Fortress of Baereghel
Jacob ducked under the swing of the sword and flicked the communication coin at Lady Ilmdra Do'und face while moving toward his helm and sword. June targeted one of the Rogues with an Explosive Arrow while the other was quickly killed by Chalxae. After Jacob recovered his helm and Moonlight he immediately moved to engage Lady Do'und, Sosa engaged one squad with her troops while Thelgrum engaged the other with the squad of Dawn Guard while the remaining War Party members spread out and attacked whomever they could reach.
----------------------------------------
Tarren watched as the parley break down as the Drow leader lose it and attack Jacob, "Buff up and prepare to attack. Do not fire until Jacob or I command it." Tarren sent out the order to the commanders over the raid channel. The Warriors and Shaman from Clan Darguun looked a little antsy, but they were acting as the reserve force considering they did not have the training of the Legion.
Tarren kept a sharp eye on the fortress as long as they did nothing he would keep the army in check, for now, they could only wait for the results of the small battle.
----------------------------------------
Nadal Despval cursed as he saw Ilmdra draw her blade and attack the other party, foolish girl. The opposition had bated her and she had walked right into it. He was glad he had never given his oath to the child and the whole fortress had heard their talk. Several of the nearby Drom looked at him but he did not give them any orders to engage the invaders and the Sword Master wisely stayed silent. The question was, what would they do once the stupid girl was defeated or dead.
----------------------------------------
Jacob deflected the sword slash and ducked under the whap and shoulder charged the Drow woman forcing her to roll away. Jacob immediately checked to see how his companions were doing and noticed that more then half the Drow were dead and the remaining Drow were being slaughtered. They were simply outclassed and had no magical support unlike Jacobs allies, it was time to finish his own fight.
Ilmdra had also noticed how her people were losing and turned to run away but Jacob triggered Charge and slammed into her back and shoving her to the ground where he immediately jumped on top of her before picking her head up and slamming it into the ground repeatedly until her face was broken and bloody.
Jacob picked up the broken and bleeding thing in front of him, she was missing teeth and her jaw was obviously broken but somehow she still sneered at him until Jacob slammed his fist into her jaw and knocking her out. He then picked her up and put her on his shoulder before looking up at the wall, "Will you surrender or will you fight?"
A Drow on the wall slowly looked up and down the wall before slowly drawing his sword and pointing it at Jacob before dropping it off the wall. Every single other Drow followed the first example and Jacob sighed in relief. "Keep half the Legion outside in support send the other half forward with the Dawn Guard. If this turns into a trap of some sort hit them with everything." Jacob sent to Tarren. Within moments he could hear Sergeants and officers calling out orders and the beat of the First Legions boots as they started marching toward the fortress with the Dawn Guard leading. Jacob continued to stare at the first Drow that surrendered who simply bowed his head before walking away from the wall.
----------------------------------------
Nadal watched as nearly half the troops broke from formation and started marching toward the fortress, perfectly synced and disciplined. Good thing they had surrendered, the enemy would have slaughtered the defenders. Although they held a better position, almost all the defenders were green and had almost no combat experience. The few survivors from the Battle of the Narrows were the only real veterans present and even with them, the attackers would have quickly overwhelmed the defenders.
The attackers marched onward accompanied by the warrior in the glowing Artifact Armor. The Elite units quickly moved deeper into the fortress probably to secure the Portal Pad and Keep. The regular units quickly deployed to secure prisoners and the rest of the keep, always staying in groups of no less than 10. Quick and professional although he saw more than one hateful glance thrown there way when reports of all the slaves crammed into the Pens.
The halfling in the Artifact armor made his way up the wall before finally standing in front of him, "Nadal Despval, I have heard a lot about you and I am surprised that you surrendered without a fight. Based on your history I expected you to put up a little fight."
Nadal snorted, "Your people are heavily trained and are competently equipped. They are professionals and would have slaughtered the defenders if they would have put up a fight. These people have almost no combat experience, it would have been pointless to fight you. Who are you?"
Ilmdra moaned on the man's shoulder but they ignored her, "I am Jacob Longstrider, I have not decided what to do with your people but they will not be executed just because they are Drow. My people are reporting that your Slave Pens are overflowing with people, why is that?"
Nadal shrugged his shoulders in response, "I have no idea, I am still recovering from a battle I participated in a couple of weeks ago. I just recently gained consciousness and that woman on your shoulder has been in command here. She wanted to turn all those slaves into battle slaves and create her own little kingdom. I warned her someone would come along and beat her, but she would not listen. Her Swordmaster might be able to tell you why they had a buildup of so many slaves, but I cannot."
The man nodded while pondering what he said and signaling some of his companions who were nearby and they broke off to go talk to the Swordmaster. "So Nadal, what should I do with you? I cannot release you to go back to the Sisters and I do not want to kill you or hold you as just a prisoner. Something tells me your word and actions has a lot of weight with the other prisoners."
Nadal studied that man before him, "You know my story how the Sisters of the Damned subjugated my clan." The other man nodded his head so Nadal continued, "Most of them were slaughtered during the subjugation. The few remaining survivors were held as prisoners to ensure my loyalty to the SIsters, if you free them and assure their safety and freedom, I will swear my loyalty to your cause." The man was suddenly looking straight ahead but then his eyes started to move as if he was reading something before he started cursing.
----------------------------------------
Quest Issued: FREEDOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Description: Nadal Despval has offered to swear loyalty to you and your cause, but first you must find and free his former clanmates from captivity. His kin are being held in the prison below the Stronghold of Gahlin.
Difficulty: Insane
Requirements: Level 40, Party of 10 minimum
Rewards: Nadal Despval Loyalty, Variable
Kingdom Quest Issued: The Legend
Description: Legendary Commanders are rare, for some reason one has fallen into your lap. Gain his loyalty and the legendary Commander Nadal Despval will fight for you and your cause. DON'T FUCK THIS UP!!!
Rewards: 10,000 Kingdom Experience, Variable
Jacob started cursing and much to Nadal's amusement did not stop for several minutes. He had never been given two quests caused by one event and based on the Kingdom Quest, certain powers did not want him to fuck up. "Tarren get the rest of the Army in here, leave enough out there to cover the Combat Engineers as they break down the siege engines. Darren, I need you to talk to this guy after you get done with the Swordmaster, I need to know everything he can tell me about the Stronghold of Gahlin. I got both a regular quest and a kingdom quest from this guy about that place." Jacob sent to the two men and not over the raid or guild channels.
He could see that several of the Slave Pens had already been broken open and that the former slaves were spilling out. The Legion men were keeping them organized and healers walked among them, healing and giving out food and water.
Regional Alert...
The Fortress of Baereghel has fallen to the Empire of Night.
Regional Alert...
Alert...
Your Forces have captured the Fortress of Baereghel, do you wish to claim it for your Kingdom? YES/NO
Would you like to rename the fortress? YES/NO
Would you like to name the fortress? Bloodsoaked Fort
Alert...
Jacob sighed and dismissed the prompts as he looked at the newest addition to the Empire of Night. He silently wondered exactly how many more times it would happen until he met a more powerful enemy he could not bluff or push over so easily. From the headcount the Legion had made over the last hour, they had freed just over 6,000 slaves and captured just over 700 members of the Sisters of the Damned clan members. The Portal Pad was secure and the coordinates had been changed so only friendly forces could come and go. In one day he had nearly doubled the population of his little empire and if they were anything like past slaves they had liberated his military was about to get a huge boost to its strength.
"What are we going to do with all of them, we can't leave them here?" Yilme asked as she walked up with her War Party shadowing her. Sosa was nearby with several squads of her soldiers and Thorgron had assigned two squads of the Dawn Guard to protect Jacob since most of his War Party was running around the newly conquered fortress.
"We are not, Captain so glad you can join us," Jacob told Brox as he marched up and saluted fist to chest to Jacob. He still remembered the Orc when he saved him from the Sisters what felt like so long ago was only weeks. "We are going to be splitting the former slaves between the Fortress of Midnight and New Dawn. Over the next couple of days, I want those who want to join the Legions to sign contracts and those who just want jobs filtered out. Your command is going to be stretched thin over the coming weeks, sorry but there is nothing I can do. We will be pulling 1200 troops of the first out of here, 400 will go to New Dawn and 400 will go to Fortress of Midnight for the purpose to train any new recruits. The last 400 will be coming with me, we will be dealing with a new threat on the surface. Have whoever that is going with me report to Thorgron temporarily. Dismissed Captain." Jacob barked out and the Orc saluted smartly before turning and running off. "Yilme, we are going to have some of our guildmates on garrison duty for the next couple weeks. To assist with training and for PR with the new people. Grab your husband and choose at least 5 Immortals for the Fortress of Midnight and 5 for New Dawn please." Yilme nodded before running off.
Sosa strolled up at that time, "How is everything going? I assumed you expected to free slaved but not in this amount?"
"Yes, I expected maybe One thousand slaves, maybe two. Not this amount. I am scrambling and making plans on the fly to accommodate all of them and having to stretch my people across 4 locations. Interesting times...I also do not know if we have the food stores to support this many new people." Jacob responded before looking around, "Mikeal I know you around here somewhere. I need information!!!"
Suddenly a distortion appeared as Mikeal dropped his stealth smiling at Jacob, "How did you know I was here?"
The question caused Jacob to snort, "Cathrine would never let me go into battle without at least one Deathwalker watching my back. Since you are my official point of contact for your people, it was safe to assume it was you. Now, what can you tell me about the Stronghold of Gahlin? If you cannot tell me anything I need a dossier on the fortress as soon as possible and any information about the prison beneath it." The man nodded before fading from sight again.
Suddenly below a portal opened and some of the legion men started marching through, several thousand former slaves started lining up to follow them at the urging of other legion men and War Parties. Time to go be a bureaucrat Jacob thought as he made his way further into the bowels of the keep.