On the 31st of Last Seed, Um the Argonian rode her blonde horse under the gray sky. Her orcish warhammer and bow were strapped to her back, intimidating all. The horse hooves clacked on the stone pavement as Um was edging further and further from Solitude. She was wealthy, donning a dark blue dress bought from the pretentious Radiant Raiments, and fancy, leather boots. Markarth beckoned Um, who was also an adventurer and warrior in her free time. The Reach in general appealed to her, and she was not going to let bandits, killers, or forsworn stop her. She even cut a Forsworn Axe out of a savage's hand the week before. But today, something might make her scared. Something ancient, aggressive, and immensely powerful.
Um kept riding, until a caravan popped up in front of her. From behind it looked as an empty, desolate, eerie caravan. But, as Um soon rode forth, she saw it. Plain and simple, a dead horse lie dead and partially disemboweled. Um's reptilian eyes widened and she halted her horse quickly. Um dismounted and stared at the horse for a moment. Slightly shocked, it took her a moment to realize the dead Redguard maiden sprawled out on the path, having fallen from the caravan. Um recovered a journal from her.
She was a merchant, the woman, and she had been anxious of her husband traveling from Solitude to Whiterun, a dangerous journey. The doomed woman then decided to warily tag along with her husband. She finished off with saying that her and her husband will "live or die together. Mara preserve us."
Um walked around the caravan in a stunned daze. Another deceased man. A Nord face down in the dirt, with a horribly contorted, painful figure. Um stepped forward and noticed an arrow lodged into his ankle. She looked at it as her horse bellowed under the darkening, gray sky. A storm was coming. Um looked closer and moved the man's leg. The arrow's appearance startled her. Falmer? she thought. Um then looked across the river. A campsite and a heavily forested mountainside. However, before she treked across the river, Um got on the caravan and slipped out of her dark-blue, silky dress. She then wielded the finest armor she owned yet. The armor of the blades. I am a Blade. She thought, and nothing could scare her off. Leaving her horse, Um swam through the river quickly with her red tail snaking on the water's surface. It was approximately 4:00 PM.
The camp was abandoned. Three or four tents composed the camp, and a sad, lonely campfire in the center. No food. No journals. No signs of people. Um felt a creeping snake curl around in her gut. Something was not right. Too quiet. A storm had yet to pound Um and her horse with rain and hail, and no creatures fluttered around in the area. She turned around, contemplating turning back. A cheery little mudcrab fished for food across the river. No! she thought I am dragonborn for god sakes, and I will find these Falmer.. With that determination Um set off for the origin of the killings.
The cave was heavily guarded by pleasant looking trees and bushes, red and purple mountain flowers. Um crept closer, eyeing the locale. Nothing, except a dark gap into the mountain. Then she heard crunching and a low growl. Her reptilian instincts knew exactly what it was before her mind did. She turned her head, and looking right at Um was a giant sabre cat. An apex predator wanted her for an afternoon snack. But Um would have none of it. As the monster ferociously snarled, Um slowly equipped her green, orc-made warhammer. She positioned herself and kept a locked, constant stare on the cat. It lunged, roaring. Um dodged, and then struck hard on the creature's back. Still alive. Another strike was commanded, and the creature scampered back. It showed its enormous teeth, stained with dried, brown blood. Its eyes were diseased looking; yellow, hazy, and filled with mucus. This cat had a disease and was probably going insane. It lunged one last time, while Um swung one last time. The warhammer sliced the cat right in the mouth, severing the tongue completely. Another few inches and the animal would have been decapitated.
The cat fell dead and spilled out dirty, bacterial blood on the earth. Um looked at it apologetically for a few moments, and then proceeded into the cave.
This place reeks of Falmer... She thought. The walls seemed to glow; bright, neon blue and green. Water was everywhere, a perfect home for fabled, black monsters that appeared to look like giant centipedes with armor. Um tredged on, and saw a chest on a miniature island just feet away. She got closer and closer. The chest was cracked open and empty, and lying next to it was a dead adventurer. His throat was slashed open and his face told a quick story of disbelief, horror, and shock. The attack must have surprised him. Um gulped and closed her eyes. She felt she had enough and simply turned around. Left or right? she thought. Um turned left and waded through the water. Dead end. Um turned around and re-waded through and continued in the right direction. Spiderwebs were everywhere. Um looked around feeling anxious, and saw that webs marked the ceiling, walls, and the body of yet another adventurer ten yards ahead.
Um slowed and crouched. She filtered out into a cave that was literally made out of spiderwebs. The adventurer had been dead for some time now and was mummified by the merciless webbing he was enswathed in. Um's reptilian reflexes struck again as she bolted her head upwards. A lone frostbite arachnid stood, and before she knew it, Um was dodging projectile poison. She stumbled back and turned around when she gasped. A spider crawled towards her, occupying the same place Um was just crouching in seconds before. Soon dozens of spiders filed, dropped, and crawled into the space. It was gradually becoming a death trap, and one Um had to retreat from or face death. She crawled back into the entrance cave and slowly dispatched the spiders one by one until none were left. Most were easy, needing Um to only hack once at to kill. Her Forsworn Axe was a lifesaver; quick, sharp, and effective. Although, not all was good. Um was poisoned when a spider fang found itself lodged into her scaly skin.
Feeling queasy, Um slinked towards what she thought was the opposite end of the spider cave. Her jaw dangled as she felt sicker and sicker. Finally she reached the end, and dropped into an underwater passage way. Her Argonian blood was revitalized by the water, and she swam through the passage. Since the Argonian lizard folk can breath underwater, Um took her time to think and contemplate her surroundings. Feeling she had nothing to contemplate, Um swam further. Arising from the depths, she found herself in a partly-labyrthine caveway. Slowly stepping carefully, Um took a right and immediately saw a Falmer on the ledge of a flooded corridor. Horrendously sharp ears and gnarled, razor-like teeth. The red eyes locked on Um. Although they could not see, the eyeballs sensed an alien presence invading their dominion. The Falmer screeched while his eyes bulged. His skin was a strange icy blue-gray, now turned red as it was pierced by a steel arrow shot by Um. She was relieved and scared at the same time. Relieved because she chose the right cave, and scared because she might die.
The Falmer ignored her and darted forwards. Um shouted at it, and a gargantuan pulse of energy was purged out of her body. It ripped through the air and shot the Falmer and three others hiding behind the ledge. While they were stunned, downed in the water, Um quickly hacked at their shiny, wet skulls and killed them. A great deal of blood of splattered everywhere and stained her axe. Blood was still spurting from the open ravines in the Falmer's skulls when Um entered the other room. Another, higher ledge existed that connected to a Falmer lounge via stone bridge. Um scanned her surroundings, and spotted an archer on the ledge. His spine was showing perfectly against his tight, gray frame of skin. Um wanted to get upon the ledge and shout ten more times. She imagined the Falmer flying, doing a back-flip and cracking his skull onto a rocky column. No. It would make too much noise. Instead Um politely loaded her bow with steel arrows. She had to argue with one of the arrows to get it out of the bag.
The first shot hit the wall an inch from the elf's face. Sh!t. Um loaded it up again. The creature was doing similar, and was ready to shoot at anything that moved. When Um re-emerged she was able to dodge the Falmer arrow that killed so many before, and shot her own arrow that lodged itself right between the critter's eyes. It stood, slouched slightly while wobbling back and forth. After a few moments it dropped into the water and reddened the stream. Um walked up the slope and unto the ledge, making her way across the bridge and into the lounge. It was lit by a lone torch and populated by a gothic tent and table full of strange meats. Um crept along the wall and saw an entrance down to a balcony. She turned according to reflexes, back to the high ledge, and saw two Falmer warriors eyeing her down. Immediately one sprayed an icy cloud upon her. Magic; ice wielded from the hands. Um screamed in pain and swung her axe at the non-magical Falmer. It screeched as the Argonian woman slashed open its throat, spraying a haze of blood everywhere. Um limped, slowed down by the ice, into the corridor that lead down onto the balcony. There she drank her sole healing potion. No more healing potion. Um then lashed back into the lounge and swung her red tail like a whip. The magician stabbed her with his rosy, pupiless eyes. Could it see? Then, at the same time, Um drew her warhammer and the magician drew his sword.
Um first struck the elf's face, creating a large gash and matting its face red. Screech! It yelled as Um then struck its legs. The poor thing fell to the ground and kneeled in front of Um. Then, the sharp end of the warhammer struck its temple, and its head was soon flying into the air along with the hammer. Um beheaded an extremely powerful Falmer mage with just two strikes. She was truly born with dragon blood.
She skipped down the slope and unto the balcony. There Um witnessed something she thought never existed. Two Chaurus slithered about. Gigantic, aggresive centipedes with sadistic faces, black armor, and a poison spit. Um's jaw dropped and her eyes seemingly lied to her. What? 'What' was all Um could bring to mind. Before she could do anymore reacting, however, a Chaurus spat poison directly at her. "Agh!" she screamed. Um crouched and brought back her trusty bow and arrows. The pesky monstrosities were soon dealt with, along with a nosy Falmer elf seconds later.
The Argonian was then able to safely descend unto the main prison cave. She quickly shot another magician out of existence and proceeded to investigate the cells. The first cell she walked into contained a dead, emaciated elf. The peaceful civilized kind, probably a wood elf. He had a torn note on him, and Um eagerly poured over it.
"They fell upon us at dusk. Dozens of them. The caravan guards were dead in moments. They took everyone back to the pens. Blinded those who tried to resist.
One by one they've taken the others away. Feeding us to those monstrosities, or worse. I don't have much time left. Eydis, my love, if you ever get this - forgive me.
Firir "
Um looked over it a few times and stuffed it into her armor. she visited the cell next to Firir's and found a dead, blonde Redguard woman. She held a glass vial in her hand. Suicide...
Angry and fed up, Um marched deeper into the cave. She finally found herself in a sacrifice chamber. A dark elf, drained of blood, lie dead on a stone slab. A Falmer Nightstalker stood past him, snickering at Um. A henchman jumped out of a hole in the wall and landed in a puddle below. Um retreated back into the prison, while the leader elf quickly followed her. It was a frightening, glorious battle. The leader would not die easy, but neither would Um. After two, fierce minutes, Um shouted the leader agaisnt the wall and pounced on top of him. She drove the sharp end of the Warhammer directly into his head, splitting it completely. A shower of retribution and revenge rained upon the walls and floor. Um hissed and growled at the dead husk. She won.
The other elf was taken care of quickly, and Um solemnly reviewed the sacrificed man. A dark elf, he was, and he did not appear to be Eydis.
As she raced to get out of this hell, Um faced a wall of spiderwebs. After hacking it down and falling from a short ledge, she turned and saw the miniature island with the first dead adventurer she saw. What was hours ago felt like centuries. Um sprinted to the exit. She sprinted out of the cave, and sprinted back to her horse. It was 8:59 PM. Um practically jumped on her blonde, bored horse and sped off back to Solitude. She ran into an imperial guard outside the city stables, crying.
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Falk Firebeard's bedroom was lit by an orange glow from the few candles in the room. He sat at a small, round table next to Sybille Stentor, herself draped in blue robes and hoods. They were listening to an Argonian adventuress frightened by a vague cave outside the city. She stammered on and on, her accent a mix of Breton, Argonian, and High Elf. Her name was Um, and Um even presented the two a hastily written account of the ordeal. It was more of a novel than anything, plus, Um wrote in third-person her own events!
"Look, I'm telling you! There could be dozens, maybe hundreds, of Falmer down there!" Um pleaded.
"Really? You gave us a novel of what you saw. Can we believe that?" Stentor accused her. She had an impatient look on her face.
"Please, Sybille." Firebeard soothed. He then asked "What do you want us to do, Argonian?"
"Send more men down there! Those things are killing people everyday!". Firebeard and Stentor both knew Um was being too vocal and loud, but Firebeard trusted her. He knew, as the whole court did, that she was Dragonborn and that she saved the whole universe from a rude, offensive, clumsy dragon. Firebeard also knew Um's tendency to embellish and sensationalize.
"Okay, Um. Go home and sleep. I'll tell Elisif tomorrow morning what happened."
When the Argonian, her spirit crushed, turned and moped out of the room, Firebeard turned and spoke to Stentor.
"So, what are we going to tell the High Queen? Cave elves are invading Skyrim?" He had a slight, sarcastic, tired smile on his face.
That night, on the third of Hearthfire, Firebeard wrote in his journal, ate cooked venison and then went to sleep. The next morning he reported to the High Queen of Skyrim. She listened intently, trusting Um as well. Five imperial soldiers ventured into the cave, on of them the soldier that Um ran into days before. None returned and Falmer sightings intensified. Haafinger entered a state of emergency.
! Use a dictionary! The length, at minimum, is 2 paragraphs of five to seven, complete sentences. That is not a hard undertaking and should be relatively easy. The maximum is of course 60,000 characters as it set for the entire forum. Homophobia, sexism, racism, and other intolerance should not be displayed in your story as positive or good by any means. Simply pointing out the mentioned prejudices and hatred and not glorifying it is okay.
