When Jacob and his party showed up with a covered cart, his Seneschal was a little curious. When she saw what was under the cart, she was pissed. He had thought he had seen her mad when he went through the Underdark without an escort, this was an entirely different level of pissed. She was even starting to attract a crowd, which is what Jacob had tried to avoid by covering the cart in the first place. "Enough Seneschal Eiloma Silverleaf, this decision is not yours to make. We will discuss this inside. Now, close your mouth and wait for me in the Hall. The rest of you, I am sure your duties for the day DO NOT include standing around and listening to an argument between the two of us. Get back to work or be sent back to the Tomb in disgrace." with that Jacob signaled Snaggletooth and Chalxae to take the Dwarf into one of the spare rooms in the back of the Hall while he asked the Shaman to continue to Heal him if he could.

Jacob strode into the Hall, he was mad now. He hated treating his people like crap but the Seneschal outburst had left him with little choice. She looked like she was about to start yelling again, but he beat her to it. "Do not ever talk to me that way again in public. I know I am very relaxed in how I run my House, but do not ever mistake my kindness and familiarity for weakness or your right to yell and scream at me in public. Ever. Now, we are safe. The dwarf had his eyes bound and was in a magically induced sleep. He will not wake for some time. He had been imprisoned for an unknown amount of time and tortured and abused by a Necromancer and a Death Knight. We killed them and freed him. He will only be staying here long enough to heal, then we will escort him to the edge of my territory and let him make his way home. I have no plans at sending him to the Tomb nor Binding him to my House. He does not know who we are or where he is. He will not learn of this, and we will help him heal, so he can go home. Now, my Seneschal, you will make sure his door is Guarded at all times. You will make sure he does not come out and nobody goes in unless they are delivering food or healing. He knows his eyes will be bound at all times. Do you understand your duties Eiloma Silverleaf?" Jacob finished his rant with a growl. She simply nodded her head and refused to look at him. The walk back to the mining area had been a quiet affair. None of the Bonded had ever seen Jacob really mad, and none have ever been on the receiving side of his anger. They, of course, saw flashes of it during battle, but that was to be expected, having it directed at one of them was something new. "Jacob, you need to let your anger go. If you do not, when we go into the mine, and I am pretty sure we will face a fight again, someone if not all of us will die if you do not gain control of yourself." June silently told the seething Vampire.

Jacob took a deep breath and then slammed his fist in the wall. Small cracks spidered outward from the impact point. He was sure that several of the bones in his hand had fractured or broken but due to being a Vampire and not currently in combat, he would rapidly heal such wounds. "You are right June and thank you. None of you are to blame for what happened back there and holding onto my anger will lead me to make stupid mistakes. Thank you for reminding me of that." June simply smiled at him before waving him on.

Five minutes later they appeared in front of the door that led into the Silver Mine. This door didn't look as worn or time ravaged as the Iron Mines entrance had been.

Attention...

Do you wish to reopen the...Silver Mine of Midnight? Yes/No

Know this, once the mine is open nearby Monsters within the Underdark can move in and occupy the Mine.

Know this, it has been...275...days since the Mine has been opened. The Silver Mine of Midnight is in an Unknown state of repair.

Hmmm, who had been in the Mine recently. Maybe the Sisters when they built their Fortress?? "Ok guys, it looks like this Mine was opened less than a year ago. So we should not have to deal with Undead this time. Chalxae, same deal as last time. Scout out the immediate area and report back. Stay safe." Jacob made sure everyone was on the same page.

The Drow just nodded and activated Stealth as she entered the Mine. 5 minutes later she reappeared "We have goblins, mostly level 10 to 13 range. Should be easy for us, but they have a lot of them, and they have been stockpiling a lot of raw ore within near the entrance area. It is all in boxes and carts waiting to leave."

Shortly after they entered the Mine, everything changed. Instead of charging the first Goblin that saw them waved them over and started talking "Finally you are here. Bossman has been waiting for you. I take you to the Boss. You come." Jacob was confused as he looked at his bonded, he thought he was going to have to kill these guys and now they wanted to talk to him....weird. They quickly descended down to the second floor, they passed two dozen Goblins and one Hobgoblin overseer. Sitting at a desk was another Hobgoblin, fat and ugly was how Jacob would describe him. With him were two level 15 Goblin Warriors.

Name: Edreg Goldtooth, Hobgoblin

Level: 22

Class: Master Miner/Boss Overseer

"I expected to see a representative of the Sisters or an actual Clan member. Who the hell are you, folks." Edreg called out to Jacob and his party.

"The Sisters of the Damned that had a fortress near here, are now dead and the fortress was razed. I have built a new fortress there and now own these mines. So why don't you tell me who the fuck you are Hobgoblin." Jacob should have been more diplomatic, but between the Hobgoblins attitude and what had happened earlier, he was in no mood to deal with overconfident bastards that thought their position meant they had actual power.

Edreg started to snarl a response that would have started a fight but Jacob suddenly moved and Moonlight was laying across his throat, June had an arrow pointed at one Guard and Chalxae suddenly appeared behind the other guard with one dagger aimed at his kidney while the other was at his throat. "Choose your words with great care, they could prove to be your last. Nod if you understand."

The Hobgoblin slowly nodded and gained control of his temper before he got them all killed. "I apologize for my lord for my rude behavior. The Sisters are a cutthroat Clan and if you show them any weakness they take advantage of it. I had an arrangement with them to mine the Silver of this mine for them with a portion of the profits going to my Clan. I would be more than willing to work out some arrangement with you."

Jacob thought a dark part of him wanted to cut the bastards head off. Something about him just made Jacobs skin crawl, but he needed a work crew to run the mine. With them, he could start making a profit and could start making plans to pay his people and provide an additional incentive for the Unbounded to stay. So he withdrew Moonlight from the Hobgoblins throat and thought it through and decided to make him an offer. "This is the deal I am willing to offer you, if you do not want to take it you will leave without anything. My offer is you get 15% of the Silvers worth back to you, if you find anything else in the mine such as jewels or other precious metals or items, they belong to me but I will pay you 25% of their worth. You will keep a strict accounting of all finds like that and the first time you cheat me, you will no longer receive the 25% but 5%. The second time, your contract will be terminated with extreme prejudice." Jacob said the last with as much venom and rage he felt.

"I agree, mylord. I will trust that you will make sure any profits that are owed will be returned to us. Just leave it at the entrance of the mine in the carts we use will be an acceptable arrangement mylord. I do believe we have an Accord." Edreg responded. Jacob nodded to the words of the Hobgoblin. "I will expect our payment every two weeks mylord. Every two to four days what we have mined will be left near the entrance. If we mine or find anything special it will be left in a marked crate that will be labeled. It is nice doing business with you." with the business arrangement made, Jacob and his companions left. He needed a bath after dealing with the slimy bastard, and he needed to talk to Jigibs about making a smelter, so they could melt down Silver Ore, so they could use it. He also would need a vault built sooner rather than later.

Business Arrangement Made...

Between: Lord Jacob Longstrider and Overseer Edreg Goldtooth

Goldtooth will receive 15% of Silver worth

Goldtooth will receive 25% of any other materials or items

Payment must be made every two weeks

If Goldtooth cheats Longstrider he will lose 20% of profits from any other materials or items permanently

If Goldtooth cheats Longstrider a second time, the contract will be terminated (with the implied threat of Death to Goldtooth) As he neared his home, Jacob thought he should have had Thorgron hire some general laborers to run Ore from the mines to the Fortress. Expecting the workers to mine ore all day then have them bring it back with them, might be expecting a little too much. Construction on the wall was progressing well with nearly half the new wall done and all the old wall torn down. With the work scheduled to be complete in two days, Jacob thought they had been doing a good job. He quickly found the Goblin who was directing everyone as usual. "Jigibs, I have a question for you. How long would it take for you to construct a Smelter?"

The Goblin looked over at Jacob and pondered his question "A Smelter is a Minor Job, but you need to have a Smithy first so that we can construct the Smelter. A Smithy is a Major Job and will take 4 days to complete, now if that is the next job you want to be done just add it to the queue and I will start on it as soon as I am done with the Wall." with that said the Goblin went back to work controlling the pandemonium that revolved around him. In the distance, he could see the Masons Hut under construction, and he could see Magrum directing and leading his team of workers at the Quarry. A worksite that needed to be upgraded as well. So many things that needed to be done.

"Jacob go, take a bath, and relax for 5 minutes. This place will still be around that long, Snaggletooth has already gone to the hall to check on your new friend there. With everything that has been happening you need a minute to slow down and just be yourself. Take a few moments then you can get back to work, please." June told him. Chalxae was nodding her head in agreement right next to her, well when those two agree on something Jacob didn't have a choice.

15 minutes later, 15 glorious hot bath soaked moments he was refreshed and taking his armored shirt to the smithy to be repaired and to talk to Torgan about the work coming his way. After explaining the situation and giving him an estimate of how much ore had to be smelt (which made the Orc both whistle and wince) he told Jacob it could be done within a week, but he would need help at the Smithy to keep up with the demands of the construction efforts and melting down all the ore. "And not any general laborers, I need either another Smith or a couple of apprentices. mylord. Otherwise, the work will not get done." the Orc had told Jacob. More money, in other words, good thing he had gotten some gold from the Iron Mine. Jacob might not have a choice and take his War Party sooner rather than later to do a Dungeon Dive, so he could keep his fledgling House afloat. It was time to head back to the hall and start making a list of people he needed to hire from the Pit and make a run to the Tomb.

As he approached the Hall he saw Thorgron with a string of people behind him, 8 Orcs and other Duergar that were armed and armored, and behind them was a group of Goblins and Kobolds mainly with a couple Drow as well. The new Captain was talking to Eiloma when he approached, she flinched at the sight of him but didn't say anything "Welcome back Captain, I assume these are your new recruits and I hope the new mining crew."

Thorgron had noticed the flinch but didn't comment before he responded "Yes mylord. I only found 8 though of the 10 you authorized. I hired a 20 man mining crew, that should be enough miners to get that Iron Mine started. I also have an idea where I can find the rest of the Guards if you are willing to listen to my proposal mylord?" The Captain asked and Jacob simply nodded while he felt the bond he had with Eiloma.

She was both sad and afraid for some reason. Jacob leaned near her so only she could listen "Eiloma, you are my Seneschal. Show these people that and do not disappoint yourself or me. Show them the strong woman you can be my Seneschal. We will discuss what happened later. I will be in my office working on some things you can find me waiting there." with that Jacob turned and welcomed the new additions before striding off. The Bond told him that Eiloma had calmed somewhat at his words, good he didn't like that he caused her to fear him.

The Guards had been posted at the door with standing orders not to let the occupant out and only let the Lords Orc Shaman in or the Lord himself. They wondered who was in but sounds within the room were muted by magical means. "Is Snaggletooth still inside?" Jacob asked the two guards, who nodded. He rapped his knuckles on the door frame but did not enter. He did not want to disturb the Dwarf or the Orc. After a few moments, the door quickly opened and shut as Snaggletooth left his charge. Jacob indicated for the Orc to follow him to his office where prying ears could not listen. "So how is our house guest doing my friend?"

The Orc just shook his head sadly, "Physically, his is on the mend and will be completely healed within a week or two, but he was tortured and that damage to his mind will take far longer to heal. Even when his body is fully healed I do not know if he could make the trip back to his people alone as strong as he is. If we had a portal we could send him that way, but we do not have those means. So I would suggest having him stay a month at least before we let him go. I will talk to him every day and try to help him, but he needs more help then he realizes. He also wishes to talk to you, he will abide by his agreement with you and keep his eyes covered, so he will not learn of you or your people. I would suggest you talk to him, I think it will be good for him and might help him heal." with that the Orc Shaman left. Once again, Jacob thanked fate for putting the odd Orc on his path.

A few minutes later Eiloma showed up, she closed the door before standing before Jacob. Before he could talk she started "Before you decide anything, I wanted to apologize for my actions mylord. I know that you are the ruler of this fortress. Seeing the Mountain Dwarf just made me scared that I would lose everything if he brought his people here. I know I do not have the right to yell or scream at you like that and it will never happen again. I just wanted to make sure you knew that before you sent me back to the Pit or if you decide to...um...kill me." Eiloma was nearly crying by the time she was done talking.

Fool woman "Eiloma, what about I said out there in front of all the new people make you think I am going to send you back to the Pit, or even kill you of all things?? Are you insane? Listen to me very carefully, you took a chance on coming with me and accepting my Bond. I WILL NOT BETRAY THAT. EVER. Now, in the future, if you need to yell at me, only behind closed doors. Not ever in front of my people again. Now if we are done with that discussion, I really need my Seneschal because a lot needs to be covered about what has happened today" After a few moments Eiloma gained control of herself and nodded. "OK, so after dropping off our new house guest, we went to the silver mine. It was occupied by a mining team led by a Hobgoblin. He had been hired by the Sisters before we killed them and destroyed the old fort. I did some aggressive negotiations, and we have an agreement with them. I wrote down a copy of it, please look at it later. Now we are on a time crunch because we have to pay them in two weeks, but we have to build a Smithy, so we can build a Smelter. We also need to hire either another Smith or several apprentices Torgan said. We also need to hire someone to care for the Dark Oak Grove, so we have a continued supply of wood, and we need to set up a logging camp there as well. Oh, and since we have a Silver Mine now, I am sure we are going to need some sort of vault to contain the metals. I received 15 Gold for clearing the Iron Mine. I also have an idea on how I want to pay everyone, I also think I am going to have to do a Dungeon Run with my War Party, so I can make more money, I am also thinking of expanding again to a full group of 8. Now, I need feedback and I need to know the state of my finances, so we can hammer out what I need to get at the Tomb when I go back tomorrow. Oh, and I am thinking we are going to have to buy fuel for the Forge and Smelter because I do not think either of the Mines will produce much coal."

Eiloma just smirked before responding "Is that all Jacob, well take a deep breath we will get through this."