LAKE:
It's hard to believe what Talon was saying about him, but she knew about Jauffrey, she had fought those strange assassins in the sewers, the evidence showed she wasn't insane. Or at least, completely insane. He quickly swiped the amulet out of her hands, then looked to Corvo as he promised his blade to him. "I don't know you. Any of you." He stubbornly told the both of them.
"I'm leaving this island and running for the border of Skyrim. If you say I'm fated to save this pathetic empire, then you're either delusional or a liar, and this... thing!" He raised the amulet to her face, almost shoving it against her snout. "Is but a pathetic old man's piece of jewelry! It's no more important than a blade of grass in a field. The only reason I'm even still carrying it and didn't throw it into the drainage was because I might catch a good price if anyone thinks it's the best forgery in the world." No one was going to believe this thing was the real deal anyway.
"Then if you truly wish to be rid of this fate, hand it to us." Jin offered, putting his hand up next to Talon's arm for Shakira to place the amulet on.
"For what? You to sell it off for yourselves?" Shakira asked, aggravated.
"If you believe that what she tells you is not your fate, then let us do it for you. We don't know how we arrived here, or how to return to our homes, but perhaps we're here to finish what you intend not to." Jin explained. "You leave this place, we follow Talon's lead, and we stop whoever this 'Mehrunes' is. And hopefully return home once we've finished." It was the only lead they had at this point to figuring out what was going on.
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MARKET:
"Oh, thank you, miss!" Ralsa expressed, with a big smile of relief on her face. "You're to meet him at Seridur's house which is located in the Temple District. He said all would be explained when Ser Cadorna got there. It's all he said to me. I'll be happy to lead you there, since you're new to the city, come, come!" She waved Alistia to follow.
The walk would be a short one, just ten minutes, and Alistia would see more of the city's impressive architecture. Especially once in the Temple district, where she would find a massive round building in the center.
The house was in one of the back alleys towards the massive wall protecting the city, just besides a small well. "Here we are," Ralsa told her, "just head inside and tell him you're a friend of Ser Cadorna's. He's very friendly, so don't be nervous. Thank you again." She smiled to Alistia, before heading off back to her own home.
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BLOATED FLOAT:
When Scout went inside, she'd find there was only two guards at the bar, casually talking amongst each other with drinks in hand, and a woman in the back wearing leather armor, reading a journal while feasting on an apple. There were two men behind the bar, one an orc, the other a high elf. The orc was taking stock, checking how many bottles of wine was stacked, while the Elf quickly saw Scout and greeted here warmly.
"Well met!" He said first, "Welcome to the Bloated Float. She's the finest inn on the water in all Cyrodiil. What can I help you with?" He then asked, before loud banging on the roof above them interrupted Scout's reply. "What the--" The Elf muttered, as the ship rock to the side slightly. Both guards nearly fell over each other on their stools, with one quickly getting out of his seat. "I'll go check!" He told everyone, grabbing his helmet off the bar to put on.
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ARENA BLOODWORKS:
The place was cramped. There were punching bags around the corner, small bays of hay that were used for target practice, wooden planks that were worn and cut from sword strikes, and wood dummies with small smiley faces painted. It was also crowded, as every piece of training equipment was in use by men and women in blue arena armor, except for the grey skinned orc in the back, who's armor was the most striking looking of them all. Shining light grey with blood red. In one of the rooms, there were sleeping bags for fighters to nap on, along with weapons racks for swords, maces, axes, and bows.
The smell as well, a mixture of sweat and dried blood, certainly would overflow Artis' senses. Being underground, this place probably didn't aired out too much. It certainly was a Bloodworks. Before Artis could even talk to anyone, a Redguard suddenly appeared in front of him, wearing iron armor, and an aggravated look on his face. "I don't know who you are, friend, but you've got about.... ten seconds to tell me what you're doing in my Bloodworks before I lop your arms off." He told Artis, ending the sentence with a exuberance in his voice like he looked forward to brutally delimbing him.
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PRISON:
"Easier said than done, I'm afraid." Lex told Tsunade. "They're all dead."
"What?" Callintus interjected with confusion.
"The Emperor's personal guards, his sons, their retainers, they're all dead. We only got the reports minutes ago, but anyone who could have been close enough to conduct these assassinations were also quickly killed along with the entire Septim bloodline!" Lex explained with worry in his voice. "As for his advisors, we've sent guards to their locations to gather them for interrogations, but even if they were all culprits, this runs deeper than that. They knew secret emergency tunnels under the city for when evacuating the emperor, they knew the schedules of guard posts, they knew where his sons hideouts were, they knew everything! The entire Septim security protocol system was compromised!"
"That.... That's impossible! That would take years, decades even to research, and even then, only a select few would know this! Not even I knew about them!" Callintus was in complete shock. The amount of planning that went into this showed this wasn't a fluke.
"And who does is now dead, or may be soon if we don't find them. All I can say about whoever did this is they wore red robes, and used some sort of conjuration to summon a strange type of armor I have never seen before. Their robes also had this symbol." Lex pulled out a piece of paper from his suit pocket, showing it to both Callintus and Tsunade.
"I don't recognize it." Callintus mentioned, studying it.
"None of us do. We're contacting the Mages Guild and Imperial Palace Library. We'll see if they know anything about it. But for the moment, we're as blind as bats." Callintus was deep in thought, trying to decide what to do next, but Lex spoke up again. "I can't stay I'm afraid, I'll be needed by the waterfront. If anyone could be a culprit in this, it may just be the Grey Fox."
"Oh, come now Lex, you truly believe the Thieves Guild would involve themselves in this?" Callintus questioned, highly doubting such a decision.
"We cannot be sure anymore. I've heard rumors that the Fox has been planning something big for a while now, and this may just be it, or one part of a grander plot! If nothing else, my men will need the moral support to keep the waterfront citizens in order should things turn sour. I can only imagine what the reaction will be as news continues to spread through the country." Lex explained. "If you wish to keep yourself involved in the city, speak with Itius Hayn. He's one of the newer Imperial Watch Captains."
"I don't recognize the name." Callintus admitted.
"He was a lieutenant in the Elven Markets District. Strong sense of loyalty to the empire, but not too bright. He's your type for sure, Callintus." Lex joked, for which Callintus chuckled back.
"I'm sure we'll get along just fine then." Callintus then hugged Lex, who hugged back. "Good to see you again, my friend."
"You as well, Cadorna." Lex said once they broke away. "Stay safe." Was the last thing he said, before parting the two and making his way to the exit.
"Ahhh, Lex. Stubborn as he can be, you'll never find a man more devoted to the law than him. Rubs people the wrong way, but I believe it's misguided passion than true contempt for his peers." He remarked to Tsunade, before looking down to the paper with the symbol. "We could try our hand at researching this symbol. Or we try finding Hayn. Which do you prefer?" He asked her.