Underdark- Unending Abyss Region
Ruins

I studied the ruins, while most of the people were working to store the precious supplies away, others were cleaning up areas of the ruins, or repairing the Longhouses that had been damaged. "My lord, it will take a minimum of three days to build a Town Hall. I will personally oversee its construction. Bernie and Darcy will oversee the repairs to the Longhouses and construction of the two new Longhouses, which should take about five days." I looked at the Goblin who addressed me and used Analyze on him.

"Understood Master Jigibs, once the Town Hall is complete, the priority will be the outer wall. I contacted the Earth-Cracker Tribe, they agreed to loan out a dozen Geomancers, and they will be here in five days, so do what you need to prepare for them. I want the outer wall twenty feet tall and ten feet wide with a gatehouse as well. I know we lack any source of wood, but we can always purchase some later." I told the Goblin who nodded then pointed to the ruins of the ziggurat.

"What do you want to do with that?" he asked me, disgust and fear lacing his voice in equal parts.

"Tear it down and the former slave pens, eventually I will want a basic castle built here, but the priority will be necessities and the defenses of the settlement first," I told him and the Goblin nodded before spitting on the ground and striding away as he started barking orders at his work crews. 

Before I could round up my party a Duergar strode up, "My lord I just wanted to notify you I found the quarry the Drow were using. It's intact overall and my team can start extracting new stone. We are working with granite, so the stone is plenty strong but I can sense some marble as well." the man stated and I nodded.

"Very well Master Stonehand, I already told Master Jigibs our current construction priorities. I told him I wanted the remains of that ziggurat torn down, can you assess whether the stone can be salvaged or not. We will also probably be tearing down the current outer wall, so assess if we can salvage that stone as well." I told the Duergar and he looked at both places before sighing and nodding in acceptance before striding off to get to work. 

"Are we going or do you need to do anything else?" June called out and I glared at her.

"Abraxxus!" I barked and the Lich moved away from directing the unloading of the supplies. I quickly updated him and then looked at the Guards that were not doing much. "Conscript some of the guards to help with the unloading or work crews. If I am paying them, they are going to do more than sit around. We will be back in a couple of hours at most, keep the lights on." I told the Lich and walked away before he could ask what I was talking about. More importantly, he moved to talk to Captain Thardan. 

While setting up the new fortress was critical, scouting out the nearby Underdark was just as crucial. Beyond the small quarry and a couple of chambers with mushroom gardens, House Dhalmass had set up, there were no other resources in the main cavern. I was hoping to find at least one mine within a mile of the old fortress. The only way to find the possible resources would be to look for them. 

Yes, it was dangerous, but with House Dhalmass pushed out of the area and their crystal destroyed, the area was far safer than it had been. There was still an occasional Undead, but there was far less than there had been since the Necrotic energy powering their existence was gone. Our first find was ten minutes down the tunnel. A large cavern about the size of an overgrown baseball field appeared. 

Unlike the tunnel that led to the new settlement, the tunnel that led to this chamber was a straight shot and revealed a couple of surprises. First, there was a large grove of coal-black trees, but more surprisingly was a small pond in the center of the chamber. I looked at the others in confusion, never having seen such a thing but only Sessa and Drax responded. "It's a Spirit Well, raw magical power and fuel," Drax responded to my unasked question. 

"What about the trees?" I asked as I pointed to the whole grove and the Orc shook himself while I blinked trying to get used to the light the pool provided and causing my eyesight to flip between Thermal and my normal vision.

"These are Dark Oaks, a whole grove, they only exist in the Underdark and will absorb the ambient Spirit around them, and with Spirit well here they will be even more useful. A rare resource and one that we can use both in the settlement and the city." Sessa replied as she looked around. 

"Do any of you remember if we brought anyone who can cultivate trees like this?" I asked and all of them shook their heads.

"No, we got a couple Herbalists and Farmers, but that was it. Logging is a common enough gathering Skill but I have no idea if there is a Class for that as well." Chalxae commented as she scanned the chamber and snapped her fingers at June. They both shook off their awe and disappeared into Stealth to scout the chamber. 

Now that I was looking at the cavern with my normal sight, I could see that the trees glowed as well, it reminded me of black lights back in the real world. "Perhaps we can find a Dryad, I know some hid within the city in the end, but I have no idea if any survived," Drax commented and I shrugged. 

"Well since we got to hire a crew of loggers, we can ask around. Discreetly, of course, since I don't want any of the Lower or Higher Houses bitching about this." I told him causing the Orc to chuckle. 

It took less than ten minutes for them to clear the chamber and we were on our way again. I just wish we had more time, with the grove out here, it was exposed to outside influence and vulnerable. That included any workers that harvested the wood, so we would have to figure some way to place troops here to not only secure the grove but keep the workers safe. I put my worries to the side and ideas as we pushed on. 

This time we traveled fifteen minutes before we hit another tunnel. This one was longer and winding, but proved far more fruitful in different ways. Three mines, each filled with different ores based on what we found, had been dug out of the bedrock, based on some of the work there none of them had been created by the Drow but all showed signs of recent activity and would require clearing before being used. However, more importantly, we solved our resource problem. I had an Iron, Silver, and Platinum mine, the iron would be crucial in the continued development of my new settlement and because we had the mine I wouldn't have to buy any raw ore or ingots from the city. 

In Fate Online, mines like this produce Ore Nodes based on the scarcity of the resource. Iron being the most common ore in the world of Ithea, produced nodes once every six hours, silver occurred every eight hours, and platinum would respawn every twenty-four hours. More importantly, platinum mines were known to produce titanium nodes as well, and the only materials more powerful than titanium that I was aware of were black iron, mithril, and adamant. From what I understood, the Dwarves controlled or bought any mines that produced the ores and sold them at extremely high costs. 

More importantly, or disappointing, all four ores could only be smelted in magic forges since all required care and skill to work with. "You look both happy and sad," Sessa commented and I snorted.

"The grove back there made us a target, the silver mine coupled with the platinum mine is enough of an excuse for anyone to try and claim this place and take it away from me," I told her and she frowned. "Let's push on, these are worries for another day and just because we found them, does not mean we have to harvest the mines," I told them, and more than one look assessing my sanity was thrown my way. 

We continued down the main tunnel for another half hour, so far we had only encountered a few dozen Undead we had easily dispatched with an occasional Goblin thrown into the mix. It was enough to slow us down, but not stop us. However, the next surprise we found was one I wish we had not found, a Dungeon. Let me explain how Dungeons work in Fate Online.

First, you have the normal one-off dungeons that spawn randomly throughout the world, that grow stronger until they are cleared. The older they get, the more powerful the monsters, the better the loot. The second type of dungeon is the stationary type, they are the normal type of dungeons for games with set bosses, mobs, and traps that you can clear once every seven days. It cuts down on farming for loot and experience and is supposed to keep the experience fresh for players according to Blackrock.

Then you have the perma-death dungeons. These are for hardcore players only. Bosses and mobs are more powerful, each of them is unique, and when completed the dungeon disappears like a one-off dungeon. Yet, if you die while in the dungeon and you are not resurrected by your allies, your avatar is gone, forever. No respawn. However, to balance that out, all drops are a minimum of Legendary or higher from each boss downed. Let's put it this way, three of the top ten clans gained their positions after clearing one of these dungeons. 

Finally, you had the event or call to arms dungeons, they were normally one-off dungeons but could not be ignored once found. You had to clear the dungeon usually with twenty-four to seventy-two hours or suffer massive Debuffs and monster invasions from the dungeon. Of course the way my luck was running, that was what we found.

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Quest Alert: Damnation or Salvation

Description: Centuries ago, the head Shaman of the Gem'Lock tribe in fearing for his people's safety, betrayed them in the most hideous of ways. In his quest for power, he sold his soul and the lives of his tribe to master some of the darkest powers that can be wielded by a mortal on Ithea. Due to his foolishness, the old Orc eventually summoned a Demon he could not control and was killed but his army awaits a chance to be free and invade the Mortal Realm. 

Plum the depths of the Cavern of Damnation, destroy the leaders of the demonic army, and slay Grurez the Fallen and Borgal, Hand of the Abyss. This quest is not for the faint of heart or the weak, gather friends, allies, or even mercenaries for once your party enters, either you will leave victorious or the demonic invasion of Ithea will begin. (Requires minimum Level 20+, Requires minimum party of 10) You have (72) Hours to enter the Dungeon and (8) hours to complete it. 

Quest Class: Call to Arms; Unique

Quest Difficulty: Hard

Success: Enter the Cavern of Damnation, slay the Demonic leadership, and slay Grurez the Fallen and Borgal Hand of the Abyss.

Failure: Do not enter the Cavern of Damnation, slay the Demonic leadership, and slay Grurez the Fallen and Borgal Hand of the Abyss before the timer runs out.

Rewards: Unknown

Note* This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused. 

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I stumbled and stopped as I read the Quest Notification and started cursing before regaining control of myself. "You guys got that too?" I asked them as I glared at the doors that glowed slightly. "Let's finish scouting the area, it almost time to head back so another fifteen minutes or so down the main tunnel before we break and head back," I told June and Chalxae. The two Drow nodded and disappeared into the dark gloom of the Underdark again.