Fortress Ill'Gargon

Lady Amada Illinn glared at the latest Swordmaster as he reported about word of reinforcements, "Lady, the latest messenger came in and they have nearly finished gathering the army and they shall be marching within the next 3 days and will be here within 2 weeks after that. They will bring the replacement crystals we need to fix the Portal Pad."

"Do we know who sabotaged the pad yet?" Lady Illinn asked as she stopped glaring at the Swordmaster and turned to look out among the slaves. The pens were nearly overwhelmed now that they could not ship out their product.

"No mylady, but I have placed 3 squads to guard the Portal Pad so no further sabotage will occur." the Swordmaster said as he waited for her judgment for his actions.

"Very well Swordmaster, I can feel our enemies closing in. Make sure the garrison is prepared for any possible threat." Lady Illinn commanded.

Darren approached the fortress wall with 8 'slaves' and 3 other escorts, the Shadow Daggers had provided the passcode to get in so he could sell his goods. Would they be willing to buy though...that was the question. The gate was manned by 12 Drow, most were Warriors or Rogues, but a few were Mages of various classes. "Hmmm, an Immortal Slaver...What is the Password?" the lead Drow asked.

Darren smiled he hoped in a comforting way, they had 30 minutes to get everyone in position, "Bloody Night, do I have permission to enter with my men and products?"

The Drow looked at his so-called slaves and saw all low-level beings and Immortals which caused him to smile, "So you are selling your fellow Immortals now? That is a rare find."

"They all took out loans with the wrong people and never paid it back. They should read the fine print better. So..can we move inside or are we moving on?" Darren asked and from the look on the Drows face, he was going to be turned away...Dammit!

"I really wish we could accept your product, but we are having problems moving our current stock right now so we..." The Drow started but another group of Drow approached.

"I am so glad you finally arrived. We have been waiting for a while for the new stock. What is taking so long Sergeant?" the Drow asked while staring at the other Drow.

"I am sorry sir, but Lady Illinn gave specific orders not to let anyone through." The Sergeant said while he was looking scared at the other Drow. Darren drummed his hands onto his dagger hilts as he contemplated the new twist. He would run with it if it helped him with the mission and the timer was already counting down.

"You know who we serve Sergeant? Say the name Sergeant." Darren said.

"Lord Ranyln Do'und is your Lord if I do this, will he protect me from Lady Illinn?" the Drow answered.

The Drow that had intruded nodded and smiled, "Of course Sergeant, you have my word as Swordmaster Drake Do'und, my brother will uphold my word. My men and I will be leaving shortly for our home, if you are there you are more then welcome to come." Drake smiled. The Sergeant nodded and bowed slightly to the Swordmaster and ushered Darren and his team forward.

Underdark

Outside Fortress Ill'Gargon

Jacob looked at the distant fortress and waited for the time to wind down. In 20 minutes he would see a series of explosions punching holes in the main wall or he would lead a desperate assault on the fortress. He was sure the huge Golems of the Earth Crackers could punch holes into the wall but it would take time and they would lose people doing it. "I hate waiting like this! Your plan is mad and has very little chance of working." Rexxar said as he paced back and forth. He wore leather and chainmail armor with a pair of axes strapped to his back.

"Madness might be the only thing that will minimize our casualties among our troops Rexxar. If either of you can think of a better way, please feel free to enlighten me." Jacob said but neither Braxus or Rexxar argued with him. "Don't worry, I am sure we are going to have plenty of chances to have conventional Sieges. Any last minute plans or changes gentlemen?" Neither said anything, "Well, thank you both again for the assistance. I won't forget it."

Both leaders moved off to rejoin their armies, it was almost time to begin the assault as Jacob tried to calm his heart and mind when Cathrine squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek.

Fortress Ill'Gargon

Once they were far enough away from the gate Drake started talking again, "I was beginning to think my brother was wrong and that you would never show up. After your people campaign to destroy all the outposts Lady Illinn had built, I thought you would strike sooner. So I assume you are here to compromise the defenses of this fortress?"

Darren merely smiled while his hands hovered over his daggers, the 'slaves' would break and run for the wall while the other escorts would cover them the best they could. They were within the fortress now, just a few of the slaves had to get to the wall to punch holes in it with the Alchemic Bombs. "Relax, if we wanted you to fail we would never have assisted you in getting within the fortress. So are you the leader of all the efforts to destroy the SIsters or are you just leading this mad group?" Drake asked as he led them towards where 6 other warriors waited. They were looking around at everyone except them.

"What do you want? What does your brother want?" Darren asked Drake.

"Let's just say, my brother and his faction within the SIsters of the Damned want you to succeed in your campaign, not just here but your overall campaign against the clan. We know you won't believe us, so take our assistance in taking the fortress as a sign of good faith from us. Consider this the other half of our good faith, if the Portal Pad is not destroyed in your assault, this crystal will repair it and will allow you to use the Portal Pad for your own use. All we ask of you in return is for you to talk and listen. My brother will meet your leader anytime and anywhere. Use this communication coin when you wish to set up the meeting. Now I think it is time for you to enact your plan, my men and I will be leaving shortly. Good luck." Drake said after he handed over the two items.

Darren looked at the crystal, he had never played as a mage but he had used more than one Portal Pad in his time. This looked like a crystal for that, but...thoughts for after the battle. "Ok people, we all have a mission to complete. You all have picked your target areas? Space them out, if they are too close together our people will just be bottlenecked. Move if you have smoke bombs, deploy them in 3..2...1, go!!!" within moments chaos rained within the fortress and alarms started going off.

Lady Amada Illinn gazed down at the madness that suddenly exploded from the outer courtyard. Smoke bombs and then she saw several rogues and what appeared as slaves darted toward the outer wall and before any archers could kill them the Rogue teleported on top of the wall and sowed even more confusion and chaos among them. As the slaves reached the walls the started placing objects against them. Lady Illinn snarled as she turned to one of her servants, "Get down there and inform the Swordmaster that we have been infiltrated. They are doing something to..." Before she could finish a series of explosions rocked the outer wall and 3 huge gaping holes had been punched through.

Underdark

Outside Fortress Ill'Gargon

Jacob watched the distant fortress, with less than 10 minutes left the fortress alarm bells started going off!! Shit, this was always a chance with using an infiltration team, they could trip an alarm and it would put the fortress on their guard. "Captain Thorgron, its time to show our hand." Before the Duergar could respond to a series of explosions rocked the outer wall. The Duergar suddenly started snapping out orders and suddenly the army was moving.