Senani gathered his group and took the guild portal to Drowmere. He telepathically informed Fred that he may be needed once they arrived at the undead city, otherwise to keep a watch out for bodies. They would be sent to the Mausoleum if Senani wanted them raised. The group then began the trek through to the underworld. After discussion with Haren and Unagi, the area Haren came from was closer, so Senani decided Haren should lead, she knew the way to her guild better than any of the others and that would be their first stop. Senani hoped to recruit the entire assassin's guild into House Sloth. If they were unwilling, Unagi was a master assassin, she could always challenge for leadership. They would gain the guild one way or another.
After travelling for 15 miles going ever deeper into the cave system, they happened upon a midnight beast. A midnight beast is a hybrid between an orc and a dark elf. They were generally treated as unintelligent beasts and killed on sight by members of either race. They had the facial features of an orc and the skin color of a dark elf yet were large than either. Unagi explained what they were about to approach to Senani, Senani spoke to the midnight beast, "I am Overlord Senani, Emperor of House Sloth. (Senani thought that the title held great weight after Sugbu used it. He decided this is what he would call himself.) I have been informed of the plight of your species. Join with me and I will ensure you and all of your kindred are safe."
The midnight beast spoke, "I am called Inky. If you truly seek to help my species, then come to my home, dark elves attacked us, and I ran away in fear. Please save us."
Senani and his group then drew their weapons and followed Inky, Haren hid in the shadows as they travelled, as a master assassin, she was completely invisible. After traveling a few miles, they could hear the echoes of the battle and the screams of the dying. After another mile they arrived at the town. Senani charged into the fray, fully extending his aura. Only his minions and the leader of the dark elves remained standing against the might of his aura. Everyone else bowed and could not raise their heads. To try was to court their own deaths. The leader seeing themselves outnumbered spoke to Senani.
"You are clearly not from here or you would not have dared to attack me. I am Guntere, leader of The Great Lich Kings dark elves in this land. To attack me is to affront the King. Release my people and I will allow you to live and leave this place."
Senani commanded Haren to kill Guntere. Such insolence could not be allowed. Guntere died before even realizing that a threat was nearby. All his minions heard the thud but could not see what had happened. Senani then sent the body to the Mausoleum and spoke. "I am Overlord Senani, Emperor of House Sloth, the dark elves that join House Sloth will be spared, all others will be killed. As for the midnight beasts, you are released, but I will kill any who attack these dark elves, they are mine to deal with. I wish to speak to your leader as I would also allow you to join House Sloth, however, if your leader desires not to, no harm will come to you. With that said, all of the midnight beasts were again able to stand."
After seeing the death of Guntere, all the dark elves swore fealty to Senani. Senani put them under the command of Haren. He stationed them as well as his companions at the entrance to the settlement they were in. He hoped this would put the midnight beasts' minds at ease. He again spoke, "I mean you no harm, I have saved you from the threat of the dark elves. I wish to discuss the future with your leader."
A male midnight beast spoke, "We have no leader. We die everywhere we go, we thought going this close to the surface we would be safe, but even here we were hunted down. I have no doubt you can keep us safe while you are here, but what happens when you are gone? Who will protect us then?"
Senani replied, "If you have no leader, then I would suggest you follow Inky for now. They may have fled, but they inevitably brought me to you and saved your entire tribe. I will post soldiers here to protect you, and I will bring in warriors to train you. In return I ask that you join House Sloth, and once your borders are secured and you can live in peace, recruit others to join you and pay 5% of your gains as tribute to me. I will have a guild hall built in this village to more quickly allow my troops to come to your aid. Does anyone object?"
No one spoke. They did not desire to follow Inky, but with the promises Senani made, they had no choice. It was truly the only way they would survive. Senani then called to Dmitri. He and his house guard appeared beside Senani. Senani asked Dmitri to oversee the building of defenses for this settlement. He would train them when Senani moved on. He also sent for 50 undead humans to come to build the guildhall and help with building defenses. As there were only 40 midnight beasts, Senani's people already outnumbered them and made them feel as though they were about to be imprisoned. Senani summoned Zorin. She appeared beside him and created a guild portal where the guild hall would be made. She then returned to her duties with Sugbu.
Senani then spoke to Inky in private, "I do not know if you have any desire to lead, but these people needed a leader. With the aid of my people your people will be safe. If you do not wish to lead, a proper leader can be found to replace you once this settlement is secured. My undead will remain until you are able to defend yourselves."
Inky replied, "I do not know why you're helping my people. The dark elves could have offered far more wealth than we can. But we are grateful. I will make sure the others in the village come around and realize how lucky we are you intervened. I will try to make this a real settlement for you."
With that, Senani turned around, teleported the dead bodies to Fred, and continued the journey toward Haren's home. Fred let Senani know that Guntere and the others were raised after they had travelled around 1 mile. In total he had gained 15 undead midnight beasts and Guntere. This would not have been a battle; the dark elves came to slaughter the midnight beasts. The midnight beasts were sent back to Dmitri. They would be placed under Haren's command once trained and armed. The group traveled another 20 miles before they encountered another creature. Unagi telepathically informed Senani that this was a gray dwarf, they looked like hill dwarves but were gray in color. They hated dark elves.
Senani had Haren and the other dark elves step back behind the last bend so that the grey dwarf would not see them. He greatly desired the aid of the grey dwarves, as he knew they would have far more resources than most cities in the underworld. Dwarves were exceptional miners and craftsmen. Senani took Kaz with him and approached the dwarf. Senani allowed Kaz to speak.
Kaz said, "I am Kaz, leader of the mercenaries of House Sloth. We come from the overworld, where do you hail from?"
The dwarf replied, "Me name be Grup. I live in Mithril city. Why you here?"
Kaz replied, "I have come on behalf of the Emperor of House Sloth, we need strong warriors and seek trade and alliances with those of the underworld. We especially desire the aid of the dwarves. You're smithing and mining skills are legendary."
Senani telepathically told the others to go back to the midnight beast's settlement. Once he and Kaz were done, they would meet up. He wanted to do whatever it took to get the grey dwarf's aid.
Grup replied, "I can take ye to door of Mithril City. Boss say if in you come."
Senani and Kaz followed Grup. They were glad they had chosen to send the dark elves back to the midnight beast's camp. If the gray dwarves say the dark elves or Unagi, they will never open the doors of the city.
When they arrived at the door of the city, Grup knocked three times. The guard then spoke, "Who is out there?"
Grup replied, "It Grup. Me have 2 who want see boss."
The guard looked through the peephole, saw it was a human and a minotaur and went to get the King of Mithril City. People from the overworld rarely moved around the underworld freely. This proved to be quite interesting to the King. He came down as soon as he got the news.
Senani received a notification, "Bear and the pack have come out of their cocoons. They have all evolved." Senani was ecstatic. He could not wait to discover what bear and the others had become. He could not summon her, but he could talk to her. He spoke to her telepathically. Bear replied, "We are all were beasts now." Senani then told her to bring the pack to train with Maximus in their human form. He would teach them how to fight.
When Senani finished talking to Bear, the King arrived at the door.
The king said, "It has been many years since I have seen a human and I have never seen a Minotaur though I have heard of your kind. What do you want in Mithril City?"
Senani replied, "I am Senani Emperor of House Sloth. I seek allies, I seek recruits for my mercenary group as well as my army, and I seek trade."
The king replied, "Emperor eh, Mithril City selects a king by battle. If you truly seek to expand your empire, why not challenge me? Then Mithril City would be yours. House Sloth would not have to trade, you would own it. Lose and I will take you as my slave."
Senani chuckled and spoke to Kaz telepathically. He said, do you think Flint would be interested in ruling Mithril City?
Kaz asked Flint. Flint replied, "If ye let me take the other undead dwarves from the mercenary group with me, I'll rule for ye. In me life, I'd never thought I'd be livin with grey dwarves."
Senani asked Kaz if he was willing to allow the dwarves to live in Mithril City. Kaz agreed. Senani then summoned Flint and spoke to the King of Mithril City. "I do not seek to rule Mithril City, but I do have a challenger. The dwarf named Flint will accept your challenge to claim rule of Mithril City.
The king chuckled and accepted. He then opened the gates and led the trio to an arena. Senani and Kaz were taken to seats to witness the battle. The King went to get ready to fight Flint. Flint went into the arena to wait. After an hour, the King returned. He had two guards with him. The three went into the arena together. Seeing this, Kaz and Senani ventured down by Flints side and Senani spoke. You said he would fight you, why are there three of you?
The King again chuckled and responded, "There are three of you, once we kill him, we would have to kill the two of you anyway. We might as well kill you all here and do a group battle. If you win, you will claim my crown and rule here unhindered."
Senani and Kaz pulled out their weapons and prepared for battle. Kaz charged at the dwarf on the right, Senani charged at the dwarf on the left, and Flint rand straight for the King. The dwarves stood still and were rather relaxed, they were sure they would win, they had poisoned their weapons. If they got a single hit in, they just had to outlast their opponents. The King thought this would be simple.
Senani parried each blow of his opponent, waiting on him to reveal an opening, eventually the dwarf aimed his head down slightly. Senani stabbed through the opening in his helmet, killing him instantly. Senani then put his sword in its sheath and stepped back. He was confident in Kaz and Flints abilities to win. Kaz and Flint were fighting full out. Kaz parried each blow, his might strikes nearly knocking the weapons hands. Flint bowled the King over when he charged. It was only then that the King noticed Flints eyes were burning with a red fire. Flint swung his might battle axe straight through the king's helmet and head. At the same moment, Kaz had swung both swords directly under his opponents' helmet, cleanly cutting it off. They had easily won the battle. Senani grabbed what was left of the king's helmet and gave it to Flint. The bodies were then sent to Fred. Senani called the undead dwarves to them. They would be Flints honor guard. They then walked out of the arena trying to find the path to the castle.
In coming out of the arena following the paths they eventually saw a huge building carved into the wall, this had to be the castle. They proceeded to it. The grey dwarves began to come out of their homes to see what was going on. The guards drew their weapons. Flint spoke," I have defeated your King. I now command this city. He held up the helmet of the King, it was created with a crown on top. The dwarves nearby could clearly tell what it was and bowed immediately to the new King. They then made way so he could enter his new castle.
Once inside, Flint took control. He had each of the grey dwarves removed from the castle. Until he had evaluated them and knew who he could trust, he would only allow his undead family to enter. He then spoke to Senani. "Looks like this be a huge Dwarven city. Ye will get a guildhall, I'll send ye 25% of the wealth here as me thanks, 5% of what we gain in tribute after. Mayhaps they be a guildhall already, if so, I will make it into a House Sloth guildhall and me people will join shortly. We will need a portal. I will also send you all the bodies in this city, be they dwarf or other."
Senani summoned Zorin. He asked her to create a portal wherever Flint decides, then to continue whatever she was previously doing. Senani then was notified by Fred that the corpses were raised. He summoned them in and placed them under Flints command. Senani then informed Haren and the others that they were ready to travel. Senani and Kaz then headed back to meet with the others.
On the trip Kaz spoke, "I have been a loyal servant of yours Senani. When we are done here, I would ask for a favor. I want to create or conquer a minotaur clan in the overworld. I have heard of one many miles to the east of where we reside. I will utilize the same terms as the other kings, and I will continue to train your mercenaries if you allow me to."
Senani replied, "I would be honored for you to do so in the name of House Sloth. If you need any resources let me know, you can take as many troops as you feel you need."
Kaz thanked Senani. At this point they were at the meeting point. As there was nothing else to do, Senani and Kaz sparred and practiced their skills. Within a few hours the others arrived. They then continued their journey to the viper assassin guild. According to Haren they were only 20 miles away now. They continued in peace.