WG - Black Rock Caverns, Options

[Elisabeth Hollow]

He's not dead!

Kayla drew her sword, the blade glowing hot in the presence of the undead. In a flash she propelled herself forward and sank her blade deep into the heart of the vampire. She put her boot on his neck to prevent him from crying aloud until he spasmed one last time before turning to ash. She quickly sheathed Dawnbreaker, afraid the glow would attract more attention.

Better come collect this when we're finished...Fresh ash is hard to come by.

[King Coin]

Kayla's quick action prevented the vampire from alerting the rest of the cave. Aravi was relieved that they still had the element of surprise. They had only entered the cave and already encountered three vampires.

Kayla's sword looked powerful, Aravi would be sure to ask to examine it when they got out of this place. Her own fire enchanted sword glowed dully, like hot steel, when she drew it. This sword radiated light that reminded Aravi of the stars in the sky.

Aravi went over the Kayla, still being careful to make as little noise as she could. She wasn't surprised to see her arrow was broken. She retrieved it nonetheless, sometimes they could be fixed.

She whispered to Kayla, "what's this?" Dusted in the freshly killed vampires, a dirty and torn piece of parchment lay on the ground. Drops of blood sprinkled one corner, and water damage obscured another. Looks like a map. She didn't recognize anything on it however. Maybe Kayla or Vera will.

[Darkness Eternal]

Kayla had dispatched the last vampire with a ferocious attack. Vera saw, that perhaps, he underestimated Kayla a bit. The woman's scars certainly showed she was no stranger to combat, but this level of harsh action only made her respect Kayla a bit more. Her sword was something of interest, however. The blade glowed with an enchantement that Vera had never seen on mundane magic-altered swords, if mundane would be the proper word anyways.

This looked much like a Daedric artifact and this only made Vera more curious. She couldn't of stoled it, lest she incured the wrath of the Daedric Prince . . . Meridia? The only Daedra a vampire hunter would revere next to Azura. She couldn't imagine Kayla getting that weapon from Molag Bal or Sanguine. The blade itself radiated with a brightness that seemed like a dwarfed sun was living inside of the weapon. She must have done something to please the Daedric Prince to acquire such a weapon.

Aravi whispered something to Kayla, and Vera turned her attention from the sheathed blade to the piles of dust and burnt cloth on the ground. Vera approached the two women, and looked at the ground to see a map tattered at the sides with a bit of blood drops over the edges as water affected the rest, but the map was still somewhat readible.

Vera bent low to the parchment and gently unfolded the rest of it, so that more of the land was revealed on that old piece of paper. A few forts were marked on the map with red circles made from blood, and paths that led to forests. Vera noticed that the roads weren't marked off, and that a small note on the bottom read: "Remain clear from the roads, travel in shadow."

So, Vera mused. They were planning on migrating the nest somewhere else . . . or maybe they were searching for something? Vera couldn't imagine what. She hasn't been in those parts of Cyrodiil for awhile, and the last time she remembered anything about that land mark rumors of graverobbers and deranged kidnappers were abound. But nothing out of the ordinary in a place like that.

She folded the map again, handed it over to Kayla. "Keep this with you." She said, and then turned to Aravi. "Looks like they weren't planning on sticking here for too long, but you two vampire slayers might want to look into that."

She didn't feel responsible for any of the vampire attacks, and she certainly wouldn't go on another. Not unless the coin was good. As for Aravi and Kayla . . . she didn't know how devoted they were to exterminating vampires or witches or necromancers, but she knew either one had a sense of duty if more murders came. Chances were someone was going to look into it, or perhaps someone else from the tavern would.

One dark dwelling for another, Vera thought. We barely stepped into this stinkhole . . .

Vera collected a bolt from the dust, and slowly blew into it, and then wiped the blood from the edge with the dark robe the vampire was wearing. She paced forth again, and walked further down into the bowels of the cave.

This post has been edited by Darkness Eternal: Jun 30 2013, 02:29 PM

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla tucked the map gently into an empty pocket in her pack, away from the potions. She didn't want one of her more viscous potions to leak onto the map and render it unreadable if one of the bottles broke. She looked at Vera's back and Aravi's face.

I know they noticed Dawnbreaker. Neither of them are idiots. Which means they know now isn't the time to ask about it.

She let out an inward sigh of relief. Once she departed from the inn, she'd investigate these new spots. She absently wondered if she brought any empty parchment with her. She'd fold the parchment into a makeshift envelope and store the ash-

She put a hand on Vera's shoulder and pointed above their heads. Two maces, each about the size of her head, sat perched, ready to be released as soon as some unlucky wanderer tripped the mechanism nearby. None of them were in sight of the tripwire as far as Kayla could see, but she wasn't going to wait for any of them to trip it.

"We're near a tunnel, but I can't see the tripwire," Kayla said softly. "Can either of you see it?"

Kayla had a sinking feeling she was very near it, but would allow the other two women to tell her if she was.

[King Coin]

Aravi followed the behind the other women, her bow in hand. She listened for any sound of someone coming from the tunnel ahead. Kayla stopped and pointed above her head. Aravi’s eyes followed… Oh. That would have been bad.

“Can either of you see it?” Kayla asked.

“Don’t move,” Aravi answered. She moved up to them and looked at the trap above. Her eyes let her see just fine in the gloom of this cave, and she examined the trap. She found the release mechanism, if she could call it that, for the maces quickly. It was a rusty nail jammed into a couple of chain links with a piece of string attached.

Aravi moved out of the way of them quickly. “You both should move. These look like they could fall without the trigger. Come towards me.”

She examined the crude trap some more. When the string was pulled, the nail would slide free, letting the maces swing. All they had to do was cut the string to prevent the trap from triggering. If the nail doesn’t break on its own.

She moved forward slowly towards the mouth of the tunnel. The trap looked like the work of an idiot, but the tripwire was work of a genius. Straw was thickly scattered on the ground here. Without knowing about the maces, even she wouldn’t have guessed it was somewhere here.

She turned back to face Vera and Kayla. “I can’t spot the tripwire in this. We can go forward slowly and feel our way forward on our hands and knees until someone finds the tripwire, or I can shoot the trap with my bow and just have it come down. The chains will rattle and the maces will collide. Someone will hear it.”

[Darkness Eternal]

Vera continued on until she felt a familar hand on her shoulder again. She didn't need to turn to know it was Kayla halting the progression, and once again, for a good reason. There was a trap set up nearby and Aravi told her and the Altmer to move out of the way in case they triggered the mechanisms.

"I should've let the thrall live," Vera muttered. "Cut him open, bleed him a bit and set him near the snare. The vampires wouldn't be able to control their blood hunger."

She pointed to the tripwire. "Set the man right there and all of the other vampires would be dust in less time than it took to say it."

Using another as a trap for a trap was one of the most clever and basic uses for hunting. Much like a fisherman using bait to lure in fish, or even other animals that use such tactics for capturing prey. If Vera was talented in any of the skills in hunting, it was guile. Speed came second. Strength third. A hunter's greatest weapon must be his mind, first and foremost. And Vera was content in knowing she had a sharp mentality. Just as sharp as Kayla's vision when it came to spotting traps like these.

Vera looked at Aravi, who told them the options of feeling for the tripwire and trying to maneuver around, or possibly shooting it. The latter would result in the trap setting off, and potentially making noise.

Vampires alerted to their presence or no, Vera could adjust. "Do your work, Aravi. Take it down if you must."

The Imperial huntress strapped the crossbow onto her back, and retrieved a mundane serrated hunting dagger from her ebony boot. This will work just fine.

[King Coin]

Aravi nodded at Vera. She decided to search for the tripwire, taking a little extra time to disable the trap quietly would be worth the extra time spent in this awful stench. She kneeled down, setting her bow aside, and started to carefully feel forward with her hands.

Plenty of blood had been spilled on this straw, she imaged that it had been moved from somewhere deeper in the cave. And here she was, kneeling and digging in it. Not only was it dirty and disgusting, but she was sure biting parasites were crawling onto her every moment.

It was slow going as she methodically searched, placing her hands onto the straw and slowly pressing down. Any hint of resistance was carefully dug out to be sure it wasn’t the trigger. She was getting hotter in her armor too. It wasn’t intense work, but it was strenuous enough to make her uncomfortable. She already began to itch where the pests bit her.

She stopped for a moment’s rest, and scratched where her neck met her armor. She itched in other places as well, but those weren’t reachable under her armor, nor would it be polite even if it was more accessible. Her ears must have been flat in her irritation. I better not hear any flea jokes.

“Don’t help all at once,” she said to the other women. She placed her hand on the ground next to her and the straw didn’t give.

“Wait… I think I found it.” She carefully brushed the straw aside and saw the thin wire, not three finger’s breadth from the floor. It would have been easy to miss and step on, or kick forward. Had that happened, the nail would be pulled out and the trap sprung. With two of her claws, she pinched the string and the trap was defeated. “It’s done,” she said. She stood up and stretched her achy legs. “Where’s my bow?”

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla had picked up Aravi's bow while she searched. She felt her face flush in shame when Aravi called herself and Vera out for not helping. In truth, Kayla was afraid she'd accidentally sprung the trap, as she had done many times before in the past. She had watched in fascination as Aravi searched, succeeding where she herself had failed many times before. She held out Aravi's bow carefully so the Khajiit could take it from her.

"Good job. I'm awful at traps. I can see them, but usually end up setting them off if I touch them."

[King Coin]

Aravi took her bow from Kayla without a word. She was peeved that the dirty and uncomfortable work was left to her alone. It would have gone that much quicker with another hand. Kayla’s reason for staying out sounded like an excuse to her in her current mood.

I can’t even bathe in the pond when we get out. I’ll have to carry these pests all the way to the inn. She balled her fist when she felt another bite under her armor.

She turned toward the tunnel, her tail flicking back and forth with nervous energy and annoyance. She crept into the tunnel, her bare feet making not a sound to give her away to anything that waited deeper within.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla inwardly cringed when Aravi all but yanked the bow from her hands.

Great, she's pissed. She vaguely recalled Ma'Dat's body language when- And there it is. Aravi's tail twitched at the tip and it lifted slightly as her ears flattened. Kayla wanted to smooth things over as quickly as she could. A faceful of Khajiit claws was very unpleasant. She shot a look over her shoulder briefly before following the smaller woman. Hopefully Vera keeps her mouth shut and doesn't make things worse.

[King Coin]

The passage curved downward as Aravi moved through it. Stray bits of straw littered the ground, but it wasn’t thick and Aravi didn’t worry about another hidden trap. Cobwebs and their creators covered the top of the passage thickly. Aravi swallowed nervously and tried to not imagine them coming down on her. Please stay up there, she silently asked. Looking ahead, she saw that the passage curved down sharply.

She whispered to the women behind her, “Ahead it gets very steep. And keep your head down.” She indicated up with her empty hand. “And if one comes down on me, don’t tell me. Just kill it.” She shivered at the thought.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

"Okay." Kayla whispered, looking up at the massive spiders. She swallowed laughter as she saw Aravi's tail bush slightly, reminding herself she wasn't fond of zombies at all. Or those disgusting creatures Falmer kept in their gods-forsaken caves deep below the mountains and snowy landscape of Skyrim. Just the thought of their antennae brushing her face as she desperately tried to choke back a scream...

Kayla brought herself back with a blink, just in time to see a spider descending slowly above Aravi. Kayla's first thought was to push Aravi to the floor, out of the way, but that would probably alarm her more than if she simply reacted. Kayla saw the throwing knies in Vera's pack, but Kayla wasn't nearly coordinated enough to pull that type of stunt off. Fire would alert the rest of the critters.

Kayla grabbed Aravi's hand, knowing Vera would be following closely behind, and pulled her to the next room.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" She whispered to the Khajiit. "I couldn't kill it without making the rest come down on us."

[King Coin]

“What are you-?”

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I couldn't kill it without making the rest come down on us."

Aravi swallowed and nodded. “Thanks,” she whispered back. She turned around, her tail brushing Kayla’s boot and the dusty floor. She needed to be careful to keep it off the ground. She’s had her tail stepped on before and she didn’t want to experience that again anytime soon.

Ahead of them was a crude, wooden door. Dim light showed through the gaps in the planks of wood that made up the door. She felt her heart pick up its pace a little as they approached.

Aravi pressed her eye to one of the more sizable gaps. She saw a trio of coffins, one with its lid wide open straight ahead. She angled her head to look at the corners of the room, and saw a skeleton in each. Each one stood straight, as if at attention. A long, two handed blade rested point down in between each one’s knees, their boney hands resting on the pommel. Neither one moved, they stood as still as a statue giving no sign that they were a necromancer’s construct.

They might just be bones, the optimist in her said. She rolled her eyes at herself. Then she checked the hinges, running her fingers over them. Dry. They will squeak.

She backed off from the door and went to Kayla and Vera. She whispered with barely a voice, “There are three coffins in there, one of which is open. I also saw a skeleton in each corner. I didn’t see either one move.” She shrugged her shoulders to indicate she didn’t know if they were undead or dead-dead.

“Lastly, the hinges on the door are dry. They will probably creak, unless either of you have some animal fat with you.”

[Darkness Eternal]

Vera suppressed the urge to laugh. Kayla seemed to be causing Aravi's temper to rise. The khajiit's mannerisms and behavior told her that much. She always was experienced in reading people as if she was walking in their shoes. Aravi also seemed deathly afraid of spiders judging by her comment, to which Vera replied with a simple gesture of squishing one of the eight-legged miniature freaks crawling up her boot.

Spiders were repulsive, yes, but Vera didn't fear them. Now Spider-Daedra . . .

She shuddered. Spiders were never meant to be that big.

The trio came upon a wooden door and Aravi peeked through and explained that there were three coffins within, and skeletons inside, though she wasn't sure if they were dead or undead.

“Lastly, the hinges on the door are dry. They will probably creak, unless either of you have some animal fat with you.”

Vera made a sound of consideration, and thought it out. Instead of finding a more subtle method as she always has, she decided to adopt Lycus' choice of approach. She kicked the door wide and barged in with a heavy march.

"Animal fat . . ." she muttered. As soon as she entered the three skeletons began to move, their limbs cracking and their mouths clicking. Vera shot a look at Aravi and smiled with a wink that might have been friendly. "They're moving now."

Thanks to me . . .


This post has been edited by Darkness Eternal: Jul 14 2013, 12:19 AM

[King Coin]

“Idiot!” Aravi hissed. She dropped her bow and drew her swords.

A curved, slashing sword made of steel glowed with ruddy light in her right hand. Her other sword was a long and straight blade, ideal for stabbing. It was made of silvered steel. Not as effective as pure silver, but more robust and much easier to replace.

The two closed caskets opened, and their occupants stepped out. At least vampires didn’t like to sleep in armor any more than the living did. A male and a female vampire faced them. The male was an Imperial before he was turned, and wore nothing but a loincloth. He armed himself with a club. The female was a high elf and wore the old black robes of a necromancer.

The high elf looked at the three women and shrieked on top of her lungs. The entire cave knew they were here now.

Aravi moved into the room and stood to Vera's left. A skeleton was to her left and the high elf vampire was in front of her.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla gaped at Vera when she kicked the door open, causing the room to echo with the sound of the wood clunking against the rock wall.

She hissed, calling Vera all sorts of lewd and derogatory names in Nordic while the vampires rose from their coffins. She grimaced when the high elf screeched like a banshee and drew Dawnbreaker. It ebbed and pulsated with lustful want at the presence of the undead, the light blinding to the vampires. Kayla charged for the elf, clad in black robes.

Before she could sink her blade into the vampire's flesh, she felt the breath being pulled from her at her life force was pulled from her. Kayla gritted her teeth and fought the urge to collapse and stabbed at the vampire. She easily dodged and laughed. Kaya rebounded with an elbow to the vampire's nose, breaking it. She slammed the vampire down by the throat and sank Dawnbreaker into the vampire's heart. Hot fire emanated from the wound before causing an explosion, incinerating the vampire and causing the other undead in the room to freeze with fear. The Imperial vampire let our a shriek of terror as the skeletons ran into each other, bones scraping and clacking together.

[King Coin]

There was no doubt in Aravi’s mind anymore of what sword Kayla wielded.

Her ears were ringing from the explosion, but even worse was the effect on her eyes. She could barely see; the light overwhelmed her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to clear them. It didn’t help much. She stumbled forward into the room where she could at least defend herself without getting her weapons caught on something.

The bones of a skeleton rolled passed her feet. She struck out with her straight sword; the weapon gouged the old bones. The real effect was not damaging the physical bones, but wrecking the spell that held them together and directed them. Silver was particularly good at this.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla heard old bones clatter to the ground behind her. She turned around in time to see a dark figure silently drop behind Vera and Aravi, the red of the eyes glowing brightly.

"Behind you!" Kayla shouted.

[Darkness Eternal]

Vera had been called many things that were true: careless, cold, sarcastic, cynical but never an idiot. Between Aravi’s offensive name-calling and Kayla’s Nordic swearing(which Vera understands as plainly as Cyrodiilic, she could not decided who to punch first. Instead of returning spiteful words to the pair she simply stood there as Kayla brought out her damned blade of light that burned Vera’s sensitive eyes.

If I knew she’d bring that glow-sword of hers, I would’ve have told her to stay a few steps ahead, Vera murmured inwardly.

Bones clashed and an explosion happened, gratitude to Kayla’s daedric weapon. Vera never had time to even attack the others, nor did she try to make time. Seeing the two other women fight was amusing in its own right, comical, even. But even jokes came to an end, and this one did when Kayla warned Vera and Aravi of something behind them.

Vera sensed the thing before it even stood behind her. Her vision was not unlike the rest of these parasitic individuals who spent their days slumbering in old tombs and fetid caves. She was quick, too. Quick enough to turn around, kick her head forward straight at the nosferatu that was behind her. Their foreheads collided and it was the vampire who found itself stumbling back just as Vera leapt forward.

The huntress delivered a series of blows with her sharp gauntlets, and then tackled the vampire to the ground. She wrapped her strong forearm around the creature’s neck from behind in a choke hold, braced her other palm against its chin, and wrenched its head to the side, and then mass and blood turned to dust.

As she got to her feet, however, she felt the force of what seemed to be a multitude of people collide into her when in truth it was only one ravenous creature. A scream escaped from Vera's throat as her back hit the ground and the undead imperial began snapping his jaw at her, though they could not reach her throat when her arm held the bottom of his neck at bay . . . but not for long. It was a test of strength. Centuries of strength on Vera's side, and the primal fury of bloodlust on the other. Though experienced, even Vera knows that when one hungers for something, almost nothing can stop it.

With his club in his hand, she could not do much. It won't be long before his fangs pierce her throat, but even she knows that won't be much of a problem.

"Trying to get a drink, are you?" she managed to say. "Can't promise you'll like it."

His breath was cold upon her face, and she turned to the side. "Get this half-naked son of a bitch off of me!"

This post has been edited by Darkness Eternal: Jul 17 2013, 01:09 AM

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla ran to Vera and delivered a swift, hard kick to the vamp's ribs. She felt him tense up as he turned his attention yo her. She had time to grab the hilt of her sword before he leapt onto her, putting her in the same position Vera had be in, only against a cave wall.

Kayla kneed him in the groin, eliciting only a pained grunt from him. Unless she angled her sword correctly, she couldn't stab him. She didn't have enough time for that. She grabbed the silver dagger from her hip and stabbed his neck.

He let out a strangled cry of pain before taking a step back and pulling the dagger from his neck and stabbing the unsuspecting elf in the gut.

The sheer force broke through her leather, but the pain didn't come for another few moments. Kayla leaned against the cave wall, staring at the dagger as the vamp bled out and died.

Huh. He stabbed me.

She pulled out a healing potion and pulled the dagger out,biting back a cry of pain. She poured the potion on the wound, lazily leaking black blood. She grabbed another and drank it, her face pale.

"Ow."

This post has been edited by Elisabeth Hollow: Jul 17 2013, 06:08 AM