Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140210211511/@comment-3293219-20140214225033

Nepht sat at the table, deliberating as to whether or not this was worth bothering Veneficus over...

''What are you saying? Of course it is!''

''But... he's always so busy...''

''So? You need healing, you were attacked!''

I'm not hurt; my wrists will heal on their own...

Nepht sighed, maybe it was best to go and see him, just to see if he's busy.

If he is, you could always slip back out again...

Nepht decided that it was better than staying in; she'd go to Veneficus, get patched up and then help the smith or something. The dunmer stood up and went over to the door, her mother noticed and called to her.

"Where are you going?"

"I was going to see Veneficus, see if he thinks I can still work." This wasn't entirely true, she knew that she was able to work but she wanted to sound as over cautious as her mother.

"Do you really think that you should be on your own?" Laliah's concern showed as she abandoned her current wash to walk over to her, the soap suds still stuck to her arms, all the way up to her elbows.

Nepht rolled her eyes; she didn't mean to get frustrated with her mother for caring about her but her concern was taxing, to say the least.

"I could take her..." Bologra offered, his ears perked up, the second that he heard that there was a possibility of leaving this hovel for a few hours.

"What? No, she's not going anywhere with you!" Nephts mother was firm on this, stepping between her daughter and this brutish orc.

"Mum! It's fine, he-"

"He put you in that lake to begin with!" Laliah reminded her.

"Yeah and he pulled me back out!"

"That makes it okay?"

"Ye-" Nepht looked away, it was so obvious but she just couldn't put it into words.

He saved her, if he wanted her to die, then saving her was a stupid thing to do! "No... I don't know. Stop making this so hard!"

"Look..." Bologra interrupted before this turned into a bigger, more catastrophic eruption than the Red Mountain's. He knew, because his brother had these kind of squabbles with his wives and they often lead to screeching of biblical proportions. Sometimes the wives would squabble among themselves and they'd both retreat to the basement for several days. "Me and Larius did... B-but that was his idea and I did not agree with it! I saved her, against his orders!"

"Besides... we're in a busy street." Nepht pointed out, "he couldn't attack me, without the guards coming over to arrest him."

Laliah sighed; she was still weary of this orc...

"Right... but you only go to the chapel and you keep him in sight at all times."

"Yea-"

"If he tries anything..." She glanced up, squinting at him with a look of spite.

"I'll scream bloody murder and run to the town guards, it's fine, really!" Nepht groaned, rolling her eyes as she went to the door. She turned to Bologra with a smile, "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Bologra shrugged, his enthusiasm had waned, since he realised that he would be watched like a hawk.

-

Nepht closed the door, behind her, as she made her way to the center of town, to the chapel. Bologra stepped out, catching the soul chilling eye of a disapproving mother, his head shrank into his shoulders and he hunched over as he shuffled after the dunmer girl.

They took a few steps, until they were out of the house's earshot, before Nepht began to speak.

"Can I ask you something?"

Bologra glanced down at her; he'd never been asked permission to be asked a question before.

"Yeah..."

"Promise you won't get mad?"

"Er... sure."

Nepht swallowed, wondering if she should risk it.

"How'd you lose your hand?"

Bologra stopped; he hadn't been asked that in a long time...

A very long time...

“I’m sorry… was that a bad question?”

“No, er… it’s just.. er..” Bologra scratched his head, he hadn’t thought about it in a long time…

“Well..." Bologra began, "I made the mistake of pissing off a daedra."

Nepht had heard of the daedra before... Daniel mentioned them and a book told her about Mehrune's Daegon, the prince of destruction. There were other princes of knowledge, chance and betrayal. Most of them fed off of the vices of mankind and lured fools to their doom.

"A daedric prince?" She asked, out of curiosity.

"No, he was just a really powerful daedra. He fancied himself a daedric prince though but..." The orc shrugged, he didn't understand how these things worked.

"So... did he trick you or something?"

"Nope, he offered me a fight and I accepted, went down to kick his ass. There was me and this other guy, I knocked him flat on his back but I was younger, stupider and tried to show off...

That daedra threw me around like a ragdoll and then cut my hand off. The asshole said that   he'd give it back, if I went on a quest and brought him back a nice present."

Bologra remembered it more and more as he spoke, it felt like an Era had passed between then and now. If only he could meet himself, tell him about the adventures and misadventures he'd have. Would he be proud? Ashamed?

"Wait... he asked you to get him something, without your hand? What did he want you to get?"

"An axe... a perty one from High Hrothgar, it was stored in a cave, on the mountain side." The orc explained, remembering it fondly. It took him weeks to get to the mountain and several days to climb it. He had never felt more like a god among mortals, when he held that axe over the valley and cried out in triumph.

The glory of being a 'champion...'

"So... I take it that you weren't successful?" Nepht said, interrupting his trail of thought.

"Huh? Er... well, it depends on what you'd call 'success." Bologra explained, "You see... I got back to his 'temple,' he got his ass kicked in battle so; he didn't have a body in this world anymore. So... he wanted to draw power out of that enchanted axe, to bring himself back through his shrine."

"But, you didn't let him?" The dunmer glanced at his hand, which served as proof of this.

"Well, it was going well. All I'd have to do is hold the axe up to the shrine and he'd take it...

But I didn't... that asshole gave me too many orders, I got sick of it. I'm not his bitch and he ain't all that powerful to begin with, he was trapped inside a statue for Ysmir's sake!" The orc rubbed his eyes with his fingers, he still felt frustrated, all these years after. If he had one wish, he'd re-live the moment that came after over and over, forever...

"So... I took the axe and I smashed his shrine to shit with it!" The orc laughed a hearty laugh, releasing his rage as he thought of the possibility of making that daedra cry tears of frustration as he was permanently banished to Oblivion.

Nepht giggled, it sounded incredibly... ‘heroic.’

"And... that's it, my little Myth of Mundas." Bologra sighed, it was so long ago, it might as well be a fable of old...

"You should write it as a book!" Nepht suggested, she sounded, truly, cheerful for the first time that day. Bologra just raised his amputated hand in response, waved it and lowered it back to his waist.

"You could always get a pen attachment for it." She suggested.

"Yeah but I can barely read; besides... nobody is going to believe that." The orc mumbled, he hated the idea anyway, it sounded like a lot of work.

"Nobody has to believe it; it just has to be entertaining!" The Guard Captain's Niece giggled as she considered the thought of an orsimer author.

-

They both arrived at the chapel; Bologra was amazed to see that it was fully standing.

"Huh... so they rebuilt the chapel?" Bologra noted, aloud.

"Yeah, they rebuilt it years ago! Look, you can see where the old brickwork and the new brickwork meet!" His companion pointed out, gesturing to the dark grey rock that contrasted with the light grey rock, just above.

"Fascinating..." Bologra muttered, sarcastically. "Heh... I didn't think they'd bother after Dunlammus smashed it to shit."

"Dunlammus?" Nepht asked, not knowing what he was talking about...

She didn't see much, she just remembered the roof caving in and Corelas saving her.

"Yeah, he was a vampire..." The orc recalled, he ended on a mutter as he was taken back to previous times. "He came here to destroy this chapel..."

"Why?" Nepht looked to him, who would want to destroy such a beautiful, historic building?

"Because..." Bologra didn't know the reason, there didn't seem to be one, it just felt like the erratic impulse of a mad man. "He was an asshole."

Nepht nodded in agreement, that 'asshole' nearly got her killed.

"Well, this is where I'm supposed to see Veneficus..." Nepht mumbled, feeling nervous about going in. What if he is busy? She didn't want to waste his time...

"Want me to go in with you?" The orc offered, he didn't fear much, least of all being judged by ‘civilised’ people.

"Only if you want..." Nepht mumbled, though she truthfully wanted him to, so that she could show him off if things did go well.

The two of them nodded in agreement and began their ascent. They stepped up the marble, stone steps and entered the chapel.