Muttonhawk Member

"Hold on, please!" The Breton put up a hand. He was taken off guard at first, probably having assumed that the varied group were made up of tourists. It seemed he would not get his full price so easily. "I can see you know your way around ingredients such as these. I'll sell it for six gold." His friendly smile returned, "It's fresh and of premium quality. Not all stalls will have this size for such a price." Sabine's eyes skipped between Ahnasha's and the Breton's as they talked in turn. She didn't know why merchants would put their prices higher than people were willing to buy for, but at least her sister Ahnasha knew how to drive them down to honesty with words. Sabine could hardly understand how. Kaleeth made a good point with mentioning out things that weren't for sale, but Janius believed that fear would pass once they had a walk through the market district further and saw the true extent of the wares on sale. It was just a shame that they wouldn't have money to purchase anything. At a volume that wouldn't disturb the negotiations, Janius answered Kaleeth's question. "Some do, but not as much as in the market. A few are just where people live, along with a few inns or specialist shops; one is a great garden; one holds an arena for watching fighting for sport; there's also a mages university, though not much of it is open to the public; you've seen the harbour, the temple, and the tower... I think it's just that and the prison. We'll do a circuit and see most of the other sections after Sabine finds what she needs."

"Then it's settled. Let's see if we can't find these ingredients." Janius stood up from his seat and everyone soon followed. Opening the door caused the sound of the crowds to come forth again. After adjusting, the pack filed out in search of the nearest apothecary. they came upon one that Fendros knew of which was only a couple of lanes down. Inside was a Breton man who greeted them with a smile, "Hello there, friends, how can I help you today?" Gathered around the man were many display cases filled with various premade potions with finely printed labels. Compared to Ariel's shop, this one was far more full and well established. It took some looking around before they spotted a cabinet with some ingredients in them. "Hello there," Fendros approached in earnest, seeing as he was the one who had been going without the full dosage of the remedy for a while. However, he stopped himself and turned to Sabine. "Sabine, can you point out which ingredients you'll need?" Sabine stepped up to the cabinet and took a few moments to search. Eventually, she pointed to a red fungus, and turned to Fendros and Ahnasha. "There is another ingredient needed, but it's not here." The Breton shopkeeper stepped out from behind his counter and looked to the fungus that Sabine had pointed out. "Cinnabar Polypore Yellowcap, fresh from the West Weald. I have a few of those, 8 gold a piece." Sabine looked to Ahnasha pleadingly. That price was heavily inflated. If they could not lower it, they could likely find another for a better price elsewhere. However, this Breton seemed eager to sell them something, perhaps he could be plied a little. While the others did business, Janius decided to give some background to Kaleeth on the area. "Here in the Market District, it's said that you can buy anything in the world. It's probably the most crowded place in the city, but only one section out of several."

Fendros frowned and looked down, the corner of his mouth tightening for a moment. "We'll just have to hope that we get lucky with the prices, then." "It only needs two more things," Sabine spoke up, drawing everyone's looks, "If we talk to them, like you and Ahnasha do, to make the price lower..." "Haggle?" Fendros completed for her. "...Yes. We might have enough." Janius seemed a little more optimistic, "Well, it's a good thing that we have all day to shop around." Janius leaned forward, eager to show the city to everyone, "How about everyone else?" Janius looked to Kaleeth, Lorag, and Ahnasha in turn.

"I heard some things about dragons second hand. There were a few people in Bravil who were veterans of the civil war in Skyrim, so they regaled us with stories of dragons." Janius added, not taking his eyes off the statue, "I don't really remember the stories well, but they were terrifying to say the least. Most of what they talked about was the Dragonborn, or whoever. The warrior who hunted these creatures. A hero by all accounts. I'm sure there are books written about it all." As impressive at the statue was, a few moments passed before the pack began to edge onwards. They headed out of and around the temple to Green Emperor way and passed through another large set of double doors. What beheld them there was the base of the tower, the seat of the council and the emperor. From here, the scale of the tower clicked in Sabine's mind when it was compared to the comparatively minuscule guards patrolling around it. Here, they passed the tombs of many old families of the Imperial city, but did not stop to take a look inside the tower itself. Fendros and Janius knew that not much of it was open to the public anyway, so they moved on. The gate to the market district showed the crowds of people becoming dense again. Here, the streets were similar to the temple district, if a little filthier and without the temple in the centre. There were many stalls standing selling almost everything. Behind and around them were shops and warehouses made in the same style as every other building in the city, most with a sign jutting out from the top of the door with a name and a picture of some wares. Fendros was single minded in getting them to an inn, so they didn't stop as they passed through the roiling crowds. Eventually, Fendros found a side street which gave relief from the claustrophobia, and lead the pack through a door to an inn. The sign above it read: *the Emperor's Carafe.* As trying to find a concealed campsite outside of Weye or around the city walls would take too long, they would just have to get up early the next day from the city to start towards Bruma. The interior had a few chatting people by the bar, but was compact compared to most inns. A hearty fire warmed the room from one side, while what space was left was occupied by a few tables and chairs. After Meesei purchased rooms for the night, the pack proceeded upstairs and deposited their less necessary luggage. The rooms could not be described as extravagant, but they were functional. Now all that was left was to plan the rest of the day. Everyone gathered around a table on the ground floor for discussion, and Fendros was the first to speak up. He was to the point with his desires, "While we're here, I'd like for Sabine to get the opportunity to find ingredients to make more of Ariel's remedy. I know of some places in the market district we can try. Would that be alright with you, Sabine?" Though her initial excitement was dampened by the crowd's noise, Sabine nodded enthusiastically. "I'll come too, I might know of some places." Janius said, "Afterwards, if we have time, we might take a walk through the districts and see the sites, seeing as we've booked the rooms already. What are everybody else's thoughts?"

Looking to Kaleeth, Fendros smiled and gestured for the pack to proceed through the open doors of the temple. The inside was surprisingly cavernous and echoing. A few people milled about, but not for many other reasons except to see the statue. And what a statue it was. Made of stone, the great dragon stood near the far edge of the temple, curling upright as if to be reeling, its wings spread either side of itself, but not extended as that would exceed the breadth of the temple. Fendros estimated it to be at least ten or fifteen times taller than him. Where the wings were level with the walls, it was clear that the building materials were different. It seemed that the roof had been broken at some point and was rebuilt to encase the statue, perhaps higher from the ground than they had been originally. Around the statue were bollards that held up a chain ringing the statue, so the pack couldn't get right up close, but its majesty was present for all to see. "If that were alive, Kaleeth-Rei, that would be a dragon," Fendros explained, pointing to the statue as if jokingly assuming that it was not clear, "I don't know much else about them, except that Akatosh is one, and that they breathe fire." Now it was Sabine's turn to stand agape. She had never even heard of the events that transpired in the temple, much less seen a dragon before. It was the largest statue she had ever seen. Janius stood in silent reverence, but it was not the first he had seen of the avatar of Akatosh's statue.

"Yes, Rareth," Shiva responded, seating herself in the Hummingbird and coming down from the mission's excitement. Everyone was patting each other on the back for a mission well done. Shiva had to agree, despite the things that happened that she could not have foreseen. Most of all, though, even if others in the team were more experienced or well trained combatants, the appreciation she got for helping was a new experience. It made her feel warm to hear it, but she didn't really know how to react except to look at the floor with a small smile, or the masulu equivalent. Without another word, Shiva inspected her weapon on the way back. She had hardly noticed, but the battery was almost flat. There were a lot of engagements, more than she was used to. Not working with a large force made sure that she used plenty of shots, it seemed. She slid out a compartment on the side of her weapon and a hiss sounded as the battery case was exposed to the cooler air inside the ship. There was a spare battery for her weapon on the ship that she promptly replaced into it, but she made a note to carry around a spare in their next operation.

Janius laughed along with Nirasi, then gave an encouraging light push to Kaleeth to get her moving as the rest of the pack began to disembark. "That there is, and this is just the harbour. Stay close, it's easy to get separated and lost in these crowds, even with a good nose." The pack waved their final goodbyes and gave thanks to the crew and the captain as they left the ship. Despite the pleasantries, they didn't think they would be eager to see a ship any time soon. At this point especially, their beast spirits were all agitated from the inactivity of the past few weeks and it was giving everyone an edge to their emotions. Sabine had to reel in her own excitement swiftly after they reached the crowds as the noise became close to overwhelming. She decided to hang on to the hand of the nearest pack member in order to not get lost. In this case it was Lorag. Everyone stuck together similarly while they waded through. As had been discussed earlier, Fendros was in the lead, taking the pack to the inn that he had stayed in the last time he was in the city. It was a reasonably priced inn for it's quality, and located close to the things they might need in the market district. Because they only needed to stay to recuperate and purchase some supplies, they would likely only be staying a night before moving out to the wilderness around Weye to hunt. Upon the concerns raised as to the innkeeper recognising Fendros, he mentioned that it had been a few years and the inn was often busy. Nevertheless, Fendros agreed to attempt to grow some facial hair to help mask his identity. He had been meaning to for a while to see if Ahnasha would like it but never committed due to habit, as well as worry about its appearance. So far, it was patchy and thin, but present enough to serve its purpose. It just so happened that the market district was on the other side of the city to the harbour, so the long walk to the inn would take them through the Temple District and Green Emperor Way, right past the tower. As the pack approached the large gate to the Temple District, the Temple of the One loomed out to either sides of their vision. The streets were cleaner here, and the city's iconic double-story houses lined up either side. The cobblestone streets made for an uncomfortable walking surface, one where they had to watch to not roll their ankles. The crowds thinned somewhat as they approached, giving Fendros some space to mention a bit about temple itself. "This is the Temple of the One. This is where the emperors are coronated. It's also where the Septim line ended, when Emperor Martin turned into the avatar of Akatosh to stop the oblivion crisis. Supposedly the massive dragon statue inside is what he turned into after he banished Mehrunes Dagon. That's what my friends used to say anyway." Fendros' tone was a little sceptical, but the temple was no less impressive with its massive domed roof and columns wider than most trees. They might have time to take a look at the statue if everyone felt up to it.

> Thanks you two, it's good to be back. How have you been? Not too bad. I'm excited about the site's new progress, and our first successful mission :D (assuming there's nothing else for this one).

As soon as she laid eyes on the white-gold tower, Sabine cocked her head to one side. It was still taller than anything she had ever seen, but for some reason she expected it to be larger when up this close. It was likely that the scale was the issue, as its base was still obscured by ring walls. Where her mouth went agape was with just how expansive and crowded the harbour was. It was twice, or almost three times the size of Thorn's docks, and there was barely a square metre that didn't have someone walking, or hauling, or hawking, or something. The sound the crowd made was so loud and homogenised that it was almost impossible to discern any single voice. Janius could understand Nirasi's notions when he observed Kaleeth's reaction. Being from a place where the tallest things were trees, an artificial structure of the tower's size, even if it was technically build by ancient elves, was probably unlike anything she could even imagine. Janius laughed and put an arm around Kaleeth's shoulder, looking up at the tower with her. "I reacted in exactly the same way when I first laid eyes on it. What do you think?" When Fendros emerged, he took a deep breath of the salty and slightly rancid air of the docks and found himself in surroundings he didn't think he would witness again. "It's been a long time," He remarked to Ahnasha, taking her hand, "Have you been here before? If so, how long ago?"

Shiva was very cautious in her approach to disembarking. All her movements were deliberate, double checked, and never without either a handhold available or her feet secured. She could hear the struggle in her own breath greater than anything else as she navigated the zero-g environment to the hangar floor with the others. Only once two seconds had passed since her boots engaged did she wave to Telmeck, who greeted them on arrival. "Not as bad as it could have been, Telmeck," Shiva said over the comms to calm his concern, "A rutting man charged her with his horn, you can thank your Rothian armour that it didn't get to her lungs, or even hit her heart." Shiva's mention of a 'rutting' man was meant more as a joke, referring to how emotionally immature Masulu men brawled with their little except their horns. "Well, that and luck. She wasn't beyond a field treatment." With that, Shiva addressed Rareth's original question. "Of course. If I can get you prone and get a better look at the wound, I can help sort it out properly. The fuse and set I did on your rib before wasn't flawles-" Shiva stopped and grunted, putting a hand to her stomach. After channeling some magic to relax her stomach muscles and prevent an incident in her helmet, she continued. "Sorry. As I was saying, the treatment wasn't flawless. You may have knocked it out of position slightly. Just breathe slowly until we get on board." Shiva was glad that the mission was wrapped up before her nausea worsened.