[b]Lord General Walden Estermont of the Renshi 2nd of Sun’s Height Aldmer Ruins, Eton Nir Mountains, Summerset Isle[/b] The Lord General crouched low in the darkness of the ruins, flanked on both sides by other Renshi Agents. He had brought a team of three, as the Thalmor hadn’t had time to truly organize and prepare defenses. Walden had sliced the throats of two guards on the way in, but had seen little since. He didn’t trust the old and dank place, and seeked only to fulfill his objective and leave. “Did you hear that?” whispered the Renshi to Walden’s left, a Imperial like himself, named Reginald. “I did.” Came the reply of the Renshi to Walden’s right, a Altmer named Piero. Walden had heard it too, and already disliked the sound of it. He heard drums beating in the deep of the ruin, and the walls seemed to vibrate lightly with the energy of it. The chamber they were in was still near the front, and they could still turn around and leave. Yet Walden knew he had no true choice in the matter. He drew the Renshi dagger from his belt and crouched low, moving forward into an especially dark hallway. As the small squad moved forward, they began to hear voices and chanting deeper in. They found themselves quickly entering into a small balcony overlooking what appeared to be the main dinning chamber. Torches lighted the walls and the center of the room appeared fairly clean, with tables and chairs filled with summer wine and elven bread. Walden counted nearly forty Thalmor in the room, and knew them far too many to take on directly. Yet what he found more interesting was that neither the drums nor the chanting came from this room, but from one further on still. Walden would draw his wits about him and, perceiving a small ledge spanning the length of the room along the wall near their balcony, climbed atop it. It was sturdy, but old, and the stone seemed worn down. “Are you insane?!” Cried Piero with quiet caution at Walden’s boldness, yet the man gave no mind to the high elf. Instead, he began to creep along the ledge along the wall, and found an opposite balcony along the other wall, leading into another room. Reginald saw Walden’s success, and began to climb the ledge himself. This left Piero alone, who begrudgingly would follow. “You hear about the Justicar Revin? I heard he was secretly planning on killing the High Justicar Aldra after she returned with the Royal Escort, so he could seize both the Throne and the title of High Justicar together. Looks like the High Justicar Aldra was too smart for him though, and orchestrated some Renshi bursting in at the perfect time, getting Revin killed first.” The voice was of the familiar snobbishness of the Thalmor, and the words hurt Walden’s heart. He had caught that small bit of dialogue floating up from the eating Altmer below, above the drums and chanting, and knew the Thalmor too corrupt to even work together properly. Yet as they continued on and neared the opposite balcony, he heard a reply in the crowd. “Is that what Aldra told you? Sure, she might have wanted Revin killed before he got her, but she was riding on that coup being successful. Him ruining that has ruined us.” Walden had reached the balcony now, and hopped down. He lead his group past a pair of old oak doors, and discovered they appeared to come through a upper-side entrance to a large stadium. It appeared as if hundreds of soldiers were down below in the main arena, and above them on the main balcony of the ruins was the High Justicar Aldra, as well as the High Chancellor. Walden’s pulse quickened at the sight of his potential kill, and he motioned for his companions to stay low and quiet, coming closer to him. “Piero, I want you to cause a distraction, drawing everyone’s attention. Once all eyes are on you, run, and don’t look back. Reginald, I’ll need you with me.” The two Renshi nodded, and Piero began to climb a ledge once more, coming closer to a large stone seating area. He came into a position in the darkness, yet easily visible if he so chose. The altmer grabbed a small handful of incendiary pellets, a standard part of the Renshi gear, and waited for the signal. Walden and Reginald climbed along the ledges closer to the Thalmor Officals balcony, yet found the process both straining and time consuming. By the time they neared the Officials, the High Justicar began to speak; “Brothers and Sisters of the Thalmor! For too long have we suffered under the reign of misguided Altmer who know not the true greatness and glory of our people! They would temper our greatness with humility, and water down our great blood by mingling with our inferiors! Though our initial coup has failed, we have slain the Arch-Mage Nelron, and shown our might to the False Dominion! We will march on Cloudrest and wrest it away from those who would deny our supremacy, and call those like the Maormer as equals!” Her voice was magically amplified, like thunder, and Walden could tell her Thalmor were whipped into a frenzy by her words. Walden looked to Reginald, and motioned that Reginald should kill the High Justicar, while Walden would take the High Chancellor simultaneously. Reginald nodded in agreement, and prepared his own dagger. They were poised perfectly, and Walden took a last count of the Thalmor on the balcony. It appeared to be a total of five, two being officials and what looked to be three guards. Walden sighed deeply, and nodded to Piero. A sudden flash of flame erupted in the stadium, and nearly a dozen Thalmor soldiers set aflame in the crowd at once. Their screams and cries echoed off the walls, and panic began to break out. Walden launched himself forward and his dagger found it’s mark, slicing perfectly into the throat of the High Chancellor. As the Chancellor attempted to yell, and found blood flooding his throat, he scratched at his neck and in his panic fell clean off the balcony, falling into the panicked Thalmor who promptly crushed him under their boots in their attempt to flee. Reginald wasn’t nearly as lucky, and the High Justicar seemed to move perfectly as his dagger came forward. Instead it landed square in the ribs of one of the Three Thalmor guard, who were already drawing their weapons. Reginald panicked, and grabbing the guard by his elven armor, tossed him from the balcony to the same fate. The High Justicar screamed and fled through the doors behind her, and Walden found the Thalmor troops down below who weren’t panicking chased after Piero with great speed. One of the three guard, a high elf wearing armour seemingly made of midnight, had drawn his blade and bore it down on Reginald. Walden attempted to save his friend, but found the second guard in his way. Drawing both blades, he easily cut down the guard, but found it too late. Reginald took a blade straight through the back, coming nicely out his belly. The Lord General clashed blades with this guard, and found his style superior to most, and his form too good for the Thalmor. Yet just as Walden thought him about to tire, the doors burst open once more, and the High Justicar returned bringing with her twelve guards. They brought swords to Walden, and he was forced to lay down arms. Soon, he was in shackles, a beaten and bruised Piero beside him. [b]Arch-Mage Valina of the Arcane Society 2nd of Sun’s Height The Crystal Tower[/b] Valina had enjoyed meeting the new students, but was glad that classes were officially underway now. The Arch-Mage knew the importance of keeping their numbers up, and was glad that Nelron had ordered this one last thing before his death. She had gone to sleep early last night, and even bathed luxuriously. She knew she needed to take a breather and rest, after such a difficult past few days. Occasionally, her mind would wander to the Steward Aiden that had served her in helping her read the Elder Scroll, and her heart would ache. She had trouble believing he was with the Thalmor, but had felt even worse upon realizing he was of the Renshi. He was a cute and younger altmer, and their future could have been bliss. It suddenly occurred to her why she had thrown herself into her work as she had done as of late. It had been to distract herself from her wounded heart. She shook her head to try and free herself from these emotions and looked at what she had prepared earlier; the Ritual of Secunda had been prepared and yet never finished. She knew what she still had left to do in order to finish it. Yet she found herself disgusted by the act. Walden had kidnapped the babe, and Walden could have killed it. He was ruthless like that, though only as ruthless as he ever had to be. Picking the baby Mane up from its crib, it mewed up at her with large opal eyes that seemed to glow in the candlelight of her chambers. It seemed to attempt to suckle at her breast, and she held it away from her with repulsions. Though the motherly side of her wished to coddle with it, she was still a High Elf, and It still a beast. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. In one quick and swift motion, she had slashed a blade across the cub’s throat. Crimson lifeblood spilled onto the ritual floor, and it made only a light squeal before kicking and falling still in her arms. Valina was still and numb, and could hardly believe herself. Yet before she had collected herself from her brutality, a flash of light and heat once more exploded, this time in her chamber. She fell backwards and dropped the corpse of the cub, and found ash and smoke enveloping the room. Yet when the dust had cleared, she found a small seemingly sticklike object, made of ivory and gold, with a small rock engraved at the end of it. Along it said; [i]’The Wand of Secunda[/i] Valina gasped and nearly forgot about the corpse of the cub at her feet, as she took the strange wand, it seemed to resonate powerfully in her hands. The wand was ivory, with gold tracing up it towards the rock. Inspecting it, she found the rock at the end of it to be a small piece of Secunda itself. She turned in awe away from the ritual table, and found the corpse still at her feet. Kicking it away in disgust and shame, she fled to the window of her chambers, looking up into the Great Heavens. Her excitement and grief mingled, and she began to weep openly both for the cub and for the wand. She collected herself briefly, and deciding to test it, muttered a simple color-changing spell she had learned as a little girl; Red. Before her very eyes, and before the eyes the globe over, the moon of Secunda would become a blood moon, turning the crimson in the sky above. She squealed with excitement at this new treasure. [b]Lord Admiral of the Royal Fleet Orthos 3rd of Sun’s Height Alinor, Summerer Isles, Capital of the Dominion [/b] Orthos had prepared the Fleet quickly, and the sailors had done their jobs quickly and efficiently. Ships regularly sailed for the Stros M’Kai Blockade now, and they had a rhythmic system to it. Yet the Dominion troops themselves were taking longer to prepare then he had hoped. As did the Battlemages. Orthos wasn’t sure if the Island was worth this much trouble, but also knew that they had come too far to back out now. He stood over a wooden table with various information’s and logistics on it. “Lord Admiral?” Came a voice from behind him, at the opening of the logistics command. He turned around, and found a young altmer boy. He raised a eyebrow expectantly; “It appears we are approved to send 8,000 Dominion Soldiers and 4,000 Thalmor soldiers, as well as several battle groups of Renshi and Battlemages.” Orthos nodded, unsure of what the boy meant. “So it true then..? Are we really officially going to war, then? “ “Seems so.” Was all Orthos replied. The boy nodded and left, and Orthos turned back to the logistics. He had already sent the message to The other 80 he would command himself. He turned and exited Logistics into the bright and warm summer sun of the isles. He raised a eyebrow at the approach of what appeared to be a fairly respected Thalmor official, flanked by two Thalmor guardsmen. The leader of them spoke; “Greetings Lord Admiral, I am Captain Mainor of the First Thalmor Battalion. It appears my troops will be under your protection until we land. I trust you shall guard us well. Though I know the High Justicar and High Chancellor have betrayed the Dominion, know there are still some among the Thalmor who wish to redeem ourselves.” The Lord Admiral nodded to the Captain, humbled by his words. He appeared a strong Altmer, having served many long years both to the Thalmor and Dominion. His elven shortswords were strapped tightly to his hips, and his armor seemed made of silver with stripes of glass in it. His face was straight and serious, with hair white as snow. “We will protect you well, Captain. I looked forward to seeing the valor of the Thalmor on the field of battle.” He nodded seriously, and the captain turned and departed back to the Thalmor War Camp. [b] -High Chancellor of the Thalmor Extremists has been assassinated! -Lord General Walden has been captured by the Thalmor Extremists! -Thalmor Extremists marching on Cloudrest! -Baby Mane is Sacrificed, resulting in Wand of Secunda! -Secunda turns into a Bloodmoon! -Altmer Forces nearly prepared for invasion. [/b]