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R.I.P. neildarkstar. Haven will miss you dearly.
| Tsurista: A Knight's Tale | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 20 2016, 11:59 PM (528 Views) | |
| Areial | Sep 20 2016, 11:59 PM Post #1 |
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Et'Ada
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Our New Home #1 Their has never been a day that I can recall that Ash has not been my shadow. From my earliest childhood, where he handed me toy's as he practiced weapons, too clinging to his back as we galloped across the night. No matter the reason he was sent out, I was always with him, from Priory to Priory, the Priest's and Knight's my watchers, teachers and friends. Posted Image I never thought twice about him handing me a wood sword or teaching me to us a steel dagger, the small "horse bow", that progressed into a larger one. That is until I showed the beginning of magics. The we were off again, this time to a Priory that had Knight Mages and Ash was my weapon's teacher, the Mages taught magic, but ever and always I was taught the way's of a Priestess. Posted Image Law and Morality, along with the Lore of all the Divines and Deadric Princes. Everything I did, everything everyone around me did, was a lesson, it got to the point I rebelled just to rebel. As I came into my woman's body, Ash tightened his watch on me to the point, I was practicing spells of Invisibility and muffle, just to get away from him. I had to go and break my own heart and loose my virginity, I could not have stayed innocent forever, but Ash was their to hold me while I cried and threaten the young Lordling with horrible torcher and death if he ever saw the young man around me again. So when we got the order to come to Skyrim and start a Priory, Ash was with me and I was never so happy to have him. We choose the Priory near the town of Riverwood first, Whiterun Priory, named for the Hold and the river that ran through it. Posted Image The building had already been done and the Knight's in charge of that had already left when we got there. They would move on to the Next Priory, which would be near the town of Solitude. We would need some Chapter houses as well, some place for the Knight's and Priest to over night and minister to the people, though we are not a preachy lot. Our Personal thing's had been brought and mine where in the only private room, Ash's on one of the beds. We talked it over and decided to get the lay of the land, wander about doing thing's for the locals and get to know them and the Jarl's. We would also be making contact's with suppliers, the Priest would have a home garden, the Knights would hunt, but their are some thing's that need purchasing. Why the Headmaster had sent us here, I did not know, though I had the feeling that Ash had a good idea. Sometimes I wondered about the whole Order, as they treated me differently than any of the other Knight Priestesses. Ash and I never stayed in one place to long, I had come to the conclusion a long time ago that trouble followed me around, why was the question. Ash my keeper, watcher, friend and the one man I knew I could count on at my back. He may have secrets about my past, but I knew he would have good reason for them. I did not have to like it, just live with it. We had been in Riverwood for the better part of a week, when Alvor asked us to go to Helgen, it seemed that no one had heard a word from anyone from the small fort town in a few days, but the smell of smoke and death was on the wind. We put our armor on and geared up, potions and food because you never know what you are going to find. I tend to wear, for want of a better word, outfits that ticked Ash off. He had something of a prudish side, at least where I an concerned and the looks on his face...priceless. Posted Image But for real trouble, when I know we will find it, I wear something that the Order made up long ago for their mages. A segmented armor,lined with silk, that was light and durable. I preferred the short version, as tight as was comfortable, cause Ash. I am a mage, I use spells to augment my armor anyway, so if I choose to I can wear bit's and pieces of armor, just enough to be modest and still have the rating of plate steel. But as Ash has pointed out, an arrow from the dark will hit before I can caste a spell. So, I make sure that I have respectable covering, I really do not want to have to ask Ash to pull an arrow out of my ass. I'm young enough, that IF I thought I could see the look on his face as he did so, I might put an arrow their myself. Posted Image More than you needed to know? I suppose, well, we got to Helgen early in the afternoon, but as we approached the fort, I felt a disturbance, like a huge shock wave. We heard a loud roar and I landed face first in the snow, with Ash laying on top on me. I squirmed to get out from under him, I wanted to see. Then I did, a huge black dragon, flying towards Riverwood. I felt my soul shudder in recognition of something kindred and I whimpered. Posted Image I looked at Ash, who's face had gone dead white, to match the hair on his head. He pulled me to him and laid my head on his chest. I was shaking and didn't know why, I had taken no hurts and surely I was not that afraid of a dragon? I closed my eye's and tried to find my center and re-ground myself, I seemed to be adrift. I finally did and took a huge breath. "Ash, who was that?" I knew it was a dragon, I'm not daft and I had read the Lore. I also knew their was something... something more. I felt him suck in a huge breath and then let it out. His chin resting on my head, arm's wrapped around me so that I felt safe. "Alduin, Akatosh's first born," He paused and I could feel the tension in his muscles. " One last bit of Lore has always been kept from you and that is the *why* of our Order. We are not just Priest's or Knight's, We are watchers for Akatosh. We watch for Alduin and we watch to see if *you* would be born." "What do you mean, watched for *me* to be born?" I was not sure I wanted to know the answer. " Tsurista, you've always know you were different, you are. You have the soul of a Dragon, you must, their is no other way to defeat Alduin, only one born of Dragon Blood stands a chance." I wanted to get up and run, I felt a gut wrenching twist in my stomach, his words finding a home in my heart. "Akatosh sent you as the Balance to Alduin, we knew he was gone, Nord's long and long ago cast him out of Nirn with an Elder Scroll. Akatosh sent dream's to Priest's to let them know, he was not gone for good, though most assumed he was." He stood and looked down at me, his face hard to read, but then, it always was. He put out his hand and asked if I was ready to face my destiny. I grabbed his hand and pulled myself to my feet. "Destiny Hell... We are going to go see if anyone is still alive and then I am going to get rip-roaring drunk...and stay that way for a week.. Destiny can kiss my ass for a little while." Yeah ok, so thumbing my nose at the Fate's probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but to Oblivion with them all. I am only 20 and I want to have some fun. You do know the Fate's have a wicked sense of humor...right? **** I know that's a lot of pictures... Edited by Areial, Sep 21 2016, 12:05 AM.
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| neildarkstar | Sep 21 2016, 02:02 AM Post #2 |
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Overlord
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A very good beginning. |
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| Serethil | Sep 21 2016, 09:21 AM Post #3 |
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Et'Ada
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Yep, fate's laughing her ass off right about now. Great start! Ash is a real pretty-boy.... |
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| Kane | Sep 21 2016, 09:27 AM Post #4 |
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Overlord
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This is going to be good! :book: |
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| Areial | Sep 21 2016, 09:45 AM Post #5 |
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Et'Ada
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Thank's guy's, I hope it is... Pretty boy? Not what I wanted really. But that's ok... He's photo-genic..... :rofl: |
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| Serethil | Sep 21 2016, 09:55 AM Post #6 |
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Et'Ada
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Eh - I'm older - so to me he looks like a boy, and he's sure pretty! |
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| Rick | Sep 21 2016, 04:49 PM Post #7 |
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Jarl
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This is different....all very "Knights of the Nine" Watching with interest |
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| Andra Hawksdaughter | Sep 21 2016, 06:14 PM Post #8 |
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Jarl
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Oh Areial, I like!! :D All of it! |
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| Areial | Sep 22 2016, 01:14 PM Post #9 |
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Et'Ada
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Black Wing's Unfurled #2 Posted Image We went in the gates, but not a soul resided within and I mean that Literally, the soul's of the dead, not a one lingered and that in and of itself was strange. I was no Priestess to Arkay, but I knew that those killed in this fashion often lingered. A town, parent's would look for children, children would not know to depart. I would have to do some research, when we got back to the Priory. We went around the whole of the fort and into the under croft, I used spells to look for the living and other spells looking for any hidden passages. We ran into a cave in, I managed to squeeze through, but not long after, I found another cave in and could not pass, though I could see what appeared to be a rather large cavern. When I got back to Ash, I suggested looking for a cave entrance that might lead into the under croft, as I had seen what looked like natural formations. I put out some of the fires with spells of ice and snow and cried at the bodies I found within. We left the Fort and headed along in a broad downward angle, knowing that if their was a cave entrance, their would be some kind of game trail. Posted Image We found the cave entrance, it took about an hour, as we entered the cave I cast a detect life spell and got back two glows. Ash went after the furthest one and I found the closer man, an Imperial. He asked for a healing potion, which I gave and then used a spell to augment it. As I helped the man to his feet, I looked for Ash who was only half way to the other person. Hadvar he said his name was and that I should hurry without him to Riverwood and let them know a Dragon had attacked Helgen. I told him Alvor had sent us here and they were already on guard. A huge crash that caused me to wobble and dust flew all over the place. "Ash... ASH!" I yelled his name and cast another detect life spell, I found him getting up from where he had dived out of the way of a falling stalactites. "Ralof, he was right behind me." I caste another detect life spell as I helped Ash to his feet. He was fine, but I saw another tear in the hem of his armor, that would need fixing. When I saw no tel-tail glow, I caste a detect dead spell and under the rubble was the shape of a man. I shook my head and the Imperial bowed his. "He was a good man, we grew up together playing soldier's along the river. Until we became them, on different sides. I will miss my brother." Ash and I helped him out of the cave and then walked all the way back to Riverwood with him. It turned out that Alvor was his Uncle. Before we headed back to the Priory, we promised Alvor we would head to Whiterun and let the Jarl know about the destruction of Helgen and the dragon who had done it. Posted Image I looked up from the book I was reading as Ash thumped another stack down. I frowned down at the dusty tomes. " Surely those aren't all about Dragon's and Alduin in particular?" I had been hard pressed to find any mention of Alduin in the book's I had read about dragons and their Cult. "No, just book's that may reference dragons, I don't read as fast as you do, but I can skim and find key words. You read and I'm going to replace some of the potions we used, magic healing is all good and well, but I can't heal you." " I need to go meditate and ask Akatosh for guidance, I'm just going to the chapel." I put the book down, the one that told me most of what I needed to know about Alduin, World eater, Bringer of the End of Time, devourer of souls. I shuddered at that, he used souls of Man and Mer as a source of energy, those poor being's would not go to their final reward, but disappear completely. Posted Image I entered the chapel and knelt in front of the Shrine to Akatosh, I wiped all the worries from my mind, grounded within myself and then caste my awareness outwards into the Aether. I was calm as I asked our Father for direction, the answer I got was that "Time would show me the way". I centered back into myself and shook my head, I really hated riddles. I still planned on getting rip-roaring drunk, but after we got back from talking to the Jarl in Whiterun. I stood and turned to find Ash behind me, that was so normal that I felt like bursting into tears. Posted Image "You know all those within the fort are gone." I looked up at Ash and trembled inside, " Not just dead Ash, gone from existence, Alduin eats their souls for the energy he needs and because it delights him." He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. Telling me that tomorrow was time enough to worry about it all and that we should get some sleep. AS I made ready for bed I thought of all the thing's I had read and about the cryptic advice I had gotten from Akatosh, Divines and Deadra alike made little sense to Man, until after the fact, then you shook your head and wondered at being so dense. I laid down, but never fell asleep, so I got back up, only to find that Ash had not yet went to sleep either. We stood on the balcony over looking Whiterun and talked for a while. I asked him questions that I knew he did not have the answers to and very Ash like, he gave me answers that directed me to where I could look for those answers or told me he just didn't know. Posted Image I had long ago asked about where I had come from, but none of the Priest's or Knight's knew. They knew I was Breton and that is about all they knew. We went back in and I skimmed through a bunch more book's before I gave it up and went to bed. I blanked my mind and relaxed my muscles, it wasn't as good as sleeping, but as it did tonight it allowed me to fall into sleep. I dreamed of huge black wing's covering the sun. |
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| Serethil | Sep 22 2016, 01:39 PM Post #10 |
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Et'Ada
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Oh, great update, Areial! Very much enjoying this, love the pics too! |
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| monkeyemoness | Sep 22 2016, 03:14 PM Post #11 |
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Thane
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Ooh! Knights from the Order of the Hour/Chantry of Akatosh from High Rock? Or is it an offshoot of the Knights of the Nine/a revival of the Order in Cyrodiil? Or something different? Tsurista's revealed to be a Breton and Ash's cheekbones also suggest Breton (even if their heights are throwing me off), so I'm guessing the first. Sorry if getting ahead of the story a bit here, I just like it when these sorts of things are included in stories. Anyways, Tsurista has quite a bit of guidance and is already pretty accomplished. Seems her transition into being a little more than mortal might go easier in some ways. |
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| Areial | Sep 22 2016, 04:22 PM Post #12 |
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Et'Ada
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LOL...her height is kinda screwy... the Black Viper boots make the wearer taller. She should be right at Ash's shoulder...that I and I keep getting him in a "relaxed" pose which lessen's his height. I may look into the Chantry of Akatosh... in High Rock.. I have never played the Knight's of the Nine in Oblivion, though I did do the quest that lead's you to them. It's a made up Order because her story said she needed to be a Knight/ Priestess of Akatosh. She is predisposed, because the High Priest had her trained, knowing from vision's what she is, though she was never told. Ash to is more than he seem's, but can't give up all the secrets! |
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| monkeyemoness | Sep 22 2016, 05:24 PM Post #13 |
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Thane
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Ah, so option 3. I was just wondering whether it was a neat callback to Daggerfall or not. I can't wait to see where this all goes. |
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| Andra Hawksdaughter | Sep 22 2016, 05:34 PM Post #14 |
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Jarl
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Lovely Areial, can't wait to see what happens next, where they go from here! :) |
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| Grits | Sep 22 2016, 06:26 PM Post #15 |
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Thane
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Oh, I am looking forward to this! I enjoyed the beginning very much. The pictures are perfect with the story! |
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| Areial | Sep 25 2016, 07:49 PM Post #16 |
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Et'Ada
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Dragon this and Dragon that.... #3 Posted Image It had been some god's awful hour before the sun came up that Ash woke me to leave for Whiterun. Which I suppose was a good thing, after getting ready we made it there just in time to help some people with a giant that was attacking a farm. We helped to slay him, but I was sad, giant's never seemed to understand that not all the cow's on Nirn belonged to them. A woman came up and thanked us, while her comrades cleaned their swords near by. She stank of Hircine and I could practically see Ash's hair stand on end. She told me I would make a good shield sister and that I should come join the Companions. I played right along and asked her if "we" could join, she looked at Ash and said it wasn't for her to decide, that I should talk to Kodlak White-mane. I watched her walk away and grinned when she looked back over her shoulder at me and winked. Huh... shield-sister or pillow friend? I chuckled and looked at Ash, who was just shaking his head. "You do realize..." he started sternly. "That she is a memeber of Hircine's pack? And runs with the Full Moon? Yes, Ash, I do realize that, she stank of wolf." He nodded and turned to walk into town. Their is something about Ash's frown that makes most people tuck tail and run, but we ran into a Redguard, that snidely asked if we got to the Cloud District often and then said smugly probably not. When Ash put his hand on his sword and asked if the man wanted to be a permanent part of the cloud district, he hurried away. One of the guards nearby chuckled, but then said as much as he would love to see that, we should not harass the citizens. We made it to the Jarl's Longhouse with no further interruptions. I spoke to the Jarl, while Ash went and talked to the Court Wizard, who generally know's much of what is happening. The Jarl wasn't happy to get confirmation of Helgen's demise, but thanked me for letting him know. His housecarl and his Steward seemed to be of two different minds about how to handle beefing up the protection for Riverwood. I bowed and left the Jarl and went to find Ash, he was still talking to the Court Wizard who wanted him to get some kind of stone from a barrow, but then gave direction's for another barrow that seemed to involve catching a carriage to Riften. Ash took our leave telling the wizard that we would look into the other barrow as soon as our business was done. He motioned me to follow him and we headed to the local Inn. Ash ordered our lunch, with cider to drink. I looked at him and from the way he was frowning at me, I knew I was not going to get my night of drinking. When our food arrived, Ash still had not said a word, but his frown of concentration told me he was trying to remember something. I tucked into my food and listened to the Bard, he wasn't half bad, but nowhere near as good as he seemed to think he was. "Do you remember reading anything about the Dragon Cult?" I finished chewing the food in my mouth, while thinking about the little I had read. "Very little, I don't recall much was written about them." I frowned and then blinked as a couple passages from a book took form in my mind. " The only thing I recall is fairly recent, historically speaking." I took a drink and gathered my thoughts. " Storm-strider, he found a hold-out while chasing some Elves. Their wasn't much in that account, I don't remember why. It was here in Skyrim." "Yes, the Wizard said that there is a barrow over near Riften, that is said to be where the Dragon Cult last was. We will be heading their soon as lunch is over. When we get back from there, I told him we would look into getting a *dragonstone* for him. It's supposed to be a map to where all the dragon's are buried. Why he wants it, he wouldn't say, but their must be a reason and once we get it, he'll tell us." I sighed, cause it looked like I wasn't going to get my drink after all. Ash asked the Inn Keeper if she wouldn't fix us up a basket of food, to take with us. Once she brought us the basket we headed out to the carriage and took the three day trip into the Rift. We spent a couple day's helping the locals and getting some information about where the barrow was that we were looking for. A Dunmer needed some help retrieving a family bow and a stable man was being asked to pay a debt for item's that had gotten stolen, by that person. Going to get some ore from the mine in Shor's Stone for the town's Alchemist and then clearing the mine of Spiders. Posted Image I did have a nice night on the town, twisting Ash's tail and had a few drinks with a wizard Mercenary. Ash and I were sharing a room or I might have shared more than just some ale. It was a good night, none-the-less. Posted Image "Forelhost!" Ash burst into the room as I was lacing up my boot. I looked up at him inquiringly. "The Barrow we need is call Forelhost and it's not all that far from here, I've ordered some food and asked the Stableman if we can borrow a couple horses." The Altmer we met a the entrance to Forelhost was very suspect, but as he was asking us to do something that we where planning to do anyway, we agreed to his plan. Not that he would get anything we brought out, if he wanted it that bad, he should have went in and got it himself. The first thing's we met inside the barrow, was ghosts. I dissipated them with a spell and went on our way. In each room we looked for books, journals or notes that might give us any information about dragons and their return. We ran into many of the walking dead, what the Nords call Draugr. In one of the room's were skeletons each had a bottle of poison near it. This upset me, but not as much as the small linen wrapped bodies and I was all but in tear's when I read the note's that went back and forth between an Alchemist and the Dragon Priest. Ash stopped and we had a good talk, I was extremely upset and he understood, but said that I should turn that to anger. Anger at the creatures attacking us, anger at the dragon's that encouraged this kind of cult. Posted Image I sucked it up and in a few more room's we found the crypt of the Dragon Priest Rahgot and I found the perfect being to take my anger out on. The battle was swift and bloody as I pounded spell after spell into him, never letting up, the short time I needed to recharge my magic, I pounded him with my sword. Ash was dealing with draugr, he was sending the last one to it's final rest. I sent the Dragon Priest to his final rest in a great explosion, that cause me to stumble around seeing large white spots. I sat down right where I was and put my head on my knee's and cried. Ash sat beside me and rocked me in his arm's til I was hiccuping. He took some of our water and wet a cloth and let me wash my face. That made me feel better. I picked up the Dragon Priest's mask and staff and placed the Mask in my back-pack, then tied the staff to it. When we went outside, we saw the Altmer dressed in a Stormcloak uniform and knew their was something up with that. He attacked as soon as we got close to him and right before hand I heard him saying that we were Imperial spies. I felt back having to kill the soldier, but not the Altmer. Ash looted his body and found a note. He placed that note with the other papers we had, then took the two bodies off, while I set camp back to rights and started out dinner. It was way to late to head for Riften. I pulled out the notes and journals that we had found but before I could do more than decide which to read, I fell asleep. Posted Image Edited by Areial, Sep 25 2016, 07:51 PM.
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| Serethil | Sep 25 2016, 07:58 PM Post #17 |
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Et'Ada
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Hmm. She looks different tonight.... GREAT stuff, Areial. I could see it all, even without the screenies! |
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| Areial | Sep 25 2016, 07:59 PM Post #18 |
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Et'Ada
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Thanks... yeah I changed a couple features that were bothering me. Hair will be on going... cause, she's female... |
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| Serethil | Sep 25 2016, 08:17 PM Post #19 |
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Et'Ada
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And.... I really hate Forelhost. *shudder* |
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| Andra Hawksdaughter | Sep 25 2016, 08:18 PM Post #20 |
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Jarl
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Very good Areial! (and I like her tweaked look) Forelhost, it's tough one for the character physically, and for some, like her, emotionally too. I like her Ash too, even if he seems a bit tight laced. :D I'm sure there's reasons though! Great update! |
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