Middlebrough
Governor High-Tower sighed in relief as the Portal opened and started to disgorge people, from the looks of them they had been abused badly but were now on the road to recovery. Black armored Legionnaires were corralling them away from the open portal so that those that followed them would not stomp on those in front of them. Hundreds of former slaves filled the square as the Cavalry started coming through. High-Tower glanced over at the 3 squads of the Dawn Guard that watched the portal intently with the Kings War Party. They were there for one reason only, to escort him out of there as soon as he appeared.
Suddenly the flow of troops stopped and a man on a golden horse came through. He immediately dismounted and looked around as the horse dissolved. Suddenly his head whipped around and smiled as Jacob stumbled through the open portal. Jacob appeared annoyed and immediately turned back at the portal as one more Dwarf and mount came through. The Dwarf bowed and said something to Jacob before moving off to his men.
The Dawn Guard and his War Party immediately swept forward and enveloped him, High-Tower studied the man, he had a harder edge about him but talked to one of the Dawn Guards as well as a couple of his War Party members. As he approached Jacob turned to him, "How are you doing Governor? Having an interesting time as I have had for the last couple of days?"
"Hardly. I am glad to see you back among your people my King. May I ask who all these new people are?" High-Tower asked.
Jacob smiled indulgently, "These are all former slaves, including parents and children. For those who wish to enroll in the Legion, they will be allowed. Some just want to start life over and will be moving here, Ineford, or somewhere else within the Empire. If you can watch over these people and figure out where we can place them, I would appreciate it, Governor. Now if you do not mind I have to get home soon before my wives show up and hogtie me and drag me off." Jacob replied before moving off.
High-Tower sighed as he called over his council members, they would need tents, food, and a maybe the 4 Inns within the walls of their town would put some of these people.
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Quest Complete: Great Escape!!!
Description: Through no action of your own, you and all the slaves in Hassim's caravan were freed. 'Bob' saved your ass kid. You should thank him!!!
Optional: Free the other slaves of the caravan.
Rewards: Freedom, Tome of the Heavens,
Jacob walked through the crowd, the Dawn Guard gently moving people out of the way as they made their way to the Portal Pad. Bob was there waiting for him holding a bag in one hand. Bob stepped up and waited for Jacob to come to him. The Dawn Guard eyed him but let him through their small perimeter. "Well, you are back among your people and safe. It is time to release this Avatar so he may continue his life. The book will be your responsibility, just like my counterpart no one can see me or take me from your possession. For the time being the Tome of the Heavens is your responsibility. Good luck." Suddenly the gold and silver eyes turned brown and he thrust the bag Jacob way while crying, "Please take it."
Spoiler: Spoiler
Name: Tome of the Heavens
Durability: Indestructible
Description: This book is made from gold and silver, written with the tears and blood of the prophets of the High Heavens. It contains a portion of the power of the Lords of the Light and is the physical embodiment of their power and will on the Mortal Plane. Within its pages are lost knowledge, power, and paths to ascension.
After inspecting the book Jacob immediately put it in his inventory, before the man could dart away a pair of the Dawn Guard grabbed him. "I think we are going to have a long talk, sir. I am sure this book was heavily guarded wherever it was but how did it get into your possession. You are coming with us and once you tell us your story and I believe it, you will be free to go." The man was crying but the Guardsmen handled him through the open portal. Jacob sighed and looked at the newest citizens of the growing Empire of Night and hoped they would have an easier life from now on. Then he jumped through the portal ready to face his wives and loved ones.
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City of Uldon
Inner City- Rose Palace
Faith was exhausted and sore, her whole body felt like it was on fire. Considering the curse that she was under it was not surprising though. Whoever had killed her and her remaining team members had been scary as fuck, but to be able to lay a curse on someone that prevailed even through death was worse. Now she was being called to task about her failures. She was supposed to meet the proxy for her employer but she was wary of going in. She was thinking about leaving and sending a message to the guy to go screw himself but she feared what reprisals he would send her way.
"I think you should go in. It appears you are having a bad day, but it can always be worse." A Rogue advised as he leaned against the nearby wall. "Yeah, I am not the guy you are meeting, but I am in his employment. Go inside Faith before you make it worse." The Rogue said before turning and leaving. She cursed herself one last time for taking the job before dashing from the shadows and toward the entrance.
Stepping into the sunlight felt like she was on fire all over, her health started to dwindle again and smoke rose from under her robes that covered her body. She didn't scream though, she had endured this for the last 2 days and had learned to endure it somewhat. As she opened the door to the Inn and ran inside it felt like her body was suddenly doused in cold water and left her shivering as she went to the manager and asked for her contact.
Spoiler: Spoiler
De-Buff Lights Bane: This curse was placed on you by an Avatar of the Light. Resource and Health Regeneration is halved during the day. You will lose 1% of your health while in direct sunlight (Up too 90% Health). All stats are reduced by 30% while it is daytime. (Duration: Forever or until removed by another Avatar, High Priest or equivalent clergy member, RESURRECTION DOES NOT REMOVE CURSE)
Faith read the de-buffs information one last time before she entered the room. The sole occupant was the monk from before. No cloaked figure, not surprising considering she had failed. She had encountered a few Holy men between her resurrection point and here and every single one looked at her like she was a complete piece of shit when they saw her status. At least she had not been hit with a Faiths Bane Curse, from what she had found in the research of her current curse it was the only one worse than her current one.
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"Well, well, welcome back. You managed to survive somehow little Sword Dancer but managed to pick up an interesting curse along the way. Good luck getting it off you though. I have only ever heard of one person ever removing it and it required a whole lot of money and time." He said as he studied her status, "What went wrong? Tell me from the beginning and go from there."
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30 minutes later she had finished with her tail and his questions. "Well that is an interesting story and if I didn't see you with the Cursed status I would say you were full of shit. I believe you though and will relay your report to my employer. You realize you are in his debt now, you will owe him one free job. If you fuck up again you might as well leave this world and never return." He stated the obvious.
"Yeah well as long as he understands my limitations now and understands the fact most of my team was killed or captured including 2 of my Immortal team members." Faith responded as she leaned back against the wall.
"Oh, he understands alright. Well thank you for coming in and not make me track you down, we will be in touch when we have need of you. Remember you and your team, owe us." The Monk said as he stood and left.
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Tomb of Eternal Night
Palace of Night- Council Chambers
Jacob listened with half an ear as his advisory council bitched and moaned about him missing two meetings over the last couple days. He just kept nodding his head while reviewing the cities interface. He had not had a chance to look at the Middle-City himself, but he would as soon as possible. Infrastructure, housing, and water were right on track for but he would have to consider other buildings for the area as well. "Are you listening to us King Longstrider?" One of them asked.
"Not really, no. You are bitching and complaining because I wasn't here for 2-hour long meeting where you will complain about how the campaign against the SIsters is going or Military expenses. The first was inevitable and the second, well you kinda want to survive right? Got to have a military presence to do such a thing." Jacob replied as he closed the interface. "The campaign is going well, the SIsters of the Damned overextended themselves badly while they were already fighting on two fronts. Then to make matters worse when we took one of their forts they sent a small party to wipe out our new settlement and instigated an all-out war with us. Now for a stagnant society and economy, you needed a war badly. The economy is growing, Ineford is firmly under our control, Middlebrough is newly conquered, and within a months time, the military will be able to field three Legions. Oh and a Light leaning city, instead of reporting us to the Council of Light, reached out to us to try and figure out if we were the monsters the gods said we were. The first diplomatic meeting went well. So tell me, what exactly could I do to improve our situation that I am not already doing?"
The council was dead silent, more then one grumble under their breath but overall said nothing. "Well then, consider me properly chastised for skipping two meetings. I apologize from the bottom of my heart. Now if you do not mind, I will adjourn the meeting. I hope you all have a good evening." Jacob stood and left. He still needed to talk to Darren before he wandered off and the messenger had already been sent to Ineford for that part of his plan. Hopefully, he would have a response within a few days.
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20 minutes later he was pacing outside his own Master Suite, the Heart Guard assigned to watch over the rooms were studiously ignoring him after informing him that his wives were waiting inside. He contemplated what he would say or do when he went in. He knew that they were going to be pissed and were getting even madder that he was here outside instead of inside taking his beating, verbal or physical.
Suddenly a pair of hands shot out of his doorway and grabbed his ears dragging him within the rooms. The door slamming cut off the chuckles of the Heart Guards standing guard outside. June and Chalxae dragged him into the central room and pushed him into a chair that had been moved there. Facing him were Cathrine and Sosa and standing behind them was Eiloma, June, and Chalxae. Star was off to the side napping though, a steak had been laid out for her when she was ready for it though. A small fest was prepared for all of them, it was just waiting for Jacob to be done with getting his ass ripped.
"First off I want to apologize for not keeping guards around me. I know, it was stupid but I thought I would be safe due to the remoteness of where I was. No big guilds, no high levels areas, no one to really threaten me. I didn't take into account mercenaries and I paid a price for that. I am sorry and it will never happen again. I didn't fully grasp the fact that I was vulnerable in a friendly town, being in the Underdark is a natural defense and insulates us from a lot of enemies. Middlebrough put us on the map literary and it gave our enemies a fixed target. It won't happen again. I will always have my war party with me and at least one squad of the Dawn Guard when I leave the city. No complaints or anything else, you have my promise." Jacob told all of them.
Cathrine studied him for a while before nodding her head which was a signal for the rest to break off staring him down to move toward the dinner table. "Darren requested I dispatch a squad of Deathwalkers to try and backtrack Hassim and another squad to Uldon to try and figure out who he was supposed to deliver you too. The Uldon team tracked several high-level Immortals within the city, this is unusual due to the fact that Uldon caters to the Immortals around level 50 to 65 but these ones were a minimum level of 150 to 195. Two full parties that were centered on an Inn called the Rose Palace. They are currently tracking these Immortals to see if they will lead them to anyone that will make decisions but they appear to be mercenaries."
Jacob nodded, "What about Hassim?"
Cathrine snorted, "They lost track of him. He wouldn't dare show his face in Uldon without you so the team is now on its way to Anchorhead to see if they can pick up his trail there."
"Anchorhead...what do we know about the slave trade going in and out of there?" Jacob asked her.
"Not much, its a surface problem so we know almost nothing." Jacob frowned at her, "I will amend the orders to the Deathwalkers going there. We will have a full report within a week."
"Thank you, Cathrine, you need to stop thinking of it being a Surface or Underdark problem. The Empire of Night now has people on both sides. Slavery is a problem and wrong in so many ways, I hope you understand that. I hope you all do. I will not have it as part of the Empire of Night or its allies." Jacob said as he looked at Sosa, who bristled at first but slowly nodded.