The rain beat down ferociously upon my armour, sparking every time it came into contact with the imbued fire. The whole river Niben to my right was turned to a shimmering mist and I could barely see the road in front of me. A bolt of lightning cracked across the sky. This was a night of nights. Even my hardy Swamp Boots were finding it hard to cope with the murky mire the path was reduced to, sliding this way and that, sinking occasionally up to my knees. I thanked the Ayleids for the craftsmanship poured into my Greaves of Legerity, I didnt feel a single wet drop. Thousands more drops came crashing down on my head with impunity as I waded towards my destination.
Northerly was my heading, hard as granite was my resolution, caked in filth were my boots. An hour, the Count had claimed this trip would take me. Three hours later and my objective was nowhere to be seen. I had left Leyawiin behind long ago, and even the road signs, of the little I could find, told no more of its tale. Still I laboured onwards, the rain cutting my face worse than the best blade in all of Cyrodiil could have acheived. I could barely make out a great forest to my left; and the onrushing, swollen torrents of the Niben to my right. The white horses were riding high on its crests and broke with ferocity on the near bank; the far bank was lost somewhere in the sweeping rain sheets. Relentlessly the coiled river pounced again and again at the rocks on the bank in a vain attempt to break the might of the great basalt and granite boulders that lay intruding upon its flow. The large, jagged formations were unmistakeable in this part of Cyrodiil where the great glaciers from the mountains had cut their way through the valley and had left behind the remnants of their onslaught. Hard as Leyawiin hearts, they were. But even Leyawiin hearts have proved too weak for the new terror that fraught the land. That of the daedra. For that was why I was marching north on this nights of nights, to stem the flow of the spawn of evil daedra into the city limits.
Slowly I continued along the path, glancing from forest, to rock, to forest, and then ambitiously ahead, trying to catch a glimpse of the "jaws" themselves. Still no sign of progress, and after 3 and a half hours of hard travel I was starting to become tiresome. I stole a peek at the ongoing rock formation by the riverside, the blue-grey surfaces of the jagged boulders were covered in a thick mist that demonstrated the power of this storm magnificently. Another lightning bolt sparked overhead, temporarily illuminating the surrounding landscape. Suddenly, my Khajit eyes tracked a fleeting movement in the rocks. I crouched as low into the mud as I dared, focusing on the rocks, scanning for a threat. All was still again. I stayed crouched, ready to pounce. My hand strayed instinctively toward the hilt of my blade, no use for marksmanship on a night of such low visibility as this.
There it was again. A whisper of activity amongst the defined edges. My hand closed tightly around the grip of the longsword, waiting for the slightest whiff of danger. All seemed to go quiet and still as I zeroed in on the threat with my inherent night-vision, even the pounding rain seemed to grow silent, the tinkling of it on my armour seeming to cease for a moment. Then another lightning bolt shot out of the blue. Not across the sky this time, but from one of the rocks that I was scanning.
Quick as a flash I Dodged to the left. My sideways roll was hampered slightly by the mud, but my years of agility training had payed off. I felt a searing pain momentarily in my right leg, but it passed as quickly as it came. I had dodged fast, but I had still caught the edge of the bolt. Brought to my senses suddenly by the pain, I whipped my Goldbrand out quick as any Khajit could manage, all 4 feet of the blade glowing internally with a deep scarlet, sparking neon blue as the intense rain touched its surface. I instantaneously cast a shield around myself to protect from any follow up to the attack, I felt its warmth sliding downward over my body. Leaping to my feet with ease, the Swamp Boots now feeling light as a feather, I sprang up and looked my target in the face. If you could call it that.
What I had mistaken to be the harsh unforgiving rock of the South was so much tougher. A great Storm Atronach of the daedra arose from the bank. A giant hulking collection of razor-sharp rock spinning around a malicious core filled with magicka intensity; all bound together with the sheer iron will of the spawn of Oblivion. Blueish white electricity rippled across its humungous human-like form akin to veins pumping over muscle, leading back directly to its energy-rich heart. No easy foe.
Taking initial advantage of its lack of speed, I reached behind my back and brought forth my Daedric bow. Reaching back once more I grasped an arrow from my quiver, I felt it tremble slightly in my hands as I brought it to bear and nocked it. It glowed a firey red and orange as I looked down its shaft and took aim, backpeddling all the time to put as much space between myself and the monstrosity as possible. I let fly the Arrow of Immolation, directly toward its core with all the power my bowstring would allow. It left a glowing orange trail behind it as it traced a slight arc directly toward the Atronach.
The Atronach, now risen to its full stature, was aware of the inbound threat. It threw up one of its gigantic boulder-like arms as I willed my arrow to its destination. The arrow was blocked by its arm, the Immolation magic contained within burst forth as the arrow splintered on its limb. A great flowing torrent of flame and lava emanated from the arrow, and showered the Atronach entirely, despite its massive size.
He may have blocked it, but it did little to restrict the damage. It let out a deafening roar, regaining itself after having been damaged so badly.
The Atronach let fly another two bolts of electricity. Being so mesmerised by the sheer intensity of my arrow, I was a little late this time in dodging the bolts. I made a vain attempt to jump left, but the bolts hit home. A thundering explosion filled my ears and my body jerked convulsively as the electricity conducted itself through my insides. Thankfully, the shield I had conjured had insulated me slightly from the blast, and a severe electric shock was all that resulted.
I recovered composure as fast as I could and charged at the Atronach as it recharged its magicka reserves. I slammed my bow back into its holder on my back and withdrew Goldbrand once more, its imbued fire burning with intensive anger. My Khajit speed had me on top of the Atronach in a millisecond, so fast the Atronach was taken aback at the sheer force of it. 'Im just as fast as your lightning', I thought to myself. I swung Goldbrand with precision, casting a wide red arc through the air directly into the Atronach's right side. He felt it. The blade shuddered violently as it passed through his core, but came out serenely on the other side. Another deafening roar was released from the Atronach as I watched the sparkling blue core of the monster fill with red fire and pass again.
The magic of Goldbrand did its work well as the Atronach once again felt the burning hot flame. In his fury and pain, the Atronach swung a crushing blow towards me. Sensing a dodge was far beyond usefulness in this occasion, I crouched down to my haunches and put my Elven shield on display, the blue electric glow of the Atronach reflected in its ornate gold metalwork. I felt a devastatingly heavy blow to my shield as I crouched under its cover and sunk almost to my waist in mud with the sheer power of it. My breath was forced out of my lungs and my head left ringing after the almighty blow, but again the magic enchantment I had cast on myself proved its worth.
Within a second I clarified my head and peeked out from under the shield. The Atronach was charging up another hammer-blow when I swung for his legs with all the fury that Goldbrand could offer. Another fiery explosion engulfed the monster as my blade struck home, and flinching from the strike, the Atronach backpeddled toward the river to give the pain a moment to subside. He threw another lancing firebolt in my general direction as he retreated, but having been hammered into the mud and crouching low, it flew way over my head and set alight a nearby shrub. Flames danced up and cast a glow on the battlefield.
Suddenly, the rain became apparent again as the light illuminated its splashes in the mud. Taking this opportunity to free myself from the mire, I jumped up effortlessly and planted my feet firmly, a space apart, with my blade pointing toward the Atronach, my face etched with determination.
The Atronach, having recovered from the pain, was now charging towards me, preparing another volley of lightning and blows. He was running fast, pounding the ground each time one of his massive limbs stepped. I saw an opportunity. A creature of his bulk would be carrying a lot of momentum at his speed. I stood my ground. His mass was looming up again in front of me, the ground shaking with each step, his electric core glowing even more intensely than ever before.
When he was barely ten meteres away, he let rip another lightning bolt, even larger than any he had before. I was prepared. I sprang lightly to my right, dodging the bolt expertly and landing khajit-like on the side of a boulder. The Atronach carrying his immense weight and momentum in his charge was aware of what I had done, but was too heavy to slow down. He flew past and tried in vain to turn round.
I sprang back off the boulder in a high, graceful arc, somersaulting once, and bringing down my blade directly upon him, carving a great snakelike slash all the way down from the top of his head to the base of his back. He let out a horrifying howl and crashed forward, writhing in the pain of the cobra's strike. Without a moment to lose, I leapt up from my light landing and sprinted directly towards his hulking mass. I raised my blade high above my head as I ran, the blade pointing downward like a fang filled with venom. I lunged forward with the ferocity of a tiger and forced Goldbrand deep into his heart.
A searing fireball filled his body, flowed out along the electric veins toward his arms and legs, was sucked back in towards his heart and then died out. His body trembled once, twice, and then was still. Goldbrand still protruded from his core, now black as the night. I wrenched my blade out from his lifeless body as I felt my magic shield melt away into the mud.
I stood up, surveying the creature. It was face-down in the mud, sinking slowly, with the collection of rocks that formed its body now spread far and wide. Looking at its head, i noticed a small patch that was still glowing, although it was barely enough to notice now. Void Salts. I slid Goldbrand back into its sheath, patting it and thanking it for its help. Taking a small Glass Dagger from a scabbard on the side of my belt, I leaned forward over the Atronach's head and slowly scraped the Void Salts into my hands. 'These'll make some nice poison to grace my arrows with.' I thought as I tipped the salts into a pouch and replaced the dagger. With one last glance and thought for the Atronach, I turned North once more. Looking up ahead, it loomed in the distance. A great orange and yellow glow consumed the path up ahead and infernal lightning sprang from it sporadically. I became aware suddenly of a red glow in the clouds overhead, and the rain seemed to loosen off slightly. A tremendous red thunderbolt cut through the sky and struck directly in the middle of the orange glow ahead. A Gate to Oblivion, I had reached my destination.
Sigh. Sometime I get a bit lost in RPB
they mostly teach you to make a lot out of a little. Sorry for raving like a lunatic
