It was the time of the Falling Water in the year of the Scorpion. In walks the advisors looking around, they notice the figure as one. A look of fear then rage crosses their face at the sight of the figure sitting in the throne. Gradla asks, "Who are you? What have you done with the King?" The figure "I am Shadowmage. I am your king now. I have replaced that pathetic oaf that was you king some months ago. You may remember when it happened. I started the kingdom of its path to greatness. I grew tired of the other form and decide that now I will return to my true form. Have not you gained much from my kingship?" The advisors gather together and talk quietly. Gradla "We will accept you as our king. If only because you could probably crush us like the desert beetle under your heel." Shadowmage "Yes that's true. This changes nothing; it just frees me up to use, umm, other abilities that I have. I want the youth of the land tested for the ability those that have it will be trained." Gradla says, "Yes my King." Gradla bows and all the advisors leave.

Shadowmage moves back to the throne and sit. A wave of Shadowmage's hand and the room is filled with darkness. As the room clears a change has happened to the throne room.� A light of indiscernible source, casting the whole room in shadow, fills the whole room. From the corner of ones' eyes shadowy forms can be seen moving about. With a wave of a hand Shadowmage calls forth the Sphere of Blackness and starts to scan the shire making plans. This goes on for days as plans are made and put into motion. The news of the new King quickly spreads across the kingdom and is face with some fear at first but then with the aid of a little gold it is quickly accepted. After the shook life quickly returns to now for the people. A sense of pride quickly form to know that they too now have a mage King as their leader and world conquest is with in their reach.

Siting upon the throne looking into the Sphere of Darkness, Shadowmage forms contact. Across the Land in the Throne Rooms of all the Kingdoms a black sphere appears with the image of Shadowmage in them. Shadowmage says "Greetings (Friend, Enemy, or undecided, take your pick). I am the... replacement of King Vul Dragna. I am the new King of the Sand People. I plan to rule this world. Those that help me will be reward well and those that stand in my way shall watch their armies die, their cites burned and me sit upon their thrones as they are executed. Make you decision." the sphere fades away.
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Shadowmage waves a hand and the Sphere of Darkness appear and bird eye view of a mountain. Two small armies can be seen going up different sides of the mountain each attacking a village. The defenders repulse one; the other army over whelms the defenders and start to set up a garrison at the village. Shadowmage "Ah I see my first victim has come my way. He shall be a challenge I think. Well I don't have time for him now I have other stuff to take care of now." Shadowmage waves his hand and the view changes to that of a jungle and two men can be seen moving through the underbrush. One is a tall broad shouldered man who wears a Fur loincloth, fur boots and a thick leather girdle; hanging from the girdle is a large two-headed battle-ax. He breaks his way through the underbrush with ease. He said, "Sith were are you leading us?" The other is a short dark skinned man with black kinky hair cut close to his head, wearing black tunic, pants, boots, gloves, and cloak. Sliding through the undergrowth leaving not a trace of his passing said "Morgoth I heard that there is a great treasure somewhere in this god forsaken jungle and I will find it if it kills us." A smile crosses his face.� Morgoth replies " Oh we are, are we? Well what I would not give to be out of this hell hold." Shadowmage said' It is done!" Shadowmage waves his hand and darkness can be seen descending over the pair of travelers. They look up, Morgoth grabs his axe and daggers appear from no where into both of Sith's hands.

Darkness surrounds the pair and when it parts they stand in the throne room of Shadowmage.� The pair quickly moves back to back, the whole time neither of their eyes leaves that of Shadowmage's.� Shadowmage says " Do not fear, I am Shadowmage and I have summoned you here to offer you a� ... um... better way of making your fortune." Sith says, " How is that?" Shadowmage replies " Serve me and I will give you your hearts desire. All I require is that you act as generals in my armies. " Sith replies " I have no desire to lead an army anywhere. I work solo.� O.K.� And anyway how do we know you are telling the truth?" Shadowmage waves his hand and a pile of gold and gems appear in front of each man. Shadowmage said, " this is only a small token of what will be yours if you join me. Sith, I can offer you more and the chance to use your skills and to work with out fear of being hunted down for anything you do.� Morgoth, you I offer the chance to fight, to battle such odds as you never dreamed off and to lead others to glory unheard of before." Both of the men listen, after Shadowmage finishes the two talks quietly to each other.� After a few minutes Sith finally say, "Ok we agree. We see that it would be in our best interest to go along with this plan, not that we have much choice." Shadowmage replies "Oh you have a choice you just would not like the alternates I think."� The two pale at the last comment. Shadowmage say, "I will have rooms prepared for you."
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Shadowmage waves a hand a shortly a servant appears she looks startled at the presence of the two men but quickly recovers. She said, "You called my lord?"� Shadowmage replies� "Yes have some rooms prepared for my guests. Gentlemen, if you will follow her she will show you to your rooms." The men follow the servant lady out of the throne room. Shadowmage sits on his throne looking at the doorway after they leave and thinks to him self. "Yes they will do nicely. They will advance my plans and if the start to bulk at what I have them do well we know what happens to old tools." Shadowmage stands and moves behind the throne and slips into a door hidden behind the throne, into a room that even the old King did not know about to an ancient room. The room is line with shelves of books one sits open on a workbench in the center of the room. Shadowmage moves over to the book and looks down at the notes beside. The top page reads The Construction of the Blade. Shadowmage thinks, " What power reside in this room. Who would have thought that at some time these people were ruled by a mage more powerful then even then he and me left all of this to be found. What could have happened to him? With this one spell I can put such power into the hands of Sith and Morgoth. How could my armies ever lose with them at the head? So much knowledge so little time." Shadowmage begins to study the book.

As the month passes, young men from all over the kingdom comes to the capital to join the army. Some hear of Morgoth the Bloodlord and come to join him as his personal guard. Sith gathers together a few like-minded of his fellows from the seedier side of town for his upcoming mission. The testing of the kingdom for those that showed the Talent brought two youths to Shadowmage's attention. Shadowmage began to work closely with they youths. Training them to the job of searching the lesser books of magic for anything that could be of help. On the front may battles were fought some won some lost.

Shadowmage sit upon the throne staring into the Sphere of Blackness, a scene unfolds in frount of him. An army can be seen moving into the hills of Eastern Hoth. As the scouts crest the first hill a large humanoid shape of stone rises up out of a concealed cave and slowly lumbers towards them. Shadowmage says "A Stone Golem what I would not give to know the making of one. Maybe just the lost art will be found in the books." The scouts quickly fall back and warn the captain of what is ahead. He quickly begins to call out orders the militia. They form up and attack the creature from all side, falling back as it turns to attack them. Using this hit and run technique for about an hour the creature is finally defeated. The army quickly moves on and finds that the citizens welcome them with open arms, for the creature has been terrorizing the area for some time. A government is quickly set up and the area is garrisoned. Shadowmage says to himself "Very good. New land to aid me."

A wave of a hand and another sense is shown. A militiaman is slowly sneaking across the boarder when out of the sand surrounding the unit sandmen wearing the colors of Mayhem. A quick and bloody battle follows, the Militiaman drop two of Mayhem's men but are cut down from behind while finishing the second man.� After the battle, Mayhem's warriors cut off the head of the militiaman and toss it back across the boarder. Shadowmage thinks, "I will take care of you later." Just then there is a knock on the door. Shadowmage looks up and says, " Come in." The door opens and in walks Gradla. He says " My Lord, it is time for the ceremony." Shadowmage nods his head. A wave of his arms and both him and the Sphere of Blackness are gone. Gradla looks around startled, shakes his head and leaves.

Shadowmage waves his hand and another area appears; this one a desert region called Northeast Mailcan. A lone militiaman set out on a scouting mission. As Shadowmage watches, two forms raise from the sands on either side of the man. Both are wearing a pelt of some animal the color of the sand that made them almost invisible in the sand. They quickly set upon the man with such fury that is seldom seen. They shrug off attacks as if they were the wind. They quickly tear the man to shreds. After the battle as one they throw back there heads and gives a howl and set upon the body. Shadowmage hisses "Werewolves... This will take a little more preparation to handle this. Enjoy your victory it will not be long."

Shadowmage waves a hand again and the scene changes again. The border of South Eastern Mailcan is shown as a militiaman moves across the border. He is set upon by a group of kobold with thick leather collars around their necks. The militiaman is quickly ripped to pieces as fear sets upon him for he has seen nothing like this before. Shadowmage thinks to him self. "Hmm. That looked too organize to be just some local infestation I am not ready yet to have to battle on two fronts." Shadowmage waves his hand and shortly there after a servant appears at the door. Shadowmage says," Yes I would like a messenger prepared. He will leave within the hour." Shadowmage waves a hand in dismissal. Shadowmage looks back to the Globe of Blackness.

On the outskirts of town, many of the citizens gather waiting for their king in front of the four story tall inn. There is a stable to one side that can hold 50 horses and the inn itself will be able to house 200 people. On the appointed hour a shape steps from the shadows of the new inn where none was before. The people give a gasp then a cheer as Shadowmage climbs the stage beside the inn. Shadowmage speaks softly but easily heard across the crowd "My good people we are here to day to open this new inn. This Inn will bring us much new trade and revenue. It is just the first of many new structures that we will set out to build. Shadowmage walks over to the sign hang in front of the building and pulls off the cover revealing a ring of people dancing around a dune. Under the picture it reads The Dancing Dune. Shadowmage says, "I now declare The Dancing Dune open for business and the first round is on me." The people give a cheer and start to file into The Dancing Dune. It quickly fills up and a good time is had by all. Shadowmage moves to the shadows and vanishes into them.

Shadowmage steps out of the shadows into his throne room. He waves hi s hand and a sha dow detaches its self from an d moves forward to a desk set to one side of the room. The shadow pulls a piece of paper from a drawer, a quill and ink well from another draw. Shadowmage speaks "Dear Ararargh. I would like to apologize for the misunderstanding on the border you share with South Eastern Mailcan. I had no knowledge that you were in control of that land. I believe that it would be in both of our interest to forget that it happened, of course you would be repaid for any losses that you may have suffered. I would like to also offer you an alliance. I believe that we both have other things on your mind, as I know that I do. End. Ok have a copy prepared for my signature." The shadow pulls another sheet of paper and quickly copies the paper over. Shadowmage moves forward and signs the paper as the shadow blends back into the shadows. Shadowmage waves his hand and a servant opens the door. Shadowmage hands him the message Shadowmage says "have a messenger take this across the South Eastern Mailcan boarder to Ararargh the leader of that land." The servant takes the letter bows and leaves.

Shadowmage waves his hand and the Sphere of Blackness appears and the throne room of Stargazer appears. Shadowmage said, "So my Lord have you thought my proposal over? The trading of information and it does not hurt to have a friend in other parts of the world if things start to go ... bad." Stargazer says, "My Lord Shadowmage I think that it would be advantageous to us both I agree I will draw up the treaty and send to you for you agreement and to be signed."� Shadowmage says, "I thought you would agree, my Lord, until we speak again." A wave of Shadowmage hand and the scene changes to that of the throne room of Wandor. A startled look crosses Wandor's face as he says "My lord Shadowmage. I have received the treaty and all is in order. I have signed it and getting ready to return it to you." Shadowmage " My Lord there is no need for that." Shadowmage reaches out his gloved hand reaching into the Sphere of Blackness. His hand can be seen in the scene extended to Wandor. Wandor gives a more startled look and slowly holds out the treaty and places it into the hand of Shadowmage. Shadowmage pulls his hand out of the Sphere of Blackness holding the treaty. Shadowmage says, "Thank you, my Lord. You will not regret this. Till we meet again." Shadowmage waves his hand and the Sphere of Blackness vanishes.

It was the time of the Gathering in the year of the Scorpion. Talks with Ararargh continue and finally come to an agreement. He will be paid reparation for the 'accident'. An alliance may even be in the works if everything goes the way I plan. As Shadowmage sits upon the throne deep in thought an insistent know is heard from the door. Shadowmage says, "Come in." The door opens and Gradla walks in and goes to one knee. Gradla says, "Lord, I have bad news. Dom has fallen." Shadowmage shouts " What? How did this happen? Who is to blame for this?" Gradla speaks softly "My Lord we are not sure the reports are sk etchy. From what we gather a small band of Mayhem's men lead by someone made a midnight raid against the mountain home and killed all our men. Even though our men were surprised, they still managed to kill some of the attackers. The only reason we know as much as we do is because one of the men was left for dead as they pacified the rest of the shire. He was able to crawl away across the board and passed on his message. The man who received the message killed his horse getting here. My Lord, Morgoth is near there he can be there by the end of the month I think it will not cause to much hardship taking the land back my lord." Shadowmage replies "Go. I will give you my orders in a day I must think on this and out guess my opponent on this it may be he is trying to draw me out."
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About a week later again there is a knock on the door as Shadowmage is coming from behind the throne. Shadowmage closes the secret door and says "Enter." The door opens and Gradla walks in and bows. Gradla says, "Lord, I have news." Shadowmage replies " Well what is it. Gradla replies "My Lord, there has been an attack in Eastern Hoth and a creature has come out of Northern Hoth. At first it was thought to be a refuge from another kingdom, My Lord. But shortly after 'he' arrived the deaths started. Sith was there so started to investigate what was happening. He found out that the 'refuge' was a werewolf and called out the guard. They thought they had it trapped but it escaped and lead them on a merry chase all over the shire, my Lord. They finally killed it in the early hours of the morning, my lord, but not before they lost one full unit worth of men, my lord." Shadowmage replies, "I'm glad to hear that's that all we lost it could have been worse. Have Sith take his men and see what is the cause of this and handle it." Shadowmage waves his hand in a dismissal. Gradla bows and backs out of the room, closing the doors behind him. Shadowmage moves to the throne and sits saying to himself, "Fate, you warned me that there would be problems caused by changing the time line. So far they have been minor. I am glad for that but they do seem to be getting worse, but how much worse will they get?"

It was the time of the Death in the year of the Scorpion. Shadowmage paces the throne room. Finally there is a knock at the door. Shadowmage waves a hand and the doors slide open. In walks Gradla leading to servants one carries a short sword with a gold handle and a black diamond set as the pummel stone. The other a double-headed battle-axe with ebony shaft and leather grip. The servants place the weapons upon the desk and back out. Gradla bows and follows the servants out closing the door behind him. Shadowmage waves his hand and a table of shadows appear in the center of the room, another wave of a hand and the short sword floats to the table and lands lightly. Shadowmage reaches into his robe and pulls out a book. Shadowmage lays it open on the bench. Shadowmage begins to chant as the shadows deepen till the walls or the throne of the throne room can not be seen. Shadowmage begins to study the book for a few minutes the Shadowmage begins to chant again and gesture. An unlight of blackness begins to form a ball above the sword; a beam shoots down and strikes the blade. Where it strikes it etches a rune into the blade. The beam moves slowly down the blade leaving runes in its wake. The beam moves to the tip of the blade and there is a bright flash and the ball of unlight is gone.