Shadows of Darkest Soul (An Elder Scrolls RP)

[XanAlderon]

Edward Wildeve, Indarys Manor, Bal Isra

 

Edward smiled at Adrynn, his brow untensed ever so slightly. He piled food onto his plate and began eating even while doing so. Eventually he was clearly satisfied and lay back on his chair. He considered this new offer. Something about Adrynn dispelled his thoughts of simply leaving, yet he couldn't quite work out what exactly was drawing him to this man.

 

"I accept your offer" he said simply.

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro Sulnair Marczon - That Afternoon II

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Lecuaro shot up in his bed. He was breathing quickly and his heart was pounding against his ribs like a blacksmith's hammer on an anvil. Beads of sweat dotted his face. His clothing beneath his armor was drenched with sweat.

 

Lecuaro took a towel from a small inn table and wiped the perspiration from his face. He then lied back down for a moment, trying to make sense of the dream. What was that gigantic tower? Who were those two armies? Who was that Dunmer? The questions swam about his mind, not allowing him to focus on any one of them. After a few minuetes of vain attempts at concentrating, he got to his feet.

 

He looked around the room, seeing the tapestries, rugs, the fully stocked writing desk, the barrels of food in the corner, and the small dish of candies on the inn table. There were so many luxuries he enjoyed that his men were denied. He pushed the lamentations out of his mind and exited his quarters. He made his way to the eastern wall, where he saw his men cleaning up the rubble and corpses produced by the battle.

 

Lecuaro observed the Redguard lad sweeping rocks and dust off the fort wall, the big Nordic man moving crates and barrels around, and the mages using their levitation magic to remove the larger chunks of rubble. He paced the battlements, his mind once again caught up in the dream. After a few minutes, he elected to return to his quarters.

 

As he walked down the hallway, something suddenly popped into his mind. He was supposed to meet with a representative of House Redoran today. He entered his room and sat down at his desk. He wondered who the person would be. He certainly hoped he would be more intelligent than the last clod they sent.

Edited April 13, 2011 by SoulofChrysamere

[darkedge42392]

Adrynn Indarys, Indarys Manor, Bal Isra

 

"Excellent, Edward. I have rooms and any other facilities you should need through that door," Adrynn said, pointing behind him to the door opposite the staircase. "My smith and trader are in the hut outside to the left, and my healer is outside in his hut to the right, going out the door. Garila will get you settled in, just ask her for anything you need," Adrynn said, standing up from his empty plate and laying a long fingered hand on Edward's cloaked shoulder.

 

"Now, I'll have to ask you to forgive me for leaving so soon, but I have duties to attend to, and they cannot be postponed," Adrynn said with a small smile as he lightly squeezed the other man's shoulder.

 

He made his way behind the bar and whispered in Garila's ear, "Make sure you keep Edward content. I have a feeling I will need him soon. I don't want the prejudices of the Dunmer apparent or tolerated toward him, am I clear?" She nodded.

 

"Good. Now I have to be going," he said in a normal voice, turning away. Her hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Don't you want to go armored? You never know what you'll find in the Wastes." He nodded, smiling slightly.

 

"Thank you for reminding me, Garila," he said, heading to his large room where his armor stands and weapon racks were laid out side by side with his bed and desk. He chose a suit of thick Gah-Julan Bonemold armor and with his wife's help, slid into it quickly. Strapping the rigid bracers to his forearms, he kissed his wife, grabbed his katana and dagger and a small shield and made his way back out of the manor, his footsteps leading him toward Fort Floodgate and his mind bent on who exactly wanted to see him there.

[XanAlderon]

Edward Wildeve, Indarys Manor, Bal Isra

 

Edward watched Adrynn leave before getting up himself. He picked up his sword and moved towards the doorway Adrynn had mentioned, he walked down a hallway and turned into what appeared to be sleeping quarters. He was tired and lay down in a bed, briefly wondering whether he was stealing someones bed but didn't really care anyway. He fell asleep quickly and with his hand loosely gripped around his sword. Edward did not dream, he rarely did anymore.

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro Sulnair Marczon - That Afternoon III

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Lecuaro wasn't sure exactly when the diplomat would arrive, but he fancied he had a bit of time before he did. He decided to record his strange dream in his journal. He opened the top left desk drawer and pulled out its only content: a small leatherbound book with guar hide covers. On the front cover, there was a big blue heart outline with red stick-figure effigies of himself and his five-year-old daughter Malena. Under the picture, in big, childlike writing, were the words, "Me and Daddy." On the back cover, there was a phrase from his eight-year-old son Guilent that said, "Tough guy diary!" and a drawing of himself holding a laarge sword and the word, "Arrrgh" below it. Lecuaro turned the journal in his hands, admiring the caricatures as he thought about his two children and his wife Casmia and how they were safe and sound in Ebonheart. They were fortunate. They didn't have to live in an unfinished fort in the Ashlands that was constantly assailed by angry Ashlanders, that was always low on supplies, that was packed with a bunch of smelly, sweaty soldiers, and that was filthy. He was glad that they didn't have to see him like this - tired, dirty, worried about Ashlander attacks, and constantly stressed out. They got to see him the way they should: as their hero - bathed, clean-shaven, in respectable clothes, and energetic.

 

Lecuaro put the journal on the desk and thumbed through the entries until he came to a blank page. He looked up at the quill sitting in the inkwell, but did not reach for it. A great sleepiness washed over him. His eyelids became as lead and he slumped onto the desk.

 

When he woke up, he wasn't in his quarters. He looked around and saw nothing but a blank blue expanse. Having an eerie sense of deja vu, he rose from his chair and saw the same massive Daedric-looking tower he'd seen in the first dream. The red beam shot upwards into the sky and the whole structure was shrouded in orange light. This time, however, the it was sitting on a great landmass that appeared to hold trees and mountains. He looked at the ground and saw that it was the same Ashland floor. He could see the walkway that had previously dropped him and left him to fall to his death. He peered over the edge of the floor and saw the same replica of his area with the same huge battle raging. IT was all exactly the same except for the tower's new continent.

 

Then, the sky turned bright crimson and large, crooked, jagged white lines appeared in it, as if it were cracking apart. The same curiosity about the tower that had ensnared him before once again lured him in its direction. He began to traverse the walkway and it appeared as if it was going to hold up this time. Then suddenly a deep, eerie voice mumbled something in an unknown tongue and the skinny umbilical once again fell out from under him and he began falling toward the ground below.

 

As Lecuaro again plummeted to his seemingly certain death, he scanned the landscape. He was again going to miss the battle, and there were no trama root plants below him. There appeared to be no cliffs nearby either. He wondered if that Dunmer would again save him from his plunge, and if so, where his seemingly non-existent cliff was. Then, he remembered that logic always took a back seat in the dream world and determined to simply let the dream run its course.

 

The fort commander was immediately jerked out of his attitude of ignorance by an anomaly in the ground. A large ring of white light appeared directly below him, and the land within it started to fade away. The ground kept getting more and more transparent until it vanished completely, leaving behind a bright blue circle. As Lecuaro neared the circle, he realized that it was a tunnel that looked like it went through the whole ground from top to bottom. He watched the landscape disappear behind the lip of the hole as he entered it.

 

Although he was falling at a fair speed, the blue circle did not grow. It didn't make any sense - like anything up to this point as made any sense. He didn't have much time to think about it, though. Four orbs of light materialized in front of him. The upper left one produced a window that showed a rather large Khajiiti person speaking with a smaller cat-like creature and a man slumped over a counter. Then, the upper right ball depicted a scene that Lecuaro though tto be a farm in the Ascadian Isles. There was something odd about that picture though: what appeared to be a Daedroth was detachin wristbands from Khajitts and Argonians. "A Daedroth freeing slaves?" Lecuaro wondered briefly. Next, the lower left orb displayed a man, obviously human, asleep in a bed with a large sword laying next to him. Lastly, the lower right sphere showed a figure in Gah-Julan style bonemold armor and equipped with some sort of Daedric blade walking through the Ashlands. It was all puzzling to the legion officer.

 

Lecuaro tried fruitlessly to recall a memory of the people. He didn't know why, but he felt that these people were important despite having never met any of them before. There was a special attraction to the bonemold-clad person. Who was he? Who were any of them?

[SoulofChrysamere]

Mini Character: Serrabinashiah Masseribalit - Fort Floodgate, Southern Gate

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Serrabinashiah lazily munched on a hackle-lo leaf as she kept watch over the path that led to Fort Floodgate's southern gate. Things had been pretty quiet since the battle and she hadn't seen anything suspicious. She was rather disappointed that neither she nor Dushaurimun was able to collect any intel on the Ashlander army, and she could tell from the looks that he and she received from the other soldiers that there was some blame resting on them for the total surprise. It didn't make any sense. How were they able to consistently locate and monitor the ordinary four and five hundred man rabbles and yet totally failed to spot a fifteen hundred man army? It was her greatest and most embarrassing failure yet.

 

Serrabinashiah was grateful to Captain Danius for assigning her to watch duty at the southern gate. It kept her away from most of the soldiers, and those who were up there with her dared not cross Danius, so chances of verbal and physical expressions of anger were kept to a minimum. Dushaurimun was up there too, about which she was glad.

 

She paced the floor, keeping her vigil over the path. Then, she saw a figure round the bend and come into view. It appeared to be outfitted with the bonemold armor of the "civilized" Dunmer, Gah-Julan style if she wasn't mistaken. She readied her bow and drew and arrow.

 

"Got one approachin' the gate!" Serrabinashiah yelled.

 

The notification sent a group of soldiers out of the gatehouse and toward the mysterious visitor.

Edited April 18, 2011 by SoulofChrysamere

[darkedge42392]

Adrynn Indarys, Ashlands

 

Adrynn's eyes narrowed as he spotted the Cliff Racer high above him. His hand strayed to the hilt of his Daedric Katana and loosely gripped it as he walked. The Racer never seemed to notice him and flew off, squawking as it dove onto some other unfortunate soul. Adrynn let out the breath he had been holding and released his grip on his katana, He hated Cliff Racers with a passion. They were always so aggressive and attacked anything and everything, even if they would die in the attack. He had more than a few scars from attacks by them.

 

Adrynn shook his head, pulled up his hood, and kept walking. He was getting close to Fort Floodgate. He could see smoke over the hills and figured it was from watchfires the Legion garrison kept lit to keep the wild animals away. The fort had been built only a few months ago and was the only other garrison in the Ashlands, besides Fort Buckmoth south of Ald-Ruhn. He had only heard whispers and rumors about the fort. Mostly that it was usually low on supplies and was trying to keep an Imperial foothold on the Wastes. Adrynn knew that such a task was difficult, as he himself had a garrison of men living in such harsh conditions. But his foothold was for the Great House Redoran, not the Imperial Legion. And House Redoran were used to living in the Ashlands.

 

Adrynn came around a small hill and saw Fort Floodgate situated above him. Sighing in relief that his trip had been uneventful, he made his way up the small hill to the gate. Hearing the footsteps of others, Adrynn stopped and glanced up, watching a patrol of five soldiers come though the gate and make their way toward him, their feet marching in perfect cadence. Falling into a nonchalant stance where he could move anywhere at any time, the Redoran waited.

 

The patrol surrounded him in a semi-circle, their blades and spears aiming at his body. The leader of the patrol stepped forward, an Imperial, and glanced over Adrynn's lean, bonemold clad frame.

 

"State your business, stranger," he said angrily.

 

"I am Adrynn Indarys, of House Redoran. I was told that your commander is expecting me," Adrynn said, pulling his hood down and staring at the man.

 

"Do you have any papers that say so? We don't know if you are who you say you are," he said, once more glancing over Adrynn's armored body. Adrynn got the distinct feeling he was being sized up.

 

"Of course, let me get them for you," Adrynn said calmly, reaching in a bag at his hip and slowly pulling out the request that had brought him here in the first place and handing it to the Imperial.

 

"Hmm, everything seems to be in order, Ser Indarys, there is just one thing you have to do," he said, handing the papers back.

 

"And what would that be?" Adrynn said, putting the paper back in the bag in at his hip.

 

"You are to surrender all of your weapons and then you will be allowed in," the Imperial said, glancing at the elegant Daedric Katana at Adrynn's hip greedily.

 

Adrynn noticed the other Legionnaires glance at the Imperial with a questioning look, their blades lowering. His crimson eyes flashed in rage and he laid his hand on the leather wrapped hilt of the katana.

 

"I will not surrender my sword to you, Imperial. You are not going to rob me. Go and fetch your commander. It is he I wish to see," Adrynn's voice was hard and held no room for complaint or question. He was the one in command of this situation, not the patrol leader. The greedy looking Imperial only stared blankly at Adrynn.

 

"Go and get your commander, damn you! I will not wait all day," Adrynn's eyes bore a hole through the other man.

 

"Yes-s s-s-s-sir!" the Legionnaire said, clumsily stumbling past his men and heading toward the fort.

 

Adrynn crossed his arms and waited, his thoughts turned toward this man who wished to see him, completely ignoring the Legionnaires who stared at him in awe.

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro Sulnair Marczon - The Redoran Representative

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A rapping at the door pulled Lecuaro back to reality. He shot up straight and took a moment to collect his thoughts, and then rose from the chair. He arrived at the door as a second knock sounded. He opened the door and looked at the man in the hallway.

 

"Sir, there's someone outside the southern gate here to see you. He says he's from House Redoran." the man said.

 

Lecuaro's throat tightened and his stomach became heavy. He was greatly troubled by the dreams, but he managed to utter the response, "Take me to him."

 

Within minutes, they were in the southern yard. As Lecuaro crossed the yard, he spied head battlemage Sorinyarie talking with a couple of other mages.

 

"Sorinyarie." he said. "You and your two friends come with me."

 

Surprised by the sudden order, they confusedly but obediently followed their commander.

 

"If I may ask, sir, what's this about?" Sorinyarie inquired.

 

"I'm meeting someone." Lecuaro replied. "I want you three here for security reasons."

 

The quintet passed through the gate and approached the ring of soldiers. The man that was leading broke off to the left and Lecuaro barked an order.

 

"Stand down!" He shouted.

 

The men obeyed. They lowered their weapons and backed away, revealing the bonemold-clad person they had encircled.

 

"I presume you are the representative from House Redoran?" the Breton said with a firm but noticeably troubled voice.

[darkedge42392]

Adrynn Indarys, outside Fort Floodgate

 

Adrynn's eyes scanned the tall Breton, noticing the tired eyes and rough, unshaven face. Seems he is in need of some sleep, Adrynn thought to himself as he noticed the three robed individuals, probably Battlemages, following the tall man. His attention turned to the Breton as the question left his lips.

 

"You would be correct in your presumption, Breton. And I assume you are the commander of this fort, the one I was asked to come see," Adrynn said calmly, his eyes never leaving the other man's face. He shifted his weight back and forth, taking in the sights and sounds of those around him. Five soldiers, three battlemages, and one Legion commander. All of them fixated on him, the Redoran Dunmer. A smirk graced his lean face.

 

He rested a hand on the pommel of his katana, watching what the others did out of the corner of his eye.

 

"My question to you is: What is it you want of me, Commander? I have other things to do than run packages back and forth from fort to fort or even fort to city," he said calmly, watching the other man's tired face. "I was led to believe you had special need of my . . . experience in some matter that troubles you. I would like to know what that is."

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro could hardly believe his eyes as the Dunmer's face came into focus. The deep crimson eyes, the dark blue-gray skin, it was the same Dark Elf that had rescued him from his fall in his first dream. Lecuaro stared at him for a moment, letting his tired brain process his question. Then, he spoke.

 

"Yes, serjo." Lecuaro said. "I have an urgent matter that requires one with your kind of expertise. It would be much easier to understand if I showed you. I could jabber out here all night and not make a lick of sense."

 

"The rest of you get back to your posts except for you three." He said, looking toward Sorinyarie and the other two mages. He then turned once again to the Dunmer.

 

"I am Commander Lecuaro Marczon." The Breton said, holding out an outstretched hand toward the Dark Elf. "You are?"