Surface- Twisting Hills Region

Free Lands- Outside the City of Cliphis

"This does not have to turn into a fight, surrender," Jacob stated as he looked at the envoy from Cliphis.

"We will not surrender to the Empire or anyone else." The officer of the City Guard responded.

Jacob gave the man an amused glance as he looked at the two mercenaries accompanying him. Apparently, they had no say in the matter, "You have already surrendered to the Slavers Union. You cannot oppose us and the majority of your strength is to the north besieging the city of Athesas. You cannot win. You will eventually lose. Surrender and your lives will be spared, you have my word." Jacob employed them.

"I was not given permission to surrender, if you attack the city we will defend it." The Officer responded quickly.

Jacob narrowed his eyes at the man in frustration before nodding and accepting his choice. "Gentlemen, does he speak for the mercenary forces of the Slavers Union?" Jacob prodded them.

Both men look at each other before shrugging their shoulders, "We stand with Cliphis and the Union."

Jacob nodded his head in resignation at their choice before looking at a nearby Mage who nodded his head as he finished a spell, "Defenders of Cliphis, if anyone wishes to surrender, you may do so for the next hour. You will be treated as prisoners of war and detained for the duration of hostilities with the city of Cliphis. After that, anyone emerging from the city will be considered hostile and treated as such." Jacob's voice boomed out over the city. The Envoys horse and escorts shied away from the overwhelming sound before turning and leaving. Star snorted in amusement as they turned and trotted back towards the fortified encampment.

"So in one hour, we are going to begin bombarding the city?" Nadal asked as he joined Jacob and his party as they entered the camp.

"Yes. Everything will begin in one hour." Jacob replied as he headed for his tent to get his armor.

Surface- Twisting Hills Region

Free Lands- City of Cliphis

Outer City

Ailis moved through the deserted streets of Cliphis. After Jacob had announced his ultimatum, the few people out and about had retreated to their homes. Most of the guards and mercs had been moved to the outer or inner walls. Ailis's mission had changed to reinforce another infiltration team in their attempt to destroy the cities outer Mana Shield Generator.

From the information she had received, the other team was composed of ten individuals, mainly Rogues with one Warrior Tank leading named John. Apparently, this was not their first time doing this, but they had no idea Ailis was moving to assist them. Her orders were to shadow and assist if they needed it, otherwise, she was to observe only and not interfere unless absolutely necessary.

Battle Alert...

You have entered an area with an active Null Field. Communication and sound cannot breach the field for...5 Minutes.

Battle Alert...

Explosions, the clash of weapons, and screams filled the night as soon as she crossed the invisible boundary. Ailis cursed herself as she increased her speed to get too where the ongoing fight was occurring. Ailis activated Stealth as she approached where the sounds were the loudest and looking over the slight ledge she saw about a dozen city guards assaulting a house being defended by who she assumed was the Infiltration team.

Fire, lightning, arrows and other spells were being flung back and forth. Already half the building had collapsed under the guard's all-out assault while the defenders were fighting desperately to keep the guards back, and we're losing ground steadily. Ailis cursed under her breath before triggering Blood Calls to Blood. Just a slight distortion and she was behind the enemy line, she activated Backstab immediately as one knife plunged into the Mages' kidney. Before he could scream her off-hand weapons slammed into the side of the Mages throat. With a twist of her daggers, she opened up both wounds further before she turned and dropped back into Stealth.

The next Mage noticed his companion collapsing just as Ailis dropped out of Stealth as she activated Gauge. One blade slammed into her new target heart and the other a lung. Another twist eliciting a scream stopped the Guards advance as she activated Shadow Jump allowing the nearby shadows to consume her as she appeared on a nearby roof as the Guards line stopped advancing as the desperately fought the other Infiltration team.

A Fireball and Explosive Arrow slammed into their line taking advantage of Ailis distracting the guards and further fragmenting their line. Two guards were down and bleeding, maybe dying once the smoke and flame cleared. Another half dozen were visibly wounded and staggering onwards.

A shout from the besieged building drew Ailis's attention back too it too reveal the defenders scrambling clear out of one of the side doors and down one of the side alleys. Ailis frowned before her eyes bulged as she turned and ran as the explosion lifted her and threw her ten feet.

Ailis managed to roll into a landing and dropped down between two buildings. Ailis took deep breaths as she looked around the corner, the building and the guards were both completely gone. Other nearby buildings had superficial damage and maybe some structural, but overall everything was intact, but the shield over the city was collapsing. Ailis smiled as she dashed off into the night, this was going to be a fun job.

Surface- Twisting Hills Region

Free Lands- Outside the City of Cliphis

At the hour deadline, no one had come out of the city and the bombardment commenced. The walls might not be the biggest, but Lord Winters had not scoffed at buying top tier Mana Shields and Batteries to fuel them. If the infiltration team failed, they would be bombarding the city for two days, just to bring down the outer shield. It did allow them time to finish constructing the Siege Towers and Battering Rams though.

Large Fireballs bigger then anything a Mage could throw arced out between the various fortified encampments and slammed into the shield as the Trebuchets started the siege of Cliphis. After fifteen minutes of bombardment, a large explosion in one of the eastern districts lite up the sky as the outer mana shield collapsed. The Trebuchets immediately switched targets and focused on destroying sections of the outer wall as the defenders let out a surprised shout.

Jacob just shook his head as the defenders started dying from the bombardment. The few mage types were throwing up magical shields, but they were a temporary stopgap that would fail sooner rather than later. "You tried lad, nothing you can do now," Thorgron stated as he stepped up near him.

Jacob ground his teeth together, "Sure I can. I can call off the attack and go home, but then the Slavers Union and those that side with them will be emboldened to continue. We always have a choice Thorgron, but it's up to us to decide what to do with that choice." Jacob responded as he put his thumbs through his sword belt.

"True, but I don't think this is a real choice for you, is it?" Thorgron responded and Jacob shook his head at the Duergar.

"If I can prevent people suffering by dismantling as much as the Slavers Union as I can, I will gladly do so. Hell, the very core of the Legions were constructed around former slaves, it will be years before former slaves are outnumbered by volunteers from the citizens within the Empire." Jacob responded quickly as he watched another wave of large fireballs arc and slam into the distant wall. An explosion rang out through the night as Legions of the Empire continued to assault the city of Cliphis.

Surface- Wind Swept Hills Region

Nation of Duran'thia- Outside the City of Elleshara

Quest: Path of the Necromancer

Description: Power always has a price, Necromancy is paid with body parts and grave robbing. Plunder a couple of graves to acquire...key components.

Minor Lich Skull: 1/1

Warriors Arm Bone: 1/1

Mages Thigh Bone: 0/1

Success: Collect the materials for Master Elajor and return them to him without being caught

Failure: Do not collect the materials and turn them over to Master Elajor or report Master to the authorities of Elleshara, Necromancer Class will be locked too you

Immiediete Reward: Mage Skill Tree Unlocked

Reward(s): 500 Experience, Primary Class Necromancer Acquired, Necromancer Skill Tree Unlocked, Unknown Ava dismissed the quest information as she continued to dig. Elves lived a long time, so their graves were usually small and sparse. Unless they were cursed, they always had a guardian of some sort, usually an elemental or magical construct of some sort.

Her latest graverobbing had pissed off a Level 22 Earth Elemental that either through small boulders at her or tried to hammer her into mush with its fists. Ava checked her Status quickly, she had less than two minutes left until her Haste Buff ran out. Elementals were resistant to magic but susceptible to blunt damage.

Her staff was next to useless and her spells were being resisted for almost half the normal damage she dealt out. So the few grazes she had received from the elementals had knocked her health down to fifty percent while it still had just under sixty percent health left. Ava was seriously considering upping her Constitution over the next couple levels so she wouldn't be so squishy.

Ava back peddled away from the Elemental as her hands worked odd gestures as arcane words spilled from her lips as she thrust both hands forward casting another Arcane Blast. The ball of magic traversed the distance quickly and exploded against the Earth Elemental causing it to stagger back. Ava immediately closed the distance and cast Arcane Beam. The blue and purple beam cut through the Elementals' exterior for the first time and elicited a scream of pain and outrage.

Ava quickly broke off her assault to allow her mana to recover and give her time to consider her options in destroying the Elemental. The Elemental glared at her as it conjured a small boulder and hurled it at her. Ava quickly dodged to the side as she watched the boulder clip a headstone eliciting another yell of outrage from the Elemental. Ava quickly Analyzed the Elemental before it charged her position. Spoiler: Spoiler Name: Earth Elemental Guardian

Level: 22

Health: 1,680/3,000

Note* Elementals are made up of almost any Element found on Ithea. They are extremely dangerous and highly resistant to magic. Approach with caution. Ava downed a Minor Mana Potion as the Earth Elemental gathered itself to charge. Ava quickly unleashed Arcane Barrage, a series of small Arcane Bolts blasted outwards from her outstretched hands and slammed into the Elemental widening the cracks that had appeared and hurt it further.

When the dust settled the Elemental was heavily damaged and limping after Ava as she continued to kite the creature around the graveyard. Ava groaned in frustration, she was out of Mana Potions so she had to wait the old fashion way for her Mana to regenerate.

Surface- Twisting Hills Region

Free Lands- Outside the City of Cliphis

Jacob watched as half the norther wall collapse in itself, dozens if not hundreds of defenders were buried under the rubble. Jacob snorted in disgust at what was happening, this all could have been avoided if they had just surrendered, now hundreds if not thousands would die due to the choices of a few people.

Horns and drums sounded as most of the Fourth Legion started marching towards the huge breach along the northern wall. The defenders were scrambling to mount a defense, but they just didn't have the numbers to put up a decent resistance with such a large gap in their defenses now. The Dawn Guard marched behind the first line of Cohorts of the Fourth Legion, if the defenders put up too much resistance, the Dawn Guard would punch a hole through it quickly. That was the idea at least.