To Catch a Falling Star

The moon was high over the old and abandoned fort, Ilinalta's Deep, as Alaric prowled around the half-sunken structure looking for an opening. He was on magical business tonight. Not with the college, no, they would probably not like this. They would not forbid it, but even the college was wary of the Daedric Princes and their artifacts...

Alaric was here for one thing... Azura's Star! The Daedric Prince of the Dusk and Dawn had apparently chosen him as his champion, giving their priestess visions of his coming many years ago. Though even the Daedra cannot see all possible outcomes, as Alaric was about to prove. He had no intention of returning to the Daedra, he was going back to Nelacar in Winterhold and was going to have him turn it into a REAL treasure...

A creak suddenly split the air. He had found his opening! Necromancers could be so careless, always moving about like bees at nighttime and now they had compromised their sanctuary! Alaric saw the black clad figure descend into a trap door, mentally marking the location and letting out a long hoot like an owl, the agreed upon signal that he had given his temporary companion...


(This has been cleared with Mesataki. Alaric obtains and purifies, "The Black Star", which results in him owning said artifact.)

K'Sharr walked out from the shadows. He wasn't sure that going after a daedric artifact was a good idea, but it was Azura, the least cruel of the Daedra, so she couldn't be all that bad. Although he had no idea as to what the artifact was or even as to what it's purpose was, he had been asked to help and He couldn't turn down a request if it meant ridding the world of necromancers who, in all truth, would probably use the artifact for some evil.

"So what is it we are looking for?" K'Sharr said. Being none to wise on Daedra he wouldn't know what the artifact was.

"Well, my friend," he purred, "we are after Azura's Star, a soul gem of sorts, except this one is rather special... it is not consumed upon use! Whether you use it one time or one thousand times, it never changes! Only the soul is consumed and the vessel remains intact." His eyes were wild as he spoke, the thrill of it finally sinking in. He was going to be the sole owner of the legendary Azura's Star! The neverending soul gem, the pinnacle of enchanting equipment, and it was going to be his!

Alaric motioned for his companion to follow him while he seemingly caressed the rusty hinges of the trap door as he opened it, making absolute sure to avoid the horrid creaking that had sounded through the night when the necromancer descended into the depths. He gently laid it down, the old wood landing silently on the stone fortification as Alaric began climbing down the ladder. His feet became wet as they touched bottom, the water coming up to his ankles, not that he was surprised. Honestly he had expected it to be worse than it was.

"Oh that's a nice touch..." he chuckled quietly, motioning toward a fisherman suspended on some sort of post in the center of the entry hall, "If it's this nice already, I can't wait to see what they've done with the rest of the place. I wonder if they use Vigilants of Stendarr for torches at their necro-parties?" The hem of his black cloak trailed behind him in the water, sprawled out and causing him to look like death incarnate. He didn't envy the man who saw him coming toward them; though they would be hard-pressed to do that since he was dressed in all black tonight with a hood covering most of his face.

He noticed that behind the waterfall at the rear of the room there was an opening which was only covered by the deluge which continuously poured down from above. He looked up to his companion, "Shall we take the conventional way and go through the door, or take the road less travelled and get a little wet?" He knew that either way they would wind up in the same place, it was only a matter of killing all as they went, or killing half as many yet risking an attack from behind...

Upon seeing the entire place K'Sharr was disgusted. "What kind of people are these that would do such a thing, it is revolting." K'Sharr could go on a rant about necromancy and how it was wrong to tamper with the deads bodies.

"So it's a very big soul gem? I assume in the shape of a star." K'Sharr began thinking. "What would Necromancers do with something like that? I know I could never use it. I am no good at magical things. I've tried the school of destruction. it did not go well for K'Sharr." K'Sharr slipped into a Khajiit habit of talking in the third person.

Alaric placed his hand on K'sharr's shoulder, "Calm yourself, my friend. We shall slay plenty of the defilers tonight." He could see and feel the disgust simply roll from him and he made a mental note not to raise any of the ones they killed and to stick to the daedra themselves while in the presence of the Kahjiit male. He had known that he went against the normal grain by not being a thief or assassin, but he had never pegged him as someone completely against necromancy. Sure Alaric didn't like it much and in general only used it on enemies, but sometimes people could be really touchy about it.

"It isn't big per se, but it is larger than a normal soul gem. And yes, it is in the shape of a star. It will be a marvelous addition to my collection. As for what these necromancers are doing with it... I don't know if you want to know." Alaric thought for a moment and decided to tell him anyway. he sighed. "They are using it for evil purposes. The man who had it last, and is here somewhere, was killing others to sustain his own life. He was trying to alter it so that he could go inside and become immortal. In short, not using a soul gem the way it should be used. This is why I am... relieving... them of their burden and am going to use it properly."

He glanced around the room once more and decided to go with his gut as it rarely steered him wrong. Sinking into a crouch, he motioned to K'sharr and started towards the old iron bound door. He grasped the handle and gently pulled it open. Alaric had chosen wisely. Standing in the chamber directly in front of him and with their backs turned were two rather pathetic necromancers engaged in hushed conversation. He looked back at K'sharr and motioned for him to get ready and be quiet as there would be fighting from here on out.

Opening his cloak slightly with one arm, two hidden daggers of steel gleamed slightly from the candlelight of the next room. Rolling his free wrist, he let the alteration magic flow through his veins and the daggers lifted from their hiding places. "Ooohooh! Such fun!" he giggled, causing the necromages to turn toward him. But it was too late and they only served to fulfill his plan. His arm swept out toward them, his telekinesis spell hurling the daggers and lodging them in the mages' throats, killing them silently. He strode over to them and cleaned the daggers on their robes before returning them to his cloak, a grin spread across his face. "What did I tell you? Plenty of the disgusting fiends in this place! Two already and we've only just gone to the first room!"

(Feel free to say in your posts that some of them come, and feel free to lead. I know it is boring when only one person leads the entire thing, so walk in front if you like )

"It is horrible. it makes me want to have the star destroyed. if you do get it...do not do what was done here. It is to spit in the eyes of mara." K'Sharr said. It was at that point that Alaric Killed the 2 necromancers. "Very easy kill. I go for the eyes. it's easy to kill in one shot if you go for the eyes." At this point 2 more Necromancers walked through the door...they didn't have a chance to cast a spell as both of them were shot in the eye. "As I said. The eyes are easy targets." K'Sharr went over to there dead bodies and pulled out his arrows...along with there eyes. "The only problem is getting the eye stuck to your arrow. Perhaps useful in Alchemy no?" K'Sharr's accent wasn't totally noticeable but he did slip back into Khajiit mannerisms every now and again.

"Ahhh, but you see, If the star is destroyed, Azura wins. However, If I take it back to Winterhold it can be used for good and prospering me in my adventures. In fact, I might even be able to enchant your bow if you like." Alaric flinched a bit as the eyeball came out with the Kahjiit's arrow, but he didn't know why with all of the gore he was used to. Perhaps it was just because it was an eye?

"I honestly don't know, as Alchemy is not my forte. I know that the eye of a sabercat is usable, but I have no idea about the eyes of men and mer. Nice kills by the way, they never even 'saw' it coming." he chuckled as he walked down the corridor from which the second pair had come from, his joke getting more funny to him every second."

"Very well. And I have never seen the need for such magically boosts to my abilities." K'Sharr said. After all Enchantments only lasted so long and didn't do much to help in battle anyway. When Alaric made the joke K'Sharr rolled his eyes. Hopefully jokes like that wouldn't be what he would remember about this adventure. "All I know of Azura is she is the god for the Dark Elves." K'Sharr's voice had obvious disdain in it when he said Dark Elves.

(K'Sharr's view on Enchantment reflect my own. Enchantment on Armor is much more useful.)

Alaric had only just told K'Sharr, "Very well." when he heard it, the crackling of magical energy. He barely had time to leap to the wall out of the path, but it still landed. A spike of ice about a foot long and nearly six inches 'round protruded from his shoulder! "Ahhhgggh! Oblivion take you!" he cursed down the way. His free hand rose and twisted toward the origin of the ice, a Chain of Lightning arcing down and through the door. He was rewarded with several screams of pain and the slamming of the door followed by what sounded like a bar sliding across.

While as a vampire he had a resistance to frost, it still hurt to get impaled to the bone with an icicle. With another roar of pain, he removed the ice and cast Close Wounds, repairing most of the damage done. He sloshed toward the door with a purpose, his cloak still trailing behind him. "You think a door will stop me?" He was angry now, all semblance of stealth forgotten. They would pay and they would fear... "It is a pity that you are doing this. We could have had such fun you know, I might even have let you all be puppets on my strings, but now... tsk. Now it is too late..." The spell was charging as he spoke, the ball of fire growing ever larger betwixt his hands.

The fiery meteor throttled toward the door, making impact after only a few seconds.

Shards of wood. Scraps of iron. Heated stones. All were cast asunder by the blasting force. Fireball was most useful...

A cacophony of screams of the wounded and dying reached Alaric's ears like a melody, and the wildly dancing flames like a glorious light show. The melancholy chorus held more participants than he'd originally thought. At least five people must have been boarded up in the next room, and that was only based off of the screams. He did a little twirl as he pranced through the door, kicking a survivor in the face as he progressed. "I did tell you, now didn't I?" One of necromancers that was in better condition groaned as he tried to cast sparks, but he met his demise in the form of an Ice Spike to the heart.

Alaric slew a few more before walking over - dodging fiery debris all the while - to a Dunmer, slumped over a table feigning death. "That's a pretty good act you've got there, pity I see through it." He leaped onto the Dark Elf and held his hands so that they pointed at himself, preventing the mer from casting any spells unless he wanted to kill himself. "Now..." he purred. "Where is your master? Where is... Malyn Varen?"

K'Sharr starred at all the destruction. "So much of these ruins could have been saved. Oh well I suppose the damage is worth the reward in the end." K'Sharr said. When Alaric held the Necro he pointed an arrow at his heart. "Even should you choose to not speak I will skewer you with an arrow to the heart." K'Sharr was tempted to shoot him in the knee but decided against it.

Alaric watched the dunmer, savoring the horror which freely played across his face. He let out a sort of growl of satisfaction as the dunmer began to speak, "Okay... Okay! I'll tell you, just please... don't kill me. He's just there..." he said nodding toward the hall to the left. "You just go that way through the tower until you get to his throne room."

Alaric smiled and patted the dunmer on the head. "Good chap. I promise you'll be rewarded for your... treachery..."

He turned to K'sharr and grinned again. "End him..."

Before Alaric even said end K'Sharr fired an arrow through his heart. "Filthy Dunmer can't even keep there loyalties. Very few Dark Elves have ever proven to be tolerable...and even fewer that I can say I "get along with."" K'Sharr violently ripped his arrow out of the dunmer.

"My, my!" Alaric chuckled, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you are an assassin the way you just shoot and rip arrows out. And I know of a few who are good, but there are a lot of them which are fairly wishy-washy..." He didn't like getting into race, everyone had something and several didn't get along well, but why dwell? He had learned not to argue though, so he just agreed to disagree and moved on. "Shall we continue?"

"Yes. I'm rather curious as to the condition of this star." K'Sharr said. While he didn't like being compared to an assassin he was sorta right. Khajiit were good at being assassins. He didn't ever feel the need to kill someone innocent. Just wasn't in him.

Alaric nodded in agreement and headed through the door to the left, encountering only a single necromancer which he easily dispatched. "Disgusting thing..." Another door loomed up ahead, this one looking more structurally intact than the other, and also more ornate or important than the others. "Perhaps a new section of the fort?"

He tried the door handle, only to be met with the fact that it was locked form the inside. "Fireball won't work on this one... so how about this...?" He waved his hand in front of the door, his alteration magic beginning to flow as he cast open on the lock. "You first, my friend..."

"Very well." K'Sharr said as he opened the door. There was a high chance there were necromancers inside so he opened the door slowly, as to not alert any of them.

Alaric strode into the room quietly. There was only one necromancer in the entire room and he was next to some sort of altar at the far end. He quickly scanned his surroundings, taking note of the staircase to his left before calling forth his magic once more.

Long and deadly, glistening and cold, the Ice Spear hurtled toward the man, Alaric's aim proving to be true. The frigid spear pierced the man in the middle, completely trashing his internal organs and before he could succumb to his injuries, Alaric cast a soul trap spell and almost immediately felt the energy transfer to the black soul gem in his pocket.

"Is there anything you'd like enchanted in return for helping me?" Alaric's voice bounced a bit off the walls as he climbed the long spiral stair case. They were near, that much he could sense. Waves of power virtually rolled off the Daedric artifact as he ascended the stairs, turning to an intense pulsing as he reached the top.

"My, My... the man is dead. He not even skin and bones... He's ONLY bones. This is a strange turn of events..." There was a smirk on Alaric's face as he picked up the almost completely broken star. "I shall have to take this and get it fixed... Shame that... I just wanted to get it and be done with the whole adventuring part of it..." He looked around and spied an enchanting table, and nodded to it as if to remind K'sharr of his offer...

"Well. not with a star that looks like that." K'Sharr said. It was obvious that the star had been so missused that it had corroded and turned even darker then it had already been. "Nothing good can come from enchanting a weapon with a soul gem as cursed as that one is. if it is purified my bow could do with the ability to drain magika Helps keep the mages off my back." K'Sharr said. Truthfully mages weren't much of a problem but some mages DID where heavy armor.

Could Fallion really be right, if he is then the future experiments and operations would be much easier and they would cease being just a rag tag group conjurers and alchemists. These thoughts went through Edward's mind as he advanced to the fort and then suddenly he heard something as he advanced towards an entrance, covering himself in alteration defences and readying his spells he waited.

"Oh, the star is broken. It won't be useful until I work on it with a friend up north, but right now I have a regular Black Soul gem which I filled with the soul of that last Necromancer. And it just so happens that I know that enchantment. If I may..." Alaric gently grasped the bow of his companion, admiring the immaculate condition which its owner kept it in before gently laying it down on the Arcane Enchanter.

"This should only take a few minutes... Caress here.... apply there... *zap* Just a liiiiitle more.... *poof* Almost there...." Alaric brought out the soul gem and ran it along the length of the wood, quietly chanting as he went. He continued like this, chanting and applying magicka for almost three minutes to get the maximum amount of uses out of the gem. "And DONE!"

Alaric handed the bow back to its owner, a smile on his face. That had to be his quickest work yet, and it still held the maximum amount of charges and size of the enchantment. "Here, take these as well. They are all filled, all you need to do is touch them to the weapon and say, 'impart your power', to recharge it." The several common and lesser soul gems clicked against one another as Alaric handed them off to K'sharr and headed to the ladder which wet up through the roof.

Alaric's lips parted in a victorious smirk as he emerged on the roof of the half-sunken tower, for below him was The Coven of the Night, come to take what was now his, only they didn't know that he had beaten them to the punch. He stuck his head back down the trapdoor and whispered, "The Coven is here. Dark Mages, Vampires, and Necromancers, several are approaching. I'l distract them while you slip down the back of the tower. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. You have fulfilled all that I have asked, and I thank you..."

Walking back to the edge of the tower, he looked down at the approaching group, his Vampire's Sight becoming active in the night which enveloped them all. A blizzard-like flurry descended upon the group in the form of an Ice Storm which flowed from Alaric's outstretched palm. "Well, well, well... Look what the Vigilants dragged in. The Coven, here for this, I presume?" he mockingly held up the broken Azura's Star and placed it back in his robes. From his high perch, he had them at his mercy for a bit. "It seems that you're too late if that's the case, but I'll be sure to take good care of it. I already have some things in mind... But I think I can squeeze your deaths into my plan..."

"I thank you mage." K'Sharr said taking his bow *hunting.* back. "This will be quite useful. now I only need to figure out how to recharge if necessary." K'Sharr was handed the the soul gems. "The dark coven...I am unfamiliar with them. but I do not like them already." K'Sharr said. "But don't worry I will still help. It is what K'Sharr does best." K'Sharr tended to slip into this habit of speaking in the third person when things got exciting.

K'Sharr went backwards out the sunken tower. Without the enemies inside it was rather easy. After getting out he turned to sneak up on this dark coven. Just a few arrows would probably take them down, assuming he would hit the wrong parts of the body...assuming any of them were Khajiit or Argonians.

Alaric cackled as two fell before his spells, he did so love a good killing, one of the only things which could get his cold blood boiling. He threw a fireball in their vicinity not paying attention to where it hit as it was to serve as a distraction. Seeing as how he was no master of illusion and he could not always use his vampiric invisibility, he had developed other methods with which he could make an escape.

The fireball exploded in a bright mass, briefly illuminating the deep darkness around the tower. He knew that their pitiful eyes, the eyes of prey, could not compete with his, nor adjust as quickly to the bright flash and smoke. It was the perfect getaway, loud and dangerous, but effective nonetheless.

In the confusion he leapt from his perch to one of the rocks behind the tower, landing silently upon the outcropping stones before jumping to another and quietly slipping into the water below. The icy river had next to no effect on him, his vampiric blood neutralizing the liquid which enveloped him. Ducking under, he allowed the current to carry him silently northward, away from the danger...


(((Alaric has left this thread)))