Ronin's night, so far, was going quite smoothly. Until, when he was in the middle of downing a spoonful of soup, he heard something that he had utterly despised;

''Sir! Sir! Help!''

The Argonian grumpily set his soup pot down again and stood to see a man rushing towards, ''What be the problem...?'' Ronin called out to him. He suddenly backed away a few steps as the man stumbled and fell before Ronin. "The knights! Their killing everyone in the warehouse!" The man cried, and Ronin eyed him with mistrust. Knights? Why would they kill the survivors in the warehouse...?, if this man was telling the truth, then these so called 'Knights' were going on a killing spree.

He growled angrily, and grabbed a small belt resting against his backpack, as well as a small sheath for an elven dagger. He quickly slid the belt over the right side of his waist. The other end of the belt rested against his left shoulder. After that, he walked over and hoisted the man to his feet. ''Take me to warehouse...'' He commanded. This sudden ordeal interrupted the flow of his day, and Ronin did not like people disrupting his time.

IC: The scared man, upon receiving orders to take Ronin to the warehouse, complied with a whimper. He quickly led Ronin to the warehouse in question, but when he tried to open the door, he found that it had been barricaded from the inside. THe man was now worried. He had seen Ronin the doubtful look on the argonian's face earlier, and he wasn't sure whether the argonian would entertain his pleas any longer.

Just then, four bodies fell from the rooftop and onto the streets, causing the man to jump. THe Knights were throwing the corpses of their victims onto the streets below, using a rooftop hatch to get the bodies onto the roof. After a few moments, the last body fell, and one of the knights remained on the rooftop to gloat.

"What's this? Has the coward brought help? Hah! A pointless endeavor!"

When they reached the Warehouse, both Ronin and the scared man saw that it was barricaded as he tried to pry open the door. ''Hmmm... this is-'' Ronin was cut off a a corpse nearly landed on top of him. He backed away and saw that the Knights were dumping bodies off of the roof, In the name of the gods.... Ronin thought as the last body was dumped off. One of the Knights on the roof saw the Argonian and chortled madly. "What's this? Has the coward brought help? Hah! A pointless endeavor!"

Thats its... Ronin mentally cursed at the foolish Knight and approached the barricaded door. He then placed a hand on his belt, and detached one of many small, gray objects with a wick sticking out of them. ''Follow me'' He said as he walked several yards away from the door, Curses, I should have brought my crossbow..., with that thought, his hand was set aflame by a bluish-yellow inferno. ''Cover ears'' He addressed the man next to him as he lit the wick.
He held the active device in his hand for a few seconds before heaving it at the door. As soon as the bomb hit the wooden door, it was engulfed in a large mixture of orange-red flame. Everything that was the door and part of the front wall, was now non-existent.
The explosion echoed throughout the Waterfront, alerting all of the survivors that something had happened.

When the explosion cleared, Ronin walked forward, ''Lets go...'' He said as he drew his dagger. These men would regret crossing Ronin, although there being five of them and only one of him. Well... that could cause a few problems...

Ic: As the explosion shattered the front wall, The knight who had been standing on the roof lost his balance and fell to the ground below. He attempted to pick himself up in order to attack Ronin, but suddenly fell back to the ground, dead. At the sound of the explosion the remaining four knights charged out of the building in order to attack Ronin. Finally, another figured emerged from the building, this one without shield or helmet. The four Knights with shields charged at Ronin, their swords drawn, and their shields at the ready. However, something was...different about their combat styles. The Knights seemed very twitchy, as if they were ready to drop their swords and shields at a moments notice in order to grab the curved knives on their belts.

OOC:Jerod, you can rp the knights side of the fight. THeir tough, I'll pm you with their fight style.

Francois and his knights slowed their horses slowly as the corprus converged on them. Francois bashed their heads with his shield, rolling and turning his sword to cleave open their skulls and hack off limbs, while the Ra Gada rode in figure eights swooping down to lop off corprus' heads. One of the survivors exclaimed that they were idiots, but they could handle these foul beasts, especially on horseback.

As a few made it past his comrads towards the wagon, Gaston trotted to the head of the wagon, assisting in keeping the lame corprus at bay.

Grash bellowed with rage at the incompetence of those haughty Knights, and as the lame corprus surrounded the wagon he suddenly leapt forward, wielding his warhammer, and landed nimbly in amongst a small group of then. He began spinning his body in circles, faster and faster, holding the haft of his heavy hammer, until he was moving quite fast. He then began advancing into their numbers, the sheer force and speed of his attack decapitating one immediately. He caught his bearings and then began battling in a more conventional manner, bringing the haft of the hammer into one beast's face, stunning it, and before it could regain its bearings, he brought the 12 pound hammer down hard on top of its skull, splitting its rotten head open like a ripe melon. One was trying to approach him from behind but he quickly thrust the handle of the hammer backwards and cracked its ribcage, and reached back with his clawed gauntlets and slashed its face. Before it could retaliate he took a mighty twisting lunge at it and smacked its face so hard with his big hammer that its head twisted completely around on its neck. Its spine broke and it crumpled to the ground.

"FOOLISH KNGIHTS!" The Orc bellowed. "You could get us all KILLED."

Fanier thrust his sword through the neck of the nearest beast, only to be attacked again from the other side. The corprus took a swing at his head, which Fanier quickly ducked. With his head down, he rammed his sword into the beast's gut, and pushed himself and the corprus forward, just to keep momentum. The beast stumbled and fell backwards while Fanier withdrew his blade and walked over the limp creature.

Ahead of him were four more beasts. Fanier decided upon one of them, and ran at it. He tackled the creature to the ground, quickly rolling to his feet to face the rest while the beast struggled to get up. The other corprus hadn't fully become aware of his presence, so Fanier took the opportunity to finish the downed monster; he lifted up his foot, the slammed his heavy boot down into the soft, fleshy skull of the beast.

Then Fanier was knocked onto the floor; not by any corprus beast. He felt the ground shaking, and his ears were ringing from the explosive sound that seemed to have come from outside of the tunnel. The torch slipped from Fanier's hand and slid a few yards away. In the momentary peace, he looked around and saw that many of the beasts had been knocked down as well.

Then he heard it: a it started as a small, almost negligible sound. Then he heard it growing; it crackled like grinding rock. Fanier could hear it coming from the area where Francois and his knights were fighting.

After a few seconds of thought, Fanier realized what it was. He called out frantically to Francois, and he knew he would be able to hear him: "FRANCOIS! GET OVER HERE! NOW!"

(hip, I'm new ).

http://www.elderstats.com/character/S1/207

Name: Arthur Codill
Race: Redguard
Gender: Male
Apparent Age: 23
Actual Age: 23

Skills: Master in the Way of the Sword, can summon spirit-swords, some powerful spells and summons, practically invulnerable to physical attacks.

Weaknesess: Very weak to magic (can easily die with 2 powerful spells), weak to magic weapons. Due to his pride, he doesn't wear any protective/fortifier item besides his Signet Ring.

Armor/apparel: See pics.

Unique apparel: Codill's Clan Signet Ring (Ebony diamond ring with Fire Shield 50% on Self).

Weapons: Godai (unique katana), 2 combat knifes, mostly used for cutthoathing.

Equipment: Enough money not to ever have to worry about it. A nice collection of poisons. Little else.

Physical Appearance: Muscular, tall, good-looking and disturbing at the same time (because of his eyes).

Unique Appearance: Bright red eyes.

Mental Description: Cold, sarcastic, pesimist, cinic, elitist, snob, very jealous with his honor and the honor of his Clan...but unexpectedly warm and kind with his servants, and loyal to those ones he considers his friends.

Misc characteristics: Loves boar meat and good wines, he REALLY can't stand bears and goblins. When in towns, he always sleeps in expensive inns. Owner of two vineyards near Skingrad, a house in that city, and a Clan Temple in the Jerall mountains.

Misc jobs: Wine and Skooma producer/trader. Assasin (sometimes).

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(I begin in Shadowcrest, a vineyard close to Skingrad. Hope that doesn't matter where you begin....).

"First there were vampires. Now mutated beasts....and the next thing it'll be that the Aedra had gone mad and walks on Tamriel killing everybody in their path...time to time"

Arthur's pesimist thoughts were temporaly faded away as Jarvon approached him. Apparently all the other farmers were just too scared to even get out of their houses. Arthur was already suited in his SEAW suit and was revising that his equipment were all OK.

"Take care of the other farmers, Jarvon. I feel I won't be back for a long time. And you're the one with more guts here. And with the sharpest sword".

"Don't worry, my Lord", -replied Jarvon-", I'll take care of the vineyard.

Arthur didn't replied back. He just stayed looking at his servant. "If only I could had hired some Blackwood thugs, like the last time..." But all the Blackwood members seemed already busy with this maddness that, apparently, was spreading all over Tamriel. "I've no other choice but to go to the east, to find out what's really happening, and leave my properties alone...but at the slightest signal of anything wrong here, I'll return. I swear it by my Ansei blood"

Arthur said the same words to his servants, and it seemed to calm them a bit.

"Well, it's time to part", after saying goodbye to all, he began to run though the wilderness in direction to Bravil.

OOC: Any hint of what's the spreading length on Cyrodill would be useful

OOC: this is a joint post by darth and jerod

Their initial charge came fast, they rushed to Ronin like angry wasps. Normally, The Argonian would play the defensive role and let them come. But, there were four of them, each wearing heavy plate armor, and armed to the teeth with weapons. Ronin only had his black robe, dagger, and a handful of small explosives. Something told him that wouldn't help him much.
To avoid being impaled by a longsword, Ronin dived to his side, avoiding the blade by mere centimeters. Any closer would have cut through his robe and into flesh. In the moment he hit the ground, he rolled over and leaped to his feet in a fraction of a second. Ronin only had little time before the Knights changed their course to devise a plan.

The man who alerted Ronin of the knights uprising, vanished, obviously out of terror and for his own life. So I'm on my own....perfect..., He thought as he tensed himself when the savage knights surrounded him.


Noticing that they now faced a nimble opponent, the Knights changed tactics. Three of the Knights moved to surround Ronin in a box formation, circling Ronin at a rather fast pace. The fourth Knight just stood their until he was facing the opening in the box, at which point he grabbed at the underside of his right arm, as if trying to remove something that was strapped to it. Suddenly, a flash of light could be seen in front of the knight as he quickly shot his left arm forward. It was a throwing knife, and it was moving right toward's Ronin's heart. At the same moment, all four knights raised their swords and charged at Ronin. Even if he dodged the knife, he'd surely be trapped in the box formation unless he was quick on his feet.


Ronin eyes never left the man knight standing a small distance from the other three. The Argonian's bright green-yellow eyes widened as he saw the man grab something under his arm and extend it towards Ronin. The man threw a knife. At that same time, the four knights charged forward, cutting off any other escape route other than.... forward. Ronin bit his bottom lip as he leaped forward towards the knife that had been thrown, he knew he had to time his action exactly, or the dagger would penetrate into his heart.
Suddenly, Ronin purposely fell backwards, limbo style. The throwing knife merely grazed the tip of his snout, and continued on, into the group of charging knights. As soon as Ronin hit the ground, he performed a small flip which propelled him back onto his feet. The knight who had charged the same direction as the knife he threw was directly in front of Ronin, and evidently, he didn't stop charging. The lizard reacted quickly, making sure he would not be impaled, Ronin swerved to his right, and rammed his shoulder into the knight. The man toppled backward, and Ronin tumbled on top of him.


As the throwing knife traveled past its intended target, the Knight farthest from the thrower forced his shield downward in order to protect himself agianst the blade. It was harmlessly knocked away. However, the Knight who threw the blade, though he now had an argonian on top of him, would not be deterred.

The man grabbed the argonian by the arm, while he struggled to grab his dagger from his side. Pulling out his dagger, he then attempted to slit Ronin's throat in the same manner that he had slit the throat of the innocent survivors earlier.

Meanwhile, two of the knights drew their throwind knives, and readied them in case their ally was not able to kill the argonian.


Falling on top of the knight, wasn't part of Ronin plan of action. The man withdrew his dagger and attempted to cut Ronin's throat. The Savage! He thought as he fought the knights arm with his free hand. Ronin was not muscled up like these men however, and the knight began to overpower the Argonian. To make it worse, the knight had a death grip on Ronin's shoulder, which didn't allow him to easily dive to the side.
He growled lowly as the dagger slowly moved its way up to his throat, his attempts to save himself seemed hopeless now.

Then suddenly, a large dull explosive thud sounded off, so loud that it took the Knights off guard. Ronin knew what it was; something had detonated one of his traps. The knights grip on his shoulder loosened exponentially, loose enough for an escape. Ronin needed no invitation, he ripped himself out of the man's grasp and flipped himself sideways, beside the downed knight. No more messing around... He mentally taunted the knights as his hands lit up in a familiar flame.

Crackling, and the sound of grinding stone reached the Talib's ears as pieces of stone began to fall around them.

"FRANCOIS! GET OVER HERE! NOW!"

The Breton's horses panicked, throwing the two men from their backs and running wildly towards the waterfront. Being in much better shape than his friend, Gaston was on his feet in second, running towards him as stone littered the ground, a single piece the size of a head bouncing off his shield. He called out as he reached his friend, who had suffered a hit to the head from a rock. The Knight grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him up, looking around just in time as a corprus swung at his head. Ducking swiftly, the beast's clawed hand came across Francois' lower back, gripping the mail shirt, leaving him unharmed due to the superior armor.

" Francois.. " Gaston struggled to lift his friend, seeing several more lame corprus approach, looking over Francois' shoulder.

The first several blows landed on his mail, doing nothing but perhaps bruising him slightly. A swing landed straight across his neck, the long, jagged fingernails digging deep into his neck, tearing pieces of skin and flesh as another beast who had gotten past the mail began to gnaw on his leg. The two Ra Gada rode relatively calmly, as they had learned to become one with their horses, and had learned how to keep them calm even under the most hectic circumstances. Swords dancing in their hands, they leaned into their horses and dismembered corprus as they rushed to Gaston.

" Gaston! Leave him, or you will perish aswell. We must get out of here! "

The roughness of Ghalib's voice shone through clearly, despite the clamour of the stones and moaning corprus. A tear rolled down Gaston's face, dripping from his cheek and landing on Francois' unconcious body as it slumped to the ground. Reluctantly, he began to run towards the exit back into the city, corprus and stone blocking the way to the docks. A glance over his shoulder saw corprus blocking his view of Francois, and brought him to the realisation he had dropped his torch on the ground when he fell. Turning back, he pushed on with all the strength left within his body, with no sword due to dropping it near his friend, and ran as fast as he could, slamming into corprus with no regard for his safety. He ran out of fear, and adrenaline, focused on the light at the end of the tunnel, covering ground faster than the horses.

" Damn the Nine! Francois... "

ooc: Part 2 of possibly few more of mine and Darth's fight scene;

The Knight's head smashed into the stone walkway as a side effect of the argonian's flip. Disoriented, he sheathed his dagger and made a clumsy attempt at picking up his sword. If ronin was quick, he could finish this man before he had a chance to re-orient himself. The two knights who had readied their throwing daggers launched them with haste, both aiming for a lung. After throwing they're knives they charged at the argonian, but at the last minute broke formation and went to either side of him. Now Ronin had a knight to his left, and right. The left one charged first, with the one on the right ready to charge at a moments notice. His blade raised high, The knight on the left brought down his sword with all his might agianst the argonian.

Ronin moved quickly, the two knights advanced on him, at two different directions. And Ronin had no protection... other then the disorientated knight beside him. The Argonian stepped on the knights back (which hammered the man back into the ground) and dived for the only weapon in his sight; the knights longsword. He grasped the hilt with one hand and brought the blade up, just as one of the knights brought down his sword onto Ronin.

The two swords clashed together with a thunderous ring, the Argonian and Knight struggled for a handful of seconds, before Ronin used his free hand and shot a mild stream of fire into the knights helmet. The spell itself, was not strong enough to kill, but it would certainly melt the mans helmet, which would cause severe burning. Before the knight could react, Ronin twisted his blade in a matter that the Knight lost his grip and the sword fell harmlessly on the ground. The lizard then brought up a thick leather boot and kicked the knight square in the chest.

As the liquid metal poured down the man's face, he screamed in agony as he rushed for the water. Jumping in, he found himself unable to breath as the metal solidified, blocking his nose and mouth. In a few moments, the man had suffocated while underwater.

Realizing that their opponent had access to magicka, the Knights again changed tactics. The Knight farthest from Ronin threw his throwing knife, while the knight to Ronin's right launched a fire-ball at the argonian. meanwhile, the man that Ronin had broken free from had been knocked unconscious, so there was no threat from him.

Ronin saw the fireball coming straight at him, he ducked down, the fireball came fatally close to burning his scalp. The Argonian had not realized the other knight threw a knife at him, until he felt a sharp pain in his thigh.
He let out a painful yelp as the blade cut through his robe and into his flesh. The wound was nowhere near fatal, but it was a fairly painful injury. The lizard fell on his back as the pain seared up his leg.

Out the corner of his eye, Ronin spotted the closest knight advancing quickly, Ronin lifted his hand and expelled a stream of fire around him and the unconscious knight, surrounding the two in a ring of bluish-yellow fire.

The knights were baffled as they watched Ronin create a ring of fire around himself and their comrade. They were out of throwing knives, and by no means did they have the skill need to deconstruct the magickal sinews of the spell. However, these knights were infamous for their cruelty, and they used their ingenuity to come up with a very cruel method of attack. One of the knights left to search the warehouses, and came out carrying two bags of salt. Handing one to his comrade, the two knights opened the bags and threw the contents at Ronin, hoping to get the salt into the dagger wound in his thigh.

Ronin removed the dagger (painfully) from his thigh, and was in the middle of tying a small bit of ripped cloth around it when something showered over him; salt. He growled in pain as a small bit found its way into his wound. A small amount, but enough to cause a lot of pain. Ronin hastily finished tying the make-shift band aid around his thigh, and struggled slowly to stand up.

Feeling utterly annoyed by the Knights tactics, Ronin withdrew another small device from his belt. This object had a more oval shape then the previous one Ronin had used. He grabbed the longsword that he had dropped in one hand, and held the device in the other. Casually he lit the wick on the device, and dropped it at his feet. The Argonian made eye contact with one of the knights, and grinned sadistically. Then, a loud 'pang' sounded off and the lizard was suddenly engulfed by a field of gray mist. The fog rushed to meet the knights at a quick pace, as it passed over the ring of fire, the flame extinguished.


As the fog engulfed the knights, both began to back-pedal. Hoping to find the edge of the mists, they walked backwards in the direction they believed was safe.

Despite the pain in his leg, Ronin slowly crept his way around the fog. In a way, he was relieved. He was glad that the flash-bomb actually worked; it was something new he had been working on.
Keeping the blade of his newly claimed longsword, Ronin stalked one of the knights trying to escape the fog. Ronin positioned himself in the knights path. As the knight neared the Argonian, he leaped out and grabbed hold of one of the mans armored shoulders, and drove the longsword into the knight's back.

As the man back-pedalled out of the fog, he felt an immense pain rip through his body. As he looked down, he realised the source, a stab wound, straight through the chest. He fell to the ground within moments, dead. The man was too shocked to make a single sound, but by the time Ronin had killed him, his comrade had left the mists. Now that he was able to see, he concentrated on his feelings of anger and hate. Within moments, he unleashed a fire-ball into the mists, but right before it left the vicinity of his body he clasped at the tail of the fire ball. It then began to curve outward, forming a wave of fire that penetrated the mists.


As Ronin aggressively pulled the sword out of the mans chest, he turned his head around to see if he could spot the other knight. Instead he was greet by a wall of fire. In surprise, Ronin took a step back and stumbled over the dead knight and landed on his back.
The wave of fire loomed only inches over his head for several seconds before dissipating. The fire burned away all oxygen by Ronin, and the Argonian found himself gasping for air like a fish out of water. He flipped himself over on his stomach, and slowly hoisted himself to his feet, being weary not to push pressure on his wound. He took a deep breath of air, and looked around; the fire seemed to have burned away the fog Ronin was hiding in. He was now perfectly visible to the other knight. Ronin readied his sword, awaiting for the knights next move.

Now that the fog had been burned away, the last remaining knight could clearly see his opponent.

"In the Name of Decimus Metellus, I shall Kill you!" The Knight shouted, now visibly taunting his opponent. He Launched two fire balls at his opponent, and then charged. Just before reaching Ronin however, he made a turn to the left, and swung his sword in a sweeping motion at Ronin's left leg.


Quickly twisting his waist to the side, the fireball's missed Ronin's torso by inches. However, doing this maneuver made him not able to dodge the knights attack properly. With haste, Ronin brought his sword down to meet the knights blade. The two steel blades clashed against each other with a loud clang. The Argonian was lucky, had he not brought down his sword in time, he would have suffered a fatal wound to his leg. He struggled as he tried to push the knight's blade back.


-----------------------------------------------------------
As the waterfront end of the tunnel shook with the force of several explosions, Amiel stayed closed to the wagon, hoping that the tunnel would not lose structural integrity. As he looked farther down the tunnel, he could see that the corpus were mauling Francois. by the gods... not again... Amiel knew there was no saving francois, but he couldn't help but disagree with the retreat of his comrades. Amiel moved over to Fanier, and asked "Do you think we can still make it through the tunnel? Or must we resign ourselves to a hellish night thanks to their lack of tactics and hard-heads? "

OOC: Sorry, guys, I really don't have time to make a good post right now. So could we finish the tunnel scene tomorrow? Darth and Jerod, you guys keep up the good work with the fight scene. Good night.

Name: Kiera (Key-Air-Ah) Knightfall
Race: Redguard
Gender: Male
Apparent Age: 25
Actual Age: 29

Skills: Long Blade, Short Blade, Tenacity, Perseverance, Level-Headedness.
Armor/apparel: Light Armour. As a guard he could choose his armour: Full Leather.
Unique apparel: N/A

Weapons: Imperial Longsword, A Bow (On his Back) and a concealed dagger in his boot.
Equipment: Some gold, potions, a set of maps.

Physical Appearance: He is tall and wiry, his arms are long giving him a good reach but his height can sometimes make him vulnerable to daggers and short-swords.
Unique Appearance: He is black.
Mental Description: Extremely level-headed and cool in the face of danger, Kiera is liked by most. His witty attitude and sometimes childish actions make him an unusual casting for a bodyguard, but he a good protector and would die doing his job if necessary.
Short Bio: Born and raised in Suran, Vvardenfell, Kiera or Ki, for short, was raised by his Mother and Father. At the age of fifteen, his Father left the house with another woman, and his Mother was left alone. When Ki's Father absconded, she was left helpless and she suffered a stroke not long afterwards, killing her instantly. Ki was left to fend for himself, and he travelled to Sadrith Mora, seeking work. They told him that Divayth Fyr needed a bodyguard at his Corprusasium, and Ki was more than willing to oblige. He has worked there since.

----------------------
A few days after the breakout - Davyth Fyr's Corprusasium

Kiera had been stuck in a hole for days. Literally. He was fortunate in the fact that he had managed to steal a few potions before the monsters had broke out. He had no idea what had happened to Fyr. Ki had failed him. Considering he was meant to be a bodyguard, he hadn't done a very good job. Kiera had literally had no idea what to do. There were four of them in the room. Fyr, Kiera and two other guards who had sought refuge with them. All the men could do was barracade the door and wait. When the Corprus monsters had broken through and into Fyr's office, it was only a matter of time before they all would have been killed. Instantly overrun by the horde and closest to the door, one guard had been mauled, torn apart by the creatures. Kiera and the remaining guard had overturned a table, holding it at chest height and running blindly at the onslaught, Davyth Fyr running helplessly in their wake. The injuries Fyr had sustained before arriving at the office were heavy. He had been left incapable of fighting.

They barged through the door. With no sense of direction, the three men had run as fast as they could, knocking into the odd monster as they went, before finally running headlong into a wall, unaware of its presence. The other guard had been knocked unconscious, but Ki and Fyr had no time to wait for him. They headed off without their table back the way they had came, this time taking a different turning, glancing back just in time to see their pursuers jump on the unwitting guard. Drawing his sword, Kiera had hacked, slashed and stabbed countless monsters, Fyr running beside him, shouting out when he saw a beast that Kiera had not. Finally, they reached somewhere they could hide for a while. Hauling himself into an air vent, Kiera knew they would both fit. Fyr however, was weak and he was unble to climb into the vent, even with Kiera's help.

After a short goodbye and a thank you from Fyr, Divayth left the room. Kiera hoped the old man was alive. He kept re-living it all in his head, the horrors they had endured. How had Kiera managed to come to the vent without a single scratch? Pure adrenaline, he guessed.

Grash slowly backed in amongst his more level-headed companions, awaiting a signal or a command from one of the two. He had about given up hope for the Knights. If the snobs survived at all, it wasn't going to be because of brains or tactics. Even an Orc Barbarian doesn't charge blindly into a superior force....

OOC:
Matrix much?

IC: Fanier stayed near Amiel, narrowly dodging the rocks that descended from above. Everything around him was going all to hell; Francois and his men were scattered, while Francois himself was beyond saving. Kiel and Lucien were nowhere to be seen. When Amiel finally said something, Fanier was relieved that at least Amiel was all right. "We need to get out." he started, looking around. "Over there!" he exclaimed, pointing to the small glint of light that was the end of the tunnel.

At that moment, a large boulder collapsed above them. "Amiel, move!" Fanier yelled as he pulled his comrade out of the way. "Let's go."

With that, he began running toward the light. The rain of rocks from above only grew heavier as he continued on. Fanier looked behind him, seeing a large bit of corprus giving chase. He ran faster, and could only hope that he and his comrades could escape the tunnel before the whole thing fell down on them.

As Fanier pulled Amiel out of the way of the falling boulder, He grabbed Grash's hand, ensuring that grash was able to survive. The wagon, on the other hand, was crushed by the falling boulder, but waylas and the horse were okay. They all ran for the light at the end of the tunnel, and Amiel was instantly relieved when he broke through the darkness and stepped into the light of day. Waylas arrived shortly after, his horse had a harder time passing through the rubble then Amiel did. They were at the waterfront, but when Amiel looked onwards to the waterfront proper, he saw a knight, locked in sword combat with an argonian.

IT wasn't their battle that disturbed him, it was the Knight's shield. Four snakes, with two curved daggers going across the shield's center. Without a second thought, Amiel drew his longsword and charged at the Knight. He knew, without a second glance, that the Knight was the enemy, and that whoever he was fighting, that argonian, must have been of good intention.

As Amiel charged towards the knight, The knight bashed his shield into the argonian's face. He then moved his shield to block Amiel's sword, staggering Amiel in the process. The Knight then brought down his sword agianst Amiel, but he was able to jump out of the way, at which point he tried to sever the Knight's hand. The Knight dropped his sword and shield, barely getting his hand out of the way before Amiel's sword came down upon the area it formerly occupied. He then drew his dagger. Amiel responded by returning his sword to his sheath, and drew his silver dagger from his coat; Grasping his dagger in the exact same fashion as the knight was holding his weapon. The Knight was perplexed by this, is he imitating me? No, he knows this style of combat! was all he could think about.

The two opponents circled each other, both knew the next most logical move when using this stlye, and both were searching for an alternative. Amiel Looked at the knights arm, and noted "Your missing your throwing knife. You'd have two normally, but you only have one sheath, which must mean you know a bit of magic."

This comment only put the Knight further on edge. How does he know that?

"Why are you fighting me? I've done nothing to you. That argonian killed my comrades! Why are you taking HIS SIDE?" The Knight hoped to reason with his opponent, at least until he could slit Amiel's throat.

"You're a knight of the Metellus family, that's all the reason I need."

With that, Amiel charged at his opponent, and the Knight did the same. As the two came close, Amiel grabbed the Knight's arm. Pulling him forward, Amiel moved out of the way of the Knight as he stabbed him in the right armpit. The knight lurched forward in agony, and attempted to turn to view Amiel.

Fanier kept running alongside Amiel and Grash, heading toward the light. Just as it seemed he could make it, he tripped.

He fell to the ground, scrambling to get up as Amiel and Grash were able to escape. Above him, the rocks loosened, grinding against each other. Fanier tried to lift himself up, but a searing pain in his right leg kept him from doing so. He looked back, and saw that a small boulder had fallen on him, pinning his leg down. Oh, no, he thought as he struggled to move the rock off of him. He pushed and pulled every which way, but it was no use.

Around him, the tunnel continued to collapse. Fanier looked ahead of him, and caught a glimpse of Amiel just before the tunnel's exit caved in, blocking all light from entering. Worse still, Fanier's torch, which until now had been burning on the ground a few feet away from him, went out.

Oh, [censored], he thought. Oh, [censored]. Oh [censored] oh[censored] o[censored]O[censored]O[censored]. Rocks continued to fall around him, until finally one struck Fanier's head. Fanier lost all feeling, and slipped into unconsciousness.

ooc: Kinda , except he actually fell down.

The shield was totally unexpected on Ronin's half. It came at a frightening speed and smashed into the front of his snout. The force of the blew pushed him back a few steps, and without any thought at all; the Argonian collapsed to his knees. He was pretty sure something broke; the steel shield hit him square in the nose. Already, blood leaked out of Ronin's nostrils.

Before he could react he heard another loud clang. He looked up to see another man battling with the knight. At first it confused Ronin, then he realized, Someone actually felt like helping me...? Thats a first...
He mumbled something as he attempted to stand, he got to his feet, and in an instant, his hand shot to his dagger sheath. His hand only found the sheath. He looked around himself for the dagger, then thought that he must have dropped it in the first attack.

Knowing that he had no time, Ronin grasped the longsword once more, and charged towards the knight. Seeing that the man had wounded the Knight, finishing him off would not be a difficult task. The lizards snout began screaming in pain as he swung the sword in a twirl-like motion towards the knights chest. He decided to deal with the pain once the knight had been slain. Although, the sudden pain broke Ronin's focus, and his attack came slightly imbalanced. Giving the knight a chance to deflect the attack.

Stone still collapsing behind him, Gaston broke into the light and collapsed on the spot. Francois... Of course he was dead. How could anyone survive inside that tunnel now? He hunched over and placed his head in his hands, sobbing in between his ragged breathing, the ground in front of him a mix of tears, sweat, and blood? With so much adrenaline pumping through his veins, Gaston had no time to notice a blow to his head. He only hoped it was from a rock, for any gash caused by a corprus was subject to possible infection. If Francois hadn't been crushed or killed by those beasts, he was doomed to become one of them.

Pounding hooves were heard behind him, the two Ra Gada exiting into the light, slowing their horses and making a small arc before dismounting.

" DAMN THOSE BEASTS, AND DAMN THIS CITY! Since we passed through the gates nothing but ill has befallen us. Jean, killed by Vampires, Francois, likely crushed, " Gaston remembered his now empty sheath, " And now i have neither horse nor sword! "

" Be calm sadeek. All will be fine. I too mourn our fallen comrades, but they died in battle, and such is an honourable death. We will find you a new sword, and for your horse I am sorry, but our priority at the moment is to find shelter. "

Listening to Ghalib's words, Talib felt true sorrow for the loss of sword and horse. His people put great value into ones blade, and a horse was often considered a great thing to a Nomad, as important as any family member. He had not know Francois well, though he had seemed good enough since he had met him.

Without a word Gaston stood, humbly trodding towards the domed temple in the center of the district.

" Let the bastards take us in a place blessed by the Nine. "

He pushed the heavy door open as the Ra Gada led their horses behind him.

IC: The Knight was unable to block Ronin's clumsy attack, and Ronin's blade ended up peircing the man's crotch region, castrating him while simultaneously rupturing his rectum.

ouch... Amiel thought as he watched Ronin deal the death blow to the night. Amiel moved over to Ronin, and placed his hand on Ronin's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" After a slight pause, It donned on Amiel to ask a second question. "Did they say who they worked for?"

Waylas heard a loud crashing sound as he watched the fight between Amiel and the Knight. Perplexed by Amiel's action, he was horrified when he turned around and saw that the tunnel had collapsed.

A few days before present day

Unaware of how long it had taken him, or how he had managed it, really, Kiera found himself in Cyrodill. Hearing of a small group of survivors on this land, he had headed there immediately, setting off as soon as the Corprusasium was relatively clear. Ravenously hungry and almost certainly not smiling, Kiera was on the Western side of Cyrodill, staring out at grassy planes. How could it be that the plague had stretched this far? He had heard the news of the survivors from a man in Khuul, the place he had taken a boat from. The man had accompanied him for part way, but he was weakened and injured. He did not survive the journey over the waters. Kiera had buried him at sea with a small prayer for the dead. He had wished the man hadn't died. Not because he was a friend, or he was guilty of the man's passing, but after that the boat had become much more difficult to man. He was not very well adapted to a naval life, and he had found it difficult to sail into Cyrodill anywhere near the land, abandoning his vessel and swimming the rest of the way. Just less than a mile.

That had been a few days ago, and Kiera was now hunting blindly for this group. He had no idea about their whereabouts, and knew little of the country's geography. He had no map, but if he did they would still be of little use to him, completely unaware of the groups bearings.

OOC: Really long post; I suggest you read the whole thing to get a glimpse of what might happen in the future.

IC: Fanier felt his cheek pressed against the cold, hard floor. He opened his eyes, or did he? There was so little light where he was that he couldn't tell whether his eyes were opened or closed. He breathed in, but dust caught in his throat and he started coughing. So I'm alive, I guess, he thought as he tried to pick himself up. Surprisingly enough, it seemed that the rock pinning his leg had been knocked off.

Even so, a searing pain wrenched through his leg as he tried to get up. It was broken. Damn. With much effort, Fanier managed to turn himself over on his back. After that was accomplished, he sat up, and began examining his injured leg with his hands. Despite the pain, he was able to roughly pinpoint the break.

Fanier reached behind him, and began pulling himself backwards across the floor, hoping to find a wall to lean up against. He found such a wall after a short time, and rested his back and head on it. Not hearing anything but his own breathing and movements, Fanier decided that there were no corprus around.

Still unable to see in the absolute darkness, Fanier rummaged through his pockets, and pulled out a small, round, metal object. As he popped the cap to his flask, his right hand reached up and settled its fingers around his amulet. I'll see you soon Lathora, he thought as he took a swig of scotch from his flask. If he was going to die here, he would die happy.

He would die drunk.

Fanier drank more, and slowly drifted off to sleep.


"Don't worry Lathora," he told her. "We're almost there." Fanier was almost running now, going as fast as he could while carrying his wife. The wound in Lathora's arm looked worse, almost as if it had gained a sort of... rotten quality.

"Fanier..." Lathora whispered as she drifted in and out of unconsciousness. He continued on, a tear nearly coming to his eye. "It's okay," he told her countless times, even though he knew it wasn't. He never should have taken her here; how could he have been so stupid? He'd been within the ghostfence before, he knew how dangerous it was. Even with a Bouyant Armiger escort, this had happened.

"HELP!" Fanier called as he approached the ghostgate. "PLEASE! HELP!" Several armored guards came out from the gate, and approached the terrified couple.

"What happened?" the concerned guard asked, eyeing the wound.

"We were attacked. By corprus. Our escort is dead. Please, sir, help my wife."

"Wait," the guard said as he more closely examined Lathora's wound. "Oh, no,"

"What?" Fanier asked, more worried now than ever before.

"EVERYONE INSIDE!" the guard yelled to his subordinates. "You too!" he called two men over two him, and they grabbed Fanier by the arms, dumping Lathora on the floor.

"What are you DOING!" Fanier yelled, stuggling to get free. "WHAT THE [censored] ARE YOU MOTHER [censored]ERS DOING! HELP HER! HELP MY WIFE!" Fanier bit his captor's arm, and managed to get free. As he scrambled to get back on his feet, another guard grabbed on to Fanier's ankle and he was brought face-first into the ground. "NO! HELP HER! PLEASE!" Fanier clawed at the ground, but the guards pulled him across the floor into the building despite his pleas.

"It's for your own good," they told him, and Fanier fell to his knees as they closed and sealed the door. Through the one, circular window, he could see Lathora, slowly stumbling toward the door. She reached out to him, but her hand only touched the cold metal of the door. Then she fell to her knees, looking at her right arm as the rotten texture around her wound spread. The rot moved like wildfire, engulfing her entire arm as it moved up to her shoulder.

"No," Fanier whispered as he stood up. "NO!" he punched the glass window with all his might, then recoiled from the shot of pain that went through his fist. "NO!" he shouted again, as he looked around for something to help him in his destruction of the door.

Across the hall, Fanier picked up a mace from a small armory, and moved back to the door. Lathora was now on the ground, writhing around as the corprus spread across her body. She managed to sit back up, and reached out again to Fanier. "AAAARRRRGGGGH!" he shouted in sheer anger as he struck the door with the heavy mace. A small dent appeared in the metal of the door.

Tears began streaming Lathora's face as the corprus spread to her stomach. Fanier hit the door harder, in his hopeless pursuit to break it down. As the corprus finally spread to her face, Lathora began to scream. She writhed in pain, shrieking as her flesh grew hard and rotten.

And then she stopped. As sudden as she began, Lathora stopped screaming. Her corprus-infested face grew calm, and she looked into the window with cold, blank eyes. Fanier stopped, not understanding what was happening. Why did Lathora give up? Why did she suddenly, just... stop caring? Before long, Fanier found the answer. In the distance behind Lathora, was a figure, standing atop a hill. A strange green glow emanated from the figure. Lathora stood up, indifferent toward Fanier or her horrible disfigurement. She began walking toward the figure.

"NO!" Fanier screamed. He resumed his mindless beating of the door. "NO! NO! NO! NO!" He hit the door at full force, backed up by the huge, irrational rage that seemed to show out of every pore of his body. Lathora grew farther and farther away, and the blows only grew harder. The door's hinges began to break, and before long it came down.

Fanier dropped the mace and rushed out of the building, but Lathora had disappeared, along with the figure on the hill. He dropped to his knees, tears running down his face. he picked up the amulet that lay in the sand; it was Lathora's.

Fanier woke with a start. His eyes shot open, his hands instictively reaching for his amulet; it was there around his neck, safe and sound. And for a moment, Fanier thought he saw a slight, faded green glow around it.

And Fanier knew: he wouldn't die in here; his time on this plane was not finished yet. As of now, Fanier had something he needed to do, and he knew exactly what it was. For now, he would not die, even though he felt like he should. He would not die in this tunnel.

He would live.

As the dark tendrils of night clawed at the edges of the Imperial City, a Breton man fumbled around in the emptiness of the tunnel. No corprus could be heard but, where had they retreated to? The man had many gashes on his body, including one where the rock had hit his head. A Mantle depicting the crest of a town in High Rock, formerly named Aleine, no longer hun over his torso. The colors of the crest now adorned many grevious wounds, some reddened by the blood they had cause to cease flowing. Although scared, when the man had woken up light headed, and dazed, he simply thanked the gods for the blessing of the torch mere feet from him, and set to bandaging himself, sitting in wet pool of his own blood. The wounds did not worry him, save for a slight curiousity over one particular wound that oozed pus slightly, seemingly infected somehow. Alone he was, weak he was, vunerable, maybe not as much as he could have been. He now struggled to his feet, torch in hand, muscles straining to move, bones creaking, lips moving in a flurry of curses. As the cursing stopped and he moved the torch to gain a view of his surroundings, a glint reached his eyes.

A sword! Although this lifted the mans hopes, they were quickly dashed, coming to the realisation that he wasn't quite strong enough to throw his weight behind the steel. Before he could use it, he would need to think strategically, he would need to decide whether his feet or the sword required more energy, and which would be more beneficial. Sleep nagged at him, but his dusty cavern could not be trusted. If he were to sleep, what would prevent some creature from tearing him to pieces? It was better to push on, fatigued as he was, than wake up later, screaming, to discover something having a midnight meal of his leg. He only hoped the others had made it out, yet, he subconciously hoped at least one would be nearby to give him some company. Dying alone had never been in his life's plans. Then again, neither thad this whole thing, but he had managed thus far, he would manage again now, if just barely so. He reached for his waist, feeling around, he grasped a water canteen, made from the hide of a deer. Empty. It had been punctured, torn at the bottom.

However tempting it was to sit still and await a rescue, it was unlikely any even thought he could be alive. Wrapped in his thoughts of how to make it out of here, a figure darted in front of him, and then a squeaking came to his ears. Rats. Perhaps if he became hungry enough they would become a meal, but at the moment he still had enough sense to avoid the possibility of disease. Dust choking his lungs, he called out in a rather weak voice.

" Hhee...Hehhhhee " he tried to speak, the dust causing him to cough each time, " Hhello? " Naught but an echo in reply, " Do any remain in this cavern? "

It was futile. He knew none could hear, none would be stupid enough to become trapped as he was. If there was any possibility of escape, it was in his own hands. He only hoped the torch wouldn't go out...

Fanier heard a faint sound echo through the tunnel. Thinking it was corprus, he quickly reached for his sword. Then he saw, in the distance, a faint, small ball of light. A torch? Fanier thought, and then he realized the sound he heard was not corprus at all, but a human voice. And whoever that human was, he had a torch.

"He-" Fanier was cut off as he coughed on the dust. He took a sip scotch to wash out his throat, and tried again: "Hello!" he shouted at the light. "HELLO! OVER HERE!" he began waving his arms, though it wouldn't do much good in the nearly total darkness. Fanier kept yelling, feeling that this man was his only hope of escaping this place. "HELLO! FOLLOW THE VOICE!"

Fanier kept going, only hoping that whoever had the torch was still alive and could hear his calls.