The knock at the door echoed through the stone room and Rian motioned the man dressed in black plate mail at the door to open it. Sheathing the curved scimitar he had been examining, the man opened the doors to reveal a towering faceless one with eyes that were windows into an endless pit of darkness. Black fire swirled around him, forming screaming, tortured faces until the Alpha Shade dismissed them.
“How may I serve master?” the Alpha Shade asked, its piercing cold voice visibly shaking the guard at the door, who took one step back from the Alpha Shade.
“You will assemble the shades to relay their information to the Underlord here and follow any orders he gives you, that is all.” Rian commanded.
“Yes master.” The shade spun around and left the room, upon its departure the room seemed slightly warmer. The creatures were useful because of their innate ability to remain invisible to humans when they wished. Only creatures of the underworld or those touched by a demon could see them against their will. The downside of the shades was they could not physically interact with any other creature, even those from the underworld.

The day was long as Rian lead the Underlord to the map room and they examined the huge circular map spread on the table in the centre of the room. When the plans to defend the keep were complete they started discussing how to keep the surrounding lands free of the fool king’s guard. Rian used his magic to summon up the Underlord’s forces from the underworld. Every Underlord was given an area in the Underworld when they were granted their position. Due to the ambitions of all denizens of the Underworld, Underlords always had armies of the foulest creatures and beasts to serve as the defenders of their sanction and also as an army to invade and capture the sanctions of other Underlords to spread their influence over the other Underlords and in hopes of earning the protection of one of the almighty Overlords.

Once the Tralercs were ordered out to patrol the outer mountains, led by the Underlord, Rian left the map room and proceeded to his bedroom. The doors closed and warded against physical and magical touch he turned to observe his room and jumped at the sight of a woman who bore the marks of a demonic mage, a lesser demon, possibly an
Underlord judging by the lack of power he felt emanating from her. She raised a hand and a dark ball of energy hurtled towards him, which Rian easily dispersed with one gesture of his left hand and successfully binding her in draining threads of pure essence.
“You are a fool to challenge me now tell me your purpose here before I kill you on the spot.” Rian demanded.
“My name is..” she screamed as the ropes pulsed and wracked her body with pain, “I was sent by the king, he said I would be pardoned for my pact if I helped him locate a demonic mage believed to reside in this area.” So the king thought this worm could defeat him? But he couldn’t kill her or the king would know something was amiss and he was not yet ready for direct conflict with the king. Rian cast binding wards on her and she straightened, her body deadly still.

As soon as he dispelled the wards on his door a shadow formed a skinny man who bowed, “ You called me master?”
“Yes you will possess this woman and travel to the king, when you arrive tell him that she did not discover anything and refused to do his bidding. As soon as the king has her slaughtered you will take up a post in the royal throne room and relay your reports to the Alpha Shade, understood?”
“As my master commands.” with a bow the man was once again a shadow which flew into the woman’s body and she rose. She was still alive and therefore her memories were still intact so the shade would have no trouble finding the king and making the performance believable.

Rian warded the room once again after the shade left and sat on the edge of his bed, the fact that the king was consorting with demonic mages to find him meant that the old fool was feeling Rian’s attacks on his beloved city. Suddenly Rian felt like a bit more sport and those guards surely missed him. With a smile Rian conjured a gateway into the eternal blackness of the Void and stepped inside, in a flash the gateway disappeared and screams echoed through the night somewhere in halls of the king’s castle.