Ahnaressu's Travels Options

[Dantrag]

Some of you (four, maybe five) may have read this already, if not, I hope you enjoy it. It is currently being written on the TES forums, but I will post it here also. I also plan on doing a wee bit of editing. (just for you guys!) Anyways, enjoy.

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Chapter 1
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The dunmer boy stood up from picking trama roots for a second to feel the fresh wind on his face. Wind without a host of sand was rare, so he enjoyed the calm while he could. I should get home, he thought. He picked up the chitin bow his now dead father made and his basket of trama roots before beginning the three hour walk back to the yurt he, his baby brother, and his mother shared. Little did he know of the eyes watching him from behind a mound of rocks.

The boy turned around quickly, not knowing what the noise behind him was. Chuckling at his own paranoia, he quickly launched an arrow into the rat's face. He scooped up the dead rat and put it in the basket with his mothers alchemical ingredients. The boy sat down for a quick rest. He rested his head on a rock and gnawed half-heartedly on a trama root. Soon the boy had drifted to sleep.

He awoke to loud screams and the sound of steel ringing against steel. As soon as he thought of his family, he grabbed his bow, and notched an arrow to its string. He ran to a high cliff looking over his camp. He spotted his fellow Urshilaku fighting off yet another organized group of rogue ashlanders for the third time in one month. The boy gritted his teeth and let fly his arrow. A rogue ashlander suddenly felt his head explode before lying down for the last time. The boy quickly notched another arrow ready to let fly until he spotted his mother in the corner of his eye.

The boys mother, Zaldin, cast a large fireball at the largest gruop of enemies. She looked in satisfaction as they beat themselves frantically trying to beat out the magical flames. She turned from the spectacle to see a dagger flying at her exposed throat.

The boy looked in horror as his mother fell to the ground, a dagger in her throat. He began to run towards her, tears welling in his eyes, but he remembered his baby brother. He changed his course and ran to his yurt to find his brother. He opened the door to find a man looting his yurt. The man didn't notice the small, skinny boy and the young dunmer didnt hesitate to put an arrow in his skull. After searching the dead man's body and taking his chitin dagger, the boy frantically searched for his brother. He threw open chests, urns, tossed away bed rolls, and pushing over tables, he eventually found his baby brother crying under a mound of blankets. He used the table he knocked over as a shield and waited for someone, (anyone!) to walk through his door.

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Heh, my battle scenes were better back in chapter 1.....
Enjoy.[/i]

[Dantrag]

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Chapter 3
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The sound of the waves lapping on the shore kept Ahnaressu sane. It was a soothing, almost magical sound. It was Ahnaressu's indulgence in this magic that allowed a mubcrab to pass by undetected by the normally-alert hunter. Ahnaressu knew that he had to get to civilization if he was to survive. His only problem was mustering the courage to make such a difficult decision. He had no idea what to expect or even how to act. He scooped up his pack and his weapons, then cradled his brother as he began his journey to Ald'ruhn.

He went in through the main gate, where he was taken aback by the hustle and bustle of the people. He quickly went behind a house and curled up with Relgar. In mere moments, Ahnaressu was fast asleep.

He was shaken violently. Ahnaressu sprung into action. He spun out of the gaurd's reach and kicked the gaurd in the crotch. Ahnaressu only kicked bonemold greaves, hurting his foot more than the guard. The Redoran gaurd grabbed the boy ruoghly by the shirt collar, and threw the boy to the ground. The guard asked "Where are your parents, boy?" Before Ahnaressu could answer, Relgar began to cry, having ended up on the hard ground from the skirmish between Ahnaressu and the guard. The guard put poor Ahnaressu down on the ground and replaced him with Relgar. "This is no place for a boy, much less a baby. Go back home and sleep in a bed. Sleeping in the streets is illegal." the guard explained in a rather gruff tone. "There are laws saying where I can and can't sleep?" Ahnaressu asked incredulously. The guard calmly put Relgan back into Ahnaressu's arms and said "Just go home. Don't sleep on the streets again, and this incident will not repeat itself."

Ahnaressu was still shaken up from his interesting dilemma with a guard, but was glad nothing more serious happened other than a nagging bruise on his foot. He calmly walked up to a Breton passerby and asked where he could find a bed. "Sure," answered the man. "Try the Ald Skar Inn." He said as he pointed it out for Ahnaressu. The young dunmer nodded his thanks.

He walked in to the Ald Skar Inn and asked for a room. "that will be ten gold per night." the barkeep said. "Could I offer you potions in exchange for a room?" Ahnaressu asked while holding the potions made by his mother. The bartender laughed in his face. "No only gold will do. But you could try selling them to someone for gold. The mages guild always buys things like that." Ahnaressu got directions to the mages guild and headed that way.

The skinny dunmer made his way through the streets of Ald'ruhn, while playing with a ring in his pocket. He walked into the Mages Guildhall seeking someone to buy some potions. He found a tall altmer. The high elf would buy potions, and as he reached for some money in a small chest, Ahnaressu spotted a tanto. Dismissing the thought of stealing that weapon, he thanked the alchemist and moved on, all the while fiddling with the ring in his pocket. The ring! he thought. Having no clue what the enchantment on the ring was, he asked a breton woman by the name of Edwinna to identify it. As edwinna took the ring from the boy's open hand, she was shaking with emotion. "This ring is powerful, but it is only of use to a mage like myself." Ahnaressu was young, but not dumb. "What does it do?" he asked. "Really, it would be of no use to a boy like yo-" Ahnaressu seemed to Edwinna to get six feet taller as he asked forcefully, "What is the enchantment on the ring?" Edwinna answered, "This ring, when activated, shoots a stream of flame wherever it is aimed." It seemed useful to Ahnaressu but ot nearly as useful as gold, so he sold it to Edwinna for one hundred gold.

"They have fled, Sir!" Nyph reported to Valnor. After a two day standstill, niether side had gained nor lost ground. Valnor clenched his fist and ordered "I want all of them killed, spare none. CHASE THEM TO THE DEPTHS OF OBLIVION!" Cheers from the rogues erupted all around Valnor as he led the chase.

The score or so Urshilaku that survived the raid ran through the night. The men and older boys occasionally stopped only to rain a blanket of arrows over their attackers. The twenty ahslanders only had seven men able to fight. The rest were women and children. But one woman stood alone against the night sky, raining flame, lightning and frost over the rogues. The Urshilaku wise woman sought revenge.

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Don't worry, chapter lengths get fixed after chapter 4. I realized three paragraphs is the exeption, not the rule.
enjoy.