Tomb of Eternal Night

Inner City- Star Forged Smithy of Possibilities

Even getting here early Jacob did not beat the regular smiths as they started working. So far Jacob had only learned to smelt his Ore, he had not even learned to forge anything yet. However, it took a long time to smelt nearly 4,000 pieces of Iron Ore he had acquired over the last couple weeks and he was only a few pounds from being sent into Overloaded status. Since there were 10 other smithies in the city, he was the only one using the Smelters of the Star Forged Smithy of Possibilities.

At the rate he was going, it was going to take him about a week to smelt all the Ore he had mined, it took the Iron Bars longer to cool then it did for the Smelter to melt Ore from the rock. It was on his tenth batch he had finally got the Alert though.

Alert...

Would you like to take Smithing as your crafting profession? YES/NO

Congratulations on choosing your Crafting Profession, see your Character Sheet or Wiki for more information on Smithing

Alert...

Spoiler: Spoiler

Crafting Profession: Smithing

Level: Initiate 1/50 (Passive)

Cost: 40 Stamina per minute (Current Level)

Description: Smithing is one of the oldest professions in the world of Ithea. Your products and services can be marketed almost everywhere and when you reach the rank of Master, you can specialize in Armor or Weapons. 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: Increase your chance to learn Plans/Schematics by 1%

Benefit 3: Process Raw Ore 5% faster

Jacob dismissed the prompt and the information on the Crafting Profession as he continued to work, more than one Smith had eyeballed him wondering who or why he was there. Only Torgan and Stroznog knew who he was and they were keeping quiet about it for now, but knowing them they would tell the other smiths later.

Anchorhead

Lower City

Darren stared at the gates of Anchorhead closed for the night, a small piece of information, but good to know. Beyond the gates, the slums were still active and would be for some time. The lower city was as well, the Upper City would be more heavily patrolled though, and soldiers would be more likely to stop and ask questions of those in the richer sections of the city.

Two guard houses lay on either side of the large gate, the wall was 10 feet tall and nearly 8 feet wide. Pairs of guards roamed the length of the wall around every 50 feet. Torches were placed every 10 to 15 feet. Nearly 200 soldiers were stationed at the gate itself with barracks lining the wall, housing 200 guards each, every 500 feet. The outer wall stretched nearly a mile between the mountains on either side of the city. Archer towers dotted the wall every 250 feet, but no siege engines were mounted on the wall. However, they did have a magical shield from what they had found, where the projector was located, was an unknown so far.

The main road led into the heart and main square of the lower city where it split, you could continue straight toward the docks or you could turn right and head toward the upper city which would remain open for another hour before closing. The upper city held the richer portions of the city and the Fortress of the Sea Lord that contained its own wall and garrison. All told, Anchorhead housed almost 25,000 souls, not the largest city on the continent of Arakon, but far from the smallest.

Now down by the docks, the slave pens, and the warehouse districts appeared where all the goods that came and went from Anchorhead were housed and stored. The slave auctions happened every Tuesday and Friday according to the locals, that was when all the merchants appeared and bought the most stock before either shipping their purchases overland or sent out by the sea. Private auctions could be set up at any time if the buyer was rich enough.

Chalxae's tapping brought Darren back to the here and now though. He followed her gaze that was locked on a roving patrol, Darren nodded as he followed her faint outline into the night.

Tomb of Eternal Night

Inner City- Star Forged Smithy of Possibilities

Jacob managed to smelt nearly half his Ore and gained 10 points in Smithing before he was finally pulled away by the new city planner, who was also the guild treasurer. Apparently, he had a long history in RTS (Rel-Time Strategy) games and loved them. So his pet project when he had time was to streamline construction so they wouldn't have to scramble with basic needs. His first suggestion was to cut off any more population infusions to the Tomb until the city reconstruction efforts were completed if at all possible and move some of the population somewhere else.

Jacob had told him the second suggestion was already in the works, while the first would be considered on a case-by-case basis. He had not told the man, three farming communities were under construction and that a military port was about to get started as well. Three hundred people to the three farming communities and about 150 skilled craftsmen and general laborers would be going to the new port with two Cohorts of the Third Legion.

What he wanted to do was start clearing out the outer city, but Jacob was hesitant with construction ongoing in the Inner and Middle city. His justification was it would provide more experience for the Home Legion while giving work to the large portion of the general laborers that were sitting around and doing nothing for the time being. He also suggested transferring some of them to the outer fortresses to get them out of the way for now until the cities infrastructure was rebuilt.

The good news was that city Engineers were sure that the wall breeches in the middle city wall could be repaired within two weeks, at which time they could start putting up new doors to Middle City wall and all the other defenses that were currently locked due to the breaches being present. Annoying rule, but a rule they could not ignore. Jacob thanked him before heading into the palace to grab some food a pair of the Heart Guard dogging his steps.

Ezekial was waiting inside the Dining Hall, "My King, I was wondering if you ever had time to finish decrypting the Codex you gave me?"

"Yes, the Immortal Darren completed your work and we forwarded copies to both the Immortal guild Shadow Daggers and the Wood Elves of Sylfemel. What they have done with the information since then, I have no idea. If I was them though, I would find some way to verify it before acting on it." Jacob replied as he headed for the open buffet table that was always stocked.

"Understood my King, since you have reinstated me I have begun to reach out to all my old contacts, I will have a general report within a few days. Do wish me to directly report to you, or may I relay it through your Seneschal?" Ezekial continued.

Jacob considered the question, "For a regular report with no crucial information feel free to send it to Eiloma, otherwise directly to me." Jacob told him. Ezekial bowed and quickly left, his minders ever present.

Fortress of New Dawn

Main Keep- Holding Cells

"Hello Faith, enjoying your new accommodations?" Jacob asked as he walked into her cell. She was chained to the far wall in a 5 feet long 4 feet wide cell. The cot and straw mattress took up most of the space with a bucket as a bathroom.

"Fuck you dip shit. It might be legal to keep me here, but it isn't right." She snarled back.

"But manipulating your brother and telling him bald-faced lies is right? For trying to get your brother to intimidate me and to get you sprung from your jail sentence you will now be doing the full 10 years and your buyout is no longer 50,000, it is 100,000 gold now. If you do anything else, I will report you to the developers and let them decide what to do with you." Jacob told her as he slammed the door shut. Her scream of frustration filled the air as Jacob heard a large clang as she threw the bucket against the door of the cell.

Jacob chuckled as he walked toward the nearby Legionnaire, "Make her clean up any mess." Jacob told the Legionnaire who smiled and saluted as Jacob walked by. All her former team members were waiting for Jacob at the top of the stairs. All were in their basic gear waiting for him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sure you have had a long day so thank you for your time and patience. John when you were first imprisoned I told you I might offer you a job eventually, the time is coming sooner rather than later that you will be given an opportunity. If you take the job, you will have one year of your sentence taken off.' Jacob said, 'However if you do anything to compromise the mission, you will serve your full sentence from a jail cell like your former leader Faith. So take your time and think about the offer, nothing will happen if you decline the offer. Questions?"

Arathia Basin

Carathia Bay

Lieutenant-Commander Judrus Ironaxe watched as his two Cohorts labor to clear out all the trees to make a camp. The Engineers were already out with some of their crews surveying the area and planning out where they wanted the shipyards, fortifications, and other buildings to go. As far as Judras was concerned it didn't matter if they didn't get the damned camp built and fortified. The surface of Ithea was just as dangerous as the Underdark at times, it was just easier to see the threats coming. The trees were being stacked to the side so once the Sawmills were up and running they could process everything they cut down, and the area had a ton of trees to clear.

Two Centuries were already clearing and widening the trail into a proper road. The so-called 'road' that led to the bay was hardly better than a dirt path. All the wagons and carts had been left on the road with another Century of troops to defend them. Two Centuries of Calvary would eventually join them here once the Portal Pad was up and running, but it wouldn't be complete until the end of the week.

Some of the general laborers were assisting in clearing brush and felled trees while some of the craftsmen were clearing the trunks of branches and leaves. Half of those cleared were being set aside to be used to construct a Palisade Wall, the other half would be used for whatever the Engineer saw fit to build. Judras just had a list of what was the priority, after that, it was up to the Engineers. Suddenly a Ranger appeared before him, "Sir, we finished scouting the immediate area, the only real threat we discovered was a pack of Forest Wolves, around level 35, but our numbers are discouraging them from closing at this time. A large number of crabs are also located at the beach, levels between 20-35, but they won't attack unless you attack first. Of course, the local village is located to the North-West on the other side of the bay, their people have stayed within their dwelling so far."

"Thank you Scout-Master, keep a picket out but rotate your people in to get some food and rest. No other orders at this time." Judrus responded. The Wood-Elf saluted and quickly disappeared into the nearby trees. They definitely needed to clear the trees back Judrus thought.