Fortress of Hope

Jacob watched as the First Legion and part of the Second Legion formed up, they would march on the Fortress of Bloody-Edge today. From what Darren had already reported the evacuation of the garrison was already underway and by the time the Legions arrived they would already be fully evacuated. Reports from the Fortress of Midnight indicated all the freed slaves from the previous day were settling in, but most were anxious to do something other than sit and recover.

"Are we ready to get underway Generals?" Jacob called to the two Orcs.

Both nodded quickly, "We were just finishing dispensing orders to those that are staying and marching orders to those that are accompanying us to the next fortress. We are ready now my King." Ironbark responded before spinning and heading off toward his command. Two Cohorts of the Second were staying here to garrison the fortress. The remaining Cohorts of the Second were marching with the First Legion on Bloody-Edge.

The Dawn Guard waited patiently nearby with the other Immortals. If Ranyln Do'und decided to betray them, this would be the most vulnerable time. Most of their military strength would be marching on the last fortress and if they hit the Legions now, they could cause a lot of casualties before they could fall back to a friendly Fort. Jacob dismissed his worries and concentrated on his plans, he could not predict everything and for now, they would go ahead as if everything was going as planned.

Red Weaver Burrow

Jasper sent a Firebolt through the level 8 Elite Webweaver that had been about to drop down. It had let out a little shriek of pain before it lost purchase of the ceiling and fell 15 feet to the floor. If the Firebolt had not killed it, striking the uncompromising floor had. "Falling back past the choke point, get ready to light them up, lad!!" Craxus called out.

Jasper nodded and started to conjure then released an Ice-Blast that either froze or slowed down all the Spiders that had been swarming the armored Dwarf. Jasper then Dual-Channeled an Arcane Blast that devastated the frozen and slowed enemies, but it also drained most of Jaspers' mana pool. Three more Spiders emerged scrambling over their downed kin and toward the scrambling party. This was bad Jasper thought, then an armored figure slammed into their ranks bowling over two of them before cutting into the third. A pair of arrows slammed into the downed Spiders killing them while the Warrior finished off the third.

"What did you do wrong Jasper?" Anastasia asked as she appeared from the nearby shadows.

"I bet everything on the one attack killing or disabling all my foes," Jasper responded while Craxus nodded sheepishly.

Anastasia nodded, "So why did you do it? You have a history of dungeon dives and raids, you have experience. I understand you just got rolled back, but why did you make a newbie mistake?"

"Pride, overexcited, and I used to deal a lot more damage then what I am doing. I am also getting used to being a Mage, I was a Rogue before coming to the bloody side." Jasper responded.

Anastasia nodded, "Read a couple guides on the Wiki or Forums. There are plenty out there and perhaps the next time you run the dungeon maybe you should do it with other Immortals and not your Bonded.' Jasper nodded but didn't say anything. 'Ok, you got one more room and then the last boss, overall you are doing a good job, keep it up," Anastasia said before fading back into the shadows of the Dungeon.

Fortress of Bloody-Edge

The crying and wails of the former slaves filled the air, Legionnaires moved through their ranks assisting them where they could. The fortress had fallen like the last without a fight and just like the last, the garrison had been pulled back while hundreds of thousands of slaves had been stuffed within Slave Pens to 'slow' them down. All it really did was solidify their purpose more in bringing the Sisters of the Damned to ruin.

"These ones apparently were abused before the garrison was evacuated. The last of them teleported out over an hour before we appeared, so far we have 30 dead of their wounds, but we have the situation in hand now and no more should die because of their wounds." Brox stated as he walked up.

"As soon as they are stable, I want them to be evacuated to New Dawn with an escort of two Cohorts.' Jacob checked his HUD and the timer counting down, 'We will have control of the fortress in 10 minutes. The First Legion will be stationed here and the Second will be stationed at Fort Hope. I expect inventory and assessment of both fortresses within 24 hours, General." The Orc saluted and stalked off, clearly pissed about the condition of the people around him. Jacob just tried to minimize his feelings while helping out wherever he could by assisting the Legion Healers.

Darren found him nearly an hour later, covered in the blood of the abused. "The Portal Pad is operational again and I am going to lead the scouting group north to the Stronghold of Gahlin. We will scout out the surrounding area around Gahlin and look for the prison entrance. If its a dungeon tied to a location, it should have one entrance inside and outside the Stronghold."

"Ok, be careful though. So far all the information from Ranyln Do'und has been spot-on, so the area around the Stronghold will be heavily patrolled. Watch yourself." Jacob told the Shadowmaster who simply nodded before turning to leave. Both June and Chalxae waved goodbye as they followed him as well.

The Second Legion was already lining up at the Portal Pad to take a quick hop to the Fortress of Hope and their home for the next couple weeks while all the former slaves were sorted and given new lives. The FIrst Legion would be garrisoned here during the same time and a Cohort of the Dead Legion would be arriving at both locations within the next 24 hours. Jacob dismissed those thoughts as he brought up the alerts from earlier.

Regional Alert...

The Fortress of Bloody-Edge has fallen to the Empire of Night.

Regional Alert...

Alert...

Would you like to rename the Fortress of Bloody-Edge? YES/NO

What would you like to name the fortress? Fortress of Redemption

Alert...

Kingdom Alert...

For capturing a level two Fortress, you have gained...20,000 Kingdom Experience

Kingdom Alert...

Although capturing the two forts had weakened their foe, overall it had done very little to strengthen his own forces. Jacob didn't even know if any of those they liberated today would be willing to signup with the Legions. A distant boom sounded as portals opened and the Second Legion started forward.

Stronghold of Gahlin

Command Room

Mistress Dal'Carn studied the strategic map of the Region and the remaining three fortresses that were still under the control of the Sisters of the Damned. Gahlin was the regional capital and as long as they controlled it, they had a chance at retaking the other forts in the region. She didn't look up when the doors opened, "In the next couple days we will find out if your strategy worked or not. I hope this 'Empire of the Night' chokes on all the slaves we fed them the last couple of days."

Ranyln Do'und nodded, "Yes and leaving the slaves in the condition they were in, was inspiring Mistress. I am sure you will receive your just rewards for thinking up that strategy."

Mistress Dal'Carn snorted, "At this point, it might not matter if your strategy succeeds or not, the Matriarch could still order our deaths for giving up two fortresses without a fight."

"Yes but we salvaged 8 Banners of War Slaves and 6 of Drow, we will need them all to hold the Stronghold of Gahlin against either the Empire or Clan Darguun.' He responded as he sat down next to her. 'What is your next step mistress?"

Arathia Basin

Sergeant Tucker pulled the spear from the corpse of the Dire Wolf, he in his squad had been riding through the Basin mapping the main roads, settlements, and any notable location when one of the many small villages had requested the soldiers help with dealing with a pack of Dire Wolves that had attacked the local sheep and cows multiple times. The standing orders for all the scout groups were to provide assistance to any requests by the locals.

The Dire Wolves had thought it would be an easy fight, two Dozen of them against 10 mounted Soldiers, they had not counted on the other squad of Light Cavalry that had arrived. Their frontal attack had turned into a suicide run that resulted in 20 of the wolves being killed and all the Legionnaires earning a nice chunk of experience, wolf meat, and pelts. The locals had offered to pay them, but the Legionnaires quickly declined.

"Where are we going next Sergeant?" another rider asked as he scanned the darkness.

"This was the end of this little spur of the road, so we head back to the main road. From there we continue to head east until we hit the Evergreen Forest, we have standing orders to not cross into the forest.' Sergeant Tucker replied before placing his spear back into his inventory and pulling out his skinning knife. They still had a good 30 minutes of work ahead of them to skin all the wolves. 'After that, we have orders to scout out the coast. In other words, we are going to be in the saddle scouting for the next couple weeks at least."

Tomb of Eternal Night

Palace of Night- Master Suite

Jacob washed the blood and dirt off his body, after finally getting back from the Fortress of Redemption, he had mined for an hour working off all his anger and frustration. Sosa was already asleep in bed and Eiloma was out with her team of admin people getting all the pertinent information from all the former slaves. She would be gone for a couple of days with her people, but she had left him a copy of his schedule for the next couple days. However, the initial report from the two captured fortresses was in. They had stripped both of weapons and wealth, but they could not take the resources available at each.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Fortress of Hope...

Mithril Mine LVL 2

Silver Mine LVL 2

4X Smithies LVL 2

3X Mushroom Farm MAX LVL

Fortress of Redemption...

2X Iron Mine MAX LVL

Gold Mine LVL 2

2X Smithies MAX LVL

4X Mushroom Farm MAX LVL

Jacob whistled as he read the report, even with the Sisters stripping the wealth and resources from both Fortresses, the Mushroom farms alone made taking the forts worth it. The Gold and Mithril mines were icing on the cake as far as he was concerned. In a couple of days at most Darren would be back from his scouting mission, after that they had the Geater Harvest Market in Middlebrough, after that hopefully all the scouts would be back and the Dwarves from Clan Thunderhammer and the people the Clan Darguun had sent would be done with training and joining the Third Legion.

According to Tathlyn Hune, the new wall around Middlebrough would be done within a week, Watch Towers and Scorpions were being constructed as well as the wall went up. Once it was complete, it would be taller and wider than the old wall. All the old lumber was being sent to the Tomb since they needed an infusion of wood badly with all the construction going on. The Engineers estimated that they would be able to salvage nearly 2,000 units of wood from tearing down the wall. Jacob ducked his head under the water one more time before climbing out of the water, he quickly hit the rune to drain and clean the tub before heading out to the terrace to eat and watch the city and relax.