If there ever comes time when you need to know what you’re fighting for, then you’re due a visit to the ruins of what was once one of the most amiable suburbs in our proud city: Eastgate. Families lived there. Happy families. Happiness has been erased and replaced by cataclysm.

Travel to the lip of Grendel’s Gulch and you will see what happened to their homes, their lives. Ruins. Desolation. The Hollows is a place of pitiless, soul-rending devastation. Eastgate is a bustling community no more. If the site of this wasted terrain doesn’t fill you will a burning desire for vengeance then you are a hero without a heart.

Once the time comes, your contacts will ask a great favour of you. They will ask you to head into the Hollows and to defeat the evil that you find there. Make your way to The Hollows via Atlas Park or Skyway City, but be wary: hazard zones are not playgrounds; they are places you can expect to go into facing constant danger. Only the toughest and most committed of wrongdoers will make these places their home and the Hollows is no exception. As you tour the hills and ruins you will find yourself facing challenges undreamt of in the relatively well-policed boulevards of the city proper.

Even before Eastgate’s dark fate, this was a place of contrast. That contrast remains, and is perhaps even stronger thanks to the ruins that now sprawl across one side of the district. Not far from the scene of this devastation is one of Paragon City’s many areas of outstanding natural beauty. The rocky crags of Eastgate Heights loom vertiginously over the wide, calm waters of Red River. This backdrop that once inspired artists, now inspires sadness and contemplation of justice. The heights are a popular location for heroes who want to withdraw from the wreck of a town and consider their resolve in the fight against evil. The timelessness of mountain and river are perhaps even more moving now, set against the great transient human loss that has taken place below.

Yet nowhere in the Hollows can said to be truly safe – so watch your back. With the combined efforts of the Outcasts from Steel Canyon and the Trolls from Skyway City, the Hollows will know no peace. Worse, the depths of Grendel’s Gulch plays host to a sinister network of subterranean tunnels, now inhabited by the gang-members who so brutally struggle for control of this zone. They are, of course, well beyond the long arm of Paragon City’s police department. The Security Chiefs can do little more than try to contain their violent actions and to drive them down into the tunnels. These dark holes are where heroes alone must venture. The tunnels are where mettle will be tested, where spirits will sputter like candles in the wind. There are darker things than the pitch black of caves lurking deep down in The Hollows.

They say that despair is the condition of a man who thinks his goals are too big for him. Many men have despaired when they have witnessed the devastation of what was once Eastgate, but as a champion of Paragon City you must know that no goal is too big. Eastgate is where you can start making a difference. Do so.