Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24141785-20131112133018/@comment-3293219-20131228134831

As Caleb broke out into the fiery battlefield that used to be Whiterun, he took in a deep breath to immerse himself into the chaos of it all... Several vampires in orcish armour had jumped the wall and quickly had a guard pinned to the floor, tearing her apart.

"Let's go..." Caleb ordered, begining to walk up the approach.

He felt exposed, it would only take one vampire to take him and Morgen down as Morgen wasn't exactly a force to be reckoned with and he was unarmed. Suddenly, two whiterun guards cut them off, one armed with a sword and shield, the other had a claymore. "You there! What are you doing? You need to get to Dragon's reach!" the everso helpful guard informed them.

Caleb decided not to antagonise these idiots... they maybe useful, later. "That's where we're headed but we have wounded..." he replied, jiggling Sylvia in his arms.

"Talos... Are you... is she?"

"No, she'll be okay, if we get her to the healer at the top of this hill!"

Morgen looked away, she was starting to worry, c'mon... We're almost there Sylvie... just hang in there.

Caleb looked up, "we're wasting time! We could use your support!"

"We aren't supposed to abandon our post..." The sword/shield argued, though it didn't seem like much of a protest.

"There aren't any enemies here!" Caleb protested, looking around. "They're at the front gate!"

"And if they get past the front gate?" The claymore guard snapped.

"Oh yeah, because you two are practically an army!" Caleb snorted, these guards weren't worth his time.

The pirate pushed past them and Morgen trailed behind, looking eager to get up the hill.

"What's going on here?!" Another guard called, though he looked more important than the others, almost as if he had some status.

He was a nord, with quite long blonde hair. A pretty boy hero type but he looked like he was getting on a bit, he had several scratch marks across his face from drunken brawls or bandit raids. Nothing from any real action...

"We've just established that these guards are useless..." Caleb grumbled as the other two rolled their eyes.

"What's he talking about?" The guard snapped, turning to his underlings with a stern look.

"Captain! This dunmer tried to get us to abandon our posts." The claymore guard explained, she seemed pretty confident that she had made the right choice.

"I was trying to get some he- You know what? Screw the both of you... C'mon Morgen." Caleb began to run up the approach as the status guard watched, he glanced back at the others.

"I'll go with them, you stay here." The guard captain drew his hammer and chased after them, his feet pounding up the path.

Caleb made his way past the statue of Talos, not paying it any mind. He wasn't on good terms with the gods...

Morgen stopped to stare at it, it was magnificent, she'd never seen anything like it before. If it wasn't made of stone, she could have sworn that it was the real Talos.

Morgen then noticed that the others had gone on without her. Some responsible guardians you are... She thought, then she remembered that neither of them legally required to look out for her. She sighed, it sounded awful in her head but she was worried about herself, more than Sylvia... What would happen to her? Would she stay with Caleb? Would she go to an orphanage? Be forced to work on some farm?

She swallowed hard and caught up with them as they went through the keep of Dragonsreach, seeing a bunch of misplaced refugees huddled around in the corner with several healers running around, trying to get the wounded guards back on their feet. Caleb stepped forward, not caring about the guard's sudden movements, the captain made them stand down with a hand gesture as they approached the center of the keep.

Jarl Balgruf stepped down from his throne, approaching the guard captain.

"Fenris, what's the damage?"

"We're keeping them at bay at the front gate. One or two stragglers or maybe they're the smart ones but either way they've jumped the walls..." Guard captain Fenris replied.

"Jumped the wall? How many are we talking here?" Irileth snapped, stepping to the front.

Caleb stepped out of their way and went over to the healer, the priority was to heal Sylvia and get Morgen out of here. Everything and everyone else could rott for all he cared... He placed the nord girl on the floor and looked up at the healer, gesturing to her. "She needs a healer..."

The healer rolled her eyes and raised Sylvia's shirt, before gasping.

"How long has she been like this?" She replied, her voice was shaking.

Caleb looked back to Morgen for confirmation.

"Two months..." Morgen replied, she was starting to worry, herself.

"I'll do what I can, is your daughte-"

"We aren't related..." Caleb replied, coldly. Almost as if the idea disgusted him.

"Right, your... friend here, does she have anyone else?"

"No." Caleb replied, standing to his feet.

"Then she'll have to go up to the kitchen, we're keeping the children the-."

Suddenly the door to the great hall burst open, a burned guard burst in, he was missing a glove and his armour had been torn to shreds.

"C-captain!" He cried.

Fenris was there to recieve him, catching him as he fell to the floor.

"What the hell, happened?!" He demanded, this got Caleb's attention as he stood up and turned around.

As the guard began to speak, the dunmer noticed that it was the sword and shield guard from before. "V-vampire... lord, vampire!" The stammered.

He then rolled his eyes and died in Fenris' arms, leaving the guard captain with nothing but women and children to defend the keep with.

"What do we do?" Belethor cried out, starting a panic.

"Silence!" Irelith snapped as the panic began to infect the whole hall.

"Fenris! How many men, do you have left?" Irelith demanded, drawing her sword.

"The ones in the guard towers should be fine... They have a secret escape tunnel that leads to the bottom of the hill."

"Right, summon them!" Irileth ordered. "How many men does that leave us?"

Fenris didn't answer her, instead he blew on a horn that signaled for his men to fall back to the keep. He lowered the horn and turned back to her with a grim look.

"Six..."

"S-six..." Irileth stammered.

Caleb looked up, seeing the pathetic look of the women and children around them. Their weakened position angered him to some degree but it was more than that... Morgen wouldn't make it if they had to flee. Caleb could survive anything but she... she wouldn't leave Sylvia.

"Seven..." Caleb stepped forward, drawing his swords.

Irileth turned back. "Please, old timer. I suggest that you remain here in the kee-"

"Don't patronise me... I'm more experienced than half of those asshole guards. I bet that none of you have ever faced a vampire before..."

"Vampire lord." Fenris corrected him.

"Whatever, call those freaks whatever you want, they all bleed and die to me..." Caled replied. Anyone who didn't know him would call this bravado but Caleb intended to stay true to his word.

Morgen thought for a second, before stepping forward herself. "Eight!"

Everyone gasped and turned around, Caleb being one of them.

"Kid... I appreciat-"

"What? You're going to tell me to sit here and wait for those things to kill me!? I've killed deer before!"

Caleb chuckled, however, he wasn't laughing at her, because of her age. He truly believed that she could shoot a vampire if she had too but vampires and deer were two very different stories.

"Alright..." The pirate agreed, thinking of what she could do.

"What?" Irileth snapped, you aren't seriously suggesting...

"Why? She is right, if those things make it to the great hall, they'll kill her anyway." Caleb shrugged.

"Take your bow and stay away from the battle, take a shot whenever you can, okay? No heroics, no bullshit!"

Morgen nodded in agreement, clutching her bow.

"Here..." Fenris muttered, handing her his bow. "I'd feel a lot safer if you used this, that bow look like it's about to break."

"Anybody else?" Irileth turned to the refugees in the great hall.

"I!" Idolaf battle born stepped forward.

Avulstein Gray-Mane stepped foward, drawing his hammer. "Oh no, you bastard Battle-borns aren't claiming all the glory today! Avulstein Gray-mane offer his support as do all able bodied members of the Gray-Mane family!"

"The companions also offer you our lives!" Farkas put forward, the others nodded in agreement.

"Thank you but your skill in battle will be enough..." Fenris smirked.

"Anybody else?" Irileth offered, as she did, a young redguard woman in her mid twenties stood up. She had long dreaded hair and she wielded an akaviri katana, though she didn't look like a blade. She didn't wear their armour, just simple clothing that was presumably fashionable in Hammerfell. The reguard simply nodded but didn't say anything, nobody appeared to know her or know who she was with.

"Right, I shall take the companions and the Gray-manes and stop any wall jumpers, we'll cut off their reinforcements as well." Irileth explained.

"Fenris? You take the dunmer, the redguard and the Battle-borns and protect the keep. With your lives if necessary!"

"I think my sword is a more effective weapon..." Caleb smirked.

Irileth ignored the old fool's joke and took the others down to the secret passage that lead out to the bannered mare.

Fenris looked back and gestured over his shoulder. The Battleborns, the redguard, the guards, Caleb and Morgen quickly followed. Morgen kept her gaze fixed on her sister until the gates closed and obstructed her view.

(Was hoping to get more done but my mind's kind of gone blank...)