Frontier: Vvardenfell

[Sloady]

"Time to get moving." Leiden said, standing up, having finished his meal. "We've got a long, long journey ahead." Leiden led the group out of Balmora, and towards their final destination. They travelled south, straight to Vivec, through Pelagia. As they got closer, Qa'Mhirr's predictions started to seem more and more true. But as the forest leveled out, they saw exposed seams of gold, mounds of diamond, and other valuables. The land was scorched, burned, and barren. But it didn't look recent.

Upon reaching Pelagia, it became apparent why. As they entered what remained of the town, a roar could be heard, far off in the distance. The roar of a dragon. Falling to the ground, a massive Dragon flew over head. As the group looked up at the ruins of Vivec, they saw one - another - another Dragon. It was a literal hive.

"Azura..." Leiden muttered. "Dragons... There must be... 10, at least. Do dragons reproduce? I think they do... which means... dragon babies... and perhaps Dragon eggs..."

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

"Oh dear..." Llarays moaned. "Can't we go around?" His hand moved. "Or maybe... stealing dragon eggs?"

[Sloady]

Leiden shook his head. "The dragons no doubt made their home in the city." He looked sullen, defeated, dejected. He looked around at the group, and one last time in the city. His city. He wasn't about to let it go. "We're taking this city. I won't force anyone, but the wealth in there and around here is more than any of you can imagine. Our children, our childrens children, will be set up for life if we take this city. If we leave now, we leave with trinkets. We take this city, and we'll go down in history."

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

"And we'll probably die instead," Llarays said, his tone despondent. "Why risk dying when we can earn enough to start a new life going around?"

[Sloady]

"You want to walk away now?" Leiden said, incredulous "We might as well have walked through the Deadlands to get here, and you're going to turn around and walk away now? Two people have died to get us here, and you're going to turn around now?" Leiden looked at him, and the city. "Its your right," He said, softly. "But I'm going in. It's just a case of whose coming with me."

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

Llarays muttered incoherently. "Well since we're going down anyway, why not do it trying to make history."

[Chaos the N'wah]

"Hmm...this one guesses that it makes sense, with none of those flying rats to drive the wyrms away and no cities, this is the perfect place to thrive for them."
Qa'Mhirr looked back at Leiden, "No offense, but this madness, this is isn't a band of bandits, this is a guar's dung's worth of dragons, this will take more then the usual skirmish."
"If we're to clear this land, it'll take guerrilla hit-n-run tactics and a well hidden camp with access to a food source and water.." he swept his left paw out towards the sea, "That isn't filled with enough salt and sulfur to kill an Ogrim!"
"Not to mention the lack of numbers, there is skirting death and then there's just plan dive rock suicide!" Qa'Mhirr spat out, "Unless you have a plan, you might as well through your name into the death toll hat."

[OblivionDuruza]

"It would be just to rid the land of these beasts," Thoryn said slowly, "It is an honourable cause indeed, to release these sacred lands from this occupation and it is our duty to do so, but the Khajiit speaks true, to even consider doing battle with this number of Dragons is foolery, we must find another way, we must give ourselves a fighting chance before we charge blindly into the fray."

[Sloady]

"There's another option," Leiden reluctantly said. "We could sneak our way in, plunder, and leave. It'd be risky... but we can't take them all down out in the open."

[Chaos the N'wah]

"Risky isn't the word, if we make one false step, not only will we have to fight them all anyway, but we might be doing it weighed down and in a disadvantageous spot."
Qa'Mhirr looked at the others gathered, "This will mean everyone for themselves, we couldn't risk all dying because of someone being clumsy," he turned to Leiden, "Are you prepared to watch more fall and continue on?"

[Sloady]

Leiden shrugged. "I've come this far - I won't force anyone to go further. But I'm going in, and whoever goes in with me, if we come out alive, we'll come out richer than the Emperor." Leiden looked at the ruins of the city. "I'm going in to scout out. If you want to come, that's fine. If you want to stay, and wait until it's scouted, that's fine too. If you want to leave, do so. We've all got enough to live comfortably. But I don't want comfortable. I owe it to myself, to Veriax, and to Stros to keep going." Leiden walked towards the city, single-minded. He knew he was the prey, not the predator, and he was completely aware of his surroundings. He began to plan out his route through the city, waiting for anyone who might follow to follow.

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

Llarays stared at Leiden. "You're going to risk dying to get a bunch of coins and riches? Not reasonable in my opinion." he muttered under his breath. "Hmm... I guess I'll wait for the scouting to be done."

[Roadcone]

"Yes, i agree." Nightrunner said, sitting next to Llarays, "I'm not going in there without a plan."

[Sloady]

"The whole reason for scouting is to get a plan." Leiden snapped. "But if you wont follow, fine. Stay here in safety while others go risk their lives so that you might feel comfortable." He scoffed, before sliding down a hill into the ruins of Vivec.

The earth was brown, and scorched from fire. Most buildings had been completely vaporized, but some still stood - barely. He weaved his way through the rubble strewn streets, trying to map out how to get through the city. His destination was the Hlaalu Canton, and their vault, which should have remained largely intact. Inside would be a huge amount of wealth, and would be what would secure the city.

[Sloady]

Spoiler:

If someone follows, I have an encounter planned. If no one does, I'll skip forward to late that night when he comes back. Indicate intentions please

[OblivionDuruza]

Thoryn waited for a moment, then let out an exasperated sighed, running after the other Dunmer, "Leiden, you can't go alone, you'll get yourself killed. Let me come with you."

[Roadcone]

"Where's that little Khajiit gotten to?" Nightrunner said to Llarays, looking around and behind himself. "We need to find something to shelter under before they return."

[Chaos the N'wah]

Qa'Mhirr had slid down the hill next to Leiden, crouching and keeping a wary eye to the sky, "As long as we're clear, khajiit isn't going to stop to get himself killed."
A wide grin spread across his face, "Let's hope this is worth getting turning into wyrm food."

[Sloady]

"Isn't it always?" Leiden grinned back at the Khajiit. "Good to have you both here. We're heading for the Hlaalu Canton, but not above ground - we've got to get underground, and find our way to it. As far as I know, we can get underground in the Foreign Canton... or we could try out the Hlaalu quarter, and see if we can find our way underground from there."

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

Llarays frowned. "They're probably going to get themselves killed..." he mumbled. "You know what, I going after them."

[Chaos the N'wah]

Qa'Mhirr gave a puzzled look, "Hlaalu, Foreign, can-ton?," he paused, then shook his head, "Underground is good, this one does not know much of the layout, but Qa'Mhirr will take which ever place is further from the center of the original crater."

[Sloady]

"The Vaults from the Houses should have survived, but I'm not about to excavate the entire city to find them. If we get underground, we have a better chance of finding one of them. I'm not going to be picky about which one we find, but I know the rough location of the Hlaalu one."

[Roadcone]

"Peer pressure is it?" Nightrunner said, sliding down the hill and jogging to catch up with the party. "I'm no coward, but the faster we can get underground, the better." Nightrunner looked from side to side, and then up into the sky "I've never heard of an underground dragon."

[Sloady]

"To the Foreign Canton, then." He said, moving low to the ground, keeping a look out for dragons. He weaved his way through the blackened street, every roar, grunt, and gust of wind making his hair stand on end. But as afraid as he was, he had never felt so alive. All his senses were heightened as he realized he couldn't afford to let anything go. It was a feeling he was both unaccustomed to, and intrigued by.

The group made their way without incident to the Foreign Canton, and through some searching, found what they were looked for - an entrance into the Underworks. But what they found within was not what they were expecting...

"Oh my god..." Leiden said, looking at the walls of the Underworks. They were lined with something... "These are... dragon eggs." Hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands. "Azura..."

[Chaos the N'wah]

"FOOD!" Qa'Mhirr said enthusiastically, but keeping his voice down to a whisper, "Khajiit wonders what they taste like?" his eyes were fixated in wonder.