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Post by Neravarine on Jun 21, 2009 9:28:15 GMT -5
I was mid afternoon in the Bitter Coast. The sun's lazy rays barely penetrated the mossy branches of the trees above, casting dim shadows on the soggy, swampy forest floor. The only other sources of light were glowing luminous russula, which were enormous mushrooms and fungi. Chirps of prehistoric insects and amphibian-like creatures echoed softly along with the gentle lapping of the numerous brine streams and ponds. Indeed... One might say the swamps of the Bitter Coast were actually pleasant... Instead... Of... Well... Bitter. Suddenly, a splash sounded, sending droplets in the air as a figure padded out of a nearby moss covered stream with scaled feet. It was an argonian, clad in a dripping black robe tied around the waist with a dark gray sash. His lean body was covered in scales that were a vibrant, red color, all the more glittering because of the water. Gold markings decorated his face, a sign that he was a male, about his early twenties. Small black spines ran down his head and lower neck, enough of them to almost mistakenly be called hair. His long tail and sharp, sage colored eyes flicked back and forth thoughtfully as he hefted a leather pack, walking deeper into the forest, away from the stream. He seemed to have a fixed direction, as he would pause every now and then to recognize a landmark, and continue walking.
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Post by +~*Snowy*~+ on Jun 22, 2009 17:50:51 GMT -5
"This way?... No, this way? No- no definitely not that way!" A female Argonian was walking through the forest, her hands held close to her mouth as if protecting herself from something. Her brow was scrunched up in worry as she seemed to go in what looked like a large, irregular pentagram shape. Nalia would wander over to a bush or mushroom-tree as if expecting something, say no, then wander away, look around, and wander over to the next clump of foliage. "Here? No... There? Mayb- No..." Nalia was lost in the Bitter Coast, with no map, little food, and low heath stamina. And all she'd been doing for the past hour and a half was walking in an irregular pentagram shape.
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Post by Neravarine on Jun 22, 2009 18:20:56 GMT -5
Vistha Kai continued to walk straight, his bare, scaly feet silent among the marshy ground as he smiled slightly. He should be going in the right direction... If he needed to, he could always use his map. If that dwemer ruin was where he thought it was, he should be getting close. He stopped suddenly when he heard a slight shuffling sound ahead of him concealed behind some dense foliage... The male argonian's sage colored eyes narrowed and his teeth drew back in a snarl, revealing his incredibly sharp teeth... Not many people came this deep in the Bitter Coast, usually bandits... And the argonian warlock was NOT in the mood for this. Still... this was a problem he needed to fix here... The dwemer ruin was straight ahead for about another half mile. Crouching down, Vistha walked as silently as the snake he looked like toward the bushes. Using his left hand, he drew back part of the bush and peered through, sage eyes widening in absolute shock... An argonian... Kin... A female none the less... Armed to the TEETH... Two massive katanas strapped to her back and a steel longsword at her hip. She stood about 6 foot... Which would have made Vistha feel incredibly inept at his 5-8, but at the moment he was still too stunned. She walked back and forth, occasionally getting fairly close to Vistha's hiding place, almost as if she were looking for something... The male argonian smiled humorously. She was lost... It was almost kind of cute... Shaking his head seriously he stood up and slowly and walked over, hands outstretched none threateningly at his sides. "<Excuse me swamp sister... Are you lost?>" Vistha said with a friendly smile, tone incredibly polite, something unusual for him.
(Note, in <> means they are speaking hist, the argonian's natural tongue.)
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Post by +~*Snowy*~+ on Jun 22, 2009 19:04:39 GMT -5
Nalia jumped and her hand instinctively went to the longsword at her belt, but she relaxed a bit when she realized he was acting very non-threatening. Then she tensed again. Maybe there were others hiding in the bushes and he was trying to get her to lower her guard. The female Argonian kept her hand at her sword... Then she just blinked and blanked out. Was this guy speaking Hist? Nalia thought back to all those lessons her parents and grandparents had tried to teach her. Unfortunately, the only phrases she knew were 'Hello', 'Goodbye', 'May I have this', 'I don't speak Hist', and 'Where is the bathroom'. That, and a motley assortment of random words (cat, dog, mother, stick, ten) and a handful of swear words and insults (more so than useful words), but she was sure those wouldn't help her here. Struggling to remember anything, Nalia opened her mouth to speak. What was supposed to be "<I don't speak Hist.>" was unfortunately butchered with grammar and pronunciation mistakes, so it came out more like: "<Hist no her talk.>" Although she was blissfully unaware of this at the time.
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Post by Neravarine on Jun 22, 2009 19:16:36 GMT -5
Vistha just stared in wonder, scaly eyebrow raised... Hist no her talk?... "Fine... We speak old elf." Vistha stated calmly, dragging his s sounds, a result of his accent. He kept a reptilian sage eye on her longsword, which for a few seconds she seemed eager to use, and the argonian felt his right hand twitch ever so slightly in readiness to send of a spell... But she seemed to calm down or mellow down just a little. Vistha blinked once. "I asked if you were lost... I watched you for a while and you were going in circles. Do you need help?" He kept his voice pleasant... He didn't want to hurt her pride, he just wanted to see if she needed help. Normally, Vistha would be reluctant, but seeing as it was a female argonian, old tribal instincts started to rise and that was to treat all females respectfully.
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Post by +~*Snowy*~+ on Jun 22, 2009 19:23:19 GMT -5
"Hm. Seemed like a pentagram to me..." She muttered. "And for your information I'm not lost. I just conveniently fed my map to a Cliffracer... And all my food to Slaughterfish... Yeah but other than that I know exactly where I am." Nalia boasted. "I am in a swamp... Which damn swamp I am in I have yet to determine..."
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Post by Neravarine on Jun 22, 2009 19:27:21 GMT -5
There was a slight pause as Vistha just stared at her, mouth slightly agape before he closed it again... "The Bitter Coast?..." Vistha offered uncomfortably. "It sounds like you just had bad luck... Do you want something to eat?"
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Post by +~*Snowy*~+ on Jun 22, 2009 19:44:15 GMT -5
Nalia sharply turned her head away. "I don't need your charity." She replied. She sabotaged herself when her stomach growled quite loudly. Nalia seemed to be trying harder to look resolute. "That doesn't mean anything. It just means that my stomach's eating itself. It'll last for a while. Why are you here? Come to jump me? I've got blinding potion!" Really, she didn't have Blinding Potion, though she partially believed she did, so it was a good lie.
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Post by Neravarine on Jun 22, 2009 19:51:37 GMT -5
Vistha rolled his sage eyes... Proud like himself... "No... Do I look like some kind of common outlaw?" Making a point of showing her his black silk robes. "I'm actually from Mages Guild. I'm researching a nearby dwarven ruin... Supposedly the only one in the Bitter Coast. In fact, I was surpised to see you here." The argonian mage shrugged indifferently. He couldn't help her if he she didn't want it. "Well... Nice meeting you. Just make sure to get back to civilization soon... The nix hounds are vicious this time of year." The mage then preceded to go around Nalia, continuing on his intended path.
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Post by +~*Snowy*~+ on Jun 22, 2009 20:15:43 GMT -5
"N-Nix Hounds?..." Nalia muttered a bit lifelessly. She did the math. Nalia plus Dwarven Ruins equaled fun. Nalia plus Nix Hounds equaled not fun. It was really a no-brainer. "Ah, h-hey, so uh, what do you plan on finding at these ruins?" She asked, sprinting a bit to catch up with the mage then matching his stride.
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Post by Neravarine on Jun 22, 2009 20:37:57 GMT -5
Vistha smiled as Nalia caught up to him, but then frowned... When she asked her question. A hiss of agony and rage rose from his thoat as he growled softly, "Damn Archmage Trebonius! If I ever had met such an INFURIATING warmblood, It had to be HIM! First he tells to LEARN the LANGUAGE of the SILT STRIDERS and now to find out the mystery of why the dwarves dissapeared!..." The male argonian then gave a moan, rubbing the bridge of his reptilian nose and closing his sage eyes tightly. Obiously, this wasn't the first of stupid things the archmage did. Finally, after the pounding headache subsided, he sighed, dug into his pack and offered her a headless, salted fish. "Here, you look hungry. Eat, then I will tell you what I'm looking for." Vistha said tiredly. "I'm Vistha by the way... Vistha Kai."
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Post by +~*Snowy*~+ on Jun 22, 2009 20:46:35 GMT -5
Nalia took the fish and stared at it with interest for a moment. "Thanks." She said. "Name's Nalia. No last name." Then she promptly chomped into the fish's front end, chewing on it bones and all. "Sho vut er oo do'n 'ere?" The female Argonian said through a mouthful of fish.
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Post by Neravarine on Jun 22, 2009 20:53:48 GMT -5
"A very nice name." Vistha commented with a slight smile, then grew serious. "I heard... That a small dwemer ruin called Aleft by the natives once was a library... It's about a half mile away from here." The ruby colored argonian huffed. "I don't know if what I'm looking for will be there... But if it's anywhere, it's there. A parchment of some sort that could help me translate the dwarven language, which is the first step to finding out how they dissapeared."
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Post by +~*Snowy*~+ on Jun 22, 2009 21:08:39 GMT -5
"Parfmeth?" Nalia mumbled. She chewed up the rest of the fish tail and swallowed before repeating, "Parchment? As in paper? As in the kind that gets eaten by bugs, ruined with water, crumbles to dust after a period of time? That's what you're looking for in a dwarven ruin?"
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Post by Neravarine on Jun 22, 2009 21:13:07 GMT -5
Vistha sighed bitterly... Very, very bitterly. "Yessss.... Or something LIKE it." He hissed venomously, continuing his silent rant about "damned archmages sent to torture him from Oblivion."
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