“I’M GIVING YOU THREE SECONDS TO RUN, CAT.”
Sept 2017 VS Sept 2018
Tag: brothersofthedominion rp 3
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
“GET BACK HERE, YOU MANGY ANIMAL!” Icarus bellowed as he struggled in comparison to the cat getting through the snow. He aimed another firebolt, but it extinguished before he could fire. He spat curses in Altmeris, even with the new amulet, his magicka was lacking. Nonetheless, the justiciar hurled threats and curses at the Khajiit while all the while attempting to rekindle enough energy for another firebolt. Buts this godsdamned snow. The cat was getting away, and Icarus was not having any of it.
Moments later, if the cat could hear him from the far distance he gained on the mer, he’d hear him cackling like a mad elf as the justiciar plowed through melting snow, bright flames spewing through his hands, empty magicka bottles chucked behind him. “YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER, CAT!” the mer laughed manaically, slowing catching up to the black khajiit as the snow depth began to die down. Once the snow went up to his ankles, he aimed a couple more firebolts at the cat.
Blinded by rage and hate, the mer failed to realize that they had both entered Winterhold, failed to notice the panicked townsfolk and the guards chasing after him. More importantly, failed to noticed that he aimed a firebolt at the inn that the cat had run into.
It was one of those few moments that it was fortunate Ancano was in the area. The superior mers eyes widened as he scrambled up a ward to repel the firebolt within seconds, saving the town from his irresponsible subordinate.
Ancano grabbed the frenzied Altmer, a troubled look appeared on the older mers face as he saw the guards surround them. The mer cleared his throat, “I have this under control!” Ancano shooed away the guards, “No damage appears to be done and everyone is unharmed! Return to whatever it is you were doing! Official Thalmor business!”
The guards mumbled to themselves before spreading out, but not before threatening that they had their eyes on the pair. As they scattered, Ancano took his focus to his subordinate, who was still shouting Altmeris obsceneties to the Khajiit inside. A scowl slowly turned into an angry display of teeth on Ancanos face.
“You ingrate!” Ancano spat as he clonked the smaller mer over the head. “Are you trying to get us all kicked out of the college. I should have had you exp-” His eyes caught glimpse of the amulet around his neck and the amulet in his hand. “What is this?!” Ancano hissed as he snatched both from the justiciar.
“Wait! Nononono– I need that! Sir! That helps my magicka somehow!” Icarus scrambled to reach the necklace from his superiors grasp.
“Absolutely not. You amazingly manage to be a irresponsible threat to the people while magickally handicapped. I don’t need to worry myself when you have a full supply. Now whats the o-” Ancano paused the second he got a closer look at the other amulet.
He knew he had seen that amulet before.
…
Wait a moment…
“Where… Where did you get this?” Ancano inquired sternly.
“What- that?” Icarus pointed at the smaller of the two amulets, “What are you talking about- I’ve had that since I was a child.”
“Elaborate.”
“I’m-I’m sorry what?” Icarus stammered, confused.
“Where did you get that amulet?!” Ancano interrogated, the his clenched fist inches from the smaller Altmers face. The amulet swung back and forth between his knuckles.“What- I- Wh-” Icarus stumbled away from the overbearing mer, “From my mother. Said its supposed to be something she got from my father.” He was very much confused. “The hells this about anyways?”
Ancano exhaled deeply, “… It’s nothing.” He took in mind the broken chain, “The other student damaged this, I assume?”
“Yes, sir…?”
“Very well. I’ll see this gets repaired. I’ll speak with the Archmage and see if the khajiit can cover repair expenses since it was his doing. It may take a couple weeks if I can’t find a blacksmith in the area, however, so I hope you are okay with that. Worse case scenario, your colleague is buying you a new chain.”
Icarus was incredibly confused about the sudden and unexpected kindness. However, he was not one to complain if the coin was not coming out of his pocket.”Really? I would appreciate that. I um… Thank you sir.”
“Mm.” Ancano hummed, a stern expression still on his face. His eyes shot a glare at Icarus. “Now get back to the college!” He barked, “We don’t pay you to screw around at an expensive institution!”
Icarus scrambled in the direction leading to the campus “Yes sir!!”Ancano inhaled, stuffing the amulet in his pocket, no intention of either speaking to Savos or getting the jewelry repaired, “Well this should be interesting…”
J’hasi’s back slammed against the door, gasping for breath, clutching at his shoulder. He could hear yelling outside, pressing his ear to the wood, listening while also trying to find a way out. Dagur peered at him from behind the bar, confused and then shocked at the sight of blood streaking down the front of the Khajiit’s robes.
…the yelling stopped.
He tried to listen more closely with the pounding of his heart in his ears, his ragged breathing…and then it was quiet outside, aside from the growing howl of wind.
The Khajiit let out a whoosh of breath, relaxing slightly. Safe. For now. He just…he needed to sit down…
…or he could meet the floor rather abruptly. That worked too. J’hasi groaned thinly, seeing bright red at the edge of his vision before his eyes closed.
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
Icarus jerked backwards when he felt what felt like metallic thread yank from behind his neck. Whatever it was, it snapped after an uncomfortable amount of pressure against his throat.“What in th-” The justiciar exclaimed as he spun around to see–
The Khajiit.
And an amulet in its hands.
Specifically his calian that was supposedly from his father.
The Altmers pupils shrunk to a pinprick as he slowly approached the thieving bastard, ripping the amulets from its paws.
The chain was broken.
The son of a bitch broke the godsdamned chain.
Icarus went incredibly quiet for a moment, observing the damage. Seconds later, his hate-ridden eyes zeroed in on the Khajiit.
“I do believe I made my self very clear as to what would happen to you should you try and pickpocket me again…” The justiciar seethed through a display of teeth. One hand had a tight clutch on the charm, the other had flames roaring from his palms.
“I’m giving you three seconds to start running, cat.”
J’hasi looked up, startled by the sudden grab, the tone, the flames and the-
Oh, fuck.
The Khajiit booked it, hearing roaring fireballs launched at him shortly after, striking the snow as he barely dodged, one grazing his scarf and setting it ablaze, tumbling in a roll to put it out. The snowstorm was picking up, so maybe it would help him lose the whelp, but he wasn’t counting on it. As it was he was barely keeping on top of the deeper drifts, gasping in pain and for breath as he scrambled over snow and rock, cursing that thrice-damned draugr and it’s fucking icicles.
He yelped when he landed in a deeper drift, buried before scrambling out best he could, further and further off the relatively shallow snows of the path.
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
Icarus immediately regretted going back outside.
The blistering winds bit his cheeks and the snow nearly went up to his knees. The mile and a half trip back to Winterhold seemed like it was going to last for an eternity. “Godsdammit,” Icarus snarled to him, “Whenever I said ‘I miss the sea breeze at home,’ this is the exact opposite of what I meant.” It was much windier than it was this morning, gods know, there was probably a blizzard on the way. Icarus glared back at the khajiit slowly trailing behind him. “Move it cat!” The justiciar snapped, “I don’t plan on us both dying out here from hypothermia because you’re fucking around back there.”
He hated this province.
He hated its run down cities. He hated the half-witted lesser races running all over the place. He hated the Stormcloak buffoons who pretty much dragged him into this icy shithole.
He just hated this province so godsdamned much.Speaking of lesser races, he made a made another glare back at the Khajiit; had to make sure the furry bastard didn’t try anything funny.
He was losing too much blood.
The icicle had mostly melted out of his wound, leaving it open and bleeding despite the pressure he was putting on it. The Khajiit was going to wait longer for the whelp to get tired before he made his move, but as it was his hands were shaking, and it would only get worse. J’hasi picked up the pace a little, shooting a glare right back at the Altmer, acting annoyed but casual, conserving his strength. He needed to get that amulet away from him, it was too much of a risk with him being Thalmor and himself an on-the-run Blade. Who knows what that thing could do to the whelp’s magicka.
So…obviously…carefully pickpocketing it from him was the plan.
Barely a brush against the collar of those robes, something that could easily be explained by the rough wind snatching at their clothes, and…the Khajiit tripped a little, some rock under the snow or something, and he felt something pop against his fingers, a silver chain pooling in his hand, and…
Wait…this wasn’t the amulet. It was a round bit of quartz with a mess of intricate curls of silver around the outside with some glass and sapphire set in. Nothing like the amulet he remembered. J’hasi stared at it, perplexed and confused.
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
While those two were absorbed with the giant mystery sphere, Icarus had his attention elsewhere- specifically the burial urns lying about the tomb. For the most part, there wasnt anything special in any of them: a minor magicka potion, a couple of gold pieces here and there (though some gold was better than no gold, yeah?) The justiciar gave an incredibly vocal “Oooh!” as he managed to pull a small gem from one of the urns. Nothing too valuable looking, but had to worth at least something. Tolfdir’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“Excuse me, Icarus?”
The Altmer, took a deep inhale- Sure, the cat digs through other peoples stuff, no one blinks an eye, but the second he does it to people who are dead and dont need it anymore–“Yes sir?”
“I’d appreciate if you accompanied J’hasi back to the college, please. It’d be better if you both went in case one of you gets hurt.”
Oh.Icarus stretched one side of his mouth before replying with “Yes sir.”
The justiciar gave one shuddering glance at the draugr before glaring at the khajiiti student next to him, “Lets move, cat. The sooner we get out of this frozen shithole, the better.”
The Khajiit shot a glare at the Thalmor whelp, tail swishing sharply before he turned away to take a knee next to the fallen draugr. He had a bad feeling in his gut and a prickle in his fur about all this. Leaving Tolfdir here alone, the whelp with that amulet…he tugged his dagger out of its chest with a squelch of congealed…something. That ghost…apparition thing…whatever it was…telling him that he’d set something in motion… It all just felt like he’d stumbled upon something that reeked of trouble.
J’hasi’s fingers brushed something as he wiped his blade clean, startling him a little. He looked down, an amulet and a piece of parchment peeking out from under the draugr’s armor, catching his eye. His back was to the Thalmor brat, so slipping it into his pocket while sheathing his dagger was easy. He’d investigate it later. He tried to tug the sword out of the undead’s chest too, only to gasp and give up at the hot shooting pain in his shoulder. Right. Not trying that again.
The Khajiit got up, spotting a staff on the table nearby, where the draugr had been previously seated. Tolfdir was busy with the orb, thus giving him a perfect opportunity to lock eyes with the Altmer whelp, nonchalantly taking the staff. While it wasn’t his spear, it would be a suitable surrogate until he could get back to the College. He spotted a door behind the orb, heading towards that with a flick of his tail.
If he didn’t have to use the staff, then it could always afford him a few textbooks. Or some replacement robes…
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
Icarus dug his gloves into the cold stone ground. He pulled himself away from underneath the dueling couple. The mer jumped a little when the cat chucked a blade in his direction. Icarus got himself back on his feet, taking his attention to the giant globe, which was now under attack from his instructor.
“There!” Tolfdir shouted, only a few feet from the vivid sphere, electricity spewing from his palms. “Now attack it!”
The justiciar looked back at the blade before him. His lips stretched, “Thanks cat,” he uttered as his fist clenched a golden hilt tucked at the side of his belt.“but I ain’t gonna need that.” He gave a heavy swallow, taking a moment to study the draugr. It was only one, the two of them should be able to handle this if what Tolfdir suggested was true. Icarus lunged himself at the shambling corpse, ramming his dagger into the back of the draugrs knee. He tore through the dried up tendons as he ripped the dagger from the side. “Down you go you stinky bastard.” The mer sneered. He could not help but be somewhat proud of his handiwork there. He jumped back, yelping when the draugr, while crippled, violently whipped its head in his directions.
Gods those eyes gave him the creeps.
Whatever the whelp did, it drew the undead’s attention from him for just a moment, long enough to act on Tolfdir’s word and give his dagger a nice new resting place sheathed deep in the draugr’s chest. He dropped back only for a moment to avoid a wild slash in his direction, narrowly dodging the worst of the pair of ice shards cast at him immediately after. One gazed his cheek while the other went wide, crashing harmlessly on the wall far behind him. He sprang back at the draugr, slicing through it’s chest with his sword, then slamming an elbow in it’s jaw, breaking its neck and ow-right wrong arm…
J’hasi landed a bit heavily on the stone, his free hand grabbing his shoulder that was aggravated by the final blow, watching their opponent crash to the ground with a gurgling growl. He walked over to sheathe his sword into it’s chest one more time, leaving it there, just in case as the soulfire eyes sputtered out and died. He panted, swiping over his mouth with the back of his hand, flinching a little from his shoulder before turning to look at the other two, then at the barrier that dissipated, leaving the massive orb exposed.
“I’m not the only one seeing this, am I?” Tolfdir asked, voice awed. “Why, this is utterly unique!” The Khajiit looked at the elder, ears cocked under his hood.
“What is this thing?”
“I have no idea! This is amazing! Absolutely amazing! The Arch-Mage needs to be informed immediately. He needs to see this for himself!” Tolfdir looked back at the Khajiit.
“I don’t dare leave this unattended. Can you return to the College and inform Savos Aren of this discovery? Please, hurry.” J’hasi swallowed.
“Um…what should I tell him?” Tolfdir turned back to the orb, excitement and curiosity written all over his face.
“Let him know that we’ve unearthed something… Well, I’m not sure. Something unique, let’s say. It’s clearly magical in nature, but like nothing I’ve ever seen before. He should be most interested.” J’hasi gave a sideways glance to the Thalmor whelp lingering nearby.
“…will you be alright by yourself?”
“Oh, I think I’ll be fine. We seem to have eliminated the most pressing threat. It certainly seems that whoever placed this here intended for it to be well guarded. I wonder why…” The elder trailed off, seeming absorbed in the artifact.
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
“Oh please,” Icarus scowled as he began to turn around . “I’m pretty sure you can get a decent view of this thing ov-” his blood froze as he saw the backside of the corpse, its head now turned where the blue glow in its eye sockets seared into his soul. The mer shrieked, tripping over a dusty jug. He scrambled to get back on his feet as the draugr swung its sword, grazing the terrified Altmer.
“Get–” The mer swallowed heavily to regain his composure, lifting his arms towards the Nordic corpse in preparations for a shock spell, “GET BACK YOU SHAMBLING BASTARD!!” Sparks blasted from the magelings hands, showering the Draugr in electricity. Icarus could only thank whichever magnificent bastard that created the amulet around his neck.
His relief was immediately retracted when the undead fiend stared him in the eyes, yanking the khajiits dagger from his shoulders, unscathed from the shower of sparks.
“GUYS. THIS AIN’T WORKING!” Icarus panicked, frantically casting a ward between him and the draugr.
The Altmer yelped as a single ice bolt from the animated carcass shattered his ward effortlessly, the golden color draining from his face.
The Khajiit hissed between his teeth when he got to his feet, heat soaking into his clothes and only marginally soothed by the jagged piece of ice, hearing Tolfdir overhead as he rushed to the stairs.
“Keep it busy! I’ll try to drain some of it’s power!” J’hasi saw the draugr lifting its sword for another blow, darting in front of the Thalmor whelp to block the strike with a crash of steel.
“If you don’t have a blade, move it!” he snapped, shoving the undead back, away from both the elder and the whelp. The stagger was brief, long enough for the Khajiit to recover from the hot tear of pain in his shoulder before it lunged again, sword whistling over his head when he ducked, then darted to the side. He had to keep it away from the other two who didn’t have a blade to dance with. Which, considering his shoulder, would mean blocking would have to be last resort. As it was his shoulder felt like it was on fire, with only a snowflake’s breath in the center. He could see his dagger in the undead’s hand and hissed a little.
“I do believe that’s mine!” J’hasi spat at the draugr, darting just past it, grasping it’s arm and twisting it behind its back. He sharply tugged his dagger from it’s bony grip before kicking off and landing behind it.
“Thaaank you!” He tossed one of his blades to the Altmer on the ground, the ancient steel clattering over the old worn stone before he flipped his grip on his dagger, darting in again, aiming a glancing blow against undead flesh that didn’t yield to magic nor blade, but at least kept the thing’s attention on him.
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
Icarus grumbled in Altmeris as he yanked the last dart from his arse, half tempted to chuck it at the khajiit. Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly afford to be suspended at this point. The teal beams of light stung his eyes when the doors opened. “Argh! what the hell–” The high elf squinted heavily. When his eyes finally adjusted, he could see what everyone went quiet for.
“Huh.” The mer rested his chin on his thumb, “Well I’ll be damned, this province actually does manage to cough up something interesting.” he murmured to himself as Tolfdir began to gawk at the massive…glowy ball thing.“I never imagined we’d find something like this!” Tolfdir marveled, “Why was this buried so far within Saarthal?”
Ignoring his instructors fawning, Icarus presses his arm against his furry companion, pressing him away, “S’cuse me cat. Official Thalmor business.” While he was borderline used to the musty stench of death, it reared its ugly head as he made his way downstairs.
“Bloody hell,” the elf cringed as he spotted the source of the smell- well, two sources really. Placed on an what he would guess be an alter was a wrapped mummified body. Seated before it was a armored corpse. He had his suspicions, but this thing was probably like the rest of the mindless folk in this underground city. The elvish student approached the seated corpse, electricity sparking in one hand.
“I know you are there, you undead fiend.” Icarus scowled, “Rise and fight, and we’ll make this easier for the both of us.”
No response.
The mer cleared his throat, “I said you’re not fooling anyone. You dont want us here, and quite frankly I dont want to be down here either. Lets just get this over with and we’ll be out of here quicker.”
The body remained stationary. Icarus stretched his lips before waving his unoccupied hand over the corpses remnants of a face. He paused before flicking the carcass’ helm. “Anyone there?”
Still nothing.
The mer shrugged before bringing his attention back to the massive sphere. “Well now.” Icarus mused to himself, failing to notice the rising draugr behind him, “What in the eight do we have here…?”
He’d rolled his eyes when the Thalmor brat went to have a chat with a corpse, looking at the massive rotating orb in the rear half of the room, surrounded by swirls of blue light rippling around the dais it seemed to be housed in. The floor looked like it was made of a similar material, too. Strange markings covered the surface and…
…his fur was prickling…
J’hasi’s eyes caught the near-silent rise of the seated draugr once the whelp turned his back, his stomach clenching and the skin under his fur shooting cold in response.
He drew his dagger and threw it at his target, a flash of gold sinking into the back of the undead between its shoulderblade and spine. It coughed out a sharp growl and turned around, its intended blow for the unaware mer swishing just past his side.
“MOVE IT, WHELP!” The Khajiit barked, racing for the edge of the second floor, springing off to aim his blades right for that thing’s chest…
…only for the draugr to fire off a pair of icicles at him, one whizzing just past his face and the second sinking into his shoulder and knocking him back into a wall with a thump and a crash of ice overhead. J’hasi slid to the ground, pieces tinkling down around him as he hissed, grabbing the shard embedded in his shoulder.
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
Icarus crocked his brow at the puzzles this time around. It was quite literally the same thing– same pattern, same portraits above the pillars, same lever.
Icarus snorted as he assigned the stones to their assigned portrait from above. “By the eight, I knew the Nords were dull beasts,” the supercilious tone in his voice would’ve grated on anyone, “But I genuinely did not think that they were this incompe–”
The yank of the old lever was followed by a stream of shrill Altmeri obscenities as darts shot across the room and coating the unfortunate lads inside.<”Fucking shit!”> The justiciar spat, viciously yanking the darts from his arm, <”I did that damn puzzle correctly, what the hell happened?!”>
He immediately spotted the issue- one of the pillars- no, two of them- had been misaligned.
No, that can’t be right, he knew he moved that one!
… Unless…
“Dammit, you two-legged furry bastard!” The high elf spat at his Khajiiti companion, chucking the darts. “How about you don’t touch, and we can get out of this frozen hell hole a little faster?!”
He’d just about had it with this arrogant little brat, ears pressing back as his teeth flashed in the dim light of the barrow.
“I didn’t touch anything! Maybe if you had brains rather than dung in your skull you’d notice I’m way over here, and the pillars are moving way over there!” The Khajiit pulled a dart out of his side, one of the few that had tagged him before he fully realized what was about to happen, throwing it at the mer’s face in frustration and irritation before walking towards the pillars. He’d handle this himself before this damned field trip had a casualty. Or before he got another round of darts shot at him.
There was a brief moment that J’hasi looked over the pillars properly, thinking over which stones he’d seen move in response to the Altmer’s meddling before he started turning them. That one turned three, but that one turned two…
It clicked. The Khajiit moved to each pillar in turn, spinning them to the correct animal shown above it. First the far left, the near left, far right, near right and… His eyes flicked over the stones, double-checking the symbols before pulling the lever, glad that the damned door simply opened rather than giving them another sharp present in response.
J’hasi passed the whelp without giving him a glance, ears flicked back and adjusting his grip on his blades as he headed down a small set of stairs, pausing directly in front of one of those pressure traps like the one Icarus had set off earlier, putting his arm out with a sharp glare at his irritating tagalong.
“Don’t step on that. I have had enough holes put in me for one day.” he snapped quietly. An ear pricked when he heard footsteps, turning around to ready himself against a draugr before…
“Hold on, hold on!” Oh. Tolfdir. The Khajiit relaxed a little as the elder trotted around the corner and down the stairs to meet up with them.
“I thought it high time I caught up with you two. The carvings here are simply fascinating…” J’hasi felt a little relief that someone had joined them. He was starting to seriously reconsider his unspoken promise to the Thalmor brat’s brother and have him find a little ‘accident’ in the barrow. Aldaril seemed to be the only person who would mind, actually. The Khajiit rolled his shoulders a little before he made his way down the next hallway, ears pricked for any signs of unlife, pushing open another set of doors to find…
“Well now…would you look at that…”
Under Saarthal – Icarus/J’hasi
brothersofthedominion:
For once, Icarus actually learned his lesson. He nearly grasped the lever before pulling his hand away. Deep sockets neatly lined down each corner of the room. The mer was at least capable of catching on this time.
As the mer observed the room for more signs of a trap, something caught his eye- deep in the very back of the alcove, small indents could be spotted, too smooth to be natural weathering.
A… parrot? hawk?? bird-thing???
The Altmer leaned on the stone in front to observe a closer look, but found himself leaning a little too fast as the stone began to rotate under him. Followed with the sounds of excessive Altmeri surprise, Icarus nearly cracks his skull on… divines know whatever this bird stone-doodle was supposed to be.
Recomposing himself, he studies the rotating stone- Nah, that had to be a pillar of some form. It shifted far too smooth and easy to be natural at all. And there it was- animals on each side of the pillar- fish, snake, and bird.
Then it clicked in that advanced Altmeri brain of his.
Looking back and forth between the pillar and the wall, the mage shifted the pillar just as the bird hieroglyphs matched each other. Ready to pull the switch, he noted carvings on the other wall- A whale- or fish or something.
Right. There was a fish on the pillar from earlier.
After adjusting the pillar that it would match with the wall, he checked the previous rooms- noting that another bird hieroglyph was already matched- someone was already here most likely and messed it up perhaps?
Though really, how could anyone mess up something this simple?
Finding three more pillars and correcting them to their wall, the high elf eagerly made a beeline for the lever, giving it a impatient yank.
The justiciars eyes lit up when the gate lifted and a overly proud grin took over his elven features.
He stood up straight, hands clasped behind his back as he glanced at his Khajit partner.
“A-hem”
The Khajiit had stared levelly at the mer with terse patience as he fiddled with each column in turn, ears pulling back a touch more when the Altmer flipped the lever and looked back at him as if expecting praise when the gate retracted up into the wall. J’hasi pushed past him with a slight scowl.
“Congratulations, you can match shapes.” he muttered, heading around the bend in the hall down to a set of doors that led further into the barrow, not caring if the whelp followed or not. At this point he just wanted to get out of this place.
The next room was larger, more open, but unfortunately reeked just as much of death as every room and hallway prior. The Khajiit was starting to wonder just how far into the ground this place went. ‘Tolfdir did mention that this used to be a city…’ his mind recalled unhelpfully, grimacing at the thought. Who would want to live underground like this, with stale stagnant air and…? He’d just trotted up the wooden stairs that reeked of rot, only to catch the barest hint of movement and a groaning shudder, startled by the swing of an axe from a draugr.
He was glad that he didn’t squeak (though his breath did hitch sharply in his chest) as J’hasi let himself fall backwards through the next set of doors, hands touching the ground and springing him back up to his feet in the next room. The axe screeched against the door’s surface as the undead stumbled after him, following until he lunged forward and sliced into it. A hand snatched it by the side of its face, the Khajiit’s thumb digging into the underside of its jaw as he slammed it into the wall, hearing and feeling its neck break under his fingers.
He didn’t turn to look at the whelp, knowing that he had to calm down from the scare fast, lest that thrice-damned Altmeri brat catch on to his puffed tail and general unease about every undead thing crawling around in this place.
Even if the Thalmor whelp hadn’t noted his little…issue with the denizens of this undead city-turned-crypt, he’d been distracted enough with the appearance of one draugr (eyes firmly fixed on another body laying in a recess of the wall he needed to pass ahead of him) to neglect noticing the violet lines glowing softly on the floor in the next hall. Or the one right after he sprang onto it in sharp surprise from the first, though the second didn’t tingle so much as make his muscles seize, stealing the breath right out of his lungs, legs and stomach and everything jittering and twitching with hot pain as J’hasi fell against the wall, panting and squeezing his eyes shut.
He cracked his eyes open to see more stone pillars ahead on the other side of the room, gritting his teeth at another jolt of pain from the rune, wondering if he honestly preferred facing the undead in this place alone over with an audience he loathed.
vvardenfellcat 