Adrian Jannus

As Adrian was about to fill the Argonian in on the current mission, two more members of the company walked in. He sighed as he heard the huge Nords excuse of taking a wrong turn. Quietly he said to himself, "How can someone miss a big sign that points to here?" He shook his head and looked back to the Argonian who had been distracted by one of the new recruits who was also a part of some order to do with the Gods. Adrian didn't really bother to ask what they did after he found out it was a religious order because he didn't really care about the Gods. "Zazar." Adrian shouted, trying to get his attention. "The farms just west of here and will probably take an hour." He kept his voice loud so the two other newcomers could hear. "They're farmers I really don't see there being any skilled fighters or mages living there, maybe retired soldiers, I don't know. We'll soon find out the reason why they're not paying."

After Adrian spoke he then sauntered over the door and pushed it open and then looked back to everyone. "Whenever you're ready children, we'll get going." As he spoke, Adrian checked his belt to make sure it was secure. He had a quick look over at anyone. There was thirteen of them all together, he didn't know whether that was a bad omen or not. They would soon find out.

Tulvar

@Loo Tenant @josephb
Tulvar smirked, looking down at the cocky little Imperial both figuratively and literally. He was at least half a foot taller than the man and broader by a considerable margin.
"Children, eh? Bold words for a man who was suckling his mother's teet while I wiped the blood of highwaymen from my face."
He chuckled, amused at Adrian's overconfidence, and turned to Flavia expectantly.
"I'm ready to move out on your order."

He may have seemed the type to bristle at the idea of taking orders, but he'd been around long enough and been with enough mercenary groups to see things fall apart when one hothead thinks he should go off on his own. Admittedly, Tulvar used to be that hothead. He'd since mellowed with age, seemingly by the grace of Mara herself, and reserved his rebellious tendencies for when a group leader was acting like a daft cunt.

Clanette stepped aside quite happily for the Nord, the typical specimen of the warrior folk. He wore a greataxe and a beard to match; she had met and come to respect a hundred just like him.

The Argonian turned to her and asked, "Zazar is interested in your amulet, What is it?"

Clanette wondered if it was possible for someone not to have seen someone wearing the horn of Stendarr, even in such exotic climes as black marsh. "It's an amulet of Stendarr, Argonian. It carries the divine's blessing." she spoke with a barely contained frustration. she didn't want to get off on the wrong foot, but ignorance of one of the divines was something else

Adrian interrupted before further conversation could be had "Whenever you're ready children, we'll get going." Clanette started mulling towards the door.

"Children, eh? Bold words for a man who was suckling his mother's teet while I wiped the blood of highwaymen from my face." spoke the Nord Axeman, like deep thunder across the room. Clanette couldn't stop herself from laughing at the comment, as undiplomatic as it was.

“Finally growing some balls boy?” Flavia asked Adrian as he hurled snide little insults at her. She just found it amusing. It looks like the trip wasn't going to be boring after all. She just shook her head and gave Adrian a grin that could scare awar a dremora from the face of Nirn. “I've had cocky recruits back in the days who gave mess less than what you said and they found themselves at the cohort apothecary the next day. See to it that you can back up your words unlike them.” The little threat she uttered had a dark undertone. As if somebody was talking along with Flavia. Giving her voice an eerie darkness. People who've dealt with daedra in the room would get an uncomfortable feeling. As if Flavia herself was one of their misbegotten kind. However he quickly pulled back from Adrian and looked at the three new comers to the room.

She nodded at Clanette, even though she had not wanted to. Her order of upstart daedra and witch hunters had given her a rough time in the past. No doubt she would try too. Of course Clanette too would find herself at the end of her fist if the Vigilant ever tried to get in her way. Then she turned towards the Argonian. A rare sight in the mercenary group. A kind-hearted warrior. It seemed like a joke to Flavia. A men with his reputation would be a better fit for the Fighter's Guild. Guess they were closed to new recruits. If Zazar too ever became a pain in her sides, he too would receive a pummeling.

However the last warrior was a welcome breathe of air for Flavia. Tulvar the Nord. She wasn't spoken to him in the past but she had heard a great deal about her. Confident and strong. Flavia smirked that he recognized her as authority. "Seems you're wiser than the bunch here northerner." She told Tulvar. "Already packed too. Watch over the rest of this bunch while I get my own things in order." She left the room and gave the tall Nord a wink as she left. She was going to enjoy his companion the most it seemed.

@josephb@The Fated Fallen

Zazar Palus V

Zazar was moving his chair a bit closer towards Clanette wanting to get a closer look at the amulet, And to get a bit closer to her because she has peaked his interested. He knew a little about Stendarr and was curious what what he was about,Zazar only knew of Hist and Sithis but the latter form rumors and hear say form his Argonian community.

Almost jumping at having his name yelled at turning to face Adrian, Being glad that their would minimum resistance although he would expect the worst in case they come across something unsavory. "Zazar is ready to venture if everyone is ready?" He said adressing everyone but not looking at the Nord.

Adrian Jannus

Within the hour, the group had finally managed to set off grabbing everything they needed and finished off with their snide remarks to each other. The journey to the farming community was pretty unremarkable as far as journeys go, there was a few wolves on the edges of the forests next to the road they traveled down but they soon ran off back into the woods seeing how many were travelling together. After a while of walking down The Gold Road they had to take a turn off the main road and had to follow a path through the woods that let to Shardrock.

The weather had not really improved, it had gone the other way in fact with the clouds getting even darker, it would soon start raining. As Adrian looked up towards the sky, a look of annoyance came over his face, he hated the rain and being wet.

Walking towards the farm, Adrian and Flavia were at the front of the group both trying to look like the leader, Flavia doing the better job. The closer they got to the farm though, the quieter it got. The birds in the trees had stopped chirping, all that could be heard was the wind blowing through the woods, but not everyone had noticed how quiet it was as they talked between themselves. What was noticeable though was the smoke that started to get stronger. After a while they walked into a clearing and the group suddenly stopped to see the scenes. There was no one about. Without speaking Adrian motioned for everyone to carry on walking. Shardrock would have been a normal farming community if most of the houses hadn't been burned down, there was just smoke coming from the wreckages of the houses. Around four houses looked like they was still standing though from where they was stood. Everyone was spread out, most people had their weapons drawn as they walked closer to centre of the village.

Adrian slowly walked forward, one of his short swords had been drawn, the dread growing inside of him not knowing what was going on. He took a quick look behind to see Justin, the other Imperial crouching behind him. As they moved round the corner, Adrian froze as he looked at the scenes in front of him. A body of a young Imperial women laid on the ground with her eyes open but glazed over, her body jerked a little as the creature crouching over her was eating her insides, blood and guts covered the floor around the imp and the corpse. Adrian froze as he looked at what was going on, Justin started to walk past him. Adrian noticed the deathly look on his face as the Imperial shakily pulled his crossbow from his side. "Gods preserve me." Justin said in a frightened voice as he aimed the crossbow at the scamp. Suddenly the imp looked up staring at Justin and screeched as loud as it could before Justin had let loose the bolt hitting the imp right in the centre of its head, the body fell on top of the corpse it had been eating. In an instant, the sounds of footsteps could be heard from all directions. Adrian just stood there behind Justin as they stared at the two bodies. The thrums of bows sounded and a second later an arrow glanced off of Adrians left arm, he dived to the side and looked over at Justin who was on his knees and holding his throat, an arrow had caught him there. Out of nowhere all sorts of Daedra started to rush at everyone. Adrian struggled to his feet and suddenly had to slash at another scamp who had jumped at him, he caught the scamp's arm which easily came off as the imp ran off screaming, all around everyone was fighting different types of Daedra.

@josephb

Zazar Palus V

Zazar was staying close to the group not wanting to be split apart form them, He knew that if you were alone on these kind of roads is asking for trouble. Watching the grotesques image in front of them of a women being eaten by a imp, He knew right away that it was Daedra and his assumption was correct seeing the Daedra running at them. "Stay close, Zazar will summon support" He yelled out waving his staff summoning some wolves that went out to attack the Daedra forces.

He hoped that the wolves would help but just in case he would summon more, The wolves were starting to attack the imps. Zazar summoned three skeletal warriors that was circling around the group to try to protect them, Attacking anyone of the Deadra that would come close to the group.

@josephb

Kalon noticed the lack of noise first. Then he smelled the smoke. And then his eyes fell upon the burnt remains of the village as they drew closer. While there were still four houses left standing, Kalon was not put at ease. If anything his paranoia only grew even more as the others in his group began to spread out and explore the village, looking for any trace of the people who lived here or any clue as to what may have happened to them. With a low growl, Kalon cast a Guard spell upon himself, causing a faint bluish shield to form around his body before seemingly fading into nothingness. Shifting into a more adaptive stance, Kalon summoned up small balls of orange flame in either hand as he warily gazed at the surrounding woods for any sign of an ambush. It may have seemed an overly cautious or foolish thing to do in the eyes of the casual observer, but it paid off a few minutes later after Justin quickly dispatched an imp that was feasting on the corpse of an Imperial woman, when the thunderous sounds of footfalls echoed throughout the forest around them. A sound that was immediately followed by the whizzing of arrows and thrums of bowstrings as a volley of dark arrows were launched at him an the others in his group, one even managing to embed itself into some poor sods neck, causing him to go down a few seconds later.

Taking cover behind the ruined husk of a nearby building as several arrows bounced off of his shield, Kalon watched as several armored Daedra surged out of the forest and rushed towards them. Ducking out of cover for a bit, Kalon launched a small fireball at one of the creatures, sending it flying backwards a couple of feet, but other than that it did next to no damage. Kalon scoffed underneath his mask and shook his head at his own foolishness. Of course a fire spell wouldn't have done anything. These were Daedra after all, and from the orangish black design of their armor, they hailed from the Deadlands. Mehrunes Dagon's plane of Oblivion. Which meant that casting a fireball at one of them was about as useful as casting a bucket of water at the ocean. Moving back behind cover, Kalon dispelled the orbs of flame and replaced them with a Hailstorm spell, wreathing his hands in an icy aura.

Rolling back out of cover while simultaneously readying the spell, Kalon quickly leapt to his feet as he came to a stop and cast the spell, causing a storm of cold and frost to envelope the Daedra, slowly freezing them within their hellish looking suits of armor until they were nothing more than vaguely man shaped blocks of ice that softly glistened even though the suns light was completely obscured by the dark grey clouds overhead. Smirking underneath his mask, Kalon brushed the dirt from his robes as he went to aid the other members of his group. Not out of genuine desire to keep them from seeing harm, but rather out of a desire to keep them intact enough for future use.

Tulvar

The Nord grinned as he readied his battle ax and stared the charging hellspawns down. One came at him with a war ax and shield but these did it no good at Tulvar side-stepped and swung the weighty blade at its shin. The creature toppled forward with a screech that was cut short as Tulvar relieved it of its head in one swing. Another daedra caught an armored fist to its neck and as it stood wheezing with its hands around its throat, he buried the blade of his ax in its head. Tulvar laughed as he kicked the now lifeless body off his ax and waved the horde on.
"Have you the strength to defeat a son of Skyrim? Come and see!"
Two more daedra met their fate at the end of the Nord's ax and the survivors grew wary. They attempted to stay beyond the reach of his massive weapon but he stood as a wall guarding those behind him. None of Deadlands warriors could breach his defense straight on and they knew it as well as he. They fought viciously but they were minnows trying to swim against the rapids. One more tried to circle around him but got an ax to the liver for its trouble.

Daedra! By the nine divines, at least a dozen of them! Clanette caught an arrow to the lower left ribs just as she managed to raise her ward to catch two more. Her concentration broke and the ward shattered, but thankfully the remaining Dremora were focused on melee now so no more missiles came her way.

Even breathless she managed to utter the cantations required for a flash heal, calling for Stendarr's strength to fight his most vile foes. She pulled the arrow free with cry of pain, noticing split bone and flesh knitting itself back together in its place. She drew her mace and was ready, "By Stendarr, I'm ready! Wretches!" she cried as she charged in alongside the Nord who had clear as day already slain three of them without so much as a scratch. She smacked the last one he had hit in the side of the head, letting out a sickening crunch. The dremora looked like it would die regardless, but there was no harm in making sure. She tried to soothe the northerner's pride "That one still counts as yours!"

The remaining foes kept their distance, eyeing Tulvar more than they were her. A line of four churls stood before them, and a Kynreeve further off in the back. With every step the Nord made forward they stepped back, it was almost enough to make her laugh. The situation gave her more time for further casting, however. Ironflesh took a little while longer to sort than a flash heal, but the telltale itch and cool across her skin was almost pleasing to her as it meant the spell was successful. She let out a warcry and charged forward ahead of Tulvar.

She caught almost every one of their attacks, a sword thumping against her center chest, a mace to her left shoulder and a final sword to the top of her head. Each one gave her a sudden shooting pain, the head-shot particularly, but the pain inflicted was leagues less than if she she had not been under the effects of ironflesh. Though her robes were a little worse for wear Clanette remained undaunted. She'd made little attempt to defend herself, as she wouldn't be able to match them martially anyways, but focused on attack and made swings back for each one directed at her.

She only landed glancing blows for the most part, though she caught one quite harshly on the wrist and another wasn't breathing right after she cracked his ribs. She had succeeded in pushing them back even more, however, right into her charging Nord's warpath.

@Jarl Coolgruuf

The scent of a running fire had forced its way into Flavia's nostril. Giving her an unwelcome intrusion of her past memories. It was all too familiar in her mind. When she joined the legion, the Imperial Interregum was at the height of its conflict. The different warlords bidding for power had gathered flocks of armed warriors to their causes. Warriors who would normally patrol for bandits, thieves and other ill sorts. Flavia's legion was often sent to bring law to the land. Often by force. The scent of destruction was all too familiar to her. In those times she would often enter villages in the same state as Shadrock was now. "On guard." Flavia said in a low and soft tone. Careful not to make her voice any louder than it should.

Above the smell of scorched earth, stone and soil though was another scent. All too familiar to the legionnaire yet again. That sickly sweet smell that was all too common on the battlefield. That's when Flavia's eyes came upon the carcass of a woman laying down on the road. Serving as a feast for a couple of Daedra scamps. The sound of her flesh being torn apart from her bones was sickening to hear. Even the war hardened veteran.

"Formation!" Flavia yelled out. Trying to organize her mercenaries into fighting formation. However they had each ran into the thick of it. The scamps charging at them before they could prepare. The veteran cursed under her breath. She took a whistle that dangled from her neck and blew into hard. It was loud enough to garner the attention of everyone in the fray. "Formation!" She yelled again."Back to back. Keep Kalon and Neras in the back. Everybody else cover each other's flanks!"

As Flavia positioned everybody in the middle of the fight, a familiar voice spoke to her again. "I see Dagon still has a taste for death and destruction. I didn't expect he'd be this blunt though. Hasn't that idiot learned from his last scuffle with this worms?" The voice then laughed. A condescending laughter that even the scamps themselves heard as they fixed their eyes on Flavia. "Teach these pest the true meaning of power my champion. Butcher everyone of them. Make it a fine tribute to my name."

With that Flavia found a grin growing on her face. Her sword arm received renewed vigor. As if some primal force inside her was released. She screamed. A gut-wrenching scream that echoed above the noise of the flames and the battle. The iron maiden of Niden bay was now prepared to unleash carnage.

Tulvar

"Formation!"
Tulvar paused as a shrill whistle split the air and a command rose above the din of battle, giving a short grunt of displeasure as his leader's words reached him. He disliked formations on account of they made his battle ax more difficult to use as he had to take care to avoid striking allies with its broad swings, but orders were orders. Flavia seemed like the type of leader who knew exactly what she was doing. So he shifted his grip on his weapon to make narrow, overhead swings and avoid wounding anyone beside him in such close proximity. It was then he heard the resounding warrior's scream that tore up from her soul and he lifted his ax above his head and answered her with a bellowing war cry not unlike the roar of a furious bear. He grinned at his fortune that the Divines would grant him such an ally.

His attention then quickly turned to the Vigilant "Fall back, priest!" he shouted to Clanette, "Into formation!"
Tulvar reached out to grab the back of her robe, intending to pull her backward with him as he fell into formation on Flavia's left flank.

Adrian

As Adrian looked around he saw the group scattered about fighting individual battles. He noticed the priest taking an absolute beating but it didn't really seem to affect her and what seemed to be an ice storm, probably conjured by one of the mages in the group. Daedra carried on coming from all directions as everyone continued to fight. Where in the hells are they all coming from? Ethan thought to himself as he pulled out his other sword from it's scabbard. Before he could actually see where they were all coming from a sword slashed at his face bringing him back at to the fight. Adrian leant back quickly as the sword slashed at his head, the dremora screeching at him in some strange tongue. The creature swung at him with his huge great sword again, but Adrian jumped back just back in time. When the creature slashed at him another time, Adrian swiped at the great sword with one of his blades pushing the Dremora's sword further to side than it intended and knocking him off balance and leaving his side vulnerable and quickly Adrian lunged his other sword as deep into it as possible. He slowly pulled his sword back out of the dremora as it dropped dead, the black sludge that was the creatures blood was stuck to the blade.

Before Adrian could catch his breath back a Clannfear crashed into him and knocked him to the ground, in a split second the beast was on top of him trying to bite at his face. Adrian was just barely keeping him away with his right hand whilst his left searched for one of his swords. In the background he could hear Flavia barking orders. It took a few seconds for Adrian to actually grab one of his blades and when he did, Adrian buried it in the Daedra's head.

Adrian sighed and then shouted to himself, "Why could we not have just been fighting some bloody farmers!" As he rolled the lifeless corpse off him, then grabbed his swords and moved back to the rest of the group. Arrows were still flying around and as he looked around he noticed that some of the Dremora were on some of the remaining houses. When he got to the group Flavia had organised them fairly well especially seeing that it was a rag tag group who hadn't really had much experience fighting together. When he got to the group, he shouted, "It's all well and good staying here but we're gunna get picked off one by one with those archers, anybody got any ideas how to take them out?"

It was incredible how Flavia's voice and whistle carried over the fight. Experience, I guess Clanette thought to herself inbetween jarring blows and strikes. It didn't feel right to retreat and give up the ground she and Tulvar had made now, but her Nordic ally tugging her back by the robe was enough to convince her.

She allowed him to guide her back, spending the last of her magicka reserves to keep her ward maintained and to the front protecting them both from any stray missiles, spells or strikes. "These damned archers!" she said back to Tulvar as another arrow pinged off her spell. Someone would need to deal with them, somehow. At least being in formation would help in that regard. She was pulled back through a line of summoned skeletons, something that irked the Vigilant inside her but she knew better than to mention it now.

Finally back amongst her comrades Clanette fell into the back-line, dropping her satchel and removing a selection of potions, proceeding to gulp down phials of health, magicka and stamina. As the various brews settled in her stomach she felt warmth return to her skin, the sign ironflesh had worn off. "It's all well and good staying here but we're gunna get picked off one by one with those archers, anybody got any ideas how to take them out?" piped up Adrian, but Clanette had no ideas.

She cried above the clamour before she spent any more magicka on herself; "Does anyone need any healing?" She couldn't see any immediate broken bones or gaping wounds but it was always worth asking

@josephb

Zazar Palus V

Zazar was making sure his comrades were not horribly maimed or burnt, Using healing spells on the others using his sword to protect Flavia and Tulvar. Striking down the incoming scamps stabbing them in the heads as blood gushed out onto his robes, Although he did not mind getting his hands dirty the blood could be easily washed off. And it was not his concern at the moment as he was more focused on dealing with the Deadra.

"It's all well and good staying here but we're gunna get picked off one by one with those archers, anybody got any ideas how to take them out?" Zazar heard Adrian yell out his concern about the archers. "Zazar may have a solution dealing with the archers, However it will seem unconventional" He spoke out loud for Adrian to hear him.

Using a chameleon spell to make himself invisible as he started making his way towards the archers, Making sure he was not seen by the Deadra. Summoning some skeletons as distraction for the incoming Deadra, Soon he was close enough to the archers that he could attack them by hitting them with large looking fire balls hopefully killing them.

@josephb & @Eviledd1984

Kalon did as he was told and joined the rest of his compatriots as arrows rained down all around them in a deadly storm. Readying a more single target based ice spell, Kalon brought up his hands and shot a couple of blasts into the woods, hoping to hit at least one of the Daedra with it. Ignoring the conversations and cries of everyone else in his group, as they would only distract him, the Altmer attempted to formulate a plan which would allow all of them to walk away from this confrontation. Preferably as intact as possible. Gazing out a the tree line through his mask, Kalon watched, somewhat surprised, as the Argonian newcomer cast a chameleon spell on himself and ran out to meet the denizens of Oblivion with balls of fire floating in either hand. The fool. Didn't he know that an offensive spell like that could be seen despite the fact that he was nearly invisible to the naked eye? And the fact that he was using fire of all things only made his chances of survival even worse, because these Daedra, once again, came from Mehrunes Dagon's realm. A place filled with the stuff.

Shaking his head as he muttered a curse, Kalon quickly readied another spell, when an idea suddenly popped into his mind. One that just might work if he could co-ordinate it right with these novices. Releasing the spell and letting it fade away into nothingness, Kalon turned towards Zazar and ran to him, or rather the floating orbs of fire that signified where he was, at full speed. Placing a gauntleted hand against his back, or what Kalon assumed was his back anyway, the elf cast an Encumbering Touch spell to keep him from moving, followed by a Guard, Shock Shield, and Ice Shield spell. Wrapping his arms around the Argonian in order to keep him from moving any further, Kalon leaned in closer in order to be heard of the sounds of arrows whizzing through the air.

"Do not move, no matter what happens. Understand? I have a plan to eliminate these archers, but it won't work if we move from this spot. Got that?" He said in a low, yet commanding tone. Unwrapping one of his arms from Zazar as arrows bounced off of, were disintegrated, or frozen on the shields surrounding them, Kalon readied a Telekinesis spell in his free hand and waited for more arrows to approach. This had to be timed perfectly or else they'd be stuck in this spot until the shields ran out. Taking a breath to steady himself after casting three different spell variations in quick succession, Kalon watched as a new volley of arrows were loosed directly at them. As they drew closer, Kalon calmly raised his hand into the air and cast the spell, causing the projectiles to stop in their tracks. Smirking underneath his mask, Kalon let out a barely audible 'hmph' as he slowly rotated the arrows till they were facing the directions the had come from.

Angling them upwards slightly with the spell, Kalon proceeded to send them flying back at their owners with a small flick of his wrist and an amused grin on his masked face.

Calder sat on a bear fur rug next to the fire in a warm and comfortable tavern. The book Night Falls on Sentinel by the author Boali in his lap and his longsword sharing the namesake laid out in front of him. A pitcher of quickly warming mead sitting next to that. For a pirate he had never been much of a drinker. The smell of baking bread wafting out of the small tavern kitchen filled his nose and made his stomach growl. He had very little coin at the moment but one must always eat. Especially those with as vigorous lives as those lead by warriors. He was about to get up and go see the barmaid about buying something to eat when an Imperial man sat down on the rug next to him, leaning forward and warming his hands in the heat of the fire. He smirked and nodded at the book in Calders lap.

“A Nord that enjoys a good read? You’re a rarity my friend.” The Imperial spoke cheerfully, his voice soft and refined. He certainly wasn’t from the waterfront.

Calder raised an eyebrow at him, a slight frown on his face. “If it makes you feel any better I can also throw a punch that’ll leave a cave bear dreaming.”

“Oh... “ The Imperial said simply, the shadow of sadness crossing his face. “I fear I have offended you. I apologize, it was rude of me to insinuate your people are all of a kind.”

Calder let out an involuntary sigh, rubbing some of the tension out of his forehead with his thumbs. “Don’t worry about it. It’s been a long day and I’m in a bit of a mood because I wasn’t able to find work… We all make assumptions sometimes. I’m Calder Blood-Mouth, originally of the Imperial City.” He spoke softly, holding out his hand.

The Imperial shook it, a smile back on his face. “My name is Castomo Platius. Pleased to make your acquaintance Calder. I take it from how well armed and armored you are that you are a sell-sword, correct?”

Calder nodded.

“In that case you’re in luck. I was supposed to meet my cousin back in Kvatch, he has been working on a farm some distance west of Skingrad and was supposed to set up a deal with the owner of the land for me to buy some of their crop. I own a couple of farms myself you see, one of which is outside of Anvil. Unfortunately its crop went bad and I fear if I don’t replace it somehow I’ll lose some of my customers for good. One must be reliable when it comes to food after all. His not showing up has me worried however, these are turbulent times. If you would be willing to accompany me to the farm come morning light I would pay you for it. There might not actually be anything wrong but I’m wealthy enough to purchase some ease when I desire it.”

“I’d be more than happy to Castomo. Thank you for the job opportunity. Since I have work in the morning now though I should get something to eat and grab what sleep I can. We’ll talk more on the way?” Calder said, half smiling.

“Indeed. I’ll see you bright and early.”

---

Calder didn’t regret taking Castomo up on his offer, he was in serious need of coin and this seemed to be a pretty easy way to earn some but by the nine divines did the man love to talk. By the time they’d even gotten somewhat close to where the farm was supposed to be he knew more about his Imperial employer than he did about most of the people he’d considered friends over the years. He wasn’t shy about asking Calder personal questions about himself either. Where he grew up in the Imperial City, his mother, his father, where he had learned to fight and how he’d gotten the name of Blood Mouth. Eventually Calder had to shush him, stopping dead in his tracks and putting his hand on Cassimo’s shoulder to make sure he did the same.

“What’s wr-” The Imperial tried to ask.

“Shh. Listen...” Calder ordered. They both stayed deathly still for a moment and listened.

“I don’t hear anything, it’s quiet.”

Calder shook his head. “Not quiet, no. Quiet would be right. It’s silent… There should be animal sounds, insects or birdsong at the least. They’ve all fled this area... That bodes ill. Come on, we should move quickly. At the first sign of trouble you hide behind a tree or something, understand?”

“I understand.” He replied, fear on his face.

They walked on. The closer they got to the farm the worse things seemed. Pretty soon they were smelling smoke. Then hearing the sound of battle.

“Hey, get down behind that tree there. Stay right there. After things fall silent and it’s safe I’ll come get you. If I don’t after a short while you run back the way we came. Follow the road back to the nearest tavern, don’t take any chances. Understood?”

“Understood.” He spoke fearfully, shrinking down into the tree.

Calder ran on, pulling both of his axes from their places at his hips. It wasn’t long before he recognized the sound of metal on metal, the twanging of bows and the only thing out of it all that put any amount of fear into him; the sound of fireballs and other spells flying through the air. He prayed he wouldn’t have to fight a mage, or more than one for that matter. He got close enough to see the action happening and hid behind a tree, sticking his head out slightly to spy out from behind it. It was the forsaken Daedra! Men and women from races of both men and mer were fighting them. They seemed a mix of warriors and mages, quite obviously a merc-band judging by how they fought. Calder watched as one of them ran to his near invisible fire-throwing friend and seemed to shield him, soon using his mighty power to stop arrows fired at them in mid flight and turn them back on their archers. One of them burst through the eye and brain of a Dremora, another two hit the head crest and beak of a Clannfear, dropping it.

He waited for the volley of arrows to all find a mark, already breathing heavily due to the adrenaline before rushing out from behind the tree and heading towards the Daedra and spellcasters. He let out a battle cry that was all Nord yet oddly reminiscent of his Imperial father as he ran towards his new found enemies. As soon as he got close enough he pulled his right arm back over his shoulder before letting one of his axes loose at a Dremora. The axe buried itself in the creatures face leaving a gaping wound where its nose and mouth used to be. Moving forward again he pulled his sabre out of its sheath and readied himself for close quarters combat. He got to an archer first. The thing tried to bring its bow up to fire but the Nord hooked it with his axe and pulled it down and away, simultaneously stabbing the creature down through the shoulder and where its heart should be. Before he could even withdraw his blade from the creature another had reached him and swung it’s sword at him. He just about managed to bring his axe up in time to stop the thing carving through his own head. He swiftly backed away and pulled his sabre with him.

“You’re going to have to be better than that, churl!” Calder goaded, smirking as anger came over the daedroths face. He moved slowly to position the daedroth between him and another archer he spotted behind him, giving a very quick glance sideways at the spellcasters. Oddly one of them was wearing a mask.

@ZAVAZggg

Zazar Palus V

Zazar was disparate by him both missing the target and his spell being ineffective to the Daedra, Thankfully he was still or hopefully still hidden to the demons. The next part of his would have been moving to a more hidden part of the terrain, And using some sort of spectral arrows to use against them.

However his plan did not come to fruition as he felt someone wrapping their arm around his own, "Is your plan to pick them off one by one?" The Argonian spoke in a hushed whisper. Zazar for the time being would stand as still as a statue until it was either the right time to move or told when to move. "Do you need help riding of these monsters?" He asked Kalon wanting to be some sort of help to what he was doing.

@Eviledd1984

"Help?" He scoffed, halting and redirecting some more of the arrows back to their senders. "I do not need your help lizard. I am perfectly capable of dealing with these Daedra myself, but if you want to run out into the open and draw some of their fire..." He unwrapped his other arm from around Zazar's waist before focusing fully on spellcasting. "Then I won't stop you." Turning away from the Argonian, Kalon channeled some more magicka into his shields just to make sure they didn't give out on him midway through the fight, before readying a Shocking Burst spell in his free hand which he proceeded to cast off into the woods. It took a couple of seconds, but soon the screams of their attackers were ringing out from the surrounding foliage as the smell of burning flesh slowly wafted through the area.

Halting and reflecting even more of the arrows, Kalon began launching the shock spell he'd readied at the woods once again, methodically taking down one Daedra after the next.

@Sad Ogo@ZAVAZggg

Zazar Palus V

Zazar's face looked quite disheartened form Kalon's comment, Perhaps it was the right reaction to his rather outlandish plan. "Very well" He spoke softly uncloaking himself and keeping himself form venturing too far, The Argonian wanting to rid of the now present Daedra mages that are firing at the group. Readying a paralyzing spell and using it on one of the Daedra warrior's that was about to attack Kalon, Focusing now on the approaching scamps that seemed to multiple by the second.

Turning his attention to the Nord that was yelling and charging at the many Daedra warriors, Quickly dispatching some scamps with his sword before making his way over towards him. "Behind you Mr.Nord" He yelled out to the Nord noticing a Daedra mage behind him ready to zap him with a lightning spell. Zazar countered this by throwing a Daedra mace at the mage's head hoping to knock him off balance for the Nord to react and kill him.