Elder Scrolls: Interregnum Chapter 4 (Started, Open)

[SamtheDeathclaw]

''Where are the other two'' Endya asked Iloden ''We were just heading out, I assume those two can catch up right?'' Joncis said to him, leaning off of the wall while the others set out off of the gate, Endya flashed 7 passes at the guards and passed through the gates, Joncis and Enthir kept their heads down while the guards nodded at Endya and Dro'Araaj ''Before you ask Anruin's a Bosmer, his race alone can probably get him and the Breton out of the gate just fine'' Endya said.

Lloden gestured behind him vaguely, then strung his bow.
"Be careful. The jungle is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing." He set off to hunt. He wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the safehouse, but he wanted to be well stocked either way.

 

[Josh123914]

''Where are the other two'' Endya asked Iloden ''We were just heading out, I assume those two can catch up right?'' Joncis said to him, leaning off of the wall while the others set out off of the gate, Endya flashed 7 passes at the guards and passed through the gates, Joncis and Enthir kept their heads down while the guards nodded at Endya and Dro'Araaj ''Before you ask Anruin's a Bosmer, his race alone can probably get him and the Breton out of the gate just fine'' Endya said.

Lloden gestured behind him vaguely, then strung his bow.
"Be careful. The jungle is dangerous if you don't know what you're doing." He set off to hunt. He wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the safehouse, but he wanted to be well stocked either way.

The group set off north, the jungle was densely covered so they stuck to a path heading North-east, the occasional giant spider or tiger would jump out but nothing they couldn't handle. ''This heat IS intense''Enthir said, leading the group on.

 

[IFS]

Dro'Araaj marched along silently, the jungle had changed since he had last been in Elsweyr, but it still felt familiar, he preferred the desert but the jungle was still home. He smiled, pushing away some of the worse memories, it was good to be home, even if it was only for a short time.

 

[Josh123914]

The forest was so dense that Enthir and Urgal had to slice away at the vines to get through while the others followed, Joncis tried to burn through but the area was simply too damp, while Endya kept the food and a few bags safe from the groundwater. Joncis at least found himslef useful there, occasionally spraying a bit of Frostbite on the bags to keep the food cool.

 

[Josh123914]

Anruin and Astoph caught up with the others, following the trail of cut foliage and by now it was late evening. ''So how'd your detour go?'' Enthir asked ''....later.'' Anruin replied quickly.
Endya spotted a small path which led north that cut through the dense rainfoest, the group followed it for roughly an hour, the rainforest had become much lighter and dryer, far in the distance Enthir could see scrublands. ''Well this seems like a good place to set up camp'' Joncis said, using an Atronach to create a makeshift roof by collapsing trees.
''I'll stand watch'' Endya said, while getting sticks for a fire.

 

[Josh123914]

Joncis and Enthir's atronachs were finished arranging the logs into a suitable manner, as Endya sat on a tree stump near her pile of firewood, Joncis cast a flame spell on them, starting the fire ''So, anyone have any stories?'' Enthir asked, pulling out some food from the bag by his feet. ''I killed two people in an alleyway this morning.''Endya said quietly, Enthir turned towards her, then said unimpressed''No suprise there. What about you two, where did you head off to back in Torval?'' Enthir asked towards Anruin and Astoph.

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

Lloden strode into the camp, with not much game to show for an entire days spent hunting.
"Some bandits a few clicks away." he commented idly. "Or, there were." He pulled out a piece of jerky and gnawed on it. "I scared them off."
More like slaughtered the lot of them. The silver sword's just as sharp as the demon one.

 

[IFS]

Dro'Araaj sat by himself in the corner of the camp, mixing the moon sugar and nightshade root to make skooma. He was thinking about the last time he had been in Elsweyr, he had returned to visit his wifes grave, to tell her he had found her killers, and avenged her. When he left after that he had not expected to return, his plan had been to wander and survive until he died of age, that way no one could claim the tooth.

He laughed to himself, did I really think you would defeat hircine? he will probably claim my soul regardless of how I die. He sighed and pushed the thought away, dwelling on such things was pointless, it would change nothing.

 

[Josh123914]

Lloden strode into the camp, with not much game to show for an entire days spent hunting.
"Some bandits a few clicks away." he commented idly. "Or, there were." He pulled out a piece of jerky and gnawed on it. "I scared them off."
More like slaughtered the lot of them. The silver sword's just as sharp as the demon one.

''We were just discussing our headcount'' Endya said, staring at Enthir ''Got any stories to tell? hopefully one that doesn't involve a tortured past or daedra-related hijinks.'' He said. Joncis sat down and said ''I found a Dwemer ruin in Hammerfell once''
Endya looked at him, suprised ''How did you get out? Those automations have a nasty habit of trying to murder outsiders''
''Well it started as a trip by the road, me and a few friends in Dragonstar were on our way to Elinhir, this was about a month before I joined up with Enthir in Chorrol, anyway, we went into this area, Dwarven objects strewn across the floor, the machines were destroyed, when we headed to what looked like an underground marketplace, we saw another group. Bandits.
Well we were going to fight them before part of the ceiling cut us off. The place was starting to collapse!'' he said, leaning towards them,
''We raced out of there, carrying whatever plates or artifacts we could carry. By the time we were all out I realised this was a big haul. Even dwarven cups sold high to the right vendor but we had our bags filled with every plate, sword and jewel we could find. Half of this expedition is payed for with that gold, Enthir spends his on Gods knows what.'' ''What about those friends of yours, you haven't told me the story with them?''Enthir asked ''4 of them are sitting pretty in Skaven at the moment, one of them went back to Wayrest, and I think a couple left for Dragonstar, I didn't know those ones too well.''Joncis finished ''That does me, enjoy the nightshift,'' he said, heading to sleep.

 

[Derek_the_Dodo]

Urgal stirred on the log he was sat upon. He had been thinking, there was a niggling thought of something not being quite right since they left the summerset isle. The Altmer crime family hadn't retaliated against his violence and had left the group alone from dawn until almost noon when they had set sail unhindered. Maybe they were regrouping or had not realised that Urgal's group would be leaving so soon after the skirmish.

Or maybe they know something of our mission, of our package, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike.

Urgal shook the thought out of his head, although he recalled seeing the Altmer boy from afar at the market that dawn, and wherever the boy is, there is sure to be some deadly relative of his hiding in the shadows.

I was foolish to allow the fight reach Dro'Araaj's master's house, he will surely be punished for harbouring us. We needed to leave but that is no excuse to force him to suffer as a result of my actions.

He patted Dro'Araaj lightly on the shoulder silently showing his remorse. There was a peculiar atmosphere about the camp, a more serious one than before. Over half of their numbers were down since that first meeting in the Imperial city and Joncis insisting on no deviations or distractions from the mission at hand was odd as he seemed to have had something of a tolerance for it beforehand. Anruin had officially left the cult for which he had so much passion with only a passing remark to the group, possibly as something of a peace offering. Despite Lloden's past not leaving him alone he was doing his best to ignore it and focus on the task. Dro'Araaj had seemed deep in thought since arriving back in his homeland and Urgal realised for the first time just how old and tired the Khajiit looked clasping his small wedge of letters close to him in the flickering firelight, face speckled with strands of grey fur.

Perhaps it's the war. Tensions finally erupting into the largest conflict that Tamriel has seen for generations can really make you think about priorities.

"I never told you about my time in the Imperial city these past few years did I? Do you know how I lost this tooth?" Urgal said grinning so as to show the gap where his lower canine should be as his way of pitching in a story. The group seemed to show some interest so he continued.

"I was on a job about two years ago, small time thing, I was supposed to... persuade a bookshop owner in the market district to sell up. A cheap, sly sort of way to conduct business, not particularly proud of it; but my employer assured me that it would be honourable in that it would be intimidation without any real violence. He said violence was bad for business and wanted to seem legitimate, he even offered a fair price for the shop too."

A torchbug hovered near the fire, as if it were somehow bemused to find another fellow bright light in the shadows of the rainforest. Urgal took a swig of some ale which he had bought in town.

"So I walk into the shop and stood at the counter is the most beautiful orismer lady that you have ever seen, her skin was a dark shade of olive, hair shimmering in the candlelight by which she was reading like polished glass, and her eyes, oh you should have seen her eyes! So awe inspiring and passionate, I could see why my Imperial friend wanted to enlist my help to persuade her."

Urgal took a rather deep swig of his ale at this point and surveyed his bored looking peers...

"Of course she's thrilled to see another Orc in the city, especially one with an apparent interest in literature and starts talking to me about this book and that and asks me what I like, all the while I'm trying to keep up and act like I at least have some knowledge, the reason I came there completely forgotten. I bought some books and we got to know each other and within the course of a few weeks we were catching slaughterfish on the banks of the Rumare together at dusk. I was happier than I had been for a long time."

He paused at the memory. The others seemed to be engaged with his story, yet nostalgic for such similar thoughts that they had of their own.

"I lied to my employer when asked about the job and just told him that she had refused my offer, although he had fingers in enough pies to notice an Orcish couple in town; I mean as a race, we're not known for our ability to blend in with a crowd. And as quickly as it had began it was over, he made sure that she caught wind of my business and believed that I was just trying to manipulate her into selling. I met her at her shop and seeing she was upset about something kissed her, at which point she bit down hard into my gum in a rage. I mean as a race we're not known for our ability to control our anger. She hit me and kicked and bellowed at me and threw me out of the shop."

Urgal sighed and took another swig, rinsing the ale around the gap in his disorderly rows of teeth.

"I never saw her after that, I found out that she did decide to sell up a few months later, whether because of me or not. I acted completely dishonourably. Lying about literature that I hadn't read, not telling her the reason I was there in the first place, leaving the selling of the shop situation up to others to take action upon when it directly affected the lady that I... The area around the tooth was too damaged to have been able to set it back in it's place so I had to take it out myself." Urgal let out a laugh,"Doesn't exactly improve my good looks now does it? Bet you thought I was going to say I lost it in a bar fight or against a giant. Well it survived both of those, the former many times over."

Urgal emptied his bottle and threw it into the fire where it smashed.

"Who's next?" he asked glancing around at the group.

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

"Who's next?" he asked glancing around at the group.

Lloden stared at the orc for several seconds before laughing loudly.
"You were maiden gra-Balug's lug of a mate? She told me about you. I was in the city at that time, buying spellbooks for... For my wife." he choked out the last word, his laughter dying in the air. He cleared his throat. "She has a very nice selection of spells, and she has a taste for flin I would not expect from an orcish lass. It is a shame she sold off her shop, but I think you being there made her miss her fellow orsimer, as brutal and ignorant they may be." He forced a laugh again.
"As for my stories? Ah, they're all dark things. Demon curses, blood sacrifices, noble parties with fancy wines..." He smiled slightly. "Not something you'd care to hear."

 

[Derek_the_Dodo]

"Who's next?" he asked glancing around at the group.

Lloden stared at the orc for several seconds before laughing loudly.
"You were maiden gra-Balug's lug of a mate? She told me about you. I was in the city at that time, buying spellbooks for... For my wife." he choked out the last word, his laughter dying in the air. He cleared his throat. "She has a very nice selection of spells, and she has a taste for flin I would not expect from an orcish lass. It is a shame she sold off her shop, but I think you being there made her miss her fellow orsimer, as brutal and ignorant they may be." He forced a laugh again.
"As for my stories? Ah, they're all dark things. Demon curses, blood sacrifices, noble parties with fancy wines..." He smiled slightly. "Not something you'd care to hear."

"Anyone in the whole of Tamriel who you haven't either killed, teamed up with or had a drink of flin with Lloden? I never thought that Kul-gra-Balug may have decided to return to Lankzhar Bol... I always assumed that she opened a bookshop in another city somewhere, such was her love for literature."

Lloden had retreated into himself slightly, there was obviously some memory of his wife that he had tried to bury that had been accidentally brought to the surface, stunning the battered Dunmer into staring world wearily into the canopy above, a forced smile upon his lips.

"Ooh mystery mer, be fair Lloden, I just told one of my most embarrassing stories, you have to give us something. I find it hard to believe that in your extensive travels there hasn't been a single instance where you've made a complete ass of yourself."

 

[Josh123914]

It was dawn now, Joncis woke up to see a few giant spider corpses littering the outskirts of the camp, ''What happened here?'' he said, getting to his feet and rolling up the blankets ''You just missed it, nothing serious'' Endya said, trying to yank a few of her daggers from one of the corpse's thick shells. Enthir was getting up too, finishing off the leg of a rabbit.
Joncis shrugged and checked to see who else was still awake, ''So should we set off?'' he said, taking some fish and roasting it over the now dwindling fire. ''Let me have something to eat before we head off.'' Endya responded, pulling out one of her daggers from the Spider's eye.

 

[IFS]

It was dawn now, Joncis woke up to see a few giant spider corpses littering the outskirts of the camp, ''What happened here?'' he said, getting to his feet and rolling up the blankets ''You just missed it, nothing serious'' Endya said, trying to yank a few of her daggers from one of the corpse's thick shells. Enthir was getting up too, finishing off the leg of a rabbit.
Joncis shrugged and checked to see who else was still awake, ''So should we set off?'' he said, taking some fish and roasting it over the now dwindling fire. ''Let me have something to eat before we head off.'' Endya responded, pulling out one of her daggers from the Spider's eye.

Dro'Araaj finished packing away his blanket and walked over to see if he could salvage the spider's poison glands, he pulled out the knife he normally used to chop ingredients and soon added a couple of the glands to his ingredients bag. That finished he dug around in his bag until he found one of the pastries he had bought in Torval, he scarfed it down and walked back over to the others.

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

[pretend this happened during the night because I'm lazy and fell asleep]

"Ooh mystery mer, be fair Lloden, I just told one of my most embarrassing stories, you have to give us something. I find it hard to believe that in your extensive travels there hasn't been a single instance where you've made a complete ass of yourself."

"Of course! Just parts of the stories are demon-y." He laughed a little, forcing out old memories.
"I ended up buying a wagonload of skooma once. It was a lot of fun, he started."
The story continued for some time, and afterwards he decided to try and sleep.

[Back to the fuuuuuture!]
Lloden sat up. He had been awake much of the night.
Dar Do was close. Closer than he had expected. But she wouldn't strike until she felt secure. He sighed heavily, and stood up.
He munched on some jerky he couldn't remember where he had picked up and stood near the embers of the fire.

 

[Josh123914]

Soon after finishing off some cooked fish the group set off again along the road. The rainforest was less dense, the road was clear now and they didn't have to cut their way through. The air became drier and soon it began to stop feeling like a rainforest. Far in the distance they could see scrublands ''So what exactly happened in that house back in Torval?'' Enthir asked Lloden and Anruin.

 

[Ruedyn]

[Flashback pink]

Anruin sat near the back of the camp listening to the stories. He decided to move in to tell his own,

"I got a story from my time as a merc." He cleared his throat and began,

"So, me and 2 other guys decided to take this job once, it was to help a farmer protect his farm from some bandits near... Whiterun in Skyrim I think. Regardless, we took this job with these two other guys from another merc band, a nord and an orc archer," He nodded at Urgal when he perked up, and continued.

"We make an agreement and head near the farm. My group got there without instance, and when we got there, the nord was unarmed and unarmored, and the orc had 3 arrows. We asked if they got robbed or anything, and they laughed, turns out the crazy bastards do crap like that all the time. They even bet us that they'd get the higher body count! Like idiots, we agreed thinking 'hey, easy money.'

"Anyways, we try to set up a trap while they go into the house and drink with the farmer, but halfway through the bandits attack! The archer, from the window, snipes down the bandit trying to threaten us into submission, then takes out the guy next to him. They get pissed and rush us, and the 4 or 5 archers start making it seem like it's raining death. The nord sprints out into the opening, and yells 'foos rah' or something, and the arrows fall back a little bit and land on the guys charging. Turns out he's an ex Graybeard.

"That leaves 3 guys for us, and as we were getting over the shock the orc rushes out, throws his arrow at the guy running at us screaming about his 'fallen comrades', takes the arrow out of him, stabs it into the next guys neck, and sweeps the legs of the last guy, stomping his head into the snow. He did that in, like, 10 seconds." Anruin chuckles,

"We spend the night at the farmers house, and when we wake up they're gone and we have to clean up the body." He looks at Urgal,

"And that's how I know your brother."

[Flashback over]

Anruin ignores Enthir's question, and continues walking out, nearly jogging when he emerges out of the woods "Oh thank god we're out of there. Enthir catches up and stands beside him,

"Can you see the city from here? I don't like camping." He pulls out a flask he got from Torval. "Want a hit?"

 

[Josh123914]

The forest continued to lighten and over a steep hill the group was now completely out of it and were now in a much drier climate, the occasional tree remained but the ground was now covered in dry grass, ''That was quick,'' Enthir said, ''No, it wasn't'' Joncis said back, Enthir turned to him confused, ''He's right actually, we've been walking for about 2 hours in silence, Gods, you must have a vivid imaginaton.'' Endya told him, sipping from a canister, then refilling from a the river that the road followed.

 

[Josh123914]

The group continued along the path, The area was becoming more arid and by midday the nearby river was more like a stream. Soon they were at a fork in the road with a signpost. To the left was just a beaten down path and read Anequina while to the right was a built road that read SHI'GARA -VILLAGE, CLOSE and CORINTHE -CITY, FAR EAST . to the left led to the Sanctuary while up ahead to the right was Shi'gara built at the base of a mountain.

''Let's stop there for food or something'' Enthir said tiredly, ''Alright, but everyone keep an eye out, Between Endya's multiple killcounts, hers and Enthir's possible bounties in Elsweyr, Urgal pissing off a crime family, Anruin's multiple crusades against daedra followers in the past and Lloden's,well...issues for all we know someone here might want us dead'' Joncis warned. ''Well if that's all we have to worry about let's just get in for a little while and then head off again tonight, don't even bother finding an inn'' Enthir said back.

The group continued forward with the path to the right.
Shi'gara was a small farming area, There was an inn and a blacksmiths on a ridge at the base of the mountain, with several farms on the right, growing moon sugar and some exotic vegetables. Near the blacksmiths were some market stalls, mostly for general goods. Some of the shops were controlled by Khajiit Caravans, as they would be one of the few ways to get fresh food or goods to the area without making them yourselves. Enthir and Joncis checked through the merchandise but nothing seemed to interest them. Endya meanwhile went to the blacksmiths. Unloaded about two dozen knives and daggers from straps and belts under her robes and told two Alfiq to sharpen them all.

 

[SamtheDeathclaw]

Lloden stood on the hill above town. He had never been here, which was unusual. He knew the sort of place, though. Not a place Dar Do would attack. He sighed, and glanced around.
Gods take it all. I'm getting paranoid. I don't even know if she wants me dead. Accursed is the kin-killer, they say. She was always fairly devout. We'll find out.
He strolled down into the town, going through the market. He glanced at the produce, but passed it over. He needed some alcohol, but skooma was the drug of choice here.
One of the orc's remarks from the night before stuck to his mind, for some reason.
I have known so many people, but how much of an impact have I ever made? Just a drifter. Sometimes I see them again. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes they come with me, sometimes they forget me. But ultimately, have I made anyone's life definitely better? Lots of peoples' worse, but I can't think of a life I've concretely improved. He sighed. Heavy thoughts.