OOM: Arkngthand, 8 First Seed, 3E 428

[moonandstar]

They emerge from the bar onto an ancient bridge, made of a metal that Ibani won't be able to identify - but clearly the work of an advanced and accomplished civilization. It bridges the foyada, high and deep on each side.

They won't have time to admire it, however. Because there's a bald Imperial in an iron cuirass standing at the other side of the bridge. He conjures a skeleton warrior, who charges toward them as its master launches bolts of lightning at them.

Comments

[moonandstar]

Garyn strides out, walking hand in hand with Ibani.

"How would you feel about ambushing and killing five very bad people?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani chuckles. "Sounds better than my usual missions from my superiors."

Her heart flutters a little at him walking hand in hand with her in HIS world, in public, which is ridiculous!

[moonandstar]

"I know they're Camonna Tong, and I know that the Council Club is where they like to congregate. I don't know their names, or when they'll all be together, but I know some people who can help us case the place."

Garyn pulls a couple scrolls out of his bag.

"These will get us to Balmora quickly."

[last_kallig]

Ibani feels SOMETHING from the scrolls, but it doesn't make much sense to her. "How are they going to do that?"

[moonandstar]

"Read from it and you'll appear outside the Temple entrance in Balmora."

[last_kallig]

Ibani raises an eyebrow. "Just like that?"

"Might be best if you go first, so I see how it's done."

[moonandstar]

"Certainly."

Garyn unfurls his scroll and focuses hard on it. He mutters a few words and then, with a sparkling WHOOSH, he vanishes.

[last_kallig]

Ibani copies what he does quickly, not feeling him in the Force now making her anxious.

The transportation is....deeply unpleasant. The Force feels like it TEARS around her as she's whirled into nothing and everything all at once, senses screaming at the overload of input!

It is only great effort that keeps a scream locked behind her teeth as she finds herself at her destination. If she were a cat, ALL of her fur would be standing on end.

[moonandstar]

Garyn had been smiling as he waited for her outside the Temple in Balmora. But the look on her face makes him grimace.

"Are you...alright, love?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani unclenches her jaw. "I've been better," she replies, her voice sounding a little strained to her own ears. "It felt like the Force tore, and then my senses were overloaded by everything and nothing simultaneously."

"I'm presuming that's NOT what's supposed to happen?"

[moonandstar]

"No...it's, uh...not."

Garyn frowns.

"I certainly would have heard something of it from mages and mystics."

[last_kallig]

"It must just be me being what I am, then."

She forces herself to breath in, then out. "I would greatly prefer to never do that again, please."

[moonandstar]

"Should be easy to arrange that, love," Garyn says.

"Now...to find the South Wall Cornerclub. We'll find plenty of volunteers there."

[last_kallig]

She wraps an arm around him, briefly. "Good."

"People not friendly to the ones we're looking to kill, I presume?"

[moonandstar]

"Very unfriendly indeed," Garyn says. "The first time I came to Balmora, I was nearly jumped for asking where the South Wall Cornerclub was...right outside the Council Club, which is where we'll be hitting."

They walk down the street together. The architecture shouldn't be entirely unfamiliar, depending on how much time Ibani has spent on the Outer Rim. Only one sun on this world, though.

[last_kallig]

"Useful, for our purposes. I'm glad you didn't get jumped, then."

"There's a familiar feeling to the architecture here; not a copy but an echo of things I've seen before."

[moonandstar]

"Ah. So the cities in your universe aren't all two thousand feet tall, are they?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani chuckles softly. "Not all, no. The big cities can be like that, on important planets. But the Outer Rim is less settled, poorer too, so places are built on a smaller scale."

[moonandstar]

Garyn chuckles. "I'd have guessed as much, but still. I suppose we're near the far end of the Empire here, too."

They emerge from the end of the last building to the riverside and begin crossing the bridge over the Odai. At this hour, the setting sun sparkles over the river, and some of the workers are beginning to return home. Though of course, a busy river port never truly sleeps.

As they near the other side of the bridge, however, a Dunmer, wild-eyed with gray hair, scrambles toward them and grabs hold of Garyn's sleeve.

"The Sixth House is risen, and Lord Dagoth is its glory!"

He hasn't raised his hands yet, but it is clear he is not altogether well.

[last_kallig]

When the man grabs Garyn's sleeve, Ibani's hackles rise. There is something WRONG about him, something that makes her afraid for Garyn, that she should not let whatever it is touch Garyn. "Let go of him," It is not a request, it's a bare half step from open violence.

This is not typical Ibani behavior.

[moonandstar]

Garyn yanks his sleeve away from the robed man, who continues to stare a hole through him.

"Beneath Red Mountain, Lord Dagoth sleeps. But when he wakes, we all shall rise, and the dust will blow away. Serve your Lord, Dagoth Ur, and his Sleeping House!"

He continues to walk toward the two of them, even as they move past him across the bridge.

"The true House, the one House to welcome all true Dunmer, and drive the n'wah from our land. Rejoice, and join us! Come to Red Mountain, and prepare the way for his coming!"

Garyn holds Ibani's hand and walks more quickly, hoping he does not follow too closely.

[last_kallig]

"There's more than madness in him. Something WRONG is in him, something dangerous."

Ibani keeps up with Garyn, though part of her senses are keeping an 'eye' on that man.

[moonandstar]

The robed man does not follow them any closer, but leaves them with some chilling parting words.

"Dagoth Ur calls you, Garyn Balvadares, and you cannot deny your lord!"

He grasps Ibani's hand more tightly and hurries to the other side of the bridge.

He speaks quietly. "Would you believe the Sixth House is one of the cults I'm meant to investigate?"

[last_kallig]

"And THERE'S the catch," Ibani replies, bitter, sharp. "Oh, I'd believe it."

"And if there isn't an innocent reason for that man to know your name, I'd say THEY'RE investigating you already."

[moonandstar]

"I don't believe there's an entirely mundane explanation for this," Garyn says. "Dark magic is at work in this cult. That man's mind was not his own."

In the meantime, Garyn flags down a passing guard and directs him toward the man.