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]

Seeing the effect that Vanyel's spells were having, Garyn steps backward and sheathes his sword in favor of his bow. He's quite well practiced at doing it quickly, and has an arrow notched by the time Vanyel's next bolt strikes if it proves necessary.

[drehnifusbahi]

The next bolt drives the thing to what passes for its knees with another shrieking cry. But it won't stay there for long, and it's going to take Vanyel a moment to ready another bolt - so if they want to end this now, their best bet is likely for Garyn to put an arrow through its eye.

[moonandstar]

He's happy to oblige - and at exactly the spot narration helpfully indicated. The lurker shudders, stiffens, and falls.

As its remains quickly dissolve, Garyn grunts and begins to rummage for something to treat the alarming and still painful wound on his face.

[drehnifusbahi]

Vanyel closes the distance between them, laying a hand over the wound and casting Healing Hands. It only takes a few moment for the spell to do its work, and once it has Vanyel lets his hand fall away and steps back again.

With Garyn healed, and -thank the Eight- no Skaal injured in the confrontation, he focuses on the business at hand. "We should probably head back to the Skaal village and see if Storn can tell us any more about how to find and defeat Miraak."

[moonandstar]

Garyn freezes, looking Vanyel in the eye for a moment before tearing his gaze toward the horizon. Gods.

"Yes, I should think that's obvious," he says.

Then, more confidently: "We should see if they've a hearth open for us as well. We'll be seeing a lot more of Solstheim for a while, and we did save them, after all. I suspect that won't be the last of the All-Maker Stones you'll need to clear, either."

[drehnifusbahi]

It had been a purely reflexive gesture, after all the time he's spent these last few years patching up his traveling companions after battles, but it occurs to him now that it might well be the first time he's touched Garyn at all since they've met.

But he pushes those thoughts aside; they've bigger things to worry about now.

"I suspect you're right," he agrees, turning toward a rise, over which the smoke from the Skaal village's fires is just visible. "If nothing else, breaking his control over the Stones ought to at least slow him down."

There's also the matter of the Black Book to consider; he's not eager to try opening it again and seeing if it gets the same result, but as of now it's the only means they have to reach Miraak. If it no longer works...

Okay, this time I just lost the notif.

[moonandstar]

Garyn shakes the thoughts from his own mind. This is no time for it. They cross the remaining ground quickly.

Storn is waiting for them. He hasn't moved from where he was kneeling before, but he has now risen to his feet to watch the Skaal trickle back to their homes. He bows his head in greeting.

"The air is different," he says. "We are safe, which means you have succeeded."

Yeah, that happens. I know gmail was tossing mine in spam for no reason for a little while >.>

[drehnifusbahi]

He bows his head in return, and then asks. "What do we do now?"

"If you have broken the hold on the Wind Stone and released my people, perhaps you can do the same for the rest of Solstheim. I doubt it will fully stop whatever Miraak is doing, but it may slow his progress."

Vanyel's thoughts had run along similar lines, but just slowing Miraak down isn't a solution. "Then what do we need to do to stop him?"

"I cannot help with that; none here can. You will need the knowledge Miraak himself learned."

[moonandstar]

"The Black Book."

Carefully, Garyn pulls the book from his pack.

"Miraak ha this? This does not look like something of the Dragon Cult."

The old man's brow furrows.

"It is a dark thing, unnatural. I would have nothing to do with it. But the Dark Elf wizard, Neloth...he came to us some time ago, asking about Black Books. I believe he knows a great deal about them. Perhaps too much."

Him again. Garyn is just able to swallow the most intense grimace imaginable.

"Seek his home on the south coast."

[drehnifusbahi]

So it's not an artifact of the dragon cult - somehow, he can't find it in himself to be surprised by that, given how it felt in his hands.

He's drawn out of his thoughts when Storn turns his attention from Garyn to Vanyel himself. "Be cautious, Dragonborn. There is something else at work here."

Well, it's a damn sight better than being told he may or may doom them all.

Vanyel nods his thanks, then glances over at Garyn. "The stones first, I think - then we can use whatever time that buys us to find more information on these Black Books." And he does remember how Garyn reacted to Neloth before.

[moonandstar]

"Agreed," Garyn says.

He turns to Storn.

"Would we be welcome to eat and rest among the Skaal? We've traveled far today."

Thought I replied to this back in August but apparently DW ate the tag?! Still up for continuing?

[drehnifusbahi]

The shaman gives his permission, and it isn't long before they're settled near a blazing fire, bowls of stew in hand, and left in peace to eat and rest. Vanyel can't bring himself to be anything but grateful for that; it's been a very, very long day.

Still, he's not so tired that he won't take the chance to satisfy at least some of his curiosity when the opportunity is practically handed to him.

His eyes are drawn to Garyn periodically, though he does his best not to stare outright, and once he's put away enough stew to silence his grumbling stomach, he finally breaks the silence. "So, what brought you to Solstheim in the first place?"

Sorry for the delay - had to get a new computer, things were up in the air. Definitely would.

[moonandstar]

Like his companion, Garyn eats in silence, his focus interrupted by brief and furtive glances.

When the question comes, he's expecting it.

"That's a little hard for me to answer," he says. "To tell you the truth, I'm not entirely sure myself. Work, I suppose."

It's true enough, anyway.

No worries; computer trouble is what kept me from checking on it any sooner myself. >.>

[drehnifusbahi]

Well, consider his interest piqued.

"Oh? What sort of work?" And then, belatedly, "Ah- I suppose I should apologize for pulling you away from it regardless..."

Garyn may have freely offered his aid earlier, but he was hardly obligated to stick around now - especially since they'd gotten a taste of how dangerous things could get.

[moonandstar]

"No need to apologize," Garyn says. "I wasn't on a job. Merely searching for one. I'd say I found what I was looking for."

[drehnifusbahi]

His brows twitch up for a moment at that - he wasn't there for long, admittedly, but Raven Rock didn't strike him as the best place to be job-hunting.

"If you were looking for difficult, dangerous work with no promise of success or reward, I suppose you did," he agrees wryly. But behind the jest there's a certain bone-deep weariness that isn't all to do with what's happened today.

A great deal of it has to do with the fact that it never seems to end - he defeated the vampire lord Harkon, slew the World-Eater, stopped a civil war almost single-handedly, and just when he thought he could finally rest... there's this.

[moonandstar]

"I haven't needed the money in a long time," he says.

His lip curls upward, trying and mostly failing to smile. The same weariness lies behind his voice, plus a couple centuries.

"Besides, there are more important things at work here."

[drehnifusbahi]

He hasn't needed money in a long time... but he was looking for work? There's a contradiction there - but it's one he's heard before. He knows plenty of adventurers for whom money is a secondary concern at most; he's one of them.

He's struck more by the weariness behind the words than the words themselves, anyhow. He doesn't read too much into it - Dunmer do live far longer than humans. If anything it just makes him revise his mental estimate of Garyn's age, putting it closer to Erandur's.

"There certainly are." There's a moment where he drops his gaze, staring into the fire and worrying his lower lip. Then his eyes dart back up to meet Garyn's.

"The black book," he says, and it's a bit of an abrupt subject change, but Garyn doesn't seem to want to talk about himself so why not, "What do you make of it? I can tell you right now it's not an artifact of the dragon cult."

[moonandstar]

"Daedric," Garyn says. "I'd bet my life on it. I can recognize their handiwork well enough, and it wouldn't be the first time they've been to Solstheim."

He turns his gaze toward the fire.

"And I know of one Daedric Prince with a particular interest in books."

[drehnifusbahi]

"Hermaeus Mora," Vanyel replies flatly, and he's staring into the fire again too.

Staring, and trying not to remember- the dawning horror as he realized the leather binding of the book they'd unearthed wasn't leather, but skin, turning back in time to see Septimus fall down dead, his body turning to dust. The realization that the Prince to whom Septimus had devoted his life and sanity and his very soul had done that, without a shred of hesitation or remorse.

The deep-seated feeling of being unclean that had settled into Vanyel's very bones when that creature -he shies from the word, even in his thoughts- had claimed him, declaring that Vanyel would sooner or later come to him willingly, seeking his knowledge-

Without even thinking about it, he raises a hand to his amulet, rolling the well-worn beads between his fingers. It helps, a little.

[moonandstar]

"You've met him before, haven't you?"

Garyn's eyes meet his. It's a knowing gaze - the look of someone who knows exactly what another person is going through. Gods know, Garyn kept having nightmares about Ilunibi long after Dagoth Ur was defeated.

Without realizing it, his hand is sliding closer to Vanyel's.

"It's alright. You won't be alone this time."

[drehnifusbahi]

"Unfortunately."

It takes another moment or two, but he does manage to push the memories to the back of his mind, enough to focus on the here and now.

Some of the tension he's been carrying eases when the look in Garyn's eyes registers, and after just a moment's hesitation, he rests his hand atop the one sliding toward him. "Thank you," he says softly. "I appreciate that."

This one was just down to a long-ass period of shit times.

[moonandstar]

Garyn knows all too well the incredible joys of having a Daedra's favor. He'd be keen to move on, too.

His eyes turn to Vanyel's amulet. For that matter, it had been a long time since he'd had that Aedroth's favor. Probably too long. Out of practice, surely.

No, of course not. Keep talking, why don't you?

"Last time I was here I heard a story," he says. "An old one, of the Skaal. A young hero left the village to bring back the gifts of the All-Maker. He fought off the evil spirits who stole them and then he went home. The story ends. Not even the Shaman had another word to say about his life."

He turns to look at the fire before facing Vanyel again, with a knowing expression on his face.

"What does the brave young hero do after the great adventure is over?"

Yikes >.> wb, though

[drehnifusbahi]

Admittedly, Mora isn't the first Daedric Prince to take an interest in him, but his interest is far more unsettling than that of Meridia or Azura.

So he's more than willing to set that subject aside for the moment - especially given that the new one apparently involves old Skaal stories. He listens raptly as Garyn speaks, and at the ending can't quite help a wry smile.

"I imagine it usually involves finding a spouse and settling down, maybe becoming a merchant or innkeeper for something to do."

His eyes drift back to the fire and his fingers find the beads of his amulet again. "I don't suppose I'll find out myself until the adventure finally ends."

[moonandstar]

"So many of them seem to vanish without a trace," Garyn says. "The Hero of Kvatch. The Eternal Champion of Uriel Septim. Wulfharth Ash-King. And I think I've heard a hundred different tales in a hundred different ports of Cyrus's last adventure."

He gazes still more deeply into the flames.

"No one knows where they go. Or how long we get after it's finished."