Great Shadow

A colossal horned rat that exhibits demonic features and originates from the *Underworld*. The Great Shadow toiled in hellscape until it grew to full power which its divine origins are a mystery to all. Its growth of power eventually caught the attention of several powerful demons and demon lords, most notably *Balor*. Balor was among the first to engage the Great Shadow in a battle of supremacy as all demons do with one another. The Great Shadow fought Balor but was clearly outmatched and fled the Underworld. Its flee took it to the Shadowfell where it nurtured its power greater for two centuries. The Great Shadow's presence was eventually detected by *Mordred Lysander* who initially desired to absorb its power, but after a couple of incursions his desires switched to assimilating it instead. Mordred's hunt caused the attention of other powerful beings in the Shadowfell to track the Great Shadow as well, causing it to flee the plane.

The Great Shadow took to the Material Plane where it resided in the recently ruined *Durgrax*. It attracted the attention of several rat hordes that grew rapidly into a large mass of ratkin that began worshiping the Great Shadow as their deity. These rats labelled each other as *Piszok-Zok Ratkin* as they named the Great Shadow, Piszok. The Great Shadow spent its time concocting an army of ratkin to serve it in the depths of the abandoned Durgrax emerald mines. However the massing of the Piszok-Zok ratkin did not go unnoticed for *Kahl-El* and his forces clashed with them numerous times. Kahl-El was rebuilding Durgrax for the were-species that once inhabited it which the ratkin wanting to overtake it. Kahl-El posted a bounty in order to gas out the ratkin from the mines which he successfully killed a large chunk of the horde. However Kahl-El eventually learned of the Great Shadow's presence which he hired *Armament*, *Roric*, *Talon* and *Thalnik Ulmrus* to find the Great Shadow in the mine's depths. Coincidentally, Thalnik was aligned with Mordred Lysander and had the intent to follow Mordred's will to assimilate the Great Shadow. The group battled many hordes of ratkin before discovering the lair of the Great Shadow where they summoned Kahl-El to bring it forth. The Great Shadow battled the party and most notably used its divine pestilence to wither everyone to critical conditions. The battle was hard fought on both sides, but the Great Shadow eventually yielded after a harsh blast of radiant energy from Kahl-El. Kahl-El confronted Thalnik about his assumed intentions with Mordred and Thalnik was faced with a choice: Allow Kahl-El to indoctrinate the Great Shadow and the ratkin into the society of Durgrax or allow Mordred to assimilate the Great Shadow. During a discussion, Thalnik also learned of the Great Shadow's origins in the Underworld, its fued with Balor and that it knows something about the *Blood Knights*. With everything considered, Thalnik chose Kahl-El's side. The Great Shadow was left with Kahl-El to be nurtured back to strength with the promise that Thalnik could return to commune with it once restored.

Thalnik later returned to Durgrax to perform a ritual through *Elder Dragon Rider Halos Panascon* in order to find *Dathroc*. The Great Shadow warned Thalnik and his companions what the balor was capable of, but they decided to seek it out anyway. With Thalnik and the Great Shadow's blood, Halos performed a ritual to teleport the part to Dathroc's lair. The party shortly returned afterwards which resulted in only Thalnik surviving the encounter. A few days later, Thalnik returned to Kahl-El to speak to the Great Shadow once more. This time, the Great Shadow had offered to take Thalnik to a group of demons named the *Arok-Sardukin*. The Great Shadow took Thalnik and his companions to the group of demons, but were met with resistance as Thalnik isn't a natural born demon or power deity. Since they cannot communicate with each other, the Great Shadow returned everyone to it's lair once it spotted Thalnik pointed at it and assuming the worst.