Tomb of Eternal Night
Palace of Night
Jacob walked through the darkness deep beneath the bowels of the palace. It was deeper than any vault or even the prison cells. Getting in here had required some blood and whatever else the Blood Lord had put in him. He had finally found the long lost vault though, it the path ever ended anyway. Finally, the hall ended with a teleport pad and a door. Jacob touched the Teleport Pad and the destination of it was the Entry Hall of the palace above so Jacob stepped back and opened the door.
Inside six Golems waited, each one activated and scanned him from the top of his head to his feet before going dormant again. At least if thieves got this far they would still have to face internal defenses. Torches all along the wall started lighting filling the room with light from one corner to another. Dozens of shelves, chests, weapons racks and armor stands lined the room. Looking at some of the shelves he saw potions, tonics, elixers, bags of jewels, both uncut and cut. Bags of old coins. Anything and everything one could need to fund a kingdom. Why in all the time had it been here, had no one come to claim it Jacob wondered? Then he remembered, he had the Blood Lords mantle, no one before him had it. If anyone else had come down here, it might have been a one-way trip.
Some of the armor Jacob recognized from the memory of the Blood Lord, the warriors he had fought with before he had ordered them to flee. This might be the very same armor Jacob thought as he analyzed it but it was too high of a level to get a detailed reading, just a general description.
Name: Fang of the Blood Lord
Requirement: Level 200
Description: The Blood Lord had several Legendary Armor Sets created for his personal guards and assassins. They were seen as the Blood Lords hands and/or will. Anyone who wore a set knew that the Blood Lord had ultimate trust and faith in their actions. These suits were made from a mix of Mithril, Titanium, Adamant and are nearly indestructible.
Jacob whistled at the level required but would be a nice reward for certain people. Better yet, from what he could see he had six sets of such armor. Each one Legendary-Unique...thoughts for another time and when they reached an appropriate level. The nearest weapons although less impressive were each Epic and/or Unique as well. Again all of them required no less than level 200 to use. After searching through half the chests he finally found what he was looking for, cloth filled chests. Mainly silk and rare hides, perfect for what he wanted. He chose one at random and removed some of the materials before pulling out two books.
They were both trying to push each other away from the other. The Grimoire of the Abyss and the Tome of the Heavens plainly hated each other and did not like one another. "Well tough shit you two, I didn't ask for either one of your company. For some reason, though your bosses decided I was responsible for both of you and since you two are fighting like children I am going to stuff you in one chest together. Next time I come down here, if you are behaving better I will store you separately." The settled down and then suddenly shoved themselves forward into Jacob's face. In their need to attack them, they had both negated some of the others force. "Well, at least you two worked together for once. Enjoy your stay you little bastards." Jacob laughed and threw the silks and dragon skins over them before slamming the lid shut. The chest shifted a little but then stopped, maybe they were chastised by their respective bosses.
Finally, he went to where a bunch of bags of coins and jewels had been laid on the floor and not sorted onto the shelves. He immediately dug to nearly the bottom before pulling out the Plagued Stalwart Guardian. Jacob smiled a bit before gently started piling the bags back on the shield. It would be secure for now.
Quest Complete...Maybe: Plague Lords Legacy
Description: You found a secure location to house the Plagued Stalwart Guardian. Only time will tell if this measure can contain what lies within the shield their madness created.
Difficulty: Nightmare
Rewards: Nothing, Time will Tell...
----------------------------------------
Tomb of Eternal Night
Palace of Night- Entry Hall
The appearance of Jacob Teleporting into the Entry Hall stopped all traffic for a moment before everyone continued on their previous business. All the palace occupants had gotten used to Jacob's odd timing and lax regards of stopping one's duties to pay respect to the King. Official functions were different, day-to-day operations were another thing. Life and responsibilities went on no matter what, so when he turned toward the entrance and headed out of the palace grounds one of the nearby squads of the Heart Guard immediately fell into step with him.
20 Minutes later he was in the House of Remembrance, a long line of Vampires was waiting to get in for once. Usually, a few dozen came and went every day, but this was abnormal for them. The Acolytes saw him and ushered him inside quickly and seeing that Jacob wasn't stopping at whatever they were all waiting for, he passed the crowd unmolested.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
"What are they all looking at and waiting for?" Jacob asked as they made their way into the depths of the building.
"When you visited us yesterday, you might have experienced one memory of the Blood Lord, but you actually unlocked a dozen memories from that time. They are the oldest memories we have and predate the founding of this city and this building. The House of Remembrance was one of the first buildings constructed that would eventually form the inner city. So it is ancient even by our standards." The Acolyte responded.
----------------------------------------
Main Cavern outside the Tomb of Eternal Night
30 Minutes later Jacob and about two dozen of the Tomb Guards were outside the Tomb, Jacob was talking to Dumathoin. "So, was I right?" Jacob asked the Dwarven god. Jacob watched as Dumathoin reached out with mana tendrils toward the city. One of those added perks that the Mantle gave him was the ability to see other manipulate mana and other forces around him, but Jacob could not control it yet and he didn't understand what was going on either.
"Honestly, I think so but I am no expert on magic. You would have to talk to a god of magic to get an expert opinion." Dumathoin responded as he cut off what he had been doing and rested.
Jacob smiled, "Do you have anyone in mind that you would trust?" Jacob asked his hopes rising but then falling as soon as the oversized Dwarf shook his head.
"I would trust two, but they are both still imprisoned and asleep within Lolths jail cells. I would trust Thoth above all others, to assist you on this endeavor. He always did enjoy a challenge, that's why I thought he joined the moderates back then." Dumathoin responded as he studied Jacob.
"Well if you can tell me where he is, I will spring him from his cell. You will get your old friend back and I will get an expert opinion about the problem." Jacob responded as the Dwarf god nodded distractedly as he continued to study him before suddenly his eyes bulged and he cursed.
"Where did you get a Mantle of Divinity? It none like I have ever seen. It's different...what is wrong with it?" Dumathoin asked.
Jacob snorted, "Are you going to start sharing all your secrets with me?' Jacob waited a moment for the god to respond, 'I didn't think so. You have your secrets and so do I. When you start trusting me fully, maybe I will return the favor. Until then, you respect my privacy just as much as I respect yours."
The Dwarven god nodded reluctantly, "I will try to get a definite location on Thoths cell, I will contact you if I find it." Dumathoin waved his goodbye then created a Portal and stepped through. Jacob smiled as one piece of the puzzle came together, time to go work on another.
----------------------------------------
Tomb of Eternal Night
Palace of Night- Council Chambers
"Sorry about being late, had two important meetings and the second one ran longer then I thought it would," Jacob said as he entered. The other officers were just talking and bull shitting so it didn't really matter. "Darren, can you start us off. You told me we got the reports back on the names submitted by the guild members." Jacob prompted.
Several chuckles followed by Darren clearing his throat and standing, "Ok, the Shadow Daggers sifted through all the possible new guild applicants lives on both Earth and here. Of the 100 candidates they cleared 83, I brought that number down to 78 after reviewing some of those suggestions. I have already sent out the first 10 invites, they have 36 hours to respond before they get the ax and we move onto the next set of names."
"Moving on to other news, scouts have pinned down the location of the Regional Boss of the Arathia Basin in the Black Swamp. The set the portal anchors so we are good to hit it as soon as we decide to take it. Everyone has a minimum level of 35 after the siege of the Blood-Scorched Fort. We will need all 50 of our members though to have a chance." Anastasia called out.
Jacob quickly went through the schedule he had, "I can do tomorrow morning or the day after in the afternoon." The next morning it was quickly decided.
"Ok, work on the middle city is still ongoing, did anyone pick up the secondary classes Engineering or Foreman during all the preparations for the attack?" Jacob asked.
Tarren responded, "Yeah a couple of people did, I have already asked them to jump in to help with the efforts in rebuilding the Middle City. Most of them agreed to do it."
"Well then, those who jumped at the chance or agreed to it immediately get paid 10 Silver a day. All those that follow 5, anyone disagree?" Jacob replied. No one voiced an objection and since the construction would be for the city, it would come from the Empires bank account. "Good, having Immortals assist will cut reconstruction down by days if not weeks. Now the big question, how does everyone feel about the launch being moved up?"
Grumbling and moaning, but what could they do? Unless something happened on the Tech side of things, everything would be revealed to the world in three months time. So they had to bust their ass, even more, another reason why they should expand their guild.