章 678: Titus Mede II
"First phase complete." Eleril whispers as she looks over her shoulder at her companions. The only she could see was Babette, whose form was covered in shadows making even that difficult, Riki seemed to just not exist whenever he wanted, appearing and disappearing at will with no big giveaway as to where he'd end up next.
They'd gained access to the Imperial Palace, the kitchen staff were being rotated since the current ones had been working all day and night, allowing the trio to drop in through the chimney with little trouble.
Babette did burn her foot rather badly after a misstep, her vampiric weakness to fire only being balanced out by her fast regenerative abilities. Currently, they were all sneaking atop a decorative bit of masonry that lined the top part of the hallway, allowing them to stay hidden above the heads of everyone who passed by.
Unfortunately for them, there were far more people around than they'd expected, putting them quite behind schedule despite not even reaching the second floor yet...
"Wait." Riki's voice stops them as they drop down to the base of the staircase leading upwards. His form shimmers into view as he leans down to get a closer look at the bannister.
"What is it?" Babette quietly asks.
"Hm? Some kind of runic protections, ancient. If there like this here then we're going to have trouble with the protections near the Emperor..."
"Can we break through them?" Eleril questions as they'd literally have to abandon the mission here and now if they couldn't advance.
"Break? No, not without alerting the entire building... Alter though? Hmm. I learned a few tricks from some friends I made." he chuckles slightly, "A target actually, Rubick, he wasn't the 'Grand Magus' at the time but-"
"Can you tell this story later? We're literally in the middle of enemy territory here." Eleril urges.
"Fine." Riki grumbles and proceeds to pull a strange tool from his belt. It looked like a hooked chisel with numerous thin carvings across it, which all glowed as soon as they made contact with the runes on the bannister.
"Find the control rune and..." he touches each major rune with the chisel and pauses when his knife stops glowing. With that, he chips the control rune slightly, distorting the stone and causing the thing to malfunction.
"Alright, this'll do... There's a maintenance function in it from what I can tell so we won't be able to come back down through here."
The duo nod and they all start climbing the stairs, they do have to hang off the side once when a maid was coming through, but that wasn't all that difficult with how inattentive she seemed.
From there it was just a matter of patience, attentiveness, and skill. The continued through the palace, disabling defensive and detection runes all the way up to the seventh floor. Strangely, when they found the Emperor's room there wasn't anyone guarding the large ornate doors, making them think they were walking into a trap.
"What do we do? This is obviously a trap... Why would there be more guards around the kitchen than the actual Emperor's room?" Eleril cautions.
"I agree. Are we sure the Emperor didn't move and take his guards with him?" Babette questions.
Riki just hums and looks down at the floor in thought, "We know the Emperor is still in the palace, but where exactly is impossible to tell... Hm... We spring the trap and interrogate whoever's inside. There can't be more than a dozen guards, that would be too great a waste of resources for the small chance of an assassin making it all the way up here..."
"Sorry, I think I just heard that you want to willingly walk into an ambush." Babette jokingly asks despite her dire expression, "Has our 'Master Stealth Assassin' lost his mind all of a sudden?"
Eleril nods, "We should find another way."
Riki takes their thoughts into account and-...
*Click!*
'Accidentally' trips and opens the door, revealing an empty hallway decorated with many doors.
"Woops, looks like we have no choice now!" Riki sarcastically says as he steps past them.
"Y- are you serious!?" Babette hurriedly whispers.
Eleril just lets out a sigh and follows along, "It's too late to turn back now... Besides, this doesn't 'feel' dangerous." she says meaningfully.
"Night Mother?"
Eleril nods, "I don't think this is a trap..."
They go through and check the doors, finding a luxurious bedroom, common room, etc... Until they stand at the last unopened doors. They step inside and all halt in place as they look ahead, spotting the Emperor looking up at them from his desk...
"So you're finally here..." he audibly mutters, only confusing them further.
"... You knew we were coming?" Eleril questions as she glances around the room searching for traps or hidden men.
The Emperor lowers his quill, "Of course, I did hire you."
...
"What...?"
"I hired you to kill me... I admit, it sounds absurd hearing it aloud but I never expected having to explain myself to my assassin..." he says, almost sounding unhappy that they hadn't immediately murdered him.
"Well, it's not every day an Emperor uses us to kill himself... Can I ask why?" Eleril questions, wondering just what his motive was...
"No. You may not. Hm, here, I'll lean forward, just stick me in the back and be done with it." he says, resting his chest against the desk.
...
"Youknow, this isn't the weirdest bounty I've taken up." Riki remarks while Eleril steps over, "Any last words?"
The Emperor lets out a long, tired sigh. "For the Empire."
"Patriotic." is all Riki says before Eleril sticks the old man in the spine with one dagger, and stabs him in the heart with another. The Emperor lets out one last gasp before quickly bleeding out, ending the reign of Titus Mede II...
"Alright, send the signal and let's leave." Riki says, hurrying Eleril who was leaving a bloody handprint on the wall.
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Niggross
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章 679: Aborted
"I can't believe we're rushing this..." Wei mutters as she watches the manic-looking port which had everyone working overtime. Most of the new ships didn't even have their cannons yet, which would leave them as sitting ducks in any proper naval battle. Sure, they were invading an island, but that didn't mean there weren't other threats... It's almost as if Surtr had completely forgotten the fact that this 'Miraak' had many dragons at his beck and call.
Anti-Mate stood next to her with folded arms and Silencer at his side, "Remember that your concern over this poor state of affairs is not our role. We will accompany them, not to claim Solstheim for the High King, but to rid the world of this new menace rearing its head."
Wei sighs, "I thought you'd care more about the people that will lose their lives..."
"I do. But we can only do so much. These warriors chose this venture, it is their duty to live and die for their cause. We must honour them by thinking of the lives of their families and other innocents they seek to protect. That, is our duty."
She idly nods, seeing the logic in her words. That doesn't make it any less of a bitter pill to swallow, "If we had Michael here..." she trails off, catching herself since she knew her Master still despised Michael, even if they'd found something close to 'common ground'.
"Then we may have had to stay behind and watch him... Do remember our other tenets... To observe and guide the threats that the Daedra present."
"Including Michael..." she parrots, having heard her master say it other a thousand times since they entered this world.
--------------------------------------
Surtr slowly rocks back and forth atop the chair he'd claimed in the local tavern, eyes staring straight out of the windows and onto the street, waiting for someone...
"It's taking too long..." Surtr quietly mutters to himself.
"What was that?" Ralof asks as he leans over, not picking up the whisper.
"We need to begin the invasion soon. We can't waste any more time on this." he states, but inwardly he was extremely worried about Michael returning... If he devoured Miraak's soul, Surtr was certain his end would not be kind. There was a reason all Daedra, even 'benevolent' ones were considered extremely dangerous.
Their personalities were radical to the extreme, and he'd gone and upset his favourite whore by demanding the death of that girl named Charlotte... Perhaps he should have been more cautious? Maybe he shouldn't have drank so much... Even now the multiple bottles of mead he'd had for breakfast were one of the only things keeping him calm.
He shakes his head and stands, quickly making his way to the port with Ralof at his back. He finds Kunkka atop the Man O' War captain's ship drilling some sailors in advanced sailing tactics. Surtr ignores the niggling question of just what a 'Hard Drift Maneuver' was and marches up to Kunkka, stopping the practice.
"Surtr? Good to see you frolicking so early in the morn!" he greets after taking a swig of his rum flask as if to commiserate.
"Get the boats ready, we're headed out today." Surtr sternly orders, causing Kunkka to pause.
"I think I misheard you lad, I could have sworn I heard something incredibly fool-hardy!"
"We're invading today, Admiral." Surtr grouses louder than before, not allowing the man to claim ignorance again.
Kunkka quirks an eye at him and runs his fingers through his beard, "Now why would you want to do something as batty as that? We barely have enough sailors to man the ships, half the needed supplies, and even the ships we do have lack proper armaments! I might be the best Captain to have ever sailed, but I'm not the God of these waters!"
"It doesn't matter. We have enough to reach Solstheim, we can acquire supplies once they're defeated. I'm not asking either. I order you to have the navy prepared for the invasion today!" he exclaims, spittle flying into Kunkka's face, making him grimace in disgust.
Wiping the spit from his face, Kunkka looks up at the slightly taller Surtr and matches his glare, "Step back, 'King', and learn some manners before you start lording over us... It is alright, I forgive your lapse of judgement on this matter. I understand that most landed knaves have not a clue what goes on at sea... So, I suggest you take my warning and belay that 'order'."
...
The two glare at one another for another couple of moments before Surtr finally gives, "You have two days. Any longer and I'll have someone else take your place." he growls before quickly departing.
Kunkka just shakes his head as he watches him leave, lighting up his pipe and turning towards the sailors, "Why'd you lads stop!? You think you can dally when we're getting shot at!? MAN THE SHIP YOU BILGE RATS!"
------------------------------------------------------
True to his word, Surtr began the preparations of having his men ready for the invasion. Kunkka didn't ignore his warning either, scrambling to get the navy in top condition as soon as possible. While he disagreed with Surtr's rather suicidal order, he didn't want his men and boats to go down the drain.
In the end, the Winterhold navy had around forty-five boats, most of them formerly belonging to merchants and wealthy fishermen. Only a quarter was actually designed under Kunkka's supervision for war, which wouldn't be so bad until you consider the fact that dragon fire didn't discriminate.
War vessels were designed to take damage, isolate fires, and ensure they could fight for as long as possible. Civilian ships, modified as they may be? Not so much. It was with this reasoning that Kunkka decided to have all of Surtr's troops on the civilian ships while most of his sailors stayed on the warships. If the man wanted to risk lives, he could do so with his own army.
クリエイターの想い
Niggross
Niggross
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