Upon the arrival of Octavius, the Dungeon Keeper listened eagerly to the elaborated report. Or at least he began listening eagerly, but quickly his attention began to turn back to the battle raging in the village. He gave a quick response, [b][i]"This information will prove valuable. We will wait a while and see what grows of the seeds of strife that you planted; you have done well. I will have to give you some sort of reward for this, but first, let us pay a visit to the newest lands of my domain."[/i][/b]

The Keeper waved a hand, and the room began to fade away. A few moments later, another fiery explosion appeared in the town square. This one came with no meteor or other form of warning; it was just a byproduct of powerful magic that heralded the warlock's arrival. When the dust settled and the flames vanished, the figures of the Master and his company were visible.

Taking a moment to observe the scene and take in all the carnage, he rubbed his palms together and absolutely radiated some sort of sick delight. The cobblestones of the square had been sent flying by the meteor and had knocked down several nearby buildings in conjunction with the fire and blastwave. As in for the defenders that had rallied in the square, most of them were simply gone. Massive explosions didn't leave much behind, though those on the outskirts of the plaza were only crisped as compared to obliterated. A few spatters of blood and burned limbs littered the scene. But for all of that destruction, it seemed like his own minions had managed to survive!

The Master raised his staff and rifts began to appear on the blackened ground. From those portals burst out imps, the little red devils rushing to secure the are and look for loot. Many carried manacles and chains freshly forged from the materials gathered from the last raid; since most of the town's civilians had cowered in their homes, there were plenty of prisoners to take. Notably the veritable horde of little demons was even larger than before. Having nothing better to do with his time, the Keeper had been summoning additional imps using the sacrificial victims he had claimed from amongst the last village's enslaved population. Still, as the little imps surged out and swept through the place he couldn't help but notice how pathetic they were. The imps had their purpose, but they were weak and all looked down upon the miserable things. He would soon need to see about getting some more fearsome and formidable creatures to serve as his grunts.

Casually waiting until the last remnants of resistance were suppressed and all of his champions eventually found their way to the plaza, he addressed his horde.

[b][i]"Well, this could have certainly gone more smoothly, but in the end it turned out well enough I suppose...of course, without Shukra's guidance the orcs let some fleeing peasants escape. I will need a volunteer or two to hunt them down before they reach another settlement, so that they cannot draw unwanted attention to us. There is also the matter of who will govern this trashpile of a holdfast. And the matter of what to do with those who were too cowardly or incapable of taking charge this battle. Anybody care to chime in?"[/i][/b]

It was then that the Keeper sensed something strange. It was certainly powerful and malevolent, but it wasn't [i]his[/i]. This being wasn't one of his champions...he turned to look for the source and saw Cold Stare. [b][i]"Ah, a wraith of some sort! Well, it would seem that you've helped with the taking of this town and avoided conflict with my other followers, or else I would have sensed you earlier. Well, you've stumbled right into the greatest army of darkness that this world has seen! Tell me, would you care to join our band of reapers and conquerors?"[/i][/b]