18+ Mist and Shadows

Despite being outnumbered by the Forsworn warriors the fight was over quickly, with the group making short work of the poorly equipped attackers. By the time Marek had thrown his sword, killing one of the warriors and injuring another, the others had engaged the remaining attackers. Only a single enemy opposed him by then. The warrior seemed to understand that the attack had failed but he didn't flee as Marek thought he might. Instead the man charged him screaming and waving a long handled battleaxe. Timing it perfectly, Marek stepped back just far enough for the mans swing to overshoot him, coming close enough that Marek felt the tip of the blade scrape across his chest. The moment the blade was past him he stepped forward and brought his arm down on the haft of the axe in a sweeping movement that allowed him to get a grip of the handle. With a firm grip of the weapon, Marek pulled the warrior towards himself and rammed his left fist into the mans face, causing it to snap backwards and sending the man to the ground. Cupping his face in one hand, the warrior gave Marek a terrified look but before he could scramble away, Marek brought his foot down on the mans neck, killing him.

With the final warrior dead, Marek turned his gaze towards the others, his eyes settling on the Khajiit woman who was walking towards with his own sword gripped in her hand. He glanced behind her and spotted several corpses lying on the ground behind her. Marek wasn't surprised. He accepted his sword from her but didn't sheath the weapon. He was wary of more Forsworn being in the area not to mention the Khajiit woman. Besides a small splash of crimson on the fur of one of her legs, she seemed untouched, which was impressive in and of itself considering she hadn't had any weapons at the the beginning of the fight.

With the fight over now, everyone went about making sure the warriors were indeed dead before getting underway once again. Marek watched as the Khajiit woman walked over to the ranger and, without asking, used his cloak to wipe the blood off of her leg. He smirked as she turned away from the man with hardly a glance and made her way towards himself.

"I don't think I ever got your name." She said, raising an eyebrow at him. He gave her a nod of the head at her question, "I don't think I ever offered it. But since you ask, feel free to call me Marek." As they followed the ranger and the others out of the narrow ravine, he glanced aver at her, "And what do I call you?" He said slowly. He knew that she probably understood that he was suspicious of her but so far he hadn't come to any meaningful conclusion about her. Hopefully he would be able to glean some information about her through conversation.

The bounty hunter accepted his sword back from her, but didn't sheathe it. "I don't think I ever offered it. But since you ask, feel free to call me Marek." He said in response to her question. They followed the ranger and the others out of the narrow ravine, and he glanced over at her, "And what do I call you?" He said slowly, obviously more than a little suspicious of her. Though, he didn't have enough information to accuse her of anything. She shrugged at his question " my name is Zah' Nivanni. You can call me Nivanni if you like." The group made their way out of the ravine, and continued along the path that the kidnap takers had left. Though she didn't see any more ambush points ahead, the ground was still hilly. She wondered, if these people weren't Forsworn, who, or what they served.

Alicia took a moment to get her breath back before they started moving again. She looked around, noticing the Khajiit woman, wearing a red, very revealing dress, didn't look like she had a scratch on her. She noticed a splash of blood, but it didn't look like hers, and the casual way she used the rangers cloak to wipe it away confirmed her suspicions. The others didn't seem too troubled by the vicious battle. The mercenary that she'd been with since the tavern in Markarth seemed the least perturbed. She walked over to him, careful not to step in any of the larger pools of blood or corpses that were scattered throughout the ravine. "You know," she said to him, "for someone who's so determined to drag me along with you, you don't seem very concerned with my well-being." She watched the others leaving the ravine. "Where are we going anyways? How can we know those poor villagers are even still alive?"

Ardus checked over the corpses nearest him. He didn't want one of the apparently 'dead' Forsworn to leap up and bury an axe in his skull. Speaking of axes...he spotted the haft of his war axe above the carpet of corpses. He made his way over to it, and grabbed the weapon. He stepped on the mans neck, and tugged. The axe blade came out of the Forsworn warriors skull, and Carn embedded the weapon in the ground to clean it of blood and brains. He took a moment to admire his handiwork. The headdress had split clearly in half by the blow. 'Some armour, you idiot' he thought, remembering the mans reckless charge. The girl he'd brought with him approached, making sure she didn't step in any pools of blood. He slid the axe into the loop on his belt and crossed his arms, waiting for her.

"You know," she said to him, "for someone who's so determined to drag me along with you, you don't seem very concerned with my well-being." The girl watched the others as they began leaving the ravine."Where are we going anyways? How can we know those poor villagers are even still alive?"

Carn sighed, and followed the others, "look, girl. I'll keep you alive if you're smart enough to stay close. That doesn't make us friends. I'm in this for the coin, not because I love your sparkling personality." He glanced at the ranger. "The ranger can still track whoever took the villagers. We follow him. If we find them, we kill whoever took them, set 'em free. If it turns out they're dead, we go back to Markarth and get our money. Win-win situation." He explained.

The group left the ravine and continued on their way, following the tracks left by the kidnappers and the villagers. The rain let up an hour after they'd left the ravine behind. The tracks continued into the northern foothills, and became harder to track as the terrain grew more stony. The only thing of note was small, wooden walled town. As they drew closer, it became clear the place was populated. The gates were shut, with a group of guards watching the group approach. Imperial and Markarth hold flags fluttered in the wind. "Halt!" One of the men shouted. "State your purpose here!"

Zah'Nivanni glanced at the others, and when none of them spoke she shrugged and stepped forwards. "We're looking for a group of villagers. They went missing a few hours south of here. Maybe you've heard what's going on?" One of the guards nodded to his companion, "I heard the jarl had hired some mercenaries. This must be them." The other guards went about opening the gates. "Stay out of trouble while you're here." One warned.

Marcus kept his eyes on the Khajiit woman as they continued on their way. The way she fought was...unique, to be sure. Most vampires hesitated to reveal their supernatural speed and strength, especially in front of a group that didn't entirely trust them. After another couple of hours of walking, the group came across a small town. To his relief, the reinforced wooden gates of the place were closed, and a group of guards watched them warily.

The Khajiit woman spoke with the guards, and they let them in, after warning them to stay out of trouble while they were there. Marcus entered the town, fully aware of the Imperial legion flag. Technically, Marcus had been written off as dead by the Imperial legion during the civil war. It had been quite some time, but he was aware there could be trouble if any Imperial troops happened to be in the town.

There could also be trouble if the Khajiit vampiress went around causing trouble. Or any of the others, for that matter. He made his way to the woman and grabbed her arm. "Could I speak to you for a moment?" Once he'd lead her a safe distance from the others, he turned to her. "I know what you are, and I'd be surprised if you don't know what I am. I'll say this once; cause trouble here, and I'll reveal what you are to those mercenaries and the paladin out there. Something to bear in mind."

They'd just barely entered the village when the Imperial vampire, grabbed her arm. Her ears flattened, thinking he intended to attack her, but he simply asked to speak with her. He lead her to a secluded area and turned to her. "I know what you are, and I'd be surprised if you don't know what I am. I'll say this once; cause trouble here, and I'll reveal what you are to those mercenaries and the paladin out there. Something to bear in mind." She smiled at him, her carnivorous teeth making the expression seem more menacing than not. "What I am? Why, I'm just a lady that knows enough to keep herself alive, dear. Besides, what makes you think they'd believe you over me? All I have to do is call for help, and the guards will be all over you. Something to bear in mind."

Jorunn lead the group onward, following the signs and the tracks of both the civilians, and their captors. The rain had picked up suddenly, so he pulled his hood up over his head as he walked along, however, just as suddenly as it had picked up, it relaxed, and it was soon reduced to a drizzle. They slogged their way forward through the mud, but the rain had washed away many of the tracks, and was making progress somewhat slow. Finally, they made some progress, but, it would be short lived as they wound up at the bottom of the rocky Northern Foothills. While the group walked to the nearby village, Jorunn decided he would scout ahead, see if he could find the trail that had all but disappeared. Night began to fall, and there were no signs of the trail. Making his way back down to the village, he approached the gate. "Halt! Who goes... Oh, its a Ranger. Open the gates." The wooden doors to the town swung open. The group was still hanging around behind the entrance, surprisingly. He noticed that the Imperial and the Strange Khajiit woman were talking to eachother away from everyone else. Motioning to the rest of the group, he informed them of his scouting. "There are no signs of the civilians. The tracks disappear into the rock. Our best bet is to restock our supplies, and rest here, maybe ask around, see if the villages have seen anything out of the ordinary that we can follow." He said to those who had decided to gather around him.

Marek didn't listen too closely to the ranger as he related his scouting trip to the others. He was too preoccupied with the Nivanni and the tall imperial man who had moved away from the group, down the street and were having a hushed conversation. About what exactly, Marek didn't know but from the stance and bearing of the imperial, he was confronting the woman with something.

Marek was used to hunting sentient beings, he had observed enough people that he knew the type of conversation that the two were having. The way the imperial approached her, confidently, but with his chin tucked and an accusation in his eyes told Marek that he knew something about her and that he thought it would give him some power over her. Apparently though, he was wrong. Marek couldn't hear what was said but from the way Nivanni cocked her head coyly before giving her response and slinking away, his words hadn't had the desired effect.

Interesting... What could she be hiding that he might know about? Whatever it is, he meant it to be a threat. So it's something dangerous to her wellbeing... or perhaps it's something dangerous to our wellbeing. He wants to keep her on a leash but she shrugged him off. She doesn't feel threatened by him or his threat.

Marek watched the imperial for a few seconds even as the other man watched Nivanni. He turned back to the ranger in time to hear his last few words. Apparently he had lost the trail in the foothills where the ground became more rocky. That was no fault of the rangers. Marek frowned but it wasn't directed to anyone in particular. He stepped up to the ranger, "This is where I take over. You hunt in the wilds, tracking a target by the imprint they leave on nature. I hunt a target here, in civilization. Tracking them by the imprint they leave on other people. This is a remote village. people here hunt. They know this area better than anyone, maybe even you. And they talk to each other. I'll find us something to go on. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to find out where the inn is and lay low. These people are scared, the last thing we need is to have a large group of mercenaries wandering around and making people nervous." Marek said before pulling his collar up over his face and slipping away into the rainy streets of the village.

They lost the trail as the terrain became more and more rocky. Eventually, they made their way to a small, walled town. It quickly became obvious that the place was occupied, as a pair of sentries popped their heads up and challenged them. After a quick exchange of words with the Khajiit woman, they were let inside. As soon as he got inside, the Imperial man grabbed the Khajiits arm and dragged her off. They had a quick conversation, which ended with the Khajiit slinking away, looking triumphant. Ardus filed that small bit of information for later, and turned to listen to the ranger as he relayed his discoveries.

The one other bounty hunter spoke up, reminding the group of how 'qualified' he was to hunt in civilization, and suggested the others head to the inn and lay low. "Good idea. While we're at it, I'll see if I can get anything out of the innkeep. Those people usually know things, right?" He motioned the girl to follow, and left before the others could speak up. The 'inn' was nothing impressive, but a fair amount of people were inside, including a trio of Imperial soldiers, who had an entire corner of the room to themselves, laughing raucously and groping any maid foolish enough to pass too close to their table. 'Drunk soldiers. Great. That's the last thing this place needs.' He noticed the innkeeper was keeping a close, nervous eye on the group. Carn took his seat at the bar, and the man turned to him. "What can I get ya, m'lord?"

"Not a lord. And Brandy." He glanced at the girl. "Whatever she wants, too." The man fulfilled his request, and handed him a glass. Ardus handed over the coin, and nodded at the soldiers. "They been here long?" The innkeep shrugged. "Couple o' days. The Imperials have been moving a bunch of troops around lately. These ones say they're here to keep us safe." The man snorted, showing his opinon of that statement. "Keep us safe from what? I said. They didn't answer me. So far, all they've done is drink and bother our women." Ardus nodded. "That sounds like the kind of soldiers I know." He decided to keep an eye on them, and enjoy his drink.

Nathariel hung back as one of the bounty hunters started speaking with the group, addressing the ranger in particular. He might have been good at hunting people, but he wasn't the only one that had experience hunting in cities. The walled town wasn't as big as Markarth or Whiterun, it wasn't tiny, either. As the others headed towards the small tavern or elsewhere in the town, she turned towards the town center, determined to find some sort of information that could help.