Askew in a world of warcraft.
Disclaimer: Warcraft series owned by Blizzard Entertainment. Elder scrolls series owned by Bethesda.
An Orc, the Dragonborn from Skyrim is taken out of retirement inadvertently and onto Azeroth... There's just one catch, his children are with him. If you want action, a little bit of humour, and Orc on Orc violence, you may just like this story.
Prologue:
If you are looking for a tale of bold adventure, of blind optimism… then this is not a story that you may enjoy. The tales about my making, or taking, or rather the seizing of gold by the bundle-load… now that is true, all true.
In truth, my life story is a long and bitter story of abandonment and killing. I grew to enjoy the killing to an extent, hated my abandonment though, now that hurt.
Fighting for my life each and every day gave me a rush, a thrill. It was surreal, now that i look back at it. Killing men was my freedom from my confinement, my prison, a small orphanage just inside of Riften. It started with me running away at age ten or thereabouts, and ended with me joining a bandit group. I won't go into details, there are things that i will keep with me to my grave, the stuff that i will never talk about, the stuff that scarred me, that taught me to always be careful.
Helgen, what a story. I don't know how i ended up in a cart, but i was headed for the headsman's block, which is fitting in a way, given my past. I do not regret what i did, i don't look back on the old days, it was the things i did to survive, even if it involved ruthless killing. You did anything to survive, you did anything you could do to watch your crew's backs, at least until the treasure was in sight and you killed them to stop them from killing you and taking your share of the loot. Banditry, for everything wrong about it, it is great at teaching men important life-lessons, many of them that i keep with me today… especially about putting your guard down, never do it!
Dragonborn… i am dragonborn, i still feel the same way when people tell it to me, i still feel the disbelief myself at that inadvertent fact. As much as i dislike believing in all that prophesy nonsense, i feel as though i was led to this point, led to save Tamriel from Alduin and the dragon menace. I hate prophesies, the fact that people are unwittingly led to a point by the great god's in the aetherius, it feels like slavery, i do not like slavery. I bat my eye at slavery, i have heard about the Dunmer and their slaving way's, but that does not mean that i necessarily like it, much like how our kind was enslaved to following Malacath, otherwise something would happen to the strongholds, i piss on that assertion more than half the time. People make their own fate, that is my opinion, prophesy only truly works on the upper one percent usually composed of rich bastards and emperor's. Me, i guess i lucked out on the grand scale of things.
Speaking of the grand scale of things, i killed Ulfric. The guy had my respect, but i knew he was a warmonger sapping the strength of the empire, so he had to go. You could also list down Alduin and Miraak. During the whole thing i never viewed myself as a hero, i was simply doing what i generally did, killing my enemies and earning gold, raising a crew, the whole gambit of running an efficient and fully functional crew of professionals, misfits and ruffians. I led a charmed life, what can i say.
The end… well the story simply ended with retirement. This retirement consisted of my manor up near pinewatch-way. If you thought it was me and my comely wife making sweet love the whole time, think again. The wife is hypothetical and my hands are tied up in housework.
No, my retirement consisted of me and my family, all going stir-crazy. Listening to mopey girls cry over missing dolls, feeding mudcrab pets, stopping fisticuffs down the cellar and blocking errant wooden sword swings, that's what my day's consisted of. It was fun, i loved my children, my family. Blaise, Lucia, Sofie and Alesan are their names. We are divided in some aspects, yet we are all alike in the fact that we were all orphaned, but one thing is true, i love them all, and i would die for them.
And now that everything has been said, let me tell you about how it all began.
Chapter 1: Askew in a world of warcraft.
Tap tap tap, the sound of footsteps rippled through the wooden flooring, disturbing Yagadash's rest.
Yagadash heard the quiet opening, or rather the creaking of a door, his door.
"Blaise?…"
"Dad… there's a dragon out there."
If Yagadash could swear, he would have, but he restrained himself in front of his children. "By the nine. Get the others in here, let me handle this."
Yagadash had not yet grown accustomed to the hallmarks of his earlier life, mainly getting combat ready on short notice.
Yagadash rushed up the stairs, quickly fitting on his padded garments before prying off bits of his daedric armour from his main mannequin and affixing them to his frame. For armour to be well fitted, it required plenty of time and tight fitting laces, Yagadash had no time, and he rushed the lacing, thus his armour was not very well fitted. Yagadash finished up by donning his helmet and grasping his Daedric longsword from its pedestal as well as his ebony dagger. Yagadash rushed to the other side of the room and smashed his fist through a pane of glass, pulling out a steel crossbow from the display case. Yagadash pulled out the box of bolts hanging from a wooden peg, strapping the box on his back with practiced hands.
If there was one thing that sucked, it was getting kicked out of retirement on such a short notice.
"Dad, please don't go out there."
It tore Yagadash apart, listening to Sofie.
"I won't have to… If that dragon doesn't leave us, he is going to get a bolt in the head from out that windowsill." Yagadash pointed to the top window on the house.
Alesan piped up in that strong-boy-like fashion of his. "Awesome dad, can i see it?"
"Do whatever you want, but if you come rushing up to me in the middle of the night because you get nightmares from this, don't say i didn't warn you."
Many people might question Yagadash's parenting skills, but the way he saw it Yagadash was teaching his children to be free to make their own decisions, with some careful attention on Yagadash's part.
Yagadash quickly drew the crow-foot back on his crossbow, the levering action forcing the tiller back and the steel line to go taut. Yagadash slotted his steel bolt home on the crossbow.
Yagadash craned his neck to the side, peeking out through the top window down to the earth and the tree's in the distance.
He didn't see a dragon, but he did see a puddle of blood… at least that was what Yagadash saw for the first four seconds before a giant dragon with black scales showed up.
Yagadash heard something, but it wasn't in the dragon language.
"Murozond!"
Yagadash felt nothing, but he saw something akin to the shimmering portal of Hermaeus Mora both surrounding and encompassing the entirety of lakeview manor into the portal, which then vanished in a flash of white. Lakeview manor wasn't in Pinewatch anymore, that was for sure, but it was in some forested area with tree's all about. Foliage covered the place, making it hard to see out of the window.
Felerias Evenforest had had enough of false rumours and reports… there was apparently a surge of magical energies that emanated throughout the region she had just reached, near the eastern end of Ashenvale, but it had dissipated away just as quickly. Felerias wasn't confident that the druid would be able to pick up the trail anymore, but she kept him around regardless. Her two sentinels and druid were armed with their respective weapons and armours, with the Sentinel's in leather armour with stout bow's and handy glaives and the druid in a scratchy, worn robe that was burnet in colour and a large wooden staff formed from a root of a well-aged tree.
Felerias's sabercat, Felix, stalked through the land before stopping suddenly for no apparent reason.
"What is it boy, did you spot something?"
Felix bowed his head up and down, a quick yes.
Felerias dismounted, and her squad dismounted with her. Felerias and her squad continued on foot for several minutes, cutting through vines and thick branches that blocked their route through the land. The team stopped upon hearing the hoarse sound of the vile creatures that Night elves grew to hate, Orc's.
"You heard your orders, we are to find the source of this disturbance and bring back some news to the Warchief. No slacking!"
If what Felerias had heard was true, then the orc's were after the same thing she was after.
Felerias raised her hand up in the air, a quick command, essentially saying 'on my mark'. Felerias shifted her finger to the side before pointing out at individual targets, Orc's that her teammates were to pick out and target.
Felerias silently drew her longbow, and carefully drew it back to her cheek, nocking her arrow and aligning her flights. Within a single moment, she released, flinging the arrow forth, twirling amongst the air as it stabilised its flight for the first ten meters, now it was flying straight and true, into the exposed neck of an Orc.
His windpipe was partially severed by the broad-head tip, stopping him from raising alarm or crying out death cries that would alert the Orc's.
Shylindia and Nelanai, her sentinel teammates had also loosed their bow's. One struck an Orc through the forehead, killing him outright whilst one of the arrow's flew short, pinning against a tree instead of the target Orc. That Orc raised the alarm, shouting out to his compatriots, and now the balance had turned. The Orc's had the favour of having a numerical advantage, they had more men, about eleven, and they had the musculature and brawn to offer them protection against indirect arrow impacts and the heavy armour to back them up, being armed with maile and some with plated regions. Felerias and her team had the advantage of intrinsic knowledge of their homeland, as well as having the backs of teammates who knew guerrilla warfare and ambushing tactics like the backs of their hands.
The battle, or rather a series of small skirmishes drew on for many minutes, with the Night elves losing ground in each battle. The Orc's were emerging victorious in the match-up, but it was costing them drastically, they lest several men to repeated arrow barrages.
But, what really shocked Felerias was the arrival of a new being, a new entity. He forced his way between the Horde members and Felerias's team. Felerias saw the armour and rapidly assumed that the being before her was of Fel origin, but there was no fel energy surrounding him. No-one else in the whole of Azeroth would wear armour similar in composition.
"What in the plane of oblivion is going on here?"
The horde members, the Orcs simply charged, laughing at the new opponent. "Hahahahahaha!"
The entity, who donned armour as black as midnight raised their crossbow and loosed a bolt. The bolt flew through the air for a moment before embedding in the upper right shoulder of an Orc member, who was adorned in a maille coat with a leather pauldron on the left shoulder.
Yagadash grinned; those gargantuan Orsimer-likes looked like they wanted a challenge. So long as Yagadash could keep the Orsimer-likes from collaborating with each other or surrounding him, Yagadash knew that he could win.
Yagadash drew his daedric longsword and held the blade out in front, with the pommel gripped firmly in the palm of his left hand. Yagadash kicked his feet into the uneven ground, reinforcing his footwork and aiding his stance. He was now ready for an onrushing charger, ready to pounce, to parry, to grapple, to dodge, to evade, but most of all Yagadash was ready to kill.
The Orsimer-likes seemed to think that Yagadash was cowardly, but Yagadash didn't give a fuck about the opinions of foreigners, Yagadash lived well for a reason, he always relied on his martial training and experience to guide him through.
One of the Orsimer-likes charged through, seeking a challenge. He jumped with his sword held high to lunge and was instead skewered at the point of Yagadash's sword, momentum aiding the sword in penetrating further.
The attack did stagger Yagadash, the force of a seven foot tall, overly-muscled green man falling down directly onto your sword and onto you is a lot of force to counter, and thus Yagadash was forced backwards several paces and almost tumbled However, Yagadash was experienced with resisting dragon strikes, and thus quickly recovered.
Yagadash shouted to the Orsimer-likes, taunting them. "What kind of idiot leaps to combat?"
A new Orsimer-like showed up, taking the bait. He was armed with a large axe with a blade the size of Yagadash's head, not that it scared Yagadash that much since it looked to be an unbalanced and unwieldy weapon.
The Orsimer-like stood no less than five meters away waiting, encircling, hoping for a weakness to exploit. Yagadash changed stance just as his opponent began to rush forward, swinging his axe vertically, ready to strike. Yagadash knew what his opponent had intended to do, he could tell by positioning his axe above his opponents head and thus Yagadash made his first step, he quickly stepped back two steps and assumed a new stance with his sword held to his lower legs directly in front of him, a fool's guard.
Yagadash's opponent did exactly as Yagadash thought he would do, and now his axe was plunged deeply into the earth, and Yagadash was fine.
Yagadash rushed in and hastily stepped on top of the Orsimer-like's axe, hopefully stopping the large man from retrieving his weapon. Yagadash quickly grasped his weapon to the side of his face, where the metal of his crossguard cooled against Yagadash's cheek. Yagadash's left hand held the blade straight and true along the upper half of the blade.
Yagadash knew that his opponent was armoured, and so assumed to half-sword his daedric longsword and thrust into the Orsimer-like's exposed neck. The blade struck true and emerged about two fingers deep on the other side of the neck of his opponent, blood licking out of his neck in light downpours of red. Yagadash pulled the blade out, causing the large green man to bleed out in even deeper downpours of red. Then came several gurgling sounds that were released for a moment before the Orsimer-like fell down with a thud. Yagadash quickly thrust downwards into chest of the Orsimer-like, where the riveted chain-links with the aid of gravity were were pried open by force, and so gave way the flesh below the chain. Deep it struck through and opened up the stomach, and so was released a large volume of blood that pooled out onto the dirt and grass below.
Yagadash walked away from the corpse and assumed his previous stance before taunting back to the Orsimer-likes again.
"Do you know nothing of combat?!... Do not give away your intent, or you will end up getting fucked by your enemies sword."
This time, two Orsimer-likes charged up, ready to attack Yagadash from both sides, from his front and from his back. Yagadash readied his hand's and loosened his feet, ready to evade at any moment.
Orsimer-like one, the one at Yagadash's back charged at him, but Yagadash was not stupid and predicted this maneuver. Yagadash rushed out of the way.
Orsimer-like two charged in as Yagadash evaded, trying to bring him off balance. His opponent was successful and Yagadash was knocked down to the floor, but Yagadash still had his weapon in both of his hand's.
Orsimer-like two reached around and managed to swing his large axe downwards and with great force toward's Yagadash. Yagadash raised his sword longways, directly in front of the shaft of the axe to defend, but the strike had sufficient enough force to knock Yagadash's daedric longsword from his hand's and onto the ground, this left Yagadash's hands ringing with numbness and pain.
Yagadash, knowing that his longsword could not be reached, quickly drew out his ebony dagger from his hip and wanted to get into a grapple with Orsimer one, who had just returned to standing up after his attempt to knock Yagadash over from behind.
Yagadash grappled at his opponent's left leg with his dagger held in an ice-pick grip. Yagadash hooked into the back of the flesh with the dagger and eventually caused tendons to be split on his opponent, whilst simultaneously, Yagadash's left hand had forced into his opponent's chest. Orsimer one fell down to the ground.
Orsimer two could not do anything to help without causing damage to his ally, and so he stood aside.
Yagadash leaped on top of Orsimer-one, expecting to have an easy time of stabbing him to bits, but Yagadash was wrong.
Orsimer one fell down with his axe, and he pushed the shaft into Yagadash's chest to keep him from raining down thrusts with Yagadash's dagger.
Yagadash knew that while the Orsimer continued to use his shaft to keep him at bay, he also knew that his opponent could not use his axe effectively, and so Yagadash turned that to his advantage through which he was going to seize the moment.
Yagadash kneed his opponent in the testicles, and with the shaft now lowered momentarily as his opponent cried out in pain, Yagadash ice-picked his dagger downwards, cutting through flesh, and Yagadash smiled.
Yagadash's smile was short-lived, for while he had succesfully delivered a strike to his opponent, he was caught offguard by a kick to his right leg. Yagadash felt the kicking impacts, and due to Yagadash's terrible lacing, Yagadash's daedric greave on his right leg fell off.
Now that Orsimer one's shaft had lowered slightly after being attacked in the testicle, he found that he could not raise the shaft again becouse all of Yagadash's weight had settled downwards onto the shaft... He knew suddenly that despite his best efforts, that he was going to be killed.
Yagadash began to reign down blow after blow, and that was how Orsimer-like one was killed.
Yagadash had killed his ally, Orsimer-two charged in with his axe.
Yagadash was dazed as his helmet took the full impact of an axe strike. The inside padding helped to absorb some of the impact, but it didn't help stop the brain-jarring feeling of sickness that swept over Yagadash.
Yagadash quickly did a backwards roll, hoping to evade his enemy. However, Yagadash found that there was no need to do so, for Orsimer-like two had an arrow embedded in his head, and he fell to the earth dead.
Yagadash, who had managed to stand after his roll, fell to the ground again. He was still conscious, but he was concussed and feeling very sick, his vision beginning to blur and his breathing was beginning to slow. It became very hot and claustrophobic inside of his helmet, which did not improve how Yagadash was feeling.
More Orsimer-likes charged up to Yagadash, hoping to enact revenge.
Yagadash had to rely on his Thu'um, his voice, his shout in order to defeat his opponents, now that his main weapon had been flung away, and he was not in any condition to return to fighting off multiple opponents at once.
"Yol-Toor-Shul."
A wreathing expanse of roaring flames engulfed the stream of gas that emerged from Yagadash's mouth, quickly killing all the Orsimer-likes in a single gout of flaming breath. For a long distance, there were smoldering flames that ignited nearby regions of forest.
Yagadash quickly tried to regain his bearings, but he was still disorientated, and he could not get up himself.
It was not a moment too soon when he felt a hand on his back. Yagadash turned around and saw Blaise's concerned face. "Dad… dad!"
Yagadash quickly put a finger over to his helmet just above where his mouth would be before expelling one sound, the universal sound for quietness…
"Ssssssshhhhhhhh… my head is killing me."
Not a moment later, Lucia, Sofie and Alesan rushed out from their hiding places, assisting Yagadash as he tried to get up.
Yagadash heard something in the near distance, rustling through the leaves.
Yagadash quickly turned his head, searching, scanning the horizon for any clues as to the sound, but stopped when the rustling halted.
"Dad… we have wood elves over here… not little ones, big ones, with big ears."
Yagadash quickly kicked over one of the bodies of the Orsimer-likes and lifted his daedric longsword from beneath the chaotic body pile… he was too late, he was now face to face with three sets of bow's and someone armed with a stick, all pointed towards his face.
Yagadash quickly dashed to the side so that he was facing directly in front of his children, his body protecting their short profiles. Yagadash would not be able to rely on his shout for a second time, as he was still recovering from his shout.
"Take a step closer and lose your heads!"
Now that Yagadash had the time to observe his opponents, he saw that they were like a mixture of Bosmer with Dunmer. Bosmer in the fact that they wielded large bows and were proficient at fighting in forested regions, but Dunmer in the fact that their skin colour was dark blue, almost black. Their eyes of the womenfolk were of a stunning blue, though the man had amber eye's that were almost brown.
Yagadash saw their bows lower, but Yagadash still held his sword in his stance, alarmed and cautious.
"Who are you?"
Yagadash saw as the tall, central woman spoke. She was a beauty, from what he could see, and completely unadorned of any imperfections upon her face, except for a small cut on the side of her right cheek. Yagadash could also see that the party was sporting some bruises and a series of small cut's that would need medical attention at some point in the future.
"Who are you?" Yagadash returned, his voice was firm and calm.
The woman seemed to have realized that Yagadash was not going to respond until she offered up her own name first.
"I am Felerias Evenforest, these two sentinels beside me are Shylindia and Nelanai, and the male is Ydraeth."
Yagadash sighed, but never loosened the grip on his sword.
"I am Yagadash Gro'Nolooth. My sons are Blaise and Alesan and my daughters are Sofie and Lucia."
"Yagadash does not sound human, what are you?"
Yagadash blurted out impetuously "Orsimer."
The woman, Felerias, seemed to have a puzzled expression on her face.
"Orsimer, What is an Orsimer?, i have not heard of them."
Yagadash exclaimed in rapid pace. "Have not heard of an Orsimer… what about those over th…". Yagadash halted his statement for a moment, then returned to speaking. "Look, never mind. One second."
Yagadash quickly undid the latches sealing his helmet shut, before prying his daedric helmet from his face. Yagadash revealed his blooded nose and lip's, his short tusks, his brown eyes and his short-cut hair, his braided beard and his sharp, mer ears. The moment the Bosmer-Dunmer's saw his face, they drew their bow's and the man readied his staff.
Yagadash saw the movement and readied his sword and stance ready to charge if he needed to.
The elves shouted in seeming unison "Orc, he's an Orc!"
Yagadash shouted at the elves with barely held-back anger. "What in the nine divines is this for, you… you… you…." Yagadash restrained himself from swearing at the last moment and turned it into something lacking in vulgar words or expressions. "You... pointy eared prancies"
Alesan's laughing at Yagadash's shouted sentence was the catalyst which stopped the Bosmer-Dunmer's from attacking. They lowered their bows, and Yagadash lowered his sword.
Yagadash took the opportunity to strike up something.
"You are injured, i am injured… if we are going to kill each other, we might as well do it when we are all healed up. My place, my home, it has a warm hearth and herbs for healing, and good ale too."
Felerias nodded her head, she had agreed to his offer of hospitality, but only barely, and if not for her companions, she would not have taken the Orcs offer of aid.
Yagadash grinned, if only the Bosmer-Dunmer's knew what was in store for them. Dealing with an Orc dragonborn and his family of children is hard on anyone.
"Well then, Bosmer-Dunmer's, follow me to my humble abode."
Felerias followed in behind the Orc, who was apparently called Yagadash Gro'Nolooth, but to be honest she knew he was lying. The naming was wrong for an Orc, there was no bloodhowl, no goreaxe, no exaggerated name on how he earned his last name as was common in Orc names, even the name of Yagadash did not sound that Orcish.
Ydraeth hastily sneaked up behind Felerias and whispered into her ear's.
"Why did he call us Bosmer-Dunmer's?"
Yagadash stopped, and spoke behind his back.
"Bosmer-Dunmer, because you act like Bosmer's and look like Dunmer's… actually, let me sum it up like this. Where i am from, there are these prancy elves called Bosmer, who like forest's and use bows, then there are Dunmer, who look as dark as you are, who like to burn stuff with destruction magic. That's pretty much it, Bosmer-Dunmer's you are, and so i call you such."
Felerias sighed, before correcting him. "We are Nightelves, and i hardly believe in this bogus about Dunmer and Bosmer, as you called them. I have never heard of them."
"Well miss, i have not heard of nightelves, and you may as well be from Atmora."
Yagadash restarted his brisk pace, remembering the way that he had emerged from. Before long, he was at the sight of his manor, Lakeview manor. The stable was still there, and Yagadash was happy for that, though there was no horse that Yagadash had used during the time the portal descended, so he had no mount to ride upon.
To the surprise of Felerias and her group upon seeing Yagadash's house, they had to admit that the house was large and well crafted. Intimate wooden carvings adorned the door frames, and figures of wolves and warriors doing great battle against one another was the main motif common in the design.
"So, how did this get here… it doesn't look to be made from the same wood as our forest?"
Yagadash sighed, before raising his voice. "A portal, probably Daedric in origin… and a dragon, who said something that sounded like Murazond, Morazund… something like that."
Felerias had sworn she had heard that name before, but couldn't remember why or where it was from.
This time, Yagadash spoke, as well as gesticulating with his hands. "My home, Lakeview manor, built entirely by my hands, and carved by my hands."
Yagadash continued onwards, before opening the door for the new guests.
Felerias and her team stepped inside, where they were welcomed to a rather cozy environment. Fine rugs and tapestries lined the entryway. Wolf trophies lined both sides and glass display pieces showed off artifacts and small weapon's. There was a weapon rack on one side that held a collection of assorted weapons.
Yagadash walked into the main hall, gesturing for the nightelves to continue onwards. "Come, come."
Felerias entered through the door and saw just how expansive and well-furnished the hallway was. She could tell that everything was new, the smell of freshly hewn timber, the clean flooring, the fresh rugs that were not stained, all indicators of a new homestead. There was a large deer head trophy hanging up from an unlit stone fireplace.
"You built all this?" Felerias said, not believing Yagadash's words.
Yagadash sighed. "I did. Plenty of work, a lot of learning, many mistakes, but i guess i managed it off, as you can see. Sit here whilst i go find some bandage material."
Yagadash walked off, before finding some fresh tablecloths. He gathered them up, checking each one to ensure that they were clean.
Yagadash placed the tablecloths in a box and set them on the floor near Felerias. Yagadash then grabbed a metal pot and set it near the fireplace, to boil it and some herbs together to aid in healing.
Yagadash retrieved his flint and steel, and was ready to strike it to produce sparks that would light the dried straw and kindling in the fireplace.
"Here."
Felerias set a flash of fire from her hands tumbling into the fireplace, igniting the kindling in a quick burst of flame.
"Hnnng." Yagadash grunted in reply, it was his way of thanking others without speaking.
Yagadash took one of the fresh tablecloth's and began to wipe away at the dried blood that caked his nose.
"Nnnngggg." It hurt pulling bloodflakes away from his nose, especially when he pulled a few stray nose hairs out. Fresh blood began to pour out, and Yagadash wiped it off with his piece of tablecloth.
"AGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"
Yagadash quickly grabbed his daedric longsword and stood upright, but lowered his blade downwards when he saw the commotion.
It seemed as though one of the Nightelves had just met Nipper, Blaise's pet mudcrab… Yagadash grinned.
"Bad nipper, down… go on, shoo!" Blaise shouted to the mudcrab.
Yagadash turned to face Felerias, his playful grin dominating his facial features. "So, this is my household... chaotic, fun."
Edited on 14/12/2015.
Changes made: Reworded sections of the action scenes to make them easier to read and understand. Slight rewording on other sections to create a better reading experience.
