The orc assumes you’re going to go for his head, but unless you’re trying to kill them, merely smashing an orc in the face with anything less than an iron maul is likely to just piss them off, so while he guards up, you strike at his legs.

Naturally he’s still armored down there, but he’s taken a bit off guard when you duck down start chopping your sword at his shin protectors. Since your own face is now closer to his feet the orc attempts to kick you in the face and that’s what you were hoping for. You drop your sword and catch his foot so he’s at your complete mercy. The orc is already so off balance that you barely even need to shove him so he crashes to the floor.

As he tries to get up, now you smash a heavy-duty wooden chair over his head. It doesn’t break the first time, but when you do it again three more times the legs you were holding loosen enough that the rest of the chair flies from your grasp. While his helmet is protecting him somewhat, the repeated impact of the chair to his head is still enough to keep him dazed. In fact he ends up spitting out a couple of teeth. Despite this, he still seems as if he’s going to continue to oppose you, but you see him briefly look at Gruz who seems to give him a certain look back. The orc then puts up a hand as if to say he yields. You accept his capitulation.

Victorious, you’ve made it quite clear you are not to be questioned. The rest of the orcs stop their jeering at you and a few go over to help their companion. Gruz walks over to you and his expression is now one of being impressed.

“Well I guess you definitely walk the walk. You recognized that by beating the head in of one of the bigger males that you’d earn more respect than beating the female that was openly mocking you. You also weren’t trying to kill him, which shows that you were just trying to establish dominance rather than punishment. I’m guessing the Emperor must’ve told you about orc culture?”
“Not really, I just sort of guessed.”
“Ha ha ha ha! Well I suppose we usually aren’t that hard to figure out. Though you might have more problems on your hands now. Looks like you impressed the lady over there.”

You look over where Gruz is pointing and it’s the same female orc that was mocking you earlier. Again its difficult for you to tell exactly, but from Gruz’s suggestion and the way the orc is blinking (fluttering?) her eyes you can only make one conclusion.

“She’s…she’s not flirting with me is she?” you ask in hesitation.
“She was flirting with you the moment you came in the door!” Gruz laughs.

Not wishing to think about that any further, you call everyone to attention and explain how things are going to be done in an organized manner and how you don’t want to leave anything to chance when it comes to this mission given that it is of vital importance to the Empire. They seem to understand, though Gruz sometimes reinforces the point to them in a more direct manner. You ask Gruz when the svelk are due to arrive back with their report and he says they should be back within a day or two.

Seeing as you haven’t much else to do, you just wait for the svelk and your orders to proceed with your mission for the next couple days. You don’t interact too much with the orcs though you do converse with Gruz about minor things concerning the mission as well as your increasing annoyance that the svelk still haven’t reported in yet.

“We’re paying these fools good money to do a job, is it too much for them to act like professionals?” you exclaim.
“With the svelk? It’s too much to ask them to do anything. Though it is rather odd they haven’t reported yet. Even they tend to obey the rule of money unless someone else has offered them more.”
“Wait, what are you saying? You think the svelk are in league with the shadows and were bribed?”
“Probably not. The shadows aren’t known for hording wealth and anything valuable they might own is probably sacred to their god or something. I’d be more inclined to believe they got themselves discovered and perhaps even ambushed. For all we know they’re all dead and we’ve just tipped our hand.”
“Well, we’ll continue to wait for the official word, besides the svelk have been the ones doing the scouting correct? We can’t very well attack anything if we don’t have a target.”

Gruz nods at your decision and goes back to what he was doing. Another couple days pass and at last the svelk do show up.

“Ugh. Tyren, did we really have to come back to this place? The stench of these green beasts is offensive.” One of them says as he enters.
“I know, but apparently the person we’re supposed to report our findings to should be here now…hey any of you foul smelling gentlemen seen our fearless leader yet?” this Tyren shouts. You guess he’s the svelk captain.

As irritated as the orcs are by the svelk’s words, you’re more irritated by them for everything else.

“I’m in charge of this operation, and where the hell have you been, you were supposed to report in days ago!” You exclaim.

Tyren looks at you as if he’s unimpressed by you barking orders at him and continues to remain dismissive.

“So we’re here now, is it time to attack or something?” he replies.
“No, but as I said, you should’ve reported in days ago.”
“So what’s the big deal? Maybe you’re not aware of this, but scouting this swamp isn’t exactly the quickest thing to do.”
“I don’t want to hear your lame excuses! You could’ve easily sent back a single messenger to give me an update!”
“Couldn’t do that, I needed all my men in case we ran into trouble. Dangerous business out there, I’m sure you know.”

The svelk has an answer for everything and him giving an arrogant smirk the whole time isn’t helping matters. It reminds you of HER and you begin to get angrier. Captain Gruz starts to notice and even interjects trying to smooth things over.

“Tyren I know it’s difficult, but you might want to rein in the whole smug svelk act that your people are so proud of. This man isn’t just your superior, he’s a direct rep from the Emperor himself.”
“Maybe he’s YOUR superior orc, but he’s not mine. Nobody fucking tells me how to do my fucking job. And I have a very hard time believing that this young whelp is a representation of anything other than a sign of how desperate the Empire is getting for officers!”

Something within you snaps and all you can see is a svelk you want to kill for all the shit Mistress put you through.

“Fucking bitch!” you utter and unleash a small ball of flame into the face of Tyren. He screams in agony as the flesh on his face burns. The rest of the svelk are taken by surprise by this move, though they don’t do anything to stop you. You kick Tyren to the floor while he desperately tries to put the flames on his face out. You help him put the flames out by smashing his face in with your fist repeatedly. Unlike the tougher orc bone structure, the bones of a svelk aren’t as resilient and you can hear the crunching sound of his nose, jaw and skull cracking as you continue to do major mayhem on his face. Tyren’s face is a mass of burnt gory meat at this point yet you still aren’t done. That’s when you take your dagger and scoop his eyes out with it. As you carve out the two bloody orbs, the shrieking is enough that the residents of Sinkhole who happen to be walking outside the barracks quickly run home in fear.

Your actions while excessive are probably made slightly more disturbing due to the fact that you’re muttering incoherently and making small giggling noises the whole time you’re doing them. It’s enough to establish to everyone that they’re obviously in the presence of someone who isn’t just in charge, but also may well be a madman. One things for sure, after Tyren’s makes his last gurgling pleas while you’re slitting his throat and you’re up to your forearms in his blood, nobody is thinking about pissing you off now.

You stand up from your bloody work feeling surprisingly much better. Happy even.

“Remember this.” Is all you say to the group of svelk, before you turn to go to your own private quarters.

The next day Captain Gruz gives you the scout report from the svelk. You thank him and go over some strategies since you’re feeling in a better mood now. Gruz is all too willing to give his opinions on how certain places should be approached and handled. He really does have some good ideas. Makes you wonder if you weren’t being a little too hard on him when you first met him.

“Captain, when the orders come in, I want you to be in charge of a second team. We’ll cover more ground that way and they’ll be less of a chance for potential rebels to escape.” You say.
“Are you sure sir, you don’t think we’d be better off keeping a larger force together? I’ve always found that it’s always preferable to have more numbers than you potentially need. But you’re in charge of course.”

Just as you’re about to discuss and ponder the pros and cons of each plan, a messenger walks in. It’s the official orders. Looks like the time for planning is over.
> You go with Gruz's plan
As good as you believe you are in combat, you have to admit to yourself that you don’t really have too much experience in leading a large group. Perhaps it would be wiser to defer to someone who does have such experience.

“Very well, you may be right. I suppose we really shouldn’t worry about anyone escaping since if they do, they’ll eventually be found anyway. Did the svelk report say they saw any actual shadows at any of these places?”
“Not at most of the locations as they seem to be just safe houses for normal rebels, but there was one in particular which seems to be more of an actual armed camp that they saw more than a few of shadows hanging around.”
“We’re going to hit that place first then. I just hope the svelk were as silent about their scouting as you said they claimed to be. Anyway, let’s get going we’ve got traitors to purge and I’m anxious to see it through.”

You and Gruz get the troops ready. The general idea is to first have the svelk to sneak up on the target locations and then after they initiate the attack the orcs come charging in from all sides. It seems simple, but perhaps simple plans work the best due to less chance of things going wrong. At least you hope they do.

After a march through the swamp you reach your first target and it does indeed resemble a small military compound. It’s really just a walled village though. You’d guess that this particular place is so far from normal civilization that this just went unnoticed and the shadows eventually just subverted the entire place or at least started placing sympathizers there.

You order the attack and all goes well. The svelk and yourself easily scale the walls while Gruz and the orcs bash down the pitiful gates. Given how pathetic the opposition is though, you almost wonder if you couldn’t have taken this place all by yourself. You still haven’t seen any of the rumored shadows in this place though and that slightly concerns you. Did they already flee, or did they just cloak?

“Keep alert! There may be shadows still lurking about!” you shout as you cut down one of the rebels.

No sooner have you said that, when you sense something amidst the chaos. A feeling like you’re being targeted…

“GET DOWN!” Gruz shouts as a female shadow decloaks and fires a bolt at you. You’re just quick enough to duck down and avoid being hit.

An orc attempts to strike her down, but she easily fends off the attack and eliminates him instead. She’s moving faster than anything you’ve ever seen.

“Crossbows now!” you order and the svelk mercenaries closest to you unleash their own bolts at the shadow. She may be quick, but she can’t avoid all of the bolts from the repeating crossbows. She catches more than few bolts and collapses in a heap.

As she attempts to crawl away you go over to her to finish her off and that’s when you get that feeling again only this time you know where its coming from and instinctively pull up your sword to deflect the hit. When the shadow decloaks you’re close enough to see the hatred in his eyes, you’re also close enough to hear him muttering about revenge for Bianca. You’re guessing that was the female shadow that’s now a pincushion.

He attempts to pull the same speed trick, but you prevent him from doing so by interrupting his spell with a dagger to his side.

“Not such a good day to be a shadow is it traitor?” you ask as you twist the blade around.

Shocked by the metal piercing his insides, he reels backwards when you pull out the blade and his death follows when Gruz smashes his axe in the side of the shadow’s head.

You go over to finish off the female shadow who is still desperately trying to crawl away.

“There will be no escape. The Emperor’s eye sees all and justice will be delivered to all who oppose him!” you exclaim before running your sword through her back.

You keep alert for the possibility of more shadows lurking, but either those two were the only ones, or the rest have fled. If they have, no matter, they will be found.

The rest of the battle is more of a simple matter. The non-shadow rebels are no match for your superior force and a few try to surrender, pleading for you to at least spare their families. You spare no one as traitors cannot be tolerated. Your ruthless orders to cut down every man, woman and child are not questioned, though the svelk take a bit more pleasure in it.

The village is put to the torch and you’re eager to move on to the next target. You want to stomp out ALL of these traitors before they even get the possibility of regrouping.

Day after day you wipe out several small encampments and hideouts of the rebels. It’s sickening to you that there is as many as there are. How could any citizen defy the Empire or the Emperor? Don’t they know it is a losing proposition? Don’t they realize and appreciate how much he has done for all of their miserable lives?

As for the shadows, their treachery is even more sickening. The Emperor gave them all a grand honor of serving him in a most important way and they’ve been nurturing rebellion in their black hearts for centuries and enticing the weak willed into helping them. Fitting that they call themselves shadows, as they are cowards who obviously rely on tricks and subversion to gain any sort of advantage. Well that stops very soon.

“This one was an easy one. They gave up almost immediately.” Captain Gruz says cleaning off his axe after a short skirmish.
“Yes, a pity they should only realize until it’s too late the folly of their treason.” You reply.
“Yes, I imagine many have felt that way.” Gruz answers.
“And all of them are fools for doing so. And fools deserve no mercy. The loyal and dedicated on the other hand are to be rewarded. Captain, we are nearing the end of our mission and I imagine I will soon return to the Emperor to give my report. I want to tell you that I will be speaking highly of you to him and suggesting that you receive some sort of higher position.”

Gruz isn’t sure how to respond though he thanks you.

“I was just doing my duty sir, but I thank you. However if you’re serious about your wanting to do something for me and it isn’t too bold of me to ask, I do have specific request.”
“Speak freely then.”

Gruz looks around as if he’s being watched and then moves closer toward you and speaks almost whispering.

“I know I’m sort of the Empire’s token intelligent orc and that’s fine. However it’s my people sir. I really do try to keep them in line and for the most part it works, but I’m still just one man and despite common perception, orcs do have minds of their own and think about deeper things than just looting and pillaging sometimes.”
“What are you getting at?”
“What I’m saying sir, is all I would request is you ask the Emperor if he could give his loyal and dedicated orc soldiers a pay raise. It doesn’t even have to be that large. I mean the extra fighting and danger they are always assigned to do is fun and all, but just a little something extra so they know they’re being appreciated for their hard work would be welcome.”

Well that was bold of Gruz, but you did tell him to speak freely. However, you’re suspicious of his request, since it almost sounds a bit like blackmail.
> You let it pass
You’d call him out on it, but you decide you’ll leave this one to the Emperor to ultimately decide. Besides, you figure you owe him that much for possibly saving your life.

“I don’t know if I have that much pull with the Emperor, but I will mention it to him.”
“That’s all I ask.”

In a few more days your task in Delerg is completed and all known targets have been eliminated. Delerg has also been effectively cowed into submission given what you did there. Stories of the ruthless young Eternal that destroyed entire villages to purge traitors are already being spread. Not exactly true since technically you only destroyed a couple and the rest were just rebel made hideouts, but if it teaches the people to fear the repercussions of treasonous behavior in the future you don’t care. You tell the Emperor as much during your report, he seems pleased with your report and feelings on the matter.

“The destruction of the shadows went better than I had hoped. There are probably a few shadows that fled while they were on the surface, but the derro took out all of them that were in Gloom. I think to be on the safe side I’m going to have that old ruined temple of theirs in Delerg destroyed. No need for it to become some sort of symbol or some such nonsense. Speaking of Delerg, you did an excellent job. It must’ve been a shock to find out you weren’t just going to lead svelk, but orcs as well. Hated to surprise you like that, but I figured if you could successfully lead an operation with those two types under duress, you were definitely fit to lead anyone.”
“I am glad I met your expectations.”
“I never had any doubt…so what are your thoughts on good Captain Gruz and his request? I’m sure you had some on the subject.”
“Personally sir, I believe he has overstepped his bounds with this veiled threat, which is regrettable since I was beginning to respect him as a capable leader.”

The Emperor nods a bit.

“Hm, he must’ve made a bit of an impression on you to acknowledge his skills. So what do you believe should be done? Should he be killed or ignored? Obviously I’ve already made up my mind on the subject, but as always, I’m interested in your thoughts.”

In the past you sometimes hesitated to give an answer, but now you know that the Emperor always wants to hear what you really think and you’re more than willing to tell him.

“Well…I do believe he is genuine. I do believe he only wants his people to receive a little extra recognition for their duty. Some lesser beings cannot be merely satisfied with just serving greatness and they must be rewarded in a more tangible way. If it is possible, I would grant Gruz’s request. It will keep him and the rest of green skins happy for quite awhile and you’ll have no problems from them in the near future. Having the orcs calm and obedient right now is also important also because we have just eliminated our internal security force as it were. We will need to rely on raw force to maintain order as well as to stomp out the remaining shadows and rebels. After the Empire has been better stabilized, we can always purge Gruz and some of the orcs later if necessary.”

The Emperor displays a big grin on his face and puts his hand on your shoulder.

“I swear son, if I didn’t know better I’d think you had the ability to read minds. Sometimes its like I’m talking to a mirror that’s several centuries younger than me. Yes, I fully intend on granting his request. Time will tell if he requires purging though he’s getting on in years for an orc and who knows what dangerous battlefields he may be sent to in the future? Anyway Jacob and I are already rebuilding a new internal security force. I might get Marik’s help on this too, though I know he really wants to work on his current project, but there really isn’t any need for it now…anyway you don’t need to worry about any of this, I’m sending you to help with more shadow hunting and rebel clean up in the core province area. Don’t want to let up on them yet and you seem to be good at setting an example. Putting the fear into the populace to discourage any further thoughts of treason and all of that. I’ll be so glad when we’ve got things back to normal again, so I can focus my attention to the Felkan Kingdom again. Still, it doesn’t need to be work all the time now does it? Maybe you should go out and celebrate, you have my full permission to take a week off. Go get yourself one of those high priced elven whores I’m always hearing about, its on me son!” The Emperor laughs.

Sometimes you still can’t get over just how relaxed the Emperor can suddenly get about everything. The funny thing is, it makes you feel relaxed too, to a certain extent anyway. Maybe it’s due to this that you sometimes wonder about something he’s always calling you a lot…

Son.

You don’t know if he’s using it as a term of endearment or it’s his “nickname” for you, or what. The funny thing is you do find him to be a “fatherly” figure. You’ve resisted addressing it before, but now something is urging you to do so.

“I have a question and I don’t know how to ask this of you.”
“Well speak son, you know you can always tell or ask me anything, doesn’t mean you’ll get it though.” The Emperor says with another chuckle.

“Are you my father?” you ask and there is a short pause of silence. The Emperor doesn’t look too surprised that you asked the question though.
“Do you want me to be your father?” he asks back which naturally just confuses you even more and you feel a little silly for asking in the first place.

“I…I just…I dunno, you’re always calling me son and…just forget it. I allowed my feelings of respect and admiration of you to exceed their boundaries. Forgive me, Emperor.”
“You’re too tightly wound sometimes. Don’t worry about it; I wasn’t offended by your question. But my question still stands, do you WANT me to be your father?”
“I’d like to think you are, but I imagine I’m just wishing you are.”
“If you think I am. Then I am. If that’s what pleases you then what difference does it make?”
“None, I suppose.” You answer, but the Emperor can see that it does make a difference to you even if you don’t want it to.

“Tell me, have you ever wondered about your parents? I mean you obviously know that they didn’t raise you.”
“No. I’ve never really thought of them at all.” You answer.

Its true too, you have genuinely never wondered about who your parents were. You were far too busy with torturous training to ever really ponder such things. It’s only been recently that this subject has recently popped into your head.

“I didn’t think so. They were never in your life and you were an orphan in the care of the Empire. And who runs the Empire?”

You smile and see what the Emperor is trying to do.

“You. The Empire took care of me and since you are the Empire, then really you’ve been responsible for raising me my whole life.”
“Correct! Now, do you feel better?”
“A little, though how come you call me frequently call me son anyway?”
“Well because of all the reasons you would think of me as your father. I’ve been providing for you as well as teaching you how to survive in this world. And hell, I’m even fond of you. Those factors alone already qualify me more as a father more than some of those peasants out their that just keep breeding children and never take any responsibility for them, so why not call you son?”

You know it seems silly, but the fact that the Emperor practically considers you his son gives you a good feeling. Possibly the best you’ve ever felt. Somewhere within the hardened exterior that was beat into you, there still exists a child who would like nothing more than to just hug the Emperor right now. You resist this faint urge of course. As close as you’re feeling to the Emperor at this moment, you still have this sense of duty and protocol stuck in your head even if the Emperor himself isn’t quite as hung up on such things.

I thank you for explaining all this and putting this all into perspective, but I think I still feel more comfortable addressing you as Emperor.”
“As you wish, but again if you ever let the occasional paternal label slip out every now and then, it wouldn’t be something that would offend me. I’m sure more than a few of my subjects have called me much worse things.” The Emperor snickers.

Later that night as you preparing to go to sleep you think on the Emperor’s words and just as you’re basking in the comfort of them, your mind briefly wanders into something much more unpleasant.

If the Emperor is your “father” does that make Mistress your “mother?”

She even referred to herself as that once. While she was just being sick when she said it, the twisted thing is now you can’t help but think of her as a semi-maternal figure. She was in your life longer than any other adult during your growing years and for good or ill is responsible for most of your combat skills. In fact, so far she’s been in your life longer and probably more influential on your development than ANYONE.

You suddenly don’t feel very well pondering that and don’t sleep well that night.
>
Chapter 2C: Fortunate Son

Year 21

The time for all out war is getting closer and the Emperor is getting more impatient with delaying it any further. He probably feels he’s wasted enough time with putting out the pitiful rebellious fires and the restructuring of the Empire in the past couple of years.

You’ve been looking forward to a little action as well. You haven’t had much to do in a while ever since your purges in Delerg and Quala. Ever since the official forming of the Eyes they’re supposed to be the primary ones looking after the internal peace of the Empire and rebellious activity has been practically nil. Still, it was practically non-existent just as the Eyes were coming into service. One wonders if it wasn’t due to the threat of a new “secret police” but rather the fact that you had already been overly efficient in purging dissension by depopulating entire areas. Indeed it was probably for the best that you were replaced before you deprived the Empire of potential soldiers for the upcoming war with the Felkans.

Still, there are always those that refuse to give up. The prime one being the so-called “Last Shadow”, Cyrus. Cyrus was an Eternal though you don’t remember too much about him other than he always was one of the stealthier classmates that seemed to never fail in getting a cheap shot on you when Mistress was having you spar against him. You say “was” an Eternal because as far you’re concerned he ceased being one the moment he betrayed the Empire. Now he is nothing more than a traitor who needs to be exterminated.

Cyrus was one of those few shadows that happened to be on the surface at the time of the destruction of Gloom. He also avoided your purges due to initially being in Quala and then eventually fleeing to the rural areas in Arat. He constantly moves around a lot, making hit and run attacks on patrols or caravans. He does travel with a group, but they aren’t so much rebels as they’re just ambitious bandits and thugs. They probably don’t give a damn about whatever Cyrus religious and philosophical views are for opposing the Empire. They’re just in it for the killing and the loot.

Nevertheless, they are a nuisance and given that the Arat province is the staging ground to attack the Felkan Kingdom, the Emperor is more than annoyed that the Eyes haven’t succeeded in tracking him yet and he doesn’t want to waste any proper military on Cyrus mainly because he sees it as Jacob’s fault for various reasons…

“Well he’s your failure Jacob, fix it!” The Emperor exclaims.
“The Eyes have been attempting to apprehend him my Emperor, but he has proven quite elusive. They just need more time to…”
“Jacob when I told you to put together an efficient internal security force I expected you to succeed in this endeavor.”
“My Emperor the Eyes are efficient! I mean rebellious attitudes are the lowest they’ve been in…well probably more than I’ve ever seen!”
“Well they aren’t good enough, if they can’t capture the so-called Last Shadow. I’d send in svelk mercs if I hadn’t put our funding into Marik’s factory to produce new weapons to combat the Felkans. You do realize we have a war with the Felkans to pursue and your bumbling is delaying that task!”
“I understand that, but we shouldn’t go to war until we have everything absolutely settled all internal matters in the Empire first! Cyrus is likely to start ambushing supply wagons and then where would we be?”

You watch as the Emperor continues to verbally abuse Jacob. It’s a scene you’ve seen many times in the past and will probably see many more times in the future. Jacob really does try to serve the best he can and from what you can tell he’s fairly good at his job, but for whatever reason its just never good enough for the Emperor no matter what.

While you normally don’t interrupt such sessions, you do feel the need to interject.

“I would have to agree that if we are to crush the Felkans we should just go ahead and start the process now. As much of a nuisance this last shadow has been, his impact has been minimal and certainly not enough to warrant a paralysis in our military matters. We are a large nation and we are always going to have a few internal matters to resolve.”

The Emperor naturally is pleased that you’ve backed him up in this matter, though Jacob looks less than enthused given that he’s already fighting a losing argument.

“Thank you son. See this Jacob? This is a TRUE Eternal! Not like the rest of those losers, traitors and ne’er do wells you oversee!”

Jacob has no more words, he might continue but knows it would be a futile endeavor and he’s walking on thin ice as it is given how the Emperor is really letting him have it today.

Again you feel the need to interject.

“If I may, I would be happy to assist in this matter with the shadow terrorist.” You say.
“That’s not necessary, I wouldn’t presume to take you away from whatever duties the Emperor has seen fit to bestow upon you.” Jacob replies.
“Considering how inept you’ve been in taking care of this, maybe I should send him to help.” The Emperor says before turning to address you directly. “I did have plans for you to take a command position when we start our assault on the Felkans, but the position will still be there when you’re done with bailing out Jacob if you so desire. I’ll leave it up to you. In the meantime I’m going to finish up my preparations to make the first attack on the Felkans. Now go with Jacob if you wish to help him, or stay here, but in any event I don’t want to hear anymore about this shadow matter from anyone until it’s been resolved.”

Jacob makes his way slowly out the door, though while he hasn’t said it you see a look in his eye that he’s hoping you’ll provide assistance despite his previous words of it not being necessary.
> You help Jacob
Maybe its because you feel slightly sorry for Jacob or maybe its because you do see Cyrus as a potential liability if left unchecked and his traitorous ways are an insult to the name Eternal, but whatever the reason you decide to help Jacob.

“I believe I shall help Jacob in this matter. I started out crushing shadows and rebels, I might as well finish the job.” You say the Emperor.
“Very well, but I trust you won’t take as long as Jacob has. Remember I need you for important tasks for the war!”

You and Jacob both leave the Emperor’s presence. As soon as you’re out the door, Jacob addresses you.

“I thank you for your assistance.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
“I’m not talking about the situation with the shadow, I mean intervening before the Emperor found a reason to have me executed.”
“Oh I doubt if that would’ve happened.”
“I don’t know. Lately I can’t seem to do anything right by him, I really try to serve to the best of my abilities. I always have.”
“I know you do.”

Jacob and you don’t speak too much too each other normally, but your relationship has always been a cordial one.

“I guess I should be glad the Emperor is so fond of you, it might be the only thing that’s keeping me alive. You are the Eternal that wasn’t a failure of course and for that I am very thankful.”

Because you were directly trained by Mistress you sometimes forget that Jacob (or Mr. Mol as you once knew him) was the one that was primarily in charge of your development at least in a behind the scenes way. You’ve never really thought about your other classmates since you always had more pressing matters, but now you’re a little curious.

“Just how many of my other classmates survived?”
“Not many. Besides you? Eight and three of them are already dead and one of those became a traitorous shadow.”
“And another one is the last shadow still giving the Empire grief.” You say.
“Yes. (Sigh) I had such high hopes for Cyrus, he showed so much potential. Damned shadow indoctrination. Anyway that just leaves four who I assure you are not losers or failures and are in fact very accomplished soldiers of the Empire. They finished out their training with Captain Gruz, who I’m sure you’re familiar with.”
“Yes, I am.” You say somewhat wishing that you could’ve been so lucky.
“I still keep apprised of their activity since they are all still technically under my watch. I’m just glad the Emperor didn’t take the project out of my hands and proceed with Marik’s crazed ideas.”
“Could you tell me a little more about them?”
“Certainly!” Jacob remarks perking up a bit. He’s genuinely glad someone is showing an interest.

He tells you that Kane has been instrumental in taming the Rask frontier. Says that he’s even developing a bit of a reputation of his own given his merciless slaughter of the barbarian and ogre tribes up there. He’s being considered for a fort commander position.

Brenda and Roldan have been doing similar things in the Nalin province with the kobolds and usksha desert raiders that sometimes plague the area. Either one could also become a fort commander as well, though he believes Brenda might be the better candidate as he believes Roldan can go on to greater things. He goes on to say that the both of them have become unusually close though and Roldan has even requested that they be allowed to marry! Jacob sees nothing particularly unreasonable about this request and is considering allowing it.

“You’ll actually be working with the last one, Warrick. I assigned him to the Eyes and so far he’s been the closest to catching Cyrus. Excellent tracker. I nearly considered Warrick to become an infiltrator for the shadows initially, but it’s a good thing I didn’t considering how things worked out with Cyrus.”

This is all somewhat fascinating to you as you do remember all of them, but mainly as your opponents in the fighting arena when Mistress was sending the entire class to try to kill you on regular basis. In fact Jacob realizes this and suddenly asks you if it’ll be a problem working with Warrick.

“No, why would it?”
“Well I know that due to Mistress’ training you had a less friendly relationship with your classmates than everyone else.”
“It’s all in the past, for me it is at least. I survived and grew stronger from the experience. And it certainly wasn’t his fault. He was just doing what he was told. Everyone was. Besides, might be interesting working with someone from the old class on more cooperative terms this time.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear you say that.” Jacob says with a smile.

Eventually you reach Jacob’s office where you see not one but three desks piled in paperwork. Jacob grumbles about how his underlings were supposed to there to take care of some of it today, but as usual he’ll probably have to do it all himself. After rummaging through a stack, he pulls out a few pieces of parchment and some scrolls and then says you’re taking a carriage ride to an Eye staging ground near Bucklesburg in the Arat province. Jacob says he’ll explain more about the situation along the way (as well as doing some of his paperwork.

A carriage ride later, you’re all caught up on the area as well as the specifics of Cyrus’ most recent attacks. When you arrive in Bucklesberg you’re met by who you presume are Eyes and one face that while a little older now you recognize as Warrick. He stares at you at a bit and obviously recognizes you as well, but says nothing since it isn’t his time to speak.

“Eyes, you may have heard of this man you see before you. He is the main reason why we managed to stop this potential full scale rebellion and keep it to a few crazed traitors that are desperately trying to hang on to their lives a little while longer.” Jacob starts off telling all of them. A little bit of an exaggeration of course, but then only a few know about the derro involvement in the destruction of shadows, and most of them are currently the same rotting bodies in Gloom. Your involvement on the other hand is infamous.

“Now I leave you to it.” Jacob says and leaves.

Since you are already up to speed on everything due to Jacob’s briefing, you basically tell the Eyes that how they’re planning to catch Cyrus is all wrong and how they need to do things differently.

“Waiting around for Cyrus to attack patrols and caravans and then attempting to stop him in the act isn’t working because Cyrus is quicker and a better warrior than all of you. You know how I know this? Because you haven’t killed him yet. Even if he hasn’t managed to recruit his lackies into following that silly religion of his, he’s obviously trained them into an efficient hardened fighting force. Taking rebel captives and torturing them for information isn’t working because Cyrus is smart enough to change his plans completely when he knows his people have been captured. Besides, I guarantee you could catch and kill all of his people and he’d just disappear for a few years and pop up again with a new group. Which brings me to the point of why trying to search the wilderness for him isn’t working either, you don’t have the numbers to do it.” You say before turning to Warrick. “And as good as you are at tracking, Cyrus is still a shadow and he’s got the magic to mask himself. If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”

Before you can continue, one of the Eyes is brave enough to question you. Unsurprisingly it’s the one in charge, Sightmaster Davison.

“So what’s your solution?” Davison asks.

At this point Warrick’s own face displays a grimace with a small shake of his head knowing that his immediate superior is going to be punished for the disruption.

You walk up to the Eye and backhand him in the face.

“Do not interrupt.” You say calmly. Davison nods quickly while holding on to the side of his face. Then you slap him a couple more times followed by a punch to his face. He falls to the floor and you launch into a speech.

“MY solution is to bring down this shadow which all of you have failed to do! The Emperor is tired of your failures! We are to conquer the Felkan Kingdom soon and yet you cannot eliminate a few measly traitors! It is only because I decided to intervene that the lot of you haven’t been executed for your incompetence on this matter! While you may all be the Eyes of the Emperor, I am his terrible weapon that carries out his righteous justice. Pray that justice is never to be carried out on you.”

Now that you’ve given a proper “inspirational” speech all you have to do is come up with a solution. The thing is one of their attempted tactics of trying to ambush Cyrus while he’s attacking caravans could still work if YOU get a hold of him. Of course you could come up with your own plan.
> You set up your own plan
Cyrus obviously isn’t going to be caught by something so mundane; you’ll have to do something more elaborate. Like if he thought there were shadow sympathizers on the rise again.

“We’re going to turn this town into a hub of sedition, traitors and shadow sympathizers.” You remark.

Several Eyes including Warrick look at each other and WANT to question why you’d want to do such a thing, but nobody dares say anything though.

“Good, Glad everyone waited for me to continue this time. Cyrus will be more likely to let his guard down if he thinks he has a solid base of operations rather than running like an animal in the wilderness. We need this town to become that base. Now here’s how we’re going to do it…”

First thing you tell everyone is that you’re going to be harassing the people of Bucklesberg to an unreasonable degree. You get to this fairly quickly and perhaps a little too zealously.

You begin an inquisition of sorts to “root out” any potential shadow sympathies. Naturally all the folks of Bucklesburg protest their innocence and swear they’ve never even thought such a thing. Of course you don’t listen and have people executed publically anyway. Wives, children, doesn’t matter, the point is to become hated.

When you feel you’ve done enough damage you call for the Eyes to pull out of the town.

The next phase of your plan is to have someone disseminate subversive ideas in Bucklesberg. You have an Eye sneak back in and start by writing graffiti against the Empire on walls and placing simple pamphlets encouraging people to join Cyrus. You have to wait a couple of weeks before this starts bearing any fruit, but eventually one of the Eyes reports that the town is starting to show signs of rebelliousness.

Meanwhile caravans are still being attacked and you get a message from the Emperor saying that he expected you to have settled this problem a lot quicker as he really wants to get on with attacking the Felkan Kingdom. You begin to get a little nervous.

A couple more weeks pass and nothing major has happened. You had hoped that Cyrus or perhaps one of his followers had gotten the rumors about the town of Bucklesberg becoming unfriendly towards the Empire, but Warrick tells you that he hasn’t seen any sign of Cyrus or his group anywhere near the town. They’re still keeping to the wilderness and making their lightning raids on caravans. As for Bucklesberg itself, there have been a few meetings but not much else.

Your plan is failing to produce results and you get another message from the Emperor which is noticeably more hostile in tone. All it says is you better do something about Cyrus by the end of the week or you are to report back to him immediately. Feeling the pressure you can’t wait out this plan any longer, you’re going to have to attempt to catch him in the act of attacking one of the caravans. Your only advantage is nobody has been defending them for several weeks so Cyrus may have been lulled into a false sense of security.

You and the Eyes travel towards where the supply caravan is and maintain a respectable distance from it and keep out of sight. You travel along side it for miles and there are a couple of Eyes who start wondering if Cyrus is even going to attack it. You know he will though and of course you turn out to be right.

The caravan guard hold their own against the rebel bandits, but as soon as Cyrus decloaks he begins making short work of them. It is at this point Sightmaster Davison orders the Eyes to attack. As the skirmish between the Eyes and Cyrus unfolds, you begin to concentrate. You visualize water and then that water slowly solidifying into ice. The temperature around you begins to get very cold and soon so does the entire area.

It is at this point Cyrus notices you in the distance and realizes that he is outclassed this time. He panics like a true coward and calls for a retreat, but its too late, you utter the incantation and cover the surrounding area in ice. The caravan, the guards, the rebels and the Eyes are all covered in frost that causes most of them to be frozen on the spot.

You run over to the site and see several of the still living shivering profusely and moaning from the pain of frost burn. A few of the hardy have managed to endure the effects of the spell, though they are busily trying to free their feet from ice before frostbite sets in. Others lie dead and frozen, Cyrus is not among them though and you catch sight of him slowly attempting to get away and heading towards a forest. His attempts to speed himself up make him only moderately faster due to the frost covering his body.

You begin to concentrate in the direction Cyrus was heading. Instead of visualizing water, you now visualize fire and much like the small ice storm you created, you now create one of flame. While you’re casting the spell however, Cyrus manages to turn invisible and you don’t see what direction he fled in before your firestorm hits the area.

The forest that Cyrus was headed towards is suddenly set ablaze along with the fielded area near it. However Cyrus must’ve escaped because if he had been caught in the firestorm he would’ve instantly decloaked.

You begin to swear and curse of how you nearly had him while you’re surveying the carnage you caused to your own people. Sightmaster Davison is fully encased in ice, Warrick is only just managing to free himself from his own icy restraints. You were in such a hurry to capture Cyrus that you didn’t think to at least hold Warrick back so he might be able to track Cyrus in case he managed to get away again. That opportunity has been lost now. You and the remaining Eyes head back to the closest settlement which is Bucklesberg where you try to figure out what your next move is going to be.

Its most likely because you’re tired as well as concerned with having to possibly face the Emperor that you don’t appreciate the aura of hostility in Bucklesberg.

You and the Eyes are suddenly pelted with several rocks. Peasants aren’t usually known for their combat abilities, but forming angry mobs and throwing rocks is certainly something they’re good at.

Not that you don’t put up a fight and massacre several of the peasants, but the fact is they’re in a nearly fanatical state and throw themselves upon you like suicidal lemmings thanks to your own actions that made them that way in the first place. Several of them are actually shouting that the shadows will rise again and that Cyrus will lead them.

Your fate is ultimately an ignoble one of being beaten to death in the streets, drawn and quartered and finally your head stuck on a pole along with the remaining Eyes as a symbol of renewed defiance against the Empire.

Later Bucklesberg is razed to the ground and all within are purged for treason. The Emperor doesn’t morn your loss, but rather is angry with himself for wasting his time on someone who he comes to believe was an idiot.


Maybe its because you feel slightly sorry for Jacob or maybe its because you do see Cyrus as a potential liability if left unchecked and his traitorous ways are an insult to the name Eternal, but whatever the reason you decide to help Jacob.

“I believe I shall help Jacob in this matter. I started out crushing shadows and rebels, I might as well finish the job.” You say the Emperor.
“Very well, but I trust you won’t take as long as Jacob has. Remember I need you for important tasks for the war!”

You and Jacob both leave the Emperor’s presence. As soon as you’re out the door, Jacob addresses you.

“I thank you for your assistance.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
“I’m not talking about the situation with the shadow, I mean intervening before the Emperor found a reason to have me executed.”
“Oh I doubt if that would’ve happened.”
“I don’t know. Lately I can’t seem to do anything right by him, I really try to serve to the best of my abilities. I always have.”
“I know you do.”

Jacob and you don’t speak too much too each other normally, but your relationship has always been a cordial one.

“I guess I should be glad the Emperor is so fond of you, it might be the only thing that’s keeping me alive. You are the Eternal that wasn’t a failure of course and for that I am very thankful.”

Because you were directly trained by Mistress you sometimes forget that Jacob (or Mr. Mol as you once knew him) was the one that was primarily in charge of your development at least in a behind the scenes way. You’ve never really thought about your other classmates since you always had more pressing matters, but now you’re a little curious.

“Just how many of my other classmates survived?”
“Not many. Besides you? Eight and three of them are already dead and one of those became a traitorous shadow.”
“And another one is the last shadow still giving the Empire grief.” You say.
“Yes. (Sigh) I had such high hopes for Cyrus, he showed so much potential. Damned shadow indoctrination. Anyway that just leaves four who I assure you are not losers or failures and are in fact very accomplished soldiers of the Empire. They finished out their training with Captain Gruz, who I’m sure you’re familiar with.”
“Yes, I am.” You say somewhat wishing that you could’ve been so lucky.
“I still keep apprised of their activity since they are all still technically under my watch. I’m just glad the Emperor didn’t take the project out of my hands and proceed with Marik’s crazed ideas.”
“Could you tell me a little more about them?”
“Certainly!” Jacob remarks perking up a bit. He’s genuinely glad someone is showing an interest.

He tells you that Kane has been instrumental in taming the Rask frontier. Says that he’s even developing a bit of a reputation of his own given his merciless slaughter of the barbarian and ogre tribes up there. He’s being considered for a fort commander position.

Brenda and Roldan have been doing similar things in the Nalin province with the kobolds and usksha desert raiders that sometimes plague the area. Either one could also become a fort commander as well, though he believes Brenda might be the better candidate as he believes Roldan can go on to greater things. He goes on to say that the both of them have become unusually close though and Roldan has even requested that they be allowed to marry! Jacob sees nothing particularly unreasonable about this request and is considering allowing it.

“You’ll actually be working with the last one, Warrick. I assigned him to the Eyes and so far he’s been the closest to catching Cyrus. Excellent tracker. I nearly considered Warrick to become an infiltrator for the shadows initially, but it’s a good thing I didn’t considering how things worked out with Cyrus.”

This is all somewhat fascinating to you as you do remember all of them, but mainly as your opponents in the fighting arena when Mistress was sending the entire class to try to kill you on regular basis. In fact Jacob realizes this and suddenly asks you if it’ll be a problem working with Warrick.

“No, why would it?”
“Well I know that due to Mistress’ training you had a less friendly relationship with your classmates than everyone else.”
“It’s all in the past, for me it is at least. I survived and grew stronger from the experience. And it certainly wasn’t his fault. He was just doing what he was told. Everyone was. Besides, might be interesting working with someone from the old class on more cooperative terms this time.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear you say that.” Jacob says with a smile.

Eventually you reach Jacob’s office where you see not one but three desks piled in paperwork. Jacob grumbles about how his underlings were supposed to there to take care of some of it today, but as usual he’ll probably have to do it all himself. After rummaging through a stack, he pulls out a few pieces of parchment and some scrolls and then says you’re taking a carriage ride to an Eye staging ground near Bucklesburg in the Arat province. Jacob says he’ll explain more about the situation along the way (as well as doing some of his paperwork.

A carriage ride later, you’re all caught up on the area as well as the specifics of Cyrus’ most recent attacks. When you arrive in Bucklesberg you’re met by who you presume are Eyes and one face that while a little older now you recognize as Warrick. He stares at you at a bit and obviously recognizes you as well, but says nothing since it isn’t his time to speak.

“Eyes, you may have heard of this man you see before you. He is the main reason why we managed to stop this potential full scale rebellion and keep it to a few crazed traitors that are desperately trying to hang on to their lives a little while longer.” Jacob starts off telling all of them. A little bit of an exaggeration of course, but then only a few know about the derro involvement in the destruction of shadows, and most of them are currently the same rotting bodies in Gloom. Your involvement on the other hand is infamous.

“Now I leave you to it.” Jacob says and leaves.

Since you are already up to speed on everything due to Jacob’s briefing, you basically tell the Eyes that how they’re planning to catch Cyrus is all wrong and how they need to do things differently.

“Waiting around for Cyrus to attack patrols and caravans and then attempting to stop him in the act isn’t working because Cyrus is quicker and a better warrior than all of you. You know how I know this? Because you haven’t killed him yet. Even if he hasn’t managed to recruit his lackies into following that silly religion of his, he’s obviously trained them into an efficient hardened fighting force. Taking rebel captives and torturing them for information isn’t working because Cyrus is smart enough to change his plans completely when he knows his people have been captured. Besides, I guarantee you could catch and kill all of his people and he’d just disappear for a few years and pop up again with a new group. Which brings me to the point of why trying to search the wilderness for him isn’t working either, you don’t have the numbers to do it.” You say before turning to Warrick. “And as good as you are at tracking, Cyrus is still a shadow and he’s got the magic to mask himself. If he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”

Before you can continue, one of the Eyes is brave enough to question you. Unsurprisingly it’s the one in charge, Sightmaster Davison.

“So what’s your solution?” Davison asks.

At this point Warrick’s own face displays a grimace with a small shake of his head knowing that his immediate superior is going to be punished for the disruption.

You walk up to the Eye and backhand him in the face.

“Do not interrupt.” You say calmly. Davison nods quickly while holding on to the side of his face. Then you slap him a couple more times followed by a punch to his face. He falls to the floor and you launch into a speech.

“MY solution is to bring down this shadow which all of you have failed to do! The Emperor is tired of your failures! We are to conquer the Felkan Kingdom soon and yet you cannot eliminate a few measly traitors! It is only because I decided to intervene that the lot of you haven’t been executed for your incompetence on this matter! While you may all be the Eyes of the Emperor, I am his terrible weapon that carries out his righteous justice. Pray that justice is never to be carried out on you.”

Now that you’ve given a proper “inspirational” speech all you have to do is come up with a solution. The thing is one of their attempted tactics of trying to ambush Cyrus while he’s attacking caravans could still work if YOU get a hold of him. Of course you could come up with your own plan.
> You catch him in the act of one of his attacks
The next thing you say surprises all of the Eyes.

“Now there’s a caravan coming through the area north of here in the next few days that is carrying a lot of supplies for the military. Cyrus isn’t going to be able to resist attacking it even if he thinks it’s a set up. We’re going to intercept him when he attacks it and put an end to him once and for all.”

Several Eyes including Warrick look at each other and WANT to question why you’d scold them about a particular idea they’ve used and then you want to continue using it. Nobody dares say anything though.

“Good. Glad everyone waited for me to continue this time. You’re probably wondering why we’re going to continue to use a strategy after I just pointed out that it has failed so many times. Well, the strategy was a simple one and sometimes simple ones are best. The advantage you have now is that I am with you and I will be able to handle Cyrus and will not let him get away. Besides, you’ve failed so many times at stopping him that he’s bound to be a little cocky now and won’t be expecting any major surprises. Even if he does, he probably also thinks he’s the chosen one of his god and invincible. Time to show Cyrus that his false god cannot protect him.”

You finish by telling them all to get themselves prepared, as you will be moving out soon.

“Warrick you come over here. I want to talk with you.”

Warrick complies with your request probably with some concern to his well being.

“I want you to stick with me during this attack. I need you alive and your chances of survival will increase if you’re with me. While I don’t think there will be any problems, it will still be good to have a second just in case we need to chase after Cyrus. Any questions, now is the time to ask.”
“I have no questions sir.”
“Very well.”

You and the Eyes travel towards where the supply caravan is and maintain a respectable distance from it and keep out of sight. You travel along side it for miles and there are a couple of Eyes who start wondering if Cyrus is even going to attack it. You know he will though and of course you turn out to be right.

The caravan guard hold their own against the rebel bandits, but as soon as Cyrus decloaks he begins making short work of them. It is at this point Sightmaster Davison orders the Eyes to attack.

“Not you. As I said, you’re sticking with me.” You say to Warrick while grabbing his shoulder to hold him back.

As the skirmish between the Eyes and Cyrus unfolds, you begin to concentrate. You visualize water and then that water slowly solidifying into ice. The temperature around you begins to get very cold and soon so does the entire area.

It is at this point Cyrus notices you in the distance and realizes that he is outclassed this time. He panics like a true coward and calls for a retreat, but its too late, you utter the incantation and cover the surrounding area in ice. The caravan, the guards, the rebels and the Eyes are all covered in frost that causes most of them to be frozen on the spot.

“Now we get our traitor.” You say to Warrick and the pair of you run over to the caravan battle site.

You see several of the still living shivering profusely and moaning from the pain of frost burn. A few of the hardy have managed to endure the effects of the spell, though they are busily trying to free their feet from ice before frostbite sets in. Others lie dead and frozen, Cyrus is not among them though and Warrick catches sight of him slowly attempting to get away and heading towards a forest. His attempts to speed himself up make him only moderately faster due to the frost covering his body.

Wasting no time, Warrick grabs his bow and fires several arrows at Cyrus, a couple hit their mark. Cyrus stumbles and staggers, but doesn’t fall. He instead manages to turn invisible.

“Shit! But he’s wounded, I can track him if we hurry!” Warrick exclaims, but once again you stop him from proceeding.
“You’ve proven your worth Warrick, but your tracking skills won’t be necessary today.” You say and begin to concentrate in the direction Cyrus was heading. Instead of visualizing water, you now visualize fire and much like the small ice storm you created, you now create one of flame.

The forest that Cyrus was limping towards is suddenly set ablaze along with the fielded area near it. A burning figure once again decloaks and you hear the screams all the way from the caravan site which is starting to thaw due to the proximity of the heat.

Desperately Cyrus tries to make his way out of the inferno and back towards the caravan site, you calmly walk to him with Warrick following. By the time you reach him, Cyrus is crawling towards you half frozen, half burned, and death closely following him.

“You see what this path has brought you traitor. No so called freedom, no glory for your god, not even a heroic death. You’re an embarrassment to the name Eternal and you will not be remembered save as an example of what happens to all that would oppose the Emperor.”

Cyrus struggles to look up at you and it’s probably the first time you’ve been this close to each other since Mistress’ class. His face is nearly unrecognizable due to the severe burns. He attempts to speak, but only the utterance of distorted grunts from a scorched throat occurs. Doesn’t matter, he has nothing of value to say. Traitors never do.

You kneel down and with your dagger you end his life for good.

“What next?” Warrick suddenly asks.
“I report the death of this traitor to Jacob and I return to my place by the Emperor’s side where I wait for his further orders. As for you, I suggest you help what’s left of your group. I believe I saw your Sightmaster encased in ice, meaning he will no longer be able to carry out his duty. I can’t think of a more worthy replacement than you so I will make mention of it to Jacob.”

Warrick is surprised by your words. He looks back at the caravan site, which is still a mess from your previous ice spell, he then looks ahead and watches the flames consume the nearby forest.

“Better to kill a thousand innocent men than to let one traitor sew chaos. Better to lay waste to paradise than to let it continue to house enemies of the Empire.” You say, though Warrick certainly understands even if he has never truly been in such a situation until now where it was necessary.

Jacob’s response when you meet him again is a little less understanding when he finds out how you handled things…

“Of course its good that Cyrus is dead, but… was it absolutely necessary to burn down an entire forest and sacrifice nearly an entire platoon of Eyes along with the entire compliment of caravan guards?” Jacob asks.
“I saw it as the best way to be sure to put an end to Cyrus. And I would think you of all people would be happy for the matter to be handled given how worried you were about it before. The Emperor will also be happy and isn’t that what’s most important, that he can proceed with his war on the Felkans without further delay?”

Jacob pauses before addressing your statement.

“Yes and I really wish we weren’t doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Going to war with the Felkan Kingdom.”
“You don’t believe the Empire should crush its enemies?” you ask.
“I don’t believe we should waste the resources on a pointless war on a powerful nation that has never shown any signs of aggression.”
“Just because they don’t openly display it doesn’t mean they aren’t planning something.” You say.
“Yes, I’ve heard the speech about the duplicitous gnome masters several times. You can’t know how glad I was when I first found out that you managed to convince the Emperor to even postpone the war to take care of the shadows first. Can you imagine what might’ve happened had you not done that? I…look you know I serve the Empire and my loyalty will never be in question to it, but on this point I really don’t think this war is a good idea in the long run. Do you not believe that it wouldn’t be better if we conserved our resources and pursued other ways to enrich the Empire that don’t involve war? You convinced the Emperor once to postpone a potentially damaging war, could you not sway his thoughts on this matter any further?”
“Jacob, it is the Emperor’s will that the Felkan Kingdom must be destroyed. The plan has already been set in motion. No words of mine would ever convince him otherwise, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t because as I see it, the gnomes and by extension the Felkan Kingdom must pay for their continued insults towards the Emperor. And that insult is their mere existence. Their punishment will be death.”

Jacob realizes that he will have no luck in attempting to incorporate you into his desire to convince the Emperor to not go to war, so he drops the issue.

“I hope so for the sake of the Empire. Well, I suppose my next task will be to find a few more recruits to fill in the gaps for the latest fallen Eyes. Warrick will certainly make a good Sightmaster. Glad to hear that the pair of you worked so well together and he survived at least. I…nevermind.”

Jacob once again is starting act like he wants to address something more, but stops himself again, you urge him to continue.
“What is it Jacob?”
“Nothing. Just... I mean your actions in Delerg and also what you just recently did to put down one traitor…well I’m just saying that it’s good that you are so dedicated. Remember that Empire must survive no matter what the cost.”
“Of course. You don’t need to remind me of such a thing.”

“No. Of course I don’t.” Jacob says and bids you goodbye.

You don’t understand Jacob’s odd behavior, especially since it seemed a little contradictory. One moment he was nearly scolding you for your methods, the next he was praising you for them. When you tell the Emperor about you conversation with Jacob he doesn’t seem to be concerned, he’s too excited about finally going to war with the Felkans.

“Jacob is like an old woman sometimes. He worries too much, that’s what he does. The only thing we need to worry about is how to make sure none of those little gnome bastards escape this time! Ha ha!” the Emperor says.
“They won’t.” you reply with certainty.
>
Year 23

With another town taken, you put your sword through the chest of a Felkan soldier begging for his life, one of many from your experience. The average Felkan soldier to you does not seem to match up to Empire ones in any capacity. They are certainly not better in the ways of martial combat or endurance. The only real advantage you can see them having is their gunpowder weaponry and better proficiency with it and even that isn’t much of an advantage anymore given that the Emperor’s derro friend has been evening up the odds in that way.

You walk around surveying the carnage of burning buildings and Empire soldiers busily searching homes to make sure there aren’t any more of the enemy hiding out. A small explosion grabs your attention and you see a single Empire soldier stagger out of a home with one of his arms blown off. He stumbles for a bit and then collapses before others rush to his aid.

Traps have probably done more damage to the battalion you were assigned to rather than actual combat. This was an easy battle. In fact your whole time being assigned to Major Krozer’s battalion has been a bit of a breeze for you. The southwestern front of the Felkan Kingdom isn’t as heavily defended or at least from your experience it isn’t defended well. Perhaps all of the better Felkan soldiers are on the other fronts.

You sort of wish the Emperor had seen fit to have you aid Captain Roldan whose battalion has been seeing a lot of major fighting. However, the Emperor firmly stated that your skills would be of better use here and so you shall carry out your duty. Your main goal is to keep the Felkans from attempting to pull any sort of major flanking maneuver and keeping them boxed in. While conquest isn’t the main goal, it is a secondary objective to make a slow push northward towards the Felkan heartland though you imagine you’ll soon face Felkan reinforcements from the west before then. That is if they don’t still have their hands full with the gnoll tribes that are currently assaulting them their eastern front.

“Another victory for the Empire, eh Mr. Sunshine?” you hear a voice from behind say. It’s Major Krozer. She’s a competent leader and has obviously earned her position, but much like your experience with Gruz, she seems a little “relaxed” on rules of protocol at times such as her periodic insistence on being too playful with you.

“I’ve told you before to stop calling me by that ridiculous name.” you snap.
“Hey, I didn’t invent it. That’s what the troops call you behind your back due to your…unique personality.”

You begin to get angry.

“Are you telling me I don’t have the respect of the troops and they use this name to mock me?!”
“No! They’re scared shitless of you, hence why they don’t call it to your face. The sunshine reference is due to the fact that you’re so damn grim and merciless all the time. Its supposed to be ironic I guess. If you’d like, I could tell them to start calling you Mr. Harbinger of Destruction instead. Pretty sure the Felkans already call you that.” Major Krozer replies.
“I’m not interested in having any sort of witty nickname and if anyone continues to refer to me other than by my name or my rank, I’ll have them flogged for their impertinence and that’s just for the first offence.”
“Hm, well I guess I better relay that to the troops. Fun and humor are cancelled until further notice.”
“Fun? We’re at war major! This is not a time to be having fun! It is not a time for jokes! It is a time to be crushing our enemies and ensuring their extinction!”

“And you’re claiming that YOU don’t find those two bloody past times fun for you? Let’s talk seriously for a moment, I’ve seen you in battle and you are truly a sight to behold. It’s almost like watching a work of art with how you move from enemy to enemy slaying all those that oppose you. And that’s just close combat, I’m not even referring to when you’re throwing flaming hunks of rocks at the enemy and then following it up with a few lightning bolts. My point is, I’ve seen you lay waste to our opponents and I believe it’s more than just a job to you. Yes, you’re serving the Empire and the Emperor, but you’re having fun doing it. This war is FUN for you and that good, but some of us need to find fun in perhaps less extreme ways and sometimes that might involve the cheap joke here and there. Surely that doesn’t warrant a death sentence? I mean all of our lives could be snuffed out anytime, what’s the harm in a little humor as long as everyone is still doing their job?”

The major’s words hit a mark with you. You can’t deny that you are having what might be considered “fun” when you’re in battle. You enjoy it because its what you were meant to do. You also think back to what the Emperor said to you one time “Sometimes, you’re too tightly wound son.” This might be one of those times.

“Alright, alright, you’ve made your point. Fine nobody will be flogged, but I better not hear the name Mr. Sunshine or any other cute nickname within earshot.”
“Of course sir.”
“Good. So…the troops say my battle techniques look like a work of art?”
“No. I believe they just see you as a whirlwind of violence that they need to stay out of the way lest they get caught in the path. I’m the one who believes your battle techniques look like a work of art, but then I’m a daughter of the army, so I don’t know much about real art. I just know what I like.” The major says with a smile.
“Oh. Uh, well thanks.” You answer and not feeling quite sure of what else to say.

With the debate about acceptable protocol out of the way Major Krozer goes on to tell you that despite significant damage most of the town’s population is still alive. While you’re usually known for razing entire settlements to the ground, the major is slightly less bloodthirsty than you are.

“While I know you like to eliminate enemies of the Empire and stomp them into a red spot on the ground. I’d suggest that we not do that this time and use this town as a stopping spot for our supplies and reinforcements.”
“Hmm. Perhaps, but we’ll have to leave a detachment here to oversee this place.”
“Well how big is that going to have to be? Not that big I should think since I really don’t believe the population is going to give us any more trouble. I’ve seen most of them and they look thoroughly defeated.”
“True, but I believe an example should still be made just to get the point across of who is in charge. I’d say about twenty peasants should do it. A mixture of different ages and genders too just to show them that we’re being serious.”
“I’d ask you if that is really necessary, but I know what your answer is going to be. Very well, I’ll get some of our soldiers on it. I sometimes have concerns that we’ll go too far and their hate will override their fear and cause a revolt.”
“And that’s why I prefer to raze entire settlements. Nobody can revolt when they’re all dead.”
“But then what’s left to rule?” Krozer asks before taking her leave.

She has a point, but it isn’t one you’ve concerned yourself with during this war mainly because the Emperor has made it quite clear to you that he’s actually more interested in destroying the Felkan Kingdom rather than conquering it. This is more of a war of annihilation rather than one of subjugation.

Just as you’re about to oversee the execution of peasants, a messenger arrives.

“For your eyes only sir. Important message from the Emperor.” The messenger says and hands you a sealed scroll.

You take the scroll and quickly open it. It has been too long since you’ve last heard anything directly from the Emperor. Upon reading it, it states that you are to report directly to the location where Marik has been making all of the new weapons. Doesn’t state why, just says you need to be there. You’ve never been to Marik’s factory before, actually you’ve never even met Marik before despite having heard of him several times. Guess this will be your introduction.

It is a little odd to be taken out of the fighting like this and also not explaining why, but the Emperor must have his reasons. You immediately tell the major.

“You’re leaving? Why?” she asks.
“Can’t reveal why, but I assure you that it is on the Emperor’s orders.” You reply.
“Oh. Well I suppose you have to go then. This’ll be a huge blow to the might of our forces with you gone.”
“You shouldn’t think such things. You’re soldiers of the Empire. You are more than a match for any enemy, let alone the Felkans. You’re also a skilled leader and tactician that has kept our losses to a minimum. You’ll do fine without me.”
“I suppose we can get by without your battle skills, but how will we ever cope without your cheerful personality around here?” she says with a serious face which then slowly turns into a smile.

Normally this is the kind of thing that perturbs you, but maybe you’re getting used to it.

“Well I’m sure my sunny disposition has made such a lasting impression that its now within all of your hearts so that you may experience it wherever you go.” You reply in a deadpan manner, surprising the major.
“Was that a joke you just made?”
“How the hell would I know, its not like I’ve ever made one before.”
“Well you’re on a roll now. Hopefully you will come back so we can actually experience this less self-controlled version of yourself.”
“Anything’s possible I suppose.” You say and take your leave.

Your only major decision now is whether or not to take the long way around back within all the pacified territory you’ve been pushing through during your time with Krozer’s battalion or risk taking a short cut north through disputed territory that you know is still being battled over by both sides.
> You take the long way around
While it’s not usually like you to play it too safe and you aren’t one to avoid conflict, your present duty is to reach your destination in a timely manner. A short cut might seem quicker, but given that you know how hot the conflict is going on right now, its likely that you might very well get caught in the middle of it thus delaying your orders.

Your trip is predictably uneventful save for running into a few small regiments of reinforcements that you redirect towards the town you just conquered. When you make it back to Arat you only make short stops in villages to water your horse. Eventually you see the factory within sight rather than just the permanent black cloud that hoovers over it. The factory has somewhat been a source of concern by the local population as the pollution from the place has contaminated the nearby rivers as well as the land surrounding it. However it has provided a new source of employment though its not the safest place to work, but in this world what is safe?

When you get there you are met by a small contingent of Eyes standing outside the factory’s gates, which are locked up.

“I don’t know if I should be happy or worried that the Emperor has sent his terrible weapon of righteous justice.” One of the Eyes says. The Eye doesn’t look familiar to you, but he obviously was with you during the capture of Cyrus. Good to know your words are remembered at least.

“What’s going on?”
“Apparently a few days ago a giant green monster punched through one of the doors to the basement of the factory and killed several workers and guards before we got here. Someone claimed it was a troll. If it was a troll I can only imagine it dug itself up from the underground since that’s where they live right?”
“So I’ve heard, but what are you doing standing out here?”
“Sightmaster Ansolom’s orders. The troll hasn’t left the factory for whatever reason and he wants to make sure its at least contained while he and some others try to kill the thing. Though they’ve been in there since yesterday, I fear the worst.”
“Ansolom? What happened to Warrick?”
“Sightmaster Warrick is stationed elsewhere with another group of Eyes. I don’t know where. So are you going in?”
“Of course.”
“You…uh don’t need us to come in with you do you?” the Eye asks while unlocking the gate.
“No. Continue your little guard duty, I believe you would only get in my way anyway.” You say and open up the gate.

No sooner have you entered when the Eyes close the gate and lock it back up. You shake your head and cautiously walk through the factory’s outer yard. You see all manner of strange machines along with hundreds of boxes of various weapons large and small set for shipping, but the place is dead silent. You’re not even finding any dead bodies; you’re guessing they must be inside the factory itself and probably the troll as well.

You’re wondering where Marik is in all this. From what you know he and a small group of derro work deep underneath this factory unknown to most, even the regular workers. There is supposed to be a battle mage that acts as the factory supervisor too. On top of everything else now you have to look for a sightmaster who is supposed to be here taking care of this problem and you still don’t understand why you were dragged off the frontline just to handle a troll, or what you still assume is a troll.

When you enter the factory itself, that’s when you see all the damage to the place. It’s a mess with broken equipment and dead bodies everywhere. While you’ve heard the stories about how terrible trolls are you nearly have a hard time believing it was just one of them that caused all this damage.

Besides looking like a tomb the factory is about as silent as one as well. You would’ve thought the troll would at least be feasting on its kills or at least walking about the factory, but you’ve heard nothing. This of course puts you more on guard since now you’re wondering if the thing is aware of your presence and silently stalking you.

You climb up to one of the upper walkways to get a better view. You still can’t see the creature from your position, but apparently it was up here at some point since you’re finding the odd limb along the walkway. The supervisor’s office is up here so you decide to head towards it hoping that maybe you’ll find some answers.

As you get closer you see that a battle must’ve taken place near there because you see a body just outside the doorway of the office. There are a couple other bloody bodies lying near it as well. Upon closer inspection the body just outside the doorway is headless but wearing a robe. This was probably the battle mage supervisor. The other bodies are a little fresher but still in mauled condition. They wear the uniform of an Eye, but you suddenly have more pressing concerns when not one, but two trolls appear on the far end of the walkways.

They look every bit as vicious as you’ve heard. Big, green, long gangly limbs and seem to lope in a jerky manner towards you snarling and howling the whole time. You have no idea how such large creatures were able to hide from you, but they’ve made their presence known now and you’re trapped with no easy retreat.

They’re quick, but you manage to unleash a single bolt of flame at one of the trolls, which causes it to immediately leap over the railing and take a long drop down to the floor below busily trying to beat the flames out of its hide. It is so focused on doing this that it fails to realize that it is in a factory with several explosive elements. All it takes is for the troll to crash its body into one of the small barrels of the volatile powder and the troll is blown to pieces though the force of the explosion is even enough to rock you to the floor of the walkway. You get up just in time for the second troll to smash its fist into your chest and you go flying into the office hitting the wall. You feel like you’ve been hit by a giant club and struggle to catch your breath. You scan the room and to your left you see another dead body of an Eye. This one is the sightmaster and he looks as if all his limbs have been broken.

The troll advances and you manage to kick the door shut, which slows it down long enough to buy you some time. When it slams the door back open you cast a bolt of flame in its face. It reels back bellowing with pain and clutching its eyes, but unlike his friend he isn’t running away.

Ignoring the pain, you stand back up and with sword in hand you slash the troll across one of its knees causing it to stumble. It manages to swipe its claws across your stomach, but fortunately you dodge most of attack and only suffer ripped armor and a surface wound. The troll tries to continue its success, but even as quick as it is, you are able to get the advantage and bring your blade across its think neck.

Unfortunately you fail to sever the troll’s head completely and your sword gets stuck half way through it. Black blood is spraying everywhere and the troll grabs your sword arm digging its claws into the skin and muscle. It will very likely rip it off if you don’t do something immediately.
> You pull your dagger and stab it in the arm
You pull out your dagger and begin repeatedly stabbing the troll in the arm to the point where you nearly sever it. Its grip loosens as it hisses in pain. You nearly get your head punched in by the troll’s other fist, but you fall backwards on the walkway in time for it to miss. The troll fails to follow up with another attack since it attempts to remove the sword from its neck presumably to regenerate properly.

Taking advantage of this breather you cast a lightning blast right at the sword, which acts as a great conductor to fry the troll inside and out. You have to back up just so the troll’s flailing body doesn’t hit you. Eventually when the troll’s body is burned to a crisp and you’re fairly certain you’ve fried its vital organs enough that it can’t possibly regenerate you stop and the troll crashes to the floor still smoking and twitching. Then you retrieve your sword and finish decapitating the troll just to be sure.

You take a small rest after your battle, though you keep alert for another troll. Thankfully no more show up, but there’s still the question about Marik and where the hell the trolls came from in the first place. Both potential answers are going to lie in the basement you imagine so that’s where you continue your exploration.

The factory basement is in just about as much disarray as the ground floor and there are a few dead bodies, but no trolls or derro for that matter. You search until you come across a large metal door which has been partially ripped off its hinges, a long set of stairs go down. It would appear there is an even deeper part of the factory.

You go down the stairway, which seems almost like forever and when you finally get to the bottom, you hear a lot of shouting in an unfamiliar language. You walk down a corridor and find a large open area with presumably more factory equipment, but some of it looks very strange. You see machines, which are emanating a lightning arc similar to the spell you can cast or what nature does during a storm. Other things look like giant tubes with something inside, though from this distance you can’t tell what.

Among the machinery you also see short heavily armored figures busily trying to clean up the area. You can’t even see their faces, but you’re guessing these are the infamous derro.

“You there! Who are you surfacer? Are you one of the factory workers?” a deep voice suddenly calls to you from the right. You look and see a very pale figure wearing white coat covered in blood and a bunch of other things you can’t identify. This bald wild-eyed fellow is about the same size as the armored figure so you come to one conclusion.

“The Emperor sent me. Are you Marik?”
“I am Marik…you must be the one he refers to as his son. But why would the Emperor send you here?”
“I was only given orders to come here, but within such time I faced two trolls that apparently slaughtered not only many factory workers, but its supervisor AND several of the Emperor’s Eyes! I had thought they might’ve killed you as well, but since that is not the case, I am hoping that you can shed some light on the situation.”
“Shit, I had a feeling one of them escaped up there, but not two. And I assumed that the fucking poncy wizard would at least be able to handle it. Figures that fop wouldn’t have the stones when faced with such a beast, let alone two of them.”
“Escaped? Excuse me, but what the hell were trolls doing here in the first place? And why did you not send men to help kill the beasts?”
“If you have not noticed by the mess already, but my men and I have been dealing with trolls down here as well.”
“It looks as if you were not fighting them when I arrived and you still have not answered why there were trolls down here in the first place?”
“I know you’re held in high regard by the Emperor and obviously your skills are impressive if a scrawny thing like you can handle two adult trolls, but you will cease questioning me in such a manner now surfacer!”
“I will question your competence if you are the reason for this disaster! These trolls have just caused a stop in production which is vital to the Emperor’s war on the Felkan Kingdom!”

Marik’s expression begins to show more aggression though he’s smiling at the same time. He almost looks as if he’s going to break into laughter.

“Surfacer, I have known the Emperor much longer than YOU have even been alive! Maybe you’re unfamiliar with the complexities of our relationship, so I will let your words pass as ones of a concerned child for his parent’s wishes. But NEVER question my competence ever again! I am the very reason the Emperor is able to pursue a successful war on the Felkans in the first place! My work here is to find even better ways to crush his enemies! The trolls? Part of my experiments as new weapons for the war! Sometimes experiments fail! Science is not always exact! Do you think YOU were the first Eternal?”
“Yes, I’m well aware I was among the first successful ones, but that still doesn’t excuse why you sent no men to at least scout the factory if you believed trolls had escaped.”
“The Emperor should’ve told you more about our people then. We derro do not step foot on the surface if we can help it. My people may have an alliance with the Emperor, but that alliance does not extend to such madness.”
“I was lead to believe madness was a common derro trait.”
“It is, but even then there are limits! Indeed I may very well be among the most mad and even I will not soil myself by setting foot on your surface world.”
“But the factory is enclosed, you’d still be shielded from the sun if that is death to your kind.”

Marik begins laughing in a tone that is much different from his deep voice. It’s an annoying ear piercing laugh.

“Your ignorance of the derro is embarrassing as is usual for a surfacer. I suggest you learn more in your pitifully short lifespan. Ask your Emperor for guidance, perhaps he will have the patience to tell you more about us, I do not. I have work to do for the Emperor.” Marik says and turns away from you. His fellow derro have been standing by watching the pair of you the entire time as if ready to act if violence should break out.

Violence may still occur if Marik continues to act dismissively towards you.

“Do not walk away from me derro! You still have much to answer for! What exactly is it that you are doing here? What is so important that you so carelessly endanger the war effort? You will give me answers of substance that I can give to the Emperor!”

Your words cause Marik to stop.

“Your loyalty to the Emperor is admirable. Tell me though, what gives you cause to believe that you’d make it out of here to able to report to him?”
“Trust me derro, I may indeed not be able to take all of you, but YOU I would make an example of.”

Marik once again makes that annoying laugh again.

“Your knowledge of the derro continues to lack. If you truly knew anything, you’d know that death is not something the derro fear.”
“And now it is you who do not listen. I said nothing of killing you, I said make an example of. After I beat you within an inch of your life, I’d drag your bloody body to the surface which you obviously loathe so much. I thank you for exposing your flaws within our short meeting.”

Marik turns to face you once again. He studies you as if to assess if you’re being serious. He realizes you are.

“Well, I’ll be. A surfacer nearly as mad as a derro, for it is the only explanation for your threats that you speak out of your ass and ignorance. Heh. Very well then perhaps we do have something in common. Come with me then Eternal, I will satisfy your questions and then you can go tell the Emperor that we’re not just playing with our dicks down here.”

Marik waves away the other derro and tells them to get back to work while he goes on to explain what’s going on down here.

He tells you that while he has provided the Emperor with the gift of gunpowder weapons to combat the Felkans he states that he is bored with creating such things. He wants to move on to other, more interesting things. You don’t exactly understand everything he’s saying, but apparently this includes altering trolls in such a way to use them as living weapons.

Obviously success has eluded him, but Marik claims it will work eventually he just needs more time. He then goes on to say that the schematics of the weapons he’s already made should be somewhat known to surfacers now and that perhaps those weapons could be built in another factory run purely by surfacers. Allowing him of course to work more unencumbered by the possibility of his experiments causing problems in the future.

“I will report this to the Emperor and allow him to decide, but personally I can’t say as this is a good use of time and resources. Better to perfect the weapons you’ve already created than to play around with uncertain ones.”
“Funny you should say that Eternal, because one could say the same of your kind.”
“There is a difference. Obviously when I was born I was still not a mindless untrainable animal like a troll.”
“No, but obviously an effort was made to make you better than the average human and then some. No effort was spared in perfecting you and your kind until some of you actually survived the entire process.”

Marik’s words about the creation of the Eternals peaks your interest.

“Tell me Marik, how much were you involved in the creation of the Eternals?”
“Sadly very little. Most of my ideas for the…project were considered a bit too extreme, then that fool Jacob somehow managed to gain complete control of the project. The advantage of being a surfacer I suppose. If I had control, you and your fellow classmates would’ve been even better. In fact you wouldn’t have had to endure much training at all, you would’ve instantly been BORN with natural skill and talent. (Sigh) If only the Emperor saw the wisdom in continuing the project with me at the helm…I could truly create some living weapons.”
“What are you talking about exactly?”
“For someone so close to the Emperor, I see he keeps you out of the loop on things and if he is then there must be a reason for it. I have probably said too much…I suggest if you want more answers then speak with him. Go now, I have work to do. Much work to do.”

When Marik says this he begins making nervous twitches and see him eye a nearby metal door, which makes you suspicious.
> You confront Marik
Whatever Marik is hiding behind that door has peaked your interest. For all you know he’s hiding something that could possibly threaten the Empire. You make your way towards the door and Marik comes just shy of physically stopping you.

“Hey, where are you going?” he asks.
“I wanna see what’s behind that door now step aside Marik.”
“You can’t! There’s dangerous material in there. Chemicals and stuff like that. Safe for us derro, but completely toxic to a human like you.”
“Well as you pointed out not a few minutes ago, I’m better than the average human, now stand aside.”
“You can’t!” Marik shrieks and begins giggling.
“Marik, last chance to get outta my way…”

Marik suddenly stops his annoying giggling and begins snorting and hyperventilating while giving you a hostile stare. It would almost be amusing if you could see the humorous side of it.

“Alright fine! But you’re going to spoil the surprise!” he shrieks and gets out of your way.

You step to the metal door and open it up to a platformed level, which overlooks a huge room. It’s nearly the size of a small hamlet you think. There are several ladders that descend down to the lower level which contain translucent containers all hooked up with tubing and connected with each other and large strange machines. Even from this distance you can make out small figures floating in liquid within the containers.

You’re about to ask Marik what all this is when suddenly you hear him scream…

“SURPRISE!”

And then the back of your head is blown off by Marik’s personal pistol. Your lifeless body slumps to the floor soon after part of your brains do.

Marik and his fellow derro cover up your death by explaining to the Emperor that the escaped trolls killed you. The Emperor temporarily mourns your death, but ultimately decides that if something like a troll killed you, then perhaps you weren’t worthy of your status after all.