Tamriel RP

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

In the early hours of the morning, or more specifically, at the bewitching hour of 3, Arantir left his place of residence and headed for the local cemetery. It was early enough in the morning for most of the city's dwellers to be in bed, and late enough to go wandering about without having to fear being attacked by cutpurses and their ilk. Sandro was on an agenda of his own somewhere in the city, so Arantir had to watch out for himself.

 

Apart from an attempted robbery that was driven away by a simple Illusion spell, the walk was normal. Standing before the cemetery, Arantir began to search the rows and rows of gravestones. It took him a good quarter of an hour to fins his target.

 

His objective, to the normal eye, was just a plain tombstone standing in a monotone row of its kin. Someone with a good memory or studied the history of Magus', however, would tell you that this was the grave of the once-acclaimed and quite accomplished Destruction Magus Ardnahc, who passed away ten years ago,

 

Necromancy was a much looked-down-upon magic. To ressurect a dead person, one must have their expressed permission to do so. Most necromancers who wanted to stay on the good side of the law were as a result restricted to animals and creatures. Arantir was innovative enough to manipulate a good number into giving him permission to raise them from the dead. Taking out a document, signed in the slightly drunken but still legible hand of Magus Ardnahc and enchanted to protect it from the elements, Arantir stuck it to the tombstone. A bit of plying with alcohol could do anything, it seemed. 

 

There was a brief and quiet rumble, and then Ardnahc clawed his way out of the dirt, eyes and mouth burning wit the fire of necromancy. Arantir swayed from the effort of the summoning, face beading with sweat, and reached out a hand to steady himself. Resurrecting a magus with all their powers intact was already hard enough. Turning them into a thrall took even more effort. A thrall was a resurrected person, except that unlike your typical undead, thralls would never run out Necromantic Charge and power, and as a result would follow their masters around forever, unless commanded not to do die or killed a second time.

 

Finally able to stabilize himself, Arantir began to walk back to his current place of residence. His thrall followed him silently, dogging Arantir's footsteps. Thankfully, the magus had been buried in his robes, and while a decade of being 6 feet underground had turned his body into a skeleton, the robes were a good enough make to survive the years. That saved Arantir the trouble of having to procure new clothes for his new thrall.

 

Reaching the exit of the graveyard, Arantir realized some of his alchemical potions were going to boil over soon, including the paralyzing and toxic poison for his Ebony Dagger. Picking up his pace, Arantir walked on at a brisk stride, his thrall following him silently.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen shook his head, and checked the sun's position again. Almost 11, and Arantir was no where to be found.

 

"Alright then. We're most of us here, except for Arantir. I wanted to be gone by Now, cause we have one last addition to the Our group waiting for us in Riverhold, and I don't want to have to stage a jailbreak to recruit him, like the first time we met."

 

He moved over to Nightmer and jumped into the saddle without using the horn of stirrups. "So, Since Arantir has the Skeletal Horses of his, he can catch up with us. If you can't keep up with me, I'll meet you all at the TrustFall Tavern in Riverhold. Oh, also Velth," He turned to the Mage. "Could you Introduce the Orc?"

[Voidus]

"Hmm? Yes, yes of course, this is Nynn, a mercenary with a fascination for Ayleids, I employ her to go ruin-hunting for me when I need specific research materials, very good she is too, never short changed me."
Velth said as he gestured to his companion, or attempted to as it caused him to overbalance and clutch at her arm for support.
"Yes, well we'll arrange our transport, might need to take it easy for a while so you go on ahead, we'll probably catch up when you make camp and if not we'll see you in Riverhold." he said, waving to a departing Sulen.

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Arantir had originally wanted to go the stables to meet up with his... colleagues. However, while he was walking through the market, he had accidentally bumped over a stall, right in front of two town guards. to make matters worse, Sandro had shown up and greeted him. While his special clothes protected him from the sunlight, Sandro could not hide his vampiric appearance. 

 

A couple of minutes later, Arantir was running with his thrall and Sandro away from an angry mob who had branded him as a heretic and a thief, there were, sadly, no conventional dead horses lying around, and he didn't have the time to resurrect one even if there was one.

 

It took Arantir a good half-hour to lose the mob with a clever combination of Alchemy and Illusion. He barely caught up with the group as they left the city.

[Voidus]

After a long journey Velth and Nynn met up with the rest of their party and entered Riverhold together to try to find Duke.
Knowing him we'd better check either the tavern or the stables. Velth thought to himself as they asked around after the man, they were finally pointed towards the Inn that Duke was staying at and had just arrived at the stables to ask if anyone knew where he was when Velth noted a familiar figure striding towards them.
He nudged Nynn and Sullen and gestured over to Duke and their party went to greet him.

"Hello Duke" Velth said "Not in prison again at least, don't suppose you've got somewhere where we can have a drink while we catch up?"

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen watched as Velth and Duke talked. He always preferred to watch a while before talking. It allowed him to size up the Moods and relations Duke appeared a bit Hungover, but that was expected. He didn't look like his relations with any of them had changed. That was also Good. He walked forward as well.

 

"Hello Duke, Thanks for coming on such a short Notice."

[BreathTaker he/him]

Duke chuckled at Velth's comment as he shook Sulen's hand, "You just missed that little escapade Velth. I just got out this morning and took care of the reason I was locked up." With that comment Duke tossed a small bag to Sulen who looked inside it to find a eight teeth, four canines and four wisdom teeth. It was a strange habit that Duke had of ripping out his latest kills teeth.

 

"He was a slum lord, treating the area as  his own personal kingdom." Duke spit on the ground, he hated people like the slum lord. "Well when the 'king' is found, having killed himself of course, they will find his will to have everything donated to the homeless in the area."  He chuckled at his own cunning, "As for a tavern, there is one near by that is friendly to people of our... profession. It's called the Black Tailed Cat, on the North side of town. It's got a less feline presence there." 

[Observer]

Dar'Omnir listened impatiently to the newcomers for as long as he could stand it. Sudden arrivals, stupid banter, pointless stories of risky murders. Nothing worth hearing about here. Dar'Omnir growled with annoyance, then spoke. "Are there any other people we need to wait around for? Any other stories that need to be swapped? Any jokes not yet shared? Because last I checked, we had a job to do. Are we going to waste precious time chatting, or are we going to start working on what brought us all here in the first place?" 

 

Just to be sure, Dar'Omnir avoided mentioning the contract, though there didn't appear to be anybody within earshot, or for that matter, anybody that cared. Regardless, this was a large job, and a very important one. Sitting around and wasting time while talking so plainly of murder was a risk, in a situation where any kind of risk should be avoided. It was simply unprofessional.

There was, of course, a part of Dar'Omnir that recognized the sheer hypocrisy of that train of thought, but he ignored it. He was more careful than they were. After a brief pause, he repeated his question. "Is there anybody who isn't here yet that we need to wait for, or can we start talking about this operation?"

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen paused at Omnir's Outburst. Did the Khajiit not see the Hypocrosy in his Argument? "No, we don't need to wait for anyone else. It's still Morning, and we're all here. So if no body objects, Let's continue on to Bravil. We do have a Vampire to kill. Unless Duke wishes to add yet another person to our party." Please No, I only wanted the four of us. My Pay isn't going to stretch much farther then these 8.

[Voidus]

Velth tutted as his suggestion of a drink was immediately rebuffed by the party.
"Very well, if we're going then let's get going." he said "To Bravil!"
He pulled out his flask and took a swig before passing it to Nynn. Brandy. He thought scornfully. How have I stooped so low that I've resorted to drinking brandy out of a flask?
 

[BreathTaker he/him]

Duke was also mildly displeased at the suggestion being ignored but he didn't show it. "Well, let me get my things from my room and we'll be off. Velth, I have a present for you by the way, something you will really enjoy."  At that Duke turned and made his way to the inn he was staying at. 

 

Twenty minutes later the clink of armor could be heard approaching the stables, when the group turned to see where the sound was coming from they saw a mountain of man in heavy plate armor. Steel armor with black enameling and an Ebony helm in the style of what was crafted in Skyrim. A flowing black cloak with the simplified Warfist crest emblazoned in the center, a bear head with a battleaxe in its mouth all in red and surrounded in a circle of knot work. An ancient symbol representing the family of the Master Assassin of the High-King of Skyrim. 

 

In his hand he carried an ebony sword that in the hands of anyone but an Orc or Nord would seem overly large but fit in Duke's paw perfectly. The long Orcish knife at his belt sat in a black dragon hide sheath, a gift from the Dragonborn to apologize for causing Duke to gain the ability of flight if only for a moment before slamming into a mountain side.

 

The Nord nodded to the group as the groom brought him his faithful warhorse. He slung the saddle bags and marvelous saddle onto the horse and attached the Greatsword to the side of the saddle in an easy to access location. He mounted and they made for the city gates.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After a hard ride through the arid northern part of Elsweyr headed towards Bravil, Duke seriously regretted wearing his heavy armor and cloak. His helmet sat on its hook on the saddle and the cloak had long since been removed and then replaced once he realized that the sun hitting the black steel directly was worse than the cloak. Once night fell, the group made camp near the river, which didn't cool anyone off. It just made it humid as well as hot. 

 

"Oh, Velth! I just remembered, I got you some things." Duke rummaged in his saddlebags for a moment before pulling out and ancient looking tome and an equally ancient looking bottle. "I found these together in the cellar of an old Nord castle near Dawnstar. The book is an encyclopedia of Deadra that I've never even heard of and the bottle is just really old wine. I imagine it's pretty good."

Edited September 20, 2014 by BreathTaker

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen watched as Duke gave his gifts to Velth. A book and a bottle of Wine. What Vintage is that?  He looked closer at the bottle that Velth was now holding. Surile Vintage, 399. What a Coincidence, the Same vintage I stole from Velth the other day.

 

"Well then, The good Count of Bravil has already received a contact form my brotherhood, so we don't have to talk to him. Unfortunately, we also don't have an excuse to be in the palace, so we can't rob him. Now, the Cave that the Vampire lives in is about two miles south of the Eastern gate of Bravil. Once we get there, we'll go in Together. And Velth, what say you to splitting that Wine among us? You know how much we all enjoy it."

[Voidus]

Velth's mood brightened immediately upon seeing the treasures that Duke had brought. The wine was another Surille bottle and Sullen immediately asked to share some. Velth sighed.
"Do you know how much these cost Sullen? This isn't the kind of tavern Ale you swill while sitting around the fire, this is a Surille! This is one of the finest wines in the entire world! Then again, I do have a shipment coming when I return to Kvatch so I suppose we can indulge a little."
Velth opened the bottle and procured several glasses from his pack. He'd never admit it, but he was secretly glad to get the chance to open it so soon, he wouldn't have done it himself lest he appear uncouth, but if Sullen suggested it...
"Now let's see about this book, hmm... I've not even heard of the author, this is an obscure work indeed.... Hmm, seems to subscribe to the Altmer theory on the Daedra of Coldharbor... most interesting."
Velth trailed off, already lost in the book, with a glass of Surille in hand.
Now this, this is what life should be. He thought.

[BreathTaker he/him]

Duke removed his chest plate and gauntlet and looked around the campfire at his companions. Before he drank any wine he wanted to prepare for the coming fight. He turned to Nynn, probably the only one here who could stand toe to toe with a Nord, and smiled, "Hey, does any one feel like sparring before we continue with night? No weapons, just a good ol' fist fight." 

[A Joe in the Bush]

"Hey, does any one feel like sparring before we continue with night? No weapons, just a good ol' fist fight."  Good ole Duke. Always itching for a Fight. Sulen should probably defuse this before it got started. He'd need Duke to fight off Bandits tomorrow.

 

"Save it for later Duke. You'll have plenty of opportunities to fight once we're at the caves." He took a wine glass from Velth, and sipped it as he continued. "You all remember that, right? Why we're meeting? Anyway, I've got the location marked down on my Map, here." He pulled his map out, and showed the group the Location of the caves. "I'd prefer to get there under cover of Darkness, so I can scout the place out before going in. So i'm going to leave town now. If you want to come with, then Come, otherwise, meet me at this hill tomorrow." He gestured to a hill about half a mile West of the Caves. 

 

"So if you're coming today, follow me. If you want to sleep in a bed tonight, Goodbye for now." He turned away from the group, and walked towards the stable, and his Horse.

[Voidus]

Velth shrugged as Sullen left to find his horse, much as he'd prefer to sleep in a proper bed he doubted there was anything resembling what he considered proper nearby.
He looked at Nyn who seemed to have had the same idea.

"Best to get this over with" He agreed, draining his glass before setting it down and rising to join Sullen, Nyn followed close behind him.

They decided to split up from Sullen and whoever joined him, making their own way to the caves and scouting for any other exits, it wouldn't do to fight through a maze full of bandits only to find the leader escaped through an unknown back entrance.

They found Sullen in the stables seeing to his horse, they began to prepare their own as they talked.

"We'll form a separate party, scout around for any boltholes in the cave complex, I've read a little about the geography of the area and they could easily have mined an escape route. Nyn here knows what to look for though so wee'll make sure they're all sealed up and deal with any strays we find, we'll meet you at the entrance you marked out in the morning." Velth said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Velth finished the bear off with a quick bolt of lightning, unfortunate though it was the bear had been to aggressive to be susceptible to any of his calming spells.
Must have been protecting cubs. He thought to himself.

They'd scouted out the area and found the bolthole, Velth had sealed it off with destructive glyphs and then collapsed it with a fireball just to be sure, no one was getting out that way.

The sky was slowly growing lighter as they made their way towards the spot Velth had marked out.

[BreathTaker he/him]

As the pair reached the spot in the pre-dawn they noticed Duke standing a small ways off, wiping blood off of his plate armor with what looked to be a ragged shirt. He looked up with a smile as they approached revealing a skull painted in black on his face and smears of what looked to be someone else's blood. He took a swig out of the glass bottle he had next to him and tossed it to Nyn, "Here, it's Black Briar Stout with a little bit of whiskey and a pinch of Nirnroot to help with night vision so you don't have to use a torch." 

 

Duke pulled his helmet out of the pouch he tucked behind a rock for safe keeping and placed it on his head. It was an open faced, flap top helmet that resembled a bear roaring and framed his skull painted face perfectly. He removed the sheath of his sword from his back and strapped it around his belt so that he could draw it when the time came, fortunately his height allowed him to wear the Bastard comfortably without anything dragging. He flashed a brief smile at Velth and Nyn before sparking up his pipe and taking a long drag from it.  

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen watched them as they relaxed. Their differences always surprised him. For men who killed for a living, they did it in a different manner than He. While he was cold, they were cheerful. They joked while he watched. It was, pleasant, to watch. Duke was comfortably smoking, while Velth and Nyn drank. The Necromancer still hadn't shown up, which was surprising. But the four of them should be able to handle the bandits if the others didn't show up.

 

He jumped down from the tree branch where he had been perched, surprising them. You fellows got here quickly enough. Do you know where the others are?" They answered, and Sulen continued. "Well, we'll attack soon. If they're not here, they'll miss out on the loot. Velth, I heard an explosion earlier, I assume you found their Bolt hole?" He hoped so. It was always annoying being attacked from behind by bandits who had circled around.

[Voidus]

Velth grimaced as he took a drink.
Ugh, Nords and their drinks, can't they make something that doesn't taste like it's supposed to burn the hide off a daedra?

 "Well, we'll attack soon. If they're not here, they'll miss out on the loot. Velth, I heard an explosion earlier, I assume you found their Bolt hole?"
Sullen asked.

"Yes, just around that bend some, sealed it off and set some glyphs just in case, no one should escape that way." He replied. "Well if the others come then they can just pick off any stragglers, let's get this over with shall we?" He said, conjuring a small light to see in the dark tunnel, along with a frost Atronach to take the fight to close quarters for him. He gestured to Sullen and Duke, the two knew that he preferred to take the rear guard.

"After you" He said with a smile.
 

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen glowered at Velth. While it was his assignment, so he should lead, Velth knew that Sulen preferred being Rear guard. "Fine then. The main Entrance is this way. And make sure you keep a close eye on that Astronachof yours. I don't want another repeat of the Goblin Warren." Another Mage had taken control of Velth's Astronach, turning it against them. Nearly got them, before Velth rememberd to dismiss it. "You ready Duke?"

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Arantir had never tried Nordic alcohol, and wanting to test their reputation, tried a cup of the black stuff. For the next minute or so, Arantir was bent over gasping and retching. The vile drink tasted like pure alcohol. No wonder why the Nords were such strange people. Alcohol truly did corrupt the brain.

 

When no one was looking, Arantir emptied the contents of his cup into the nearby lit hearth. As it so happened, Nordic vodka had enough alcohol to be flammable. The ensuing fireball nearly singed his hands off.

[Observer]

Dar'Omnir listened from behind, still a little cautious. He'd been forced to show up late, thanks to a particularly clever guard. It was annoying when they did that. Breaking the stereotype, being smarter and faster that they had a right to be. He'd cleaned up the traces well, but that one man had somehow gotten close to finding him. No matter, he was on time now, and that was what counted. Stepping into the group's range of vision, he listened. There was a bit of banter, some smiles and laughter. It wasn't killing as Dar'Omnir was used to, but there was no accounting for the thoughts of these people. They all did the same thing, and it shouldn't really matter how they did it. The assassin's blood seemed to run hotter with anticipation. There would be death, lots of it, and soon.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen held up a hand, stopping Nyn, velth and Duke. They all fell silent. He strained his ears, eyes closed. He could of sworn he heard something. Then again. Someone with light feet was definately behind them. "We're being followed." He whispered to the others. "Either a Wolf, or a Khajiit. It might be Dar'Omnir though. But if it isn't, and we reveal we know they're there, they scurry away before we can get them." He turned around to face them. "So we need to- Oh. You're annoying sometimes, you know that?" There, at the back of the line. Just in sight in the dawn's light, stood Dar'Omnir. It looked like he'd been in a scuffle earlier. "Nevermind. So we have the thief with us. Wonderful. Do we want to wait for the Necromancer to arrive as well? Or should we head in now?"

[BreathTaker he/him]

When Sulen raised his hand Duke grabbed the hilt of his belt knife, he heard the Cat just a second before Sulen noticed him but couldn't smell him, downwind than. When the intruder was identified he released the hilt but remained tense, Duke wasn't used to be sneaked up on. 

"I say we go in now, the rest of our team knows where the cave is and can join us in their own time." Duke spent the next minute checking armor straps and dagger placements for easy access and when he was done he flashed a wolfish grin/snarl at Dar'Omnir. "I'm ready when every one else is. I have some more Nirnroot potion if anyone needs the night vision so we don't have to use smokey torches in the caves." 

 

Duke tapped out his pipe on his heel and tucked it into his belt pouch before looking at Sulen for instruction, the first rays of dawn glinted off of the Nords Blue eyes, seeming to make them grow a pale golden color. He fingered the small ring on his right hand, thanking the Prince of the Hunt for his gift. 

[A Joe in the Bush]

Nirnroot potion was expensive, but useful. Sulen had found cheaper ways of getting night vision though. It was called living in the dark for the majority of your life.

 

While Duke distracted the Others, Sulen slipped away. He carefully watched the pattern of the wind, making sure to stay in the early-morning shadows of the leaves. He made his away to the entrance of the caves. There were two guards there. One siting against the cliff next to the door. The other cleaning his sword a little way off. Sulen didn't stop to think. He simply leapt Forward, and sank Dusk into the sitting guard's throat, then jumped to the side, into darkness. Amazingly, the dead guard didn't cry out as he died. The other guard continued cleaning his sword oblivious. The man took his sword by the hilt, then held it away from his body, looking down it, point towards him. He grunted appreciatively.

 

That's when Sulen pushed him onto the ground. The hilt of the sword hit first, driving the blade through him, killing him before he could finish his grunt. He left their bodies on the ground, then headed back to Velth and the others, who were just now noticing his disappearance.

 

"I'm here." They all turned, taken by surprise. "The two gate guards are dead. Follow me." As he lead them to the entrance of the complex, he continued talking. "If we're all in a group, we'll attract more attention. So split up when you go in. Kill as many as you can without making noise. Only yell if you're about to get yourself killed. We'll come get you. After that though, they'll start summoning daedra. So hold off as long as you can."

 

They reached the entrance. Sulen and Dar'Omnir started stripping down the dead guards for valuables. Not much. the one coin purse he found, he threw to the Khajiit. "I'm going in alone. If you want to go with somebody, feel free. But remember, if we don't kill their leader, we don't get paid." He pulled Dusk out of the dead man's throat, then strode into the caverns, casting Muffle as he went. Behind him, he heard somebody mutter.

 

"Damned Elf always has to have the last word."