Chapter 2B1: The Emperor's Shadow


Year 20

"So you say, Brother Cyrus and Brother Draven are going to be assigned to Rask soon?" you ask.
"That's what I've heard from Brother Gray. Them and a few others. Next year at the latest." Murk says
"What's the reason, from what I've heard it doesn't seem like the Empire has a good grip on Rask anyway."
"Well that's sort of the point! By weakening the areas where the power isn't as strong it causes the Empire to divert resources from other places and making those much easier to bring down as well. We're going to need it too, Master Ebon was sure the Empire would've started another war with the Felkan Kingdom by now, but as it stands they're practically friends with them, well as much as the Empire can be. Oh well there's still time I suppose."
"We don't have that much time, we should push things along in our favor with some international incidents." Brother Shade says. "In fact, I'm going to mention that to Master Ebon next time I see him."
"You don't think that he hasn't already thought of such a plan?" Talia asks.
"Perhaps, but let's just say I've been here a little longer than the rest of you, and while I know Master Ebon is just waiting for the right time to strike, he's been playing the waiting game a little longer than I think is necessary. In fact I think he's been playing it so long that maybe his vision has become clouded from certain opportunities."

This statement from Brother Shade gets a lot of looks, but nobody says anything. The shock is too great. Even you are surprised as this is the first time you believe you've heard something close to an open criticism about Master Ebon or the leadership structure in general

And that's something you can definitely use.

Soon after his statement Brother Shade leaves to attend his duties.

"Brother Shade should watch how he talks about Master Ebon. Ebon speaks directly to Dendrin on a daily basis and knows best on how to proceed." Murk remarks.
"Then why did you not speak up, instead of just sitting there?" Sister Bianca asks.
"Uh…well…"
"Always trying to impress the ladies, eh Murk?" you chuckle and take your leave as well to go seek out Brother Shade, he hasn't gone far and you catch up with him in the hallway. Fortunately nobody else is around. When you get his attention he's not exactly cordial.

"Oh it's you, what do you want, I have duties to attend to brother."
"Nothing excessively important brother, I just wanted to say you aren't alone."
"Aren't alone in what?" Shade asks.
"You aren't alone in how you feel. I think we should strike against the Empire now as well. All this waiting around isn't helping our cause."
"Well I suggest if you want to help our cause, you keep your feelings to yourself brother and focus on your responsibilities…and your magic skills."
"But brother, you said…"
"Nevermind what I said! I spoke in haste to a bunch of snot nosed shadows that barely know what it truly means to serve Dendrin. Now leave me be!"

Shade at this point pushes you aside and walks off. Well that didn't go like you hoped; still, you can report this to Mr. Mol who you have to meet in a few days anyway.

When you meet Mr. Mol at the usual spot, you tell him everything you know as usual.

"So, planning to destabilize Rask, eh? Well I'll see what we can do about that…tell me have you heard any plots involving orcs?" Mr. Mol asks.
"Mmm, I don't believe I have. I would've told you."
"Okay then, maybe it's not related, but some of our orcish troops have been getting restless lately, mostly those stationed in Rask too. If we had proceeded with our invasion of the Felkan Kingdom like we wanted, we could've thinned out their ranks a little. As much as we need them in the far northern reaches of Rask right now, I fear that having them all in a large group is asking for trouble. I guess we'll transfer some to Nalin, I hear they're having problems with the usksha nomads and kobolds down there. Speaking of the Felkan Kingdom tell me about this plot to start a war with them."
"There isn't one, so much as there have been suggestions to do so by a Brother Shade."
"Ohhh, dissention in the order. I like it. So is this guy losing his faith or something?"
"I do not believe its that more so that he feels Master Ebon is being too cautious. He wants to strike now and he knows that Ebon's plan hinged on the Empire being distracted with the Felkan Kingdom, so he suggested starting one ourselves in passing, though when I approached him about how I agreed that we were being too cautious, he told me to not speak of it again and to leave him alone."
"We can still possibly use this. The fact that he mentioned it says that he's thinking about it, even if he himself isn't totally committed to the idea. Try to speak to him some more on the subject of starting a war with the Felkan Kingdom."
"But if he does want to go through with the plan, won't starting a war with the Felkan Kingdom be exactly what they want?"
"Well, it's a gamble to be sure, but quite frankly we were going to invade the Felkan Kingdom again anyway, but…ha ha I got it." Mr. Mol says with a big grin on his face.

"Okay forget what I told you about speaking with Shade, I've just gotten a better idea. I'm going to have to discuss this with a few others and the order is going to have to come from the Emperor himself, but I'm pretty sure he'll agree to this."
"What the plan?"
"I think we should send several Shadow Guard into Felkan territory to assassinate their king and other high ranking officials. We should even demand the best. This will occupy some of the shadows and hopefully this puts the Felkans in a state of chaos as well. While this operation is taking place, I doubt the remaining shadows will act just yet with several of their best fellows gone. In the meantime, we can start wiping out those safe houses and dissident hideouts you've been giving us the locations to over the years. This will no doubt alert what remains of the shadows that we're on to them at this point, but it won't matter. Thanks to you, we also know the exact location of Gloom and let's just say we've got some allies that can help us with that underground fortress."
"That sounds like a good plan."
"Thanks, just thought of it, but like I said, I need to speak with a few others first. As usual I'll be in touch, but all you need to do for now is go about your usual duties within the Shadow Guard. You've done excellent work as usual."

Mr. Mol shakes your hand as you part ways and you feel a great sense of pride in your accomplishments. You also feel better that this charade may all come to an end soon and you'll be free of masquerading as a shadow.

When you get back to Gloom, Brother Shade suddenly surprises you on your way back to your bunk.

"Hey you, where have you been?" he demands to know. You're so taken by surprise; all you do is stumble over your words.
"Uh…well…"
"Uh huh. Probably slacking with some cheap tart as usual. I know you sneak off sometimes to the nearby villages. I know you're young and full of hormones, but you know very well that making yourself unclean with non-shadows is frowned upon."
"I…I'm sorry, Brother Shade." You say.
"Well you can ask for Dendrin's forgiveness in your prayers later, right now I want to discuss something with you. Come with me."

You follow Brother Shade through the winding halls of Gloom until you eventually reach a small empty storage room. After doing a quick perusal, closing the door and casting a cloak of shadows spell, he speaks to you again.

"Okay, it's safe to speak. You and me are going to start a war with the Felkan Kingdom."
"What…you spoke to Master Ebon, about this?"
"Yes, and the old fool is too set in his ways just as I thought he would be. Says it's too risky. Bullshit. What better time than now?"
"Well I suppose, but…uh…just us?" you say in an attempt to stall.
"As far as I know you're the only one who feels we need to do something now and I can't wait around and investigate if others feel like you do. Besides we can easily do this. I know your shadow magic is weak, but your fighting skills are excellent."

You didn't expect this.

"Okay, so just us…sure. Dendrin shrouds us in protective darkness right? We can easily assassinate the Felkan king…"
"Hold on there brother. Now we're just starting a war, not destabilizing the government. Well, not their government anyway. Heading deep into Felkan territory to kill their leader isn't necessary and will just serve to waste time. No, we just need to go in, make a statement and get out. Maybe take out a large portion of one of their outposts and leave a maimed survivor to tell the tale."

Sounds like Brother Shade has already planned this out. The problem is his plan doesn't exactly fit your own. Mr. Mol wants to assassinate the Felkan King and possibly some other high ranking types. It'll also bide a little time for him to get things in place. Brother Shade's plan probably won't throw the Felkan Kingdom into chaos, but will serve to anger them and that might distract the Empire too much if the Felkans are focused. Who could've thought starting a war would be so precise?

In any event, you agree to Shade's plan and he says the pair of you will head to the village of Venji in the Arat province near the Felkan border. From there, you'll cross the Felkan border and infiltrate the nearest Felkan outpost to carry out the plan. When you ask about the others, Shade dismisses the consequences of his fellow shadows. He says when things have been set in motion they will have no choice but to accept the reality. He then mumbles about there possibly being some more changes before leaving.

Of course you don't want to carry out that plan, so you're going to have to kill Brother Shade on the way. Not exactly an easy task, so you might try reporting him to Master Ebon or Brother Gray instead and try to have him taken care of using the shadow's own code of conduct.

You report Brother Shade

Killing him is just going to complicate things for you, better to be a good little shadow and go through the proper channels in this case. You immediately go see Brother Gray and state you need to see Master Ebon.

"And why do you need to see him right now?" Brother Gray asks.
"It's about Brother Shade, I fear he's going to do something rash that could ruin everything the shadows have worked so hard for."
"What is it?"

You explain Brother Shade's plan in its entirety and how you pretended to go along with it so he wouldn't suddenly run away or attempt to attack you.

"This is a very serious accusation, but…(sigh) not really all that surprising given his behavior lately. Before we take this to Master Ebon, I'm curious to as why he approached you of all people to help him. I don't believe hearing him ever saying a good word about you, so picking you is a bit puzzling to me. Is there something you should tell me?"
"Well…I'm sort of embarrassed, but Brother Shade knew that I saw a few uh…women of low moral fiber during some of my patrols and threatened to report me, if I didn't help him."
"(Sigh) Well…I'm glad you at least had the sense to come clean in the face of a greater threat. I'll keep this from Master Ebon, but we're going to have a serious talk about your own indiscretions later! As for Brother Shade do you know where he is now?"
"I believe he's in his room getting his stuff prepared for the mission."
"Okay, I'm going to send some brothers outside his room to make sure he doesn't leave while I go fetch Master Ebon. If Brother Shade even tries to escape instead of staying put, well that's going to prove his guilt, though I'm hoping it won't come to that and he'll at least stay put and submit the proper punishment that Master Ebon deems necessary."
"What should I do?" you ask.
"You, go back to your own room and stay there until you're called for to tell your story in front of Master Ebon and Brother Shade."

You nod and head back to your bunk. Nobody is there though; they must be on their patrols. You wait a few minutes expecting Brother Gray or someone else to come get you to come confirm your story in front of Master Ebon or whoever, but nobody does. You do however begin to hear the sounds of fighting though in the halls.

"Wonderful, they can't even hold their own defectors in place." You mutter and draw your weapon. You then cast cloak on yourself and hide in one of the corners of the room with your eyes on the doorway at all times. Eventually someone enters the room, but it's not Shade, its Murk.

"Hey brother, are you in here? I just came back from patrol and heard Brother Shade is running amok through Gloom! What's going on?"
"Shhh! Quiet you idiot! He's…"

Before you can even complete that sentence, Murk is suddenly thrown face first into the floor. It would seem your instincts were right and he decided to get revenge rather than seek escape. You attempt to cast a decloak on Shade which works, but not in time for Murk to get his bearings. Shade smashes Murk's face into the floor. He may or may not have killed him, but in any event he's not going to be getting up to help you anytime soon.

"You may have prevented me from serving Dendrin like the rest of these short sighted fools, but I guarantee that you will not live to see the fruits of your treachery." He says and attacks.

You engage Shade in battle and the pair of you are fairly matched as far martial combat are concerned. The problems arise when Shade falls back on magic. He speeds himself up getting few good hits on you. You attempt to do the same thing and it helps, but you still are at a disadvantage. He matches every move you've got and has wounded you to the point where you're starting to doubt that you'll win this battle. You push yourself harder and hope your will to survive will win out. Eventually help comes in the form of several more shadows and Brother Gray.

Several bolts go flying into Shade's back and he falls to the floor in a heap. You never thought you'd think this, but you're actually glad to see the shadows this time.

"Brother are you alright?" Brother Gray asks.
"Yes, I think so (Whew) lemme catch my…ulk!" you utter and then you feel a bolt go through your heart. You look down long enough to see Shade's armbow stretched out and then the rest of his body become still for the final time.

You soon follow him, unable to believe that your service to the Empire came to such an abrupt end.