Dralith sat at the back table, leaning back in his chair with his right foot propped on the table and a cup of Cyrodiilic Brandy in his hand. The Amulet Of Kings had been stolen by the Mythic Dawn during the attack on Weynon Priory.. part of the reason he was here now. It was good fortune that the guards had decided to put the prisoners to the arena while Dralith was in town so that he could kill two birds with one stone, metaphorically speaking of course. The meeting with Baurus yesterday had lead Dralith to collect a four part volume on the Mythic Dawn and had, in turn, shown him where their sanctuary was located. During his musings, Dralith noticed a man enter the inn and make for the bar donning an armor that looked quite akin to Ebony. Perhaps a lighter version? Dralith would inquire later. It was the Breton, Daric. He'd a dossier on each of the prisoners and though they were not very detailed, they at least gave him a name to match the face with. It'd been a short while and so far Daric was the only one to show up. 'The others might be a bit longer.' He thought to himself.

With a swig Dralith finished his brandy and set the cup down then pulled his map out from a belt pouch and spread it on the table. He'd marked the location of the sanctuary on the map, as well as a few known Oblivion gates. His eyes lingered on the marked gate closest to the Imperial City. Were they ready? would this group be able to brave the gate and come out with their lives if not their sanity? Dralith hoped so. They were given an opportunity to make a difference instead of being slain like dogs in the arena sands and based on what he saw on those very sands, The Hero of Kvatch was confident in his choice of companions.

Daric was a capable man from what he'd seen. His fellow Dunmer, Kiba, was very arrogant and foolhardy but a good spellsword. Her green eyes were very unusual among their race however. Perhaps she had a hidden power or perhaps Dralith was over thinking a simple genetic deficiency. The two Orsimer, Dralith had no doubt, would hold their own in battle fairly well. Particularly the male, Karnog judging by how he'd taken the Nord down. Though he lacked tactic. Rushing in like that on the planes of Oblivion would spell doom. Aurora.. the young mage. She would need to be protected and he couldn't help but feel a slight pang of regret in taking her along but Dralith had never seen such raw magicka in someone so young. He'd been slinging fire balls and lighting bolts for well over a hundred years and reckoned that her similar spells were just as effective. The imperial female, Katrina, a pretty thing for an imperial he must admit. She had the air of a seasoned warrior about her though she could not be more than a few years into her twenties. And then there was the Bard, Henry. A curious man to be sure, Dralith still wondered what the man brought to the group besides a morale boost. Time will tell.

The Hero of Kvatch took up his pipe, packed it with a leaf of tobacco, and lit it with but a thought. He leisurely puffed away as he studied the map and thought about how each of this newfound companions would fit in during their excursion to the gate.

Kiba went to the feed bag and nodded to the shop owner.The owner replied with "Yes, K your contact is upstairs E is it, nonetheless E awaits you"Kiba went upstairs to find the armor she requested and Spell books plus the Skeleton Key. "Thank you Eathia, go to the market inn a man named Dralith will give you r normal rate of price." Kiba slipped into the armor and headed to dralith with Eathia

Karnog had set himself in a trance as he usually did while forging, it allowed him to think on other things as he swung the hammer, it was basically muscle memory at this point. He thought back to the dunmer, not the annoying one but the blade. Why would he want us? Criminals of all people, to help save the land. By all accounts it didn't make sense, the bard was next to useless, the bosmer didn't do much besides burn, the other dunmer was going to get herself killed with her arrogance, and then there was him. Karnog was never what one would call a "team player" it was ingrained in his mind since he was a but a whelp.

"You are the chosen of Malacath!" the voice of the old wise woman echoed in his head "You mustn't rely on the strengths of others for you have the strength of a god!" Karnog never did completely buy what she was selling but he always was able to do what he needed by himself. Maybe, just maybe he might like this.

With a shake of his head Karnog said "Bah! This forging is making me all soft." With a huff, Karnog lifted the head of the battleaxe, turning it around and looked for imperfections. Satisfied, Karnog cooled of the ax head and started to fit it onto the handle. After several minutes of that, Karnog began to wrap the handle in the leather so that the vibrations from hitting and blocking don't shake the weapon out of his hands. With a final accessory, several hawk feathers within the wholes of the axe head, Karnog donned the armor he had bought, put the battleaxe in his holster and headed for the tavern.

On arrival he was met with weary stares from the patrons. Ignoring them Karnog went up to the bar and bought an ale. Seeing both the dunmer and the witch hunter in the tavern, Karnog sat a comfortable distance from the dunmer and nursed his drink. Awaiting the others to arrive.

Katrina continued walking down the street until she saw the Merchants Inn. She placed the hood on her head and opened the door. She stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind herself, looking around. She spotted the Blade sitting at one the tables. She ignored him for now and walked up to the bar. "Water." She said, before the bartender could ask. The bartender grumpily placed a glass of water on the counter. She dropped a couple of coins on the counter and hurriedly walked away with her glass of water.

She walked across the room, headed for a table. She nodded at the Blade as she walked past. Sitting down at a table, she looked around the inn. She spotted and recognized the orc and the witch hunter from the group. She leaned back in her chair and sighed. She was anxious to see what plans the Blade had in store for them. She had never fought or even seen a daedra before, but she knew they were out there. The Blade's story seemed very unlikely, but she had a feeling that she had no choice but to trust him. Whatever his plans were, they surely had to be better than the arena.

Henry slowly made his way towards the Prison District. He quickly thought up a plan, which he hoped would help him get his hat back. He did not look like a prisoner anymore as he had his spear, lute and clothes. His leg was somewhat healed too. The bard went through the gate to the bridge connecting the Prison District and the Market District. He saw that there was still some time before the Sun would fully set, so with haste he went towards the place he was kept in not too long ago.

As Henry entered, he saw a sleeping Imperial Jailor behind the desk. Not suspecting anything, as this is after all a pretty boring job, Henry walked towards him and coughed trying to get his attention. However, that did not seem to work.
"Excuse me.. Sir?" Henry tried talking to him, yet there was no answer and the jailor kept sleeping. Henry then came closer to him and looked. Well, he was actually breathing, so that was reassuring. The last thing Henry needed now was for somebody to once again wrongly accuse him of murder. Henry put one hand on his shoulder and shook him, but he barely mumbled something and kept on sleeping. Henry looked around not knowing what to do. The Jailor was either a really heavy sleeper or under a spell, of which Henry thought the latter was a more reasonable explanation.

The bard opened the door to outside and shouted for a guard to come in. When one showed up, after briefly explaining the situation, the guard tried to wake the Jailor up, but without success. He then thanked the bard for telling him and asked what he was doing in the Bastion this late.

"Well, I had my hat stolen yesterday in a tavern, when I was performing. " Henry lied without hesitating, as he already came up with the lie while walking here. " I heard some thief was caught in a tavern yesterday, so I thought that maybe the hat was here and wanted to try and get it back."
The guard hesitated for a moment, but he obviously had no idea about any thieves in taverns so he nodded before asking "Can you prove that there is a hat in the chest that is yours?"
Henry already thought about that upfront too "Yes. I can tell you how it looks like. It's a big hat. You know like performers have, thought it also resembles a wizards hat. It's furry and brown. There can't be two of those, for sure."
The guard nodded again and went to check the evidence chest. He was surprised when he found the it unlocked and asked the bard who had unlocked it, to what Henry replied "Probably the same person who put the Jailor asleep." The guard mumbled something and started looking. After a minute or two he pulled out Henry's hat which was rather crumpled, but still his hat. Henry smiled as sincerely as he could. "Aye, that's the one." The guard nodded and said "Well, even if this is not yours, it's only a hat. And the chest was obviously robbed, but that couldn't have been by you. Count that as the Imperial Legion's gratitude for not stealing when you could have. Though I remember a few strange faces exiting the Bastion in the past hour today.. Oh if I see them again.." with these words the guard escorted Henry back towards the bridge to the Market District.

Henry came into the Merchant's Inn proudly wearing his beloved hat. The day went better than he expected it to go, so he obviously smiled. A couple of people from the prisoner group were already here, including the supposed Hero of Kvatch. The bard's weapon, his spear, would not allow him to sit properly, so he took it off from his back and leaned it by the wall. He went to sit at the bar counter and ordered something to eat for the last ten septims he had. Henry felt fairly hungry as he had nothing but prison food for the last two days. While waiting, he started replacing the broken strings on his lute by spare ones he took from his bag.

Kiba gave the skeleton key back to Eathia as they stepped into The Merchants Inn, kiba saw dralith and proceeded to sit next to him as Eathia bought a round of mead for kiba, dralith and herself

Brogan stepped out of the water, after being inside for hours. It washed his fatigue away and he felt almost as a new person. Almost. His back still hurt, but after a little bit of time, he now could move without much problem. He looked at the sun, which was already pretty low in the sky. He scratched his head thinking if maybe they all have left already and didn't notice him, even though he was near the gates and he didn't hear a bigger group passing by. "They are probably still in the city." he thought to himself as he was standing, waiting for the water to drip off him. "I'm glad the wind isn't strong today, I could have gotten sick otherwise." Brogan picked up the silk clothing that he bought and started slowly putting them on. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it would, so he sighed in relief. He started walking down to the gates, at first thinking of heading to inn as he was told, but he pushed that idea away, as he'd have to go to the other side of the city. Brogan hoped that all of them would come through these gates soon, so he just sat down on the bridge, looking at the setting sun.

Dralith sat puffing his pipe leisurely and returned Katrinas nod with a silent nod of his own. They were all very tentative, even wary of him perhaps. None made a move to sit by him to even garner information. He didn't blame them though, this must all be very suspicious. Dralith was in their very shoes not that long ago. They would come to trust him in time as well as each other. The door opened and the other Dunmer, Kiba, entered with someone else in tow. Kiba and her companion sat at his table and the other woman ordered mead for the three of them. Dralith waved his hand to dismiss his mug. "No thank you, I don't quite enjoy mead as much as brandy and I've had my fill for today." He blew smoke in the form of rings, each one bigger than the last as they floated to the ceiling and dispersed. "My friends." He addressed the room and stood, holding his pipe in one hand and the other resting on a sword hilt. "There are still a few others that need arrive but take this time now to fill your bellies and rest. You need not worry about purchasing a room, I've arranged for that. Rest now, for we leave at first light."

Eathia was about to fufill her Dark Brotherhood contract as she drew a dagger and pointed it to Draliths neck

Dralith pivoted on his heel, the movement putting himself behind the attackers dagger arm. His trailing foot had barely touched the ground before Elesoth, one of his katanas, was drawn and in a flash had severed the hand holding the dagger. Once his trailing foot contacted with the floor he pivoted on that heel as well. The second pivot put him on the opposite side of his assailant. Draliths lead hand wrapped around her throat and the edge of his blade soon protruded from her chest, blood stained. With a thought he enacted Elesoths enchantment and sent pulses of electricity through her body to intensify the pain. He withdrew his sword from her body and as she fell to the floor. The movement was fluid and without hesitation. From the time the dagger reached his neck it'd only taken the length of one breath until the assassins corpse hit the floor. Dralith used the dead woman's clothing to wipe the blood from Elesoth and returned the enchanted blade to its sheath in a graceful motion. He exhaled and turned to regard the body. "I've dropped my pipe.. this is unacceptable." He sighed and retrieved said pipe. "It would behoove you all to take caution in who you trust from now on. No doubt this poor sod was working a contract from the Mythic Dawn. Once they discover that you're assisting in our quest they may have such contracts for you as well."

Dralith very nonchalantly returned to his seat and relit his pipe.

Henry was just finishing to attach the last string to his lute as he heard the sound of swords being pulled out of their sheathes. The bard then saw how swiftly the Hero of Kvatch performed a spin around the attacker, before thrusting his blade into her chest. Apparently the blade was enchanted, because the murderer started shaking as if being electrocuted. "Like stabbing him through his lungs was not enough." - the bard thought chuckling and looked to the counter. He did not see when the innkeeper had brought the food Henry ordered. But before starting to eat he quickly played a few chords with his lute and loudly sang

Oh, our Hero, our Hero,
The savior of day.
Say whatever you want -
He'll saves us again.

Henry then laughed from the words of the song he just sang and put his lute on the ground near him. "Nice show, ser Hero of Kvatch. Might be you are not fooling us after all." Henry then started eating while whistling a melody of the song he previously sang when he was not chewing.

Kiba saw Eathia do this and was shocked.. "I could have killed her, fellow Dunmer..."

After finishing his meal, Henry took a look around the inn. Everybody seemed rather quiet after the attack, though that was probably because most of them were tired, but did not want to show their weakness by going to sleep first. Well, the bard was not here to show off to others, or so he thought. Henry took his spear and his lute and said "Don't know 'bout you mates, but I'm going to take a nap. " Henry started ascending the steps towards the second floor of the inn and added "Don't leave without me. Who will save you from all the monstrous things to come if not I?" he chuckled, and entered the second floor, where there were a couple of open doors left.

Since the Dunmer said it was all arranged, Henry just entered a random room, closed the door, leaned his spear and lute by the wall and lied down on the bed. After thinking for a few seconds, he stood back up, walked to the door and turned the key in the lock. He also left the key in there, so nobody would try to pick the lock. He then lied down again, without even bothering to take his shoes off and closed his eyes, trying to get some rest.

Katrina took a sip from her glass of water, watching the event unfold. The blade was very talented with the sword. Much more than she was, that was for sure. She made a mental note to never get on his bad side.

She drained her glass and stood up. She returned the glass to the counter and asked for a sweetroll, some mutton, and tea. She returned to her seat and quickly started eating. She hadn't realized how hungry she really was. The food in the prison was terrible, if they were lucky enough to be fed that day. She winced, suddenly. She sighed and realized that she had neglected her wound. She returned the sweetroll to the plate and pulled back the short sleeve of her tunic. She carefully undid the bandages around the wound and examined it. The wound was covered in dust and was struggling to scab over. If she didn't heal it soon, it might get worse. She tossed the makeshift bandage aside and hovered her hand over the wound. A blue glow emitted from her hand as she used her healing magic.

Finally, the wound was sealed. The blue died out and she stared at the smooth patch of skin, pleased. She finished her food and sipped her warm tea. She glanced at the Blade across the room. She wanted to talk to him, but she felt a little worried to try that right now. She decided to let that wait. After all, he'd probably tell them all his plans in the morning anyway.

Henry had no idea how long was he asleep when he woke up and his room had no windows. The bard felt rested, though he couldn't have been sleeping for too long. Well, he had no intentions to be left out, so Henry just decided to get up. He quickly jumped on his legs, took his lute and spear from where he left them, and descended the stairs. Everything seemed rather the same as he left everything, so he figured he can't have slept for too long. Or maybe these people are just hesitant to go to sleep and sat like that for the whole evening. Going towards a free spot near the bar counter Henry started speaking.

"Well, You all seem a rather dull company." - Henry frowned and looked around for a moment - "Are there less of us than there were originally in the prison?" He smiled "Intriguing. Escaped convicts."

The sun had barely risen as The Hero and his party gathered in the first floor. The Bard was so far the only one to speak thus far. "Perhaps. It'll only take my word for them to become fugitives once more. I don't take kindly to being played and if that is the case i will oversee their executions myself." Dralith stated plainly. He took a bite of an apple he'd procured from the inn keeper. "Now, you're all likely wondering where we're headed and what our mission is. Before we begin our quest i wish to test your mettle. Our destination is an Oblivion Gate about half a days march north of the city." He took another bite of the apple as he scanned the group. "We're going to bring it down. As you can imagine, a gate to the plane of Oblivion merely half a day from here poses a serious threat to the capitol." Dralith took one last bite and discarded the apple core. He reached down to a pack at his feet and lifted it onto his shoulders. "Once we arrive at the gate we will discuss the plan further. With that, he left the inn en route to the northern gate and assumed they would follow in his wake.

"A gate to Oblivion?" Henry could barely hide his amusement "What a song that will make!" He quickly put his spear and lute on the back, then took a glance at the tavern for one last time and gave a smile to everyone there, before turning to the door and following the Dunmer out of the Merchant's Inn.

Katrina awoke with a start, nearly falling off her chair. She looked up and saw the bard speaking. She looked around. True, there were fewer of them than before. She yawned and stretched her back, feeling cramped from having fallen asleep at the table. She couldn't blame them; the whole thing seemed sketchy. She glanced towards one of the windows and saw the warm glow of the sun starting to appear. The sun was rising; she must've fallen asleep all night.

The blade began speaking at that moment. Katrina stood up and crossed her arms as she listened to their objective. When he was done, he picked up his pack and left the inn. She patted her pocket to make sure she still had the spare septims and followed close behind him.

"Dunmer," She called, "What manner of enemy should we expect when we arrive?"

They are crawling on his back. Maggots? Worms? He can't shake the feeling that something is wrong, he has to take care of this as quickly as possible, but there's no-one around. He is running and running, trying to find a place where he could wash out the strange feeling on his back, but the world is twisting right before his eyes, corridors do not connect with one another, the road back is different from the one he came and everything is just mad. The world is mad, and suddenly it all starts to glow. It seems that everything is burning, the colors around are becoming red...

Brogan suddenly jumped up from his sleep and started grabbing over his back and sighed. The wounds have started healing rather quickly, and the pain was almost completely gone. He covered his eyes from the rising sun that was shining into his eyes and he stood up to stretch. Brogan swiped the sweat from his forehead from the nightmare. It's been quite some time since he had a nightmare. "Must be my back." he thought, as those were some horrid burns. He looked over to the bridge, where no one has crossed. Not the Hero of Kvatch, not the group of prisoners that he was fighting along with and not even a single person. The bridge was silent during the whole night.

"Well, I guess our Hero wasn't watching us properly. I could just walk away right now." an idea popped in his head, but he dismissed it. "He must be something good to actually have power to stop those archers in the arena. They probably had a good night sleep in the inn this night. I should have went there." Brogan sighed in regret and started heading towards the bridge.

The female Imperial, Katrina, caught up to him. "What manner of enemy should we expect when we arrive?" she asked. Dralith regarded her with an unreadable expression. He couldn't tell if her inquiry was born of excitement, curiosity, or worry. Perhaps a combination of the three. How to answer the question without instilling fear or demotivating the girl?

"Well, Lady Katrina." he started. "Once we arrive we'll likely find Mythic Dawn cultists around the gate. They'll be easy enough to deal with. Once inside we'll encounter Daedra. The most common of these being low class Dremora and Scamps." He paused for a moment. "Dremora are humanoids and don Daedric armor, however the ones I've encountered so far are only low class warriors. They shouldn't be taken lightly though as even they are quite a match for the average legionary. The Scamps are impish creatures that will attack from a distance with spells." As he finished, they exited the city gates onto the bridge. Movement from the side caught his eye and a hand instinctively went to the hilt of one of his blades, ready to draw the weapon. Dralith recognized the Bosmer, Brogan and let his hand fall back to his side.

"Ah, how nice of you to join us Master Brogan. I was beginning to worry you'd run off.."