Tomb of Eternal Night

Palace of Night

Jacob was finishing getting ready, he was up almost 2 hours before anyone else was so he could get an hour of mining in before the Iron Mines were filled by the regular work crews. It also allowed him some semi-alone time before the madness of the day took him. Suddenly alarm bells were going off throughout the palace and Jacob could hear more going off in the city. Jacob cursed as he started putting on his armor, so much for a slow start to the day.

Slate Cavern Fortress

Thunderhammer Hall

Alarms, explosions, and the clash of weapons almost drowned out all other sounds, "Damn those Bronzeskins, what are we going to do?" One of the Elders asked.

Glagor Ironbreaker frowned as he fingered the scroll in his hands. The small force of Mechanized Golems and the warriors of the clan were all that were keeping the forces of the other clan at bay. "Most of our non-combatants are here, the main entrance has been cut off by the Bronzeskins, I say we leave here and seek a new home,' Glagor stated holding up the scroll where the others could see. They knew what would happen if they choose that path. 'Start lining the people up, I will open the portal and hopefully, we do not end up in a fight on both ends." Glagor stated as he broke the seal on the scroll.

The nearby Shield Golems shuddered under the magical assault but held strong, without them the Elders would very well be dead. A steady stream of crafters, women, and children started lining up ready to run through the open portal once it finally stabilized. Once it did Glagor thrust his arm forward to keep it open and started motioning the people forward and through.

Tomb of Eternal Night

Inner City- Main Square

For over an hour a steady stream of Dwarves had been coming through, men, women, children, old and wounded. Thousands, anyone who was not wounded was being pushed out of the square while any available healer was moving from one wounded to another. Druids and Shamans were using any AoE healing they had while Clerics and Priests were running from one critically wounded to another stabilizing the worst before moving on.

Clan Thunderhammer, the once proud member of Slate Cavern Fortress, were now refugees. Glagor was holding the portal open by keeping his arm within it, but the magic that had opened it originally had long expired. Arcane Mages were feeding the open portal now, keeping it open so Clan Thunderhammer could continue to flee their old home and enter their new one. Jacob was risking almost everything betting on this clan settling peacefully here.

Suddenly the line of civilians stopped coming and warriors started to emerge with Mechanized Golems. At first, the Golems were hostile but nearby Engineers swarmed them and changed them so they would not assault anyone unless specifically ordered. Hundreds of soldiers flooded through, each one bloody, armor smoking, and weapons warped and/or bloody from use.

Slate Cavern Fortress

Thunderhammer Hall

Glagor could see the main battle line of Golems and Soldiers as the fell back toward the portal, all the civilians and all the wounded had been evacuated. The Bronzeskins were getting desperate, their main attack had been blunted and their Golems were turned against them as soon as they appeared. They were more numerous though and they were slowly whittling away at Clan Thunderhammers forces. "Grandfather leave, I will hold the portal open. Our people will need you." Glagors grandson screamed over the battle.

Glagor eyed one of the remaining blood kin before pulling the Master Command Stone from his inventory, with it he could command every Golem within range. "Command Code override, Grandmaster Glagor Ironbreaker. Activate Ignition protocol protect the portal as long as possible before detonating." Red mana auras enveloped every active Golem as their mana cores started to overheat in preparation for detonation.

The Golems no longer harboring their power and acting defensively went on the offensive cutting their way through the Bronzeskin battle line. Gloger was suddenly pushed through the portal as every remaining Thunderhammer soldier turned and started making their way through the open portal before the Golems exploded.

After regaining his equilibrium Glagor looked back and watched the mad rush of the last few hundred came through. Some of them went down under the boots of their comrades and would spend the next week under the tender care of healers, but most of them made it through without incident. As soon as Glagor saw his grandson jump through he screamed at the Arcane Mages to close the portal. Jacob watched as the 6 Mages collapsed in exhaustion as he made his way toward Glagor, "What the hell happened Glagor? I thought you were going to send me a message if your people decided to immigrate here. What the hell happened?"

Glagor glowered at him, "The damn Bronzeskin Clan heard about us deciding to leave and attacked us. I knew they were bastards, but I had no idea they were honorless dogs to attack people within their own homes. I apologize King Longstrider, my Clan will never forget your assistance this day and will understand if you don't want us staying."

Jacob stepped back in surprise, "Relax, no one will be kicking you out. I just hope they all your clanmates understand discretion and keeping their mouths closed as far as their location goes. I was just hoping to have more time to prepare and build, now your people are going to have to live in tents until their homes are built. All the worse wounded are located here while those that are fine are in the streets, can you track down the other Elders and get those that are not wounded moved to the Middle City and off the streets." Glagor bowed simply before plunging into the crowd. Jacob finally sat on his ass in the middle of the street as the last cart clattered toward the gate leading to the middle city. All the wounded had been sorted, critically wounded had been moved to the Healing Halls, Palace, or new Healers Huts and off the bloody square of the Inner City. More than one healer had joined him in sitting in exhaustion, but even after working as hard as they could, they still had lost nearly 200 of Clan Thunderhammer. If the Priests and Paladins of Balance had not been present, they would have lost even more.

"Well, that was an interesting day, when I saw the emergency call over Guild chat I did not expect to be caring for wounded Dwarves and helping them settle into the city," Anastasia said as she sat down next to him.

"What did you expect?" Jacob asked her. Carts with something similar to hey were being driven around, workers would lay the hay down to absorb the pools of blood and another crew would come behind them to clean up.

"For a Guild Emergency, I expected the city to be under attack. In a way, it was just as bad if not worse. In the three years, I have been coming to this world, I have never seen an incident like that. The healers were asking for everyone to donate blood, I can only imagine what would have happened if they would have shown up anywhere else that didn't have a ready supply of Vampire blood to assist healers. If you have not yet, check your alerts, it netted everyone a nice load of experience." She replied leaning her back against his. Jacob flicked his hand bringing up all the alerts he had pushed aside for the last couple hours.

Secret Kingdom Quest Complete: Come one, Come All!!!

Description: You managed to convince a whole Clan/Tribe/City to migrate to your own lands. Truly you have a way with words or your actions in the past have proven yourself worthy of such a thing.

Rewards: 100,000 Kingdom Experience, Allegiance of Clan Thunderhammer

Quest Complete: You got a Friend in Need!!!

Description: You provided key assistance during the exodus of Clan Thunderhammer from Slate Cavern Fortress to the Tomb of Eternal Night. Your actions and the actions of your people will go down in the annals of the clans' history.

Rewards: 50,000 Experience (Includes Bonus), See Glagor Ironbreaker for further Reward(s)

Alert...

You have gained 1 level (Level 40)

You have gained +2 to Constitution, Strength, and Agility, +2 Character Points, +3 Skill Points

See your Warrior and Defender Trainer(s)

Some of your Skills and Abilities have increased, See Character Sheet to review.

Alert...

Jacob could feel new knowledge from the Blood Knight part of his brain unlock but he ignored it for now. "Yeah, that's a nice chunk of experience but I would give it all back to save all their lives not just most of them. How are all the newbies taking what happened today?" Jacob asked the Raid Leader.

"Shocked, but also happily surprised. Every single one of them broke into the low-teens from this little event. The next batch of recruits that we are supposed to pick up in the next couple hours is going to be annoyed the missed this." Anastasia replied. Jacob nodded his head in agreement, they had two more days of fresh fish coming in.

Jacob slowly stood and swayed a little but a pair of nearby Heart Guards steadied him immediately, "I got to go talk to the Dwarves. Get with the other officers, we can call a meeting within the hour before Yilme and Zakoc head out too Ineford. Just a quick discussion and a recap." Anastasia nodded as she typed away in Guild chat relaying Jacob request as he made his way to the Middle City.

Tomb of Eternal Night

Middle City- Dwarven District

Everywhere Jacob looked exhausted but unbroken Dwarves stood or worked, fine additions to the Tomb of Eternal Night if they decided to stay. Small patrols of soldiers, a mix of Golems and Dwarves, roamed the area helping where they could. Long term denizens of the city and his own Guild were also about. Jacob was looking for a specific group of people and based on the size of the tent and the level 200 guards stationed nearby, the tent should house any Elders of the clan that had made it. Two armored Dwarves immediately crossed their Pikes denying him entry within the tent.

"Are your Elders and Glagor Ironbreaker inside?' Jacob asked the guards and both silently nodded, 'Please inform Elder Glagor, King Jacob Longstrider is here to speak to him and the Elders of Clan Thunderhammer now, not later.' Both Dwarves immediately stepped aside with mumbled apologies. Jacob took a deep breath and gained hold of his temper before responding, 'Don't worry about it lads, I am sure I don't look like much of a King covered in blood and dirt, besides after the day we all had, I don't think anyone needs to stand on ceremony."

With one last nod to the guards, Jacob ducked into the tent followed by two of the Heart Guards, the remaining squad members would spread out around the tent while he was inside. Immediately the six Dwarves that were sitting at the table discussing various topics stopped and looked up when Jacob entered, the seventh standing Dwarf, Glagor nodded at his entrance.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Clan Thunderhammer, welcome to the Tomb of Eternal Night. I am sorry for the losses you suffered today, but your clan as a whole is intact. As I told Elder Ironbreaker, you and your people are welcome to stay here permanently or you can stay as guests for a short time. Either way, the location of this place will be kept in the strictest confidence. Any breach of that confidence will result in swift action against those who divulge this information. I am sure you all understand secrets, some have to be kept at any cost.' Jacob looked at each Dwarf and one by one they all nodded in agreement. 'Thank you all, I truly appreciate your discretion. Now if your people need any assistance please let us know, if we can help, we will. Glagor, if I can have a moment of your time please." Jacob gave the council a slight bow before turning and leaving the tent.

Less then a minute later the disheveled Dwarf strode out of the tent, "I am sorry, it has been a hectic day and its far from over for us. We are trying to figure out what everyone brought as far as supplies and goods. Now officially we are ready to swear allegiance to you and the Empire of Night. We just want to know if you require every member of our clan to do it or just the leaders."

Jacob snorted, "Choose one member to represent your clan, I trust you and your people. It will be symbolic in your people joining the Empire of Night. Preferably the person will also act as my advisor with dealing with your kin and join my Council of Advisors. Now I know most of your people are still in shock, but overall how are they doing?"

Glagor smiled, "Give us 24 hours to make the choice, I assume you want us to coordinate with your Seneschal?' Jacob nodded and the Dwarf continued, 'Then that is what we will do. Overall my people are in shock and will take a while to recover. Between the losses we suffered at Slate Rock Cavern and those that died here, we lost nearly 500 of our clan, but your people swift action saved thousands more. My clan is alive because of you and your people, we will never forget that. I want you to take my old smithing hammer, none of my blood Kin has followed my path, and if I gave it to my clan it may start an internal war so I want you to keep it. Use it or give it to someone worthy of it, the choice is yours King Longstrider. Now if you will excuse me, I got to go corral some ox brained fools." Jacob chuckled as the Dwarf wheeled around and jogged back into the tent. Jacob pulled back the cloth on the hammer Glagor had thrust into his hands and whistled at the sheer beauty of it. Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Glimmer

Level: Legendary-Unique

Benefit 1: When crafting, you have a +25% chance of increasing the level (I.E. Common-->Uncommon) spontaneously

Benefit 2: When crafting, +10% chance of doubling the properties of any item (I.E. +5 Strength---> +10 Strength)

Benefit 3: When breaking down an item, increases chances (+10%) of learning the plans of the item if you don't already know it

Benefit 4: When breaking down an item, doubles the materials received

Benefit 5: When crafting, +5% chance that a random property will be added to the item. (Locked to Grandmaster Armorer/Weaponsmith)

Benefit 6: (Locked to Grandmaster Armorer/Weaponsmith)

Requirement: Smithing Journeyman, Strength 100

Durability: Indestructible

Description: Glimmer was once a simple smithing hammer, but as it was passed down through Ironbreaker bloodline, every Master and Grand Master added a portion of their power, wealth, knowledge, and wisdom into the hammer forever changing it into something more.

Jacob whistled and quickly stuffed it into his inventory, he would consider what to do with it later. For now, he had to go to the guild meeting then get cleaned up for the new recruits. Then maybe find some time to work on his mining.