It was dark and the ship rocked back and forth. "Gee that is some storm out there." A guard said looking at the trap door above him. He then turned to one of the cells. The single cell was dark and didnt have a candle that lit it. A pair of red eyes gazed out of the dark at the guard. "Cover your face woman before I come in there and knock you unconscious." The guard said. The figure in the dark pulled a black cloth over her face. It was like a tight fitting mask but it at least let you still see and breath. Then another guard came down. "We are going to leave the ship and leave the prisoners on board. Most of them had been sentenced to death anyways." The other guard said. Then the first guard said: "One more question before we leave. Who is that woman and why is she sentenced to death?" "Oh her. Dont be fooled by her innocent looks. Her name is Ksiara Vantus, an Imperial woman who killed dozens including the guard captain of Bravil and several nobles. Rumor says she killed her parents after doing a blood pact with daedra. She is said to be a powerful necromancer and cannibal too." The other said. Then Ksiara cried: "I am innocent. I didnt kill anyone!" The guards ignored her and left.

Suddenly a voice talked to Ksiara. "Dont worry, Ksiara. You and the other prisoners will survive and get to land safely. As for what will happen to the guards, the storm will drag them further north and they will freeze to death. Now try to break the chains. There is a weak link. Then you can go out and get your revenge." The voice said. The voice wasnt hearable to others often making Ksiara seem to be crazy after talking to herself. The voice said its name was Mehrunes Dagon and wanted to have Ksiara free him from banishment and in return giving her a right hand position. Ksiara began to use a candle holder to hit the chains bound to her in hope of soon being able to escape.

Maric sat in his cell staring out at the guards through the bars. One of the Guards finally noticed him staring at him. "What are you staring at barbarian!" The guard said standing up. Grinning some "come in here and find out piss ant." Maric said to the guard and stood up with the chains not allowing him to move. He had to bend slightly cause of the lowness of the boat ceiling. The guard started to move forward but the guards friend stopped him. "don't Harin.. he may be chained up, but he is still dangerous..he almost killed two of us just trying to put him in that cell.." The Guard started to think twice and noticed just how large the man in the cell was. Sitting back down the guard Harin looked to his friend. "who is he anyways" He asked.


"his name is Maric Taroka, He is a Nord..and a damn big one too..He is on his way for execution for killing a high ranking Nobleman's son and for assaulting and battering..a total of six city guards and now two of us. From what we could get of him..he is a fighter..fought in the Arena in the north..among other places." The Guard shook his head. "So..how we gonna get him out of the cell then?" Harin asked. "Bows and spears with a neckbrace to wrestle him out of there most likely..who knows..once there he is the empires problem." The other guard said. "A necromancer and a murderer on board.. Among other..things" The guard sighed and held in his seat as the boat rocked some more.

Maric leaned closer to the cell door and looked towards the sounds of the guards messing with the supposed Necromancer. "Hey Girl..stay calm..we will get out of here..and go our own ways got it?" Maric said to her and moved to sit back down the wood creaking as he sat down.

Chassvian sat in a dark corner wallowing in despair. He was to be executed for an accident. He had punched the man in a blind rage not to kill, just to make him go away. Knowing that his time would be short Chassvian pulled forth the pen and parchment he had hidden and started drawing a picture of his surroundings. While it wouldn't be a masterpiece at least it would stop him from thinking about his imminent execution. In the distance Chassvian heard a few guards talking about a Nord and some necromancer. Chassvian shuddered when he heard the word necromancer. He had always heard that necromancers were wicked people that only wanted to defile dead people.
After a few minutes Chassvian heard a voice talking through the wall next to him. He couldn't hear what he was saying so he decided to make an introduction. He leaned to the wall and said in his hissing voice, "I am Chassvian and your neighbour. Who are you?"

Thadons eyes were shut closed. He tried to filter out the commotion around him, the guards above, the shouting around him. It annoyed him Thadon liked peace and quiet, seclusion and darkness. However he only got two of those here. He had hoped that prison would give him everything he loved but so far it was turning out to be below par.

Sitting with his legs crossed and his arms chained up against the wall, he listened to the waves lapping against the bow of the ship. The swell getting sucked underneath the ship only feet from where he was sitting. The storm was picking up and he sensed some form of danger. He realised now that if the ship ran aground, he would be in grave danger if he was still sitting where he was. He tried to shuffle a little and mutter some words to himself, trying not to alert the guards. However it wasn't the guards attention he got.

"I am Chassvian and your neighbour. Who are you?". Thadon sat still for a few moments. Did he really want to to exchange greetings with another prisoner? He was here for something he didn't do but he had no doubt in his mind that the others may be murderers, sorcerers and necromancers. The minutes passed by as the waves slammed against the wooden ship before he made any sound. "I am Thadon"

The guards were off the boat. This gave Ksiara a chance to summon something to her help. She only had little magic at the moment due to her weakened state. With her magic she could summon a clannfear who assisted her with breaking her chains. They managed to find the weak link and broke the chain. Free to move but still burdened by the cuffs around her wrists and ankles, Ksiara reached through the bars of her cell, trying to reach the keys for the cell door and her cuffs. Instead the clannfear managed to squeeze through and retrieve the keys. "I have the keys, if you guys want out." Ksiara said to the others. There wasnt much time left since the boat would probably run aground soon. Ksiara got rid of the metal cuffs and unlocked her cell door. She then unlocked the neighbors door and handed him the keys. "Hurry before we shipwreck." Ksiara said.

Maric smiled and took the keys from her and unlocked his cuffs and opened the door stooping low to get through the door and finally managed to stand up to his full height and stretched out his arms. "I hate this boat..I hope it breaks up and drowns them."Maric said and looked to the lady who had freed him and seeing she was a natural beauty and bowed his head to her lightly. "Maric Taroka at your service m'lady" Maric said to her as he turned into the cell and grabbed at length of chain and started to pull on it. With a grunt of force Maric yanked the length of chain off the wooden wall. Taking the Chain maric wrapped his fist up in it. "that will do for now.."Maric said and nodded to the lady "on your lead M'lady" Maric said to Ksiara.

Theorial heard them without much trouble and he listened to the conversation one serial killer and one brute a bad combination if you asked him but not a lethal one. The tall high elf didn't feel anything expect a slight urge to escape, how could they think they have the right to capture him? He hadn't done anything wrong at all only did what he liked to do necromancy but still they captured him. Are they sentenced to a suffering lasting more than decades for one murder or corruption? No they weren't that was what he called unfair but still the world was hard. Theorial stood up listening to the so called freedom of there's a and he thought for a short second focusing a little time before a dagger appearing his hand forging it self out of nowhere he wasn't the very best at conjuration but this was one of the simplest spells out of the school so he could manage it even in this state. He examined the design of the bounds before sticking the knife in between two connections and easily breaking both of them because of a weakening caused by rust and age. Then Theorial walked to the edge of his cell and he raised a finger robbing the key with one push of a invisible hand freeing himself a bit later exhausted by the little use of magic he began to work on his bindings.

"Thank you for getting me out of here. Is there anyway I can repay you?" Chassvian said in a humble voice to the imperial woman. He looked around and saw the other freed prisoners,a nord, a imperial, a high elf and a wood elf. Looking at them he realized that they might be dangerous people. Chassvian became afraid, but he didn't show it instead he would try to behave kindly to them until he could leave or they proved themselves to be good.
"I am Chassvian of the Black Marsch. Who are you people?" Chassvian said with an inquisitive look.

After letting out all the prisoners, Ksiara got a lot of thanks. The person who was in the cell next to her then said: "I hate this boat..I hope it breaks up and drowns them. Maric Taroka at your service m'lady. that will do for now, on your lead M'lady" Then an Argonian said: "Thank you for getting me out of here. Is there anyway I can repay you? I am Chassvian of the Black Marsh. Who are you people?" "I am Ksiara Vantus from Cyrodiil. I am experienced with long swords and dark magics. They arrested me and claimed I killed dozens including nobles and guards but I didnt kill anyone." Ksiara said and smiled weakly. The statement that she didnt kill anyone was a blatant lie.

Suddenly the boat shook almost knocking Ksiara off her feet. Ksiara ran up to the top deck to find that the boat had run ashore. All she saw then was a burning forest and smoke. She smiled mentally but ran back down with a shocked face. "We have hit land but there is a lot of smoke." She said to the others.

Thadon stood silently inside the door frame of his prison cell. Someone had freed him from the chains that bound his hands but he could not make out who. His eyes not accustomed to the bright light that shone through the door. Nonetheless he muttered a quiet "thank you" to the silhouette stranger and walked over to the door.

He was just about to say something when suddenly the boat jolted suddenly. A rock sliced through the bow of the sip only feet from where he was standing. Tumbling to the floor he could hear the creaking of the sand and pebbles through the hard wooden floor of the ship. He felt it come to a stop soon after and everything became silent once more. His head hurt from the fall and a small cut formed on his temple but he was lucky not to have slammed by the rock now jutting through the floor. Thadon heard someone talking about fire and smoke and pulled himself up to try and have a look.

Maric nodded to to Ksiara and looked around at the others. the Arigonian looked a little scared and only smirked before Maric was jolted by the ship into the wall. "We must of run aground.." Maric said as he got up and heard what Ksiara said and moved to look with his own eyes. Seeing a large area that looked to of been set on fire. "Looks like some kind of battle happened here..I can see a body through the smoke..I think it is a body anyways.."Maric said allowed. Looking over to the others maric smiled. "well whos staying on the ship like this..who knows were the guards are..I don't care but im going free"And with that Maric took a running start and jumped over the edge of the ship landing feet first with a loud splash and crouching down hard into the shallow waters of the beach. Pulling up his shirt to cover his mouth from all the smoke. "the heck is that smell..Ive smelled burned bodies before..but this is different" Maric said to no one in particular as he walked up onto the sand to get the sand out of his wrecked prisoner shoes.

Theorial looked in complete silence to the other prisoners observing and grading they were suitable to use. The nord was strong but obviously not bright in the mind and the imperial was obviously to him far from innocent because you couldn't be framed so many times over and then there was the fact she was obviously a little to innocent to be real. Then there's the elf a bad case one of the quick fighters and he seemed to be a more thoughtful type. Theorial smashed his shackles finally after a constant beating against the iron bars but only his right arm was free. He placed his right hand on the left shackle and put enough force to break the lock it with both of his arms. He then almost fell over as they hit land only his reflexes saved him from tumbling over against the prison bars.

He followed the other elf up onto the deck observing the chaos "This is a war zone you can see it in the position of bodies and the type of injuries but you must know Bosmer you must know you seem old and wise enough." He jumped of the boat rolling landing a bit clumsy but without taking any damage hearing what the nord said "and he responded "I guess it's the rotting of the bodies and of course the smell of Morrowind's trait being the ash and what it does to the land." Theorial walked up to a washed up corpse and turned the mutilated Dark elf without any hesitation around finding nothing else than the clothes "I think these bodies have been looted before there's still live around here." The tall high elf stepped over the body onto the beach finding more of them and he decided to scavenge. His coldness was a good trait now because he mercilessly stepped on remains and stole from the dead but he didn't find more than eight coins and a ring that wouldn't be worth much but he decided to keep it close and after a short wile he walked back to the group bringing his information "The bodies have been looted with great precision there's almost nothing left on all of them." They needed to know that but not that he had that loot with him of course.

Maric walked over to a body and kicked it over seeing the charred remains. "No amount of magic can do this kind of damage..even the armor is destroyed by fire..No markings of who's clan they belong to.."kneeling down maric started to search the body. "It is still fairly hot too..this happened very recently..no jewels..no rings..not even a damn coin.." Maric sighed and walked from the body to the grounded ship. "Its clear down here!" he shouted in his deep Nord voice. With that maric went back to try and find himself a better weapon then a length of chain. "I need my armor back..but this crap is burned and charred..my clothes could stop a arrow better then this junk" Maric said to no one in particular as he kicked hard at a charred body his foot denting the metal. "Man the metal is soft.."

Ksiara came back out of the boat and jumped down. She noticed Maric searching for a weapon and armor. "The way it looks, we wont be able to find anything here." Ksiara said. She then pulled out a knife out from between her breasts. It was of daedric work and looked like a ceremonial dagger. "Luckily I could smuggle this on board with me but it wouldnt be of much use in defense." She then noticed a half charred body of a dremora on the ground. "I think I have a clue on which groups had fought here." She said. "Remember the oblivion crisis years ago in Cyrodiil? There must have been a gate to oblivion where dremora had come from to battle here. But why would they attack when Akatosh had banished Mehrunes Dagon into a keep on the plains of Oblivion? They might have found a new leader. I just hope we fight an intact town soon."

Theorial looked at them without any interest but he said it coldly "You do know that the oblivion crisis was caused by the demise of the ruling line of the Septims and that the last sealed the gates shut no normal gate could have opened the only logical explanation would be a large number of sorcerers. Also that dagger isn't one of normal design may I add that it's Deadric highly valuable and deadly but even more interesting." Theorial said it even colder "Incredible rare so even a noble wouldn't have one. Your not skilled in hiding your deed lady because that there confirmed your guilt." Theorial stopped his reasoning to close his eyes a moment and think "I guess were on the western coast so going south the direction of the ship would lead to ebonheart but that's a Imperial fortress maybe north is a better idea. The choice is yours not mine and I can't travel allone so your choice is mine." Theorial knew allot of geography that finally came in handy and he was pretty happy with Farden fell a beutifull location both exotic and far from the mages guild, maybe go and visit the remains of Dagoth ur?

Maric walked over after turning over his tenth body and sighed. "anything decent is burned beyond anything..and what was here is gone..guess ill settle with this for now.."Maric said with a sigh as he rewrapped the chain in his hand. Looking at Ksiara. "We should leave then before anymore of these show up..even your little dagger wouldn't do much to one of these things..besides piss it off." Maric raised a eye brow at Theorial's talk." unless you can prove it with some sort of magic..even if she has a dagger as rare as that..could of been gotten almost a hundred ways..less worry about what she has..and more about a place to get to..and weapons and armor to find so we can defend our selves." Maric said. Accusing one another is no smart thing to do and would only cause conflict in maric's eyes, with those words he turned and started to look through the smoke and haze to see if any kind of road or forest would be near by.

As Theorial said that Ksiara having such an exqusite dagger confirms her guilt, Ksiara said with a tear running down her cheek: "I didnt kill anyone. I found this dagger back in Cyrodiil at an abandoned camp. Plus a weapon only show either the financial status or the preference of its user but doesnt need to exactly explain the character of the person. What if you just found the mace of Molag Bal and someone the jumped to conclusions saying you are evil? It would sadden me to see such a superficial person." Ksiara the saw a bunch of normal unburnt trees in the distance. "Hey there is a forest back there. Maybe theres a town too."

Thadon stood at the bow of the ship looking out at the waste that lay before him. Smoke clogged his senses, his nose began to sting and eyes watered. Thadon wasnt quite sure where he was, it was impossible to make out the architecture of the new charred houses and he didnt want to even go near the bodies that were now blackened to the point of no way of recognizing them.

Thadon looked down at the others who had managed to get off the boat and realised that they were all on the boat for the same reason he was, should he trust them and hope it would benefit his survival or just go his own way and hope to make it to some form of civilization. Either way he knew he needed to find a weapon, preferably a bow and some arrows.

Maric nodded to Ksiara and turned towards the trees she had spotted. "Ill look ahead..maybe find something a little more useful" Maric told ksiara as he took off at a light jog towards the unburnt trees. Moving over burned bodies and burned fallen logs. Reaching the unburnt trees Maric saw that the ravaged area was only a small section of a much larger area. "Were the heck are we.."Maric said to himself and looked around a bit more. Spotting a tree Maric walked over to it and started to climb up it, grabbing a strong branch and moving up higher. Spotting off in the distant what looked like a house of some kind. "HEY EVERYONE GET OVER HERE!!" Maric called out aloud, hoping they heard him.

Ksiara looked around only seeing the scorched ground and mutilated corpses laying everywhere with an occasional dead daedric minion here and there. By judging the tattered equipment of the corpses and pitchfork, these men were mere town militia. In the distance was the base of a now defunct oblivion gate. "Do you see all the death here? You like this dont you." The voice in Ksiara head said. "Or would you rather not have so many dead and rather have them working as your slaves? Free me and you can be my queen. We could rule over Tamriel!" Ksiara didnt reply. Suddenly Maric said: "Hey everyone get over here!!" Ksiara walked over to where Maric was and said: "Whats up? Did you find anything?"

Theorial focused back from planning his journey to the present because it asked for his attention. Theorial glanced at the base of the oblivion gate raising his eye brow a little bit. Wasn't the barrier permanently impenetrable? The world was a strange one always surprising or uprising against it inhabitants. Theorial stated "A house doesn't mean the inhabitant are alive but still it seems unharmed." The lady had in the eye's of the others won the logic but Theorial knew better than all of these fools and of course finding the mace of Molag Bal does mean your evil because Molag Bal never just leaves his artifact unless it serves a purpose. Then there's also the fact that she of all people or the persona she was acting like was the branch of live Theorial would laugh about when he used to laugh. Theorial stared at Ksiara not paying any attention to the others she was the only one that had any magical potential seeing she was the first to escape and he doubted she was physically strong or skilled enough to escape. "May I suggest we go to the house now?" He pulled his eye's of Ksiara to the house adding "Morrowind is a dangerous place at night."

Maric looked to Ksiara and pointed off towards the roofs he could spot in the distance. "A house..and possibly more. We may not be far from a township...I cannot see any large smoke stacks..i say we go..see whats there." Maric said looking at Ksiara and then Theorial. It made sense really to Maric. would be able to find out what possibly happened here and get some better outfits then the rags he was wearing, which were ripped and torn in serveral places due to his size and the previous wearers of this doomed outfit of prisoner clothes. "Can use a good sword in my hand.. really" Maric added a few seconds later.

A body still crawled alone the battlefield. It was the body of a dremora. His legs seemed to be broken or injured in some other way, so he pulled himself with his arms. Ksiara went to the dremora. The dremora noticed and tried to pull his sword but couldnt. "I will kill you, petty beings! Lord Krazzt will destroy your realm and enslave you!" The dremora said. Ksiara tilted her head and said: "How so? Without Mehrunes Dagon you are weak. A dremora cannot lead dremora to victory. Do you wish to be freed you your pain?" She took her dagger out. As the dremora saw the dagger, the name "Mehrunes Razor" went through his mind. But just as he was going to say something, he couldnt say anything. It was as if the sight of the dagger had robbed him of his speech. A fear grew in him, the fear that Mehrunes was going to kill all minions who turned their backs on him. "Hey! Guys! What should I do with this heavily injured dremora? She I free him of his suffering or just leave him out here to die?" Ksiara said towards the others.

Theorial looked at Maric for a second confirming his first analyses that the big Nord was close to a brute but then 'she' began talking. Theorial followed Ksiara calmly observing the Dremora. The fierceness of the Dremora had to be admired, they were useful tools to there lords but also a little bit too smart to be the soulless war machines needed. Theorial responded coldly "Excuse me." He walked over to the Dremora paralyzed the guy with a quick spell and removed the sword and the holder walking over to Maric "It would be much more useful if you used it I'm not much of a physical warrior." He lied but fighting hand to hand was dangerous it was better to let some large bulk of muscle do it just like zombies there only there to distract and get killed. Theorial now answered Ksiara "Well just kill him deadra aren't the kind of creatures to fear pain or death so either isn't important let's continue." He put a small tone of mockery knowing she probably knew more of deadra than he did and it was just to test if she had a short fuse.

Maric looked at the sword and looked it over closely, feeling the weight of the Deadric blade. "Rare to find anything from the realm of Oblivion..let alone to hold a Deadric sword and to use it.."Maric slid the sword back home into its sheath and strapped it around his waist, and walked over to were the Dremora lay dying slowly. "Before your fate is decided..What did this..did your kind do this or was there more" Maric asked looking down at the creature, his shadow covering all of the creatures body, which allowed for his eyes to glow slightly in the dark. "I would take his armor..but it looks to be a bit small for me.. Do tell what happened here while you live creature" Maric said again his left hand on the hilt of his new sword.

He looked over to Theorial and nodded a silent thanks to him, enjoying the feel of a sword in his hand once more.