ButtsnBalls

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 2 (Completed)

The Airship

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An incredible rumble followed the flash of light, and the entire ship trembled with the ear-deafening explosion caused by the catastrophic effect of magic on magic. The golden plating of the ship caved inside from its weaker spots, and the floor cracked wherever it could, destabilizing further towards the epicenter of the explosion, almost caving in. Nearly everyone aboard had gotten blasted into the ground or otherwise dizzied by the reaction; even the Sload, which had looked nearly immovable with its massive size and incredible armor, had found itself smashed into the rear end of the ship with the explosion, its toes, palms and the frontal belly plate of its armor seemingly seared to a crisp by the blast.

Unfortunately, it did not seem as if it were out of commission with such wounds alone. It was not surprising, since Sload were things of myth, and practically nobody had any idea as to how durable they were; it promptly plopped itself out of the crater its body mass had created, and began walking towards the group, letting out a growl which sounded like a tiger’s roar and a whale’s deep moan at the same time. As its growls slowly increased in pitch and began sounding more like a monster’s impersonation of speech, the Golden Slug opened its palms, hands facing the party. Sparks began popping with loud sounds mere inches beyond its palms, indicators of some very potent Destruction magic; no doubt more than enough to turn the group into no more than ash.

As the sparks and loud pops converged into lightning proper, a chitinous mass threw itself out towards the source of the magic and smashed into its torso with a loud slam; Tsleeixth’s Dreugh had reached out at just the right time and saved the party from a rather unceremonious death. Chirping out an alien and disconcerting roar, the Dreugh stabbed one of its claws into the Sload’s palm, and swung the other into its pudgy face, tearing its mouth open, right before the Sload grasped it with its other arm, and poured magic into it until it burnt to a crisp. The air was pungent with the smell of fried crab.

The second one to test his luck was Hargjorn. Seeing the Sload injured and preoccupied with the dreugh, Hargjorn emerged next from the smokes and rushed forward with his falchion raised high. His own battle cry was not dissimilar with that of the dreugh's roar, and his fate was not dissimilar from the dreugh's demise. With amazing reflex and power, the Sload whipped out a giant ball of fire into Hargjorn's way. The resulting explosion completely pulverized Hargjorn, leaving nothing more than chunks of flesh, cloth and metal. The airship itself was also further damaged, causing raptures to appear on deck and on the balloon.

"Do vahknu donu al mi brakumon, sahk vi ahkstos frotita." The Sload growled through its torn jaw, ripping off ruined armor pieces to reveal a multitude of golden necklaces dangling over its drooping stomach. Stubby hands raised and moved like a bard delivering a verse to the beat, which accompanied taunts in heavily accented, barely comprehensible Cyrodilic.

"This is Tmeip'r, the Fiftieth-Sent." The Sload began rapping. "Many men, many, many, many, many men, wish death upon me."

Zombie Tennant had risen again, after being knocked down by the explosive shockwave. Its left arm was squished flat by its own weight, leaving only its club-attached right arm to swing at everyone in sight. The zombie appeared to be no longer coordinated, as the Sload's focus shifted to taunting what remained of the boarding party. Instead of a defensive stance, zombie Tennant swung wildly and clumsily, making outgoing attacks easy to avoid and incoming attacks easy to connect. Pained wails emanated from the zombie's throat, in sounds that almost resembled "end it".

However, the Sload seemed undeterred. Conjuring energy of pure death, something that was unseen by Tamrielic mages, it opened its assault with a flurry of verbal attacks. "I don't know what you heard about me, but a mortal can't get a gold out of me."

Magicka coalesced into spheres in the Sload's hands. "I'll take you to the candy shop; I'll let you lick the lollipop!"

The spell flew out in streaks of black, but as soon as the magicka materialized, it imploded in the very air ahead of the Sload. In its hubris (which included ignoring the damage done by the dreugh), the slugfolk had failed its deadly magic. As a result, the Sload was knocked back once again, and stunned briefly from defending itself.

"Kill it, now!" The sole surviving sailor urged. He didn't do anything himself, in fear of suffering the same fate as Hargjorn.

What Are You Listening To?

What Are You Listening To?

What Are You Listening To?

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 2 (Completed)

Everyone: *Burning*
Piper: "This is fine."

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 2 (Completed)

Dice rolls completed; here are the interpretations.

• There werewolf is lit (and will be quickly burned to death), but so are the people fighting it.
  
  • The only one not burning is Piper, due to her endurance and heavy armor boosting her 7 to an 8.
  • Ashna iz ded.
  • Dax, Marcel and Adaeze are on fire as well, but their wounds are not severe (around second degree).
  • One sailor is nearby with a bucket of water, which means one character can be extinguished right away. The rest may need to take a dip overboard (to immediately extinguish the fire), or stop, drop and roll (taking longer to put out the flames).
• The Venims are able to make it out before the blast hits, thanks to Sevine and Maj's atronach helping. Narzul, Sevine and Maj are unscathed (barring previous injuries), but Niernen got cut up badly by dreughs along her way.
• Leif got Dough-Boy out, but he was knocked out himself by another airship fragment or passing dreugh.
• Dar'Jzo sucks at operating the ballista, but is otherwise perfectly fine. He also gets to watch Leif getting rekt and laugh.
• The majority of the dreughs are toast. Only a few stragglers left for clean up.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 2 (Completed)

For characters on Kyne's Tear

• The werewolf and those fighting it will enter the fire bolt blast zone.
• Wylendriel will heal Piper and Ashna, in addition to supporting other werewolf fighters.
• The Venims will attempt to fight their way back, assisted by Sevine, and Maj's icy boi.
• Dael, Keegan and Dar'Jzo will man the ballista.
• Leif will be getting Dough-Boy.
• Ariane will sleep off her headache.

Everyone except Deal, Keegan, Dar'Jzo, Leif, Ariane and Maj (not her atronach) will have the risk of being lit on fire.

Dice rolls coming shortly; stand by.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 2 (Completed)

Discord Hall of Fame™ bonus episode.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 2 (Completed)

Kyne's Tear characters:

-Werewolf fighters need to choose between holding position, leading wolf toward dreughs or take the fight away from the dreughs. Holding position will gain advantage immediately against the werewolf. Going to the dreughs let's the fire bolt hit the dreugh. Going the opposite way avoids getting burned.

-Niernen and Narzul can choose one of the following. Take cover where they are, jump overboard or attempt to run back through the dreughs. Taking cover in current position will gain no additional injury, but will be inside the fire radius. Jumping ship or running back have the danger of additional injuries.

-Those not engaged can help with the werewolf, help the Venims (getting them back onboard or help them clear a path back, if relevant choices are made) and man the ballista. Someone should also help out Dough-Boy; his arm is trapped under the debris and will need amputation if no one helps him immediately.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 2 (Completed)

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His robes are sweaty,
spells weak,
staff strokes are heavy.
There's vomit on his sweater already;
Alinori spaghetti.

Keegan snapped back (from dream) to reality, and almost thought there goes gravity. Stepping out onto the deck, Keegan choked on rainwater. He's so mad, but he won't give up that easily...

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What was Keegan thinking? Why did he even think signing back on with this mercenary company was a good idea? It seemed bad fortune gravitated to these mercenaries wherever they went. How was it possible for someone to have an airship, let alone an army of messed up dreughs and an undead werewolf. It wasn't just any werewolf, it was the resurrected corpses of Relmyna Vibato, the poor Dunmer girl they locked up in Windhelm, for single-handedly pushing back a Kamal assault in beast form. It was horrifying to know that not even the dead have seen the end of this terrible conflict. What was this conflict anyway? Surely this couldn't be the Kamals; they have not been observed practicing necromany, and it would serve them better to unleash this monstrosity in mainland Skyrim. So now it's even more horrifying to think that there existed forces beyond the eastern invaders.

If dozens of Kamals stood no chance against werewolf Relmyna, then what chance do the mercs have? Sagax's bulky sister had no luck, the new Redguard had no luck, and the new Bosmer/Redguard pretender had no luck either. Keegan could run, but to where? He turned only to trip and fall face first into an utterly decimated corpse. It was the same man cut up by the werewolf's golden claws. The wounds were so gruesome that Keegan threw up in response, right on his own sweater. The vomit wasn't spaghetti, but his knees went weak and arms felt heavy beyond measure.

Then a dreugh jumped right in front him. Savage hiss emanated from its mouth parts like the disparaging lyrics from Papa Dock. Following up was a golden claw like the dropping of a voice amplifier. Keegan rolled left, avoiding the downward claw. The dreugh maneuvered to face him, and Keegan had time to get up on his knees. However, he dived back down again when arcs of lightning flew from the dreugh's claw. Now Keegan found himself on the flank of the dreugh again. The creature wasn't the fastest to turn, so Keegan took this opportunity to form a bound dagger and lunged at the dreugh.

Well, Keegan choked. His bound dagger fizzled upon contact with the dreugh and dissipated without doing damage. The dreugh turned to face him, with what was most likely anger on its face. Keegan fell again, backward onto his ass and scrambling out of the way of another claw strike.

"What's your beef!?" Keegan asked. To whom? He wasn't sure. It wasn't like the dreugh understood him. He barely had the time to pull his staff from the straps on his bag to swipe aside the next claw. Fine, if it wanted a fight, he'll give it one. Keegan's not afraid to take a stand. Even in this soaking rain; whatever weather, cold or warm. So he's back on his feet again. This time, Keegan discharged electricity from his staff, and the sparks did not miss.

Except that Keegan missed the part about dreughs being resistant to shock. His opponent reared back, seemingly in pain. But then it suddenly shot back with lightning of its own. Keegan threw up a lesser ward in defense, absorbing most of the energy but still felt his muscles numbing with excess electricity.

"Quit playing scissors and shit, and cut the crap." Keegan straightened himself from the shock, avoided dreugh pincers and counterattacked with his staff. He jabbed with his staff like a spear, but his attacks either skidded off the hardy shell or missed completely. The slippery deck sabotaged what little grace Keegan had in the way of footwork. Not matter how hard he tried, he could not beat this one stubborn dreugh.

"Why don't you just die!?" Keegan let out a frustrated yell behind another futile thrust. "Auriel! Stendarr! For fuck's sake! Talos! Please!"

Something answered in the air. A bird, no. An airship, well, of course it's still there. No, it was a flying man. No, wait, it was a falling man. Dying screams became louder as its source descended.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!"

SPLAT!

Keegan had gone prone again and covered his head with his arms. He even closed his eyes (in case it was some eye-destroying substance). When the impact landed and nothing else happened a few seconds later, he opened his eyes to find the dreugh he was fighting squished flat by a dead sailor.

"It's raining men!" Keegan exclaimed. It took him a second to comprehend the current situation, but Keegan eventually realized the sailor had been sent from above; he laughed. "Thank you, Auriel! Thank you, Stendarr!"

Divine intervention did exist! Keegan shook his head. He had one more to thank. "Thanks, Talos."

---

Elsewhere, the dreughs were converging on Narzul and Niernen. Having been rescued by Leif, Dar'Jzo was no longer a target. Instead, the dreughs that were formerly eyeing him as their next meal changed their diet to Dunmer. A dozen dreughs besieged the Venim siblings, and this was definitely more than they could handle in their wounded state.

Fortunately, Gustav had seen their peril from afar. He was wondering on how to put the ballista to use, and there it was, a tightly packed mass of targets, perfect for their incendiary bolt. He commanded the ballista crew to aim toward the dreughs, right over the heads of mercenaries caught in between. In was not ideal, and if Hargjorn was here, he would go berserk at the potential damage to his beloved ship. Hargjorn was taking the high road instead, and that meant Gustav was getting the one shot that he did want to miss the chance to blow.

Between the ballista and the Venims was the werewolf and the mercenaries that fought it. Having multiple targets meant the werewolf was distracted and could not focus on overwhelming any one of them. Most of its attack were directed at Ashna, but she managed to fend them off. Offensive efforts by Adaeze and Daixanos did not inflict further damage, though they steadily pushed the werewolf into defense. The fight was far from over, but the mercenaries could now dictate the pace and direction.

Having observed the entire battle from a crack underneath a hatch, Dough-Boy now saw an opening for the ballista to take out both the dreughs and the werewolf in one shot. It would need the mercenaries to direct the werewolf toward the dreughs (and the Venim siblings), and the flame bolt would be enough to engulf both types of foes. Dough-Boy jumped up to communicate his unexpected tactical genius, and when he finished, he was knocked down by a debris shaken loose by an explosion on the airship.

Gustav sighed. He ordered those fighting the werewolf to the opposite direction, which would minimize collateral damage. Of course, they could continue fighting the werewolf where they were, as the mercenaries have obtained a favorable position. Gustav also ordered someone to get the knocked out boy to safety; losing Dough-Boy means no one would be handling annoying errands. Finally, he warned the Venims; they could take cover in their current position, make a run through the mass of dreughs or jump overboard to avoid the incoming bolt.

Whatever the mercenaries do, a deadly shot of fire was coming.