The apparition at first glance appeared to be little more than a mass of writhing smoke and shadows, if seen under light. In its domain, the black canvas of night and the dark depths, the creature was invisible. Only its smell would give its away; the air around the thing inevitably would reek of the metallic odor of blood, and of the revolting rot of death and the spirit realm.

Shaige looked down at figurine he had brought into his heart. Discarded by some Mutig when the tribe took to worshiping the Keeper, it was this idol that Shaige had used to summon a tribal spirit. Of course, the Loa, as such spirits were called, held little power. They were hardly any wiser than the wild beasts that they had been in life, and so they wielded their considerable power brazenly and unpredictably. They had failed to aid the Mutig tribe in its most dire time, and so Shaige saw any attempt to gain their support through negotiation as futile. Enslaving them had been advantageous, in any case.

By corrupting the animal spirits and coercing them into his servitude, Shaige had created even more powerful minions than could have been hoped for. Like their master, they belonged in the spirit realm, but they were anchored to the world of the living with blood magic. The power of the unholy font, Shaige's dungeon heart, would allow them to move between the spirit realm and this one, albeit with a good deal of effort and a short amount of time. In this way, they would be able to travel undetected and unhindered, until suddenly reappearing where needed. They would be useful for appearing out of thin air, ambushing enemy forces or simply breaking apart formations from within. The more intelligent shadow beasts could be used as scouts or assassins.

If one's vision could penetrate the shroud of darkness that the shadow beasts liked to dwell within, it would be possible to see an animal within the swirling smoke and shadows. The corrupted loas came in many different forms; snakes, bears, wolves, owls. Regardless, they were all lethal. Any claws or fangs that the beasts had possessed in life were still there, ghostly in appearance but all too real. Any wounds suffered at the hands of the shadow beasts would rapidly lead to unconsciousness, then necrosis, illness, and death. Being partially incorporeal, the beasts were far more difficult to slay than living ones. However, their state offered no protection against magic, and light was their bane. Under cover of darkness they were death incarnate; swift, invisible, and dangerous. In the light, however, their hides of smoke and shadow withered. Sunlight and flame could render them dizzy, weakened, and all too visible.

Now that he had invoked this rite in his dungeon heart, more shadow beasts would be created. They prowled the unused tunnels and caverns in the dungeon, hiding from the occasional glow of the pain elementals that also lurked in such places. With the new creature complete, Shaige had time to inspect the status of his dungeon. Between the pain elementals and shadow beasts, he had a fearsome force. Combined with the might of the now trained, drilled, and equipped zealots, destroying the wretched Klug tribe would be easy enough. 

The hawkish Klug warbands would then cease harassing the Mutig, and the display of power would go a long way toward showing the other tribes what would come to those who defied a Keeper. Then, with the forest tribes united, Shaige would be able to look elsewhere for allies without worrying about having a horde arrive at his doorstep and sack the dungeon in his absence. The combined forces of the forest tribes would be enough to stop the Paterdomans crusade, take back the conquered parts of the forest, and then sack the grand city.

The Keeper some time to contemplate why he desired so much to destroy that city. There would be many people there, to enslave and use to further grow his power. Setting such an ambitious goal gave the ghostly Keeper purpose, something that he had desperately sought out since his first moment of existence. Conquering such a great bastion would prove his power, and leave no doubt in the minds of any that he was a Keeper to be trifled with. None of those were the reason. Perhaps with more wondering the ghost would have found an answer, but his musings were violently interrupted. The entire dungeon shook. Already in his dungeon heart, it took the Keeper only a moment to examine his domain and find the cause: there had been a massive cave-in in the uppermost levels of the subterranean city. The denizens of his dungeon did not know this, as the sole exit to the surface was now blocked, but the source of this collapse had been a collision. Some sort of thing had crashed down with tremendous force straight into the rocky hillock above.

Immediately the Keeper knew that this was no normal meteor. Inside his dungeon heart, Shaige was omnipresent. He saw that the thing glowed with a red aura, that it was some sort of crystalline structure engraved with otherworldly runes. He sensed its destructive aura, and the power within, as if he was right next to the artifact. Soran, Fangir, and a few others had taken the initiative to act. The storage rooms were being ransacked for timber. Crude wooden supports were being erected everywhere to prevent further collapses. People on both sides of the collapsed tunnels were trying to clear them out with shovels,pickaxes, and magic. Soran was already barking orders to clear out the way to the entrance, before everyone suffocated. A few had been injured, but for the most part the damage was actually minimal. The wounded would be tended to, somewhere, by one of the druids. Pah! Shaige cursed his oversight, to have not ordered construction of a medical ward before now. He made a mental note to see to that later.

But now, Shaige was distracted. Some foreign entity was attempting to probe his mind from afar, no doubt having sensed the Keeper's potent aura. The conscience tugged at Shaige's mind with an inordinate amount of power, far more than any human and most Keepers could wield, willing the Keeper to leave the dungeon heart and approach the fallen artifact. Warily and begrudgingly, Shaige complied. He himself was curious as to the nature of this artifact, and needed to determine if it was a threat.

Repairing damage caused by collapses: 0/4

[hider=Shaige's Stuff]
[u]Minions:[/u] Soran the imp construct, The Tormenter, Ifrit the Rogue Being, 9 imps, 200 pain elementals, 100 Zealots, Fangir the archdruid, 30 druids, 200 Mutig Tribesmen, 10 shadow beasts
[u]Resources:[/u] Roughly twenty corpses ready for sacrifice. Plenty of coal and ores, and high quality metal tools, armor, and weapons. Dwindling lumber and food supplies as a result of the tribesmen being ordered not to go onto the surface for the time being.
[u]Infrastructure:[/u] Shaige's dungeon is a sprawling, subterranean city. The entrance is in the side of a rocky hill, in the form of a narrow cave concealed with magic. Down below are many twisting corridors and chambers of varying size. Magical lighting is used, so as to not suffocate everyone inside the poorly ventilated cavern. The cave system is massive, and much of it is unused and unexplored. Shaige's dungeon heart is a fountain of blood in the sanctuary directly below his shrine room, deep beneath the surface and the rest of his dungeon. A foundry and smelter are have recently been built. Latrines, barracks, and civilian housing areas are currently being created, expanded, and improved. The forge's exhaust is directed into a large, sealed chamber that Shaige uses as a pen for Ifrit.[/hider]

[hider=Compendium Info:]
[u]Shadow Beasts:[/u] These are the spirits, called loas, that were formerly worshiped by the Mutig tribe. Now, they are corrupted by black magic and bound into servitude to Shaige, the same Keeper that is now the patron spirit of the Mutig. The shadow beasts are weak to any form of light, and are not particularly resistant to magic. However, fighting them in close quarters would be a terrible mistake. Their ghostly forms are very difficult to damage with physical objects, yet their claws and teeth have no difficulty harming the living. The smallest of wounds from them delivers a deadly poison of magical nature, that quickly leads to unconsciousness and then a death by necrosis. Shadow beasts take the form of various animals, blanketed by writhing clouds of smoke and shadow. They possess the power to enter and exit the spirit realm, but doing so takes time and considerable effort.[/hider]