Tomb of Eternal Night

Palace of Night-Master Suite

The light knocking on the door caused Jacob to awaken quickly, Cathrine mumbled something before rolling over but Eiloma was dead to the world. The servent squeaked when Jacob nearly ripped the door off the hinges, "What?"

"Sorry milord, we have a message from Ineford." the servant responded before thrusting a sealed envelope forward into Jacob's hand and scampering off. Jacob growled at his retreating back before closing the door and heading back to bed. If it was an emergency the Heart Guard would have alerted him, so the message could wait until morning.

"Are you going to read it?" Eiloma asked as he crawled back into bed.

Jacob grumbled before responding, "No, sleep now." Causing Eiloma to sigh and reach for the sealed letter but Jacob growled at her before grabbing her and dragging her back toward him and Cathrine. "Sleep, it can wait for now," Jacob told her before kissing her cheek and neck causing the other Vampire to moan and scoot further back into his arms.

"Shush you two, trying to sleep over here," Cathrine mumbled out as she scooted closer to the other two and causing Jacob to chuckle. City of Ineford

City Administration Building- Reagents Office

Dudrik studied the two humans before him, one was the arrogant bastard James Doncun and the other was someone new that supposedly sat on the Council that ran the Gilded Handz. They were pissed that their Trade Agreement was suspended and that it was under review, but they could not do anything about it. With the revelation that a Mind Mage had tried to influence negotiations, the Merchant Council had no problem placing their agreement under review. "How long are we going to have to wait for this Jacob Longstrider? We all have lives to lead and duties to perform."

"We sent a message to Lord Longstrider in the middle of the night informing him of your request for the meeting, he will be here when he gets here or he will send a message if he cannot attend," Dudrik responded while reading over his notes from the previous meeting. Suddenly the doors swung open and a squad of the Dawn Guard, Jacob, and his wife Cathrine strode in. While the guards took up positions around their side of the room, Jacob and Cathrine sat while sending a request for coffee, tea, water, and some snacks.

"Enough, we came here for a meeting not to watch you eat. This is business and we need to discuss the agreement we are going to make." James spat out while his companion merely shook his head and smacked James arm in reproach.

Jacob smiled at the rude Gilded Handz member, "First, you requested an early meeting and we had no time to eat breakfast, so we will be making this a working meal. Second, this is not your home, we are both guests here so you cannot tell me what to do. If you do not like it you know where the door is and can leave at any time. Third, you should have introduced your new friend before you once again confirmed how big of a dumb-ass you are." Jacob told the angry James before turning to address the other Human, "Hello, I am Jacob Longstrider. Who might you be?"

The Human smiled and dipped his head in acknowledgment, "I am Anthony and I sit on the Council that runs the Gilded Handz, we felt after the disastrous impression we left on you it would be better than someone from our Council...dealt with this situation. Now from what I was told, you were asking for 30% discount on transportation costs and 20% discount on sales of any good in exchange for opening up Middlebrough and opening up new markets for us. For your information, Middlebrough is not closed to our guild, it's just the Tariffs are set so high for us, it's not worth it for us to trade with them. The guild Weighted Chance, is a PK guild and they are allied with two trading guilds that have bribed the governor of Middlebrough to hike up our tariff costs and taxes so we cannot afford to do business there. As long as the current governor and those guilds are in power there, we will not do business in Middlebrough. I assume your new markets will be in the Underdark, what assurances will we have for our caravan safety?"

Jacob smiled at Anthony before looking at James, "I hope you are taking notes, this is how you conduct negotiations. This is diplomacy. Now, Anthony, the locals send out patrols between the settlements so the Underdark near and between them is fairly safe except for random monster spawns. If we come to an agreement maybe the locals can provide an escort for your caravans if you guys provided let say 25% discount on the sale of goods. You also must know that certain parts of the Underdark in the region will be closed to you for your own safety. Any breach of these areas could result in...very bad consequences for your guild. So no enterprising Rogues or Rangers trying to find dungeons or new trade opportunities."

"Understood, any portion of the Underdark you deem as too dangerous or off limits, we will respect but we cannot be held responsible for any independent parties. As far as 25%, I am thinking more like 22% on the sale of goods." Anthony responded.

Jacob smiled, "As long as those independent parties are in no way linked to you or yours, agreed. 23% on the Sale of goods and for escorts between the settlements. You will also be notified of any new markets being opened up first before any other trade guilds for the next 6 months."

"23% and we are notified of any new markets for 1 year in-game time with security provided by the locals. Now as far as transportation costs, a discount of 30% on transportation costs, it is acceptable as long as your people use our services at least once a week for the next 6 months, we will have an agreement." Anthony responded

Jacob frowned, right now he had no need for the logistics Anthony was proposing but if things changed on the surface the way he thought they would the Gilded Handz might play a crucial role in the coming days. "25% discount for 4 months once we start using your logistic services and we will use your services at least once a week. Currently, we have no need for them."

Anthony nodded his head in agreement, "We will write up the formal agreement and submit it to the City Administration Building within 24-48 hours. Once you sign it we will notify you of the caravan schedule and you can talk the locals into providing security. At that time we will require a map of the local area including the areas that are off limits, agreed?"

"Agreed Anthony, now if do you have anything else? Otherwise, I have to get going." Jacob responded but before he could leave he noticed that Dudrik signaling him to wait.

"No nothing else from us. It has been an interesting meeting Lord Longstrider, I am sure it will not be our last." the man said as he stood and bowed slightly toward Dudrik before leaving followed closely by James.

Dudrik waited for the doors to close again before turning toward Jacob and Cathrine, "I apologize for the delay, but the questioning of the soldiers of Middlebrough had taken longer then we expected. From the answers we have extracted through various means we have learned that Middlebrough and the Immortal guilds that back them are trying to push their influence into Arathia Basin by subjugating the people located here and destroying the Gilded Handz. They have no idea Inefords true strength or the fact that we are a Client State of the Empire of Night. The Governor that rules Middlebrough is an idiot with ideas of grandeur and has overestimated his peoples' military strength. From what we know, they can field an armor about 1500 strong, mainly light infantry and cavalry but no real experience."

Kingdom Quest Issued: Threat to the North

Description: A once quiet neighbor, Middlesbrough, has proven to be a threat to your Client State, Ineford and the Arathia Basin as a whole. Due to the influence of the Immortal Guild Weighted Chance, Middleborough's government has turned into an expansionist power that wishes to control the whole Basin and Ineford. Stave off the coming invasion and neutralize the threat coming from Middlesbrough.

Rewards: 10,000 Kingdom Experience, Variable

Jacob glanced at Cathrine before looking back at Dudrik, "It was what I feared, the Immortal Guilds there are using Middleborough as a puppet to try and spread their own influence. It is going to cause a war and we are already in conflict with the Sisters of the Damned. Let me confer with my own people and make some plans for Middlesbrough and the guilds there, right now I would recommend that you place a small fort about half way between Ineford and Middlesbrough and if they object state that it is due to increase security between the two cities so that should quale any objections on their part. Make sure it has a Portal Pad so you can reinforce it on short notice as well. Garrison it with no less than 400 soldiers and yes they will count as part of my forces that I can call on from Ineford. If you need resources to build the fort let me know, I will provide them. For the record, in the next couple of days, I will be out of touch for a little while. If you need me for any reason, send a message to my people and they will get it too me."

Arang'mor

City of Arkburn-Citidal of the Light

King Othgad Lightbringer looked down on the Commanders of the Silver Guard and Inquisition, "What have you found out about the disappearance of the Tome? Do we have any leads on its location?"

"We know the Tome of the Heavens is semi-sentient, from what we have found it left on its own. Why we are not sure." The Commander of the Silver Guard responded.

"During the time of the disappearance, over a dozen caravans left the city. Most of them were bound for the southern nations. We managed to track down the caravans that had been headed east, none of them were carrying the Tome. I have dispatched riders to all the clergy to the south to be on the lookout for emanations from the Tome and to notify us immediately upon discovery." The Commander of the Inquisition informed the King. "If the Tome smuggled itself out with an individual, it will be almost impossible to find."