Tomb of Eternal Night

Palace of Night

Jacob looked at all the new decorations and seating that had been emplaced in the ceremonial throne room. This was the formal throne room for all special and/or state occasions and apparently, Jacobs marriage fell under both. "So Lord Longstrider, how do you like it all?" Queen Talia asked as she walked around with her companion who was standing there in her robes just looking at him. Studying him like a bug.

"I am sure the nobility will be suitably impressed, its a little ostentatious to me though," Jacob said as he continued to inspect the throne room.

"Are you even going to thank her?" Lady On'tel asked.

"Thank you both for turning my marriage into a show for everyone to watch, Queen Talia and Lady On'tel," Jacob responded while moving closer to the two women. The comment earned a scowl from the Banshee while Talia smiled.

"We are nobility, it is expected of us to do more than the common man that we rule over. We make sacrifices in order to lead." Lady On'tel retorted.

Jacob looked at her, before nodding his head in acknowledgment but not agreement. "Well then we are fulfilling our responsibilities Lady On'tel, I just hope your daughter will be happy." "Thank you." Lady On'tel told Jacob as he finished the tour of everything that had been changed for the wedding.

"For?" Jacob asked her.

"For accepting her help on your campaign against the Sisters of the Damned. I know your natural inclination is to protect the ones you care about, but you can only do so much to protect them." Lady On'tel said as she approached her future son-in-law.

"I would be an idiot to piss off someone that powerful much less hold her back because I care for her. She and Mikael were key to making sure that my raid group did not fail. They probably saved a lot of my people's lives, I won't ever forget it. Listen, I do not know if you believe me or not, but I am very fond of your daughter and she has earned my respect many times over." Jacob told her.

His comments earned him a smile from the frigid woman, "Yes, that would be a stupid mistake to think that she could not take care of herself. Just, please make my daughter happy and do not take her for granted."

"Ma'am, that won't happen and I am not stealing your daughter. I am sure she will be spending time with her family at your home and if you or your husband wish to visit you are more then welcome too." Jacob said

"Thank you, Jacob, for your consideration, I won't forget it." Lady On'tel said as she walked away.

"That was nice of you, now I expect you and your wedding party to be here tomorrow and the ceremony will be bright and early the following day. Ok?" Talia asked as Jacob headed out.

"Yeah, we will be there," Jacob called out over his shoulder as he left. The Master of Shadows was suddenly next to Jacob as he walked down the stairs, "You are being a little rude to Queen Talia, I understand that your relationship is a little rocky but you can help by being courteous."

"Maybe you should trust her less Ezekial, hell maybe I shouldn't trust any of you," Jacob said as he stopped and stared at the master spy. "Hyperion made some bold claims and I am thinking he wasn't lying about it either."

"What are you talking about Lord Longstrider?" the Master of Shadows asked.

Jacob smiled, "The Cult of the True has assets in the palace Master of Shadows, the question is who and how many. This codebook we found at Hyperians' former fortress has a list of payments to assets and we believe names but its in code my people have never seen. I am giving it to you Ezekial, I hope I am not misplacing my trust." Jacob handed over the little book they had found, Darren had made a copy though and would continue his investigation on his own outside of Ezekials.

Quest Complete: Hunting the Cult (Stage 1)

Description: You assaulted the Fallen Fortress of Hyperion and destroyed his Avatar. In your search for clues about the Cult of the True, you found that they had infiltrated the Palace of the Night. You choose to trust the Master of Shadows Ezekial and turned over a codebook that contains proof of payment to their spies and possibly their identities. It will take time for the Spymaster to decode it, and your own people have a copy as well.

Requirement: Level 30, Minimum Party of 5 max 10

Rewards: 2000 Experience, Hunting the Cult (Stage 2), 100 Gold, Friendly status with Ezekial

Quest Issued: Hunting the Cult (Stage 2)

Description: Due to the complexity of the code, it will take time for even the Master of Shadows to decrypt the cipher.

Rewards: Unknown

"I will let you know as soon as we decrypt the book, I do not know how long it will take. I won't forget that you trusted me, Jacob." Ezekial said as he walked away. Fortress of Midnight

Main Hall

"So do we have a final count yet?" Jacob asked Eiloma as he sat down on his Throne and looked at his fortress interface.

Eiloma looked at her tablet before responding, "Of the 600 former slaves that you liberated from the Outposts, 480 have decided to join the army, 40 have asked to work here, and the remaining 80 have already been transported to the Pit at the Tomb of Eternal Night. So that gives us an even 600 for the new army you are forming and the 40 that joined us are a mixed bag of skilled laborers and general labor. With all the new additions its good that you expanded housing but what do you plan on doing with the army? They are not going to like staying in tents, they are going to want a roof over their heads. Food is tight and we are going to need wore armor and weapons as well to fully equip them."

"All in time Eiloma and Ineford is happy to sell us anything we want to buy," Jacob told her as he entered the Marketplace interface and queued up an order of 200 common Iron Armor sets with a note to order from the smiths they had used last time. Next, he entered the Smithy queue and added all the weapons they would require, then finally the Bone Barracks to augment their static forces with all the new faces...he wanted to discourage any thoughts of insurrection from the former slaves.

Construction Complete...

Spoiler: Spoiler Major Construction...

Long House (LVL 1)

Inhabitants: 30/30

Durability: 1000/1000

Description: This housing unit was built to hold multiple families during the early stages of frontier town and forts, it provides basic amenities and benefits other than providing a roof over peoples heads.

Green House (LVL 1)

Herbalist: Ganeagit Cragforge

Durability: 1000/1000

Description: A Green House grows herbs for Alchemic use and for healers so they might fulfill their duties. This building increases growth rate and production of herbs by 25%.

Bonus: The Mana Well with increase plant growth and increase the rate that Rare plants will flourish at this site.

Minor Construction...

Bar (LVL 1)

Assigned Personel: Duatha and Guarda Stein

Durability: 1000/1000

Description: Your people need ways to relax and open up their purse strings. The bar provides two essential things, happiness, and taxes. Eventually, this place even might even attract a local Rogue trainer, but only time will tell.

Alert...

R&D produced the Blueprints for Home LVL 2, see your Engineer or Fortress Interface

Alert...

"Ok, we got plenty of work to do still, I know we have done a lot of work here, but the job is far from over. Now as far as the wedding goes, I want an escort of the Dawn Guard and those that are willing to attend may do so, but they require formal wear to be present." Jacob said as he looked up at her.

"I understand and formal wear has been issued to all the new recruits for your guild. All have agreed to come and will be present for the ceremony, all the Bonded will be here to increase the Garrison here. I will be there but will immediately leave after the ceremony is completed and come back here.

"Very well, thank you Eiloma for everything you have done," Jacob told the Seneschal who smiled at him as she looked up from her paperwork.

"Of course Jacob. You might be getting married but I am sure everything will work out fine." Eiloma said as she walked away.

Tomb of Eternal Night

Palace of Night

Jacob paced back and forth as he waited to be called, Tarren and Darren both smiled at his pacing. "Dude, chill out and relax," Tarren told Jacob who ignored him and kept pacing.

"Yeah, well the last time I had a surprise from the crown I found out I was getting married, so sorry if I do not like waiting like this. I want to get this ceremony done so we can get out of here. We have a ton of shit to do over the next couple weeks to prepare for our strike on Fortress Ill'Gargon." Jacob replied as he continued to pace.

"If you ruin your wedding day, your wife will kill you...more then once, probably," Darren told him. "I also know that dying by Banshee scream is painful for us."

"I understand that, but something tells me the Queen is going to do something. She worked way to damn hard to make sure the ceremony happened here. " Jacob told him.

"Even if she does plan on doing something, what can you really do about it??" Darren responded. "Now do you remember the Oath the Queen told you. I am sure someone will be insulted if you do not remember it."

"Yeah, yeah. The Oath to our people...To be their Shield against the Light and Dark, to be the Sword against our enemies. To lay down my life as I help lead them to the approaching dawn. Pretty simple oath in the long run." Jacob told him.

Sgt. James Shadowstrider entered the room, "Ready to face the hangman?"

"Lead the way Sergeant," Jacob told him as he threw on his jacket.