Private What Lurks in the Dark

[Madrar]

The elven vampire kicked down the door, entered cautiously, and then stopped, as if stunned by something. Stepping up beside her, he too stopped and was forced to stare at the atrocity before them. He'd killed lots' of people, but never children...Salthar frowned, noting the old man at the back of the cave, seeing the strange markings all over his chest. His fellow vampire summoned him with a glance, and motioned to the older mans' corpse. "These markings...they aren't natural.." kneeling beside the corpse, he could feel a slight...aura on the corpse, something sinister... making eye contact with the group leader, he nodded in agreement. "They're made by no magic I've ever seen, if it is indeed caused by magic" he responded.

 

[TheShadedOne]

Shadari glared at the red armoured knight. "Why'd you step in like that? I could have handled them!" With an angry huffing noise, she turned her back on him, barely restraining her tale from whipping back and forth in anger. She stormed in after the two vampires and then stopped, putting an arm out to steady herself. She felt her breakfast rising up in her throat and forced it down through sheer willpower. Corpses. Dozens of bodies, strewn all over the floor like the left overs of a meal. She couldn't tell from where she was standing, but it didn't look like they'd been killed by bandits. The vampires were crouched over another body, talking in low, concerned tones. "I need some air" she grunted, turning and restraining herself from sprinting. Once she was outside, she leaned against the wall, heaving in deep breaths of fresh air. 'That was just...sick. Who slaughters women and children?' She thought, fighting down another wave of nausea.

 

[Drahkma]

The fighting ended, and Averain cleaned Goldbrand on the back of one bandits' tunic. Straightening, he spied the female Altmer vampire kicking down the doors that lead into the cave. He was about to follow, when he heard an angry exclamation from behind him: "Why'd you step in like that? I could have handled them!" Before he could help it, the knight's mouth was opening to offer an apology, but before he got a word out, he clamped his jaw shut. 'Fine, if she doesn't want any help, that's her business' hearing no sounds of combat from inside the cave, he sheathed his sword and moved to the entrance.

Before he could enter, however, the Khajiit came back out, looking sick to her stomach. A sense of dread balling in his stomach, the vampire too stepped into the cave. Then he saw them, bodies, all sprawled out, sightless eyes staring into the beyond. Kneeling by a child's head, he gently closed the boys' eyes. "May you rest in peace, little one" the half Breton murmured, standing and approaching his fellow vampires at the end of the cave. "Have you found something?"

 

[Baneloth]

The group entered the cave, and Donath very nearly recoiled from the corpses in front of him. It took some special kind of freak to kill all those people, and not leave a mark on them. Then the Nord cringed again as he realized that the two young imperials would be coming in sooner rather than later, and rushed to the entrance, his face grim, and shadowed with sorrow.

 

[WindWalker]

Julius used a dead bandit's tunic to clean off his sword, just like he had seen the others doing. Then he noticed that the others had already headed inside the gave, probably to fight the bandit chief. Strangely though, Julius didn't hear any fighting, and the bald nord warrior had come out and looked kinda sad. Deciding to see for himself, he headed towards the cave, sheathing his sword as he went.

 

[Baneloth]

Donath saw the Imperial lad making his way towards the cave entrance and grimaced again. He didn't want the kid to think he was insulting him by barring entrance, but he couldn't let someone that young see that much carnage. it might drive him insane. "Hold it, lad. Nothing to see inside. Nothing you want to see inside"

 

[willowwisp]

While the young Imperial was attempting to enter the cave, Elizabeth slipped by on the opposite side, avoiding the Nord completely. Once she entered the cave, she wished she hadn't. Her eyes took in the dozens of dead bodies, of all ages laying on the floor, eyes open, mouths parted in final screams. As a healer, the number of dead hit her twice as hard as it would have a warrior. The images were burned into her mind, and she felt her breakfast rising at an alarming rate. She rushed out past the Nord again, and was violently sick against the wall of the bandit camp.

 

[Blackwhite1223]

Torin slid his bow back into his bow, and went about collecting his arrows that weren't too damaged for future use. Out of the ten he'd expended, about six were still in good shape, so, all in all, not a bad use of arrows. He approached the cave, where the bandit leader was assumed to be hiding, and rested his hand on his sword. Strangely, most of the group had already gone inside, yet there was no sounds of fighting from inside. Then, the Nord warrior came out, looking a little ill, and blocked the young Imperial from entering.

He couldn't stop both the healer, Elizabeth from slipping past him however, and she came out moments later, retching violently. The ranger felt a cold claw of dread grip his heart, and he broke into a jog, approaching the warrior. "It's really that bad in there?" he inquired, nodding towards the healer.

 

[Baneloth]

Donath successfully, stopped the lad from getting in, but the robed lass ducked past him before he could move to intercept her. He winced with sympathy as she came out moments later,and threw up against the wooden walls of the camp. Then the ranger came over, looking concerned for his friend, and asked "It's really that bad in there?" With a nod towards the retching Imperial. "Aye, and twice more, by my reckoning" he responded grimly, remembering the corpses covering the cave floor.

 

[TheShadedOne]

Shadari pushed herself off of the natural, rock wall she'd been leaning on. She was angry, and not just at that knight for stepping into her fight. Sidgier had known, or at least suspected what he was sending them into. Her ears flicked with anger, pressing down on her skull, and her tail twitched dangerously. "Somebody is going to have a lot of explaining to do when we get back." She growled ominously.

 

[Aethalia]

Aliah nodded as the Thalmor sorcerer voiced his thoughts. "I agree. There's something very sinister at work here, and I intend to find out what" she rose to her feet, casting one last glance around the cave, noticing that most of the villagers didn't seem to have lost a single drop of blood. 'Very strange' she mused, turning towards the cave exit. She'd had enough of this corpse filled place to last an eternity. She moved briskly, avoiding stepping on the dead where possible, a calm expression painted on her pale golden features, but inside she was seething.

This explains why the jarl was willing to pay so much for bandits.He must have known, or at least suspected what we'd find. She walked out into the cloudy day and looked around. The Nord warrior was blocking the doorway, keeping both Imperials outside, which she thought was rather decent of the man. Most Nords Aliah knew didn't give a damn about the well being of others. Moving to the center of the clearing, she said, her voice carrying to the others: "I realize that what we've seen in the cave is horrific. I also realize now that Sidgier must have known all about it for him to have created such a huge bounty. When we get back to Falkreath, I fully intend to interrogate that spoiled brat. If any of you are worried about your pay, I'm certainly making sure we get that as well" her small speech finished, she headed towards the gates, wanting to be back in Falkreath before dark.

 

[Madrar]

Salthar nodded in agreement. The corpse of the old human nearly hummed with some dark...power. The Altmer vampire was no stranger to powerful magics, but this...type of magic was new and more than a little disconcerting to him. Standing the vampire followed his fellow Altmer out the door, into the clouded day. He guessed it was nearing evening, or at least late afternoon. If they left immediately, they'd make it to Falkreath probably just before, or just after nightfall.

Salthar wasn't terribly surprised by the young jarls' omission of what they might find in the camp. Sidgier had always been a snide, cunning bastard, that was always looking out for his own well-being before that of others. Salthar thought he'd fixed that problem when he'd had his uncle dis membered in front of him upon their first meeting. Apparently, the jarl needed a little more disciplining, in that regard. After the female vampire gave her speech, the group began moving out, apparently just as eager to get back to Falkreath as she was.

Salthar glanced to the side, at the Nord warrior. He had stopped the young Imperial man from entering the cave, and attempted to stop the young woman. Such...concern for ones' welfare among Nords was slightly surprising, to say the least. The vampire found it slightly comforting that he hadn't been fighting alongside a typical Nord.

 

[Drahkma]

The pair spoke once more, before rising and leaving the cave. Averain would have liked to stay, would have liked to give these innocents a proper burial, but knew there was little time to stand around. "Rest in peace, mortals. Let no beast of the wilds or man of dark nature disturb your rest. May your souls soar among the stars for all of eternity" The half-Breton felt a bit embarrassed that he'd remembered the old prayer for the dead. Walking out of the cave with the others, he did feel a little better that he'd done at least something for the dead that had done nothing wrong except to be targeted.

He listened to his fellow vampires' speech, and nodded in agreement. If the jarl of Falkreath had known about the villagers, then he deserved some form of punishment. The group set out again shortly afterwords, back into the dark forest, traipsing over the carpet of pine needles. If possible, it was even darker underneath the pine branches, making it seem that it was midnight instead of late afternoon. The knight kept a keen watch on the groups surroundings from his place near the front of the group. Though the night was not normally of a superstitious nature, he had a feeling that something was watching and following, never to be seen. The vampire felt a chill run up his spine, and nothing caused by the weather. 'Something is very wrong'

 

[willowwisp]

Elizabeth wiped her mouth, spitting to get the taste of bile off of her tongue. Glancing up at the Nord and Torin, the ranger, she nodded, showing she was okay. But she wasn't, not really. Those bodies, especially the children were burnt into her head for ever. 'Or until I die, anyways' she thought to herself, as she noticed the pale golden skinned woman leave the cave, the two men following behind her. She began to speak of how the jarl of Falkreath, Sidgier, had known what the group would find all along. Elizabeth felt sick to her stomach all over again.

Despite her gentle nature, she found herself nodding in agreement as the elf spoke of confronting the jarl.
Then the group was moving out again, into the dark, spooky forest. She did her best to stay in the center of the group, and pulled up her hood, attempting to ward off the unnatural chill in the air. Soon, she was shivering, and she was fairly certain it wasn't from the wind, which was basically blocked by all the trees. She needed to speak to someone, anyone. Glancing at the Nord beside her, the man that had tried to stop her from entering the cave, she said "Hello. I forgot to thank you for trying to stop me...I know you had our best interests at heart" kept her tone, calm, friendly.

 

[Baneloth]

Donath was mildly surprised that the woman was thanking him. He hadn't been able to stop her, but she seemed to be in a fairly good mood. 'A spirited lass' he thought. That was good, because the warrior thought she'd need a lot more spirit in the coming days. If the same thing had happened to all the disappearing people... Donath got rid of that line of thought before it showed up on his face. Smiling at the woman, he nodded in a friendly manner "Not a problem, lass. I was just trying to help out" he said, shifting his ax into a more comfortable position on his back.

 

[TheShadedOne]

Shadari kept to the back of the group on the return trip. The forest still gave her the creeps, but she didn't want the others watching her, questioning her slightly less confident movements. Her nerves were definitively on edge, and it didn't help that she was pissed at Sidgier. Her tail twitched in anger, the tip twitching from side to side as her dark grey leather boots crushed the needles on the forest floor.

She kept her eyes on the red armoured knight, not knowing what to think of him. Very few of the people Shadari knew cared one way or another whether she lived or died. That was the way the assassin liked it, and she was used to it, mostly because that meant she didn't need to be attached to anyone. This knight...this vampire...was making putting strange ideas in her head, which didn't exactly comfort the assassin. Shaking her head, and flicking her ears in annoyance, she rested a hand on her falchion, giving the dark forest a quick once over with her emerald eyes.

 

[WindWalker]

Julius hadn't seen what was in the cave, but those people that had gone in were either very quiet or looked very upset. He moved over to the Imperial woman in the robes, thinking that it was better that he stood walked by another Imperial. Plus she was in the middle of the group, and had dangerous looking characters all around her. Probably a safe place to be. "Hey. I never got your name, I'm Julius, a mercenary" he said, trying to sound like an actual soldier.

 

[Blackwhite1223]

Torin hooked the top of his bow onto his quiver, securing it. He strolled at an easy pace near the rear of the group, ahead of only the Khajiit woman. He had his left hand loosely on the the pommel of his sword, and scanned the forest, slowly, paying attention to details that most would overlook. On the way into the battle, the ranger had been uneasy, but waved that off to the stress of an upcoming battle. Now he was certain that something was wrong in the forest.

Before he'd been looking for signs of bandit passage, and now he searched for those of animals that usually made their homes on the forest floor, or under it. Rabbits, foxes, deer, and the like, but he saw none of those. That, above all, concerned the ranger. It was more than a little strange for no animals to be bedding down so close to nightfall. That had the experienced forester on his guard.

 

[TheShadedOne]

Shadari stared at the cloaked back of the ranger in front of her. The man walked with the bearing of a man that was used to moving through dozens of forests, at home under the branches, and yet, she could tell he was wary. He kept looking from side to side, as if searching for something, and his left hand rested on the pommel of his weapon. To an inexperienced observer, it might have looked like he was completely relaxed, but to Shadari, it was clear the ranger thought something was wrong. 'At least I'm not the only one' she thought to herself, increasing her pace slightly so that she was now walking beside the man.

"What's got you so worried, tree hugger?" She tossed out the slight insult easily, not really putting any malice behind it. She didn't find rangers the most interesting people, but they certainly knew there way around the forests. She respected that trait, and admitted that she was certainly couldn't do it any better. She flashed a grin at him, although it was kind of forced. The forest was dampening her seductive act, not that she was particularly interested, but with her tone and her body usually had men willing and ready to listen...among other things.

 

[Blackwhite1223]

"What's got you so worried, tree hugger?" Torin slowed his pace, and glanced over at the Khajiit woman. The ranger liked to think he was a fairly good judge of character, and decided that the woman didn't really mean the 'tree-hugger' comment. He looked over at her as she lengthened her pace to walk alongside him. She was covered in grey armour, except for her head, and she wore no gauntlets. The armour was form fitting, and left very little to the imagination. She was a good looking woman, but the ranger was disciplined enough to stop himself from gaping at her.Barely.

When he ignored her looks, he took in her weapons, a slightly curving one edged weapon that the ranger named as a falchion, and on her hip was a half dozen steel knives, by their size, probably made for throwing. She was most likely a mercenary or assassin of some sort. He decided to answer her question out of courtesy for a fellow professional, and because he had no reason not to. "I'm worried because there's no ground animals settling down for the night, usually, they like to settle down near trees, or bushes, but look" he pointed, showing that the ground was devoid of wildlife. "Something is very wrong here, or I'm not a ranger" he said quietly, glancing at the woman.