Swish! The arrow struck the Forsworn, and it looked like it had entered through his ear. The remaining Forsworn stopped attacking the Caravan, and looked around, trying to figure out where the Arrow had come from. Suddenly, another of their band went down, this one with an arrow to the eye. A tree branch snapped, some leaves fell, and then, all was calm again. The Forsworn, either brave, or foolish, turned back towards the Caravan, preparing to attack it again. Behind them, about a two hundred yards away, a silent figure fell from a tree, and landed softly, and quietly, on the ground. He lifted his bow up, which had an arrow notched, and fired it at the Forsworn group. The arrow impacted a female member of their gang in the back of the head, and she fell forward. The group, startled again, turned around to see a man with a hood pulled up over his head standing behind them, his bow drawn, and an arrow already notched again. The war band charged at him, yelling. The man loosed the arrow, and it struck one of the charging Forsworn in the throat. The man then sprinted at them, placing his bow on his back, his footsteps eerily silent. As the Forsworn drew near to the man, he reached behind his back, and pulled out a knife in his hand, which he threw all in the same motion as he drew it at one of the Forsworn. The knife struck the woman in between the eyes, and she fell forward, her body skidding to a stop on the ground. There were only four Forsworn left. The man lifted his hand, and threw a fire ball, which exploded on the ground, and caused a wall of fire to go up, blocking the Forsworn's view of the man. The put on the brakes, before the hit the wall of flame, and stopped. Suddenly, the wall parted, and the man ran through, a sword drawn. In one quick motion, he lopped off the head of the nearest Forsworn, and a stream of blood squirted up from where the head had been moments before. The man rolled forward, instantly closing the distance between him and the remaining three members of the war band. He sliced into someone's side, causing the Forsworn man to double over in pain, but his face was instantly greeted by the knee of the unknown assailant. The knee broke the nose, and forced it up into the brain of the person he had his sword buried in. The force of the blow knocked the man backwards, and off the assailant's sword. One of the Forsworn charged at him, and swung with his blade, which was deflected easily by the unknown man, who proceeded to follow through with his own blade. He chopped off the woman's right arm, and then her left. The Forsworn woman began to scream, but was cut short when the man rammed the edge of his blade into her throat. The final member of the war band, stood stunned as the dead woman slipped from the assailant's blade. He turned to run, but the man sent a bolt of lightning at him, which impacted the fleeing Forsworn in the chest, and he fell over onto the ground, convulsing, unable to move, but still alive. The man walked up to him as he lay on the ground, and raised his sword....
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Jorunn brought the tip of his sword down into the back of the convulsing Forsworn man. He Pulled the blade back and forth, and then yanked it out of his back. The man convulsed a few more times, and then stopped. Jorunn walked over to the caravan, stopping on the way to pull his knife out of the person he had thrown it at. He was greeted happily by the survivors. He had been on his way to Markarth when he ran across this caravan being attacked by a Forsworn war band. He couldn't pass by and let this continue, so he climbed into a tree to get a better angle, and engaged the war band. Now that it was over, he had to make sure everyone was alright. A few of the survivors offered him a pouch of gold, but he turned it down. "No, I will not accept, I am just doing my job. Now please, hurry, be off. It is not good to sit around these parts." His voice was somewhat muffled due to the mask on his face, but his point got across, and the men and women of the Caravan moved off, safe for now. Jorunn set about retrieving his arrows from the dead bodies. He didn't normally do this, but he was running low on arrows as this was the third Forsworn war band he had run into. After he had retrieved his arrows, he set off down the road, on his way to Markarth.
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Upon his arrival at the city, he was greeted by the guards, who know him by name as he had worked alongside them a few times before. The gate to the city was opened for him, and he entered, climbing up the long flight of stairs towards the Understone keep. As Jorunn arrived at a large door, he walked past a group of people, Mercenaries by the look of it, that were exiting the Keep. The Ranger paid them no mind as he entered. As he entered, he saw a few more mercenary types that were standing around. Walking past the guards, who recognized his gear and let him through, he entered the area of the Understone Keep where the Jarl usually sat around. After climbing two sets of stair, he entered a little room where the Jarl's chair was situated.
"Ah, Jorunn, glad to see the Rangers heard of our pleas. I was actually preparing to send a messenger your way, however, with you here, I doubt I need to now, correct?" asked the Jarl. Jorunn pulled down the mask from his face, and smiled, giving a polite nod. "Very good. Its nice to have someone with honor helping us out. I am also glad I don't have to pay you." He chuckled. "Now on to "Business". Some of my citizens have been disappearing. It almost always occurs when a thick mist appears. I would like you to figure out what is happening, and bring back my people, if you can. The last known attack was on a village to the North, on the Karth River. Good luck." the Jarl finished. Jorunn simply just nodded again, and spun on his heel in a one hundred and eighty degree turn, walking back down the steps to the front of the keep, which resembled a large cave. As he was preparing to leave, he saw a white Khajiit female. Something seemed odd about her, but instead of showing his suspicions, he simply nodded politely, his hood covering most of his face in darkness except his mouth and nose. After nodding at the Khajiit, he stopped as he saw an Altmer woman. He made eye contact with her, and as he did so, he pulled the mask up over his mouth and nose. Then he broke the eye contact, walked past a man that looked like an Imperial, and pushed open the door, heading outside, and down the long flight of stairs to the city's gate. The gate opened, and he exited. As the gate closed behind him, he stopped right outside, and pulled out his map. Jorunn had visited this small village a few times, before, and had marked it on there. He began to study the quickest way to get there, and then set off, this time not following the road, but taking a game trail that was marked on his map. Night had fallen, and the Ranger disappeared into the darkness. Traveling on paths that normally were never traveled, it only took him about an hour or so to reach the village outskirts. Jorunn stopped, and knelt down, examining his surroundings, and then he proceed into the Village. There were guards pondering around, but Jorunn ignored them for the moment, even though they were giving him stares. He entered a small home, to look around. It looked like it was abandoned in a rush. There was a half eaten steak on the table, as well as bread that had bite marks, and two goblets of wine that had been filled that had yet to have been drunk. Something on the floor caught his eye, and he knelt down in front of it. It was a small pool of blood, or so it appeared to be. It had been dried, and was imprinted on the carpet that was under the table. Jorunn began a careful analysis of the things he had found, and began to form a few hypotheses about what could have happened.