Twisted Tales (Skyrim RP; open to those who ask)

[Dark child]

Tar'ja is neither living nor dead, and he is quite happy that way, despite how much he complains to the contrary. His skin is red, and scales defined. Eyes an acute, ever vigilant stare. Compared to his mind which is, quite literally, in another dimension.

You see, being the adventurous and hazard prone sort Tar'ja is, while traipsing around the marsh the argonian found himself mixed up in a skirmish between a Black Marsh mercenary group and some daedra worshipers. All parties involved, including Tar'ja, fought ferociously. Perhaps too ferociously.

At the end of the battle, the argonian lay in a pool of blood. Surrounded by the bodies of both cultists and mercenaries alike. Light was fading from his eyes.
Never again would he taste the smooth grubs of the marsh, or feel it's muck against his scaly feet.
But a voice called to him. It did not promise endless bliss within the Hist. Like his tree gods did. In fact, it sounded ornery, and full of angst.

This, was Barachus, and from then on, the two would be inseparable. Not by choice, but by necessity.

Barachus had been the daedra the worshipers had been trying to summon. Since however, they failed to complete the ritual, the daedra was stuck between dimensions. Forever doomed to live out his life in the nothingness there.
Unless, he could find a host before the doorway to Nirn closed. That host, or should I say, the only available one, was Tar'ja.

The two beings struck a deal, and Tar'ja got to keep his body and mind, while Barachus received his vessel.

Daedra however, seldom keep their word. Barachus was not satisfied to simply live inside Tar'ja, and at times he would break the argonian's mind, and take control. This could be as short as several minutes, to full years. Over time, bits and pieces of the two of them became intertwined, but without Tar'ja's soul, his body would slowly decay. Forcing the daedra to give back control to the argonian.

Ages of time passing between the two.

And that, is where you join the story.​

Somewhere within ruins etched by the passage of time...​

Humming to himself, Tar'ja tenderly roasted the raw rabbit leg with a flame spell. It's tasty aroma filling his nostrils as he sat back and propped his feat up. Taking in his surroundings. It was chilly in the crypt, dimly lit for certain. His feet rested on the linen wraps of a draugr, mummified long ago by the ancient Nords, all bundled up and ready for the afterlife.

He was tempted to start a fire, but all he had around him were the carefully wrapped bodies. Which would seem to ruin his appetite. Besides, he was content to eat the rabbit this way. Preferred it actually. All crispy on the outside, but still raw within.

The argonian took a massive bite, feeling the half-cooked meat slide down his gullet.

Then, there was a creak, the telltale noise of the barrow's heavy iron door swinging open. He was not alone.

Setting down the rabbit leg, he picked up his axe. Creeping forward past the wrapped up bodies. If someone was here, he would find them first...

 

[Mad Dog]

Rayne

Spoiler

Rayne had just entered the ruins, letting the door fall behind her as she walked in. She removed her cap and let out a loud sigh, it had been raining outside and her clothes were all damp, her long black hair fell from under the cap and her beautiful face was revealed. Rayne was beautiful by the standards of any race, short though she may be Rayne's face was an epitome of perfect symmetry complemented by her dark and yet fair skin, her blood red eyes although shocking, emit an aura of kindness. Rayne's attire was a rather odd sight for anyone looking upon her, her feet were covered in large, mean looking Deadric boots jutting from a set of grieves composed of a greenish glass material. The top half of Rayne's body appeared to be completely unarmored covered only by a loose fitting black shirt wrapped by a quiver which was stuffed to the brim with arrows of different makes. Rayne also wore a silver amulet with a rather large ruby jutting out of the middle of it.

Rayne's heavy feet stomped on the stone floors of the ruins, obviously subtlety was not her forte, the loudness of her daedric boots hitting the rock was complemented by the constant jingle of what sounded like a large number of glass vials in one of her bags. In her left hand she held a rather odd looking bow, blue in color but also mostly translucent, in her right hand and occupying much of her attention she held a book which was attached to a chain that led to her waist.

She began talking out loud, to herself.
"Ok, what do we need? Hmmm... Some Creep Cluster Root, Glowing Mushrooms.... OH!" She gasped before running over to a wall "What luck!" a large amount of Glowing Mushrooms covered a generally large area of the wall, she took out a knife and began harvesting them, All the while whistling a small tune...

"O, Olaf, our subjugator, the one-eye betrayer, death-dealing demon and dragon-killing King. Your legend is lies, lurid and false; your cunning capture of Numinex, a con for the ages." She half sang half hummed quietly.

Then.... She smelled it... Chicken, well not just chicken! Cooked Chicken!

Rayne stood up immediately and took out her bow notching an arrow she had pulled from her quiver, it was an elven arrow this time. Rayne scanned the area, as a Dark Elf she had pretty good eye sight, hindered only slightly by darkness but not nearly as bad as most races in the dark.

 

[Dark child]

Blasted dark elves. Can you believe their audacity? To think the were descended from us. Barachus scoffed, his voice resounding within the confines of Tar'ja's head, the argonian rolling his eyes at the statement. The deadra spoke as if he was better than every creature in Tamriel. ~Oh come on. She's cute. And her skin matches your heart.~ Tar'ja smiled to himself, knowing it would upset the daedra some, and every moment not spent pestering Barachus was a moment wasted. He did find her somewhat appealing, though not quite matching to the fair scaled ladies of Black Marsh, with their elongated nostrils and tongues that could... His thoughts had become distracted.

You disgust me. Centuries I've been cooped up in this pitiful shell you call a skull, and all you ever feed me for entertainment is lewd thoughts. ~Yes, well I'm sorry you only have an appetite for violence.~ Replied the argonian in his own mind, carefully watching the dark elf as she began to move about, reciting songs from the book attached to the chain on her waist. It made him smile wider. She seemed to have an accute sense for danger, and yet she invited it due to her heavy bits of mishmashed armor. Even in places haunted by the dead, she trodded ahead undaunted, as if nothing in the world could stop her from singing.

Tar'ja, caught up in his own musings, had managed to drown out the daedra within him momentarily. Now, regrettably, he finally caught wind of what the daedra had been repeating for the last five minutes.

I'm just saying, you have the axe. Yeah, the heavy metal one in your hand. Remember how good it feels to swing that thing into flesh? I sure do. You know what else is good? Gold. She's probably got buckets of it somewhere. All you have to do is decapitate her. Tar'ja could almost picture the daedra rubbing his little hands together gleefully. ~Brilliant. At what point do I ask the headless corpse where it keeps it's gold?~

The daedra realized the error and quickly devised a plan to compensate. Right. Here's were it get's interesting. We then reanimate the dead body, and ask it were the gold is.

~How in the nine realms will she talk without her head?~

Bah! Do as you wish! You've given me a headache. Stated the daedra in a rather vexed voice, before he faded back within the argonian's subconscious.

With a shrug, Tar'ja began to move as quietly as he could through the ancient heavy rafters above, carved from single massive pines ages ago. It seemed that the young dark elf had looked everywhere but up.

She had traveled a little ways while the argonian had been preoccupied with his "conversation", a madman babbling with things from another realm, he was just glad Barachus hadn't decided to speak out loud. That would have put a damper on any attempts at stealth. As far as Tar'ja knew, he had replied completely within his mind as well, but there had been times in ages past where he would forget, and often blurt random sentences out. He had kept a watchful eye on her as she moved throughout the deserted great hall and so far, she seemed oblivious to his presence.

High above, Tar'ja struggled to maintain his balance, nearly falling the fifty or so meters to the ground below. Only barely managing to catch himself by wrapping both arms around one of the vertical supports. Nearly soundlessly. The only noise that of a relieved exhale.

He continued onward. On the other side of the great expanse, steps lead upwards to another great door, circular in appearance, but made of wood, rather than stone. These steps were almost level with the rafters, and this is where Tar'ja planned to intercept the elf.

Quickening his pace to make up for the distance she had crossed, he jumped from rafter to rafter. Tar'ja cared little about death. It held no consequence for him. At least for the most part. There were certain...horrific drawbacks that came with being possessed by something from oblivion.

Managing to catch up just in the nick of time, he dangled himself from the last rafter, legs hugging it tightly so as not to fall and ruin the whole thing. Extending his right arm, axe still grasped in scaly hand, he managed to hook the end of the weapon around the bow string and the bow itself. Yanking the bow right out of the unsuspecting elf's hands, and lifting himself back unto the rafter above before she could retaliate. Though his legs still dangled over either side of the beam, and if she wanted to, she could very well harm them.

Though the argonian knew this, he simply did not care. Taking a rather nonchalant approach to gloating about his deeds.

"You can kill someone with one of these." He pointed to the bow with a toothy smile, as if it were a trophy he had just won for Best Bow Stealer In Tamriel. "They have a habit of getting straight to the point, where as I like to beat around the bush."

The argonian began to scratch his back with the newly acquired projectile weapon. "Would you care for some rabbit?" Tar'ja pointed with his left hand at his camp set up some distance away. Where a bedroll, half a skinned rabbit, and enough leeks to feed several men lay in a haphazard pile in the darkness.

 

[Mad Dog]

"Ahhh!!!!" She let out a loud girly scream(Even that was adorable), when the bow was ripped from her hands allowing the elven arrow to shoot across the hall smashing against a stone wall. Her hands had already began streaming with electricity when the argonian asked,"Would you care for some rabbit?" What is going on here? Odd she thought, bandits don't usually offer to feed you."If you give me my bow back.. I'll consider it." She said whole heartedly. She was prepared to dual cast Lightning Bolt in the event he made an aggressive move.
What a strange argonian, they don't usually swung from the rafters...
"I've some cheese wheels and bread if you'd like as well?" She said contemplating the meal they would share, apparently she had already dismissed that the argonian may still be planning to attack.

She began rummaging through one of her bags and revealed a wheel of cheese.

Looking around,"So, do you live here?" she said. Looking at the campsite. "I know you're cold blooded and all, but would you like me to start a fire?" He's kinda strange... The "campsite" was move of a hovel.

She summoned a bound dagger and began cutting the cheese into slices for the two to share.

 

[Dark child]

"Not. So. Fast." Tar'ja used the bow as a pointing stick. Directing the curved shaft directly at Rayne's nose, but still far enough out of her reach that the dark elf wouldn't be able to grab it easily. "Your taste in food items is questionable, and so are you. Tell me, what kind of madwoman walks into a grave and offers a bandit cheese hm? How do I know you haven't poisoned said cheese, intent to do away with me and make off with my rabbit."

The argonian stood up, nimble as a fox, he began pacing the rafter, feeling the dried and cracked wood underneath his bare, scaly feet. A long sleeved black tunic covered his upper half, embroidered with strange designs that were difficult to distinguish in the darkness. His lower half matched this to some degree, the pants black as well, but were fitted with the only armor on him. Very dark red knee pads and ankle guards made of some type of metal. Though they didn't appear thick.

"There's something different about this place no? What better place to be buried than a mountaintop. A true king must be decaying somewhere below. Is that why you have come? The promise of shiny metals? Or is it my leeks you seek?" The argonian mused, smiling slightly, stroking his chin while strutting across the rafter, not even bothering to look in the dark elf's direction. Bow still held in his left hand. While most of it was spoken good-naturedly, the last sentence seemed to dare the elf to try and take one of his precious leeks. Almost threatening.

 

[Mad Dog]

This man is mad..
She stood up.
"If I were to have poisoned the cheese, wouldn't it's effect be lost on you? Also I plan to enjoy the cheese myself, meaning that if it had, it would lead to my demise, not yours.." she added,"Now, I would really appreciate my bow back.." placing her hand out.

"I am here to procure alchemical ingredients for my study..... But if there are vast treasures to be had here, I'm sure we could explore them and even perhaps split the bounty that is to be had.. Also it's better to have someone watching your back, what with two heads better than one. On separate bodies of course..." Hand still out reached.

Leeks are good though...

She maintained standing with the bound dagger in one hand, the other out reached for the return of her bow.

 

[Dark child]

Yes. Give her the bow. Then sweet sweet death!

Tar'ja almost let out a groan. He had been happy to be free of the daedra, even if it was for just a brief moment or two. ~Strategic planning has never been your strong point. How would giving her the bow help me?~

It's entertaining to watch you bleed.

~Oh shut up.~ Unbeknownst to the arogonian, he had stopped dead in his tracks, no longer pacing the rafter. Realizing how odd he must have looked while paused there, a nearly blank expression on his face, Tar'ja quickly played it off, acting like it was something he had meant to do.

Now spinning around to face the dark elf, he once again pointed the bow towards her face. "Ah ha! I've finally figured you out! You've come for my scales no? Trick me into following you, and then bam! Knife in the back! All the arogonian ingredients you could want. Can't pull the wool over Tar'ja's eyes that quickly! No sir."

The arogonian paused. Realizing that Rayner wasn't exactly the sneaky type. Her heavy armor made all kinds of noise. Tar'ja had heard her from a mile away.

The arogonian now looked at the spectral blade I'm her hand. He didn't like such things. Eyes narrowing slightly in a distrusting manner. It was not of this world, and neither was he. He was unsure if it was capable of hurting the daedra within, but did not want to find out the hard way.

"I was a tad hasty there. You're about as silent as a draugr with knee problems."

"Here, take it." He stopped squinting suspiciously at the girl and tossed down her bow.

Tar'ja then jumped down from the rafter. His own knees making a slightly unsettling sound, though it wasn't an incredibly high distance.

Now fairly close, the refined ridges of his face, and the horns which graced his head could be seen more easily now.

The arogonian pointed a finger at her. Now lacking the bow which he had enjoyed using as his own personal pointing stick. "Try and notch something out of that quiver of yours and you'll find out just how to the point I can be."

Well it's not quite pointy. Added the daedra.

Tar'ja looked down at the axe on his belt. It had been at least half a decade since he had carried a sword. "I mean blunt." He said while still gazing down at the weapon.

He returned his attention to Rayne, but quickly turned around, beckoning her to follow him towards the large circular wooden door with perplexing designs on it.

"Magic's in your blood no? See if you can't get this blasted door open. I've tried burning it down, but to no avail. Can you imagine? Wood that doesn't burn." Tar'ja chuckled. As if non-burning wood was some kind of inside joke.

 

[Mad Dog]

What is he doing? He's just standing there....

"Ah ha! I've finally figured you out!" The sudden movement and yell from the Argonian made her jump and made her yelp a bit.

"Scales?...... Argonian ingrediants?........ Wha... I...... You can't........." Every word interrupted and ignored as the Argonian went on."I was a tad hasty there. You're about as silent as a draugr with knee problems." "What!? I...." interrupted again by the sudden tossing of her bow, which she had to scramble to catch.

The Argonian's face was now less than two hand lengths from her own face, She could smell the leeks he had mentioned earlier.. She stood there watching him as he looked down at himself for what seemed like an hour. "Are you...." quickly interrupted by the Argonian again,"I mean blunt!" The Argonian seemed to have little control over the volume of his voice when he spoke to her, or he was doing it on purpose for some unknown reason.

"Magic's in your blood no?"
"Well actually yes.." Interrupted again.
"See if you can't get this blasted door open. I've tried burning it down, but to no avail. Can you imagine? Wood that doesn't burn." After speaking he remained quiet for a few moments.

Is it my turn to speak? should I... Yea.. Ok..

"I'll take a look..." expecting to be interrupted again. "These runes look familiar.." continuing to keep her sentences short in case of interruption.
"Oh!" she said loudly, moving quickly to one of her bags removing several books and reading parts of most of them.

After about five minutes Rayne had placed more than twenty books on the floor and was holding two more, one in each hand reading bits of both of them while sitting cross legged on the floor. She reached into yet another bag and removed two bottles of honey ale,"Would you like?" holding one toward the Argonian, although not looking at him.

"Ok, so this side appears to look like these bunch." pointing to the page as if the Argonian was interested in what she was saying. "Indicating that this door is opened by some sort of switch, or pressure plate, or something of the like.. Also only this side is wood, and it's been charred and appears to have a very thick Frost salt based lacquer which is making it harder to burn, if I had to guess the rest is probably stone or metal. Pretty typical of these kinds of ruins."

"Well either that or this is the cheese storage room.. Could be either one.." She added making a joke.

(@Dark child)

 

[Dark child]

Tar'ja watched with interest as the dark elf studied the tomes. Despite being a creature of that which is arcane, he never truly studied the arts. You would think being so ancient would lead to absorbing knowledge, however, quite the opposite was true with Tar'ja. Mind corrupted, aged and decaying just like body and soul, all of which would crumple into dust and bone if it weren't for Barachus. The argonian suffered from the paring of the two souls, constantly at war with Barachus weather he liked to admit in or not. Two prisoners in the same cell, simply making amends from time to time so that feelings wouldn't fester into violence as years passed. But inevitably, the time would come, just as it always had, where Barachus would attempt to possess his host. To take over completely like the greedy being had always been.

Tar'ja would eventually become quite consumed with staving off the daedra. Putting up barriers in his mind to shut him up and keep him docile, for as long as it lasted at least.

Tar'ja avoided towns, not only because of the demon's bloodlust, but because he feared being recognized. Staying in one place long enough would undoubtedly show his more peculiar aspects, and he lacked the ability to seduce and tame mortals like the children of Molag Bal who's eyes burned bright in the moonlight. Though he was glad to be able to roam around in the sun. The wilds were truly his favorite place, and they lost all splendor at night when one could not see great distances.

He never returned to Black Marsh after the night of his bleeding in the ritual grounds, surrounded by the dead. Tar'ja knew just what kind of bargain he had made, yet he took it anyway. Perhaps he was a coward, unable to accept fate.

The daedra often did get his wishes, but at least the were against those of foreign lands and not that of his own. Far too much blood had been spilled in this way, but he refused to beset his birthplace with his curse.

Now, as Tar'ja looked over the pages, all of various handwriting and even of different languages, he missed being able to take the time to read. The argonian's life was often so fast paced he couldn't afford to keep the extra weight on him. It only slowed him down while he ran from whatever had driven him away. He'd often catch snippets of stories, reading books were he found them and then laying them back to rest for the next pair of hands to pick them up.

Much of the writing was indiscernible to him, but he did enjoy the drawings, some more detailed than others, spells and runes, of which he recognized several.

He was quite surprised when the elf offered him ale. Ale which he gladly took. Though he did sniff the top of the bottle after removing the cork. As if any poison would actually be poignant even if it was present. Bringing the bottle to his lips he drank the warm soothing liquid. Which would be almost like a strong tea if it weren't for the burn of the alcohol, the reason it felt warm.

"Well, I have to hand it to those Nords, they may not like outsiders like you and I, but their drinks are all the comfort I could ever hope for." He said with a more welcoming smile and a wink. His way of saying thank you.

Upon hearing about the frost salts he was impressed by the ingenuity. "You know, for a people that still beat each other over the head with clubs to this day, they're pretty clever." Stated the argonian, referencing the builders of the tomb.

It was also apparent that Tar'ja's voice was not as lizard like as his kin. It lacked the typical hisses, and for all practical purposes, was quite normal. So many accents mixed into it that one would never be able to pinpoint exactly where he hailed from, but would blend in in almost any city.

"I'd be happy if it was cheese. Would make a great stew." The argonian smiled. Gesturing over to the half a rabbit and leaks with his eyes.

 

[Mad Dog]

"Well not to speak poorly about the natives of this country, but the fantastic carpentership we see in these ruins appears to have been lost over time." She said lightly.

"Ok, we need to find this switch of sorts" she said as she began to put her notes and books and all manner of things back into her bag, looking up is only then that she realized the Argonian had been paying extremely close attention to her. Not in a strange or creepy way, but in a way that expressed genuine interest, she'd not been shown that level of interest in a while.

She smiled,"You know if you'd like to read one of my books I'd be happy to lend one to you, or if you need I could help you read it." She added the last part as she was not entirely sure if the man knew how to read.

Once all her things had been replaced back into her assorted bags she stood up, and began to check the walls,"They usually had the switches for these kinds of things in the same room, and they might be built as some sort I'd puzzled contraption. It might also be possible that the switch may require a key of some sort. I've heard of magic from my home land that simply opened locked doors, boy wouldn't that make things much simpler. But I haven't been to Morrowind since I was an infant, So I never had the pleasure of learning such magics." she said all quite intelligently and appearing to be well informed.

@Dark child

 

[Dark child]

"I hate it when things get switched up. Order is the only thing holding Nirn in place you know." Tar'ja said as soon as the elf mentioned the bit about the switch itself. Of course what the argonian said was inconsequential to the situation at hand, but he had said it more for his own amusement than anything else, a coy smile on his face.

"I'm afraid I'll just loose them my dear. I have a terrible habbit of skipping to all the good parts and forgetting the rest." Said Tar'ja as she offered him her small personal library. Possessions. How pleasing it must be to have such things, thought the argonian, who was somewhat doomed to live without a home. In fact, he was unsure why Barachus valued gold so much, perhaps greed was apparent in all aspects of the daedra's personality, for, in truth, Tar'ja did not value wealth. He speculated he wanted it only because the daedra did. Their wants mixing into one giant incoherent mess, the desires of one unidentifiable from the other at times.

"Let me see what we ha-" No sooner than Tar'ja had taken his first step towards a far wall was his speech cut short. His foot pressing down on a nearly seamless stone, triggering a trap with several poison darts to activate.

The darts all fired at the same time, and the next thing that Tar'ja knew, he had some fifteen or so of them stuck in his chest, as well as a few odds and ends here and there, a few in his legs and lower torso.

He turned back towards Rayne, looking like a porcupine with it's quills on the wrong side, all wide eyed. "I suggest we don't try that pressure plate again."

 

[Mad Dog]

The sound of dozens of darts shooting out from a nearby wall caught Rayne off guard and she dove to the floor clumsily to avoid them, even though they were not shooting in her direction at all. When the shooting stopped she stood up and dusted herself off, before looking over to notice the Argonian had been made into a pin cushion.

"Oh dea..."
Cut off almost instantly.."I suggest we don't try that pressure plate again."

She ran over to him to inspect the wounds,"Are you ok?" The wounds had began to drip with the poison the darts had been laced with. "Well thankfully your blood has no fear of the toxins placed upon these darts." She said as her hands began swirling with a white light that soon splashed over the Argonian's body healing his wounds, she wasn't exactly good in the school of Restoration but she got the job done. The diminutive holes made by the darts began to close up as the darts themselves also began falling from the man's chest. "There! All better." She said with a sheepish smile. "Now back to work." She added turning around.
She took one step before hitting the pressure plate, causing darts to fly from the walls and strike the Argonian yet again.

Rayne's eyes looked like they might pop out of her head,"I.. I am.. Soo sorry..." She immediately began healing the man's wounds once again, except this time taking great care not to activate the trap a third time, an action she nearly failed despite being aware of the situation.

She returned to her section of wall without a word, perhaps scared to speak? Or maybe just embarrassed it was difficult to tell.

 

[Dark child]

Oh! Sweet heavenly relief! Tar'ja wished he had an elf around to do that every time he had been impaled with foreign objects. It certainly felt better than Barachus's dark magic. The daedra's power would seal his wounds yes, but much more slowly, even painful at times. Like the daedra had said, he truly enjoyed watching Tar'ja bleed.

Alas, he had spoken too soon, the heavily armored boot triggered the trap once more Tar'ja let out a slight wheeze. His eyes just as wide as they had been before. "Never been better." Though his voice told a different story, still slightly wheezing.

The elf really did look truly sorry, and even slightly embarrassed, almost refusing to look at him while she closed the wounds a second time, the darts clattering to the floor next to their brethren from before. By the Nine, how many darts did the Nords pack into these traps?

While Rayne occupied herself with finding the switch once more, seemingly completely occupied by the task, though maybe it was just to avoid the awkwardness of the trap situation...Tar'ja himself walked over to one of the holes that the darts had come from, unwisely looking directly up the barrel. There was nothing to see of course, just darkness, but it still perplexed him. There had to be a whole room full of darts back in there...

He soon abandoned his quest to figure out where they had come from, walking back in the dark elf's direction. Was her hand on the?..oh dear. Thought the argonian, who had pulled the wrong switch many a time...

 

[Mad Dog]

"I think I found the..." She said as she began pulling a lever she had discovered that had been disguised as a torch. Immediately after pulling the lever a loud pop filled the room and a large, spiked log attached to some ropes began swinging down from the ceiling in her direction.

"switch..." She said right before the log was about to smash her up against the wall.

 

[Dark child]

Oh dear! Oh dearohdear

Tar'ja rushed over, flinging himself at the elf like a bat in hot pursuit of a hearthfire beetle. He crashed into the elf just in the nick of time, the log crushing the torch alcove where she had just been standing a second before. He landed on top of the poor girl with an OUff, her armor making all kinds of noise as the two of them clattered to the floor.

"I think I may have broken something." Said the argonian in a somewhat pained voice as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a mangled leek.

He then rolled off of her, laying on his back he let out a long sigh before looking at the leek for another brief moment, he then tilted his head back to it's original position, looking up at the age old stones of the ceiling, unable to bear the horrible tragedy that had befallen his poor vegetable.

 

[Mad Dog]

The man had saved her life, still though he was laying on top of her.. her skin although a beautiful dark and gray color turned a nearly beet red color in her face.. she'd never had a man on top of her.. Ever....

"Uh.." her voice as quiet as a mouse.
Cutting her off, "I think I may have broken something." Seconds later after some awkward shifting on top of her, the Argonian produced a Leek that had been snapped and was snapped like an "L"

She let out a light wheezy laugh, indicating the man's weight was crushing her, but that she genuinely found the broken leek amusing.

After the man rolled off of her she quickly sprang to her feet, not gracefully at all, but quickly.

"Thank you." She said without making eye contact but also extending a hand to help the man stand up. "I'll pay for that.." She added hoping to start making up for the now two large mistakes that had been at the expense of the Argonian.

Gods, I thought he was weird, he must think I'm an absolute disaster... stupid... stupid...

After helping the man up she would return to her search if the walls for another switch, hopefully the right one this time.

She was finding out that reading about these ruins and actually being in them is a totally different story.

 

[Dark child]

We're dark elves always that red? Or was it just their eyes? Tar'ja couldn't quite recall, but it seemed like the elf had been a completely different shade just moments before. ~Well isn't that curious.~ He thought to himself. Trying to remember the basic anatomy of other species could be difficult. Once he had put- ~Well I mustn't distract myself.~

Tar'ja graciously accepted her hand, hoisting himself off the floor. He smiled, but he doubted the elf noticed. He couldn't imagine why she was so ashamed, perhaps she thought the leek meant more to him, her true intentions flying right over the arogonian's head. He was a tad rusty when it came to such things.

"Oh, don't mind the leek." He looked up, realising that there was indeed a true leak above their heads, slowly dripping water in the both of them. "Not that one, the other one. Actually both." He said. First pointing above with his scaly finger, and then to the vegetable in his hand.

Now, with both of them staring at the door, he asked. "What do you have in your bag? Blowing it up still appeals to me."

 

[Mad Dog]

Rayne stood there with a blank look on her face, in fact she was performing complex equations in her head. Almost two full minutes went by and it was difficult to tell if she was even breathing.

"Oh!!! I got it!!!" She exclaimed very excitedly. She began rummaging through one of her many bags finally producing what looked like a bit of a smashed bee hive,"This!!" She almost yelled, expecting a reaction from the Argonion she would probably not receive.

She then walked over to one of the walls,"This place is covered in glowing mushrooms! And when combined with a bee hive husk, has been known to increase a persons ability to manipulate spells from the school of destruction!!" She nearly yelled each word as she gave the lesson in alchemy to the man, she was very excited about the whole situation.

After cutting more samples from the wall she sat on the floor, cross legged again, and began taking out her mortar and pestle, Retort, Calcinator, and Alembic placing them all expertly in their correct positions, then went to work.

After only a few moments of her using each tool and the ingredients in perfect order and sometimes in unison, she lifted the bottle full of freshly made potion and showed it off to the man. She then picked up all of her things and positioned herself in front of the door back about fifteen feet.

She drank the potion and said,"You might want to stand back." As she lifted both hands and prepared to double, not dual, cast Incinerate at the door.

"This better work!" And like that the door was blasted time after time with the explosive spell causing the door to creek, groan, and send chunks flying in all directions.

The Dark Elf was acting like a woman possessed blasting the door over and over until finally the heavy two foot thick door gave in a final eruption of molten steel and chunks of wood, some still burning some just embers.

"Whoo Hoo!" She screamed taking a knee and starting to breath heavily for a while as she began recuperating the lost energy expended in her repeated use if the hefty spell.

@Dark child

 

[Dark child]

Tossing away the leek carelessly, Tar'ja watched in bewilderment as the elf massacred the various mushrooms that grew in bunches around the walls. She showed them no mercy. Carving them up like some kind of deranged skooma junky who believed their fix was in the glowing fungal life.

She moved around the space like a bee harvesting flowers, except the flowers were mushrooms, and she was missing the stinger and vibrant colors.

Tar'ja stood in one place watching all this, slowly turning with her as she moved around the room. From somewhere within his back pocket, he removed a small carrot and began munching on it. Watching the elf with intrigue.

She then dumped all the ingredients into a lopsided pile on the floor, and began setting up her lab. Which was surprisingly intricate and scaled down.

Mixing, diluting, and reconstituting, the glowing syrup-like paste from the mushrooms, she soon had almost a full phial of the stuff. Which glowed like radioactive waste. She then took the husks and boiled them into nothing, placing them into a beaker. Beaker and phial combined in a final cup-like container, she poured them both in simultaneously. The resulting liquid bubbled and fizzled with electricity, and a hint of ethereal fire. Tar'ja personally did not want it anywhere near his lips, and he had put some downright foul things there back in the day.

Now as he watched, he felt compelled to stop her, and equally compelled to throw up at the same time as she raised the concoction up to her own small elf lips to drink. Tar'ja gagged. Looking away for a split moment while she did the deed.

When he looked back, her lips were covered in neon blue, and he could have sworn she smiled at him a bit.

Tar'ja then watched as she approached the door, holding out her hands with confidence as if to say "watch this".

She open fired on the door with the wrath of the nine divines. The argonian's eyes reflecting the beautiful spectacle of fire licking at the frost salts. Wave after wave crashed against the door like dragon's fire, Tar'ja couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The door finally gave way. The metal hinges of the wood even melting under the intense heat, Tar'ja made a mental note not to piss the elf off while she experimented.

At then end she let out a whoop! and holler of delight, Tar'ja almost felt like cheering himself, he never imagined the door to be so hefty. Yet here she had busted it down anyway. "You can have all the cheese. I'd stick around just to see that a second time." He said excitedly.

"Should we see what sort of creepy crawlies are waiting for us below?" He asked with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, and gestured to the hole in the door leading to the dark unknown.

 

[Mad Dog]

"Well of course! We didn't go through all that just to walk away." She said jokingly.

As they prepared to walk down the now open hole in the wall Rayne took a red flower from one of her bags and began eating it. "The red mountain flower is known to aid in the regeneration of the energy it takes to manifest spells." She said knowingly.

She then took out her bow and readied an arrow, before walking into the darkness of the unknown hallway.