Blue River

Kalthas Bridge

Jacob studied the man before him, he was about 5'6", medium build, looked about his mid-30s, completely unassuming. Pretty much perfect for an assassin, in other words, no one would look twice at this guy in a crowd Jacob thought as he finished pouring a drink and grabbed his plate before moving over and sitting down. "Well, as you can see I did not expect to go on no diplomatic mission. Tonight was supposed to be my night off, but now I am here, so on to introductions. I am Johnothan Pierce of the Shadow Daggers. I was sent here to listen to whatever you wanted to talk about on behalf of my guild." He finished before taking a bite of the sandwich he had made and chasing it down with some fruit juice.

Jacob smiled at the man, "I am Jacob Longstrider of the Seekers of the Dawn, this is Oloric of Sylfemel and Ambassador of his people. I appreciate both of you coming and I hope you are both willing to listen." Jacob waited and both nodded so he continued, "What do you two know about the Cult of the True?"

Jacob saw something flash in Johnathan's eyes before he went back to his food and drink but he didn't say anything while Oloric shifted uncomfortably before responding. "The Cult of the True is a throwback to when there was only one Pantheon. They worship the Fallen Titans as the one true Pantheon. They believe that the Titans should be reinstated as the chief gods over the mortal realm and the other gods should be cast out, destroyed, or enslaved to the whims of the Titans. They are extremists, ruthless, violent, and are willing to do anything to see their goals realized. They are complete Zealots in their belief that the Titans are the only true Gods." Oloric finished.

Jacob nodded before turning toward Johnothan, "Anything to add?" Jacob asked the Shadow Dagger.

Johnothan downed his remaining drink and stood quickly refilled it before sitting down again, "They are sadistic sons of bitches that need to be wiped from this world. When I was new here, my last test by my trainer was to kill this guy. He was a low-level merchant, nothing special, but he had pissed someone off high up in the government so they gave the 'ok' for his life to be taken without any retribution to the Thieves or Assassin Guilds. I got the assignment as my final test, should have been easy but they didn't tell us everything about the guy. He was a cultist and his worship included carving up children. I finished my assignment and graduated but I almost stopped coming back to this world after that day. I filed a ticket about it, told them they should not allow such things and they replied 'True evil exists in this world, if you do not like it, do something about it. You have the power to prevent such things from happening again, will you?' So yeah, I know the Cult of the True and I hunt those bastards down every chance I get and send them to their bastard gods."

Jacob nodded before sending a quick question to Darren if he knew if the story was true and Darren shrugged his shoulders. Considering what Jacob had found in the Broken House of Thorn it was a possibility. The biggest question that Jacob worried about was if the Cult had recruited any Immortals if they had it didn't matter in the long run if they killed every single person in the codebook. The Immortals could continue their plans without long term worries. That was a worry for another day though.

"Well, I hope that means I can trust both of you with what I am going to give you. Due to certain circumstances, the information we have acquired does very little good for the rest of the continent. On one of my dungeon dives, we cleaned out a nest of the Cult of the True. One of the things left behind was a codebook with the names of members all over the Arakon continent. They have infiltrated almost every single government, every race, every religion. I am giving you each a copy of the codebooks. One with the book already translated and the other untouched so your own people can look at the code and confirm the findings. You both know why no one would believe me if I handed over this information to the affected people, both of you, on the other hand, have a far better chance to make sure that information gets into the right hands." Jacob stated as he pulled the four books out of his inventory, both books were clearly labeled as he handed them over.

Oloric and Johnothan both started thumbing through the decoded book immediately, Johnothan flinched and glared at his book at times. "I know some of these people. I have worked with them." Johnothan stated.

"Yeah, well they are pretty good at recruiting from every way of life. The good news is we cut off the head of their military branch. So their military will be disorganized for now until they choose a new leader." Jacob informed them. "Listen if you guys decide to go forward with this and everyone believes you, you are going to have to coordinate taking them all out quickly. You cannot give them time to go underground, this is the majority of the Cult but I am sure they have hidden members not listed within this book so be careful." Jacob told them both.

Johnothan nodded his head, "I won't ever forget this. I owe you one kid and I don't forget any of my debts. As far as I am concerned the Shadow Daggers are in full support of this, I will, of course, take this before our council but with my backing, it will pass."

"The Titans and their followers are a threat to all ways of life. I believe we have to proper contacts to disseminate the information to the right people. We will advise them on the course of action as well, but ultimately it will be up to them." Oloric replied as he studied the books in front of him.

Underdark

Anastasia crept through the Underdark, Demetris had spotted something and had called her forward. Being an Arcane Archer left stealth/camouflage as a minor secondary skill for her. She had enough though to pass most stealth checks unless it was a Rogue or Ranger. Suddenly someone tapped her shoulder but before she could scream Demetris covered her mouth with his hand. She could see his faint outline as the Rogue gestured for her to follow him.

10 minutes later of crawling and scrambling quietly through the Underdark he pointed at a large cavern ahead and the army camped within it. Thousands of people were camped below based on the flags as well as all the Drow, this was the army they had been warned about. No wonder Demetris had been so cautious, they were well within their picket line, not to mention they had probably crossed paths with their scouts on their way here. Anastasia took a couple of screen shots of the army and what little she could see of the supply train and started to back away, time to get this information back to the Bloodsoaked Fort.

Bloodsoaked Fort

Outer Wall

Lieutenant-Commander Blackfang watched as the last of the preparations for the siege were completed. Eight Scorpions were being emplaced aroung the keep and 2 catapolts were being constructed as well. The shield battery had been moved and placed under the keep to insure its saftey. All Non-Combatants except for the few that were working on enhancing defenses had been evacuated to the Fortress of New Dawn. Most had wanted to stay but Blackfang had been adamant that they leave.

Suddenly a portal opened and disgorged two War Parties tired and bloody and with a snap it closed almost cutting the last member in half. "HEALER!!" one of them screamed and Blackfang rushed to the nearest ladder to get off the wall and the report of the scouts that had finally arrived. Two other Legionnaire healers beat him to the group before he arrived pushing people out of the way to get to the wounded.

"Report!!" Blackfang called as he ran up.

The women were breathing deeply and her eyes were blood red but she was trying to gain control and calm down enough to relay what they had found. After a few moments, her breathing slowed and she started to talk, "Anastasia, Lieutenant-Commander, I was one of the scouting groups sent out by Tarren to take a look at the approaches any encroaching army could take here. We found the army, 5 days away but their scouts were 4 days out. One of those parties were heading back to the main camp and ambushed us right as we were opening a portal. Sent Craxus to the graveyard for respawn and since you do not have any enhancements there yet, he will be gone for 24 hours unless he was bound somewhere else. 4 of our bonded were wounded and almost died. The army numbers in the thousands, mainly battle slaves, they have a large supply train with siege weapons. No way are we going to be able to ambush these guys on the march like we did the last group. They are going slowly and have a large number of scouts running around." Anastasiia finished reporting. "Have any other parties reported in?" she asked.

Darkfang thought for a second before turning to another Legionnaire, "Get to the communication stone and send out the recall order, have them confirm receipt of the order as well. Then send a message to Commander Brox and the Tomb and inform them that the enemy army has been sighted." The Legionnaire saluted and ran for the Keep.

Fortress of Midnight

Keep- Armory

Jacob watched as Immortals and Locals grabbed armor, weapons, and whatever alchemic potions they could from the armories as they prepared for battle again. Most would be going to the Bloodsoaked Fort immediately while others would be going with the relief force that was mobilizing at Darkfang Hold. Two Centuries of the First Legion were already there, 20 Immortals and their War Parties would join them in the next couple hours while another 20 were going to Bloodsoaked Fort. The reamining 10 were being spread out to watch over variuos other vulnrable areas.

Jacob dismissed those thoughts as he looked at the coin in his hand as he activated it. When he opened his eyes again he was in a small cavern, water lay on the ground no more than 2 inches deep, and lit torches were surrounding the area illuminating the darkness. Suddenly Ranyln Do'und appeared and went down to one knee immediately, "My lord, how may I be of service."

Jacob snorted, "You have given me a little information here and there, but have done very little real action against the Sisters. That changes now or you will simply become another enemy. First off I want detailed maps of the Underdark between Bloodsoaked Fort and the Stronghold of Gahlin. I want to know every fortress location between those two locations, troop counts, layouts of those forts and the stronghold, detailed analysis of both the troops and leaders at each location. I want portal anchors placed nearby to each location and their coordinates if those fortresses have Portal Pads I want them sabotaged. You have 1 week to accomplish this or have plans in place to complete all of these things. That is all" Jacob finished and cut off the magic bringing him back to the here and now.

Tarren looked at him, "What do you think is going to happen?"

Jacob looked at the Paladin, "If he doesn't come through we will go with my original plan. Hunt down and destroy them all. Kill every leader we can get our hands on, capture or raze every fortress, free every slave we can, and in the end the Sisters of the Damned will be a bad memory."