[IC] Elder Scrolls: Danger of Discovery (EliteCommander and Luna)

[EliteCommander]

The sun was just rising over the horizon on a rather clear day. It was hot and humid, but it was like that every day in Leyawiin, so there was no surprise there. Swims-With-Pride was standing under a tree by the pond near the gate to the city's castle district. It was a popular swimming hole in town, one he visited often, but that was not the reason he was there this time. He was in full iron armor, apart from a helmet since he couldn't afford to get one with holes for his horns, with his shield on his back and his sword in its scabbard. He was waiting for his closest friend, Veria, as today was the day they would be setting out on their first real adventure. His mind was already swarming with ideas on what they would do, what ruins they would explore, the riches they would find. The possibilities were endless, and he was practically overflowing with excitement.

Swims had already checked, double checked, and triple checked his supplies to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. In his backpack, he had his map, some preserved food supplies, and even a few potions. Veria was bringing a similar set of supplies, so they would be fine for a week at least on their travels. Even if they ran out, they could always go hunting, so he wasn't too worried. No, he was too excited to be afraid.

[Luna]

Veria came out of her home in her light armor and ran to the tree she knew he would be at. Once she saw him in view, she smirked and came up from behind and jumped. "Hello Swims" she said smiling brightly at him. She got off and stood by him. "So ready to do this" she asked looking out into the distance that was beyond h=theri childhood town before looking at her friend. "Cause let me tell you I am excited for this trip" she smiled at him.

[EliteCommander]

Swims looked back at Veria with the widest smile he had ever given. "I'm excited like you wouldn't believe. To think, after all these months of preparation, we're finally becoming adventurers. I have a few ideas about where we can go. There is an old Ayleid ruin called...something I can't pronounce. Anyway, it is to the north of here, just off the road east of town. It should take a few days of walking to get there. I think it will make a great first target. Who knows what kind of valuable relics we might find? Come on, let's go." He said, motioning for her to follow along.

The pair walked from the pond to the road just to the east of town. Being that Leyawiin was in the Blackwood Forest, which was practically a swamp, their feet were already wet from the mud they had to walk through to get to the cobblestone road. Of course, being that he was Argonian, the water did not bother Swims in the slightest. Actually, he rather liked it. As they were walking along, Swims glanced over to Veria, his face still beaming with excitement. "So, what kind of supplies do you have? I brought a map, some food, my waterskin, and two healing potions. They are kind of cheap potions, admittedly, but I don't plan on getting hurt."

[Luna]

"Hmm I brought the same things as well as stones to help starts fires for camp that are fresh and sharp so it will last. I have some healing potions, for maps I broughts the ones of the entire world, one maps are marked with different special spaces we should visits and some have some of the towns that we should definitely stop and visit as well" she said looking at her friend. "I even have special drinks we can drink when we did something worth celebrating" she giggled

[EliteCommander]

Swims grinned. "I look forward to it. A nice drink after good success sounds great. I also brought an empty bag to carry whatever we find in the ruin. We should make sure to get as much as possible to make the most out of this expedition. I think the town of Blankenmarsh is closer to the ruin than Leyawiin, so we might be able to sell some of our findings there."

The pair continued to walk along and chat for a few hours. Swims had hoped to make it at least most of the way to Blankenmarsh by the end of the day, but by noon, it became apparent that wasn't happening. Veria looked to be moderately tired, but Swims was pretty much exhausted. He had been training to fight in heavy armor, but he hadn't actually thought to train walking in it. His iron armor was rather heavy, so it exhausted him to walk so long in it. He stopped at the side of the road for a moment, panting for breath. "Hold on a moment...I just...I need a break." He said, sitting down on the muddy ground and leaning against a tree next to the road. "This armor is...heavy." He commented between breaths. "I think...we should maybe...slow our pace...a little. I'm exhausted." Swims leaned his head back against the tree and looked up at the clouds, still breathing heavily.

[Luna]

"Great well lets go I want to get about a good ways from here before dark" she said excitedly before rushing off a smile lighting her pale face, it was perfect day to start an adventure with the sun shining overhead with no cloud in site, oh yes in her mind it was a perfect day to start their adventure. 'At least we dont have to worry about dragons at all' she thought looking up at the sky

[EliteCommander]

Swims-With-Pride got only a short break before Veria urged him to move on. He complied to the best of this ability and tried to cover as much ground with her as possible, but there was no way they were covering the distance he had wanted in the first day. Swims had to stop frequently to rest, and even Veria started to get tired after a while. By the time night started to fall, Swims guessed by the landmarks they had passed that they had only covered about half the distance he wanted out of the first day.

The pair set up camp just off the road in the driest place they could find. Swims set down his bags, weapons, and shield, then gathered together some rocks and wood for a fire. Unfortunately, being that they were in the Blackwood forest, all of the wood he could find was wet to some extent. He had his fire spells, but it still took a lot of effort and magicka to finally get the campfire to stay ablaze. Even then, it was small and hard to maintain. Luckily, area was plenty warm enough that they would not need a fire to stay warm through the night, but they would need to work quickly to cook up a meal.

Swims sat on the ground next to the fire, shifting uncomfortably in his armor as he grabbed some meat from his pack for the fire. "You know, I wish I would have thought about this before we left, but I really should have brought more clothes than just my armor. I didn't expect how uncomfortable it would be to wear this all day. In retrospect, it might have been a good idea to go on some walks in our full gear first to see what it was like."

[Luna]

"You are lucky I thought of you hen I left my home" she pulled out some male clothing and handed it to him. "My daddy thought you might forget so he is letting you have some of his old clothing the ones he dont wear anymore" she smiled at him before getting out her water skin and standing up. "I think I saw a river as we past by I am going to refill my waterskin, do you want me to do the same for yours" she asked looking at his waterskin

[EliteCommander]

Swims gladly accepted the clothes. They were not his exact size, and he would need to make a hole for his tail, but they would certainly be more comfortable than the armor he was currently wearing. "You really do think of everything, don't you?" He commented, looking at Veria fondly. She was by far the closest friend he had ever had. There was no one he could think of that he would rather go on this adventure with than her. They had been friends exploring Leyawiin together since he was just a hatchling. In recent years, he had started to wonder if his feelings for her went deeper than simple friendship, but he grew afraid every time the thought crossed his mind, so he tended not to think about it.

Swims grabbed his nearly-empty waterskin and looked at it. "Yeah, with how much we're walking, we need to keep water on hand. Not that there is a shortage of it in the Blackwood forest. If there is a river nearby, though, I think I will go for a swim. I could use some relaxation after all that walking. Want to join?" He asked. As his name would suggest, Swims was indeed quite fond of swimming. It was by far his favorite way to relax, and since he was Argonian, he was actually a rather strong swimmer.

[Luna]

"Sure I could use a swim maybe even get some of this sweat out of my armor while I am at it" She smiled giggling before walking off towards where she saw a river. She reached the river and touched it with her hand. "Ah it is perfect" she said before filling her water skin and then got in herself after putting her waterskin on the grass. She hummed in relief feeling her body getting cleaned as well as her amor."Ah this feels so nice"she said smiling as she floated on the surface looking up at the clear sky watching the stars.

"Dont you think it is beautiful out here" she said to her friend

[EliteCommander]

"Quite. The Blackwood forest reminds me of stories my parents told me of Black Marsh. I mean, it is right on the border, so the forest isn't too different from the outer marshes. A lot of humans say they don't like marshes like this, but I think it is wonderful." Swims commented as he joined Veria by the river and refilled his waterskin. While she was able to get straight in, he couldn't really do the same thing. Even for an Argonian, swimming in heavy metal armor was not an easy task. He would need to clean his armor eventually, but for the moment, he just wanted to relax. Swims began the long an annoying process of removing his armor piece by piece, undoing each of the straps and placing the pieces somewhere they would not get muddy. Eventually, he got out of his armor and down to his loincloth before finally joining Veria in the water.

Swims dove beneath the surface of the river and looked around for a few moments at all the life around them. His eyes were more well adapted to seeing underwater than a human's, so he could see fairly clearly. There were fish of all types swimming at a safe distance away from them, with kelp and algae growing from the riverbed. His gills meant he could remain under the water indefinitely, but unfortunately, it was not the same for Veria, so he eventually surfaced to talk to her. Swims floated on his back alongside her, then turned his head to her. "You know, I wonder if we should visit Black Marsh eventually? I would love to see the Argonian homeland. It's just that the marsh tends to swallow up ruins, so it is kind of hard for adventurers like us to find our riches there."

[Luna]

"Sure we can visit the Black Marsh I would love to meet the rest of your kind" she said with a smile on her lips before diving down one last time before getting out stretching. "We should finish up we have a lot of things to do tomorrow so we need all the rest we can get through, I will be having a lot of trouble sleeping tonight cause we are under the night time sky on an adventure we been waiting for since we were little" there was a rustle in the bushes making her jump

[EliteCommander]

Swims nodded to Veria. "Yeah, I suppose. We'll definitely need to take more breaks tomorrow, though. I have a really hard time keeping up in that armor with how heavy it is. I suppose it might take us a bit longer to reach the ruin than I expected, but we should have enough supplies to last. We might need to buy some more in Blankenmarsh on the way back, but-" He began before he was interrupted by some rustling in the bushes nearby. Immediately, a rush of fear bolted through him. Was someone or something sneaking up on them? Was it dangerous? He wasn't in his armor, so would he be able to fight it?"

As soon as he could, Swims climbed out and grabbed his sword from the pile of his belongings. He crouched down and started to move towards the bush as stealthily as possible (which was not actually very stealthy at all). He raised his blade as he neared the bush, at which point a rabbit bolted out past him. Even so, the surprise of it caused him to fall on his back. Sitting up, he rubbed the back of his head and looked to Veria, his expression showing a bit of embarrassment. "Uh, false alarm, I guess."

[Luna]

"Y yeah...that was kinda surprised' she said relaxing when she was saw it was a bunny rabbit and not something...bigger and dangerous. She jumped when she heard wolves howl in the background they sounded close to the river. "We should probably get back to camp incase we get attacked tonight I have my bow and stuff there" she said looking at her friend.

[EliteCommander]

"Agreed." Swims-With-Pride responded as he got dressed and picked up his armor and other belongings to take back to camp. They walked back together and arrived just as the fire was about to go out. Swims quickly dropped his things and got to work building back up the fire by adding more wood, and using a fire spell to keep it going. Once it was no longer in danger of going out, he had the idea of bringing the rest of the firewood close to their campfire in the hopes that it would dry out more thoroughly, and therefore be easier to burn.

Once they were settled in again, Swims grabbed his bag and pulled out some of the dried fish he had packed for their journey. He didn't have space in his bag for proper plates, bowls, and other cutlery, so he had to make a makeshift spit out of wet sticks. He had asked about how to do it before, but this was the first time he actually made one. Impaling the stick through the fish, he positioned it over the fire so it would cook. "Alright, hopefully that will be done soon enough. I certainly won't have a problem getting to sleep once we eat. I think the fire will be enough to keep away all the dangerous creatures."

[Luna]

"Maybe, but you know wolves if they see it they will come and attack but they seem far now since we are a good distance from the river" she said as she dried her hair with some animal skin she brought with her as a towel whenever she got wet.She looked at her friend while he wasnt looking and admired his looks. 'He has certainly grown in and the last few years...he is handsome' she blushed hard and looked down at her hands

[EliteCommander]

Swims saw Veria blushing, but he assumed it was because she felt embarrassed that she was afraid of the wolves. Moving over and sitting next to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I know wolves and other beast can be frightening, but they are intimidated by fire. Plus, we have swords, knives, bows. I can even hit them with fireballs. I don't think we have anything to worry about. Nothing is going to hurt us."

Just as Swims finished speaking, the stick that the fish was impaled on broke and the entire thing fell into the fire. Without thinking, Swims quickly tried to grab the fish by the tail before it was all the way in the fire, but he severely misjudged where the fish was, and where his hand was going. He did manage to grab the fish and sling it out of the fire, but his hand was fully engulfed in the flame for a moment. Meanwhile, the fish ended up flying up and striking Veria on the top of the head.

"Ah, Xuth, ow, ow, owwww." Swims cursed as he waved his burned hand through the air. He then held onto it with his other hand and let out a pained hiss. "Ahhh, that burns. No one is going to hurt us but me, I guess."

[Luna]

She went over to him and held his hands. "Oh my" she said looking worried at the burns. "They don't look too bad but to make sure I am going to wrap them" she said before going to her bed and ripped some clothing off her lighter clothes and went back to him to wrap his hands her skin soft against his rough skin.

[EliteCommander]

Swims readily allowed Veria to wrap his burned hand, though his other was unharmed. Still, he cringed and hissed with every pain that shot through him. "Why do burns have to sting so much?" He asked rhetorically. "I've burned my scales before, though. This one should get better in a day or two, no need to waste a healing potion on it. Maybe I should just sleep underwater tonight or something."

Once Veria was finished, Swims used his good hand to set up the fish over the fire, this time with a thicker stick. The fish was a bit dirty now, but it was nothing the fire wouldn't take care of. "Hopefully, we don't have to fight over the next day or two, but my sword arm is still good, at least."

[Luna]

"Me too I hate to see you get injuried more than you are right now since you cant even hold your sword at the moment" she said smiling at him before using wind magic to help split the fire so she could get the fish out of the fire without hurting herself "Luckily i learned wind magic before we left it comes in handy"