Shadows of Darkest Soul (An Elder Scrolls RP)

[SikSikSikki]

Arrenius Midoronia, Molag Mar, Northern Terrace

 

Fortunately, the wind had died down by the time Arrenius made his way up the steep ramp that would take him into Molag Mar’s Waistworks. He covered his face in his cloak and took a deep, deep breath and thanked the Divines for it, as it felt like the first breath he had taken in years after traversing the western Molag Amur region.

 

However, much like his small refreshing break, his sight was quickly cut short and everything turned black as the view of Molag Mar’s Northern terrace evolved into the dirty, stained weaves of a rough textile. A boot slammed into his lower calf and he was sent face-first into the hard stone. And before the blackjack was taken against the back of his skull, he heard a couple voices. He heard not what they said, but could easily make out the distinct gravelly sound of an Argonian, and another more human voice- Breton or Imperial most likely. Not nearly as slowly as he would have liked, nor as painless either, he blacked out.

 

Arrenius Midoronia, Molag Mar, ???

 

When he came too, Arrenius was immediately aware of two things. One, his head throbbed as if a Cyrodillic Ogre had smashed him over the head with an Ebony Mace. And two, he felt way lighter than he should have. He lay there for a few moments longer, not daring to egg on the pain in his head, but when he felt it dissipate, at least a little, he at least found the answer to one of his problems.

 

Four years ago, about a few months back, he had set out on a wild adventure after a revelation occurred to him as he lay in bed, his father’s staff nursing the scars and severe, ugly burns he had acquired in a bar. When he set out, his family gave him a number of gifts. One, being the family’s sword, and two being the armor his father wore during his time with the empire, made elaborately of moonstone.

 

Neither of these was in his possession currently. The sudden realization jolted him to his feet, and subsequently back on his arse as the throbbing started again, though not as bad as before. He looked around, but could barely see anything. He was in a room, dimly light by a candle behind blue glass on a crate nearby, bathing the room in its azure light (which certainly only made it harder to find out what everything was, and made his head hurt worse.). Crates… Crates and barrels… And chests. Whoever had assailed him- that’s it, he realized, someone HAD assailed him- had left him to rot in some storage room.

 

The voices came back to him, as he picked over what happened. The voice of an Argonian, and a human, he thought to himself. He rested himself against the wall on the bedroll he woke up on, and when he felt well again, he stood up and went about the room. The door was locked, of course. The crates were open, but as he suspected contained nothing of value to him at the moment (unless he were able to summon a fire like mages he had seen to cook the food, but then he’d likely suffocate himself in the small room.), and the chests were locked themselves. Well, Arrenius thought, looks like I’ll just have to wait…

 

Two hours, or so he figured, passed before the sound of the bolts being unlocked sounded from the door…

[Zephyr2011]

Kriak, Broken Sun

 

The huntsman addressed Adrynn, "It's a bit of a long story. This is captain Raedic and the crew of Daedroth's Wind, as fleet of a sloop as you'll ever find. I spoke with my contacts in Vivec and after a couple hours of questioning and deduction I came across some bad news. There is a substantial Mythic Dawn presence in the city, or, at least, there was. I found their base of operations devoid of people but with a lot of signs of recent activity and evidence that a boat had left there quite recently. So I chartered this ship to come find you all and give you warning. There's going to be a bit of a surprise waiting for us at Molag Mar or there abouts I am sure."

 

Kriak then took another look at the new girl, taking in her interesting marks. His own brand blazed like fire at them. Clearly someone important but he decidedly didn't like her grip on her katana. Adrynn and the nord were right though, if she meant harm it would have happened by now but all the same, he'd rather her not have a death grip on her sword.

 

He walked cautiously over to the girl and put a hand on her sword wrist, something he normally wouldn't do, but he had a feeling. "Miss, you're alright. No one here is going to hurt you. Just relax, we've seen far stranger than you," here Kriak winked a little, a nod to his own strangeness, "Just let go of that sword and breathe. We won't do any harm to you."

[NinjaGoddessAyra]

Ayra and Ulfgar, Abaord The Broken Sun

 

"Who are you?" One of the Dunmer women asked.

 

Ayra looked at her a moment before answering, her response was barely more than a mutter; "a corpse."

 

Luckily Ulfgar came to her rescue, she wasn't much of a talker, and was grateful the Nord was here.

 

"Please, back away from her. I'll answer any questions yeh have, but my friend here doesn't like to be surrounded like that. It's...an instinct I guess," he said to the surrounding crowd. He didn't want a fight to break out. If anything happened, it would be his fault for taking their offer and boarding in the first place.

 

"Her name is Ayra," he continued, hoping to stop them from ganging up on her. If he could resolve this peacefully, he would. He's seen too much bloodshed for his unusually long life. "She can't really talk that well, and you surrounding her and bombarding her with questions won't help any," he finished.

[AurianaValoria1]

Caius Cosades and Velanya Therys, the Broken Sun, Top Deck

 

The Spymaster harrumphed, "Well...until Ayra can find her tongue to explain her illusion magic and her fishy behavior, I will be watching her. Her actions speak of a spy...or an assassin - neither of which we can afford," he looked pointedly at the Nord, "Where are you two from? And more importantly, what awaits you in Molag Mar?"

 

Velanya stepped away from Ayra out of courtesy, but kept her hand on her sword, "Perhaps it would be best to explain a bit - we have suffered many attacks in the past few weeks, most of them without warning. We are all extremely valuable targets, for various reasons, and so we are all marked men and women. You will forgive us, then, if our suspicion regarding your sudden behavior is not without due cause, Ayra."

 

Caius glanced to Kriak, "And if what our woodsman friend says is true, we've got a lot more trouble ahead of us."

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro Sulnair Marczon - The Broken Sun, Top Deck

 

 

Lecuaro walked up beside Ulfgar with his arms folded in stern disapproval. He hadn't liked how everyone had ganged up on Ayra like a pack of nix hounds about to feed. He was glad when everyone had dissipated some.

 

When Kriak related the news of a possible ambush in Molag Mar or beyond, his stomach turned. The gang didn't need any more delays than it had already suffered, but he knew that if their supposed attackers wanted a fight, they would certainly get one.

 

"More trouble waiting for us, eh? Heh...shocking." Lecuaro remarked sarcastically. He had had just about enough fighting for a while, but he knew better than to think that things would get easier.

Edited October 29, 2012 by SoulofChrysamere

[NinjaGoddessAyra]

Ayra and Ulfgar, aboard The Broken Sun

 

Ulfgar gave the Breton a grateful smile. He looked around at the crowd, and then back to Ayra. He knew she probably wouldn't like it, but he felt they did indeed owe them an explanation. If they have been high end targets, they could atleast know the truth, atleast then it may ease their suspicions. He took a deep breath, thinking to himself there's nothing quite as unbelievable as the truth, and began, looking at the older Imperial fellow as he spoke.

 

"You're right in your assumptions, my friend here, she is....rather was, an assassin who at one point worked for the Dark Brotherhood." He paused to see the effect this would have. Seeing that the old Imperial didn't look the least bit surprised, but at the same time didn't interrupt, he continued on, "about....I'd say a couple years or so ago, she left their service entirely. She is no longer an assassin, though I won't deny she still has the skillset for one."

 

"Her face," he nodded towards Ayra, "she conceals because she's suffered far worse treatment her whole life by being.....different I guess." Ulfgar had no idea why he was telling all of this, it wasn't as if they'd believe any of this. Not to mention, if he had been told any of this himself, he wouldn't have believed any of it either.

 

"Due to.....certain events that happened during her childhood, she doesn't really talk that much anymore. It's not her fault, but trying to have her talk won't get you anywhere."

 

Ulfgar looked at Ayra, he wanted to see how she was taking all of this, but her facial expression didn't change, it was still...boredom? No, it was something resembling sadness behind those icy blue eyes. And now, he thought, time for the most unbelievable part.

 

"As for Molag Mar...my friend here felt a calling to it, some inexplicable reason told her to go there." As he said this, he realized how ridiculous it sounded coming from his own mouth, "we believed that we could find the one who used the Great Magic. It's....magic of the highest calibur, and we believe someone used it, at that new Imperial fort towards the north of Vvardenfell, Fort Floodgate or something like that." He looked around once more, and decided he might as well finish it before they start attacking him some more. "We were actually heading to the fort to see what was going on, because my friend here believes, only one person could have conjured magic that powerful. A person who took an expedition to Akavir and who she now thinks to be dead. We decided to head to the fort to investigate for ourselves, only we had a feeling we should go to Molag Mar first. And I apologize, but I can't tell you why we decided to head there first, even I don't really know." Ulfgar finally finished.

 

Well he thought, none of this is believable, but hey, atleast I can say I didn't lie. He looked at Ayra, who gave him the slightest of nods; if they suddenly attacked, they were ready to clear a path off the ship. They waited for moments....but nothing happened.

[AurianaValoria1]

Caius Cosades and Velanya Therys, the Broken Sun, Top Deck

 

The Spymaster and the Knight Errant exchanged looks. Now this was interesting indeed...

 

Velanya cleared her throat, "Lecuaro? I think we need to do some explaining of our own."

 

Caius nodded tersely, "Aye. Her Nord friend speaks the truth, I am sure."

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro Sulnair Marczon - The Broken Sun, Top Deck

 

Lecuaro nodded in agreement. It was time to come clean about their own reasons for heading to Molag Mar. Ulfgar and Ayra would know something was up anyway once they went below decks and saw the Nerevarine tied up and unconscious.

 

"Yesterday, all of us except Velanya, who was on her own errand, hit the ancient Dunmeri stronghold of Kogoruhn to see if we could capture the leader of the Ashlander rebels, or at the very least get an idea of how large a force we were dealing with. We did manage to take the leader prisoner." He said.

 

Lecuaro felt his throat lump as he forced the next words. "They were being led by the Nerevarine himself. Somehow, Mehrunes Dagon managed to get ahold of his soul and it split him in two, with Dagon's side overwhelming what little was still loyal to Azura. After we figured that out, we reckoned the only place where Nerevar might be freed from his curse is at the Shrine of Azura itself. So that's why we're headed to Molag Mar with Nerevar, who's below decks. We're taking another ship from there to the shrine and seeing if he can be healed." He continued.

 

"Kriak, you say there's a bunch of Mythic Dawn goons waiting to ambush us? I don't think they'd try it in Molag Mar where they'd have to not only go through us but the local Redoran garrison. No, I'm betting anything they're lying it wait near the shrine." He reasoned.

 

After finishing, he looked again at Ulfgar.....who wasn't expecting to hear Nerevar Incarnate mentioned at all, much less in this fashion.

[NinjaGoddessAyra]

Ayra and Ulfgar, aboard The Broken Sun

 

Ulfgar was shocked, this was insane, he thought. And yet...these people....they weren't surprised at his own story, they didn't seem the least bit perturbed that they had felt a calling to go to Molag Mar. He looked at Ayra, who, to his great surprise, started to speak, without being coerced.

 

"He's here then," she said tonelessly "it...makes sense now." and indeed it did, she thought to herself. That would explain the sharp pain in my back. It was the same burning sensation I felt back then...when I had first met him.

 

Completely forgetting to hide her face, all thoughts to hide her unusual facial markings and blue eyes, she suddenly said aloud to no one in particular, "I...I need to see him."

 

And with that, she started to make her way towards the cabin door that lead below decks.

[AurianaValoria1]

Velanya Therys and Caius Cosades, the Broken Sun, Top Deck

 

The Knight Errant ran after Ayra, "Wait! No! You're not going to like what you see..."

 

She suddenly felt Caius's heavy hand on her shoulder and the Spymaster grumbled, "Let her go. She'll only understand what we're dealing with when she sees it with her own eyes. We were much the same not too long ago, remember?"

 

Velanya sighed and nodded reluctantly. Caius turned her around and gestured to Adrynn, "I need to speak with you two privately. Let's see if the Captain will allow us to share his cabin for a moment."