Eternal
Given that you were supposed to be loyal to the Empire and then backstabbed them in probably one of the most traitorous acts in history. What’s one more betrayal? Your situation with Flog, is much different than your situation with the new eternals. With him, you originally caused more problems by keeping him alive. With the new eternals you’ll actually be solving problems by killing them off. It’s going to be tricky, but you’re pretty sure you can do it.
You decide to call a meeting that you have received a message from Dendrin himself and how he has warned you of an impending invasion of giants. Dendrin has told you that you need to march into the mountains and thin out the population as much as possible in a pre-emptive strike since they’d never expect it.
Since this would be a “mission” for the best warriors, several of the new eternals are perfect for it, doesn’t even take much convincing since they’re all practically begging to go. You don’t take them all however, since that might be a bit suspicious. Instead you take all of the ones that you know have been showing the most signs of disruptive behavior. (Which is still most of them). As far as you can tell all of the shadows, human or eternal take you at your word and suspect nothing. The only two you’re concerned about is Talia and Cyrus.
Talia, is a little concerned, that you’re embarking on this dangerous undertaking with several of her “children”, but using the excuse that it is “Dendrin’s will” stirs up no suspicion from her. Cyrus volunteers to go, indeed he assumed he was, but you tell him that he’s needed at Evergloom in case something major happens while you’re away. Cyrus is probably so honored that you’d put him in charge of something so important that he doesn’t get suspicious either.
You set off with around thirty of the eternals and head straight for the Raskian Mountains. You don’t really have plan at this point, other than to wander the mountains long enough killing giants that attrition will take its toll. When the survivor number gets low enough, you’ll take care of the rest personally, and make the trek back to Evergloom alone claiming how you eventually fought a giant king and that everyone died gloriously in Dendrin’s honor.
Before you even reach the mountains you get into combat with ogre tribes, then mixed tribes with a couple giants and ogres. No problems so far, but you’re noticing that a few of the eternals are starting to get a little tired because the fools have been over using their shadow magic. This is going to be over sooner than you think if they continue to not pace themselves.
Tracking giant lairs in the mountains really isn’t all that difficult, just like for the large footprints in the snow and the really big caves. The first few battles go well, but after that, people start getting wounded. A few days go by and exhaustion starts setting in along with hunger. It’s not just tough on the eternal shadows, it’s a challenge for you as well since you’re right there along with all of them. Things start to get interesting when you start facing something more than giants, namely lizard like creatures that breathe gouts of ice at you. These ice drakes are the cause of your first casualties.
A couple more days pass, and you’ve lost a little more than half of your people. Most of them in battle, but a couple of them have died due to the treacherous terrain of the mountains like falling off the side of it. You sort of expected them to whine or at least grumble by this point. They haven’t done any of that, and they’ve followed your orders without question. You’re a little impressed. The fact that so many of them have died on this mission is probably a humbling experience for them; perhaps it has even changed them a bit. You decide that maybe you don’t need to kill them all and just an experience like this is enough.
When you wake up the next day, you call the remaining eternals to order and tell them that Dendrin has visited you and has said that your mission is finished and that the invasion will no longer take place. (You actually feel pretty safe saying that considering how many giant you really did kill!) You then also tell them that Dendrin has looked favorably on all of them for carrying out his orders and obeying their Shadow Master without argument. They seem to like the idea that their god has given them some praise.
As you make your way back to Evergloom, you begin to think about this plan you came up with and while you don’t feel bad about it, you do wonder if there was another way that might not have involved so much death. Still, what’s done is done now, and it seems to have had a desired effect. Probably for the best that you did cut the plan short though since even you are feeling very tired after this ordeal and would like to get some rest in a proper bed. Also reminds you of how you aren’t as young as you used to be either.
The rest of the trip is fairly uneventful until you step into Kragen Pass and then you start to get an uneasy feeling half way through…
A rumbling is heard on both sides of the pass and then several large snow covered boulders are flying over your heads.
“GIANTS! RUN!” you shout.
During your bloody march through the mountains, some of the giants figured you were trying to kill all of their kind. It would appear that when facing potential genocide, the big brutes are able to employ a little strategy in their usually dim noggins, like retreating from the mountains and ambushing you in this pass by throwing big ass rocks at you. Crude, simple, but effective.
Before anyone can speed their way through the pass, the giants block it off by causing a minor avalanche on both ends while continuing to hurl boulders at you. In everyone’s current state of exhaustion, it isn’t long before some of the eternals are crushed.
You try your best to find a potential hiding spot or even a small cave, but there are none. Eventually the barrage of boulders being thrown crushes you too.
The irony in all this is your actions actually cause a massive giant attack on Evergloom in the next few weeks as they seek to preserve themselves from being killed, by destroying Evergloom and the remaining shadows.
You decide to call a meeting that you have received a message from Dendrin himself and how he has warned you of an impending invasion of giants. Dendrin has told you that you need to march into the mountains and thin out the population as much as possible in a pre-emptive strike since they’d never expect it.
Since this would be a “mission” for the best warriors, several of the new eternals are perfect for it, doesn’t even take much convincing since they’re all practically begging to go. You don’t take them all however, since that might be a bit suspicious. Instead you take all of the ones that you know have been showing the most signs of disruptive behavior. (Which is still most of them). As far as you can tell all of the shadows, human or eternal take you at your word and suspect nothing. The only two you’re concerned about is Talia and Cyrus.
Talia, is a little concerned, that you’re embarking on this dangerous undertaking with several of her “children”, but using the excuse that it is “Dendrin’s will” stirs up no suspicion from her. Cyrus volunteers to go, indeed he assumed he was, but you tell him that he’s needed at Evergloom in case something major happens while you’re away. Cyrus is probably so honored that you’d put him in charge of something so important that he doesn’t get suspicious either.
You set off with around thirty of the eternals and head straight for the Raskian Mountains. You don’t really have plan at this point, other than to wander the mountains long enough killing giants that attrition will take its toll. When the survivor number gets low enough, you’ll take care of the rest personally, and make the trek back to Evergloom alone claiming how you eventually fought a giant king and that everyone died gloriously in Dendrin’s honor.
Before you even reach the mountains you get into combat with ogre tribes, then mixed tribes with a couple giants and ogres. No problems so far, but you’re noticing that a few of the eternals are starting to get a little tired because the fools have been over using their shadow magic. This is going to be over sooner than you think if they continue to not pace themselves.
Tracking giant lairs in the mountains really isn’t all that difficult, just like for the large footprints in the snow and the really big caves. The first few battles go well, but after that, people start getting wounded. A few days go by and exhaustion starts setting in along with hunger. It’s not just tough on the eternal shadows, it’s a challenge for you as well since you’re right there along with all of them. Things start to get interesting when you start facing something more than giants, namely lizard like creatures that breathe gouts of ice at you. These ice drakes are the cause of your first casualties.
A couple more days pass, and you’ve lost a little more than half of your people. Most of them in battle, but a couple of them have died due to the treacherous terrain of the mountains like falling off the side of it. You sort of expected them to whine or at least grumble by this point. They haven’t done any of that, and they’ve followed your orders without question. You’re a little impressed. The fact that so many of them have died on this mission is probably a humbling experience for them; perhaps it has even changed them a bit. You decide that maybe you don’t need to kill them all and just an experience like this is enough.
When you wake up the next day, you call the remaining eternals to order and tell them that Dendrin has visited you and has said that your mission is finished and that the invasion will no longer take place. (You actually feel pretty safe saying that considering how many giant you really did kill!) You then also tell them that Dendrin has looked favorably on all of them for carrying out his orders and obeying their Shadow Master without argument. They seem to like the idea that their god has given them some praise.
As you make your way back to Evergloom, you begin to think about this plan you came up with and while you don’t feel bad about it, you do wonder if there was another way that might not have involved so much death. Still, what’s done is done now, and it seems to have had a desired effect. Probably for the best that you did cut the plan short though since even you are feeling very tired after this ordeal and would like to get some rest in a proper bed. Also reminds you of how you aren’t as young as you used to be either.
The rest of the trip is fairly uneventful until you step into Kragen Pass and then you start to get an uneasy feeling half way through…
A rumbling is heard on both sides of the pass and then several large snow covered boulders are flying over your heads.
“GIANTS! RUN!” you shout.
During your bloody march through the mountains, some of the giants figured you were trying to kill all of their kind. It would appear that when facing potential genocide, the big brutes are able to employ a little strategy in their usually dim noggins, like retreating from the mountains and ambushing you in this pass by throwing big ass rocks at you. Crude, simple, but effective.
Before anyone can speed their way through the pass, the giants block it off by causing a minor avalanche on both ends while continuing to hurl boulders at you. In everyone’s current state of exhaustion, it isn’t long before some of the eternals are crushed.
You try your best to find a potential hiding spot or even a small cave, but there are none. Eventually the barrage of boulders being thrown crushes you too.
The irony in all this is your actions actually cause a massive giant attack on Evergloom in the next few weeks as they seek to preserve themselves from being killed, by destroying Evergloom and the remaining shadows.
