text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, dystopia, grimdark, fantasy]
  
  Your main purpose of coming here in the first place was to make sure Talia was safe. You can't leave now without trying to find her or at least her body if she's dead.
  
  You leave the storage room and decide your best bet would be to keep yourself cloaked the entire time while you search the fortress. You also decide to use spider crawl just to make sure you're really out of sight.
  
  As you stick to the ceilings of corridors and rooms you survey the carnage of what the Derro have wrought on the shadows. It's almost like they didn't have a chance. You now have to believe that this was why the Empire wasn't attacking Gloom, they had some sort of deal with the Derro to do it for them and since this used to be a Derro home at one time, they probably knew every ancient secret passage and entire layout of it.
  
  You progressively get more and more discouraged in your search and that's when you hear a voice in your head. Not Dendrin's though, it's distinctly a human one.
  
  "To...the left and down the hall...hurry...not much time..." you hear Master Ebon say. Lacking any other ideas, you follow his instructions and make your make to his location from where you are. As you do so, you notice there aren't any Derro in this direction, though there are a few dead ones. You're guessing that the rest of their fellows haven't searched this area as much.
  
  "The door...at the end...hurry..."
  
  Sensing that there are no Derro in the immediate area, you climb down from the ceiling and prepare to enter the door at the end of the corridor. When you arrive in front of it, you hear a loud click as it opens.
  
  "Quick, inside!" a brother says pulling you in by the arm roughly.
  
  A quick glance and you see a couple more shadows both in wounded condition. You then see Master Ebon in some sort of spell trance. He's also wounded, but his status looks a lot worse. He probably shouldn't even be alive with the deep bleeding gashes he displays across his body. A female shadow stands near him also wounded. When you see her face more clearly and recognize her as Talia, your worries are at least divided by half.
  
  "What are you doing here?" she exclaims.
  "I heard the voice of Dendrin and..." in that moment you realize you've just admitted you've heard his voice for the first time. You then realize this isn't the time to keep it a secret and you continue. "...he...uh gave me a warning... are you alright?"
  "Just a light wound...wait, you said Dendrin spoke to you? He warned you about the attack?"
  "Well, not in so many words. Look we need get out of here, I can explain everything later."
  
  You then hear Master Ebon's voice again. He still isn't speaking verbally though and is using his mind.
  
  "Dendrin spoke to you? Lucky lad. He hasn't spoken to me since I first became a shadow. I always thought he would eventually, but he never did. I assumed he was testing me, to make my own decisions. Perhaps I offended him by claiming those decisions came from him directly, but I didn't know what else to do..."
  "Master Ebon, we can discuss this later, right now we really need to leave!"
  "Is Master Ebon speaking to you through his mind?" Talia asks.
  "Yes, and what's he doing anyway? He's just sitting there with gashes in his chest deep enough for me to see his heart beating and bleeding out. As I said we need to leave before the Derro kill us all."
  
  Master Ebon interrupts you.
  
  "They've already succeeded in killing me I fear, but I still have powerful magic...enough to save the remainder of you...to carry on the fight..."
  
  Master Ebon's eyes begin to turn completely black, this is followed by his entire body. A shimmering portal then opens up nearby.
  
  "This...was to take us to strike at the very heart of the Empire...but now just an escape...to friends. Continue the fight there. The Empire will fall as long as you continue to fight. Dendrin I hope you can forgive my failures as I have served to the best of my abilities...I am ready to enter your realm of shadow if you will allow it..."
  
  "Master Ebon!" Talia shouts when she sees his body undergo his transformation.
  "He can't be helped and he's giving us a chance to escape. We need to take it now!"
  "But where is it going?" the shadow that grabbed you by the arm asks.
  "He said to friends, but quite frankly it could lead into the middle of an Empire battalion and I think we'd still have better chances! Now come on!"
  
  Without another word you all enter the portal. Within seconds your eyes are nearly blinded by the whiteness of snow and you feel a blast of cold air whipping around you.
  
  "DIE! Shadow bastard!" you suddenly hear and turn around just in time to avoid a sword strike to the head. Realizing that this is an Empire soldier and not a Derro, you quickly dispatch your assailant who falls turning the snow red.
  
  When you said being transported into the middle of an Empire battalion would be a better situation, you didn't actually mean it! Fortunately it isn't quite as bad as all that.
  
  Getting your bearings you notice you're on a battlefield. The bodies of several Empire troops lay on the ground and are mixed in with those of orcs and shadows. A great fortress looms in the distance.
  
  "Fort Defiance..." you say to yourself.
  "Brother, we're over here!" one of the shadows calls out to you and you run over to the group. (Apparently, all the others teleported to a place out of immediate danger!)
  
  "Are we in Rask?" the shadow who grabbed you asks. You still don't know his name, you can only guess he was one of the newer recruits after you joined.
  "Well it doesn't look like Delurg that's for sure. I'm guessing that group ahead of us fighting the Empire troops are our brothers and sisters from Fort Defiance." Talia says.
  "Looks like it, well no time like the present, we need to go help them."
  "But what about those two? They're badly wounded and can't fight properly." The new shadow asks.
  "(Sigh) Very well, you, what's your name anyway?"
  "I'm Brother Gannon. I just joined recently..."
  "Yes brother, we can get all that getting to know you stuff out of the way later. I want you to take those two and head over to that fort in the distance. I'm sure they can get help there. What about you Talia, I know you're wounded too, do you need any first aid?"
  
  Talia draws her weapon.
  
  "I'll worry about my minor cuts after we take care of this Empire scum." She answers in a harsh tone.
  "Okay then let's go down there and drive back the Empire!" you answer back.
  
  You and Talia sprint as fast as you can to where all the action is taking place. Swords are clashed, halberds are swung, skulls are smashed and heads are severed. Mostly all in your favor and the Empire troops were actually losing even before you got here. Still, it's good to be on a winning side of a fight today and you feel energized by the battle.
  
  A short reunion occurs as you finish off the last of the stubborn Empire soldiers.
  
  "What the...? What are you doing here?! I thought you were supposed to be in the Quala province!"Cyrus exclaims running his sword through an enemy.
  "Things change brother and how have you been doing?" you answer doing the same.
  "We've been getting wave after wave of Empire skirmishers recently, but nothing serious yet. Honestly I would've thought we would've had a full on assault by now. I think they're trying to whittle us down, it won't work though. We're entrenched and have people all over the area slowly turning the population of Rask against them...is that Talia over there? What's SHE doing here? Last I heard she was supposed to be back in Gloom helping with the ritual that Master Ebon and Brother Gray were doing."
  "Like I said, things change Cyrus."
  
  At this moment there is a lull in the fighting that allows Cyrus to actually stop fighting. He looks at you his expression is one you've never seen before. One of genuine worry.
  
  "Oh no...what happened?"
  
  You don't even know where to begin.
  
  "Cyrus let's just get through this battle and celebrate THIS victory over the Empire. We can dwell on the troubled times to come later."
  
  The pair of you say nothing more for the rest of the battle which soon ends with your victory. You just wish it was a better one, because it cannot possibly counteract the incredible loss you have suffered this dark day.
  
  You think back on how you told Murk in his dying breaths that the Empire would fall, you also think back to how Master Ebon believed it would fall in his on dying breaths. If you had to guess, you think Talia probably still believes it and you know Cyrus will even when you tell him all that has happened. The righteousness in the shadows' cause and its unwavering faith in Dendrin has always been its strength that it cannot lose no matter how bad the odds.
  
  Of course it would help if you actually believed all that nonsense.
  
  Which brings you to your next dilemma: You already let it slip to Talia that you spoke to Dendrin and Brother Gannon was also there to hear it (and maybe even the other two wounded shadows heard it as well) , so it'll probably be brought up after everyone is caught up to speed on the war front and what happened at Gloom. The fact that Dendrin spoke to you is actually why you're here in the first place.
  
  The question is should you even mention what Dendrin said to you or just lie about what he said? Your own feelings on the situation are that Dendrin, god or not, is not worth following let alone creating a fanatical religion around. He obviously doesn't give a shit about any of you and sees you all as amusing toys at best. However, given the grim situation, the misguided slavish devotion to Dendrin might be the only thing that'll keep their spirits up. Not to mention you wonder if you'd even be believed. Cyrus himself is a very dedicated believer, he may even turn violent and you aren't even sure if Talia would believe you.
  
  > Don't address it
  If this war against the Empire is going to succeed on any level, the unity and upkeep of morale must be there. You're not going to destroy those things at such a fragile time, even if you do know that Dendrin's opinion of the shadows hasn't been high in a long time. Besides, you've paid lip service to the lie this long, you can do it a little longer. You have to, no matter how much you don't like it.
  
  After Cyrus catches you up on the situation at Rask, you and Talia tell him what happened at Gloom. Talia fills in the details better since she was actually there. Cyrus seems a little distraught at hearing so many shadows dying never mind losing the shadow home, but he doesn't seem broken in his goals to continue to fight the Empire.
  
  "It doesn't matter, we've still got agents in the Quala province and other places. Once we reconnect with the various cells we can regroup. We need to tell the others here though now, the sooner we get this information out the way the quicker they can deal with the loss. The Empire is desperate and we'll overcome whatever else they decide to throw at us because Dendrin will see us to victory."
  "Indeed he will. I know its why he warned me to go back to Gloom and help who I could there." You respond.
  
  Cyrus looks at you as if he's unsure of how to take your claim.
  
  "Yes, so you mentioned before in how you even knew about Gloom. Are you sure it was Dendrin and just not perhaps some sort of instinct? We are all shadows after all and we do have a bond."
  "There can be no mistake, Dendrin spoke to me and warned me in a dream. Even Master Ebon believed me in his final moments."
  "It's true, he did." Talia says.
  "Forgive me brother, it's not that I meant to call you a liar, it's just I would've thought if Gloom was in danger that he would've spoken directly to Master Ebon about it or any other shadow at Gloom, like Sister Talia.
  "I cannot know the will of Dendrin brother, I can only follow the way he guides me." You answer.
  
  Cyrus nods at you answer as if to acknowledge that it satisfies him.
  
  "True brother. Well, I suppose maybe this was all part of Dendrin's great plan. I mean not to speak ill of Master Ebon as he was a great man, but perhaps Dendrin saw that he wasn't the one to lead the shadows into the next era. Perhaps it was meant to be that a new leader take charge."
  "Oh? And who do you think that leader is?" you ask.
  "I don't know, but I'm sure Dendrin will pick the next Master when the time is right. In the meantime I think that we three should pick up the leadership slack." Cyrus answers.
  "Yes, I agree."
  
  After you agree, Cyrus excuses himself saying that he should break this news to everyone else. When he leaves it gives you and Talia a chance to speak.
  
  "Thanks for backing me up, I don't think Cyrus really believed my claim."
  "No problem, but I don't see why he wouldn't, I mean it makes perfect sense that Dendrin would warn you about Gloom. As I have often said, we may be shadows and devoted to Dendrin, but we're also Eternals and are better qualified to lead. Perhaps Cyrus is right and Dendrin sees that as well. I heard Master Ebon when he said Dendrin never spoke to him. It's obvious that he was never truly meant to lead the shadows."
  "Maybe, but personally I'm just glad I got to you in time."
  
  Talia smiles and moves closer to kiss you. With all that's gone on today, you just enjoy the moment.
  
  In the weeks to come, the three of you are taking steps to regroup the shadows and the rebellion in general. Despite some of his earlier claims of reconnecting with shadows south of Rask, Cyrus doesn't seem to put much effort in to it and focuses his attention mostly on consolidating power in Rask. Cyrus claims that if you get enough support pushing the Empire entirely out of Rask would follow and then you could get so entrenched that the Empire would never be able to take back the province.
  
  While that's a not a bad idea, you believe it would ultimately be folly to only focus on such a plan. The Empire can't be allowed to mop up the rest of the rebellion in other places. They need to have their attention and forces divided as much as possible. Cyrus of course feels it would be a waste of time to continue supporting the rebellion in other places and would only weaken your position in Rask overall. When Talia points out that it's not just rebels, but fellow shadows that need help, Cyrus relents a bit, but he still doesn't seem to eager to send people.
  
  So you take it upon yourself to reconnect with the other shadow cells. You tell Talia, that she should stay to help Cyrus since you can easily do it on your own and that Cyrus wants all the help he can get consolidating power in Rask.
  
  What you don't tell her is that you'd like somebody in Rask to keep an eye on things since Cyrus is starting to act a little sketchy. You figure that if Cyrus is up to something, Talia will no doubt inform you.
  
  After a few months you manage to make contact with most of the shadow cells and get them regrouped to do the maximum amount of chaos. You were glad to find that Sister Yvette has been leading well in your absence. Her and another shadow cell leader, Brother Theo have joined together and have been doing their best in creating trouble for the Empire. After your new orders and some encouraging words about how Dendrin will still see the shadows to victory, you assign them both to be your "go to" shadows as far as rebellion operations outside of Rask are concerned.
  
  In the meantime, Talia has been attempting to fix the allied relationship with the orcs at Rask. The orc leader Captain Gruz still hasn't been heard from, so it is assumed that he was found out and executed. The orc liaison Flog at this point has declared himself leader and is increasingly feeling underappreciated mainly because Cyrus has been more or less treating the orcs as battle fodder, which is exactly how the Empire was treating them. Not a great idea especially since he's big on the whole idea of getting enough support to drive the Empire out of Rask.
  
  On the outside, Cyrus is supportive and even friendly at times towards you when you're actually in his presence. Talia says other than what you've noticed, he hasn't acted strange in any way. Cyrus has just been focused on stirring up more dissent in Rask, but you get the strong impression he's plotting something more. You just don't exactly know what it is yet, but you imagine you'll find out eventually.
  
  Hopefully it won't involve killing him because you didn't fake your devotion to Dendrin just to have the shadows torn apart by a petty power grab.
  
  If it wasn't for Talia, you'd be half tempted to just let it all fall into ruin at this point, but you'll see this through for now.
  
  > ... 
  Year 30
  
  "No, I say we take all of our resources and make a forward push on Fort Destiny. We can hit Captain Kane from the north and from the south." Cyrus says.
  "And I'm telling you that we can't do that. Our people aren't grouped together on the southern Rask border ready to strike, they're scattered all over the place and that's how they should remain! I keep telling you this, besides I've got a better plan for the shadow cells in the Quala province." You remark.
  "Brothers, this yelling isn't helping." Talia sighs.
  
  Another typical day on the "Shadow Council", you and Cyrus arguing, with Talia stuck in the middle. You really wish that wasn't the case, but it is just inevitable that you and Cyrus are going to always disagree on something. You don't even know why you bother meeting to discuss battle plans nowadays, what usually happens is a bunch of arguing like this and then you both go off and do your own thing. This hasn't really been a problem in the past mainly because your plans are all outside of Rask, while Cyrus' plans are always within Rask so they never conflict for the most part. Also, the Empire's attention was divided due to their war with the Felkan Kingdom.
  
  However things have changed. The Empire recently signed a non-agression pact with the Felkan Kingdom meaning they've been able to focus a hell of a lot better on the rebellion. You need to do something to swing the tide in your favor before they begin to gather enough momentum to roll right over you.
  
  Cyrus' plan is the one he's been endorsing for years. Consolidate Rask and drive out the Empire from it completely. As the war has raged on over the years this has been done for the most part. The only thing that really stands in the way are a few of the loyalist border towns and Captain Kane in Fort Destiny. The problem is that's still a big obstacle to get over and a major assault would result in considerable losses.
  
  Cyrus has in the past sent groups of shadows to assassinate Captain Kane, but so far all attempts have failed. Kane's reputation as the "Butcher of Rask" isn't just for show and him being a battle hardened Eternal means he's more than a match even for the average shadow. Cyrus probably would've sent more, but Talia convinced him that it was just pointlessly sending shadows to their deaths. You didn't necessarily think the idea was without promise, but you suggested that an assassination attempt might work if you, Talia and Cyrus actually did it since you feel that you'd have the skill to pull it off, but Cyrus dismissed that idea, claiming that Talia is right and that assassination should be taken off the table.
  
  So a major assault it is, of course this is why Cyrus wants you to gather all of your shadow cells outside of Rask and have them attack from the south in a classic pincer maneuver. It would probably work, but you'd still have heavy losses especially those attacking from the south since the Empire could redeploy reinforcements early enough that your forces could be caught in the middle too.
  
  You imagine this idea would appeal to Cyrus since then options would be limited to just focusing on Rask and you wouldn't have any forces at all anymore. You get the impression that when the Empire is finally defeated Cyrus has major plans for Rask given how badly he wants to focus on it. Perhaps he has some long-range goal of starting his own "empire." However, he's still short sighted as far as your concerned because even if you went along with his plan, it would just hold off the Empire a few extra years and wouldn't stop them from taking back Rask given the new information you've received from your contacts.
  
  The Empire has been breeding new Eternals, the number is unknown, but it's apparently enough to create an army of them. They're not "ready" yet, but in a few more years they soon will be and if that happens you might not be able to stop them if the Empire unleashed them on Rask. However, you've received the information of where this new Eternal training camp is which is a remote location in the Quala province close to the Arat border. The only other information you have on the place is that the main complex appears to be underground since children. The place doesn't appear to be heavily guarded up top, but who knows what security is like down below. Considering magic is involved in creating Eternals, it's a sure bet that there are going to be wizard types about.
  
  Your plan is to destroy this place by leading a small group of the most skilled shadows you have. While this is going on, your other cells will strike out at vital areas in the Empire at the same time to keep them from immediately sending out reinforcements to the camp. You actually wouldn't mind Cyrus to come with you since he is a skilled fighter, but you aren't even going to ask since you know what his answer will be. Cyrus doesn't even believe that it's a top priority and claims that if Rask is liberated then you can attack the camp later since these new Eternals still won't be battle ready for a while.
  
  If you go off and do your own thing, your concern is that Cyrus is going to do the same thing and get everyone under his command killed in his attempt to take Fort Destiny. Of course if you help him you're left with the same problem that it's very probable that your shadow cells are going to get hit pretty hard during the assault on Fort Destiny and Cyrus won't actually lend any help when you want to destroy the new Eternal camp.
  
  There's also the issue that you're trying to maintain the unity as always. Cyrus is really pushing for this assault on Fort Destiny and doing your own thing this time might be the "last straw" and the last thing you need is to do is start a shadow civil war.
  
  After a lot more arguing, everyone decides to call it a day and make a decision tomorrow. Talia as always says she'll side with whatever you decide, but would prefer if you and Cyrus actually worked together for once. That doesn't exactly help you and you have a hard time sleeping. When you finally do get to sleep you still don't get any rest...
  
  "So what are you going to do Eternal? You and Cyrus continue to clash and it's only a matter of time before things between you are going to end badly." Dendrin remarks.
  "Doesn't take a god to figure that one out." You say.
  "Yes, but it takes a fool to blatantly ignore the obvious. By continuing to not support Cyrus' you're just driving a wedge deeper in the shadow organization that will eventually split you in two. Something I thought you were trying to avoid given that you made such an effort to keep it together."
  "Well someone had to, because you certainly weren't doing it."
  "I'm not here to hold the collective hands of the shadows. As I've said, I've done that already and it was a boring experience. Besides you seem to be enjoying your new leadership role, who am I to take it away from you?"
  "I'm not leader of the shadows, I'm...."
  "Nonsense! You ARE leader of the shadows. Perhaps you're currently sharing that duty with your Eternal peers, but you're clearly the strongest of that group. Talia certainly has potential, but her blind devotion to certain things is her weakness. It clouds her judgement."
  "So she's not worthy because she's so loyal to you?"
  "Not just me, but to you as well. It doesn't occur to her in the slightest that you're keeping secrets or lying to her about your real feelings on the shadows. She just believes you, just like she misguidedly believes that one day she'll have eternal shadow babies with you."
  "Wait, she can't have kids?"
  "No and neither can you. Neither can Cyrus for that matter, though I doubt it that's ever going to come up with him. Don't ask me why you can't, I don't know. I can only imagine it has something to do with how they magically altered you Eternals back in the labs. I'm not a fertility god either, so her constant praying to me isn't going to help."
  
  This sudden news does explain a few things. You're going to have to inform Talia of this at some point, you just don't know when would be the best time. Yet another thing for you worry about.
  
  Dendrin continues his speech
  
  "And for all of Cyrus' bluster of being a shadow he obviously lacks as a good leader. I dare say if you weren't around, the Empire would be on the verge of driving the shadows to extinction right now. He may be better liked than you, but even that's starting to change and it certainly doesn't hold true for any shadow not stationed in your little fort. You've got allies and support in places other than Rask, Cyrus doesn't and it worries him. After all it's well known now that you were the one that heard my warning about Gloom and attempted to save who you could."
  "You didn't warn me, you gave a cryptic comment and it wasn't even one that urged me to return to Gloom. I just told everyone you did."
  "See, lying to the rest of the shadows about something I didn't actually say. You're already doing a great job of following the traditions of shadow leaders!" Dendrin laughs.
  
  Is Dendrin mocking you, is he encouraging you, is it both? You can never quite tell.
  
  "So what are you saying? Are you officially appointing me as the new leader of the shadows?"
  "Official? Since when have you known me to be so formal? And I'm not appointing you as anything; you don't even have faith in me anyway, but if you really want to be in charge just do it already. I'd be careful though, that Cyrus fellow might get the same idea someday soon and I suppose you'll need to decide if the expense of your own ambition is worth keeping the shadows together."
  
  Once again after Dendrin's little mind games you wake up. Whether Dendrin's encouraging you or not, you're going through with you plan and if that hurts Cyrus' fragile ego then you'll deal with it later, because the Empire is still a bigger threat right now.
  
  The next day you tell Talia that you're going through with your plan.
  
  "I figured you would, but you know Brother Cyrus isn't going to be happy about this."
  "Brother Cyrus needs to realize that Rask isn't only front we're fighting the Empire on and get over it."
  "Yes, I know. (Sigh) Well I'll try to keep things stable here while you're gone. Hopefully I can convince him that now is not a good time to assault Fort Destiny."
  "No, I'd rather you join me on this mission. I could use all the powerful shadows I can get, because I'm certainly not going to be able to get any other shadows to join me from here."
  "You want me to go? I mean of course I'll go with you, but aren't you worried about what might happen here if I don't stay to help look after things?"
  
  While Talia would certainly be a great asset to your mission, but she also serves as a bit of a counter balance to Cyrus when you're not around.
  
  > have Talia go with you
  As much as it might be wise to have Talia keep Cyrus in check, you'd rather her come with you on this mission, as you'll need all the skilled help you can get. Talia's shadow magic is certainly more powerful than your own, even though you've found in recent years that yours isn't weak as it once was.
  
  When the pair of you confront Cyrus, he's predictably furious claiming that the pair of you are wasting time and not following Dendrin's plan like you should be. He goes on about how the attack on Fort Destiny should take top priority. You don't bother arguing, it's all been said before and if he wants to do anything about it, then he can try to stop you. He doesn't of course, but there's definitely a hostile glare as you leave.
  
  "You think he'll go ahead with his attack anyway?" Talia asks.
  "If he does, I can only hope he's as determined to drive the Empire out of Rask like he seems to be because that raw desire might just win him through the day. Anyway we'll deal with it after this mission."
  
  Talia and you travel a couple of days to the Quala province and eventually reach the meeting spot at night. There await around twenty shadows you picked which also includes Sister Yvette. You would've picked Brother Theo as well, but you needed someone to coordinate the other shadow cells in Quala.
  
  "As soon as I got the message that you were coming, our other shadow cells got into position to strike out at the other targets across Quala. I assume you're ready to assault the camp brother?" Sister Yvette asks nearly as soon as you arrive.
  "Yes, let's get this over with, because this is going to be pretty grim business. Now I know some of you have already done a few necessary things, but probably not on this scale. These new eternals are only going to be children, and if the rumors are true, hundreds of them. Despite this they will still be dangerous, as they have no doubt gone through some of the Empire's brainwashing techniques and training. You are not to hesitate just because they are young. Slay all of them...for Dendrin." You add at the end.
  "For Dendrin!" the rest of the shadows say in unison.
  "Also be aware that there will no doubt be battle mages around and who knows what else. Let's try to do this as silently as possible until it's no longer an option. Everybody cloak."
  
  Sister Yvette and couple of the other shadows take the lead due to their basic knowledge of the outside of the camp and even some of the interior. When you have to go below ground though, it's going to be anything goes. You know going in that you'll be severely outnumbered, but the whole point of doing it this way is to utilize your strengths which is stealth and terror on a grand scale. Something Cyrus doesn't really get despite his dedication to Dendrin.
  
  Neck snaps, bolts to the head and blades to the back dispatch the patrolling soldiers quietly and quickly. You then move from bunkhouse to bunkhouse slitting the throats of the sleeping soldiers inside. With everyone up top dead, it's time to descend into the underground.
  
  "I'll take the lead for this." You remark. "Everyone remember, we've got a lot of killing tonight, there's A LOT of these new eternals. Try not to speed yourself up unless it's necessary. You don't want to exhaust yourself prematurely. In fact save the magic for just cloaking if possible, we're still going to try this the stealthy way."
  
  You make your way through the underground complex, which is very well made. In fact the solid stonewalls remind you of Gloom...and that might not be a good thing.
  
  "Where do you think they're keeping these new eternals?" Talia asks.
  "I don't know, they have to be around though. I mean I'm a little surprised that they'd all be asleep. As I remember our training we didn't get much of that and were even woken up in the middle of the night to perform tasks." You reply.
  "True, I can still remember Mistress' domineering voice commanding that we all wake up followed by a whip crack...maybe she's not in charge anymore?"
  "I hope she is, I'd like to repay that bitch while we're here." You remark.
  "You don't think they moved everyone out do you?" Talia asks.
  "We've been watching this place for a few months now and just yesterday I saw a large group of those new eternals training up top. I don't see how they could've moved them all so quickly without us noticing." Yvette answers
  "We are underground, who knows maybe they've got escape tunnels. (Sigh) Shit, I really hope that isn't the case, because I'm already concerned with the architecture of this place." You say.
  "What do you mean?"
  "The walls, the archways, doesn't it look a little familiar? Like Gloom right? And who originally made Gloom?"
  "...the Derro." Talia says.
  "Exactly and while I was expecting battle mages or elite guards, I wasn't expecting those little armored juggernauts on legs. Okay fine, we'll deal with it, we just need to decide on what to do next."
  
  Your comment is met with silence, mainly because everyone figures that you're the one to come up with the plan on what to do next.
  
  "Everyone stay here, Talia and I will scout ahead a little bit then come back with a plan." You say.
  
  You and Talia continue down one of the corridors hoping to find something, almost anything really and that's when you finally stumble upon an argument between a derro and a mage at the far end of the corridor. The pair of them don't sense either of you, but there's no reason to be foolish, you and Talia quickly get out of their possible line of sight and you listen for a moment.
  
  "When the hell are you dwarves going to start harvesting those trolls? I want to get on with the enchantment process!" a disheveled looking mage with a scraggly beard says.
  "When Marik's done brewing the last batch of regeneration serum. No point in doing it until then and I'd remind you to watch your words with me wizard." A short figure in heavy armor remarks in a very deep tone. This is the first you've ever heard a derro speak common before, you don't know if that's his voice or his armor causing it to sound like that.
  "Watch my words? I'll do as I please! I don't even want to be here with you rock eaters! Your boss is a mad man that barely knows what he's doing. I swear we were better off with svelk mercenaries as trainers."
  "I'm not surprised you would praise such a decadent race as your own race is decadent as well. You are lucky to even have us as allies due to a pact, now I suggest you go back to your quarters where the rest of your kind may play with your magic lights until you're called upon to actually do something useful for a change. Do not speak with us again until such time."
  
  The wizard nearly says something, but decides not to and storms off in one direction while the derro warrior walks off in the other.
  
  "Well if that's any indication we know where the wizards are and we know where the derro are." Talia says.
  "Yeah, but where the hell are the eternals?"
  "Perhaps we'll find them after we dispatch those two groups first?"
  "I sure hope so."
  "We probably should split up the group and tackle them at the same time, because I'm sure we won't remain stealthy for too long while fighting either group and we certainly don't want the other to come running and attack us from behind when they hear the sounds of battle."
  
  As far as you can tell magic isn't all that effective on the derro and while Talia's an excellent fighter, her superior magic skills would probably be more effective eliminating the mages. You tell her that you'll take on the derro and to go get the rest of the group.
  
  After retrieving the rest of the group, you and Talia part company. Yvette goes off with Talia as well. You're confident that they'll easily succeed in their task, you're a little more concerned with how you're going to accomplish yours though especially if it turns out to be a lot of derro.
  
  Your groups heads off in the direction that you saw the derro walking towards. Doesn't take long for you to start seeing a few of them milling about in the hallways and side rooms. None of the shadows in your group have ever faced the derro before, they've just heard the stories of how they destroyed Gloom. Naturally they want revenge.
  
  "We're not attacking them yet. We'll find a better way... Dendrin always provides a better way." You say which calms them down. You can't believe how effectively either. It's a little unsettling to control a group with just the mere mention of a name, but that's how shadow masters have been doing it for centuries you suppose.
  
  Your group takes to spider walking on the ceilings to avoid the derro, It worked back in Gloom and it works here too. As you creep through, you can hear rumbling and monstrous growling followed by shouting in the derro's language. You follow sound and eventually you reach a large lab area filled with contraptions, a lot of alchemy equipment and several metal boxes of what you would guess to contain very angry trolls. From their growling they sound as horrible as the stories you've heard. You've also heard how strong they were too; whatever the derro got them locked up in must be some very strong material because you can see several punch marks even from this distance.
  
  Several derro warriors stand near the boxes with weapons ready, a few more are standing guard at strategic areas. In the center of all this is another small figure, but this one isn't armored. He's bald with a gray skin color and dressed in a white robe of some sort, which is covered in blood, and several other unidentifiable fluids. He's frantically going back and forth to several tables with mutilated bodies on them, waving a sharp knife in his hand all the while yelling in his language. You're guessing that's what one of these derro really looks like. Certainly less impressive.
  
  You have no idea what exactly is going on here and what it has to do with the new eternals, but you need to attack the derro fast before Talia attacks the mages and causes enough noise for some of the derro to investigate it.
  
  You suppose you and the rest could just drop down from the ceiling in a surprise attack, speed yourself up and hope for the best, but circumstances have given you something else to work with.
  
  It's a simple magic trick that most shadows take for granted, in fact most never really appreciate its uses and that spell is one that unlocks regular locks which the derro have seen fit to use on the boxes they're holding the trolls in. If you did that, you could unleash the trolls on the derro, of course the problem with that plan is you've never faced trolls before and they could be ten times worse than the derro. Not to mention you'd have to deal with both groups.
  
  > drop down for a sneak attack
  Not wishing to add a third unknown element to the fray you decide to just deal with the derro. You signal to your group to speed yourselves up and jump down for the attack.
  
  The derro are surprised at first and due to your unnatural speed, your group actually manages to bring a couple down due to ganging up on them. The problem is you're outnumbered and despite your speed, your weapons are largely still not very effective on them in one on one combat. It doesn't help that the derro begin to haphazardly lob their firebomb weapons in order to stop the shadows from zipping around all over the place. It's sloppy, but effective as you see several of your fellows get caught in the blasts. The derro on the other hand are mostly protected by their heavy armor.
  
  You see the unarmored derro run away to a locked door on the far side of the room, and just when he manages to open it; you shoot him in the back with your armbow, which causes him to collapse to the floor. You don't know where he's trying to go, but he's not getting far.
  
  Unfortunately neither are you as a firebomb lands right near your feet and explodes. You feel the impact and the burning as you go flying in the air. Your death comes quickly when your burning body lands wrong and breaks your neck.