The Hero in Disguise, Chapter 2 Options

[Taillus]

Chapter 2 already? Man and I thought that this was going to be a short fic.... oh well I really got a ball rolling with this one and I have just decided what I want to do with it Oh yeah am I ever excited about this one. Anyway here is the beginning of Chapter 2 and I promise everyone things will pick up just bear with me...

Chapter 2 - Kvatch is a Good Place to Visit But...



I distinctly remember myself saying that I would be ready for anything that was thrown at me in Kvatch. I could not be so wrong. In fact, I doubt there would be anything that could brace me for what I would experience. As I traveled the winding path that led to Kvatch I could tell that there was something out of the ordinary happening there today and I was sure it wasn’t a town celebration or holiday.

Usually holidays do not involve the smell of burning…everything. A dark black smoke rose from the city and billowed overhead to the point of making the sky appear later then it actually was. As I continued down the path, I could see some tents and such littered in a clearing not far from town. There was a small fire in the middle and the people around it didn’t look very happy at all.

Looking up the hill I could see that Kvatch itself had seen much better days. From what I could see from my vantage point, the Castle was on its last legs and was probably about ready to crumble. Something was horribly wrong here.

Children crying and mothers weeping it seemed as though no one was very happy at all. There were people that were wounded badly and some that were just barely clinging to life itself. Something was happening in Kvatch indeed and I was about to find out exactly what.

“Dear sir it is not a day to be sightseeing at all. Kvatch is completely destroyed and many are dead. It is a sad time for all indeed.” A man says as he breaks down into tears. I console him for a few moments until he calms down enough for me to find out what is going on.

“They appeared almost out of nowhere. Fiery gates containing evil Daedra that burned our houses and killed all of our loved ones without even an ounce of remorse for our people. We had no time to retaliate at all. They just slaughtered us all before we had any clue.” The man says as he points to his town.

“There are a few soldiers left up there trying to hold them back but I don’t think I can fight anymore. Part of me just wants to walk through one of those gates and be done with it!” He sobs as he walks away.

I broke into a run as I quickly made my way up the hill to what was left of Kvatch. There is no way that Martin is dead. I refused to believe it. I didn’t even take the time to check if he was amongst the people that I had met. I just focused on getting up the hill to help the last soldiers push back the Daedra. I met a few men that were standing on the other side of a wood and rock barricade but they were barely able to keep back the forces of evil.

I ran by them knowing that time was of the essence. I could hear one of the men saying that there were some that hopped into the gate and that exactly was my plan as well. After downing some lesser scamps as I knew them to be called, I leapt through the gate without a second thought

[Taillus]

I apollogise if I am moving quickly on this story but I feel it is lacking compared to the Taillus story. Maybe because it is that I am not used to a first person standpoint or maybe Taillus is more interesting but things get so much better in this chapter and into chapter 3.



Martin was a tad skeptical himself and I could see in his eyes that he would have rather continued on our way but Jauffre was in charge for the time being and would like to believe that he was a man of great intelligence. Nevertheless, we found ourselves clearing out the first landing of the cave which consisted of a pair of goblins which were dismissed quite quickly. One thing that I was never very fond of in Morrowind was cave crawling. I would much rather battle hordes of enemies above ground then take on a handful of sneaky little critters that were hiding in the nooks and crannys of a cave or mine. Everything about this place gave me the feeling that I wasn’t getting a wink of sleep during this stop.

The dripping water, the shadows, the sounds that echoed down the tunnels made me shiver every time. I decided that for my own good, I would rather leave Jauffre and Martin by the doors and clear this place out. At least then, we would only have to be cautious of bandits coming in the main door to find a place to sleep.

As I slowly and carefully made my way through the mine with nothing but my armor and sword to aid me, I realized my serious lack of lighting would make this venture quite difficult. My torch was abandoned and left with Martin so I could hold a sword and shield which seemed like a great idea at the time. Too bad my lack of vision would prove to be a far larger disadvantage then I thought.

I walked down the basically pitch black passage in search of the rest of the goblins that were taking residence in the abandoned mine. Like I said earlier, it would prove useful to have the inhabitants of the cave dealt with for the night so whoever stayed awake wouldn’t have to worry about covering two areas.

After navigating my way around and marking my path at intersections via bones that I laid in the paths I came from I could tell that I was entering the main chamber of the mine. I could hear the commotion of some goblins chattering and fighting over some rat meat. A small fire in the distance gave away their location but to my surprise, they could tell I was approaching a mile away.

Most people give far less credit to Goblins then they should. Fact-of-the-matter is that Goblins, when in packs can kill more efficiently then your professional hired assassin. They actually can think for themselves and when accompanied by a Goblin Shaman makes for a quick demise of anyone not ready to take them on… Like me.

As I was running strategies in my mind, thinking of my best course of action for taking this colony down single handedly I was completely caught unawares by a rogue arrow that wedged itself beneath the plates of my armor in my right side. The impact staggered me and when I went to pull it out was when I realized the full extent of their intelligence.

The arrow was obviously poisoned by a crude paralysis poison that caused me to lose my footing as I landed hard, hitting my head on a rock as I collided with the lower level of the cave. I could still hear them rustling and scurrying around me before the pain of another arrow contacts my skin.

Hard to believe that I had just fought my way through the pits of hell only a day previous and now because of my stupidity, I was going to become victim to a band of goblins. I had to give these little beasts credit though, they really knew how to reduce a prey’s options. The last arrow that pieced my back was that of the damaging strength effect making it almost impossible for me to get up under the weight of my own armor.