bakerstreet | Love on an Adventure

Love on an Adventure

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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Between the posion and the axe wounds, the cultist isn't getting back up anytime soon, so Vanyel follows Garyn and Frea and slides his crossbow back onto his back.

"I do not know what it is Miraak learned that gave him reason to turn on his masters. But his path seems to have been a cruel one. I wonder if we will find some answers to what happened so long ago," Frea muses.

There are six skeletons lurking in the catwalk. Their numbers make them more of a nuisance than they might be otherwise, but overall they aren't difficult to deal with.

Eventually they reach a point where the path turns left, and it isn't difficult to spot pressure plates and sarcophagi further down that way.

The plates are easily avoided, and the emerging draugr easily predicted. They put up more of a fight than the skeletons did, not that that's a towering accomplishment.

They press onward, down two more sets of stairs through another open chamber populated by draugr and cultists. The spells and arrows fly, and their enemies fall.

At the end of the chamber is yet another set of stairs. Frea leads the way down.

She shakes her head. "How much deeper can this be? I had been told that Miraak's power was great, but to have built so large a temple..."

"He's an ancient dragonborn using powerful magic to corrupt the land and enslave its people," Garyn says. "Hardly the sort to be modest."

Frea half-shrugs. "Well, it cannot be much farther now. I feel it in my bones."

They emerge at last into a smaller chamber lined with sarcophagi and the skeleton of a dragon hanging from the ceiling, and no clear path forward. There doesn't seem to be a door or path at the far end of the room, only what Vanyel immediately recognizes as a Word Wall.

"I had heard Miraak has turned against the Dragon Cult, but to display the remains in such a manner as this... It is no wonder the dragons razed his temple to the ground. Seeing the remains hung up like trophies must have enraged them to no end," Frea says of the skeleton.

Vanyel can't help but agree with those ancient dragons, though he doesn't say so aloud. But he's thinking of someone defeating Odahviing or Paarthurnax in battle and stringing up their bones for a trophy, and... yes, he would be enraged too.

But he pushes those thoughts aside and just creeps closer to the Word Wall, eyeing the sarcophagi lining the path. Which... don't burst open.

He's both relieved and even more suspicious when he reaches his destination and still none of the sarcophagi have opened. Still, he kneels to run a hand over the Dovahzul lettering carved into the stone. As always happens with these things, one word in particular calls his attention to it.

Learning a piece of a new Shout is always like an icy draught of knowledge to the brain, but he isn't given long to savor it, because the moment he stands, every single sarcophagus lid falls to the floor, and the draugr swarm.

As Vanyel warily investigated the word wall, Garyn and Frea hadn't taken their eyes off the sarcophagi. When the draugr emerge, they are prepared and in position to fight them.

Frea rushes between them, parrying their strikes and holding them at bay with one axe and making strikes of her own with the other. Meanwhile, Garyn has crossed swords with the largest and strongest of the draugr, which has emerged from the other corner.

Vanyel only takes a moment to size them up before entering the fray himself, throwing a few firebolts at the draugr on the fringes of the group before wading in, Dawnbreaker drawn.

They are, for the most part, typical draugr - strong but unskilled. The part that makes the fight challenging is the sheer number of them and the small size of the room. Garyn's opponent is the outlier, that one draugr out of ten with some semblance of a brain left in its head.

Indeed, its strength is augmented further by its relative mindfulness. Whoever it once was must have been a tremendous swordsman, because its spacing and footwork in this cramped room are impeccable.

At first they trade trade parries. Then they close, and their swords lock together. Trueflame slides up the ancient nordic weapon all the way to the guard as he presses forward with all his strength and the draugr pushes back.

Just as he has begun to gain leverage against the creature, Garyn releases one arm from his sword's hilt, relenting in his pressure just for a moment. The draugr loses its balance and lurches face-first into Garyn's fist. He follows up with a swift kick to the kneecap. The cracking of its bones is just audible amid the rest of the action, if one listens closely.

But its jaws are still intact, which is enough for the draugr to make its next move:

"Zun Haal Viik!"

Trueflame tumbles away from Garyn's grasp. Garyn himself stumbles back. Quickly he summons the bound shield, sheltering behind it as the draugr's wild swing arrives. Its footing is no longer steady - it stands on only one sturdy leg. But the reach of its sword is wide and dangerous enough for it to make approach a prohibitively dangerous proposition. And alas, it stands between Garyn and Trueflame.

And then, a tiny miracle happens. The Gatekeeper draugr is too smart for its own good - it hesitates. And Garyn in an instant knew why - Frea and Vanyel are close to its blade range, and cannot focus on both their foes and the Gatekeeper at the same time. Better to take them out now, leave the unarmed opponent, and not have to risk facing three capable enemies at once. But then, this means leaving one formidable kill behind at a similarly vulnerable moment.

A less mindful draugr would have either continued after Garyn or turned to kill one of the others. But this one thinks. And in its moment of thought, Garyn leaps forward with his elbows braced against the shield, pinning the Gatekeeper against the floor.

Edited 2015-11-06 08:33 (UTC)

The other draugr, by contrast, are have sloppy form and swing wildly - which keeps Vanyel and Frea mostly on the defensive. At least none of them can Shout, or all three adventurers might be in trouble.

As it is, Vanyel and Frea are both holding their own. Even a glancing blow from Dawnbreaker is enough to start them burning, and the ones he can't reach she hobbles - taking inspiration from one of Garyn's moves just now, she picks a knee and kicks, and when they stumble she buries an axe in their head.

It thins the ranks of draugr considerably, but it also means they're continually pressing forward, which does eventually bring them into range of the Gatekeeper's sword - and both are too focused on their own fights to realize it.

The remaining draugr don't seem to notice or care when the Gatekeeper goes down, but Vanyel is momentarily distracted looking to see who tackled who there. So naturally, that's the moment the draugr choose to swarm.

And Vanyel Shouts out the first thing that comes to mind. "Fus Ro Dah!"

The three draugr who were directly in front of him hit the far wall with a sickening crunch.

The Gatekeeper is pinned. It cannot wriggle out, or raise its arms to stop Garyn's fists from pummeling its head until it cracks and crumbles to ash.

Garyn reaches for Trueflame and turns to face whatever draugr are left - if there are any draugr left.

There are only a few, and none nearly as skilled as the Gatekeeper.

Once they're dealt with, Vanyel casts Clairvoyance - and the glowing path that appears leads directly into one of the coffins. The Gatekeeper's, to be precise.

He goes to peer into it and knocks on the back, which produces a hollow sound. As if there's a great deal of space behind the coffin, despite it standing against the wall.

"Search him," he says of the Gatekeeper as he makes his way back over. "He may have a key on him."

It doesn't take long to find it among the large draugr's remains. It helps when you've already started to look - it's always either the highest-ranking thug or the largest grunt who carries the key. Or, in this case, both.

He tosses Vanyel the key.

"Wherever that leads, I bet it's hiding more than just a way out."

Edited 2015-11-09 05:43 (UTC)

Vanyel catches it, unlocks the iron door and nudges it open. "I wouldn't be at all surprised."

The door opens onto some sort of meeting room, with its table still occupied. Said occupants are long dead, though, and all that remains are their bones. Beyond the table, there are more doors - a quick spell from Vanyel shows they want the ones to the west of this entrance.

He moves cautiously past the table, but these particular skeletons don't seem inclined to jump up and attack.

Indeed, the room is entirely still, save for the still-lit kitchen fires. Initially there doesn't even seem to be a way forward - fortunately the switch for the secret passageway is easy enough for them to find.

They make their way through the winding passageways until they come to a room with a trap door. The switch stands near the wall, beneath the mouth of a hideous three-headed relief - an unworldly grotesque of what seems to be some kind of ghastly horned fish.

"I do not recognize this statuary," Frea says. "We passed by a few of them earlier, but they are becoming more frequent as we get further in."

A brief scowl crosses her face. "I do not like this place. It almost looks as if these statues will come to life at any moment."

Garyn turns to Frea with a half-hearted smirk. "Well, we've tempted fate often enough today. Might as well come to call on her."

He pulls the handle. Fortunately, the statue does not come alive to devour his hand. At the bottom of the staircase is a door which opens to a large and very wide staircase, flanked by a vaulted arch.

Edited 2015-11-10 07:06 (UTC)

At the bottom of that staircase is is a short hall, ending in other spiral staircase; upon reaching the bottom of that one, and walking past a few more of the odd, usettling statues (and thank the Eight they aren't gargoyles), they find another switch in a similar position.

Vanyel pulls it this time, and a gate in the floor opens, giving them access to the spiral staircase there. At the bottom of this last staircase is a simple wooden door, which opens onto a long room with its ceiling held up by stone arches - the kind is all too common in Nordic tombs.

And, as if to make up for the lack of enemies up to this point, the room is full of draugr and walking skeletons. Vanyel once again trades his sword for his crossbow and finds what cover he can to start picking them off from a distance.

The skeletons go down easily enough - a bolt to the head or spine and done. The draugr prove a little trickier, though none are as tough or as intelligent as the Gatekeeper.

The wide open space of the vaulted Nordic hall makes this an easier fight than the fraught battle in the cramped trophy room. From bow distance they make prime targets for Garyn and Vanyel, even with their elevation advantage. Frea waits patiently, closing in on any undead who draw too near.

They continue when the coast is clear - though Garyn teeters for a moment to get around a trip wire he barely manages to notice in time.

Garyn pulls the handle at the end of the great hall. It opens to a snaking, rough-hewn tunnel. As they enter, the air grows hazier. Sicklier. More unnatural.

Vanyel casts Clairvoyance, illuminating the correct path through the winding tunnels. That pervasive haze and sense of wrongness grow stronger the longer they walk, reaching a head when they arrive in a large circular room, unlike anything they've seen yet. In the middle on a slightly raised platform is a pedestal bearing yet another of the strange statues - and at the statue's feet rests a small, ordinary-looking black book.

"That book," Frea says softly. "It seems wrong, somehow. Here, yet... not. It may be what we seek."

"Only one way to find out," Vanyel replies, walking up to the pedestal. The energy surrounding the book feels oddly familiar, but it's only once the the thing falls open in his hands that he recalls - it's the same feeling he got when Septimus Signus handed him the Oghma Infinium. He tries to set the book down or at least close it, but too late. A tentacle emerges from the pages and latches onto him, binding his arms. And Vanyel abruptly finds himself... elsewhere.

He comes to on his knees, being held there by two creatures he can't identify. Standing before him is the man who stole the dragon's soul back in Raven Rock - Miraak. "Who are you to dare set foot here?" He demands.

But before Vanyel can even think of replying, he answers his own question. "Ahh... You are Dragonborn. I can feel it. You've even slain Alduin, well done. Yet you have no idea of the power a true Dragonborn can wield. Mul... Qah Diiv!" The main visual effect of the shout is that it cloaks Miraak in ethereal armor that looks like dragon scales.

"This realm is beyond you," Miraak continues. "You have no power here. And it is only a matter of time before Solstheim is also mine. I already control the minds of its people. Soon they will finish building my temple, and I can return home." Then, to the creatures holding Vanyel, he says, "Send him back where he came from. He can await my arrival with the rest of Tamriel."

He sweeps away, and the creatures cast some sort of spell that sees him blacking out again.

In the temple, the tentacle retreats and the book drops from suddenly nerveless fingers. Vanyel backs toward Garyn and Frea, eyeing the thing warily.

Edited 2015-11-11 06:52 (UTC)

Garyn is already uneasy before Vanyel grabs hold of the book. There's something off about the thing, apart even from the ominous sigil of a tentacled mass on the front cover, or its jet black bindings. He can't put his finger on it, but he can't shake the feeling that he ought to be able to.

He lunges forward as Vanyel starts to open it. "Wait, don't -"

Too late. The page grabs him, and Vanyel fades - a ghost caught in a tangled mass, bound to the book that now seemed to be floating more than held. Then, after two minutes that go by like ten, it finally releases him.

Frea beats Garyn to the punch. "What happened to you? You read the book and then... It seemed as though you were not really here. I could see you, but also see through you!"

'I found myself... someplace else," he replies. Given the sigil on the cover and how similar the book felt to the Infinium, he wouldn't be surprised if it were Apocrypha. At this point, though, he can't be entirely sure.

"Miraak was there. He's still alive and trying to return to Solstheim. He said that... once the people he's enthralled finish rebuilding his temple, he'll 'return home.'"

He crosses his arms, trying to ward off a bone-deep chill that has little to do with physical temperature.

Frea's brow furrows. "This is a dangerous thing, then. We should return to my village, and show this to my father. Perhaps Storn can make sense of what is going on."

Garyn nods. "We should definitely bring the book with us. If that's the link to Miraak, we'll want it in our hands."

He leans over to collect the book, running his fingers over the strangely embossed cover.

"And we may learn something from it. I've some...suspicions about where it came from. But I don't want to say them out loud until I'm sure."

Garyn has encountered a lot of Daedric princes. Hermaeus Mora isn't one of them. But between the tentacles and the book, he seems the most obvious candidate.

Edited 2015-11-12 00:27 (UTC)

Garyn is welcome to collect it; Vanyel would rather not touch the thing again any time soon.

"If the construction here is anything like Nord standard, there should be some sort of..." He pauses, casting Clairvoyance once more. "Ah, there. A back door for the builders."

He leads the way to it, only too happy to get out of this place as soon as possible. If they can take these builders' shortcuts at least most of the way to the surface, he'll be happy.

It's a much shorter walk than Garyn would have expected. They're above ground in no time at all. A stone gate slides open, revealing the clear sky and sweeping snowscape of northern Solstheim.

Garyn stands for a moment as his eyes adjust to the light, and more importantly, as he tries to figure out where the hell they've emerged.

Frea points to a column of light beyond the crest of the hill. "You see that green light? That comes from the Wind Stone, where my people work against their will. They must be freed soon."

The biting northern wind is preferable to the musty air of the temple, the pervasive scent of death and the oppressive atmosphere of the black book's resting place.

Vanyel relaxes marginally once they're out in it, and turns to Frea. "Does your village lay in that direction as well?"

She nods. "The Wind Stone stands just to the northwest of it."

The way ahead seems clear enough - walk toward that light. Find the Wind Stone and they'll find the Skaal village.

They descend the slope of the hill to the site of the Wind Stone. Already another temple-in-minuature is being constructed. All around the stone and the scaffolding that surrounds it, a host of enthralled Skaal lift and carve hammer this structure into place. There are dozens of them at the least.

Garyn has been to Skaal Village, and remembers how big it was. Unless they've multiplied considerably in two centuries, to see such a large number is very bad news. "How many Skaal are even left in the village?"

"Too few," Frea says. "I fear our time may be growing short."

"All the more reason to hurry."

There are still some miles to go.

Those miles are, at least, over relatively clear (if hilly) terrain, and the worst they're likely to encounter are things like frost trolls or ice wraiths; they can be thankful for that much.

He gives the Wind Stone one last look before turning to follow Garyn and Frea - and all that time spent slogging through the snow in Skyrim means he's able to at least keep up.

As they walk, he retreats into his own thoughts. Pondering what sort of power enthralled Frea's people and all the rest, and what it might take to break that power...

It has been a long time indeed since Garyn ever walked on snow. But the endurance born from corprus and the unwearying enchantment on his belt lessens the fatigue from constant travel.

His thoughts turn toward the book resting in his satchel. Was another Daedric prince threatening Solstheim? He certainly hopes not - three gods are more than enough for one lifetime. The worry nags at him as they march silently through the snow.

Soon enough, a wall of swirling wind is visible in the distance.

Frea points out the Skaal settlement. "The village is just ahead. Storn has used his magic to raise a barrier around it, protecting the few of us left. That the barrier is still there is a good sign."

Edited 2015-11-14 09:46 (UTC)

Vanyel's thoughts remain on the black book as well, and the realm it transported him to. The creatures who held him captive bore a passing resemblance to the statues in the sanctum of Miraak's temples. But whether they're Miraak's creatures or... on loan, that's the question.

As they approach, there are very few people visible aside from the old man kneeling in the snow in a meditative pose - presumably, Frea's father Storn. Unless there are more indoors, it seems the few clustered around Storn represent the only remaining free Skaal.

Frea surges ahead of the other two as they close the distance, and once they've crossed into hearing distance she calls out. "Father, I have returned! There is yet hope!"

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Sorry! Lost the Notification.

No worries, these things happen!

Let me know if you'd like me to lop off any part of this.

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It was my turn to write a novel, apparently >.> Let me know if you'd rather I cut any of this

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Scaling up a little, if you don't mind.

Not at all!

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