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18+ What Lurks in the Dark [V.2]

Julius grumbled to himself and yanked the hood of his cloak, really just a thin, grey bundle of rags, forward, trying and failing to keep himself dry. Or warm. His legion gear, really only made up of the short sword on his belt and the armour and shirt he was wearing, kept him moderately dry. That wasn't entirely what he wanted, but he'd given up on getting pretty much anything he wanted now that the Stormcloaks had won.

Well, technically, they'd won two years ago. Julius had been there when they'd stormed the Imperial camp he'd been at. Even after a couple of years the memories of that gruesome slaughter stuck with him. Not that he'd waited around to be killed like the rest of the fresh legionnaires.

He'd run, but for some reason, had been unwilling to get rid of his legion gear. Which had gotten him in a lot of trouble over the years. Stormcloaks didn't look too kindly on Imperial soldiers running around Skyrim. Never mind Julius had never fought or killed anyone in his life. His sword might as well have been for decoration, rather than an actual weapon.

He'd stolen and begged to make his way through the past couple of years. And he'd survived by hating his father for ruining his life. 'I never wanted to be a soldier. I wanted to be a scholar. A writer.' His father, of course, had hated the idea, and kicked Julius to Skyrim, to make him 'a real man'. So, here he was. Broke, without possessions except for those he carried with him, and an Imperial deserter.

The only reason he was heading for Falkreath was because of the massive bounty posted on a group of bandits in the woods nearby. Julius knew he wouldn't last a minute in a fight with bandits, but he was guessing that the reward was pretty large. If others were there, he could let them fight, and he'd just...stay out of the way, and hopefully claim some of the reward.

Then he heard a scream. It sounded like someone needed help. A woman, most likely. Maybe she'd be willing to give him some sort of reward, for getting her to safety. Better yet, maybe she was good looking. Staring into the dark, rather spooky woods, he groaned, "oh, I'm such an idiot" and raced towards the scream, trying to avoid tripping and breaking his neck, and running into someone. Or something.

A few minutes after leaving the road, he found her. He couldn't make out all her features by the brief light the flashes of lightning provided, it looked like she held a dagger in one hand, and she was wearing robes of some sort. Oh, and he could tell she was a woman. He could also tell that there were several bandits closing in on her. 'Figures. Couldn't have been a wolf or something, huh?' He grabbed her arm, the one holding the dagger, and yanked her to her feet, pulling him behind her as he turned and ran the way he'd come, back towards the road.

An arrow whipped past him, and he glanced at the soaking wet woman behind him. "Come on! We need to get out of here!" He could hear the bandits behind them yelling and jeering. He didn't need to tell her what would happen if they didn't get to safety.
 
"Oy, friend" Tyresius felt someone rap their knuckles against the plates of his armour. "Yer not gonna drop dead, are ye? I have a feeling the innkeeper wouldn't be too happy with that" while ordinarily, he would have appreciated the speakers levity, his headache ahd returned with a vengeance, and he could all but taste the evil building in the tavern. He turned a baleful glare on the man, the same Nord that had been sitting at the bar when he'd arrived. The paladin opened his mouth to deliver a scathing reply, when he caught sight of the hooded and robed Altmer at one of the tables.

Then he noticed the red armoured half elf, as well, and he felt the blood go out of his cheeks. As a paladin of Arkay, he'd been trained to hunt and identify the marks of the foul undead. He'd hunted down and slain everything from Draugr to Zombies. That included vampires, and currently, there were two of them. Then he amended his count. Three. The half-elf and Altmer had only entered after Tyresius had arrived.

One other patron was a vampire, and he suspected it to be the Altmer woman that was currently in conversation with a young Imperial and a Khajiit. The man cursed under his breath. One vampire, he could slay easily. Two, with difficulty. Three, impossible. Especially if they were as powerful as their confident body language was saying they were. He turned back to the bald Nord, who was most likely confused by his sudden panic. 'This is neither the time nor place for a confrontation. Too many innocents in the way.'

Forcing a grin, he said "no. Or at least, not for a few more years, anyways. The name is Tyresius Vonn, friend. Might I have the pleasure of yours?" He sipped his wine, and attempted to seem more friendly and less...murderous. The Nord was no vampire, and thus could prove to be a valuable ally. He acted like he knew how to use the large axe on his back.
 
"no. Or at least, not for a few more years, anyways. The name is Tyresius Vonn, friend. Might I have the pleasure of yours?" Donath chuckled. The strange look of mixed anger and panic that had crossed his face had disconcerted Donath, but the way the man the man switched from hostile to friendly was even more worrying. All of Donaths' investigative instincts were on full alert. However, the man didn't seem like an immediate threat, and Donath was more eager to start in on his fifth flagon, rather than deal with a potential trouble maker. "A pleasure, Tyresius. My name's Donath Stone-splitter. I'm guessin' yer here for the bounty?"
 
Elizabeth had been preparing to die, when she noticed an Imperial legionnaire charging towards her. She'd never been so glad to see a soldier in her life, even if he still had his weapon sheathed, and hadn't even turned to face the approaching bandits yet. Then he grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. "What are you-" then he nearly wrenched her off her feet as he turned and fled.

An arrow flew over their shoulders, and she flinched. It looked like the bandits weren't giving up yet. "Come on! We need to get out of here!" Her apparent rescuer shouted.
"What kind of soldier are you!? You're supposed to be fighting them!" she half shrieked, hearing the bandits chasing after them. There was no way they'd escape to Falkreath in time.
 
"So how did you make your weapon? My father is a blacksmith and a Stormcloak soldier and he showed me how to forge a dagger. Even though he says I'm not ready to forge one myself he gave it to me as a present. See? Here it is!" The girl presented him with an impressively sharp steel dagger. Though he was troubled that she was the daughter of a soldier. Such children rarely had happy childhoods. He chuckled in answer to the girls question. "With great difficulty. It took me the greater part of a month to forge the hook and carve the wood properly." He replied. Glancing towards the Altmer woman that the girls older sister had gone to speak with. Others in the tavern were either on their own, or speaking among themselves. To Brights' knowledge, none of them had started in on whom among them were involved in the hunt.
 
Lythare slowed as she heard cries and shouted orders. She slowed, orienting herself towards the voices, before launching herself towards them, drawing and stringing her bow as she went. She dropped the spell that had been binding the tree branches into a roof. In moments, both she and the falcon on her shoulder were wet. She could hear a pair of voices, two people, a male and female, both panicky. Then she saw them, a pair of young humans, from what she could tell in the dark.

Beyond them, she could see the outlines of bulky, armoured, and weapon bearing men. Bandits, most likely. She couldn't tell exactly how many there were, but she assumed at least five. "Aethos, fly!" She cried, and the falcon launched himself from her arm, talons outstretched before it. The lead bandit lifted his arm to block the bird, and Aethos' claws latched onto his limb. His unarmoured arm. The man screamed as the predators talons shredded the skin of his arm. Confident that the falcon could keep the man busy, she turned, loosing the first of her arrows at one of the mans' companions. He gasped and went down, an elven arrow buried in his throat. However, there were still several more approaching.
 
Alice looked admiringly at Aliah's coat. "Well your friend made a good choice. You really look cute in it. I've been looking for a coat like that for a while now but I haven't been able to find one. My little sister and I are from Whiterun and the only real place to buy clothes is Belethor's General Goods and his selection suuuucks." She sang the last word for emphasis. "The Khajiit caravans have pretty good stuff but they only come to town every moth so. What I'd really like to do is go to Radiant Raiment in Solitude. They have a mail order service for a very special type of pajamas that my sister and I love and I've seen some amazing stuff in their catalogs. They've got stuff you could only get in the Dominion! I tell you, those Altmer sisters that run the place know exactly what they're doing when it comes to clothing, especially stuff for women. Even if one is more than a little condescending and the other's hurtfully disrespectful."

Alice realized she was babbling. She put an ungloved hand up to her mouth in apology. Her nails were clean and neatly clipped despite her gloves.

"Oh my gosh I'm sorry! Here I am talking your ear off and you're probably thinking 'Who is this crazy girl bothering me when I just want to be left alone?' I'm sorry about that. I'm Alice and over there is my little sister Cilla. It's nice to meet you." She extended a hand to the Altmer woman and the Khajiit that sat with her.

Over at the table Cilla was amazed at the exotic weapon wielded by the equally exotic Argonian. She had only seen a couple of the lizard folk of Black Marsh before and was fascinated by how different they were from Nords or Imperials. She sheathed her dagger before oogling all over the hook-staff. "Wow! It's beautiful! The wood of the staff looks like new and there's not a single rust speck on the hook at all! How do you keep it so clean and shiny!? I've made lots of iron horseshoes and nails before but they rust really fast. I left a batch in the rain one time and they were rusty the very next day! Papa and I had to spend over an hour cleaning them but after that I learned never to leave my work out in the rain again! Steel ones don't rust so much but steel's harder to work with than iron and the forge is hotter to work it. I don't like how it gets so hot but papa says that I'm gonna have to get used to it if I want to be as good a blacksmith as Eorlund Grey-Mane some day. So what brings you to the inn tonight Mr. Bright?"
 
"Oh my gosh I'm sorry! Here I am talking your ear off and you're probably thinking 'Who is this crazy girl bothering me when I just want to be left alone?' I'm sorry about that. I'm Alice and over there is my little sister Cilla. It's nice to meet you." The Khajiit assassin glanced over at the girl. She really wasn't that much younger than Shadari, but she emanated something that the Khajiit simply didn't have any more. The imperial stretched out her hand, and introduced herself as Alice, and mentioned that her younger sister was named Cilla.

Glancing over Alices weaponry, which looked impressive, but the Khajiit had to wonder if it had seen real battle. It was nice to look impressive, but looking impressive couldn't save you if you lacked experience. "So, Alice. Here to hunt bandits, or what?" She said, keeping her hands on the table. She didn't like being touched, and preferred not to touch others, unless she was sleeping with them or about to kill them. And Alice wasn't exactly her type.
 
Bright grinned at the girls' volley of questions. It had been years since he'd truly spoken with children, and he found himself enjoying the experience. "Well, Cilla, the rain, for one. But mostly the bounty on the bandits out in the woods around Falkreath. I probably would have arrived here at one point or another. Those that prey on others deserve nothing but the blade. The posting of a bounty merely hastened my arrival" he said. Being an assassin, people often thought he'd do anything for the proper amount of coin. Not so with Bright. Even if the Jarl hadn't posted any bounty, the Argonian assassin would have arrived to dispense a swift death to the bandits.
 
Torin followed the sounds of what he assumed were bandits, and their would-be victims. Then he hesitated as the sounds of combat reached his ears. 'Odd...' he thought, wondering who out here would bring battle to the bandits. 'Not guards, surely. I'm still quite a while from Falkreath' either way, someone might still be in danger, and Torin couldn't leave them to their fates. He sprinted, catching up to an odd battle. One bandit had a bird on his arm, and was frantically trying to get it off. Another man was on the ground, and expertly fired arrow puncturing his throat.

The ranger noticed two figures, presumably a man and a woman, standing back, trying to stay out of the way, apparently. Slightly ahead of him, stood a woman, with an elven bow, and was firing at the others. She moved with a grace that was not human, and Torin suspected she was a wood elf, perhaps a ranger like himself. He noticed several more bandits charging towards the three of them.

Torin stepped forwards, drawing his bowstring to his cheek, feeling the feathers touch his cheek, and loosed, sending the steel tipped projectile into the leading mans' side. He grunted and went down, and then the rest of the bandits were upon them. Tossing his bow behind him so the weapon would not be trampled in the ensuing melee. His sky forged steel sword cleared its' scabbard in time to parry a mace blow that would have otherwise crushed Torins' skull like a melon.

The ranger retaliated with a low slash across the mans' legs, and a second blow to his neck, nearly severing the mans' head. He continued to engage a second man as the fallen rogues fellows' rushed forwards. He didn't attempt to engage all of the bandits, trusting that the Bosmer woman was more than capable of handling them. The second man fell as easily as the first, this time with Torins' blade punched through his chest.
 
Averain couldn't help but notice the Imperial that had looked ill before, now was shooting less than flattering looks in his direction. The hooded and robed Altmer and the Altmer woman in the leather received similar glares. The vampire knight found his hand drifting to the hilt of his weapon. Normally, he wouldn't have risked engaging a mortal in combat, for fear of revealing his vampiric nature, but the man almost certainly knew what Averain was. 'Which hints at training, or first hand experience...' neither of those possibilities reassured the half-Breton. He took a seat across from the robed Altmer.

It was clear to Averain that the mer was a vampire. Like Averain, his skin was a pale gold, rather than the deeper skin tones of his Altmer brethren. He nodded towards the Imperial, his hand not leaving the hilt of his weapon. "I believe our Imperial friend has recognized us for what we are" he said softly, wondering if the man preferred private, intense confrontations, or loud, attention drawing accusations. Personally, Averain hoped for the latter. He could handle a single angry human. Dozens of them, drunk, and with no regard for their own safety, might be a bit more of challenge.
 
"Actually yes, I am." Alice said in response to the Khajiit's question. She thought her reasons for being here were self-evident but then she remembered how young she looked. She could easily pass for fifteen or sixteen considering how small she was. Both women were giving her the "You don't look old enough to know how to use those weapons." look. Shadari for one made no attempt to hide it. "I promise you I can handle myself. I served with the Stormcloaks in The Reach killing Foresworn. Good target practice. If you don't want to take my word for it, I'll prove it to you when we find the bandits."

She looked over to Cilla, who was in chirpy conversation with their Argonian acquaintance who introduced himself as Bright. "Over there's my little sister and she'll be coming with me. She won't slow us down, in fact she'll probably end up running ahead of us. She's good with wards and frost magic, she can handle herself. Our father made sure of that before sending us out here." Alice wasn't trying to sound arrogant or proud, she was simply explaining that she and Cilla wouldn't be a bother. These women looked dangerous, as did many of the other patrons including the Imperial paladin and the short bald Nord at the bar getting irresponsibly drunk. Cilla decided to get up and introduce herself to the man. Alice immediately focused her attention on her little sister and kept a close eye on her but did nothing more. Cilla walked up to the drunk Nord. "Excuse me." She asked. "Why are you drinking so much? Won't you feel sick tomorrow? My papa's a Stormcloak general and a lot of his soldiers drink like you do and they feel bad lots of mornings. Papa says they're hung over but I've never seen what they're hung over. Why would he say they're hung over something and not say what it was? They just look sick to me."
 
"So, Alice. Here to hunt bandits, or what?" The Khajiit woman deliberately kept her hands well away from the Imperial girls. Aliah wasn't sure whether she was being deliberately rude, or simply cautious. Aliah decided not to accept the girls hand either. With her freezing cold skin, making physical contact with a mortal probably wouldn't get the best response. Instead, she smiled lightly, keeping her fangs out of view, and inclined her head slightly. The Imperial quickly defended herself against the Khajiits' question. ​
​
She frowned upon hearing that Alice had served with the Stormcloaks. The vampiress was not particularly enamoured with the Forsworn, but she had no love for the Stormcloaks, either. Deciding mentioning such things wouldn't exactly get her anywhere, and knowing she needed to keep the girls trust, if they were to work together, she simply said "my name, is Aliah Stormwind. From Alinor." ​
 
Donath turned away from the bar in order to stare at the little girl that was talking to him. The Nord may have looked drunk, but he could handle his ale better than most. Therefore, he noticed the girl mentioning that her father was a stormcloak general. That got his attention. Stormcloaks were something that Donath actively tried to avoid, especially since he was on less than friendly terms with them.

"Bah, little lass. This is nothin' yer daddy's soldiers 'ave just can't hold their liqueur properly!" He chuckled, downing the rest of his tankard. "So tell me, little lass, what's yer daddy's name?" 'So I'll know if he's one of the bastards whos' head I need to take off' Donath hadn't worked with many generals before, and those he had, had been stationed near Windhelm and Dawnstar. Though, if the general was one of loyalists, one of the guys kids was standing less than a metre away.
 
Lythare noticed the arrival of another man, but instead of attacking her, the man, wearing a cloak, and wielding a bow and sword, attacked the charging bandits. Watching him out of the corner of her eye, she had to admit, he had some skill with his weapons. For a human, that was. Turning back to the remaining two bandits, one of whom had managed to dislodge the infuriated Aethos from his forearm, and was now swiping madly at the bird, who deftly avoided his weapon.

She shot him in the chest, the force of the bow blasting the bandit off his feet, the quicksilver steel tip punching through his heart, and emerging from his back. Lythares' second shot caught the final bandit in the face, killing him instantly. Motioning the falcon to her shoulder, she retrieved her arrows, cleaning them on the armour of the bandits. The soaking garments helped get rid of the blood on the shafts and heads of the projectiles. Finally, she turned to the mysterious man. "Not bad work, human" she said, inclining her head towards the cloaked man. Then she turned to the two younger humans.

"If you two are alright, we should try to get to Falkreath. I sure there are more bandits in the woods around the town, and I, for one, have better things to do than stand around in the rain, and fight thugs. So," she gestured in the directions she was fairly sure the town was, "shall we?"
 
Alice was a little suspicious that Aliah didn't take her hand but she may just be a cautious person. Considering she was an Altmer in Stormcloak land talking to a Stormcloak Alice didn't blame her. She probably shouldn't have mentioned being a Stormcloak because now Aliah and probably the Khajiit woman will be less likely to trust her. Alice was just trying to convince them that she wasn't some useless child but she could prove that easily enough. She had her father's pride and it had just showed itself to her detriment.

"It's nice to meet you Aliah. I'm honestly surprised to see an Altmer in these lands that isn't wearing Thalmor robes. Especially these days."

Alice blushed when she realized how that must have sounded. She decided to switch topics.

"I'm sorry, that probably sounded offensive. It seems like things have gotten even worse for elves since Ulfric was killed and the leash holding back the worst of the Stormcloaks broke. I've always wanted to go to Alinor by the way. I've heard it's a beautiful city but the Dominion doesn't take too kindly to Cyrodiiic tourists. You can probably guess why."

Alice was a people person but this particular situation was extremely awkward. Besides a handful of exceptions all of the Altmer she had met in her life had been Thalmor agents. Most had tried to kill her or another member of her family and she had killed plenty on sight. The Thalmor had killed her mother, burned her home in the Imperial City to ash and shattered the world she grew up in but to say they had ruined her life would be incorrect. Alice had built a new life for herself here in Skyrim with the help of her father and her brother and sister. They had all been able to move on with their lives but none of them had forgotten. Their father had not forgiven and most likely never will. Cilla was too young to hold such a grudge and Alice at least tried, though she was too deeply colored by the experiences to succeed completely. Situations like this made her remember all of this and made it difficult to trust any Altmer.

Alice simply sat down at the table and lowered her head, ashamed at her introduction and wanting Aliah to say something to fill the silence.

Cilla meanwhile was faced with a different situation. This short but extremely muscled Nord she had introduced herself to seemed friendly enough but he had asked for her father's name. This made Cilla nervous because this man was a stranger and her father and stepmother had warned her that she was too friendly with them. There were people in Skyrim who didn't like her father or the organization he served. Disclosing his identity could cause him trouble, or worse put Cilla in danger. She visibly became nervous and defaulted onto her teachings. She looked up to the man, noticing how quickly he had finished his tankard.

"I'm sorry sir but I can't tell you that. You're a stranger and papa told me not to tell strangers who I am or where I live, or who he is. Apparently there's people who want to hurt him and for all I know you could be one of those people. My big sister's here with me though. Maybe you can met her?"

Cilla smiled up at him, hoping her answer was satisfactory.
 
Torin knelt, cleaning his blade on the last bandit, and glanced at the others. For the most part, they seemed unharmed. "Not bad work, human" the wood elf archer said, inclining her head towards him. The ranger frowned, noticing the slight hint of scorn in the womans voice. However, starting an argument with someone that was still out of sword range, and with his bow behind him, wasn't a great idea. Sheathing his weapon, he stood, retrieved his bow, and his arrows.


"If you two are alright, we should try to get to Falkreath. I sure there are more bandits in the woods around the town, and I, for one, have better things to do than stand around in the rain, and fight thugs. So," the elf gestured in the direction of Falkreath. "shall we?" 'At least she has her priorities straight. Even if she does state them a little bluntly' He nodded, drawing his hood up to offer some protection from the rain. "I agree. The cold and wet aren't exactly good for your health" these words he directed to the shivering and soaked Imperials, standing behind the Bosmer woman.
 
"I believe our Imperial friend has recognized us for what we are" the half-Altmer said, a hint of uneasiness in his voice. The robed Thalmor vampire chuckled. "I'm sure he has. He may be mortal, but he's not stupid. I suspect he's known what we are for the past several minutes" He nodded towards the young girl speaking with the short, bald Nord that had glanced at him "I don't think he's the only one either. But don't worry. I've dealt with their types before...usually at the tip of a sword" the sorcerer didn't say anymore, but he decided to keep a keen eye on the pair. Especially the on at the table in plate armour. It was true that he'd dealt with vampire hunters' before, but it had never been a particularly pleasant experience.
 
The vampire hunter nodded. "Yes...the bounty. If there's anything so foul as cowardly bandits among men, I have not come across them" Tyresius narrowed his eyes at the two conversing vampires. They were planning some sort of foulness,no doubt. He turned back to the short bald Nord that was talking to a child. The vampire hunter sighed, sipped his wine, and leaned back in his seat. The key to killing vampires was to put them off their guard, by making them think their prey was unaware of them.
 
Shadari snorted at the girls discomfort. "Name's Shadari. Huntress, of sorts." She stood, and noticed an Argonian, with an unusual weapon leaning against the wall behind him. Deciding to introduce herself, she strode over, her tail twitching from side to side as she did so. ​
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She took a seat across from the lizard, and gave him her best predatory smile. "Haven't seen many Argonians in Skyrim lately. I'm guessing the bounty brings you to this nasty little town?" ​
 
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