-Summerset-
The portal opens in the wilds of Summerset and the three set out. The day continues until the sun past its zenith and as they stop briefly, Tyranius folds his arms. "Do you know where you are going?"
Shade stops and looks around. "Summerset?" she says. A long silence and then a snort from the Imperial and Shade turns on him whiskers twitching. "I thought something would appear to guide us!" she says. "Summerset is BIG," and she turns her gaze on Talshaza.
"I have never been to Summerset," the Dunmer says. "I built the portal to lead us here, but not to a specific spot. I thought perhaps we would end up where we were meant to end up!"
Shade starts to respond but Tyranius holds up his hand. "We are not alone."
The three fall silent and look around. Tall grass, dense bushes, and big graceful trees, and in the shadows of the late afternoon glowing eyes start to appear all around them and demonic growls echo out as Dro-m'Athra Senche-Raht steps into the light. "Not what I expected," Tyranius says as he takes his battle ax in his hands. The question is are they being hunted or is this just another random attack on unsuspecting travelers?
"Tyranius," Talshaza says as she holds her staff in her hands. Not daring to call her magic, not sure how linked these creatures are to their master.
"Not Spider's territory," Tyranius says. "High Elf's have tricks up their sleeve."
And yet, the cats were here regardless. Shade hisses and her blades are in her hands. "Then we may have run out of time," she says and then the demon cats come for them.
In a cave some distance away Rel'ihala sits eyes closed and she hears Leap's pacing behind her. "Patience," the Imperial says. "I have set the cats to all parts of Summerset. They will find them and they will bring back word.
Leaps hisses. "I want her now!" and resumes pacing claws flexing. "Now, now, now."
"Patience," Rel'ihala says once more.
The battle is raging but it seems for every cat taken down two more take its place. Tyranius is breathing raggedly, his ax bloodied from the seemingly endless flood of the Dro-m'Athra Senche-rahts, Shade has used the last of the devices she had stored away and Talshaza is wondering if she should use her fire after all. If they are being hunted, they must know. Know she is alive so she slams the staff upon the ground and fire bursts into existence surrounding them as the runes burst to vivid glowing upon her face. "Need to get out of here," she says
Fire all around them, countless m'Athra beyond that.
And then one of the cats screams, a sound that brings the three to their knees and it leaps through the flames a vision of death and terror as it crashes into Shade and sinks its fangs and claws deep into her arm causing the Khajiit to howl. Tyranius turns and his ax buries itself into the cat's neck and he kicks it from Shade. "Damn it," he says as he sees the blood pooled upon the grass he sheathes his ax and grabs Shade throwing her over his shoulder. "Portal."
"I have been trying," Talshaza says. "I cannot. Something is blocking me."
"Drop the fire. We run for it." Tyranius says. "No chance like this. She's going to bleed out."
Fear crosses the Dunmer's eyes. If they lose Shade, they lose any hope at all and she turns, and the fire drops and they run, but too many cats, too fast. Just when it looks like they will be brought down by the horde the grass shimmers and turns azure blue and vines rip from the ground and ensnare the cats in a deadly grip. "This way," a woman's voice yells to them.
Both of them turn toward the voice, an Orc woman clad in blue and azure armor with an insect-like helm with twin dragon horns, a sword held in one hand, the other on a goat thrown over one shoulder. "I'd say trust me, but what damn choice do you have?" she says and then runs and Tyranius growls as he and Talshaza follows.
The Orc leads them away from the cats and through a tunnel of leafy greens that leads to a cliff wall covered in vines. As if they know she's there the vines part and reveal a hidden cave. Without pause she leads them through into a tunnel that is lit by azure blue plants and at the end of the tunnel it lets out into open air, a clearing with strewn bricks and burnt wood and surrounded with a wall of vines and plants, a sanctuary from what lies beyond.
Tyranius looks around and then moves to a large stone slab lies Shade upon it and swears. The wounds are grievous with blood still oozing from them. "She's lost too much blood," he says.
The Orc drops the goat who gets up and bleeps and moves to the group kneels by Shade and takes out a small glass bottle. "This will help," she says and at Tyranius's growl, she says, "You will have to trust me. Or lose her."
"Let her. She saved us. And we have little choice," Talshaza says. If they had time back in the clearing she could have cauterized the wounds, but there had been no time at all.
"She dies, you die." Tyranius threatens.
"Brave man threatening me," she says as she pours the liquid down Shade's throat, the Khajiit managing to swallow. "I'll get things to help with this." she moves off.
Shade moans and Talshaza kneels by her. "We will fix this," the Dunmer woman says. "You'll be alright."
Shade can hear her friend's voice. But it seems to be coming from so far away. And there is sound all around, and it is growing in intensity. The beating of drums, screams in the shadows. The sound….no it is not sounds. It is song. Song that calls to her, song that threatens to drown her, to UNDO her, song that calls to end the pain, song that tells her to BE something else. Song that will unravel her, song that will end her and not end her at the same time. Shade's eyes bolt open and she throws her head back and screams. "MAKE IT STOP!" she howls to the air.
Talshaza startles. "We are safe," she says.
"Not safe. Notsafenotsafenotsafe," The Khajiit says. "None of us are safe from it. It sings, it screams, it burrows into all we are!" and her eyes lock onto Talshaza's, deep fear within them. "Do not let me drown," she pleads as she raises her other uninjured arm to show the horrific truth, the fur is changing to ebony black bolts of blue lightning coursing through it.
Tyranius's hand goes for his ax then drops as he swears. Not an enemy he can fight. "Do something," he says.
The Dunmer's look turns panicked. How do they fight this? And then a whisper. Long lost, nearly forgotten. One she has not heard since the moons shattered. It comes without words, so faintly. But what she must do is clear. "I can purge it. Perhaps," Talshaza says.
"Daedric fire," Tyranius says in understanding.
"Elemental, Daedric, and broken from a Prince's hold," Talshaza responds. "When Iveryni ended her life, she made it stronger than anything Dagon had planned on. It may be enough. But…" she trails off and her gaze falls to Shade. It will be agonizing.
"D...do it," Shade whispers. "Anything to keep the song away. I...I never heard it before. Not before now. Too weak, too hurt. It cannot take me but…," she trails off. No strength left to fight, it is taking all she can to hold it at bay, to not sink into the depths of it. "Do it."
The Dunmer woman bows her head lies her staff down upon the stone and places both hands on Shade's wounded arm the runes blaze to life and the fire builds covering her hands changing from vivid orange and yellow to the deepest red and then it moves to the wounds on Shades arm covering them and filling them with pure elemental fire. Shade gasps and then throws her head back and screams as the fire burns the wounds closed and burns the taint of the song from her body. At last, it ends and the fire fades and the Khajiit falls unconscious. Talshaza falls back against a rock shaking and breathing hard.
"Just who are you?" The Orc woman has returned with salve and bandages and she's staring at what she's just witnessed. "Nothing can stop the song once it grips someone. NOTHING." a haunted look crosses her face. "I saw it take a friend of mine. He could not fight it. And nothing I did could save him. Except…" she trails off a haunted look in her eyes. At the thought of what she had to do to end his nightmare.
Tyranius turns to her, a hand drifting to his battle ax. "Could ask the same to you," he says, the threat clear in his voice as he gestures to the vines, to the things she did to save them.
The Orc snorts and takes off her helm. Dusky skin, small tusks a warrior's face with intense eyes, and dark braids run through with blue strands that almost glow. "Yargna Spinebreaker," she says. "Undaunted once, Outcast always, monster perhaps."
Talshaza looks at Tyranius. "She saved us. We were brought together for a reason."
Tyranius's hand at last falls from his weapon. Cannot fight the hordes alone. Cannot count on Rufico to come to their aid, as lost as he was. "Fine," he says.
Yargna moves to Talshaza and hands her the supplies and then takes another vial out of her belt and adds it to the pile. "For burns," the Orc says and then she grabs the goat and starts to walk away.
"Not dinner?" Tyranius asks.
The Orc barks a laugh. "There is dried jerky and fruit over there. This is not for us," she says and then swears at the slip.
"Not alone," Tyranius says.
Yargna turns her head to stare at him. "Stay away from them," she threatens.
There is worry in the Orc's tone, fear. "Why do you think we'd hurt whoever it is?" Talshaza asks.
The Orc turns her head away. Silence meets the question before she at last speaks. "Most would. Not sure why I saved them. They viciously attacked me, tried to kill me. Was going to return the favor but their eyes…," she trails off and then looks back at them with a haunted look in her eyes. "I could see their heart in that moment. Shattered and broken...almost like a mirror of what could be… if I ever…" she trails off and looks at the vines and makes a decision to trust these strangers. "Rejected by kin, by Malacath even perhaps. Never dared to ask that question. I am just as much a monster as they are. Wrought in my mother's death by a monster's curiosity at what could BE. Could be like them one day. Shattered, powers turned against the world. Until something hunted me down and killed me like a dog." and with those words she turns and walks away with the goat.
Tyranius stares after her for a long moment and then finds his feet moving as he follows her. If she is aware she makes no notice of it, and no move to stop him.
The Dro-m'Athra struggles up and bites at the vines. At last, their color leaches away, at last, they move no more. A soft growl from the demon cat as it pads away taking not a single last look at its fallen brethren as it vanishes into the shadows and emerges in the cave. There it waits until Rel'ihala steps toward it and kneels by the cat, forehead placed against its forehead. "Vines came alive. Stopped them from capturing them," Rel'ihala says. "Though the Khajiit is injured badly."
An angry hiss as Leaps springs up from where she had been sitting. "FIND HER," the Argonian snaps. "Findherfindherfindher!"
The Imperial rises and turns to the vampire, noting the way her eyes glow, noting that very soon it is likely this cave is about to be destroyed. It was what Leaps was known for. Powerful, and so very different than any vampire that had ever existed, save for Xahrshi, yet half mad and broken in too many ways to count. It was strange, she noted. The darkness had consumed them both, but why it made her less fractured, Leaps mind was utterly shattered. "The song has penetrated the cat," Rel'ihala quietly says. "Nothing escapes Spider's song. Nothing. They will track her, and when she is fully in the song, she will lead us to them."
The glow from Leaps eyes slowly fades. "His song," the Argonian hisses. "But Your cats, RIGHT?"
"He lets me have my own," Rel'ihala says. "I am his, but he gives me song and cats and the pain and pleasure that melts away all memories, all doubt, all broken shards."
At this the vampire giggles. An eerie broken sound. "You are a pet, and I have a pet!" she says and spins around laughing.
"Again, I think you have that wrong," Rel'ihala. "Your pet is a Dunmer, I am pretty sure they are the ones who keep pets. Not kept as pets."
"That is what he thinks! But he is my pet! He lets me in and lets me do such lovely things to him!" Leaps says.
Rel'ihala starts to respond and then stops. It would do no good to point out he was the one who had the tentacles. Such a strange thing she let him do to her…
Tyranius follows the Orc and then pauses briefly. The bleating of the goat and then a jagged hiss and the bleat turns into a brief scream before silence falls and he continues down the path the tunnel leading to a small cave lit only by a single lantern.
"Do not hurt them," Yargna snarls and then adds, "Please." and she steps aside. Somehow placing trust in him, deciding to let him in.
Tyranius takes a step forward and then falters as he stares at the monster at the back of the cave wall, ensnared by vines with the dead goat nearby. The monster's ebony skin glimmers in the lantern light with jagged wings arising from the back. Their hair is tangled and dirty with horns rising from the mess the talons are speckled with goat blood, and the armor is dull and dirty with the blades rising from the arm half broken. And as the monster senses a new presence they raise their head and hiss, their crimson eyes showing unfathomable depths.
For long moments all the Imperial does is stare and then he reaches his hand out slowly as if expecting a barrier, or something to strike him down. And when nothing happens his hand falls. "Rules are broken," Tyranius whispers and he starts forward but is stopped by the Orc's words.
"Would not do that. They will try to attack. Even if you mean no harm." Yargna warns him and her hands drift to her weapons. Fiercely protective of the monster she saved.
"She," Tyranius corrects her.
Something in the Imperials voice causes her hand to fall from her weapon. "You know her?" she asks
He does not answer, instead, all his attention is on the monster and as he moves closer she hisses at him again and he stops. "Damn it," Tyranius swears and rips his helm off tossing it aside, and as she looks at him a flicker of recognition passes through those crimson eyes and the hissing fades. Tyranius closes the distance and drops to his knees as he reaches for her, gently resting his hand on the side of her face. "Girl," he whispers. "Zirasha."
There is more than a flicker now and as her eyes fill with memory she utters a lost agonizing sound and wraps her arms around him burrowing her face into his neck as she shakes uncontrollably. Long moments pass before she lets go and he rises and glances at the Orc. "We need to talk."
Outside the cave, Yargna sits on a rock as Tyranius stands arms crossed in front of her. "They...she will not speak. Will not return from scion form. Nearly utterly out of control...lost. If I did not contain her, keep her here she'd kill others or something would kill her." Yargna explains.
The Imperials head turns back to the cave. Makes sense. Once he had kept her in a cave too when she had been first turned. She hated him back then, hated all Imperials for what a group of Zero Legion did to her during the days of the attempted Plane-Meld. It had taken time for her to like him, trust him. Time for all of them to become pack. A pack of monsters, but one with bounds that transcended the dark itself. He starts to say something but then stops a disquieting look in his eyes. "She… must have found clan, as I did. Perhaps someone to love…" he trails off and runs a hand across his eyes. "She must have lost them too. Damn it." his hand drops and his gaze returns to the orc. "You saved her."
"I told you why," she responds. "I...saw something in her that night. But after I brought her here all I could see was the monster in her eyes. Not until now have I seen that again. You mean something to her. Enough to bring a small part of her back."
"We were pack...once" Tyranius responds. "Long story."
Yargna studies him. "You say that word as if it means everything," she says. "If that is true, why did you leave your pack?"
A brief look of pain crosses the Imperials face. "Penance. We...were not heroes. We were the monsters." A small sad smile. "Pack of monsters. Family."
There is a story there but she lets it lie. "I want to ask you more but I will not. I also want to ask all of you what you are up to. They told me to go to you," she says and gestures to her vines. "Never have they done that. Never."
Tyranius takes out a small bottle and shakes it. Only a drop left and with a sigh he takes the last bit of it and then sits on the ground near the tunnel entrance. "Tomorrow," he says. "When Shade wakes."
Yargna moves to him and holds out her hand. "Fine, but let me have that." At his glare, she gives one of her own. "I KNOW alchemy...and a good bit of it no one else knows. You need it. You also look like death, old man."
He snorts, "Not that old," but hands the bottle over to her. "Gone anyway. No good without it." he leans back and closes his eyes. "Gonna sleep here."
Yargna just nods at this and turns sniffing at the bottle and then looks back to him. "Werewolf," she says. "Never had to make a potion to help with that, but I'll manage it."
"Bear," he says.
She laughs at that. "Should of figured you to be too gruff to be a mere wolf," and then she takes off leaving him outside the cave. Knowing he will protect the monster she saved, for they are family.
Memories of the sound of drums, the feel of azure lighting, the terror of the forgetting, the lure of it all wakes Shade. For a moment all she can do is hold her breath and then at last she lets it out. Her mind is her own, and the song has faded as she holds up her paw normal fur and her unique markings greet her and she slowly sits up wincing slightly. Her injured arm is bandaged but the pain is far less than she would have thought. Some kind of ointment is dulling the pain. A glance around shows Talshaza curled up in sleep nearby, and the Orc is by the vine wall wrapped in greenery. It is tempting to return to sleep and Shade almost does just that before a soft golden glow catches her eyes and the Whisper of Cats appears once more. This time the Redguard does not speak just motions for Shade to follow. Slowly getting up, staggering slightly she does.
The woman leads her past the clearing into the rubble of what must have been a regal Altmer townhouse, once. Now it is just rubble and burnt things scattered around being reclaimed by the wild. Part of a wall still stands and it is here the Redguard stops and waits. Shade moves to it and runs her hands over it and with a click the ground shifts and opens a secret door leading ever downward. Whisper nods and vanishes and Shade starts walking down at last she reaches the end and a giant cavern cast in shadow is revealed and then bursts into light lit by magical torches. Runes are etched in the cavern walls, and yet it is to the center that she is drawn, and as she kneels on the stone her claws trace claw marks in the stone that briefly glow gold and silver. "Jone and Jode," Shade whispers and she rises. She must wake the others. Now. For this was once where they had been held, perhaps even bound in form in this very spot. And that means the mastermind behind all this horror had been here, had lived in the ruins upstairs. He or she...must have been one of the Altmer.
Talshaza, Tyranius, and Yargna explore the cavern with Shade staying in the middle. The Imperial runs his fingers over one of the runes on the wall. "Daedric," Tyranius says.
Talshaza turns to the runes as well. "Ancient Elven, Dunmer...and so much more," she says.
"What do they DO?" Yargna says staring at them warily.
The Dunmer woman frowns a bit as her fingers move over one of the more familiar ones. "Entrapment...containment. Extremely powerful wards," she responds. "I cannot read them all but I suspect they are all the same spell.
The Orc growls a bit at this. "By Malacath, what in Nirn needed this much containment? There are hundreds of these things!"
A pause. The group had not yet decided to trust the Orc with their secrets. But fate had let them to her, and to the very place they sought, and closer to who had orchestrated all of this. Shade glances at her companions. It was not up to her alone, it could not be. It was far too important for that.
"She saved us, helped us," Talshaza responds.
"Trust her," Tyranius says.
Shade glances at the Imperial. Something had happened the night before. Something Tyranius had not yet shared, but she could tell he was shaken. And that whatever it was, had him trusting the Orc. "Jone and Jode," Shade whispers. "Someone or something somehow took them from the heavens and bound them in form here."
A look of horror and shock crosses the Orc's face. "That is why the moons shattered?" Yargna explains. "By Malacath. WHO could do that?" A look of pain crosses her eyes. Like the rest of them, she had lost much since that night.
"It is so much more than that," Talshaza says. "To do all this would take ancient knowledge and magic, power beyond thought, and the will and desire to use it...and four beings willing to help for their dark desires." The scourges. To think once they thought the four did all this alone. But someone helped them. Someone very powerful. There is so much they do not know, so much they must find out.
Shade at last moves from the center of the room. "Jone and Jode were here, but no longer and not for a long time," she says. "We must know all we can before we go to Clockwork...before we attempt to undo this."
Another look from Yargna her face puzzled at how they could undo this, but she did not ask instead says., "Had a group. We did stupid shit, brave shit, shift for gold. Lost all but Kitza to the rabid beasts...and Kitza later fell to the song. Even my monstrous power could not save any of them. Can you undo THAT?"
"The smallest chance but yes. If it works," Shade says. "We do not have much chance. But it is worth everything to try. Even…" she trails off. The last thing she wants to do is go against her mentor. And he would be against this, despite the world that had been created. But it did not matter. She still would.
"In," Yargna says. "I'll break spines of any foes who dare stop ya. Now...this place is giving me the creeps. I'm going back up to where nature can breathe."
Once back up in the sun Shade turns to Yargna. "Who lived here?" she asks.
"No clue," Yargna responds "Just found this place when I ended up in Summerset. Seemed a good place to build a sanctuary since I had someone to protect.
Talshaza turns her gaze to the Orc. "Someone else is here?"
"Complicated," Tyranius responds for her, and as the Dunmer and Shade turn to him he says, "Pack...once," he starts to say something else and briefly stops then shakes his head. "Family. Trapped in the dark. I'll get her ready to go before we leave."
"It could be dangerous," Yargna says and Tyranius just looks at her. "But no. I will not leave her either."
"Pack…," Talshaza says. "Which one?"
He turns to her. "Zirasha. Trapped in vampiric scion form. Something happened." his expression darkens. "Find out what or who hurt her that much, they gonna die. Badly."
The Dunmer falls silent for a moment. Remembering the stories Leaps shared with her, stories her Egg-Father and Grandmother told to her.
"Rules are broken," Shade says. "Even those cast by whomever…," she trails off her expression troubled.
"Impossible," Tyranius says. "Yet true." a strange expression crosses his face. Could he see his pack, all of his pack again? It was not worth this world to have that, but this world had been wrought regardless. With a quick motion, he grabs his helm and trusts it over his head.
"Back to the matter at hand," Shade says. "Is there any way to find out who lived here? They may very well BE the one who started all this. Who destroyed the rules, captured our Gods, destroyed all we knew and loved."
Yargna makes a small motion with her hand and a vine reaches up to the sky and snatches a small bird out of it and hands it to her and she soothes the frightened creature. "All is well. Just need you for a little while," she whispers to the bird and then her hands glow azure blue and the bird is soon the same shade glowing faintly and she tosses it into the sky and it flies off. "I have a contact here, for trade, information. He used to be a noble, before the shattering. He may know."
"How," Talshaza asks regarding the vines, what she did to the bird.
"Not ready to tell," Yargna responds. "Is that a deal breaker?" her tone was confrontational.
"We all have stories," the Dunmer responds. "For us to tell, or not. We will not push, but know secrets can have a terrible price." And with those words, she moves to sit in the grass as the sun starts to rise.
A few hours later the bird returns followed by an Altmer dressed in rugged armor with short blonde hair vivid blue eyes and scars running down the left side of his face. The Elf takes in Yargna's guests before turning to her. "What do you need, Yargna?"
The Orc reaches down to a bag she prepared hours earlier and tosses it to the elf who catches it. "Healing elixirs, some other potions, Ark," she says. "Payment for what I want, and what I want is to know who used to live here."
Ark stoles the bag and once more glances at her guests, much more intently this time taking in them all. The Dunmer hooded and masked, one in savage Reachman armor and a Khajiit with the strangest markings. "You have me a bit curious, Yargna," he says. "But I'll keep my curiosity to myself. You paid well enough for what you want, after all." he moves to a flat stone and sits and gestures for the rest to sit as well and once everyone is comfortable he speaks again. "You never have guests, and yet now you do. And they are far from normal travelers. I know what you keep in here, and I see you trust these people."
"I pay you well enough for the goats," Yargna says.
"That you do, that you do. Your potions are invaluable in these times," he says and looks at the others. "I sense this is important, somehow to you."
"More than you know," Talshaza quietly says.
"Very well, I'll get to it," Arc says and he takes out a flash and sips before starting. "This was a large townhouse owned by Kinlord Neran Athfhar. He was typical of our upper class, I never had the chance to meet him in my old life, but he was a prominent member of Summerset society and he had a long-standing engagement with Niryion Silinore which was drawing to its conclusion and it was widely speculated they would be wed within a year. But then tragedy struck and Niryion was attacked and killed by a griffin." another sip from the flask and then he continued, "Neran seemed to take it as well as could be expected, in typical Altmer manner at first. But then he pulled away from society and became a recluse. Refused to let anyone in his house save for his servants and the doctor who came out to care for him when it was needed, rumor had it that he had some kind of of mysterious illness that sapped his strength, perhaps a wasting disease that had no known cure at the time." A short pause as he takes another sip. "And then the troubles started. A murdered servant blamed on a thief who was never found. After that Missing servants, rumors of dark magic perhaps even Daedric dealings. Once enough evidence was found against him he was arrested and taken to one such prison the Thalmor have for...dealing with Altmer who turn to illicit magic and dark dealings." Arc pauses once more and studies the flask in his hand before sighing and putting it away without another sip. "He is not the first Altmer to fall to these trappings. Nor the first Kinlord. He was bound in the prison by magic...but somehow he broke the bindings and slaughtered everyone in the prison, guard and prisoner alike."
A silence falls over the group as they take all this information in. This Kinlord very much seems as if he is the one they seek. "Where did he go?" Shade asks at last.
Arc shrugs. "His house burned down shortly after and the Thalmor pursued him for a time before the shattering and their attentions turned elsewhere," an angry look crosses his face. "Protecting Altmer from the world. Enshrining Alinor in a mystic barrier… they should help more than JUST themselves," and with those words, he stands. "The day I was scarred was perhaps the most freeing day of my life. I much prefer being in the wilds of my homeland helping those who need it than hiding in fancy trappings from the truth of this world." A flash of sorrow. "If Queen Ayren had not been killed shortly after the shattering, perhaps my people would have chosen a more altruistic path. But such is the way of things."
Yargna also rises. "If you learn anything else, if you see him, or anyone you know sees him, you must contact me. You know how," Yargna says.
Arc takes in her words and glances at the others judging just how seriously they are taking all of this. "Kinlord Neran...why do you seek him?"
Shade glances at Yargna who nods at her and she turns back to the Altmer. "He...had a hand in all of this," Shade says.
A shocked look crosses Arc's face and he swears and takes out the flask and drains it. "I'll put my soldiers on it. But if he did all of this, I doubt very much he's still lurking in Summerset." Arc says. "Still, we will keep an eye out." With a curt nod, he turns and heads out.
For long moments the three sit in silence before Tyranius rises. "Gonna talk with …," he trails off. "Not sure what to call her now. Girl don't fit no more." he turns. "Gonna go talk to Zirasha. See how much control she has."
"Do what you can. We must leave soon," Shade says. "We are being hunted. We will not be safe here much longer."
Yargna snorts. "My vines keep everything out. Trust me on that."
"Have you had one of the Scourges at your door?" Talshaza asks and when the Orc has no response for that one the Dunmer adds, "Worst case. For now it is just the Dro-m'Athra. We do not know if it is a coincidence they are here or not." she turns to Shade. "I do not know where to go next."
"I do not know either," Shade says. Something to figure out. Somehow.
"I'll start gathering the things I need," Yargna says. "Can't take all of it, but what is left I'll send word for Arc to come collect." And with that, she moves off and leaves Shade and Talshaza to rest and contemplate their next move.
Back in the cave, Leaps is throwing rocks around. Earlier Rel'ihala had told her somehow the Khajiit had escaped the song. Impossible, and yet it was done. The Imperial is standing by the entrance just watching the vampires tantrum and then one of the Dro-m'Athra Senche-Raht returns and her hand moves to the cat's back. "They are found," she says. "This one saw one leave by a secret passage blocked by those vines."
Leaps drops the rock in her hands and turns to her. "I want her NOW," she hisses. "Now, now, now! She KNEW the wolf. She MUST suffer and scream and eventually DIE."
Rel'ihala tilts her head. Yes, they must. But there was a problem. The vines that protected them. That killed so many of the Dro-m'Athra. And then a smile crosses her face. "We saw a herd of Crimson Indriks on the way here. I will send the cats to hunt them. And to scream the song in their ears. They will burn for us. Burn down all the vines, all the sanctuary they have. But…"
Leaps flashes and suddenly she's right in front of Rel'ihala's face. "BUT NO BUTS!" She hisses
"But," The Imperial insists, "Spiders will know of this if I do it. It is his song, his Dro-m'Athra. I can have my cats, and if their song takes hold of a Khajiit or something similar, he will not notice. But if I set it upon something strange….he will know."
A frantic look crosses the vampire's face. "He will tell Ri'Zakar. She is mine, not his!" Leaps hisses.
"We wait for them to come out, or we attack with the Indriks," Rel'ihala says. "There is no telling IF they will come out, either. They may stay in there. They may find a way to portal despite what blocks them here." At Leap's angry hiss, she adds "You know they will find out about it soon regardless." A dark look crosses her face. "You knew this when you came for me, Leaps. When our hunt ends and I return to him, he will claim me as he always does. As I want him to. With pain and pleasure, with forgetting distant unwanted memories. And he will ask where I have been, and I will tell him."
An angry hiss from Leaps and she crosses her arms. "You are a pet," she hisses. "And you like it. But I want them still. I want them NOW. Bring the fire. LET THEM BURN SO I CAN HAVE HER." Leaps giggles. "She will not burn, she IS FIRE. She will be mine. Before Spiders comes to pick his pet up. Before Ri'Zakar can have her. MINE."
"Very well," Rel'ihala says. "The cats hunt and they will bring us our fire. And we will have our prey."