Dage’s Horsemen: Undervoid
The Arena's Price
In a separate challenge in the Undervoid, Dage welcomes the Hero to an arena few are skilled enough to find. Its champions are the Horsemen of the Undead Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death, whom he calls some of his most loyal servants. Those who defeat them will earn riches and rewards, but Dage promises something more valuable to a survivor: a truth about his plans. The arena exists to test the strength, skill and endurance of the person who might earn that secret.
Before facing the champions, the Hero must complete four warm-up assignments. Dage begins with Dark Makai in the Underworld, then sends the challenger against Good soldiers and chaorrupted Evil soldiers in the Alliance area. Legion Fenrir provide the final preparation. His approval comes in stages: each success brings another demand until he finally declares the Hero ready for the Horsemen. These four assignments precede the four champion quests; the later daily gauntlets and badge challenges are additional training, not extra victories required to reach the story's revelation.
Conquest comes first, representing the righteousness and victory Dage demands of a successful champion. War follows, embodying a bloodier willingness to win at any cost. Dage urges the Hero onward after each defeat. Famine's challenge tests the willingness to spare nobody, and Death's demands the courage to defy the judge of the afterlife itself. The encounter triggers establish this order: defeating Conquest leads toward War, War toward Famine, and Famine toward Death. The final seal completes the arena trial.
The Secret Behind the Challenge
With Death defeated, Dage praises the Hero and lets gold and gifts rain down. Then he explains why he built the arena. He has been looking for someone able to accomplish what he cannot: enter a realm closed to him and retrieve something he cannot reach. Victory over the Horsemen has convinced him that the Hero might withstand the journey. The reward ceremony becomes an invitation to another dangerous undertaking.
Dage describes a vicious creature chained deep within the seventh circle of the Underworld. It once brought misery across Lore, and he studied necromancy under Nulgath while unknowingly sharing the ArchFiend's interest in its movements. He says he was forced to watch Nulgath subdue and seal it away. When the Hero asks what the creature is, Dage answers that it is his soul. According to him, half remains in his armor and animates it, while the other part struggles to return from captivity. He promises anything to the person who can break its chains and restore him.
The revelation gives Dage's promises of future power a specific purpose. He expects reunion with the captive part of his soul to make him unstoppable, and he needs the Hero to pursue it. That remains a proposed expedition: the arena victory does not free the prisoner or reunite his soul. This account also leaves the relationship between the imprisoned half and the Dark Shard unstated. Its closing invitation allows for helping Dage rise or opposing him in the name of Good; neither future course has been completed here.