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Private What Lurks in the Dark

Shadari didn't let the mans' compliment sink in too much. Getting over confident at this point would be fatal. Instead, she snarled, and attacked with controlled fury. Her blade slapped the elfs ebony weapon up high, and his bone weapon low, before lunging for his chest. The man leapt away, though, easily avoiding the attack. Straightening from he attack, she congratulated "you're not too bad yourself"
 
"Hmm." He said quietly. He was reassessing the woman. She had adapted to the change swiftly, rallied a defense, and warded off his attack...for now at least. His still looked as expressionless as always, almost ignoring the compliment. He spoke with a flat voice, "I'm neither good nor bad. I simply am. I fight because I must. I am a weapon, no more...no less. A conflicted mind is a dangerous thing. So I eliminated all conflict."

He then rushed forward, blades low at his hips and ready to slice, but left his torso undefended. He wanted to see. He wanted to know. He was curious if this woman with emerald eyes could do what he thought she might. He closed the distance and swung his blades low in a deadly arc at her midsection, his left shoulder completely exposed.
 
She agreed with Salthar's deductions that the wood elf wasn't simply looking for a lost child. She doubted a noble family would simply send out only one investigator, but the vampiress didn't plan on challenging the elf. She sensed that they'd need all the help they could get, if they wanted to find their answers...and maybe more from there. "I agree that it seems strange,but we can't refuse his help just because we don't like his reasons. He seems like a sturdy character, and as long as he doesn't try anything, we should get along fine" she stated.

She then stood, and glanced at the two Imperials. "There are some supplies I need before we head out. Would you care to join me, dear?" She asked of the woman in healers robes. She wanted to get to know as many of those in her group that she possibly could. Perhaps the group would go their separate ways once they reached Whiterun....Then again, perhaps not.
 
Shadari very nearly paused in surprise at her opponents sudden change in tactics. His weapons were low, at his hips, leaving his torso one big target. It was an amateurs mistake, and, from what she knew of this man from fighting him for the past few minutes, he was no amateur. Then, she'd need to be an idiot not to take the advantage. A single thrust, then...'No.I don't want to kill him. Not right now, anyways.' Aiming for the area below and to the right of his left shoulder, she launched pommel strike, aiming to disable his arm.

The attack connected, and the Khajiit hopped out of range, delivering a swift kick to the back of the mans' left knee as well. From previous experiences, he should either fall, or be forced to transfer all his weight to his right foot, and spin around. What she knew so far, or at least, thought she knew, was that he was an elegant, although somewhat stubborn fighter. He might just decide to keep going. It would hurt like hell, and he'd have a lovely bruise at both points of contact, but it was nothing that would kill or seriously injure him.
 
Pivoting on his right foot and standing up right, The Lost observed the kahjiit woman. He looked at her as he stood. The points, his knee and shoulder had been hit, but it was a dull feeling to the man. He had recognized the force behind the strikes. She was powerful, of that there was no doubt. But she hadn't gone for the kill or even sliced him. It was all very strange. He had allowed her the perfect opportunity, but she had not drawn blood. "You did not kill nor even draw blood, why? Mercy? Hardly. Hesitation? Perhaps. Suspicion? Very Likely. But even if it had been a trap you still could have connected without fear of counter because of how low my blades were."

"You are strange." Coming from The Lost that was probably humorous to some. He started to spin his blades as he stared into here eyes, searching her soul and mind as they faced one another. He moved forward, this time with agility and grace, rather than the attacks he had previously used. But this time he threw her another surprise...one of his swords dug into the ground and tossed a good amount of dirt up into the air headed for her face. As that happened he brought his blades in from two different directions, as well as delivering a kick in her direction. He knew she wouldn't be able to stop all four attacks, he wanted to know which she did and which she didn't. Would she stop the dirt from getting in her eyes, the kick, or the blades?
 
"You are strange." Commented the wood elf, pivoting to face her. 'That's quite a statement coming from you, pal' she thought, preventing herself from laughing. She had no trouble not laughing when he attacked again, sending a cloud of dust towards her face, blades coming in from separate directions, and a kick towards her. 'Well...plops' even as the attacks came in, she knew she'd be able to block one, maybe two attacks. Not all four, no way. She'd need to take at least one hit.


Then the cloud reached her face and she squeezed her eyes shut, protecting them from the cloud, but she got plenty in her nose and mouth. Then the kick arrived, hitting her low in the stomach, and she dropped to her knees. It was beautifully delivered, and she might have admired it, if she wasn't on her knees in pain. However, she did manage to bring her falchion up in time to block the mans' right sword from taking her head off. Her grip was weak on her weapon, and her blade flew from her hand, to clatter across the carpet of pine needles of the clearing.


The second blow, on the left , came in slightly lower, and hit her in shoulder. That was both good and bad. Good, because the armour there was slightly thicker, able to take a harder hit than the rest of her protection. Bad, because now she would have a huge bruise on her throwing arm. Spitting out dirt and sneezing, calling the man every curse word in the book, and then a few she made up at the time. 'I'll be damned if I let some pointy eared elf beat me!' That in mind, she surged up from her knees, slamming a fist into his stomach, her other hand grabbing and yanking the man off balance, sending both of them toppling to the ground.
 
A dull, but forceful sensation made The Lost double over as she delivered a surprising blow to his stomach. Then her other hand grabbed his shoulder and he was suddenly falling. Finally some form of expression was on The Lost's face; surprise. His blades feel from his grip in different directions, his eyes widened from how swift her counterattack had been, and they both went toppling to the ground. They still tried to gain the upper hand, both throwing wild punches, kicks, or preforming grappling moves. As they rolled to a stop, The Lost ended up on top but only momentarily as the woman quickly used a leg grab to grab his waist and send him to the bottom. Now she was on top, fist ready to strike his face and both of them were completely covered in dirt. As he stared into her emerald eyes, he did the one thing he hadn't in nearly a decade.

He smiled. Then he burst out laughing, despite the pain in his gut from her early punch. His face lit up with a very rare moment of emotion. The entire thing was extremely funny; her bright eyes staring at him with a dirt-like mask, himself just a dirty, the rolling around, and even the fact that she had technically won. It had been more fun then he'd had in years. He looked her into the eyes smiling, "Well I think I just got my ass kicked. You win."
 
The ranger revealed that he'd lived in Skyrim for most of his life, and had remained in Skyrim as a guardian of the woods after he'd grown up. He didn't react too much to the name Silverblade, although Averain couldn't help but notice the man drawing his weapon just a little more. A little worried, the vampire moved to create more space between himself and Torin. Before any violence could occur, however, a foul, sickly sweet smell of rotting meat hit the knight.

The scent was so strong, Averain was convinced that a dead animal or perhaps another villager, was nearby. Cupping his free hand over his mouth and nose to keep out the nauseating stench, he glanced around, searching for the corpse. "Can you not smell that?" He inquired of his companion, noticing that the ranger didn't seem remotely bothered by the smell. "A stench of rotting bodies, perhaps several, not far from here" he realized he'd probably played his hand when he told of the location, but hopefully, the body would concern the ranger more than the vampire.
 
Elizabeth glanced up when the Altmer woman asked if she would like to join her. The young Imperial healer wasn't so sure she could trust this tall, pale skinned elf, but decided no harm would come from strolling to the store with her. She nodded, waving to Julius, and stood by the woman's side. She also needed supplies, roots, herbs and healing potions, if she was going to remain with the group. "Lead the way, ma'am" she said quietly, drawing her hood up. Already, she'd decided she didn't have much to fear from the woman. After all, if she wanted to kill her, she could have done so last night, while bringing both Elizabeth and Julius to the inn.
 
Torin frowned at Averain. Apparently, the man could smell the stench of a rotting body, and the ranger smelt a slight stink as well, but nothing as bad as what the knight seemed to be inhaling. "How did you..." he trailed off, and silently berated himself for his own stupidity. 'That was where I heard the name Silverblade from' "You're a vampire. Of course" besides that statement, and the tightening of his fingers around his weapon, Torin showed no outward reaction.


From what he'd heard of vampires, and what he'd seen from those he'd fought, they didn't introduce themselves. And they certainly didn't pass up an opportunity to stab an enemy in the back. 'We're on the same side' he reminded himself sternly, and loosened his grip on the weapon. "Ok, Averain, where do you think the smell's coming from?" The vampire pointed in an Eastern direction and the pair headed off, but they didn't need to travel far.

A deer lay near one of the pine trees, on its side, eyes wide open in the endless stare of death. Now he smelt it. Pulling his cloak up over his nose, the ranger prodded it gingerly with his boot, then drew his sword and repeated the action. He expected at least a little resistance to the point of the blade. He wasn't stabbing that hard, and deer skin was not the easiest to pierce by far.

Seeing no cause of death, he rolled the beast over, and discovered it. A gaping hole in its side, looked to have been carved out by teeth....but the strangest teeth marks the ranger had ever seen..now the man was very uneasy, not just because of the strange teeth marks, but also the lack of flies. Usually, a corpse in the early stages of decomposition attracted hordes of flies. Not this one. No maggots, no flies, and clearly, no scavengers had touched the corpse. Troubling was a huge understatement.
 
Relieved that the ranger hadn't whipped out his sword and demanded they fight to the death, the vampire pointed out the direction the rot smell emanated from. After a short amount of walking, they came upon a deer, quite dead, and Torin began his examination, prodding the beast with boot and sword, before rolling it over. A huge bite mark, or perhaps a number of smaller bites, had opened the beast up. While Averain was accustomed to the stench of war, and had seen far worse than a single dead animal, the absence of..well, anything around the corpse sent chills down his spine.

"What animal could have done this? Wolves, or a bear, perhaps?" Even to his own ears, his voice sounded uncertain and a little concerned. The ranger stared down at the deer, a similar look pasted on his own face. That was probably bad, seeing as if a bear or wolves had killed this creature, he would have no reason for concern.'But bears and wolves don't leave their meals unfinished, do they?' The snide voice of doubt whispered in his ear. No expert on woodland animals, Averain couldn't be sure, but he did know of one creature that wasted meals.Humans. Then again, what human had the savagery to bring down a full grown dear, and tear into like it was made of parchment?
 
"Lead the way, ma'am" the Imperial girl said, her voice soft, almost timid. Aliah laughed softly, not making fun, simply amused by the 'ma'am'. "You don't need to call me ma'am. I'm not that old" laughing again, she lead her companion outside, into the rain. "Aliah will do just fine." She said, as the pair entered the shop of Zaria, a friendly Redguard alchemist. Aliah herself didn't need anything from the potions shop, but she was fairly sure that the girl would. After she had finished, Aliah needed to go to gray pine goods and collect some things, and then she'd be set to go. Hopefully, the others would as well.
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As the Khajiit woman, and the Bosmer man fought, they were almost oblivious to anything except each other. That gave the creature plenty of time to sneak closer...closer, always sticking to the bushes and wider tree trunks. It was nearly invisible already due to its' cloak, and the extreme stealth it was using. While not the smartest beast, it understood its' mission. It watched the pair with undisguised hatred. Both were good looking, beautiful, compared to the creature, in its torn rags that covered its' pale grey-green skin, emaciated body, and the hood that covered its' mostly bald head, huge, yellow eyes, and large, fanged mouth.

It restrained itself from falling upon the Khajiit woman and chewing her throat out as she dropped to her knees. The Bosmer struck her once more with one of his own weapons, before the Khajiit sprang up, carrying them both to the ground. The pair wrestled for a few moments, before the woman came out on top, and the Bosmer began to laugh. That hated noise, the sound of merriment set the creature off. It stepped into full view in the clearing, about two metres away from the pair. Ripping off its hood and robes, leaving it naked except for a filthy loin cloth, it let out a cackling, whooping shriek.

The noise sounded like a man screaming in pain, and a wolfs' howl simultaneously. Now that the beast had their attention, it hissed, opening its' wide mouth to show off a double row of jagged teeth. Happy that it had frightened the pretty creatures, it whoop-shrieked again, before leaping over them, and sprinting away, into the woods once more, before either the Bosmer or the Khajiit could respond.

Unknowingly, it was heading for the town of Falkreath. Once it got there, the creature was equal parts furious and afraid. Furious because of how many pretty things there were, and afraid because some of the pretty things had cold, sharp, shiny things that could hurt it. That was bad. Two of the pretty things were coming towards it, both had cold-hurty things in their hands, and round things in their other hands. The creature whoop-shrieked a third time, and launched itself at the two pretty-hurty things, swiping at them with its long, sharp claws. It wasn't allowed to kill, and that made the creature very angry. Soon, many pretty things with the cold-hurty things had surrounded it, its back against a hard-wood thing. The creature seemed to be trapped.
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The noise snapped Aliah out of her thoughts immediately. A horrible screaming-howl noise. Turning to the girl and Zaria, she snapped "Lock the door behind m, and stay inside until I can say so!" Before yanking the door open, and slamming it behind her. The first thing she noticed was that all the civilians were rushing away from the potions shop and surrounding area, moving nearer the inn, and blacksmiths place. Nearly a dozen guards were arranged in a semi-circle, swords and shields at the ready. Aliah hurried to join them, eager to see who, or what had caused such a commotion.

When she arrived, she wished she hadn't. The guards had cornered a creature that looked like nothing the ninety year old vampiress had ever seen before. Pale grey, green skin, emaciated body, sharp, teeth, in two rows at the top and bottom of its' mouth, and huge yellow eyes, with no pupil to speak of. It hands were large, with vicious, sharp claws in place of finger nails. The guards had it trapped, but were reluctant to get within striking distance, understandably. Snapping her fingers at one guard, she ordered "give me your bow and an arrow, quickly!" the man obeyed, handing over a steel arrow and his Imperial bow.

Aliah was certainly not the best archer, but she could shoot, if she needed to. Aiming for the creatures center mass, she knocked the arrow, took aim, but before she could fire, the creature whoop-shrieked again, turned, and scaled the wall like a spider, disappearing into the wilderness. Aliah slumped, handing the guards bow and arrow back. Then she headed back to the Alchemy shop. "It's all clear, you can open the door now" she said, still wondering what type of monster that creature had been.
 
Shadari finally managed to get on top of the wood elf, but it hadn't been an easy victory in any way. Her shoulder ached, she still had dust in her mouth and nose, and she was pretty sure it was all over her face, as well. She lowered her fist, breathing heavily, as the man began to laugh. Not a mocking laugh, but genuine mirth. It caught the assassin so off guard that a bit of surprised laughter burst from her own lips as well. After a good laugh, the man once again stared into her eyes, which was less disturbing now that she'd gotten a bit of a read on the man.

Usually, Shadari wasn't a team player, but this elf, she'd be happy to have watching her back. For the most part, anyways. "Well I think I just got my ass kicked. You win." Shadari was half way through her graceful acceptance, when she burst out laughing again. "I'm sorry, but you should have seen your face when I tackled you!" She gasped, her lungs starting to hurt a little, both from the fight and laughter .That laughter was abruptly cut off by a blood curdling howly/shrieking noise. The Khajiit snapped her gaze off her opponents face and towards the sound and immediately wished she hadn't.

A beast, uglier than anything she'd ever seen stood not ten feet away, baring rows of very sharp teeth, and glaring at the pair with undisguised hatred. She searched for her falchion, and saw it, two feet behind the monster. "plops." She rolled off the elf, her hands going to the throwing knives at her belt, but before she could draw and throw them, the thing shrieked again, leaped over them, disappearing into the forest. Turning to her companion,she barely held a tremor from her voice as she asked "Do you have any idea what that thing was?"
 
Elizabeth bought several potions, of various strength, placing them carefully in her bag. In addition to that, she bought several herbs that could stop poison and help cure minor wounds and headaches. She'd been about to tell the Altmer woman, Aliah, that she was ready to leave, when a horrendous noise from outside drew her attention. In the blink of an eye, the leather wearing woman was at the door, telling Elizabeth and the redgaurd shopkeeper and shouting for her to keep the door closed until she said so.

The Imperial didn't follow her instructions exactly. She snuck a look out the door and saw a mass of guards surrounding some...thing, which hissed and snarled at the guardsmen. She caught a glimpse of a large, baleful eye, and slammed the door, slumping against it. She didn't know what that thing had been, but she certainly wasn't planning on opening the door again. Then she heard Aliah's voice, muffled by the wood of the door, but recognizable. Realizing that she was clutching her bag in one hand, her glass dagger in the other, she breathed out, willing herself to calm down. Then she sheathed her dagger, and pulled the door open. "What-what was that thing?" She managed to ask, her voice a little shaky.
 
Aliah re-entered the shop and rested a light, comforting hand on the younger womans' shoulder. "Honestly, I don't know.Oh, and what's your name? I don't think you told me before we were distracted" she smiled comfortingly, trying not to think of how much she reminded her of her little sister. Little Sinaya....back home, in Alinor. The vampiress blinked, getting rid of the image.

"Come on, there's still some things I need to get" she said, leading the woman towards Grey Pine Goods. She purchased several whetstones, for the maintenance of her weapons, a cloak, made of plain grey wool, but it had a hood, and several smaller items that she thought she might need. Finished with her gathering of supplies, she headed back to the inn with the Imperial, content to wait out the rain dry.
 
Salthar had remained at his seat inn the tavern, doing nothing of real importance. That, of course was before the startling whooping shriek had gained his attention. He'd noticed guards rushing past the inn, and was immediately on his feet, hand on his sword, expecting an attack. None came, but he did here Aliah calling out for someone to hand over their bow. Then relative silence, and the Thalmor vampire risked a look at the rest of the patrons, and his companions.

They all looked equally surprised, and shaken, glancing at each other and the windows. Moments later, the two women, Aliah and the Imperial girl, entered the tavern. Both of them looked rather shocked, and Salthar wondered briefly how horrible the creature had to be to scare a vampire and a dozen or so guards. "If you don't mind my saying, you look like you've seen an Oblivion gate opening" He said in greeting, standing from his seat.
 
I'm sorry, but you should have seen your face when I tackled you!" She gasped, laughing just as he had despite the pain she must have in her abdomen as well. But their laughter was abruptly cut off by a blood curdling cry straight from oblivion. The Lost snapped his gaze with the Kahjjit's to the side of the small clearing. What he saw there was beyond the imagination of nightmares.
It smelled of death and decay, as if a risen corpse. But this was beyond what The Lost knew of necromancy and dark magics, and he knew quite alot. He vaguely heard the kahjiit say, "pl***." She suddenly rolled off the him, her hands going to the throwing knives at her belt. But before she could draw and throw them, the thing shrieked again, leaped over them, disappearing into the forest.

Turning to him with a slight tremor in her voice as she asked, "Do you have any idea what that thing was?"

The Lost was emotionless again as he stared into the forest where the thing disappeared. The previous mirth all but forgotten, he had realized he shouldn't have been able to show emotion in the first place but that could wait...for now. He gathered his twin blades silently, but quickly. "No. But I have heard that sound before and smelled that stench. It is what I have been hunting. Go and tell the others what happened. If I'm correct, and I usually am, something likely happened there as well."

He held his blades at the ready and didn't look back as he said, "I'm going after it."

The Lost suddenly sped off into the gloomy forest, following the trail of the unholy beast. This was his real mission here after all. He wasn't going to let it escape. It was his best lead since leaving Whiterun...
 
Shadari watched the elf sprint off into the woods after the beast. She followed closely, but her own path led to the town and she arrived in time to see the Imperial healer and the groups leader, Aliah, heading back into the tavern. Both women looked shaken, and it didn't take a lot of creativity on the assassins' part to figure out why. Entering the tavern behind them, she said " I don't suppose you noticed, but while you were lounging about, the wood elf calling himself the Lost and I encountered..something. Pale greyish skin, lots of teeth, and claws. He took off after it" she looked to the two women she'd followed. "Judging by your faces, you've seen it already"
 
Salthar thought carefully before answering. "Judging by the description you just gave me, I'd say that it was a ghoul." Then the Altmer vampires' lips pulled down in a frown. "But that doesn't make any sense. Ghouls are nasty, but they aren't stupid. Of you would have been alone, it would have attacked for certain, but a ghoul would never attack more than a lone traveler. It certainly wouldn't come into the town, where there are many people, not without a pack, anyways" The vampire considered some more, staring down at his clasped fingers, his mind running over the possibilities.

The more he thought, the more disturbed he became. Finally, he reached a decision, and sent a mental communication to several fellow vampires patrolling the area near Falkreath. Silently, he ordered them to meet him outside the town walls. "I must return to the bandit camp that we ransacked. Then I'll know for certain whether or not this...creature is undead or not" he stated, standing and heading for the door.
 
The vampire spoke of how unlikely it was that the creature that had confronted Lost and Shadari in the woods, and Aliah and the imperial in town was something undead. Then he mentioned that he was going back to the bandit camp, and the bodies. "Are you crazy? That thing could have killed Lost, and is probably still out there!" Although she tried to sound just incredulous, she could tell fear was tinging her voice as well.
 
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