Making Connections
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Eh, it's not nearly as unfriendly to Arteus and co as dragons as Tyria. They look so different from Nirn dragons that people may ask questions first, while Tyria dragons don't have enough commonality of appearance for that, and the standard response to dragons there involves mindbogglingly excessive force.
Actually, looking at the dragons in Tyria i wouldnt call it excessive force. Also in Tyria the dragons dont wonder around, there are only a handful of them. They are too large and powerful enough to change the very landscape they are near. Means if they are discovered they might be able to talk their way out of it especially with the way all the races in Tyria have been working together.
I can just see them telling someone they are dragons and not being believed.
I can just see them telling someone they are dragons and not being believed.
25
"Galkir." I said and gave the branch master a nod as we exited the portal room.
The leader of the branch in Skyrim got up from his seat by the counter, "Master Atreus. Welcome back. You are earlier than I expected." the half nord said with a smile, "And... I am so, so sorry I don't know your name." he added as he looked at Ren.
Her long hair was pulled back into a braid and colored black, blue was explainable when it was just me, but two of us? Wouldn't work. She was wearing her armor, but the illusion she put over herself made it look like she was wearing a simple, if nice looking, blue dress.
"She is spoken for, Galkir. I understand her husband is the jealous sort." I chuckled with a grin, "Galkir, this is Ren. Ren, this is Galkir, the leader of our Skyrim branch."
"Just my luck." he sighed and bowed slightly," A pleasure, Lady Ren."
She nodded, "You as well."
"Any news?" I asked him while checking my satchel, pulling out a small scroll with what little new needed to be delivered since we were here last. Not much really.
He shook his head, "Not much. No new dragon sightings, the war is still at a standstill."
Sighing I nodded, "Well, in this case no news seem to be good news."
"Any plans for your visit?"
I tilted my head in thought before I nodded, "I was thinking to study ancient Nord architecture and carvings."
"Really?" Galkir asked, raising a eyebrow, "Anything special in mind?"
"We were actually wondering if you knew of some ruins?" Ren asked as she crossed her arms.
He looked thoughtful with a frown, "Well, there is the Tombs. They might contain bandits but the dead usually guard their own. Most should be relatively safe to study the outside. But there is also..."
"Also?" I asked, raising a eyebrow. Dead guarding their own? Now that I didn't like the sound of. Fucking undead.
Well, if they stayed in their tombs they could shuffle around as much as they wanted.
"The Labyrinthian." He said and shook his head, "A very large ruin to the north west from here. But I would strongly recommend against it without a major expedition. It is infested with trolls and bandits."
Trolls.
Trolls here were not the trolls we knew of from home. Trolls back home were tall, green to blue skinned individuals with tusks and were members of the Horde.
Here?
Here they were three-eyed gorillas that looked like they hit the steroids a couple of times a week and spent all their time at the gym calling each other 'bro'. Not actually more intelligent than said gorillas.
Not only that, but they regenerated wounds quickly. According to the book I read on them, it was not unusual to have to kill the same troll several times unless you burned the body, as it healed the wounds after having been put down.
Didn't sound like 'Wolverine' level of regeneration, but damned if they were not intimidating opponents.
Well, normally at least. The keyword there was 'fire' and Ren and I were both accomplished spell casters. Also, Dragons.
We should be able to handle some Trolls.
Bandits on the other hand was a different variable. The average bandit with a knife?
No problem.
But they could easily have mages in their numbers and then things got dangerous.
"We will consider it. Do you have a map?"
Galkir sighed and nodded, "I do. One moment."
XXXXXXXXXX
Ren sniffed at the air as we exited the Azure Consortium onto the street of Whiterun, looking up at the cloudy skies.
"I like this." she said, looking around.
I smiled at that, "Much better than Meereen." as I carried the flying carpet over one shoulder, my glaive resting against my other shoulder.
She nodded, "A much more reasonable temperature. Doesn't smell as dusty either."
She was right about that. Even the middle of Meereen was kind of... dusty. Desert town and all that, on the coast or not.
Also, the hot climate and lack of magic made the place a bit... stinky.
Whiterun was much better.
Still stinky at places, but the cold and wind made it much better, not to mention more comfortable.
Ren pulled the map from her satchel and held it up, "Labyrinthian?" she asked before glancing at me.
"What do you think? We could visit one of the other, smaller grave mounds."
She tilted her head in thought before shaking it, "I believe the Labyrinthian would be more interesting."
I grinned, "You just don't like the idea of studying rock carvings."
"I don't... dislike it." Ren said and then rolled up the map, "But it is a larger site and if it is dangerous, it is much more likely to contain interesting artifacts."
Hmm. Good point.
"Labyrinthian it is then." I said and hefted the carpet slightly on my shoulder before starting towards the city gates.
We really should have a portal key stone somewhere out in the wilderness for this kind of thing so we don't have to leave the city through the city gate without having entered in the first place.
Sooner or later, somebody is going to catch on to that.
AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.
The leader of the branch in Skyrim got up from his seat by the counter, "Master Atreus. Welcome back. You are earlier than I expected." the half nord said with a smile, "And... I am so, so sorry I don't know your name." he added as he looked at Ren.
Her long hair was pulled back into a braid and colored black, blue was explainable when it was just me, but two of us? Wouldn't work. She was wearing her armor, but the illusion she put over herself made it look like she was wearing a simple, if nice looking, blue dress.
"She is spoken for, Galkir. I understand her husband is the jealous sort." I chuckled with a grin, "Galkir, this is Ren. Ren, this is Galkir, the leader of our Skyrim branch."
"Just my luck." he sighed and bowed slightly," A pleasure, Lady Ren."
She nodded, "You as well."
"Any news?" I asked him while checking my satchel, pulling out a small scroll with what little new needed to be delivered since we were here last. Not much really.
He shook his head, "Not much. No new dragon sightings, the war is still at a standstill."
Sighing I nodded, "Well, in this case no news seem to be good news."
"Any plans for your visit?"
I tilted my head in thought before I nodded, "I was thinking to study ancient Nord architecture and carvings."
"Really?" Galkir asked, raising a eyebrow, "Anything special in mind?"
"We were actually wondering if you knew of some ruins?" Ren asked as she crossed her arms.
He looked thoughtful with a frown, "Well, there is the Tombs. They might contain bandits but the dead usually guard their own. Most should be relatively safe to study the outside. But there is also..."
"Also?" I asked, raising a eyebrow. Dead guarding their own? Now that I didn't like the sound of. Fucking undead.
Well, if they stayed in their tombs they could shuffle around as much as they wanted.
"The Labyrinthian." He said and shook his head, "A very large ruin to the north west from here. But I would strongly recommend against it without a major expedition. It is infested with trolls and bandits."
Trolls.
Trolls here were not the trolls we knew of from home. Trolls back home were tall, green to blue skinned individuals with tusks and were members of the Horde.
Here?
Here they were three-eyed gorillas that looked like they hit the steroids a couple of times a week and spent all their time at the gym calling each other 'bro'. Not actually more intelligent than said gorillas.
Not only that, but they regenerated wounds quickly. According to the book I read on them, it was not unusual to have to kill the same troll several times unless you burned the body, as it healed the wounds after having been put down.
Didn't sound like 'Wolverine' level of regeneration, but damned if they were not intimidating opponents.
Well, normally at least. The keyword there was 'fire' and Ren and I were both accomplished spell casters. Also, Dragons.
We should be able to handle some Trolls.
Bandits on the other hand was a different variable. The average bandit with a knife?
No problem.
But they could easily have mages in their numbers and then things got dangerous.
"We will consider it. Do you have a map?"
Galkir sighed and nodded, "I do. One moment."
XXXXXXXXXX
Ren sniffed at the air as we exited the Azure Consortium onto the street of Whiterun, looking up at the cloudy skies.
"I like this." she said, looking around.
I smiled at that, "Much better than Meereen." as I carried the flying carpet over one shoulder, my glaive resting against my other shoulder.
She nodded, "A much more reasonable temperature. Doesn't smell as dusty either."
She was right about that. Even the middle of Meereen was kind of... dusty. Desert town and all that, on the coast or not.
Also, the hot climate and lack of magic made the place a bit... stinky.
Whiterun was much better.
Still stinky at places, but the cold and wind made it much better, not to mention more comfortable.
Ren pulled the map from her satchel and held it up, "Labyrinthian?" she asked before glancing at me.
"What do you think? We could visit one of the other, smaller grave mounds."
She tilted her head in thought before shaking it, "I believe the Labyrinthian would be more interesting."
I grinned, "You just don't like the idea of studying rock carvings."
"I don't... dislike it." Ren said and then rolled up the map, "But it is a larger site and if it is dangerous, it is much more likely to contain interesting artifacts."
Hmm. Good point.
"Labyrinthian it is then." I said and hefted the carpet slightly on my shoulder before starting towards the city gates.
We really should have a portal key stone somewhere out in the wilderness for this kind of thing so we don't have to leave the city through the city gate without having entered in the first place.
Sooner or later, somebody is going to catch on to that.
AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.
Red Sectoid
Bored~
Threeway battle with Zombie Dragon incoming!
26
"This thing is slower than I remember." Ren said and leaned back against me.
I sighed and slowly turned the flying carpet, letting her handle the Blur spell to keep us from being spotted.
Even so, I kept us high and as fast as I dared to go.
"I'm not as good at flying this thing as Sheila is."
Sure, it was more or less 'follow your last command' kind of enchantment. So if I set it at a course, speed and altitude, it kept following it until it ran into something.
But it was still way more difficult than Sheila made it look. It was a practice issue.
"I wish we could risk flying on our own." Ren complained softly and sighed.
Frowning I put my arms around her and pulling her closer, "I know."
Feeling the wind whip past you, straining against your wings as you cast off the bonds of the earth to soar... it was indescribable.
Also, being able to be in my real form simply was much better than human form, that helped as well.
"There." Ren said and shifted, causing me to look forward to follow where she pointed.
In the distance beneath the cloudy skies the ruins of a small stone city stretched out, a grouping of temples and large structures.
Labyrinthian.
An ancient temple city, abandoned. Well, calling it a city might be pushing it, but it was about as big as Whiterun.
Well, mostly abandoned.
Even at this distance, I could see a couple of small shapes moving around, white against the grey rock.
"Impressive."
Ren raised a eyebrow and glanced back at me, "Not really. You have seen the constructions in Icecrown. This is just a pile of rocks."
Well, she had a point there. Walls and towers, hundreds of meters tall made in the middle of the icy mountains of dark rock.
Say what you want about the Lich King, murderous genocidal arsehole that he was... he could build.
"Still impressive. Someone put a lot of effort into building that. Just because it's not five hundred meters tall, doesn't make it any less so."
Ren shook her head and leaned back against me again, looking unconvinced.
The fact that that place was likely made with minimal magic considering the Nords limited use of it, made it even more so.
It rivaled... hell, it crushed... any ancient sites I remembered from back on Earth. The pyramids, Aztec or otherwise... were the only ones that even got close.
Closest was actually the old Inca, Mayan and Aztec cities in South America. That was the kind of scale this was on.
"This place has to have been heavily studied already." I said as we got closer.
"With those trolls around?" Ren asked and shook her head, "Doubt it. Even with magic they would cause mortals trouble."
Very true that.
Not only could most people not fly, but those trolls were large and strong and hard to put down. They would make a great...
Hmm.
"Say... Ren... do you think you could pin one of those trolls down?"
She glanced back at me and grinned, "Easily. They are just a little bigger than a tauren. Well, in my real form at least. Why?"
"Well... I was thinking to see if I could get a troll summoning pattern. Would be rather useful I think. Depending on their colors."
Ren grinned at that, "I would as well. Bring us closer as I change."
Nodding I kept approaching, keeping our altitude as Ren closed her eyes to focus.
A minute later she pulled away and put her satchel on the carpet next to me before jumping off the carpet, finishing her transformation, spreading her wings wide as she caught the air.
Beating them twice she swooped up again to fly next to the carpet, turning her head in my direction.
"I'll see if I can't find an extra large one."
"Go for it!" I yelled back over the wind with a grin.
Damn she was hot.
She banked and started to slowly circle the city, the trolls looking up at her, scattering beneath her shadow.
Suddenly she half folded her wings and dove like a giant hawk, disappearing out of sight behind one of the temples so I urged the flying carpet over.
Roars echoed through the temple city ruins as I rounded the temple, quickly descending to see that Ren had a troll pinned to the ground beneath her, using her weight and legs to keep it from moving.
"Biggest one I could see." She said and raised her head to look up at me, "I tried it. It took Green mana."
Lucky! That was the only mana type we had in common. She didn't have blue or white and I didn't have black.
I nodded and landed, jumping off the carpet to approach and put my hand on the troll's foot, quickly flooding my green mana into the struggling humanoid.
She was right, it took green mana. Quite a bit of it. It would take an entire land to summon this thing, as much as the bear, perhaps even two full lands of mana. Usually, only one of them needed to be a 'match' though to form the matrix, the rest could be anything to help power it.
That helped a lot.
"Got it." I said and pulled back.
"Good." she purred and then ripped it's throat out before starting to eat, blood coloring the snow and stone red.
Aww, now I'm hungry too.
I glanced around quickly. All the other trolls seemed had booked it for the hills so I sat down and focused to turn back.
That troll was large enough to be a snack for both of us.
AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.
I sighed and slowly turned the flying carpet, letting her handle the Blur spell to keep us from being spotted.
Even so, I kept us high and as fast as I dared to go.
"I'm not as good at flying this thing as Sheila is."
Sure, it was more or less 'follow your last command' kind of enchantment. So if I set it at a course, speed and altitude, it kept following it until it ran into something.
But it was still way more difficult than Sheila made it look. It was a practice issue.
"I wish we could risk flying on our own." Ren complained softly and sighed.
Frowning I put my arms around her and pulling her closer, "I know."
Feeling the wind whip past you, straining against your wings as you cast off the bonds of the earth to soar... it was indescribable.
Also, being able to be in my real form simply was much better than human form, that helped as well.
"There." Ren said and shifted, causing me to look forward to follow where she pointed.
In the distance beneath the cloudy skies the ruins of a small stone city stretched out, a grouping of temples and large structures.
Labyrinthian.
An ancient temple city, abandoned. Well, calling it a city might be pushing it, but it was about as big as Whiterun.
Well, mostly abandoned.
Even at this distance, I could see a couple of small shapes moving around, white against the grey rock.
"Impressive."
Ren raised a eyebrow and glanced back at me, "Not really. You have seen the constructions in Icecrown. This is just a pile of rocks."
Well, she had a point there. Walls and towers, hundreds of meters tall made in the middle of the icy mountains of dark rock.
Say what you want about the Lich King, murderous genocidal arsehole that he was... he could build.
"Still impressive. Someone put a lot of effort into building that. Just because it's not five hundred meters tall, doesn't make it any less so."
Ren shook her head and leaned back against me again, looking unconvinced.
The fact that that place was likely made with minimal magic considering the Nords limited use of it, made it even more so.
It rivaled... hell, it crushed... any ancient sites I remembered from back on Earth. The pyramids, Aztec or otherwise... were the only ones that even got close.
Closest was actually the old Inca, Mayan and Aztec cities in South America. That was the kind of scale this was on.
"This place has to have been heavily studied already." I said as we got closer.
"With those trolls around?" Ren asked and shook her head, "Doubt it. Even with magic they would cause mortals trouble."
Very true that.
Not only could most people not fly, but those trolls were large and strong and hard to put down. They would make a great...
Hmm.
"Say... Ren... do you think you could pin one of those trolls down?"
She glanced back at me and grinned, "Easily. They are just a little bigger than a tauren. Well, in my real form at least. Why?"
"Well... I was thinking to see if I could get a troll summoning pattern. Would be rather useful I think. Depending on their colors."
Ren grinned at that, "I would as well. Bring us closer as I change."
Nodding I kept approaching, keeping our altitude as Ren closed her eyes to focus.
A minute later she pulled away and put her satchel on the carpet next to me before jumping off the carpet, finishing her transformation, spreading her wings wide as she caught the air.
Beating them twice she swooped up again to fly next to the carpet, turning her head in my direction.
"I'll see if I can't find an extra large one."
"Go for it!" I yelled back over the wind with a grin.
Damn she was hot.
She banked and started to slowly circle the city, the trolls looking up at her, scattering beneath her shadow.
Suddenly she half folded her wings and dove like a giant hawk, disappearing out of sight behind one of the temples so I urged the flying carpet over.
Roars echoed through the temple city ruins as I rounded the temple, quickly descending to see that Ren had a troll pinned to the ground beneath her, using her weight and legs to keep it from moving.
"Biggest one I could see." She said and raised her head to look up at me, "I tried it. It took Green mana."
Lucky! That was the only mana type we had in common. She didn't have blue or white and I didn't have black.
I nodded and landed, jumping off the carpet to approach and put my hand on the troll's foot, quickly flooding my green mana into the struggling humanoid.
She was right, it took green mana. Quite a bit of it. It would take an entire land to summon this thing, as much as the bear, perhaps even two full lands of mana. Usually, only one of them needed to be a 'match' though to form the matrix, the rest could be anything to help power it.
That helped a lot.
"Got it." I said and pulled back.
"Good." she purred and then ripped it's throat out before starting to eat, blood coloring the snow and stone red.
Aww, now I'm hungry too.
I glanced around quickly. All the other trolls seemed had booked it for the hills so I sat down and focused to turn back.
That troll was large enough to be a snack for both of us.
AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.
Just realized, why no index or threadmarks?
Evillevi
A Pikachu for everything - Shadow Pikachu,2015
Not enough readers to be worth the effort.
...
Also it says a lot that Hiver is actually tempted to eat troll.
********
The Dragonborn was rather... uncomfortable all things considered.
"I've found a nice den up north. Good enough to spend days there"
and he really really wished that he didn't have the stealth skills so high that he could accidentally stumble upon two wooing dragons. Dragons who could sense him trying to leave. Dragons who his vast eaten souls can appreciate the look and smell and sight of
It's not the amount of readers, it's the amount of posts in the thread. Why bother with threadmarking or a archive when the next part is already on your screen, at most one click away?
27
Ren sighed softly, looking up at the sky, her arms behind her head as she relaxed on the rock, wearing her armor without an illusion. We were in the middle of nowhere, who would notice?
This was not the most exciting thing in the world, I admit, but it was fascinating... and it was a better use of our time than popping back and forth between Azeroth and here once a week. Better to stick around for a little while and get a feel for the place.
Might as well use that time to do some actual research.
"Come on, Ren. It's not that bad." I said as I channeled a bit of magic, blowing the drifting snow away from the rock carving on the wall.
She turned her head to look at me, "We have been looking at rocks for two days. They are not even enchanted."
"It's fascinating. I mean, look at this." I said and motioned towards the rock carving, "These guys are offering something to what look like a dragon. Well... their kind of dragon... They seem to have been dragon worshipers. It's rather stylized but you can still see the scene."
Ren shifted up onto her knees and then walked over to join me, looking at it.
"Look like a proto-drake to me."
"Yeah, me too, but that don't matter in this case. Something caused this to stop, the temple city was abandoned."
She frowned at that, "Dragons were thought to be extinct here."
I nodded, "But now they have returned. But the dragons disappearing would be a likely cause of the end of this dragon cult. Or at least shrink it enough that they had to abandon this place. Whenever it was, it was... a long time ago. Some of these rocks are pretty badly eroded."
"Perhaps we should go looking for the local dragons."
I hmmed and hugged her from behind, resting my chin against her shoulder, "...Not unless we need to. From what we heard, they don't seem very friendly."
Ren grinned and turned around to nuzzle, "Neither to we to most mortals."
True that.
"Even so."
She sighed and nodded, "I suppose you do have a point."
"I'm sorry if this is boring for you." I said softly.
"I just expected something other than rocks."
"Well... "I answered, "We have only checked a couple of parts of the city. If we move to the main temple, I'm sure we will be able to find some more interesting things."
Ren nodded, "Worth a try?"
I grinned, "I can always return here at a later time. Not like the ruins are going anywhere."
I really had to finance a full archaeological expedition here at some point. There was no way I would actually have the time to research the place on my own.
Best case was actually now, a couple of days to a week to have a look around.
Letting her go, I reached into my satchel to pull out a imaging crystal and held it into the air, taking a full picture of the rock carving before putting it back into the satchel. I only have a limited supply of those with me, but I did think that was worth using one for this.
Taking my glaive from where it was leaning against the wall, I smiled, "Let's get going then."
"What about the carpet?" she asked and looked back at it.
It's not that far, but Sheila would rip my wings off if I let some troll eat it.
Sighing I nodded and walked over, "We'd better bring it. If something happened to it, Sheila would be pissed."
Ren grinned at that and joined me, "Yes, yes she would."
Rolling my eyes I touched it to lift off, just above what passed for 'roof altitude' in these ruins, heading towards what I assumed was the 'main temple'. Mostly because it was the largest structure.
"Atreus."
Hmm?
I glanced over to the right where she was pointing to see a body laying on the floor next to one of the medium sized buildings.
It was a troll, but it it had a large hole in it's chest and looked burned.
What?
Frowning I shifted in that direction, diving down to land close by before getting up to slowly approach the body.
Yep. That was a dead troll.
But what killed it? That did not look like it was killed by another troll.
"Any ideas?" I asked, looking around, my glaive held at the ready as Ren knelt down to check the troll.
"It's dead... been dead for at least a day too. It's not fully frozen yet, but getting there." She said and felt the wound before licking the blood of her gauntlet, "Tastes burnt. Somebody used a spell for this."
Somebody else was in the city.
I scanned the place and then pointed, "There."
One of the dual metal doors leading into the catacombs beneath the city was open. We had avoided that area because... well... it was a burial place.
Never mind the entire 'the dead defend their own' Galkir told us about, it was a burial site.
I would really rather not disturb the resting dead unless I really needed too.
"Grave robbers?" Ren asked, sniffing at the air.
"Possible. Perhaps we should leave it alone..."
"Really?"
No. Damn it. These people deserved to rest in peace and not have their shit stolen.
But on the other hand, walking into that dark hole in the ground was not really attractive, even with Ren watching my back.
Sighing, I finally shook my head, "No... we'd better check it out."
Fuck. I had really hoped this wouldn't turn into a fight. Should I summon something to help?
...No, it will be cramped enough in there without more bodies getting in the way.
Better not.
AN// Many buckets of thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section.
This was not the most exciting thing in the world, I admit, but it was fascinating... and it was a better use of our time than popping back and forth between Azeroth and here once a week. Better to stick around for a little while and get a feel for the place.
Might as well use that time to do some actual research.
"Come on, Ren. It's not that bad." I said as I channeled a bit of magic, blowing the drifting snow away from the rock carving on the wall.
She turned her head to look at me, "We have been looking at rocks for two days. They are not even enchanted."
"It's fascinating. I mean, look at this." I said and motioned towards the rock carving, "These guys are offering something to what look like a dragon. Well... their kind of dragon... They seem to have been dragon worshipers. It's rather stylized but you can still see the scene."
Ren shifted up onto her knees and then walked over to join me, looking at it.
"Look like a proto-drake to me."
"Yeah, me too, but that don't matter in this case. Something caused this to stop, the temple city was abandoned."
She frowned at that, "Dragons were thought to be extinct here."
I nodded, "But now they have returned. But the dragons disappearing would be a likely cause of the end of this dragon cult. Or at least shrink it enough that they had to abandon this place. Whenever it was, it was... a long time ago. Some of these rocks are pretty badly eroded."
"Perhaps we should go looking for the local dragons."
I hmmed and hugged her from behind, resting my chin against her shoulder, "...Not unless we need to. From what we heard, they don't seem very friendly."
Ren grinned and turned around to nuzzle, "Neither to we to most mortals."
True that.
"Even so."
She sighed and nodded, "I suppose you do have a point."
"I'm sorry if this is boring for you." I said softly.
"I just expected something other than rocks."
"Well... "I answered, "We have only checked a couple of parts of the city. If we move to the main temple, I'm sure we will be able to find some more interesting things."
Ren nodded, "Worth a try?"
I grinned, "I can always return here at a later time. Not like the ruins are going anywhere."
I really had to finance a full archaeological expedition here at some point. There was no way I would actually have the time to research the place on my own.
Best case was actually now, a couple of days to a week to have a look around.
Letting her go, I reached into my satchel to pull out a imaging crystal and held it into the air, taking a full picture of the rock carving before putting it back into the satchel. I only have a limited supply of those with me, but I did think that was worth using one for this.
Taking my glaive from where it was leaning against the wall, I smiled, "Let's get going then."
"What about the carpet?" she asked and looked back at it.
It's not that far, but Sheila would rip my wings off if I let some troll eat it.
Sighing I nodded and walked over, "We'd better bring it. If something happened to it, Sheila would be pissed."
Ren grinned at that and joined me, "Yes, yes she would."
Rolling my eyes I touched it to lift off, just above what passed for 'roof altitude' in these ruins, heading towards what I assumed was the 'main temple'. Mostly because it was the largest structure.
"Atreus."
Hmm?
I glanced over to the right where she was pointing to see a body laying on the floor next to one of the medium sized buildings.
It was a troll, but it it had a large hole in it's chest and looked burned.
What?
Frowning I shifted in that direction, diving down to land close by before getting up to slowly approach the body.
Yep. That was a dead troll.
But what killed it? That did not look like it was killed by another troll.
"Any ideas?" I asked, looking around, my glaive held at the ready as Ren knelt down to check the troll.
"It's dead... been dead for at least a day too. It's not fully frozen yet, but getting there." She said and felt the wound before licking the blood of her gauntlet, "Tastes burnt. Somebody used a spell for this."
Somebody else was in the city.
I scanned the place and then pointed, "There."
One of the dual metal doors leading into the catacombs beneath the city was open. We had avoided that area because... well... it was a burial place.
Never mind the entire 'the dead defend their own' Galkir told us about, it was a burial site.
I would really rather not disturb the resting dead unless I really needed too.
"Grave robbers?" Ren asked, sniffing at the air.
"Possible. Perhaps we should leave it alone..."
"Really?"
No. Damn it. These people deserved to rest in peace and not have their shit stolen.
But on the other hand, walking into that dark hole in the ground was not really attractive, even with Ren watching my back.
Sighing, I finally shook my head, "No... we'd better check it out."
Fuck. I had really hoped this wouldn't turn into a fight. Should I summon something to help?
...No, it will be cramped enough in there without more bodies getting in the way.
Better not.
AN// Many buckets of thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section.
tarrangar
Fat arctic chicken
Run away.
28
The tunnels actually turned out not to just be catacombs like I thought they would be.
There were tons of tunnels... yes, there were tombs, but also large rooms cut into the rock full of chairs and tables.
I took the lead, my glaive at the ready as we quietly moved along the tunnel. Ren took up the rear, ready to blast anything that came at us.
The air smelled cold, dry... it smelled like death.
Luckily though, the place was actually lit up. Some sort of torches were burning on the walls, lighting it dimly. They showed up as magic on scans. Enchanted.
Ever burning torches. They didn't give off any heat, just light with a cold flame.
That was actually pretty neat.
"Body." I whispered to Ren and slowly approached the dried out husk laying in the middle of the tunnel, an axe on the floor next to it.
It looked like it had been... scorched and stabbed in the face.
Even so, I gave it a sharp poke with my glaive.
It didn't move.
Ren looked around me at it, "I think it's dead."
"I know it's dead. I just want to make sure it's not going to attack us." I answered and gave it another sharp poke.
I hate undead. Fucking abominations to everything.
The idea itself was just plain freaky and zombies were even worse.
Still, this one didn't seem like it wanted to get back up. Again.
"I don't think it's a grave robber we are following." Ren said softly, giving the redeaded body a wary look as we moved past, "We have seen several chambers, some with gold laying out in the open. A grave robber would not leave that behind."
She had a really good point there.
That was rather out of character for a graverobber. Why would they go into a gravesite like this and leave the valuables laying around?
Of course the alternative might be even more disturbing. Whoever it was, was after the... inhabitants, not their stuff.
But in that case, why leave this one laying behind? Or even better, why bother going so far in? There was plenty of dead back the way we came.
That didn't make sense either.
Curiouser and curiouser.
"We should continue." I said quietly and started down the tunnel again.
Soon we ran into more of the dead. Well, of the unmoving kind at least. But they had been moving previously from the way they had fallen, their weapons close by. A couple were even wearing tattered armor.
The room extended to the right of the tunnel, open sarcophagi sitting side by side, their lids pushed to the side from when the inhabitants got out.
There was a small altar by the wall, several gold and silver rings and necklaces and a couple of thumbnail sized gems laying there, out in the open next to a human skull.
Yeah, a grave robber was not going to leave that stuff behind, not unless it was majorly cursed and they didn't show up as magic at all.
Something else was going on.
I glanced at Ren who nodded, keeping her eye on the tunnel as we headed deeper into the complex, "Something is wrong." she said quietly.
Mmm.
Nodding I sighed and gripped my glaive a bit tighter. I really, really didn't like this.
Grave robbing mages was one thing.
Hell, necromancers we should be able to handle with minor problems. What I really, really didn't like was that this didn't make sense.
Why the fuck would somebody go into a undead infested set of catacombs other than to get something from there?
Well... I guess to follow a grave robber.
Wait, what was that?
Stopping, I quickly raised my left hand to motion for Ren to stop.
Sounds from further down the tunnel, metal against metal and scuffling. Movement.
Fighting. Somebody was fighting ahead.
I glanced back at Ren who nodded and motioned forward.
Nodding back, I took the glaive in both hands and slowly continued. The glaive was really too long to be used effectively in a tunnel like this if somebody got past the tip. I need to get a backup weapon.
Maybe a short sword or something. Or if I made the handle of the glaive collapsible to half it's current length... not now, pay attention Atregos!
The tunnel ended in a much larger room, high on the wall actually. It ended on a wooden catwalk around the outside of the room with stairs leading down.
I quickly pressed my back against the wall of the tunnel, Ren shifting to the other side of the tunnel and doing the same.
The room was lit up by those torches, giving us a good look of what was going on.
The first thing that hit me was 'oh fuck'. There was seven of them. Heavily armed dried out undead. Not moving fast as a person would, but they were clearly more than shuffling zombies.
A woman with long, light red straight hair, looking to be in her early twenties. The only armor she seemed to be wearing was a black leather chest piece, her pants being just light brown cloth. Her hair was tied back by a simple leather headband to keep it out of her eyes and she was armed with a unusual sword.
It was... more like a rapier than anything I had seen in Skyrim so far, long and narrow. Light.
She dodged back from a swipe from the first undead, his heavy axe hitting the ground before her and she darted in, stabbing it in the face, causing it to drop as she danced back again, out of range of the next attacker.
Her sword flashed white and shone as she darted in, barely dodging the swing as she slashed, her sword cutting through its neck like it was made from butter, causing its head to go flying.
As the other four undead got wise and rushed her all at once, she jumped back, avoiding the first slash before dropping down to one knee, slamming the pommel of her sword into the ground, causing a sphere of white energy to explode from her in all directions, a circle of symbols forming on the ground around her, almost six meters across and the undead flew backwards out of the zone, burning with white energy.
AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.
There were tons of tunnels... yes, there were tombs, but also large rooms cut into the rock full of chairs and tables.
I took the lead, my glaive at the ready as we quietly moved along the tunnel. Ren took up the rear, ready to blast anything that came at us.
The air smelled cold, dry... it smelled like death.
Luckily though, the place was actually lit up. Some sort of torches were burning on the walls, lighting it dimly. They showed up as magic on scans. Enchanted.
Ever burning torches. They didn't give off any heat, just light with a cold flame.
That was actually pretty neat.
"Body." I whispered to Ren and slowly approached the dried out husk laying in the middle of the tunnel, an axe on the floor next to it.
It looked like it had been... scorched and stabbed in the face.
Even so, I gave it a sharp poke with my glaive.
It didn't move.
Ren looked around me at it, "I think it's dead."
"I know it's dead. I just want to make sure it's not going to attack us." I answered and gave it another sharp poke.
I hate undead. Fucking abominations to everything.
The idea itself was just plain freaky and zombies were even worse.
Still, this one didn't seem like it wanted to get back up. Again.
"I don't think it's a grave robber we are following." Ren said softly, giving the redeaded body a wary look as we moved past, "We have seen several chambers, some with gold laying out in the open. A grave robber would not leave that behind."
She had a really good point there.
That was rather out of character for a graverobber. Why would they go into a gravesite like this and leave the valuables laying around?
Of course the alternative might be even more disturbing. Whoever it was, was after the... inhabitants, not their stuff.
But in that case, why leave this one laying behind? Or even better, why bother going so far in? There was plenty of dead back the way we came.
That didn't make sense either.
Curiouser and curiouser.
"We should continue." I said quietly and started down the tunnel again.
Soon we ran into more of the dead. Well, of the unmoving kind at least. But they had been moving previously from the way they had fallen, their weapons close by. A couple were even wearing tattered armor.
The room extended to the right of the tunnel, open sarcophagi sitting side by side, their lids pushed to the side from when the inhabitants got out.
There was a small altar by the wall, several gold and silver rings and necklaces and a couple of thumbnail sized gems laying there, out in the open next to a human skull.
Yeah, a grave robber was not going to leave that stuff behind, not unless it was majorly cursed and they didn't show up as magic at all.
Something else was going on.
I glanced at Ren who nodded, keeping her eye on the tunnel as we headed deeper into the complex, "Something is wrong." she said quietly.
Mmm.
Nodding I sighed and gripped my glaive a bit tighter. I really, really didn't like this.
Grave robbing mages was one thing.
Hell, necromancers we should be able to handle with minor problems. What I really, really didn't like was that this didn't make sense.
Why the fuck would somebody go into a undead infested set of catacombs other than to get something from there?
Well... I guess to follow a grave robber.
Wait, what was that?
Stopping, I quickly raised my left hand to motion for Ren to stop.
Sounds from further down the tunnel, metal against metal and scuffling. Movement.
Fighting. Somebody was fighting ahead.
I glanced back at Ren who nodded and motioned forward.
Nodding back, I took the glaive in both hands and slowly continued. The glaive was really too long to be used effectively in a tunnel like this if somebody got past the tip. I need to get a backup weapon.
Maybe a short sword or something. Or if I made the handle of the glaive collapsible to half it's current length... not now, pay attention Atregos!
The tunnel ended in a much larger room, high on the wall actually. It ended on a wooden catwalk around the outside of the room with stairs leading down.
I quickly pressed my back against the wall of the tunnel, Ren shifting to the other side of the tunnel and doing the same.
The room was lit up by those torches, giving us a good look of what was going on.
The first thing that hit me was 'oh fuck'. There was seven of them. Heavily armed dried out undead. Not moving fast as a person would, but they were clearly more than shuffling zombies.
A woman with long, light red straight hair, looking to be in her early twenties. The only armor she seemed to be wearing was a black leather chest piece, her pants being just light brown cloth. Her hair was tied back by a simple leather headband to keep it out of her eyes and she was armed with a unusual sword.
It was... more like a rapier than anything I had seen in Skyrim so far, long and narrow. Light.
She dodged back from a swipe from the first undead, his heavy axe hitting the ground before her and she darted in, stabbing it in the face, causing it to drop as she danced back again, out of range of the next attacker.
Her sword flashed white and shone as she darted in, barely dodging the swing as she slashed, her sword cutting through its neck like it was made from butter, causing its head to go flying.
As the other four undead got wise and rushed her all at once, she jumped back, avoiding the first slash before dropping down to one knee, slamming the pommel of her sword into the ground, causing a sphere of white energy to explode from her in all directions, a circle of symbols forming on the ground around her, almost six meters across and the undead flew backwards out of the zone, burning with white energy.
AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.
Well, I'm confused. That isn't the guy seen earlier in the weaponshop, right? So a diffrent non-dragonborn? A blade investigating?
guys I think the weapon might be dawnbreaker so this is either a follower of meridia or we get to see the wonderful world of dragon breaks.
Dragon breaks?
asdx
Superior Sword Fairy
- Location
- Texas.
Time Getting all wibbly wobbly and Weird.
Red Sectoid
Bored~
Non Dragonborn Mages Guild(I know) character trying to get the Staff of Magus maybe?
29
The undead slowly struggled back onto their feet, trying and failing to enter the circle on the floor.
I looked at Ren who motioned forward slightly. Nodding, I slowly exited the tunnel onto the wooden catwalk
The woman below regained her footing and stabbed the closest dried out husk in the eye. Carefully remaining out of its reach before retreating out of reach of the second undead which was armed with a longer battleaxe.
While the undead couldn't enter the circle, they could swing into it.
She clearly had the situation in hand, but she also looked a bit... worn out right now. That last dodge was sloppy, close. She was getting tired.
Shifting my glaive to my left hand, I raised my right and quickly cast arcane missiles, firing at the rightmost zombie, the one with the battleaxe.
Ren on the other hand simply took the last one out with a fireball to the face, blasting it of its feet.
The female warrior spun around in surprise, her sword raised towards us. "Who are you!?"
"I'm Ren," Ren pointed at me, "and this is Atreus. And you are?"
"...My name is Alexis," she said, keeping her sword in a guard position, aimed at us. "Why are you here?"
I shrugged, shifting to lean my glaive against my shoulder, "We are researchers... we're studying the city. We ran into the dead troll and the open door and figured there were grave robbers. We took insult at that."
"I'm not."
"We figured that when you left all those valuables behind," Ren stated and crossed her arms. "So why are you down here?"
Alexis hesitated and then slowly lowered her sword. "There was a researcher that disappeared investigating the ruins. I was hired by his family to bring back a heirloom he was carrying, an amulet."
Ah. I see. A quest of sorts.
Was she telling the truth though? It did match what we seen so far at least.
"You believe he went missing in here?" I asked after a short moment.
She nodded. "That was what his wife said," she said as the white magic circle faded away on the floor. "He came in here and never left. I haven't seen his body yet, so he has to be deeper in."
"Going into a undead infested tomb is reckless. Stupid," Ren said with a frown.
"I can handle myself."
She clearly could. Yes, I could handle those undead solo as well, but my way would not have been as graceful and efficient. She was clearly quite good with that her sword as well as being a mage of some power.
Even so...
Damn it.
"We'll assist you." I sighed and gripped my glaive tighter before jumping down from the catwalk and landing easily on my feet. Ren dropped down beside me.
Alexis stepped back in surprise as we jumped down. "I don't know you," she said, raising her sword again.
"And we don't know you either," I answered with a smile. "But I'll be damned if we leave you to face catacombs full of undead alone."
She hesitated slightly and then let her sword drop, "...Why? People here tend not to be very helpful. I was attacked three times just reaching these ruins."
"Not everyone is like that," Ren stated with a frown.
Alexis hesitated again before sheathing her sword. "I know. It's just... I've come to expect it."
I leaned slightly against the glaive. She had a very good point. This world was as infested with bandits as... basically every other world we've run into so far.
Which now that I thought about it, was all kinds of depressing and spoke very poorly about most sophonts.
But I didn't want to think that. Most people are not... evil. I couldn't think they were. Nobody gets out of bed thinking, 'I want to kick puppies today'. People are forced into bad situations and can't find a way out that doesn't involve hurting people.
Sure, there are those that enjoy it, but they're made into that by circumstance, by illness. At least most of them are.
"Atreus?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm?"
Ren sighed and shook her head. "You need to stop doing that."
Alexis looked amused. "My father does the same thing sometimes. He gets a idea and then he spaces out," she said with a small grin.
Well, at least I wasn't looking in the direction of a girl's chest this time. That had been rather embarrassing, even if Sheila found it hilarious. Didn't help that it was a didn't help that it was the daughter of the noble holding the party at the time, and that it was in the middle of one of those accursed balls...
Though, to be fair, that dress she was wearing did give her a lot of cleavage to look at.
I shook my head. "In any case, it's late. We should find a chamber with a sturdy door and no dead in it, and try to rest to continue deeper tomorrow."
Ren nodded. "Agreed. It doesn't do anyone any good to continue when tired."
"...I suppose you have a point," Alexis said and nodded. "I saw a side chamber like that a bit back up the tunnel, mostly shelves of ruined books."
"Let's go then," I said and headed back up the ramp to the upper level, trusting Ren to watch my back in case Alexis tried anything. I didn't think she would, she seemed like the decent sort of person. But I didn't know her.
"...I'm sorry, but I have to ask," Alexis said to Ren, speaking up as we headed back along the tunnel. "It's early spring and there is still snow on the surface. Isn't it cold to wear that?"
...Oh yeah, we never did cast the illusion again. She could see Ren's 'armor'.
"No. Not really."
AN// Many thanks to Schwep for betaing this section.
I looked at Ren who motioned forward slightly. Nodding, I slowly exited the tunnel onto the wooden catwalk
The woman below regained her footing and stabbed the closest dried out husk in the eye. Carefully remaining out of its reach before retreating out of reach of the second undead which was armed with a longer battleaxe.
While the undead couldn't enter the circle, they could swing into it.
She clearly had the situation in hand, but she also looked a bit... worn out right now. That last dodge was sloppy, close. She was getting tired.
Shifting my glaive to my left hand, I raised my right and quickly cast arcane missiles, firing at the rightmost zombie, the one with the battleaxe.
Ren on the other hand simply took the last one out with a fireball to the face, blasting it of its feet.
The female warrior spun around in surprise, her sword raised towards us. "Who are you!?"
"I'm Ren," Ren pointed at me, "and this is Atreus. And you are?"
"...My name is Alexis," she said, keeping her sword in a guard position, aimed at us. "Why are you here?"
I shrugged, shifting to lean my glaive against my shoulder, "We are researchers... we're studying the city. We ran into the dead troll and the open door and figured there were grave robbers. We took insult at that."
"I'm not."
"We figured that when you left all those valuables behind," Ren stated and crossed her arms. "So why are you down here?"
Alexis hesitated and then slowly lowered her sword. "There was a researcher that disappeared investigating the ruins. I was hired by his family to bring back a heirloom he was carrying, an amulet."
Ah. I see. A quest of sorts.
Was she telling the truth though? It did match what we seen so far at least.
"You believe he went missing in here?" I asked after a short moment.
She nodded. "That was what his wife said," she said as the white magic circle faded away on the floor. "He came in here and never left. I haven't seen his body yet, so he has to be deeper in."
"Going into a undead infested tomb is reckless. Stupid," Ren said with a frown.
"I can handle myself."
She clearly could. Yes, I could handle those undead solo as well, but my way would not have been as graceful and efficient. She was clearly quite good with that her sword as well as being a mage of some power.
Even so...
Damn it.
"We'll assist you." I sighed and gripped my glaive tighter before jumping down from the catwalk and landing easily on my feet. Ren dropped down beside me.
Alexis stepped back in surprise as we jumped down. "I don't know you," she said, raising her sword again.
"And we don't know you either," I answered with a smile. "But I'll be damned if we leave you to face catacombs full of undead alone."
She hesitated slightly and then let her sword drop, "...Why? People here tend not to be very helpful. I was attacked three times just reaching these ruins."
"Not everyone is like that," Ren stated with a frown.
Alexis hesitated again before sheathing her sword. "I know. It's just... I've come to expect it."
I leaned slightly against the glaive. She had a very good point. This world was as infested with bandits as... basically every other world we've run into so far.
Which now that I thought about it, was all kinds of depressing and spoke very poorly about most sophonts.
But I didn't want to think that. Most people are not... evil. I couldn't think they were. Nobody gets out of bed thinking, 'I want to kick puppies today'. People are forced into bad situations and can't find a way out that doesn't involve hurting people.
Sure, there are those that enjoy it, but they're made into that by circumstance, by illness. At least most of them are.
"Atreus?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm?"
Ren sighed and shook her head. "You need to stop doing that."
Alexis looked amused. "My father does the same thing sometimes. He gets a idea and then he spaces out," she said with a small grin.
Well, at least I wasn't looking in the direction of a girl's chest this time. That had been rather embarrassing, even if Sheila found it hilarious. Didn't help that it was a didn't help that it was the daughter of the noble holding the party at the time, and that it was in the middle of one of those accursed balls...
Though, to be fair, that dress she was wearing did give her a lot of cleavage to look at.
I shook my head. "In any case, it's late. We should find a chamber with a sturdy door and no dead in it, and try to rest to continue deeper tomorrow."
Ren nodded. "Agreed. It doesn't do anyone any good to continue when tired."
"...I suppose you have a point," Alexis said and nodded. "I saw a side chamber like that a bit back up the tunnel, mostly shelves of ruined books."
"Let's go then," I said and headed back up the ramp to the upper level, trusting Ren to watch my back in case Alexis tried anything. I didn't think she would, she seemed like the decent sort of person. But I didn't know her.
"...I'm sorry, but I have to ask," Alexis said to Ren, speaking up as we headed back along the tunnel. "It's early spring and there is still snow on the surface. Isn't it cold to wear that?"
...Oh yeah, we never did cast the illusion again. She could see Ren's 'armor'.
"No. Not really."
AN// Many thanks to Schwep for betaing this section.
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