Eternal
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.
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.