Trials 3- Old Friends, New Acquaintances (Liesl - Batul)
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I stretched out my limbs as we walked towards Riverwood. While Lokir glancing nervously around every couple of seconds, Hadvar and Ralof glaring at each other, and Deerkaza walking behind us in her eerily quiet way. The other Stormcloaks had gone home after we escaped the Keep, and now what's left of our group is heading to Riverwood to tend to business. I felt Deerkaza walk up to me, and without even a sign a new person joined our small party. I turned and saw a black Mohawk Bosmer following behind us in imperial light armor. For some reason I felt some sort of... Companionship with her. Like she was similar to me. Which, knowing my family's view on having sex with members of different races, wasn't to far of a stretch.
Our party stopped moving when the others noticed the Bosmer. "Greetings sister Bosmer." I said, and she gave a little twirk of her lips. "Basth, Basth Dorn'ke Greenwood." She introduced her self, and I smiled, "Sarvani, Liesl Sarvani. Also known as Liesl the Honorblade." I introduced, "This is Lokir of Rorikstead, Hadvar of the Imperials, Ralof of the Stormcloaks, and Fernik Gerivin." I introduced everyone, but using one of Deerkaza's aliases and not her usual name.
She bowed, "Pleasure to meet you all." She gave me a smile that looked more like a show of teeth, "And this is where we part ways." She said as she looked past my head. I turned to look and felt her disappear, I stared down three bandit highwaymen with an internal sigh. "You've got to be joking." I grumbled, as everyone took up their arms and four more bandits decided to join the party.
Deerkaza turned to me with a cold smile on her face, "See what I meant by I kill more people siding with you than siding against you?" She said, and the smile turned into a grin as she disappeared from sight and the battle began.
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I let out a swear that could make a sailor blush as Ralof tended to my wounds from the battle. During the climax of the battle, and archer had gotten his lucky shot when my barrier went down, and now we were trying to remove it without it taking my internal body parts with it. I winced at the thought as Hadvar cut of the arrowhead, and Ralof slowly began to work the arrow out.
I let loose another swear as I saw the Orc woman from before glide out of the bandit's hideout in full iron armor. "Well hello there." I said, and she smiled at me. "My apologies for allowing them to slip past me. I was unaware that their was another else moving from Helgen at this time." She said in her pleasantly deep voice. I nodded, "We all make that mistake at least once." I said understandingly. She smiled, giving me the full force of those very intelligent, but happy ice blue eyes not unlike my own. "I am Batul Agli Nagorm, and you are...?" She introduced herself,
I smiled, "Liesl Sarvani The Honorblade. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." I replied, and she smiled, "Likewise, Liesl." She then looked at the rest of the party with somber eyes.
"This is my fault. If I had been paying attention they wouldn't have slipped past me. In order to repay this debt, I shall travel with you for a while." Batul stated, and something in that hard gaze of hers told me there wasn't anyway to convince her otherwise.
I shared a look with Deerkaza, and she simply just shrugged. "Okay, you can come with." I looked over at the tree line, "But we'd better start moving our asses if we hope to get there before nightfall." I said, and the rest of our party, along with Batul, continued on to Riverwood.
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I stayed quiet as we entered the through the gates of Riverwood. It was evening time, and the city was closing up for the night. I saw an argonian male donning mage wear. I looked at Liesl, "Hey, go on ahead, I'll catch up with you." She looked at me with her eyebrow raised, "Okay." She said, and her and the group moved on ahead.
I moved over to the argonian, who was kneeling by the river and washing his face with the water. I knelt down besides him, "Are you alright?" I asked, and he looked up with his blue eyes looking up at me in shock. He shook his head, "Yes, I am." He said, well-spoken with barely any lisp.
"You came from Helgen?" I asked, noting the burn marks on his clothes, and he nodded. "Yes, I was doing research when I stumbled onto the ambush. I guess the Stormcloaks wanted to take as many innocent people down with them as possible." He remarked with a shrug, before standing at his full height. Which put him at eye level with me.
I raised an eyebrow, "Tall one, aren't you?" I said, taking a step back. He smirked, "Maybe your just a short Orc?" He asked, and I rolled my eyes. "You wish." I replied, and he just laughed. I laughed with him, before somberly looking back at the house where my group was. "Would you like to join us? We could use a mage..." I trailed off, looking up into his dark blue eyes. He looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding.
"Sounds good for right now. I highly doubt I can go back to the Mages guild with my research in this state. Traveling with a band of warriors should give me the ability to find all I need to know." He said, rubbing the back of his neck with an almost sheepish look in his eyes.
I grinned, "Sounds like a plan! Lets go find the others!" I exclaimed, and we took off back towards the house.
XXXXXXLieslXXXXXX
We had just finished our conversation with Alvor, Hadvar's uncle when Batul came through the door -knocking first, of course- with a argonian mage on her heels.
I raised an eyebrow, "Make a friend there, Batul?" I asked, and color rose in her face. "Yes. I'm Idolan Lancaster of the Mages Guild, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Liesl Sarvani." Idolan said, with a slight bow. I sighed, "Let me guess, my grandmother talks non-stop about me." I said wryly.
He just smiled, "Archmagister Xiomara speaks very fondly of you, Liesl." He said, and I rolled my eyes, "Of course she did. Hopefully not to fondly." I said, and finally smiled. "So, Idolan, what brings you to Skyrim?" I asked, leaning back in my seat.
"I'm here doing research." He stated simply, and I rolled my eyes, "Oh so your from 'that' part of the mage's guild." I asked, and everyone gave me a look, "Idolan over here is a necromancer." I clarified, and he just gave me that blank smile. "I wouldn't think you'd have a problem with it." He said, and I shrugged, "I don't. I'm just not a fan of my 'allies' keeping secrets from me." I clarified, and the blank look left his face. "Then I am sorry for the word games, Liesl. It won't happen again." He promised with a bow and I just nodded. "That's all I'm asking for." Then I looked around the room, "From everyone." I stated, and Lokir, Batul, Hadvar and Deerkaza all nodded silently.
It was quiet for a couple of moments, before I broke the silence, "So, whose coming with me to meet the Jarl?" I asked.
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In the end, everyone but Hadvar, Ralof and the Stormcloaks decided to go with me. We were halfway over the mountain when we saw a giant attacking a group of warriors. At once Batul was running down the rest of the mountain to join the fray. I rolled my eyes, "Let's go!" I yelled, and the rest of us followed her down, but much more carefully.
By the time the rest of us had gotten there, Batul was dealing the killing blow, and the others were talking with her.
"The only other time I've seen an Orc move like that was when there was a dragon, and that idiot was the only one running towards the damn dragon!" I said with a laugh. She flushed, and flipped me off.
"Damn Orc, it seems that whenever there is danger, your the one who runs towards it!" Deerkaza scolded, her purple eyes narrowed. She rolled her eyes, "If I don't, who will?" Batul defended herself. One of the warriors walked up towards her, "Apparently you will. You handle yourself well. You could make for a decent Shield-Sister." She stated, Her hair almost the same color as mine, only darker. She then turned to the rest of us, "A Rogue, Mage and an Assassin. Tch." She said disapprovingly.
It looked like Batul was about to speak up, but I just shook my head. "So says the sellsword." I replied, she looked like she was just about to object, but I cut her off. "Being an Honorable sellsword, is still being a sellsword. So please save it for the Nords." I said with a bored tone.
I saw the big ox of a man move behind the woman, I took a step back with my hands raised.
"Look here, Giant. Your friend meant to insult me, I just called her on her shit. If she doesn't like it, she shouldn't dish it!" I defended myself, and he just stared before shaking his head. "You talk to fast, little Nord." He grumbled, and I just shook my head. "Liesl. My name is Liesl." I said, and he just smiled, "Farkas." He replied.
"Batul." Batul said, cleaning the giant blood off of her greatsword.
"Aela the Huntress." The red-headed Nord said, with a glare at Farkas.
"Deerkaza." She introduced, looking bored.
"Ria." The other Companion introduced, with that look of a new warrior twinkling in her eye.
"Idolan." He introduced with a smile.
"Lokir." Lokir introduced, with a tired smile.
"Quite a group you have here. Makes a Companion wonder what your up too." Farkas observed with semi-seriousness. I shrugged, "We're delivering a message." I replied, and he nodded.
"Fair the well, Companions." I replied as both of our groups went our separate ways.
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We stood in front of the huge doors letting into Dragonsreach, Whiterun's keep. It was late in the evening, and the only sounds coming from the city was the priest of Talos' loud voice preaching.
Our rooms had been rented, and once this was over we were going our separate ways for a bit.
A voice spoke behind us, "Fancy seeing you here." the voice belonging to the bosmer from before.
I turned, and saw her, now donning assassins wear. I raised an eyebrow, "Agreed. Basth, was it?" I asked, and she nodded. "I remember you, Liesl." She pointed out, "But I'm afraid I don't know your lovely companions." She stated.
I shrugged, "That is Batul, Deerkaza -whom you met last time-, Lokir -you met him as well-, and Idolan." I introduced them one by one. They nodded when I said their name.
She smiled, that blank smile and just nodded. I turned on my heels as the large doors opened up in front of us.
We all -including Basth- walked into the keep and up the steps. "Nords certainly like their heights, don't they?" Idolan said with bemusement, Shaking his head. I rolled my eyes, and moved towards the throne, only to have the tip of a sword at my throat, and an angry dunmer on the opposite end of the sword.
I went stiff and met her angry red gaze, "Well, hello to you too." I said in a perplexed voice. I then realized that I might have been to close to the throne. "State you business at this hour." She seethed. "Riverwood calls aid from Whiterun!" I barely managed to spit out. I heard the familiar sounds of blades slipping from their sheaths and the sounds of an electric spell crackling in the air.
"I would take a step back, friend." Idolan stated in a threateningly friendly tone. "Irileth, stand down and let me hear what they have to say." The Jarl said, ignoring his protesting Steward.
Irileth removed and sheathed her sword. I rubbed my throat and moved to stand in front of the Jarl as the others sheathed their weapons.
"So. You were at Helgen? You saw this dragon with your own eyes?" Jarl Balgruuf the Greater asked me and I nodded. "In fact, I believe all of us saw it." I replied, and Basth snorted, "Yes, a nice view from the Imperial execution block." She said snarkily. Balgruuf raised an eyebrow, "Really? You're certainly... forthright about your criminal past. But it's none of my concern who the Imperials want to execute. Especially now. What I want to know is what exactly happened at Helgen." He said, and Idolan replied "The Imperials were about to execute Ulfric Stormcloak. Then the dragon attacked." And Balgruuf groaned and placed his head in his hand.
"I should have guessed Ulfric would be mixed up in this." He said as he lifted his head up. I winced, "That's not all My Jarl, the dragon destroyed Helgen. And last I saw it was heading this way." I said, and he jumped up from his throne. "By Ysmir, Irileth was right!" He said, and moved to go somewhere, "That's not all, Alvor is afraid Riverwood is next." Lokir stated, and then the Jarl looked thoughtful, before turning to his Steward.
"What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?" He asked calmly, to which Irileth said "My lord, we should send troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger, if that dragon is lurking in the mountains...-" But was cut off by Proventus, "The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him." He stated in an alarmed voice.
Balgruuf didn't even spare him a glance, "Enough! Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once." He ordered in a calm voice. But Proventus wasn't having it so after Irileth said "Yes, my Jarl." Proventus replied in a weak voice "We should not..." And then Balgruuf snapped "I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my hold and slaughters my people!"
Proventus had the decency to look embarrassed, "If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my duties." He said. "That would be best." Balgruuf dismissed, and Proventus left the room.
Balgruuf sighed, "Well done you all. You all sought me out on your own initiative. You all have done Whiterun a service, and I won't forget it. Here, take these as small tokens of my esteem." And gave each one of us a ring with the Whiterun symbol on it. I smiled and everyone of us smiled.
"Thank you, my Jarl." I said, and he just nodded. Then looked thoughtful once more, "There is another thing you all could do for me. Suitable for a group of people of your particular talents, perhaps. Come, let's go find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and... rumors of dragons." He said, and moved over to the Wizard lab.
We all shared a look between each other and shrugged, and followed the Jarl.
"Farengar is probably puttering around in his lab. Day and night. I'm not sure he ever sleeps." Balgruuf remarks, as we are about to enter Farengar's lab. "I know the feeling." Idolan states, and Balgruuf looks behind me at Idolan, and just nods.
"Farengar, I think I've found a group of people who can help you with your dragon project. Go ahead and fill them in with all the details." Balgruuf states, then moves towards the door, but stops at the door, and turns back to look at our odd little group, "This is a priority now. Anything we can use to fight this dragon, or dragons. We need it, quickly. Before it's too late." He says, and Farengar replies "Of course, Jarl Balgruuf. You seem to have found me an able group of assistants. I'm sure they will prove most useful."
Balgruuf just nods, before looking at each one of us, "Succeed at this, and you all will be rewarded. Whiterun will be in your debt." He said, before leaving the room, and leaving the room in hushed silence.
I turned to Farengar and broke the silence "So, do we have time to gather supplies before we go up into the ruin?" I asked honestly, and he just raised an eyebrow. "You have at most two weeks to bring me that tablet. Do with the time what you will." He said dismissively, probably noting our lack of preparedness. I just nodded, before our group left.
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We were all sitting around a table in the Bannered Mare after the meeting with the Jarl. Everyone had ordered their drinks and were just sitting there, deep in thought of the mission ahead of us.
I was drinking Argonian ale -much to the amusement of Idolan and Deerkaza-,
Lokir was drinking mead,
Deerkaza was drinking Alto wine,
Idolan was drinking Argonian ale as well,
Basth was drinking brandy,
and Batul was drinking ale.
I poured another goblet of ale, and looked at each of my group. We had the biggest table in the inn, with the map of the outside of bleakfalls in the middle of the table, surrounded by half-empty bottles of alcohol and half-eaten plates of food, mainly fruit, cheeses and bread. I leaned back and yawned.
"So, in one week's time we'll meet at the tower outside of bleakfalls barrow." I said, pointing to the tower, everyone nodded. "And we either have to make camp in this tower, or in the first chamber, because Farengar didn't give us anything to tell us how big the place is." Idolan remarked, gesturing to the short pile of books on, about or setted in bleakfalls barrow. He was right, nothing told them how big it was, how dangerous it was, or if there even was this damn tablet.
"Which is why we are leaving an extra week free. If it isn't as big as we think it is, then we get in, get out and give the tablet to Farengar. If it is half as big as we assume it is, then we'll need place's to sleep." Deerkaza remarked, and then the question was raised.
"Who else do we bring? I mean, this could be a very dangerous endeavor. Is our party large enough or...?" I left the thought open.
Deerkaza got a look in her eye, "I will not be able to help you in this endeavor. I must return to Morrowind. Your cousin sent me ahead when he heard that you had been arrested to get you free. I am leaving tonight." She explained, and I nodded. "I was wondering about that." I told her.
She just smiled. Idolan shrugged, "I know no one here in Skyrim, -besides you lovely people- so I'm not going to bring anyone." He said, Batul looked thoughtful, "I know two women, -twins- who arrived recently in Skyrim. They might be able to give us a hand." She explained, and I nodded.
Lokir looked embarrassed, "I need to return to Rorikstead, I'm sure Rorik is going to be upset enough as it is. So I don't think I can join you for this quest either." I patted him on the back, "Don't worry about it." I said, and he looked relieved.
Basth looked thoughtful, "I may have someone, but I need to speak with him first." She said, and I nodded. I thought about it, "I may be able to ask my maternal cousins for help. Ironically enough, I came here to visit them." I said, shaking my head.
"I'll get into contact with them as soon as I can." I thought aloud, and then yawned, and stood. "Now that we have everything settled, I am heading to bed. I bid you all a goodnight." I said, and Idolan rose with me, "Agreed. Fare you all well." He said, and went to upstairs to the room.
I watched Deerkaza leave the inn, and Basth stand, "Well I'm going to the Drunken Huntsmen." And Batul raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know they had rooms." She said, and Basth smirked, "They don't" And she left with a wink and a sway of her hips.
Batul looked at me, and I just held up my hands as Lokir went upstairs as well. Batul just shook her head, "I'll be in Jorrvaskr if you need anything." She said, and took her leave. I smiled and shook my head as I rolled up my map, and move to pay Hulda. "Thank you." I said, and paid for the room, and the dinner.
She just smiled at me, "Your welcome anytime. Goodnight." I nodded, "Goodnight to you as well." I replied, before heading upstairs and entering the room.
Both Idolan and Lokir were already in the bed, in there underclothing. I shook my head and stripped until I was only in my underwear and puffy shirt.
Idolan watched with his dark blue eyes as I moved towards the bed, and held up the blanket for me so that I could climb underneath the covers and into the bed between the two of them. I curled into Lokir, and Idolan spooned up against me.
It wasn't sexual, it was just safe, and warm and friendly. I heard Lokir start to whimper and both me and Idolan unconsciously held him closer as I finally fell asleep.
XXXXXXXXAuthor's NoteXXXXXXX
I want to add a few quick details before the start of the next chapter.
1- There are four Dovahkiin, one to represent each main aspect
-Rogue }Liesl Sarvani The Honorblade
-Assassin }Basth Dorn'ke Greenwood
-Mage }Idolan Lancaster
Warrior }Batul Agli Nagorm
2- For fun, all Dovahkiin in this world have blue eyes, and dragon eyes(In rings around the slited pupil)
Liesl - Ice blue -gold , blue and white
Basth- pale blue -red, gold and black
Idolan- dark blue -green, red and gold
Batul - blue -yellow, purple and orange
3-Whenever there is more than one POV in a story, it will be clearly marked in the title of the chapter
4- There will be several 'chapters' that are the same, just in different character's perspectives
5- The world is in the same timeline as Rise of the Empire, which I will hopefully post soon, so that should add more background to the story.
6-There will be many different characters, some may even seem impossible, but if I do give an explanation, run with it, because this isn't exactly like the norm elder scrolls universe.
7- Most of the names have either been found with the list of names per race, or various name generators, so I didn't just make them up.
8- Not every chapter will be this long, I just wanted to wrap up this part. Some may be short(-1000), some long(+2000) and some medium(1000-2000) but all will be more than 500 words.
9- I will always put my Author's notes in the chapter, and not as their own chapters.
10- All OC's are mine unless otherwise stated, I probably will ask around during Rise of the Empire for other OC's to make it more interesting.
11- This story takes place AFTER the events of Story of a Champion -coming soon- Contains spoilers for Story of a Champion, because it's 200 years after the events of SoaC.
12- The abbreviations for this Elder scrolls series are-
SoaC - Story of a Champion
T - Trials
RotE - Rise of the Empire
13- So far, none of my stories have a Beta, but I am looking for one if anyone is interested.
14- Days = Levels so 1 week means level 7
15- If you have any other questions, please message me.