Seven, An Aela & Ungarion Prequel Options

[haute ecole rider]

I'll second the others on all points regarding the root-worm mode of travel. Talk about fast-traveling! It was fascinating, and quite original in that I had never heard of such a means of traveling. However, considering that Black Marsh is mostly swampland (hence its name, right?) this makes perfectly logical sense. If we can have multiple trees growing from a single root system, why not have the entire province be connected by such a system of roots/canals whatever have ye and function as a quick means of travel and communication? This portion of the chapter really stood out for me.

I like the way you continue to build the characters throughout this installment. Valens and Talun-Lei in particular stand out for me.

First, Valens:

"That's the Valus Mountains," Valens followed Aela's gaze with a black-mailed finger. "They end right there, up near the headwaters of the river."

"You have been this way before then?" the Breton asked.

"Not that I remember." The Nibenean rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully.

We see more of the enigma wrapped up in mystery that is the man Valens.

Talun-Lei vanished somewhere during the trek. Hours later they came across a dead pheasant dangling from a tree limb by a rawhide cord.

I have to agree with KC that this is much like a cat taking care of her "human." Three of my cats have done this, the male with a mouse toy, and both females with real mice! I suspect cats do this because they despair of us ever learning to hunt for ourselves, and yet they still try to teach us (mother cats bring half-dead prey to their kittens to teach them hunting and killing techniques). Would this attitude be shared by Talun-Lei, or does he just want to be accepted as a vital member of Our Gang?

Like McB and Grits, I had to laugh at this:

"I have found a root!" the old Argonian exclaimed.

"A root?" Ungarion cocked an eyebrow, "in a forest? How remarkable!"

Classic Ungarion! This just shows how effective your building of his character is that we cannot imagine any other response from this Altmer wizard.

I continue to be amazed by your effective world-building. I look forward to what you make of Black Marsh - it promises to be as alien and intriguing as the best of Burroughs and Lovecraft - the two authors I keep comparing this work to. When I'm not thinking of The Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven, that is.

[Acadian]

Talun-Lei is doing a fabulous job of harvesting the swamp’s bounty to feed his companions, just as his fishing proved helpful during the boat ride. But first some fried sausages and onions at Castle Redwater – sounds like a deliciously welcome break between river fare, game birds and whatever else Talun-Lei will try to feed them.

I hope Valens doesn’t keep going and fall off the eastern edge of Tamriel! Or get swallowed by the sunrise. How intriguing this aspect of him is.

All aboard the Hist Express to Black Marsh! I hope Aela remembers her bloom spell after that ride through the Mudswamp Subway.


Nit? - - ‘At the same time it grew hotter and damper then even when they had been on the river.’ - - To me, ‘then’ implies a sequencing (as in time). Perhaps you would rather use ‘than’ to introduce the comparison that I think you intend?

[ghastley]

Your version of root-worm travel seems a bit random. I wonder if even the Argonians will know where they've arrived. But it certainly adds to the "Black Marsh is very different" vibe you need here.

I liked the bit where Aela senses the presence of the Hist, and they notice her, but ignore her. It will let you include them, or leave them out, later, when they might influence outcomes.

A meal of fried sausages and tangy onions filled their bellies. While the wine was hardly Tamika's, it was far better than the travesty offered at the Lonely Suitor Lodge, nor was it served in mugs.

Just what is the right wine for that meal anyway?

[SubRosa]

McBadgere: The Chico One Talun-Lei's hunting was a way to show that while he might be the weakest link of the Seven, he still has useful talents and can contribute something to the rest of the group. Even if it is something as simple as dinner.

The idea of rootworm travel is not something I can take credit for. It is in the in game books: The Argonian Account. I came upon it during my research and decided I had to include it.

I am glad that Ungarion's one-liner went over so well. It was one of those things I just wrote down on the spur of the moment in the first draft. As you and so many have said, it is just sooo Ungarion, how could he say anything else?


Grits: I wanted the final leg of the journey upriver - the farthest from civilization - to feel really wild and dangerous. It is a complete wilderness out there, where anything can happen. So outlaws and nasty critters like vamps seemed like just the right thing to find there. Besides, there are some bandit camps and those vampire dungeons along the river in the game!

I also like the magical elements of fantasy fiction (says the Witch ) To my mind it is the main thing that sets the genre apart from others. So I always look at fantasy settings with magic in mind, and how its use would shape the world. Including the magical things that are not created by the people living there, but are simply a regular part of nature. But now I am sweating that I can make the Black Marsh itself can live up to the buildup!


King Coin: They could definitely use Aravi on this mission quest! Castle Redwater is indeed in the game, at that very spot. Though of course Bethesda calls it a fort instead. The two vampire caves are in the game as well. Their wine had to be better than the Lonely Suitor's. After all, the Suitor has a reputation to live down to!

Those rootworms are an eye-opener alright! I think I would pass on that and walk too...


haute ecole rider: I thought the rootworm travel system was pretty inspired too. But as I said to McB, I cannot take any credit for it. It was all Bethesda. I just copied what they wrote in The Argonian Account (that one set of in-game books was probably my best source of setting information about Black Marsh)!

Now that you and King Coin mention it, Talun-Lei's hunting gifts do remind me of a cat! Though I was thinking more that it was his way to prove his worth to the team.


Acadian: I am glad that Talun-Lei is proving his worth to the readers. One thing I wanted to do with these traveling episodes was show that that boy is not entirely green, and can add some value to the team. We will see more of that in the future, as they come to Black Marsh itself, a place where he is at home, and the others are not.

Valens is proving to be a fun character to write, precisely because of his mysterious nature. It is also easy because he is a blank slate! We will have another big clue about that his destiny in the east later in Chapter 2.

Good call on "Than". I went back and fixed that. I never even noticed it.


ghastley: I thought it was kind of a random way to travel as well, since you cannot exactly control where the worm goes, and how can you tell where you are in Argonia? But I just went with what Bethesda created in this case, since I was kind of at a loss myself to create explanations for either.

We will be seeing a Hist tree up close this episode. They seem really distant, mysterious, and dangerous in Bethesda's writing, and I am sticking to that idea in my portrayal of them.

I think any wine that is not from The Lonely Suitor is the right one!


Previously On Seven: In our last episode the Seven reached the end of the Panther River and briefly stopped at a trading post in Castle Redwater before striking out overland to the Black Marsh. Talun-Lei continued hunting ahead of the group to supply them with game. In no time at all they crossed into Argonia, and traveled inside the rootworms that live in the Hist roots in order to reach Agrigento quicker. The episode ended when they emerged from the roots and back on dry land.


Chapter 2.1

12th Midyear, 3E425

Magnus had begun to drop from his perch when they came to the valley in which Agrigento was nestled. Their first sight of it came from the top of a ridge north of the settlement. From its commanding height, they could look down across the entire vale. The oval depression stretched at least a mile through the low hills that surrounded it, and was filled to the brim by a dense canopy of banyan and durian trees.

All of that changed near Agrigento itself however. There the trees had been cleared to create wide empty fields surrounding three sides of the settlement. This open space was divided into a patchwork of dozens of irregularly shaped paddies. Each was separated from its neighbor by low dikes barely half a foot higher than the brown water around them, and just wide enough for a single person to walk along their muddy tops.

Rice Paddies

The village itself sat at the far end of the valley, in front of three hills. Except for one low, flat rise, these heights were covered with thick stands of bamboo. Rising from the flat land beneath them was Agrigento. From the heights the village reminded Aela of a fried egg. It stretched out in all directions like an irregular circle, filled with homes built of brown thatch. A large circular field took up the center of the village, like the yolk of the egg. At the far end of the plaza rose a stone building in the Imperial style, stretching at least two stories high and roofed with red-glazed tiles.

Aela could see that the perimeter of the village was marked by a line of heavy logs sunk vertically into the ground. The top of each was sharpened to a point to dissuade climbers. However, even from where she stood Aela could see that the barrier had fallen into disarray. Many of the timbers had fallen, and near the main entrance they had vanished altogether, to be replaced by a fence of bamboo.

"Your village's defenses have seen better days," Valens thoughtfully rubbed his goatee with a black-mailed hand.

"You see the work of the Nagas," Stalks-The-Marshes declared. "The first time the snakelegs came to our village these ones thought their walls would protect them. These ones were wrong…"

"Let me guess, destruction magic?" Ungarion said. "Fireballs will eventually incinerate wooden walls."

"Aye," Ulpia now responded. "But that was the least of it. At one time the walls were on top of a rampart we had built up. A good five feet of solid turf. They used spirits to just level it somehow."

"The bastards pulled the very ground out from underneath us." Rullianus spat onto the dirt at his feet. "Then the wall around the gate went up in flames. We never stood a chance."

"These ones have not resisted since then," Hathei said. "What can simple farmers do against such terrible magics?"

Ungarion laced his long fingers together and stretched out his hands before him. His knuckles popped loudly, and he grinned. "Terrible magics are our specialty. These Nagas have not seen anything like Aela and I."

"No one has seen anything like this one…" Do'Sakhar murmured under his breath.

Aela said nothing. Instead she stared at the ruins of Agrigento's defenses. As if forty fighters were not bad enough, the Nagas had conjurers and destruction mages as well. That meant she and Ungarion would not have the magic advantage. Considering the damage the bandit magicians had wrought, she imagined that they would be evenly matched at best.

Clearly this battle would not be won by simple magical or physical muscle. They were going to have to outthink the Nagas.

"Well, let's get down there and get a better look at the land," Valens said. "Then we can get a better idea of how to beat these buggers."

The four Agrigentans led them down from the ridge and into the rainforest. The sky quickly vanished behind a dense roof of greenery. The banyans rose all around. Their grey trunks were long and ropy looking, reminding Aela of strands of clay that had been soaked and stretched out before drying. Then there rose the durian trees, dotted with their large, spiky fruit. All around their feet rose tall grasses, brilliant green ferns, and brightly colored bromeliads. Colorful birds flew through the growth or perched upon the trees, where they were kept company by lizards, serpents, and insects of all varieties. The forest was literally an explosion of life.

The forest

Banyan Tree

Durian Trees

Bromelaids

"This looks more like the Green Marsh than the Black Marsh," Seridwe commented.

"Aye, this part," Talun-Lei agreed. "But deeper in the core, things change. The giant cypress and mangroves grow tall and thick, and along with the Hist, they nearly blot out the sun. There is no solid ground. It is a place of mud and water and roots and darkness."

Soon they passed a curious tree, that the Argonians seemed to stare it with reverence. It stood over the ground upon half-a-dozen massive roots shaped like feet. The trunk itself did not truly begin until at least ten feet above the soil, creating a large, cave-like area between it and the ground. Aela could see glowing yellow sap slowly dripping down from the roof of this chamber, and vanishing into the ground below. The trunk of the massive tree rose above that, and bulged out like an incredibly obese man. Equally fat, twisted boughs ran off from it in several directions. Its bark varied in shade from brown to black, but had an odd purple tint to it, reminding Aela of a bruise. Dark green leaves sprouted from the branches, and glowing red lights that she imagined might be fruit could be seen hanging all throughout the canopy it created.

The Hist

"That must be a Hist tree," Aela thought aloud. Out of habit she stretched out with her magical senses, and tried to touch the spirit of the tree. She found herself coldly rebuffed. The energy that resided within the strange tree wanted no part of her, and made that eminently clear as it pushed her efforts to assense it aside. What little Aela could feel was not comforting. It was like staring at a glacier: something cold, hard, and ready to crush her if she strayed in its path.

"Verily," Stalks-the Marshes said in a low, solemn voice. His tone became abrupt when he looked away from the tree and back to the mercenaries. "But this is not for the unscaled. These ones must move along. Do not come back here. The Hist do not welcome outsiders."

They continued on through the rainforest without argument. Aela could see from the looks upon the faces of the non-Argonians that they too could feel the alienness of the tree, and were perturbed by it. That included the human villagers as well. She doubted that even Ungarion would be inclined to make a trip back to investigate the tree.

In time Talun-Lei surprised them all when he leapt into the branches of a durian tree, and came back down moments later with one of its giant spiky fruits clutched gingerly in his hands. With a deft motion of his knife, he sliced it lengthwise, revealing a creamy pulp within. Even from several paces away, the stench of it curled Aela's nose. It smelled like a latrine filled with onions and sweaty boots. From the expressions on the faces of her companions, Aela could see that she was not the only one who was less than excited by the food.

Durian fruit

Yet the Argonian dove into the fruit with zest. The other Argonians stepped up to take pieces themselves, and joined him in the snack. Ulpia surprised Aela by doing the same.

"Go ahead and try some." The Imperial held out a piece of the yellowish-pulp to the Witch. "It's much better than it smells."

The last thing the Breton wanted to do was eat the revolting fruit. But she was reminded that many people thought the same about haggis, laverbread, black pudding, and other native dishes of her own homeland. Determined not to discount the strange, smelly fruit just on appearances alone, she steeled her stomach for a taste.

Aela found that the creamy pulp was surprisingly good. It reminded of her of custard, with a strong taste of almonds. After the first dab from the tip of her finger, she eagerly took a palmful of the gooey fruit and devoured it with a zest that nearly matched that of the others. Still, she wondered if the Argonians ate so quickly to avoid smelling the tasty fruit? It certainly was an incentive to gobble the meal down, rather than take the time to savor it!

"Try some Ungarion," the Breton offered some to the Altmer mage. "It really is good."

"I think I should sooner lick his butt," Ungarion made a face as he nodded to Do'Sakhar.

"For once this one agrees with the butter elf." The tiger-striped Khajiit waved one hand before his nose. "I would sooner he lick this one's butt as well!"

That brought a chorus of guffaws from the group as they once again made their way through the rainforest. Aela found herself wiping the sweat from her brow in no time at all. It was much hotter than the Panther River basin had been. Worse, the humidity in the air felt like a wet blanket wrapped around her body. A glance at the others showed that they were sweating as well. Only the Argonians seemed unmoved by the heat.

The path they followed was a line of wagon ruts worn down into the ground. It was heavy with growth however, and the ruts little more than grass-filled depressions. When Seridwe asked about it, Stalks-The-Marshes revealed that this was the route they used to take their wagons to sell their soju. It led from Agrigento to the headwaters of the Panther River. From there they took boats like Captain Lidell's down the river to Telamon, and finally packet ships across the Niben to Bravil. From the state of the path, it was obvious that they had not sold any soju in a long time…

Soon the group came to a halt again, when Stalks-The-Marshes raised a warning hand from his position at the front of the column. The soft hiss of weapons being drawn came to Aela's ears. Out of habit, the symbol for her ward spell popped into her mind. She filled her left hand with energy, ready to release it and create the magical shield at a moment's notice. Her right hand filled with the essence of a dryad, and she likewise only needed an instant to bring the tree-spirit into the physical world.

The Seven fanned out across the path, armed and ready. Aela stepped up with Ungarion beside her. The Altmer had his hands filled with a fireball, ready to annihilate anything that crossed them. Ahead of them the Breton saw what had caused the alarm. It was a puddle of emerald green slime that lay in the center of the path. But unlike most pools, this one moved, slowly crawling from one side of the road to the other. In its wake Aela saw the bones of a small animal, perhaps a lizard or rodent.

"Voriplasm," Talun-Lei observed. "It's said that given enough time their stomach acids can even dissolve steel. But they are not very fast."

"Best just leave it be," Stalks-The-Marshes advised. "We see them often enough in the Black Marsh. So long as these ones do not go too near, it will not even know they are present."

"So how does this one hunt?" Do'Sakhar asked.

"They usually sit and wait for something to step on them," Rullianus said. "If you aren't paying attention, they look just like any other pool of muck."

"They fear fire," Stalks-The-Marshes added. "So simply wave a torch near one, and it will retreat."

Nashira was the first to sheath her sword. Though given the lightning speed that Aela had seen her draw with in Bravil, that meant little. For all the Witch knew, the sword master might be able to strike even quicker this way!

"Let's just leave it alone then." Now Valens sheathed his twin ebony swords as well. "We aren't here to kill every wild animal in the province."

They waited for the creature to slowly crawl off of the path and vanish into the underbrush. Then they moved on, careful to stay near the other side of the road as they passed.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 17 2013, 06:52 PM

[Acadian]

"But this is not for the unscaled.” - - What a fabulously TESish line, and perfectly employed by an Argonian here. So the Hist tree's not having anything to do with Aela's round-eared, unscaled spiritual outreach.

I liked how you used the overgrown wagon ruts to reinforce the whole situation that has resulted in the farmers being been unable to bring any soju to market for a long time - hence, the ruts are overgrown.

I simply loved the voriplasm! Reminds me of oozes from D&D and they're perfect for this swampland. You've done a great job bringing the mysterious marsh to exotic life, but this little touch really sang to me.

Looks like our Seven have their work cut out for them.

[Grits]

Wow, they’re up against a lot of magic as well. No wonder the villagers have not resisted.

I absolutely loved your portrayal of the Hist.

"For once this one agrees with the butter elf." The tiger-striped Khajiit waved one hand before his nose. "I would sooner he lick this one's butt as well!"


Black Marsh seems wonderful, magical, and dangerous. I enjoyed the contrast where the village had tamed a small area. I like the decision to leave the voriplasm alone. Respectful of life no matter how weird.

A fascinating episode!

[haute ecole rider]

I have to ask: Did you happen to watch the same episode of Chopped that I did, where durian fruit was one of the basket ingredients?? I never knew its existence until I saw the the show and heard the judges talking about how difficult it was to work with (because of the stench). I had to look it up on Wikipedia! Now it's everywhere!

The contrast between the settlement and the surrounding forest/marsh was striking and wonderful. I enjoyed the trip through the rainforest, and the encounter with the Hist tree. No, it is not for the unscaled indeed!

I lit on the same thing Acadian did about the overgrown ruts. It really brings home how devastating the Naga raids have been for this poor village.

[McBadgere]

Loved the proper amazing descriptions of the environment...Properly vivid, and the screenshots helped...Y'know...A tad... ...

The Hist-tree was fantastic...I know of this from the Fighter's Guild quest and all that from the Greg Keyes novels...But that bit where Aela was rebuffed from her magical nudging was excellent, and the Argonians' reminder that it was not for her was cool...

The village was excellent...Loved the idea that it was mostly yer basic swamp village but there's always some huge stone manse somewhere in these places...Imperials most likely... ...

"I think I should sooner lick his butt," Ungarion made a face as he nodded to Do'Sakhar.

"For once this one agrees with the butter elf." The tiger-striped Khajiit waved one hand before his nose. "I would sooner he lick this one's butt as well!"

...

Two for two... ... ...

It was one of those things I just wrote down on the spur of the moment in the first draft.

Always the best way with jokes...If you work on them, they don't seem to work so well...

Many many excellent things I enjoyed...

Brilliant stuff!!...

Nice one!!...

*Applauds heartily*...

[ghastley]

Hmmm... Voriplasm! That looks like an interesting trap for later in the story, except that the Nagas will be familiar with them.

I do like the way you're portraying the Hist as aloof and disinterested. They have unfathomable plans on a much larger scale, and can't be bothered with little incidents like this one. It all helps build a very different world that they've found themselves in.

The revelation that the Nagas have magical forces on their side makes for some interesting future match-ups. Some major-scale rock-paper-scissors juggling to come!

[King Coin]

I pictured the village the way you described it, with the rice patties around it.

One of the Argonians is talking like a Khajiit, and the other one is talking like an Imperial! I can tell who gets out more.

Forty fighters and Aela is even considering them evenly matched?

I enjoyed to pictures of the vegetation. Especially the Hist tree. Interesting that it only welcomes Argonians.

[SubRosa]

Acadian: Aela's round-eared, unscaled, and tailless outlook! She's a three time loser!

I am glad the voriplasm played. It was not in my original drafts. I only added it later because I realized that episode was basically an introduction to Black Marsh, and that while I had shown several exotic forms of plant life, I had not shown any of the indigenous animals. So I literally worked the voriplasm in at the last minute.


Grits: The Nagas needed to be tough enough to overcome the 'standard' defenses of a settlement out in the sticks. So I threw some magic in on their team, and thought about how that could be used to neutralize Agrigento's defenses.

I did want to show some contrast between the rice fields around the village and the wilderness around it. Its a little island of civilization in a sea of wildness.


haute ecole rider: Chopped? Is that about circumcisions? I have never heard of it. I never heard of durian fruit either until I started writing Chapter 2. It is something I came across when I was doing my research on rainforests and their plantlife. The fruit was nice and exotic, so I thought it would fit in wonderfully with the picture I was painting of Argonia.

The overgrown path is just one way we will see how the Nagas have taken their toll upon the village. Once we get into people's houses, we will see even more evidence of their depredations.


McBadgere: I remember the Hist tree from the FG questline too. Its sap was really weird and dangerous stuff. I never read the novels though. So otherwise all I know about them is what I read on the wiki. They seem to be mysterious, inscrutable, and very dangerous. The worshiping Sithis part cannot bode well either. So I decided to portray them as alien and aloof creatures.

You called it on the Imperials in the big stone building!

I was inspired by that butt-licking line from that joke that an npc in Leyawiin tells about "why do Khajiit lick their butts?" It just sort of took its own life from there.


ghastley: I have thought about the Seven trying to use voriplasms or other swamp critters against the Nagas as well. But as you pointed out, the bandits will be old-hands at dealing with any sort of Black Marsh wildlife.

You hit upon one of the things I wanted to portray with the introduction to Black Marsh. I want it to seem like a very different place than the Seven are used to (sans Talun-Lei of course). I want it to seem alien and exotic. Glad it is working!


King Coin: I recall the Argonians and Khajiit talking in the same third person way in Oblivion. Did they change it in Skyrim? I guess I cannot remember. But it is Oblivion I am basing them on. To be honest, writing their dialogue gets to be a pain after a while, with all the "these ones" and "those one's", etc...

Aela considers them evenly matched against the Naga's magicians. I went back and edited that part a bit to clarify that. She's not really worried about the Naga's fighters though. Once you add in the villagers, the Nagas will be the ones outnumbered. Granted, Aela knows that even with Valens to train them, one for one the villagers cannot stand up to the Nagas. But as Joe Stalin once said, quantity has a quality all its own...


Previously On Seven: In our last episode our heroes entered the valley in which Agrigento sits, and spied the village from a distance. They then made their way down through the rainforest toward the settlement, encountering several curious life forms, from smelly but surprising tasty durian fruit, to a cold and aloof Hist tree, and finally a strange predator known as a voriplasm on the road: which they chose to avoid.


Chapter 2.2

In time they emerged from the rainforest and came out into the rice paddies. The fields were empty of the green stalks of rice plants, and were filled with nothing but muddy water instead. Aela and the other scaleless folk went single-file along the dikes, while the Argonians waded effortlessly through the shin-deep water.

Finally they came to the village's bamboo gate. Aela could see that the ground still bore the tell-tale scorch marks of flames around the gate and flanking walls. As she stepped nearer, she could feel the burns seared deep within the soil as well, where the timbers of the walls had been incinerated.

"This was definitely done by Destruction magic," she thought aloud. "I can sense the marks it left behind."

"Aye," Rullianus grumbled. "The flames seemed to just come from nowhere."

"Well, two can play at that game my friend," Ungarion vowed. The high elf rolled up the sleeves of his robe and raised his arms, but Aela stopped him with a shake of her head. This was not the time for showing off with fireballs. Not when they were making their first impression upon their employers.

However, those employers were nowhere to be found. Stalks-The-Marshes and Rullianus pushed open the bamboo gates to reveal empty streets beyond. The seven mercenaries followed the villagers down the barren lanes, flanked by tall houses to either side. The homes possessed hardwood floors that were raised high above the ground upon thick stilts made from durian wood. Their walls were made of cross-stitched reeds, and the tall peaked roofs were of simple thatch. Few of them possessed any windows, and none had more than a single door facing the street, reachable by wooden steps or notched logs.

screenshot

Aela felt eyes staring at her from all around, and it was not those of the chickens and water buffalo that lingered in the streets. The way the other seven turned their heads this way and that, she could tell that they felt it too. The villagers were there. They just were not showing themselves.

They came to the yolk of the egg that Aela had observed from high on the ridge at the edge of the valley: the village square. She found that there was a small wooden stage built at the far end, in front of the stone building. On the opposite side of the plaza rose a large building of thick wooden timbers, also constructed at ground level rather than raised up like the homes. From the wide double doors this possessed, the Breton Witch imagined that it was either a stable or communal storehouse.

Waiting for them on the wooden platform was a single Argonian woman. From the luster of her green scales, Aela imagined that she was young, possibly the same age as Talun-Lei. Her eyes were bright yellow slits, and her head was crowned with a forest of dark orange feathers. She wore a simple blue robe tied around her waist with an equally simple cloth belt. When she stepped down from the stage Aela saw that she wore blue trousers underneath the short flaps of the robe, but her feet were bare as she walked across the hard-packed dirt of the square. In one hand she held a small clay jug, and in the other a simple cup.

screenshot

"Meen-Sa!" Hathei exclaimed. The Argonian darted from the group with more energy than Aela had ever seen the old man display. Taking the younger Argonian in his arms, he scolded the girl. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be out here like this!"

"Why, is this one not safe from us?" Talun-Lei's voice betrayed the same bitterness that Aela felt rising within her. "Talun-Lei and his companions came here to save these ones, and this is how they greet us?"

"This is not how these ones should greet you," Meen-Sa answered him. Disengaging herself from her father, she crossed the distance to the mercenaries and stood before them.

Aela felt energy flowing around her like a cool stream. The young Argonian was a magician, the local Witch no doubt. Aela's attention was drawn to a bright spot of power that hung from her wrist. There she saw a curious bracelet hanging from a rawhide cord. Connected to a single metal ring were a small orb painted with a slitted eye, a tear-shaped chunk of soapstone, and finally a crystal flask that was filled with blue liquid that glowed with a soft light.

screenshot

It was a dowsing crystal, Aela realized. Meen-Sa was a water priestess. She had learned about them in one of her anthropology classes, but had never met one before. Well live and learn, she thought to herself. Nirn always had something new to teach.

"This one apologizes for the behavior of her neighbors," Meen-Sa said. She poured water from the jug she carried into her cup, and held it out before her. "This one is Mikumari, and on behalf of Agrigento, greets these ones and extend to them the hospitality of our village."

The Mikumari's eyes went to Aela's and lingered there for long moments. The Argonian could sense her power, the Breton Witch realized, just as she could feel the Argonian's. Then Meen-Sa's eyes moved to Ungarion, and finally Valens. She is assessing all of us, Aela thought, feeling our magical ability. In the case of Valens, it was clearly Azura's Star that drew her attention. Even tucked away in a bag as it currently was, the Daedric artifact glowed with so much power that no magician could fail to overlook it. It was like a dragon standing in the room.

"A Mikumari?" Seridwe whispered.

"She's their water priestess," Ungarion answered out of the corner of his mouth. "She purifies their wells, moves the water to their fields, enriches it, and charges it with life and good health. She is the soul of their village."

Then the high elf wizard stepped forward and took the cup from the Argonian's hands. He raised it high over his head for all to see. Then he lowered it and took a long drink. "On behalf of all of my comrades, we accept your offer of hospitality and pledge to honor your village, your people, and your ancestors."

Aela could not prevent a small smile at the high elf. Apparently Ungarion had learned something more than how to wheel and deal at the University after all!

"Now that these ones are all friends," Do'Sakhar murmured, "will the others come out?'

They looked around, and found the square was still deserted except for themselves. The other Agrigentans shook their heads, and Rullianus kicked up a cloud of dust in disgust.

"It is to be expected," Valens sighed. "Look at what happened the last time armed strangers came to their village, and the time before that, and before that."

"They have good reason to fear strangers, especially those armed to the teeth." Seridwe agreed, albeit with a frown. "They have no way of knowing if we are the same as the Nagas, or worse."

Her words were punctuated by the strident clanging of a bell. Everyone turned their heads to see Talun-Lei standing upon the stage, ringing a bronze bell that hung from a wooden post planted there. The young Argonian swung the metal clapper to and fro with zest, creating a din that echoed through the entire village, and Aela imagined far into the fields beyond as well.

Now the houses emptied out as villagers came running into the town square. They were a mixture of Argonians and Imperials. In spite of the obvious physical differences, they all still looked more alike than not. They wore the same dark, threadbare tunics and sandals, the same conical hats of woven reeds, and they all possessed the same downcast, defeated look in their eyes.

They ran to and fro in a panic, kicking up dust around their feet as they did so. Finally Talun-Lei stopped ringing the bell, and strutted out to the edge of the stage.

"Now you come!" the Argonian exclaimed. He stood with arms akimbo, and seemed to stare the assembled villagers over one at a time. "Now when you think there is danger to your homes, danger to your fields, danger to your soju!"

"Where were you to greet these ones?" he went on. "Hiding! Cowering under your beds! Farmers! All you care about is your precious rice, and your dirty water-buffalo!"

"Well now you are here." Talun-Lei gestured to the other mercenaries. "So are these ones, my companions and I, who came all of this way to fight for you! Show these ones that you are worth it. Because these ones did not come for three bowls of rice a day. Nor for a cup of soju! Now give these ones a reason to fight for you!"

The Argonian warrior stood there upon the stage, almost daring the villagers to respond. None of them did however. They milled in the square, looking from him to one another, and back again. Finally Valens rose to the stage beside Talun-Lei, and raised his arms.

"That's enough excitement for one day," he loudly proclaimed. "You can all go back to your homes for now. We'll tell you when we need you, and what you will have to do. Go on, go home now. No one here will harm you."

Ungarion turned from Talun-Lei's display to look at Aela.

"Now we are seven."

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 20 2013, 09:09 PM

[McBadgere]

*Applauds*... ...

That was excellent!!...

Loved the water-priestess!!...Excellent stuff!!...

I'm loving the way that magic attracts magic in your world...Reminds me a bit of the way the Immortals in Highlander know when there's another one around...Properly love that!...

Do-Sakhar feels Steve McQueen-ish btw...Just thought I'd say...Then again, maybe that's 'cause he's my fave in the film and Do-Sakhar is funny... ...Brilliant character anyways...

I wondered if we'd get the "So this is how you greet us?" speech from Talun-Lei!... ...Brilliantly done!!!...Loved that hugely!!... ...

Excellent chapter...Amazing writing...

Always a proper joy to read...

Nice one!!...

*Applauds heartily*...

[Acadian]

Aela was wise to dissuade Ungarion from showing off his fireballs to everyone. Probably not what a burned village full of frightened farmers needed to see as an introduction.

I liked the water priestess and how all the magic types were ‘sensing’ each other.

I see that Talun-Lei did impress Ungarion with his effort to rally the village.

"Now we are seven." - - What a magical finish to this episode!

[haute ecole rider]

What a wonderful TES/Black Marsh perspective on what is possibly one of the most iconic scenes in both versions of the movies!

I remember the youngest being impatient with the village's reception committee and taking the bell into his own hands!

Nice!!!

[King Coin]

You might be right with how both races talk. I don’t pay enough attention to know for sure. I thought it was different. Kharjo’s dialog when I write it sometimes gets challenging as well.

Ungarion eager to toss fireballs: Glad Aela was there to slow him down.

Love the picture of the house. The construction sounds primitive, but it’s the best way to live in those hot and humid places. Unless someone has an enchanted AC unit. Doubtful here, unless there is a pompous Imperial building somewhere in the village.

I like the Argonian woman. Did you play the character at all, or did you just make her for the screen?

It was like a dragon standing in the room.
Nice!

Apparently Ungarion had learned something more than how to wheel and deal at the University after all!
I wouldn’t speak so soon, this just might be part of wheeling and dealing well.

Talun-Lei is now part of the group!

[SubRosa]

You might be right with how both races talk. I don’t pay enough attention to know for sure. I thought it was diff

You prompted me to fire up Oblivion and just go walk around talking to Argonians. So far they all speak in normal tones, and only the Khajiit do the third-person speech. I even looked back to when Teresa originally met Kud-Ei and I had her speaking normally then too. Somewhere along the way I started using third-person speech with them. I think I started with Storm-Tail as a way to give him some more flavor. Then I guess I must have plumb forgotten, and began using it for all Argonians. But I think somewhere along the line I got the idea that all Argonians talked that way. Hmmm. Now I am not sure if I should go back and re-edit their dialogue to be 'normal', or if I should just stick with the third person speech patterns?

[haute ecole rider]

You know what, SubRosa? Because Argonians and Khajiiti are not human or mer, it would make sense that their perspective of the world is different from others. So I would keep the third-person speech for the Argonians as well as for the Khajiiti - it further emphasizes their unique position in Tamriel's ecology. I always liked the third-person Khajiit speech myself - it strikes me as an adaptive technique to living in a human/mer society - referring to themselves as "this one" implies humility, or in animal terms, submission, which would be consistent with their long history of slavery by humans and mer. That kind of humility, which may or may not be real, can be a survival technique - that attitude was prevalent among the African American slaves here in the US, even when their spirits weren't necessarily broken. They just became more devious with their masters. That's how I see the third-person approach taken by Khajiiti in Oblivion, and I rather enjoy it because it gives them more depth as far as I am concerned.

Now to add more flavor to these folks, I would write the occasional Argonian or Khajiit with the more typical first-person speech, as one trying to "fit in" with human/mer society, much as in the years immediately after the Civil War (or even before it) African-Americans would adopt the "white" way of speech in an attempt to be accepted into white society. Frederick Douglass did this successfully, but Lord knows how many tried this technique and failed. Perhaps they were the ones lynched during the Jim Crow years for being "uppity?"

So my vote is to leave the dialogue as they are.

This post has been edited by haute ecole rider: Sep 23 2013, 02:54 AM

[ghastley]

I'm pretty sure I've heard Argonians in the game use third-person for themselves. It's not as prevalent as it is with the Khajiit, but it's there. And as has been suggested, it's likely a regional thing, and more common among those with a history of slavery.

Liked the way you've established the background of flammable structures, water magic, etc. that you'll need later. And the way that your characters plan as carefully as you do.

And Talun-Lei is developing nicely, and becoming one of the seven.

[Grits]

Regarding Argonian speech, I like when they refer to themselves as “we” in the singular as well as in the plural. The game greeting “Blessed are we” comes to mind. Also I enjoy the genderless terms including when they call the player “it,” as in the game’s “The prey approaches” and “Unwelcome it is.” Using that flavor of speech brings out the hive-mind aspect of the Hist as well as the implied gender-swapping and general ambiguity about Argonian biology. Plus it keeps them weird while still being distinct from the Khajiiti manner of speaking. And then the occasional completely normal speaker provides insight into her background just by her Imperial speech. Just a thought.

"Well, two can play at that game my friend," Ungarion vowed. The high elf rolled up the sleeves of his robe and raised his arms, but Aela stopped him with a shake of her head.

Oh my gosh, these two! Definitely more together than the sum of their parts.

They came to the yolk of the egg that Aela had observed from high on the ridge at the edge of the valley: the village square.

Egg. Nice. I also enjoyed the water imagery around Meen-Sa even before Aela put together the details. The notion of a water priestess is lovely as well as being a practical role in a water-filled world.

Ungarion turned from Talun-Lei's display to look at Aela.

"Now we are seven."

OH YEAH!! Ahem. Yay for Talun-Lei.

[SubRosa]

McBadgere: I cannot take full credit for the water-priestess. She is based upon a character who was in Samurai Seven, an anime based upon... you guessed it, The Seven Samurai. She was not in my original outline, but when I started writing the second chapter I realized that I wanted Hathei's daughter to have more depth, and be a larger part of the village. That is when I remembered the water-priestess, and it was perfect for Meen-Sa.

The Immortals in Highlander are a great analogy! Now I am thinking of the guy who always sneezes around other Immortals, from the Double Eagle episode.

Do'Sakhar feels like Steve McQueen? Now he needs a hat that he can always be taking off to get attention! (seriously, rewatch Magnificent Seven and count how often he does that. )

I could not pass up the tirade by Kikuchiyo/Chico. It is one of the defining moments of both films. It also is what Chapter 2 is all about. By the time we reach the end of the chapter, the Seven will have a reason to fight for Agrigento, and the answer for Talun-Lei's challenge.


Acadian: Ungarion is just the kind of guy to want to shoot off fireballs for shits and giggles, sort of like Gandalf and his fireworks. But of course it is Aela who stops to think about how the locals might actually take those fireworks given their recent history.

The way the magicians can sense one another is all inspired by the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun. In it magicians can astrally perceive, and by doing so they can see all the magical forces in the area, and within people. So mages could always identify other mages, or what kinds of spells were going off.


haute ecole rider: I actually took notes as I watched that scene in both films. Then after I wrote it my own way, I went back to the scene in Magnificent Seven again, and tried doing it word for word. Then I compared that to what I had done originally, and found I liked what I had done myself better. So I scrapped the copy and used my own version. But it still came out very true to the films.


King Coin: You called it on the Imperial in the stone building! I am sure there is magical a/c in the world, it would just be a matter of weather/air/temperature control. I am sure a summoned sylph could do the same as well. But no one in Agrigento has anything like that. If they did, it would have been stolen by the Nagas!

Since I am basing Argonia (or at least this part on the fringes) mostly off South-East Asia, I took a close look at traditional homes there. That pic is actually a traditional Vietnamese home from a country hamlet.

I created Meen-Sa in Skyrim just for that pic. I have never played her. At least not yet. But you never know...

Ungarion's charm is indeed part of his smuggler/trader persona. He has to know how to deal with people of all sorts of cultures, so it behooves him to know their customs.


ghastley: I am going to keep the Argonians using third-person speech after all. It does seem to help set them aside from most of the other races. Thanks all for the feedback!

I was thinking of what a magical fire department might be like. Undines seem to be the ideal solution, either summoned by people or through scrolls. Though I suppose frost spells might work too.


Grits: I already had Meen-Sa referring to someone as "it".

Aela and Ungarion are definitely fun to write together. They get an episode all their own in a few posts, which is a lot of fun.

I did specifically choose to describe Meen-Sa with water terms. But the egg and yolk wasn't really intentional on my part. I was just trying to think of how the village might be shaped. I didn't want it to be perfectly circular or square. It should look less planned and more organic. A fried egg is what came out of my head! Now I am hungry after typing that...

Talun-Lei's speech was a lot of fun to write, and now he is really one of the team.


Previously On Seven: The mercenaries finally arrived at Agrigento, and were met by Meen-Sa - Hathei's daughter and the village's water-priestess. Meen-Sa formally welcomed them and offered Agrigento's hospitality. However, the rest of the villagers were in hiding! Talun-Lei made a scene by ringing the village's emergency bell, turning out all the inhabitants. He gave a brief tirade against the villagers for not being there to greet them, and challenged them to give the Seven a real reason to fight for the village, since none of them were there for a bowl or rice and a cup of soju.


Chapter 2.3

After the excitement in the square, the Seven got settled in and stowed their gear. Rullianus offered to host them in his home, which was a simple affair. The interior was a single large room, with stones set in the center of the upraised floor to create a hearth for cooking upon. The rest of the home revolved around that, with a sleeping area and space for storage located at the rear of the home, a place for food preparation around the hearth itself, and finally the living and dining space near the door. The tables and chairs were made of rattan. Aela noted that most of the crockery was of fired clay, utensils were of wood, and the only metal in evidence was a single small cauldron of iron. Rullianus' bed was a simple mat of woven reeds that had been rolled up and put aside. It was kept company by a second bed mat that Aela noted bore a thin layer of dust atop it.

After taking some time to unload their packs and settle into the building, the Seven returned to the village square and met Ulpia in front of the large stone building. The Imperial led them into the structure through its only entrance: a pair of thick wooden doors. Within they found four gigantic copper vats that rose from the stone floor. They were taller than Aela, and tapered to long, slender pipes which bent back downward to feed into great collection pots. A raised walkway ran around the top of the vats, and Aela could see that it could be used to access hatches set within each vessel. They reminded Aela of alchemical alembics, only on a massive scale.

"This is where we distill the soju," Ulpia explained.

The Imperial pointed to a row of metal cylinders to one side of the room. "It begins in the fermenting bins over there. We mix the rice in there with water and yeast and let it ferment out in the sun. From there we take the wash and put it in the vats, where we heat it to boiling. The vapor runs up those slender pipes at the top and starts to condense. Most of it falls back down into the pot as reflux. Only the purest distillation rises all the way, goes across those horizontal pipes, and falls back down the condensers. From there it drips into the collectors as soju. We put it in those doks - brown jugs - over there and age it. Or at least we did in the old days. Now the fetching Nagas take it and drink it straight from the vats."

Dok Screenshot

Ungarion whistled in appreciation. "Most impressive," the Altmer said. "I have to admit, was not expecting anything this refined."

"Aye, this one feels thirsty already," Do'Sakhar laughed.

"Do you run all of this?" Aela asked the Imperial woman, noting her familiarity with the process.

"I do," Ulpia nodded, "with a little muscle-power from some of the others of course. It was my father who built it all. You might say brewing is in my blood."

"You must be able to make a good deal of coin from this operation," Seridwe observed. "Yet your people live so sparingly?"

"We have to," Ulpia frowned. "The Nagas took all of our valuables, even my copper cooking pots. All we have left is what we could hide from them. The only reason they do not take all of this is because they know we could not make the soju without it."

"Is there a way up to the roof?" Valens asked, gazing up at the ceiling. "This is the tallest building in the village. We should get a good view from up there."

"Aye," Ulpia nodded. "Follow me."

She led them up on the metal walkway that surrounded the vats and took them to one side of the building. There she ascended a ladder to a wooden trapdoor and climbed through it. Aela followed along with the others, and found herself perched on the spine of the roof. To either side of her red-glazed tiles angled down to the edge of the slanted roof. But along the peak there was a flat beam of wood that ran the length of the building, roughly three feet wide.

As Valens had thought, the perch offered a wide view of the village and its environs. The group turned this way and that to look all about. Seridwe pointed to the bamboo-covered hills to the south of them and spoke.

"Those are going to be trouble," the elven archer observed. "The bamboo will give them cover from arrows, and they can get within fifty feet of the village wall before they get into the open."

"These ones will have to clear them," Do'Sakhar said.

"Perhaps we can kill two cliffracers with one spell while we are at it." Valens thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "We will need spears for the villagers, and that bamboo would do nicely."

"Consider it done." Nashira drew her scimitar of dwarven metal and passed a thumb gently along its blade. The moment it was free of its sheath Aela felt the frost enchantment wafting from the blade, like a chill winter's breeze. "It will be good practice. But I am afraid Barafu's magic will ruin the bamboo."

"Leave that to me, 'o lady of the blade," Ungarion grinned. "I can drain the magicka from your sword so that it strikes without that freezing breath. Then afterward I can recharge it again in no time at all."

"We'll need shields too." Valens said. "We could make them from rattan, or even bamboo. But I'd like something a little stronger. It's going to be the only thing these people have to protect themselves."

"This one wouldn't trust the wood from the banyan trees," Talun-Lei said. "But the durians have strong wood. These ones could start felling them and making shields."

"This one's axe was made for felling men," Do'Sakhar grumbled, "but if must be, it will serve."

"And unless we want charcoal, I'll have to drain its magicka as well." Ungarion said.

"Good," Valens nodded. "That will give us a start. Once we have those I can start drilling the villagers. The sooner the better. In the meantime we can put them to work on the defenses. Let's go down and take a look at the perimeter."

With that the mercenaries filed their way back down to the distillery floor. Once outside they were joined by Stalks-The-Marshes and Meen-Sa. Ulpia stayed behind, explaining that she had to start work on creating their next batch of soju. In the meantime the two Argonians led the mercenaries to the front gate, to begin their tour of the walls.

There was not much left to look at. While the thick tree-trunks that made up most of the wall were indeed of stout construction, the ground beneath them had sagged, often leaving them pointed this way or that, creating gaps in many places. The bamboo replacement walls near the gate and a few other places were sturdy enough to prevent animals from wandering in or out, but clearly would not stop a determined attacker.

"We'll start with digging a ditch around the entire village and filling it with water," Valens said.

"That will not slow the Nagas," Stalks-The-Marshes pointed out. "They swim better than they slither on land."

"Aye," Valens agreed, "but the brown water will conceal the bamboo stakes we plant in the bed of the moat."

"Oh, this is a clever one," Do'Sakhar murmured. "That will give them a nasty surprise indeed."

"It probably won't kill any of them," Seridwe said, "but it will slow them down, and force them to take their time through the water."

"It's going to be a lot of work, but I'd like to pull up all those timbers as well, and use the dirt we dig out of the moat to build up a rampart." Valens pointed at the heavy tree trunks that made up most of the wall. "Then we could replant the logs into a solid barrier, at least ten feet above the bottom of the moat."

"I can take care of that." Aela raised one hand into a fist, and gathered up a ball of glowing blue energy within her fingers. Letting it build to a peak, she turned the magicka loose. It fell to the ground in a disc, and a gigantic man of dirt and loose stones took shape in the air behind it. The behemoth turned to look expectantly at Aela, and she smiled and gently patted his arm. "My friend and I can take care of the ditch and the rampart in no time at all."

"But that won't stop the Nagas," Meen-Sa argued. "We had one before. They just pulled the ground out from underneath us."

"They have a mage who can summon archaeans," Ungarion said. "But as you can see, so do we."

"If anyone can stop them, Aela can," Do'Sakhar agreed. "This one is the finest conjurer Khajiit has ever met."

Aela tried not to blush at the compliment. Valens' words brought her back down to Nirn quickly enough however.

"I don't expect to stop them at the walls," he said. "They will get through."

"Then why bother?" the water-priestess spoke in a placid tone, but from the slight twitch in her tail, Aela could see that she was growing exasperated.

"We will force them to bring their full force to bear upon the walls," Seridwe explained. "They will have to throw everything in, including their mages."

"That is the key," Valens said. "They will reveal their mages. Then Seridwe, Do'Sakhar, and Ungarion will pick them off at long range. That will take away their greatest strength, and even up the odds."

"Like forcing them to play their trump cards in the first trick," Ungarion observed.

"Exactly." Valens nodded to the high elves. "From there we will have a battle in the streets."

The Nibenean led them back into the interior of the village. Once within he turned off the main street and wended his way between buildings. "We'll build frises and use them to fill in most of these little alleys. We'll leave just a few routes open to the square. That will force the Nagas down channels of our choosing. We'll meet them there in shield walls and smash them." Valens smacked a closed fist into the palm of his hand for emphasis.

"Frises?" asked Stalks-The-Marshes.

"A simple barrier," Seridwe explained. "You take a long horizontal pole. Then take two stakes sharpened at both ends and tie them to the pole like an "X". Fill the length of the pole with those spikes, and you have a prickly barrier that you can easily pick up, move around, and dig into the ground."

"That bamboo should work well for that," Nashira judged. "I see my sword arm will be getting plenty of exercise!"

"And if you do not stop them in the street?" Meen-Sa asked.

"If we do not stop them, then we retreat to the distillery," the Nibenean declared. "It's the strongest place in the village."

"But the Nagas will be expecting that," the water priestess observed, "will they not?"

"You are right," Valens agreed. "But perhaps we can use that to our advantage?"

The former soldier turned his ebony clad body to the direction of the brewery and once again stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "Yes, that might just work after all…"

"I love it when he gets that look," Seridwe whispered into Aela's ear. "It means he's up to something truly dastardly."

"This one has an idea?" Do'Sakhar asked the obvious question.

"Well, the Nagas will be expecting us all to go in there, including the noncombatants." Valens now lowered his hand and stood arms akimbo. "So that will be their target once they breach the walls. They are all going to converge upon that spot and take it. It would make for an excellent trap."

"But these ones would be in the trap with the Nagas," Do'Sakhar pointed out. "There is only the one way in."

"Not if Aela and her muddy friend there dig us an escape tunnel," Valens now turned to the Witch and her summoned spirit. "We could let the Nagas see everyone go into the building, then secretly evacuate to someplace else, like that big wooden building across the square."

"That is the stable," Stalks-The-Marshes said. "We keep our wagons in there."

"But what about this trap?" Nashira said. "Once we have them inside, what do we do with them? We'll have given them the strongest point in the entire village."

"How hot a flame do you need to make soju burn?" the Nibenean asked. "And how much of it do you think we could have in the brewery by the time the Naga's come?"

* * *

"You want to do what to my soju?" Ulpia stared at Valens as if he had just stepped down from the moons. "And the brewery? You'll destroy everything we worked so hard to build here!"

"It won't destroy anything that cannot be replaced." Valens appeared to be unflustered by the Imperial's exclamation. "You can always brew more soju, put up new stones on the walls, or lay new timbers on the roof. But you cannot bring back the dead."

The Seven stood back in the heart of the village, with Ulpia, Rullianus, Stalks-The-Marshes, Hathei, and Meen-Sa before them. Some of the other villagers loomed nearby, just close enough to listen in, but not so near to be truly part of the conversation.

"These ones all expected to fight with the mercenaries they hired," said Stalks-The-Marshes. "But they did not expect to see their own village burned down in the process!"

"Why cannot these ones fight the Nagas in the fields, or in the forest?" Hathei asked. "Why do they wish to fight here, in our homes?"

"We'll be slaughtered if we fight them out in the open," Valens said plainly. "The only chance we have is with fortifications to fight behind, and narrow streets to prevent them from flanking us. We may not even have to use the brewery as a trap. We might stop them before that. But if we don't, we have to be prepared for the worst."

"The worst seems like the best we can hope for," Ulpia grumbled. "Either way it seems our village will be in ruins."

"Valens is right," Aela now said. "Using the brewery as a trap won't destroy your village. Buildings don't make a community, people do. New wood can be cut, new reeds can be gathered, new buildings can always be put up. So long as there are people who believe in Agrigento, it can never be destroyed."

"Isn't that why you decided to fight after all?" Ungarion moved to stand next to the Breton Witch. "Because you believe in one another? We came here to fight for you, not for your houses."

"How is burning down their homes going to save these ones?" Hathei railed. "They were better off with the bandits!"

"No we weren't," Rullianus growled. The Imperial looked pointedly from the old Argonian to his daughter Meen-Sa. "If we don't make a stand now, who will they murder next?"

"Sometimes you have to be willing to sacrifice everything you have, in order to save everything you are," Aela said resolutely. "Houses, possessions, wealth, none of it really means anything. All of those things can be gained, lost, or traded away."

Aela stepped up and laid a hand over Ulpia's chest. "The only things that really matter are in here," she said, "and no tyrant can ever take them away from you."

"That is easy for this one to say," Meen-Sa argued. "When the battle is over, this one will leave along with the others. The Agrigentans will be left with ashes."

"Aela has sacrificed far more than you can ever fathom," Ungarion declared in a decidedly prickly tone. "She-"

Do'Sakhar interrupted the high elf by laying a friendly hand upon his shoulder. "These ones will all remain to help rebuild." He looked from the other mercenaries to the villagers. "None of them will leave until the village is fully repaired and back to normal, agreed?"

Ulpia frowned, but nodded in agreement. The other villagers followed suit, as did the Seven. Aela could see that the Agrigentans were not happy about it. No one ever looked forward to losing the things they valued. That was why it was called sacrifice after all.

"That's settled then," Valens said. "Let's get to work."

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 28 2013, 06:33 PM