A Tale of Heroes and Champions
A Dragon Age-Elder Scrolls Crossover
DISCLAIMER
I Do not own any parts of the Elder Scrolls franchise nor any parts of the Dragon Age's, they all belong to Bethesda and Bioware respectively, in case i missed anyone, your stuff belongs to you.
Author's note: Hello and welcome to my first Fanfic, I've been thinking about this for a rather a long time because i wanted a story where, our hero, The Dragonborn, wasn't the leader of every Factions within the game, because even if you do have the power and soul of a Dragon, mastering a large array of skills takes a lot of time, and with a world-ending cataclysm in sight, time wasn't really on our heroes side.
So to get around this i decided that the Dovahkiin needs allies, much like the companions in the game, don't worry about lack of lore and backgrounds though as i will be placing Codex entries and maybe a flasback or two.
This story takes place several years after the event of Skyrim and it's DLC, and a few years after the Second Great War against the Thalmor, don't worry about it as stated above i will make Codex and Flasback chapters.
Also since this is my first fanfic all kinds of reviews are greatly appreciated, but keep it constructive and clear so that i can hopefully make it a lot better for you all in the next update, also since English isn't my native language i hope that you all can tolerate some grammatical mistakes here and there.
Anyway hope everybody likes it, and now here we are, my first Fanfic.
Chapter 1 "A Strange Mirror"
The Party descended into the Larvanjund Barrow, not knowing what would be ahead, the leader of the group, Aerik Snowcrown, Nord, The Dragonborn and Harbinger, went ahead with a Dragonbone Greatsword drawn, the rest hung back slightly, prepared for any encounter within the Barrow.
A strange scent began to penetrate their nose, a sign of draugrs, and sure enough several draugrs emerged from their Coffins and began to attack the group.
"Just like old times, right, Aurelius?" Aerik said as he cleaved through several of the undeads in a single swing.
The other warrior, Legate Aurelius Valeris of the IV Legion, sighed, "And i was just being bored with Rikke constantly harassing me a week ago" then he shook his head "You know Aerik, if we got killed, things would be alot worst for the world."
"Although, with the world in general peace and the Empire is now pretty stable with Emperor Faustin I on the Throne, maybe the world don't need us heroes anymore.", he said with a hint of resignation.
Aerik laughed, and turned to speak, but he was interrupted off as an arrow pierced his armor and dug in his chest.
"Argghh!, Damn it!, Aria! I need some healing here!"
The mage turned to him and raised her staff, a moment later Aerik felt a burst of healing energy flowed through him and the Arrow began to be pushed back from his flesh, he turned and grinned towards her, she smiled in reply.
"Aerik, where would you be if it were not for my healing skills?" Aria Vandau, Breton Archmage of Winterhold and honorary Master Wizard of the rebuilt Guild of Mages, chuckled as she killed several draugrs with the Staff of Mannimarco and a magical Ayleid Sword, both recently uncovered during her expedition to an ancient ruin near Cyrodiil.
"Can you guys stop talking in the middle of a fight?" Endrani Rethan, Dunmer Nightingale and the Thieves Guild Grandmaster, said, whilst slicing draugrs with her twin shortswords, "I can't really concentrate on killing!"
The remaining draugrs fell under the strength of the group, as they ventured deeper into the barrows a strange feeling fell upon all of them, as if they are entering a piece of another world.
Somehow the Barrow felt incredibly wrong like something was amiss from it, the carvings were all wrong, the stone doesn't feel right and the atmosphere are unfamiliar.
"Something is terribly wrong with this Barrow..." Aerik muttered as he clutch his sword tighter.
The group encountered many skeletons and spiders after they moved deeper, Aria was continuously looking at the stone pillars and carvings, something is very strange with the ruins.
"This place does not look like any other place in Tamriel, and I've been to the Direnni Tower of High Rock..." she mused.
"Really?, then who built this?" Aurelius asked to her as they ventured deeper towards the ruined hall.
"Definitely not the ancient Snow Elves, we've been to the Forgotten Vale, and not even any of the Planes of Oblivion looks like this ruins..."
"What about one of Sanguine's pocket realms?, surely there maybe one like this."
Aria shook her head and turned to him, "Not even any of Sanguine's realms look like this, trust me I've been to many of it."
Aerik chuckled at her, "Really every one of his Realms?, what were you doing there?"
Aria blushed brightly at this, "It was for an expedition to Oblivion, nice of Divayth Fyr to allow me to use his portal..., Anyway it was for research, nobody said i cant have a little fun whilst researching..."
"That was a joke Aria." Aerik said with a smirk.
Everyone laughed at her and she blushed even brighter, "Anyway, back to the ruins, what do you think?"
"I don't know, the Psijic Order of Artaeum has a large repository of knowledge in their island, but i dont have a membership to enter, if only they accept my application..."
"Have they contacted you yet?"
Aria lowered her head and sighed "Unfortunately no, the last time they contacted me was during Archmage Melnik's expedition towards the Direnni Tower, and when i ask them about my application, they simply said 'The time shall come, mageling, and when it does, you shall know' and that's it"
Aerik chuckled a little, and said "Bloody Psijics, they're always so cryptic, like during the Eye of Magnus incident, right?"
They laughed at his comment, but then they all gasped, a number of strange creatures who look like materialized shadows with a large eye in the middle, appeared from the ruins, they possess large claws on their hands and began to made their way towards the group.
"Get ready!" Aerik shouted, although he did not need to, Endrani was already preparing her twin shortswords, both enchanted, Aurelius moved back to shield Aria with Spellbreaker, a gift from Peryite, and Aria began to chant arcane words as eldritch energy envelops her sword and staff.
The creatures charged at them, claws swinging at the group, Aerik managed to land a heavy blow at one of the creatures with his greatsword, and to his great surprise it fell into ashes immediately.
The others were also fighting them with great ease, Endrani was everywhere, watching her fight was like watching someone dance, except with each turn her blade connects with the enemy.
Aria was blasting spells left and right, swinging her sword and staff in perfect unity, eldritch energies, sparks, frosts, and flames danced throughout her body and weapons, blasting the creatures with it.
Aurelius and Aerik fighting was more warrior-like, swinging their blade through the fray, every hit blasted the creatures apart, and in Aurelius' case also burned the creatures with Goldbrand, a gift from the Elder Council for his part in the Second Great War.
After several minutes of fighting the group the creatures were all gone, ashes scatters all around the hallway, the fight left the group exhausted, and Aria began administering healing and restoration to them.
Endrani began to look around the area for threats and exits to any other rooms, and then he saw it, a large double door with strange inscriptions around the top of it.
"Hey, look there's a door there!, maybe that's the end of the barrow!"
Aurelius chuckled at him and said "Maybe, but there's usually a tough battle in there, and those supports does look flimsy..." He said as he waved his hand towards the pillars "Hey, Aria, did you bring the gems?" he said as he looked at the mage, currently drinking some potion.
Aria nodded and then began searching through her pouch to find the gem, after a moment she took out a blue colored crystal and smiled.
"Of course Aurelius, although we can only contact a few people with it though."
Endrani tilted her head at this and then proceed to ask "Who exactly?, I forgot..."
Aria then looked around the others and saw a similarly puzzled looked at each one, all showing the same question.
"Seriously guys?, am i the only one who remembered?" the others shrugged, she sighed and then scratches her chin for a moment before finally speaking.
"Alright, i think the people who has the other stones are: Emperor Faustin , Tolfdir, Faralda, Vilkas, Brynjolf, General Tullius, Legate Rikke, and..." she hesitated for a moment before adding "Stefan" the others groaned at this but before they can speak she put a hand to stop them.
"Look i know you all doesn't like him since he went to the Brotherhood and became a vampire, but he is the only one we can trust, he already signed an oath since..." she choked a bit before continuing "Since he assassinated Titus Mede II, but hear me out, he is also one of the Hero of Skyrim, he helped us kill Alduin and Harkon for Magnus' sake!"
Aerik glared at her "We know he is trustworthy, but can we trust the Brotherhood?, you know he now places his loyalty to them before us, and he did not even help us defeat Miraak!" Aria opened her mouth to argue but quickly shut it, " if you somehow endangers us by giving him that stone, you will be sorry that you gave him that, got it?"
Aria simply nodded and began to prepare several spells for the next fight.
Endrani then walked towards Aerik and placed her hand on his shoulder, "You shouldn't be too hard on her, she knows what she is doing Aerik, she isn't the young mage that helped us fight Alduin long ago, she now controls Winterhold and is a respected voice in the Council of Mages, and beside Stefan would not betray us for the Brotherhood."
Aerik turned to her and looked at her, his icy blue locking into her red eyes, "And how did you know he would not betray us?" he said through barely suppressed anger.
To his surprise Endrani simply smiled, "Because I've been in contact with him for several months now, he said that the Night Mother has spoken to him about contracts directed toward us, somehow he manages to keep them from being approved."
"Endrani, why didn't you tell me anything before?"
"Stefan said in his letters and in person that I shouldn't say anything unless it is really needed."
Aerik smiled and kissed her lightly, "Alright, but if he talks to you again, let me know, alright?"
She smiled and simply said "Alright" before moving back towards Aria and Aurelius.
Aurelius was talking with Aria before he patted her on the shoulder, as Aurelius got up a strange noise came from the doorway, shocking everyone.
"Aerik, please tell me it was your stomach?" Endrani asked half jokingly.
"Err.. No, i think whatever through there would make a very terrible fight." He then looked towards the others "Everyone ready?"
They all nod in agreement, everyone began to take their places in the formation.
Aerik closed in on the door and grabbed its handle, a wave of frosty air wash over him instantly, chilling him with fear, nevertheless he braces himself to open it.
"Alright, here we go... Three, two, one!" Aerik shouted and flung the door wide open, Aurelius moved forward, keeping Spellbreaker up high against any enemy, Aerik rushes in after him, his greatsword tightly gripped, and prepared his Thu'um against anything.
However before Aria or Endrani manages to enter a single fireball came to the two warriors, the explosion rocked the floor and burned several pieces of furnishing, Aerik manages to dodge the fireball whilst Spellbreaker's ward saved Aurelius from it.
Endrani entered next, shortswords in hand and ready to stab anything near them, Aria cautiously entered after her, preparing her spells and muttering strange incantations.
"What in Talos' name was that?" Aerik shouted, his answer came as a Lich appeared from the coffin, Aria manages to blast a shock spell towards the Lich, and Endrani along with Aurelius was already fighting it at close range.
The Lich itself is rather strange, it bore clothes unlike any robes in any Tamrielic provinces, its robe has strange inscription running through the middle, the Lich also wears a large helmet that obscures its eyes, and it seems to be floating not many Liches, barring Dragon Priest and Bonelords, can usually floats.
But this one is rather different for one this Lich is emanating a strange energy, the energy is strikingly different from standard magickal aura that seems to ooze from many powerful tomb creatures.
However the one thing that is rather spectacular about this lich is that its array of spells are rather different from most, if not all, the known spells, both old and new.
The Lich was also very strong, for it shrugged of Aerik's sword as if it was a mere flea's bite, it also manages to form powerful barriers that shift its energy constantly, much like Jyrik Gauldurson at Saarthal.
Aerik knows that if this Lich is not disabled then his teammates would be killed, and with it he summoned his strengths and braced himself to unleash the power of the Dragonborn.
"GAAN LAH HAAS!" He shouted at the Lich with the full power of the drain vitality shout, feeling all the health, stamina, and... no magicka?, it was an odd experience but he thought that the Lich's magicka was already drained during the fight.
Nevertheless after the shout its energy was fully drained, Endrani saw it first and dug her swords unto the Lich's chest, it fell with a deafening shriek, and crumbled into dust.
"What in the Divines name was that?" Aerik yelled, looking at the pile of dust where the Lich once stood.
No one answered, for once in their life, they were stunned by this strange barrow, scattered throughout the room, were staves, scrolls, diagrams, crystals, and ancient tomes, a sure sign that the room once serve a mage.
However none of them recognized anything in the room, after knowing that there will be no surprises Aerik gathered them near the door.
"Alright, let's spread out and check the place, let's see if we can find anything about this place." the others nodded and began to spread out, they began to search the place for anything to tell them about the barrow.
Aurelius walked towards the bookshelves, although he isn't a full-time mage, he was a good spellsword and he liked books and ancient tomes, and was attracted more towards books during their adventures.
Casually he picked up a leather-bound book, in the middle of its cover is a strange symbol of a sunburst on top of a circle that are divided in four pieces, each piece having its own colour and symbol, the book, "A Commentary on the Chantry and Magic by Brother Ludvig" the book was surprisingly written in a mishmash of the many alphabet of Tamriel, from the alphabet used in Daggerfall, to the ones used in Elsweyr to even some writings in Daedric.
Aurelius read the book with keen interest, but soon he delved deeper and deeper unto the book, eventually a burst of enlightenment came unto him, as he suddenly understands why this barrow feels so different from any Tamrielic ruins.
"Everyone!, look at this book here!, I think I know why this place feels so odd!" he shouted to the others, they were examining various things around the place, but soon gathered around him.
"Look, read it, it says a lot of things that doesn't exist, like this 'Andraste' fellow and the 'Tevinter Imperium' for all I know the only independent magical faction is the Telvanni" he said with a sense of wonder.
Aerik frowned and read it sharply, "Are you sure this isn't the work of an Elder Scroll?"
"No, I've read the prophecies by the Moth Priests, they don't look as... Clear as this book." Aria said from behind them, earning a nod from Aurelius.
"Damn, this is all too much..." She said as she took a swig from one of her bottles, this earned her a dissapointed look from Aurelius.
"What?, its spiced wine, this is all too stressful for me..." Aurelius said nothing to her and instead just grabbed the bottle and put it down on the desk.
"Aria, we need you to focus now, you can drink later on, okay?" He said reassuringly, Aria nodded and began to browse the books, Aerik wasn't sure how Aurelius managed to stop Aria's drinking, for all he knows when she started drinking there was very little that could stop her, aside from passing out at least.
Aurelius then sighed and looked back at Aerik, he blushed a little and choked out his next words.
" Alright... And beside Aerik, look at the writings, the author's clearly writing something of the past, a past that clearly never happened, and yet it exist..." Aurelius elaborated further.
Aerik always hated him when he discussed metaphysical books, and the one time they went to Morrowind, he read all 36 lessons of Vivec and would not shut up about Godhead and CHIM for weeks.
Aurelius was speaking more about the past and about some theories made by many scholars about the subject of "Oblivion-Walking" and "World-Tunnels" and the maddening concept of the Elder Scrolls, annoyingly Aria went back to him and started talking about the studies of Divayth Fyr and the researches on the Direnni Tower and the nature of Aurbis, Mundus, Oblivion and Aetherius, she was also strangely refreshed.
The chatter between the two left him with a headache, so he decided to leave them alone and began to walk around the upper chambers, looking at scrolls and staves, and suchlike.
Deciding that he wouldn't really find anything at the scrolls since they weren't even Daedric, and the staves being non-functional, Aerik decided to move toward the ledge near the coffin, he began looking towards the remaining chambers, a strange mirror lies in a daïs with several intricate carvings around it.
He was deep in his thoughts when someone embraced him from behind, he tensed for a slight moment before realizing it was Endrani, who was smiling to him, he smiled back and relaxed.
"So, what do you think about those weird things they're talking about?" she said with a cheerful smile.
Aerik chuckled slightly before turning toward her, and met his frosty eyes to her red eyes.
"You know that we're not really cut out for that kind of things." He said with a smile, Endrani laughed before kissing him on the cheeks.
"Yeah, although I am more worried about the lack of interesting treasures around the barrow, you know that these ruins always have some chest at the end." She said while grinning, Endrani was always like this, chasing after the gold, as is her word during their early quest "Fortune and Glory, my friend, that's why I love traveling like this."
"And now instead of a treasure trove, all we get is books, scrolls, and that weird mirror." She then looked at the mirror intently before smirking "Is that gold-plating?, I bet we could sell that to some merchants..."
She drifted towards the mirror, walking down the steps to the daïs and the odd mirror, however she failed to notice a pressure plate on the base of the stairs and as she stepped on the plates a loud groaning noise came resounding from the walls.
But another thing also happened, the mirror glowed and a strange vortex appeared from it, strange energies came floating from the vortex.
"What in the Shivering Isles was that?" Aria shouted as she ran towards the lower chambers, Aerik was already there sword drawn and ready to fight, but before Aria can reach the steps, Aurelius noticed an even greater problem.
"Guys!, look the door's closing!" he shouted toward the others, however as he ran towards the opening he hit some sort of invisible barrier, knocking him out of his feet.
"What was that?" he asked as Aria ran toward him, and began casting healing spells on him.
"Must be a magical barrier, we cant open it without finding the activation device." She explained as she helped him up his feet "Come on, maybe the mirror's the catalyst."
"But the door..." he began to say but was quickly cut off by Aria.
"We can worry about the door later, right now we need to close off the mirror!" she said as she pulled him towards the lower area of the chamber.
"Aria!, we need your help, those crystals seems to focus the energy of the mirror, I think we can stabilize them to seal it." Aerik shouted as he pointed to the crystalline pillars that are glowing brightly.
"Alright, but I need your help, powerful magickal energy are flooding out of that mirror!, I think you can help hold it off." She explained with a point to Aerik.
"What?, and how am I suppose to do that?" Aerik shouted back at her.
Aria merely rolled her eyes and throw him the Staff of Magnus, although she rarely uses it she always carried it in case of emergencies like this.
"Just blast it at the mirror!" she yelled back at him, not knowing what to do, Aerik decided to go along with the expert, he began using the Staff on the mirror, the energies flowing from the mirror seems to calm down for a moment.
"Aria!, hurry up!, I can feel the energies being absorbed by my body!" he can feel the mysterious, indescribable energies flowing throughout his body and mind, oddly it felt like absorbing a Dragon's soul, except foreign and somehow...intoxicating.
He then looked at Aria who was busy using her spells on the crystals, unfortunately it seems to do nothing, however, she seems exhausted by this and looked at Aerik, both of the knows what will happen soon, and she then began to blast more spells to the crystals, also without any effect.
"Aria!, what's wrong?" Aerik was now intensely worried, Aria's magic doesn't seem to do anything, and as she fell to her knees, she looked at him and felt the heavy increase in energy flowing to him.
"Aerik!, stop using the Staff!, your body can't handle energies this powerful even with your Dragon souls!" she yelled at him.
But it was hard to stop the staff and only with the help of Aurelius did he manages to yank the staff away from the mirror, but the mirror burst with it's barely contained power and arcane energies started to envelop them.
Aerik's mind can only register so many information at once before the world seems to explode in a million colours.
Lyna Hawke always hated walking through Lowtown at night, even with her status as a noble in Kirkwall, it seems that every bandit and cutthroats are always out to get her while she is walking at the streets.
Anyway it wasn't like she was defenseless, of course she's armed to the teeth, but it was the fact that she was getting tired of walking around Kirkwall at night and then bandits start to jump off the rooftops and attacked her, even if they did know she was a Mage and already killed countless of scum like them.
Her trip to Merrill's house was thankfully rather quiet, with only one attack from one of the many bandit groups at the area, thanks to her father's staff, Malcolm's Honor, which she finds rather odd considering the fact that there is a nude Andraste idol on top of it.
And also to the dwarf on her side, Varric's always accompany Hawke around nighttime in Lowtown, which she finds rather nice, although abit invasive, at least he made good talk and are always able to surprise Hawke with his latest stories.
"You know that I can take care of myself, right?" she asked him, Varric looked up to Hawke, who only grinned at him.
"And why shouldn't I?, and besides you know how dangerous the streets are, wouldn't want you in cuts and bruises before you reached daisy" Varric said simply, he knows about Hawke's and Merrill's relationship, everyone in the group knows.
Hawke turned to speak to Varric but he held up his hand "I'm just going to drop you off at the door, I wont peek, I promise." Varric said with a smirk.
Hawke simply sighed as they walked through the steps of the Alienage, not knowing what will happen at Merrill's home and more importantly at her Eluvian.
Merrill was soundly asleep when a strange sound came sounding from the Eluvian, at first she thought it was part of her dream, she was dreaming a nice dream about a peaceful meadow and Hawke, she giggled at the thought of her lover, and began thinking new ways to have her.
But before she can think of anything else the Eluvian made another noise, this time she's sure of it, something is happening to the Eluvian, she quickly put on her robes and walked towards it.
"What's making that sound?, I know im not, unless that I somehow performed a ritual during my sleep, and... And..." she looked around the house, the only occupant are currently her and one curious rat looking oddly at her.
"Oh, you heard that too, Messere Rat, stay here and maybe i'll give you a piece of cheese, a cheese would be nice right?, maybe I need a cheese too..." however before she can complete her ramblings the Eluvian made another sound, this time louder than before.
"What the?, maybe I should get my staff first..." she walked towards her staff, the Staff of Parthalan, a gift from Hawke, since she liked her fathers staff more, even if it does have a nude Andraste on top.
She took the staff from the corner of her room and walked towards the Eluvian, head tilting to see what lies beneath the mirror, once she dreamt of thunders, of a river burning, of a ship adrift at sea,and of a cemetary with a woman whose face was bandaged, and in all those dreams there is one constant feature.
The Eluvian.
However before she can think anymore a thunderous flash blast out of the Eluvian and then she got knocked back by a large warrior with horned helmets, the warrior quickly steadied himself and looked at her, he then gripped Merrill by the shoulder.
"Where are we Bosmer?, are we in Valenwood?" he asked abruptly, Merrill too shocked to grasp the situation, dashes out of the warrior's grip and ran for the door, as she opened the door Hawke was there, she was visibly tense and has a very worried look on her face.
"Merrill? What happened? We heard the explosion, are you messing with the Eluvian again?" she asked her with her hands placed on Merrill's shoulder, it felt calming for Merrill who was too shocked and instead pulled Hawke to a hug, and began to talk very quickly.
Hawke shook Merrill's shoulder and manages to calm her down.
"Merrill, slow down, I don't know what you're saying" she said as she placed a kiss on her forehead.
"Oh, Hawke!, it's so good to have you here!, I was dreaming back then, and then I got up when the Eluvian started to make a noise, there's a nice rat back then..." Hawke raised her eyebrows, and Merrill quickly understands her "Oh, yes uhmm... then I checked at the Eluvian and suddenly there was an explosion, i swear i did not do anything, and then there was..."
She paused for a second then gasped as several people entered the living room, Hawke pulled out her staff whilst Varric aimed with Bianca, Merrill ran to a pot near in a corner and pulled out her old staff, and made her way toward Hawke.
The leader of the strangers was carrying the Staff of Parthalan, and worriedly looked at Merrill.
"Uh... Ma'am?, you dropped your staff back there..." The man said with a worried voice.
When Hawke heard the explosion coming from Merrill's home she thought that the Eluvian finally went and killed Merrill because of her rituals, however she's surprised to see a surprised Merrill running to her before hugging her and talked very rapidly.
After Hugging her and slowing her down so that she can explain, Hawke noticed that Merrill's body doesn't have any cuts in them, so Blood Magic was out of the question, which leads her to the question of how else can the Eluvian be activated?.
However before she can pursue the thought any further a group of people came into the living room, an armored man was holding the Staff of Parthalan in his hand with a worried expression on his face.
"Uh... Ma'am?, you dropped your staff back there..." Hawke wasn't really listening to him as she was mostly focused on his strange armour, Hawke then heard the signature sound of a string being pulled, a sign that Varric was preparing Bianca, Hawke then looked at the man again and his companions, noticing their odd clothes.
The man was dressed in a strange armour, it was not as shiny as Sebastian's armour but it was more... Snowy, he's also carrying a large two-handed sword, that seems to be made of bone, but what truly strikes Hawke was the man's icy blue eyes that seems to glow, his skin is also strange, although not too pale his skin can be described as snow-like, and his blonde hair are also, whitish, I can already think what Varric's gonna name him Hawke thought.
His companions were also strangely dressed, there was a female rogue, she was clad in an armor so dark, that it seems to absorb light itself, this woman was also armed with two shortsword one of which was dark as the midnight sky and the other one was very sinister looking, but the most striking feature of her is her ash-dark skin and red eyes and that she is an Elf, Hawke shuddered inwardly at the sight of the Elf and turned to the other people at her opposite.
The other warrior was clean-shaved with brown hair and armed with a strange slightly curved golden longsword and an odd-looking bronze circular shield, his armor is a plated armor with a red dragon symbol on his left pauldron and the letters "IV" on the dragons center and another one at his breastplate, however other than that this man is not too interesting, Looks like a military officer, hell, maybe even a general... Hawke inwardly chuckled to herself, and looked at the last member of the group.
The last member of the group is a woman clad in an armored robe, and are armed with a staff with a skull on top of it and worms that seems to wrap around the staff and a sword that seems to be engraved with numerous runes, although this woman was human sized and has human features, she has roughly elven-like ears, and is also obviously a mage, Another mage? And a half-elf to boot... As if i don't have enough problem already... Hawke groaned at the thought of trying to hide another Mage.
She then thought of the possibillity of fighting the four of them in enclosed space, Hawke dismissed the idea as she is outnumbered and facing an enemy with unknown powers , And in Merrill's house, hope they don't make too much of a mess...
Thinking over her options, it seems that the safest one might be in trying to make peace with them, as they seem to come out of the Eluvian, so instead of signalling her friends to attack she relaxed a little and pull up her free hand.
"Alright, stand down everyone, we don't know who were facing, now, where are my manners, i am Lyna Hawke, a Noble in this fine city." She said with a bow and a grin, Hawke inwardly chuckled at the frown of the leading warrior and the smile of both the Mage and Rogue.
"And i am Varric Tethras, storyteller and tradesman at your service." The Dwarf said, Hawke raised her eyebrows at the word 'Tradesman' but Varric only winked at her.
Merrill was still shaking and couldn't form a coherent reply, so after a reassuring pat on her shoulder Hawke decided she should speak for her.
"And this is Merrill, the owner of this house, and one of my companion, which as you see, is rather scared of your... Sudden appearance in her house, so if you first start with your names, then how in the bloody fade did you get here." Hawke said with a rather subtle but sharp tone.
The leading warrior sighed and clapped his hand on his breastplate before introducing himself.
"I am Aerik Snowcrown, Dragonborn, and the Harbinger of both The Companions and The Empire of Tamriel."
This 'Dragonborn' then waved his hand toward his other Allies and introduce them all, Endrani Rethan, the dark-skinned elf, who's supposed to be the leader of a Guild of Thieves.
He then pointed to the military-looking figure and introduced him as, Legate Aurelius Valeris of the 4th Imperial Legion, he then turned towards the last member of the group who huffed at him.
"And I am introduced last, as usual Aerik, saving the best for the last..."
This woman turns out to be Aria Vandau, an 'Archmage' of 'Winterhold', she seems to be a bit sarcastic, mostly by her tone of speech, and Hawke sees that she would make a great conversation partner for the rest of the Mages.
And a field day for me to keep away from the Templars... As i already have enough problem with me also being a mage..." Hawke thought inwardly, however this Aerik fellow then coughed up and began speaking.
"Ehmm... Sorry for the damage miss... We will gladly pay for the damage... is 500 Septims sufficient?" he said as he grabbed a coinpurse full of Gold Coins, This earned a gasp from both Hawke and Merrill, who never even seen this many money in one place, even Varric looked quite impressed.
"Uhh... Why are you looking at me like that?, Septims are still acceptable currency in Valenwood right?" He said with a nervous chuckle, he cast an extremely worried look at the Mage, who nodded grimly.
"We are in Valenwood... Right?"
Hawke immediately woke from her stupor and replied to Aerik.
"No, were in Kirkwall."
This earned her odd looks from every member of the strange group.
"The Free Marches... No?... Thedas then?"
Still a no, where did they came from?, and how did they came through Merrill's mirror?
That was a question for later though as Aerik suddenly felt tired, very tired, and he began to stroke his hair.
"Is there someplace we can sit down?, this is going to be a very long talk..." he said with a tired sigh.
Merril immediately moved towards the chairs, Hawke, feeling protective about her, moved with her with the guise of helping her prepare the chairs, they outnumber her of course, so she did not do anything that might provoke them.
"Should i get you some drinks then?, you must be very thirsty moving about worlds and like that..." Merrill muttered.
"No, thank you, but if you insist..." Aerik slumped down on one of the chair, the rogue, Endrani moved to the chair's armrest and held his hand before muttering something to his ear.
The Mage, Aria leaned on the wall and then sagged down to a sitting position on the floor, she then picked up a flask from her bag and began drinking from it.
Aurelius sat down on one of the chairs, before leaning back and silently ponders his thoughts.
Hawke sat down on the remaining chair while Merrill looked from behind her, much less scared from her first meeting by the new arrivals, she then brought a jug of water and some cups before sitting down on the last remaining chair, Varric pulled up another chair and joined them on the table.
"So, ehmmm... As i was saying..." Hawke began "Where did you came from? You do not look like any one from Thedas..."
Aerik sighed and drank from a filled cup, before looking at it intently and drewing a sharp breath.
"We came from Tamriel, the main continent of the world of Nirn, you see... We are Heroes there, Saviors of Tamriel during the wake of the World-Eater, and Heroes during the Second Great War, anyway we were delving down the barrow of Larvanjund when we encountered strange ruins within..."
"Ruins that wasn't even found in a Tower dating back from the Mythic Age..." muttered the mage half-drunkenly.
Aerik nodded and continued "Yes, not even that... And then we encountered a magical mirror, not unlike your fine specimen in the bedroom." Merrill leaned in forward after the revelation about another Eluvian was shed.
"Anyway, we encountered a powerful Lich within the ruins, after we accidentally activated a switch within the chambers, the mirror was flooded with magical energies, those energies eventually exploded and then here we are." He finished with a wave of his hand.
Hawke can hardly believe his tale, travelers from another dimensions, an Eluvian in a ruins on their world?, she was also curious about their claims that they are Heroes, whilst the exploit of the Amell family was well-known, with Hawke's cousin, Celyna Amell, being the Hero of Ferelden, and with her already making a name for herself in Kirkwall, she even knows that the Qunari are taking notice of her.
Nevertheless, while a rational part of her brain began to scream at her that this is impossible, she has a nagging feeling on her mind that they are not from Thedas, the leader also happen to have a coinpurse filled with more than 500 gold coins, enough to buy a house and some servants, even nobles rarely carry that much coin on their body.
Hawke then took a sharp breath, trying to understand everything they were just saying, and began to speak
"So, you people came from another world?, that I can say is very strange but i still can't wrap this over my head, you're all champions?, you came from another world? An-" however before Hawke can finish Aerik held up his hand and began to speak.
"Yes, there we're known as the Heroes of Skyrim, I know our world can be very fascinating, but we are all very tired, can you find us a place to, you know, stay?, we can pay you." He said with a tired tone.
Hawke nodded and began to think, where can we put this people without attracting the attentions of the Templars... She sighed before leaning in on the table and tapped the table with her fingers.
"Well i don't really know any place that we can put you-" Hawke didn't finished her speech as Varric interuppted her.
"How about your mansion's basement Hawke?, you don't really use it anymore." Varric said, Hawke began to think over this, well it is true that the basement of her house aren't used, well it is a good idea, let's see what they think.
"Well... Good idea Varric." Hawke then turned towards Aerik, "Well what do you think?"
Aerik was silent for a moment before finally answering, "Well, as long as it keeps us dry and comfortable, we'll take it." He said with a sigh.
Aerik then turned to the others and said "Well, what do you guys think?"
"As we have no other alternatives I say let's go along with it." Aurelius said.
"Well, i don't have any objections to it." Endrani smirked
Aria was silent for a moment, probably choosing her words carefully as she, as far as Hawke could tell, was quite drunk.
"I'll go along with it, but I'll warn you, some of my experiments can be a little... messy." She finally said.
Hawke raised her eyebrow at the word 'experiments' but she quickly decided to put it aside for the time being.
After thinking about it for some time Hawke smiled and went toward the door, motioning for Aerik to follow and then with a grin and an exaggerated bow she said.
"Aerik Snowcrown and the Heroes of Skyrim, Welcome to Kirkwall."
Codex Entries:
Emperor Faustin I: Once the Imperial Battlemage to Titus Mede II, Marius Faustin became Regent of the Empire after the assassination of the Emperor by the hand of Stefan Malloy, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood and one of the Heroes of Skyrim, after the Civil War and the Dragon Crisis was finished Faustin secretly contacted the Heroes of Skyrim and General Tullius about his plan to fight the Thalmor, Faustin also reveals that he is already in contact with several leaders of the Redguards at Hammerfell.
After this he manages to orchestrate a series of event which leads to the event known as the Cyrodiil Uprising, in which the Imperial Legion, supported by Militia troops manages to drive the Thalmor out of Cyrodiil, he then began to plan a series of campaign to drive the Thalmor away from Imperial territory, with the help of the Heroes of Skyrim and the new Blades he succeeded and became very popular among the Imperial populace.
After the Battle of Alinor in which the last of the Thalmor were eliminated he asked Aerik Snowcrown to became Emperor, he was surprised when Aerik denied the role and instead asked to became Harbinger instead, guiding the Empire instead of ruling it directly and left the choosing of Emperor to the Elder Council as according to him the over-reliance of the Empire to the Septim dynasty was the cause of their downfall, after a lengthy debate and several surveys to the people of the Empire, it was decided that Faustin was to be crowned Emperor, and thus began the ruling of Emperor Faustin I.
The Mages Guild: After the conclusion of the Second Great War the Synod and the College of Whispers were reformed by order of the Emperor, initially the reform was chaotic, bloody even, until Aria Vandau and a number of selected senior mages was appointed to reform the Guild as clean as possible, this group are known as the Council of Reform, the reform took several months to complete but the result was incredible as many mages began to flock once again to the Guild.
The reforms also changes many of the old rules of the Guild, for instance a new apprentice do not require the recommendation of every guild hall in their province, now they only have to register and pass a test to enter, another reform is the changes brought to the controversial rules regarding Necromancy, now necromancers are allowed in the Guild but to work with bodies and souls outside the guild halls they must first receive a license.
The mages also appointed a new body of leadership within the Guild, the new Archmage, Dravia Melnik, was chosen by the Council of Reform and the remaining Master Wizards, the new Archmage proved quite popular and the Guild once again became the place of knowledge it once was.
Dragons: After the event of the Dragon Crisis many people wished to kill the remaining Dragons, unfortunately the Second Great War happened, during the war Paarthurnax was asked by Aerik to help the win the fight against the Thalmor, after talking to his brethren's Paarthurnax agreed with the condition that the world would leave them in peace, Aerik agreed and soon the Dragons were assisting the Imperial forces at the frontline.
After the war was finished the Dragons returned to the Throat of the World, and because they have distinguished themselves during the war no one dared to approached them, occasionally someone came to the Greybeards, usually to visit them or rarely, join them, the Greybeards number grow ever so slightly, and eventually High Hrothgar became a place for people seeking peace from the world.
As for the Dragons, most of them stayed at the Throat of the World, at times they were summoned by Dragon Knights, an order of warrior dedicated for the protection of the Dragons and the Empire, but usually the Dragons just meditate, guided by Paarthurnax the Dragons became peaceful and no longer they seek to conquer the world.
Author's Note: Well then, that's the first chapter of my fanfic, I hope I do alright, as always please leave reviews, as it will help me a whole lot, also as a side note, can anyone help me beta this?, as this chapter was beta read by my cousin who may not be available at all time, anyway that's all, rate, review, and share with your friends!, Spirally out!.