Underdark- Unending Abyss Region

Tomb of Eternal Night-Middle City

Jacob walked through the ranks of soldiers as they checked through their gear, "How are all the new additions handling it?" Jacob asked Brox and Ironbark.

"They are accepted, but they are untested and it makes them nervous. We rearranging the Cohorts so we don't have completely green troops in any one unit. Hopefully, it will increase their survival chances when they do go into battle." Brox stated as they continued their inspection.

Each Legionnaire besides their equipment was required to have 4 Small Healing Potions, 2 Minor Stamina Potions, and a Small Healing Tonic. It had become mandatory for any Legionnaire that would be deploying to a combat area to have them with them at all times. Since the First and Second Legions were deploying tomorrow to capture the last fortress the Sisters of the Damned had in the Black Basalt Region. Two batteries of Siege Weapons had already been pulled from storage to deploy with them as well. Jacob could see the Engineers of the Legions already swarming the wagons checking on the equipment to make sure everything was present and ready to be put together.

"Well, hopefully, tomorrow won't be to rough for us. The Rangers and Rogues are already scouting out Fortress of the Broken One. We should have the finale scouting report in a couple of hours and from their initial reports, they have anywhere between 1 to 2 thousand troops there, mostly War Slaves. I think if we pound them with the Siege Weapons for a while before sending in the troops, we could destroy half the garrison before even one Legionnaire even steps foot toward the place." Jacob stated as his eyes continued to rove over the ranks.

Fortress of the Broken One

Jacob ducked behind a nearby hut as a wave of arrows lashed out. They had taken the outer wall easy enough but they were putting up a fight for the inner wall and keep. Spells and Arrows slammed into the advancing ranks of the Legionnaires. Healing spells landed among their ranks but not everyone was going to live through the assault and it was stalling from the sheer amount of incoming fire from the enemy ranks. "They are moving the Siege Weapons closer, the Onagers will be in range within 30 seconds. The catapults one minute after that." Ironbark called out over the screams of pain and the blasts of offensive spells.

Jacob nodded his head while asking for any Immortals that had AoE spells to start laying down some fire on the wall. More than one positive acknowledgment went out as Pyromancers and Icemancers unleashed Ice Storms and Fire Storms on the packed ranks of the defenders seeing some of the screamings and giving them some relief.

Suddenly all fire from the Inner Wall stopped and Jacob heard a whoosh tight before the explosive ammunition slammed into the Inner Wall. Screams filled the air and Jacob risked looking, part of the upper wall had collapsed and he could see over a dozen bodies in the rubble while others were scrambling to get back into defensive positions. Jacob ordered that the incoming fire should be staggered so that the defenders either had to take the damage or give up the wall.

The attackers waited for a good 15 minutes as the Siege Engines continued to pound the Inner Wall and Keep, from what Jacob could see three large holes had been punched into the Inner Wall and part of the Keep had been collapsed when Nadal gave the order to cease the bombardment and the assault began again.

The attacker charged under the fire of the Crossbowmen as mages of the First and Second Legions. Even the Immortals added their considerable fire to the assault. The defenders fought valiantly, but with their defenses literarily crumbling around them, they couldn't do much. They did make the attackers bleed though, and Legionnaires started dying again. Jacob snarled into the raid chat for someone to punch through and get to the control room.

30 Minutes of fighting for so little had given the Legion very little reason to spare anyone. If any of the defenders offered the least resistance, they slaughtered the whole group. It didn't matter at that point if they were War Slaves or Drow. Jacob walked among the wreckage and bodies checking for his people as the alert finally came through.

Regional Alert...

The Fortress of the Broken One has fallen to the...Empire of Night.

Regional Alert...

Alert...

Would you like to rename the Fortress of the Broken One? YES/NO

What would you like to rename the fortress? Fortress of the Fallen

Alert...

Kingdom Alert...

For capturing a level 4 Fortress, you have gained...80,000 Kingdom Experience

Kingdom Alert...

"Sir, we have dug out the last of the defenders and the fortress and everything within it are secure. The Engineers are working on the Portal Pad as we speak and we will notify the Fourth Legion that they can have the garrison as soon as we finish mopping up." Ironbark reported.

Jacob nodded, he knew the fighting had gotten nasty in the end when all the escape routes had been cut off and the defenders had no hope of defeating them or running away. "Make sure we do more than one sweep, I don't want any of our people left here. We will have a bonfire for the lost tonight outside the Tomb." Jacob told the Orc who saluted and strode off barking orders.

Surface- Arathia Basin

Empire of Night

Middlebrough- Turned Pear

Jacob, Darren, Tarren, Yilme, and Zakoc were all drinking, well the guys were drinking more then Yilme. All of them were still armored and bloody from the assault and more than one person was eyeing them like they were deranged psychopaths. Jacob chuckled at the thought as he chugged another pint down and signaled for another to be delivered.

For over three hours Jacob drank until everything kinda got blurry and he blacked out. Next thing he knew he was waking up in one of the cells under the barracks lining the wall puking his guts out.

Alert...

De-Buff Hungover: Accuracy reduced by 50%, Skills/Abilities have a 50% of not working, Equilibrium is unreliable (Duration 1 Hour)

De-Buff Dehydrated: Stamina regeneration is halved. (Duration until you drink, effects can increase with time)

De-Buff Thirst: Due to lack of blood, speed, strength, and health regeneration are reduced by 10% (Duration until you consume blood, effects can increase with time)

De-Buff Hunger: Health Regeneration is halved. (Duration until you eat, effects can increase with time)

De-Buff Unwashed: Diplomacy/Charisma is halved, Costs of Goods/Services increased by 30% (Duration until you bathe, effects can increase with time)

Alert...

"Finally awake?' Hightower asked as Jacob dismissed the Alerts and minimized the reports from the battle from yesterday. 'You and your party started a brawl last night at the Turned Pear and it took nearly three squads of Legionnaires to break it up and subdue you all. All your other friends are already gone, you just wanted to sleep once we corraled you. You wives are upstairs currently, neither one looks too happy with you."

Jacob groaned, "You already told them I was here?' Jacob asked the man who smiled ruefully and nodded, 'Well guess I will crawl upstairs and find out how much I owe to repair the Turned Pear and apologize to my wives for being out all day long." Jacob told him as he slowly stood. Their idea of punishment was to make him go to weapons practice and take them all on before he was allowed to eat, bathe, or drink anything. He was puking within ten minutes. Within 30 minutes he had a Concussion and several fractured bones, their point had been made though.

Alert...

De-Buff Dehydrated: Stamina regeneration is negated. (Duration until you drink water)

De-Buff Thirst: Due to lack of blood, speed, strength, and health regeneration are reduced by 20% (Duration until you consume blood, effects can increase with time)

De-Buff Hunger: Health Regeneration is negated. (Duration until you eat, effects can increase with time)

De-Buff Unwashed: Diplomacy/Charisma is negated, Costs of Goods/Services increased by 50% (Duration until you bathe, effects can increase with time)

De-Buff: Fractured Bones: Speed is reduced by 15%, Reflexes are reduced by 25% (Duration, Until healed)

Alert...

Jacob tired, sore, and feeling like crap bathed and ate while reviewing the post action report.

Spoiler: Spoiler Jacob Longstrider

King of the Empire of Night

Although successful in taking the Fortress of the Broken One, we did suffer light losses to the number of enemy troops killed.

First Legion Casualties...

Dead: 75

Critically Wounded: 130

Lightly Wounded: 78

Second Legion Casualties...

Dead: 62

Critically Wounded: 150

Lightly Wounded: 62

The Lightly wounded will fully recover with 24 hours, the critically wounded will recover between 24 hours to 6 days. The enemy suffered over 2,000 killed in the battle or during the cleanup action. Engineers have already begun repairs to the walls and keep an estimate that it will take 4 to 7 days depending on supplies and labor. General Girmak Ironbreak has requested double the normal Dead Legion garrison be placed at the Fortress of the Fallen until the Sisters of the Damned have been neutralized.

On a lighter note, we recovered 3,270 pieces of equipment from the battle. Of those recovered, 1,587 pieces were of Uncommon grade or better and have been turned over to the various armories. The other pieces were turned over to various smithies and workshops to be dismantled so we might use their materials for a higher purpose. Within the Vaults of the Keep we recovered 56,789 Gold, any grade of metal higher then High-Steel has been turned over to the Palace of Nights Vaults to be stored.

With all respect and appreciation,

Nadal Despval

Captain-General of the Empire of Night Not a bad haul, but nothing compared to when they captured Gahlin or took Anchorhead. Both windfalls were from Strongholds though, this was just a keep. "You feeling better now?" Cathrine asked.

"Yeah, overall my body is exhausted and still recovering but mentally I am doing better overall. Yesterdays attack was intense compared to capturing everything else. My thoughts last night was that it was only going to get worse and we are going to sustain even more casualties, not less. It's a lot to take in." Jacob replied as he lay back in the bed after the bath. He was under certain orders from the healers to stay in bed while his body healed. The healers were pissed at the women in his life for what they had done, but he had fucked up and gotten drunk and fought people at a bar stupid choices and mistakes he could not afford to make.

"Was anyone permanently harmed or killed during the fight?" Jacob asked.

Cathrine laughed, "You did more harm to the bar with your fight. According to the people there, you fell on your face twice and ran through one of the pillars. In addition, you punched through the wall several times...That's what cost so much. They did not ban you, but they asked you not to come back any time soon." Cathrine was trying not to laugh and failing.

"So I was an idiot more than anything but I am glad that I didn't really hurt anyone. That's a good thing. No more hard drinking for me. You going to join me for some sleep?" Jacob asked her as pulled the blankets over him.

Cathrine smiled before leaning forward and kissing his cheek, "Sleep well love. I am going to go talk to Eiloma and discuss carving out some more time for yourself in your schedule before you burn yourself out." The vibrations woke Jacob, but it was the screams that he heard coming from the palace and the city that made him wake up and run to the terrace. At first, he couldn't see what was making people scream but then he started to see what they saw. White line and black lines crawling up the Greater Mage Towers in the Inner and Middle sections of the city. In the outer city, something was pulling rubble together and creating Greater Mage Towers as he watched and if whatever was following his basic plan, it would make 18 in the outer city.

Who and why though did not matter as he watched the lines crawl of the Greater Mage Towers. A power that had not been seen in the city in nearly 2,000 years was working. Glyphs and Runes were appearing and lighting up as the lines of power grew. "What the hell is going on Jacob?!?!" Cathrine nearly screamed as she entered the room.

Jacob shrugged his shoulders as he continued to watch. "I have no idea who or what is using those towers!" Jacob called out over the continued rumbling that was growing louder by the moment. The inner towers were finished first and three white and three black beams blasted upward but never reached the top of the cavern. They slammed into something that was around the city.

"What is that? What are those beams hitting?' Cathrine yelled out as June and Chalxae joined them. Jacob considered telling her, but he had no idea who was destroying the gods' work. 'Jacob you know something about what is going on, please tell me."

Jacob nodded his head, "Who is doing this or why I don't know. What they are trying to do...I have a theory and only a theory." Jacob replied as suddenly 6 more white and 6 more black beams joined the others slamming into the whatever was around the city.

"And?" Chalxae prompted over the growing sounds of cracking earth and the sound of the wind blowing.

Jacob frowned and looked at the outer city, the Greater Mage Towers there were over halfway complete, "Ever since I became a Vampire I researched the curse. Read everything on in and how the Tomb of Eternal Night came to the Underdark. The Curse was specifically created to weaken the Vampire race, correct?' Jacob asked them and all three quickly nodded. 'Well, this city as much as its part of the Vampire race is not physically a Vampire. So I got to thinking and reading what if the Curse and how the city ended up in the Underdark were two separate things. What if we could reverse the magic the gods used to send the city here and bring it back to the surface. I brought Dumathoin to look and confirm this is what the Pantheon of the Light did 2,000 years ago. He confirmed it but had no idea how to reverse it. I think someone is trying to do it, who and why they are...I have no idea." Jacob was screaming out his response now over the rumblings and wind whipping up.

Nine beams of white and nine beams of black energy shot up and slammed into the spell that had brought the City of Eternal Night into the ass end of the Underdark. The beams reaching their zenith started moving downwards toward the edges of the city until the whole city was surrounded by a black and white stripped dome. Then it started turning and whirling causing even more earth to crack as the wind picked up so fast it was screaming. Suddenly with a blast of light everything ended and the energy that had been fulling whatever spell dispersed as the ground heaved and settled. Jacob checked on the women and they all acknowledged they were fine. Jacob looked out at the city and then looked up expecting to see the cavern as he always did. Instead, he saw endless stars and beyond the outermost walls trees and grass. To the east, west, and south were mountains and from what Jacob could see this place was almost exactly like the memories the Blood Lord showed him.

Regional Alert...

The Valley of Damnation Region is now known as...The Valley of Origins Region.

Regional Alert...

World Alert...

The City of Eternal Night once cast into the depths of the Underdark has now been returned to its rightful place in the Valley of Origins. The destruction the gods once wrought there has been reversed as the valley is returned to its once lush beauty and danger.

World Alert...

Jacob was stunned silent, but the time for planning and moving in the shadows was rapidly coming to a close. Word was out and people would start hunting them, soon. When they were in the Underdark they could hide, Jacob guessed other powers had other ideas for his people. Jacob took a deep breath and started to move, time to show the world exactly what they could do.