While not a true threat in the scheme of things, the Island League of Delerg is still a hostile "power" on your borders. If you have to go to war with the Arat Confederacy in the near future, you don't want to be worrying about getting possibly attacked from another side. Rask can wait for now.

As for Daniel and Eldolith you'll indulge both of their requests for now. You tell Daniel that he can consider his city now under the protection of the Empire and that any foreign invasion attempts in any form with be met with force.

"Why are you looking at me when you say that?" Eldolith asks.
"Because I know your kind and Daniel's already mentioned you have your influence in two other cities. Now you can have your little territory for now, but make no mistake, you're going to be watched from here on in and if I sense ANYTHING that could be a potential danger to the Empire you're going to wish that you never managed to unite the svelk to begin with."
"We'll do as we please and nobody is going to stop us!"
"Okay then, as you said just send an invasion force in my direction and see if I'm not being serious."

At this point Eldolith just rolls her eyes, but shuts up. Obviously she knows anymore antagonism might result in war which its apparent now that she doesn't truly want if she can help it.

Daniel profusely thanks you for heeding his request and will make sure to accommodate your people in anyway he can. You almost shake your head at the man's naivety if he actually believes his city is going to remain autonomous in the way he believes it will. He's going to allow your military there, it won't be long before you've got complete control and any "independence" the city thinks it has is only because you're allowing it. Of course maybe he knows what is probably going to happen and he's just trying to convince himself otherwise.

In any event you're glad when the svelk leave (everyone is no doubt), it was a reminder of less happy times in your life.

You tell everyone that your next move is taking the islands of Delerg which means you have to rebuild the navy. Crowley is a little disappointed that you aren't retaking Rask, but he understands your desire to eliminate the Island League first.

Since building the fleet and having more sailors trained is going to take awhile, you spend the next few months trying to gather more intelligence on the League since your information on them has been spotty at best. Nalin sailors as a general rule have avoided the islands for obvious reasons, but there's always illegal smuggling so you get some of the information from the prisons.

Most of the information you get is fairly basic though perhaps more than you had. You find out that the League in general has started to become more introverted over the years, which might also explain why you don't have much conflict with them anymore.

Their capital Barnacle is on the largest island and still more or less a pirate haven, but the other islands have no major settlements and those that do tend to just be small groups of people not wanting to share anything with the ruler who lives in Barnacle.

When the time comes you have what you hope to be a sizable fleet assembled. You doubt if your ships are going to be more maneuverable, but you're hoping that their size and firepower will be enough to out power any resistance you may have. You also decide to accompany the fleet. Part of you has always been a little uneasy about being on the water, but you figure this would be the perfect time to get over that possible phobia.

Within a few days you're in Delerg waters, but you encounter no other ships. You pass by a few small islands, but you decide to make your way to where Barnacle is located. You figure if that's the largest settlement, you need to take that one first and possible launch more attacks from that point.

When you sail further towards your destination, you at last encounter a flotilla of ships surrounding a large island. You have an order issued to all of your ships to prepare for battle, but as you get closer a single smaller sailboat with a raised white flag approaches your fleet.

The crew of the sailboat is taken aboard your own ship when it is confirmed that the boat isn't containing a bomb or some other trick. The sailboat crew only consists of two people and neither one is armed. They are disheveled and unkempt looking, but apparently one of them is the ruler of Barnacle.

"Um…hello great Emperor of the…uh Empire. My name is Jon, mayor of Barnacle and this is my first mate Corino." Jon remarks.
"I'm surprised you were brave enough to parley, or perhaps just foolish. You may speak your mind, but know that we aren't not leaving until these islands are under my rule." You say.
"Yes, I already assumed such a thing. That's why I'm graciously opening up his town to you without conflict."

You weren't expecting much of a fight, but you weren't expecting this.

"Truly? You're surrendering?"
"Well, I'd prefer to think of it as negotiating a better deal, but if you prefer to think of it as a surrender, then we are in no position to argue. I know that in the long run he will not be able to defeat you. Even if we fought today and won, you would only come with more ships later. We only have limited resources, while you have much much more."
"So…that's it? The Island League is officially capitulating to the Empire?"

Jon laughs a bit at your question.

"Well, let's just say that I'm capitulating. I'm not sure if the Island League as a whole is, and that's assuming you even considering a semi-cohesive unit nowadays. Barnacle is yours, and whatever that entails. I just hope that I can continue on as mayor. I believe my experience can…"
"Yeah, yeah, you're looking to save your own ass. Got it." You interrupt. "We'll see, but what's all this about the rest of the Island League?"

Jon goes on to tell you that much like the Arat Confederacy, the Island League is not a single entity, but rather an alliance of several groups. Barnacle just happens to be the biggest and most powerful. Jon says that despite the size of the other groups, they may not wish to join and will have to be eliminated completely. He also states that some of the groups have disappeared completely, he says he doesn't even know what happened to them.

"Perhaps the environment just swallowed them up. Strange things have been found on the less explored islands after all." Jon says.
"Hmm, well I suppose if you want to keep your current job, you'll be providing me of good maps of what you have."
"Of course. Anything you need! So, shall you be coming to Barnacle now to claim it?"
"Well it is one of the goals of this journey." You reply.

When you get to Barnacle, the place is fairly well kept despite being a haven for disreputable criminals. The funny thing is, you don't really get a sense of resentment as you pass through with platoons of soldiers. It's early yet though. Jon himself is very accommodating, providing you and your people whatever they want or need. You don't know though if this is because he really wants to please you so he can keep his job, or he's planning on tricking you some how. While deceit is always a possibility you sense it's almost more like…relief? Maybe he was having problems with the rest of the Island League leaders and now with you here he sees it as a way for him to eliminate them while still keeping his position.

In any case you tell everyone to keep alert and be prepared as usual.

After a few days, you think you've seen everything you need to and gotten all the information you need from Jon and Barnacle in general. After a bit of thinking about it, you decide that you'll just go to all the inhabited locations that Jon has provided for you and either wipe out the groups or incorporate them into the Empire if they prove to be cooperative. Rather simple plan really.

You decide that Jon can go ahead and stay mayor of Barnacle, but you'll be keeping troops here of course as well as your own ships. Now you're just wondering if you need to stick around for this rather mundane search and destroy mission, or go back to the Empire.

You return to the Empire

Seeing as you've taken care of the major problem here, you don't see any need to stick around for the mundane search destroy missions that will undoubtedly take months. You could be focusing on more important things.

So you return to the Empire giving Jon a warning that while you've graciously allowed him to keep his position, any signs of possible betrayal or anything similar will be met with a complete cleansing of Barnacle and his painful drawn out demise.

When you get back to the Empire, you make the announcement that the Delerg Islands are now currently being incorporated into the Empire and what remains of the so called Island League is being hunted down as you speak. Sightmaster Crowley seems to be happier than anyone as he suggests once again that retaking Rask should be the next priority.

You tell Crowley that the retaking of Rask will definitely be next on the agenda, but you know it's going to take a lot more manpower than Delerg. You'd rather wait until you've completely tamed those islands first before launching another major operation. Still you can make the preparations in the meantime.

As the months pass you get a few reports about how things are going in Delerg and so far there have been no major troubles. While there have been a few skirmishes, for the most part your soldiers have found most Delerg inhabitants to willingly surrender to Empire law.

It is also around this time that you get a letter from Jennifer. She asks you about your recent visit to the Delerg islands and if it might be safe to launch an expedition to the islands. You write back and tell her that its probably "safer" but considering there are still hostile League members and who knows what sort of dangerous wild life on those islands you tell her that she probably shouldn't go. However, you follow up with if she does insist on going like you know she probably will, then to at least stop at Barnacle first and to take your seal that you're sending with the letter you're writing to the nearest officer or even the mayor and she'll have an armed escort to protect the expedition.

And just as you suspected, Jennifer goes off on her expedition. She never was one to play it too safe, but you're pretty sure she'll be fine.

Year 547

"Trouble, my Emperor?" Crowley asks.
"(Sigh) It looks like. David just sent a message saying that there's some weird religion that's been cropping up in Nalin. He says there hasn't been any real trouble yet, but he felt I should know due to my stance on organized religion. Ugh, I'm going to have to return to the Empire and straighten all this shit out. You know when we brought most of the Eyes with us here to Rask so we could effectively fight the wendigo, I was concerned about perhaps an increase in crime or possibly even a bit of rabble rousing in Nalin. Not this shit. We're finally making good progress and I don't need religious fanatics to possibly fuck up my plans."

You explain to Crowley that you'll be leaving him in charge of all operations in Rask. Seeing as he's very familiar with the territory already you have confidence that he'll be fine here. Of course he's been slightly revenge driven on the wendigo when you found out Everwatch was overrun and destroyed by them.

When you arrive at your palace in Dalt, you're anxious to get down to this new religion business. David greets you immediately and states that Jennifer is also here and wanting to see you.

"Jennifer? I thought she was still digging up shit in Delerg and trying find lost islands. She's finally back?" you say.
"Yes, I just sent her into your private chambers. I thought due to your history, you wouldn't mind seeing her."
"Normally I wouldn't mind, but I'd like to get down to this new religion you mentioned in your message. Can't afford to waste any time with it."
"Apologies, Emperor."
"(Sigh) Very well, she's already here, I might as well see her…what the hell is that on your arm?" you ask David, pointing at the skin on left forearm. It's almost scaly looking.

He reacts rather sheepishly and tries to pull his sleeve back down.

"Oh that. Just a bad skin rash. I need to make a quick trip to the apothecary."
"I'll say, its pretty nasty looking." You remark and head on to see Jennifer.

When you arrive to see Jennifer, she's fiddling with a box of some sort. She closes it up when you walk in.

"Hey if it isn't the conquering Emperor of Rask! How is everything going up there?" Jennifer asks.
"Better than expected I suppose, what's that box?"
"Oh this? Just something I found while digging around Delerg. Y'know you really should've stuck around that place longer. It has a lot of fascinating historical things relating to the old Empire."
"Hmm, well I'm more concerned with the new one myself, but I trust you haven't had any problems during your time there."
"No, none at all. My expedition there went very well."
"Good, good. Look Jennifer, I'd like to play catch up and all that with you, but you've caught me at a bad time right now. David has told me there's a new religion starting to take root in Nalin, and I want to stomp that out, before it becomes a problem."
"You mean like the shadows caused for the old Empire?"
"Exactly like that."
"You know one of our discoveries was an old shadow temple located on one of more remote islands. Most of it was underwater, but it was still very interesting." Jennifer says.
"Hrm. They did have their original temple located in Delerg. Surprised its still around, we had it demolished even back when we finished off their seditious religion for good."
"I think the problem with the shadows is that they waited too long to strike."
"What?!" you exclaim.
"Oh don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Empire defeated them. Its just that from what you've told me about the shadows and from what I've learned from my findings, its that the shadows waited too long to strike out against a powerful enemy."

You're about to ask Jennifer what the hell is she getting at, when all of a sudden the doors to your private chambers are kicked open and four soldiers fire at you. You're taken completely by surprise and most of their shots hit you. You fall to the floor wheezing and in pain, but you muster up enough strength to cast a fireball at your assailants who are all set ablaze due to their proximity to each other.

While they scream and flail about in the hallway trying to put the flames out, you realize you need to heal yourself immediately before you succumb to your mortal wounds. You being to concentrate, but are suddenly kicked in the side of the head and shot again, this time in the neck. You still aren't dead yet, but you most certainly will be soon.

You stare up from the floor at Jennifer who holds a smoking pistol in her hand. Probably what she had in the box she was messing with earlier.

"I wish things could've been different, but I knew you would've never accepted the glory that is to come when Hukleev rises from his underwater kingdom and submerges the Empire, transforming all into his subjects."

You can't even reply or react to Jennifer's words let alone her treachery. You just bleed out and start to lose consciousness. The last thing you see is Jennifer moving in closer to you where upon she gives you one last kiss, which tastes faintly of brine.