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R.I.P. neildarkstar. Haven will miss you dearly.
| Gremlaith Ulfricsdottar and the Lay of the Black Mask | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 17 2017, 12:03 AM (626 Views) | |
| neildarkstar | Jan 22 2018, 02:51 AM Post #61 |
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Overlord
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:thumb: |
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| Serethil | Jan 22 2018, 10:03 AM Post #62 |
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Et'Ada
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Thanks neil! |
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| Serethil | Jan 29 2018, 10:22 PM Post #63 |
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Et'Ada
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Chapter 10: All around the barn and back The expedient way seemed to be helping the Argonians with some of their more onerous tasks. To that end, I spoke to the apparent matriarch of the current “clan”, all of whom of course were still living in the dirty, cold nastiness of the Assemblage up the stairs above the docks - but as far from warm comfort as I was. “I give you greeting, lady. I am at loose ends just now; I would assist as I can, to help your clan with their tasks so that the Nords do not take out their ire upon you.” She eyed me with disfavor. “But you are a Nord. Why would you be any different than all the rest?” “Well.... so much of your distress here is caused by my.... father....” “Your father. And who might that be?” “Ulfric Stormcloak.” “Really. And your name then?” “Gremlaith Ulfricsdottar. I’m a bastard, of course. Just so’s you know.” She eyed me at some length, then said only “Hmm.” After a fairly long pause - to think I supposed - she asked “Well, then. You have had nothing from him either, besides the cold hard back of his hand. So. What is it you actually want from us?” As openings go, well.... that was about as good as you ever got. So - I told my story. And when I had finished, the woman gave me that Argonian grin, all teeth and not so much friendly. “Well. First, I tell you my name. I am Hides-in-Weeds. So. Your rede has found the one you were needing. And.... if you will agree to do something for me - for us I should say - then I will help you.” Now.... why was I not surprised? In all my life, you could not get something you needed to know if you didn’t do a task. “I will do whatever you need me to do for you.” Her toothy grin gave me some trepidation. “Go you to Riften. In the area near the Fishery, outside of the town itself, you may meet my egg-sister’s daughter, Beyond-Deep-Fathoms. She - carries - her egg-mother’s burden: the need to return something.... wrongly appropriated. Do this, and I will help you.” I heaved a silent sigh. But I’d said I’d do whatever needed doing. So then, I would. |
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| Areial | Jan 29 2018, 10:28 PM Post #64 |
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Et'Ada
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Nice read.. something, for something.. the way the world turns..or at least Skyrim! |
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| Serethil | Jan 29 2018, 10:42 PM Post #65 |
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Et'Ada
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Heh. Yep. In Skyrim, it's truly and totally "you scratch my back - and then.... maybe.... I scratch yours." |
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| neildarkstar | Jan 30 2018, 12:21 PM Post #66 |
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Overlord
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Nicely done Sere! :) |
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| Serethil | Jan 30 2018, 02:56 PM Post #67 |
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Et'Ada
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Thanks neil! |
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| Serethil | Feb 9 2018, 09:04 PM Post #68 |
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Et'Ada
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Chapter 11: And I thought I was spirit-ridden! Well, getting to Riften was no issue really. I took the carriage of course, getting a lecture about trying out Black-Briar mead while I was there. I just nodded; I wasn’t much on alcohol - it took away more, FAR more, than it gave one. Naturally, since I’d rarely been able to afford drink, when I could afford it and drank as much as I could pay for, I woke up the next day with - various ills. Over the years I’ve come to the previous conclusion.... Neither here nor there at this point. Riften was about as big a cess-pit as I’d ever seen. Even Windhelm’s Gray Quarter wasn’t as awful. The touted canals were rank with water which no longer flowed so of course stank. The wooden walkways grew green slime. The stone and wooden buildings were covered with moss and green - if they didn’t clear them soon, they’d shortly begin to tumble. I listened to the chat going on in the market-circle. It was all about how low the Black-Briars had fallen since the Thieves Guild had chosen to ignore that family’s influence. I wasn’t sure why that would have happened, and really, I didn’t want to know. I took a room at the Bee and Barb, paid for a meal, and then slept restlessly. There was much about this place I didn’t like. In the morning, I went looking for the fishery - and Beyond-Deep-Fathoms. I found both easily enough. The woman was shrunken in on herself, with patchy spots on her skin and bad teeth - especially for an Argonian. “Your egg-mother’s sister, Hides-in-Weeds, has sent me to - help you - return something to free your mother, and you, from the darkness. What is it that you need?” Ugh. It turned out that From-Deepest-Fathoms, her egg-mother, had stolen a cube from an ancient Dwemer ruin northwest of Riften. She thrust it into my hands and scuttled away. I could tell she was ill. I wondered if the illness was due to the cube, or something else.... So I thought about what I was going to need to take along - to go delving into Avanchnzel. That would be my first act in the morning - buying supplies. I wondered how much over normal I’d have to pay the locals, since I was an outsider.... |
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| neildarkstar | Feb 9 2018, 11:36 PM Post #69 |
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Overlord
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Oh yessss... takes it back! We don't wants it.. :) |
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| Lapuaboy | Feb 10 2018, 12:36 AM Post #70 |
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Thane
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Grem is going to have her hands full with this task! :thumb: |
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| Serethil | Feb 10 2018, 10:00 AM Post #71 |
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Et'Ada
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Good thing she's a rogue.... thank you neil and Lap! |
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| Areial | Feb 10 2018, 10:10 AM Post #72 |
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Et'Ada
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:clap: Nice read... loooove the description of Riften!! She will have a handful! |
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| Serethil | Feb 10 2018, 10:37 AM Post #73 |
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Et'Ada
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Yep, she will. And a good time will not be had by anyone! Thanks Sis! |
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| Serethil | Feb 16 2018, 11:38 PM Post #74 |
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Et'Ada
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Chapter 12: Avanchnzel awaits.... ....and I hope to all the Hells it’s full of loot, because those bug-suckers in Riften tapped me out for supplies. No surprise really - even if the Thieves Guild is a myth, the townsfolk belong to it anyway. Now, oddly enough, the entrance is just a dirty cave-mouth. Very strange. This is supposed to be a dwemer workshop or something. I think. Well.... let’s see what we can see. Besides dark of course. I did buy plenty of torches, and I hope they’ll be enough. Noisy. Very. Almost like.... something huge - breathing. I don’t like it. Well, no one cares whether I like it or not. If I want to find the Black Mask, I have to do this. So - quit yer belly-achin’ damn it! Right. I slithered as quietly as possible into the tunnel ahead of me, though why I was worried about quiet I couldn’t have said, since I was lighting up the whole area with my torch. Sighing, I put it out, and settled to wait until my eyes adjusted. Some while later, I realized that it wasn’t pitch-black after all - only dead-grey.... But at least I could make out the difference between tunnel walls and floor. So I edged slowly through the tunnel and stopped as a larger room opened down a ramp below me. Um. There are - people - here! Or.... no.... I - think - I’m seeing what happened to Beyond-Deep-Fathom’s egg-mother.... There are four - apparitions - I guess you can call them, transparently glowing orange. Male and female Argonians; male and female humans. They’re - fussing.... The male human doesn’t like this place. Can’t blame him. The female human snidely reminds him it’s a simple job. The Argonians disagree on whether the humans can handle it. Eventually.... they.... disappear. Just what I need - more ghosts.... as if I don’t have enough of my own. I forged ahead - slowly. A good thing too, as there were a couple of dwarven spiders just beyond. Since I was reasonably well-hidden, I managed to get them before they got me. I doubted that sort of luck was going to continue. Sometimes.... I think I should just head for Cyrodiil and never look back. |
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| neildarkstar | Feb 16 2018, 11:55 PM Post #75 |
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Overlord
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...and the adventure (or this part of it) begins... :) |
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| Areial | Feb 16 2018, 11:56 PM Post #76 |
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Et'Ada
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As luck would hold.. Cryodiil probably wouldn't be the healthiest place in the world either! Good REad! |
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| Serethil | Feb 16 2018, 11:57 PM Post #77 |
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Et'Ada
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Thank you neil and Sis! Yep.... actually, I'm going to run Avanchnzel on my current girl tomorrow (she finally hit 14 today) so I will have it fresh. Haven't done it for a while.... |
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| Serethil | Feb 19 2018, 09:07 PM Post #78 |
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Et'Ada
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Chapter 13: This place gives me the shudders So, the practice I’d been getting with bow was paying off - most of the time, I was getting a couple of good shots from stealth on the automatons still roaming this place. That meant I didn’t have to take a lot of damage myself before the automaton was dead. If metal monsters can be dead.... I wended my way through these ancient halls one very slow step at a time. The apparitions appeared again several times - commenting on the ruin or discussing needing a thief to unlock a gate. Or arguing about sleeping in a large area because Watches-The-Roots had underestimated the size of the place or how long it would take to find the entrance.... Ghosts. I have my own of course. I really didn’t appreciate the shades of this foursome foisting themselves on me. Didn’t seem to have a choice though. They showed up with disconcerting regularity.... Too bad they didn’t give me much real information. By this time, I was figuring that only From-Deepest-Fathoms had managed to escape - and she had left her egg-daughter with the cube which I now had to replace. By the time I’d been inside Avanchnzel (I wonder what that means?) for about six hours, I was exhausted. I cleared the last area before one of the huge doors that led further into the ruin, then hunted out a small area that I could effectively defend if I had to, threw out my bedroll and settled to grab some rest - it wouldn’t be real sleep, because I knew I’d need to be alert enough to protect myself if any of the automatons appeared. A couple of hours later, I was tired of jerking myself up to keep awake. Fine. I had to really sleep - if I died, well, I wouldn’t know it would I? So the next time sleep washed me under, I let it. |
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| Areial | Feb 19 2018, 09:53 PM Post #79 |
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Et'Ada
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Great read... one of those nice locked grated rooms would come in handy... how I RP it... right down to shutting the gate, if possible |
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| Serethil | Feb 19 2018, 10:08 PM Post #80 |
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Et'Ada
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Heh. Yep. But the last one of those was in some other ruin I think.... hmmm.... probably Raldbthar.... And of course, I know (as the meta-gamer) that once you've cleared an area, it's home free. But Grem doesn't. Edited by Serethil, Feb 19 2018, 10:10 PM.
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