“Shit.” You grumble and get up.

After getting dressed, you march out of your tent with sword in hand. Multiple soldiers on duty ask if you’re okay, but you just ignore them and head directly to where Ackerson’s camp located.

When you arrive, you tell the soldiers on duty that you want to see Ackerson immediately. The general is of course still asleep and when he gets out of his tent he’s still slightly groggy.

“Apologies my Emperor, but what can…” he begins to say and then you cleave his head in with your sword. His face displays a mixture of shock and confusion as the blood trickles down from his head.

You pull the sword out with a sickly sound following it and strike again, this time practically chopping the general’s head in two. At this point the weight of Ackerson’s now lifeless body pulls downward off of your sword and you wipe your sword off in front of the astonished onlookers.

“Alright, listen up because I’m only going to say this once. This man was a fucking traitor. He was planning to betray me at some point during tomorrow’s battle. Don’t ask me how I know, the important thing is I know because I’m the fucking Emperor and I know ALL.”

You continue.

“That being said, I also know he had some of you in on this plan because he was too damn cowardly to face me like a man. I KNOW who you all are and consider this your reprieve from your benevolent Emperor. Help bring us victory tomorrow against the beast folk scum and I’ll forget all about this. However, if I ever get the slightest hint that ANY of you are planning to assassinate me, betray me or be involved in any other type of treason, I WILL make sure that you do not suffer the quick death like I so graciously handed out to the late general here. Do I make myself clear?”

“YES EMPEROR!” everyone shouts.

“Good. Colonel Sini, you’re in charge of Ackerson’s command now. Have someone remove this traitor’s corpse from this camp. I don’t want the aura of his failure and cowardice to rub off on anyone else longer than necessary.”

You take your leave and head back to your tent. You know what you did might not have been necessary since Semra very well might’ve been lying, however you’re fairly confident that you handled it in such a way that it doesn’t matter. You put so much fear into the rest of them that if they didn’t think you were all knowing before they certainly do now.

If it is true though, it is sort of disturbing to you that Eldolith managed to somehow convince some of your own military to try to kill you. That’s the group you rely on the most and feel you have the most identification with, though perhaps you’re taking it for granted that most of them LIKE the military and battles like you do. A lot of them probably joined just to feed their families. Some of them were even conscripted. You can only imagine that she offered a shitload of gold as it doesn’t seem likely that she’d have anything else worthwhile to offer.

You’ll be glad when the orcs have finally raised their numbers back up and the new Eternals are of age to fight.

Despite everything that went on last night, you miraculously actually manage to get a little sleep before the arrival of the Torites. You’re still a little tired, but you think when you get into the thick of battle the thrill of it will kick in and you’ll be invigorated. You usually are.

It seems word of what happened spread fairly quickly to the rest of the camps, even to Decena’s army. You imagine that will at least have to put Galen in a good mood, maybe he’ll whine less now.

When the Torites arrive they certainly look like a chaotic rabble, but it’s no mistake that they mean business. The number of harpies fills the sky to the point where you hope that the Storm can take care of such a flock. The second airship is in far distance behind you. Hopefully by the time it gets to engage in battle it won’t be replacing the Storm so much that it’ll be supporting the Storm.

The cannons and rifles fire as soon as the Torites are within range. Their centaurs return fire with their accurate arrows. The saytr wizards up the ante by casting their elemental magic which rips solid chunks of rock and earth out of the ground and goes flying at your army. It can’t be said that the Torites are any less dangerous just because they’re less technologically advanced.

High above you the Storm takes on the harpy warriors. Even from here, it looks like a swarm of locusts descending on a single blade of wheat. Looks pretty damn grim for the Storm, you just hope if the crew does get overwhelmed they can keep the ship from crashing near your location.

The bull creatures lead the charge along side their horse beast brethren. Another volley of shots takes out some, but they remain relentless in their charge. The satyr rank and file advance steadily behind. They WILL arrive and there will certainly be enough of them left to give your army a good fight.

Your own cavalry meets them and while they have the best training, they can’t overcome the sheer savagery of the minotaurs and as for the centaurs, their very bodies are half horse. They already have the advantage over your own cavalry as far as maneuverability.

Breaks in the Torite army form as they allow their war beasts participate in the charge. Several manticores and chimera of the largest size make their way straight towards you. At their pace, they’re going to be the first ones your people will have to fight. A cannon blast rips through one of the chimera and fireball from one of your mages brings down another, but before you know it, a manticore is shredding apart your front line with its talons and impaling others with its spike tail.

What comes next is utter mayhem. Swords and axes cutting and stabbing. Fangs and claws tearing and biting. Magic on both sides destroying several lives in the blink of an eye. It’s all very glorious.

Decena’s army is holding its own on her front, but then you never had any doubt about that. The only problem they do have is the blasted satyr magic manages to turn the golems against them. Hopefully, Flevas managed to get Galen’s ass out of there before they crushed him. The newly appointed General Sini seems to be doing well on his end. You’re glad to see that the reinforced fear in their ruler has motivated them.

Still, the battle is far from over yet. The fact that you’re simultaneously facing down three bullheads by yourself and a chimera closing in is a great reminder.

You cast a lightning blast at the bulls, which fells two of them, but the third fights through the pain of having his body fried from the inside out. You dodge his axe and follow up with your own sword swing to his meaty leg. The beast roars, but is still undeterred. Two nearby soldiers attempt to help, but are mauled by the chimera which has finally arrived.

The minotaur swings again, but this time you cast a force shield to block the blow. This one has to be some sort of leader or hero or some great warrior to his people because when you swing your sword again to strike, the creature catches its blade and snaps it off leaving you with a broken sword.

“Okay. I get it. A challenge.” You say and step backwards from the minotaur who ignores his deeply cut hand to solidly grip his axe once more.

The bull will have to wait though since the chimera has finally gotten around to attack you. The clumsy beast attempts to pounce, but you leap out of its way and blast one of the its misshaped animal heads with a bolt of fire. Roaring in pain and anger, the creature desperately tries to put out the flames by rubbing the flaming head into the dirt. It hardly stops it from continuing to attack with its scorpion tail. While it misses with its tail, one of its other goat like heads spits a cloud of gas at you. You didn’t even know they could do such a thing, but then these chimeras are rather random beasts.

The gas is certainly poisonous enough to kill the average person, but then you aren’t average. Unfortunately it’s still potent enough to make you feel sick and you gag and wheeze when you inhale a good bit of the stuff.

A paw smashes into your side and you go crashing to the ground. You barely get out of the way of the stinger tail again. Then your old bull friend is there to help with his axe as usual, fortunately someone distracts the bull by attacking him from behind causing him to drop his axe. Unfortunately they fail to kill him and he turns around and breaks their neck with his bare hands, still it’s given you a temporary respite on what to do next.
> You crawl away from the immediate area
You’re in the middle of a danger zone right now and you’re still feeling woozy from that gas, you need to get out as quick as you can.

You crawl away just in time for the chimera to try to sting you again, though now that one of its faces isn’t on fire anymore the creature is advancing along with the bull. Summoning all your energy you cast a cone of frost at the pair of them. You actually get a few other enemies and several allies in the blast as well, but whatever gets the job done.

The chimera and bull try to advance despite being slowly frozen solid and they actually make a few more steps, but you keep up the spell ignoring the drain its taking on you. You soon have several ice “statues” in front of your area. Grabbing the mace of a dead soilder nearby you take several swings at the frozen chimera smashing its body parts into frozen bloody chunks. You then turn your attention to the bull.

“A shame this couldn’t have been a fair fight. You were certainly worthy of one.” You say and with one mighty swing you smash the bull’s head in and kick the rest of the body over. It’s going to be a mess when it all finally thaws out.

A quick glance up displays several winged bodies falling out of the sky, some of them on fire. The Storm is holding so far, but you can tell by the thick black smoke emanating from it that it isn’t without damage. The second airship however is coming along and already engaging the enemy.

In the distance ahead of you, you see that your kobold teams have successfully dug underneath the battlefield and started to flank the Torites. Even with the element of surprise most of them are probably going to end up getting stomped on by the minotaurs and centaurs, but they’ll at least be in a position to disrupt the satyr mages.

The confrontation rages on for the remainder of the day and you find yourself all over the battlefield, either giving commands or doing battle. At one point you even find yourself fighting side by side with Decena. While it is no doubt a big thrill for her to actually fight along with you, you actually enjoy it as well. It reminds you of when you fought along side Alison as Decena also has that instinctive knowledge of complimenting your fighting style, but then again she should considering you trained her.

Day becomes dusk and finally to night though the sky lights up spectacularly when the Storm gives out its final service when part of it explodes turning the entire ship into a blazing wreck dropping to the ground fast. Both sides run for cover and out of the area while attempting to avoid the burning shards already hitting the surface.

Still even with this loss, your side is definitely winning. Most of the centaurs are dead, the one who aren’t, have long since galloped away. Most of the satyr troops are dead as well with the few remaining starting to retreat. All their large beasts such as the manticores and chimera have all been slain. The harpies still alive from their assault on the Storm have flapped away. The only ones still putting up any resistance are the minotaurs and that’s because they’re too stubborn to retreat, but eventually they’ll be overwhelmed.

By the time the clash is finally over the moon is hanging high above the battlefield causing a minor luminescence over the numerous dead on the battlefield. This is definitely going to be one that the scholars and historians are going to write about.

While you stepping over the dead and passing by soldiers taking well earned victory celebrations (or just taking well earned rests) Decena comes running up to you.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you. We got split up after those manticores attacked. I mean I knew you weren’t dead, but I just wanted to know you were okay.” Decena says.
“A few minor wounds, probably some new scars to look forward to, aching muscles and joints, extremely tired, but other than that I’m fine. How many in your army left?” you ask.
“Quite few. I don’t think my side recieved the brunt of the Torite attack though turning our golems against us was certainly a surprise. Galen managed to rectify that though, even if it did cost us the use of them.”
“Oh, survived did he?”
“Yeah, thanks to Captain Flevas. I know a lot of people don’t like elves, but he was invaluable on the battlefield.”
“I wouldn’t have promoted him and transferred him to your command if he wasn’t. So besides Galen did any of your other wizards survive?”
“Unfortunately none.”
“Same here. The Torites were successful in that regard. (Sigh) Successful in that endeavor as well.” You say pointing to the still flaming wreckage of the Storm in the distance.
“Well at least we still have the second airship.” Decena says.
“Oh we’ll have more of those, no doubt. Wizards, not so sure about. I’m thinking the age of using battle mages on any large scale might be coming to an end. Better keep what talent we still have left at home in case of an emergency.” You reply.
“I wanted to ask you about something else, did you ever find out more about the traitors in our ranks? Only a few hours before the conflict with the Torites and it was all over my own camp about how you executed General Ackerson in front of his command and warned everyone that you know others were involved in a conspiracy against you.”
“Oh that. No, but given that the only ones trying to kill me today were the Torites I’d say I squashed it, but I still will have Warrick do a full investigation to anyone close to Ackerson though I can guess a few of them now. I have to believe that Sini who I replaced Ackerson with was involved, being his second in command and all, however Sini has redeemed himself by dying in battle loyally. Saves his family the embarrassment and saves me the need for another execution later.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay, but then I shouldn’t have worried I suppose, you’re the Emperor and nothing can ever destroy you.”

At this point the pair of you have entered your tent and Decena grabs your hand. Decena looks at you with a mixture of concern and adoration. The same adoration she’s had since you took her as your student. While it’s definitely true your actions and position have probably molded her into these feelings, she’s also not a naive babe in the woods.

“Emperor, I need to ask. Now that we have this time together are we ever going to pick up where we left off or are those days over?” she asks.
“Did you want to continue that sort of relationship? I don’t want you to feel obligated that you have to because of a loss of self control on my part in the past.” You say.
“Do you regret it then?”
“I regret that I have made things unnecessarily complicated for you. I probably just should’ve had you enrolled into the Eye training camp or even the regular army. Would’ve made things a lot easier for the both of us.”
“But then I wouldn’t be as good as I am. I wouldn’t be able to serve to my fullest capabilities. You managed to bring out my full potential. I doubt if I would’ve survived this very battle without your personal training. You are my Emperor and I will loyally continue to serve the Empire no matter what. But I need to know how things are going to be in the future so that I may conduct myself accordingly towards you.”

A reasonable request.

“Decena, it would be a lie to say I don’t feel something for you, but those feelings are tainted with a lot of negative past experiences of my own. Most of which I don’t even want to get into right now, but rest assured my reasons for initiating the more intimate nature of our relationship was more than just simple loneliness and weren’t exactly positive motives. In fact they were downright twisted at times and I don’t think you’re quite aware of some of the things I thought about doing to you. This isn’t even counting the fact that you’re in competition with a ghost to a certain degree and that’s hardly fair to you.”

Decena of course knows you’re referring to Alison. She’s probably always known that you still have never completely gotten over her. Not with the way she’s seen you stare at her portrait for long periods of time back when she was at the palace.

Decena has her answer.

“I…see. Very well my Emperor. I understand that it is time for me to grow up and put aside the silly emotions of a young girl. I shall no longer trouble you with my immature displays of affection or letters but… know I shall continue to… (sniffle) love you in the way that a…”

Decena can’t even complete her sentence. She might’ve even known this was a long time coming, but it still doesn’t make things any easier. She reaches out to hug you and you embrace her. She tries to stop herself from completely crying, but she’s struggling with this a lot.

“You’ll grow stronger from this and move past it Decena. I know you have it within you to do so.” You say in an attempt to be reassuring, she looks up at you with tears in her eyes.

“Can I just make one request, (sniff) my Emperor?” she asks.
“What is it?”
“Can…for just tonight. I lie with you one last time? We…don’t even have to do anything…I just…if this is going to be it…I want to experience your body next to mine one last time.”

While you’re not exactly sure if this is going to make things harder or easier for her, you don’t have it in you to say no at this point.

“Of course Decena.”

With those words the pair of you lie together one last time.

The next day when you wake up Decena is already gone. Not gone from the area, just from your tent and back at her camp probably giving her soldiers orders to move out and head back to the nearest settlement for supplies.

“She’ll be fine.” You say to yourself though you don’t know if you’re exactly convinced of it. You suppose you’ll see in the future.

And while you know it probably was the “healthiest” thing to do, you’d also be lying to yourself if you aren’t going to miss that part of your relationship with her completely.

Who knew that between an army of rampaging beastmen, traitors in your ranks, and a visit from Semra, breaking up with a young woman would be the most emotionally draining?
>
Year 45

“…and even with your natural gifts and after your training is over in six years, your true service to the Empire will have only just begun. You will all be expected to perform to your fullest capabilities because as Eternals you are to be the very best that the Empire has to offer. And out there you will need to show that to our many enemies so that they never forget it. Duty, loyalty, valor and the will to survive, these are traits I expect to see in all of you for I am always watching. Remember this.” You say as your parting words to the new Eternals.

“YES EMPEROR! LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!” they all say in unison.

Brenda tells them to take a brief break while she follows you out of the training center.

“You’ve done a very good job with them Brenda.” You say.
“Thank you.” Brenda remarks.
“No, really. I know I sort of dropped this in your lap, but you’ve really taken the reins on this. I mean I couldn’t have done it better. From what I’ve seen they’re well on their way of becoming an effective fighting force AND you’ve managed to keep most of them alive in the process. Had it been me two thirds of that class probably would’ve been dead by now under my harsh training.”
“Ah, but those left alive would probably be more lethal than the ones I’ve trained.” Brenda points out.
“Perhaps, but they don’t need to be put through similar rigors that I faced, I just need them to be better than our enemies and loyal to the Empire. From what I’ve seen, I have no doubt that will be the case when they finally come of age.”
“Well despite my less unforgiving and more cooperative training methods, I can’t take all the credit for keeping most of them alive, their increased regeneration rates help in that regard. There was many times where I even thought a few of them had suffered fatal injuries only for them to get better given enough time. I believe whatever magic you infused during their tank time increased their regenerative abilities greater than our own.”
“Their reflexes are definitely better too. Even at this age, I could see that during the training demonstration. At the very least, they should be on par with Decena in that aspect when they grow up.”
“How is your one time pupil doing anyway?” Brenda asks.

You hesitate a moment, since you’ve sort of wondered that yourself. You no longer get the letters you once did from Decena which were more expressive. Now she only sends you official battle reports. Obviously she’s dealing with the termination of your intimate relationship in a professional manner and is keeping your current relationship that way.

That being the case, you give Brenda the safe answer because that’s genuinely all you know.

“Oh, she’s still mostly combating the Torites. While the Battle of the Beasts three years ago pretty much broke their strength in the area, they still aren’t out of it yet. I’d push forward to eradicate them, but with the need for consolidation of our winnings as well as last years purges, we’ve had to halt expansion for the time being. That’s not even counting that the next place I want to turn my attention to are the city states south of the Broki province. I’ve had Eyes infiltrate most of them and they’re infested with svelk.” You say.
“Really? Like entire cities of them? I thought they were nomadic.” Brenda says.
“Not anymore apparently, but it isn’t actually entire cities, more like key positions of importance in the cities, but even one svelk is an infestation as far as I’m concerned.” You answer.
“Surprised you’re not just sending airships to bombard them.”
“I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t get them all if I did that. Airships while powerful are slow enough that any svelk would probably get the hell out of there before they even arrived. Besides, I’m not really looking to level the cities. Bombing one perhaps as an example, to get the rest to fall in line, but not all of them.”
“Assassination?”
“Assassinations would probably work better since the svelk direct such actions against each other on a semi-regular basis, would take a bit of time though since if a lot of them start dying suddenly, they’re going to know something is up and they’ll relocate from the cities. Still, I suppose if we timed it right…hmmm, maybe I’ll talk to Warrick about setting something up; in any case we still need to track down Eldolith. We know she is making her home in the cities, but she is proving to be completely elusive as far as pinning her down. Probably using a system of secret tunnels. Might be time to send in the kobold commandos to start digging around.”

You and Brenda finish up your conversation with a couple of off topic subjects, but before you leave she says one last thing.

“I know you already thanked me for my work with the new Eternals, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. Thank you for giving me a new sense of purpose. I know these Eternals’ purpose is to loyally serve the Empire, but I feel like…I dunno…it’s silly.”
“No, what?”
“I sometimes feel like I’m their mother. I mean I’m not developing attachments to them or anything, but I feel like I’m doing all I can to make sure they survive in this world, because I really DO want most of them to survive. They represent the future of the Empire, and it will fall to them eventually to defend it.”

You nod at Brenda’s remark and touch her arm.

“And that, is why you were the best one for this job.” You say.
“I suppose another reason I’ve been feeling a little more positive lately is the fact that there are now more of us. Eternals, I mean. Our numbers were always so few, but now with these new ones, I don’t feel so alone I guess.”

Brenda’s feelings on this are probably related to the loss of her husband as usual, but you can’t fault her for it. If this is something that helps her through the pain, then more power to her. Really you never gave it too much thought that there would be more of “you” around because as far as you’re concerned, “you” were always unique to begin with. You weren’t even supposed to be an Eternal, but here you are.

The next bit surprises you though.

“Oh and one more thing, the next time you see Warrick tell him, I’m sorry for being angry at him.” Brenda says.

You smile.

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear it.” You answer and leave.

The next few days are actually spent working alongside Warrick to see if some sort of mass assassination attempt of the svelk would actually work. (You also relay Brenda’s message and just as you figured, he’s glad to hear it)

“Wait, so some of the inhabitants in these cities are actually former Felkan citizens?” you ask Warrick.
“Yes and it looks like some of them have been willingly working with the svelk out of revenge. In fact I now believe that the saboteur that tried to destroy the old Storm was from one of these cities. A couple of the other tight-lipped dissidents we’ve had killed during the last purge I believe were from there too originally.”

You shake your head.

“Maybe I should just have the cities bombed out of existence after all.” You say with a sigh.
“What I don’t understand, is why we’re bumping into them only now. I mean these cities are so far away and the refugee Felkans would’ve not only had to travel through gnoll AND Torite territory at the time, but also the Broki Kingdom. Surely it would’ve been easier to put down roots there.” Warrick says.
“Well, who is to say some of them didn’t? You’re only coming across the more radical ones obviously. There may have very well been Felkans that just wanted to get away from the Empire and live a normal life. Granted if those individuals had just accepted Empire rule in the first, they could’ve done so anyway with little change, but that’s a different topic.”

You continue.

“Also the Broki Kingdom was fairly backwards and having strife of its own, I get the impression that the Felkans just wanted to get as far a way as possible from such things. This journey probably wasn’t without its hazards. Combine that with losing your homeland and anything else that might’ve been personal, it’s not hard to see where their hate would’ve festered to the point where the svelk took advantage of it. The ex Felkans are the tool that the svelk are manipulating. Maybe they don’t have a nation proper anymore, but it’s obvious that the svelk are definitely building the skeleton of one out of these cities states and they see us as the biggest threat to their new endeavors.”
“It isn’t just the svelk and these militant ex-Felkans we’ve discovered though, we recently came across something new. Something I know you’re going to want to hear before proceeding with any plan.” Warrick says.

Warrick tell you that there is another community but far enough away to be fairly isolated from the rest of the city-states in the area, in fact the community makes its home in a lone mountain.

“So…what they live in a cave?”
“Well not exactly. The Eyes have not been there, but apparently there is a whole city built into the mountain. Basically similar to what the derro do underground I guess, but they aren’t derro. They’re gnomes.”
“Gnomes?”
“Yes, and from what information we have gathered, they’re also from the former Felkan Kingdom. The funny thing is, they don’t seem to have much contact with the rest of the city states. We know that the gnomes trade with the various cities from time to time and we know that there must be humans living in this mountain since those are the ones that do the trading. The place is called New Dessle.”
“Hrm. Name of the former Felkan capital. So do you think they’re working with the svelk in this conspiracy?” you ask.
“We don’t know. Like I said, all we know is that they trade sometimes, it seems to be mostly minerals and it’s fairly infrequent. If they are in league, they’re keeping it fairly secret from anyone.”

Gnomes. That puts a slightly different spin on everything. Between the svelk and the gnomes, you’ve got two of the most manipulative and smartest races working together to possibly destroy you.

Regardless of whether or not the gnomes are actually involved, it still would be best to gather more information, perhaps even more so.

“Until we’ve got more information, we’re going to assume the gnomes are just the occasional trading partners. While MAYBE they’re indirectly helping by trading material to these svelk influenced cities, I’d rather we deal with the immediate suspects first. Besides attacking a damn mountain isn’t exactly in the budget right now.” You say.

So you proceed with your plan. You keep the Eyes spying and gathering information and keep your own internal security tight. You also start having kobolds digging tunnels under the cities.

A few weeks pass and you receive a message. A human rider dropped off a box in a village in the Broki province. Before riding off he stated to the nearby peasants that they needed to deliver that to their Emperor. The box was obviously leaking blood and when one of the braver soldiers opened it, there were several eyes inside. A bloody note attached stated a warning from “Domina” Eldolith that all spies from the Empire will be killed and any further unwanted aggression on the “Confederacy of Free Cities” would be an act of war.

Never mind the fact that Eldolith started this by trying to assassinate you in the first place.

“She can’t possibly be serious in taking us on. She may have discovered some of our spies, but we already know full well what her strength is and even with our reduced manpower right now we could take on the entire force of this so called Confederacy of Free Cities.” Warrick remarks.
“Oh I’m sure she know that. She’s backed into a corner and is doing typical svelk grand standing hoping it will work. To be quite honest I figured she’d eventually discover some of our spies eventually. The svelk aren’t stupid, but they served their purpose in information gathering and they probably distracted the svelk from possibly discovering our kobolds running around underground. You can start pulling out the rest of your Eyes, we’ll be attacking the cities soon. With any luck we won’t let a single svelk escape and we can wipe out the remainder of the ex-Felkans as well.” You say.

Kivan is nearby probably waiting to get your attention for some domestic issue. Normally he just waits patiently, but this time he speaks.

“Forgive my presumption my Emperor as I know war is your area of expertise, but what about the gnomes?” he asks.
“What about them? Our spies still have not uncovered anything that would suggest that they’re helping. Even the material that they’re trading couldn’t be considered dangerous for the most part.” Warrick answers.
“The gnomes will be dealt with later, Kivan. No need to worry.” You say.

Kivan puts aside his scrolls and addresses you directly.

“I have no doubt that will be the case my Emperor, however it is my concern that the Empire not take any more potential unnecessary losses. The Felkan War took a heavy toll on the Empire. A toll that was not necessary had our former Emperor acted more quickly on the matter. The same could be said for the Shadow uprising.”
“Watch your tone! YOUR current Emperor AND I both served to quell those incidents! Where were you? Counting beans? I suggest you stick to what you know advisor!” Warrick says raising his voice.
“You are correct Sightmaster, I AM an advisor. And as I said it is true, I am more of an expert in the mundane domestic affairs that keep the Empire running, I also have to deal with the effects these wars have on such things. If you attack now there will be hardship on the people, BUT our people are used to such things. What is a little more troubling is when unexpected problems pop up or long drawn out affairs.”
“So what are you exactly saying Kivan?” you ask.
“I’m saying that the gnomes can’t be trusted to live. When they rebelled against the Empire and ran away they managed to manipulate a collection of simple villages and towns and turn it into the Felkan Kingdom. Not only that, but they managed to build it up to the point where it actually surpassed the Empire technology wise and all of this was done in a fairly short period of time.”

You continue to listen while Kivan expresses his point of view on this matter.

“Perhaps the gnomes aren’t working with the svelk, but that’s not to say they aren’t still working against us. I can’t believe that they wouldn’t harbor some sort of revenge. I mean the ex-Felkans obviously do and all they lost were their homeland. The gnomes were systematically exterminated. I just believe that leaving the gnomes for later is going to give them more time to build up their defenses and just make it harder for the Empire to wipe them out in the future. Why take the chance?”

Kivan does actually make a pragmatic point. While taking the city-states isn’t going to be too much of a problem, it’s still going to take time and manpower. Your main concern with them is making sure you get all the svelk (especially Eldolith) inside. Consolidating, settling, and rooting out problem people will all take time as well. And while you’re doing all that, the gnomes could be sitting in their mountain building some weapon (or weapons) of imaginable power.

They already built an entire city in a mountain, who knows what the escaped gnomes have been working on since their exodus?
> You attack the mountain
The gnomes do need to be dealt with, the sooner the better. You agree with Kivan.

“Well Kivan, if this turns out successfully you may get promoted to be a war advisor.” You say.
“I’d certainly be honored, but I believe my talents are still better served on the domestic issues. This was just an extension of those concerns.” He says.
“Okay, so how do you want to handle this? Because if we are going to attack that mountain, we’re going to have to still deal with those city states.” Warrick asks you.
“Those are still going to be no problem, we’re going to overrun those and then move on to New Dessle. We probably won’t need the airships at all for the city-states; we’ll just handle it conventionally. And while we’re taking care of those, I’ll send the airships to attack New Dessle. Attacking a mountain is going to be no easy feat, but with the airships we could at least blow enough holes in it to cause not only external damage but more importantly internal structural damage that could hopefully cause portions of it to come crashing down on their heads. Soften them up at least until our armies to arrive.”

Warrick goes on to ask which offensive you’re going to be personally overseeing and if you want Decena’s army called in to help. You tell Warrick that Decena still need to concentrate on mopping up Torite resistance lest they somehow regroup. And as you said, you don’t anticipate many problems from the city-states anyway.

As for which offensive you’re going to oversee, you’re not sure. Before this gnome business came up you were going to just oversee the fall of the city-states, but with the gnomes now being attacked, you wonder if you shouldn’t be there to oversee that instead.

You then remember Warrick wanting to be involved in some of the frontline stuff recently.

“Well Warrick how would you like to over see the destruction of the city states? You’ve always said you wanted more work outside that office and get back in the middle of things, well here’s a big thing to get right in the middle of Warrick.” ”

Warrick is surprised and honored by your decision.

“I…I thank you my Emperor and it will be my honor to command such a task. Does this mean you’ll be travelling to New Dessel?”
“Yes, I mean as much as I’d like to personally see the destruction of the svelk and ex-Felkans I believe the gnomes are a bigger threat and as such my attendance in our first attack against them is in order. I do request however that if at all possible, bring that bitch Eldolith to me in chains if possible. If not, dead is just as good.”
“I think that can certainly be arranged, my Emperor.”

Invasion of the Confederacy of the Free Cities. (Which you didn’t even know that’s what this little group of city-states was even called until Eldolith’s message) is prepared. You know Warrick has the skill to lead an army and will not falter at this task; you just hope that he will indeed be able to capture Eldolith alive.

As for you, this will be your first time boarding one of these airships. Since you had that purge of traitors (and potential traitors) you’re not so apprehensive about boarding one of them now.

The Storm II is a grand ship and equipped with the best and latest weapons. The other five ships coming with you are equipped in a similar manner. You figure while the gnomes will certainly have cannons of their own, you’ll at least be able to protect the Storm II with your magic somewhat.

Eventually you are on your way and the first thing you fly over is your army on the march toward the Confederacy’s territory. The next thing you fly over is the Confederacy’s territory itself where you see small groups of troops desperately preparing for the invasion.

When you fly overhead you can only imagine the excessive fear they must feel followed by the confusion when you by pass them entirely. The fact that you didn’t attack might even worry them more, since now they’ll wonder if you’ll be coming back.

Your air fleet continues to fly towards New Dessel which looms in the distance. Part of you wonders just how much of a fight the gnomes will put up and how much damage you’ll actually be able to do. You have it set up though for the airships to signal each other on where to fire so coordination will not be a problem.

When you arrive before the mountain, all the airships stop and prepare for your next command. To be quite honest, while the mountain is big enough that peak still looms above your fleet’s current height the mountain is far from being something as impressive as the ones you’ve seen in Rask. Concentrated fire in a few locations should probably have the desired effect you want, and if all goes well, you might get closer to drop a few bombs.

“Well we didn’t come here to sight see this marvel of nature, let’s get on with it blowing it up.” You remark and tell your crew to start signaling the other ships.

Within moments, all the airships are concentrating their fire on particular place on the mountain. Take a while, but you definitely start causing damage as boulders, dirt, rocks and debris all begin to rumble and fall causing the start of a rockslide in one area of the mountain.

You manage to do this on two more sections of the mountain before you actually start encountering any kind of resistance. Several “windows” in the mountain open up revealing cannons, which fire upon your ships. It really isn’t too bad though.

“Start telling the other ships to fire at the cannons. Even if their mountain city seems to be holding up from the inside, we can still deprive them of their defenses.” You command.

A few minutes after you give this command you sense a change in the air. Almost like that of lightning storm. You even begin to feel a little static…

Suddenly a flash of light eminates from the top of the peak and huge bolt of lightning hits one of your airships to the left causing it to explode spectacularly.

It didn’t get hit and slowly make a fiery descent towards the ground, it actually exploded.

“SHIT!” you suddenly shout, probably along with several of your crew. You then turn your attention to the shining piece of metal on top of the mountain peak where the lightning blast came from.

“EVERYONE TURN AROUND! RETREAT!” you shout and tell your crew to signal the remaining airships to do likewise.

You’re a sitting duck and you know it right now. You can’t put up a barrier large enough to cover the entire airship, so as your airship begins to turn you attempt to directly aim your own magic bolts in the direction of the gnome’s apparent “lightning rod” weapon.

Your magic hits around and even directly on target, but it just isn’t enough to destroy it. You then have that feeling of electricity in the air again. Your hair begins to stand up and this time thanks to your attempt to destroy the rod, the gnomes direct their next blast towards the Storm II.

You see a bright flash and feel a brief sizzle throughout your entire body and then nothing at all.

And you never do get the pleasure of executing Eldolith yourself when Warrick captures her alive.


Year 45

“…and even with your natural gifts and after your training is over in six years, your true service to the Empire will have only just begun. You will all be expected to perform to your fullest capabilities because as Eternals you are to be the very best that the Empire has to offer. And out there you will need to show that to our many enemies so that they never forget it. Duty, loyalty, valor and the will to survive, these are traits I expect to see in all of you for I am always watching. Remember this.” You say as your parting words to the new Eternals.

“YES EMPEROR! LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!” they all say in unison.

Brenda tells them to take a brief break while she follows you out of the training center.

“You’ve done a very good job with them Brenda.” You say.
“Thank you.” Brenda remarks.
“No, really. I know I sort of dropped this in your lap, but you’ve really taken the reins on this. I mean I couldn’t have done it better. From what I’ve seen they’re well on their way of becoming an effective fighting force AND you’ve managed to keep most of them alive in the process. Had it been me two thirds of that class probably would’ve been dead by now under my harsh training.”
“Ah, but those left alive would probably be more lethal than the ones I’ve trained.” Brenda points out.
“Perhaps, but they don’t need to be put through similar rigors that I faced, I just need them to be better than our enemies and loyal to the Empire. From what I’ve seen, I have no doubt that will be the case when they finally come of age.”
“Well despite my less unforgiving and more cooperative training methods, I can’t take all the credit for keeping most of them alive, their increased regeneration rates help in that regard. There was many times where I even thought a few of them had suffered fatal injuries only for them to get better given enough time. I believe whatever magic you infused during their tank time increased their regenerative abilities greater than our own.”
“Their reflexes are definitely better too. Even at this age, I could see that during the training demonstration. At the very least, they should be on par with Decena in that aspect when they grow up.”
“How is your one time pupil doing anyway?” Brenda asks.

You hesitate a moment, since you’ve sort of wondered that yourself. You no longer get the letters you once did from Decena which were more expressive. Now she only sends you official battle reports. Obviously she’s dealing with the termination of your intimate relationship in a professional manner and is keeping your current relationship that way.

That being the case, you give Brenda the safe answer because that’s genuinely all you know.

“Oh, she’s still mostly combating the Torites. While the Battle of the Beasts three years ago pretty much broke their strength in the area, they still aren’t out of it yet. I’d push forward to eradicate them, but with the need for consolidation of our winnings as well as last years purges, we’ve had to halt expansion for the time being. That’s not even counting that the next place I want to turn my attention to are the city states south of the Broki province. I’ve had Eyes infiltrate most of them and they’re infested with svelk.” You say.
“Really? Like entire cities of them? I thought they were nomadic.” Brenda says.
“Not anymore apparently, but it isn’t actually entire cities, more like key positions of importance in the cities, but even one svelk is an infestation as far as I’m concerned.” You answer.
“Surprised you’re not just sending airships to bombard them.”
“I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t get them all if I did that. Airships while powerful are slow enough that any svelk would probably get the hell out of there before they even arrived. Besides, I’m not really looking to level the cities. Bombing one perhaps as an example, to get the rest to fall in line, but not all of them.”
“Assassination?”
“Assassinations would probably work better since the svelk direct such actions against each other on a semi-regular basis, would take a bit of time though since if a lot of them start dying suddenly, they’re going to know something is up and they’ll relocate from the cities. Still, I suppose if we timed it right…hmmm, maybe I’ll talk to Warrick about setting something up; in any case we still need to track down Eldolith. We know she is making her home in the cities, but she is proving to be completely elusive as far as pinning her down. Probably using a system of secret tunnels. Might be time to send in the kobold commandos to start digging around.”

You and Brenda finish up your conversation with a couple of off topic subjects, but before you leave she says one last thing.

“I know you already thanked me for my work with the new Eternals, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. Thank you for giving me a new sense of purpose. I know these Eternals’ purpose is to loyally serve the Empire, but I feel like…I dunno…it’s silly.”
“No, what?”
“I sometimes feel like I’m their mother. I mean I’m not developing attachments to them or anything, but I feel like I’m doing all I can to make sure they survive in this world, because I really DO want most of them to survive. They represent the future of the Empire, and it will fall to them eventually to defend it.”

You nod at Brenda’s remark and touch her arm.

“And that, is why you were the best one for this job.” You say.
“I suppose another reason I’ve been feeling a little more positive lately is the fact that there are now more of us. Eternals, I mean. Our numbers were always so few, but now with these new ones, I don’t feel so alone I guess.”

Brenda’s feelings on this are probably related to the loss of her husband as usual, but you can’t fault her for it. If this is something that helps her through the pain, then more power to her. Really you never gave it too much thought that there would be more of “you” around because as far as you’re concerned, “you” were always unique to begin with. You weren’t even supposed to be an Eternal, but here you are.

The next bit surprises you though.

“Oh and one more thing, the next time you see Warrick tell him, I’m sorry for being angry at him.” Brenda says.

You smile.

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear it.” You answer and leave.

The next few days are actually spent working alongside Warrick to see if some sort of mass assassination attempt of the svelk would actually work. (You also relay Brenda’s message and just as you figured, he’s glad to hear it)

“Wait, so some of the inhabitants in these cities are actually former Felkan citizens?” you ask Warrick.
“Yes and it looks like some of them have been willingly working with the svelk out of revenge. In fact I now believe that the saboteur that tried to destroy the old Storm was from one of these cities. A couple of the other tight-lipped dissidents we’ve had killed during the last purge I believe were from there too originally.”

You shake your head.

“Maybe I should just have the cities bombed out of existence after all.” You say with a sigh.
“What I don’t understand, is why we’re bumping into them only now. I mean these cities are so far away and the refugee Felkans would’ve not only had to travel through gnoll AND Torite territory at the time, but also the Broki Kingdom. Surely it would’ve been easier to put down roots there.” Warrick says.
“Well, who is to say some of them didn’t? You’re only coming across the more radical ones obviously. There may have very well been Felkans that just wanted to get away from the Empire and live a normal life. Granted if those individuals had just accepted Empire rule in the first, they could’ve done so anyway with little change, but that’s a different topic.”

You continue.

“Also the Broki Kingdom was fairly backwards and having strife of its own, I get the impression that the Felkans just wanted to get as far a way as possible from such things. This journey probably wasn’t without its hazards. Combine that with losing your homeland and anything else that might’ve been personal, it’s not hard to see where their hate would’ve festered to the point where the svelk took advantage of it. The ex Felkans are the tool that the svelk are manipulating. Maybe they don’t have a nation proper anymore, but it’s obvious that the svelk are definitely building the skeleton of one out of these cities states and they see us as the biggest threat to their new endeavors.”
“It isn’t just the svelk and these militant ex-Felkans we’ve discovered though, we recently came across something new. Something I know you’re going to want to hear before proceeding with any plan.” Warrick says.

Warrick tell you that there is another community but far enough away to be fairly isolated from the rest of the city-states in the area, in fact the community makes its home in a lone mountain.

“So…what they live in a cave?”
“Well not exactly. The Eyes have not been there, but apparently there is a whole city built into the mountain. Basically similar to what the derro do underground I guess, but they aren’t derro. They’re gnomes.”
“Gnomes?”
“Yes, and from what information we have gathered, they’re also from the former Felkan Kingdom. The funny thing is, they don’t seem to have much contact with the rest of the city states. We know that the gnomes trade with the various cities from time to time and we know that there must be humans living in this mountain since those are the ones that do the trading. The place is called New Dessle.”
“Hrm. Name of the former Felkan capital. So do you think they’re working with the svelk in this conspiracy?” you ask.
“We don’t know. Like I said, all we know is that they trade sometimes, it seems to be mostly minerals and it’s fairly infrequent. If they are in league, they’re keeping it fairly secret from anyone.”

Gnomes. That puts a slightly different spin on everything. Between the svelk and the gnomes, you’ve got two of the most manipulative and smartest races working together to possibly destroy you.

Regardless of whether or not the gnomes are actually involved, it still would be best to gather more information, perhaps even more so.

“Until we’ve got more information, we’re going to assume the gnomes are just the occasional trading partners. While MAYBE they’re indirectly helping by trading material to these svelk influenced cities, I’d rather we deal with the immediate suspects first. Besides attacking a damn mountain isn’t exactly in the budget right now.” You say.

So you proceed with your plan. You keep the Eyes spying and gathering information and keep your own internal security tight. You also start having kobolds digging tunnels under the cities.

A few weeks pass and you receive a message. A human rider dropped off a box in a village in the Broki province. Before riding off he stated to the nearby peasants that they needed to deliver that to their Emperor. The box was obviously leaking blood and when one of the braver soldiers opened it, there were several eyes inside. A bloody note attached stated a warning from “Domina” Eldolith that all spies from the Empire will be killed and any further unwanted aggression on the “Confederacy of Free Cities” would be an act of war.

Never mind the fact that Eldolith started this by trying to assassinate you in the first place.

“She can’t possibly be serious in taking us on. She may have discovered some of our spies, but we already know full well what her strength is and even with our reduced manpower right now we could take on the entire force of this so called Confederacy of Free Cities.” Warrick remarks.
“Oh I’m sure she know that. She’s backed into a corner and is doing typical svelk grand standing hoping it will work. To be quite honest I figured she’d eventually discover some of our spies eventually. The svelk aren’t stupid, but they served their purpose in information gathering and they probably distracted the svelk from possibly discovering our kobolds running around underground. You can start pulling out the rest of your Eyes, we’ll be attacking the cities soon. With any luck we won’t let a single svelk escape and we can wipe out the remainder of the ex-Felkans as well.” You say.

Kivan is nearby probably waiting to get your attention for some domestic issue. Normally he just waits patiently, but this time he speaks.

“Forgive my presumption my Emperor as I know war is your area of expertise, but what about the gnomes?” he asks.
“What about them? Our spies still have not uncovered anything that would suggest that they’re helping. Even the material that they’re trading couldn’t be considered dangerous for the most part.” Warrick answers.
“The gnomes will be dealt with later, Kivan. No need to worry.” You say.

Kivan puts aside his scrolls and addresses you directly.

“I have no doubt that will be the case my Emperor, however it is my concern that the Empire not take any more potential unnecessary losses. The Felkan War took a heavy toll on the Empire. A toll that was not necessary had our former Emperor acted more quickly on the matter. The same could be said for the Shadow uprising.”
“Watch your tone! YOUR current Emperor AND I both served to quell those incidents! Where were you? Counting beans? I suggest you stick to what you know advisor!” Warrick says raising his voice.
“You are correct Sightmaster, I AM an advisor. And as I said it is true, I am more of an expert in the mundane domestic affairs that keep the Empire running, I also have to deal with the effects these wars have on such things. If you attack now there will be hardship on the people, BUT our people are used to such things. What is a little more troubling is when unexpected problems pop up or long drawn out affairs.”
“So what are you exactly saying Kivan?” you ask.
“I’m saying that the gnomes can’t be trusted to live. When they rebelled against the Empire and ran away they managed to manipulate a collection of simple villages and towns and turn it into the Felkan Kingdom. Not only that, but they managed to build it up to the point where it actually surpassed the Empire technology wise and all of this was done in a fairly short period of time.”

You continue to listen while Kivan expresses his point of view on this matter.

“Perhaps the gnomes aren’t working with the svelk, but that’s not to say they aren’t still working against us. I can’t believe that they wouldn’t harbor some sort of revenge. I mean the ex-Felkans obviously do and all they lost were their homeland. The gnomes were systematically exterminated. I just believe that leaving the gnomes for later is going to give them more time to build up their defenses and just make it harder for the Empire to wipe them out in the future. Why take the chance?”

Kivan does actually make a pragmatic point. While taking the city-states isn’t going to be too much of a problem, it’s still going to take time and manpower. Your main concern with them is making sure you get all the svelk (especially Eldolith) inside. Consolidating, settling, and rooting out problem people will all take time as well. And while you’re doing all that, the gnomes could be sitting in their mountain building some weapon (or weapons) of imaginable power.

They already built an entire city in a mountain, who knows what the escaped gnomes have been working on since their exodus?
> You just focus on the city-states
Kivan may mean well, but you’ve got more experience in this matter. In fact you’re going to just find out what’s going on right now.

“Warrick, we know where New Dessle is correct?” you ask.
“Yes, it’s the only large mountain south of the city states. I imagine the entrance is probably hidden, but I’m sure the kobolds could tunnel through with enough time.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’m sure the gnomes have several lookout points and will open up when they see me. I’m going to New Dessle.”

At this point Kivan and Warrick are apprehensive about that idea.

“Emperor, you can’t seriously mean going there by yourself!” Kivan exclaims.
“I agree, I mean if this is some sort of diplomatic mission you should at least take a retinue with you and even then I’d be against such a thing.” Warrick adds.
“I never said I was going alone, you’re coming with me, Warrick. I figure the two of us should be more than adequate to take on a mountain of gnomes if need be.”

This remark is met with silence.

“What? You’ve always said you wanted more work outside that office and get back in the middle of things, well here’s a big thing to get right in the middle of Warrick.” You say which causes Warrick to bow his head and put his fist to his chest.
“Apologies my Emperor. This offer was just very sudden and I was taken by surprise. Of course I shall accompany you and whatever we face shall be together. It will be an honor as always.”
“It is your choice my Emperor, but I still cannot encourage this idea.” Kivan remarks.
“Well your concern for my well being is noted. Come on Warrick we need to get underway as soon as possible.” You say.

While you and Warrick prepare for your journey you also take the opportunity to start setting the stage for the attack on the Confederacy of the Free Cities. (Which you didn’t even know that’s what this little group of city-states was even called until Eldolith’s message).

The only potential danger of the journey is the fact you’re going to have to ride through the Confederacy “territory” and while you’re fairly certain you’d be able to handle whatever they send at you, you don’t want to give them anymore reason to run off before you’re ready to attack, because you know that’s going to be the first thing the svelk do. They did with the Broki Kingdom after all.

You and Warrick have a more or less uneventful journey however since you stick to the off beaten track and away from the cities patrol areas. The pair of you mostly pass the time speaking about matters of the Empire and this situation with the svelk and what to possibly expect with the gnomes. You do get the idea that Warrick is pretty happy about going on this trip.

Eventually you get closer to the mountain, which no longer looms in the distance, but instead stands towering above you. It’s not the size of the ones in Rask, but it’s big enough that if the gnomes have built a city inside the thing, it would have to be quite large indeed.

“Well, we’re here, any idea how to get inside?” Warrick asks.
“I figure I’d start shouting at the gnomes until they let me in.” you say.
“And if they don’t?”
“I guess I’ll start smashing holes into the side of the mountain with magic and let myself in.”

“And maybe you better not, Eternal Emperor. Powerful you may be, I guarantee that even you would not take this mountain all by yourself, but I get the impression you’re not here for that.” A voice says coming from above you.

You look up and see that several holes in the mountain have opened up with the barrels of rifles all pointing at you. And that’s just the ones you’re seeing, you imagine they probably got more.

“Right you are gnome. I’m here to discuss the possible future of our relationship. So how about you open this mountain up and let us talk.” You shout.
“I have a better idea, how about you get the hell out of here before we blow your fucking head off!” a different voice shouts.
“We should just do it now! Why didn’t you let me shoot him as he approached!?” another voice says.
“Glenmore! Valen! Shut the hell up! Apologies Emperor, but as you might expect we’re not exactly trusting of the Empire given our history with it. In fact we’re not very trusting of anyone nowadays.”
“Well I can certainly understand that.” You remark.
“I thought you might. Hold on let me come to you.” The voice says which is followed by a lot of mumbling and whispering.

“This isn’t exactly a good position we’re in.” Warrick says.
“Nonsense, we already got one to come out and talk. Probably a leader. We’re already making progress.” You say.

You wait for about ten minutes still noticing that the rifles are still fixed on you.

“Okay here I am, now we can talk.” A voice says and you turn around to see a gnome with a full face of gray facial hair. Typical of older examples of his race. He is dressed in fine (if dirty) clothing.

“Hmmm, it would appear you must also have a system of tunnels and secret doors in the ground surrounding this mountain too.” You say.
“Indeed. Hate living like a derro at times, but with all the kobolds running around north lately…well best to be safe right?”
“Looks like you’ve thought of everything…” you say not knowing the gnome’s name.
“Oh, the name’s Klemto. Klemto Zookwinkle. But let’s get to it, I assume you’re here to see if we’re willing to surrender without a fight?”
“Not exactly, though that is a good subject to discuss later. What I was really here to ask is if you were in league with the svelk.”
“Oh goodness no! We trade with them at times, but only rarely and never anything they could use as a weapon! I believe we’d all sooner trust the Empire before we’d trust the dark elves. At least the Empire is up front about wanting to exterminate us.”

You stop Klemto right there.

“Okay, first of all there is no plan to exterminate the gnomes.”
“Could’ve fooled me given the information we’ve heard. Waging a genocidal war on the Torites. Even bombing other human nations into submission. Now you’re planning on annihilating the svelk, though I can’t say they’re the most sympathetic of beings. I know who you are Eternal. You were a general in the Felkan War. The old emperor’s right hand. In fact you even led captured gnomes and them to that infamous death camp called Gnome’s Home.”
“I did that once.”
“Oh, he did it once! And that makes everything better? Was that a bad attempt at an apology?”
“Of course not since I have nothing to apologize for. I was merely following orders. You want to know what I really think of your people? Nothing. You’re clever and you invent useful things. That’s it. I think your manipulation of the Felkans to protect yourselves was a useful survival strategy and one to be admired in some ways. Just like your mountain city here. I don’t have some burning great hatred for any of your kind. Personally I thought it was a waste of resources to ship you all off to Gnome’s Home just to go through the unnecessary process of banishing your souls to oblivion. But that’s what the Emperor wanted so that’s what happened.”

Klemto lights up some sort of pipe as you talk and takes a puff before speaking.

“So just following orders eh? Sounds about right. From what we know of you, you were and apparently still are an emotionless individual. That’s probably what makes you scarier than your former Emperor. At least he had an emotion. An irrational one, but it was something.”
“Oh he had a reason. And it wasn’t just the gnomes rebelling. Your last name, Zookwinkle isn’t unknown to me gnome.” You say.

You stare at Klemto and he stares back. He instinctively knows that you know something concerning a female member of his family being involved with the Emperor in some way. Warrick just stands by looking a bit confused, but mostly more concerned about the guns overhead.

“Heh, well grandma always did do what she thought was best for survival.” Klemto remarks.
“Well I suggest you follow in her footsteps then and do the same.”
“Don’t think you’re my type.” Klemto jokes nervously.
“Amusing, but you know what I mean.” You say seriously.

Klemto wipes his forehead and begins puffing away again.

“Look, we just want to be left alone. I mean do you really need us under your thumb too even with the countless slaves and subjects you already have?”
“Well since you bring it up, yes. If you’re under my rule, I can keep a closer eye on you. Not to mention your skills would be of great use to the Empire once again.” You answer.
“We were once under the old emperor’s rule too. You see how well that worked out.” Klemto remarks.
“He also was blinded by love at the time and as you pointed out, I am the emotionless one. His hatred of your people also caused him to make many mistakes. If you betray me in some way, rest assured I won’t bother going through some elaborate process of torturing you and destroying your souls. I’ll just have you run down and slaughtered wherever you may run to. Where you go in the afterlife is your own affair, but here in the land of the living, that’s my domain.” You say with a cold tone.

Klemto is now contemplating the consequences of what may happen if he and his people try to resist when you eventually do come to stake claim on New Dessel. He’s pondering if they can kill you now before it even comes to that. It’s obviously that he doesn’t think they can or else they would’ve done it long before now. Klemto and the gnomes aren’t stupid, they know that the stories of what abilities you really possess are probably exaggerated, however that old fear that still lingers from their treatment by Casimir mixed with what they DO know what you’re capable of is still enough to stay their hand.

And it is this fear that is making this all work in your favor. Just like you knew it would. Had the roles been reversed, you wouldn’t have hesitated. You would’ve killed yourself with a volley of rifle blasts and more as soon as you were in range.

After pacing a bit, Klemto finally speaks again.

“I’m going to have to talk this over with the rest of the council and while that’s more of a formality, most of them aren’t going to be happy... (Sigh) Okay, here it goes. We will capitulate to Empire rule and we’ll pay tribute. But we must remain in this mountain. Whatever it is that you need from us to serve the Empire, it will have to be here or at least within the area. Now if some individual wants to leave and help elsewhere in the Empire, then that’s his decision. But at no point will our people be forced to leave if they don’t want to. Also no other Empire citizens may enter this mountain either unless we allow it. This includes the army.” Klemto says.
“Hah! You must be joking.” You interrupt.
“I’m serious. Now I know you’ll need to keep an eye on us as you say, well your Eyes will be allowed in. As many as you want, but I assure you that it won’t be necessary since there will not be any attempts at betrayal.”

While it would appear that Klemto is willing to capitulate, there are a lot of stipulations he’s making. Stipulations that imply he thinks he’s in the position to make.
> You walk away now
Without another word you cast a protective barrier around you and Warrick, which startles Klemto and definitely causes shouting from the other gnomes until Klemto waves them down.

“Don’t worry gnome. My intention is not to attack you now as you are indeed correct that it would be stupid to attack a mountain all by myself. However your stipulations are presumptuous and foolish. I made this trip for YOUR benefit, not mine and you have squandered it with unreasonable demands.”

Klemto stands silent.

“I shall return to finish off the Confederacy of the Free Cities and then at some point we’ll pick this up again except I will not be so reasonable next time. Let us leave Warrick.”

As Warrick and you leave, Warrick asks you a question.

“I thought they’d be shooting at us by now.”
“They know it’s futile. Besides, even if they did, my barrier is more than enough to deflect bullets. Used it quite a bit during the Felkan War as you…”

Before you can finish your sentence suddenly a huge blast of lightning from above hits the ground right near you. You’re protected of course by the barrier, but it’s so unexpected and startling that it actually causes you and Warrick to lose balance and unfortunately you to lose your concentration for a brief moment and your barrier goes down.

“NOW!” you hear Klemto shout, while you’re still clearing the cobwebs. Several gnomes armed with repeating rifles pop up out of the ground and fire upon you. Warrick is struck in the head and killed instantly.

You are hit in the body enough times to feel the pain of each bit of hot lead going in ripping up your insides and coming out the other end. Then much like your now dead brother in arms, you are hit in the head and killed leaving nothing behind but a bloody bullet ridden body with brains leaking out uselessly into the soil.