Draiss was glad that the shadow stalker squads were in SS drone bodies, instead of their usual high quality ones, as it was clear those forms were going to not be getting out. All they were doing was blasting as deep as possible, dropping both free floating and wall mounted sensors, which would be distributed throughout the fortress plane as it shifted about. More than half the shadow stalker drones were gone, and most of the target drones were destroyed already, though the high quality combi-drones were functioning fine, the fortress apparently unaware of them for the moment.<br/><br/>Turning back to the story, he shrugged, before nodding to the fortress. "You all know my story, of fighting the Marilith Verdelet and dying there. I originally thought that she had created a faulty portal to a hell plane. However, I now think that not only was the portal not faulty, I think she pulled something through it, though I lack proof other than that I have a couple Beyonder artifacts that resonate with my own divine spark, though it is a poor resonance. It is close, but different. Niara here is still resonating, and I have felt a similar resonance from the marilith, Svala, and the assassin goddess that is working with Verdelet. The blackguard is the only surviving being from that room that I haven't checked for resonation due to not being able to find him."<br/><br/>He summoned the locket that Ama had given him, as well as a ring that just had a taint, but wasn't 'active' as the locket was. He then nodded to the fortress, which had just finished destroying the last of the shadow stalkers. Of the twenty four shadow stalkers that had gone in, nineteen had been recovered, the others destroyed by the oddly well controlled balefire that the fortress had used against them. "That thing resonates so strongly it is disrupting my attempts to find the Marilith and her allies. Judging by Inari's story and how strong the Beyonder taint is, I think that it is not a fortress, but a cocoon or a protective shell, to protect the entity inside until it has healed enough to come out. Though considering that it has been at least thirty four millennium between the fight and now, it might have just enough power to sustain and protect itself, but not enough to heal."