The external walls, the huge walls that I had walked dozens of times and thought unbreakable, were shattered in two places. The gates were sundered and broken, the bones of the dead lay everywhere. A huge battle had taken place here and thousands had died to keep the forces at bay, but in the end, the forces of Chaos had won. I grimaced at one of the sights I saw.

"What is it?" Gareth asked as he studied our surroundings, wary of an ambush.

I pointed to a pile of corpses, "That is the standard of the Third Legion, it was commanded by someone the Empire once called an enemy. He eventually became a general in the Legions and became a good advisor and commander." I told the Dwarf before moving deeper into the city. Fire and death were readily apparent. Gutted buildings lay everywhere from the destruction of the siege and battle that had ensued. I should have been here!!!

Once we passed the outer wall and a few blocks within the outer city, the number of corpses thinned as the fighting had obviously dwindled. The damage to the middle wall was far less apparent. Cracks appeared here and there, but it was obvious from the ruined gates that the invaders had pushed their way in there. The number of skeletons there was staggering compared to the breach points on the outer wall. Considering the invaders had only one point to attack, it was unsurprising.

The gatehouse had been turned into a charnel house where hundreds if not thousands of invaders had died in the attack. The devastation to the city beyond the gate was total. Whole blocks of buildings were just gone, it seemed like the majority of the house to house fighting occurred here. The standards of the Fourth and Sixth Legions were among the dead giving me little hope that the Legions had won. I knew based on the sheer amount of bodies the Legions made the Chaos Warped pay for every inch they took, but the cost was high.

"They don't make them as they used too.' Gareth mused and I stopped confused. 'The military forces that fought and died here. The Black Legions of the Empire of Night, no one has a military-like that anymore. They were unique and no one has ever duplicated it since then. The Iron Guard comes close, but the Legions were absolutely loyal to the Empire and the Emperor." the Dwarf explained and I nodded my head in agreement.

"The Legions were more then what you call a military now, or even back then. It was a professional military, with a cause and purpose. The Legionarys didn't fight for the Empire or Emperor, they fought for the man and woman beside them, for the Legion, for their family. Not for politics." I told the Dwarf making him frown as he studied me but I moved on pushing further into the dead city.

While the devastation in the middle districts of the city was bad, the inner city had been completely leveled. No buildings stood ringing the palace, every building had been toppled and destroyed in the fighting or after. The palace itself looked like a giant had kicked it, whole wings had collapsed. "I have to go in if you two want to stay out here, feel free, but I have somethings I have to look for," I told the two Dwarves as I mounted the steps that led into the palace.

At the entrance of the palace, I finally found the first of the Mechanical Golems. Darrel of course was ecstatic at the find and I just snorted. "Those were made by your people. Every city had a complement of Golems as a last-ditch defense mechanism. They did their job and caused massive casualties among the enemy ranks obviously, but in the end, it wasn't enough.' I told them grimacing at the memories. 'We also developed Mana Cannons and Mortars, self-powered ships, and Air Ships before everything went too shit." I told them causing Darrel's excitement too peak.

"Can we get copies of those designs?" the man asked and I frowned in return.

"Your people should have copies of everything. It was part of the agreement the Emperor had with King Ironbreaker, the Dwarves of the Obsidion Kingdom got copies of all the breakthroughs." I told the Dwarf who frowned and looked away.

"The Gods War destroyed all the Dwarven Depositories, and much of the Archives within the Obsidion Kingdom were burned to ash uring the Duergar siege of our kingdom. We are slowly rebuilding everything but if anything survived here, we could leap ahead a decade or even a century." Darrel replied and I considered his request.

"The City Planning Office was located in the Inner City, that's gone. There might be copies in the Palace Archives or the Seneschals office. I will take you to both places after I have finished my search." I told the Dwarf and he smiled at me as we moved deeper into the palace. Surprisingly I didn't find the banners of the Dawn or Heart Guard, of all the places I expected to find them it would be here in the palace.

"What's wrong now?" Gareth asked as he watched me look around the battlefield, reading it and how it played out.

"There were two elite units that should have been here, but I have not seen either banner. The Dawn Guard and the Heart Guard, both would have fought like demons to protect the palace, yet I don't see their banners or their armor anywhere, just Mechanical Golems and Legionary armor." I told the Dwarf who frowned.

"I never heard of either unit. The Black Legions were well known, but they were the most visible of the Empire's military strength. They might have fallen in another battlefield, the war occurred over the course of fifty years. The battle for this valley didn't happen until the height of the war, about twenty years in." the Dwarf replied and I grunted as I headed down the hallway for the Control Room of the palace.

The devastation was apparent, everything had been heavily damaged or outright destroyed within the room. All the records within the room were gone as well, including all the maps of the continent of Arakon. The last hurt, I had been hoping to salvage them, but...I moved to the command table and shoved it causing the two Dwarves to whistle in surprise. Underneath the table was one of the hidden locations in the palace and it contained some very important items within it. All of it went into my inventory without a second thought or look.

From there I headed for the Master Suite, again there were corpses of Legionarys based on the armor, but no Dawn or Heart Guard. It concerned me and made me wonder. The inside of the rooms was heavily damaged by fire and two bodies dominated my sight as soon as I spotted them. One was the right size to be Cathrine, the other could have been my child based on size. Etched in the stone above the two corpses were 'I win'. My fist slammed into the stonework causing it to crack as I took deep breaths to regain control of my rage but then froze in surprise taking a deep breath and laughing. "WRONG BITCH!!"

"Who was wrong about what?" Gareth asked as he studied the two bodies.

"This isn't my wife or child. A lot of things can change over the years, but a person's scent does not. I have no idea who this woman or child is, but they were not my wife and kid." I told him, which gave me some hope and an indication of why the Dawn Guard and Heart Guard were missing from the palace.

"Well if you are done, can we hurry up and leave?" the Dwarf responded I shrugged.

"We have to stop by the Archives and Seneschals office, but then yeah. We can get out of here." I told Gareth as I picked up the pace, lightened by the fact my wife might have survived the war.

An hour later Darrel was happier than a kid with unlimited access to a candy store. We had found several volumes of intact blueprints of various items, including blueprints for Mana Engines for ships and Air Ships. Given time he was certain they could reverse engineer everything, but based upon what had been lost during the Gods War, the blueprints were several generations ahead of their current standards.

A portal brought us back to the underground kingdom and where I said my goodbye to the two Dwarves. I quickly found an Inn and rented a room for the night. The man running the Inn charged two Silver Marks, but in return, I got plenty of food and beer. As I ate, I pulled up all the notifications from the last twenty-four hours and started reading.

>>

Skill Name: Engineered Weapons

Skill Level: 3

Skill Type: Passive

Description: Engineered weapons, such as crossbows, ballistae, muskets, and flintlocks, require a great deal of skill to use to best effect. Though the similar versions of these tools of destruction can be found in the hands of common soldiers, the more advanced weapons are suitable only for experts trained in their use and maintenance.

Effect 1: Increases engineered weapon damage by 9%.

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Ability Name: Engineered Weapons Precision

Ability Type: Passive

Description: You understand the proper use of Engineered Weapons. Whenever you make an attack, you may use your Intelligence bonus in place of your Dexterity bonus for both to-hit and damage.

Effect 1: Substitute your Intelligence bonus (SS) for your Dexterity bonus (RAS) whenever using an Engineered Weapon.

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Skill Name: Bladed Weapons

Skill Level: 2

Skill Type: Passive

Description: Bladed Weapons, such as claymores, swords, daggers, and cutlasses, can cause massive damage to foes. Bladed Weapons are especially effective against animals and lightly armored opponents.

Effect 1: Increases Bladed Weapons damage by 7%.

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Skill Name: Unarmed Combat

Skill Level: 1

Skill Type: Passive

Description: Fists, legs, feet, your entire body is a weapon that can cause damage to your enemies. This training and learning can also boost your damage with all other weapons.

Effect 1: Increases Unarmed Combat damage by 5%

Effect 2: Increases Armed Combat damage by 1.25%

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Skill Name: Light Armor

Skill Level: 2

Skill Type: Passive

Description: Though Light Armor doesn't offer the same defensive benefits as Medium or Heavy Armor, it is far less bulky and heavy, granting the wearer decent protection while simultaneously offering significantly increased speed, dexterity, and maneuverability. Light Armor is perfect for classes that rely on speed and distance, such as ranged warriors and spell casters.

Effect 1: Increases base armor rating while wearing Light Armor by 9%.

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Skill Name: Stealth

Skill Level: 2

Skill Type: Active

Description: Stealth allows you to creep through the shadows, making you harder to detect by hostile forces. Successful attacks from stealth mode activate a backstab multiplier for additional damage.

Effect 1: Increase the chance to hide from enemies by 9%.

Range: Self

Duration: Until Canceled

Cast Time: Instant

Cost: 10 Stamina

Cooldown: N/A

Skill Name: Dodge

Skill Level: 2

Skill Type: Passive

Description: If you cannot block or deflect an attack, get the hell out of the way. Hopefully you won't die!!

Effect 1: Increase the chance to Evade an attack by 7%.

Range: N/A

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Skill Name: Conditioning

Skill Level: 3

Skill Type: Passive

Description: No pain, no gain. After what you've been through, the little things seem less important.

Effect 1: Pain felt due to effort, status effects, or injuries is reduced by 6%.

Range: N/A

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Skill Name: Dark Eye

Skill Level: 2

Skill Type: Passive

Description: Dark Eye allows you to see even in the poorest of lighting conditions and in absolute darkness, casting the world into a blue haze.

Restriction: Dwarves, Duergar, Drow, Merfolk, Beast Kin, certain Were Races, and Vampires automatically use Dark Eye in near-dark and dark environments.

Effect 1: Increased vision improvement at night or in poor lighting by 10%.

Range: Sight

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

>>

Quest Alert: A Dwarf in Need!

Notice: You plummed the depths and destroyed the Blood Acolyte and his Cultists before he finished his ceremony. However, whoever they were worshipping was not you, or any go or goddess of Ithea. So what exactly are the Blood Cults worshipping and serving? Perhaps time will reveal everything. In return, Gareth and the others promised safe passage through the ancient Obsidion Kingdom. You have recieved 2,000 Experience, your Reputation with Gareth Shieldreaver is now Friendly, you now have free passage in and out of the Obsidian Kingdom.

>>

4 X Level up!

You have (50) unassigned Attribute Points. Attribute Points can be assigned at any time.

You have (4) unassigned Skill Points. Skill Points can be assigned at any time.

>>

I snorted in amusement, the first ten Levels are always the easiest. I dismissed the information and went back to eating.