Posted and took some lore liberties, ruling that Isolde's smoke blocks out camera feeds including enhanced vision modes ala infrared and Errikos' ability to pick up digital signals... I may regret that second one XD Errikos is attempting to close the doors to the treatment room, let's see how effective that is in containment!
Errikos couldn’t hear a thing. He was vaguely aware of distant whispers coming from his headset but it was all a distant hum drowned out by the ring from the shelling that almost killed him. Even the noise dampening was overwhelmed by it so he staggered through the tilled Earth, softened and turned by explosion after explosion making it mudlike and alien. He was aware of the waymarker given off by the others at LZ Alpha and was steadily walking towards them as if in a dream.
Then they were moving towards the research facility. He didn’t even hear the order but saw the markers moving that way, did he walk right past them? Wasn’t LZ Bravo near the research facility? Errikos knelt down besides a puddle and splashed water on his face trying to shake off the steady vibration inside his skull. And, as if on cue, it began to rain, and it made the walk even more difficult as the fresh soil happily absorbed the water, spongelike, now muddy and miserable. Finding his footing towards the facility was impossible and he found himself slipping repeatedly but the rain did serve one wonderful purpose. It silenced the world. He couldn’t hear the eldritch cries of xeno-monstrosities; he couldn’t hear the fires raging in the city or the crumbling buildings as internal structures gave way to force or heat. Even the shelling seemed further away now.
The Research facility was before him now and he saw a pair of Guardians at the door that nodded towards him out of habit with no interaction, his body nodded in return, almost separate from himself. Once inside the double doored access vestibule he quietly found a place just inside and sat down with his back propped against the corner formed by a wall and a cabinet and slipped away.
Inside the research facility his head no longer droned, his ears no longer ached. He left his shell behind for the moment so he could have a moment of peace. The system was aching too, he noted multiple warnings as proximity sensors pinged with Stigma activity in the area, no shit. The dome itself had taken damage, perhaps not direct hits but certainly debris and shrapnel. He looked through the cameras now, noted where his body was and someone standing over him… what was his name… he remembered the guard standing besides Isolde during the briefing. Really he was just challenging his memory as it was easy to simply use the CCTV’s built in PID.
Marcus, the guard stood, a mixture of confusion and concern over his body and nudged his boot with his own, prodding as if checking to see if Errikos was awake/alive. In his headset, Errikos chimed in, a smarmy bit of a dark humor.
“The doctor isn’t in, please leave a message.” “W…what?” Errikos responded, chuckling, “Sorry sorry… Rigas here, I’m not in my shell, I’m not dead though. Thanks for checking.” “Oh…” the bizarre response and reality of the moment seemed to pause Marcus before he simply accepted it and moved forward. “Doctor Featherswallow wants to see you tonight.” “Oh??? I wasn’t aware she was interested in me like that!” Again, detached from the discomfort of his own physical shell and current situation, it was much easier for him to find humor. “Wh-… I don’t understand, she isn” “No no I’m joking, I’ll be there.”
With that Marcus, awkwardly nodded, still lost with the situation and moved away. Thinking on the topic, Errikos wondered why a member of ResDiv would care to meet him, then he thought of her and her reputation and it made him feel a bit like a rodent who found themselves the focus of a cat’s attention. He didn’t enjoy that feeling.
‘Now then, where would I find Isolde…’
Errikos flipped through the facility tracing her signal until he found the CCTV in the research wing but, even though he could trace her signal into the room, he couldn’t see her, only a black mist in the corner of the room and… a pool of blood around a woman that appeared to be screaming with several early stage stigma infections surrounding her. He couldn’t pick up audio on the CCTVs but her face said everything. With a quick thought the PA systems chimed out in his voice.
“Stigma infected inside, Research Wing treatment room.”
With a final gesture he attempted to close the doors, not necessarily sealing the room but it would require a human interaction to open the door.
Post Summary Errikos stumbled back to the PRS through the rain in a stupor from the shell that almost struck him, collapsed by the entrance of the door and entered the control system within, saw the stigma in the Research Wing and announced it through the facility and attempted to close the doors. I'll leave it to you all as to how successful that is. L O R E
Somewhere far away the sounds of people could be heard in celebration and joy. It sounded like one of the grandest parties that Savor had ever experienced, like opening night under the Grand Imperial Circus. The ground slowed its spinning and became more solid and stable beneath the prone Dunmer he wondered why the inn smelled so wet and dank. Did he end up in the cellar? A few moments longer and his senses came back into focus and the cheering was all but gone, it was now more of a mixture of anger and fear echoing around him.
Still experiencing residual intoxication, Savor slowly rolled over onto his back and noted that the Inn’s cellar looked miserable, it even had prison cell bars… wait. The braincells floating in far too much Sujamma took a while to make the connection but eventually they reached the conclusion. Savor wasn’t in the cellar, he was simply in a cell.
“I couldn’t have been that bad.”
He looked at his fists and noted some bruising and fine cuts, yeah he had been bad. He slowly rose up to a seated position and noted everyone around him, and there were a lot of them, he didn’t even notice the Orc bolted to the wall as everyone seemed to be a blur. Savor furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes with difficulty on a particular Breton male that seemed to be holding a cloth that seemed to shimmer, or… something, and his floating braincells made another brilliant connection.
Considering we just had a boss fight it feels appropriate to let things settle for just a second, maybe let some talking happen. There'll be plenty of time to flex 'muscles' lol
Name: Savor Dalvaro Age: 85 Race: Dunmer Appearance: Typical skin of those blackened by Azura. Savor is remarkably average of height at 5'9" with ashen charcoal skin and angled pronounced bone structure. He enjoys high, pointed cheekbones, and a pronounced angled brow. He's athletic without being overtly muscular. He has longer hair that reaches just about to his collarbone which he usually keeps in a ponytail along with a pronounced goatee ending in three long strands with fishbone beads ending them.
Personality:Savor is a man with masks. Being an entertainer he puts on a mask of outgoing bravado out of necessity. He's been doing it so long that it's become almost permanent. To be fair it's combined well with his already cocky natural persona but he normally doesn't overly enjoy the extended company of others. However he quite enjoys the company of people even quieter than him leading to his nocturnal hobbies where he will quite often converse with the very corpses he's robbing. On that note, Savor is an opportunist first. He's not going to go out of his way to pick pocket someone or rob a house but if there's something of value just left in the open, Savor won't wince morally over relieving whoever was so careless of their burden. He doesn't favor fair fights and will leave if the situation turns too sour.
Abilities:
Tomb Robber: Savor's chosen profession, his real profession. He's become skilled at recognizing traps, spelunking dank caves, occasional lock picking, and generally going places unseen. He fancies himself a good sneak as he's never been directly caught entering or exiting a tomb, cemetery, crypt, etc but still, he doesn't directly burgle people's homes while they're asleep so…
Circus Performer The more public of Savor's professions. He utilizes a combination of acrobatic twirls, as well as destruction and illusion magic and even light alchemy to create spectacles for others often relying on his own natural resistance towards heat to his benefit as he often plays with fire. He's not an acrobat soaring through the air but rather a general walking performer away from the spotlight of the main event.
Alchemical tinkerer: OK, not an alchemist but he's picked up some tricks in the circus for creating a few things here and there, mostly for show or to help recover after a performance but the circus does draw questionable people and so he's learned about more devious concoctions such as poisons to coat arrows and blades. He's trying to make sense of herbalism in the wild but is still quite weak.
Combat:This isn't a skill but rather a place holder denoting his preference. Savor is not a swordsman nor an archer. He enjoys using lightweight throwing knives, daggers, darts, things he could use to dispatch a foe at range, perform at a bar/circus, or quietly slide through the ribs of an unsuspecting person.
Enchanting: Again, Savor's skillset isn't complete on the matter but, in his time fencing tomb spoils, he's found some rather impressive items. Now he's usually had to pawn those off to make ends meet, he's still destroyed one here or there to attempt to understand the spells and how they're used but he's not trained in it, he's currently reading a book he found on soul trapping but he's miles away from being able to actually do it.
Magicka: Self-taught, or learned from bar patrons or other circus performers, his skillset is bizarre and focused more on entertaining more than anything else.
Destruction: Fire:Enough to hurt, possibly himself, he's far from a wizard but he's learned a few spells to blast fire out at dramatic moments during a performance and occasionally burn a highwayman that might try to steal from him.
Illusion:The focal point of Savor's 'studies.' A wonderful marriage of making his life easier whether on the stage or in a crypt. While he tries to pick up spells here and there in destruction to help, he really favors illusion more. Nighteye/Light:Two sides of the same coin, he uses nighteye in his more nocturnal activities but uses light to a wonderful effect on the stage.
Calm/Paralyze: Used on the occasional animal found lurking in a tomb, he avoids fighting fair if at all possible and will run from battles straight away, this allows him to avoid killing anything in a tomb while still getting the loot.
Invisibility: He's often been torn as to whether he should have focused more on this or chameleon but he was younger and it was easier to learn absolute invisibility just by learning invisibility whereas he was told it would take time to master Chameleon.
Equipment:
-Personal clothes: Savor prefers loose fitting clothing reminiscent of his time in Morrowind before the fury of the Red Mountain. Right now he's a natural cream colored loose fitting long sleeve double breasted tunic tucked into gray loose pants that are, themselves, tucked into netch leather boots that end just below the knee. Over the tunic he wears an orange rust colored vest featuring a scaled pattern and yellow trim secured together with a broach made from sea shells. Over his belt line, securing his pants is a leather belt, perhaps 4-5 inches tall with what looks like fishing net running across his naval region securing the belt, the belt used to have some designs on it but they've long since faded and he wasn't the original owner. From the belt hangs a crimson sash that covers his left leg both front and back with the symbol of the Ahemmusa tribe on the inside and a leather pouch that usually rests on the three o'clock position of his right thigh. -in the leather pouch is a collection of septims and a pendant with two small emeralds and a woman's likeness carved into it, he's unsure if it's a person or a goddess.
-three throwing darts in a wrist mounted pouch
-three throwing daggers in a chest bandolier -a rather incomplete set of netch leather armor -a large brimmed hat made from a mudcrab's shell -lockpick set -book on soul trapping -tomb robbing equipment he refers to as spelunking supplies: rope, climbing pitons, a compact shovel -a brown cloth tent shelter that also functions as a traveling cape/poncho originally from the deserts of Morrowind that's been treated for the rains of Cyrodiil. -fishing tackle
Background:
An Ashlander child once upon a time, he grew up poor along with the rest of the Ahemmusa tribe. Savor wanted more though and once saw a group of funeral mourners making their way through his lands, he marveled at the wealth they seemed to have with bright jewels and gold. He wondered how important the deceased must have been but never pursued it. While exploring the bitter coast one season after migrating, Savor noticed a ruined ship he'd never seen before and, curiosity getting the better of him, he chose to explore it's hold. Inside was a skeleton with tatters of clothing about, but most importantly, there was a ring upon it's boned finger and a handful of septims strewn around him. Savor was giddy at the possibility of extra coin and took it from the corpse that clearly didn't need to eat as much as he did anymore. That moment, conjoined with the mourners, would serve as the cornerstone of a change in his life. He decided that the dead had no need for the riches they were buried with and, while he respected the tribes of the desert, the Outlanders and the Great Houses that lost their way from the path of Veloth deserved no such respect.
He found himself bringing extra wealth to his people and, while suspicious of the sources, they were more than happy to accept it. When the blighted creatures from the Ash storms became more and more common, he began to spend more time away from the tribe in what he viewed as safety and when their Ashkhan was claimed by the blight, that was a sign for him that the tribe was lost and so he fled the camp for his own safety taking what wealth he still had with him. He never met the Nerevarine.
It didn't last long as he was still an Ashlander and unfamiliar with more civilized life but found his way to a traveling circus which was an easier bridge into society from his own nomadic lifestyle. For a while he thrived but then languished in a lack of growth as they continued to do the same thing over and over. He remembered pillaging crypts and began again, he maintained his sense of honor from the Ahemmusa tribe and didn't touch anything that appeared to be Ashlander but that wasn't as much of a problem now and the Great Houses had more than enough dead people to supply him.
That lasted for a long time until some intelligent person began to connect the dots of tombs being disturbed whenever this particular circus was visiting. Savor was aware that House Telvanni was on guard regarding disturbances in their Crypts and one particular night a friend informed him that they were sending House guards to the circus that was all Savor needed to know that it was time for him to leave. Telvanni seemed to spread word to the other Houses as Savor was seemingly no longer welcome in any towns and one attempted Bounty Hunter sent Savor fleeing from his home island of Vvardenfell to Morrowind's larger land mass where he continued his lifestyle eventually taking him to Cyrodiil. He found particular success closer to Imperial's as they seemed to leave their dead open for the taking and seemed to love gathering together to watch performers.
The circus that Savor performed with found its way to the Imperial City one fateful night and the performance was wonderful in both of his professions. Unfortunately on the last night Savor found himself in Daggerfall Dans relishing the success of his new life. He can't honestly remember the night as he was truly celebrating, but he vaguely remembers punching or, at least trying to punch, a guard and then waking up and feeling the cold floor of a prison cell.
Name: Savor Dalvaro Age: 85 Race: Dunmer Appearance: Typical skin of those blackened by Azura. Savor is remarkably average of height at 5'9" with ashen charcoal skin and angled pronounced bone structure. He enjoys high, pointed cheekbones, and a pronounced angled brow. He's athletic without being overtly muscular. He has longer hair that reaches just about to his collarbone which he usually keeps in a ponytail along with a pronounced goatee ending in three long strands with fishbone beads ending them.
Personality:Savor is a man with masks. Being an entertainer he puts on a mask of outgoing bravado out of necessity. He's been doing it so long that it's become almost permanent. To be fair it's combined well with his already cocky natural persona but he normally doesn't overly enjoy the extended company of others. However he quite enjoys the company of people even quieter than him leading to his nocturnal hobbies where he will quite often converse with the very corpses he's robbing. On that note, Savor is an opportunist first. He's not going to go out of his way to pick pocket someone or rob a house but if there's something of value just left in the open, Savor won't wince morally over relieving whoever was so careless of their burden. He doesn't favor fair fights and will leave if the situation turns too sour.
Abilities:
Tomb Robber: Savor's chosen profession, his real profession. He's become skilled at recognizing traps, spelunking dank caves, occasional lock picking, and generally going places unseen. He fancies himself a good sneak as he's never been directly caught entering or exiting a tomb, cemetery, crypt, etc but still, he doesn't directly burgle people's homes while they're asleep so…
Circus Performer The more public of Savor's professions. He utilizes a combination of acrobatic twirls, as well as destruction and illusion magic and even light alchemy to create spectacles for others often relying on his own natural resistance towards heat to his benefit as he often plays with fire. He's not an acrobat soaring through the air but rather a general walking performer away from the spotlight of the main event.
Alchemical tinkerer: OK, not an alchemist but he's picked up some tricks in the circus for creating a few things here and there, mostly for show or to help recover after a performance but the circus does draw questionable people and so he's learned about more devious concoctions such as poisons to coat arrows and blades. He's trying to make sense of herbalism in the wild but is still quite weak.
Combat:This isn't a skill but rather a place holder denoting his preference. Savor is not a swordsman nor an archer. He enjoys using lightweight throwing knives, daggers, darts, things he could use to dispatch a foe at range, perform at a bar/circus, or quietly slide through the ribs of an unsuspecting person.
Enchanting: Again, Savor's skillset isn't complete on the matter but, in his time fencing tomb spoils, he's found some rather impressive items. Now he's usually had to pawn those off to make ends meet, he's still destroyed one here or there to attempt to understand the spells and how they're used but he's not trained in it, he's currently reading a book he found on soul trapping but he's miles away from being able to actually do it.
Magicka: Self-taught, or learned from bar patrons or other circus performers, his skillset is bizarre and focused more on entertaining more than anything else.
Destruction: Fire:Enough to hurt, possibly himself, he's far from a wizard but he's learned a few spells to blast fire out at dramatic moments during a performance and occasionally burn a highwayman that might try to steal from him.
Illusion:The focal point of Savor's 'studies.' A wonderful marriage of making his life easier whether on the stage or in a crypt. While he tries to pick up spells here and there in destruction to help, he really favors illusion more. Nighteye/Light:Two sides of the same coin, he uses nighteye in his more nocturnal activities but uses light to a wonderful effect on the stage.
Calm/Paralyze: Used on the occasional animal found lurking in a tomb, he avoids fighting fair if at all possible and will run from battles straight away, this allows him to avoid killing anything in a tomb while still getting the loot.
Invisibility: He's often been torn as to whether he should have focused more on this or chameleon but he was younger and it was easier to learn absolute invisibility just by learning invisibility whereas he was told it would take time to master Chameleon.
Equipment:
-Personal clothes: Savor prefers loose fitting clothing reminiscent of his time in Morrowind before the fury of the Red Mountain. Right now he's a natural cream colored loose fitting long sleeve double breasted tunic tucked into gray loose pants that are, themselves, tucked into netch leather boots that end just below the knee. Over the tunic he wears an orange rust colored vest featuring a scaled pattern and yellow trim secured together with a broach made from sea shells. Over his belt line, securing his pants is a leather belt, perhaps 4-5 inches tall with what looks like fishing net running across his naval region securing the belt, the belt used to have some designs on it but they've long since faded and he wasn't the original owner. From the belt hangs a crimson sash that covers his left leg both front and back with the symbol of the Ahemmusa tribe on the inside and a leather pouch that usually rests on the three o'clock position of his right thigh. -in the leather pouch is a collection of septims and a pendant with two small emeralds and a woman's likeness carved into it, he's unsure if it's a person or a goddess.
-three throwing darts in a wrist mounted pouch
-three throwing daggers in a chest bandolier -a rather incomplete set of netch leather armor -a large brimmed hat made from a mudcrab's shell -lockpick set -book on soul trapping -tomb robbing equipment he refers to as spelunking supplies: rope, climbing pitons, a compact shovel -a brown cloth tent shelter that also functions as a traveling cape/poncho originally from the deserts of Morrowind that's been treated for the rains of Cyrodiil. -fishing tackle
Background:
An Ashlander child once upon a time, he grew up poor along with the rest of the Ahemmusa tribe. Savor wanted more though and once saw a group of funeral mourners making their way through his lands, he marveled at the wealth they seemed to have with bright jewels and gold. He wondered how important the deceased must have been but never pursued it. While exploring the bitter coast one season after migrating, Savor noticed a ruined ship he'd never seen before and, curiosity getting the better of him, he chose to explore it's hold. Inside was a skeleton with tatters of clothing about, but most importantly, there was a ring upon it's boned finger and a handful of septims strewn around him. Savor was giddy at the possibility of extra coin and took it from the corpse that clearly didn't need to eat as much as he did anymore. That moment, conjoined with the mourners, would serve as the cornerstone of a change in his life. He decided that the dead had no need for the riches they were buried with and, while he respected the tribes of the desert, the Outlanders and the Great Houses that lost their way from the path of Veloth deserved no such respect.
He found himself bringing extra wealth to his people and, while suspicious of the sources, they were more than happy to accept it. When the blighted creatures from the Ash storms became more and more common, he began to spend more time away from the tribe in what he viewed as safety and when their Ashkhan was claimed by the blight, that was a sign for him that the tribe was lost and so he fled the camp for his own safety taking what wealth he still had with him. He never met the Nerevarine.
It didn't last long as he was still an Ashlander and unfamiliar with more civilized life but found his way to a traveling circus which was an easier bridge into society from his own nomadic lifestyle. For a while he thrived but then languished in a lack of growth as they continued to do the same thing over and over. He remembered pillaging crypts and began again, he maintained his sense of honor from the Ahemmusa tribe and didn't touch anything that appeared to be Ashlander but that wasn't as much of a problem now and the Great Houses had more than enough dead people to supply him.
That lasted for a long time until some intelligent person began to connect the dots of tombs being disturbed whenever this particular circus was visiting. Savor was aware that House Telvanni was on guard regarding disturbances in their Crypts and one particular night a friend informed him that they were sending House guards to the circus that was all Savor needed to know that it was time for him to leave. Telvanni seemed to spread word to the other Houses as Savor was seemingly no longer welcome in any towns and one attempted Bounty Hunter sent Savor fleeing from his home island of Vvardenfell to Morrowind's larger land mass where he continued his lifestyle eventually taking him to Cyrodiil. He found particular success closer to Imperial's as they seemed to leave their dead open for the taking and seemed to love gathering together to watch performers.
The circus that Savor performed with found its way to the Imperial City one fateful night and the performance was wonderful in both of his professions. Unfortunately on the last night Savor found himself in Daggerfall Dans relishing the success of his new life. He can't honestly remember the night as he was truly celebrating, but he vaguely remembers punching or, at least trying to punch, a guard and then waking up and feeling the cold floor of a prison cell.
More like a sudden lightning strike of inspiration and struggling to get it all down. Oddly I don't really listen to music when I write, which is weird lol.
You can write for 20 years and still have nagging self-doubt. It'll be ok, just enjoy the process. At least that's the story I tell myself.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">You can write for 20 years and still have nagging self-doubt. It'll be ok, just enjoy the process. At least that's the story I tell myself.</div>
