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Post by Ranger on Feb 13, 2008 19:56:24 GMT 10
Tedril did not turn away.
"I did not ask you for your reasons, but for your intent. What were you planning to do with them?"
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Post by Orisis on Feb 13, 2008 19:57:51 GMT 10
"Um," usually, he fought to steal the other ship's cargo, but this time, he had no cargo to steal," I s'pose they defaced one 'o me belongings. Now, howabout answerin' my question in return?"
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Post by Ranger on Feb 13, 2008 20:00:30 GMT 10
"You have not answered mine. You are stating your reasons, not your intent. They threw a knife at your Guar. They defaced your Guar. If I had not been present, what would you have done to them?"
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Post by Orisis on Feb 13, 2008 20:02:45 GMT 10
"If you weren't present, hm?" Pyr grinned," I believe their intent was to catch you, or me. More likely you, so if you weren't present, this saga wouldn't have happened. But, to answer your question to the fullest, I guess that if they hadn't reacted wit lethal force, I woulda let 'em off with some injuries before claiming somethin' of theirs."
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Post by Ranger on Feb 13, 2008 20:09:26 GMT 10
A bandit?
"I see. You misintepreted their intent, however - they were not sent to capture me, they were sent to kill me. And it is unlikely that you would have found anything on them of worth, either. Those who the assassins served learnt their lesson long ago. I cannot tell you any more than this; not unless you wish to die."
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Post by Orisis on Feb 13, 2008 20:11:32 GMT 10
"Unless I wish to die, 'eh?" Pyr chuckled at that," Is that supposed ta be a threat? Nonetheless, it's one question for another, right? Ye don't look like the bad sort, though."
He looked thoughtful.
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Post by Ranger on Feb 13, 2008 21:17:44 GMT 10
There was a silence between Tedril and the adventurer for some time. A commotion up near the Governer's Hall caught Tedril's ear. The doors were open. A pair of guards was marching down the slope.
Guards?
Tedril had a feeling that this was where the guards had been. A diversion, occuring in such a high security building would be enough to draw most of the guards.
Three more guards exited the building. Like most Imperial guardsmen, they were grim faced and bald. A scream rent the air.
"That's them! They did it! They murdered the Blacksmith and all those people! They're killing everyone!"
Sh*t... no...
The Redguard woman had reappeared. The dagger had vanished from her side. She was clutching the arm of a guard captain (distinguished by his armour) and was pointing directly at him and the adventurer.
Devious little b*tch...
The Redguard kept yelling. "I saw them! They had Throwing Stars and Knives!"
It was true. Unfortunately.
"The one in the cloak, he stabbed those two women down there next to the men! Those poor women couldn't even defend themselves!"
Liar.
"And the one with the Cutlass! He brutalized my friend!" the woman pointed at the headless Redguard. "Captain! Please! Save the town from those two lunatics!"
The foward pair of guards advanced. The captain and his two continued marching down. Tedril felt a strange sense of dejavu.
This was Imperial City. All over again.
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Post by Orisis on Feb 14, 2008 17:03:58 GMT 10
Pyr saw, and heard the guard, the woman, and their activities too, and he tensed, gripping his cutlasses tighter. He hadn’t put away his blades yet, and wasn’t about to anytime soon as he saw the guards march down the slope to his position. He had trouble with the law before, but never like that. He swore under his breath. Apparently, whoever was after the Mer didn’t hesitate in resorting to dishonourable methods, and now, he had become a target too. Pyr groaned – he certainly didn’t have time for that, and he still had Georgie to tend to, along with his wares to hawk.
“Damnit,” he spoke to Tedril, “Do they ever give up? We just defeated a whole company of six. Seven, if you count that two-faced witch.”
He rose to face the guardsmen, his two blades cutting the air as he brandished them. Let the guards come – he’ll just dispose of them like he did his previous opponents. He doubted that talking reason to the folk would be easy either – he wasn’t a very honest person to begin with, and on top of that, he wasn’t a very good actor. The Redguard, however, was enviably good at that sort of thing. She clung to the guard captain like a lost lamb – and she wasn’t unattractive either. Pyr sighed – the captain of the guard probably had other plans for her later, judging by her actions & the Imperial’s response.
“Y’know,” he gritted his teeth, “Things would’ve been so much easier if I just had my damned ship back.”
The guards continued to march in two lines down the slope – Pyr could count a score of them. No small number for taking out just two men, but nonetheless, he realized his defeat when he saw the number. None of them were amateurs, and most had a sword along with a spear or some other weapon. No doubt that there would be a few archers hidden behind the wall either. The captain hadn’t given the command for them to attack, yet. He sighed – maybe the man would listen to reason.
“Destroy them!” screeched the Redguard woman, “They killed everyone!” “You heard her boys. Take them – alive if possible, but kill them if they provide too much resistance.”
Apparently not.
“Hah,” he eyed the number marching down in formation to take them, “They brought the whole garrison down to take us out, apparently. I think they overestimate us.”
At that point in time, fleeing would be the only viable course of action, but he disliked the notion of leaving Georgie behind, along with most of his belongings. On top of that, he probably didn’t have enough time to feed the guar a potion, unless he used one of those expensive ones he kept on his belt. Pyr sighed – there was no helping it now. Kneeling down, he force-fed the contents of the vial to the guar. Georgie didn’t provide too much resistance, and Pyr watched the wound close. Too slowly.
The guards, despite in formation, were marching at a great speed. Unless the Dunmer demonstrated more than masterful use of his bow, then he doubted that only the two of them could penetrate the phalanx that the legion soldiers were using. Then, Georgie let out a yell, got back on his feet, and proceeded to speed off – into the northern exit of town. That was Pyr’s cue.
“Well, nice meeting ya!” he quickly sheathed his blades, and sped off after his guar, “Hope we meet again someday!”
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Post by Ranger on Feb 14, 2008 17:48:18 GMT 10
The guards were marching towards Tedril and the adventurer. Tedril showed no hint of what he was thinking. But inside, he was furious.
They couldn't just leave me, could they? I had to be an outlaw in Morrowind as well as Cyrodiil now...
He could take out the front two marching guards. It wasn't a problem. The back three might be harder, but still possible. No, it wasn't the guards he was worrying about. Not these guards any rate. It was having a big bounty posted on his head again that worried him. It wouldn't be the thirty million that it was in Cyrodiil, or even thirty thousand. But it would certainly be big enough to draw bounty hunters of all sorts towards him. In the province of Morrowind, money was alot. In Cyrodiil, there were plenty of wealthy people, and three thousand wasn't an extremely large sum there. On the other hand, in Morrowind, three thousand was nearly enough to buy the contents of an entire armoury. And three thousand was certainly the sum that be appearing next to an artist's rendering of his face. Murder was a serious crime in all provinces, and from all appearances, he had just murdered six people. That would be worth one thousand Septims at the very least. On the top of that, resisting arrest would enough to put another thousand on his head. If he actually killed a guard during the resistance, that would most certainly warrant issuing a "Kill On Sight" (KOS) order to every guard in the province - and probably another thousand.
“D**nit!” the adventuer was speaking. “Do they ever give up? We just defeated a whole company of six. Seven, if you count that two-faced witch.”
He raised his cutlasses towards the guards. Their faces tightened. More guards were pouring out of the Hall. Tedril guessed that these were the Governor's personal squad. Some of them held bows. This wasn't good. In a one on one bowfight, Tedril would probably win. Even a three on one fight. But he couldn't take out all the archers and the guards. There were just too many. By the time he took out the archers, the swordsmen would reach him. If he aimed at the swordsman, the archers would fire. He could dodge arrows while aiming, but the unlike the assassins, the archers probably weren't novices. They would soon think to use a blanket of arrows to hit him. He could dodge 9 out of 10 shots, but that still left one to hit him, and he didn't wear armour. If it landed on his head or heart, he was dead. If it landed on his arm, he wouldn't be able to use his bow. If it hit his leg it would drastically reduce his ability to dodge the rest of the arrows. It it hit his chest he wouldn't die, but it was a one in five chance. Not absurd odds, but at the same time too costly to take.
“Hah!” The adventurer apparently was not familiar with the strategies of Imperial guards. “They brought the whole garrison down to take us out apparently. I think they overestimate us.”
That left one alternative - escape. Just like he had been doing for nearly half a century. Just why he had come to Morrowind. He hated it. But he had no choice. Beside him, the adventurer was feeding a potion to his Guar. It appeared like he had come to the same conclusion. A smart- Tedril rewinded his thoughts.
Beside him, the adventurer was feeding a potion to his Guar. His Guar.
As if having read his thoughts, the Guar let out a moan and started to dash.
No you don't.
“Well, nice meeting ya!” The adventurer yelled, making after his Guar. “Hope we meet again someday!”
The Guar was now power-walking. With one last look at the oncoming guards, Tedril ran and leaped over the adventurer after the Guar, his free hand outstretched, the other clutching his bow. The Guar was nearly too far away, but Tedril managed to catch hold of his tail.
"Rally Creature!"
This was a distraction for the guards so he could go after his real target. He needed the Redguard woman. The Brotherhood was the key to clearing his name.
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Post by Orisis on Feb 14, 2008 20:19:06 GMT 10
When the tail of the Guar was grabbed, the animal continued to totter forward for a few steps in panic, before finally stopping. Pyr swore loudly. Apparently, the mer was purposely trying to prevent his guar from moving. He had attempted to escape before the guards got a very good & close look at him – he could trade his clothing in for something else, but without the guar, he would own nothing to speak of with significant monetary value that he wasn’t already wearing on his back.
“Rally creature!”
The guar stopped in it’s tracks. He already regretted not casting a spell to hide them before running away, but it was too late now. Several thoughts ran through his head, one of which involved knocking the mer unconscious before making good his retreat. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that now. He sighed. He didn’t want to get into any trouble with the guards, but right now, he seemed to be right in the middle of a situation he kept telling himself to avoid.
“Why the hell did you do that, elf!?” he paused to think for a second, and before the guar could do anything else, he waved his hands around,” Wall of fire.”
A barrier of flames sprung up between himself, along with the mer & guar, and the legion troops. That would buy him some time as he tried to knock some sense into the mer. He had wasted. Well, spent, a good potion of the guar in hopes that he could somehow manage to keep his belongings with him while he escaped – the guar was a fast runner when it needed to be, but now, the damned Mer had ‘rallied’ Georgie.
“Now then,” he hissed, “Release Georgie from yer spell. Now.”
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Post by Ranger on Feb 14, 2008 20:39:36 GMT 10
"Wall of Fire!"
The adventurer erected a barrier of flames between the Guards and the Guar.
“Now then,” he hissed, “Release Georgie from yer spell. Now.”
Why does he have to make things difficult?
Tedril faced the man. If it came to fighting him, he didn't haved any doubts about the victor. Tedril had faced stealthy professional assassins, merciless necromancers, Daedra conjurers, Imperial Battlemages, over a dozen types of warriors, outlaw bandits, deadly wildlife and undead monsters and was still alive.
"I don't want to get your "Georgie" killed, so don't make me have to do anything more than I have to. Which do you value more? Your life or your Guar? This way, we'll both escape unpursued and your Guar might even have a chance. If you insist on fighting these guards you're going to get killed. If we flee without tying up the loose ends we're going to be ambushed by assassins every other day, even in the wilderness. I need a distraction. Your Guar is big enough to provide that."
Tedril looked at the wall of fire.
"It's your call. What is it to be?"
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Post by Orisis on Feb 16, 2008 9:34:41 GMT 10
“My call, huh?” he shrugged, “I wasn’t planning on fightin’ those damned guards. I was planning on escapin’, if you know what I meant, but now, you pretty much ruined my chances of that. I don’t see why you’re needin’ my guar for whatever plan yer hatching up in yer head, but it’s likely no good. Nonetheless, I’d take your word fer it.”
Still eyeing the Dunmer carefully, he swiped a few pouched lining the sides of Georgie, and released the barrier of magical flames. The legion soldiers continued their march at an alarming pace, but Pyr was less worried about them than about the mer. He had a feeling that he was getting involved in something far more than what he had thought he’d gotten himself into when he entered the fray a few moments back. ‘Tying up loose ends’ as the Dunmer put it didn’t place Pyr at ease.
Not that one or twice his crewmembers hadn’t tried to poison him or kill him in his sleep, but the way the mer put it, assassins would be at his – their – tail at every turn. He sighed – how could they even track their movements in the wilderness anyway? Nonetheless, Pyr was a somewhat cautious man when given the breathing space to think, and thus he relented without too much opposition.
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Post by Ranger on Feb 16, 2008 10:12:18 GMT 10
“My call, huh?” At least the adventurer was considering. “I wasn’t planning on fightin’ those damned guards. I was planning on escaping, if you know what I meant, but now, you've pretty much ruined my chances of that. I don’t see why you’re needin’ my guar for whatever plan yer hatching up in yer head, but it’s likely no good. Nonetheless, I’d take your word fer it.”
Tedril nodded as he released the barrier of flames. Fighting all the guards, the assassin and the adventurer at once wouldn't have been a very nice situation to be in. The odds of Tedril winning would have been one even the most desperate gambler wouldn't take. Thankfully, the adventurer had been removed from that unfortunate equation.
He watched the adventurer unhook some of his expensive gear from the Guar. A smart move, but likely one which wasn't going to be practical. The only things they would need where they were going would be weapons and supplies. Money would be useless because they would have to avoid towns and thereby shops, unless they wanted to chance running into more assassins. The Dark Brotherhood had their own version of the Imperial Kill-On-Sight directive, not that there was much difference between the two. It was still Slit-Throat-As-Soon-As-Sighted, except without the yelling and shouting.
As soon as the adventurer was done, Tedril grabbed the Guar's harnesses and yanked it in the direction of the guards. This needed good timing. He had to break up the guards' formation and sneak through at the same time. The Guar was big enough to do both. He had no idea where the adventurer had gotten it from, but suspected it had come from the wild. Only in the wilderness did Guars grow that large. A fortunate occurance. Tedril worked better with wild animals.
The guards kept marching. The captain behind the front row, flanked by archers. The assassin needed to be close, but not too close. The captain was now marching just behind the front row...
A little further... now.
"Frenzy Creature!!"
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Post by Orisis on Feb 17, 2008 19:04:31 GMT 10
The dark elf did intend to leave his guar behind – of that, Pyr had no doubts about it. Any distraction would likely get killed before the dunmer could even pull his bowstring taut. It was a hopeless endeavour, and yet Pyr had no idea why he was agreeing to it – or even what he was agreeing to. For all he knew, his guar, and practically everything he owned, was going to be thrown to those legion dogs. He wanted to kill the Redguard too, but could think of no practical way to do it – the best he could do was make a quick escape and forget about the whole thing, but not anymore.
The guards would probably have recognized his face, and the fact that he brandished his weapons at the authorities would not have been forgotten either. Luckily, no buildings had caught on fire during the duration of his spell, but he got the sinking feeling that he had already got the death warrant. How he wished he was back in Cyrodil running a little shop tucked away safely into a nook of the Imperial City Marketplace. Of course, that dream was dashed now – he was on the run from guards, and he didn’t even have a ship.
“Frenzy creature!”
There. The mer had done it now. Georgie was a frenzied guar. Not that it meant anything – the beast began running in circles at first, and then charging headfirst into the line of legion (rather bewildered) soldiers. Pyr swore – he saw archers drawing their bowstrings. So much for not getting Georgie hurt. Then his eyes drifted over to the Mer. The damned elf better be doing something to amend for all his lost goods.
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Post by Ranger on Feb 18, 2008 15:16:57 GMT 10
Guars - you couldn't have guessed it - heavy creatures. If you had the same mass of gold as a Guar, the difference would only be about by about a quater. To support their weight, Guars had extremely powerful legs. These made them quite adequate replacements for Pack Horses in Morrowind. In this situation, it would make an adequate substitute of a battering ram to smash through the formation of guards.
The Guar charged forward. It crashed into the two front two guards, knocked them aside and sent them rolling on the ground. It kept going. Tedril ran swiftly and silently behind behind the Guar.
"The beast is wild!" One of the guards started screaming. "Put it down!! Kill it!" Another one brandished his spear in the direction of the Guar.
Georgie hit the line of guards. The raised their shields. No use. Georgie rammed right through the line like it was made of paper. The Guards started whacking the Guar with their various weapons. Georgie howled and started ramming guards left and right. Most of the shortswords bounced off. Guar hides were pretty tough. In the confusion, Tedril slipped underneath the Guar and slid up through the mass of guards. The captain was screaming orders everywhere and wasn't paying much attention to the woman.
"Idiots! Use the spears! Denerius, watch out for the tail! Francena, go for the man!" Georgie the Guar thrashed about amidst the guards. He tailswept and tripped Denerius and Francena as they ran. Tedril sneaked towards the woman, who was standing a little away from the guards. It looked like she was applying powder to her face, perhaps readying herself for her trip with the guard captain. There was an ugly grin there. In one smooth move, Tedril grabbed her head, wrapped his hand around her mouth and pulled her back behind a wall. He held his dagger in his right hand and shoved it up her chest, just near her vocal chords.
"Scream or shout and I will first slit blade into your larynx and then sever the arteries around your heart. It will be a painful death, understand? Nod for yes."
The womam's mouth tightened. She shook her head. Tedril calmly dug his knife into her chest and drew a quick X across. The woman tried to scream and bit his fingers - more accurately, his gloves. Tedril placed the tip of his blade on her larynx and pushed slightly.
"Nod for yes please."
The woman moved her head a fraction.
"Good. Now answer my question; where were you going to go after you killed me? Where was your rendezvous? Write your answer in the soil."
The woman shook her head. Tedril had to admire her spirit. At least she was loyal. Or maybe it was just fear of her superiors. Nevertheless, he needed answers. He drew a V across her chest with his knife, just slightly deeper than his X.
"Where is it?"
The woman hesitated, then shakily lifted a finger and drew a word in the ground. Vivec.
"Which canton?"
FQ. That stood for Foreign Quarter, where most non-native peoples went.
"Which part of the Foreign Quarter?"
The woman drew a word in the dirt. At that particular angle it was impossible for Tedril to read it. Tedril bent closer......then stabbed upwards to the woman's chest!
The woman fell dead to the ground. She was clutching a Throwing Star in her hands, which had been hidden behind her back. The false bottom of her make-up kit was lying on the ground next to the kit itself. It was now obvious where the Throwing Star had come from. Devious - the woman had probably been counting on his leaning forward to expose his neck. Unfortunately for her, Tedril had noticed her ripping out the false bottom of her kit and had guessed her intent.
Tedril stood up and looked in the direction of the Guar. It was bleeding from a dozen different cuts and was still running about everywhere. The guards had noticed that their shortswords had not been able to do much damage and had started prodding the Guar with spears. Tedril past the Guard Captain, who glanced up in surprise and into the mass of guards. He leapt onto the back of the Guar.
"Demoralize Creature!"
It was time to make their escape.
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