Private [ROF] Rise of the Falmer

[OriginOfAbsolution]

"Thanks." Emberlynn stares as the Argonian hands her the dark, moist organ. It smells strange, just as the blood in the vial had. So it was Falmer. That explains it. For a moment, she considers drinking from it right there. The thirst still loomed in the back of her throat. But it would simply be too embarrassing. Especially now that Geel could...

"Geel." She says suddenly, realizing. "What happened after I left? I mean... can you... see me?" The girl awkwardly waves her hand in front of his face. "How?"

It was incredible! She cannot help a smile, despite everything. "And I'm, uh... sorry for leaving." Emberlynn adds as an afterthought. "This whole thing is kind of... difficult." Her red-tinted eyes glance down at the floor in shame. "I still haven't decided if I'll stay."

 

[Geel-Kajin]

Geel grinned, ducking backwards as she waved it bare inches from his snort. "Haha yeah, I have Einarr to thank for that one. The boy definitely has talent."

Geel's smile faded slightly as the conversation got to a slightly more serious topic. "Ah... Well, I understand why you would go, it's natural for someone to find him or herself out of place in such a stereotypical world we live in..." He said awkwardly. He could feel both of them tensing up, the conversation getting more difficult. It would be risky if someone were eavesdropping on them and put the conversation and her oddly colored eyes together and came up with a conclusion.

"I still haven't decided if I'll stay." Geel understands what she means, even though he can't admit it to her. He knew that simply returning like that would be hard, not only for what she was, but also the emotional impact it would have on the group. Rale definitely won't be too happy.... What about Valthor? As Dragonborn, he probably won't be all too happy traveling with what most Nords consider "evil monsters"

But then again, her own safety was at risk. She was a human like everyone else, even though someapparently did not think so. The time she came to help her, she had gone unconscious.... What else could happen if she didn't have a group to rely on?

"I...get it.However, you've barely gotten used to your new self, do you think if it was safer for everyone if you at least stayed with the group for a few days? The last time we met you, you passed out in the middle of the Wilderness. Perhaps if you rest and keep in the protection of the group, then you will be able to decide for yourself with a clear mind."

 

[Melee]

((Psst! Geel! Valthor is the Dragonborn, not Vorman! ))

The pain that Einarr was feeling was almost tangible as he talked about how hard it was to be back in Dawnstar, especially with all the memories of the Falmer attack that had just recently occurred. Melee could see a faint red glow coming from the scars on his hands as he relaxed them.

He seemed the most upset about the girl the Falmer had taken. From the little he had told her of his life before the Falmer attack, it seemed to Melee that the girl might have been the one person Einarr was particularly close with. He was visibly upset about the incident, looking down at the floor as he told her about it.

Melee put a comforting hand on his arm as he rubbed his eyes, talking about how hard it was to be in the tavern since so many of the faces he was accustomed to seeing were now gone. She looked up at him with a small smile on her face, hoping that her presence here was helping Einarr, rather than hurting him further. "I can only imagine how difficult it must be for you right now. But you know that all of us are here to help you, anytime you need anything. We'll make sure you get through this." She turned around to face him, clasping her hands together in front of her. "Is there anything I can do to help you right now?" Her smile had faded, and now the only thing that was evident in her bright green eyes was concern as she looked at Einarr, who was now gazing into the fire.

 

[Gemini Sierra]

[Cliffs over Dawnstar]
The storm was starting to subside and the Shadowmaster left the tent. Dawn was starting as the sun back lit the mountains. Those Falmer in the group with eyes would have to make for cover as they weren't used to the sunlight yet. The rest would just follow along. He decided to head to Alftand and the passage to Blackreach. He hoped he didn't have to kill another one of those exploration parties that liked to wander into the ancient Dwemer ruins. He also hoped that the Dwemer security systems didn't rebuild those damned spiders again. Those things were annoying.
They broke camp and left the cliff, Shadowmaster taking one last look at the town. They should have razed the town instead of just killing and kidnapping a few people. He also wished they hadn't collapsed those tunnels into the mines. Would've made spying on those adventures easier. He had to get back and let the Prince know where they were and so they set off to Alftand.

 

[Derath_farseer]

Einarr looks turns his head slightly and looks at Melee. He could see the concern on her face. Which made him feel touched that he was traveling with people who seemed to care about him. His mouth opens slightly for a moment, He wanted to ask her to stay just to sit with him for a moment but he wasn't sure how to ask. He had no one left. All he wanted was affection, Affection that he never given wile he was younger. His eyes glanced at her body and a few less then pure thoughts crossed his mind. Which he quickly pushed away. He wanted to badly to hold her and hope his problems would fall away. But part of him knew his momentary affection was miss placed.

So Einarr looked towards the fire again and takes a breath.
"No.. I doubt there's any thing that can help.. It's just tough to see my home like this, But thank you Melee. It means a lot that you came out to see how I was. But I'll be fine." He looks back and gives her a weak smile.
"Now.. Don't let me hold you up, I'm sure the others will be wondering where we both ran off to. You can head back.. I think I'll wait here a little longer." His voice sounds uncertain as he asks her to go. Deep down he hopes she stays even if they just sat for a time.

 

[Melee]

Melee smiled and shook her head slightly, turning and staring at the embers in the fire and listening to the occasional crackle of logs as they split apart and sent sparks spiraling into the air. She could tell by the way that Einarr was staring into the fire just as she was that he wouldn't just be fine. Like he had said, it was hard seeing your home in the state that it was right now. She didn't know if he really wanted her to go back or not, but she just didn't feel right leaving him when he was obviously very upset.

Placing her hand on his arm on again, Melee smiled softly at Einarr as he continued gazing into the fire, almost as if he was looking past it instead of into it. "Listen, Einarr. I know that you're upset. And you probably do just want me to go away and leave you alone. But I would feel horrible if I did that, knowing that you're so upset. So, do you mind if I just stay here? I won't even say anything if you don't want me to. I just don't want you to be alone."

With that, Melee laid down on the ground about a foot away from him, folding her arms behind her head. Every so often, a crack from the fire would bring her back to reality from her wandering thoughts, and she would see the small orange sparks disappear into the air above her.

 

[Gemini Sierra]

Geminus woke with a start, something wasn't right, or so he thought as he looked around the room trying to remember how he'd gotten there. As he started to sit up his head throbbed a bit, "Oh yeah... I was doing a bit of drinking last night. I think I might have over done it a bit." He chuckled to himself as he finished sitting up and realized he was still in his armor. "I'm going to be sore from sleeping like that in my armor. I wonder where the others got to." He vaguely remembered talking to to strangers last night. An older mage and a younger lad. What were their names. "Oh yeah, Vorman and Edwyn." Said they were here to investigate something which he couldn't remember at the moment.
He stood up and ran a hand through his hair. He tried to figure out what time of day it was, the tevern was really quiet, so he guessed it was really early in the morning. The storm must've passed as he didn't hear the howling winds anymore.
Stepping into the main room he made his way to the counter and looking around behind it found a dish rag hanging from a peg. He took it and dunked it in the bucket of water behind the counter, then after wringing it out he wiped the spilt beer and mead off his armor. "Yeah, probably way over did it last night." After replacing the rag he went back to his room and slung his shield over his shoulder, adjusted his sword belt and picked up his helmet.
Stepping outside onto the porch of the tavern he realized it was nearly morning. Dawn was just breaking and the streets were quiet. There were a few guards slowly moving about probably tired from having to be on the late watch.
Geminus stepped off the porch and into the street. He donned his helmet and started wandering the streets. He stopped at one point on the upper road and looked over the harbor. The air had cleared nicely and he could see the light house on the northern point and if he turned around he could clearly see the old fort tower on the hillside southeast of town. It was going to be a beautiful clear day out he thought. He continued his walk around town getting the lay of the land as he found the alchemists shop, blacksmith and what must be the "museum" that some of the town folk talked about yesterday.
He walked back to the blacksmith shop and sat on their porch. It overlooked the harbor with the best view. He noticed the ship that had brought him there was gone. Probably having left on the early tide. There was still one other ship, but she didn't look like she was going anywhere soon. He sat there for a bit trying to decide what to do next. After a few minutes his stomach grumbled and he decided, get some breakfast, and headed back to the tavern.

 

[Derath_farseer]

Einarr looked at Melee as she laid down, He couldn't help but smile slightly. He felt an over whelming sence of happiness as she made up her mind to stay with him. He took a deep breath and laid down beside her near the fire.His mind wondered for a moment thinking of what to say.
"Last time we really spoke you mentioned your parents.. What about your home. You've seen mine, What about yours. How does it compare to this ball of ice and snow.." The fire of the one room house send shadows sprawling on the walls. Einarr took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling unaware of the shadow in the corner that shouldn't be there and that wasn't all in entirely there. The spirit of days past watching him, and guiding him. Out lining the vague shape of his mother.

 

[Melee]

Melee stared up at the ceiling and watched as the flames seemed to toss shadows across the room at random. They made her eyes travel all over the coarse grained wood that made up the house as she smiled slightly, thinking about the land that she came from.

"My home is.. Much different from Skyrim. Our architecture is very organic. We strive to make our homes and buildings in a way that mimics nature and our landscape as much as they can. They almost look like trees; tall, winding, with different segments twisting around each other." She raises her hand into the air above her as she says this, turning and curling her hand to convey a visual idea of what they look like. "Not like the buildings here. They're so rigid." Melee says this with a touch of curiosity in her voice; the buildings she had seen in Skyrim had intrigued her when she had first arrived, as they were so different from the ones back home.

"Then, we have these great forests with towering trees," she stretches her arms out, not quite doing justice to how incredibly tall the trees really are, "and this shimmery mist that almost seems to come out of nowhere. And there are massive, expansive meadows and valleys that create huge dips in the landscape. They're dotted with these beautiful orchards and flowers and.." Melee's voice trails off as a huge smile peeks through and eventually covers her whole face. It was obvious that she had been getting excited while she talked; the volume of her voice had risen to a point that was just below yelling, and her hands and arms had been flowing wildly as she mentally visualized her home. She sigh contentedly, letting her arms go limp that they fell across her body.

Melee then turned to look at Einarr, trying her best to conceal what remained of her smile. "I also lived by the ocean." After a brief pause she turns her attention back to the dancing shadows on the ceiling. "Sorry, I kind of got a bit out of hand there. I always talk too much. I'm here to help you feel better, not go off on some long-winded discussion about me."

 

[skyrimbeast]

"Ohhh, what......where........ohhhhh yeah, I'm in the tavern innnnn Dawnstar." Vorman said as he looked around the small, boring room. "Ohh, Edwyn........ What are we doing, still in bed we've got to get out and carry on our little mysterious quest." He said and with that he jumped into the cupboard and came out ready in his armor about 10 seconds later. "EDWYN! Wake up you old mage", he shouted and he shook the mans head back and fourth very quickly. "Oh well, I'm going to have some fresh morning air." He said as he walked out of the room and through the front door. He loved the breeze, and would take it in every morning possible to put his day to a positive start. He thought about the other people he had seen last night but cant remember much more than the argonian and that Imperial he talked to, he wondered what they were all up to right now, probably still in bed but maybe not.

 

[Skyrimosity]

If I don't open my eyes he'll go away. Just keep them closed. A few minutes after Vorman stooped shaking Edwyn, Edwyn got up. He got into his comfortable fur armor and prepared for the events of the day. He knew it wouldn't be easy to found out what happened to the thane, but Edwyn would love to see some low-life guard try to put up a fight. My magic thirsts for blood. After thinking for a few minutes, he went down stairs and asked the barmaid for her finest cheese. He saw a fellow at a table, he looked like he'd been up a while. "Excuse me sir, have you seen my friend. He looks like a wood-elf/nord and always looks troubled. " The man said " Yea, I saw your friend just a few minutes earlier. He said something about taking a walk in the open air." And with that, Edwyn set out to see where his friend went off too. After all, they needed to get started on their investigation.

 

[Derath_farseer]

Einarr shut his eyes as she spoke trying to visualizes what she was describing. It sounded so strange, and fascinating at the same time.
"It's no problem." He looks over and smiles at her. "Its helping, and its nice to hear about some where with out snow. I can't even imagine what it must be like." He looks back up at the ceiling. "I've never been out of dawn star.. Where you found me was the furthest away from home I've ever been. Maybe.. When this is all over I'll go and see the rest of the world." He stops and thinks about their chances of coming back alive from this task. They seemed slimmer every day. "A war is coming... and we're all that's standing in its way, Seems like an impossible thing to try and stop with out help." He rubs his eyes which felt dry after looking at the fire earlier. "Even scouting the tunnels.. if we still go ahead with that. I'm afraid that we wont come back. I've done so little.. with my life.."

 

[OriginOfAbsolution]

Emberlynn goes silent at Geel's words. He was right... She shouldn't go back out there alone... Vampire or not, she was still young, naive, and unprepared to be out in the wilderness on her own.

"Maybe." She says finally, unsure. "But you saw what happened with Rale... I appreciate what you guys did back there, but you can't protect me forever." she pauses. "Though I'm pretty sure I could hold my own against him." She flashes a smile and her eyes seem to glint red for a moment. *As long as I'm out of the sun* she added mentally.

"Speaking of that lousy bastard..." Emberlynn said slowly. "He doesn't still
have that rabbit with him, does he? I need to talk -- um... See it."

((sorry that was short and crappy. On my phone at work))

 

[Melee]

Melee lay there silently for a moment as she watches new shadows creep across the ceiling. These, however, were not from the fire; they were from the slowly rising sun spilling light over the land. She watched them crawl, millimeter by millimeter as she took what Einarr had just said and tossed around in her head a bit.

There was no doubt in her mind that a war was indeed coming. The only unknown factors were when and where it would take place. No, that's over-simplifying, and you can't really afford to do that, she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and shook her head so little that it wasn't even visible. You have to be realistic and think about these things. That will probably make it easier. Easier? Nothing about this was easy. Ok, I know this isn't easy in any sense of the word, and it isn't going to be. I'll just think about that later.

Melee shoved that thought into the back of her mind as she exhaled a deep breath she hadn't noticed that she was holding in. She sat up and peered into the dying fire for a minute before turning to look at Einarr. "You don't have to do this, you know," she says with a small smile. "You are the youngest out of all of us. You could go to Winterhold, or do some exploring." She leans back on her elbows, covering her mouth to stifle a yawn. It hadn't occurred to her until then that she hadn't slept all that much since they left the last inn. The little bit she had gotten was restless and hadn't done much good.

"I'm not quite sure what to say to your worries about not returning, though. Although I do an awful lot of talking, I'm usually not very good with words or putting my thoughts into cohesive sentences. I will say though, that even though this seems impossible, we've accomplished something even by attempting to do this." She shrugs. "Who knows, maybe we'll inspire people to do what we're doing. Maybe we'll even succeed in getting past the tunnels and defeat the Falmer. I don't know what we'll happen. But somehow, I'm trying to hold an idea resembling optimism in my head." After a brief pause, Melee stood up and stretched, her fingertips brushing the edges of the beams supporting the ceiling of the small house. She offered a hand to Einarr as she looked toward the sun, which was now almost completely over the horizon. "C'mon, let's head back to the inn. I'm sure everyone else is there and just waking up."

 

[Geel-Kajin]

"It's true, you have more than just exterior threats to fight." Geel laughed sadly, thinking of how well Rale and Emberlynn had got along (even though they squabbled like a married couple) before the change. Grimacing, he replied " That I'm sure. That is, if you can find him. Haven't seen him around much... think he was last seen talking to Valthor. Strange, I never thought he liked the Dragonborn, the two seemed a world apart."

"The rabbit? Not sure if it came on the carriage with us, hopefully it hasn't been put in a pot of carrot stew yet, I was just getting fond of it. Used to think all it was nice for was a crunchy meat pie."

He flinched slightly as a sudden cloud of red which engulfed her eyes when she spoke. That fearful, dark crimson orbs had definitely shocked him, but they disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Geel tried his best to cover up his mistake by appearing to shake off his Mage's hood, but his nerves were unsteady. I'l never get used to that...

Which reminded him. Emberlynn couldn't possibly go around with her eyes turning bloody red every few seconds and having to cover her mouth when she laughed in public. That would definitely be suspicious. She needed something which helped mask her true form when in the middle of a town. Also, they needed supplies for their journey. Geel realized how little they had eaten so far. Even though Argonians had a lower metabolic rate than most and could survive longer without food, he wasn't untouchable by hunger. People like Melee needed good weapons, and Derath needed training.

"We need to get supplies. I'm going to go downstairs and get a chunk of bread, and after which we can go with Melee and Derath for goods. I think we need food and other basic needs, or I fear we will never survive Blackreach."

 

[Gemini Sierra]

Geminus walked back into the tavern and looked around. None of his companions were around yet, so he took a table along the wall near the fireplace. He flagged down the barmaid that was cleaning up the tables from the night before. After ordering a breakfast meal and some coffee he inquired about a supply store. "Oh that would be Frida's place down my the shore. It's called the Mortar and Pestal. She sells regular supplies, potions and alchemy stuff." He thanked her and waited for his food to arrive.

 

[Melee]

After Melee helped Einarr to his feet, he looked around his small home and sighed. The bright colorful rays of the sun shining into the house, although beautiful, could not completely shake away the remnants of the heavy emotions that had been present earlier. She beckoned him outside, and she closed the door behind them as they stepped out into the snow and headed toward the inn.

They were silent as they made their way up toward the tavern, but Melee didn't think that either of them really minded. It wasn't an awkward silence where neither of them had anything to say to the other; it more of a reflective silence, each of them with different thoughts running through their minds. She couldn't say that she didn't appreciate it, although when she thought about things for a lengthy amount of time, she tended to over analyze things. She smiled to herself and looked down at her feet, as the ground below her changed from snow to the wooden steps leading up to the inn.

Melee opened the door to the inn, glancing around the near-empty tavern. She saw Gem sitting at a table across the room, a barmaid delivering some food to his table. Fishing some coins out of the satchel around her waist, Melee handed them to Einarr. "Why don't you go get some food? You haven't had a chance to eat in a while." She smiled as she watched him head over to the bar, and she headed over to Gem's table. She pulled out a chair and sat across from him, observing how well he seemed to have sobered up. "Are you feeling any better? You did quite a bit of drinking last night." She smiled slightly, remembering both him in his drunken state and the two men he had been sitting with. Speaking of those two.., she thought to herself. "Gem, where did those two men go that we met last night? Vorman and Edwyn, was it?"

 

[Geel-Kajin]

The soft creaking of the inn door drew his attention. "I think the rest of them are back, you should go say hello now that you're awake. I'm sure Melee would want to see you up. I sure hope she found Einarr...."

As the two of them descended the staircase, Geel smelt the tantalizing smell of roasting meat, it's wafting tang seducing him. He grinned to see Einarr as the recipent of the food, eating in a corner of the room. Driving off his own hunger pangs, he and Emberlynn walked towards Melee and Geminus.

He tensed slightly as both of them closed in on the seats directly opposite Melee and Geminus, unsure of the result. Would Geminus attempt to kill Emberlynn? Geel still hadn't completely forgiven him for what he said in his drunken state, but it was crucial that Emberlynn and Geminus were able to accept each other of they were to continue.

At least the other two aren't here, that mage and Loup Garou, we will at least have some privacy. Melee should defend Emberlynn, but what of Einarr and Geminus? All I can do is wait...

"Be careful when talking, try not to show any fangs, okay?" Geel grimaced for a second, then scowled at his own bad sense of humor. They were almost at the table. He could see the other two talking, no doubt in an interesting conversation. He braced himself for the worst.

 

[Skyrimosity]

Edwyn had been incapable of finding his new-found friend Vorman anywhere in the outside world and it was very cold. His fur armor certainly kept him warm but he wasn't used to such extreme colds from growing up in High Rock and living in Southern Skyrim for those many years. He walked back to the inn and noticed Geminus sitting at a table with all his companions. Wonder what they're planning this early. Edwyn walked up with a smile on his face. "And how are you doing today, Geminus? Recovered from all that mead and" Edwyn glances over toward Melee and looks back at Geminus "reunion?" With all the catching up this lot is doing we'll be lucky to find out about the jarl within the Fourth Age. I hope we get to some detective work soon, I don't have many septims with me at the moment. Edwyn noticed an Argonian escorting a young Imperial down the stairs. When Edwyn looked at the Imperial, the Argonian shot him a look that could've frozen the eyes of Mehrunes Dagon himself. There's something about that Imperial. There's something suspicious about this entire group to think of it. Looks like I'll be getting plenty of detective work now.

 

[caravan guard]

( sorry for interrupting but your story is amazing so far )