EliteCommander Member

Ssarak Dyreackthanose --- Just as Ssarak feared, Alaira began to collapse in pain when the psychomancer reached into her mind. As he already had hold of her, he was able to support her enough to keep her from falling. He certainly did not want to add to her pain, so instead of a telepathic message, he leaned close to whisper to her quickly. "The robed one is the psychomancer. Let us just get through this peacefully, if at all possible." Ssarak let Alaira down gently, then looked at the robed man. He heard what Meirin said and the thoughts in her mind, just as the psychomancer no doubt had. He had also likely already determined that it was he who caused Alaira's pain, and simple deduction would tell him that Ssarak too shared his mageblood. If he focused psychomantic attacks on the robed man's wards, he might distract him from being able to harm Alaira, but he did not yet want to take such aggressive measures. For now, he could only hope that the man would stop his attempts to reach into her mind. Ssarak had not yet attempted to read the man's mind, but he no doubt had wards as well. Since both sides had a psychomancer, the advantage those abilities bring to negotiations would essentially be negated for both sides, so they would need to reach an agreement through more traditional means. Ssarak continued once Meirin finished speaking. "The bandits ambushed us on a bridge like this. They did not pose as guardsmen, but such a strategy is not uncommon. I am sure you all can attest to the danger present in this region. Our friend is rash, foolish, and judgmental, but she is not without good intentions. I regret that her paranoia brought you harm through her mistake, and I believe it would be best for us just to move on, and out of your lives."

I'll post tomorrow, I was seeing if anyone wanted to post before returning to the ship.

Name: Ignis Appearance: As an incorporeal entity, Ignis can take on whatever form he chooses, but most commonly, he prefers the form of a dragon. In his complete form, he has [this](http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/206/5/b/dragon_age_origins__winged_drake_by_the_bloody_hunter-d58jter.jpg) shape, roughly the size of a human, but is translucent like a ghost, with a red tint. Although, he tends to float around in the air, his form sometimes incomplete, such as having his front half appear as a dragon, while his back becomes a wispy, ghost like tail. In a fight, he often engulfs himself in flame, such as in this [image](http://s1.zerochan.net/Fire.Dragon.600.420841.jpg). Age: 500-600, by his estimate. Skills and Abilities: Spirit of Heat and Energy- Ignis has the capability of manipulating and amplifying heat energy. Applications of this include igniting the air into flame, warming objects, and drawing heat from the environment into himself. As an incorporeal being, he can take on the form of heat energy itself, becoming invisible to the naked eye and able to transfer himself through objects. As he is not precisely a spirit of _fire_ he cannot create fire from nothing, but the oxygen in the air is generally sufficient for combustion. When in a warm environment or near sources of heat, Ignis can draw the energy into himself to become stronger, and his abilities more effective. Conversely, cold environments offer him less energy, and his abilities weaken. Most forms of magic apart from fire and heat can harm him, but ice and cold magic are particularly effective. Although, in many cases, he can also harm them just the same. To his summoner, he grants the ability to manipulate heat energy. Creative- Ignis is an intelligent and intuitive spirit. His constant mischief over the centuries has granted him a wide range of experience with different aspects of the world, as well as a knack for finding inventive solutions to problems. Mostly, he uses this creativity to find new and exciting ways to play pranks on others, but he can be persuaded to use it for more helpful purposes. Backstory: Ignis does not quite recall when and where he was created, he can only guess that he was born in fire, or at least somewhere _really_ hot. He has been roaming the world for over five hundred years, and has hardly matured at all in that time. Ignis is an energetic, mischievous, and troublemaking spirit. A favorite pastime of his is to find interesting ways to play jokes on others, something which never seems to grow old to him. He greatly enjoys travel and adventure, and despises being alone. As such, it was natural that he would begin to seek out summoners. Through the centuries, Ignis has made countless pacts with many summoners. Each had slightly different terms with different kinds of people, but in general, his reason for entering into each of them was simply to facilitate his love for adventure and need for camaraderie. He has never had any great goal or purpose and does not find wandering aimlessly to be entertaining, so he defers to his summoner for that goal. He has bound himself to everything from soldiers to entertainers, and rarely regrets his choice. He has learned to follow and observe potential summoners for quite a while before committing to a pact, as he wants to be sure his summoner is someone he could call a friend.He has had many over the centuries, of many types and from many different walks of life. It was eleven years ago that Ignis made the pact with his current summoner, Helen Govannon. At the time, he was actually in a pact with her uncle, Howard Rondell, much to his displeasure. He had thought the man might make for an interesting summoner, and that might have been true at one point, his mental state became increasingly worse over time. Another of his spirits, one Ignis was not particularly fond of, had been influencing his mind. He had no idea how to stop it, and to make matters worse, Howard became more closed in, traveled less, and altogether more boring. When he attacked his niece, who Ignis had come to like considerably more, he decided that enough was enough. Howard had already broken their pact, so Ignis had no problem betraying him. He helped to protect her, and in the fight, made the same pact with her as he had with her uncle. The terms of their pact are that, in exchange for the power he grants, he gains advendure, and the advantages and rewards that brings. He also cannot be restricted from socializing, and Helen is not permitted to force him to leave against his will. The only situation in which she can compel him away from his location is when he is needed to protect her life, a duty he is glad to perform.

Ahnasha maintained her confident demeanor, but spoke in a polite tone in her response. "I appreciate the compromise, but it is still more than I can do. The size of the mushroom isn't of great concern to us, but rather that we also get the complimentary ingredient we need. It is indeed a fine specimen, but at that price, it is not what we need. The smaller one over there, however, we would be happy to buy for four septims." Ahnasha said, motioning to another one of the mushrooms. It was noticeably smaller than the one he was trying to sell them, but Sabine would end up running out of another ingredient first anyway, so its size was not actually important. Janius' description of the different sections of the city emphasized to Kaleeth exactly how unfamiliar with the world outside her homeland she still was. Many of the words he used she did not really understand. She had heard most of them, but could not precisely connect them to their meaning. "Garden" was a word she vaguely remembered relating somehow to plants, but her village had fields and crops, not gardens. He said the arena was for watching fights, but she had no kind of reference for what an arena actually was. She could infer what harbor and temple meant from what she had already seen, but prison and university were entirely unfamiliar. "Okay, that sounds fun, but what is a garden, and an arena...and a university...and a prison?" She asked, becoming slightly embarrassed at her lack of knowledge.

Ahnasha looked around at the various ingredients on display while Sabine looked around for the ingredient she was searching for. Ahnasha had little idea what most of them were or what effects they had, but that did not stop her from acting like she did. She looked at the plants and fungi closely, as if examining them for rot or other imperfections. After Sabine identified one of the ingredients and the Breton named his price, Ahnasha looked up at him. "Cinnabar Polypore Yellowcap, you say?" She said, shifting her gaze to Sabine. "That's a local fungus, so it's not hard to obtain. We should be able to find a smaller stand outside selling it fairly easily. I wouldn't pay more than four coins for one. Come on, let's go." She said without uncertainty, and with complete confidence in her tone. She was, of course, bluffing in several ways, and guessing in others. She actually knew nothing about the mushroom apart from what the Breton had just said, but the fact that he said it was from the West Weald _did_ mean that it could be found in Cyrodiil. There were also certainly plenty of other alchemists in the market district, so what she said was definitely believable, and perhaps even true. Now, it was just up to the Breton's response to see how badly he wanted to make a sale. With her utter lack of any mercantile knowledge, Kaleeth simply stayed out of the way of the others as she passed the time speaking with Janius. Now that they had some time, she could perhaps gain a bit more understanding of the city around her. "So...they buy things from other places, then bring them here to sell them, right? It is hard for me to get used to the buying and selling thing. I guess it is easier to carry around those coins than to carry things to trade, though. And if _everyone_ will take the coins in trade, I could be comfortable...selling something for the coins. I would just be worried that I would need something, but the person who has it wouldn't want my coins. With all these people here, though, I guess it works just fine. What are the other sections of the city like? Do they sell things there too?"

"I'll do what I can. Having such a large market might help. More vendors means more competition, and better chances of getting lower prices. Just don't expect a miracle or anything." Ahnasha said. She never liked to make any promises with her haggling ability, as there were always some shopkeepers who were very stubborn with pricing, but she felt like she stood a decent chance of getting what they needed. Kaleeth had no idea where to even begin when it came to saying what she wanted to do in the city, but after they finished buying whatever it was Fendros and Ahnasha needed, she knew she wanted to explore the city further. "I would love to come with you all. I don't know exactly what we can do, but I'm sure it will be exciting. I also know I want to get that ship's...stench out of these clothes. I don't like that we've had to be away from the water for so long." "Clothes? It's in my _fur_. I'd say you all are lucky on that." Ahnasha added with a chuckle. Lorag shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, why not? It's not like I'd be doin' anything here. I doubt we'll be doin' much of anything in the city either without coin, but you never know."

Now that they had finally settled into the inn, the pack had a moment to stop, rest, and plan out what to do next. It was early, but if there were any carriages leaving for Bruma, it was unlikely they would be able to secure spots for the entire pack on such short notice. As such, they would be staying for the night. Meesei would need to find and pay for passage on a carriage at some point before the end of the day, but she had some time to complete that task. For now, she was glad to have the freedom to walk around a place that was not confined to a few rooms. "After being trapped on that ship for the past month, I would love to see the city. Just keep in mind, we'll need to be conservative. I asked the innkeeper about average prices for carriages when I paid for our rooms. There is some variation, but not much. All of the coin we have will barely cover it. To give a safe margin, I would say we will likely have only ten coins leftover total. And in this city...well, you might be able to afford a small amount of the ingredients you need, I hope. Unfortunately, you may need to go without for a while, but we may receive some support once we reach...our destination. I wish there was more I could do." Meesei said regretfully. She had seen the pain that Ahnasha and Fendros were forced to suffer through, and she hated that they might be forced through it again soon.

By this point, awe had become Kaleeth's default expression. Were she not with friends, she likely would have been frightened at the sheer unfamiliarity of her surroundings. She had seen statues before in Ayleid and Argonian ruins, as well as some smaller ones in the cities they had visited, but this monument was far beyond any of those. Even with the brief explanation of what it was, she still had little understanding of the statue's history, but that did not prevent her from admiring it. She could not see too clearly from this distance, but it looked like it was highly detailed, even with individual scales. She supposed that would make sense if this Martin had become the statue, but she could not pretend to understand how that was possible. "I though Black Marsh had big creatures." Kaleeth commented, her general amazement not subsiding. "Something like this would be...scary. You said this is _a_ dragon, does that mean there are more of them somewhere?" She wondered. Meesei nodded. "Yes, there are. I am afraid I do not know a great deal about them though. They returned to Tamriel not too long ago, but they tend to live in the norther parts of Tamriel, like Skyrim. Last time we were in Cyrodiil, I did hear some rumors of dragons flying farther south, but I do not know if they were true. I do know that they are intelligent and ancient beings, and most interestingly, they have their own form of magic called shouting. I...do not remember the name for it in the dragon language. Unfortunately, shouting is not something one can just learn through casual study, so I cannot say much more about it." "Hmm, you said they returned to Tamriel recently? Where were they before?" Kaleeth questioned. "I...do not know that story, unfortunately. All of what I know of them comes from a book I read through a few years ago, and I was mostly focused on the shouting portion." Meesei answered.

Looking at Lorag, it would be hard to determine if he was as impressed with the sights around him. He had not been to the Imperial City before, but his expression was fairly neutral, even slightly annoyed when they had to push through thicker sections of the crowd by the docks. Then again, it wasn't as if anyone expected Lorag to walk around smiling, and it could have been that he was simply hiding that he was impressed. He kept a firm grip on Sabine's hand, as it would not be easy to find someone if they got lost in such a large and crowded place. Lorag started paying a bit more attention once the pack reached the Temple of the One. There were few who grew up in the Empire that did not know of the monument, or statue, or whatever it really was. Other than the White Gold Tower itself, it was probably the most impressive structure in the entire city, which was sufficient for Lorag to speak up. "Hmph, now that's something I'd like to have seen. Dagon shows up, starts knocking down buildings, stepping on soldiers, with an army of Daedra at his feet. Then all of the sudden, a giant dragon appears out of nowhere and starts goin' toe-to-toe with him. _That_ would be a fight to see. Two giants clawing each other to death for the fate of the world...that's how every war should end." Naturally, Kaleeth was overwhelmed with curiosity in general, but this massive temple in front of them seemed particularly interesting. She had heard of some of the beings and events Fendros described, such as Mehrunes Dagon and the Oblivion Crisis, but most of it was new to her. There was no way for her to ask all of the questions she wanted, or satisfy all of her curiosity, so she simply asked whatever came to mind. "What is a dragon?" She asked curiously.

"With our success, I would say _first_ mission is quite accurate. We have proved our team is effective, so barring any political issues, I would guess this will not be our last time working together." Rareth reasoned. It could be that their team could be divided if the Assembly decided to expand the program, especially if politicians were in charge of structuring it. However, if given intelligent leadership, there was a good chance their team would stay together. Rareth was not greatly concerned about her health, but she had no intention to accept unnecessary risk. Looking over to Shuo, she gave him a slight nod. "Shuo, can I trust you do handle the debriefing with the Captain? I need to head straight to the infirmary. You can join me there, Shiva. It would be appreciated. I will write my report when I am able." She explained. "Also, after all of our remaining duties for the day are complete, I would like you all to meet me in my quarters. I have something important I would like to speak to you all about."