You get on your horse and make your way to the Empire capital.

You’re not doing it, plain and simple. The Emperor can deal with you as he sees fit, but you are not going to help Mistress for any reason. You made the attempt and it resulted in trickery again.

Besides, why the hell should you follow every little menial task? You’ve been instrumental in keeping the damn Empire together; you shouldn’t be subjugated to such indignities! Jacob just told you the Emperor is sick, well he better watch it if he wants to stick around long enough to get better.

You can’t believe you just thought such a thing. What the hell is wrong with you? The thoughts and acts of disobedience are bad enough, but to actually consider…

You can’t even think it again. Something must be seriously wrong with your mind. Maybe Mistress did something more to you. Maybe she did some sort of magic spell to your head to make you harbor thoughts of dissension. At least you hope that’s case, because if she didn’t then you’d have to come to grips that you thought about killing the Emperor all on your own. Whatever the reason, you’ll be keeping that one to yourself.

When you get to the Emperor’s chambers you hear him call for you immediately. Some coughing immediately follows his voice. You’ve definitely never heard him do that before

“There you are my son, I’m glad to see you. It’s been so long since we’ve talked face to face.” He says as he sits hunched over a desk. He almost looks like he’s struggling to prop himself up. Maybe he is as sick as Jacob says. He’s as pale as Jacob said and his eyes are starting to have a sunken in looking appearance. What used to look like a man in his fifties now looks more like a man in his seventies. In fact he almost looks a bit more like how you thought he was going to when you first met him.
You know he’s powerful. Certainly more powerful than you, but he looks so much frailer now. It makes you ashamed that you had thoughts about killing him; especially after all he’s done for you.

“Emperor! I was told you were sick, but I didn’t believe it! How?”
“Sick? (Cough cough) Well I suppose that’s one way of putting it. I’m guessing Jacob told you I was practically on my death bed or something. He still worries too much and you shouldn’t either. I’m not sick, I’m…well its complicated, but suffice to say, I’m not dying anytime soon. Trust me on that one. Now I’d (Cough cough) like a report on the Felkans. Have we finally destroyed them once and for all?”

“Yes, the capital has been taken and is in the process of being destroyed. The battle mages will be casting defilement spells to make sure nothing ever grows there again. The ruling royals from what we can tell all committed mass suicide.”
“Figures. But as long as everyone’s dead, it’s still good. So what about gnomes? Any in the capital?”
“None. I can only guess we got all of them at Gnome’s Home.”
“One can (cough cough) only hope. So have they all been sentenced to oblivion yet?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t been Gnome’s Home.”
“You haven’t? I thought you got here pretty quickly. Surely Jacob told you that I wanted you to go there.”
“Yes, he told me I was to go there to assist and I know that could only mean assisting Mistress with the destruction of gnome souls. It was with great regret that I disobeyed this order, but I simply cannot help that woman again, if ever. The last time I made the attempt was two years ago when I was assisting her at Gnome’s Home and there was some…unpleasantness.”
“Was there now? I hadn’t heard about this and I spoke to her about leaving you alone, as you well know. So what exactly happened? She try to kill you?”
“No, she (sigh) made unwanted advances on me. I turned her down, and later when I went back to my camp she magically disguised herself as Alison and slept with me that way. I of course didn’t now until afterwards.”
“”Is that all? Here I was thinking it was something serious.” the Emperor replies in a bored tone followed by more coughing. “However, I can see that this is something that was very serious to you so I will of course dismiss your transgression of not following orders…again. In the future I will also make sure that you and her are never to work together under any circumstances. I guess my attempt at being peacemaker didn’t work out. (cough cough) Doesn’t matter anyway, but tell me what are you exactly mad concerning that situation that occurred? I get the impression it’s more than just Mistress fucking with you as usual.”

He’s right. The fact that Mistress tricked you isn’t what bothered you the most; it’s the fact that you unwittingly betrayed Alison. The fact that Mistress cloaked herself as someone you have feelings for…no someone you LOVE to trick you just made it all the worse. You tell the Emperor as much, he nods in between another coughing fit.

“So, you do love this Alison girl then? It’s not just lust or perhaps a fleeting fancy. You actually love her?” the Emperor asks.
“I do.”
“And this girl, she feels the same way?”
“I believe she does.”
“Hmm, you better be sure son.”
“Yes, I know she does.”
“I see… well do you want some advice?”
“From you, of course.”
“ (cough cough) Shit. (cough) Okay, here it is then, you’ll save yourself some pain if you end this relationship altogether. Now just listen. I know you’re an intelligent person and an excellent strategist in the matters of war, but on the matters of love you’re…and I don’t mean this as an insult…but you’re a little inexperienced. It’s okay though, even after several centuries I still haven’t figured it all out yet. But I still know more than you and I’m telling you that you’ll be better off not getting deeply involved with such things. Why do you think I’ve never had an Empress by my side? It complicates things to a whole new level and that’s complications YOU don’t need.”

You’re speechless for a moment. You can’t think of anything to say except…

“Is this an order?”
“An order? No, I’d never give such an order concerning matters of the heart; it is merely advice. You may do as you wish. In fact you may do as you wish for quite some time. I’m giving you some down time in light of our glorious victory over the Felkans. We’ll of course be having some celebrations going on here in the capital so if you get the chance you should probably (cough cough) join in the (cough cough) festivities. When you’re needed to return to duty, I’ll send for you as usual. I also want you to know, I’m proud of you son and for all you’ve done for the Empire and know you’ll continue to serve the Empire loyally (cough cough) and with dedication in the future.”

The Emperor at this point slowly gets up and heads off towards his bedroom area coughing the whole time. You almost ask him if he needs help, but you’d rather not insult him. Besides you’re too busy pondering his advice to you about Alison.

Even you thought about how being in a relationship with Alison put you in a position to fall for Mistress’ trickery. You think about Roldan and how he’s married and it doesn’t seem to affect his judgment, but it’s different for him. He’s married to another Eternal and he doesn’t have the responsibilities you have.

But as they say, the heart wants what the heart wants and you’ve wanted to spend time with Alison ever since you were split up from her. And now that this war is finally over you have the time to do it. Should you break up with her just because of some potential problems in the future with Mistress or anything else?
> You continue your relationship
You’re sure the Emperor means well and he probably does have more knowledge on these things. But he doesn’t know Alison the way you know her. You also can’t and won’t spend your life in fear that something might occur that will cause strife between you and Alison.

That’s why you’re going to tell her what happened two years ago and face whatever the consequences may be.

You leave the palace and the capital to make your way to where Alison is currently stationed, which means a long ride back to the new eastern frontier of the Empire. You eventually arrive at Fort Stalwart, which is actually just a renamed and rebuilt fort once held by the ex-Felkan Kingdom.

Given your reputation, the gates are immediately opened for you. A few of the older soldiers are also probably aware of your relationship with their commanding officer so orders are already given to alert Alison of your sudden arrival. She meets you even before you make it to her office.

She flashes a smile when she sees you and goes to put her arms around you presumably to kiss you. While you’d love for her to do so, you stop Alison, which confuses the hell out her.

“What’s this? Oh. The other soldiers around. You and your insistence on keeping protocol. Very well let’s get to my quarters so we can get you back into your comfort zone, because its been too damn long.”
“It has and we should get back to your quarters, but I’m not sure if you’re going to be in the mood for what you probably had in mind after I tell you what I have to tell you.”

Alison steps back and gives you a tilted look.

“Hmm, sounds serious. You look even more grim than usual. Well let’s get this over with.” Alison says and the pair of you head towards her quarters.

Her private quarters are neat and clean, as you’d expect, on the right wall you see your portrait, which is right across from her bed. Placed in such a way so the first thing she sees when she wakes up is you.

“Alright. Out with it and let’s see exactly how mad you think I’m going to be at you.” Alison remarks closing her door. You sit on the bed and take a deep breath then exhale giving her a look on your face which contains a mixture of shame and guilt.

“Geez…this must be bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. Its almost like you’re afraid to tell me. Shit, maybe I better sit down too.” Alison says taking a seat in one her chairs.
“Alison…I love you. I want you to know that before I say anything else. I never thought I could ever feel this way at all about anyone. It just wasn’t something I was taught or even learned. (whew) Okay enough stalling. Here it is…”

You tell Alison everything that happened two years ago at Gnome’s Home and afterwards. You also explain that you didn’t want to tell her in a letter because you felt something like this should be face to face. You expect Alison to show some sign of anger at this point, but she remains stoically silent just listening to everything.

Lastly, and you weren’t planning on telling her this either, but you mention that the Emperor suggested that you break up with her and how you obviously ignored this advice because your feelings are just that strong for her. This one causes her eyes to widen a little.

“Wow, obsessed svelk, rape through magic trickery, warnings from the Emperor, defying orders…sheesh. Bet you never thought you’d have to deal with things like this.”
“Rape?” you say.
“Well, yes. Its not like you willingly had sex with her, you willingly had sex with what you THOUGHT was me. It might’ve been a civilized form of it, but it still was rape since you wouldn’t have had sex with who it really was. What else would you call what that svelk bitch did to you? The act doesn’t always include a bunch of men holding down a hapless young girl and ramming their dicks into her you know.”

Hell, you never even thought about that. For a brief moment you feel slightly…violated.

“And here I thought she was just making up shit and posturing.” Alison continues.
“Wait a minute. You…knew? When?” you ask.
“For about two years now. Though as you might expect she told things a little differently. Never mentioned about disguising herself as me.”
“So she visited you? You never mentioned it in your letters.”
“Well hey guess what, neither did you. Though in your case I can understand why. In my case it was more I thought she was just so full of shit that I didn’t believe her in the first place and in the second place I knew you were so busy with the Felkans that I didn’t want to distract you with unpleasant thoughts of her in my letters. Figured it would be best to keep her out of them.”

“What did she tell you exactly?”
“She appeared in my office one night claiming that she would always be the main woman in your life. And how I didn’t stand chance against her and that I should just give up now. She said this along with the predictable insults of monkey and my general appearance. Then she mentioned how she easily seduced you into having sex with her and that you would always be hers. Like I said she was so overly dramatic about everything I thought she had to be lying.”
“So what did you do?”
“Nothing, I mostly just shrugged my shoulders and told her I thought she was lying. I also mentioned that I found it pretty sad that for all her superior svelk talent and beauty she was still jealous of a mere monkey like myself and obsessed with a man who obviously did not share the strong feelings she obviously has for you. Then to finish up my retort I also told her that even if what she said was true, that even if you did have sex with her it would only make you appreciate me all the more.”
“Yikes. I can imagine she didn’t like that.”
“Oh no, she did not like it at all. Her face turned from a smug sneer to one of frothing anger. I thought she was going to attack me, some flames started emanating from her fingers and for a moment it felt like a force was keeping me from drawing my own weapon. I couldn’t even call out for other soldiers to help. I guess she thought better of it though because she just stood there for a moment staring at me and then made her way out the window. Wasn’t long after that incident the svelk merc support was transferred out of here, which was fine by me and everyone else of course. Not like we needed them against gnoll attacks anymore anyway.”

“I can’t believe all this happened and you aren’t mad.” You say.
“Oh trust me I’m mad, but if you think its with you, you’re mistaken. I can’t do much about it though I suppose. I’m not really concerned with your little svelk stalker. I’m a little more troubled with what you just told me about the Emperor. I get the impression he doesn’t care for my influence, not that I think I really have any over you.”
“Oh that? I wouldn’t worry about him. I believe he’s just overly concerned with my well-being again. He’s always been a little over protective at times, like a father with an only son I suppose. Right now though I’m just wondering how you feel about me after all is said and done.”
“I don’t feel anything. Ha ha ha …wait that came out wrong. What I mean is I still feel the same way I always have about you. I love you. Nothing has changed.”
“Good, then let’s get married. Let’s take our relationship to its next logical step.”
“Married? You serious?”
“Well sure. I mean don’t people who feel the way we do get married?”
“Usually I guess…but I dunno…seems like there some forces against us, and that’s not even including one of us dying violently in battle. I mean in some ways the Emperor might be right. You might save yourself some pain if you ended our relationship now.”
“Perhaps, but I won’t get to experience the good stuff if I did that.”
“Good stuff eh? Is that what you’re calling it now?” Alison jokes. “Well, you sure you’re ready for the pain of possibly losing me on some forsaken battlefield somewhere?”
“How do you know you’ll die first? You could outlive me.”
“Pfft, please. You’ll outlive everyone. You’d outlast this entire world, if you had the time.” Alison laughs.
“So will you marry me?”
“Yes, of course I will.”

As fitting for two soldiers, you and Alison don’t have a fancy wedding; in fact you get married the next day in some small town in the Arat province by a local bureaucrat. Alison is still on duty for the next week so you return to her post and spend your wedding night in her quarters at Fort Stalwart. She tells you though as soon as she has time off, the pair of you are going to spend quality time doing something fun which doesn’t involve the bedroom. You don’t see the need since the bedroom is just fine with you, but you agree.

While waiting for Alison’s time off, you take it upon yourself to have a pair of proper rings made for you and Alison. You also have what possessions you actually own sent to Fort Stalwart since you don’t know where you’ll be stationed next and there is as good of place as any.

After you’ve taken care of all that, you still have a day left to wait for Alison, so you go back to see the Emperor, you figure he should know what you’ve done and he’ll know eventually anyway.

When you see him again, he’s still coughing a lot and moving slowly when he walks. He seems happy to see you though.

“My (cough cough) son. This is an unexpected (cough) visit. I would’ve thought you would’ve been off enjoying your down time.” He says.
“I am, but I have also come to tell you something. I have married Alison.”
“Oh. I see. Well (cough cough) whatever makes you happy son. I trust she makes you happy.”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m happy for you. (cough cough) Heh, that was quick. Have to admit I didn’t expect you to marry her. You should’ve told me though (cough cough) I could’ve ordered a big city celebration like what (cough cough) we’re doing for the victory over the Felkans. You two could’ve walked down the streets with fancy guard and everything.”
“That would’ve been very generous, but I don’t think that would’ve been either of our style.”
“I suppose not. Well as I (cough cough) have said, I’m happy for you, enjoy your time together and cherish it. So was there anything else?”
“No, nothing of any note.”
“Very well…(cough cough) ugh…I’m still afflicted as you can tell. I need to just rest, so if you’ll excuse me.”

Again, you feel like asking if he needs help, but you resist. Instead you just quietly start to leave. The Emperor speaks to you as he makes his way back to his bedroom.

“Oh. Don’t (cough cough) worry about Semra. I spoke with her earlier a couple days ago about bothering you again.”
“Semra?”
“Yeah, you know (cough cough) Mistress. I made it quite clear to her if she did do it again that she’d be executed, along with every other svelk in the Empire. (cough cough) Funny thing is, she went into a complete breakdown exclaiming that I didn’t need to worry about that ever again, because as far she was concerned she never wanted to see you ever again. Then she (cough) proceeded to swear in common tongue as well as her own language. Mostly about you. Then she stormed off. If I didn’t know better I thought she was going to cry. I actually wondered what it was that caused all that. Now I know. I guess you had a hidden witness (cough cough) to your wedding.”

“Shit.” You say quietly to yourself in amazement. Then you address the Emperor.

“Thank you, sir.”
“No problem. (cough cough) Think of it as my wedding gift to you.”

Well you couldn’t have asked for a better one, assuming she really does stay away.
>
Year 32

“It’s not just a celebration for Roldan, it’s the celebration of the victory over the Felkans.” You remark.
“I know that, but why is he getting a special parade? Roldan wasn’t the only one who brought down the Felkan Kingdom! He wasn’t even the only general!” Alison exclaims.
“He was involved in the brunt of the major conflicts, including most of the vital forts and cities and most importantly the last siege on the Felkan capital.” You reply.
“As I recall YOU played a major role along with several others!”
“Well Roldan’s also been making great progress in eliminating the gnolls tribes on our western borders too. We probably won’t be having any trouble with them anymore at the rate he’s going.”
“And as I recall YOU also played a major role in that during the Felkan War! Hell, so did I and continued to do so long after you got transferred to the frontlines! Shit, if it hadn’t been for us keeping those mongrel barbarians back who knows how the war would’ve turned out?”
“Alison why are you so angry about this?”
“I just don’t understand why you aren’t getting a big parade or accolades either.” Alison says as she finishes getting dressed.
“I dunno, I’m not really concerned about it though.” You reply apathetically. “Besides you know I don’t care for all this kind of pomp and flash that comes with these sorts of celebrations anyway. If I didn’t have to be here out of formality I wouldn’t even be attending.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t seem fair that you’ve been getting punished just because you married me.”
“Here we go, this concept again…”

Alison goes into her usual rant about how since you got married to her, you’ve been getting less important assignments. She feels that the Emperor has been punishing you by keeping you in the background while allowing Roldan to take more of a prominent role such as sending him to conquer the gnoll tribes of the west.

You can see this argument, and you have even entertained it a bit from time to time, but ultimately you’ve dismissed it, mainly because despite everything you’re still reporting directly to the Emperor. You’re still his most trusted of all his advisors.

You’re still his son.

Besides its not like you’re sitting around doing nothing. The Emperor has just been keeping you closer to home because this is where you’re currently needed. With the recently acquired Felkan territory and the westward expansion, the Eyes are a little stretched so you’ve mostly been trying to eliminate the new bandit havens popping up in the old Felkan territory along with helping to fend off any desperate gnoll raids that attempt to sneak through. You’re also supposed to be making sure the new “citizens” aren’t planning to rebel, but given how badly they were beaten down, they’re just glad that you’re allowing them to live. So far no seditious activity has been detected.

True, you’d rather be out there conquering new lands in his name and getting into the heat of battles rather than playing super sentinel, but at least you get to see Alison more often. It’s a good trade off as far as you’re concerned.

As far as Roldan is concerned you aren’t worried about him being “favored.” This large celebration for Roldan is more Jacob’s idea mainly because Roldan has largely become well known along with being well liked throughout the Empire. Not just by the military, but by the normal citizens as well. He’s generally regarded as a hero of sorts.

Jacob practically begged the Emperor for this special celebration because he felt it would be good for overall morale throughout the Empire. Well that, and the fact Jacob feels “vindicated” that his own influence on the Eternals has proved successful. Though you sort of had a major role in Jacob’s fortune in that endeavor as well, something else Alison mentions in her rant.

“You know, I might be getting sent to the unexplored land east of Nalin. There’s been discussion about expansion in that direction.” You say to Alison in the hopes that it will calm her down a bit.
“Yeah? Well I certainly hope you’ll get your own special celebration when you conquer whoever lives there. I’m sorry. I don’t know why this is getting to me. This doesn’t bother you, so it shouldn’t bother me. You’re right anyway, I guess if you’d really fallen out of favor you would’ve been sent to go tame the inhospitable usksha desert south of Nalin alone in a loin cloth welding just a wooden sword.”

You chuckle at Alison’s scenario.

“Okay how do I look? Do I look presentable for the Emperor’s palace?”

Alison stands before you in a black dress. It isn’t excessively fancy, but it’s certainly not something peasant would wear. While you’ve seen Alison in civilian clothing before, you’ve not seen her in something so elegant.

“Really you didn’t need to dress up for this thing, I certainly didn’t. I just made sure I didn’t have a tear in my trousers and polished my armor.”
“Maybe that’s because visiting the Emperor’s palace isn’t that big of a deal to you. For me however this is a new experience. Just glad my mother’s old dress fit me, since it’s practically the only fancy thing I own.”
Well, you look lovely and dangerous as usual. The rapier on your hip is a nice touch. Didn’t realize that’s what all the upper class ladies were accessorizing with nowadays.”
“Ha ha, I said I wanted to look presentable, I didn’t say I was going for high society. I’m still a soldier by nature, I’m not going anywhere without a weapon. “
“That’s my girl, let’s be on our way.” You remark and the pair of you set off for the capital in a carriage.

Alison’s mood is much better the closer you get to your destination. When you arrive, the capital is already pretty busy along with the surrounding countryside. The city guard and a few soldiers are busily trying to keep order and keep the path clear for the parade later. The palace is certainly less chaotic and you take the opportunity to show Alison some of it. She mostly enjoys the ancient armor and weapon displays along with some of the statues. You have to admit, before you came here with Alison, you never really admired them before.

Doesn’t take long before someone who knows you approaches. It’s Jacob and a brunette woman who looks about your age. She must be a soldier of some sort because she’s dressed in armor.

“There you are, I was wondering when you’d arrive! When did you get here?”
“I don’t know, a half hour ago I guess. I was showing Alison some of the palace since she’s never been here before.”
“Ah yes, Alison! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you face to face! Better known as Major Krozer for those of us that have only known her through her military deeds. I heard how you were instrumental during the Felkan War on the gnoll front! That was great work! Between you and your husband here you really paved the way to the destruction of those barbarians.”
“Thank you for the recognition.” Alison remarks politely. Ever the professional, she knows not to bring her personal feelings into a setting like this.
“Everyone should remember that even though a special parade is being held for General Roldan, all soldiers who did their duty during that terrible war are to be honored and respected. Actually scratch that, ALL soldiers of the Empire should be.” Jacob says as he looks over to the warrior woman.
“Oh I’m sure I didn’t do anything nearly as impressive as my husband or even the major and her husband here. But I suppose can be glad that the kobold and usksha population is a lot lower due to me.” the woman says.
“Brenda, don’t sell yourself short! You know you’ve done great things as well.” Jacob says.
“Brenda?” you ask. You didn’t even recognize her, but then it has been quite a while.
“Yep, it’s me. Been a long time. I figured you wouldn’t recognize me right away. Oh, sorry about all that y’know…back in class.”
“As I’ve told everyone else Brenda, all in the past. All in the past.” You say.

The four of you speak for a moment exchanging general pleasantries. Jacob seems even happier than Brenda about Roldan’s celebration. In fact in the whole time you’ve known him, this has to be the happiest you’ve ever seen him. Eventually the four of you head to one of the palace’s large balconies where you can view the entire parade.

Three of the five known Eternals are here, and it makes you wonder where your other classmates are since it seems like they would be important enough to be here. When you ask Jacob this question, Jacob says Warrick is indeed here, but is currently working as head of security for this celebration being Sightmaster of the Eyes and all. As for Kane, Jacob stumbles a bit over his words.

“Well, erm…Kane is having personal problems…he’s been reassigned to Rask while he uh…works things out. They’re always having problems with the occasional giant lumbering down from the mountains and the stray feral ogre bands there anyway.”
“Jacob, I’m well aware of Kane’s condition, you know.”
“You are? Yes…I suppose you would, considering you’ve visited Gnome’s Home in the past. (Sigh) Well then you know its best that he’s not around other normal people, even other soldiers. He’s still loyal to the Empire, he just has to be isolated. So he’s at a very remote outpost at the edge of the northern Rask Mountains. He keeps a look out for potential attacks and if he…gets hungry he’s away from civilization and has the beasts from the mountains to prey upon.”

You shake your head.

“Jacob, I can appreciate that you’re trying to help Kane, but I wonder if his reassignment is really a good idea. What’s stopping Kane from losing complete control and wandering to a nearby village and slaughtering it?”
“He won’t. He’s extremely far away from the nearest civilized center and even Fort Defiance. The only victims of his will be giants and the like. And they’re enemies of the Empire anyway. Look, can we discuss this later? The celebration is starting.” Jacob says.

You nod and return to Alison to watch the parade. It is indeed a lavish sight. You see soldiers in impression armor marching in complete unison performing drill techniques with perfect timing. You see wizards creating small extraordinary feats of magic to entertain.

As you sit there watching you do sort of lose yourself in the moment and actually enjoy just being a “spectator”. Being there with Alison certainly helps make you feel normal for a while.

Then comes the big moment. General Roldan arrives on a giant extravagant platform carried by a dozen or so elven slaves. He stands there in very shiny ornamental armor with an equally ornamental weapon by his side. He waves to the crowds on both sides and accepts their cheers. Brenda and Jacob are both smiling and Jacob is shouting louder than anyone else on the balcony.

“Sheesh, you’d think he was the one married to Roldan.” Alison remarks.

You snicker at her comment and then suddenly as you’re watching Roldan wave on the platform, you get a very bed feeling. You don’t know why or how, but all your instincts scream out at you that something very bad is going to happen…

And then it does.

A cloaked figure suddenly materializes right behind Roldan. From this distance you can’t be sure, but it doesn’t look entirely human. As the crowd’s cheers become sounds of horror, you see this figure draw two curved blades and in one quick move decapitates Roldan before he even knows there is an attacker behind him.

His body and head don’t even hit the surface of the platform before the cloaked figure disappears again. The elven slaves at this point panic and drop the platform, this is soon followed by the rest of the citizens generally running all over the place and soldiers swarming the streets trying to maintain order. The city is in chaos.

Jacob is just sitting there in shock. Alison has immediately ordered everyone on the balcony to get inside the palace. Brenda on the other hand has already left; you imagine she’s taken to the streets to go find her husband’s assassin herself.

“That was a fucking shadow.” You say to yourself.
> You seek the assassin
The Emperor is probably the most secure person in the area and even though he’s not been well lately, you know that he’s still more than capable of defending himself against some shadows.

Your best bet is to some how track down the assassin before he gets away, so you tell Alison that you’re going to follow Brenda’s lead and chase after the assassin.

“Wait, how do you even know where to look?” Alison asks.
“I don’t, but I have to try. Just get Jacob inside, he’s still out on the balcony in shock.” You answer before leaving.

As frantic as the palace is, the streets of the city are much worse. You have to literally fight your way through in order to get anywhere. After pushing several citizens out of the way, you stumble upon one of the Eyes.

“Hey you! Where the hell is the rest of your unit? More importantly where the hell is Warrick?” you ask the Eye.
“My unit is trying to keep this area under control while searching the nearby buildings here. As far as I know, Sightmaster Warrick was last seen near the city gates.”
“Well the palace needs some extra protection, I want you to get the rest of your unit over there now. Your primary concern is supposed to be defending the Emperor anyway!”

You make your way towards the city gates, which is a chore. You still wonder where Brenda went, but when you finally get a clear view of the gates, you find her and Warrick arguing with each in the middle of the chaos.

“I’ve got Eyes scouring the city and mages casting detection spells to back them up, I’m doing all I can Brenda!” Warrick exclaims.
“Well you’re sure doing a bang up job of that eyeboy, considering you weren’t even able to prevent my husband from getting fucking decapitated in front of everyone! That was a fucking shadow Warrick! It probably already left the city already!” Brenda retorts.
“I’m well aware of what it was Brenda, I had to track down and fight them a lot more than you ever did!”
“And given that your group was supposed to have wiped them out, you fucked up on that job too!”
“Brenda if you want to go on your own personal manhunt, fine, you don’t need my permission to do it. Go find and grab the nearest mage and have at it! I don’t have time to argue with you, I’m having a hard enough time trying to coordinate everything in this chaos right now.”

Warrick looks semi-relieved when he sees you arrive.

“I’m glad you’re here, you’ve got magic abilities. Can you take Brenda with you?”

Brenda turns to you though she isn’t as happy to see you either.

“Great, the other fuck up who was supposed to have been responsible for the extermination of the shadows.” Brenda remarks.
“Brenda I know you’re angry right now and understandably upset, but I’m not going to tolerate the same sort of verbal abuse you’ve been heaping on Warrick. Now I’ll certainly help you, because I want this sonofabitch almost as bad as you do, but we’re going to do this without the arguing.”

Your calm yet firm demeanor doesn’t quell the high emotions going through Brenda right now, but they do at least establish a behavior guideline.

“Alright fine.” She remarks.
“Good, now let’s start checking the sewers.”
“The sewers? Are you sure?” Brenda asks.
“No, but I’m making a good guess that it being a shadow, it probably hasn’t gone far and is enjoying the whole idea of hiding right under our noses and possibly even planning the next step to cause further chaos. Besides, shit is often found in the sewers.”
“I’ve got people already searching the sewers.” Warrick pipes up.
“Yeah well, maybe if you had some stationed there and had a thorough search of the sewers before the parade none of this would be necessary now.”
“That’s not fair, Jacob said…”
“I don’t want to hear it Warrick. As far as I’m concerned Brenda’s got a right to be pissed at you considering you were supposed to be in charge of security for this thing.”

Leaving Warrick behind, you and Brenda find the nearest manhole and descend into the smelly darkness. And it does smell pretty awful. Still not as bad as Gnome’s Home though, you don’t think anything will ever smell worse than that place.

You keep a detection spell constantly on hoping it will catch something worthwhile, but you know this is a long shot and the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack. Still, you couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. Brenda might’ve been out of line speaking to you in such a manner, but in some ways you do feel a little responsible since you thought you’d wiped out all the shadows.

Brenda and you are more or less silent the whole time you search the sewers. You never do run into any of Warrick’s people, but then the sewers are just as large as the city itself. It’s not surprising you aren’t having much luck finding a shadow, if one is even hiding down here in the first place.

“Damn it. I’m sorry Brenda.”
“What?”
“I don’t know where to even look, the sewers were just a blind guess. I have no real idea where to look. You probably were right; the shadow probably already left the city and if that’s the case, who know where the hell it fled to.”

Brenda doesn’t say anything at first and you fully expect her to go off on you, but she doesn’t, instead she starts crying. Or rather she fails in trying not to cry. It would appear that the fact that her husband is dead is finally hitting her hard.

“Brenda I…” you start to say and then a faint whistling sound is heard and you feel a sharp pain going through your back. You look down long enough to see the head of a crossbow bolt. Blood spreads across your chest and you stagger around and stare at a grinning decaying face. You then feel two blades separate your head from your body.

The good news is your hunch was correct. The bad news is your detection spell couldn’t work on something that was already dead and as a result so are you.

You can only hope that Brenda gets her revenge and figures it all out, because you won’t.