Love on an Adventure

[ladys_night]

LOVE ON AN ADVENTURE meme Lucky you. For a while, you get to eschew a normal life and see life past your door; you're going on a quest! It could be for personal reasons, for fun, for profit, or to save the world as you know it. In all likelihood, it's the latter, given the natural order of things, but hopefully it's not. Whatever the case may be, you won't be going it alone, however. Whether it's just you and a partner or a true fellowship, you've got people to back you up. You may not all start out as the best of friends, that's true - still, the fires of potential life or death scenarios or the threat of losing your booty draw you closer together, and a friendship forms. With one member of your party, more than friendship grows between you. But wait, you have to defeat the dark lord, find the oldest wand, fight evil by moonlight, create a giant robot, or any other number of tasks. There's no time for this sort of nonsense! Actually, you may push them away because of the mission or due to past wounds that tie into said mission. Maybe, though, you can steal moments to get closer, let a romance blossom...or more. HOW to PLAY Comment with your character, preferences, and any other info - ie, keep it PG, etc. Even though I used a fantasy picture, don't feel constrained! In Harry Potter, they have to find a wand, in Supernatural, the Colt, in Avatar, they have to fight the Fire Lord, etc. Feel free to AU your character or include information about them. Reply to others.

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[moonandstar]

The shield slams into the cultist first - there's an audible crack as his skull fractures. Garyn swings his sword. His head tumbles and disappears around the edge of a twisting ramp.

Garyn nods in its direction. "I'd say the way forward looks clear."

[drehnifusbahi]

Frea makes quick work of the other -one quick flash of the two war axes and he's also missing his head- and she heads toward the ramp with a brief prayer of thanks to the All-Maker, with Vanyel trailing behind.

The door at the end of the ramp leads into a long, roughly-cut hallway, dotted with open doorways. Vanyel casts another spell, and a path of blue light appears before them. "That's the route we'll want to follow," he says.

[moonandstar]

"Hmm. Wish I knew that one."

Alas, he had to make do without even a compass or fast travel.

He follows the path ahead, walking abreast of Frea and Vanyel. The passage is dimly lit, and smells of dust and burnt flesh.

Garyn glances through the side portal to the right. There is a small chamber, with iron-barred cages hanging from the ceiling atop a still-lit brazier. In the cages lie what were once men. Or perhaps women. There's not enough left to tell.

"They've been busy down here," Garyn says, audibly disgusted. "About time we put a stop to that."

[drehnifusbahi]

Vanyel had ducked into one of the other side rooms, rustling around for usable supplies (since the cultists had apparently set up housekeeping in the temple, it seems reasonable to presume they'd have some).

He turns up a few healing and stamina potions, but not much else of use.

But when Garyn speaks, he comes to peer into the room the Dunmer found - and bows his head. It's not the first such scene he's stumbled across, but he doubts he'll ever get used to it.

"Agreed," he says, as Frea says a quiet prayer for the dead.

[moonandstar]

In his younger days, he may have been rummaging there with him. He'd acquired much of his fortune in dungeons much like these, filled with ancient treasure. He has little use for it now.

They make their way down a rough-hewn flight of stairs, worn by a partial cave-in. Around the bend, in the next corridor, Garyn can hear whispers.

"They must be around here somewhere. Find them."

Somehow they were expected. He presses against the side of the corridor with his sword drawn.

[drehnifusbahi]

In any other situation, perhaps he'd be looking for gold or things worth selling as well as supplies - it's how he's made a great deal of his own money, since arriving in Skyrim. But at the moment they have more pressing concerns, so he tucks the potions away and follows Garyn's lead.

When they hear the whispers, Frea's hand creeps toward her belt and the stahlrim war axe hanging there. Vanyel grabs her arm, stopping her, and shakes his head.

He slides his crossbow off his back, loads it, and leans around the corner - the cultists haven't quite rounded it yet, but one is peering around, head and chest visible.

It's enough.

The crossbow bolt lodges in the cultist's throat and he falls. The second cultists calls "Who's there!? Show yourself!" and rushes around the bend.

[moonandstar]

It perhaps should be less surprising than it is that the members of an all-consuming death cult would demonstrate little of what common folk would call prudence. Nonetheless, Garyn is grateful for the blunder.

The cultist catches a boot to the ribcage which sends him sprawling. Finishing him off is a manner of a simple thrust.

[drehnifusbahi]

The cultists aren't offered the prayers their victims got. They don't even rate a second glance.

The hall curves, opens onto a small room with a pressure plate near the entrance. There are doorways off to the left and right as well - they look to lead to small rooms with nothing in them but sarcophagi, but Vanyel casts his spell again just to be safe.

The glowing path does indeed stay straight, and Vanyel steps carefully around the pressure plate to follow it. He gives the sarcophagi an uneasy glance as he passes them, half-expecting draugr to jump out of them.

[moonandstar]

Garyn knows well enough to watch his feet. He sees Vanyel tiptoe around the pad, and he follows. The traps in Morrowind were seldom so elaborate as this, but he still knows one when he sees it.

As it happens, Vanyel's expectations are precisely met - a draugr jumps out of one of the two sarcophagi in the small chamber.

[drehnifusbahi]

Three years crawling through Nordic ruins has instilled a certain reaction to the sound of a stone sarcophagus lid hitting the stone floor - namely, turn and fire.

He loads a slightly different crossbow bolt than the sort he used before, and the draugr takes the bolt to the eye before it's gone two steps from its coffin. And if the bolt itself weren't enough, it explodes upon contact, lighting the draugr on fire.

As the saying goes, there's no kill like overkill. Especially not where draugr are concerned.

[moonandstar]

Garyn has been in his share of tombs himself. But his head has scarcely turned before the draugr has already disintegrated. He nods at Vanyel, acknowledging the shot.

They make their way deeper into the temple. The winding passage is marked by pressure plates and traps. They skirt around these until they get to an iron portcullis.

"They certainly put a lot of work into building this place," Garyn says.

Frea reaches for the switch. "Miraak was trying to take power here, and protect himself in the process."

The gate rises, and opens to a vast chamber, ringed by a balcony. In the center, hanging from ceiling, are four more braziers, and several cages filled with human and inhuman remains. The same torture chamber as before - only on a much grander scale.

Frea shakes her head. "I do not wish to imagine the kinds of things that happened in this chamber," she says. "Who were the poor souls trapped in these cages? What tortures did they suffer at Miraak's hands? Was it in service to the dragons, or for his own purposes?"

"I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough," Garyn says.

[drehnifusbahi]

"The dragons would have eaten these poor souls and had done with it," Vanyel replies. While they can be plenty destructive, and the deaths they inflict are rarely quick and painless... he's never heard of a dragon actively torturing it's prey.

He scans the rest of the room, noting what seem to be more sarcophagi on the lowest level and a balcony with a throne on it - where Miraak sat to watch the proceedings, no doubt.

There's a set of stairs off to the right that might have led to the balcony, but the ones leading up have been destroyed. All that remains is a landing and a set of mostly intact stairs leading down to the floor below the cages. Vanyel heads toward them, casting Clairvoyance once more.

The blue glow leads down the stairs and follows the curve of the room; Vanyel dismisses the spell and heads down the stairs.

[moonandstar]

A pair of draugr emerge as they round the bend of the staircase. The larger of the two lunges at Garyn. He crouches and sidesteps its thrust. Then, with his left hand, he grabs its forearm and tosses him over his shoulder, over the balcony and into the bottom of the chamber several stories below.

[drehnifusbahi]

Meanwhile, Vanyel engages the second one, laying into it with Dawnbreaker. Then comes the sound of running footsteps, and someone flings a frost spell their way - seems there are cultists on this level as well as draugr.

[moonandstar]

Garyn summons the bound shield again and focuses his full momentum into a controlled shoulder charge. Once they're at his distance, their spells will be a lot less useful.

[drehnifusbahi]

Frea follows suit, charging in with both war axes raised, and once the second draugr has been dealt with so does Vanyel. With Garyn and Frea both fighting the cultists in close quarters, a ranged attack would be too risky.

[moonandstar]

A good thing, too - with the position they have the cultists pinned in, Vanyel's arrows would have been the greater threat. As talented a bunch of torturers as they are, these cultists are no match for the three of them together.

[drehnifusbahi]

The cultists aren't terribly impressive, no; they might have half-decent aim when slinging spells, but being so hemmed in means they can't. And with that, the cultists' advantage is gone.

Vanyel focuses in on his own opponent, trusting Garyn and Frea to handle themselves.

[moonandstar]

House Dagoth they most certainly are not. Garyn and Frea don't waste time in giving them what they so richly deserve.

Beneath them at the bottom of the stairs, there's the sound of more cultists stirring.

[drehnifusbahi]

It doesn't take long for Vanyel's opponent to fall either, and he steps around the body for a clear shot at the staircase, sending a preemptive blast of fire at the cultists below.

It's not likely to kill any of them right off, but if nothing else they'll be too preoccupied trying to douse their burning robes to do any attacking.

[moonandstar]

Clearly, the best thing to do is to cut off their retreat. So naturally, Garyn vaults over the balcony and onto the ground four stories below.

He does it so swiftly, so utterly without fear or hesitation that it would probably be just as shocking to watch even if he had told Vanyel about the Slowfall enchantment on his belt.

[drehnifusbahi]

It certainly is shocking, but he has to trust that Garyn has some means of surviving such a fall. Vanyel, however, does not, and he's willing to bet Frea doesn't either. So he grabs her by the arm and tugs her away from the balcony, chasing the fleeing cultists down the stairs - and lobbing a few more fireballs as they go.

[moonandstar]

Garyn's presence at the bottom of the staircase vexes them. They seem to hover in place, unsure for a moment whether to flee upstairs or downstairs. They try to throw fire at Garyn, but their efforts are interrupted by Vanyel's continued bombardment. Garyn is shielding himself against what does come through - no sense in risking getting hit by Vanyel and Frea.

One of them appears poised to try to break through. He'll certainly regret it if he tries.

Hopefully, Vanyel and Frea can get to them before they stop panicking and decide to throw lightning.

[drehnifusbahi]

There are quite a few stairs, and with one of the cultists already regrouping, Vanyel decides not to give the other two time to do the same. He still has a hold of Frea's wrist, so when he Shouts again, she gets pulled along for the ride.

"Wuld Nah Kest!" The effects of that particular shout let them make it down the remaining stairs in a matter of moments, badly startling the cultists. Vanyel capitalizes on that immediately, striking out with the same flaming sword as before.

Frea takes an additional moment to adjust, but isn't far behind. She pounces on the third cultist, who seemed to be having trouble deciding which of his allies might need backup more.

[moonandstar]

The cultist who had been threatening to make a break for it finally does. Hog butchers have a harder challenge than this one provides.

Garyn waits for the flame to purge his blade clean before sheathing it again.

"They don't seem to have much experience against people who can actually fight back," he says. "At least not so far."