Tomb of Eternal Night

Palace of Night- Heart Guard Barracks

Jacob ducked and dodged as if his life depended on it, but Thorgron and James were crowding him and limiting his mobility. With a shout, Jacob went on the offensive trying to down one of his opponents before he was disabled. Suddenly one of the practice blades slammed into the side of Jacobs' face, another slammed into his ribs before dipping down and cutting his knees out from under him spilling him onto the ground.

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De-Buff Stunned: Accuracy and Equilibrium are impaired (Duration 30 Seconds)

De-Buff Winded: Stamina regeneration is decreased by 25% (Duration 1 minute)

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Between getting hit in the head and getting knocked on his ass, he was not surprised that he had some de-buffs from sparring. Whistles and yells of encouragement filled the air suddenly from the sidelines. Jacob turned and stuck his tongue out at the new people. Zakoc and Yilme were there the first 9 of the second wave. They had all gotten to level 7 at the least and 9 at the most, time to learn the downside of being a Vampire. Jacob chuckled and rolled to his feet. "Gentlemen, its time for them to learn some hard lessons. If you would follow me, its time for Zakoc and Yilme to teach my new guildmates."

The Duergar and Vampire nodded and quickly followed Jacob outside the ring, its setting would automatically reset once they vacated. "Lad, did you ever attain the second Rank in Sword Mastery?" Thorgron asked once they placed their practice swords back on the rack.

"Not yet, I was going to look over my perk trees once I found out what was unlocked when I hit level 40," Jacob replied to the Dawn Guard Captain.

"You might want to purchase it, not only for the additional damage it will increase but for the knowledge it will impart." James replied as he studied the new Vampires, "I am guessing this is their control training?" the older Vampire asked.

Jacob nodded, "Yeah. You never told me what it was when you did it with me. You just did it without any explanation, for my people I make in mandatory once they hit this point and they start going off on their own, hopefully, this will increase the survivability of both new recruits within my guild as well as save their Bonded as well." Jacob thought about all the other Immortals that would have to learn the hard way, he was going to have to put some laws in place so Immortals could not recruit there if they constantly got themselves and their Bonded killed. With the upcoming patch, the rate of deaths would increase dramatically.

"Well, that's all good when are you going to start construction here in the Inner City. We cleared out all the destroyed and gutted buildings long ago, but for the life of me I have no idea why the Queen never built new buildings to replace the areas cleared out." James asked as he studied the Battlerager fight one of the new recruits. Yilme was in the background talking to the others.

"Almost half the Inner city is just open streets with no buildings, but I am going to be adding some very soon. Do you remember the Lich Abraxxus?" Jacob asked the Captain of the Heart Guard.

A snort and a smile quickly appeared, "Yes, that Lich stood out. His genius was only matched by his crazy. Loyal though and it was a sad day when the former King sent him away. Even if he did it for the right reasons. Why?"

Jacob smiled and clapped him on his back, "He will be moving back here within the next week. I will also be moving three very important buildings with him that will need to be guarded at all times to make sure no one ever tries to destroy them. Work with the Tomb Guard and when the Second Legion comes to relieve them, work with General Ironbark, to make sure they stay secure." Jacob told the Vampire and Duergar. "Now since you both are outside the normal military chain of command, I want you to be aware that you will hold the rank of Commander within the Legion if anyone ever asks. The orders have already been drawn up. It does not change your normal day-to-day duties or responsibilities though. Questions?" Neither one responded.

"I will be heading out shortly to go to Ineford to recruit at Soldiers Row and then I will go talk to your Legion generals to see if they recommend any of their people for moving to the Dawn Guard. Between the two places, I should easily come up with the 250 recruits I want." Thorgron informed Jacob.

"Well with everyone training, new guild members coming in, and all the construction going on, I don't plan on leaving the city unless something requires my attention Captain. I will be a good boy and the Heart Guard can babysit me." Jacob replied to their chuckling. "Now if you two will excuse me, I need to go talk to the crazy guy we have living in our basement. Hopefully, he will enlighten me about the future and the quest that appears to be going nowhere." Jacob stared at Ezekial who continued reading a book provided by Nathaniel. Knowing the torturer it was probably something to elicit a phycological response from the former spymaster. The latest report from the Royal Torturer highlighted the fact he doubted that Ezekial had ever been part of the Cult of the True willingly outside his job to infiltrate them, He followed the former Queen command to the letter, and it had allowed her a path to join them with the majority of her inner circle.

Jacob signaled the nearby Heart Guard who touched a couple of glyphs on the nearby wall. Ezekial immediately looked up and upon seeing Jacob stood and bowed, "My King, how may I be of service?"

Jacob studied the Vampire before stepping closer, "What is the point of the quest To Rise or Fall? It seems like you are pushing the Empire building more than ending the Curse. Where is the old King? How do we get to him so I can free our people?"

Ezekial sighed, "The path you are on, is not simple or easy. This should have been Talia's task but she sought answers and short cuts from the Titans. She paid the price for ignoring Fate. Since she failed to stay the course, you were chosen instead. The path is long and hard, you cannot walk it alone more as you currently are. You must become stronger, our people must become stronger, for that to happen you must walk the path Fate has set for you. I do not understand why, I a merely a guidepost if I could tell you where the King is right now I would, but I cannot." Jacob walked off in frustration at his answers and once again in annoyance at what Talia had done.

Anchorhead

Fortress of the Sea Lord

Eadwin Saltrake sat as the last of the reports for the day were read by his Seneschal. "Enough, do we know why the slaver Hassim was killed by the Deathwalkers? Are they still in the area? Do we know anything about the Immortals that investigated the area before the city guards arrived?"

"Hassim, as you know, was a slaver, and for the right price would do almost anything. We can confirm that he was in some sort of business deal with the Immortals that investigated the area, but we have no specifics on the deal." The Seneschal replied.

"I do not like the fact that Deathwalkers were in my city or that they killed one of my citizens. Hassim might have been a slaver, but he paid his taxes and bribes. Dig into this deal that got him killed discreetly, maybe we can find out who hired him and why the Deathwalkers wanted him killed." Eadwin Saltrake told his Seneschal who made a note before bowing and leaving.

The Slavers Union was a piece of work that would bring both money and political power to bear on him if he did not solve why a member in good standing was slain. From the reports he read, everyone who tried to fight that night had been slain while those who choose to ran, had been spared. An odd, but effective deterrent to minimize resistance in future endeavors. The better question would be who did he piss off enough to warrant a lethal meeting with Deathwalkers?

Tomb of Eternal Night

Iron Mine 1

Jacob drove the pickaxe into the node causing it to crack further and sending little pieces of rock and debris everywhere. "Good, continue to aim right there and enlarge the fissure. The Iron Node will lose its durability quicker, thus saving you time and Stamina. Jacob nodded his head as he pulled the Pick-Axe from the node and set himself to swing again. He had put off gaining a profession for too long, but after his discussion, he needed a mindless task to allow his brain to rest and relax. So he had volunteered with some of the Dawn Guard to work one of the Iron Mines for a couple of hours.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Minor Iron Ore Node

Durability: 87/100

Description: Iron is one of the most basic metals in Ithea. Ore Nodes are concentrations of a particular metal where miners can work their craft to increase their skill levels. (+1% Chance that a Gem will spawn)

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Iron Ore

Description: Iron Ore is one of the most basic components for Smiths all around Ithea. It can be used to make nails, door hinges, or swords and armor.

The floor Overseer had quickly singled him out as not even an Initiate yet within the Mining profession, he had quickly helped him on how to hold, swing, and use the Pick-Axe to minimize the chance he would harm himself or those around him. It was mindless but after everything that had been going on the last couple of weeks, relaxing work. After another 10 minutes, the Node finally crumbled. It had produced 8 nuggets of Iron Ore, 5 of which would be required to make a Unit of Iron.

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Would you like to take...Mining as your gathering Profession? YES/NO

Congratulations on choosing your Gathering Profession, see your Character Sheet or Wiki for more information on Mining

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Jacob sighed and dismissed the window and moved to the next node. He rolled his shoulders and checked his immediate area before winding up and digging in again.

A little over two hours later, they had finally cleared the section of the Iron mine and the cart was full. Jacob and the crew he had come with were tired, sore, and hungry. The regular work crew had left shortly after Jacob and his team had arrived so the mine had been pretty much their own except for a couple of Tomb Guards keeping an eye out for any monsters randomly spawning. "Finish up your node and let's get out of here," Jacob called out. The Node he was working on had less than 10% of its durability left and looking at his co-workers, they would be waiting for him.

10 minutes later Jacob was proven right as the Node broke apart to the cheering of the others. The held up a stein for Jacob full of a dark beer that he immediately chugged down.

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Buff gained Midnight Dark Drought: Stamina regeneration increased by 10% (Duration 1 Hour)

De-Buff Intoxicated: Accuracy decreased by 5% (Duration 10 minutes)

Mining (Initiate) level increased to 10 (of 50).

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"Everyone, thank you for working with me and the beer. I needed both, time to go get some food and I definitely need a bath." Jacob told them. Jacob called to Star who came running out of the nearby Underdark. He had not wanted to summon her until after the regular work crews had left. She had been fine with that as long as he did summon her after they did leave and no later. Jacob placed his hand on or and let her guide him back as he started to read about Mining. Spoiler: Spoiler

Gathering Profession Gained: Mining

Level: Initiate 10/50 (Passive)

Cost: 100 Stamina per minute (Current Level)

Description: Mining is one of the gathering professions of Ithea and almost every crafting profession will use the fruits of your labor. Each profession, Gathering or Crafting, starts at Initiate, then Novice, followed by Adept, Journeyman, Master, then finally Grandmaster. Each level gained increases the benefits of the profession.

Benefit 1: Increase Strength and Constitution by 1%

Benefit 2: Mine Ore Nodes 5% Faster

Benefit 3: Increase the chance that Random Gems will spawn by .5%

Jacob patted Stars flank which earned him a glare as some of the rock dust came off him and floated onto her fur. Jacob laughed at her antics. "You know you luv me Star!! As soon as you go back to wherever you go when you leave me, it will disappear." Jacob told her which earned him a snort and hip check from the large Void-Wolf. Suddenly the running of feet was heard coming their way. Jacob and Star both tensed but it turned out to be just a group of Tomb Guards running toward them. Ahh, baby sitters are always worried when you show up late.