Frontier: Vvardenfell

[Sloady]

"Qa'Mhirr!" He yelled. The Khajiit was nowhere to be seen. He looked around, for him, listening to here sounds of foot steps, but he was no longer there. Leiden sighed. Then... a glint. On the ground. A soul gem - a grand one. He had no idea where it had come from, but it was there. "Qa'Mhirr!" He yelled, picking it up. "Qa'Mhirr! I found one. Qa'Mhirr!" He looked around desperately. "Come back." He said, quietly, so quietly that even he could barely hear it.

[Roadcone]

The nest Night-Runner had built was impressive, it was a circular pile of bracken and shrubbery that reached at least 5 feet above the ground. When he crawled into it he sank down and was almost impossible to see. He peered outwards so that the others could see only his face.

He pondered Veriax's question, and considered answering. But in the end he stayed silent, prefering to listen to tales told by the other adventurers. The only stories he had to tell were of victories against the Dunmer and he didn't think this particular group of companions would want to hear those.

[OblivionDuruza]

"Let Leiden deal with the Khajiit," Thoryn grumbled, somewhat amused by the situation, "I come from Solstheim, I spent much of my life there, or in Skyrim. For a while, I journeyed through my ancestors' homeland in the East, to Necrom and Almalexia. Now, I come to Vvardenfell in search of something that was lost long ago, that belongs to the Temple and to my people."

[Chaos the N'wah]

Spoiler:

This is going to be a long one, but it'll be resolved before the group leaves at dawn

Far below, at the cave-in at the bottom of the stronghold, Qa'Mhirr continued his search, picking up fragments and sapping out more magicka.
"Much better, we are thinking more clearly, little one of us has done well," Qa'Mhirr said to himself, "Yes, but he won't do as he's told, much like you Lizards."
"It's not yours and escape is paramount!" he looked at his frostbitten hand, now showing signs of gangrene, "No, it was his fault for breaking us, he should pay,"
"You wanted to stay in that shade of Oblivion? Idiot," "Hardly, I hoped to be put into the hands of someone powerful, not some skooma sucker the size of a child!" "What's wrong with Oblivion, Mortal?"

"You talk and talk and talk, but you never think of doing better, can't we try to make the best of it," "We could maim someone if you feel we should act, mortal."
"Who?" Qa'Mhirr found a sphere's bladearm, severed from its torso, "Well Mortal, since we ran, I have an idea," he picked up the blade with his left hand and put his right arm on the sphere's body.
"Wait!" the Khajiit echoed this multiple times as he swiftly brought the blade down on his right arm, just above the elbow, it made it to the bone and stopped, "ARE YOU STUPID!"
"Well, it looks like it can be controlled, vahaha!" he brought the blade down again and cut the arm off cleanly, "No, NO, NO!" "Quick! WRAP IT! WE CAN'T DIE NOW!"
"It was lost anyway, crude as it may be," "He can't have control!" "Shut up, all of you! it can be mended, but we'll be short a limb."
A bluish green glow emitted around the bloodly stump that was Qa'Mhirr's right arm and flesh covered the bone, muscle, and the bleeding stopped.

"W-WE...Q-QA'MHIRR IS NOT YOUR TOY!" he screamed in anger and pain, feverishly running around, finding more shards, and sapping out his energy, "You're being as stupid as the Daemon, you're just as likely to tear out your own soul as ours,"
"Let him, one of us will get the helm, ha!" "It's not like he even knew what he was doing the first time," "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" the khajiit howled before collasping, the pain taking it's toll and adrenaline fading.

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

Spoiler:

o.O

Llarays sighed. "I come from Skyrim."

[OblivionDuruza]

"It's a bitter place, is it not," Thoryn said, "not just the climate and the chill, but the people too ..."

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

"Yes, some people... terrorized my family and I, and so I moved."

[OblivionDuruza]

"An unfortunate occurrence that forced our great people out of Morrowind into such a place," Thoryn muttered, a hint of anger and sadness on his tongue, "but we shall return."

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

"Return, once the abominations of Skyrim are gone." Llarays agreed. "Which may be in two millennium, I don't know."

Spoiler:

Too lazy to see if millennium is spelled incorrectly.

[Sloady]

Spoiler:

Retconned last post cause Chaos wanted me to

Leiden despondently returned to the camp, to see everyone gathered around the camp fire, sharing stories. He overheard someone talk about Skyrim. "What's this about Skyrim?" He asked.

[OblivionDuruza]

"It is of little consequence," Thoryn sighed, "the past is bitter, but the future holds much promise." He paused, "you never did fully explain this little sortie to me when we first met," he added quizickly.

[Sloady]

"Ah, yes. I suppose now is a good a time as any to show you the maps." From his pack, he pulled his maps. They contained detailed maps of Vvardenfell, including known settlements, strongholds, and the ilk. It also contained what little up to date information he could get on the landscape. The path was clear - down the west coast, towards Vivec. They passed by many major settlements on the way, including Gnarr Mok and Balmora. "We'll be there within the week, Azura willing."

[OblivionDuruza]

"And what is it we seek? If I may inquire," Thoryn pressed tentatively.

[Sloady]

"Land? Fame? Fortune?" Leiden said. "Vivec is unclaimed land nowadays. Abandoned to all but marauders. We plan on reclaiming it for ourselves. There should be enough wealth lying around to get things started - maybe even build and garrison a castle. The Empire will be glad to have anything established here - and if we dig in enough, we should be able to get something going." Leiden shrugged. "All in all, we don't really know. We only knew there'd be choice pickings here - and so far, we've found quite a lot of wealth." Carefully, Leiden took the Ashmask out of his pack. "This alone," He said. "Could set all of us up for life. Combined with the map information we'll bring to some entrepreneurial miner, we can definitely start something here."

[Chaos the N'wah]

Spoiler:

* ' * is internal thoughts

Qa'Mhirr awoke, still in agony, but his head was clearer, 'It looks like the cat finally came back, how pitiful' 'Come now, most people his size would have slept for many cycles' 'Khajiit, and the akaviri is correct.'
"What now?" he said aloud, looking through the darkness, his vision clearing and seeing his severed arm in the middle of the room; the Khajiit groaned and let his head hang back.
'Kind of slow, isn't he?' 'No, not everyone makes a living off of playing with life, Witch,' 'Perhaps the incentive of a replacement would prod him into action?' 'Concurrence.'

"Those in me could actually talk to Qa'Mhirr, rather than spouting commentary on every painful ache," he snarled out loud, 'Yes, the not-kin is right,' 'Who says? He isn't fit to bear me,' 'No, you're not getting control, Witch.'
'Ignoring the rhetoric, we, I, can help you, dagi-raht,' "We're listening," 'Yes, well, before my ghastly demise, I knew a thing or two about the Dwarves' machines and could graft one of the Sphere's arms as a faux limb.'
"Hmm, make it an archer's arm, this one can't use a crossbow with some ungainly metal arms," 'It'll take time and a good source of power,' 'WAIT, you're saying he'll need to use one of us to power your crazy machine?' 'Of course! oh...'
Qa'Mhirr ignored the argument in his head and started searching through the downed spheres that littered the chamber, looking for the one with a crossbow attached, 'Amusement, looks like he isn't going to give you a choice, witch.'

Later on, he had collected the parts he needed from knowledge not his own as well as a large soul gem, the work was hard with only one hand.
"It has to be lighter, this'll be too heavy," 'Yes, so stop, N'WAH!' 'Ignore, surely a gem that size can impart enough energy to uplift the weight,' 'In theory, yes, and we can remove some of the heavier armoring.'

After tinkering some more, the machine looked slightly larger than his other arm, bronze heavy plates curved around unmoving gears with two crossbow lathes folded atop the forearm.
It took even longer to secure it to his stump of an arm, a small pauldron being used to anchor the machine on his body, 'Now, if you're going to be able to use this masterpiece, you'll need two sources, one connecting you to the one in your new limb.'
The Khajiit let out a whimper as he took a medium size soul gem fragment and rammed it into the stump, settling next to the bone; he gasped for a few minutes until he could calm down enough to work.
'Question, who is going to be the sacrifice?' 'Oh yes, it is that time already,' 'It should be you, mutt, you're the one stupid enough to waste all this time on something that is going to silence one of us, but might not work.'
"Choice? It is no choice, the crone is the only loud one of the bunch," Qa'Mhirr said as he took the grand gem to his head and channeled the soul into it, placing it inside a bracket inside the arm.

'Good, more room now and less unholy filth,' 'hmm, yes well, I'm glad that horrid ordeal is over, now let's see if my baby works,' he set the arm into place and tried to move it.
It remained a dead weight, 'Give it time, I'm sure it's just some dust in the cogs,' it didn't move, 'Funny, not-kin, you need to put a little bit of our soul the stone in your flesh,' "Our?" he echoed.
'Surprised? all those souls you ripped out took a little of you with them, any more and it all might come,' 'Hold on, ummm, think think think, try some oil?' 'Sad, it is not all science, man.'

After trial and error, Qa'Mhirr finally got the arm to bend, slowly; He ignored the chatter in his head and focused on getting used to the new arm, hours later, getting one of the 'fingers' to move.
He wasn't used to only three fingers and a thumb, "It'll be a long time before this one climbs right," he laughed, feeling a mix of sorrow and dark humor.

[OblivionDuruza]

"I see," Thoryn mused, "perhaps once this journey is through I may continue my quest to the North, in the Ashlands. It would be good for me to return to the ruins of Vivec, I am sure there is much to be found in what was once the Temple of the Warrior-Poet himself."

[Sloady]

"Indeed," He said. "Now, if you don't mind me, I think it's time we ate properly, wouldn't you agree?" From his pack, he took out the alcohol he had purchased what felt like a year ago - but had only been a few days. He also took out some dried meat, bread, and cheese. "Let us eat like kings tonight, eh? Tomorrow we go back to being paupers, but tonight, we dream."

And so, they did. The sounds of laughter and song drifted throughout the ruins until the men fell into a drunken stupor, and slept. Long gone from their minds was the thought of Qa'Mhirr, the events that had unfolded, or even Vivec - their prize. For it was friendship, not gold, that they cherished that night. And what a night it was.

The following morning, however, felt like they had walked a thousand miles in the Deadlands. For Flin has horrific hangovers, and that's the truth of it.

"Ugh..." Leiden groaned, trying to sit upright. "Dear god, did I get attacked in the night?"

[Roadcone]

The sound of Leiden's voice woke Night-Runner. His fern bed had been strewn across the campsite and he lay facedown on the flagstones. He sat up and immediately regretted it. His head felt like a goblin had used it as a drum. He suddenly realised that he was naked from the waist up. He attempted to find his shirt but his head was swimming horribly.

He managed a short grunt before giving up on his search to lie back onto the stone, rubbing his temples.

[OblivionDuruza]

"You two can't handle your drink," Thoryn scoffed, "I bet you haven't tried Sujamma Night-Runner, like a kick from a Guar. Good Dunmeri brew Sujamma, not so common nowadays though ..." he let his words run off wistfully.

Spoiler:

Wouldn't be fun if we were all hungover. Plus, I always like to sober up before going to sleep

[Sloady]

He looked into his pack and found... bingo. "This, gentleman." He said, taking a packet of petals out. "Is the mother of all hangover cures. We make tea out of it. It's Dragon Tongue, Mana Bloom and a bunch of other good stuff that'll knock the hangover right out of you." He said, getting up, and stoking the fire. "I used to sell it to the Nords for thousands of septims a packet." He laughed. He picked up a piece of a sphere, and poured some water into it, and sat down beside the fire, waiting for the water to boil.

[Chaos the N'wah]

Qa'Mhirr opened his eyes at the sound of chatter, having returned to camp at dawn but decided to try and get some much needed rest; it hadn't worked, his head was swimming with voices.
The Khajiit was sitting is a dark corner of the room, he tried to arch his back, but his arm hissed out a little steam in the movement; he'd have to get used to the noise, but at least he could use the thing now.
He spaced out a little, forgetting what brought him out of his stupor and his eyelids drooped.

[Roadcone]

Night-Runner turned at the hiss and saw Qa'Mhirr's new arm.

"What in oblivion.." he said. He attempted to stand up and back away from the Khajiit but fell back down onto the floor.

"What... When...??"

[Chaos the N'wah]

Qa'Mhirr looked up at the argonian,"We...Khajiit does not want to talk about it," he closed his eyes again, "We all pay a price."

[Sloady]

"Hmmm," Leiden said, but shrugged it off. "At least you're back. I was worried about you. I don't particularly want to know what happened to your other arm, however.." Maybe it was the alcohol still in his system, but he quickly dismissed it. He dropped the bag of petals into the water, and it began to turn a yellowy-gold color. He shook the bowl around, and removed the bag, throwing it in the fire. It gave off a wonderful smell as it burnt, but the tea smelled even better. He took an empty bottle from last night, and scooped the liquid up into it. "One sup will get you throw the day," He said, and took a swig. His vision blurred, and his head felt like it was on fire, for all but a moment, until it stopped. He felt like a new man. Awake, more aware than usual, and could run a hundred miles. His eyes glinted gold, and his vision was tinged by it. He held the bottle out, offering it to anyone else. "Oh man, that stuff could cure skooma addiction..."

[Roadcone]

Night-Runner stumbled over to Leiden and took the bottle. He sniffed at it cautiously before taking a short swig. It felt as though somebody had taken out his brain, cleaned it and put it back in.

"Oh my... Wow!" Night-Runner said, holding the bottle out for the next person to take. Like Leiden he was filled with an energy that he hadn't experienced in a long time.