Loyalty or No SV you Are the Daedra

[Kyrina]

An inexplicable wave of happiness sweeps you. There's no telling where it came from, certainly not Order-boy or his friend/split personality/whatever. You'd express this sudden swell of delight with a dance but there are other things you should be spending your time on. Like reading that summoning book Medresi had and making sure the gang all know you're okay.

Thankfully both those tasks can be done at once!

The book melts up out of your hand, already open on the first page. The gate guards edge a little away from you, faint green showing in their cheeks. You ignore them and try reaching for Bass, Baritone and Tenor with your mind.

It feels weird, like your thoughts are being stretched further and further. It's not really a describable sensation and your thoughts don't slow any or warp but they do feel stretched. It takes some real mental effort, it's like you're staring at a Killer Sodoku puzzle that's one step away from falling into place searching for that one number to set the dominoes falling.

Then all at once-

Boss!

-everything snaps into place. You can sense the three Knights of Order and you know with a little more effort you could probably see through their eyes and stuff like that. Connection made you make a happy little wiggle that, in other circumstances, could possibly count as a dance.

Er... is this thing on?

Hopefully that'll work to-

Yes, it's on! What can we do for you bossman?

Bass is easily recognisable, even in telepathic contact.

Erm... Can you three make sure Morlia and Diana know I'm okay? Oh! And Freyja, almost forgot about her. And then get them to come down to the city gates so we can meet up?

Sure thing boss! What about thief-guy?

Shit, almost forgot, tell him and bring him too.

Now that's out of the way you can really settle into reading that book on summoning things. The initial pages are pretty boring, just warnings about how the two parts of each spell shouldn't be attempted separately. Dragging denizens of Oblivion into Nirn without binding them to the summoners will is intensely dangerous, for obvious reasons, and attempting the reverse, binding a normal animal, tends to drive those trying it mad.

That's the gist anyway, you skip most of the detail, and quickly flick through the book. Medresi's scrawled notes in the margins of most of the pages, the added text is so dense on the summon spider daedra spell you can't make out any of it. You start reading the first spell the book talks about, summoning frost atronachs.

It's a bit... dense. Actually it's very dense, filled with technical terms you don't quite understand. About half of them you can sort of work out from the words around it. The other half may as well be written in Arabic.

The rest of the book it much the same, just a smidge advanced for you right now. Maybe Morlia can help you figure this out. More minions are always good, right?

Focusing more on the annotations Medresi made you get the impression she was intent on ignoring the advice at the beginning of the book about not trying to bind Nirn animals to her will. Explains the spiders that did her bidding anyway, sort of.

"Ah... excuse me, the castle confirms your story. Feel free to enter." You close the book and reabsorb it. The guard addressing you shudders, armour clinking, and looks away.

"Thanks!" You say brightly and skip into Skingrad.

"Mara's mercy there's a hole in your elbow!" A flying Diana attaches to your arm and pokes the aforementioned hole. "D-Doesn't it hurt?"

"Er..." you debate how to answer. Lucas and Bass remain standing a little way off but Lucas is frowning.

"Where's Freyja, I thought you were with her." He asked, frown deepening.

"What happened is...." before you can answer Morlia Tenor and Baritone arrive. Morlia takes one look at you and sighs.

"What did you do?"

[ ] Explain?
-[ ] How?

[ ] Go find the Freyja

[ ] Go report to the Count

Feel free to write in if you have another option in mind

 

[Kyrina]

"I went for a walk," Morlia's brow twitches, you backpedal a little, "an enthusiastic walk and-"

"So help if you don't give me details I will find a way to make you suffer." Morlia promises, brow still twitching and one foot joining in to go tap-tap-tap on the cobbles. Maybe some more details would be a wise idea. It certainly can't hurt after all.

"Okay, so, long story short? I found the crazy sorceress responsible, got caught in her teleport, managed to defeat her and her minions and walked back here. Short story long? Anything by Dickens." Man, serialised fiction could take ages to really get to the point of its own premise.

"Dickens?" Morlia looks intrigued for a moment before seeming to remember she's supposed to be angry with you. Or at least, mildly displeased. "No, wait, forget I asked. W-"

"Where's Freyja? If you were caught in a teleport spell what happened to her?" Lucas cuts over Morlia, frown set on his face like stone and a kind of manic worry rolling off him in waves. Huh, he must really care about her then. It's cute.

"It was just me in the basement of the house when I got teleported. Freyja was talking to the owner, I think. She's probably around the city somewhere." Looking for you, maybe not worried about your life but probably worried about you in a more general way. Or possibly worried about what to tell Morlia. How would that conversation go?

Lucas relaxes as you watch, shoulders slumping down with the lack of tension and worry and frown lines smoothing from his face. "Oh, okay, good to know. For a second I thought..." he shakes his head and doesn't say anything more.

"Right, before talking to the Count we should probably find Freyja and let her know everything's worked out okay." It would be cruel not to tell her. "Oh and while I'm thinking about it...." You start casting healing spells, sending white and blue light up and down yourself in spirals. Diana pokes the edge of the hole in your elbow as it steadily closes over, crystal meshing and knitting together like it had never been parted.

"So did it hurt?" She asks as you all move off as a group towards the house you and Freyja were at before the teleport business happened.

"Nah, it doesn't feel good but there's no real pain." You tell her. "I don't think there's a real comparison... um, losing a finger nail or toenail? Maybe." It's a pretty bad comparison really, losing nails hurts, but the only other thing you could say is probably shaving your head bald and that's even less similar.

Lucas is walking beside Morlia and chatting with her, not really aware that his words are floating back to you and Diana.

"...pour a bucket of water over Fast's head before seeing the Count." You catch from the thief, and he does the appropriate mime to go with the statement. "Gets the daedra clean and, most important, makes sure your displeasure is understood."

"I suppose so...." Morlia sounds uncertain but doesn't get any further. Freyja walks out of a side street, shoulders low and helm under one arm so she can scrub her hand through her hair. She looks pretty low.

"Freyja!" You yell and everyone on the street looks at you. You wave to her as her jaw drops open. "I took care of the Medresi problem, there should be no more spider problems now." You boom happily.

"What happened! You just vanished into thin air! How, why?" Freyja sounds like she's stuck halfway between wanting to hit you and wanting to hug you.

"Well, you see, I decided to go for an enthusiastic walk and-"

"Fast!" Morlia snaps. You sigh and explain properly what happened.

"Right, now to go report our success to the Count." You clap your hands together happily.

"Er... I have other things to do, stuff to prepare if we're leaving tonight and.... you know business stuff to take care of." Lucas says carefully, throwing the odd anxious glance at Freyja. She just rolls her eyes at him and he flashes her a quick relieved smile.

[ ] Ask Lucas why he thinks you're leaving tonight
-[ ] Are you leaving Skingrad tonight?
-[ ] Let him deal with his stuff
-[ ] Drag him to see the Count anyway

[ ] Just let him go

[ ] Offer to help! (after the Count's through with you)
-[ ] Send someone with him?

Feel free to mix and match options and sub options, I'm not sure it makes sense as it is but I'm too tired to actually care right now.

 

[Kyrina]

"If 'we're' leaving tonight?" You don't recall mentioning anything like that. "Did you enlist him while I was away or something?" You ask Morlia in your most subtle fashion.

"Erm... no?" Morlia's eyes flick between Freyja, Lucas and you then she leans closer. "If you didn't want your guard friend to know you recruited him maybe you should have mentioned that to him." She hisses, voice only just audible.

"If you want his company you three are more than welcome to it." Freyja crosses her arms over her mailed chest and rolls her eyes. "I'll not be arresting him until he's actually done something, in my sight, to deserve it. If you can get him out of my city I know I'll be grateful" You almost mentioned him breaking out of his cell but Freyja probably already knows about that and it's not really helpful. You refrain, barely.

"You wound me," Lucas' dry tone doesn't even win a smile from Freyja. "Is the heart in your chest composed only of ice, fair Freyja?" Freyja opens her mouth to reply. You beat her to it.

"So, how long have you fancied Freyja?" Freyja stares at you like you've grown a second head. Lucas starts laughing, a light sound that's not breathy so much as sounding like he's almost out of breath. Freyja punches him in the shoulder, he just laughs harder.

"Oh be quiet it's not that funny." Freyja's words are not enough to stop Lucas laughing and she scowls. "He's a friend Fast, nothing more nothing less and I'm his only friend."

"Yeah, she's not my type." Lucas manages to contain his amusement, smile still dancing on his face. "But seriously, I should get my stuff together to get away from here."

"Oh, yeah, go ahead I guess. We can come help once the Count's said his piece." You offer and Lucas almost seems to flinch at the suggestion.

"Uhm, okay. Just, uh, come down to the Evening Lark Inn." He tells you reluctantly.

"Really?" Freyja seems surprised.

"Did you think I was lounging on a horde of misappropriated wealth in a basement somewhere?" Lucas raises a brow at Freyja.

"Not exactly...."

"Uh huh... well I'm out of here. Enjoy meeting our glorious Count." Lucas waves over his shoulder and disappears down a side street.

"Freyja?" Diana's using a wheedling tone, like she's ten years younger than she actually is. "How does a guard become a thief's only friend?"

"By arresting him several dozen times for stupid, petty offences and trying to get him to buck his ideas up." Freyja admits than sighs. "It's not worked, getting him a fresh start might be better than anything I've managed."

"So if we bring him back as a decorated knight on a white charger to sweep you off your feet...?" Diana presses innocently.

"W-What?!" Freyja splutters, cheeks turning a delicate shade of pink. Diana grins and sets about teasing the guard in earnest. You start towards the keep, Diana trailing with Freyja behind you and Morlia a little in front of you and you minions guarding the rear, front and sides. Not that you think anything that'll happen but it never hurts to be sure.

"Daedra-cleaning-technique."

By the time that you arrive at the count's doors you're clean. Morlia almost comments on it before shaking her head and turning her attention to the Count's steward. The count is, apparently, dealing with a particularly truculent farmer and if you'd all like to wait you'll be sent in whenever he's done.

Which could be in five minutes to several hours. Whatever happens you're shown to a waiting room dotted with several other people who give your group several second glances when you enter. A pair of argonians, a high elf in clothes that could probably be sold to buy a house, three young redguards huddled in a corner and a tiny woodelf with a harp.

You have some time to kill.

[ ] Talk to your companins
-[ ] suggest topics and who specifically

[ ] Meet some of these other people
-[ ] Choose two

[ ] Write in something

Late update is laaaaate on the other hand I had fun writing it

 

[Kyrina]

"So, my fair friend Freyja, how did an interesting woman came to be working in so boring a guard corps?" After the exchange between her and Lucas you're even more interested than you were. She's clearly not popular with her boss but she's still doing the job and going out of her way to help at least one criminal.

"I used to work with a, well I suppose we were mercenaries, but I didn't like the direction we were heading. I quit, came here and joined the guards. I've never fancied the Fighter's guild as a career and, you know, there's no routine in travelling and adventuring around Cyrodiil. Guarding on the other hand...." She trails off with a smile and a slight shake of her head.

"Nothing but routine, except for when it isn't." You supply. Patrols have to be pretty regular that's the whole point of them and standing guard isn't much different you imagine. "I guess I messed up your routine then?"

"So very, very much." Freyja agrees, her voice dry. "Not that I mind, I was thinking about trying to get in contact with my old group. You reminded me why I wanted a routine so much in the first place." Well that's good at least.

"Oh, I should probably catch you guys up with what happened with Medresi." You say, the thought just occuring to you that you've provided them the barest of details to far. That could probably use fixing, besides it's a great story and deserves a suitably epic retelling.

"Please do, Fast." You set about describing the scene in the basement. Freyja nods along, you imagine some of it she heard some of Medresi's mad cackling. When you describe where Medresi's teleport transported you Freyja's brows knot together.

"That sounds like the Ayleid well ruins east of here, I wouldn't have thought it was a particularly habitable place." She murmurs. That... makes a amount of sense. Certainly explain the well thing that seemed to be powering some of her spells.

"I suppose it must be, I'm not a geography expert." You admit cheerily and continue your epic description of your fight with Medresi, or rather your fight with Medresi's various minions. First the spiders, which get a couple of shudders, then the spider daedra. Morlia actually seems interested in that, if slightly put off that Medresi managed a major summoning without screwing it up, not that she says anything. Diana and Freyja are more worried about the whole 'powerful daedra trying to kill you' aspect of the story.

"So you just... killed her?" Diana asks when you sort of gloss over that part.

"I tried to get her to surrender. It didn't work out and it wasn't like there was much of a choice after that." It was either act or get killed yourself. Acting seemed like the safer course.

"And... you're okay about that?" Diana asks quietly.

"Yeah, 'course." You want to be somewhere else, not talking about this. "Anyway I was thinking of getting to know some of the people here, might be useful...." You scoot off towards the woodelf with the harp.

"Hi!" You greet the elf brightly.

"Hello.... may I help you with something? Perhaps a song?" The hopeful eager smile on the elf's face is very difficult to refuse. They pluck a couple of strings on the harp, eager to play it seems.

"I was more curious about why you're trying to see the Count."

"Oh, I heard that Count Hassildor lacks court musicians. I'm here to offer my humble skills." The elf explains with a gesture to their harp. "I've been warned not to get my hopes up, it was the Countess who hired musicians and the Count hasn't shown any interest since... you know."

"Is it unusual for a Count not to have court musicians or, I dunno, a bard or something?" You ask and the woodelf shrugs.

"It's the current fashion, not nearly as disastrous as lacking a court mage, but it does provoke some gossip back in the Imperial City." Count Hassildor must get gossiped about a fair bit given his less than stellar relationship with the mages guild in his city. On the other hand he seems to be an effective governor, as far as you can tell at least.

"Huh, well I wouldn't mind hearing some if you want to practise a bit." The wood elf beams at you and starts plucking out a series of delicate notes on the harp. You're no expert on music, you know what you like and that's about it, and this sounds as about as generically 'harp-like' as it gets.

You notice that you're attracting glances. Morlia shoots you an exasperated one but seems pleased that the only disruption your causing is some quite pleasant music. You offer her a thumbs up and she scowls. Your face would fall comically if you had one, as it is you let your shoulders slump exaggeratedly and turn back to the wood elf.

"Excuse me," it's the well dressed high elf, he sounds posher than he looks. "Do you mind, some of us are composing ourselves and do not need the distraction of this... racket."

"I thought it was quite good." The high elf sneers at you. His hair is scraped back over his head to fall in a flawless platinum blonde line past his shoulders. There's something very punch-able about his thin, bloodless face.

"That does not preclude it being a distraction." The high elf sneers.

"What's so important for a little, quiet music to be a severe distraction from it?" You demand, anger bubbling up in your chest.

"I represent the interests of a group of old families of this city. We feel our interests are not being considered by our gracious Count with the proper weight they should." Well that explains the snobbish air and the arrogance.

"And what interests would those be?" You ask, already assuming the worst. Not being able to grind their collective heels into those beneath them enough would seem to be about right.

"The guard postings, tax burdens, adjudication on land ownership quibbles. Nothing I'm sure would affect either yourself or your friend." Well... he's probably right about that. You aren't planning to buy any property or hanging around long enough for guard posting to become an issue you care about, beyond Freyja's personal happiness anyway.

"Quibbles?"

"Old settlements between families are always being reevaluated and renegotiated, better to have someone independent to settle them than fight among ourselves." That sounds like a recipe for annoying Count Hassildor on a regular basis.

"I see, I'll stop disturbing your peace then." The musician murmurs and places a hand to the harp strings, stilling them and killing the gentle sound. "Although if it's so important that you think without distraction from music I wouldn't have thought explaining yourself would have taken more of your precious thinking time."

The high elf flushes and very pale, delicate pink and sweeps away. The musician giggles a little and you turn back to them, another question on your metaphorical lips.

"The Count will see the company of Morlia Ardyn." A steward announces. That's you, so you have no more time to talk.

"That's my group, good luck when you see the Count. Some music would really liven the place up." It might even get Count Hassildor to crack a smile once in a while.

"Good luck yourself, maybe put in a good word for me if you think it'll help? Name's Tyrilli."

Then you're entering the Count's hall. The pale, dark haired, Draculaesque Count of Skingrad is sitting on his throne levelling an expectant gaze at you. "This is faster than I expected. Unless you are foolish enough to return without a result for me."

"Well Fast is my name, so...." you don't get so much as a flicker of a smile from the vampire. Time to try seriousness again. "I found the person responsible for the spider issues your city has been experiencing. A renegade mage named Medresi was responsible, I caught her in the act."

"What did you do with her?" The Count asks. He must know, if you'd taken her prisoner she'd be here asking him for mercy.

"I confronted her, she attacked me and I was forced to kill her when she refused to let me take her in peacefully." You explain. The Count arches a brow.

"You have proof of this I presume." He says coolly. You nod and produce your evidence.

"Ew, gross!" Diana squeaks and edges away from you. You produce the diary you found.

"This is Medresi's diary, it records her efforts to infest Skingrad, particularly the homes of members of the mages' guild, with spiders." You offer the diary and a steward whips it out of your hand and takes it too Count Hassildor. The vampire opens the slim book and scans through the pages with inhuman quickness. Maybe his being a vampire is just an open secret? Everyone knows but no one talks about it because it's impolite so he doesn't care about displaying parts of his inhuman nature.

He finishes fast and shuts the book with a snap. "On a cursory examination it would seem that you are correct. There will be further investigation to verify this information you understand but for now I'm willing to allow this obelisk of yours to remain so long as it poses no threat." Well that seems reasonable, a relief even.

[ ] Anything else to say to the Count?
-[ ] Put in a good word of Tyrilli?
-[ ] Write ins always welcome

UPDATE~ No pesky gymnastics to distract me this time!

 

[Kyrina]

Now that's over and Count Hassildor knows that you are a daedra of your word you can move on to the big guns. Plus, you know, help those deserving of it and generally make Tamriel a nicer place to live.

"I hope that I have proven myself enough to at least not be dismissed out of hand." You really hope you have, you just want to help after all. One corner of the Count's mouth quirks up a little.

"Not entirely out of hand." He confirms. You decide to take that as permission to continue. Morlia shoots you a nervous look but doesn't say anything, yet anyway.

"I know things I probably shouldn't," from the corner of your eye you catch Morlia nodding in agreement, "among which is the nature of your wife's affliction, and that you are undeserving of the suffering it brings you." Count Hassildor stiffens at the mere mention of his wife.

"Unless you are going somewhere with this you should leave, I have other matters to attend." So maybe you haven't earned as much favour as you thought by dealing with the spiders. You hurry on regardless, you don't want him to explicitly accuse you of wasting his time.

"I also know that the closest of all possible cures is that provided by Melisande of Drakelowe Village." Count Hassildor is unnaturally still for a few seconds, doubtless processing the information you just gave him and trying to assess its worth.

"Drakelowe... it is not somewhere I would have thought to look for a Glenmoril witch." He murmurs thoughtfully then his gaze sharpens and fixes on you without mercy. "What is it you desire for this invaluable piece of information?"

[ ] What do you tell him?

Short update is short, just to get back into the swing of things, to make for it and a whole week of nothing updates will be coming faster for the next week or two. For the record I blame Hassildor, he's a bit tricky to write sometimes and I wanted to boot up my copy of the game to check some of his dialogue. Turns out all my saves are from after I did the questline So that's been a little frustrating.

 

[Kyrina]

There are many things you consider. Gold is always good, not much you can't do with a sufficient amount of currency. On the other hand there's not all that much you actually want that he can really supply, besides he's a cool guy and extortion is mean. On the third hand he did offer and it would be impolite to refuse.... not to mention last minute consensus is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

"I will, at some point, need to convince some powerful individuals in the Empire of my bonafides to prevent various catastrophes. If you were prepared, some time after you have verified and acted on my information, to vouch that I knew things I could not have, and gave sound counsel based on them, I would appreciate it." You think that Janus motherfucking Hassildor has the kind of political clout to make certain that when you need to be taken seriously you are taken seriously.

"Of course, given your position, and the personal nature of the specifics, I would understand if you would not, though." You add hastily as one of the count's brows arches Vetinari style and Morlia kicks you as unobtrusively as she can. You aren't sure if she succeeds at the unobtrusive part but she did at the kicking part at least.

"That is no small thing you request." Count Hassildor leans back on his throne, face turned up a little so he's regarding the arching ceiling supports. "But, so long as you realise my support comes at my discretion then I see no problem with what you propose. I would be foolish indeed to deny that your information network, whatever it is, appears at least as potent as my own." You almost reel in shock that he agreed so easily and even sorta complemented the non-existent network of spies he assumes you, or one of your friends, has. That's very close to being too much awesome!

"T-Thank you very much!" You almost chime with happiness. Behind you there's the familiar sound of crystal on crystal, it's almost musical, and your glee fades as you see the Count's lips thin. You turn.

Tenor is doing the happy dance. Morlia is beet red with mortification and Diana has both hands clamped to her mouth to stop herself laughing loudly. You can still hear muffled giggles regardless.

"We'll be leaving now, my lord." Freyja sounds a little desperate. "Unless there is something else you require any of us for." She's not hopeful about that possibility. Count Hassildor waves a hand in dismissal, eyes still fixed on your dancing minion. You quickly tell Tenor to stop and order the trio of knights out of the hall. You follow at speed with the three women.

You evacuate the castle with all haste. When your group are beyond the gates and on the road leading up to the castle Morlia turns to you. "What in Akatosh's name was that?! Why was it dancing!?" She stabs a finger at Tenor, probably the only way she knew it was him is the lightning bolt symbol still visible on his chestplate. You should probably see about something more permenant soon, the charcoal is already smudged in places.

"I... don't know. Tenor why were you dancing?" You ask and the knight tilts his head to the right a few degrees, crystal grinding slowly over crystal.

"Happy dance." Tenor says slowly, slotting each syllable together carefully. His voice has a musical quality yours does not as if he's one or two seconds from starting a musical number.

"So you were happy?" You and Morlia ask at the same time. Tenor's head un-tilts itself then shakes and the knight points at you. "You were dancing because Fast was happy?" Morlia continues and gets a deliberate nod. "Why?"

Tenor shrugs unhelpfully. Morlia sighs, shoulders slumping. "Right, well, time to check on Lucas I suppose. He seemed rather eager to leave the city when we parted ways, better check he hasn't skipped out on us." Her thunderous expression effectively conveys what she'll do to him if he isn't where he's supposed to be.

"I should get back and report everything that's happened before Count Hassildor asks to see him." Freyja says and straightens her mail shirt unconsciously. "Just one thing," she says with a smile and stays just long enough to give you the directions to the place Lucas is staying. Morlia and Diana nod, clearly memorising each direction as Freyja imparts them.

Before too long you're walking down through the city to those carefully memorised directions until you reach the sign of the Evening Lark on a small, homely little house squashed between two much larger ones. They edge a spacious square with a modest willow tree planted in the centre and a lush patch of grass that merges into the tiled square about a foot from the tree trunk. There's something very peaceful about the area.

Not really the setting you pictured for Lucas' thiefly hidy-hole. "This can't be right." Diana mutters looking around. Good, you aren't the only one surprised. Morlia turns to you a smirk on her face.

"Well Fast, he's your thief so I think it's only right you ask after him." She gestures to the pale blue door of the Evening Lark Inn.

[ ] Knock and introduce yourself

[ ] Get Tenor/Bass/Baritone to do it

[ ] Try and peek in the small windows to check you're right

@Verminlord should be posting right after me so if you reach the end and his post isn't there please refresh the page for IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Thank you

 

[Verminlord]

Right then, here is what me and Orderboy have been working on. You see ever since you got that connection with our Obelisk we have had this little trickle of Order coming in. I put Orderboy in charge of that, since he cant really be corrupted considering his nature.

Since we are basically made of pure Order Crystal we can use this power to make some changes to our body. We have pooled our knowledge, with me ensuring the upgrades are efficient and compatible with the Order energy and Green suggesting ideas.
So now we are pretty sure we have it figured out, all that's left is to pick what upgrade to do.

Your choices are
- [] Armour upgrade: Always good for keeping us in one piece.
- [] Enhanced Physical capabilities: Pick one of our attributes and watch us slowly advance towards becoming perfect.
- [] Health, Stamina or Magicka: A quick boost to one of our most important traits, will work better than raising them via attribute, though of course we don't get the other bonuses accompanied by attribute enhancement.
- [] Sword Upgrade: Upgrade the Order Sword, pretty simple really.
- [] Mystery Mutation: Orderboy doesn't like this one. Pick it if you dare. (No seriously I have no idea what will happen, its pretty much just throwing energy at the wall and seeing what will stick)

 

[Kyrina]

Try your sword, go on!

"Just a sec, I've gotta check a thing before we go in." You say and draw your sword. It's... well it's turned purple.

"Should it be that colour?" Diana asks curiously.

Right... then we do this.

The weapon twists and morphs before your eyes and you're holding a double headed axe. "Whoa!" You've got to try that. You concentrate, you've always wanted a war-hammer. The axe twists up and folds and bam! Instant war hammer. You can get behind this! This is great!

"As much as you doubtless want to play with your new toy Fast, we're here for a reason. Off you go." Morlia insists and you put your weapon away, with great, great reluctance. Oh well if you're going to do this you're going to do this properly, be polite and knock. That way no one has anything to complain about. Supremely confident you march up to the door and raise one fist.

Rap-Rap-Rap "Lucas."
Rap-Rap-Rap "Lucas."
Rap-Rap-Rap "Lucas."

Well, you have a little fun with it. How could you not, the opportunity was perfect who are you to let it float past? It would be a monstrous thing to to.

Rap-Rap-Rap "Lucas."
Rap-Rap-Rap "Lu-"

The door swings inwards to show an orc woman, her tusks worn and chipped, deep wrinkles fanning from the corners of her eyes and nose and her hair scraped back into a bun is steel grey. Despite her obvious age her arms are still corded with muscle and she could probably bench you, Diana and Morlia at once if she felt like it.

She rakes you up and down, eyes narrowed. "Not what I expected." She grunts before standing aside. "Come in, I'll drag him out of his den for you." Before you can say anything she's half way across the room, rolling her sleeves up. There's a sense that she's done this before and isn't happy about doing it again.

You step into the inn, there's nothing else you can really do, and the orc landlady disappears through a door on the other side of the small waiting/meeting room. There's a fire burning lowly in a small fireplace and a couple of low wooden chairs with threadbare but plush cushions. A couple of vase fulls of lavender add a little colour to the room while their distinctive scent mingles with the wood-smoke in a pleasant enough fashion.

"Well... this is nice." Morlia doesn't look impressed with the surroundings.

"Beats home or a travel inn." Diana settles onto one of the chairs eagerly. Morlia opens her mouth to say something and immediately closes it again then sits on another of the chairs.

"It's not somewhere I'd expect to find someone like Lucas." You say before the silence can drag on too long.

"No," Morlia agrees quickly, "how much a room here must cost him though.... How much must he 'earn' day to day?"

"Clearly he's very good at what he does." Diana doesn't sound entirely sure she likes what she's saying. She glances around and bites her lower lip gently. "Why would he want to leave?"

"Maybe the gu-"

"You actually came. I, uh, I wasn't expecting...." Lucas enters the room in front of the presumed landlady, rather like he was recently propelled through the door by said landlady.

"Take your friends out of my front room L-"

"Yes, alright, we're going." Lucas cuts her off quickly, forced smile plastered across his face, and chivies the three of you towards the door he just came through. There's a stone stair case behind it leading down. "Second landing down." Lucas says and you start down as directed.

It would have been easy enough to figure out which door leads to Lucas' room. It's still half open showing a stone room illuminated by a bright mage light stuck to the ceiling. There's thick woven rugs covering every inch of the floor, an expensive looking bed with covers, a desk in one corner and a chest at the foot of the bed. It's not a huge room, barely fitting the four of you, and it's very obvious that Lucas has been packing things from the neatly folded clothes and half full pack on the floor.

"Sorry about Ulmar she can be a little... blunt but she doesn't ask questions." Lucas squeezes past you and Morlia to start packing again, quickly and efficiently stowing things away in his pack in a practised fashion. "You wanted to talk about something, since I doubt you can really help with this." He gestures around vaguely.

[ ] You seem pretty eager to get out of Skingrad, what's up with that?
[ ] Why'd you cut off Ulmar before she said your name?
[ ] When did we group up, I don't recall that going down.
[ ] Write in

Must get back to writing this regularly

 

[Kyrina]

"-cas!"
Rap-Rap-Rap "Lucas!"

There is only one possible way forwards and only one possible way to convey all the subtleties of emotion while not having a face and therefore eyebrows to waggle expressively at people. Your newly malleable sword on the other hand....

With a little concentration you form the sword into a question mark which, naturally, you locate atop your helm. Lucas raises a brow, Diana giggles and Morlia performs yet another face palm. You're a little surprised her forehead isn't a bruise at this point.

"Now, given I am essentially a committee of unrelated entities paying variable amounts of attention, I could be misremembering, but I could have sworn when last we discussed it, the plan was for you to act as an informant for us for the moment, not accompany us." You say, confusion emphasised by the question mark on your head. Lucas blinks a couple of times.

"Highly dangerous highly lucrative proposition doesn't really imply informant to me, you're clearly not from around here and you tried to sell me some crap that came from a ruin or something. You're telling me you don't want my help breaking into an ayleid ruin or something similar?" He doesn't really pause in gathering his things and packing them away.

"Well... I mean, when you put it like that...." You can sorta see why he might have gotten the wrong end of the stick.

"Fast how much didn't you tell him?" Morlia asks somewhere between aghast and disbelieving.

"I was planning on explaining later." You were planning on seeing if Lucas was trustworthy first, like anyone sane would. Atop your head the question mark squishes itself into a set of ellipses.

"I think now is later." Morlia and Lucas say at the same time.

"Okay, okay," you mime taking a breath, ellipses smoothing into a neutral dash. "Just so you know I'm not opposed to you tagging along but considering we're going to try and buddy up to a senior legion commander, it could cause some problems for both you and us, we should probably at least discuss it." Proper details can be given later when you have a better handle on what's going to happen next.

"Huh... I don't know anyone fitting that description hanging around Skingrad so I assume...."

"Leyawiin." Morlia answers.

"Well this guy probably has no idea who I am or what I may or may not have done. Not really seeing a problem, besides I can keep out of sight if I need to I'm not a fool." Lucas shrugs and keeps packing up. Nice to know he doesn't see a problem.

"Well, I suppose...." He probably knows better than you do but, and it's a big but, he's not above lying to you for his own advantage and he is awfully keen on getting out of Skingrad....

The question mark springs back to life over your head again. "Why are you in such a rush to leave Skingrad anyway?" You attempt casual, you miss by a mile.

"Reasons." Lucas says vaguely. "Been here a while, things are getting kinda boring, you know how it is." He waves a hand in dismissal but there's something, a slight but telling hesitation before he said anything about it. "So! We heading out soon or what?" Lucas grins widely at you and you realise he's completely cleared and packed his room. That was fast.

[ ] No! Need more answers!
-[ ] Write in more questions!

[ ] Let's get going now! The minions can collect your stuff from the inn and catch you up!

[ ] Not right now, there's stuff I want to do first
-[ ] Write in stuff to do

Schedule, gonna keep it despite how freaking hot it is here right now. *slowly melts*

 

[Kyrina]

"Well, we're not going anywhere immediately." You hedge your bets and Lucas sort of wilts a little, like you just told a kid that you aren't going to Disneyland. Yeah, there's no way he's not lying about why he wants to get out of Skingrad. Still, it's probably best to get everything out of the way now and just tell him what you're up to. Just a general idea can't hurt, right?

"Man, I can't even remember, did I get around to telling you about the three evil cults we will probably be up against at some point?" It feels like the conversation you had with him in the inn was months ago rather than a day or two.

"That did not really come up, no, beyond a couple of vague hints anyway." Lucas says and Morlia introduces her palm to her forehead again. "It's not like I asked." He adds. Right, exposition dump time.

"Not only are we trying to bring down the Dark Brotherhood, but most of the Daedric princes are pissing themselves over what they fear I represent, and will be trying to kill us soonish. That means their mortal servants will be after us, and in Cyrodil, the biggest cults are Dagon's Mythic Dawn, and maybe the necromancers, depending on whether Mannimarco is buddying up to Molag Bal yet." You don't think that's happening yet but you could be wrong. Diana squeaks at the mention of necromancers in conjunction with hunting you down. Lucas' eyes widen and he sits down suddenly, face abruptly pale.

"Lucas... is something wrong?" Diana asks, taking a half step towards him expression concerned.

"Most of the daedric princes out for your blood is not 'three evil cults'!" He sounds half strangled. "That's... that's...."

"It is hardly an ideal situation, I agree, however there is at least one Prince not after us and likely more." Morlia's prim and above all businesslike tone brings everyone back from contemplating exactly how many ways the princes will horribly maim you.

"Is there anything else?" Lucas asks, visibly bracing himself for something even more ridiculous.

"Nah, besides it is three cults. Dark Brotherhood, Mythic Dawn and possibly the Necros. No biggie." You flap a hand dismissively and decide to move on. "But, in a similar spirit, if whatever it is you are lying badly about would, or could affect us, I'd like to know about it. It helps to know what you have to watch for."

"Huh...?" Ah, he wants to play dumb. You aren't going to let that happen!

"You're overeager to leave if Skingrad is just boring you now." You point out and in a flash he has a confident smirk back on his face, no trace of shock or alarm at your daedric Prince problem left.

"Oh, that, that's a recently resolved worry. Nothing that'll affect you or your lady friends I'm sure." You have no idea if this is a lie.

"You'd better be sure, if you've stolen something from the Count and we get arrested for trying to leave the city with you..."

"I know better than to test my luck, excellent though it is, against our gracious Count's guards." Lucas says quickly over Morlia's accusation. "It's nothing that'll affect you, cross my heart." He shoots her a cheesy smile and draws a cross on his chest. Morlia huffs and glares down her nose at him.

"And you still want to travel with us? Even with the whole daedric Princes out for blood, thing?" You ask, just to be sure. Lucas nods. "Well, I suppose that means we'd better get moving." It's late afternoon but you can probably get a reasonable distance before night falls.

[ ] Wait there's still stuff to do in the Skingrad!
-[ ] Write in what stuff you want to do

[ ] On the road again!
-[ ] write in conversation ideas or ways to annoy or skills you want to train

What's that? Lucas is hiding something? Nah, that'd be silly!