Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140205203111/@comment-3293219-20140209150901

Nepht had been 'making her way back,' with Lott, for some time. The two of them, slowly, strolled around the city as they admired the night's sky and took their surroundings in. Neither of them spoke as they were too busy thinking about what Nepht had said.

Their long trail of thought was interrupted, when a shadow was cast over them, obstructing the moonlight, which they were basking in. The two of them glanced up and immediately saw it, an airship that cast its shadow across the entire city. Though they were intimidated by its overpowering shadow, they both knew that it was capable of so much more, they had to get out of there...

Nepht took Lott's hand and made a break for her house, they were on the other side of the city but the city was rather small to begin with. The two of them sprinted, through the streets and eventually made it to their front door. The dunmer reached for her key and placed it in the lock, her hands shaking with fear and adrenaline as she poked at the lock, several times, with the key.

Finally, she got the key to fit into the lock; she pushed it in and turned it, getting a satisfying click as a reward.

"Come on!" The dunmer pushed the door open, allowing Lott and the unseen Ganlas to slip in, before shutting the door behind her and locking it again.

Both Tabith and Laaliah were woken up by Nepht's, noisy, entrance. She had forgotten that the rest of her household were sleeping as she was too focussed on preserving herself.

"Nepht?" Tabith yawned as she rolled out of bed. "What the hell? You were meant to be back, hours ago!"

Nepht spun around, to see her mother and aunt approach to nag her, she didn't have time...

"Tabith, the imperials are back!" Nepht could no longer hide her worry, nor her relief that Mikasa was out of the city and that Petra was hidden away...

Even if they were both suffering, they were at least safe from this...

"They're back? As in their army?" Tabith turned a shade of pale as she turned around and reached for her armour, throwing it on as she got ready to go out and investigate.

"No, the lute playing quartet!" Ganlas muttered, much to Lott's annoyance.

"Wh-who is this strange man?" Laaliah stammered, suddenly noticing Lott.

"Charming reception..." The imaginary elf muttered, sarcastically.

"This is Lott! He... me and Mikasa met him, this afternoon." Nepht replied, trying to hide the fact that she had been outside of the city walls, without telling them.

"Where did you meet him?" Tabith's inquisitive nature took over as she studied the altmer with her eyes. She knew that something was off...

"A-at the bookstore!" Nepht was struggling to come up with a good lie, under the stress of the situation.

"Y-yes..." Lott added, hoping to save her. "I am professor, from the Imperial City. The college library didn't have a book I needed for my research; neither did the bookshop there. The woman, who worked there, didn't have the book I was seeking and she told me, that I might find it here. Nepht and her breton friend were kind enough to help me find it. Without them, my journey would have been for nothing."

"W-why are you wearing robes?" Tabith stammered, suddenly noticing the altmer’s attire. Nepht had brought a mage home, in the middle of an imperial invasion. If they found him…

"I-I..."

"Nepht, tell me that…” She stopped and turned to Lott, “I'm sorry, you have to leave, now!"

"But Tab-"

"No! He has to go; the Imperials will be on our doorstep, any second now! Without him, we have nothing to hide and nothing to fear, I am not losing everything for some stranger!"

Nepht looked back at him, Lott wouldn't make it to the main gate, it was too late for that.

"But... he won't..."

"It'll be alright." Lott assured them both, Nepht more than Tabith as Tabith didn't appear to care. "I'm quite fast on my feet and I-"

"No! That's crazy, we can help you!" Nepht's desire to help everyone was something of a weakness of hers, it was one of the reasons that she wanted to be an adventurer...

"Nepht..."

"It'll be okay, he can just throw some of Grandad's old clothes on! We can pretend that he's..." Nepht stopped as she noticed the glares from across the room.

"Do you think that Grandad would have wanted this? For us to be cut down for... this!" She pointed to Lott, though she didn't mean to objectify him, he was a major problem, before he was a person, in her eyes.

"If it weren't for people like me, Grandad would have died in that place..." Nepht mumbled, trying to hide her anger, eventually looking back up to them. "We all would have..."

Tabith sighed and looked defeated, she weighed her options.

"Right, get him to the wardrobe, fast as you can, move!"

Nepht dragged the altmer to the wardrobe and swung it open, grabbing the old clothes as she sorted her way through them.

"Okay, this will do." She pulled out a fine suit, with some shoes to match. "Put these on!"

The dunmer threw them to her friend as he quickly got changed. The sound of crashing doors and startled screams echoed, throughout the streets as the sound of marching boots, pounding against the pavement, quickly followed.

Lott had managed to get changed, pretty quickly as he was now ready to receive the empire. He held onto his robes, not knowing what to do with them.

"Put them in my chest!" Nepht pointed the strongbox, by her bedside.

"Nepht!" Laaliah snapped with concern as Lott followed her instructions.

"It's okay mum. I'll say that I found them, when I was adventuring!"

Tabith rolled her eyes, it would have to do...

''Just stay calm... you've done nothing wrong...''

Tabith heard the knock; she froze in place for a moment, almost like she was waiting for the second knock.

Tabith reached out for the handle and hovered over it, before reaching out and opening the door. The imperial saw the, terrified, dunmer family. They were stood around, with their altmer guest.

"Are you the owner of this residence?"

"Yes." Tabith stated, firmly. Technically, it was in her father's name and she and her sister had equal ownership but she didn't want to explain that for a number of reasons.

"I am doing a neighbourhood sweep for those who are practicing magic immediately; I have a warrant to come in an search the place."

Tabith nodded and stepped back, he was on his own, implying that he didn't expect to find anything.

"Before I begin, is there anything you want to confess? Do any members of your family that practice magic?" He looked around, his focus lingered on Lott.

"No." The dunmer answered, firmly.

"And your guest?"

Tabith glared at him, as if he was intruding. "No."

"Right... do you have any offending items in the house? Tomes, staves, robes-"

"Yes." Tabith interrupted him, turning back to Nepht. She had to tell him about the robes; it wouldn't look suspicious if she just came clean with it.

"My daughter had procured some robes from a nearby ruin; they were crafted long before the laws on magic were put into place. She had hoped to sell them to one of the shops in town but I am more than happy to be rid of them."

The Imperial was a bit thrown; he didn't expect her to be honest about it. She could tell that he was green, barely any more senior than a recruit...

"Where are they?" He demanded, though there was no authority in his voice.

"Nepht, please retrieve the robes from your strong box..."

"Yes..." Nepht whispered, trying to hide her fear as she ran over to the box and drew the robes from it. She ran over and handed them to her aunt, who immediately ditched them into the Imperial's hands.

The Imperial felt the robes... something wasn't right, they felt warm.

"These feel... incredibly warm, for something that's been locked in a box for so long." The imperial noted, aloud.

Nepht's spine stiffened, she feared for her life at this point.

Shit... Tabith thought, she had to think of something. She couldn't tell him that they had been worn recently and there was nothing in the strongbox that was warm...

"Well, obviously, they're enchanted." Lott spoke, drawing everyone's attention. "What you have there are the robes of a destruction mage..."

"How would you know?" The Imperial asked, his tone suggested that he had him on the spot.

"I used to work at the Arcane University as a stock taker. Not the most glamorous of jobs but it paid for my educational fees, I had to examine items and sort through them, it always helped to know what they were and what they did. The robes that Nepht found strengthen the powers of a destruction mage, you'll find that they're often warm as they're pulsating with energy."

This was obviously made up; the clothes were no different to any other but this boy didn't look like the sharpest tool in the box.

"Right..." He mumbled, taking the stranger's word for it. "And, who are you?"

"Proffessor Lott Elsinian, I teach history in the Imperial city or at least I hope to some day."

"Then what are you doing here?" The Imperial asked, as if this was a 'Gotcha' question.

"I was hoping to procure a book on the Ayleids, for my research on the Ayleid hierarchy it wasn't stocked in the Imperial City but a reliable source told me I could find it here."

"Then why are you in this house?" The Imperial probed, he may be dim-witted but he was incredibly keen.

"The young lady, Nepht, helped me find a copy of the book I was looking for. I made sure that she made it home, safely."

The Imperial ran his thumbs across the robes, looking down at them.

"Right...”

Everyone hung on his next few words, they were either a releasing or condemning.

“Well, I think I've seen enough." The Imperial concluded, his heart wasn't in this searching rubbish to begin with. He'd hoped to have opened the door to a bunch of people dancing and slitting their wrists, under the moon.

He looked up at Nepht, almost with suspicion.

"If you happen to 'stumble' across any more magic artefacts..."

"I... I'll give them to the guard, I promise." She spluttered.

"Good." The Imperial went outside, he had more questions but he lacked the desire to pursue this any further.

He left, allowing Tabith to close the door behind him. She pressed her back against it and sighed with relief as she faced her family, unable to express any emotion.

We got lucky...

