Post by Will on Jun 10, 2011 13:20:43 GMT -5
Please read “The Wrong Target” and “The Shadow Khajiit” in that order, before you read this story. This is very important! Also, I’ve decided to add dialogue to my stories, except for the ones where the character you follow is the Dragonborn. This not only adds a deeper story, but makes it infinitely easier to write without trying to make sense without the character speaking. Feel free to give me any feedback on this. Hope you enjoy~ Will Keith.
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You awake to the city’s alarm bell shattering the night. You roll out of your bed, kicking open your supply chest, quickly throwing on your old chainmail armor and strapping your two Dwarven longswords onto your tabard, and your Elven dagger in your boot. You run to the window of your barracks, and you could see the fire raining from the sky.
You rush outside with the other guards, and see the massive Dragon circling above the city of Windhelm. It crashed into a southern watchtower, sending the stone and wood crashing to the city floor.
Arrows and Ballista fire rained onto the Dragon’s stone-hard hide, but they did nothing save for angering it further. The Dragon twists in the air, and sets it’s sights on the barracks. It dives towards you, landing in the training yard, and sends a wave of fire from it’s maw, igniting the grass and burning two other guards alive.
You rush forward, sinking both of your longswords into the Dragon’s thick skin, and it takes to the sky, but you grasp on to it’s large scales, and find yourself being dragged fifty feet into the air. You climb up the side of the thrashing Dragon, holding on for your life as it twists and flips in the air.
It twists it’s neck around and faces you, and you can see it taking in a breath to use it’s fire magic. Your longswords are still stuck in the Dragon’s leg, and you reach down and pull out your Elven dagger, lunging forward and shoving the small blade into the roof of the Dragon’s mouth, piercing it’s brain and killing it instantly.
Blood pours from the Dragon’s maw, and it spirals towards the city floor. You would not survive the fall, but you see the city’s tall clock tower to your left, and you leap off of the falling Dragon, catching the ledge of the clock tower by one hand. You scramble over the ledge and begin to climb down the stairs.
The entire town was gathered around the Dragon’s body, and when you stepped out of the clock tower, the citizens began cheering and attempting to shove Septims into your hands. You modestly refuse the money, but you were more then glad to attend the massive feast that the Count of Windhelm prepared in your honor.
After drinking more than your fair share of mead, and entertaining the crowd with tales of your adventures, you grab a red apple off of your plate, and bite into it.
************************
You wake up, and feel only pain as your struggle to move your body. Every muscle and bone was stiff as steel, and your eyes hurt as if it was the first time you opened them. There is a figure standing over you, and you blink to adjust your eyes to the glow of his torch.
It was a Khajiit, with fur black as shadow, and a mane and eyes to match. “Good, I feared it had been to long since your ‘Death’ to safely revive you.” the Khajiit hissed. “I am Dar’Krishan, of the Dark Brotherhood. I have an offer I believe you will accept.”
You still can’t move your body, but you look side to side, you saw that you were in your family’s crypt. Statues of your long-dead ancestors lined the walls of the dark room, and you realized that you were laying inside of a coffin, dressed in heavy Nordic steel armor, your hands wrapped around the hilt of a silver Claymore, various pieces of gold and jewelry scattered around you, and a pot of flowers on a shelf above you. Suddenly, the realization hit you like a stampede of Mammoths. You had died.
You were alive though. You could see, you could feel pain all over your body. This was not some afterlife, and the Khajiit simply stared at you, waiting patiently for you to pull yourself together. “What happened?” you grunted, your lungs refusing to take in air.
“The apple you ate at your feast. It was injected with the Languorwine poison. It mimics the effects of instant death, shutting down the lungs, heart, and muscles of a body. However, if the antidote is administered soon after the victim’s ‘Death’, the victim can be revived to full health. You’re very stiff, but you should be able to walk within five minutes.”
Indeed, you could slowly feel the pain receding from your body, and were able to move your fingers. “You say you’re one of the Brotherhood. Why do you not kill me?”
The Khajiit let out a soft, hissing laugh. “I am no longer of the Brotherhood. I used to be their best assassin, but I’ve learned that their work is nothing but evil. I want to be free from them, but to do that, I need your help.”
The stiffness was fading from your legs and arms, and you managed to sit up. “Couldn’t you have just asked instead of poisoning me?”
“Right now, the Brotherhood believes you are dead, and that I am still one of them. In three days, I am to travel to an old fortress near the city of Falkreath, where the members of the Black Hand are going to meet for the purpose of making me one of the Brotherhood’s Speakers.” Dar’Krishan raised one of his clawed hands, and placed it on your forehead.
You felt a wave of Magika pour over your body, and a flash of green light surround you. When the light faded, you looked down and saw…nothing.
“While the Brotherhood tends to stay away from magic, we are all trained in the school of Illusion. You will follow me to the fortress, invisible, and enter through a passage I dug over the past week. When gathered, the Speakers are not allowed to carry weapons. It is disguised as a sign of respect, but in reality, it is a precaution against treachery. You will enter the chamber with two swords, and at my signal, you will throw one to me, and we will cut down the unarmed Speakers. Be careful while under this invisibility spell, if you make any sudden movements, or exert any amount of force, the spell will break.”
Feeling had returned to your whole body now, and you stood, smiling at the Khajiit. “I can see how you made it this far within their ranks. The Brotherhood has given this city, and me personally, enough trouble. I will gladly help you destroy this evil cult.”
**************
After three days of traveling the Jerall Mountains, the city of Falkreath was in sight. Dar’Krishan was in front of you, a good way down the path. You caught up, and silently slipped through the city gate behind him.
You spend the day at the city’s smallest, most “out of the way” inn, and follow the Khajiit out of the room when night falls. The invisibility spell was highly sensitive, and had broken at least five times just from doing simple things like opening doors or lifting a weapon. Luckily, this had happened with nobody else around, and the Khajiit was able to put the spell back on you. You had gotten used to controlling your body while invisible, and were confident that you could follow Dar’Krishan without being noticed.
You kept to the side of the road, weaving between trees, trying to keep Dar’Krishan in sight. Suddenly he stops, and you see a hooded figure step out from the shadows of a birch tree.
The man walks to Dar’Krishan and they seem to talk, before exchanging a hug and continuing down the road. As you walked, this happened another four times. After another twenty minutes of travel, you see a tall circular fortress in the distance.
The members of the Brotherhood gathered outside the fortress gate, and quietly stood in a line outside the large door. They remained still for about five minutes, when the door opened and a small man emerged from the fortress, and waved the others inside. The door slid shut behind them, and you left the cover of the forest and circled around the fortress.
You saw the hole in the wall that Dar’Krishan had described, and climbed into it very slowly so as not to break the invisibility spell. You slowly crawl through the tight tunnel, when you see light ahead of you.
You reach the end of the tunnel, and you carefully drop off the ledge into a long stone hallway. You open the map that Dar’Krishan had given you, a crude drawing of the interior of the fortress, with a line drawn to direct you to the meeting chamber.
You move down the path to the right, and peer around the corner. You see the six hooded figures walking down the hallway, and you silently follow them. They come to a large door at the end of the hall, which the head of the group pushes open. They all move forward, and you run for the door trying to slip in unnoticed, and you manage to slide in just as the door slams shut behind you.
You silently stand in the corner of the room, watching as the other five figures circle around Dar’Krishan. The shortest of the five removed his hood; it was a Bosmer. Dar’Krishan kneeled before him.
“It is an honor to meet you, Listener,” he hissed.
“And an honor for me as well, Silencer. I would like you to remember your contract in which you were tasked with killing the Imperial who had run off with the Count of Falkreath’s daughter.”
“Indeed. I remember it well. The feel of his flesh as my dagger glided through it is fresh in my memory.”
“I believe it was your best work, Silencer. Even though you did not recover the girl. It is not your best work for the kill, or for the manner of which it was executed, but for the fact that you were able to fool us for so long.”
Even from your dark corner, you could see the horror in Dar’Krishan’s eyes as a red, demonic looking sword appeared in the Listener’s hand. You sprinted forward, drawing one of your Dwarven longswords, and swung it around just as the Listener brought his blade down towards Dar’Krishan’s skull.
His blade crashes into your own, and your invisibility spell shatters. Dar’Krishan jumps to his feet, pulling your second longsword from your belt, and lunges forward, slashing the Listener’s arm off. He collapses to the floor, and you and Dar’Krishan turn to defend against the other four men, all who were now wielding their demonic, summoned weapons.
You stood back-to-back with Dar’Krishan, parrying and countering the strikes of the four Speakers. You were outnumbered and outmatched, your only chance was to escape. You grab Dar’Krishan’s hood and throw him towards the door, and summoning every once of magic energy in your body (which is not very much), blast out a fire spell, igniting one of the Speakers.
You kick open the door, and you and Dar’Krishan sprint down the hallway. “The main entrance is this way, we can still escape!” he said, as you turn a corner into another long hallway. Suddenly you feel the entire fortress shake, and the wall to your right collapses. You jump over the falling rubble and continue sprinting down the hall, the Speakers gaining behind you.
The whole fortress was crumbling. You run through the falling stones and rubble, dodging left and right, and turn to see one of the Speakers get crushed by a falling pillar. The others don’t even pause as they continue chasing you and Dar’Krishan.
You turn another corner, and you find yourself in the main hall of the fortress, the ceiling and walls crumbling into dust around you. You follow Dar’Krishan as he sprints for the door on the other side of the massive chamber.
“Why is the fortress collapsing?! Is it one of their traps?” you yell at Dar’Krishan, rolling to avoid a falling chandelier.
“No, if it was a trap they would not be following us. This fortress was built to survive hundreds of years, there has to be something happening outside.”
You reach the fortress doors, and you and Dar’Krishan ram into them and they burst open, and you stumble out into the night air. The assassins chasing you were almost forgotten as you took in the sight in front of you.
Giants. Fifteen foot tall, with grayish-blue skin, wearing fur and Mammoth bone armor. There seemed to be two different tribes, engaged in a massive war, smashing each other with their crude weapons. Some were wearing Mammoth skull helmets and wielding Mammoth tusks as though they were swords, the others with braided hair and carrying massive clubs carved out of tree trunks.
The earth shook beneath your feet, and you turn and see the fortress crumble into rubble, crushing the two remaining Speakers. You dive and roll through the Giants war, none of them seeming to even notice you or Dar’Krishan. He grabs you by the neck of your armor and drags you towards the forest, taking cover behind a tree.
“That didn’t go as planned, but we got the job done,” he hissed. “I’ve never seen Giants act this violently before. I’ve actually spoken to them, the tribe with the tree clubs are called the Strantari, they’re not a warrior tribe, they herd Mammoths for food and pelts. I’ve never seen the ones with the helmets, but they seem to be Mammoth skull. They might be stea-”
He went silent, and before you could ask why, everything went black.
You wake up with a throbbing pain on the back of your head. You open your eyes and you find yourself inside of a dark cave, tied to a pillar, blood dripping from the wound on your head.
“Glad to see you’re awake, Nord,” said Dar’Krishan, and you look to your left and see him tied to another pillar just as you were. “One of the armored Giants found us. They seem to think we’re friends of the Strantari.”
TO BE CONTINUED
************************
You awake to the city’s alarm bell shattering the night. You roll out of your bed, kicking open your supply chest, quickly throwing on your old chainmail armor and strapping your two Dwarven longswords onto your tabard, and your Elven dagger in your boot. You run to the window of your barracks, and you could see the fire raining from the sky.
You rush outside with the other guards, and see the massive Dragon circling above the city of Windhelm. It crashed into a southern watchtower, sending the stone and wood crashing to the city floor.
Arrows and Ballista fire rained onto the Dragon’s stone-hard hide, but they did nothing save for angering it further. The Dragon twists in the air, and sets it’s sights on the barracks. It dives towards you, landing in the training yard, and sends a wave of fire from it’s maw, igniting the grass and burning two other guards alive.
You rush forward, sinking both of your longswords into the Dragon’s thick skin, and it takes to the sky, but you grasp on to it’s large scales, and find yourself being dragged fifty feet into the air. You climb up the side of the thrashing Dragon, holding on for your life as it twists and flips in the air.
It twists it’s neck around and faces you, and you can see it taking in a breath to use it’s fire magic. Your longswords are still stuck in the Dragon’s leg, and you reach down and pull out your Elven dagger, lunging forward and shoving the small blade into the roof of the Dragon’s mouth, piercing it’s brain and killing it instantly.
Blood pours from the Dragon’s maw, and it spirals towards the city floor. You would not survive the fall, but you see the city’s tall clock tower to your left, and you leap off of the falling Dragon, catching the ledge of the clock tower by one hand. You scramble over the ledge and begin to climb down the stairs.
The entire town was gathered around the Dragon’s body, and when you stepped out of the clock tower, the citizens began cheering and attempting to shove Septims into your hands. You modestly refuse the money, but you were more then glad to attend the massive feast that the Count of Windhelm prepared in your honor.
After drinking more than your fair share of mead, and entertaining the crowd with tales of your adventures, you grab a red apple off of your plate, and bite into it.
************************
You wake up, and feel only pain as your struggle to move your body. Every muscle and bone was stiff as steel, and your eyes hurt as if it was the first time you opened them. There is a figure standing over you, and you blink to adjust your eyes to the glow of his torch.
It was a Khajiit, with fur black as shadow, and a mane and eyes to match. “Good, I feared it had been to long since your ‘Death’ to safely revive you.” the Khajiit hissed. “I am Dar’Krishan, of the Dark Brotherhood. I have an offer I believe you will accept.”
You still can’t move your body, but you look side to side, you saw that you were in your family’s crypt. Statues of your long-dead ancestors lined the walls of the dark room, and you realized that you were laying inside of a coffin, dressed in heavy Nordic steel armor, your hands wrapped around the hilt of a silver Claymore, various pieces of gold and jewelry scattered around you, and a pot of flowers on a shelf above you. Suddenly, the realization hit you like a stampede of Mammoths. You had died.
You were alive though. You could see, you could feel pain all over your body. This was not some afterlife, and the Khajiit simply stared at you, waiting patiently for you to pull yourself together. “What happened?” you grunted, your lungs refusing to take in air.
“The apple you ate at your feast. It was injected with the Languorwine poison. It mimics the effects of instant death, shutting down the lungs, heart, and muscles of a body. However, if the antidote is administered soon after the victim’s ‘Death’, the victim can be revived to full health. You’re very stiff, but you should be able to walk within five minutes.”
Indeed, you could slowly feel the pain receding from your body, and were able to move your fingers. “You say you’re one of the Brotherhood. Why do you not kill me?”
The Khajiit let out a soft, hissing laugh. “I am no longer of the Brotherhood. I used to be their best assassin, but I’ve learned that their work is nothing but evil. I want to be free from them, but to do that, I need your help.”
The stiffness was fading from your legs and arms, and you managed to sit up. “Couldn’t you have just asked instead of poisoning me?”
“Right now, the Brotherhood believes you are dead, and that I am still one of them. In three days, I am to travel to an old fortress near the city of Falkreath, where the members of the Black Hand are going to meet for the purpose of making me one of the Brotherhood’s Speakers.” Dar’Krishan raised one of his clawed hands, and placed it on your forehead.
You felt a wave of Magika pour over your body, and a flash of green light surround you. When the light faded, you looked down and saw…nothing.
“While the Brotherhood tends to stay away from magic, we are all trained in the school of Illusion. You will follow me to the fortress, invisible, and enter through a passage I dug over the past week. When gathered, the Speakers are not allowed to carry weapons. It is disguised as a sign of respect, but in reality, it is a precaution against treachery. You will enter the chamber with two swords, and at my signal, you will throw one to me, and we will cut down the unarmed Speakers. Be careful while under this invisibility spell, if you make any sudden movements, or exert any amount of force, the spell will break.”
Feeling had returned to your whole body now, and you stood, smiling at the Khajiit. “I can see how you made it this far within their ranks. The Brotherhood has given this city, and me personally, enough trouble. I will gladly help you destroy this evil cult.”
**************
After three days of traveling the Jerall Mountains, the city of Falkreath was in sight. Dar’Krishan was in front of you, a good way down the path. You caught up, and silently slipped through the city gate behind him.
You spend the day at the city’s smallest, most “out of the way” inn, and follow the Khajiit out of the room when night falls. The invisibility spell was highly sensitive, and had broken at least five times just from doing simple things like opening doors or lifting a weapon. Luckily, this had happened with nobody else around, and the Khajiit was able to put the spell back on you. You had gotten used to controlling your body while invisible, and were confident that you could follow Dar’Krishan without being noticed.
You kept to the side of the road, weaving between trees, trying to keep Dar’Krishan in sight. Suddenly he stops, and you see a hooded figure step out from the shadows of a birch tree.
The man walks to Dar’Krishan and they seem to talk, before exchanging a hug and continuing down the road. As you walked, this happened another four times. After another twenty minutes of travel, you see a tall circular fortress in the distance.
The members of the Brotherhood gathered outside the fortress gate, and quietly stood in a line outside the large door. They remained still for about five minutes, when the door opened and a small man emerged from the fortress, and waved the others inside. The door slid shut behind them, and you left the cover of the forest and circled around the fortress.
You saw the hole in the wall that Dar’Krishan had described, and climbed into it very slowly so as not to break the invisibility spell. You slowly crawl through the tight tunnel, when you see light ahead of you.
You reach the end of the tunnel, and you carefully drop off the ledge into a long stone hallway. You open the map that Dar’Krishan had given you, a crude drawing of the interior of the fortress, with a line drawn to direct you to the meeting chamber.
You move down the path to the right, and peer around the corner. You see the six hooded figures walking down the hallway, and you silently follow them. They come to a large door at the end of the hall, which the head of the group pushes open. They all move forward, and you run for the door trying to slip in unnoticed, and you manage to slide in just as the door slams shut behind you.
You silently stand in the corner of the room, watching as the other five figures circle around Dar’Krishan. The shortest of the five removed his hood; it was a Bosmer. Dar’Krishan kneeled before him.
“It is an honor to meet you, Listener,” he hissed.
“And an honor for me as well, Silencer. I would like you to remember your contract in which you were tasked with killing the Imperial who had run off with the Count of Falkreath’s daughter.”
“Indeed. I remember it well. The feel of his flesh as my dagger glided through it is fresh in my memory.”
“I believe it was your best work, Silencer. Even though you did not recover the girl. It is not your best work for the kill, or for the manner of which it was executed, but for the fact that you were able to fool us for so long.”
Even from your dark corner, you could see the horror in Dar’Krishan’s eyes as a red, demonic looking sword appeared in the Listener’s hand. You sprinted forward, drawing one of your Dwarven longswords, and swung it around just as the Listener brought his blade down towards Dar’Krishan’s skull.
His blade crashes into your own, and your invisibility spell shatters. Dar’Krishan jumps to his feet, pulling your second longsword from your belt, and lunges forward, slashing the Listener’s arm off. He collapses to the floor, and you and Dar’Krishan turn to defend against the other four men, all who were now wielding their demonic, summoned weapons.
You stood back-to-back with Dar’Krishan, parrying and countering the strikes of the four Speakers. You were outnumbered and outmatched, your only chance was to escape. You grab Dar’Krishan’s hood and throw him towards the door, and summoning every once of magic energy in your body (which is not very much), blast out a fire spell, igniting one of the Speakers.
You kick open the door, and you and Dar’Krishan sprint down the hallway. “The main entrance is this way, we can still escape!” he said, as you turn a corner into another long hallway. Suddenly you feel the entire fortress shake, and the wall to your right collapses. You jump over the falling rubble and continue sprinting down the hall, the Speakers gaining behind you.
The whole fortress was crumbling. You run through the falling stones and rubble, dodging left and right, and turn to see one of the Speakers get crushed by a falling pillar. The others don’t even pause as they continue chasing you and Dar’Krishan.
You turn another corner, and you find yourself in the main hall of the fortress, the ceiling and walls crumbling into dust around you. You follow Dar’Krishan as he sprints for the door on the other side of the massive chamber.
“Why is the fortress collapsing?! Is it one of their traps?” you yell at Dar’Krishan, rolling to avoid a falling chandelier.
“No, if it was a trap they would not be following us. This fortress was built to survive hundreds of years, there has to be something happening outside.”
You reach the fortress doors, and you and Dar’Krishan ram into them and they burst open, and you stumble out into the night air. The assassins chasing you were almost forgotten as you took in the sight in front of you.
Giants. Fifteen foot tall, with grayish-blue skin, wearing fur and Mammoth bone armor. There seemed to be two different tribes, engaged in a massive war, smashing each other with their crude weapons. Some were wearing Mammoth skull helmets and wielding Mammoth tusks as though they were swords, the others with braided hair and carrying massive clubs carved out of tree trunks.
The earth shook beneath your feet, and you turn and see the fortress crumble into rubble, crushing the two remaining Speakers. You dive and roll through the Giants war, none of them seeming to even notice you or Dar’Krishan. He grabs you by the neck of your armor and drags you towards the forest, taking cover behind a tree.
“That didn’t go as planned, but we got the job done,” he hissed. “I’ve never seen Giants act this violently before. I’ve actually spoken to them, the tribe with the tree clubs are called the Strantari, they’re not a warrior tribe, they herd Mammoths for food and pelts. I’ve never seen the ones with the helmets, but they seem to be Mammoth skull. They might be stea-”
He went silent, and before you could ask why, everything went black.
You wake up with a throbbing pain on the back of your head. You open your eyes and you find yourself inside of a dark cave, tied to a pillar, blood dripping from the wound on your head.
“Glad to see you’re awake, Nord,” said Dar’Krishan, and you look to your left and see him tied to another pillar just as you were. “One of the armored Giants found us. They seem to think we’re friends of the Strantari.”
TO BE CONTINUED