Real World...

Kevin woke up, he was tired and sore. He needed a better bed, but he couldn't afford one and until Fate released the Vampire species he really couldn't make much money online. Once the release hit, all bets would be off. Today he had to go see the stupid Doctor but at least he didn't have to pay for anything. His talk with his Seneschal had been fruitful last night and had calmed his nerves. When he got back he would lead his party back to the Grotto with all the demons and finish clearing it out. That would take most of the day, after that set up construction for the Smithy and another Minor job. Then tomorrow he would dungeon dive and clear the quest out of his log. He still needed to talk to the Dwarf as well. So much to do in so little time.

About 5 minutes before his ride arrived Jared called "Kevin, what are you up to today?" Kevin rolled his eyes, always a spook

"I have a doctor appointment, then back to the grind. You know me." Kevin said.

Jared quickly responded "Yes, I am sure you will. I need to talk to you. When you get back I will be waiting at your apartment and I would appreciate a few moments of time."

Kevin rolled his eyes "Sure, I should be back within an hour maybe two at most." Jared hangup without saying goodbye, odd but nothing new. Sometimes Jared got caught up in the past and forgot things like manners. Anyway time to go get poked and prodded as he left.

Like Jared said he was waiting for Kevin to come home, silent and brooding today and as soon as he opened his door he darted in and waved at him to be silent as started walking around his apartment with some devices out. After about 5 minutes he came back "OK we are clear, no listening or video devices are here but whoever gave you that pod low-jacked it to monitor your feed, medical, and location. Now give me the low down on everything that you have done over the last 48 in-game, do not leave anything out."

So Kevin told him everything, from the Fortress, to the unlocking two of the mines, to even pissing his Seneschal off and dressing her down. "You found a Mountain Dwarf hidden in a secret room in one of your minds. That is interesting, about a week ago one of our contacts from Slate Cavern Fortress got in contact with my guild. It seems that one of the ruling families Patriarch went missing. They have no idea where he went or how he disappeared. The priest that checked out the room he was last seen in said he found faint magical traces but not enough to find out what or why. IF that is our missing Dwarf, he will have a family tattoo over his heart of a hammer striking a shield with lightning forking off. Now I contacted you because someone is prepping for a War big time. They are buying up every magical item that is Holy or Light related. Every Merc group that has a level 100 Pally has been put on retainer with a 24-hour notice clause. Someone is moving a crapload of money around, and I am not sure if it's aimed at you. My guild is trying to dig into this, but so far we got nothing. As far as you are concerned, I am going to set up a safe house and security for you. You will not see them unless shit hits the fan, at which point they have orders to take you to the safe house. It will have an encrypted POD so you can still get into Fate. No, do not ask why or how just please do what I say. Now, this phone is clean, it has never been used. Do not use it for anything what-so-ever. Leave it turned off, only turn it on if my security guys come for you and move you. The safe phrase they will tell you is 'Drums in the Dark'. If they do not say that, they are fake and you need to run or fight. Now I am leaving, be careful who you trust in and out of Fate my friend." with that Jared left...WTF looks like this shit was getting real. Time to dive in and see what he could salvage for the day.

Fortress of Midnight...

As Jacob opened his eyes he could feel that everyone was busy working or training. They probably thought he was being lazy by sleeping in so late. He wished, he had been up earlier then usual then he had to talk to Jared...AHH. So many things to do. Time to get ready for some grinding, and not the fun kind of grinding. The grinding where you kill monster over and over again until you level up. Until his whole party was 20, they wouldn't go into the dungeon. Both Snaggletooth and Chalxae had hit 19 yesterday when they cleaned out the Iron mine, but June and Shigna lagged behind at 18. From what he could tell from the companion sheets they were very close to 19 though. Jacob was only a few monster kills from 20. Then he could wield his new shield, plate armor, and get his secondary class. He still had to decide what he wanted to do with that. Swordmaster again or go with Shieldmaster or one of the exotic classes. Ah, he had time and the trainers would talk his ears off at the Tomb. First, though he had to talk to Magrum and find out what it would take to upgrade the Quarry to a level 1 resource node. Then find his War Party then off to grind...fun stuff.

Waiting in the Main Hall was Jigibs, Magrum, Eiloma and the Carpenters' Drow wife. Jacob had never gotten her name, no better time than now as he made his way over to the group that sounded like squabbling merchants. He saw Chalxae eyeballing all of them and fingering her daggers like she wanted to pull them and start stabbing them. Jacob signaled for her to go round up the War Party, so they could get going. "People, what is the problem?" Jacob asked the group.

Eiloma silently glared at them all before turning and responding "They are trying to tell me what we should build next mylord. I have tried explaining to them all that you have a plan in place and that for the next week, all Major construction has been planned." Eiloma told him before continuing to glare at the other.

"OK people, I will take suggestions or requests but I have final say on what is being built. Is that understood?" at their nods he continued "Now Magrum I need you to draw out plans for a level 1 Quarry and leave them with us, please. I am sorry ma'am but I do not know your name nor how I can help you." He told the Drow.

"I am Elise, I am the one that is in charge of your new woodcutters. We need both a Logging Camp and a Grove Master to make sure we do not run out of wood." Jacob nodded to her request.

"I am aware we need a Grove Master, I will be going to the Tomb in two days to inquire about that and other things. If you can draw up plans for a level 1 Logging Camp, we will get to it as soon as we can Elise. Now Jigibs you know what the construction plan is and why it is that way. Do you have a request?" Jacob said.

The Goblin considered his request before responding "I want a real roof over my head, but I want a tavern more. I miss having a beer at the end of my day." Jacob rocked back in surprise at the Engineers request.

Housing for his people was definitely lacking, but providing a drinking establishment would go a long way to help keep morale steady. "I will take those requests under advisement, but you above all others know exactly how young this place is and how far we have yet to go. If I could just wave my hands and make those appear out of thin air, I would in a heartbeat. You have worked very hard Jigibs for this settlement and me. So I will make you a deal, if you continue to work this hard I will personally serve you the first beer when we get a tavern or in open, deal?" The Goblin didn't even hesitate to grab Jacobs outstretched hand.

He didn't let go through "Mylord you have proven time and again that you are worthy of following. I will accept your Bond and the post of Engineer for the Fortress of Midnight!!" with that Jacob activated his ability and assigned the post.

Jigibs would be happy with both the benefits of the Bond and Post. "Well if there is anything else people... I have work to do." with that, the group split up and Jacob left before he could get dragged into any more meetings.

Jacob and his party approached the Grotto of the Gem'Lock Tribe, once again Demons were overly abundant but that was a good thing for Jacob and his party. They would never every single one if they were all going to hit level 20 today. Prime Imps and regular Imps were everywhere, and they had no idea what was on the second level of the grotto. "Well, you guys know whey we are here. We need to be stronger, so we can clear out that dungeon and earn some money, so I can grow my house and Fortress. I am sure you all will enjoy the extra coin in your purse as well. Now let's go kill some monsters." Jacob told his party as he led them into a teaming mass of demons. After an hour, they managed to clear the first level grotto and it had a mini-boss a level 19 Prime Imp, Ge'Kal. He had an ability that set all enemies within 15 feet on fire, which nearly wiped the party. The ability triggered every time an Imp was killed within 10 feet of him, and he had several that had been guarding him.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Ge'Kal Primer of the Dark Arts

Level: Rare

Requirment: Level 20, Warlock

Properties: Increases mana by 500

Properties: Increases the strength of Demonic/Dark spells by 10%

Duribility: 50/50

Description: This Tome has been handed down from from one Warlock to another for hundreds of years and drips with Arcane energy

The second level still had Imps, but they were mixed in with Hellhounds that were level 18 – 20, that had a passive ability called "Pack Mentality" that increased the damage to all demons within 10 ft. Jacob and his party learned to quickly kill the hounds before the Imps stacked any damage onto the party. The boss of this floor was a demon Jacob had never seen before, it had armor and a sword/dagger combination. With it was two Hellhounds and two imps. 20 minutes later they downed Grol'ken the Defiler, the bastard had a passive ability that increased the health regeneration of all demons within a certain radius if they were taking damage. After that, they took a break, ate some food and chatted before they hit the third and last level of the Grotto. Jacob, Snaggletooth, and Chalxae had all reached level 20. June and Shigna would probably hit level 20 with the third level, if not they would be very close.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Grol'kens' Shortsword of the Pack

Level: Rare

Damage: 30 - 45

Properties: Every strike has a 10% chance to deal 10 - 25 Hellfiire Damage

Properties: Every time the wielder is struck, they have a 10% chance to summon a lvl 20 Hellhound to fight for them for 5 minutes (Cooldown 5 Minutes)

Durability: 150/150

Description: This shortsword was forged in the Abyss for one of the Houndmasters of the Legions of the Abyss, the Hellhounds will always come to the assistance of the wielder of this blade.

The third level had Hellhounds and the armored Demons that did not have the passive ability that the second mini-boss had. 45 minutes later and a couple close calls, they found the mini-boss of the floor. She was a succubus, and she was a little busy with two of the armored demons (none of them had much armor on at that moment) and three Hellhounds keeping watch and ignoring what was going on behind them. Chalxae almost started giggling before Jacob put his hand over her mouth and June just stared in awe at the setup. Jacob was going to use the situation to their advantage though, once they finished the situation would be changed drastically and based on the sounds it wasn't going to be much longer. "OK, this is going to be the plan. Chalxae you go in stealth and when the party starts Backstab one of the lover boys, I will pull the Dogs away from their friends, Shigna that is when you send in your Golem at the man'aj'atwa and have the Golem hold their attention. Males be careful and keep your distance from the Succubus, she more than likely can Charm males to do her bidding and females should have a natural resistance to such abilities. Questions?... Good, let's go!!!"

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Shyyla the Seductress (Unique)

Level: 22

Class: Temptress

Abilities: Charm, Hellfire, Bind

To say that the Succubus was pissed that her 'fun' was interrupted, would be an understatement. She nearly took out the Golems' head with the first strike of her whip while her companions scrambled to find weapons. If it hadn't been a fight of their lives, Jacob was sure he and his companions would be laughing. He was sure they would laugh later. 20 minutes later, the Succubus died but not before she had her last words "You think you have won Immortal, this world is about to fall to my Masters' legions. For decades, he has been looking for a very special book and now that he has it, he will summon the Legions of the Abyss. First, the Underdark will fall, then the Surface. Now, where is safe little Vampire, Grurez the Fallen will succeed." Jacob would have discounted the words but a quest popped up.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Whip of the Temptress (Cursed)

Level: Rare

Damage: 25 -50

Properties: Everytime this whip strikes the target, the wielder has a 10% chance of Charming them to fight by the wielders side for 10 minutes

Properties: Every time this whip strikes, the target has a 15% chance being Cursed and more suseptable to Dark/Demon Magic for 5 minutes

Cursed Property: Every time this weapon is wielded, the wielder must have sex within 3 hours or be driven mad

Durability: 75/75

Description: This whip has been used by one Succubus or Incubus since it was made. Only Succubus or Incubus may use it without fear of its cursed nature.

Achievement Unlocked: Demon Bane 1

Description: Due to continued combat against the denizen of the Abyss, you will now do more damage (+5%) to them (You, shall not Pass)

Quest Issued: Slay Grurez the Fallen

Description: For decades Grurez the Fallen has dwelled within the Cave of Damnation, brooding and searching for something. Now he has found the Grimoire of the Abyss and will summon all the Legions of the Abyss and purge both the Underdark and Surface. You have 24:00 before he enacts the summoning ritual. After that, this world will fall to the Legions.

Reward: Unknown

A couple of good things happened, both Shigna and June advanced to level 20 and they received some interesting items from the Grotto, but they now faced Hell if they could not end Grurez. Jacob made the decision to immediately to head to the Tomb and fill out the rest of his War Party. Tomorrow they had to clear a dungeon. It was a sad day that the World was depending on a Vampire to save it from destruction. He would head back home inform Eiloma before Teleporting back to the Tomb with Chalxae and June. Shigna would help with the Wall construction and Snaggletooth had a session with the Dwarf. He would check on the Dwarf when they got back.