Flogir

Flogir knew something was up when he saw Patholos, Ian, and Green-Root with a tied up woman. At first, Flogir was curious on how Patholos was even there but that immediately changed when he realized that the captured woman was sizzling in the approaching daylight.

"You captured a vampire!?" he hissed in a stunned way, "I thought you were going to attack their supply lines or something? And where's Rann?"

But before any of his questions were answered, Rann appeared with a knife to Patholos' throat. It appeared that their previous fight had yet to be settled and things were turning into a dangerous situation.

"Rann! This is not the time to do this!" he whispered harshly, "We got a horde of enemies just over that hill, and for some reason we have a vampire that's going to burst into flame any minute! Can we at least find some cover."

Flogir hoped that what he said to Rann made him sound only mad about the timing, not the fact that he appeared to be ready to kill Patholos. Out in the outskirts of the forest was not an ideal place to hold a vampire who can't survive in the sunlight or have a possible murder.

Patholos, under pressure

"Do it! Do IT! Kill me now, you s'wit! Have you the courage?" Patholos spat at Rann, still frozen in place by the knife at his throat.

"Please, please, kill me, I do not want this place as home any longer. But, before you do, answer me this," Patholos whispered to Rann. "Have you ever felt something is right, even though others around you say it is wrong?"

Patholos waited, and he tensed up in anticipation. After a few seconds, Patholos relaxed, and put his hand on Rann's hand. "If you are going to kill me, know that my blood is on both of our hands."

Then Patholos said to Rann in a voice that only Rann could hear, "Kill me, murderer..."

Green-Root.

Green-Root looked at the scene and after a moment, he picked up the wounded vampire and began to move towards a place with a bit more shade.
,,Are there any of those blood bottles left?" He hissed.

,,Let those two. They'll keep doing this till the time no one is around to stop them. Better to finish this now than to cope with it." He grunted to Flogir and shifted the load on his back.
,,Help Ian, Nord."


At Chorrol, guess who.

Glass shattered and someone dressed in black came down from the ceiling, landing mere steps away from the throne. Guards all around him drew their weapons with the common shout. ,,Dark Brotherhood! Protect the Countess!"

,,Ah, crap. I'm beginning to hate this costume." Flint threw his hands up in the air, as far away from his blades as possible.
,,Hold up! Ian sent me! Agent type, young Altmer called Issac tagging along?" He shouted. The Countess motioned to the guards to lower their swords, much to the old Breton's relief.
,,I know Ian, and Issac. I also remember you. You were with them, that day. What does Ian request of me?"

,,Wew, much better. Flint Ironwood, aerial messenger. At your service. Now here's the message. Over a thousand Akaviri have gathered at the Valus mountains, led by some semi-immortal creature. Ian requests the aid of Tamriel's military might to counter this threat. Suffice to say, just Cyrodiil's army alone won't be enough."


(Dantrag, do you want to take control over the countess again?)

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Apr 13 2007, 02:52 PM

Flogir

Patholos' encouragement to Rann didn't help to ease the tension of the situation. Green-Root at least was responding well for a least a part of his rant by taking the vampire into the shade. The bad part was that Rann had yet removed the blade from Patholos' throat.

Clenching his teeth in frustration, gave Ian his should to support his weight onto him. He grimanced as he felt the sticky blood cling to his tunic. He turned to the two mer once again.

"Rann, bring him with us, we can't do this here; drag him if you must!" he hissed angrily before trudging Ian into the depths of the forest. There would be enough shade there that the vampire wouldn't burn up and the dense trees would hopefully muffle any sound that would be created. He looked back to see if anyone was following him.

Rann

Rann lowered his blade long enough to push Patholos out of his way.

"We'll settle this later," he said flatly as he scooped up the vampire in his arms and began carrying her back to their camp.

She was quite pretty, as far as vampires were concerned, and despite being an enemy a few moments earlier, he didn't think she deserved such treatment. The fact that she was a vampire alone wouldn't convince him of her 'evil' if there even was such a thing. The only other vampires he had met were Ian and Sadril, and they hadn't been half bad.

He stopped where Flogir did and gently laid the female vampire down. He sat himself beside her, blade unsheathed by his side.

"If he tries to touch her, he's dead." he explained coolly to Flogir.

"Anyway, what's the plan now? I thought we were getting supplies, but we ended up with an injured friend and an injured enemy. We're worse off than we were before."

Flogir

Flogir stood in the shade of the forest. He was glad that the situation between Rann and Patholos was being set aside for now. He scratched at his unshaven stubble as he thought over Rann's question.

"Yea, that didn't turn out for the best, and if we can't even do that properly, how can we expect to utilize guerilla war tactics to harrass the enemy?" he said in an annoyed fashion. He turned and faced Rann, concern evident, "If we do things properly, do you think we can sneak in and take out the Silhouette? Or are we going to follow them until Flint gets back with reinforcement? Because really, that's the only two options I can think of..."

His voice trailed off and Flogir stared off into the distance, a lost expression on his face.

Is this the ineviatble? Are we merely just clinging to our last options before our extermination?

His eye fell onto the vampire. "Perhaps she has some information about the layout of their camp that we could take advantage of. We might need to make her talk," he looked back to see Patholos heading their way. "I'll make sure he's not the one to do it though," he added out of the albino's earshot.

Patholos, left behind

Patholos watched as the group took off away from where Ian was. He stood there for a moment, then a twisted smile came over his face. Patholos turned his back to the group and his eyes flared red, changing what was once white into crimson. His lips curled back and his teeth grew exposed. Muscles in his bodies tensed and the cords holding them tightened. Patholos muttered a spell that had been kept secret by his Order. Sithis has not yet abandoned me, Patholos' broken mind thought. As he receded into madness, Patholos cast his Shadow Curse on his person.

Patholos began to twist and pulsate, then he disappeared from view. He snuck behind some trees and cast Invisibility on his dagger. After he activated the dagger's Paralysis enchantment with is own blood, he tied a note to his hilt, one he had prepared while he was in the forest. The thing was, the "sane" Patholos had written a note, not this new beast. The insane Patholos did not realize what the note was, but a voice in the back of his head said to attach it.

With extreme precision, Patholos hefted the dagger, and aimed it at Rann's head. At the moment of release, however, he broke concentration and the dagger buried itself in a tree right next to Rann.

(This is what the note said)

Rann, if you are the first to read this, I apologize for my actions. If this is not Rann who is reading this, then please tell him thus. Please, take heed of what I tell you. I am losing control of my mind. Sithis' spirit is taking away my personality, and it was because I drank the Ichor of Sithis. If you must kill the monstrosity I am becoming, so be it. I would like to find out what has become of my friend Darcretius, but, if I must die because of my madness, then finish me off. I cannot control what I do, and, sadly, I feel guilt already. Live and prosper, ....

(the rest is illegible)

Green-Root.

Rann unceremoniously took the vampire from Green-Root's back. The Argonian shrugged and followed closely behind the group. He sat down with them at their temporary hide-out and put down his spear.
,,First of all, I'd suggest the interrogation, fixing up Ian and solving your mess with that bloodsucking non-vampire called Patholos." He hissed and looked at their hostage closely.

He took up his spear again and levelled it at her throat.
,,Just in case she tries something. I'm not in the mood for another fight or anything." A moment after he'd said that, a dagger swooshed through the air and dug into a tree, narrowly missing Rann.
,,Change of priorities. Solving the mess with Patholos now comes first."



(Sorry, but Green-Root was already carrying the hostage. I think this fixes the plothole elegantly enough. )

Rann

He had been about to answer Flogir, but jumped in surprise when a dagger hit the tree he was sitting by. He snatched the dagger and had been about to pocket it, but saaw that there was a note attached. He took the note off and stuck the dagger in his belt before reading it aloud.

"He's asking us to kill him, why not oblige him?"

THe bastarde deserves it.

Flogir

"Whose asking to get killed?" Flogir asked as he snatched the note away and looked at it. He scoffed.

"Damn, is this serious? I knew he was a little out of reality, but this just makes him seem just plain ole bonkers!"

Flogir contemplated on the situation briefly. Could they help him? It seemed unlikely. Perhaps giving him the mercy of death was the best thing they could do.

Flogir nodded. "Yes, we'll oblige him," he replied in a heavy voice.

Patholos, what once was Patholos

Extreme nausea passed over him again, and he retched a dry stomach onto the dirt. His eyes were coals from Red Mountain, and he tossed and turned in his little alcove he found in the side of the mountain. All of the sudden, every one of the people he had murdered, every evil he committed was shown in an instant. Patholos wished to cry out, but he knew he would be slain if he did so.

After a fitful bout of unconsciousness, Patholos awoke to the Avatar of Sithis. The Avatar spoke in a voice like thunder, "Come, lets take a walk." Patholos replied." Is this a dream, am I awake?" Patholos almost gasped as the Dumner skin he once had coated his body. He looked into a rockpool and saw that his eyes were back to their original color. "What has happened?"

The Avatar took Patholos down the hill, and Patholos saw all the members of the camp as if they were in a dream. The Avatar said, "Look at these mortals, My Child, look at how they waste away." Patholos saw all the members of the camp start to age rapidly, then turn to ash. The only people who did not die were Ian and the female vampire, but they looked hollow and dry. Then the Avatar spoke again, "There is one who will bring Glory to me, and Glory to my name, you must make a choice. Do you know of whom I speak?" Patholos replied, "I have heard of this servant, the Silhouette, must I follow him?"

The Avatar laughed and then spoke, "You will retain this current state, and will be blessed as my right hand if you follow this Servant. Or, you can die on this Mundus and your ashes will be forever forgotten, and your ailments will pain you until your release. Make a choice, My Child."

Patholos awoke, already he had made his choice.

"So be it..." A voice on the wind said, and Patholos strode out of the alcove, eyes as white as a virgin snow.

Rann

"We've lost focus enough," he decided then, "I won't go out of my way to kill him, but if we happen to see him while we try to solve this Silhouette problem..."

He looked to the female vampire on the ground. She still looked somewhat in shock both from the unexpected sunlight exposure and from Patholos's display of cruelty.

"Want to tell us anything?" he asked, holding his arm out as if to allow her a drink of his blood to help her healing process. She leaned forward eagerly with fangs exposed, but Rann moved his arm away.

"I'm not going to hurt you, but I'm not going to help you for free, either. We need information. What do you know of the Silhouette?"

Countess Valga

"I want a full report before I send you even one soldier to die in those mountains," she said, "What did you find out about the threat, and how did anything from Akavir end up here?"

She leaned back in her chair, waiting for Flint's story.

OOC: She doesn't know anything that the group has found out.

Ian

Lying propped against a rock, Ian had kept his eyes shut and breathing deeply as if asleep, listening to the others talk. Patholos' flying dagger caused him to finally open his eyes to see if it had caused harm. Seeing Rann's response to the letter answered everything.

Ian watched as the dunmer began to work with the female vampire. Nodding silently at Rann's sound methods. Best not to appear hostile, but not freely giving good will. He'll do fine.... Ian thought as he closed his eyes to rest.

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Apr 15 2007, 04:46 AM

Aerona

Her mind was a fog after her incident with Patholos. She had been so terrified that she only vaguely remembered the fact that this 'Rann' fellow had somewhat protected her, and it took her a few moments to even recognize the face in front of her.

Then he offered his arm as if to allow her to feed and then pulled it away, demanding information.

Is he trustworthy or not? On the one hand he helped me, on the other...

"What do you want to know?" she asked. Her voice sounded raspy and weak.

Rann

Rann stroked his chin, then, unable to think of a question. He knew next to nothing about war strategies and things associated with them. He was more used to finding the stealthiest way into a building, or finding out the whereabouts of his targets than he was finding out the weakness in a large army.

"This seems more down your alley, Ian," he said, "You ask the questions and then I'll give her some blood."

Ian

Reluctantly the vampire opened his eyes when Rann asked him to question the other vampire. Ian glared at Rann for a few moments, You get sliced along the back and the work still doesn't change pace.... Gripping his leg to haul himself from his reclining position, Ian sat in a sitting position, straight to releave stress from his back.

At first Ian did not ask immediately, he decided not to go about this in the same manner he normally would have. The point isn't getting the girl to break, it's only to get the information necessary. Ian stared into her white eyes with his own bleached-brown eyes, the owund she'd inflicted during the fighting was just visible as it started at his shoulder.

"We are looking into the Silhoute and its army," he began. "That same army is hell-bent on marching across Tamriel. These mountains and the cities already razed are only the beginning. Millions of people, men, women, and children, will be slaughtered before they finally achieve victory."

The point of this statement was simply to appeal to what morality he suspected lay inside this woman. "We aren't going to let that happen, not without making their goals difficult to attain."
Ian paused briefly, then added. "Those vampires that were with you, the Quarra, they are dead, or that one ran back to the Silhoute. What we need from you, ma'am, is information on that army: weapons, patrolled areas, and places to attack from and dissappear."

The agent/vampire finished, "Whether you just want personal gain or to actually help save hundreds of thousands of lives is up to you, but it is in your best interests to help us destroy that abomination and its followers before they cause further destruction."

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Apr 15 2007, 06:41 AM

Patholos, in the woods not far off

Patholos walked along the woodpath near the camp. As he walked, he noticed a change in the texture of the land. His eyes began to water as Patholos walked towards the last spot he had seen the group and that undead creature. Fearing that he was going blind, Patholos put a strip of cloth around his eyes to try and stop the pain. What happend instead was that the pain increased, and then a startling discovery frightened Patholos. He could see whether his eyes were open or closed. And what he could see was even more frightening. He could see things as they died, wasting away before him.

Patholos cried out, "SITHIS, WHY?!" There was no answer from the Dread Father, and Patholos fell over and wept. The cloth around his eyes became sodden and he crawled towards the group interrogating the undead.
With a mournful voice, and a pleading face, Patholos cried, "Help...me...please...help..." Patholos trailed off as he collapsed in front of Flogir.

Flogir

Flogir was absorbed in watching the interrogation between Rann, Ian, and their vampire captive. For some reason, Flogir felt that this vampire was fairly young, mainly from the nervous nature she exuded. Of course, he could be fooling himself. This vampire could be much older than he was, since vampires did not age.

Being a former soldier, Flogir was actually impressed with Ian's interrogation methods. He was asking the right questions that were needed in times of war.

It was then that a shout was heard nearby. Flogir turned to the sound and saw Patholos crawling towards him, begging for his help. The pitiful creature collapsed before his feet.

"Ummmm..." Flogir said hesitantly, "What are we going to do with him?"

Aerona

"I...don't know much anymore," she admitted, "If you had asked me a few days ago, before those snake-people showed up...they took over everything...that's why we were pushed to the outskirts; the Silhouette preferred to be with his own kind..."

She writhed in agony the whole time, since her body lacked the nourishment to heal itself as it should. She had starved herself of blood for too long.

Rann

Rann couldn't handle it anymore, he couldn't explain it, but he felt sorry for their captive. He held out his arm for her to feed.

"Promise not to make me a bloodsucker?"

She nodded and Rann winced a little as she drank eagerly, but not too deeply from his arm. As she did so, Patholos reappeared.

Rann took his arm away and was surprised that it wasn't bleeding. The only trace of the feeding was two small teeth marks.

"What do we do with him? Nothing. Just leave him be; he'll die on his own."

Rann found it easier to withhold his hatred for Patholos when he wasn't preaching the word of Sithis or needlessly hurting women.

Patholos, near the group

Patholos, dismayed at the fact that Flogir and Green-Root did nothing, even though Green-Root didn't know him that well. Rann, the obvious decision maker of the group, hated Patholos and all he stood for. Why did Patholos ask for pity from a man that had no pity for Patholos?

Patholos asked Rann, in his most steady voice, "Dunmer, we share a heritage," Patholos paused, he couldn't talk for much for than a few seconds because of the pain. "We have a common enemy, my brother,..., and I wish we could put,...,put," Patholos could not finish, because of the pain. Patholos turned his head and the piece of cloth around his eyes fell off. His eye sockets were empty and barren.

"Please, my brother, please...help....me..."

Ian

"Looks like we're back at square one," he muttered silently to himself.

Seeing that the entire show was being run by those snakes Ian saw no reason to attack anytime after morrning.
'Those cold-blooded things are as coordinated as drunks during the morning.'

Ian was displeased by the lack of information that this girl was giving.
'There's no reason to kill her, but I have yet to see a way she can avoid becoming a liability...'

It appeared that Rann trusted this vampire over Patholos. That was perfectly fine, except that this woman hadn't even given her name.

When Patholos showed up Ian hid whatever pity/regret/loathing behind an icy wall of detachment.

Ian gave Rann a look that said "Whatever you intend to do, do it now."

The agent stood despite the protests of his body. Ian strode off, not quite toward the camp.

OCC: Minque?

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Apr 16 2007, 01:43 PM