#rebel's cairn

[scribeofskyrim]

Fredas, 15th of Frostfall, 4E 201

Tonight we're sleeping in Red Eagle's crypt.

Turns out the sword was more dangerous than we thought!

So, this morning we left the Old Hroldan Inn and walked up to the top of the mountain. We could see the tall spires of an old Nord ruin up there, and that seemed a likely place for it.

We ended up coming in through a break in the rocks, a bit to the side of the ruins, where we ran into a pair of Forsworn archers. They were no match for our fireballs and my atronach, so we were able to get rid of them easily. We went up a few sets of stairs, and found ourselves in the middle of an entire camp full of them!

I'm glad the camp was mostly broken up into small sections because of the rocks and the ruins, because otherwise we'd all look like pincushions. Almost all of them used bows, but there were a few with axes and swords, and even a couple of mages.

While we were fighting, I learned that Forsworn archers typically carry a dagger as their spare weapon, and that while they can fight a person just fine, they don't know what to do when a dog attacks them. A lot of them ran!

Septim is the BEST boy! He's chewing on a goat leg right now.

And yes, there was a battle, it was tiring, there was a lot of blood and screaming and magic, and I lost count of how many arrows we pulled out of each other, but I NEED to talk, in private, with Lydia as soon as I get a chance, because Valdimar has to be flirting with Erandur. I mean, I can't think of any other explanation for what we saw earlier.

The main camp area is a giant loop around a section of rocks and part of an archway, with the stairs coming up on one side, and more stairs going up to the top of the ruin on the other end, along with a tower. While we were in the wider section, right before we ran up to the top of the ruin, three fighters came in from the side and managed to get the jump on Valdimar and Lydia.

Valdimar ignored them, and instead put so many Ice Spikes in the Briarheart and the archer at the top of the ruin that they looked like Frost Atronachs. It was easy for me and Septim to run up and finish them off. I ran back down the steps and saw Erandur finishing a fight with a mage that had been hiding in a tent, and Lydia putting her greatsword through the last man standing.

Valdimar had taken a beating, and was in bad enough shape that he was kneeling and leaning on his shield for support. Erandur ran over to heal him, and I went to check on Lydia. We both heard Erandur offer to help him up, and Valdimar said something like, "What, you don't like me on my knees?"

Erandur got flustered and said that he couldn't believe him, and muttered about how he must have an arrow lodged in his brain as he cast a bunch of Healing spells on Valdimar.

Lydia and I just stared at each other, and we were trying hard not to laugh, but I failed and ended up hurting myself. There was an arrow in my shoulder, but Lydia got it out for me and I Healed myself. That's gonna hurt in the morning, but oh, well.

Erandur sighed when he saw her yank it out, and said that he'd have to give her a lesson in field dressing wounds.

We took some time to check for goodies in the camp section before we went up the steps to the ruined platform. We got some ingots, gold, foodstuffs, bits of jewelry, and a few nice potions, too. There was also an alchemy table, so I took a second to mix up some potions to replace the ones I'd taken.

Septim had knocked the Briarheart that had been on top of the tall platform off the side, and the man died when he hit the ground. He was so ran through with Ice Spikes that they hadn't faded, yet! He was carrying Red Eagle's Sword.

It's a wicked-looking weapon, and enchanted with Flame magic. Nice!

We went up the steps, and found the archer by an altar-like table with a journal on it. I read it aloud and we all agreed that coming to get Red Eagle's Sword was the right thing to do.

It contained… A spell? An Oath? Some sort of ritual, that was sure, because it called for the blade to be "bathed in human blood" and a sacrifice to be offered at a place called Rebel's Cairn. The person doing this would seek a blessing from Red Eagle, and bid him to rise from the dead.

We had no idea where Rebel's Cairn was, but at the bottom of the camp, where we first came in, there was a door to get inside a platform that was built into the rock. We'd been too busy fighting to investigate it.

We checked out the tower before we went back down to try the door, and found some loot, along with a little drawbridge to another tower that led us onto the mountaintop. We didn't see anything right away, so we walked all the way back through the camp and tried the door into the hillside.

It took us into a cave passage filled with the usual charming Forsworn decorations of severed goat heads, blood smears and wooden spikes. We ran into a few Forsworn fighters while we were in there, and some traps, but they were kind enough to trigger them for us!

The passage went down, and soon we came out closer to the bottom of the mountain, where there were two men guarding the cave entrance. We took care of them, and realized that place was the start of the whole Forsworn encampment.

We all figured that we must've missed something, so we went back up and walked all the way through to the towers. I climbed to the top of the last one, and looked around to see if I could see this Rebel's Cairn place at all.

The sun was starting to set, and I spotted a light nearby. There was a little dip in the plain, next to a big stony outcrop, and I could make out a tattered banner waving in the wind. I couldn't see the fire beyond the ledge, but there was clearly a cave right there.

I called down to the others, and even though it was getting dark, we all agreed to see what was over there.

We didn't want to sleep in the Forsworn camp in case some roving patrol came back in the night or something, and a cave is more protected than the treeless mountaintop.

So, we came here, and in the first area we found a dead Orc adventurer with a copy of "The Legend of Red Eagle" on him. There was also a pedestal with a slot in the top that looked suspiciously like it could hold a sword.

I put Red Eagle's Sword in it, and a section of the wall opened up. It closed when I took the sword back, so I left it there and we headed in.

The door leads to a short, winding passage before it opens up into this huge cavern!

Erandur calls it "Damn impressive," and he's right. There's pillars, with caved stone faces holding lit braziers in the mouths, and a big archway on the back wall over an alcove full of grave goods. In the back, on a raised bit, is Red Eagle's sarcophagus, and guess who popped out?!

Surprise surprise, it was Red Eagle himself, turned Draugr Death Lord(?). A handful of skeleton archers got up off the ground to fight alongside him. Septim and I went after the skeletons, while the others concentrated on the draugr. He used Shouts, but like most draugr, Red Eagle was weak to fire. I turned around once to see Erandur, cloaked in Flames, brace himself against a blast of Frost, then charge at the undead king.

Yeah, I've never seen a priest of Mara do that.

I didn't have the heart to tell him last night that even though I've seen priests of all the other Divines put on armor to fight, he's the first I've seen of Hers.

Once everything was dead - again - I searched the body and found another Flame enchanted sword. I'll have to see if Lydia wants it.

We searched the rest of the room, and found potions, soul gems, and some sparkly goodies along with some gold. Also a few bits of armor that were nicer than what we were planning on selling.

We have quite the haul!

But it's late, so we're just relaxing in here around the fire while Valdimar makes us dinner. We're set up near the tomb's entrance. Erandur is saying some prayers in the back of the room for Red Eagle, I think, while Lydia looks through the weapons we've found.

What I want to know is HOW Red Eagle rose from the dead? I mean, we didn't do any ritual or -

-/-/-/-/-/-

Help me, Julianos. You're my only hope.

I'm so stupid.

I DID do the ritual!

I was writing when I suddenly realized, and called out "DAMMIT!" so loud I made everyone jump!

Erandur came running, demanding to know if we were all right, Lydia got a sword ready, Valdimar almost dropped our dinner in the fire, Septim spilled some of my wine, and I had to admit that I'M the reason Red Eagle rose from the grave.

Valdimar said of course I was. I disturbed his rest. That's what draugr do when you go in their tombs.

He wasn't wrong, but I explained that I did the ritual.

Erandur crossed his arms and asked when exactly did I do a necromantic ritual?

I told him to calm down. I didn't mean to! I explained that when I'd read the journal back at the camp, I had the sword on me, and that it had already been "bathed in blood". I didn't make anything of it at the time, because let's face it, we've ALL got blood on us.

Erandur asked about the "sacrifice" and Valdimar laughed in an apologetic way and shook his head. "The dead Orc by the pedestal."

Lydia burst out laughing and said something about how it's been a while since I did something really Stupid! She'd almost started to miss it! Erandur covered his eyes with his hand and muttered that if we needed him, he'd be off to the side, begging Mara to forgive us.

Valdimar convinced him to have some dinner, first.

Now that we've eaten, I'm going to bed. Erandur asked that we trade our usual watch spots so he can do some more prayers, and that's fine with me. I'm exhausted.

Note: Apparently, when he's exasperated, Erandur's idea of "praying" to Mara is pacing back and forth with a bottle of wine in his hand and trying not to whisper too loud as he goes off about how we're all idiots and he's sorry for all the damage we've done.

[tabletopgayventures]

My current list of Tabletop Roleplaying Games.

13th Age

1879

A Grim Hack

Aberrant 

Absolute Power

Abyss

Accursed 

After The War

Anima Beyond Fantasy

Animal Adventures:  The Faraway Sea

Apocalypse World

Arkham Horror The Roleplaying Game Starter Set

Ars Magica 4th Edition

Arzium

Avatar Legends Starter Set

Babes in the Wood

Badger + Coyote and their Daring Adventures 2E

BattleTech:  A Time of War

Beacon Tabletop RPG

Beam Saber

Blades in the Dark

Bulldogs

Bunkers & Badasses

Cairn

Call of Cthulhu

Candela Obscura

Cantrip

Cats of Cathulhu

Chaos 6010

Champions Now

Collateral Damage

Contagion 2e

Cortex Prime Game Handbook

Cosmic Patrol

Cowboy Bebop Roleplaying Game

Coyote and Crow

Cthulhu Awakens

Cthulhutech

Cypher System 

Daisy Chainsaw

Deathmatch Island

Defiant Role Playing Game

Denial & Yearning

Dialect

Dinocar

Dinosaur Princesses

Discworld RPG

Dragon Age Roleplaying Game

Dragonbane

Dread

Dream Machines

Dresden Files Accelerated RPG

Dungeon Crawl Classics

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5

Dungeons and Dragons 5e

Durance

Dwelling

Epitaph

Epoch

Essence 20

Fabula Ultima

Fantasy Age

Fate Core System

Fever Nights Role-Playing Game

Flabbergasted

Fragged Empire

Fratboys Vs

Girl By Moonlight

Glitter Hearts

Goblin Quest

Goblin Slayer TRPG

Gods of Metal:  Ragnarock

Hannukkah Goblins

Have Axe, Will Travel

Hellfrost

Here, There, Be Monsters!

Hero Kids Fantasy RPG

Heroes Against the Darkness

Hopes and Dreams

Hounds 

I’m the Badguy?!?

In Nomine

In the Ashes

Inevitable A Doomed Arthurian Western

Ink

Interns In The Dark

Into the Dungeon

Jiangshi:  Blood in the Banquet Hall

Jordenheim

Katana-Ra

Kids on Bikes 2nd Edition

Killshot an Assassin’s Journal

Konosuba TRPG

Leverage The Quickstart Job

Lilliputian Adventure on the Open Seas

Little Fears Nightmare Edition

Lost Roads

Marvel Multiverse RPG

Mermaid Adventures

Micro rpg book

Modern Age

Monster of the Week

Moonlight On Roseville Beach

Mork Borg

Motel Spooky Nine

Musketeers vs. Cthulhu

Mutant Year Zero

My Mother’s Kitchen

Necrobiotic

Never Going Home

Night Shift:  Veterans of the Supernatural Wars

Night Wolves

Numenera

Odyssey Black Tales

OneDice Pirates & Dragons

One More Quest

Ork! The RPG

Our Woodland Gods

Outcast Silver Raiders 

Outgunned

Over the Edge

Overlight

Pasion De Las Pasiones

Pathfinder 1st Edition

Pathfinder 2nd Edition

Pathfinder Savage Worlds

Perils & Princesses

Pirate Borg

Power Rangers RPG

Prism

Psychic Trash Detectives

Punk’s Been Dead Since ‘79

Queerz!

Raccoon Sky Pirates

Raven

Rebels of the Outlaw Wastes

Reign

Rhapsody of Blood

Rivers of London

Ryuu Tama natural fantasy role play

Samurai Goths of the Apocalypse

Scum and Villainy

Shadowrun 5e

Shadows Of The Past

Shield Maidens

Shiver

Someone in this Tavern is a fucking mimic!

Spell The RPG

Squeeze

Star Trek Adventures Captain’s Log 

Star Trek Adventures The Roleplaying Game

Star Trek Adventures Second Edition

Star Wars 

Starfinder 1st Edition

Starfinder 2nd Edition

Stoneburner

Syma

Tangled

Temples and Tombs

The Bleackness

The Dark West

The Dread of Night

The Play’s the Thing

The Quiet Year

The Revenant Society

The Void

The Watch

Thirsty Sword Lesbians

This Discord has Ghosts in It

This house is Fucking Haunted

Thousand Year Old Vampire

Tomorrow City

Troika!

Unisystem

Urban Decay

Utopia

Vaesen

Vagabond

Valiant Universe

Variations On Your Body

Venture and Dungeon

Waffles For Esther

Wanderhome

Warcraft The Roleplaying Game

Werewolf the Apocalypse

What Lurks Above

What Lurks Beneath

What Lurks Beyond

World Ending Game

Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast

Xianta Cyber Wuxia

Xoe Microplayer

Zweihander

I'll update this list as I get more. Feel free to send me ideas and also reblog this!

[rookwurmwood]

The Hidden-Folk

Woe to those unwary souls who so carelessly tread about the wild, lonely places; for that is the domain of the Hidden-Folk. To intrude upon their realm is to doom oneself to a short life of suffering and misfortune. When lost in the forest, keep to the path of the deer. For all beasts, great and small, still abide by the olden ways which mankind so easily forgot.

According to Scripture: In bygone days, the angel Lucifer made war with God and his heavenly host. He and all his armies of rebel angels were banished from the heavens into the cold, unfashioned outer-darkness as punishment for their pride and arrogance. Forever damned to drift among the empty expanses of cosmic oblivion. However, those spirits who claimed no side in the war of heaven where cast down unto the infant earth. They fell from the sky like snow. Some landed in the cold bogs and raths, others fell into the stones and mountains, while most would land in the briar-choked forests. Here is where they would forever remain. Other Hidden-Folk find their beginnings as the forlorn souls of the unhallowed and unbaptized dead who were intombed within the great mounds and cairns which dot the landscape.

All of these unclean spirits dwell under the earth, only venturing out from their hollows and burrows when the sun sinks behind the horizon. They shy away from humans, living in company of none but their own. They are just as likely to help as they are to harm those who enter their lands as they are capricious things whose temperaments often change on a whim. Those who live close to the wilds have been known to offer blood to placate their wrath and spare their families from their wrath. As the dreaded Book of Dead Names says:

"...blood is the very food of spirits, which is why the fields after the battles of war glows with an unnatural light, the manifestations of the spirits feeding thereon."

Some have even been known to impart their knowledge of wicked spell-work as boons for these offerings. Which often led to many civilizations believing that these spirits were gods of the forest. There are even tales of Witch-Cults offering up kidnapped children to these spirits in exchange for command of the otherworldly. Many Occultists still call out the names of these "Old Gods" around the monoliths of old on Samhain Night.

Much like their kin, the demons, the bodies of the Hidden-Folk are composed of a sort of vaporous cold-fire which they can will into whatever shape might suit them best. They can be fair, grotesque, or corpse-like with some even taking the forms of animals. Though the prevailing descriptions always tell of haunting beauty and bestial features like hooves or a tail. They are semi-corporeal and are able to interact with the world around them yet they cannot be seized as they are not beings of flesh and blood. However, iron implements (particularly swords) frighten the fairy-folk greatly as the blades can pass through their bodies with ease as if they were being cleaved by them. Bear in mind, they are immortal and attacking them will not kill them, but they will endure the agony of death when struck with iron.

[eahtheramblings]

do one on Kitty! :D

I unfortunately don’t have as much to say on Kitty as others, but I do have an idea of where I want her motivations to come from: 

Kitty had to flee to Ever After at a young age like the other Wonderlandians, and it left a bitter taste in her mouth. Being alone with her friends in an unfamiliar world has left Kitty quite protective of them, and as such a lot of the motivation behind her actions comes down to keeping Lizzie and Maddie safe from the darker parts of Ever After. Her keeping a stance on the Royal/Rebel conflict secret isn’t just because she likes the chaos if it, it’s mainly because she has no idea which side is going to win out in the end, and she wants to position her and the wonderland kids into a safe spot regardless of if destiny wins or not. Lizzie’s a staunch Royal, but Maddie has openly sided with the rebels. However Kitty is intelligent, as you need intelligence to be a cunning cheshire, and thus knows that regardless of which side wins the vast majority of Ever After people would be willing to excuse one or the other if they believed either Lizzie’s or Maddie’s stance in the conflict was made out of “madness” and not an actual ethical stance. Kitty refuses to tell anyone her stance and changes sides at random because it muddies the waters, it makes others doubt if the wonderlandians’ even understand the destiny system or if their opinions on it have merit, thus always giving her and her friends plausible deniability if things go south. 

A lot of Kitty’s more bully-like qualities come from this protective streak as well. She’s not above starting fights between people or revealing others secrets if doing so gets her girls out of hot water. In this Au she tries to reveal Cerise’s wolf heritage not for the chaos but because Maddie gets thrown under the bus for a situation similar to the Uni cairn from the second book, and she knows Cerise’s family scandal would take the pressure off Maddie as both Grimm and Blondie would be drawn towards what is arguably a more destiny driven offense. 

Don't get me wrong, she’s still the chaos loving cat we all know and love, but there’s a protective method to her madness. She has a “F you, so long as I get mine” mentality at the start of the year that isn’t really challenged until Spring Unsprung in this Au.

[dangermousie]

I am not sure what made me more !!! - the fact that we see him build a cairn and pray to/for the people he's killed (we see him flashback to the war) or the moment I realized that the flashback from an earlier episode where he is asleep in her lap, at peace, is at this tree - by the cairn to the souls of people he's killed, who torment his sleep.

I think one of the things she finds the hardest, that is driving her mad, is that the more she is around him, the more he becomes a real person, not just abstract enemy she must kill to avenge her family - she sees him be mistreated by his father or sacrifice to people he killed and things become so messy but the fact remains is that he's still defeated her country and killed her family.

That is why her anger - because she is coming to realize he is an honorable man, a duty driven warrior for the country of his birth BUT IT FIXES NOTHING! This is how you do enemies while lovers btw.

It's pretty telling he does not hide what he was doing. His method is to confront everything head on. I said he's like a sword earlier, but it's a mix of a sword and a battering ram. No wonder he was able to function even trapped as a ghost. He has such a singularity of purpose.

I love how she gets angrier and angrier but her impressions of why he's doing these things keep getting upended.

Because he regrets the necessity of bloodshed but not the fact of it, if it makes sense. He is a very dutybound person - you get the sense he gets pleasure from nothing in his life - he fought like a maniac in that battle but you never had sense he was particularly enjoying it. He executed her whole family as a showstopper but he had no bloodlust over it either. He's living as if he's already dead, driven by a grim sense of duty. No wonder he doesn't care if he lives or dies.

When she asks him this in response to his comment that destroying rebels was unavoidable to end the war quickly, his response floored me. His character is so consistent and so clear-eyed - he has no illusions and sees things (and people) the way they are. It doesn't mean he won't work to change things but he has no illusions what state things are in. And his comment is especially !!! because something being a duty not obviating it being a sin is such an amazing bit of understanding.

Once again - he does not believe this will give him peace but he hopes even as he knows it's futile. I wonder if this radical acceptance of things was always part of his nature or a coping mechanism he developed after living with his monster father.

(The fact that he ends up doing this in her arms in this very spot makes me !!!!)

She asks:

His answer floored me. Isn't it the extension of his rigid sense of what is proper? It is proper to ask forgiveness for a sin, but it's entirely different thing to expect forgiveness for that sin. Once again, those two things are not connected but most people conflate it. You ask forgiveness because it's the right thing to do, even if you don't expect forgiveness.

As I said, he's so clear eyed. And the fact that he says even though this was a sin and the blood haunts him, he'd do the same thing. He actually is very much opposite of what-if person. In modern day, after 1500 years as a ghost who cannot leave despite wanting to (!!), you still get the sense he'd not have done anything differently. Once he commits to a course of action, that's it. (Side note - for a man who wanted peace and oblivion, being stuck in the world with his memories for 1500 years is an exquisitely crafted punishment, isn't it?)

Goddddddddd!!!!!!!

He is an incredibly honorable man (within the moral precepts of 6th century warfare) and it makes nothing better for her. It makes it so much worse.

PS I love that even this early on he tries to shield her from his monster father (by lying she's a random servant he acquired for debt) and that she's the bossy one even if she's an enemy captive servant - "let's go, we don't have all day" or similar she snarls at him before their little expedition, and he - her master and terrifying Silla general, follows.

[lady-griffin]

Favorite TV shows gif tags

Rules: Without naming them, post 10 gifs of your favorite TV shows, then tag 10 people.

Tagged by @kitnjon thank you for tagging me ❤️ ❤️❤️ (this was fun)

Oops I miscounted and picked 11; oh well, I’m sure the Tumblr gods will manage to forgive me.

Tagging @rebels-cairn @may-the-nerds-be-with-you @embershroud108 @buildmoreworld @honeybee-nymph @me-and-my-hyperfixations @vaguelyaperson @fulcrum-art-fox @muchtooold2 @glittergluekintsugi

[athena-xox]

- Shear terror (toh)

- chapter 3 (d. ginger)

- Light and dark (fgt)

- Snacky time (k&s)

- Pretty is as pretty does (asckl)

- Cooking lessons (k&s)

- Mommy makeover (k&s)

- A fairy fitting (fgt)

- Banned books (asckl)

- Overly perfect (asckl)

- Ugly duckling (ntv)

- Tower years (asckl)

- Prologue (tsbol)

- Introduction (ouat)

- Cedar Wood and the end of summer (ouat)

- Ashlynn Ella and the mysterious woodsman (ouat)

- Hunter Huntsman and the forest maiden (ouat)

- Kitty Cheshire and the tricksy day (ouat)

- Simply unquestionably perfect (tsbol)

- Briar Beauty and the jewelry thieves (ouat)

- Madeline Hatter and the upside down day (ouat)

- Dexter Charming and the yellow eyed changeling (ouat)

- Darling Charming and the razor eel (ouat)

- Lizzie Hearts and a home for the hedgehogs (ouat)

- Never touch the mirror (tsbol)

- Always doing in how it’s undone (tsbol)

- Maddies chat with the voice (tsbol)

- That dangerous word (tsbol)

- A tale of two tales (series)

- Never after again (tsbol)

- Maddie in chief (series)

- Apples princess practice (series)

- Here comes cupid (series)

- The looming threat of legacy day (tsbol)

- Beware of the glare of her fair hair (tsbol)

- A hot mess of wolves and screams and pastries (tsbol)

- The unsigned page (tsbol)

- Catching Raven (series)

- A hero in every story (tsbol)

- Maddie bothers the narrator again (tsbol)

- Darkness scampering (tsbol)

- Stark mad Raven (series)

- True reflections (series)

- Her very name could cause an earthquake (tsbol)

- Briars study party (series)

- The shoe must go on (series)

- Cedar wood would love to lie (series)

- Almost through the wall of briars (tsbol)

- Cute and cuddly things (tsbol)

- Plump red apple white (tsbol)

- Maddie pesters the narrator yet again (tsbol)

- Red paint on the wall (tsbol)

- A noticing game (tsbol)

- The undiscovered vault of lost tales (tsbol)

- The horrible power of evil (tsbol)

- Born to wear it (tsbol)

- Going off script (tsbol)

- A tale of legacy day (series)

- Treading water in a well (tsbol)

- Prologue (tuota)

- Not your momma’s fairytale (tsbol)

- Maddie annoys the narrator one last time (tsbol)

- Rewrite ignite restart (tsbol)

- Mysterious epilogue (tsbol)

- The cat who cried wolf (series)

- Prologue (aww)

- A spoonful of porridge (tuota)

- The day after ever after (series)

- In service of destiny (tuota)

- Maddie chats with the narrator (tuota)

- Just be happy torches and pitchforks (tuota)

- Maddie catches up with the narrator (tuota)

- A smile and a friend (tuota)

- Time to take off the hood (tuota)

- A children’s treasury of fairytale heirlooms (tuota)

- Maddie gabs with the narrator (tuota)

- Prologue (aww)

- The uni cairn (tuota)

- Banished (tuota)

- Such scullduggery as this (tuota)

- Wisp whispering (tuota)

- Maddie chara with the narrator (tuota)

- Blessed beast of terror (tuota)

- Fairyball (tuota)

- The opposite of quiet (tuota)

- The buzz of a spell (tuota)

- Smile like you mean it (tuota)

- Irrefutable evidence (tuota)

- Maddie pesters the narrator (tuota)

- Happily ever afters (tuota)

- Epilogue (tuota)

- Replacing raven (series)

- Blondies just right (series)

- chapter 1 (d. ginger)

- chapter 2 (d. ginger)

- chapter 4 (d. ginger)

- chapter 5 (d. ginger)

- chapter 6 (d. ginger)

- chapter 8 (d. ginger)

- Rebels got talent (series)

- Mirrornet down (series)

- Candy wish fish (ouap)

- Class confusion (series)

- True hearts day (series)

- Once upon a table (series)

- Blondie branches out (series)

- Poppy the roybel (series)

- O’hairs split ends (series)

- Birth order (toh)

- Ginger in the BREADhouse (series)

- A delivery for ginger (k&s)

- Kissing booth (k&s)

- Spells kitchen (k&s)

- Dumpty’s doubts (k&s)

- Science and sorcery (k&s)

- The desperate deal (k&s)

- Hocus pocus (k&s)

- Frog talk (k&s)

- Ms. Breadhouse to the rescue (k&s)

- Fairy blackmail (k&s)

- A wonderful wish day (k&s)

- A sleepless night (k&s)

- Frog forever after (k&s)

- Eenie Meenie (k&s)

- The golden rule (k&s)

- A non poisoned picnic (k&s)

- The princess ploy (k&s)

- The ever after swamp (k&s)

- Happy hopper (k&s)

- Beyond boring (asckl)

- Strong is as strong does (asckl)

- Dexters dilemma (asckl)

- The village smithy (asckl)

- The stress of being distressed (asckl)

- Gallant sir gallopad (asckl)

- Bad news betty (asckl)

- If the suit fits (asckl)

- Princely pox (asckl)

- A cry for help (asckl)

- Squire darling to the rescue (asckl)

- A charming confession (asckl)

- Questions and crisps (asckl)

- Marian by moonlight (asckl)

- A damsel parade (asckl)

- A knight in dented armour (asckl)

- Happily ever after (asckl)

- Chef ginger (k&s)

- When in doubt shout! (aww)

- The lone tree on the hill (aww)

- Maddie converses politely with the narrator (aww)

- The tragedy of Aquilona (aww)

- A baby bandersnatch (aww)

- Maddie tried to just listen politely (aww)

- A twisted kind of wonder (aww)

- Wonder worms are a go! (aww)

- Storybooker share slam! (aww)

- Reasonably by accident (aww)

- A wobble of uncertainty (aww)

- Wonderland found me (aww)

- Trapped! (aww)

- Narrator takes a sick day (aww)

- Swamp juice in your tea cup (aww)

- Running from deadly terror (aww)

- Takes of wandering un-books (aww)

- More vorpal (aww)

- Yellow wallpaper (aww)

- The vorpal sword awaits (aww)

- Beware empathy! (aww)

- Hedgehog croquet (aww)

- A ruler of nothing (aww)

- Madness is life (aww)

- Friends would be aces (aww)

- Accidentally becoming friends (aww)

- Epilogue (aww)

- Kittys curious tale (series)

- Swan song (ntv)

- Royal roomies (ntv)

- Lizzie’s fairytale first date (series)

- A charming crush (ntv)

- The cauldron room (ntv)

- Rebel roll call (ntv)

- Duchess’s dilemma (ntv)

- A scoop of snoop (ntv)

- Madame’s message (ntv)

- Swan secrets (ntv)

- Duchess’s decision (ntv)

- Princess practice (ntv)

- Horse course (ntv)

- Hood’s house (ntv)

- Sweet Sabotage (ntv)

- Fairy dust feast (ntv)

- A house of cards (ntv)

- Broken hearts (ntv)

- Ravens room (ntv)

- A rebel revealed (ntv)

- Ravens ruse (ntv)

- Horsing around (ntv)

- The end is just the beginning (ntv)

- Lizzie shuffles the deck (series)

- The beautiful truth (series)

- Maddies hat-tastic tea party (series)

- Duchess’s swan lake (series)

- Cerise’s picnic panic (series)

- Throne coming (series)

- And the throne coming queen is… (series)

- Best feather forward (series)

- Spring unsprung (series)

- Ashlynn’s fashion frolic (series)

- Save me darling (series)

- Forest festival (series)

- Apple’s birthday bake off (series)

- Way to wonderland (series)

- What’s in the cards for Courtly Jester (series)

- A big bad secret (series)

- Rosabella and the BEAST’S (series)

- Dragon games (series)

- Moonlight mystery (series)

- Wish list (series)

- Tale of two parties (series)

- Piping hot beats (series)

- Thumb-believable! (series)

- There’s no business like snow business (series)

- Epic winter (series)

- Watery witch (fte)

- Corals spell (fte)

- A magic wind (fte)

- Fairest feet (fte)

- Floatation device (fte)

- An Apple day (fte)

- Tea trouble (fte)

- A pair of princes (fte)

- StoryTeller2 (fte)

- Above the waves (fte)

- Club day (fte)

- Down the drain (fte)

- Enchanted lake (fte)

- Sports day (fte)

- The secret prince (fte)

- Mirror beach (fte)

- Rescue repeat (fte)

- Out of hiding (fte)

- The true tale (fte)

- The legacy orchard (series)

- Sugar coated (series)

- Meeshell comes out of her shell (series)

- Happily glees (fte)

- Swimming lessons (fte)

- Croquet-tastrophy (series)

- Fairest on ice (series)

- Heart struck (series)

- Bunny and Alistair forever (series)

- Wings and things (fgt)

- Pyramid practice (fgt)

- The cheer factor (fgt)

- A bit of advice (fgt)

- A perky prediction (fgt)

- An abundance of blue (fgt)

- The vault of lost tales (fgt)

- A deed of most deviousness (fgt)

- Wilted wings (fgt)

- Greek tragedy (fgt)

- Flight grounded (fgt)

- Boiling blood (fgt)

- Dark fairy discussion (fgt)

- A golden opportunity (fgt)

- Twinkle toes (fgt)

- Humphrey the hunk? (fgt)

- A dark confession (fgt)

- Pyramid perfection (fgt)

- Curtain call (fgt)

- Bookish in bookend (toh)

- A sparrow on the stairs (toh)

- Tower hair salon (toh)

- Zero stars (toh)

- Growing backwards (toh)

- Some nimble advice (toh)

- Tall tales (toh)

- Rapunzel’s advice (toh)

- Hairy magic (toh)

- An unhexpected visitor (toh)

- Sister act (toh)

- Swan style (toh)

- Ruined reputation (toh)

- Rapunzel’s tower (toh)

- A mothers twintuition (toh)

- Fairytale ending (toh)

- Time for a change! (tcsc)

- Did somebody say Cinderella? (tcsc)

- Time for chores (tcsc)

- Scrub-a-dub-dub (tcsc)

- One candy coloured coach coming up! (tcsc)

- A wolf in princess’s clothing (catb)

- Does this ballgown come with a hood? (catb)

- Better together (catb)

- Anybody lose a sneaker? (tcsc)

- Acting the part (catb)

- Not a clue! (rattb)

- On the case (rattb)

- Everybody, dance now! (tcsc)

- Bookball, anyone? (tcsc)

Just one of the girls (catb)

- It’s coming from inside the castle! (catb)

- Let’s be real (catb)

- If the sneaker fits…(tcsc)

- The sweetest stepmother (tcsc)

- The plot (and the porridge) thickens (rattb)

- bear facts (rattb)

- Just a hunch (rattb)

- Ever after evidence (rattb)

- The scene of the crime (rattb)

- A spell to remember (tcsc)

- Introduction (catb)

- A case of the mixed-up cheerhex (rattb)

- Unusual suspects (rattb)

- Fowl play (rattb)

- A critter culprit (rattb)

- A big bad trap (rattb)

- Cold case (rattb)

- the beast bust (rattb)

- Story solved (rattb)

- Beanstalk bravado (series)

- Tri-castle-on (series)

[ufohmy]

Lost a good one today in the Rebel's Cairn. Everyone make sure to light a torch for Erandur. 🕯️

[aladaylessecondblog]

Faal Hah Wuld plotting (stuff I'm saving to think over)

something from Sermon Ten that might be useful

Then do not divide, for yet is the stride of SITHISIT quicker than the rush of enemies, and He will sunder the whole for the sake of a shingle. Sithis being a perfectionist to the most extreme sense of the word makes sense.

[...]

SITHISIT is the start of all true Houses, built against stasis and lazy slaves. Turn from your predilections, broken like false maps. Move and move like this. Quicken against false fathers, mothers left in corners weeping for glass and rain. Stasis asks merely for nothing, for itself, which is nothing, as you were in the eight everlasting imperfections. Vivec says unto the Hortator remember the words of Vivec.

UNDERSTAND THAT SITHISIT STILL TRAVELS IN A PHOSPHORESCENT MIRROR OF THE SKY DROWNED AND SMILING INTERMITTENT HOPES ENOUGH TO ANSWER ALL THE THINGS NOT YET QUERIED

I'm not sure what I could get from this but I KNOW it's useful. Sithis still kicking. Quickening against false fathers (also Sithis), shezarrine dragonborn's mother weeping because...I mean you would too.

something else in Sermon Fifteen:

'The ruling king will remove me, his maker. This is the way of all children. His greatest enemy is the Sharmat, who is the false dreamer.'

Dagoth Ur gearing up to be a serious problem on top of everything else. This sounds also like the ruling king was the rebel...or maybe I'm just likening my own shit to it too much.

BUT THIS

'You alone, though you come again and again, can unmake him. Whether I allow it is within my wisdom. Go unarmed into his den with these words of power: AE GHARTOK PADHOME [CHIM] AE ALTADOON. Or do not. The temporal myth is man. Reach heaven by violence. This magic I give to you: the world you will rule is only an intermittent hope and you must be the letter written in uncertainty.'

I know this was written about the Nerevarine, but boy could it also fit for the idea of Lorkhan defending the place he's made, over and over, somehow failing and not failing at the same time. ONLY Lorkhan being able to unmake/defeat his father.

Reach heaven by violence -> Lorkhan's rage/madness -> Pelinal's madness -> ??? -> profit

Fuck. Vivec is technically dead in this fic, but he was soul trapped so he could still be encountered in the soul cairn

[baeaecha26]

Chapter 13: Discovering Common Ground

The moon, a slender crescent in the darkened sky, cast a pearlized sheen over the dense tangle of forest vines that besieged the path trodden by our unlikely duo. Ti and Kaipa moved in a delicate dance -first one poised to lead, then the other, their mutual suspicion held in check by the now palpable revelation that they had both been the architects of their shared miseries. As they walked side by side to navigate the abandoned village, the feathery glow of torchlight, their only companion in the night, seemed to shimmer with the weight of the secrets and the redemptions that lay at the heart of their journey.

In a grove of ancient oak, where the trees were gnarled and twisted with the passage of time, the first bolt of recognition seemed to pierce the thick veil of suspicion between them. Ti, his fingers wrapped tightly around a spool of prayer beads that had once belonged to his dear friend Favian, looked up at the mournful shadows cast upon Kaipa's face.

With a tremor in his voice that seemed to spring from the depths of his ragged soul, he finally spoke, as if emitting a confession long-repressed by warring passions. "All these months, I knew that a traitor lived among us in the battalion, that my men were dying without explanation. I never thought--I never allowed myself to imagine that you could be the instrument of their suffering."

Kaipa's dark eyes met Ti's in a lingering moment of painful revelation, as the flicker of torchlight seemed to trace the contours of his pain. Slowly, he lifted a gauntleted hand and brushed his fingers against the tender callouses left from countless faithful battles.

In a voice strained with emotion, he replied, "It is...it is never my intent to cause misery unto others, Ti. You must understand that we each fight a war for that which we treasure most, that which we long for at the end of a day thick with blood and despair. I have lost all I have ever loved in this conflict of souls, and it is with the dregs of my heartache that I joined the Rebel Army, hoping to harbor a dying ember of that love into a flame that might one day vanquish a thousand nights of darkness."

The words hung between them like a smothering fog, in which every whisper and every stirring of sorrow seemed to share in the fate of a million tragic tales, each one wrapped around a single, impossible choice.

There, where the lines of demarcation had seemed so entrenched and immovable, Ti and Kaipa discovered the first shards of common ground scattered among the battlefield. The cairns of carefully constructed falsehoods and barriers began to tumble away, replaced with the feeble petals of shared grief and memories, gently unfurling into a fragile bridge that spanned the expanse between them.

One night, as they were sitting together on a cool, wet slab of limestone, passing between them a clay-filled canteen and a small plate of stale bread, Ti dared to broach a subject he had long avoided. "Kaipa, tell me of your family; how are they faring in the war?"

Something in his voice, a sense of kinship and undiluted empathy that seemed to reach out in tendrils and lay delicate claims within his heart, drew Kaipa's gaze to him in earnest. For an instant, he became something more than a comrade-in-arms; he transformed into a witness to the myriad of quiet tragedies that had etched indelible lines and whispers upon his soul.

"There was a time, long before the first trumpet sounded," Kaipa began his words wrapped in a shroud of nostalgic reverie, "when my family and our village lived as one united in prosperity, laughing in the warmth of the sun. But war separates even the dearest of kin. My brother cast his lot with the Royal Army, and I did the same with the Rebels. Our once-close bond was sundered by blades forged of cold steel and flames of differently aligned convictions."

Tears sparkled in his eyes, threatening to spill over as his gaze wandered back to the dying embers of the fire. "My dreams have been haunted by the image of my brother, hewn from that same bloodline we shared, falling on the battlefield not as a brother or friend, but as the enemy."

A shuddering sob wrenched itself free of his as Ti reached out, placing his hand over his, the simple contact charged with an indescribable poignancy. His own vision blurred by the songs of sorrow threading through his soul, Ti whispered, "We, too, have a kinship of sorts, one forged in the crucible of terrors and trials that have till now only been known to ourselves. In this storm, Kaipa, we have found the gentle rain of understanding amidst the cascading torrents of despair."

And so, beneath that ethereal canopy of towering oaks and trembling ebony boughs, the crossed stars of Ti and Kaipa's destinies began to quiver and sway, to cast their radiant beams like a guiding path deep into the heart of love's labyrinth-a place where the unraveling of the mysteries of their own fractured souls might heal the rifts they once thought irreparable, and at last, allow for the effulgence of hope to touch the farthest corners of their tortured world.

[aressida]

"A friend wrote this about the Cairns event and I second it Alex James sums up the Cairns event nicely

🚨Tucker Carlson in Australia. Vaccines, free speech, mass migration and more.

It was almost surreal being in the same room as Tucker Carlson and many of the other great speakers and guests, surreal because not only was I fired for not taking the vaccine, but I saw one of my bosses there, who was one of the three of us, who were fired from our government jobs for not taking the vaccine.

And this was the main topic on the agenda tonight.

Because Australians are still furious about being forced to take the dangerous vaccines.

Melissa McCann was the first to speak, which she outlined at great length the horrors perpetrated by not only the medical industry but also the government. She highlighted and showed us the truth in clearly understandable images and graphs proving her case and proving that the vaccines are not what they said they were.

McCann definitely captivated the audience, making Australians proud of the courage of some of the people who’ve worked in the medical industry and had the guts to speak out against the vaccines.

Dinesh D’Souza was up next, and I’d like to do a nice write up about him, unfortunately however, he was well out of his element here. His topic was on American voter fraud, which is very relevant to Australians in regards to learning from this US problem, and how this could very well be happening here, but it seemed very out of place and irrelevant to the audience, since the audience were Australians who like Tucker Carlson. So therefore they’ve heard about voter fraud many hundreds of times.

He didn't try to relate his US issue to the Australian audience, he spoke to us like as if he was in America.

He then played quite long clips from 2000 mules, a great documentary that he made, but the plug was probably a waste of time here, because most people in the audience have already seen it.

Then it was Clive Palmers turn, at first half the crowd booed him, with the other half rebelling and clapping.

But by the halfway mark in his speech, he had won over the audience’s trust, as he explained how he brought over 37 million doses of Hydroxychloroquine and fought against the government multiple times to stop the damage that their vaccines were causing.

He spent a small amount of time plugging his Titanic II venture but correctly read the room, made a joke about it, and moved on, which the audience appreciated.

Then the big entry, and the man everyone was there to see.

Enter Tucker Carlson. Flamboyant yet down to earth. Tucker seemed highly relatable as he joked about the Australian government taking our guns away, how he has been sniffing Koalas like Joe Biden, how he went fishing in a river in Cairns but caught nothing (it was the moon and the tides fault of course), and poking fun at Australians being tough enough to fight the Turks at Gallipoli, yet too nice to say no to daddy government.

The audience loved this, as most Australians would, since that style of humor is right up our alley. They go together like an angry ex-gov employee goes with writing longwinded exposé’s on a right wing honey pot platform.

But besides the humor, Tucker made some fantastic points. Such as recognizing and harnessing courage. The courage to stand up and say no. The courage to speak within a crowd or at the dinner table, to go against the conventional norms of being polite 24/7, too actually say, No, this is wrong.

Because what the government did with the vaccines and the lockdowns were wrong. What they did by taking away Australia’s guns was wrong. What they’re doing with mass migration is wring

And that’s another point that he hammered home. If the government loved you, if they cared about you like they should. Then why do they flood Australia with migrants?" - Birgit Ariane. TG.

[scribeofskyrim]

Loredas, 16th of Frostfall, 4E 201

Thank the Divines for a quiet day!

We're back at the Manor, getting ready for a trip to the Blue Palace tomorrow. It's only mid-afternoon, but we've got a plan for the rest of the day and I don't want to be up half the night writing!

We came out of Rebel's Cairn to a beautiful morning. It was a bit windswept and desolate up there on top of the mountain, but the view was amazing! I could see the road snaking past the river, and I could even make out Dragonsreach in the distance.

We checked the map and saw that Rorikstead looked pretty close, so we headed that way. As luck would have it, the town was practically right there at the base of the mountain, and there was a Khajiit with a stall selling his goods by the road.

Before I could talk to the trader a courier ran up, said he had a top secret message from Falk Firebeard, then handed me a sealed note. Once he ran off, I peeked at it, then called the others in for a huddle.

Falk has more information about that group of cultists who were trying to summon Potema. He wants us to come back to Solitude right away.

I mean, we can't ignore a summons like that, so we sold what we could to K'irava, the trader, before we hit the road back here.

It was a lot faster getting back. Not only did the weather hold most of the way, we were able to travel over relatively flat ground or roads until we got to Morthal. The only delay was when I got chased by two mudcrabs!

We moved as quickly as we could. I wanted to get back and have time to actually rest before going into Solitude tomorrow.

And I really, really need a bath.

The plan: I'll wash up once Erandur's done, then organize the books we picked up along the way. Lydia's offered to prepare food for the trip, along with dinner tonight, so I'll pull out everything we've got on Potema and have it ready for us to flip through while we eat. Valdimar's going to go over our gear and see if any of our enchanted items need charged or armor needs repaired. Erandur wants to sort through the potions and make what he can that we're short on.

We don't want to go in unprepared, so once we're done with dinner and reading, we'll get our gear ready, then get some shut-eye.

-/-/-/-/-/-

And THIS is why I should never write in this thing until my day is actually over.

At least it didn't go too badly.

I mean, it didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but it could've been A LOT worse.

I was upstairs, sorting books in the library tower, when I heard a fight break out in the dining room.

I ran to the walkway, and looked down.

Valdimar had Erandur pinned against the wall. His left forearm was across Erandur's shoulders, like he was doing a shield bash, and he had an Ice Spike in his right hand, aimed at Erandur's face.

Lydia had been chopping vegetables at the table. Now, she had the knife pointed at them, and was slowly stepping to put herself between me and them, despite the fact that I was on an upper floor.

Erandur had his face turned to the side and his eyes shut tight, bracing himself for the hit. He wasn't struggling, and from my position I could see thin lines of fire curl around his fingertips, as if by instinct. Then he clenched his fists, snuffing them out.

I told Valdimar to stop, but he still brought his hand back, as though to release the spell, and Erandur just grit his teeth and… Waited.

This made Valdimar pause, and he almost snarled when he said, "You were in the cult of Vaermina?!"

Erandur finally opened his eyes and looked at Valdimar. He took a deep, shuddering breath that I could see from where I was and shouted back, "I was only a child!"

He whispered, "I lost everything," and then his voice cracked, and the tears started. Valdimar's spell vanished, and he let Erandur go. He looked like he'd been slapped. I don't think Lydia even blinked.

Erandur sank to the floor, curled up against the wall, knees up with one hand clenched over his heart and the other gripping his opposite shoulder. He'd actually taken off his scarf earlier, and without it he looked even thinner. Even though he's tall for a Dunmer, he looked tiny compared to Valdimar, who was still standing over him.

I half-tripped down the steps to get to him, and hugged him while he wept. Septim came up and managed to worm his way into Erandur's arms.

I looked over my shoulder to glare at Valdimar, and he mouthed "Sorry" and made a gesture like he didn't know. I turned my attention to Lydia, but by this point she'd lowered her knife and gone back to tending to dinner like one of her teammates wasn't having a breakdown. Then I saw her fill a cup of water and set it at Erandur's place at the table.

Valdimar pulled out Erandur's chair for him, and we carefully got him off the floor and to the table. Once he was there, he managed to pull himself together enough to talk, and it was like a dam broke.

The fancy accent was gone, but some of the proper language remained, and he told us…

He told us everything. Well, almost, but it was more than enough. The way he talked, I'm certain he's never told anyone his story before.

He said he was born in The Pale, in a town called Dunstad Grove. His parents were kind, wonderful people, and what little childhood he had with them was a happy one.

And then there's this… Hole in his mind, he said, like pages ripped out of a book, and the next thing he remembers is his parents' funeral. He knows they died, but not how. He was only eight years old. The other villagers were sad for him, but no one knew what to do with him.

Then a Dunmer lady in purple robes came up to him and asked if he'd like to go with her. He'd never seen another Dunmer before in his life aside from his parents. She knew he was sad, and asked him if he had nightmares. He did, and she told him she could make the nightmares go away. If he went with her, she could even make the sad memories go away forever.

I've heard that one before! Damn Daedric cults. Miss Agrippina always warned us about how they liked to prey on desperate people, especially orphans.

Anyway, Erandur packed up with little he had, including the Dwarven mace his father hid under the floorboards, and went with her.

He said that once they got to Nightcaller Temple, the priests there said he could join them. He would be part of their family, and they would take care of him, but he had to give them something in return.

He started to cry again, but only a little. He had his face in his hands and we could barely hear him when he said, "They took my name."

When Erandur told us this, we all looked at each other in shock.

Now, I'm no expert in Dunmer culture, but even I know how important family and names are to them. The first word I learned in Dunmeri was an Ashlander insult that translates to "No-Name" or "Nameless".

Valdimar said, "By Talos! Who would take a Dunmer's name?"

"A Daedric bitch, that's who," Erandur said. He sounded bitter, and reached past the water that he'd been sipping at to grab a wine bottle off the table.

He uncorked the wine with his dagger in one fluid motion, like an expert, and took a long drink straight from the bottle before he continued with his story.

They named him Casimir. They taught him how to fight, how to use magic, and alchemy. They also taught him how to Sleep. He learned to navigate the Quagmire, the land of nightmares that Vaermina calls home. There, he would steal the memories of sleepers who entered there from our realm, leaving nightmares and terror in his wake.

He grabbed at his heart and said that they also trained him to pick good marks. He learned how to find people's fears and insecurities, and how to use them against them. He mastered the art of manipulation. He used it to persuade or outright seduce people into joining the cult, or to simply follow him; then they'd be kidnapped and used as sacrifices in their rituals.

"I did horrible things," he said, "I'm a monster."

"Not really," I said. "I saw it myself."

He shot me a look, and I came clean.

"It was your memories I saw in the Dreamstride."

After I explained what the Dreamstride and Vaermina's Torpor is, I told everyone about the night years ago in Nightcaller Temple, when the Orcs attacked. I told them how he ran through the fray, scared out of his mind because he didn't want to go back to the Quagmire for who knows how many years.

I explained that the others were driven mad, but he knew the High Priests - Like him and his friends - would probably survive it with their minds intact.

But he didn't want to gamble. He was afraid, and I didn't see what happened after he pulled the chain, but my guess is that he bolted through the door before the Miasma could take him, and escaped into the night. He saw his chance, and he took it.

Erandur just stared at me as I told the others the full story of what happened in the Temple, before he destroyed the Skull. I described how he killed his old friends, and how Vaermina tried to get me to kill him in exchange for the Skull's power.

Erandur was quiet while I talked about Veren and Thorek, and started to tear up again. Valdimar asked how he could cry over them, and Erandur said that he'd never forgiven himself for betraying them and running away.

Killing the other worshipers, the ones who had been driven mad by their Sleep, was a mercy, he explained. Doing so freed their minds from the Quagmire, so they could finally rest. Veren and Thorek, on the other hand, had survived their Sleep, so killing them felt more like murder, even though they struck first.

He said that even though they did terrible things, they weren't completely terrible people. Yes, they tried to kill us, but they were still his family, his brothers, and he loved them. He said that he asks Mara for forgiveness every day; not only for what he did while serving Vaermina, but for betraying his old friends, too.

"At least the nightmares stopped," he said, and he finished off his wine.

Lydia had been chopping up vegetables and tending to the stew she was making while he talked, and at this point it was ready, so she dished some out for us. She grabbed a second wine bottle from Erandur's reach before he could get to it, and set a warm mug of tea in front of him.

"You can't be hungover when you go to the Blue Palace tomorrow," she said, then sat down.

I'll admit, I think that made me relax as much as it did him!

I was afraid that the others wouldn't want him around any more once they found out, and I know he was worried, too. Having Lydia state that he was coming with us (it was very clearly NOT a request) was a relief.

Valdimar was obviously feeling guilty about slamming him into the wall earlier. He'd scooched his chair right up next to Erandur's so he could put his hand on his back or shoulder when he thought Erandur needed it. Erandur had flinched a little the first time Valdimar put his hand on him, but quickly relaxed and ended up almost leaning against his arm.

Erandur smiled and thanked Lydia, and we ate for a bit before Valdimar asked him when he left Nightcaller Temple.

Erandur said it was almost a hundred years ago.

I could tell that Valdimar and Lydia were trying to do the numbers in their heads. I didn't even bother. Finally, Valdimar gave up and asked, "How old are you?"

Erandur thought for a moment. "Two hundred and seven."

Lydia looked up and blurted out that he didn't look much older than Irileth!

Erandur laughed, and Valdimar said that he always suspected that he was around 130. Over 150 was impossible, not to mention 200!

Erandur sipped at his tea and said 130 sounded about right. He explained a bit more about how the Miasma worked. They used it in rituals all the time, and most of them take months to complete. A "big" ritual could be expected to take at least a year. He had been a High Priest, and the Sleep for that is a decade. He did so many he never bothered keeping track. He confessed that he completely missed the Void Nights!

"What did you do after you left the Cult?"

Leave it to Lydia to ask the questions we don't know how to.

Erandur put his spoon back in his bowl and did his nervous laugh before he said, and I quote, "I went a little wild."

Valdimar laughed, and said he couldn't picture him being "wild".

Erandur actually started to look nervous, and said that he used to be quite a different person. The Cult of Vaermina raised him to be harsh and selfish. He said they encouraged his alchemy experiments, and his "creative brutality".

He was the perfect acolyte, but the Cult controlled every part of his life. Even his haircut wasn't his choice. It got worse as a High Priest. In theory he had all the power and control, but then he had to serve as an example.

When he escaped, getting a job was the last thing he wanted, but he didn't know what to do. So, he did what he knew best: Alchemy.

He wandered around, selling potions on the road like a skooma dealer, and soon ran into some bandits. They tried to kill him, but failed, and he found a note on one of them talking about a smuggling ring up the coast that would buy their goods.

I've had my suspicions about Erandur from the day I met him, but I saw plenty of little clues in the time since that kept telling me I was right. I've only seen one kind of person who can uncork a bottle with their dagger like he can, then re-sheathe it while they take a drink.

"I knew you were on a boat!"

I was SO certain!

Erandur laughed, and said that I was half-right. He found the smuggling ring and offered his services as an alchemist and a healer. He mostly stayed at the hideout, but he did do a bit of sailing and learned a lot from the sailors that he spent his first months of freedom with.

Gangs don't last long (don't I know it!) so he had to move around a lot, and went from group to group. He even confessed that he went by "Kaz" during that time. He was clearly embarrassed by that, and yes, he did spell it for us when Valdimar asked.

I would say something here about being Young and Stupid, but that's me, so…

We started asking him more questions about his life of crime, but he waved us off and promised that he'd tell us more, later. It was getting late, and he was tired.

So, he got up to say his prayers before he went to bed. He said he needed to thank Mara for bringing people like us into his life, who wouldn't judge him for who he used to be.

Valdimar asked if he could speak with him for a minute, so I helped Lydia clear the table while they went into the front room to talk. Lydia explained that Erandur has slipped up while he was chatting with Valdimar earlier. She didn't catch it, but it was enough to alarm Valdimar. She asked me not to be too angry with him. He was only trying to protect me.

I reassured her that I wasn't angry at anyone. I admitted that it was a little scary to see Valdimar like that. Lydia agreed. She'd never seen him so mad! He always reminded her of a big, cuddly bear.

I reminded her that all bears have teeth.

I was cleaning up the broken glass by the alchemy table when the door opened and they rejoined us in the main hall.

I could tell Erandur had been crying again, and I asked if everything was all right.

Erandur nodded, and I really like how he put it so I hope I got it right, "My heart is tired, but it is full."

He left to do his prayers, and Valdimar went back to getting the armor ready for tomorrow while Lydia packed the food. I asked him if Erandur really was all right, and he said that he was. Valdimar wanted to explain himself and apologize in private. Erandur was just so relieved that we honestly didn't hate him that he broke down again.

Lydia mused aloud if priests usually got "that kind of treatment", and explained, when I asked, that since priests are always the ones helping people and healing them and listening and giving counsel, who does it for them? He's always taking care of us; when was the last time anyone actually took care of him?

Like I said, she's a savvy sweetroll.

Anyway, I sat down to write this while they finished getting things ready for tomorrow. They've both gone to bed, and Septim's asleep by the fire, so it's just me and Erandur.

He's getting the potions sorted; he wants to have it done for tomorrow. He tried apologizing for not telling them earlier, but I said that was all right. Honestly, how do you even bring that up? Where do you start? "Oh, by the way, I used to be in an evil cult and I was so good at the evil they made me a high priest!"

That got a real laugh out of him, and he had to say I was right.

I made sure to give him a big hug, too. He hugged me back and thanked me for letting him join us. He said there weren't many people who knew he'd been in Vaermina's cult, but almost all of them pushed him away as soon as they found out.

Considering that most of the people who accepted him did crime for a living, I'm not surprised.

But I'm getting tired, so I'm going to stop here so I can finish this book on the Wolf Queen while I drain my wine, then get my ass to bed.

It's been a hell of a night.

[papierscrolls]

Red Eagle's tomb, Rebel's Cairn.

[alteredphoenix]

What kind of sick monster codes Skyrim in a way that your companions have to take a moment to recover when they’re low on health on the lowest difficulty but if you shoot them in the back with an arrow that’s meant for the Forsworn Ravager that’s attacking them they eat the crit and die.

(Or, I accidentally murdered Kharjo as we were passing through a Forsworn camp and was so stunned I just decided that shit is non-canon and reloaded to my previous save because I did not get this far acquiring decent heavy armor for a cat warrior I had my eye on for days.

I’m sorry, Kharjo, let’s pretend that was part of a dragon break, okay? Okay.)

[atumbleamongthepages]

New Release: Bitter Desire, by @RebelWrites_

New Release: Bitter Desire, by @RebelWrites_

Honey.. Life in New York City is nothing but a series of ups and downs. A roller coaster ride that will take you higher than you’ve ever been, before dropping you so low you feel sick. I was on a high. I had everything I’d ever wanted. A job I was good at, an apartment that was starting to feel like home, and friends? I had friends. Good ones. But most importantly—I had him. Lawson Sokolov,…

[tomtenadia]

For the love of a kingdom - 26

HI all,

here we are with another chapter. This is an heavy one, but I hope something that happens will make you feel better. CW: mention of torture, mention of sexual abuse and pedophilia. Depiction of hanging and death.

The Bane and the king’s guards rode like the wind to the castle. Aedion was a man on a mission. Once close by he asked Kyllian to blow the horn to alert the castle of their arrival.

In the yard they found all their friends and Dorian too.

Aedion dismounted quickly, then went to the horse carrying Hamel and pulled the man down letting him crash on the stone. Then he grabbed the collar of his shirt “throw this piece of garbage in the dungeon,” he turned to Dorian “Your majesty… a moment of your time?”

The two men walked back inside the castle and Aedion took him to the council chambers.

“What happened?”

“That man,” Aedion breathed in, in an effort to reel in his rage “we got to his steading and his people torched the place.”

Dorian gasped.

“They had enough after they discovered that the man had taken advantage of five young girls,” his hand fisted “they were between thirteen and fifteen.”

Dorian stormed out and Aedion followed him. The king followed the corridors and took the turn and headed for the dungeons. 

Once down below, Kyllian was there and was worried about the two men.

Dorian pushed through and ordered the man to open the cell.

The second in command opened the door and Dorian stormed in. 

Hamel stood defiantly and Dorian slammed him against the wall “you will pay. For those five girls and for every other crime you committed.”

“I am an upstanding citizen,” the man spat “And you just assaulted me.”

“I am the king.”

Hamel smiled wickedly “you have no jurisdiction here.”

Aedion stepped up “but I do. I am regent until the queen is well enough to come back,” he told him “You will charged for treason and rape.”

Hamel stood silent.

“You are lucky I am allowing to go in front of a jury. I should have let you burn.”

The two left the cell and walked away. 

“He does not deserve a trial.” Aedion’s voice was low and heartbroken.

“No, but he will get it and I promise he will hang and we will invite the whole town.”

*

Rowan and the group of fae warrior finally found the mansion after days of scouting. 

“She is here,” said Rowan while staring at the dark building “I can feel her.”

“We need to be smart about this,” said Gavriel walking beside his friend. Rowan had been in a bad mood for a few days now and he was afraid he might do something crazy.

“I know,” his eyes looked up and in the silence of the bond he tried to reassure Aelin. I am here.

Vaughan offered to do a flyby and aerial recon and Rowan agreed to join him.

Rowan flew around all the rooms but no sign of Aelin and he started to worry. She was there. He knew but why couldn’t he see her?

I am here. Please be safe.

He let out a loud cry of pain and flew again. They had to attack but Maeve was not an easy customer. 

Rowan landed back with his friends and Fenrys walked to him “Con and I can teleport. We can go inside and do some scouting.”

“You know that you can only use it a few times. It will drain you.”

The blonde man nodded “just once to in and then to get out. Con and I are the best at sneaking, remember?”

The twins really were the best at infiltrate places. They had been an asset in their rebel days.

Rowan turned to Gavriel and his old friend nodded.

Rowan sighed deeply “just be careful, please.”

*

Aelin wasn’t sure anymore if the world around her was real or not. It had been what? Days of torture now? Weeks? She had lost track. The healers would drug her hard after each session and her mind was so foggy that it felt like a nightmare. Cairn took great delight in inflicting excruciating pain, in burning her. Aelin was so tired. the dark tendrils had left. Maeve apparently had no more use for her and she was fine with it.

It was on a particular bad day that she felt a tug at her bond with Rowan. He was close by. She wanted to run to him but her body was securely fastened to a torture table. Her restraints too hard to break.

She called him through the bond. And hoped.

*

Back at the castle Aedion was getting ready.

Two days prior, with the help of Dorian they held the trial for Hamel. They had gathered a group of citizens to act as jury. The old council could not be trusted and had been dismissed by Aedion. Jack, Emrys and Malakai had offered to help even if they had no experience, had given Aedion some excellent advice and they had become temporary counsellors.

The trial happened in the throne room but Aedion had refused to sit on the throne. That was not his spot.

Hamel had been brought in front of him, Dorian and the jury. He had been accused of treason against the crown and the town for not fulfilling his trade deals and willingly let the population die. He was brought up to charges of rape, sexual assault and murder. As soon as he was apprehended, more women from the steading had come forward accusing him of forcing himself on them, of being inappropriate. The parents of the five girls retold the painful discovery of their daughters being abused. One of them had ended up pregnant at the tender age of fourteen.

Aedion did his best to restrain himself while listening to the tales of the women. Lysandra had calmed him down and his wife and son had offered comfort during some difficult days.

The verdict had been an easy one: death by hanging.

Now they were all gathered in the main square where the gallows had been erected.

Aedion was now on the podium ready to address the crowd “Arobynn Hamel has been charged of treason by a jury. With Perrington he schemed to let you starve through the winter and die while they were getting richer. For this he has been found guilty of treason,” and now the toughest part “He also assaulted and abused women in his steading including five very young women,” he breathed in and pushed down his rage “for this he has been found guilty of assault, rape and pedophilia.”

The crowd shouted their hate words at the man who was standing near the noose.

“The jury has reached the verdict to punish Mr Hamel by hanging.”

The citizens cheered loudly.

Aedion looked at Dorian. He had never executed anyone. Had it been the right choice? The man was a monster but still he felt unease at the action.

 In the crowd he searched for Lysandra and his wife smiled at him.

Dorian nodded and Aedion gave the order to one of the guards to push Hamel to the noose.

The merchant fought it and protested and the more he did, the more the crowd screamed back at him.

Aedion gave the order and the trapdoor opened and Hamel body dropped with it.

Aedion would never forget the image.

*

Back in the common room Aedion was surrounded by his group of friends. His son in his arms.

“Aedion you can’t feel bad for the monster,” the statement had come from Jack.

“I just killed a man. I ordered it.” Pure anguish in his voice “I am a warrior, and I always killed in battle. This is different.”

“A jury of people made that call. You accepted their ruling. The mob asked for it, Aedion.” Yrene smiled at the man “I am a healer and my job is to keep people alive, but I swear I would have poisoned the man myself.”

“She is right,” added Dorian “I have executed only two men in my reign and only when they really deserved it. Hamel did. If only for what he did to those women,” the king patted Aedion’s arm.

“It’s a shame we did not cut his manhood off and let him eat it. That would have been fun,” the comment had come from Malakai and Emrys glared at his mate.

“Oh, that would have been wonderful,” added Elide.

“When Aelin comes back she’ll have my head.”

Lysandra comforted her husband “Your cousin will ask some dark god to bring the bastard back to life only so that she can burn him down herself when she hears what he did.”

“Yeah, Lys is right. She will be mad at you only because she would have wanted a piece,” Added Elide.

Aedion sighed and surrounded by his friends his anguish let go a little.

*

Rowan was pacing frantically in the snow with Lorcan and Gavriel at his side. The twins had been in the mansion for almost an hour now and his anguish grew. He was not used to be on the sidelines. He trusted them but Rowan wanted to be inside and look for his mate. She had been a prisoner for too long and he was terrified to know what they had done to her. He almost felt sick at the thought. He could not feel Aelin. There had been a brief moment when the bond tugged but it had not lasted long.

It was an hour later when two wolves, a dark and a light one, padded quickly to them and then transformed back into fae.

“She is in the dungeon and something is happening,”

Rowan pushed them aside and marched away, a trail of ice following him and the wind picking up all of a sudden. His friends followed him knowing that Rowan was not in the right state of mind to act rationally. He was a male whose mate was in danger and probably tortured. In that instant he was the most dangerous creature around.

The twins lead him to the cells and the tug of the bond grew stronger and with it her pain. He was tired of his mate being tortured and injured. His pregnant mate. He could not cope with that. He used his power to freeze the lock and then with all his strength he destroyed it and burst inside.

And stopped.

The air knocked out of his lungs.

Aelin.

His mate.

His Fireheart.

She was tied to a bed, naked with horrible cuts and burn marks on her. Her blue eyes landed on him and at the pain in them Rowan lost it.

“Gavriel, Lorcan, free her and take her out. Gav, heal her please,” his voice was filled with the promise of death.

The man in front of him flicked his knife “hands off my pet.”

Rowan surged forward and attacked the man slamming him hard against the wall “you hurt my mate. Now you will feel all you put her through. You are my pet now,” Rowan flicked his dagger in his hand “I am very skilled with a blade.”

Once the bed was free he grabbed the man and slammed him on and skilfully tied him on with the promise of unending pain.

Rowan dipped the knife in the cauldron at his side and let the metal turn hot “I hope you throat is ready for some heavy screaming.”

The man spat in his face.

Rowan smirked dangerously and got to work.

*

Gavriel, aware of what Rowan was planning to do, had moved the group and the queen far away. He did not want to have Aelin listen to the screams of the man being tortured by her mate.

The house felt empty so they found a small lounge room and placed Aelin on a sofa. Her body had been enveloped in a cloak to hide her nakedness.

Gavriel kneeled at her side and started working on the woman “Rowan has been mad with grief without you,” his hand hovered over her chest “if he lost you he would be a broken man. Completely lost.”

The other four stood and mounted guard. The house seemed empty but in that position they were an easy target and they had to protect the queen. Lorcan had an expression of vengeance painted on him.

Rowan came back an hour later, covered in blood and a knife in his hand.

He ignored his friends and ran for his mate. Gavriel stepped aside and Rowan kneeled beside Aelin “he paid, for all of it. I made sure of it.” His hand twinned in hers and the carranam exploded and fire and ice danced happily around them. Rowan then grabbed her limp body and started walking out of the house. Lorcan was the only one with a horse. He went to the stallion and placed Aelin on it and climbed on.

“I can’t transform.”

“Walk, I don’t care. I am not letting her alone with anyone.” Rowan spurred the horse and rode away.

“Come on, Salvaterre, start matching,” Fenrys patted his back and the dark-haired man glared at the young man.

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