18+ Nightfall

[Aethalia]

Even as Shadari was moving to attack the slayers, Aliah mirrored her, approaching her first opponent, even as the spear wielding slayer rushed at her. The enemy thrust the spear at her, but the vampiress intercepted the stabbing weapon, using one of her swords to subtly lower the trajectory of the weapon. It thudded into the boardwalk, and using one of her swords, she kept the spear pinned down, making it impossible for the slayer to lift his weapon, and use it.

The slayer looked up from his embedded spear in time to have her second blade slash through his throat. As that one fell, she stepped forwards, both blades slicing through the thin leather hauberk he wore, and the slayer collapsed to the boards, just as her third opponent charged, slashing at her with a jagged blade. She parried his first blow, and slashed quickly across the slayers chest, before running him through with both blades.

Her last foe collapsed almost at the same time as Shadaris' final enemy, and the vampiress wasted no time in motioning the Khajiit assassin to follow her. They made their way up the stairs and arrows hissed past them. They took cover in a ruined building, and she glanced over at the Khajiit. "We need to make our way to the gates. Any ideas?"

 

[TheShadedOne]

Aliah and Shadari sprinted up the stairs, narrowly avoiding a hail of arrows. The slayers aim left much to be improved on, but the assassin was smart enough not to give the enemy pointers. The pair took cover in a ruined building, and besides a few more futile arrows, which thudded into the wood and stone, the shooting stopped. Aliah turned to her, looking none the worse for wear for being knocked out, tossed into the canal, and then fighting off half a dozen slayers alongside Shadari. "We need to make our way to the gates. Any ideas?"

The assassin had been in Riften for a while, and knew that the slayers had been creating a new camp-city from the ruins. The ruins had been shifted and reinforced to create passageways to the gates and other parts of the city, where the resistance wasn't trying to sabotage their efforts. In the days after the fighting had died down, she'd noticed the slayers supervising reconstruction of walls and what looked like a barracks type structure. She'd thought that the Blight only knew how to destroy, but, apparently, they'd learnt to build as well. Nothing nice, just functional.

They'd managed to repair the smithy, and were hammering out crude weapons and scraps of armour for their soldiers. Shadari was no tactician, but it would have been obvious to even the dimmest Nord. The Blight was turning the remnants of Riften into a fortress. She visualized a route to the gates, not doubting that it was guarded, and patrolled frequently. "We'll have to be fast, and stay out of sight" motioning for Aliah to follow, she slipped into a passageway, that had been subjected to preliminary work, wooden supports applied to strengthen the walls, but not much else.

She wasn't too worried about being discovered. An assassin and a vampiress were probably the most silent denizens of the ruins. Unfortunately, not everything always went to plan. Turning a corner, they came face to face with a pair of corpsers. Shadari, in the lead, reacted quickly, one hand flinging a knife that buried itself in a corpsers throat, the other drawing and slashing with her falchion, catching the second corpser across the chest.

They were about to continue on, Shadari having retrieved her knife, when one corpser, the one she'd attacked with her falchion, started screaming. Swearing, the Khajiit turned on her heel and plunged the weapon into the creatures throat. One of the slayers, near the gate, with what looked like a sword wound that had taken its' right eye started bellowing "we're under attack!" Immediately, nearly a dozen slayers and perhaps twice that many corpsers rushed out of the ruins, and headed not towards the two women ,but deeper into the ruin-fortress. Surprised at their sudden luck, the assassin turned and shrugged at her elven companion.

 

[willowwisp]

The amount of wargs diminished, one going off to fight a warrior in steel armour that looked vaguely familiar, wearing no helmet, but wielding a large axe. Another man, this one upon a horse, wearing red armour, wielding a bronze-gold coloured blade fought the mounted slayers. That left three wargs and their riders attacking her protectiv spell. Gasping with the effort, she turned the spell from defensive into an attack, forcing the wargs back. Surprised, the beasts started squabbling among each other, and the priestess brought flames to her hands. The wargs leapt away from her, but too slow to evade the purifying flames, and the beasts galloped away, howling and snarling as their pelts caught fire.

Exhausted, the young Imperial slumped, watching as the group of relatively safe refugees made their way to Whiteruns' gates. Her concerned gaze then moved to Torin who was still fighting, although the mounted, red armoured warrior was protecting him, it seemed. Both the shorter, axe wielding man, and the red armoured man seemed very familiar, but she was too tired to remember them at the moment. She didn't doubt that she'd be easy prey for any warg or slayer that came across her.

 

[Drahkma]

Averain surveyed the battlefield, his keen eyes sweeping over the battle field. Three wargs, their pelts flaming, galloped away from the battle, bearing their cursing riders. He was impressed by the sudden display of magic. It was obvious it had come from the young, robed woman, who now looked rather exhausted. He didn't blame her, after all, she'd held off three wargs and their riders, after protecting a group of refugees with her magic.

The newest addition to the battle, a stout, bald, muscled warrior wielding a steel battle axe had finished off another warg and its rider. The man could only be a warrior that he'd met years ago. Donath Stonesplitter, apparently, was as tough and strong as ever. A smil touched the knights grim face and he turned back to the battle, which was rapidly winding down. Only a small number of Blight forces remained, and the four of them were finishing off the stragglers.

Once the last of the enemy had been dispatched, Averain dismounted and approached the ranger, who, despite his forehead wound, had held his own. "Torin, old friend! I thought I saw you up on the spur. It is good to see that your skill with both blade and bow has not diminished" the knight said, sheathing Goldbrand, and smiling at the Nord ranger.

 

[Blackwhite1223]

Torins wound stopped him from seeing as well as he'd like, but he did hear the yelp and thud as a warg struck the ground, hard. He turned in time to see the beast on its' side, a spear thrown clear through its' side. An impressive feat, for any warrior, and the throw had obviously saved his life. A moment later, and the beast would have caught him from behind, and unaware. He stiffened as he heard the heavy footsteps and curses of what could only be a slayer charging up the spur he'd claimed.

Turning swiftly, his sword held at chest level, he saw his opponent through his good eye, noting that the slayers weapon, a mace, was up high, in no position to block or parry any form of attack. The keen edge of the rangers blade sliced through the fur and leather that made up the slayers armour, and stopped him cold. The slayer swayed back and forth for a second, before toppling forwards, mace dropping from nerveless fingers.

Glancing away from his fallen opponent, Torin surmised the battle was all but over. Three wargs were on fire, running for their lives, bearing their less than amused riders far from the battle. A man in steel armour with a large axe had just wrenched his weapon from the skull of a warg and finished off its rider, a man in red steel plate was approaching. The rangers head wound had stopped bleeding enough for him to recognize the mans face. "Torin, old friend! I thought I saw you up on the spur. It is good to see that your skill with both blade and bow has not diminished"

If he'd had any further doubts about the man, they were banished now. Averain Silverblade walked towards him, sheathing his sword as he did so. Torin used a cloth to wipe off his own blade, before sheathing it, and grinned at the vampire knight. There had been a time when he'd been less than thrilled to see the vampire, and hadn't trusted him enough to talk to him, nevermind fight alongside him. However, over the course of their journey, he'd come to trust the knight, and he'd had his life saved by him several times. "Averain. You always tend to arrive where you're needed most. It is good to see you, old friend" he clasped the knights gauntleted fore arms.

 

[Stormmaiden]

Lythare slashed through another slayers throats, and he toppled to the ground, the Bosmer woman turning and parrying a stab that was aimed at her midsection. A detonation and shortened shriek, frm behind her, her Lythare turning on her heel, to see a warg flying sideways, its' rider flying off its back. Its' side was scorched, and ribs crushed, obviously by some great magical force.

She frowned, momentarily confused. There were no magic users in the group of refugees, or guards. None with the power she'd just witnessed, anyways. She turned to see an Altmer in Thalmor robes, with pale golden skin and pitch black hair standing at the edge of the trees, magical energy flickering on his fingertips. 'Salthar Vivarian' the vampire lord she'd fought alongside two years ago. She felt more than a little relieved with the powerful sorcerer fighting alongside her. However, the fight wasn't yet over. A pair of slayers approached, and Lythare prepared to fight once more.

 

[Aethalia]

Aliah could scarcely believe their luck, as the slayers and corpsers that had, moments before been guarding the gate, turned and thundered towards the ruined city center. The vampiress swept her gaze over the wall the slayers had erected, searching for hidden sentries. As far as her keen elven eyes could tell, there were none. That didn't necessarily mean there were no enemies, they could be ensconced among the rubble, awaiting the appropriate moment to strike, but she doubted that was the case.

Slayers were known for their cruelty and brutality, not their smarts. She tried not to dwell on the fact that despite that, they'd taken Riften in days. "It looks clear. Let's go before they return" the two of them ran for the gates, Aliah keeping her eyes and ears open, but no slayers emerged to challenge them, and the two of them made their way to the dense forest outside of Riften. "We shouldn't use the roads. I'm sure the enemy has patrols searching for any survivors"

 

[WindWalker]

Julius faced off against the slayer, who was less than intimadated by his Imperial weapon and short, Imperial gladius. Honestly, Julius wouldn't have been very intimidated by him if he'd seen himself. He was tired, injured, and held only a short sword against a fresh, bloodthirsty slayer, and no help was in sight. The Imperial was unwilling to make the first move, knowing that a single mistake would probably end up costing him his life.

The slayer snarled and lunged, Julius barely managing to leap out of the way of its' first attack. He turned, swinging with his own weapon, and caught the slayer across the side. There wasn't much strength behind the blow, and the slayer knew it. It let out a bark of laughter or perhaps anger. Julius guessed there wasn't much of a difference between the two.

The slayer charged again, bringing its' sword down in a vicious, two handed, overhand swing. Julius interposed his own weapon, and had it nearly knocked out of his hands as the slayers weapon came into contact with his own. As it was, he slammed to the ground, barely managing to hold onto it, and the slayer approached, now clearly laughing, and preparing to finish off the weary Imperial.

 

[Madrar]

Salthar inclined his head slightly to Lythare as she turned to him. The Bosmer was a capable warrior, and certainly didn't need his help in order to hold her own against the slayers. He turned his attention to the battlefield, noticing that most of the attacking wargs and their riders had been slain, but one slayer, that had been trapped when his mount had been shot, had finally freed himself, and drawn a scimitar. Salthar stepped forwards, not bothering to draw his sword.

A single slayer was hardly a threat to the vampire, but the beast didn't know it. hefting its' weapon, the slayer charged, bellowing a war cry as it did so. He waited for the slayer to get within arms length, before stepping forwards, lifting his left arm, he unleashed a lightning bolt in the centre of the slayers chest, and the creature was thrown backwards, its weapon flying from its grasp, a scorch mark the size of a basket on its chest. The slayer twitched once, before going still. Obviously, the creature hadn't been smart enough to realize its death when he saw it.

 

[Drahkma]

Averain surveyed the aftermath of the battle, impressed by the efficient way the four of them had slain their enemies. The spur itself had helped Torin, in the respect that the slayers had been forced to come at him from one direction, which the ranger had expected, and promptly cut them down, until he'd been wounded himself. "Averain. You always tend to arrive where you're needed most. It is good to see you, old friend" the vampire knight inclined his head.

"In truth, I was already on my way to Whiterun when I witness your plight. I could not in good concience allow you or Elizabeth to die." He nodded at the lightly armoured corpse of a warg rider. The light armour allowed both the slayers and, more importantly, their mounts to move quickly across open territory.

"These are scouts. I'd guess they're coming from either the Rift or Falkreath. " He'd fought some Blight forces at Dawnstar, but nothing substantial. Or at least, no forces that would leave the city intact. And if they had marched from the north, it would have been logical for them to leave a rearguard. He hadn't encountered any Blight forces, not until he'd reached the area near Whiterun. "I fear we may expect a larger force before the month is past" he stated grimly.

 

[TheShadedOne]

"We shouldn't use the roads. I'm sure the enemy has patrols searching for any survivors" Shadari nodded. The Blight were persistent, if nothing else. Any survivors from the battle that had fled the city would have been hunted down and killed, if they were stupid enough to use the roads. "You're probably right. Slayers aren't the type to take prisoners, and we can't fight an army" after considering for a few moments, she said, "I think we should head for Whiterun. It's close enough that we can make it there without any real trouble." The assassin glanced around, before leading her companion into the trees, in the direction of Whiterun hold.

 

[willowwisp]

Elizabeth sighed as the battle ended. She was exhausted, and surprised she was still standing after the amount of magic she'd expended. She turned to see Torin speaking with the red armoured man, who she realized was "Averain!?" She called, surprised and joyful to have found her old friend.

"I thought you were still up north? What are you doing here?" She asked, smiling at the pleasant surprise. Then Torins forehead wound, long but shallow, caught her attention. "Torin! You're hurt. Let me tend to you" she stepped forwards, bringing healing energies to her hands as she did so. She directed her energy to cleaning and sealing the wound.

After she'd finished she staggered forwards, instinctively grabbing for something to hold onto, darkness infringing on the corners of her vision. She straightened, the darkness fading away, but a headache and nausea had become rather prominent. Trying to reassure the two men, she said "don't worry. I just need to rest for a little while."

 

[Blackwhite1223]

"In truth, I was already on my way to Whiterun when I witness your plight. I could not in good concience allow you or Elizabeth to die." Torin was touched at the other mans concern. Clearly, the vampire knight was indeed a good person, despite the dark reputation that surrounded his kind. Torin nodded at the knight, glad he could trust him.

Then Averain indicated the lightly armoured slayer at their feet. "These are scouts. I'd guess they're coming from either the Rift or Falkreath. " The ranger nodded. He and Elizabeth had come from Rorikstead, evacuating the village by order of the Jarl. They hadn't come across any enemy forces until they'd reached the area they were at now. He nodded once more when Averain voiced his concern about a larger force attacking Whiterun in the near future.

"You are probably right. It's not likely the enemy has much need to regroup its' forces yet. Riften fell far too quickly to have cost them more than a small force. They are most likely organizing their assault even as we speak" he glanced to the side to see Elizabeth approaching, looking at the vampiric knight.

"I thought you were still up north? What are you doing here?" She asked the knight, and Torin smiled at her enthusiasm. Then her gaze slid to him and her eyes widened slightly in alarm. She insisted on healing him, and despite not wanting to tax the woman more the feeling of the non-dangerous but painful wound healed.
He stepped forward to support her as she staggered and nearly collapsed. "We need to get you to the city, so that you may rest" he said firmly, ignoring her weak explanation.

 

[Stormmaiden]

Lythare stepped forwards, surprising her two adversaries with by moving to meet them, instead of backing away, like they'd obviously expected. The left hand slayer swung his weapon, a thick wooden club, which the nimble elf easily dodged. Before could attack again, or his companion could move to support him, she moved in close, slashing both of her long daggers across his throat. As the beast collapsed, club falling to the ground as his hands flew to his throat, followed by his body.

The second slayer fared slightly better, barely managing to parry her first blow, but fell just as quickly to her second strike, a low attack that slashed through an artery and had him dropping onto his back, dying. The main battle was over, only two of the guards had survived,neither of them without injuries. She frowned, hearing the sound of battle from the tree line.

Glancing at Salthar, she sheathed her knives, and retrieved her bow, placing an arrow on the string. She moved quickly, arriving at the trees, and spotting a man in Imperial armour dueling a slayer. The slayers mount had already been slain, by the Imperial soldier or his comrades, Lythare didn't know, but she couldn't see any other Imperials around, living or dead. As she watched, the slayer knocked the man to the ground, and she caught a glimpse of his face. "Julius?" She was surprised, but her shock would have to wait.

The slayer was closing in on the fallen Imperial, and Julius didn't look like he had the energy to defend himself any longer. She fired her arrow, and the shaft flew straight and true, striking the slayer in the throat. He collapsed backwards and Lythare rushed to the Imperials side. "Julius. Are you alright? What are you doing out here by yourself?"

 

[Baneloth]

The battle was over, and Donath rested his ax against his shoulder as he surveyed the battle field. He'd arrived fairly late to the fighting, since he'd been further away than the others, and missed out on most of the kills, but all the refugees from Rorikstead had made it to the gates of Whiterun, and the guards were hurrying them inside.

The three warriors that had fought off the horde of warg riders stood near a spur of rock and dirt, weapons sheathed, and seemed happy to see one another alive and well. As he got closer, his suspicions were confirmed, and he recognized the three as Averain Silverblade, the vampire knight, Torin Greenbow, and the robed woman was Elizabeth. All three of them he'd travelled with, and fought alongside two years ago.

It did his old heart good to see them relatively unharmed. He approached as they made their way to the gates of the city, and raised a hand to his mouth. "Oy! You layabouts just gonna stand there, or come an' say hello?" He bellowed, grinning at his old companions surprised reactions.

 

[WindWalker]

Julius had been about to have his head removed from the rest of him when an arrow struck the slayer in the throat, throwing him to the ground, dead. He let out a sigh of relief, and glanced up as a woman in forest greens arrived beside him, with dark hair and the pointed ears of an elf. "Julius. Are you alright? What are you doing out here by yourself?"

He realized he recognized the woman. "Lythare?" He shook his head, clearing it, and struggled to his feet. "A little beat up, but I'll live" he groaned as his bruised body protested his movement "I was sent by my commander at Helgen...the Blight attacked...everyone's dead, by now"

 

[Drahkma]

Averain felt a jolt of alarm go through him as Elizabeth slumped forwards, being caught by Torins' swift reaction. It was obvious that the young woman was exhausted from the battle, not that he blamed her. The amount of magic she'd used defending the refugees and herself from the warg riders. He nodded at the rangers suggestion that they get her inside the city. Rest would be the best for the woman, after a hot meal.

"Oy! You layabouts just gonna stand there, or come an' say hello?" Averain glanced up, surprised by the new, but very familiar voice. The knight felt a smile come to his lips as he saw the short, bald Nord warrior, axe in one hand, the other to his mouth as he shouted. "Donath!" He assured that Torin was guiding Elizabeth towards the gates before slapping the old Nord warrior on the shoulder. "It is good to see you, my friend. I knew the Blight had no chance of defeating one such as you!"

 

[Madrar]

Salthar followed Lythare, and was as surprised as she was to find the young Julius, battered and bruised, but alive. He listened as the young Imperial relayed his grim tale of the fall of Helgen. He was dismayed by the news, but not terribly surprised. "I suspected as much. It seems the enemy is a step ahead of us. I recommend we make all speed to Whiterun. Out of all the nearby holds, it is the most secure. For now, anyways"

 

[TheShadedOne]

The two of them, Altmer vampiress, and Khajiit assassin arrived in the plains outside of Whiterun sometime after mid day, and though the sky was still overcast, it wasn't yet nightfall. The assassin could see corpses of slayers and wargs scattered a small distance away from the gates of the city. Obviously, something had happened before they'd arrived. Some small, but vicious battle had been fought in the plains. "Looks like we missed all the fun"

 

[WindWalker]

"I suspected as much. It seems the enemy is a step ahead of us. I recommend we make all speed to Whiterun. Out of all the nearby holds, it is the most secure. For now, anyways" the fact that Salthar didn't mention Riverwood or Falkreath could only mean one thing. That Julius could think of, anyways. "I was on my way to warn Falkreath and Riverwood. But I guess there's no need for that now." He hated knowing that if he had been just a little faster, he might had been able to warn them . He shrugged, pushing the worries that had been gnawing at him for the whole trek to the back of his mind. "You're right. Whiterun is our best bet." He sheathed his sword, and began walking towards the hold capital.