Tamriel RP

[BreathTaker he/him]

Duke chuckled at the comment as he followed Sulen through the entrance, for a while the group had no choice but to stick together. Finally there was a split in the path. Duke walked down about ten feet and sniffed the air while checking the ground for tracks, "There's people down that way, alive." He stood up and looked at the rest of the group, "One or two of you can come with me if you want, but no more. I'm sure there will be plenty of other places to go soon." At that he drew a long dagger with a wolf's head engraved in what looked like bone on the pommel and silently made his way through the unlit passage way. 

[Voidus]

Velth walked further into the caverns with Nyn at his side, he cast a muffle and Stoneflesh spell upon himself and Nyn, greatly increasing both their stealth and durability.

They reached yet another fork in the road, and split away from the rest.

"Best if we cover as many paths as possible" He said as they split off.

A quick life detection revealed enemies ahead, he doused his Magelight, relying upon the night vision granted by the Nirnroot to see.

Nyn followed him with equal stealth, his spells allowing her to walk silently despite her heavy armour. They crept out into a larger section of cave that had been appropriated as some kind of training area. Four of the bandits stood shooting targets while two others were practicing against training dummies.
Velth gestured to Nyn to circle around to the other side of the cave, cutting off their retreat, he cast another Lightning glyph behind him to ensure they couldn't slip by him either.
A whispered word and a small bolt of crackling red light sped across the cave, striking one of the archers.

He immediately turned upon his allies and began firing at them, the illusion spell raising his lust for battle to uncontrollable urges.
In the panic caused by his sudden rage Nyn burst forth from the shadows and dispatched one of the other archers with two quick strikes.

The two training swordsmen turned towards the orc only to be struck from behind by paralysis spells, freezing instantly. Velth walked up to them and quickly dispatched the both with a flaming touch.

The enraged Archer and Nyn had dispatched the other three bandits, the illusion wearing off just as the archer put an arrow in between the eyes of his erstwhile ally. Velth quickly cast a fear spell, causing him to drop his bow and flee, he ran straight into the glyph Velth had left, triggering it and falling to the ground amid a cascade of lightning.

Velth smiled at Nyn, the challenge of this mission was proving exciting already.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Voidus

[Observer]

"Damned Elf always has to have the last word." Dar'Omnir muttered, drawing Suffering and Spiral. It probably wasn't wise to be filling soul gems on such an important job, but it was either doing it now or being forced into killing a few civilians later. Besides, there wasn't likely to be anything inside that could survive a pair of good daggers in the back. With this thought in mind, the Khajiit crept through the entrance, then split off down the opposite path from Velth and....whatever his partner was called. Rushing quickly ahead on perfectly muffled feet, Dar'Omnir quickly arrived at a moderately sized room. It had a ramp leading upwards to one side, and a stairway heading down opposite the entrance. There were only a pair of humans at the platform up above, talking to each other. Beside them was a small device, likely a form of alarm system to reach down the stairs. Let's hope it's a good conversation then. The more interesting it is, the less they'll be looking for...

 

Dar'Omnir crept forward slowly, sticking to the more poorly-lit sides of the room, avoiding making any movements too quickly. He bent down low, crawling up the ramp at an uncomfortable angle, close enough to hear them talking. Something about archery off in the other room. It didn't really matter, the others would be handling that. From here, Dar'Omnir could tell it wouldn't be easy to sneak up on the pair. They were too far past the ramp, and the platform was too well lit. If they bothered to look, they would see him coming long before he got to them.

This was, of course, why any good assassin learned at least a little alchemy. Dar'Omnir removed a small potion of invisibility from his belt, the smallest of the six, and drank it. It would only give him a few seconds, but for a silent assassin, it was more than enough. The Khajiit stalked forward until he stood right beside the two bandits, then tossed a coin behind one of them. One of them simply had to look around his partner, while the other turned around. In that moment, Dar'Omnir slit the first bandit's throat with Spiral, and then buried Suffering in the other man's neck as he turned back around. Silent flashes of blue coursed out of the dying bandit's body and into the black gem in Dar'Omnir's pack. You two were positioned well. This ramp was very difficult to sneak up to, and either one of you could have sounded the alarm with only a few moments of warning. This won't be easy...

With these thoughts in mind, the Khajiit moved into the room connected to the ramp. There weren't any other people inside, though there were a few potions of healing and spare weapons. After looting some daggers for later, Dar'Omnir set off down the stairs to the next room. 

Edited October 19, 2014 by Observer

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen clung to the rocks on the ceiling, listening to the two bandits beneath him. They hadn't yet realized they were under attack, and were discussing Magic.

 

"Hmph, wizards, now that's power."

 

He carefully inched along the ceiling, positioning himself right between the two bandits.

 

"Bet they got that "secret" magic, can turn wood to gold."

 

Velth could transmute minerals, right? Iron to Silver and so on? He'd never heard of him making gold though. If he could, why would he need to work for money? He flipped over, so that his back was pressed against the cave's roof. He made sure he was steady, then let go with one hand, drawing Dusk from it's sheath, and putting the blade in his mouth. Then he grabbed Dawn as well.

 

"Yeah. Wish I could turn wood to gold."

 

He dropped. reaching up, he grabbed Dusk from his mouth, angling the twin blades so that they would hit the Bandit's heads point first.

 

"Never enough gold. I just need Gah!" Dusk punctured his leather helmet, killing him quickly. But he still had enough time to yelp. The other bandit died silently, making a thump when he fell over. Sulen jumped into a crouch, listening closely. Nobody else seemed to have heard the thumps. He pulled his daggers out of their skulls, wiggling a bit to get it out of the bone. Then he dragged their bodies behind an overturned table. Hopefully they wouldn't be seen as missing for a while.

 

He grabbed a few Potions out of a chest in the corner, then continued on, deeper into the cave.

Edited October 20, 2014 by The Only Joe

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Arantir sighed, disappointed, as he walked through the caverns. His friends had arrived before he did, and didn't leave much for him. fortunately, Arantir had found a Heartstone on the way to the caves.

 

Sandro, of coursing, was far ahead of him, scouting the caves out. Arantir had warned him to be careful about setting off alarms, but as usual, Sandro didn't listen.

 

So it wasn't much of a surprise when Arantir started hearing alarm bells ringing around the caves. Sandro came tearing back towards Sandro, running at an inhuman pace.

 

"What did you do now, Sandro?" groaned Arantir as he himself started running.

 

"How was I supposed to know that the bandits had laid tripwire alarms in the corridors?" muttered Sandro, half to himself and half in reply.

 

Turning the corner, Arantir barely avoided collision with his allies.

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen sprinted down the Corridor. He didn't know if he had set the Alarm off or not, but he needed to get some distance just in case. Right before he reached the Hallway's Corner, a man walked around it. Sulen didn't miss a beat, springing forward with his Dagger pointing straight for the Bandit's Neck. Then he recognised Sandro. He swung the dagger sideways, barely avoiding the Vampires death, but did knock him over, landing in a crouch atop his chest.

 

He looked up to see a Shocked Arantir as well. They'd caught up. Joyous.

 

"You two need to be more Careful, I nearly killed you there." He jumped backwards,forcing Sandro's breath out of him, and landed in a standing Position. "If I had been the Enemy, I would have killed you easily. And what took you so Long in getting Here?"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Urzul looked up as the Bells interuppted her Studies. One of the trip wires had been set off. It was annoying to reset them, and they were nearly always false Positives, but her men were trained for situations like this. They'd group up, and search the Cave until they found the broken Wire. They'd call Roll, and if anyone was missing, they'd start hunting.

 

She had easier ways of checking. She put her book down, raised her arms above her head, and Cast Detect Life. All around her, through Cave walls, she could see the Aura's of the Living. Her Bandits, as well as random creatures and insects. She carefully counted them off, before realizing that six were missing. Frowning, she cast Detect Dead.

 

12 Corpses were laid out on the Ground. Twelve of her men were dead. And only know had the Alarm been raised. The creepiest thing was, there was a Thirteenth Aura. That of a Man standing up. A Vampire. Her Home was being Invaded.

 

She jumped up, knocking over her chair, and ran to the wall, where she pulled a Lever. Different Alarms started to Ring. Alarms that denoted Assasins, rather than Intruders. Now her men would be grabbing Weapons and Armors, getting into larger groups, and watching the Shaodows. These assasins wouldn't last long, now that they were known to be here.

[Voidus]

Velth grimaced at the cacophany of the alarms ringing throughout the caves, their echoes bouncing back and forth between the stone walls and amplifying to near unbearable levels.

"It seems someone set off a trap" He commented drily to Nyn, who only nodded and continued further on into the cave.

Velth had just lost sight of her around a corner when the alarm bells changed, someone must have discovered that they were under attack. The sounds of battle just ahead broke Velth from his revery, Nyn had been ambushed by a lone bandit who'd knocked her weapons from her hands, they engaged in a grappling contest, muscles on both bodies straining hard.

Nyn may have been a woman but her strength was unparalleled by any bandit, the slow shift of arms told of her inevitable victory and panic entered the bandits eyes. Velth considered shooting a firebolt at him to finish him off quickly but the cave was too narrow, he risked hitting his ally instead.

So he waited as the bandit made a slight slip in his footing and instantly Nyn gained full advantage, seizing him by the neck she twisted until Velth heard a loud crack echo through the cave.

"Looks like they've planned for an attack" said Velth as Nyn retrieved her weapons "Since our cover's already blown let the Atronach go first, if there's a surprise attack it's better that it's taken by a Daedra than you."

[BreathTaker he/him]

Duke smiled as the alarms sounded, Finally, he thought, no more of this damned sneaking around! Just as he was thinking that, the bandit he was about to stab in the back jumped and spun around. Just in time to catch the long bladed knife into his jaw and up into his brain. 

 

Duke wiped the gore from his knife on to the dead bandits pants before sheathing it and drawing his ebony greatsword. He roared allowed and let the remaining three bandits draw their flimsy iron blades and charge him. Duke's eyes flashed yellow as he side stepped the first attacker's downward chop, grabbed the man's wrist and bashed his helmet into his skull with the pommel of his sword. He was dead before he hit the ground. 

 

The next bandit, an Orc, charged as the first went down only to receive an elbow to the face and a sweeping arc so vicious and full of bloodlust that the Orc's torso was disengaged from the rest of his body. Duke flipped his sword into a reverse grip mid-swing and rammed it into the final bandit's stomach as he tried to sneak up on the Nord. The man died with a surprised gasp on his lips. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

 

With a twist, Duke slid his sword free and checked his work.  Primal, vicious, perfect. He let out another animalistic roar and took off down the next passage to a room containing six more bandits. With the bloodlust taking over his brain Duke eschewed most human things like tactics and using stairs to descend from a higher level to a lower. He simply jumped off the ledge, into the group of surprised bandits and started swinging. 

 

About five seconds after the first two fell, a bosmer and a kahjit, Duke swung his sword and met solid stone. A small shock ran up his arm, more than just a sword hitting stone. It was in that moment he knew, he messed up. 

 

The Nord went flying across the room as the Storm Atronach swatted him like a fly. Of course they have a mage! he thought in the brief moment that his frenzy had died down, then he hit the wall and everything started to fade. There was only one thing he could do to keep from getting smashed like an ant.

 

Duke rubbed the sigil etched into his silver ring and prayed to his patron. He had already taken his beast form once today but the ring bypassed that silly little rule. Within seconds his armor's break away clasps had snapped and where there was once a mountain of a man there was now an even bigger mountain of a Wolf. 

 

Awake and awing in the blink of an eye, he was up and sewing panic. The mage and bandits were scrambling to defended themselves against this new monstrosity, an armored werewolf. Even in his animal state he knew not to mess with the giant Lightning Rock Beast...thing, defeat the master and the servant will fall. The wolf leaped ten feet and landed feet first on the chest of the Imperial guarding the Orc mage, the man fell and out came his throat. The mage died within seconds of his former protector. 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

After returning to his less powerful form, Duke replaced the clasps that were designed to keep him from having to remove his armor every time he changed. He adjusted the fit and retrieved his sword.

 

Once he found the exit, he started walking towards the center of the complex. Suddenly he felt the area around him grow cold and as he turned the corner he had just enough time to duck under the swing of what looked to be a glacier. damnation, another Atronach? I don't have time for this. Just as he was preparing a fireball spell, he heard a familiar voice command the elemental not to squish the Nord. Or something like that, either way it was a relief.  

[Voidus]

Rushing ahead at the sound of ice crunching against rock Velth arrived just in time to see his Atronach try again to hit Duke.

"Stop! Not him!" The Dunmer cried
"Sorry Duke, had him scouting ahead for us, I didn't think these paths intersected again for a while."

Nyn rushed up behind him, quickly sheathing her blade as she realized that there were no immediate threats.

"Perhaps you should explain the difference between enemies and allies to that thing" she commented drily.

Velth colored slightly at the words, the excitement of being outside of his study had caught up to him, he'd not been his usual careful self during this mission.

"Well this looks to meet up with the tunnels  the others took" He told Duke as he scanned the way ahead with a detect life spell "Still a few more bandits living, the others seem to be managing alright."
Velth watched a few lights wink out as one of their party quickly dispatched a group of bandits.

"Shall we group up and finish our tunnel off together?" He asked the Nord.

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Arantir muttered to himself as he strode down the hallway. Right after reuniting with his allies, they had proceeded to desert him, leaving him to fend for himself.

 

Sandro, who was as usual walking alongside Arantir, suddenly stopped and cocked his head, like a dog puzzling out a scent.

 

"Half a dozen people coming down the corridor," Sandro stated casually. "And they do smell awfully twitchy."

 

As the finished leaving Sandro's lips, 5 Bandits and a Bandit Mage rounded the corner. Seeing the trio on the other side of the corridor, the Bandits were momentarily startled, but they regained there composure just as quickly and leapt into battle.

 

"Dibs the one with a moustache," growled Sandro, his canines flashing in the lantern light, before springing towards the aforementioned and unfortunately moustache-bearing target with a vampire's inhuman speed. The man went down before he could scream with Sandro's sword planted in his stomach. As the dying man thrashed and screamed, Sandro leaned over and began lapping at the blood on the floor. He hadn't eaten for quite some time.

 

The dying Bandit's allies were barely able to comprehend what they had seen before a Fireball struck one of the Bandits, hurtling him flaming across the corridor.

 

The source of the fireball was the recently Raised Magus Ardnahc. Decades of death had not dimmed his talent and experience in Magic. A second Bandit was hit with a Thunderbolt, frying the man in an instant, before the Bandits took cover behind the various obstacles scattered along the hallway.

 

The Bandit Mage began casting a Fireball spell. Vampires were vulnerable to fire, and that pesky vampire would fry for killing his comrades. Speaking of which, where was the vampire? Turning to check on his remaining allies, the Bandit Mage almost jumped out of his boots in shock. That vampire was standing over another (and newly) dead comrade, calmly removing his sword. When had he ever gotten there?

 

Thrusting his arm out, the Bandit Mage prepared to blast the Vampire to shreds with his Fireball. His finishing incantation, however, were choked off when a pair of cold hands grasped him by the neck and lifted him up. The Bandit Mage's Fireball fizzled away as he attempted to claw his way out of the iron grip that held him. Darkness was already closing in around his vision. The Mage was turned around, and just before he blacked out, he saw the impassive familiar face of his last Bandit comrade, with eyes glowing with the cold fire of Necromancy.

 

Sandro finished pulling his sword free of the dead Bandit. Wiping it on one of the dead Bandit's cloak, he looked up to see Arantir rummaging through a chest. 

 

"You know, you could have at least helped. A Fear illusion would have been nice," Sandro said.

 

"A soulgem, some gold, some old Dwarven armour, a few mana potions... What? Oh, right. I chose to be a Necromancer because I wouldn't have to do anything in fights" replied Arantir, stashing away his loot.

 

"I thought you had no choice in that matter? I mean, that tormented past..."

 

"Shut up," Arantir snapped as he slammed the chest shut. "We need to get moving and meet up with our allies".

[Observer]

The alarms had been ringing for a while. Wonder which of you idiots had to go and make this so much harder...

It didn't really matter. As far as Dar'Omnir was concerned, he wouldn't be spotted even if they were actively searching for him, as they were now. Of course, that didn't mean his job had gotten any easier. The bandits were being surprisingly intelligent, massing up in around the body and carefully spreading out. There were eleven of them, thankfully without anyone who could reliably track anything, conventionally or otherwise. Dar'Omnir was lodged on the ceiling, making good use of his biology for moving and watching. He was fairly confident he could get out and use his bow like this, but his eye made the odds of hitting anything dicey. Furthermore, there were simply too many of them to start picking off like that. Somebody would notice, and it would all go to hell from there. 

 

After a few moment of thought, Dar'Omnir  braced himself up against a nearby wall and slid his two gold rings off of his fingers, replacing them with silvers. The amulet went through the same treatment, and moments later the Khajiit had his bow out, aiming very carefully downward at a searching bosmer who vaguely resembled Dar'Omnir. The arrow flew perfectly straight, the boosting effects of one of the rings aiding its flight through the bandit's back. He didn't scream or even yelp, giving the assassin plenty of time to draw Spiral in his offhand and, and complete it with Raven, a slightly oversized-shortsword filled with the best enchantments Dar'Omnir could dump into it.

 

The Khajiit hit the ground silently, blessing his muffled boots and ramming Spiral into the first bandit to notice. The man smoked visibly, this insides torching, before he died. Within the few critical moment when nobody saw him, Dar'Omnir swept Raven through a turning mage, cutting her off halfway through a surprised spell. By this point everybody had turned around. Eight bandits of varying professions and race turned to attack Dar'Omnir, who stood crouched in the center of them. And then, in a flash of light, he vanished.

 

Dar'Omnir only had two flashes left, but this one had done its job. After coming back from their temporary blindness, the bandit crew was forced to try finding the elusive Khajiit a second time, and the delay was going to cost them. A throat slit using Spiral destroyed another enemy searching in the wrong direction. A sword in the chest fixed an overly-observant mage. It had been a few second, and they were turning around again. The assassin rolled across the floor, moving ahead of the general masses' gaze and gutting a beffy orc. Naturally, the dagger didn't finish him off, requiring a messy second strike with Raven. And then, Dar'Omir was once again spotted. 

 

Five on one. Now this I can handle. Dar'Omnir launched himself across the room the rings giving him the fighting skill to properly deflect a sword strike, and the right mindset to spot a sloppy swordstace and take full, lethal advantage of it. What the enchantments did not do was allow him to notice that the first mage he'd killed was not dead, and had taken the liberty of summoning a frost Atronach, which proceeded to smack the Khajiit across the room. Dar'Omnir hit the wall hard, and heard something break.  Luckily, adrenaline held the pain at bay long enough for a quick potion to undo most of the damage. With a roar, he charged again, sidestepping the summoned monster and finishing off the mage. The Atronach vanished with its master, and its body made a wonderful vision block as the assassin entered the mass of bandits, swords stabbing madly.

 

From there, it was a simple swordfight, excluding the fact that all participants fought as dirty as possible. 

Despite a total lack of skill in melee combat, or perhaps because of it, Dar'Omnir fought dirtiest. Bloody and battered, he crept into the next room, and there found the other Brotherhood members.

"Was your intention to let a huge pack of bandits go hunting for me back there? Because that's what happened." he said with grim humor, surveying the room.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Observer

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen crouched in the Darkened corridor, watching the Torchlight come towards him. 5 men, one with a staff and robe. They were lighting extra torches as they ran, making a tunnel of light behind them. The Mage would occasionally throw a ball of light down the Corridor, But Sulen's minor invisibility spell lasted long enough that they didn't see him. But 4 seconds of Invisibility wouldn't help him once they reached his spot. But as soon as he attacked, they'd know he was there. He needed a plan.

 

Arantir had ran off with Sandro again, so he couldn't depend on Allies. He hadn't brought his bow with him. just his daggers. There weren't any handholds on the ceiling or walls, so he couldn't do another jumping attack. All that left him was Illusion. Invisibility and Muffle wouldn't help, and that Mage could probably cancel any Emotional spells. That left Shroud, and Voidlight. Two spells that had been discovered by the Dark Brotherhood, and kept Secret. They were the Counters of Candlelight, and Magelight. Shroud covered you in Darkness, and Voidlight threw out a bubble of impenetrable Shadows, blinding anyone in it.

 

He waited until they were lighting the Torches nearer to him, then Cast Voidlight, centering on the Mage. They panicked, several things hit the floor, and Sulen dashed in, slashing at where two of the Bandits should have been. Dusk hit flesh at throat level, killing a man, but Dawn missed. The Bandit had moved in the Darkness. Suddenly, there was light, as a Fireball passed by him, exploding further down the Tunnel. He needed to deal with the Mage.

 

Someone Bumped him in the Dark, and he stabbed them with both Daggers, making them scream. Two down. He could hear armor clanking, and jumped towards the sound. As he did, another Fireball passed where he had been. Somehow the Mage knew where he was.

 

He found the Armored man, woman actually, and stabbed at her throat, she punched him in the chest as he did, and he lost Dusk. But she was dead. He backed up, and could suddenly see. He was out of the cloud. He glanced around, and saw the Last bandit, just as he saw him. "Gonna rip you, Open!" He charged at Sulen, who simply dived forward, hitting the Bandit in a Tackle. They both fell, the bandit on top, dropping his sword. Sulen desperately shoved him off of him, stabbing upwards with Dawn. It hit armor, and screeched off to the side. The bandit tried to swing, but hit the floor. He swore, dropping his sword and pulling out a Dagger. Sulen rolled backwards, springing to his feet, then sidestepped, putting himself directly between the Bandit and the Cloud of Darkness. They stared at each other, each with a Dagger. Sulen waited, straining his ears. There! 

 

He lept sideways, surprising the Bandit. The Mage's Fireball took him in the chest, killing him. Sulen turned towards the Darkness, which was beginning to disappear. The Mage stood in the center of the cloud, drinking a blue potion. Sulen stretched out his arm, and cast Calm before the Mage could start his own spell. The Mage finished drinking then stood there. Sulen walked towards him, with this dagger at his side. The Calm wore off right as he reached him. The mage panicked, lifting his hands, put Dawn was faster, taking him in the throat.

 

He pulled the Dagger out, the walked over to the female bandit, who still had Dusk in her neck. He pulled that out as well, trying to not get blood on his gloves. He sheathed his Daggers, and continued down the well lit corridor, towards where he hoped his teammates were.

[BreathTaker he/him]

"Shall we group up and finish our tunnel off together?"

 

 

Duke grinned, the faint glint of blood shining off of his teeth, "That sounds like a wonderful idea old friend." The Nord turned and faced the only available pathway, he seemed to be straining his sight and was he sniffing the air? "Yes, there is a group of bandits up ahead. How do you want to handle this Velth? Your Snowball, Nyn and I can take point and you can get our backs like that one time in Mzulft or we can do it reverse, however you want I'm ready." At that Duke drew his sword and... growled?

[Voidus]

Velth smiled at the recollection of Mzulft, quite a few important finds he'd made there, Dwemer ruins were always a great source of information and loot provided you didn't mind the potential to get decapitated by a Centurion.

"I'll take rear guard I think, the 'snowball' will take the middle, as you noticed he's not terribly good at sneaking or differentiating when to attack."

Velth put up an invisibility spell before following the Nord and Orc further into the tunnel where the next ambush awaited.

[BreathTaker he/him]

The Nord smiled broadly again. "Just the way I like it" He said to the seeming nothingness in front of him, Velth had cast Invisibility on himself. 

 

About three-hundred yards down the passage way, Duke heard the sound of metal clattering and gruff voices arguing. He signaled for the group to stop before crouching down and sneaking up to the mouth of the next room. When he returned he had a grim look on his face, "Not good," he said. "I counted six lightly armored men, two Mages and two other bandits in what was either black painted steel armor or really was Ebony, one held a short spear and the other had a war hammer." He paused for a moment, "The good news is, there are two other entrances. One is guarded by the heavies, probably leads to our target, but the other leads back in to the complex. A likely place for the rest of the group to come through and save our hides if we get in too deep." His Wolfish smile reappeared on his lips, "How do think we should take this, oh great and powerful fireball slinger? I'm sure Nyn, Frosty and I can take eight bandits but those mages seemed ready to summon more than a couple scamps. And I'm sure there are some Rune traps in there too unless they are overconfident idiots."

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Arantir rounded the corner, spotting te rest of his allies clustered around the passage.

 

"Finally, I've found them again. Let's hope they don't ditch me again," muttered Arantir as he strode to rejoin the group.

[Voidus]

Velth smiled at Dukes assesment, the Nord was understandably wary of the mages and the potential for traps.

"'Frosty' here is basically designed for setting off traps" Velth replied with a grin of his own. "He'll take the lead and hopefully bear the brunt of any runes they've left, I'll silence the mages while you two dispatch the infantry"
He handed a potion to both Duke and Nyn before downing one himself.

"Shock resistance potion, the mages are probably there to deal with other mages so they'll be using lightning based attacks to try to deplete Magicka reserves, the runes may be fire-based but unfortunately I used up all of those potions when some research on unbound Flame Atronachs got... messy. I'll try to fury one of the other bandits and  between him and my Daedra we shouldn't have to worry about runes."
 

[A Joe in the Bush]

Sulen peeked around the corner. There was a large group of bandits in there, guarding a Tunnel Entrance. Two of them were in Ebony Armor. Storms. His daggers would be hard pressed to penetrate that. and even then, there were too many of them. He'd never be able to assassinate more than two of them before being found. He'd need a Distraction. 

 

He looked around the room, hoping for a convenient chandelier or good sized rock. What he saw instead was a group of mercenaries crouched down in another tunnel, preparing to move. What luck. Velth and the others hadn't seen him yet, but they were obviously preparing to rush, so he wouldn't have to wait for a distraction. Instead he would be the Distraction. He crept into the cavern, sneaking about, sticking to shadows as much as possible. he dive rolled beneath a table, letting Dusk absorb the sound, and came up ten feet behind the two Ebony Warriors. Wasting no time, he pulled Dawn out of it's sheath, and crept forward.

 

Then an Orc wearing black robes strode out of the tunnel. "Life Sense!" She raised her staff. and spun around, to face the bandits. "Assassin behind you." The two Ebony warriors whirled, the one on the right taking Dusk in the face, but his helmet blocked it. Sulen sprang back, and the two Ebony Warriors, pulled out their weapons and charged him.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Urzal looked back towards the other tunnel, where the Assassin's compatriots were. "The rest of you, there several men in that tunnel. Get them." Her last remaining bandits charged the tunnel. These assassins had done an amazing job. But the Chosen of Malacath had a few more tricks up her Sleeve. She turned towards the tunnel, and with her staff, drew a line in the dirt. She inscribed several runes, then raised her hands upwards. "Lord Malacath! Hear your chosen one! Elves have attacked our soldiers, and we cannot fight them alone! Send us Deliverance oh Dread Lord!" The line glowed a sickly green, then grew upwards, a portal appearing.

 

"Destroy those who would cast you down."

 

A Great Daedroth appeared, crushing the ground as it walked out of the portal, and roared. More figures, lesser Daedra followed behind it. Urzal grinned, and turned to face the assassins. They were regrouping, having finished off her few bandits. She pointed her staff at the paltry group. "Destroy them all! In the Name of Lord Malacath!"

[BreathTaker he/him]

In sudden shock at the cremstorm that just happened, Duke jumped out of the shadows and began mowing down the smaller Deadra as well as a Dremora. Mid-swing, he reached out and tore the throat out one of the bandits not in ebony, "A little help here Velth!" Was all the Nord had time to shout during the chaos. If this kept up he'd need to shift. He danced his was to where Sulen's scent last was and spoke aloud, "I need you to let everyone know that if they see a Wolf, it's me and I'd appreciate not getting shot."

[Voidus]

Velth had no idea how to respond to this latest assault, a Daedric lord himself interfering?

Daedra were pouring forth and Velth didn't have enough Magicka left to banish all of them.

 "A little help here Velth!" Duke yelled as he barreled into the fighting "I need you to let everyone know that if they see a Wolf, it's me and I'd appreciate not getting shot." 

Velth only nodded, pulling out a fireball staff to conserve his mana he set about, setting Daedra and Bandits alight with the staff. He summoned an etheral sword in his other hand, through his mastery of conjuration spells he'd enchanted such weapons with banishing enchantments, his skill with swords was minimal at best but with a single hit he could banish lesser Daedra back to Oblivion.

He made his way through the horde to Sullen, followed by Nyn guarding his back. He repeated Dukes words, followed by a request of his own.

"I can't handle this many at close quarters, I can cast a firestorm around myself to deal with them if you hang back but it will completely finish off my reserves, will you be able to finish the rest off?"

[A Joe in the Bush]

The Scamp threw another fireball, which he dodged. He tried to get closer, but the last Ebony Warrior swung his Axe sideways, forcing Sulen to jump back, again. A Stalemate. Sulen couldn't get inside the Warrior's reach since the Scamps had joined him, but Sulen was too fast to let them hit him. If he paused to cast a spell, Ebony would take him out. If he ran, they'd shoot him in the back. He needed to get back to his comrades. but how?

 

Another fireball, another dodge. As long as the two scamps fired one at a time, he'd be able to dodge. The warrior swung again, Sulen deflected it, barely. How to get out of this? If one of the scamps ran out of magika, he could do it, but that's why they were firing alternatively, and slowly. They were recharging as fast as they used it.

 

Swing, fireball, dodge, swing. The last swing pinked him. Sulen swore, feinted forward, causing Ebony to step back, then jumped back himself. With the few seconds he had, he threw Dusk at one of the scamps. It hit the thing in the chest, killing it. Thank Mephala for natural 20's. He ducked, just in time to miss Ebony's swing.

 

All he had to do now was to keep Ebony between him and the Scamp, so he did. The scamp jumped back and forth, trying to get a good shot, but Sulen weaved and jumped, and once, rolled.  Ebony swung over hand for the first time, expect Sulen to duck. Instead, he took the stupid path and jumped inside his arms, then punched upwards, hitting the Warrior in the Chin. The warrior fell backwards in surprise, taking Sulen with him. Sulen Stabbed upwards with Dawn, fitting the blade between the Neckguard and Helm. His body healed of all the cuts and burns he'd gotten as the Dagger drained the warriors Health. He rolled off the corpse, and stood up.

 

Then the Other Scamp's fireball took him in the chest. that neatly undid all the health he'd just regained. He swore, and sprinted forward, grabbing the scamp by the neck before it could throw another fireball. It squeaked in alarm as he lifted it, and slammed it into the tunnel wall, knocking it out. He grabbed his Daggers, and Stabbed the Scamp, healing himself again. Then he started back down towards the Cavern where his friends were fighting Monsters.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Duke and the others were at the entrance, keeping their backs away from the Daedra. Velth was using a staff now, running low on Magika then. Oddly, Nyn hadn't taken any damage. Most of the Daedra for only attacking her if she attacked first. Malacath was The Daedra of Orcs, so maybe the Daedra thought she was one of them? Anyway. He'd best help them.

 

He went to Velth first, stabbing a Clanfear runt before it could get past the Astronach. "Velth, I think these might prove helpful, picked em up off a mage I killed earlier." He handed the man the three Magika potions he'd found earlier. He moved further down the line, staying back, just jumping in whenever one of the Companions got too close. "Nyn! I need you to kill the Mage! If she dies, the gate will close." Hopefully he was right about the Daedra ignoring her. Otherwise they wouldn't be getting out.

[Mrs. Voidus she/her]

Nyyn panted heavily.and wiped a pasty mess of her sweat and others' blood from her brow. Strangely she had not been harmed beyond a bruised elbow where a rock had fallen free in the chaos, and a scratched cheek from something or other. 

 

"Kill the mage," Sulen said. "If she dies the gate will close!"

 

Grunting in agreeance, Nynn sheathed her longsword, now blunted from so many scamp hides. Their reluctance to attack her was unnerving. The tales and books had fostered Nynn's dedication to Malacath but they had not prepared her for this behaviour. 

It was time to send the beasts back to their plane, and kill this mage who had summoned minor daedra in the great Gods name. 

 

"If you were any sort of chosen, the great lord Malacath would have sent you Ogrim, instead you call forth these vermin!" Nynn spat the word as she went to grab the handles of two axes slung crossed over her shoulder blades, "You forget that we too were elves once, spurned and cast away but you atack these ones without cause."

 

The gap between the two had shortened considerably, though Nynn had moved slowly. Each step a deliberate move to draw the eye of the Daedroth as it was struck from the side by a series of lightning strikes in short sharp bursts from Velth's direction. 

The mage shreiked in anger as the Daedroth stumbled under the hit and knocked her to the side. 

 

"You mean to challenge me? You think you know my Lord?" Shouted the mage over the clanging of steel and the squalking of creatures. She swiftly raised her staff and another scamp replaced the fallen. 

 

"I do." Nynn shouted back. "I know the kind of challenge Malacath desires." And before she had finished speaking, Nynn ran towards the mage as she drew out her axes then shouted as she released her beserker rage. 

 

The mage threw fireball after fireball at the charging orc, and panicked when her torrent slowed. The fire clung to the cloth beneath Nynn's armor and licked dangerously close to her hair.

But she spun her leg out beneath the mage who began falling helplesly to the ground, and it was in this fall that the first of the two axes dug through the lower shoulder and the second into the top of the head were it rested with a crunch and a spray of blood.

 

Releasing the axes Nynn rolled the ground and beat out the flames as Velth came to her side and closed the worst of the burns with his magic.

[Voidus]

Velth scanned the cave as he closed Nyns wounds, running over the events of the battle. Why had Malacath chosen a mage for a champion? It seemed so unlike the Daedric lord, but then if there was one thing Velth had learned in his long life it was that Daedra could never be predicted.

He shelved the idea for now, he could unravel the mystery later, perhaps write a paper on it. Nyns wounds closed over, healed for the most part though Velth was no master of Restoration. He looked over the various corpses that littered the caves floor with disinterest, the weapons, armour and loot might sell for a good few Septims but Velth had little interest in money, he finally glimpsed something promising, what looked to be the chambers of the mage. He headed in to loot the many shelves of the books the mage had collected, along with her own personal diary which he would pour over later. To his great surprise he also found several bottles of Cyrodillic wine, not a Surrile but still an excellent vintage.

Perhaps all this adventuring would be worthwhile after all.

[BreathTaker he/him]

The fight's over, change back! That was Duke's first thought after the mage went down. His human mind knew there were no more enemies but the primal side of him wanted more blood, he looked around and started growling at his friends around him. Then he met Sulen's gaze and snapped out of it, finally the beast relented and the Nord shifted back to his normal self. "Sorry about that," he said in a slightly embarrassed tone, "That much blood-lust isn't good for a werewolf."  The rest of the crew seemed to understand and continued looting.

 

Duke walked over to the Ebony warrior who closest resembled himself size wise and studied the armor before removing it. To the untrained eye it appeared to be regular Ebony armor with a "Resist blunt weapons" enchantment but the Nord knew better. There were subtle markings here and there, a Nordic weave running up both ribs a bear's head on the left pectoral. This was his armor, he remembered every nick and dent as if they were put there yesterday. He studied the gauntlets, pauldrons, grieves and boots in a similar fashion and while they were of high quality Ebony the were not his. Rather, they weren't before, they were now, the helmet held no interest for the man.  

 

Duke drew his belt knife and hunched of the man's face for a minute or so before standing. When he did get up the helmet of the fallen bandit was placed over his head and duke was wiping his hands and blade on the fallen's shirt. He stood up with a grim smile on his face and a faint rattling in his left hand, "Bastard stole my armor." was all he said before he followed Velth into the mage's chambers, nodding to Nyn as he passed, the girls could stand her own when the cards were down and Duke respected that. Perhaps she'd be interested in joining the fighter's guild. 

 

 

[A Joe in the Bush]

"Well, about time." Sulen looked around the now empty cavern, as the Daedra disappeared. His allies started heading for the mage's quarters, ignoring the ectoplasm remains. Many of them could be looted and used for potions. He crouched down and started harvesting as much daedric material as he could hold, going from body to body. Then he started stripping down the bandits. An orc with a full purse, an Imperial with several ebony Arrows, a bag of lockpicks from an Argonian, A khajiit with- Dar'Omnir!

 

Dar'Omnir lay in a pool of blood. the damnation Khajiit had probably been focused on a single enemy, without realizing that he was cut off from his allies. He sheathed his knives and knealt above his Head. "Sweet mother, sweet mother, Receive your Child's Soul. He lived and killed for you. Sweet Mother, sweet mother, He has been sent to you." He bowed his head, then rose again. The Khajiit had been One of the brotherhood, so his body would remain where it had fallen. Hopefully the Dread Father Sithis would accept him, though he didn't seem to be very devout in life. He continued on.

 

The next bandit, a Bosmer, had a Silvery Crossbow on his back. It had been damaged in the fight, but it looked fixable. So he took it with him, then headed to the tunnel where the mage had come from. "You guys find anything good?