Dark Alliances: Dage, Malgor and Nulgath

No Alliance

An uncredited voice describes a future of everlasting war and death. At the Soul Forge, Malgor asks Dage to stand with him when the time comes and keep the Underworld armies out of his way. Dage refuses, saying Malgor plans to break the cycle by eliminating all life on Lore.

Dage says he saw something Malgor did not. Though he commands the Undead Legion, he says he values the living side and the balance between life and death, and vowed not to become the end of that balance. Malgor ends the exchange without an alliance, but insists he will still get what he wants.

In his Dark Ally briefing, Dage says he might have sided with Malgor before seeing the future. He now recognizes himself as part of the balance and says Malgor means to destroy it and take the Underworld. Dage asks the Hero for help dealing with the threat.

The Legion prepares for the incursion by clearing shadows and lighting torches, then mining diamonds and granite from wandering golems to make stronger armor and weapons. At the Soul Forge, the raw materials become empowered gear for soldiers who need it; fresh souls from Dark Makai replenish the Forge. Dage then warns that Shadowflame forces are arriving.

The Legion's Hold

As the shadows thicken, Dage orders another sweep through the front and rear ranks, asking for forms that survive long enough to be brought back shredded. He also orders the Hero to punish Legion defectors and bring their souls to him. In his related dialogue, the Underfiend says it did not want to betray the Legion but will not stay on the losing side; Dage calls it a coward and says the enemy knows the Legion's secrets and how it operates.

The recovered souls must be cleansed: Dage sends the Hero to a Pyromancer for Frozen Fire, then asks for infernal coal from the golems to keep the needed flame supplied. With the bonfire lit, its fire can cleanse the shadow from those souls.

At the Soul Forge, the community account describes spirit orbs rising from burning skulls and flowing into Malgor's soldiers. The authored images show armored figures amid white light and dark effects, followed by two clearly skeletal Legion soldiers. The Hero is surprised that it worked. Dage says he knows his Underworld and that Malgor was foolish to think the Legion could be permanently turned against him. Yet he tells the Hero that not everyone has been reclaimed: the Underfiend remains under Malgor's influence.

The final task is to find and defeat the Underfiend. Dage says it has lost; the Underfiend asks whether Dage will cleanse its soul and take it back, then rejects that prospect and says it chose this side. It says other familiar faces have made the same choice. Dage lifts it by the neck in the community account, then attacks: the authored silhouette shows his weapon meeting its torso. He regrets losing a strong strategist. When the Hero asks who the Underfiend meant, Dage says he does not know but suspects they will find out soon.

After the defeat scene, Dage's NPC dialogue reuses his earlier rebuke that the enemy is a coward and knows the Legion's secrets and methods. That repeated state text is not a second encounter or evidence that the Underfiend returned. The final exchange then gives both “We strike now” and “The Legion’s forces have been softened up for us” to the unidentified ??? speaker; Nulgath alone adds that the Legion will not expect another attack so soon.

The Underworld Is Contested

Nulgath warns that the fight for the Underworld will be long, though he believes the Shadowflame Army gives his side the advantage. Dage says Nulgath appeared after Dage refused Malgor’s offer of alliance, and insists that the Legion will not let the realm fall into enemy hands.

Preparing a Fire for the Forge

Dage first sends the Hero to clear living shadows and darkness from the walls.

After the first shadows are cleared, the scene turns to Nulgath before the Soul Forge. The Forge is described as the hinge on which the Underworld rests, and its souls as a potential source of immense Shadowflame power if they all turn to shadow.

The Hero then fights the shadow swords and melts their metal into gear for the Legion. The other intruders cannot be smelted, so Dage asks for their souls as forge fuel; even after they are brought back, he says they remain tainted with shadow.

Dage also targets the Makai, whose carried stones let Nulgath keep a connection open with the Void and bring in reinforcements. He says taking the stones will slow that process, not that it will seal the connection. He then wonders whether armor taken from Shadow Voids could protect the Legion from the shadows and asks to test the idea; the response is only that it is worth a try.

For the next step, Dage doubts that the Frozen Pyromancer’s fire used in the earlier cleansing will work again, but hopes he can help find something stronger. The Pyromancer reminds the Hero that they fought him the previous week, then agrees to help this time and points below the Underworld to a pocket of intense flame he calls the Underflame.

The Pyromancer has the Hero collect molten Underlava, sulfur dust from the imps, and ghostly coal from the walls to feed that flame. The mining and gathering awaken the Underflame Guardian; the Pyromancer asks the Hero to defeat it so it will not take its anger out on him. Once the Guardian is beaten, he hands over the flame and sends the Hero back to Dage.

Reclaiming the Soul Forge

Dage says the returned flame should be bright and hot enough to cleanse the Forge. He asks the Hero to remove the shadowy minions near it first so the Legion can reclaim it more smoothly, then tells the Hero to light the fire. After the shadows burn, Dage declares that the Underworld will not belong to anyone but the Legion and says Malgor cannot take it through Nulgath or anyone else.

The Never-Bow scene follows the burning of the shadows and precedes the Shadow Nulgath boss quest. Dage argues that Nulgath would never willingly bow, then accuses him of pretending to ally with Malgor to take the Underworld, only for Malgor to see through the plan and make Nulgath his against Nulgath’s will. Nulgath insists he has still won and that Dage no longer rules the Underworld; Dage replies that Nulgath has not taken it from him. These remain their competing claims before the fight.

The Shadow Nulgath Encounter and Its Aftermath

Dage calls Nulgath a would-be usurper and sends the Hero to defeat Shadow Nulgath and reclaim the Soul Forge for the Legion.

When Nulgath boasts that Dage will never defeat him, Dage answers that he does not need to defeat Nulgath himself. Blue-white fire glows at Dage's hand. “I just need to defeat HIM,” he says. The confrontation leaves Nulgath on the ground in his familiar form. Nulgath then admits that he tried to use Malgor's army to take the Underworld, but Malgor used him instead and the shadows changed him.

Nulgath asks why Dage did not destroy him. Dage says that Nulgath has a role in the world’s balance and is the Void, so he matters too. Nulgath says Malgor wants to destroy everything; after Dage says they must preserve what they can, Nulgath agrees that they have to destroy Malgor. Their exchange records a reason for sparing Nulgath and an intention to oppose Malgor, not a completed victory or permanent alliance.