Eternal
You still don’t trust the Shadow Guard, but if what he’s claiming is even partly true then it is indeed something you need to warn others about. This idea of mass treason by the Shadow Guard is troubling to you as their reputations for loyalty to the Empire are impeccable…but then Eternals were supposed to be without disloyalty either.
There will definitely be a reckoning after this immediate problem is taken care of.
“Very well, we’ll accept your help, if only because there’s nothing you can do to stop us anyway.” You say releasing the man.
“Spoken like an Eternal. Okay while you track down and face Kane, my brother and sister shadows will create chaos with the orc troops. That should give you plenty of time to kill him and escape.”
“What about Cyrus?” you ask.
“He’ll probably be with Kane discussing strategies as usual, at least I hope he will be. I don’t relish the thought of having to face him myself even with the rest of the shadows behind me. That would be a rather bloody break up and probably not in my favor. But I’m sure you two will have no problems. Let’s get to it shall we?”
At this point you and Edgar reluctantly leave the Shadow Guard to carry out his part of the plan.
“You don’t really trust him do you?” Edgar asks.
“Of course not, but if there is the chance that he’ll help it’s a gamble I’m willing to take. We’re already severely outnumbered and in hostile territory if he was lying then nothing was really lost. Let’s get to Kane’s office, that’s probably where he’ll be.”
You manage to walk through the halls of the fort without difficulty thanks to the face covering helmets. Everyone just assumes you’re just two soldiers going about your routines. When you arrive near the office there are several heavily armored orc guards milling around there. You and Edgar briefly wonder how quickly you can kill them before more come running, but fortune strikes, when another one comes running for a completely different reason.
“Ay! Ay! You guyz! The prisoners have escaped and doze shadoze are in on it! They snuck up and attacked us in our own quarters! Come on!” the orc yells.
“Wha?! Never did trust dat lot! We can’t leave, da boss is in his office!” one of the guard says.
“We gotta tell ‘im anyway!” another guard adds about to enter the office.
“Hey we’ll tell the general and you take care of the shadows. You orcs are tougher so you’ll be able to handle the situation better than we would. Besides you should go get yourselves some payback for what those bastards have done.” You pipe up and say.
“Yeah! Da humie iz right! Okay, you tell da boss and we’ll take care of doze shadoze!” one of them says and they all going running off without realizing a thing.
“You know I’ve been serving along side these orcs for years and it still baffles me how Captain Gruz was so articulate and intelligent when compared to the rest of his kind.” Edgar remarks.
“Wonder about it later, we’ve got more important matters.” You say opening the door, and stepping into Kane’s office.
Kane steps out of his private quarters wondering what’s going on.
“What the hell is going on out there, I heard all this…you’re not my bodyguards!”
“An Eternal shouldn’t need them, but then you’re no Eternal, you’re a traitor!” you shout.
Kane draws his weapon and the fight commences. Kane always was one of the more skilled fighters when he served under you, but it’s obvious that he’s improved even more when he manages to disarm Edgar within moments and knocks him into the wall.
“Why are you doing this brothers!? I’m trying to help us! We could join forces! We could all be a family again! It’s not too late!” Kane pleads while defending himself.
“It is too late for you! You’ve been a fool to believe Cyrus’ lies, where is he?” you yell narrowly missing Kane.
Kane ignores your questions and fights back with less reluctance. Edgar attempts to help you again, but Kane once more proves to be the better fighter, smashing him in the face and stabbing him in the leg. Edgar falls to the floor.
“Cyrus was right, I wasted my time with you! And you never were the great warrior you thought you were!” Kane says almost landing a killing blow on Edgar, but you manage to save him by deflecting the sword blow.
Kane attempts to counter attack but fails and you land a blow across his chest and then another across his face, blinding him in one eye. He drops his weapon and staggers back holding his hand on the gaping bloody wound.
“(Pant) Why…you…I can’t…” he wheezes and tries to escape past you, but you stop him completely by running him through. You wrench the sword upward to slice further into his internal organs. Blood spills out from the wound and onto the floor and your feet. He looks at you with his remaining good eye. Surprisingly, he smiles.
“I…forgive you…broth…” he gasps and dies.
It’s strange; you feel satisfaction for killing a traitor to the Emperor, yet a small part of you feels something else. Sadness perhaps? You turn and see Edgar recovering from his wounds.
“Thanks. Saving me again, must feel like old times.” Edgar says.
“Old times didn’t involve me killing one of us, speaking of which we need to go find Cyrus.”
You and Edgar leave Kane’s office and hear the sounds of chaos filling the halls. A human soldier turns the corner and you nearly decapitate him before he shouts at you to stop. He doesn’t recognize you since you still have the helmets on.
“Hey hold on! I’m human! Man, looks like you guys must’ve fought some of those orc fuckers as well. Have you seen General Kane? He’s supposed to be keeping these idiots under control and they’ve completely lost it!”
“General Kane’s dead. The orcs killed him.” You say.
“He’s fuckin’ dead? Great, he and Cyrus got us into this mess and he’s dead and the other one is missing!”
“Where is Cyrus?” you ask.
“I don’t know, but what I do know is all those Shadow Guard assholes caused all this strife by attacking the orcs in the first place! Then they just took off! At this point I don’t know why I ever listened to this idiotic scheme of breaking away from the Empire! If we get out of this alive, we’ll be lucky if the Empire doesn’t hang us all for treason!”
“You needn’t worry about that, I’ll take care of that right now.” You say and strike down traitor before he can act.
You curse the fact that Cyrus and the rest of his shadows got away, but there’s no way to track them now, so you and Edgar decide to make your escape from the fort.
Your escape is fairly easy. When you and Edgar arrive back at Fort Destiny where Lieutenant Verant says he was just about to send someone up to Fort Defiance to see what happened to you. Your own command is to raise every soldier from Fort Destiny and march upon Fort Defiance.
By the time you arrive, the fort is half in ruins and burning. All the human soldiers have been killed and the surviving orcs have reverted back to their uncivilized nature. It’s a bloody battle, but after it’s all said and done, every orc is slaughtered for their lack of loyalty.
You report the events to your superiors and tell them everything that happened and Edgar backs up the story with his confirmations as well as his own experiences at Fort Defiance. The news is devastating and drastic measures are taken in an attempt to maintain order.
The first thing is Fort Defiance is completely abandoned with no plans to rebuild it. The area falls back under the dominion of giants and ogres once again. The small villages that do exist up there are soon destroyed, as they have no protection at all anymore. Fort Destiny takes up the duty of driving away the monstrous tribes that do wander further south now. The lives of the Empire citizens in the Rask frontier are now as hard as they were when you first arrived at the place.
Next a full investigation is made on every Shadow Guard member, at least the ones the Empire manages to get a hold of. Many openly resist, while other still just make their escape when they can. After a series of major decisions, the Shadow Guard is purged, even some of the ones who claimed their undying loyalty. Their number, while small to begin with, is reduced to zero and bounties are placed on the few that escaped. Including Cyrus.
As for the orcs, their kind is spared from any sort of major investigation, though it might be because most of them are serving on the front lines of Felkan War and enough of them are getting killed there to thin out their ranks. Not to mention they’re generally not seen as intelligent to be as much of a major threat and it was only due to the manipulation of Cyrus and Kane that they turned. Still, they are watched and they are never to be stationed in such a way that they outnumber human troops again. Questions still abound to as who allowed such orders to transfer so many to Fort Defiance in the first place.
Oddly even though Cyrus and to a lesser extent Kane were the leaders of this attempted secession, no Eternal is investigated. If anything you’re rewarded with a medal for your service to the Empire. Edgar isn’t though for some reason.
You maintain your post at the Rask frontier though Edgar is transferred to the Felkan front. You say your goodbyes to him on a friendlier note this time, which after what happened with Kane, you’re glad to do.
Your position at Fort Destiny is less monotonous now, but its a thankless one as always. The citizens in the area still complain and protest even though you’re protecting them. And despite all their precautions and attempts to crack down on order, the events at Fort Defiance are just the beginning of what the Empire has yet to experience in the years to come.
There will definitely be a reckoning after this immediate problem is taken care of.
“Very well, we’ll accept your help, if only because there’s nothing you can do to stop us anyway.” You say releasing the man.
“Spoken like an Eternal. Okay while you track down and face Kane, my brother and sister shadows will create chaos with the orc troops. That should give you plenty of time to kill him and escape.”
“What about Cyrus?” you ask.
“He’ll probably be with Kane discussing strategies as usual, at least I hope he will be. I don’t relish the thought of having to face him myself even with the rest of the shadows behind me. That would be a rather bloody break up and probably not in my favor. But I’m sure you two will have no problems. Let’s get to it shall we?”
At this point you and Edgar reluctantly leave the Shadow Guard to carry out his part of the plan.
“You don’t really trust him do you?” Edgar asks.
“Of course not, but if there is the chance that he’ll help it’s a gamble I’m willing to take. We’re already severely outnumbered and in hostile territory if he was lying then nothing was really lost. Let’s get to Kane’s office, that’s probably where he’ll be.”
You manage to walk through the halls of the fort without difficulty thanks to the face covering helmets. Everyone just assumes you’re just two soldiers going about your routines. When you arrive near the office there are several heavily armored orc guards milling around there. You and Edgar briefly wonder how quickly you can kill them before more come running, but fortune strikes, when another one comes running for a completely different reason.
“Ay! Ay! You guyz! The prisoners have escaped and doze shadoze are in on it! They snuck up and attacked us in our own quarters! Come on!” the orc yells.
“Wha?! Never did trust dat lot! We can’t leave, da boss is in his office!” one of the guard says.
“We gotta tell ‘im anyway!” another guard adds about to enter the office.
“Hey we’ll tell the general and you take care of the shadows. You orcs are tougher so you’ll be able to handle the situation better than we would. Besides you should go get yourselves some payback for what those bastards have done.” You pipe up and say.
“Yeah! Da humie iz right! Okay, you tell da boss and we’ll take care of doze shadoze!” one of them says and they all going running off without realizing a thing.
“You know I’ve been serving along side these orcs for years and it still baffles me how Captain Gruz was so articulate and intelligent when compared to the rest of his kind.” Edgar remarks.
“Wonder about it later, we’ve got more important matters.” You say opening the door, and stepping into Kane’s office.
Kane steps out of his private quarters wondering what’s going on.
“What the hell is going on out there, I heard all this…you’re not my bodyguards!”
“An Eternal shouldn’t need them, but then you’re no Eternal, you’re a traitor!” you shout.
Kane draws his weapon and the fight commences. Kane always was one of the more skilled fighters when he served under you, but it’s obvious that he’s improved even more when he manages to disarm Edgar within moments and knocks him into the wall.
“Why are you doing this brothers!? I’m trying to help us! We could join forces! We could all be a family again! It’s not too late!” Kane pleads while defending himself.
“It is too late for you! You’ve been a fool to believe Cyrus’ lies, where is he?” you yell narrowly missing Kane.
Kane ignores your questions and fights back with less reluctance. Edgar attempts to help you again, but Kane once more proves to be the better fighter, smashing him in the face and stabbing him in the leg. Edgar falls to the floor.
“Cyrus was right, I wasted my time with you! And you never were the great warrior you thought you were!” Kane says almost landing a killing blow on Edgar, but you manage to save him by deflecting the sword blow.
Kane attempts to counter attack but fails and you land a blow across his chest and then another across his face, blinding him in one eye. He drops his weapon and staggers back holding his hand on the gaping bloody wound.
“(Pant) Why…you…I can’t…” he wheezes and tries to escape past you, but you stop him completely by running him through. You wrench the sword upward to slice further into his internal organs. Blood spills out from the wound and onto the floor and your feet. He looks at you with his remaining good eye. Surprisingly, he smiles.
“I…forgive you…broth…” he gasps and dies.
It’s strange; you feel satisfaction for killing a traitor to the Emperor, yet a small part of you feels something else. Sadness perhaps? You turn and see Edgar recovering from his wounds.
“Thanks. Saving me again, must feel like old times.” Edgar says.
“Old times didn’t involve me killing one of us, speaking of which we need to go find Cyrus.”
You and Edgar leave Kane’s office and hear the sounds of chaos filling the halls. A human soldier turns the corner and you nearly decapitate him before he shouts at you to stop. He doesn’t recognize you since you still have the helmets on.
“Hey hold on! I’m human! Man, looks like you guys must’ve fought some of those orc fuckers as well. Have you seen General Kane? He’s supposed to be keeping these idiots under control and they’ve completely lost it!”
“General Kane’s dead. The orcs killed him.” You say.
“He’s fuckin’ dead? Great, he and Cyrus got us into this mess and he’s dead and the other one is missing!”
“Where is Cyrus?” you ask.
“I don’t know, but what I do know is all those Shadow Guard assholes caused all this strife by attacking the orcs in the first place! Then they just took off! At this point I don’t know why I ever listened to this idiotic scheme of breaking away from the Empire! If we get out of this alive, we’ll be lucky if the Empire doesn’t hang us all for treason!”
“You needn’t worry about that, I’ll take care of that right now.” You say and strike down traitor before he can act.
You curse the fact that Cyrus and the rest of his shadows got away, but there’s no way to track them now, so you and Edgar decide to make your escape from the fort.
Your escape is fairly easy. When you and Edgar arrive back at Fort Destiny where Lieutenant Verant says he was just about to send someone up to Fort Defiance to see what happened to you. Your own command is to raise every soldier from Fort Destiny and march upon Fort Defiance.
By the time you arrive, the fort is half in ruins and burning. All the human soldiers have been killed and the surviving orcs have reverted back to their uncivilized nature. It’s a bloody battle, but after it’s all said and done, every orc is slaughtered for their lack of loyalty.
You report the events to your superiors and tell them everything that happened and Edgar backs up the story with his confirmations as well as his own experiences at Fort Defiance. The news is devastating and drastic measures are taken in an attempt to maintain order.
The first thing is Fort Defiance is completely abandoned with no plans to rebuild it. The area falls back under the dominion of giants and ogres once again. The small villages that do exist up there are soon destroyed, as they have no protection at all anymore. Fort Destiny takes up the duty of driving away the monstrous tribes that do wander further south now. The lives of the Empire citizens in the Rask frontier are now as hard as they were when you first arrived at the place.
Next a full investigation is made on every Shadow Guard member, at least the ones the Empire manages to get a hold of. Many openly resist, while other still just make their escape when they can. After a series of major decisions, the Shadow Guard is purged, even some of the ones who claimed their undying loyalty. Their number, while small to begin with, is reduced to zero and bounties are placed on the few that escaped. Including Cyrus.
As for the orcs, their kind is spared from any sort of major investigation, though it might be because most of them are serving on the front lines of Felkan War and enough of them are getting killed there to thin out their ranks. Not to mention they’re generally not seen as intelligent to be as much of a major threat and it was only due to the manipulation of Cyrus and Kane that they turned. Still, they are watched and they are never to be stationed in such a way that they outnumber human troops again. Questions still abound to as who allowed such orders to transfer so many to Fort Defiance in the first place.
Oddly even though Cyrus and to a lesser extent Kane were the leaders of this attempted secession, no Eternal is investigated. If anything you’re rewarded with a medal for your service to the Empire. Edgar isn’t though for some reason.
You maintain your post at the Rask frontier though Edgar is transferred to the Felkan front. You say your goodbyes to him on a friendlier note this time, which after what happened with Kane, you’re glad to do.
Your position at Fort Destiny is less monotonous now, but its a thankless one as always. The citizens in the area still complain and protest even though you’re protecting them. And despite all their precautions and attempts to crack down on order, the events at Fort Defiance are just the beginning of what the Empire has yet to experience in the years to come.