Alduin's Rise

[Xion136]

(Eh. For future reference, don't say that someone elses' char did something. Its considered metagaming. You woulsnt know if Teresse would give him a dirty look...or look at him with pity.)

 

Teresse let out a small oof at the blow, then looked down. As he spouted his story, the blinked.

"Sorry? For what?" She loomed slightly confused, then knelt beside him, touching his forehead. "Not sick." She frowned. "What happened? Did you find it? Or...was there a trap and a dozen Draugr are charging?"

She glanced up, gripping her blade. "And Mephala? What does that witch have to do with Hevnoraak?"

[twentynine29]

Edwin stood back up and brushed himself off. "Mephala must have some sort of alliance with Hevnoraak, she even said it herself. She must've intended to lure me down here away from the group, one less person to handle. A fake phylactery was on the table. If I struck it with that blade, that could've been the end of me." He glared over at the door. "The Ebony Blade, that accursed sword. I almost used it." Edwin said grimly "If Mephala is with Hevnoraak, then we've probably got some other Daedric Princes to look forward to." Edwin stood up "Forgive me for my cowardice just now, we should join the rest of the group, they've probably got an army of draugr on their hands right about now."

[FennecFyre]

(Hey guys, I'm not saying this to be mean, but I just want to ask you to not post too much before the others do. It's called bunnyposting, I believe, and while I haven't seen really bad examples of it yet, I just don't want a few people to get carried away and leave the rest of us in the dust, because it can get pretty difficult to understand where everyone is and what they're doing. It does reassure me somewhat though that we've got active players on here :)

 

Also, I had a funny scene involving those Draugr planned, but I can work around it no problem.)

 

Hearing the clanking of armor behind her, Sivari turned before she entered the tunnel to see Abdul and Teresse squaring off against a few incoming Draugr while Edwin went off down a different tunnel. She hesitated, feeling her hackles rise and her tail puff slightly. Splitting up in a place like this would be very bad indeed. But as the creatures were cut down, Teresse followed after Edwin and Abdul followed after her. "Khajiit does not like dividing up the group," she said when he caught up, "but perhaps we could cover more ground in pairs." So far, they had all shown themselves to be capable warriors, even herself. Not bad for a caravan cat. Tordin was alone, though, and she could only hope he was holding his own against the Priest.

 

She gripped the torch tighter and began walking down the hallway again, straining her sense to pick up any sign of trouble. The two turned a corner and came to a locked door. She fished out her lockpicks and began testing the lock, growling in frustration. "Hevnoraak hired a good locksmith." She felt her amulet warm up again, and the lock seemed to click in her hands. "Aha!" she said, grinning. "I will have to make an offering to Rahjin if we survive this." She opened the door to see a small room with a stone altar. She set the torch in a nearby sconce and approached the altar, muzzle crinkling. "There is malice here." she said quietly. "Sivari can smell it." She pulled a disgusted face again. "That, and half-rotten something or other. Look."

 

On the altar was a stone urn, identical to the one Edwin had encountered, but there were no Daedric Princes here. Not for the moment, at least. "So I suppose we just throw it on the floor and break it?" she wondered aloud, reaching for it. Before her fingers could touch it, there was a rumbling behind them. She spun around to see a glowing red rip in a nearby wall, a portal of some sort. As she watched, spiderlike legs reached through the portal and gripped the wall. A black-and-red creature pulled itself out of the portal, followed by another. The resembled giant spiders, but with the torso of a woman mounted at the front. Sivari was reminded of an illustration in a book she had read once. "Spider Daedra," she gasped.

 

A tinkling laughter echoed through the room. Yes, they are quite wonderful, aren't they? "Who's there?" snapped the Khajiit. "Show yourself."

Now why would I do that, Khajiit? asked the voice. It'd be so much easier to watch you die from here.

"And 'here' is...?"

I think you know.

Sivari thought for a moment, then groaned. The Spider Daedra. "You're...Mephala, aren't you?"

Give the kitty a prize. The Spider Daedra grinned, raising their claw-tipped hands and stepping forward. Sivari drew her daggers, watching them warily. "But what do you want with us?"

Hevnoraak and I have an...agreement. And that agreement doesn't constitute meddling mortals getting in our way. Now then, I'd love to talk, but I have things to do, lives to ruin, that sort of thing. Farewell, rug.

The Daedra scuttled towards them, one shooting out a blast of lightning. Sivari jumped clear as the bolt struck the stones, feeling her toes tingle from the electricity. As it raised it's claws to impale her, she charged, rolled under it's belly and stabbed upwards into the unarmored abdomen. It screeched, flailing away, one of it's eight legs kicking her in the gut as it did so. She snarled, doubling up in pain, but managed to roll clear of another attack. "The phylactery!" she shouted to Abdul. "We need to destroy it!"

[Keanumoreira]

(Yeah, I kinda got that feeling when my third post rolled around. No offense taken.)

 

 

Abdul was glad that things were quiet, at least for the time being. Sivari didn't seem too pleased that the group was separated, but he didn't mind. For the most part, silence dominated those hallways. Several times, Abdul worked up the nerve to say something, but was always met with a lump in his throat. He was pleased when he heard the lock click, sure as ever that the phylactery was within arms reach.

 

 

And sure enough, it was. On an altar before them, there sat an old stone urn, cracked and chipped, but apparently intact. The stomach of the Argonian jarred. "Sivari, I don't think that we should..." But before he could stop her, the sound of someone familiar echoed throughout the room. Mephala. Abdul knew her very well through his association with Sanguine. He was surprised that she didn't recognize him.

 

 

Spider Daedra poured into the room, crawling up the walls and onto the ceilings. As Abdul turned to smash the phylactery, he was thrown to the floor when one of the daedra's legs wrapped around one of his own. It squeezed with tremendous force, attempting to break bone. Abdul snapped its leg, driving the foul creature back as it reeled in pain. He struggled to get himself to Sivari, throwing off many of their attackers in the process.

 

"Sivari," he called as he grabbed one by the neck, squirming viciously, "do you think we can destroy the phylactery that easily? You don't think Hevnoraak has planned for this?"

 

One of the daedra sliced open his cheek, prompting a swift and violent retaliation, "Listen to me. I've dealt with Mephala before. All of this is likely to be a trick somehow." Another came from behind, nearly impaling him through the neck; the Argonian returned the favor, "Look. If we get out of this alive, there's something that you should know, something I hesitated to tell you. Trust me Sivari, it's important. Mephala might not be the only prince that we have to worry about..."

 

More daedra advanced through the portals, "In the meantime, we have these daedra to deal with. Do you think we could close those portals somehow?"

Edited November 2, 2013 by Keanumoreira

[Xion136]

(Not sure what your context of bunnyposting is; never heard that term. Personally I only posted more whenit was just me and 29 as we wweren't influencing your end really. Didnt mean to overpost.)

[Macman253]

Tordin smiled and stepped through the wall of storms unscathed. "So long as I possess the Heart Of Thunder, lightning does not harm me." He raised his hammer again and charged, swinging his hammer wildly, loosing bolts of lighting with his offhand as he swung. Tordin felt the inner rage boil as he faced down the infamous Dragon Priest. But despite the intense battle his mind drifted towards his companions in the depths of Dragonsreach, he knew he could stand toe to toe with Hevnoraak in his prime but now, he was not so sure.

 

"Talos, protect and guide them." He pleaded silently to his patron.

[twentynine29]

Edwin briskly walked out of the cellar, he signaled Teresse to follow. His sword was at the ready. He could hear fighting from down there, spells being cast, weapons sinking into flesh. Edwin jogged into a narrow corridor with an open gateway, probably opened by Sivari. In the small room that followed, he more or less expected that his friends were being attacked by Spider Daedra. This type of Daedra belonged to Mephala. They were grotesque creatures who had the appearance of half woman, half arachnid.

 

Edwin joined the action by shooting a lightning bolt at one of the spiders. As the bolt crashed into the spider, it let out a short screech before exploding into brutal bits of blood, flesh, and ash. They had a weakness to both shock and frost. In other words, not very difficult to handle for a mage. He ended many spiders with his blade, flying spears of ice, or thunderbolts. But he was just one man, and one man's magicka reserves are limited. Every time one would fall, another one would come out of the wall or ceiling, then that one would summon even more smaller spiders to aid them. This impeded his path to the phylactery; because after all, the damn thing was blocked by a swarm of gigantic hag bugs.

Edited November 3, 2013 by twentynine29

[FennecFyre]

Hevnoraak growled in frustration as he sensed the Draugr he had sent into the tunnels dying. Not that he cared about them, it merely meant that his opponents were stronger than he had anticipated. Hopefully, Mephala was dealing with them. Right now, he needed to show this insolent whelp of a Nord who his master was. His Draugr were falling left and right, unable to contend with Tordin's power. Perhaps he needed to deal with him directly.

 

His robes stopped their rippling, coalescing over his rotted body and hardening into armor. He ceased levitating, dropping to the ground as his staff morphed into a sword, long and sharp, with a dragon's head adorning the pommel. He lunged, feinted a stab at Tordin's face, then redirected his attack in an attempt to drive the blade into his ribcage.

 

----------

 

Sivari cast a helpless glance at the red rips opening along the walls and ceiling. "I don't know..." It was only then that she realized her amulet was burning insistently against her neck, as if trying to get her attention. She fought her way clear of the spiders for the moment and pulled it out. If Rahjin could pick any lock, she thought, perhaps he would be just as good at closing doors as well. Ducking a swinging claw, she made for one of the portals while pulling her necklace off. She was aware of the old man's cautioning them to never remove the amulets, but there was no way in Oblivion she was letting her face get that close to the portal. Holding it at arm's length, she cautiously touched the tangle of silver against the portal. Red lightning crackled out from the portal and she leapt away, watching as the portal hissed, spat...closed. "Your amulets!" she shouted, "They can close the portals!"

 

Of course, they still had to deal with the spiders already in the room.

 

Galvanized by her success, she leapt back into the fray, aiming for their unprotected abdomens, their faces, anywhere she could reach. She had very few qualms about fighting dirty when her life was on the line. When one Daedra took a swipe at her, she sidestepped, grabbed a fistful of it's hair, and swung onto it's back, standing on it's back like a trick rider on a horse. An eight-legged, homicidal horse. It shrieked as she stabbed at it's back, then crumpled. She jumped off and attempted to close another portal, conscious of the wounds she was already suffering. First vampires, and now spider-women? And she had thought Cyrodiil was dangerous.

[Keanumoreira]

The Argonian removed his amulet, and using his bow like a catapult, he flung himself above the spider daedra and towards one of the portals on the ceiling. With a swipe, it sealed shut, slicing one of the daedra in half as it attempted to pass through. On the ground again, he carved a swath of blood and gore to the wall on his left, swiping it shut as more poured into the room. One seized him by the arm as another attempted to cocoon him within its web, spinning its legs with unholy grace and aptitude. Abdul sliced himself free from his silky prison, throwing off his assailants as quickly as they manifested.

 

 

From this position, he was able to seal one last portal in the center of the room before Hevnoraak's voices invaded his mind. He slipped the amulet around his neck, banishing the lich's grip. More portals still remained, but having felt that he closed enough of them, Abdul cast a manipulation spell, luring one of the spider daedra before placing it under his control. Pulling out his bow, he struck down many more of the daedra with a volley of arrows.

[Macman253]

Tordin moved like a Sabre-Cat, his lack of armor and hundreds of years fighting in the hallowed halls of Sovngarde had left him a much quicker and more able warrior, he effortlessly dodged the feint with a backspin to the left, as he moved he charged his hammer with the power of the storms and brought it up to Hevnoraak's exposed ribs with all of his strength.

 

"You may have immortality Hevnoraak... but I lived and fought in the Dragon Wars, I killed Alduin once and I will do so again!" He roared and he followed through with his strike, pushing the battle into his favor, the Lich may have him on magical power but he was only a fair bladesman, he relied too heavily on his Immortality.