Ooo catching me just as it turns Thursday! We have almost done art and some writing today! Thanks for including me @mareenavee and @thequeenofthewinter (I apologise, my tumblr is on the fritz and I think this post is very, very broken) tagging @paraparadigm, @friend-of-giants, @snippetsrus, @thana-topsy, @tallmatcha and @saltymaplesyrup
Art first!
Under a cut for longness because I'm a colossal asshole. Stuff about volcanos and annoying Veleth.
And Writing from Chapter 6
The walk back to town took twice as long as it should have, apparently the ash spawn still roamed the frozen ash wastes, just not as organised units. They were painful to deal with, tedious, but stupid on their own. His sword cut through them like fresh scuttle. Their constant attacks served only to slow him down. He didn’t have time for this! The walk back towards the Bulwark’s main entrance had taken almost two hours, and he could feel the positive effects of the potions he’d taken prior begin to wane. Exhaustion pulled at him, he needed to locate those scouts, and he needed to do it soon.
The streets of Raven Rock were silent, as should be expected this late in the evening. Most of the town’s residents having turned in for the night. Now, if he was Ramodo, where would he and his little group hide? There was a series of old buildings on the far side of town, most having been destroyed in the wake of Red Mountain’s eruption. Vvadenfell’s great volcano’s fury reached even this far north. The entire southern section of the island had laid right in the path of Red Mountain’s colossal pyroclastic blast. Each subsequent eruption further buried the island, baren ash wastes replaced the Hirstaang Forest in less than twelve hours. Silence still engulfed this place, poisoned the waters, it was like time had stopped. The eruption and subsequent carnage drove the Imperial forces off the island permanently. Teldryn smiled to himself, maybe that masked bastard got what he really wanted after all. Had the Sharmat really won in the end? After everything he, no they went through to stop his madness. Red Mountain changed everything; he couldn’t get the carnage out of his head. He wasn’t even there for most of it! Maybe that’s what haunted him the most.
The fact that he never tried to stop it.
No, he couldn’t afford to go down that road again. Not right now, not when he had so much to do.
But you were told not to. Commanded not to interfere. You know that it had to happen.
No! Stop this! “Get out of my head!” Teldryn growled under his breath, he clenched the side of his helmet, he’d had just about enough of this constant badgering! It was a pointless request on his behalf. He knew he’d never be rid of him. He didn’t have time to dwell on this! Now if he was Ramodo, where would he hide? Teldryn looked ahead, the wind was really starting to pick up, and the air was beginning to sour. The acrid scent of sulphur and something else burned at his nostrils pulling him from his tumultuous thoughts. An ash storm was coming.
The town centre was blissfully silent, the stalls that circled the town bazaar were barren and grey. Wood weathered from the salt that blew in from the sea, it had faded the orange canvases that adorned the space. From above, the first particles of ash were beginning to fall. It fell like snow, slow, lazy, almost taunting. He held his hand out catching some of the substance on his gauntlet, it turned to fine dust almost immediately. This would complicate things. The silence was cut by the loud jingle of armour, he wasn’t alone.
“At ease, soldier!” Teldryn stiffened and turned to face the captain of the Redoran Guard. He sighed, hoping he was just disguised enough for the captain to merely bark some meaningless order at him. He put on his best guardsman act and saluted the stern elf that stood before him. With any luck, he wouldn’t have to actually talk with the man.
“Late to patrol again, Hlas? You know I’ll have to put this on your record,” Modyn Veleth scolded, Hlas? So that’s whose armour he’d taken, “I see you’ve finally managed to locate your armour.” The guard captain looked Teldryn up and down, the mer was almost a head shorter than him, his face harsh and thin, the dark grey skin dry from the arid, cold environment of southern Solstheim. A chunk was missing from the top of his right ear, an old injury from the Accession War. Another thing he neglected; something else he never tried to stop. The scarring crossed his face, ending at the corner of his mouth and partially disappearing into his neatly cropped beard, the hair was almost as dark as his. Modyn Veleth was a harsh man and his physical appearance reflected that, his eyes narrowed, was he talking? Teldryn hadn’t been listening.
“Did you hear me, soldier?” Veleth sounded frustrated, though when wasn’t the guy worked up over something? “I told you to keep an eye out for suspicious activity, do I need to discipline you again?”
The last thing Teldryn wanted to do was open his mouth. No, that would give him away, he didn’t even know what this Hlas sounded like. He moved to salute the captain instead. Wrong move. Veleth’s face contorted into a scowl, and Teldryn could feel a cough well in the back of his throat.
“Yes- yes captain,” he managed to choke out what seemed to be an acceptable answer. Veleth nodded before setting off towards the Retching Netch, what on Nirn was he doing at this hour? He must have said something to that effect because the guard captain stopped just short of the door.
“What I do on my breaks is none of your business, recruit,” Veleth’s tone was curt, annoyed, Teldryn had hit a nerve, “Now get back to your patrols!” The captain turned to open the door but stopped again, he glared at Teldryn, “Go change that scarf, you look like a disgrace!” He turned back to the door, “I’ll be expecting you bright and early tomorrow, Hlas, you just won yourself a month of latrine duty!” Veleth barked before pulling the door to the corner club open with a force that just seemed so unnecessary and disappeared into the squat adobe building.
A moment passed, two, three. Teldryn let out one of the loudest laughs he had in weeks. Azura’s mercy! What was that poor guard waking up to? A solid month of shovelling- gods he’d have to find whomever this Hlas was and buy him a round, maybe three. Well, if he wanted to annoy Veleth, and he did, so very much, that definitely did it! He would take that as a small win, a modicum of positivity in an otherwise desperate situation. Teldryn laughed so hard he erupted into a coughing fit. Wait ‘til he tells Geldis about this! Shit! He really owed that guard a drink!
Teldryn gasped for breath, gods did he need that! He paused for a minute to gather his thoughts. So, she did tell Veleth about Sigrun’s ambush. He readjusted his scarf and smiled. Good, good, at least the guard wouldn’t be caught unawares. Now, what was he about to do? Finding those scouts, that was it. He was going to search the ruined section of town. It was the most obvious hiding spot he could think of, which was specifically why he chose the caverns underneath the town instead. He’d found them once whilst wandering the island, it would have had to have been the first time he ever set foot in this forsaken place. He’d been someone else back then, curious, less…this though not all there even then. He’d kept what he found down there secret, it’s location only known to two other people. It was perfect. These buildings were not. Hang on.
you may be the latest object of his affection but I'm the reason he believes he destroys everything he loves since I projected and relapsed those behaviors and abuses onto him when I dissecting-ly crafted his psico by repeating how his parents and authority figures scolded and manipulated him throughout his childhood and early teen years of primal social education
