drops some gems to pull his crossbow.

The skirmish in the tavern is quick and bloody affair. The dark elves fight the best they can, but the advantage is to you in every way. You allow none to escape and the tavern is littered with their dead and a couple of your own by the end of it. The bar staff peep out from behind their hiding places.

While the rest of the shadows gather up the valuables that are now all over the floor and place them into the bag, you search Tyren's body on a hunch you had long before you engaged in this bloodbath and fortunately you find something in the form of a letter.

Tyren,

Make sure to wait a day before triggering the curse we put on those objects the rock eaters sold us. That should be more than enough time for the shadows to have placed them somewhere in their temple. The magic words are at the bottom of this letter and they should be simple enough even for you to memorize.

As for the shadow assassin squad they'll send after me, don't worry about that, I've got that covered and have the ambush ready. You just stay near the Delerg province and monitor the situation with the after effects of the wasting curse. If it looks like they're severely weakened by it then by all means attack the temple yourself before I get there.

Also remember to destroy this letter, the last thing I need is for the shadows to kill you and find this on your corpse because you were an incompetent fool. Assuming you don't mess this up on your end. We should at least be able to cripple the shadows to a degree that they'll no longer be a threat to our livelihood.

Edolith

You figured it was something like this. Makes sense the svelk would see the shadows as major competition.

"Next time just listen to my orders instead of bitching like a couple of housewives at the market!" you say shoving the letter in Cyrus' hand.

Cyrus looks it over.

"Okay, so you were right, but we outsmarted them, got their stuff and we can perform a sanctify ritual on these objects. This situation turned out better than if we had just let them go."

You're already angry at this whole situation and this is just the final straw for you.

"Cyrus that's not the damn point. My point is you AND Dravin undermined my authority in front of not only the rest of the shadows but outsiders as well as if you knew better. When I told you to desist you continued to piss and moan…in fact you're STILL doing it!"

Before Cyrus can come up with another snappy come back, you speed yourself up and punch him in the face. He reels backwards and you follow up with a kick sending him to the floor. He attempts to get up, but you kick him again in the face and then with a power stomp you smash his shin, breaking the bone through the skin. He bellows in pain and Dravin dares to try to stop you.

"Shadow Master plea…" is all he utters before you give him a chop to his throat and then twist his arm behind his back before slamming his face into the table.

"You! Stretch out his other arm across the table and take out your dagger." You say to closest Blade, while continuing to hover behind Dravin. The Blade obeys without hesitation and Dravin is begging for mercy when he hears the unsheathing of a dagger. You can also hear Cyrus pleading for you not to harm Dravin.

Still holding on to Dravin's other arm, you half turn around to face him.

"YOU shut the fuck up, before I break your other shin! I'm not killing him, but a lesson must be taught to both of you! Now you, what's your name?" you ask the Blade since you never can keep track of these new eternals' names, you swear they must've altered them all in those tanks to look similar or something.
"Glen, Shadow Master."
"Glen, take Dravin's pinky finger."
"NO!" Dravin screams.
"Okay take his ring finger too!" you say and twist Dravin's arm further. "You wanna go for the whole hand? Then keep fighting me! You're lucky I'm not taking them from your dominant hand! Glen proceed."

Glen cuts off Dravin's pinky first which causes him to let out a stifled yelp. Glen moves on to the ring finger, and you're not sure if it's the combination of the shock and fear, but whatever the reason Dravin ends up passing out completely.

"Wrap up his hand and carry him back to the temple." You tell Glen.

Cyrus is still on the floor sitting up with his shinbone sticking out of his leg. He's still in great pain, but you believe he's more upset about Dravin. You crouch down beside him.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way brother, but I spared your life once for a reason Cyrus. You agreed to obey my commands as Shadow Master and today you repeatedly defied my will. Am I going to regret that decision?"
"…no…no…" Cyrus says trying not cry out.
"No what?" you ask again forcing him to look directly into your eyes.
"No…Shadow Master…"
"Good. Good. Something like this can never happen again." You say and stand back up.

You tell the other Blades to carry Cyrus and grab the ill gotten bag of loot back to the temple since you're going on ahead of everyone else. You then turn your attention to the frightened tavern staff.

"Apologies for the mess. Leave them some gold to help clean up this filth off their floor and tables." You say while stepping over a dark elf corpse and then heading out the door.

When you get back the temple Talia asks you what happened and where everyone else is.

"Had to put down some treacherous svelk, as far as I'm concerned all of their kind now has a permanent target on their backs if any us see one of them again. But we got some things off of them I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with, you'll have to perform a sanctify ritual over them first though before bringing them into the temple. As for the rest of the Blades, they'll be along shortly with said loot I imagine, oh and I'm dissolving the Council. Really no point in it anymore."
"Wha…well you are Shadow Master, but did you mention this Dravin and Cyrus?"
"Oh trust me, they know."
Year 55

You wake up with yet another permanent ache in your body. Getting old really sucks and it probably doesn't help that you've spent decades fighting all your life. Who knows how many broken bones, deep cuts, head blows and other bodily trauma you've had. However, you're probably more fit than most people your age and your magic ability is certainly a great equalizer.

You go over some of the newest contract requests and one catches your eye due to it suffering from multiple misspellings and the murdering of language in general. When you see that it's from Flog you're a little impressed that he was able to write as well as he did.

From what you can make out in the horribly written letter, he wants to meet with some of your people because he's got a major problem on his hands and he hopes that seeing as he once helped you fight the Empire, you'd help him out in return.

You shake your head at that remark considering that as you recall you basically spared his life in exchange for his support. He doesn't go into specifics about who he wants killed, but he goes on to say that he's acquired a lot of wealth in his "conquest" of Rask. A bit of stretching the truth since while its true he owns the biggest stretch on territory there, the area is far from conquered.

Amusingly he wants you to meet him at Blood Tooth, which is apparently what he renamed Evergloom after he moved in years after you left. He states he'll go into more specifics then, mainly because he doesn't want the letter possibly falling into the wrong hands and also because all this writing makes his brain hurt. He also mentions that while it isn't necessary, he'd prefer to meet with you personally since he's confident in your abilities to get the job done.

You can't help but smile a little at that last statement.

"You're not going are you?" Talia asks.
"Why not? I've been running the shadows for this long and I haven't even taken a contract myself. Seems a bit hypocritical don't you think?"
"You're the Shadow Master, you don't need to concern yourself with such things."
"Maybe, but I've always believed that a leader really should lead by example and I've done that for the most part."
"What about that incident with the dark elves?"
"Eh, I actually didn't even plan that and it really doesn't count. I just think I need to go on this one."
"You just want to prove that you aren't getting old. Don't think I haven't noticed you been mentioning it lately."
"Yeah…well maybe. But still…hey why don't you come with me?"
"Me?"
"Well why not? Flog's always liked you and it'll probably make the meeting go over better. Besides, you should be keeping your abilities up as well."
"Excuse me, but I continue to spar with the Blades every day."
"And so do I, but it isn't enough unless their real danger involved. Come on, you mean to say you don't miss the old days just a little bit?"
"Not particularly, but I see that this is important to you, so I shall accompany you, but aren't you concerned about this being a trap?"
"Not really, no. While Flog has always been a little more cunning than the average orc and an opportunistic fool, he's never been suicidal. I'm pretty sure he knows if he tried to ambush me, it wouldn't end well for him. Even if he managed to succeed, he also knows that the full force of the shadows would hunt him down personally and with as many enemies as he probably has I doubt if he needs to add more. Besides if it is an ambush, that'll just make things more interesting and Dendrin's always looking out for us anyway."

Your flip remark about Dendrin gets a nod in agreement by Talia who doesn't take it as a flip remark, but rather that you're being genuine. "Well I suppose there is that and as the chosen of Dendrin you'd be even better protected, but who is going to be running things while we're gone?"
"I don't think we're going to be gone for that long, but Cyrus can do it. Not like he goes on many missions anymore either."

This is true. Ever since the incident with the dark elves, Cyrus and Dravin started becoming more withdrawn. Granted Dravin was never an extrovert, but with Cyrus it's a little sad. It's like you completely crushed his spirit that day. He lost his unofficial position as leader of the Blades due to the permanent limp you gave him and resigned himself to keeping up on internal security. Sometimes you feel a little bad about it, but you believe that in the long run it was a good thing. Cyrus, even though he'd pledged himself to you still harbored a bit of willfulness that was starting to come back. If allowed to flourish longer, he may have become more of a problem and would have had to been killed.

Though perhaps his current fate is worse than death.

When you approach Cyrus about the situation with Flog, he's surprised that you're going, let alone putting him in charge of the temple until you get back. He of course agrees and wishes you luck. Given how Flog was never his favorite person, you wonder why he didn't at least express the same concerns about meeting with him like Talia did, and then it occurs to you that perhaps he's hoping you do get killed.

In any event, you're not going to worry about it. You instead hand pick some of the best Blades to come with you to Blood Tooth and set off on your journey as soon as possible.

The journey to Rask is fairly uneventful. While you mostly keep to the off beaten trails, you know most in Quala are wise enough to not attack a group of shadows even if they did see you. The "stable" leader of northern Quala, First Mage Galen has practically bent over backwards to stay on your good side. You sort of wonder if that is who Flog wants you to assassinate considering all the back and forth attempts at conquest into each other's realms by the pair of them. If it is, then he better have a hell of a lot of money.

When you reach the Rask it mostly looks very much how it did when you left it. Much of it untouched wilderness though the occasional battlefield markings are apparent. Some are even fairly recent.

"Hey Flog didn't say anything about safe passage did he in his letter?" Talia asks.
"No, but I don't think he'd be able to enforce it very well anyway. You know how tribal orcs are, even under a strong leader they tend towards chaotic acts."
"Well as you said, I suppose that'll make things more interesting. Actually a battle would probably warm me up right about now. I think I got too used to the heat, though I wasn't exactly fond of the freezing cold back in the old days either."
"Really? I kind of preferred it, but we're going to be making camp soon, we can warm up a little then."

Later that night at your campsite you take first watch. You can't really rest anyway since your body aches a bit. As the night goes on, you remember back to the time when you doing this as a regular thing, seems like a lifetime ago.

As you lose yourself in the past a bit you suddenly hear a noise. Like howling, but it isn't from any sort of wolf that you've ever heard. Doesn't even sound like a natural one and it sounds pretty close by.

"Everyone get up!" you shout with your weapon drawn.

As everyone starts to get up ready for battle, more of those howls can be heard. They're nearly painful at this point and several of you are clutching at least one of your ears.

"What the hell is that?" Talia shouts.
"Not sure, but we're about to find out." You say as all of you form a back-to-back circle for defense.

Several glowing red eyes appear in the dark forest around you, when your assailants finally show themselves, they are in the form of orcs, but more feral and savage looking (even for orcs).

"You think Flog set this up?" Talia asks you while eyeing her closest possible attacker.
"Let's worry about it afterwards." You say and the orcs attack.

You've had to fight a few unruly orcs in the past and though its been awhile, you know their tactics wouldn't have switched up that much. They almost lope at you and circle around you like an animal would, in fact animalistic is the best way to describe them since at this range you can see they aren't even wearing much clothing beyond a loin cloth and a few grisly trophies in the form of bloody body parts. Their hands resemble claws and some of them aren't even attacking with weapons at all and are just using their nails, which are unnaturally long for orcs.

You cross swords with one of them and even while speeding yourself up, it's still nearly matching you blow for blow. Its face is close enough for you to get the good look and it's contorted looking with an extra wide mouth filled with teeth. Whatever the hell this thing is, it isn't any kind of orc you've ever seen or encountered. You muster up all your strength and land a powerful strike against the orc's head nearly severing the top part of it completely. It attempts to still attack you, flailing its arms wildly and still making that horrible howling sound.

Then you hear a whispery voice in your mind. At first you think its Dendrin, but then you're not asleep and you don't feel the same numbness, but rather the exact opposite. A sharp pain in your head.

"The battle is lost mortal. You cannot kill us. You must submit to us, it is the only way to save yourself."

You look around to see Talia and most of the other shadows still fighting, but you also see a couple of them clutching their heads and falling to the ground in pain. These definitely aren't orcs you're fighting considering they're using some sort of psychic attack.

You could either try to finish off the rest of the orcs to stop the attacks or cast a shield over the minds of you and your shadows, though its very difficult to concentrate right now.

You cast the spell

You attempt to block everything out in your mind a concentrate on your spell. More voices invade your mind and you begin shouting out Dendrin's name loudly during your chanting in an effort to drown out the supernatural voice in your head. You also shout to everyone to try to shut out the voices you know they have to be hearing as well.

"NO! You cannot escape us! You are MEAT!" you hear and the voices begin to fade a bit. You notice that your shadows aren't struggling with their mental assaults anymore either and regular combat goes a lot better. Soon, all attackers are killed and Talia comes over to you rubbing her head a bit after dispatching her orc.

"What the hell are these things?"
"Well I'm not exactly sure, but if I had to guess, they're wendigos. Evil spirits that take over the bodies of the living and try to consume anyone they can. Found notes written about them after we took Kane's fort. He apparently fought them all the way back to their home territory and trapped them there. Looks like these idiots let them loose again or something. We should be safe now and I've got everyone shielded, but everyone else should keep up their own shield just as added protection. We can link that mental power to each other if we just focus."
"Just like back in shadow training when we all fought that brain lurker huh?" Talia asks.
"I believe it was a thought lurker, but yeah something like that. Odd that we never encountered another one of those creatures."
"I think I remember Brother Gray said they typically only lived underground or something."

Probably some sort of "gift" from the Derro no doubt, but you stop dwelling on the past and pack up you camp so you can continue your journey. You'll have to get some sleep later.

The rest of the journey is more of an endurance test against the elements rather than any more fighting. Even while sticking to the forests you feel the full strength of the cold winds and snowfall that has decided to grace you with its presence. You see a village in the distance, and briefly ponder if you should head to it and sleep at an inn, but the fact remains you don't know what you can expect there. You're guessing Flog might've enslaved most of the towns in Rask, but who knows what they've been turned into. Chances are they're probably the equivalent of slave camps now patrolled by a bunch of over eager orcs or ogres ready to attack anyone they don't know.

"I certainly hope Flog told his people to expect us when we finally get to Blood Tooth!" Talia says wrapping herself up and walking on as you decide to avoid the village.

When you finally arrive at Blood Tooth, you see that Flog hasn't changed your old home too much, other than the typical orc totems that their kind seem to favor. A group of orcs stand outside looking off in several direction as if they're expecting someone, but that might not necessarily be you though. They still haven't noticed you though.

"Well, this is it. We might as well just approach. Be ready for anything though." You tell everyone.

You reveal yourself from your cloak and begin to walk towards the group. They finally see you and begin waving you down.

"Shadows! Come quickly! Not safe out here!" one shouts.
"Well I'm guessing we're being welcomed at least." Talia says.
"For now. Like I said be ready for anything."

The orcs waste no time in calling for their fort doors to be opened and you're lead in. Now the place looks less like how you remember. It's definitely got that orcish touch now, not to mention smell. Eventually you meet Flog on his throne. The years have taken their toll on him to the point where you don't feel so old any more. Flog stands up slowly and limps over to you, refusing the use of any sort of cane. His face bear the scars of multiple battles and he's only got one hand, though the stump naturally has some sort of crude weapon grafted to it. His reign is most likely in danger being the age he is, let alone some of his obvious injuries. Still he's hanging in there somehow, you've got to give him credit.

"Shadow Master, its been a long time. And your mate Talia…wait you did not bring the strange lover did you?"
"Strange…oh!" you realize. "No, Cyrus is back in Delerg."
"Good. Good. Never liked him. You two. Like. Treat Flog fairly and with honor. Um, let us go to my meeting room. Much to discuss. Very important. Your shadows can stay here, drink and partake of our females!"

You look over and see several female orcs AND ogres attempting to look seductive towards some of your shadows. You think this is the first time you've seen any of them look genuinely scared during this mission.

"Ah no, I don't think that'll be necessary Flog." You say.
"All strange lovers too huh? Just as well, couldn't survive being with an orc woman anyway. Let us go."

Flog takes you and Talia to the very place where you used to hold small meetings and you all sit down before he speaks.

"Flog is old and will die soon. Flog know this and accepts it. Flog can only hope that Flog die in combat, but that time is not yet now. Flog cannot let it be so, so Flog call on those who may help."
"Well that's the whole reason for this, but I don't understand the need for secrecy and why the hell we had to drag ourselves all the way up here. You know there are wendigo prowling about in Rask now?"
"Yes, Flog well aware of it because Flog's son Mog foolishly attempted to harness them in his grab for power. Now Rask have evil spirits wandering about and Mog is making his move against Flog. Mog need to die."

There's your contract, but you still don't get all of this.

"Okay, but…well normally I don't ask why, however my curiosity about all this is still there. I mean in orc culture is it not the tradition of the strong to kill the current chief, most preferably one of his sons?"
"Indeed that would be the case, but Flog not feel that Mog deserve it. Mog's reckless behavior with the wendigo is just one example. Mog also prove to be wasteful with slave towns. If Mog take charge, all of this will collapse. Flog not want it to collapse. Flog want orcs to continue to expand kingdom. Crush puny Galen one day and then beyond."
"Beyond huh? That include the shadows Flog?" Talia asks.
"Heh. Perhaps one day the shadows and orcs will do battle and on that glorious day orcs will stand on top of the burning ruins of your god's temple…but not today or even in Flog's lifetime. All Flog ask now is for help, willing to pay large fee. You shadows also left things here when you abandoned this place. Stuffed things in a storeroom, perhaps you might want them back?"

That sounds very familiar.

"So if you don't want Mog to take charge who did you have in mind?" Talia asks.
"Next son in line of course. Skog. Skog smart like Flog but not strong enough to beat Mog. Skog from proper orc woman. Mog from terrible drunken night with an ogress. Glad cannot remember much, but Flog do remember a lot of hair and…"
"Okay didn't quite need those details. So where is Mog?" you say.
"Mog at Mogtown further north plotting my death and preparing to invade Bloodtooth. Be here soon, that's why he needs to die soon. Mog prefer the company of ogres and giants mostly. Mog also have slave witch with him. Human. She one who released the wendigo and try to tame. Foolish. Cannot tame spirits. Bad idea."
"I see…well Talia and I need to talk privately first. Just to discuss the exact details."

Flog nods and lets you and Talia go off in a corner to speak quietly to each other.

"What's wrong?" Talia asks.
"I dunno that part about giving us old shadow items as payment got me suspicious."
"We can always sanctify them first, but I doubt if Flog put any sort of curse on them. If he's honest enough to say the orcs will wage war on us one day he's not going to bother with the same trickery the dark elves did."
"Well there's that too. I'm wondering why the hell should we help a potential enemy in the future."
"Really anyone we perform jobs for could be our enemies in the future."
"True, but they're all human and they generally have a healthier fear of us and death in general than orcs. Flog only has some sense because he's a little smarter and he's known us longer."
"Exactly, these are orcs we're talking about, do you really think it's going to matter who takes charge? While that idea in Flog's head is a nice dream for him, I think we both know it's just that. There is no way orcs are going to stay unified long enough to form some major kingdom of any kind, not for long anyway. Even with Rask more or less under their rule, its still very tribal here and prone to infighting. Besides, with Dendrin on our side, how would then even stand a chance?"
"Heh, yes I suppose so. Though I'm just wondering if rather than dragging our asses further up north and facing giants, ogres, witches and who knows what else out in the open and by ourselves, if we shouldn't just make a different offer to Flog."
"Like what?"
"Well like staying here and helping him in a more direct way. Flog claimed that Mog would probably be coming to invade soon. There will be so much chaos going on, we could probably slip out the fort and move around behind the army to assassinate Mog that way. Might even be easier."
"Yeah, but who knows how long it'll take him to invade or if he'll even come personally and I don't think Flog is going to go for that idea. Besides don't you think being involved in a siege would be even more dangerous than trying to sneak into a town when they aren't expecting trouble?"

You go ahead with the original plan

Flog probably won't go for it and being here during a siege probably will be just as if not more dangerous.

"Okay, we'll stay here for a moment to get some rest and then get going. I hate to admit it but with the recent wendigo encounter and traipsing across the countryside I'm eager to get this over with since I'm starting to feel my age." You quietly say to Talia.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Yes, I'll be fine, just need to get this mission over with."

You stay at Blood Tooth for a few hours to rest, but soon set off on your mission since the company of orcs isn't something you or any of the shadows want to endure for very long.

The journey to Mogtown is a miserable one, since the snow begins to fall heavier the further north you go. The snow is so deep that you can't really speed yourself up since your legs are buried in the snow to the point where you can't even run. Cloaking is useless since you're leaving tracks everywhere. By the time you reach your destination, you've half frozen and exhausted.

When you see Mogtown in the distance, you're in for a slight surprise. The front of the town is crawling with troops. Giants, orcs, and ogres are all standing around preparing to invade Blood Tooth no doubt. You expected some guards outside, but nothing like this.

"We'll sneak around the back and scale the wall from there. Mog's probably still inside the town in one of the more important looking buildings." You tell everyone.

Your plan is about the best you can do under the circumstances and while you manage to avoid detection from the patrols, unfortunately there are more wendigos lurking on the outskirts ready to pick anyone off that comes near. They waste no time attacking you and while you're better prepared for such creatures now, the noise ends up attracting the town garrison.

"Quick, scale the walls and let's find this half breed bastard!" you shout.

After scaling the walls you find yourself surrounded by more enemies waiting for you. You have to butcher your way through several orcs and ogres before you can catch a breather. You run down an alleyway to avoid more troops descending on your position.

The alley way seems to have been converted into a slave pen filled with humans. You briefly consider freeing them in order to cause a little chaos, but the humans in the cages look so pathetic, you doubt if they'd have the power to even move.

Suddenly large shadows loom over you in the form of a couple giants who are standing on the outside of the nearby town walls throwing great clots of snow at you.. They succeed in destroying some buildings, killing some slaves as well as slowing you down when you feel a great force slam you to the ground from above.

You struggle to maintain consciousness as you try to dig your way out of an icy grave. You don't have time to morn when you notice Talia's lifeless body as you dig by it. When your head reaches air you take a deep breath, but this small comfort is cut short when you catch an arrow in the skull.