Scoutas

The Gift of the Gods

"I'll go along with you, cause there's no point in staying here in the tavern." she said, putting up her hood on her head, and heading out after Nat. The morning air always put her off, even after all those years. Maybe it was that the air around her felt wet, or maybe it was the chill of the morning, yet she didn't exactly like them. And it seemed to be a chilly morning. Townsfolk didn't seem to be that hot, most of them seemed confused and scared and the eyes that were on both of them made her feel uncomfortable. Usually, she tried to attract as less attention as possible, yet now, walking near Nat, who townsfolk might have taken for an officer of Fusos army.

"Found? I would suspect that whoever the orcs were searching for murdered them all." she said, walking further and seeing occasional orc body on the ground. "Though, the number of orcs I've seen going towards here... doesn't match up. I guess they didn't manage to fight them off after all." she looked down on the ground to see if she could make out anything that happened here from the footsteps, but it was impossible to do. She had finished her pipe by then and cleaned it and put it back inside. "I think we should check out some of the houses." she said as she went inside through a broken door. When inside, not in the sight of Nat, she sighed. It was not her that they were searching for, she figured. She felt relieved that she was not found out.

The Gift of the Gods

Darlith slept well. Not much, but she slept well. She crawled out of her bed, stretched and looked outside the window. The sun probably had shown itself over the horizon, but she couldn't see it. She breathed in the morning air and plopped down in a chair besides. She pulled her backpack near her with her leg, opened it and pulled out a small pouch and opened it. The pouch had some sort of crushed and dried plant inside. She pulled out a pipe, put the plant inside and lit it. She inhaled the smoke and smiled, closing the pouch, putting it back in the backpack and putting her gear back on.

The inn seemed much more lively this morning, well, in comparison to how empty it was last night. Darlith walked towards the counter, past someone from the town, threw a money pouch on in, which she just snagged from a person she walked by. As this business was done, she looked around and saw Nat sitting by a table, munching on a loaf of bread. She sat down on the opposite side from him. "I hope the pipe doesn't bother you. Good morning."

The Gift of the Gods

"Fair enough." she took yet another gulp of the beer, and pushed the mug aside. After Nat declared his mothers name, Darlith started at the beer in the mug for a while. "Caeves? That is a name I remember. Know a few people by that name though. I take it, that she was in that mercenary group called Sword... Sons? Probably why you, yourself, turned out to be one. I haven't seen her for quite a long time, yet she was still alive last time I've seen her, if that pleases you. I helped her settle in this little town, if you've got a map I could point you to it. That's all I really can help you with."

Seeing his surprise to her being chased down by Fusos, she smiled, yet his answer concerned her. "It might very well be me. I wasn't on that wagon, so I'd suspect that it wasn't me, yet it might just be." she glanced at the innkeep, as Nat asked to rent a room and she gulped down last of that beer and pushed the mug away. "First thing in the morning? Well, I need to know who they were and what they were doing there, so I'll tag along." and she let out a loud laugh after she heard him. "And here I thought we were getting along so nicely." she laughed to herself. "Innkeep, another key." she took the key and started heading towards her room, but before both of them went in, she glanced at Nat. "I don't share my bed with anybody."

She plopped down her backpack on the ground and locked the door behind her. She put her bow besides the bed and took off her boots and laid down, looking at the ceiling. For some reason she felt safer this time. Maybe it was because of the beer she drank, or maybe it was because she was more or less certain that it was not her that the Orcs were looking for. Whatever the cause, she knew she'd have an easier time falling asleep tonight and she did just that. They didn't have much time left this night, as morning was already rather close.

The Gift of the Gods

"A mercenary needs to know the person he works for? Since when this became a requirement?" she laughed at him little mockingly and started spinning around a coin on a table. "Or are you just interested in me? Anyway, Nat, thank you for your answers. I take it talking about myself would be repayment, so..." she sighed and took off her hood. "You can call me Darlith, and as you are an observant individual, you have already noticed that I'm an elf." she looked at him with a smile. "While you, yourself are from interesting birth. I wonder, was your mother an elf, or your father?" she didn't wait for his answer, but looked deeply into empty space before her, wondering if she should tell him anything more about her. She owed it to him, but she wasn't sure. Even if he is a mercenary, enough coin and he'd spill out all she said to him to anyone. "I'm being hunted down by Fusos. It's been probably good two years that I've been on a run. Which is why I had to ask you the question, because I could not risk that you sent a letter, which gave any information about me. There even were Orcs in the city tonight, because of which I just had to make sure. Do you have any clue as to what are they doing here?"

The Gift of the Gods

Darlith raised an eyebrow after the man gave her his answer. Yet it brought a smile to her face, the fact that this man was different. He didn't show fear or confusion and he used reason to deal with it. She put the bow on her back and slid the arrow into the quiver, before stepping into the pub herself. She could hear that man talking to the bartender, yet she wanted to look around. The pub was deserted, probably because of the Orcs that were in town. People didn't exactly want to leave their houses, while Darlith wasn't sure as to why exactly are the Orcs were in the city.

She approached the man, and sat down besides him. She took the beer that was obviously ordered for her and took a sip. She laid down a coin and pushed it to the bartender. "Two simple questions. Who do you work for and what was your business in the Post Office?" she gulped down some more beer.

The Gift of the Gods

'twas a rather cold night outside in Damascus. The skies were clear and stars and moon were shining bright, and they were the ones bringing light onto the city. Almost full, the moon was illuminating Darlith's room. A candle on the table sat unlit, but it was just recently blown out. Darlith could not put herself to sleep, so all she was doing was looking outside, down on the street, yet there was no activity down on the street. She took out a little golden mirror that she had and took a deep look at herself. A scar on the top of her right cheek was new. The wound has closed up already, but the scar was really noticeable, and she tried to cover it, to no avail. She sighed and just rubbed her cheek.

She looked back at the room, which was filled with bluish light. She was already packed to leave, her bow and knife resting on the bed and her backpack, besides her legs. She put the golden mirror back into the backpack and stretched. Something worried her, she sensed something that couldn't let her fall asleep. She couldn't put her finger on it, yet there it was. She kept trying to reason with herself, that she's got no reason to worry. But suddenly, she learned that she had. She heard something happening down on the street and jumped towards the window, to see what was going on.

"Orcs?!" Darlith exclaimed louder than she, herself, expected. "What are they doing here? Did they actually found me, or is this a simple raid?" she asked herself. "Bloody hell, I need to move out!" she quickly grabbed her backpack and put it on, put her bow and quiver on as well, and took the knife into her hand. She silently crept up to the door and listened, if Orcs were outside in this house. When she decided that it was safe for her to get moving, she did just that. Slowly, she opened the door and hopped down the stairs. Before heading out, she took a glance outside through the window, to see, if the Orcs were still on this street, and apparently they have moved on, she she stepped outside and dashed into an alley between the houses and looked back at the street. She could see marks of wheels of a wagon or carriage of sorts, and loads of orcish feet. "What is going on here? What are Orcs doing here, this isn't a simple raid?!" her curiosity got the better of her and she peeked out to the street and as she made sure it was safe, she got out. She examined the tracks of the wheels and while she couldn't say for certain, they seemed to be rather older than the footsteps that the Orcs left. "So I take it they came here chasing after that carriage or wagon." she mumbled under her nose, when she heard shouting again and quickly dashed into the alley again, looking back to the street. Yet another party of Orcs were running towards the same direction the last party went. "Or maybe they actually found me out." she thought to herself.

She was creeping through the alleyways, trying to reach the post office, because she knew, if they found her out, a letter would have been sent and well the answer to that lied there. The second the post office came into her view, she stopped. She was still covered by the darkness of the alleyway and she looked at a man, trying to knock at the door of the post office. She chuckled to herself at the sight, but suddenly the man broke the door and got inside. Just as this happened, she ran towards the post office and hid behind the wall. He listened to the conversation between the owner of the post office and that man and got curious as to what kind of letter he might be sending. This man got out of the post office and went on his own way and Darlith slipped inside and drew her bow and pointed it at the man in the post office. "Hello. I know this might be sudden, but I need you to answer one simple question and I'll be going. Were any letters sent to Fusos in the past two days?" the man sighed "What is it with you tonight? No, I had no need to sen..." Darlith interrupted him. "And to other cities? Anything really important? Was such a letter sent out?" the man just shook his head. "Thank you." she put her bow back and threw a few coins at the man and went out. She was intrigued by the importance of the message that man sent, so her decision was to follow him, as she knew which direction he went to.

The man hadn't noticed her, or at least he made it seem that he hasn't, and she's been following him for fifteen or so minutes. She realized that this man is probably heading towards a tavern or something, so she decided to intervene. Just to sate her curiosity. She stepped out of the alley, took off her bow and was ready to draw at him. "Hey there, big boy. Turn around, I want to ask you some questions."

The Gift of the Gods

Name: Darlith, Borniveth of House Ealond.
(Darlith is a name she's using right now, while Borniveth was name given at birth.)
Age: 278
Race: Elves
Appearance:

Darlith

Bio:

Darlith

Borniveth was born into the house of Ealond, in the city of Dorden. But one could say she was born at a wrong time. The house of Ealond, or more precisely, two elves from that house, were slaves here in Dorden. Her parents didn’t plan on pregnancy and it was a really shocking moment, for both of them. Raising a child in slavery already sounded as a horrendous task, but just waiting till the fruit grows up in the womb would prove as an almost impossible task. There were no privileges for pregnant woman, they were supposed to slave away all day, no matter how hard it was for them. Or were they sick horribly that day, or if they were feeling weak or passed out several times that day – nothing. Day by day passed and both parents started losing hope for a healthy baby of theirs. Her mother was starting to get extremely weak, but both of them managed to pull through.

The fruit was born.

A beautiful, red-haired girl. Borniveth, the name was given to her, because of the color of her hair. To her parents’ surprise, she seemed to be strong baby, despite the environment her mother was in. But her mother was not able to see how her precious would turn out, because she closed her eyes, with a huge smile on her face, never to open them again. It was a crushing blow to her dad Miron, but he had to stay strong, because he had a daughter to take care of. While it was really difficult, he had help from a few woman slaves and with their help, Borniveth managed to survive and grow up.

She was slaving just as everyone else as soon as she could work, and this is how her life was for a long time. While a routine of “wake up, work, eat, work, sleep” was her life, Miron was concerned about her education and kept smuggling books in for her to read. He started teaching everything that he could know himself, he told the stories of their house, about how big and vast it is and that if one day they get out, they would go and meet them all. Borniveth was picking up on everything extremely quickly. She found all the books fascinating and has reread them at least three times, before asking for another ones.

This girl was really quick and sharp on her mind, and strong in will. She would do what she was told to do and even more and her slaver started noticing her. She was the gray sheep, between all the white ones, but it was her ticket. One day, the slaver approached her, asking if she wouldn’t mind changing her workplace and help him directly. Borniveth could not pass up such a great opportunity, as it was probably the one and the only time such a chance would ever given. From a laborer, who kept weeding, tilling and kept doing difficult physical labor, now she only had to bring around tea and clean the rooms. The salver had awful load of books, and while at first she was little hesitant to ask, eventually she asked if she could read some of them. Slaver himself was hesitating to let her do so, but couldn’t find any reason not to. And little by little, year by year, her life went into monotony again. She kept reading and educating herself, while doing simple tasks for the slaver. She was allowed to meet with her father from time to time, and talk with him to share their experiences.

She reached her sixties. At this time she was a really smart and educated elf and the slaver knew that. One day, two armored men entered her room and she was told to pack up her things, because she was leaving. It was confusing at first, but the men seemed to be serious, so she just rushed, packed a bit of her clothes, got a few of her favorite books and followed the men out. Just as she was leaving the slavers house, he was standing by the door, smiling at her. Borniveth didn’t know what feelings that smile held and that deepened her confusion even more. Where was she taken? Will she be taken back to dirty slave labor? She couldn’t tell. As they went outside, it was raining and the whole day was really gray and dark. She remembers it really clearly. She kept following those men, walking around the puddles and mud, climbing up and down the stairs of stone. The flags, were waving crazily, up on the high watchtowers. Eventually, they stopped. They stopped by a cart. Both men climbed inside and told her to do the same, and not knowing what she was supposed to do, she climbed after.

She was to be taken somewhere and she was confused as to what is going on. The only option was to ask both of these men, where she was taken and the answer has shocked her. The slaver has set everything up, he suggested her as an advisor in a council of a nearby city of Pathea. And she was accepted. It was one of the important days for her. At the start of her days in the council, her words were not taken seriously, she was allowed to speak up, yet the other members didn’t follow. It took her a really long time, until the council started trusting her and her decisions, but Borniveth herself didn’t trust them. She felt alien sitting in the council, and while it was an enviable position, she felt that it’s not something for her. Maybe with someone else sitting on the throne, instead of Fusos, she would’ve liked it. She hated his decisions and the way he ruled, yet she kept it to herself, not to lose her position.

Yet a day came, where Borniveth couldn’t take what Fusos was doing anymore and she planned her escape. She was planning to do so for weeks and that day was the one she’d run and betray the tyrant. She attended the council meeting as per usual and after it, she headed back in the direction of her room, but she never reached it. That was one warm day of winter, and the weather was really messy. You couldn’t say if it was raining or snowing, or hell decided to mix with earth. Borniveth had a backpack ready beforehand, consisting of things she’d need to survive for a while, and she knew that a search for her would be started either right as she crossed the gates of the city or the next day, when her absence is noted. Before moving, she bent her knee by a little puddle, and looked at her own reflection in it. She groped the mud from it and smeared it on her hair. She kept doing in, until her hair seemed as dark as coal. She looked back at the puddle and she looked like another person. She looked as a simple peasant, dirty and weak. She smiled at herself, stood up and went after the gates. It was a night of new moon, so it looked extremely dark, and she could see the guards clearly, walking around on the cold walls, their warm breath suddenly condensing and turning into steam. As the gates were closed, she couldn’t just ask them to open them, she had to go outside using one of the escape paths in the castle, made for emergency.

That was the night when Borniveth disappeared and died in the cold. She probably was eaten by a pack of wolves, or a bear and her cub. Borniveth was gone. But even if that night took a life, it gave the world another. Darlith was born in that cold and messy night. An elf, that couldn’t get back to her roots, of nobility and light. Someone, who would be hiding most of her life.

A long time has passed, almost a hundred years, and the search for Borniveth wasn’t as hot. They were still searching for her, hoping to find the traitor and punish her, but years of fruitless search has made them go easy on it. During the first days, rumors that she died in the cold were passed around, yet no remains of her body were ever found. Darlith had a little easier time, moving around and living her life. She had become a simple outlaw, someone she would have not believed if she was told when she was in her youngsts. It’s what the world made her do it, and she started enjoying what she was doing. One thing she had not forgotten about was her passion for books and studies, but now she actually started looking for the ancient relics that she has read about in her books.

Personality: Quick and critical. Tries not to bring emotion into her actions, she does what needs to be done, even if it means someone else might lose something, or get hurt. Really fascinated by books, old artifacts and things that has traces of magic or a magical history. She has a really strong will and can pull through a lot hardships. Could get along with people, but chooses not to immerse herself with that.
Faction: Thief, Outlaw.
Gift: None.
Weapon(s) of choice: Longbow “Fate” and a knife.
Relationship/loved ones: Mirion of House Ealond, Borniveth’s father. He is still alive, somewhere in this world, and Darlith has made a promise to herself that if one day Fusos will step down, she will find him and together, they’ll come back to their house and live their lives as proper elves.
Other: The bow she is using, was found in a deep ruin. The bow is inscribed and has some magical properties. The arrows can pierce any armor really easily.

The Mistake. . .

I'm mildly interested in this, but I would really love to see just a tiny bit more developed backstory, with a little bit more explanations. I can't put my finger on the story here. I understand the surface of it, but it's difficult to grasp on what happened, on what the plight is, or how did the Project X destroy everything. Hearing just a little bit more depth would be amazing.

And of course, if there would be a map involved in this - I'd join, no questions asked.

The Elder Scrolls, Unsung Heroes of the Oblivion Crisis.

The stench was gone, as well as the thick air, which put Brogan's body under huge pressure. He got used to it inside the gate rather quickly, but only after he was outside the gate did he realize the difference between being inside and outside the Oblivion Gate. However, unfortunately, he couldn't say that the air was refreshing and cool. It still felt really warm and stuffy, as the Gate was "leaking" and ruining the landscape around. To add to that, the immense pain in Brogan's jaw didn't help either. He could remember, partially, how he tried to stand up or how he tried to talk. Right now he wouldn't be able to say a word. It must have been the adrenaline back then, because the pain wasn't as horrid as it is now. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He knew he was already out, and he wondered, if the fight was already over.

He saw Katrina, just besides him, looking over to the Oblivion Gate. Either the fight ended horribly, or they came out before the end of the fight, but he shooed away the former thought, because if that was the case, there would probably be monsters pouring all over from the gate. Or was that why Katrina was keeping an eye on the gate? He couldn't tell, which was true. He breathed in deeply though his nose and it went though almost painlessly. "At least my insides are doing okay." he thought, and was about to smile, but the pain didn't let him do so. He tried touching his jaw, slowly getting his hand close and the moment he touched, he let out a deep sounding grunt of pain and he could barely focus. He closed his eyes and breathed heavily, hoping the pain would get easier to deal with, with time.

The Elder Scrolls, Unsung Heroes of the Oblivion Crisis.

"Imperial, are you feeling all right?" Brogan tried to say as clearly as possible with his lower part of the face being in shambles, he was still lying on his back, afraid to move at all. He tried to smile at the imperial, but he was smitten by the pain and a smile he tried to show, changed into a horrible grunt of pain. Brogan tried to move his arm and, while it hurt a little bit, he felt that it must have been just bruises. He moved his other arm and his legs - all of them seemed functional, so he decided to try and stand up. He tried to roll on the side and then push himself from the ground and with great effort he came stood back on his legs.

He tried to make sense of what was happening around, but nor he could remember what was happening, nor he could see what was happening. Everything around him as a red blur, and after he blinked, he saw the Imperial in front of him. He felt that he was laying on his back again. He looked at the imperial and shook his head, as to answer her question if he could walk. But Brogan was determined and tried to do the same and tried to stand up, but this time, instead of standing up, he leaned on the Imperials shoulder.

Brogan managed to blurt out "..sorry for being a burden..." before losing his consciousness again.