Oi [@South Pole Demigods]. It's high time that I did a post for Minus, but I can't really justify much character development without knowing what you goofballs are up to. Any one of you want to talk to Minus for whatever reason? Help with a project or questions about the world?
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Let Slip the Corgis of War
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Dear Mr Curly,
I have done little travelling lately because I have been so dreadfully weary. Can it be true as the old Ecclesiastes said; that all things lead to weariness? Surely not. Perhaps the opposite is true: that all nothings lead to weariness. I have a peculiar feeling, Curly, that I am worn out from something I haven't yet done and the more I don't do it, the more exhausted I become. How strange. Could it be something I haven't realised? Perhaps it's something I haven't said? Something I haven't finished! It must be very large and true whatever it is and a lively struggle in the doing but I look forward to it immensely. I know I need it. First, however, I must curl up in my chair and sleep deeply with the duck. Perhaps I'll dream of this thing and wake up refreshed and do it. My fond wishes to you Mr. Curly, and to all Curly Flat.
Yours sleepily,
Vasco Pyjama
xxx
P.S. Not having breakfast can make you weary. That's for sure!
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Ariel resumed speaking after they had passed the scouts. She didn't take her eyes off the sphere until it trundled out of sight, though her fear gradually gave way to fascination. "You have Dwemer scholars amongst you," she deduced out loud. "Lycan Dwemer scholars, this is...and you can control them now? This is the first I've ever heard of anyone doing such a thing. Just what are you all up do down here?"
"Many things and more?" Janius commented.
Now that they were indoors, Rhazii was walking alongside Fendros. His stride was large enough to keep up with their easy pace, but Newt was still short enough that he was being carried. Rhazii was slightly shaken by Ariel's reaction. "Is aunty alright, dada?" He asked.
"Yes, it was just a shock, little one." Fendros cast a smile at Rhazii as they walked.
Ariel was not aware why they were walking onto a circular platform at an apparent dead-end. She eyed the lever in the centre. "Does that open a door?"
Whether anyone was going to answer or not, Sabine pulled the lever all the way back with series of clicking ratchets. The entire platform lurched below them, causing Ariel to jump and hold onto Rukeewei. The descent was slow enough that no one's balance was really challenged, but that didn't loosen Ariel's grip.
Gallus stopped mid-swing when he heard Ri'vashi's voice. He didn't face her immediately, instead lowering his weapon, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he opened his eyes and faced her, Gallus wore a smile and spread his arms. "I suppose you've caught me red-handed then, Ri'vashi. How have you been?" Gallus lowered his hammer hand and placed his other fist on his hip. "Decided to start your own midnight training routine, have you?"
"Many things and more?" Janius commented.
Now that they were indoors, Rhazii was walking alongside Fendros. His stride was large enough to keep up with their easy pace, but Newt was still short enough that he was being carried. Rhazii was slightly shaken by Ariel's reaction. "Is aunty alright, dada?" He asked.
"Yes, it was just a shock, little one." Fendros cast a smile at Rhazii as they walked.
Ariel was not aware why they were walking onto a circular platform at an apparent dead-end. She eyed the lever in the centre. "Does that open a door?"
Whether anyone was going to answer or not, Sabine pulled the lever all the way back with series of clicking ratchets. The entire platform lurched below them, causing Ariel to jump and hold onto Rukeewei. The descent was slow enough that no one's balance was really challenged, but that didn't loosen Ariel's grip.
Gallus stopped mid-swing when he heard Ri'vashi's voice. He didn't face her immediately, instead lowering his weapon, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he opened his eyes and faced her, Gallus wore a smile and spread his arms. "I suppose you've caught me red-handed then, Ri'vashi. How have you been?" Gallus lowered his hammer hand and placed his other fist on his hip. "Decided to start your own midnight training routine, have you?"
Wishing you a merry Christmas from my food coma!
Ri'vashi may confront Gallus however she pleases. The late night training is just a suggestion for a private setting.
Ri'vashi may confront Gallus however she pleases. The late night training is just a suggestion for a private setting.
"Lookout!" Ariel shouted and began to charge a spell in each hand as soon as she saw the Dwemer sphere. The pack gave her a sudden glance, but by the way the guards did not seem to mind the sphere, there was no need to defend themselves. Meesei's comment and an awkward moment had Ariel relax and make her spells fade.
She was thoroughly abashed, though she regarded Meesei with worry. "The automatons...working? What do you mean? Why isn't it attacking us?"
As Gallus had taken the land route back to Skyrim, it had not been an especially long time since he had returned before Meesei's pack arrived home. Of course, no one knew that Meesei had returned yet. Everyone was going about their daily routine around him.
For the past week since Gallus had returned, he had been acting strangely. His outward behaviour was just the same as always; willing to help and prepared to command. He continued supporting Uthri, Tzirret, and Peiter just as he had before while going about the duties that the ruling council had for him. However, whenever asked about his experience in Black Marsh, he darkened and avoided the subject. Cuts-Canes-Faster had shed light to those that asked about the series of events, but he had a more traditionally Argonian perspective that did not understand why Gallus reacted the way he did.
In addition, every day since he arrived back in Blackreach, Gallus had spent about an hour late every night training his hammer blows against a training mannequin. He played off everyone else's questions about such behaviour as 'just training,' but the way he struck the dummy had such anger behind the blows that he evidently wasn't using the time to refine technique.
Even Uthri, firm and direct as she was, couldn't get much out of Gallus than the desire not to talk about it. In desperation, she confided in Ri'vashi and requested that she try to help. She was not only Gallus' friend, but a peer and -- in a pinch -- his superior. By Uthri's reasoning, Gallus was least likely to try and front a strong face to Ri'vashi if pushed about what happened.
She was thoroughly abashed, though she regarded Meesei with worry. "The automatons...working? What do you mean? Why isn't it attacking us?"
As Gallus had taken the land route back to Skyrim, it had not been an especially long time since he had returned before Meesei's pack arrived home. Of course, no one knew that Meesei had returned yet. Everyone was going about their daily routine around him.
For the past week since Gallus had returned, he had been acting strangely. His outward behaviour was just the same as always; willing to help and prepared to command. He continued supporting Uthri, Tzirret, and Peiter just as he had before while going about the duties that the ruling council had for him. However, whenever asked about his experience in Black Marsh, he darkened and avoided the subject. Cuts-Canes-Faster had shed light to those that asked about the series of events, but he had a more traditionally Argonian perspective that did not understand why Gallus reacted the way he did.
In addition, every day since he arrived back in Blackreach, Gallus had spent about an hour late every night training his hammer blows against a training mannequin. He played off everyone else's questions about such behaviour as 'just training,' but the way he struck the dummy had such anger behind the blows that he evidently wasn't using the time to refine technique.
Even Uthri, firm and direct as she was, couldn't get much out of Gallus than the desire not to talk about it. In desperation, she confided in Ri'vashi and requested that she try to help. She was not only Gallus' friend, but a peer and -- in a pinch -- his superior. By Uthri's reasoning, Gallus was least likely to try and front a strong face to Ri'vashi if pushed about what happened.
@poog the pig I like the fact that Zeph's dojo looks like a cock 'n' balls in that picture.
Merry Chrusmus
Merry Chrusmus
Ariel could not remember speaking with Rukeewei about Dwemer ruins before, so she elaborated on Meesei's answer.
"The Dwemer were a race of elves that built underground ruins like this all over northern Tamriel. They had powerful magic at their fingertips and they could do things with it that is still not fully understood." Despite the ruin technically being the entrance to the clanhome, Ariel was nervously hushed as they entered. "One day, long ago, they all just up and disappeared without a trace. No one knows for sure what happened to them. They left all this behind, guarded by metal creatures they made."
"You don't have to worry," Janius added. "We worked out the patterns of the spheres long ago. They're no danger to us anymore."
Fendros did not allow them too much relief. "Watch for Falmer as we get deeper. They sometimes come up despite our best attempts to keep them from the entranceway."
"The Dwemer were a race of elves that built underground ruins like this all over northern Tamriel. They had powerful magic at their fingertips and they could do things with it that is still not fully understood." Despite the ruin technically being the entrance to the clanhome, Ariel was nervously hushed as they entered. "One day, long ago, they all just up and disappeared without a trace. No one knows for sure what happened to them. They left all this behind, guarded by metal creatures they made."
"You don't have to worry," Janius added. "We worked out the patterns of the spheres long ago. They're no danger to us anymore."
Fendros did not allow them too much relief. "Watch for Falmer as we get deeper. They sometimes come up despite our best attempts to keep them from the entranceway."
Fair enough. G'night!
That much brought an amused, if brief, smile to Ariel's face. "If it makes you feel better, yes." She ran a hand over Rukeewei's head and brought him into a hug. "It means enough that you'll be there, darling. I think I'll need a reminder of home with me."
The moment brought some measure of relief to Ariel's sadness, but her mood couldn't be lifted far when the two sat down to retell the missing details of Ariel's former life. Ariel spent much of the time leaning her forehead on her hand with her elbows on the table. In an attempt to stay composed, Ariel spoke in a clinical manner about the various techniques and treatments she had attempted on Sabine which she was captive in her painful silver cage.
The open honesty of the situation revealed rather vivid details of what amounted to physical and emotional torture for Sabine. Alchemical substances that were meant to sedate the beast had only given Sabine hallucinations and waking nightmares. Substances that were meant to suppress or kill the beast spirit without killing Sabine only ended up hurting her and enraging the beast. The closest that Ariel got to a cure was the suppression gas that was explained before; the same that Vile's cultists had made use of.
When she had realised that the suppression gas was just another thing that made the condition worse, Ariel had tried to formulate something else on parchment. She had spent all night trying to think of something new and had fallen asleep on her work. She was awoken by Sabine's quiet crying, influenced with sedative-induced hallucinations. Sabine was quietly pleading to her sister. Ariel recited the words just the same as she had heard them.
"I want to go home, sister. I want to go home."
Sabine repeated the words for as long as she was awake. They crumbled all the remaining justifications that Ariel was doing the right thing. That was the point at which Ariel realised that she was never going to cure Sabine, and was instead hurting her without purpose. It was then that she entertained the idea of releasing Sabine somewhere where she would have a chance to live.
Even with Sabine's healing and forgiveness, the way that she had treated her sister affected Ariel deeply. Try as she might have to hide it, there were times where she had to pause when describing the effects of her failed experiments. By the time they reached the point where Sabine was left on the mainland, Ariel's clinical veneer was in tatters, replaced by heavy crying and guilt.
Thankfully, from that low point, the story took a turn for the better as Ariel recounted what Sabine had told her about the events that followed. Ariel's own life at that time was not particularly interesting, but Sabine's new life with the pack was just what she needed. The secondhand experience was conveyed up until the sisters reunited in the cavern at Vos, at which point the story had less important detail up until Thorn.
Ariel insisted that she tell the whole story throughout the morning. And it did take all morning. By the time they emerged, they were able to meet up with the pack while they were eating lunch to declare their intentions. Preparation began almost immediately.
After several more days, Ariel had paid her debt under the story that she had taken a commission for a delicate medicine required for a Cyrodilic noble that would take her away from the city. She had moved as much stock as she could by heavily discounting it while using the opportunity to inform her more loyal customers that she would be away for a while. Despite Meesei's suggestion, she did not feel that it would be appropriate to write out recipes for some lycan stand-ins and hope that the products would be made with the same quality. Montgrave remedies would be closed until further notice.
Meanwhile, Ariel helped Rukeewei and his brother to find an employee that could assist for the year. Even with the coin they had on hand to keep in reserve for the hire's wages, they settled for a young woman who's husband had recently suffered an injury and needed the work for her family. Even without the sympathy, they would have hired her for her cooking alone. It was hearty and comforting, and lacked nothing in skill.
The pack made themselves useful in whatever ways they could, but even they were too many hands for the work required at times. Between each of them, at least a day and a half worth of their time in Thorn was more of a holiday than a mission. However, they all made sure to hunt before they boarded the ship back to Cyrodiil.
The goodbyes were hard for Ariel and especially Rukeewei, but they journey for them was harder. A long journey on a ship was no more entertaining or comfortable for them as it was for the pack. The journey overland when they landed was a familiar brand of gruelling. The pack was both used to such long journeys and had their enhanced endurance to help them. Ariel and Rukeewei had neither, save for Ariel's shorter journey with them from Vos to Thorn. They settled into a routine that had them walking most of the day and sleeping most of the night consistently for days.
After such a long time in the tropical heat of Black Marsh, northern Cyrodiil and Skyrim only made matters worse. Ariel and Rukeewei began to spend a lot more time in physical contact than their previous work had allowed them to before, but the romantic notion of it was all but completely lost to the biting cold, even with the necessary thick furs.
Their journey eventually brought them closer to the entrance of the Blackreach caverns. Even though Ariel was exhausted, she couldn't help but feel somewhat excited about what a lycan clanhome would be like.
The moment brought some measure of relief to Ariel's sadness, but her mood couldn't be lifted far when the two sat down to retell the missing details of Ariel's former life. Ariel spent much of the time leaning her forehead on her hand with her elbows on the table. In an attempt to stay composed, Ariel spoke in a clinical manner about the various techniques and treatments she had attempted on Sabine which she was captive in her painful silver cage.
The open honesty of the situation revealed rather vivid details of what amounted to physical and emotional torture for Sabine. Alchemical substances that were meant to sedate the beast had only given Sabine hallucinations and waking nightmares. Substances that were meant to suppress or kill the beast spirit without killing Sabine only ended up hurting her and enraging the beast. The closest that Ariel got to a cure was the suppression gas that was explained before; the same that Vile's cultists had made use of.
When she had realised that the suppression gas was just another thing that made the condition worse, Ariel had tried to formulate something else on parchment. She had spent all night trying to think of something new and had fallen asleep on her work. She was awoken by Sabine's quiet crying, influenced with sedative-induced hallucinations. Sabine was quietly pleading to her sister. Ariel recited the words just the same as she had heard them.
"I want to go home, sister. I want to go home."
Sabine repeated the words for as long as she was awake. They crumbled all the remaining justifications that Ariel was doing the right thing. That was the point at which Ariel realised that she was never going to cure Sabine, and was instead hurting her without purpose. It was then that she entertained the idea of releasing Sabine somewhere where she would have a chance to live.
Even with Sabine's healing and forgiveness, the way that she had treated her sister affected Ariel deeply. Try as she might have to hide it, there were times where she had to pause when describing the effects of her failed experiments. By the time they reached the point where Sabine was left on the mainland, Ariel's clinical veneer was in tatters, replaced by heavy crying and guilt.
Thankfully, from that low point, the story took a turn for the better as Ariel recounted what Sabine had told her about the events that followed. Ariel's own life at that time was not particularly interesting, but Sabine's new life with the pack was just what she needed. The secondhand experience was conveyed up until the sisters reunited in the cavern at Vos, at which point the story had less important detail up until Thorn.
Ariel insisted that she tell the whole story throughout the morning. And it did take all morning. By the time they emerged, they were able to meet up with the pack while they were eating lunch to declare their intentions. Preparation began almost immediately.
After several more days, Ariel had paid her debt under the story that she had taken a commission for a delicate medicine required for a Cyrodilic noble that would take her away from the city. She had moved as much stock as she could by heavily discounting it while using the opportunity to inform her more loyal customers that she would be away for a while. Despite Meesei's suggestion, she did not feel that it would be appropriate to write out recipes for some lycan stand-ins and hope that the products would be made with the same quality. Montgrave remedies would be closed until further notice.
Meanwhile, Ariel helped Rukeewei and his brother to find an employee that could assist for the year. Even with the coin they had on hand to keep in reserve for the hire's wages, they settled for a young woman who's husband had recently suffered an injury and needed the work for her family. Even without the sympathy, they would have hired her for her cooking alone. It was hearty and comforting, and lacked nothing in skill.
The pack made themselves useful in whatever ways they could, but even they were too many hands for the work required at times. Between each of them, at least a day and a half worth of their time in Thorn was more of a holiday than a mission. However, they all made sure to hunt before they boarded the ship back to Cyrodiil.
The goodbyes were hard for Ariel and especially Rukeewei, but they journey for them was harder. A long journey on a ship was no more entertaining or comfortable for them as it was for the pack. The journey overland when they landed was a familiar brand of gruelling. The pack was both used to such long journeys and had their enhanced endurance to help them. Ariel and Rukeewei had neither, save for Ariel's shorter journey with them from Vos to Thorn. They settled into a routine that had them walking most of the day and sleeping most of the night consistently for days.
After such a long time in the tropical heat of Black Marsh, northern Cyrodiil and Skyrim only made matters worse. Ariel and Rukeewei began to spend a lot more time in physical contact than their previous work had allowed them to before, but the romantic notion of it was all but completely lost to the biting cold, even with the necessary thick furs.
Their journey eventually brought them closer to the entrance of the Blackreach caverns. Even though Ariel was exhausted, she couldn't help but feel somewhat excited about what a lycan clanhome would be like.
Cool. I might be a bit delayed. Helping with Christmas preparation.
Should I go through Ariel explaining the long version of Sabine's captivity, or should we summarise that and go to the next scene?
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