Private Oblivion Falls on Skyrim [OFS]

[Znowcicle]

*Stickied*​

This thread is closed to new members. Those that are currently involved are: The_Deadliest_Troll, RedNeK, Conquers-Many-Foes, Lucas76020, and myself.
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Skyrim is still in the midst of the civil war that plagues the land. The Dovahkiin has left Skyrim along with the dragons, or so the stories go. The citizens of Skyrim are more divided than ever!, and the cities are now dissecting themselves from each other with huge blockades around their territory. Hostilities are rising, fear is strong enough to smell in the air, and still the war wages on with no seeming end in sight...
As if that wasn't enough, now there are horrific stories of children being stolen, and livestock being slaughtered. Soothsayers are screaming to the towns that they foresee an end in fire and blood. An end most people only imagine in their nightmares...

 

[Znowcicle]

It was cool outside, the sun was up shining on the mostly frozen ground as she stood looking towards Whiterun. A butterfly with orange wings flew by in front of her face bringing her back to reality. She put a clawed hands against the dagger holstered against her hip as she turned back to the caravan.
"Sk'Raazda, we should keep moving to get there before dark." The elder said, his accent thick and rasping. She nodded and followed the group carrying a tent and goods on her back; the cooking pots clinking against each other on her back. Their progress average as they walked together along the trail to their goal. The climate getting colder, light snow beginning to fall as they grew closer.

Eventually, they reached Whiterun, setting up their meager camp outside the city. They started the fire and set up the goods for display; the elder sitting calmly in his tent waiting for business.
"Ri'saad," The elder lifted his head to his name, "why are we not allowed in the cities?" Sk'Raazda asked swiveling her tall, pierced ears to the noises around her. The old, wise Khajiit closed his eyes and took a breath before answering.
"Ri'saad has thought much about this but still does not understand. All Ri'saad can say is we are outsiders. We are not welcome." Sk'Raazda sighed looking up to the tall towers of Dragonsreach and the stone wall the surrounded Whiterun. She thought silently for a moment, the feather hanging off her earring softly rustling against the fur on her head. She turned to the elder again, looking around at the others before speaking.
"What if Sk'Raazda wished to leave and try to prove the bloody Nords wrong Ri'saad? Sk'Raazda has long wished to sink her blade into a foe for the good of people, and not for protection of Sk'Raazda." The elder opened his weary eyes, studying her for a long while. He stood, his black tipped tail flicking with thought before he walked up to her and hugged her warmly.
"Then the Khajiits here would support you, Sk'Raazda. We only wish that you not forget the ones that gave you a home for so many years. If you were to return to us, we would welcome you as if you had not gone." He released her, the other two members coming to embrace her. Their fur brushing together as they released. Sk'Raazda turned back to Ri'saad waiting for his final good-bye. He retreated into his tent and came back with a steel, engraved blade. He presented it to her bidding her to take it as a token of memory.
"Thank you Ri'saad. Sk'Raazda should not forget those she holds dearest to her." She took the blade smiling, giving Ri'Saad a final hug before she left to enter the gates of Whiterun.

"The guards are evil swine..." she mumbled to herself as she passed the gates entering the city. She made her way past the blacksmith and the market entering the Bannered Mare directly. She walked up to the bar where the bartender was cleaning vigorously.
"Need a drink, friend?" The bartender asked, not looking up from her work. Sk'Raazda, caught off guard by her seemingly friendly composure, stumbled into asking about any work that she might have heard of. The bartender shook her head, "Sorry friend, the Jarl hasn't sent out any bounties lately." A hooded fellow came up to the bar whispering as he spoke.
"I have..." His words lingered long after he spoke. Sk'Raazda looked to the strange man eager, but weary, for him to continue.
"There are bandits...Bandits at Halted Stream Camp...It's not far from here and I'll pay handsomely..." He said in that lofty whisper. The shadows hiding every detail of his face due to the hood on his cloak. He handed her a parchment with the bounty written on it in dark black ink. She unrolled it skimming over the location before looking back up, the hooded man gone. She shrugged twitching her spotted tail in wonder as she left the Bannered Mare, headed towards her first act of justice.

 

[Sal the dragontamer]

Faleon had left Riverwood early and had arrived in Whiterun nearly two hours later. As he walked past the guard post, the guard asked "What do you want, Imperial?". He turned to the guard and said "My name is Faleon and you should adress me as such from now on.". Before the man could reply Faleon turned and walked to the Bannered Mare and waved to a Khajitt and her way out. He walked straight to the counter and asked for food and drink. After he finished his food, he asked if there were any jobs to be had. He had come to Whitrun for that reason and hoped his journey was not in vain. The innkeeper looked at him and said "Well yes, you see there are some bandits at Halted Stream camp--".But Faleon was off before he finished. He made a quick stop to the blacksmith and bought some new leather armour and then was off to Halted Stream Camp

 

[Lady Redpool the Unlifer]

"I must find a new kind of Hunt," thought Venator as he walked up to the open gates of Whiterun. Walking through and up to the Drunken Huntsman, hoping to stumble away later in Hunt of a bed partner for the night. "How are you doing my friend?" The welcome and familiar words from his friend Elrindir, the bartender, brought him out of his gloomy mood. "Nothing brother, just in desperate need of a new Hunt." Elrindir responded, "Well my friend, there was a man in here earlier, he's put a bounty on those poachers at Halted Stream Camp." Venator thought deeply about that, normally he didn't take bountys, but those bandits were a disgrace to true hunters. "I'll take it, let the man know if you see him that I want my reward waiting for me." He turned and left the bar, then the city, then looked out across the hills. He stopped and gave a prayer to his father's memory, and allowed the familiar thrill of a new Hunt fill him. He set out on a new chapter of his life-long Hunt

 

[skyrimbeast]

Ji'darro was looking for a job in the Ragged Flagon which is the headquaters of the thieves guild. "Hey, Delvin got any jobs", he asked. "You know me, I've always got jobs and what is it you'r looking for friend", Delvin replied while he took a look at his list. "How about some hardcore thievery, I'm in the mood for something challenging", Ji'darro asked as he looked at his ebony dagger that hadn't been used for a while."Well, there is something, suitable for your particular talents, there's a bandit camp called Halted Stream Camp it's near Whiterun, anyway there's a rare spell tomb in their mine, it's called transmute mineral ore, it changes iron into silver and silver into gold, but there is a problem that it's on the chief's desk by his bed, which means you might have to kill a handfull of bandits..........But there is also a lot of gold involved, 1,000 septims actually, so are you interested"? But Ji'darro was already gone and had just mounted his horse, Dibella.
He called her that because of her beauty, 'she looks as pretty as Dibella' he would say. Anyway, he made it to the Whiterun stables after 5 hours, he was late because he was stopped by some bandits at the Valtheim Towers and he had to pay, but of course he didn't he killed 3 of them then galloped ahead.

 

[The_Deadliest_Troll]

The familiar ring of a chord struck on the lute readied Andre for the task at hand. His ears perked up and he took a deep breath. Then the words flowed from his lips like honey, “There once was a hero named Ragnar the Red, who came riding to Whiterun from ole Rorikstead!” He could hear the dancing footsteps of the young children who had requested the song and he could hear their laughter. This put a smile across his aged face as he sung, “And the braggart did swagger and brandish his blade, as he told of bold battles and gold he had made!”

All of a sudden the air in the Bannered Mare was filled with a feeling of despair that Andre knew all too well. It was that man. The one that had been here many times before in the past few months, bringing work for fledgling adventurers. None of them, or so the people in town were saying, had returned alive. He was hooded and no one knew his name. All anyone really knew of him was that he smelled of alcohol, vinegar and sweat. Andre let his second nature take over the last few verses of “Ragnar the Red” as he listened to this man’s heavy footsteps cross the room and his rear-end plop itself on a bench near the hearth.

It was then that something different overcame his senses. The smell of recently damp… fur. A khajiit? In The Bannered Mare? The young khajiit female took a seat at the bar and was promptly offered a drink. The tavern went silent save a few stifled claps as Andre finished his song with, “when his ugly red head rolled around on the floor!”

He was taking this in and failed to notice that the khajiit at the bar was looking for work, and Hulda had none. The hooded figure took advantage of this and skulked from his place near the fire to the bar. He breathed something in her ear so quiet Andre could not hear it through the sounds of the crowd gathering inside. And with that, the young khajiit scurried out the door, most likely to her doom.

Not even a minute after the khajiit slipped her tail out of The Bannered Mare, a young Imperial man was greeted by Hulda at the bar. But he was gone in the next moment also, no doubt, taking on the same job.

Andre felt grief in his heart for these two adventurers and rushed to Hulda, demanding, “Where are those two that just came and left heading?”

“Halted Stream Camp!” came the reply from behind Andre. It was the hooded man. He was now laughing a raspy, ugly laugh.

Andre wasted no time. He dropped his lute on the counter and rushed out the door, swooping up the spear and shield he left next to the entry-way as he ran.

 

[Brumon The Third]

"Finally...", said Brumon, approaching the Whiterun´s gates, he had been walking for 4 hours now, trying to reach his home at Whiterun after his horse´s death in an battle against members of the Silver-Hand.

But, before he could enter the town, he saw a Khajit, an Imperial and a Breton getting out of the gates, "I can smell trouble", thought him. After that, he went to his home to repair his Wolf Armor and his Steel sword that have been really damaged in the last battle. "I need to learn how to hide this "power" from the people...", said him to his mind while exiting the house and going to the Bannered Mare to get some rest.

There, he went to the counter to ask a drink, however, a strange man with a hood appeared in front of him and said with a low voice: "I think your "abilities" could be useful in this little problem of mine...", at that moment, he gave to Brumon a paper of Bounty with "Halted Stream camp" wrote on it. "And why...", Brumon couldn´t finish his line, the man walked away mute.

"This sounds strange...maybe I should check this out with caution", said Brumon while leaving Whiterun with a serious look.

 

[Sal the dragontamer]

Faleon didnt have to walk far before he saw the khajitt that he had seen in the bannered mare. He sprinted until he caught up and said "Hi my names Faleon, who are you?"

 

[Znowcicle]

Sk'Raazda faltered in her stride as she was address by the Imperial. She turned her head to him as she regained her normal gait towards the Halted Stream Camp.
"I am Khajiit, lower than the human races, yes?" She said, resisting an urge to pin her ears back in caution. She turned her head back towards the road, adverting her gaze from his, her skin crawling underneath her fur with the attention. "So why would you pay any mind to my name?" Her accent ringing as she finished her question with an unintentional malice.

 

[The_Deadliest_Troll]

Andre passed another Imperial man on his way out of the Whiterun gates. This one, however, was not quite so young. His breath was heavy as if years of life weighed down upon his shoulders. Young people, such as the Imperial and Khajiit he was following, did not carry this burden of life.

A bit further down the cobble-stone path out of the city limits, Andre noticed two voices far in front of him discussing something. The young Imperial had caught up with the Khajiit and was trying to have friendly conversation with her. He had to listen very closely, it was hard even for his highly trained ears to hear them talking from this distance.

But what the Khajiit said, Andre could hear very clearly. She raised her voice, not in anger, but perhaps in contempt for the Imperial, "I am Khajiit, lower than the human races, yes? So why would you pay any mind to my name?"

Andre decided to hang back and follow them from a distance until they reached the bandit camp. He didn't want to get involved if he didn't need to, and he certainly had no desire to deal with this fiery Khajiit.

 

[Lady Redpool the Unlifer]

Venator heard voices to the east. Dropping into a crouch and searching for the source, he quickly found it: a khajiit and a man walking the same direction as he, north. "Where are they going?" he thought, "there's nothing worthwhile to the north." Except where he was headed, of course. Mulling this over in his head he whispered "This is a bounty, they must be competition, and once inside the camp, his bow would be rather hard to use in the cramped tunnels of the mine. These two could be great allies." With this decided he set off towards them, hoping he would make allies rather than enemies.

 

[skyrimbeast]

Ji'darro was on his way to The Halted Stream camp, he just started to leave Whiterun. But he heard voices behind him, he turned around and saw 4 other people heading the same way as him. "Looks like I have trouble", he said to himself. "Wait, I'm going to see what this leads to", he said again to himself as he sneaked over to the side and out of anyones sight. "Maybe they're all together on a bounty, and maybe I should stand back and allow them to create a distraction so I can sneak in and grab what I need", he said in a sly way but this was a clever idea no doubt about it, and he found the Camp just ahead so he got up and climbed a tree so he could spy over the horizon.

 

[Brumon The Third]

"What the...", said Brumon when he saw a the group from before going in the same direction as him, "They must be working together to collect the bounty", he thought. Then, he said "I think I should go with them, the Khajit and the Imperial are young, while the Breton is old, they may need some help", after that, he approached them and asked "Can I join the group? I am a battlemage, and I am heading to Halted Stream camp too."

 

[Sal the dragontamer]

Faleon decided to just drop it there. He just followed her when he heard someone behind him. He turned around, drawing his bow and a steel arrow and yelled with as much as a deep voice as he could manage "Who's there? Are you ally or for?"

 

[The_Deadliest_Troll]

All of a sudden in front of him, Andre heard a slight scuffling, then the draw of a bow-string. The Imperial man he was tailing shouted, "Who's there? Are you ally of foe?" Andre felt his heart sink. His sneaking abilities must be rusty from his months of holding up, playing tunes in the Bannered Mare. He ducked behind a large stone by the side of the path and made a quick decision. Obviously, they knew someone was there, so hiding was pointless.

He dropped his spear and shield behind the stone and walked out to greet them, "Hello there! Name's Andre. I'm just an old man passing by... I walk this path every day. You wouldn't hurt an old, blind man... now would you?"

 

[Sal the dragontamer]

Faleon dropped his bow and said "No I guess i wouldnt.". He then turned to the battlemage and said to him as well as the old man "Me and the Khajitt are not in a group but Im pretty sure we are goin to the same place so you guys may join me if you wish to". Before either replied Faleon left and ran after the Khajitt who had walked on ahead, although they werent in the same group he still felt safer in numbers. He then turned to the Khajitt and once again asked for her name , as he was getting tired of reffering to her as The Khajitt

 

[The_Deadliest_Troll]

"No thanks, I need to be on my way back to Whiterun now anyway."

Andre smirked and giggled at himself, "I'm too good, aren't I?" He decided he would have to circle around and find a more out of the way path to the bandit camp instead.

Andre picked up his shield and staff and scanned the area with his senses. There was a grouping of trees to his right.

"That's the way then," he grunted as he moved his old bones toward the forest. He heard the young man ask the Khajiit's name again as he slipped into the trees. He got a sinking feeling that this was going to turn into a disaster faster than any of them could possibly know.

 

[Sal the dragontamer]

Faleon watched the old man wonder off into the woods and thought to himself 'thats an odd way to get back to whiterun, but no matter'. He then turned back to the Khajitt waiting for an answer. He told himself he wouldnt stop asking until he got a straight answer

 

[Lady Redpool the Unlifer]

Venator watched the brief encounter from the shadows, thankful he hadn't run right into the middle of it. Watching the old man walk off he muttered to himself, "That spearman is decieving them, and was a bit slow to react to that archer's call out, I think I'll confront him before joining the others since they seem to be disregarding him." With that he ran straight across the grass, to intercept him before he got too far.

"Catching him rather quickly he asks, "So old spearman, what is your name, and why are you shadowing those travellers?"

 

[Znowcicle]

Sk'Raazda twitched her tail casting him a side glance as she walked on.
"Since you seem so keen on finding this information, I suppose I could share my name. I am Sk'Raazda." She replied a little solemnly remembering how her response sounded early. She held out her hand to Faleon cautiously, trying to smile with her cat-like lips.
"Perhaps we can learn to compromise even as different as we are."