Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I will need you and Yerig to help me take the bodies through quickly," Sabine said. "I have to hold the portal open. It takes much energy. Relying on the staff too much would be unwise. Do not talk to anyone who approaches us. I will tell them what to do."

To save time, and as a small mercy, Sabine left some clothes on the captives. It was a trivial matter to make the bleeding ones stable. She only wanted any tools they could use to escape away from them. They were soon ready to transport them all to the Daggerfall clan.

Sabine opened a portal to their clanhome. To say they were surprised to see them was an understatement. Guards hailing Sabine were just as numerous as guards half-raising their weapons at the sight of Do'Rhajul and Yerig. Fortunately, none knew them up close well enough to confirm who they were. Sabine kept interactions terse, declaring her unconscious captives as Do'Rhajul's team, to imprison them as securely as possible, and then she opened a portal back to their camp without answering any more questions.

The guards stood around after they left feeling as though they had just encountered ghosts. They had little clues as to the situation. The frantic search for Sabine meant that the encounter would be reported directly to Meesei, given time.

The next phase, as Sabine directed, was to consult a map of the Iliac bay to locate the dragon's residence. Sabine knew a spot to teleport outside of the city of Daggerfall itself but she had no point of reference for the island. They resolved to pack up camp, sell the now captive team's belongings where they were unused, and try to find a boat with a pilot insane enough to grant them passage.

Daggerfall was a long day. Sabine drew many stares with her oversized cloak, strange staff, and blood-streaked visage. She walked stiffly and regarded no one but those that might help them. Unfortunately, Sabine's determination met with little success, even with the money they had. The three of them stopped to come up with ideas and the best they had was to buy a small, one-sail yacht for the short trip. They made camp outside the city and launched on the water at first light.

The meagre boat turned out to be more suitable than they originally anticipated, not only for its speed, but also its low profile. Their approach was less noticeable than being ferried on a cargo ship or a galley.

They found a landing spot on the island by late afternoon. With Do'Rhajul dragging the yacht up the beach away from the tide, Sabine looked up the steep, grassy crests that obscured the rest of the land before them with just the same wide-eyed expression as she had earlier that day.

"We only have to find the axe," Sabine said. "We should search for its previous wielder. But, if the dragon finds us, how do we kill it?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine listened while holding the staff close to her chest. "I understand," she said.

Turning her head slowly, she looked down on the gently slumbering team as well. "Help me gather them."

Sabine strode up to the Argonian and dragged him by the hand closer to the Nord shieldbearer nearer to the centre of them all. "The Thu'um. It is like dragon fire, correct. If wards can stop the shouts, it will stop the dragon fire."

Sabine knelt down to strip the equipment from each of the unconscious captives and bind them in whatever restraints they had. Sabine hoped they were lucky enough to find another set of manacles that drained the magicka of the wearer. She was not the only mage in her pack, after all.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine retrieved the sack that Do'Rhajul pointed out. She could smell her reagents and potions within, even if her own scent was not strong on the item. She stepped out of the tent to speak to Do'Rhajul and Yerig both, holding no reservations about dropping her cloak and dressing herself. Modesty was nothing -- the pair had seen Sabine tortured without so much as a sock on. The oddness was dressing over the top of the streaks of dried brown blood that still clung to her skin. She was not even itching at it.

"We will do two things before going. We will test the warding shield and we will bring the sleeping ones to the nearest clan without you both being noticed." Sabine's voice shivered with the cold momentarily on her skin, but she still spoke with determination, if wide-eyed and hard to place. Also strangely, she made pains not to let her staff separate from her touch. "The axe is in the hands of a Redguard bounty hunter. He is in a band of mercenaries. He thinks he is invincible. He was sailing from Sentinel to Daggerfall to slay the dragon with his band. The dragon has a bounty because it is attacking ships from an island near the Daggerfall coast."

After awkwardly doing on her last article of clothing and replacing her enchanted trinkets, Sabine threw the oversized cloak around her shoulders again and walked to the camp fire. She picked up Spellbreaker, Do'Rhajul's shield, and took it to him. "Activate it."

Without waiting, Sabine took a few paces back and looked to Yerig pointedly. "Shout at Rhajul."

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@BBeast Welp, time for the explosive list of alteration requests! Let's see...

- Metera seems a little further east and more inundated than usual on that map.
- The Valley of Peace is traditionally inside the ring of mountains Niciel made.
- The isles in the Metatic are pretty huge on that map. However, the map scale is a bit strange in comparison to Earth anyway, so that's not so much of an issue.
- I was under the impression that Angelbood Ridge was on the southmost side of the Nice Mountains' ring.

I'm sure other people have more details. I might be wrong on some things. It's probably the case that many of the labels are easier to read when they're placed outside the black mountain range symbols, so I can see the rationale. However, it might be geographically clearer to just paint a portion of clear green for the labels to slot in within the mountains themselves.

All the same, thanks for updating the map! Your work is appreciated.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine reminded herself to breathe once Do'Rhajul's pledge was done. She was not sure how to react. Taking an oath to serve her did not seem to have any apparent purpose. At least not at first. She clutched her staff tightly in both hands.

"You...believe they will respect my wish to have you alive?" Sabine asked hesitantly. "There will be many that will wish to fight me. I can defeat them."

Sabine was overwhelmed. She wrung the staff in her hands and looked around the ground. "Some of the people that will fight me are my friends. But I..." She exhaled. There was no compromise she could make short of only one extra alternative. "...I accept. Arm yourself and show me where my belongings are. We are going to get the axe on our own."

She turned and started back towards the tents. "Yerig? How much did you hear?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine stared back at Do'Rhajul through his protests, just as determined. She did not budge until he answered his own questions regarding her convictions. His own role was another matter.

"The axe. The last we heard of it was that its wielder was to try and slay a dragon." Sabine stayed blunt as ever. "You are the best fighter I know except for one other. And that one other is the military commander of all lycan clans in Tamriel. We cannot lose her. You do not have to allow the others their justice yet. As I said, you surrendered to me, not them. And I want you to help me find the axe. And then I want you to help us wound Vile."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine tilted her head and looked aside. "From a certain point of view, yes. Daedric Princes cannot be harmed by us normally. But they are vulnerable to parts of themselves. Artefacts they make are part of themselves. We were looking for something called the Rueful Axe. An axe Vile made. We were going to turn it into a weapon, find a way into Vile's domain, and use it to weaken him. Thus weakened, Hircine can attack. Defeating Vile will not kill the Daedric Prince. It will force him into a weak torpor, though. And we can take back the souls he stole and release them in the process."

Sabine nodded and quickly added. "And the Empire and Dominion. They found us first. They could have destroyed us, but it would be expensive, time-consuming, and we would fight back. So, in secret from the wider population, they are...finding a way to 'assimilate' the clans as subjects, in exchange for their help and protection. We negotiated a level of autonomy. Progress has been slow with them and yet without them we may have lost the war. Mostly they send captured lycans to us instead of executing them." She gave Do'Rhajul a sideways glance. "The Empire even wants lycan legionnaires as a secret project. Lycans with good control and skill. Both can be trained."

Despite the uncertainty of sharing as much as she was, Sabine had now long put aside the notions that Do'Rhajul and Yerig were threats.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

If Sharon were here, she could have massaged some of the tension out of my body.

@BBeast

But hain are covered in an exoskele-

Oh.

Heheh.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Also, let me know if I have any tower lore wrong. It's been a while since I properly looked at it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"He does not want a price for the sake of it. Our souls are powerful but we are not numerous. Not even with the extra lycans he ordered made. Look..."

Sabine tapped the butt of her staff at the centre of the crude star she had drawn. "This is where Mundus is. Where we are. On its own, it collapses," she said, before tapping at each of the points of the star. "So it has towers holding it up. Eight of them. They are not...like usual towers. But they have physical manifestations here on Tamriel. They also have stones which are needed to keep them working." She drew a circle around the star. "This makes the wheel that all of reality is in. Between the towers are plains of Oblivion, where Daedra live."

She dug at the point of the star nearest to her. "One is the Red Tower. It is the Red Mountain in Morrowind. In the third era, its stone -- the Heart of Lorkhan -- was severed by the Nereverine." Sabine dashed aside the dirt, ruining one of the lines.

"Another is the White Gold tower," Sabine continued. "The capitol of Cyrodiil. Its stone was the Amulet of Kings. The stone was severed when Martin Septim died at the end of the Oblivion Crisis." Sabine dashed another line.

"Crystal-Like-Law is the next. In the Summerset isles. It also fell in the Oblivion crisis." The dirt was scraped again.

"There is Oricalc tower. No one knows truly where it is. Most people think it was in Yokuda. Yokuda sunk into the ocean." Another line was ruined. Only four remained.

"Brass-Walk was the strangest. The Dwemer made it. It was the Numidium, the great creature that Tiber Septim to conquer Tamriel. It was destroyed in the Warp in the West in the third era." Only three lines remained untouched.

"Green-Sap is a graht oak in Valenwood. The first graht oak. Many things have happened to it. However, there is no certainty whether it is still working or not. Everything about it is...'Perchance.' In the worst case, it no longer holds Mundus." Sabine scratched it away.

"This one you will certainly know. It is Snow Throat. The Throat of the World. The mountain in Skyrim where the Greybeards live. Its prophecy told that Anduin would appear when the Snow Tower lies sundered. Anduin did appear. Its fate was sealed with High King Torygg." With this line scratched out, only one was left standing.

"This is the only tower we know is left. The first tower. Ada-Mantia. It's Direnni Tower, on an island off the coast of Daggerfall. It has yet to fall."

Sabine raised her eyes to Do'Rhajul and continued with conviction enough to preclude any lies. "Every time a tower falls, a disaster strikes Nirn. No one knows exactly what will happen when the last dies, but we know that nothing will keep Mundus separated from Oblivion. A powerful Daedric prince could swallow Nirn into their realm and take everyone in it. We were given the proof of these theories by research given by the highest offices in the Aldmeri Dominion, and corroborated by the Empire through our contacts. This is real. The nations are paralysed by military tension. And...other policies. We have already been fighting Vile, so it came down to us. They know what we are capable of. But we still need help."

It was the simplest explanation she could manage. Sabine's initial frustration had simmered down. She was prepared to clarify anything Do'Rhajul had to ask, though if he knew history, he would see the pattern Sabine was showing him.