Surface- Valley of Origins Region

Empire of Night- Outside the City of Eternal Night

Jacob watched the blast arc, then slam into the mountainside. It was different than the Mana Cannons. "So everything works perfectly and the Mana Crystals are stable?" Jacob asked the War Engineer who nodded in response.

"Yes, it has taken us a long time to find a balance in everything, but we finally have. Now the initial design is for fixed Mana Mortars, eventually we hope to design and produce a mobile unit like the Mana Cannons." the Dwarf stated. Jacob nodded as the pulled up the stats of the Mana Morter. Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Iron Mana Mortar

Damage: 3,000 AoE (15 Feet)

Range: 1,000-4,000 Feet

Rate of Fire: One shot every two minutes

Crew Size: 3

Durability: 1,000

Description: Mana Mortars are a rare mix of Science and Magic that has been perfected by the Dwarves.

The Mana Morter had a longer range and a faster firing rate than a Trebuchet, but it did nearly one thousand less damage per shot. "How many shots will a Mana Crystal provide for the Mortar?" Jacob asked the Dwarf who frowned.

"Only twenty, which is a bad tradeoff considering how long it takes to create even one of the little buggers." The Dwarf fumed.

"Will you be able to supply four batteries of Mortars like we originally planned?" Jacob asked the War Engineer.

"Aye my king, but it will stretch the two Mana Refineries to their limits." The Dwarf purposely stated before walking off with the other members of the Mortar crew. Jacob got it, they wanted plans for the upgraded Mana Refinery.

Surface- Valley of Origins Region

Empire of Night- Eternal Forest

"It's just so frustrating!!!' Jacob grated out as he stepped away from Big John. 'First Chaos is fucking with everyone. The ones she is helping currently, she is only doing it to weaken possible foes for when she comes out of hiding and start her real campaign. Powers that do favors like this do not expect a thank you and they go away, what are they giving in return?" Jacob pondered out loud.

"Resources, people, a base of operations. Any or all of those things, or maybe something else, maybe all she wants is the areas to be destabilized. Perhaps that is her goal." Nila responded while Alana remained quiet.

Cathrine was simply staring at the stars as she lay down next to them, "Or all of the above, or none of them. It could all be a complete distraction while her true goals remain hidden." Cathrine stated.

"Now why don't you talk about why you feel guilty." Nila prompted causing Jacob to frown at the three women.

"I do not feel guilty," Jacob replied causing Alana to snort in disgust.

"You feel guilty and we all know it. Nila can see it in your aura, Alana can smell it coming off of you, and we have a mental link." Cathrine replied giving him a smirk before going back to stargazing.

Jacob walked over to his wife and straddled her before leaning over and kissing her. "Yes I do, but I am working through it." He quietly told her.

"Feel free to vent Jacob.' Alana stated causing Jacob to jerk around and glare at the two smirking women. 'We can all hear you, Jacob, even my packmates over there can hear you." Alana gestured to the four wolves that looked up immediately and nodded causing Jacob to frown at them as the Heart Guards coughed into their hands. Assholes every one of them he thought as he stood back up.

"Ok, fine it has to do with the nobility of Ordgan I ordered executed. That is part of it and leaving Mabus as well." Jacob hedged out as he leaned back against John.

Nila nodded while Cathrine sat up and narrowed her eyes at Jacob, "Why do you feel guilty about ordering the executions of those bastards in Ordgan?" Cathrine asked and all three women were studying him now.

"I feel guilty because I am not sure if I ordered the executions out of anger or because it was the right thing to do. They deserved to die, I believe that for certain, how I got there matters to me." Jacob explained as he slid down and sat on the ground.

Alana frowned and Nila nodded her head in understanding. "The decision has been made, why do you feel guilty about it?" Alana asked.

"If I made the decision based on anger, I could do it again. What if I sentance someone that is innocent or that does not deserve a death sentence for the crime they committed? That is why I feel guilty and why I want to make sure next time I hand out this type of sentence I am clear-headed and not caught up in the emotions." Jacob explained to the Werewolf who nodded in understanding.

"Do you mind if I ask what they did that required them to be executed?" Nila asked causing Jacobs' eyes to flash blood red for a moment as he gained control of his anger.

"To cover their retreat, the nobility of Ordgan set fire to parts of the city. People died, children died so they could retreat too the city keep." Cathrine grated, she had been there, she had seen the little bodies and had raged with Jacob at what had happened.

"You care why? These were children of..." Nila was cut off as suddenly Jacob was up and snarling as he grabbed her by her throat lifting her off the ground as he was a hairsbreadth from going completely feral on the Dryad Queen.

"I shouldn't care because it was an enemy city? Or I shouldn't care because I am a Vampire and a monster? Which one is it Analisa?!?!?!" Jacob snarled out as he brought the petite Dryads form close enough to touch her nose with his. Distantly he heard the snarls of the nearby Werewolves as the Heart Guard drew their swords.

Cathrine placed her hand gently on his shoulder but did not try to manipulate his emotions. "Jacob, please let her go. I think it is time for us to leave and head back. Will you come to have lunch with me?" Cathrine quietly prompted causing Jacob to push the Dryad away and step back as Cathrine quickly invaded his space and hugged him.

Jacob took deep calming breaths as he smelled Cathrine, the woods and grass around them bringing himself back under control. "Thank you, dear heart, I truly do not deserve you.' Jacob softly told her as he hugged her back and kissed her cheek softly as he strode away stopping between Nila and Alana, 'Nila, the next time I come here, do not be here. You are not welcome here when I am here." Jacob grated before walking away four of the Heart Guard moving with him and leaving the other four with Cathrine who waited for Jacob to disappear between the trees before approaching Nila who was a mix of embarrassed and angry.

Cathrine walked up to her and punched her in the face. Blood flowed as Nilas' nose broke and she went down covering her face. "That was for manipulating my husband, stay away from him Analisa. Alana, you are more than welcome to come any time, I know my husband values your unique perspective." Cathrine stated as the Heart Guards quickly formed up around her and escorted her away.

Alana frowned as she studied the collapsed Dryad, "You were the one that warned me that he was under extream pressures and to not judge him, yet you manipulated and pushed him. Perhaps you should take your advice Queen of the Eternal Forest." Alana stated as she walked away.

Surface- Valley of Origins Region

Empire of Night- City of Eternal Night

Palace of Night- Council Chambers

Jacob looked at the other guild officers, "So we are still grinding in the Obision Kingdom, everyone is tired of it. Any suggestions besides hiring a crapload of mercenaries?" Jacob prompted.

"We cannot afford to hire mercs!!" Cortez immediately pipped up.

More than one officer frowned at the penny-pinching Treasurer, "We know that and that is why he asked for alternatives to hiring mercenaries.' Anastasia stated before turning the others, "Everyone loves hunting pirates in the Whitecap Ocean!!" The Raid Leader stated causing more than one chuckle.

"That's great, it is. How do we break the deadlock in the Obsidion Kingdom?" Jacob brought them back to the point of why he had called the meeting. The guild members that were pulling rotations down there were getting frustrated at the unending combat against the Mind Warped.

"We can always expand the Dead Legion again, I know you are just replacing losses at this point, but I am sure you have enough resources within the Bone Barracks to expand the Dead Legion again," Darren layed out the idea and Jacob frowned.

"The Dead Legion is a crutch for us at this moment in time. I do not want it to become the problem solver for everything, so let's brainstorm and come up with some feasible ideas before we go that route." Jacob replied and they all nodded. It was a slippery slope and Jacob did not want his people to go down that road. Suddenly a message dinged in his inbox and Jacob checked it was from Marc, Jacob quickly opened it. Spoiler: Spoiler Jacob/Kevin,

Ok, we set the spawn point for all new members of the Vampire race for the Fortress of Midnight once Patch 12 is released. It's going to be a shit show so I would recommend addition troops be deployed there during launch. To help with that, the launch of the patch will not be global, it will be released by time zones like dominoes. For example, it will be launched in North America Eastern Zone, then Central Zone an hour later. We are hoping this will help with the launch.

Now for the bad news, due to all the tech demands for Long-Term Immersion, we are going to have to overhaul all our data centers globally. So a week before we launch Patch 12, we will be taking Fate Online down, this announcement will be released later today. No time will pass inside the world of Ithea during the downtime and everyone with an account will be credited with two weeks of free game time.

Marc

Jacob frowned as he read the information, if the information didn't come out within 24 hours he would tell his guildmates, until then...His time crunch just got moved up...FUCK!!! Suddenly another warble filled Jacobs ear as another message hit his Inbox.

Spoiler: Spoiler Mabus is under siege, they reinforced the Chaos forces, new troop estimates put twenty thousand Chaos Warped and the five thousand from Niamphis and Yhieburg.

Nadal

Jacob cursed out loud this time, with the guild bogged down in the Obsidion Kingdom and hunting pirates in the Whitecap Ocean, they didn't have anyone left.