Gladiator, No, his name isn't Spartacus... Options

[minque]

Ahhh, Imperials....Ancient Rome! They are connected, right? Anyway, go on this is a really good read! Me likey...

[Gaius Maximus]

Chapter VI

As the trio approached the island more and more, Charon felt an odd scent in the air. Perhaps it was Daedric Magic becoming so thick that even he was able to smell it. Or perhaps it was the odd flowers he had noticed. Regardless, though, the smell was rather thick, and unpleasant. Even more so, now that they approached the island, the humming got louder and louder, and Charon was feeling like his inside was vibrating. However, he just clenched his teeth and attempted to ignore it.

Taking a glance behind, he noticed that Raynari wasn’t feeling the best, too. The Dunmer had also obviously clenched his teeth tightly, and couldn’t hide the frown on his face as the smell got stronger and stronger with their approach towards the mysterious island.

When he looked in front of him again, he noticed that Gilian had turned to face him. A small purple bubble surrounded his nose, and Charon guessed this was a Shield spell, to aid the Mer against the thick smell that was floating in the air around the island. However, even the mage could do nothing against the odd humming noise, and it was obvious that it had an effect on him, as a slight frown was present on his face.

“We’re here, gentlemen. Any volunteers to go up and check what’s up there?” The Altmer gestured towards the island. If they were to find out something, they would have to scale a small peak.

Seeing as the Dunmer gave no response, Charon sighed and stepped forward. “I’ll go. The only thing I need is a lift to the top.”

Gilian smiled slightly, then muttered something, lifting his free hand up to Charon’s chest level. Unexpectedly, a purple ball dashed towards Charon, and the next thing he knew, the Redguard was in the air, slowly floating towards the island under the influence of a Telekinesis spell.

Curse those mages and their spells… He muttered under his breath, waiting for himself to land. Fortunately for him, the trip lasted shortly, and soon enough, he was back on firm ground.

The view that was revealed to him made him gasp.

Charon stood at the side of an enormous statue. The statue was that of a head, yet what unsettled him was the fact that the statue looked… mad. It had three faces, each depicting different emotions, yet connecting at the eyes. The mouth of the middle statue was open, with its lower jaw opening up into stairs that led inside the statue. From there, all the humming seemed to come, and Charon could spot shades of blue and purple dancing on the stone.

Near the mouth of the statue stood what appeared to be a Legionnaire, armored with the traditional Legion armor – Lorica Segmentata, Scutum shield and the Legion helmet. Beneath that, Charon could spot a tunic, and a scarf, both red. The Imperial wore sandals, the traditional footwear of the Legion. Of weapons, the Legionnaire carried the Gladius shortsword, also several javelins – Pilas.

From what Charon could see from his position, the man wasn’t very tall – slightly shorter than six feet. He had rather tan skin, which suggested that the Imperial spent a lot of time under the sun. However, Charon was in a position from which he couldn’t see the face of the man.

Behind the Legionnaire, the Redguard noticed a small camp. It consisted of a solo tent, inside which was a bedroll of poor quality. Nearby the tent was a fireplace, currently with no fire burning. On it stood a simple pot, which was probably where the Legionnaire boiled his food. Speaking of the food, it was most likely located in a sack that was positioned next to the tent.

The small camp suggested Charon that the man lived here, yet he only began thinking of that after he recovered from the extremely strong smell of the mushrooms beneath him. To avoid being seen, he had to quickly hide in them, which resulted in almost loosing consciousness. He couldn’t allow himself that, so he began crawling forward, trying to breath in a way the smell wouldn’t affect him so much. However, that wasn’t very successful, so Charon felt quite dizzy and ready to throw up at any moment.

While he was crawling through the mushrooms, trying to make as little noise as possible, a Dunmer was basically spat out of the statue’s mouth. The Elf rose from the ground, shivering, froth flowing out of his mouth. His eyes darted around like those of a madman, full of panic.

“This is all wrong… Everything is wrong…” The Dunmer muttered, burying his hands in his messy red hair. “I can’t do it… You won’t make me…” His voice got louder as he spoke. “I won’t go back! You can’t make me!” The obviously mad Mer’s shivering hand moved down to the handle of a rusty iron shortsword tied to his belt. “I- I’LL KILL YOU ALL! YOU ALL ARE GOING TO DIE!” With that yell, the Dunmer suddenly leaped up, unsheathing his weapon of poor quality.

The Legionnaire sighed, and Charon saw one of the javelins flying towards the Dunmer, who wasn’t even attempting to avoid it. The weapon pierced the Mer’s chest straight on, and soon, a pool of blood appeared on the stone stairs. This was when the Redguard was an opportunity to strike.

Leaping forward, he ran for the Legionnaire, who, unfortunately, noticed him already. Since the web and the trident in his hands left no clue about what feelings Charon had towards the Imperial, a Pilum was sent flying towards the ex-Gladiator.

However, Charon was a Retiarius for a reason. Jumping out of the javelin’s way, he dashed forward, and threw his net towards the Legionnaire. However, he also jumped back and avoided the attack, then dashed forward to impale Charon on his Gladius. The Legionnaire was quite a lot like a Secutor for Charon – they had the same weaknesses, though the Legionnaire had more strengths.

Knowing what he had to do, Charon sidestepped the blow, then thrust forward his trident. The Legionnaire blocked the blow, yet was forced to take a step back as they began pouring down on the Scutum one after another. As soon as the Imperial took a step back, though, Charon threw his net again, catching the shield in it. It took only a pull towards himself to make the Legionnaire loose one of his weapons, and a good deal of advantage.

However the Imperial wasn’t going to surrender and Charon had to jump back quickly to avoid another thrust. Then, he attempted to impale the man on his trident, yet that blow was sidestepped, and the next thing Charon knew, his main weapon was flying out of his hand as the Legionnaire pulled it.

As the trident landed on the ground, the Legionnaire again attempted to impale Charon on his Gladius, yet failed as Charon rolled left. Wasting no time, the Redguard threw himself at the Imperial, effectively bringing him to the ground.

A struggle on the ground ensued, yet here, Charon had the upper hand. Soon enough, the Gladius was lying on the ground some distance away, and his knife was covered in blood. The Legionnaire was on the ground, dead, with a slit throat.

“Bravo! Bravo!” An odd voice suddenly boomed. “What a fight! Quite amusing, really.” Charon looked around, trying to find the source of this voice. However, his only suspect currently was the statue. However, his search was cut short as the voice continued:

“You have something that I was looking for! Perhaps you’d like to come in? You can bring friends, really! The more, the merrier, no?” Charon looked at the statue, not entirely sure whenever to dismiss the thought of trying to go into the blue-ish light that was present in the mouth of the statue, or go in. However, his thought was cut short when the voice whispered, seemingly from right next to him:

“And if you’re not convinced yet, we have free cheese!”

Puzzled, Charon approached the peak at the bottom of which he knew stood Gilian and Raynari, supported by the purple platform created by the Altmer’s Water Walking spell.

“It’s all clear, you can come up. Nothing but an odd statue up here, really.” He gestured them, trying to ignore the smell of the mushrooms that surrounded him once again. The humming noise ceased after the voice stopped speaking, so it wasn’t an annoyance anymore.

After a few Telekinesis spells, both Mer were up on the island, yet Raynari was looking rather annoyed, and Charon didn’t blame it – he too was rather annoyed when Gilian just threw him up on the island with no warning.

Since the island wasn’t that large, the three split up to explore it, feeling no need to stay together for security. Raynari went down a path that led down, and Charon took a somewhat hidden path down to the water. Gilian stayed to explore the statue further, as it intrigued him greatly.

***

After some ten minutes, Charon, Raynari and Gilian again met up next to the statue. There wasn’t anything that interesting on the island, except for the odd vegetation, all of which had a thick and a rather unpleasant smell. Yet none of the flowers bested the mushrooms which Charon found upon stepping foot on the island for the first time.

“So, what now?” Charon finally broke the silence. Gilian shrugged.

“Now I head into the Gate. I want to find out where it goes, and if it is of any danger to Tamriel. There could be more to it than we could imagine. The statue just reeks of Sheogorath’s magic, so that gate could lead us beyond our sanity.” The Altmer gestured towards the statue.

Raynari smirked.

“So, you find it wise to head into a place that reeks of Sheogorath?”

“No, I find myself curious, and that is why I head in.” Gilian replied, then turned around on his heel, heading towards the mysterious gate.

Charon shrugged.

“Well, it invited me, so I might as well go in, just for the heck of finding out who spoke to me.” With that, he also turned around and followed the Altmer. Raynari shook his head, yet still followed; indeed, he also felt very curious about the nature of these ‘gates’. He didn’t trust Gilian a lot, after all, so he might’ve been wrong by saying that it reeked of Sheogorath.

[jack cloudy]

Hah, I knew it! Sheo for the win!

And I laughed at how bored the Imperial seemed when he killed that Dunmer. It was as if he was practically saying: ,,Not again. This is just getting old."

[Gaius Maximus]

Hah, I knew it! Sheo for the win!

And I laughed at how bored the Imperial seemed when he killed that Dunmer. It was as if he was practically saying: ,,Not again. This is just getting old."

Yeah, I'd think that days and days of telling adventurers not to go in, only to have them go in and get out crazy, then kill them could get boring. Not the best assignment you could get... I imagine what the poor Legionnaire msutve thought when he was told to go there.

"Oh, yeah, we have this Gate that converts normal people into crazy maniacs. Since there's no one watching it, we want you to do it. Oh, and, the Gate speaks from time to time. Just thought you'd like to know."
"I don't get paid enough to do such things..."