Bloodsoaked Fort

Keep- Dining Hall

Jacob ate like he was starving, after recruiting his last two Bonded they had gone out and ran the Hell-Spawn Caverns dungeon twice with everyone. Jacob and Thelgrum were at level 38, while the remaining party members were all level 37 now. Tarren was looking at him in amusement while Brox and one of his subordinates waited patiently for their turn to talk. "Hurry up and eat fatty!!" Tarren called out while smiling as Jacob kept shoveling food into his mouth while offering Tarren a 1-fingered salute.

Finally, Jacob stopped and belched, "Compliments to the chef please, back-to-back dungeon runs use a lot of energy. Now, how is everything here and with the Legion trainees?" Jacob asked looking first at Tarren and then Brox to emphasize each point.

Brox nodded his head to Tarren for him to go first, "Demolition is complete here, while construction is ongoing. All the Non-Bonded that wanted to transfer here have. The common weapons and armor that we do not plan on using have been transferred back to the Tomb so we can salvage what resources we can or use what is needed. We transferred 2,000 Gold, 759 Silver, and about 300 various uncut precious stones to the Vaults under the Palace of Night. We recovered two dozen Uncommon, 4 Rare, and 3 Epic Weapons of various types and they have been transferred to the armories at the Tomb. Modifications to the wall height and width are now complete while archer towers and weapons emplacements are ongoing and should be complete within the next 3 days. Construction of new housing units is complete and we have enough to house all the Non-Bonded currently. Until we receive plans for the farm upgrades, we cannot expand food production." Tarren finished the broad strokes of his report then signaled for Brox to pick up where he left off.

"Training for the new Legionnaires is on schedule at both New Dawn and Midnight. Almost all the new recruits have physically recovered but emotional recovery will take longer. Armor and Weapons are steadily flowing into the two locations and we have outfitted 400 so far. Food and medical supplies are holding steady, Engineers and Combat Engineers have been working at the Tomb and have gone through all the old siege engines that were stored there after the war. Despite the magic used, we had to scrap everything and build new engines. Currently, 12 Ballista, 6 Catapults, and 4 Trebuchet are under construction. We have basic ammo for the Catapults and Trebuchet, the more advanced ammunition is currently being researched. Both Fire and Explosive ammunition for the Ballista Engines are available for production and use at this time but only in limited quantities due to lack of resources. Due to the sudden expansion of military personnel, I would not recommend extended field deployments until we expand our ability to supply food." Brox finished his report and looked up and Jacob contemplating everything that he had been told.

"What about the people up in the Arathia Basin, what is their impression of us deploying troops? Do they like it? Do they care?" Jacob asked as he studied the more detailed report in front of him.

Brox looked confused and looked between Tarren and Jacob, "They have mostly ignored our military presence in the basin because it does not affect their day-to-day lives. Although the word is spreading that Middlebrough was responsible for the bandit attacks on the caravans and intimidation of the locals, so favor is starting to swing our way." The Orc responded while Tarren started shaking his head.

"No. Not only no, but HELL NO!!! We cannot take the whole basin, it's too big for us to control at this point. Even with you quadrupling your military strength in one months time, we cannot hold the Arathia Basin and persecute the war against the Sisters. You cannot do it." Tarren stated.

Jacob looked up from the reports, "That is my decision to make either way. It is not a guild decision if I want your advice I will ask Tarren. Do you understand?" Jacob asked the Paladin who slowly nodded as he looked around at the Guards and Brox who were looking at him like he had done something stupid. "I am glad you understand that, and I agree. We cannot take the basin and hold it, yet. Middlebrough is another story, and we can do it under the guise of Ineford. If any of the independent cities to the north push back, Ineford can layout all the troubles the current Governor allowed while he was in office as justification for us taking over. It will also make the Gilded Handz happy and secure our alliance with them. It will also give the Empire of Night a steady income every month because Middlebrough takes 30% of the harvest from the whole basin as taxes. It gives them anywhere between 7 to 10 thousand Gold every 3 months. As long as we can keep the free cities from annexing the Arathia Basin, we will be fine. Understand now?"

Tarren nodded his head while Brox had a more contemplative look as he actually considered the longer plan that Jacob had left unspoken. Jacob saw what Brox was thinking and smiled, "All in good time my friend, we take this one step at a time. Weighted Chance has set Middlebrough up, now we just got to knock them down. They will attack, its just a matter of time, and when they do we will have all the justification we will need to take that pain in the ass town and push Weighted Chance out of the region." Tarren nodded while Brox had a feral smile on his face as he contemplated the future.

"Where is Darren? I am surprised he isn't here with you." Tarren asked as he took a drink from the wine in front of him.

Jacob smiled, "Darren is busy with something. He will be there when we need him though."

Arathia Basin

Talon watched the camp, a little over 1,000 all told including other Immortals. Ever since agreeing to follow Yilme and Zakoc into this new life, he had never had a boring time. Starting a new race, helping found a new guild, but the constant darkness of the Underdark had been starting to grate on his nerves. He was a Ranger and he missed the sun and sky at times, but night time was even more beautiful. The fires of the small army reminded him of the sky overhead but he wasn't here for star gazing. He was here to watch the infiltration teams back.

A small group of Rogues/Thieves/Assassins were infiltrating the camp to sabotage the supplies and kill any officers or NCOs they could get too. Talon and two other War Parties were there to cover their retreat if anything went sideways. Talon looked at the pair of wolves and bear he had tamed in case he needed backup. All 3 animals were bound to him for the next 6 hours, after that they would be free to do what they wanted. Darren flitted from one barrel to the next drilling small holes in them and adding a couple of pinches of herbs that would dissolve in less than 10 minutes. The results would cause dehydration, diarrhea, and vomiting within 12 hours of consumption. Other team members were lacing the food stores with alchemic potions that would attract mice, rats, and other vermin.

Other members were currently slowly making their way through camp to kill any low-level officers and Sergeants they could find to cause problems with command and control later on. Through the raid chat, they already had 6 confirmed kills and they expected another 4 at least. Darren quickly told them to act quickly, they had less than 10 minutes until the planned time to leave. Talon watched as the night lit up as a Mage sent out a Flare causing him to curse and the wolves to growl in response. Darren immediately sent an evac order through the raid chat to evac and forget any remaining objectives that had not been executed.

10 minutes later, the infiltration team finally reached the rendezvous point. "Check in, I want to make sure we got everyone out." Darren silently commanded. Talon could hear soldiers already starting to sweep the nearby woods. After a few minutes, most of the team had checked in while Talon was running the perimeter when one of his wolves suddenly veered toward some bushes and slammed into a level 25 Rogue that had been in Stealth. She immediately screamed as the Wolf started to maul her and Talons other wolf joined quickly as he got a Poison Arrow in her followed by jumping into the dog pile and ramming his hunting knife into her throat until she stopped moving. Darren cursed as he heard someone scream in the night, he immediately looked at the tactical map of the local area before making some quick decisions. "Talon, head east immediately for the next 10 minutes before looping around to the coordinates I am going to send you. We will meet you there and ambush anyone who decides to follow you." Darren immediately set out into the darkness while relaying orders to the remaining nearby team members.

15 minutes later the ambush was set and Talen went through the general area at a jog that Rangers could maintain in wooded areas without killing their stamina. Less than 5 minutes later two teams that had been trailing him hit the ambush point and suddenly the night lit up as both traps and Mages went off. Darren had split the Rogues and Thieves apart so they could cut off any escape route the enemy could try to follow. 5 minutes later 9 Immortals and 1 Local enemy lay dead while Darren had three badly wounded from an enemy Mage who had maxed out the Blink ability and had kept hopping everywhere before unleashing a Fireball or Firebolt. He was the last to die, cornered and cut apart by 3 Rogues.

After stabilizing the wounded Darren made a choice and used a Portal Stone bound to the outpost to send the wounded through. It was his only one, so if they had to make a quick escape, they would be screwed. Aaron Swiftdeath looked at the line of bodies lay before him, 5 Lieutenants and 7 Sergeants had been killed. Two teams had been dispatched to trail the infiltration team and they had failed to report in since departing over 30 minutes ago. "Besides killing these, do we have any other losses or signs of sabotage?"

The Captain shook his head, "The Rangers found traces that their infiltration team around our supply wagons and carts, but no obvious signs of sabotage. We have 4 more severely wounded that we are going to have to send back to Middlebrough through a portal immediately if they want to survive for the next 24 hours. What about you and your people?"

"So far one confirmed sent to the graveyard and since the pursuit team has not checked in yet, probably 10 more gone. So 11 total from my people." Aaron responded as he turned away from the bodies. He didn't care that the locals were dead, they were the fodder to destroy the outpost, but losing 10 Immortals of the 80 he had brought was going to hurt. Two had been Mage's and by the last count, he only had 8 left now. Those dead wouldn't be back and at full strength for 24 hours at least.

"I am going to double the watch and push the perimeter out by 30 feet. Get some sleep." The Captain said as he moved off, barking orders to the remaining Sergeants he had.

City of Ineford

Upper Fortifications

Jacob watched as Lift disgorged another 200 soldiers and supplies. Jacob had called upon Dudrik and they were sending 1,600 soldiers to the surface. Jacob had only brought the Dawn Guard and 30 Immortals with their War Parties to counter the small army Middlebrough was sending.

"How we doing Captain?" Jacob asked Thorgron as he watched supplies be loaded into various carts and wagons. A team of Rogues and Rangers had already departed in advance to the main force.

"All troops should be top-side within the next hour, the remaining supplies 30 minutes after that." High-Captain Gregarious reported before striding off to deal with other duties.

Jacob nodded as he checked the raid chat and his mail, "Initial reports from our infiltration team state they managed to hit both their water and food supplies and take out 12 primary targets. They were followed and took at 10 Immortals and one Local. So Darren's part of the plan is coming together. Let's get a move on boys, we are burning night time." Jacob called out and more than one soldier shouted back a curse causing Jacob to chuckle as he led Star out of the upper portion of Ineford.