You all move close enough so you're above the boxes and then with a brief whisper, every lock on the troll boxes clicks.

And then all the box doors are suddenly torn open.

"TROLLS! TROLLS! TROLLS!" is all you can make out from the derro who are now shouting rushing into the lab to combat the trolls now emerging from their prisons. Their appearance is indeed as fearsome as you heard in stories. Tall with long gangly limbs and blackish green skin. You sort of expected them to be more massive much like an ogre, but there isn't an ounce of fat on them, and even though they're relatively thin they're all solid muscle. They definitely look hungry though with their large teeth though.

The trolls also prove to be a lot quicker than you expected as well. You watch them leap and dodge the derro attacks, which look slow and clumsy by comparison. You see a troll smash a derro to the floor with one punch, leap on top of him and easily peel off his armor with its talons. A scream soon follows when the troll eviscerates him. Several more derro begin lighting some sort of round metal objects and toss them at some of the trolls. These devices explode into flames and seem to hurt the trolls who howl in pain, but continue to attack while still on fire. The unarmored derro tosses a few glass beakers at the trolls too. You assume it must be some sort of acid given how it starts to eat away at a troll's skin when it hits.

As you and the rest of the shadows stay cloaked on the ceiling watching this carnage unfold, you're unsure of whom to start attacking because you can't let either group completely dominate the other.

There are more derro, but the trolls are very tough and are putting up more than enough of a fight. You see the unarmored derro run away to a locked door on the far side of the room, and just when he manages to open it; you shoot him in the back with your armbow, which causes him to collapse to the floor. You don't know where he's trying to go, but he's not getting far.

"SHADOWS!" one of the derro shouts as you all decloak to join the fight. For the most part you all keep your distance when you can from the trolls and attempt to finish off any severely wounded derro.

"Kill everything!" you shout and make your way to the staggering unarmored derro to finish him off. He fumbles with some sort of strange weapon he takes out of his pocket, but you kick it from his hand and smash him in the face with the pommel of your sword.

"Shadows! You narrow minded religious fanatics dare desecrate the progress of science? Your actions will not go unpunished here toAGH!" the unarmored derro is cut short on his dying monologue with your blade to his chest.

You look around and see that most of the derro have been literally shredded open by the trolls who have focused most of their attention on them, but they've started to pay more attention to the shadows now that the derro numbers have dwindled. Speeding yourselves up at least manages to match their own swiftness, but they're still no pushovers as you find out when you're locked into one on one combat with one of the trolls. Being this close to the creature, you get the full force of its horrible odor and that combined with the smell of its still burnt flesh are almost enough to put you off your fight. You haven't smelled something so bad in…well ever.

You do manage to overcome though only after nearly hacking off its leg long enough for you to realize that the derro were using fire and acid on the trolls for a reason. Troll may not instantly regenerate, but you need to stop it before you give them time to do so. As the troll continues to rapidly crawl after you on three limbs, you grab one of those firebombs from a dead derro and light it with a near by torch.

You narrowly avoid the explosion when you toss it at the troll who is successfully blown to pieces.

"Really hope those pieces don't reform into little trolls." You mutter.

The remainder of the battle involves much of the same tactics, though some of your shadows aren't quite as skilled as you are and fall in combat. Fortunately reinforcements come in the form of Talia and Yvette and with their help you finally finish off the remainder of the trolls and whatever derro that are still attempting to cling to life.

"Were those things actual trolls?" Yvette asks.
"Yep and if they weren't such savage monsters I'd be thanking them for killing most of the derro for us. Are you two the only ones left?"
"No, but only Brother Haze besides us made it and he's currently tending to his wounds. He would've been in no condition to help fight the trolls and derro. The fight with the mages wasn't an easy one." Talia says.
"I'll bet, but I never had any doubt that you wouldn't be victorious. Did you see any sign of any new eternals?"
"No, the mages' quarters didn't seem to house any of them and there weren't any other bedrooms in that direction either. I saw some training facilities and a large library, but nothing more. What about over here?"
"Well other than this big lab, we haven't seen anything of any note either. We passed a lot of derro bedrooms a long the way, but that's about it."
"What about that door?" Yvette asks pointing over to the one where the unarmored derro lies dead.
"I don't know where that one goes to. That derro certainly was in a rush to escape out that way though. Guess we all might as well check it out."

You quickly take a head count and altogether there's six of you left, seven if you count Haze who isn't even with you. If this door leads to the hundreds of young eternals, you question if you'll even be able to kill them all before they can overwhelm you.

When you open it up you find yourself on a platformed level, which overlooks a huge room. It's nearly the size of a small hamlet you think. There are several ladders that descend down to the lower level which contain translucent containers all hooked up with tubing and connected with each other and large strange machines. When you climb down the ladder you inspect the containers more closely and make out a small figure floating in liquid within it.

There are hundreds of these containers, possible even a thousand.

"I think we just found the new eternals." You say.
"Wait, are they in those tanks?" Talia asks.
"I believe so. Looks like the Empire has a whole new way of breeding Eternals or at least altering them. I assume they take them out to train them and then pop 'em back in when they aren't needed. Pretty convenient I suppose."
"This…this all seems wrong somehow. Against nature. We should destroy this place as soon as possible. Those derro weapons you were using on the trolls were explosive, if we could find more we use some of them to collapse this place." Yvette says.
"Or maybe there's a some sort of switch that kills them in the tank. Seems like the Empire would be inclined to implement something like that." Talia adds.

Normally you'd be all for killing all these little bastards while still lying in their "cribs", but it suddenly hits you that you might have an opportunity here. You didn't think about it before, because you thought you were going to have to fight these little runts in the corridors of this place. However circumstances have definitely changed.

Maybe you could get them to be on YOUR side. Why not? They're young enough that they could probably take re-indoctrination. Problem is, it still might take a lot of time and while this was a great blow to the Empire, it doesn't put them out of the fight yet. They may eventually find out what's happened and come back for this place and you're not really in a position to defend it.

You attempt to convert them

"I think we should take this opportunity to make them see the way of the shadows." You say.
"What?!" Yvette exclaims.
"Are you serious?" Talia asks.
"Well okay maybe not all of them, but I'd think that with the right teaching they could become valuable assets."
"NO! These are the enemy and must be destroyed! You said so yourself when we first began this mission!" Yvette says.
"And perhaps I was a bit hasty. I can't be entitled to speak out of turn and make a mistake once in awhile?"
"No brother, but I think leaving these…abominations alive for whatever reason is a bigger mistake."
"Abominations…and I suppose you believe me and Talia are abominations too eh sister?"
"Wha…no! I mean…(sputter) you're different! You…"
"How? Me, Talia, and Cyrus for that matter were all brought up from birth and indoctrinated to serve the Empire, but what happened? We saw the truth of Dendrin's wisdom instead! Is it not possible that these…children who aren't even as old as we were be re-educated to do the same?"
"Well…I suppose, but…"
"Think about it sister, some of the greatest enemies of the Empire were brought up within the very heart of it! Let's continue to turn the Empire's obsessive need for control against itself! And better yet, bring more servants into the fold of Dendrin."

Sister Yvette looks a bit hesitant, it's obvious she has some real problems with this plan, but she isn't really sure how to argue against you. Part of it stems from you making a bit of a point, and the other stems from the fact that despite her own confidence being better than it was, she still feels inferior to you…perhaps that's just the aura you have as an Eternal though.

"Yes…I suppose I see the wisdom in attempting to educate these children in the ways of Dendrin." Sister Yvette says. She might not believe it now, but in time she'll either convince herself or get used to it. Either way you just need her obedience.

As for the remainder of the shadows if they have anything meaningful to say on the subject they keep it to themselves. That just leaves Talia, who is going to require a little bit more convincing since you sense her look of disagreement.

"Um…sister Yvette, could you and the rest leave me and sister Talia alone for a moment."

As the rest of them leave, you move over to Talia who looks out over the hundreds of eternal containers.

"I sense some disapproval from this plan?"
"Not so much disapproval, but rather apprehension."
"What about the training? I know it won't be easy, but I figure we can open up that ritual portal to Dendrin and let him decide if they're worthy or not, you know, like he did with us."
"And you know how to do that? Because I sure don't! It's not like Master Ebon or Brother Gray imparted that knowledge on to me before they died!"
"Well your magic is strong, and hey I know Cyrus has some old shadow tomes back at Fort Defiance, we can probably find something in there about it."
"Well I'm glad you seem to have this all figured out then, just wish you would've let me on this sooner."
"I would have, but this honestly just came to mind. I mean how was I to know that these kids were going to be safely locked up in oversized glass tubes? I thought we were going to be waist deep in their blood by now."
"So who is going to train them? I know it's not going to be you. Me I suppose right?"
"Well…you would be the best qualified…but hey Sister Yvette could help you and other shadows too! In fact I could have some transferred here just in case of an Empire attack when…"
"Damn it I'm not worried about all that, I'm wondering WHY you came up with this plan at all! I know there's another reason than just turning them against the Empire or even bringing new shadows into Dendrin's fold and don't say that there isn't! We're the same and we've bonded as lovers. I know there's more going on in your head because I know YOU. Now tell me.

Talia never was one to mince words and perhaps it is time you didn't either.

"Very well my love. You should know everything."

And from there you tell Talia everything…except you don't.

You tell her that Dendrin did not only speak to you on the day Gloom was attacked, you tell her he's spoken to you in the past on several occasions. You just never said anything about it before Gloom because you didn't want to be thought a liar and be labeled a heretic.

You also tell her that Dendrin has urged you to follow your own path and to seize leadership of the shadows. You didn't want to initially because you wanted to try to hold things together because things seemed so fractured, but given that Dendrin has recently warned you about Cyrus' potential treachery you thought it might be best to have another group of allies in case the worst occurs.

"So…we're keeping this a secret from Cyrus?"
"Yes, I think that would be for the best. If he knew about this, you know he'd be against it. Cyrus is clinging to the old shadow ways and still has clout, but that will be coming to an end soon."
"I dunno…I mean I agree that Cyrus shouldn't be leader and that you would make an excellent shadow master especially since Dendrin talks to you, but hiding things from Cyrus and possibly planning for his death? I mean is there no other way? He's not just a shadow, he's one of us."
"So are a few other eternals from our class if you remember. These little bastards here were going to be against us until we intervened…which bring me to my other reason and this one is harder for me to tell because it involves you and me."
"All of this involves the both of us, what else could it possibly be that would trouble me more than conspiracy against one of our brothers?"

You bring up the very real and unaltered truth that Dendrin told you about eternals. The fact that none of you are able to have children due how you were created. Talia gets quiet and sits down for a moment. She tries very hard not to cry, but her voice is obviously quivering when she speaks again.

"…I…guess (sniff) that explains a lot…but um…I mean Dendrin could do something…I mean he…"
"Dendrin… (Sigh) …how do I put this? Dendrin is…complex. It's true that he helps us directly by granting our magical abilities and perhaps in ways of major importance when he warned me about Gloom, but he's not here to collectively hold the hands of the shadows. (You can't believe you just repeated Dendrin's own words) He would prefer that the shadows made their own destiny as it were. I mean, I'm sure if he wanted to, he could've just laid waste to the Empire a long time ago, but he didn't. He wanted the shadows to endure and in enduring grow stronger from the situation they were placed in. Just like you…we will have to endure in not being able to have children. But getting back to the heart of the matter, that's part of why I decided that we should try to save these young eternals. I mean you'll get to train them first hand in the ways of Dendrin. It would almost be like you were the mother of several hundred eternal shadows."
"But then they can never produce offspring either."
"Well we don't know that. I mean it looks like they've been altered in a significantly different way. But even if they can't so what? If we had had children there would be no guarantee that they'd all survive to reproduce either. You mustn't worry about this, because after all is said and done, you will still be doing Dendrin's work and serving him faithfully and really isn't that what it's all about?"

You look into her eyes and touch her on the shoulder. She grabs your hand on her shoulder and looks down for a moment and breathes deeply. After a couple of seconds she looks back up at you.

"Very well, this does seem to be a suitable course of action. But quite frankly I don't think we can save all of these children. Some of them are going to be lost causes and if the Empire ever attacks this place in force, we're going to have to collapse this place anyway, we can't properly defend it, at least not at this time."
"Of course, I agree. I trust you will do what you can."
"I always do my love."

With this new plan settled, you and Talia kiss each other before parting company. You tell Sister Yvette that she is to report to Talia directly now and that you'll be contacting Brother Theo about the new changes. Fortunately he's still alive, when you check to see how those other shadow cell attack turned out. No reports have even come in about the attack on the camp, which isn't too surprising given all the chaos going on elsewhere that brother Theo caused and the fact you didn't leave any survivors or let anyone escape.

Eventually you make your way back to Rask which you're happy to find out Cyrus was smart enough to not risk attacking Fort Destiny. Unfortunately he caused a different set back entirely. Talia was about the only one keeping the Flog and the rest of his orcs on good terms. You rarely interacted with him and he never got along with Cyrus who was usually condescending to him. While you were gone apparently a small skirmish ensued between the orcs and shadows. Amazingly nobody was actually killed, but several were wounded and ultimately Flog left with the remainder of the orcs.

"What?! They're gone? Where?!" you ask.
"How should I know, further north I think where the rest of those overgrown idiots dwell. I don't care, we don't need them anyway!" Cyrus says. "And where is Sister Talia? Did you get her killed in your foolish mission?"
"No our mission was a success, and she'll be taking care of some of the business we have in the south from now on because it's apparent my attention should start being more focused here."
"Oh so now you've decided that, after all those times I've suggested that since you first arrived here? You know what, I've been putting in work here for nearly a decade now, what makes you even think you know what the best plan of action is here?"
"Well I wouldn't have pissed off our orc allies if I had the desire to attack Fort Destiny for one. (Sigh) Cyrus I'm on your side for Dendrin's sake! I mean we're supposed to be fighting the Empire, not each other. Can't you see that brother?"

Cyrus looks you up and down with distain in his face.

"All I see is someone that talks a good game about serving Dendrin, but ultimately his words ring hollow to my ears. Always have. Time will tell though, brother and there will be a reckoning. Dendrin will not suffer false prophets and pretenders. I hope for your sake you aren't one because his wrath will be terrible. Do what you want." Cyrus says and leaves the room.

Funny how Cyrus is probably the only one who can see through your bullshit, yet still be painfully wrong. More amusement for Dendrin you suppose.
Year 35

Finally after years of set backs, Rask is at last free of the Empire and the other provinces are sure to follow. Kane is dead and most of the last Empire fanatics in Rask are dead. The Empire can't send any more troops because it's barely holding on to what it has. It's the beginning of the end for it, but for the shadows it's just the beginning.

For the past couple years during the mopping up process, the shadows have slowly been withdrawing from other parts of the Empire and heading to Rask. This consolidation of forces is something that Cyrus has been wanting for years, but of course you never felt it was the right time. Now with the Empire on the decline you can agree that it is something that can be done.

Fort Defiance has become the new shadow home and has officially been renamed as Evergloom, not the most original name, but everyone seems to like it.

Ironically Evergloom is about one of the only major beacons of "light" in Rask nowadays. The sheer destruction that Kane caused to most of the towns in Rask before he died has left little in the way of civilization. The rebuilding process is in swing, but it'll be awhile before it gets back to the way it was, perhaps it'll never be the same again and nature will reclaim the land.

It hardly matters though; the shadows have their own rebuilding process to go through, one of which is how leadership is going to be settled once and for all. As it stands, you still haven't officially taken full control of the shadows yet and it's still more or less run by a "council" of sorts made up of you, Talia and Cyrus. Cyrus has been somewhat less antagonistic towards you since the Empire was driven from Rask, but that might be because he's running out of supporters. Your decisions and victories have earned the respect of most shadows and they see you as leader.

There are also the new eternal shadows that have been coming along in their training very well and the well-known fact that you've spoken directly to Dendrin, though you haven't lately, not for a long time in fact. Doesn't stop the fact that you say you have though when you want to get things done. Part of you feels like the biggest hypocrite in the world for it, but then the other part of you feels like your ends have justified the means at this point so why care about it? You've kept the shadows together with lies, but really the whole organization has been kept together through lies for centuries, you're not really doing anything different.

Perhaps though it isn't so much the lying that gets to you, but rather the idea of being a shadow when you've never really "felt" like one. You stayed motivated by fighting the Empire because that was something you could get behind, but now what are you supposed to do? Revere Dendrin and worship him? Not something you're really interested in doing full time especially considering your knowledge of him.

Of course then there's always Talia, who is practically the only reason at this point why you'd want to stay leader for the shadows, well that and the budding desire to be in charge thanks to your Eternal heritage. There's also the fact that given how much effort you went through to hold the shadows together it would almost seem a waste to toss it all away.

Yes, a decision is going to have to be made soon, but not today. You fall asleep later that night and after all this time you finally get some "divine" advice.

"It's been awhile." You say.
"Don't tell me you actually missed me." Dendrin remarks.
"Hardly, though I was wondering if you'd lost interest at last."
"In you? Not at all, I've just been quietly observing. I've found that you seem to work best with minimal influence. Keep doing what you're doing and I'm unlikely to ever lose interest in you."
"Keep doing what I'm doing eh? So you want me to officially take full leadership of the shadows."
"I didn't say that. Not then and not now. Do what you want. I told you that before. If you're asking me what I think, yes I would prefer you to take up as leader and quite honestly I'm surprised you haven't done it already."
"I was planning to, but now that the Empire is on its way out, I'm not sure if I want to be bothered."
"Nonsense, you're an Eternal. Aren't you lot sort of born to lead?"
"I suppose, but I can't see myself spending the rest of my life living a priestly existence in our new monastery where all I do is tell people to kiss your ass all night and day, let alone do it myself."

This remark causes a booming laugh echo throughout your mind.

"So don't do that." Dendrin remarks.
"Well wouldn't I sort of have to?"
"You haven't for this long, why would you start now?"
"I mean I know I'd be faking it, but I still see it as a dreary existence."
"And like I said, don't do that. You're the leader, what you say goes. If you want to abandon the old shadow ways there isn't anything keeping you from doing it. I don't usually point out the obvious, but what you have right now is potentially very powerful. You have in your hands is the ability to guide a religion, an ideology. You shouldn't waste that. Take advantage before someone else does."
"I'm not blind, I see that, but I question where do you come in? Surely if I some how lessened the shadows' reliance on prayer, they'd also lose their abilities."
"Not entirely unless you made them stop worshipping me altogether."
"But I don't worship you, I mean not really and I still have my powers."
"Well that's because you're special, but if you did have a little more faith in me, your powers would increase too. You could be as strong as your old Master Ebon for example. That's just how it works and you have take the good with the bad, but I'm sure you knew that already."
"So it would seem." You answer.

Shortly after this exchange you wake up.

"Something wrong?" Talia asks when she sees you waking up so suddenly.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Dendrin just spoke to me again."
"He did? What were his divine words this time?"
"Oh…uh he said that now is the right time to officially become the Shadow Master.
"That's wonderful! Though I thought he would've told you a lot sooner…no matter though as I'm sure he had his reasons."

Good old trusting Talia. You love her, but you'll never understand how naïve she can be when it comes to this. As you start to get ready to call a shadow gathering there's a knock on your room door.

"Who's there?" you ask.
"It's me brother. Brother Gannon. Brother Cyrus wants to see you immediately in the meeting room. He says it's extremely important."
"What's it about?"
"I dunno, he just said it's really important and he needs to see you immediately."
"Okay then, thank you brother." You reply.

As you continue to get dressed, Talia speaks to you again.

"What do you think he wants?"
"With Cyrus, who knows?"
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"What for? You might as well get all the shadows together while I'm talking to Cyrus."
"But…I don't know…I'm just a little concerned."
"Aren't you always telling me I should try to get along with Cyrus? Besides, he's actually been tolerable lately. Maybe with the Empire gone, he's lightened up a bit."
"Maybe…well if you think it'll be okay, I'll go round up the brothers and sisters."

As you and Talia part company you make your way to the meeting room. On your way it occurs to you that Cyrus may very be planning to kill you rather than talk. You aren't sensing anyone cloaked yet, but then maybe they'll all be in the room with him.

If this is an ambush, the only one he's going to be able to count on to help him is probably Draven. Cyrus just doesn't have the clout he once did in fact you believe if he tried, he wouldn't be accepted as leader anyway. Of course you don't have any intention of getting killed if this is what he's planning.

You open up the door and see Cyrus standing near the table by himself. You can't sense anyone else; maybe he wants this to be a one on one matter.

"There you are, I wasn't sure you were coming. I want to speak to you on something very important and this has to be settled right now."

No doubt he's talking about the leadership position. You know he still desperately wants it and he's just going through the motions of being civilized about it right now. You aren't waiting around…

Before Cyrus even knows what's going on, you fire your armbow at him. He reacts in time to move, but not before a bolt goes into his arm.

"Agh! What the fuck are you doing?!" he says clutching his arm and backing away from you.
"I'm settling this right now, we both know what this is all about. You're going to kill me because you want to be in charge and that's not happening."

You rush forward to attack and Cyrus once again dodges and backs away from you. He hasn't even drawn his weapon yet.
"What? No! Look! I just called you in to talk! I was going to tell you that I've come to the realization that you're the worthy one to lead the shadows! I know it's taken me a long time, but I see that you're the chosen one of Dendrin."
"Bullshit, you've desired to be shadow master since Master Ebon died."
"And probably even a little bit before, but I see that I was wrong to think such things even if I never spoke them out loud. Perhaps Dendrin punished me for it by never speaking to me. He speaks to you and your actions have lead us to finally be free of the Empire. Why should I keep questioning your ability? It's obvious that you have a greater destiny and I realize that I should just graciously step aside. Who am I to question the will of Dendrin? I yield to you shadow master."

Cyrus seems pretty sincere in his words and despite everything he has always been a dedicated disciple of Dendrin for good or ill. If he really believes that Dendrin has a plan for you, he wouldn't stand in the way of it.

Now that you really think about it, he's never really done anything that would indicate that he was ever actively trying to kill you. It's possible you've just been paranoid about this whole thing.

You allow Cyrus to live

You think back on all the things you've been doing and some of it has been pretty questionable. True you thought you were doing what was necessary because you were trying to fight off the Empire. And your actions as ruthless as some of them were, they may have been necessary, but now? What's the justification to kill Cyrus? Because you think he'll try to kill you in the future?

Honestly at this point you'd completely understand it if did, but as you look at him he's obviously begging to be included in your plans now. You've overshadowed him so much that he's given up and acknowledging your dominance much like a beta wolf does with an alpha. If you distrust him because you feel as an Eternal he's going to take power from you, what of all those young eternals you rescued? Do you kill them too just in case? What of Talia? Where does it all end? Dendrin hasn't helped either considering he's been more or less favoring you to kill Cyrus and seizing power for a while now. Doing the opposite of what he suggests might be the right move.

Sure Cyrus been a dick in the past, but you don't need to continue your own ruthless behavior towards him. This is supposed to be a new beginning for the shadows after all and maybe putting aside old dusty quarrels is a way to start it.

"Cyrus, I'm sorry. I should've been more trusting of a fellow shadow." You say.

Cyrus seems more surprised than anyone to hear you apologize. He pulls out the bolt before speaking again.

"Thank you brother. And I meant what I said, I accept you as the new shadow master."
"Well, there are going to be a lot of changes around here and I'm going to need your help in implementing them. Let's go to the gathering hall, I was going to make my official announcement as shadow master there."

You leave with Cyrus to address the rest of the shadows that are no doubt waiting for you in the gathering hall. When you arrive, they're all waiting around for you as expected. You see Talia standing nearby and approach her while Cyrus goes to join Draven in the audience.

"Is everything okay? I noticed Cyrus rubbing his arm." Talia remarks.
"Everything's been settled. Cyrus and I have come to an understanding."
"Really?"
"Well for now, but I'm hoping that it stays that way. We'll see I suppose."

You give Talia a quick kiss before heading to the front of the hall and addressing everyone.

"We may have defeated the Empire my fellow shadows, but that does not mean we can rest! Dendrin spoke to me again today and told me that today is the day that I claim the title of shadow master and lead the shadows properly into this new era. The first thing we need to do is rebuild and that involves spreading our faith when possible. We must be strong so that there will never again be the possibility of the shadows having to submit under another power ever again."

This reaction predictably gets a small shout of approval.

"And though I am shadow master, I cannot do this by myself. I need all of your help, some of you more than others, but everyone will do their part in serving Dendrin's will. This is a new era for the shadows and we will see it prosper."

You end your speech with a "For Dendrin" remark to solidify a positive reaction, which seems to do the trick. You take your leave and start making plans on restructuring the shadow organization and how things have been done. It'll take a bit of time and you'll have to slowly introduce a few things, but it can be accomplished.

Later that night you predictably get another visit from Dendrin.

"So…you didn't kill him after all, you sure that's wise?" Dendrin asks.
"As I told Talia, we'll see, but I'm not convinced he's my enemy, if he ever truly was. He's just overly devoted to an uncaring god and that's warped his world view."
"Careful, all those overly devoted followers of that uncaring god are officially under your command now. You might want to start rethinking how you approach speaking to me if you wish to remain that way."
"Why? If you have something planned, I certainly can't stop you. Besides, you've told me time and time again, the only reason why you pay attention at all any more is because of me. Maybe I don't agree with you or the role that I've been thrust into, but I'm going to continue doing my best at it, because that's just how I am. But if you're going to kill me for the shits and giggles, just go ahead and do it and quit with the idle threats."

Again you hear that booming laughter echo throughout your head.

"And that's why I've always liked you Eternal. It'll be interesting if you're right about Cyrus or the shadows in general for that matter. But as you said, I guess we'll see. I'll be watching as always."

And so begins the new era of the Shadows…
Chapter 3B1: Shadow Master


Year 41

"We had to kill another group of ogres sniffing around the fort today." Cyrus remarks.
"Yeah, I know the battle woke me up, by the time I got ready, all of them had been killed." You reply. "I'm going to have to speak with Flog, because I thought we had an understanding that he was to keep the giant and ogre population down or at least manageable."
"I say we just kill him and be done with it."
"Hmm, yeah I know he's not your favorite person, but he's proven himself useful, vital even in the past. Besides he's the only thing keeping that's keeping that rabble in line."
"He's also the only thing keeping them organized. Maybe he's planning on making an army to march upon us."
"Yes, I have considered that too, I'm just wondering what's worse. A completely hostile unchecked horde of giantkin or a semi organized army of the same which may or may not be reasoned with."
"Perhaps you may need to ask Dendrin for guidance on this matter." Cyrus says.
"Perhaps…"

If Dendrin actually did have any advice on the matter, it probably wouldn't do you much good anyway considering how whimsical he is, not to mention he's chosen not to speak to you for quite some time, as he is prone to do.

Being Shadow Master has been a bit of odd since you've taken the position mainly because you don't feel like you have a specific purpose.

The first two years were easy enough as you were still mostly concerning yourself with rebuilding Evergloom for defense, additional training for the shadows and making sure Rask kept its independence, but that was never truly ever an issue since the Empire never did make a come back and reports of their continual descent into chaos was assured.

The next two years consisted of a halfhearted attempt at spreading "the faith" mainly to build up numbers. From what you could piece together of shadow history from the few books that Cyrus still had, the shadows never had an aggressive policy on such things, pre or post Empire days, they mostly relied on people either coming to them of their own free will or being "born" into it. There have been a few shadow births, but you'd rather have a more traditional way of gaining recruits because "breeding" a new order isn't really going to be a big option seeing as your current ratio of men and women isn't great and those with Eternal heritage can't reproduce at all. While you could've easily told everyone to start putting the remaining Raskian towns to the blade and do the whole "convert or die" thing, you decided it wouldn't be that great of an idea for several reasons. So you relied on a more missionary way of doing things like sending certain shadows to towns and stressing the benefits of being a shadow. It got a few people interested, but nothing major. The Raskians in general have become less trustful of the shadows over the years now that the war with the Empire is over, almost as if they are expecting you to start launching a religious crusade. You soon got the impression that the Raskians would prefer if the lot of you would just leave them alone now. Somewhat ungrateful considering all you've done in securing the country's freedom, but hardly surprising.

Last year was the official fall of the Empire, from what you heard the Emperor's palace was in flames and the few remaining generals or strong military men have taken it upon themselves to carve out various fiefdoms for themselves while other places have gone the way of total anarchy. There was even a little bit of celebrating in Rask and among the shadows when it occurred. However, you couldn't help but be a little disappointed that the great enemy you struggled so hard against was now gone forever. Like you craved the chance to fight them again if only for the opportunity to be in battle once again which has sorely been lacking.

Now with the giantkin starting to become a problem once again, you're half tempted to take Cyrus' advice. You're certain that it would be a sure victory for you and to an extent, Flog has been getting less and less reasonable as the years have gone on. Perhaps it is time to get rid of him and take your chances with more problems with giantkin in the future.

Instead of talking with Dendrin about it, you choose to discuss this situation with someone that will have a better opinion on the situation.

"It sounds like you've sort of made your mind up about Flog already." Talia remarks.
"You might be right, but I was wondering what your opinion was on the matter."
"Better you should ask Dendrin for guidance on that, rather than me. Though I suppose if he has become more militant maybe it's for the best, but…"
"But you think I should try to renegotiate with him?"
"No, I wasn't going to suggest that, I was going to say maybe we should leave Rask altogether."
"What? Why?"
"The people here obviously don't want us around, food isn't the easiest thing to come by and we're basically the first target whenever a group of ogres or giants come lumbering down south."
"We faced the Empire and survived against all odds, I think we can handle being disliked by the plebs and the occasional giant attack."
"You're probably right, but I just feel like we're stagnating here. Like we aren't rebuilding the order the way that we should. We've also lost a lot of history, even certain rituals. I mean I've remembered as much as we were taught and tried to pass these lessons on to the new eternals when I first trained them and continue to do so. The tomes we still have here help a bit, but ultimately when we lost Gloom, we lost a lot more than just a home."
"Well, where would we go?
"That I don't know. Delerg perhaps?"
"That's quite the distance, not to mention the area isn't all that much more hospitable in terms of environment given that it's mostly swamp."
"Yes, but it is the birthplace of the shadows and we do have an old temple there."
"Yeah and it hasn't been used in centuries and is probably a crumbling ruin that's half sunk into the swamp by now! Has anyone here actually ever been there, because I've only ever heard about it."
"Yes, I believe a few of the older brothers and sisters have. They would know the best way to get there. I want to just say though, that this is merely my opinion. I do not know if moving all of us somewhere else is the best solution or if it will even help, but I just feel like the longer we stay here, the further away we're going to get from our roots and in another couple of generations, the shadows won't be anything like the ones of old. But perhaps that is Dendrin's will, as I said I don't know. Only you would know being the Shadow Master and able to speak to him directly for guidance."

You give an acknowledging nod, but in reality you're just left with another decision to make all by yourself. What Talia is suggesting sounds crazy and quite frankly you don't even care about shadow history, but what does make this idea appealing is the journey and the challenge. You were just thinking about a change of some sort and while killing Flog and his little band would break up the monotony, perhaps a whole change of scenery is really in order.

You kill Flog

Making some sort of "pilgrimage" isn't really what you need at this point. While you might be drawn to the journey because of the potential for combat in the end you're going to be left with the same problem again when you finally do get settled. Not to mention who is to say the temple is even big enough or in any condition to act as a new home.

Tomorrow you resolve to go out to the village where Flog has been making his home (Which he's renamed "Flogtown") and bring down the wrath of the shadows upon him. He probably won't be expecting it, but he's brought this on himself.

Just as planned you tell Cyrus and the rest that you have asked for Dendrin's guidance on the matter and he has stated that the orcs and giantkin must be purged. You decide to take Cyrus and most of the new eternals with you as they are the most eager for the chance to do battle. Talia offers to join you, but you tell her you want someone with authority to still maintain the fort while you're gone. Though you don't anticipate this being a drawn out conflict.

Your trip is uneventful other than the beginning of some light snowfall. When you arrive at Flogtown, you see that Flog has made a few changes since the last time you were here. Namely he's erected a tall crude fence around the village, the gate is open, but there are several orc guards standing by. When they see you, they immediately go into a battle stance and one of them runs inside the gate presumably to warn Flog.

"Halt! You shadows have no audience with Flog or any business here, get out!" one of the guards says.

You don't respond, you just order a command to fire where upon several bolts pepper the outspoken guard and the rest of your people attack the remaining ones. When the gate closes down, all of you just spider walk over the walls and gain entry that way.

The "town" itself looks like slave camp, and that's probably because it is. Of it's also because you allowed it in exchange for Flog's help years ago. You can only imagine what the other few towns that Flog seized control of look like. You see miserable wretches of human beings locked in cages or in chains and making no effort to fight or even escape. It's like the orcs have broken their spirit so much that they can't even rejoice at the orc's inevitable demise.

The slaying of the orc and ogre contingent doesn't take long in fact you're almost bored while you do it. The younger eternals seem to be getting a kick out of it though, gleefully lopping heads off and laughing the whole time. You sometimes wonder about them. Even with all the indoctrination and discipline that Talia has instilled in them, you see a certain bloodlust that they continue to share and they just go completely wild when actually in battle. You can only chalk it up to whatever experimentation that occurred to them before you arrived.

You then see one of them attempting to open up the cages with the slaves inside, at first you assume that he's trying to free them. Then when he gets the door open he throws one of the women to the ground and…

"Hey you! What the hell are you doing?" you question.
"I'm taking the reward that Dendrin has provided master!" the eternal remarks without any hint of shame of what he's attempting to do.
"That isn't a reward and more importantly the fucking battle isn't over yet! So get your dick back in your pants and get back to fighting!"
"Yes, master." He sheepishly obeys and pulls his pants back up before going off on his way and leaving the slave woman who is still lying on the ground.

You shake your head because know damn well Talia did NOT teach them that and none of them have even exhibited that sort of behavior before. You aren't going dwell on it now, but you're going to talk to Talia about it when you get back. In the meantime you attempt to help the woman, but she continues to be practically limp. Since there's no place to really take her right now, you just put her back in the cage and tell her to stay there until the fighting is over. She mumbles some sort of acknowledgement, but that's all you get out of her.

Soon the fighting begins to die down, still no sign of Flog though, he apparently was never here. You're going to have to hunt him down at one of his other villages. Still, that now leaves you with what you're going to do with the now free townspeople.

"They certainly aren't the traditionally spirited people of Rask anymore. I don't think they ever will be. They're pretty pathetic, death might be a welcome release to some of these folks." Cyrus remarks.
"Maybe, but we're not going to be the one to decide that. Let's just release their shackles and open up the cages and move on to Flog's other villages."

You order the enslaved villagers to be released and eventually some of them actually begin to speak.

"Is…is it over? Are we free?" an older man asks you.
"Yes, you are free now. Free to go about your business and your lives." You say.
"Well, I suppose that's a good thing then…I just have one question shadow."
"What's that?"
"How?"
"How what?"
"How are we supposed to just go back to our old lives after this?"

When you don't answer right away, the old man then stands up straight as much as he can and looks you directly in the eye.

"You did this shadow. I know, we all know. You think that orc bastard didn't boast about how you all allowed him to enslave the lot of us in exchange for his help against the Empire? I can't even blame the orcs, they're brutes by nature, but you. You were supposed to be helping the people of Rask, but instead it looks like you were helping yourselves."
"That's not even remotely true, we were still the main ones fighting the Empire and shouldering the brunt of their hostility. I made some tough decisions that would ultimately result in their downfall and it worked."
"Right, the Empire falls and everyone is free except for us. Being slaves and all we never got much in the way of news, but from what I heard, the Empire hadn't been a real threat in a significant number of years. Did you even think that maybe when the threat of the Empire was over you should at least attempt to free us? Not that we would've been any less pissed at you, but it would've at least showed that you gave a shit to a minor degree."
"Old man you better shut your mouth right now! You are speaking to the Shadow Master! The Chosen One of Dendrin!" one of the new eternals shouts and pushes the old man to the ground. You stop him from going any further with it though.

The old man wobbly stands back up.

"Shadow Master huh? Chosen One? All sounds like emperor to me. So tell me, why DID you come? I get the impression it wasn't to free us."
"No. Flog has been stepping out of line and needs to be dealt with."
"Ha ha ha ha! You hear that? The shadows' pet orc was disobedient and that's why we can have our freedom today! Thank the gods for the chaotic nature of orcs eh?"

At this point the newly freed villagers are starting to find their "spirit" again and begin crowding around the old man in a show of solidarity. Your eternal shadows are more than willing to kill them, but this isn't what you want. For one it wouldn't be a fight, it would be a slaughter. Second they're completely right to be angry and you can't really blame them.

"Look, I cannot apologize for the decision that was made. It happened and it can't be changed. I don't think you'd accept an apology anyway. Is there anything you need from us? Perhaps help in rebuilding or…"
"No shadow. We need nothing from you. Well maybe one thing, none of us ever want to see you shadows in this town ever again."
"Very well, we shall take our leave." You say and call your shadows to exit this forsaken town.

The other towns that Flog controls are much further away and the snowfall and the wind are starting to get worse. You could go ahead and chase him now, but you didn't exactly prepare for an extended pursuit. You could probably return to Evergloom and prepare properly, it isn't likely that Flog is going to be leaving the area, and whatever pitiful defense he can muster isn't going to be a match for you anyway.

You pursue Flog

You need to take care of this now; you can't risk the chance of Flog making things harder for you than they need to be. There's also the fact that these eternals are still hyped up from battle. You'd rather they get it out of their system before taking them back home.

Pressing on through the beginnings of a blizzard, you eventually reach the second town that you suspect Flog to be dwelling. Your reception there isn't any better and battle predictably follows. The shadow magic and natural skill win out the day, but once again the shadows get a little overzealous in their desire to kill.

"What the fuck…HEY! Leave the damn slaves alone!" you shout when you see a group of eternals near a bunch of them. They either can't hear you due to the howling wind (very unlikely) or they are deliberately ignoring you because they're so engrossed in what they're doing.

When you reach them, you push them aside and see several dead slaves, some of them children and the elderly. None of the eternals say anything, they don't need to given that their weapons are covered in blood.

"Why the fuck did you lot not only disobey my earlier orders, but blatantly ignore me when I shouted at you?"
"Sorry master, but the slaves started attacking us for some reason and we only defended ourselves. It all just happened so fast that I guess we got focused on battle." One of the eternals says, the others looks to him and agree.

This has to be the absolute WORST lie you've ever heard. They surely can't really believe you'll accept it as an excuse. Nevertheless there it is, a bold face lie. They probably think that you'll just chew them out, but they're wrong about that…

Without another word, you kill the one who came up with the lie with a slash to his throat. You then dispatch the other three as quickly as possible. The rest of the eternals look on intently. Cyrus makes no move to stop you either. Even after you've killed them, you're still incredibly angry. It isn't even so much about them killing the slaves. It's the fact that they not only disobeyed you they also feebly tried to lie to your face about it.

"Now you all are going to listen up, because I'm not repeating myself! I am the Shadow Master here! This means that I am Dendrin's chosen and you ALL are to follow my orders without question or argue about them! I catch ANY of you disobeying me again, you can join your fellows lying dead in the snow over there! Now free the rest of the slaves, and let's get the fuck out of here since Flog doesn't seem to be here either."

You head to the front gates of the town, cursing the fact that you have to keep traveling in this horrible weather and put up with these disobedient eternals. Yes, you're really going to have to have a LONG discussion with Talia, when you get back. Cyrus and the rest follow you out when they're finished freeing the slaves. You leave immediately since you're in no mood to hear any "scolding" from the newly freed population or you'll be prone to start killing them yourself.

The last town you know Flog enslaved is an even further distance, so much so it's practically on the edge of giant territory. Makes you wonder how the hell the town survived as long as it did before Flog enslaved it. The snow continues to fall and the cold is getting near unbearable. Cyrus suggests that perhaps it might be a good idea to turn back to Evergloom since not even using magic to speed yourself up is very effective when the snow is getting knee deep. Even cloaking wouldn't be an advantage due to tracks being left in the snow. You aren't thinking clearly though and you insist on pressing forward.

When you get to the last town, there is a giant standing guard. You dispense with any pretenses and order an immediate attack. Normally speeding around the giant and chopping him down like a tree would probably work, but as Cyrus pointed out even with unnatural speed, your movement is still hampered by the snow. It doesn't help that the visibility isn't the greatest either. The giant on the other hand has no such problems and manages to smash two of the eternals with his great club.

While you're all trying to take down the giant, an alarm sound is raised. You quickly order the eternals to climb over the walls and wipe out the orcs while you and Cyrus take care of the giant since they just seem to be getting in your way.

You and Cyrus circle around the giant, dodging and stabbing when you can. Eventually the giant has so many holes in his legs that he loses balance and falls backwards onto the wooden fence of the town. The wooden posts naturally impale the giant in several vital organs finishing him off. You and Cyrus enter the village and see a few buildings crushed under the giant's body. Not surprisingly there have also been a few people crushed under the giant as well, orcs, slaves and even eternals. This is turning out to be a mess, though at this point you don't even care that you're losing some of the eternals given how they've been acting lately.

You shout at any nearby shadows to start looking for Flog who still hasn't made an appearance of course it's hard to see anyone at this point with the snow falling as heavy as it is.

"We need to get into one of these buildings! This snowstorm is getting too strong!" Cyrus yells.
"Alright, let's get in that one!" you shout back in agreement.

You approach a building that vaguely looks like a store of some sort. You try the door, but find it locked. Using all your might, you bash the door open and stumble inside.

That's when you find Flog, but unfortunately you never see him since he was hiding near the door and he cleaves you in the head with an axe when you bashed it open and stumbled in.

It's a sudden and ignoble death after surviving everything that you have. The only consolation is that Cyrus kills Flog in retaliation, but it hardly matters when you're dead.