Peik

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

<Snipped quote by gcold>

Post coming up in a few hours.

@Peik

Well, 'a few hours' maybe 10 damn hours, but I hope it was worth it in the end.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Sadri was still in dull shock from the whole turn of events. His comment on the somewhat abruptly finished fight was quiet, almost like a quip coming from a mer who saw the spectacle as child’s play. In truth Sadri was simply in disbelief. Sadri had lived long, sure, but he hadn’t killed a super-bear before. Hell, he hadn’t seen one, to begin with. Nobody would believe this if he were to share this story in taverns. He had to make it more drawn-out. ‘’I killed a dire bear once with one strike of my sword!’’ Coming from an Orsimer wielding a blade the size of two men it could’ve been acceptable, but coming from a lanky, bitter looking Dunmer like Sadri, it was nothing more than absolute nonsense. Still, though, he seriously needed a promotion for that. Or some extra payment, he wasn’t sure. But he’d just saved Ashav the trouble of finding a new quartermaster and some new hired muscle.

He smashed the cleft briarheart with his foot as Edith comforted the rather overwhelmed Relmyna. He did not blame the young girl. He probably wouldn’t have been able to strike another blow on the bear if it had survived that. ‘’Now, now,’’ Sadri decided that some pep talk would lighten the mood. ‘’You don’t owe me your life – just two hundred Septims.’’ Of course, Sadri would be more than happy if Relmyna took his joke seriously and decided to pay up, but he didn’t tone it in that way. That would be just bad sport. And when Edith commented on how his sword came in handy, Sadri shrugged. The tunnel was certainly larger than he thought, and never in the past had Sadri heard of jacked up bears in mining tunnels.

Tennant was, thankfully, still alive – but unfortunately he seemed to be temporarily out of commission with his wound. Lucex was obviously shaken by the fact that his missed shot had nearly caused the deaths of the party members who had dared to take on Smokey in melee. Sadri didn’t say anything to Lucex – he himself was partly pissed at him for missing a shot when he had been needed most, but everyone made mistakes. He couldn’t blame the young lad, and he wasn’t going to vent his frustration on him. Edith was doing a better job at consolation anyway.

The group left Tennant alongside Relmyna and the dead abomination. As they proceeded, they stumbled upon yet another table, not unlike the one that held Smokey’s bear beforehand. Sadri cursed under his breath, expecting to fight yet another product of whatever long forgotten magic these rock-shagging savages weaved into reality. Only this time they were simply unable to bring back the target, a man that was apparently working for the Bosmer scout. ‘’Better to die than to end up like Smokey back there,’’ Sadri thought to himself as the group left the corpse behind. He certainly did not want his corpse defiled and used to attack his coworkers.

And they came across another group of tables (this place felt more like a surgery area than a mining tunnel with all the dissected bodies and the tables), bearing this time not slashed up corpses but tools – tools that Sadri expected Forsworn would not be proficient enough to use – instead. Edith examined one of the items. From afar, with Sadri’s bad eye, they looked somewhat familiar. And Edith proved Sadri’s gut feeling true by confirming that they were indeed stolen magical charges. As Edith mentioned that, Sadri’s mind was immediately overwhelmed by thoughts of the tunnel possibly being sabotaged. He wasn’t going to die before seeing the sky one last time. But fear of death was nothing unusual for him. He just shrugged the thought off his head. His sugar tooth was itching. He needed some huffs of moon sugar once this was all said and done.

Eventually, the group managed to reach what seemed to be the end of the tunnel. It was barred, with a construction that mimicked the entrance acting as door. However majestic it might have once been, misuse, time, and lack of treatment had reduced it to not much more than a vestige of well-prepared reinforcements.

‘’We could use the charge, destroy the door and surprise our foes, or we could just kick it down, though we might very well be charging into an ambush. Either way, we have to take chances and advance through this area.’’

Somehow, after the beat of silence, Sadri knew all too well that the decision would once more left to him. ‘’I don’t see why I’m not getting paid higher if I’m the one who has to take initiative constantly,’’ he complained to himself as he rolled his eyes as if he was viewing his options. The worst that could happen with one option was a quick execution and the dissection of his corpse. And the other option’s worst case presented to him a slow death through suffocation and inability to move. Somehow, getting his throat slit felt like a better option.

‘’I have to make all the decisions, don’t I?’’ Sadri spoke somewhat quietly, hoping that it would lighten the load on everyone’s nerves. He knew he could also be pressing on everyone else’s nerves, but he figured that getting a load off his shoulders would be necessary before making a decision that could possibly cost everyone their lives. ‘’I don’t want to use the charges, but I figure that if we don’t somehow bash the door open in one maneuver, whoever’s behind it will probably have time to prepare.’’

He paused for a second. Either way they would be putting a lot of stress on the tunnel – after all, trying to bash open a locked door would also put pressure on the supports of the door, and unhinging it that way could cause it to crumble upon the party. Blowing it up would be faster, he figured.

‘’Let’s blow it up.’’ He eyed the group for volunteers. ‘’Anyone willing? Or are we drawing straws?’’

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

i'd get in a second character but gcold won't let me have an imga ;_;

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Waiting for @Peik before wrapping up the prologue.

In the next post, the group will be moving to Windhelm, arriving on the night of the 3rd, Sun's Height. You guys can take this chance to add in a second character, or swap out the old one. Either way, new characters from now on will be starting in Windhelm on the 3rd. They would either be signing up with Ashav that night, in the Candlehearth Hall, or they could simply run into the group during a very important event on the 4th.

@gcold

Post coming up in a few hours.

𝒜𝑙𝘵𝒶𝑒𝒶: 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑔𝑒 𝓸𝘧 ℛ𝑒𝒱𝓸𝑙𝓊𝓉𝒾𝓸𝓃

Château de D'Aubigne – Staircase Chamber - Noble's Quarter

Years ago, Korkud had first hand experienced the defeat that would be inevitably caused by trying to defeat gunpowder with steel. And now, here he was, nearly two decades later, and this time, he was on the winning side. He was on the side that had the tactical advantage and the firepower. For a moment, he thought that he should pity the retainers that were about to get torn to shreds. But they did not need any, he believed, and with a subconscious smirk watched as the explosions and musket balls ripped through steel, flesh, organ and bone. ‘’Spare none!’’ Korkud roared as he cautiously followed the Nezamis who entered the fray after the barrage. The few men who were still upright were nonetheless disoriented and wounded, and the Nezamis took advantage of this by simply pushing over those who were too weak to stay on their feet and stabbing them in the neck, as if they were dealing out mercy kills. Korkud himself used his sword as a misericorde for an Azad who had lost his leg.

As expected, the one-sided melee ended very quickly, and soon Korkud and the Nezamis found themselves amongst a ruin of massacred noble warriors. ‘’As for a statement,’’ Korkud thought to himself as he walked amongst the corpses of Azad, Zhayedan and Nezami alike, looking for the Azad leader. Eventually, he came across a corpse bearing a helmet more gilded than the others, and immediately used the edge of his sword to saw it off. Hoping that the head would be found and recognized, he threw it out of the window with questionable accuracy, and spat after its trail.

Huffing, and feeling his frustration calm down somewhat, Korkud looked around the chamber to reassess the situation. It seemed that there were no other hostiles in the immediate vicinity, though his eyes couldn’t help but stumble upon figures that weren’t there before, including a heavily armored man who thankfully did not look hostile, and a broken instrument that resembled a Valanian spinet. Upon seeing the man and the instrument, Korkud got more confused than anything else, but then he remembered that the building they were in was, after all, supposed to be hosting a colorful banquet. ‘’Don’t slip up,’’ his mind echoed as he turned and hailed the Nezamis to get deeper into the building.

‘’Gather up the men, officer,’’ he spoke loudly, albeit exhausted. ‘’These walls won’t stay up for long.’’ Tired, Korkud rested his back on one of the walls as he watched the Nezamis group. He raised his eyes up to the banquet survivors. Before he could speak, the walls shook once more, albeit much calmer than before. Dust from the rumbled walls settled on Korkud’s hair and shoulders as he spoke. ‘’Don’t suppose you know a way out?’’ He mused, weariness apparent in his voice. He sighed as he further leaned on the wall, at which point he felt something… heat.

Immediately pushing himself off the wall, he started sniffing the air like some sort of madman pretending to be a predator. His large nose huffed in and out as his eyes reopened wide and his expression turned from one of tiredness to one of alerted frustration. For a moment, he pulled himself up from one of the windows to properly see what was going on, and at that moment his face was hailed by the heat of flames, forcing Korkud to drop himself from the window. His face had gone moist from the heat.

‘’Officer! Lead the men inside immediately!’’

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

Is that where hot dog comes from?

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

<Snipped quote by Peik>

Hold your horses, I've spotted some issues with the update, fixing right now.

K done, go.

@gcold

Edit - nevermind, not that big of a change

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

I've updated the formatting of factbook entries and the character sheet template. Source code for the improved sheet is also included, feel free to update your sheet to the latest format.

@gcold

goddamnit now I have to reformat all of my shit

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)

<Snipped quote by Leidenschaft>

Already failed that, lol. Sagax shanked a dude in the ribs at the ram.

Besides I don't really think I could write well enough to justify Sagax never killing someone EVER without you or gcold eventually saying "Dude, this makes NO SENSE. Fucking KILL someone, it's the only plausible scenario here!" I also think it'd be much more interesting to see how he'll rationalize everything and eventually just be okay with killing people and have him reflect on that.

@Frizan

Well, less-lethal doesn't mean non-lethal. You could just like cripple them and make the rest of their life horrible, I guess.

The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention - Chapter 1 (Completed)