Material retrieved from original Zone caches available at http://web.archive.org.
Original Link (now dead) - http://www.zone.com/asheronscall/news/ashenewsdarkness1.asp
Darkness Ascendant
March 7, 2000
For months, floating Crystals and Shadow creatures have held stations in the wilderness, arranged like pieces in a game. Now they have mobilized. Rumored to have emerged from the earth, strange, twisted citadels hover over the land near several towns, and a vast, bat-winged figure is now regularly seen flickering like dark lightning amid the storm clouds. Have Dereth's heroes forced the leaders of the Shadows into some sort of desperate stand, or are these merely the opening moves in some larger and darker conflict?
Continuing our commitment to bring you a major new chapter in Dereth's saga every month, we introduce the March event! A relative calm prevails despite the ghastly floating citadels and other omens. Dereth's heroes have managed to extend the reach of civilization, so builders have constructed festival grounds in outlying areas and even a magnificent wedding hall to host the mass ceremonies traditional in the spring. Master Smiths tinkering with crystal fragments and shadow gems have managed to incorporate them into superior suits of armor. Perhaps most significantly, the Asheron's Call developers have embarked on a project to refine the graphics engine, introducing colored lighting effects and amazing new Drudges and Golems. The world of Asheron's Call will come into even sharper focus over the coming months. Thanks for joining us in the adventure!
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Spire2.jpg | A menacing, spirelike citadel floats over the crater it formed when it erupted from the earth. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Lightdark.jpg | Side by side, a brazier and a portal showcase the new colored lighting upgrade. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Sneak.jpg | The game now features this revamped model for the common drudge. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Olthoidark1.jpg | Green light reflects from the carapace of an Olthoi. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Olthoidark2.jpg | Here we see similar lighting from all angles. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Magmadark.jpg | The dread magma golem illuminates the hallway as it descends on an adventurer. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Obsidiandark.jpg | The obsidian golem's many fine, sharp edges gleam in the torchlight. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Wood1.jpg | To make a wood golem, the Empyrean had to dismember a tree. Obviously, this does not make the tree happy. |
| File:Darkness Ascendant - Water1.jpg | The water golem now appears as a translucent, glittering cascade. |
| ?? | When a sandstone golem is on a mission, the drudges tend to hang back and see how things go. |
