Impatient to progress and seeing that the others werent too far behind him, Korro gave a sharp push against the next set of doors but failed in budging them. But of course when he took pressure off them they slowly but surely opened into the next room. At first glance it was by far the smallest of the 3 rooms so far and appeared to be quite simple in its layout, no dead bodies, no hidden treasures and most noticable no cryptic messages. Narkiorrou seemed suprised and a little disappointed at there not being a challenge to overcome but then was shocked when he heard what appeared to be the sound of someone breathing up above. Upon looking to the ceiling you could see that although quite small in width this room was in fact quite tall and the ceiling was possibly 20 ft up.

Suspended from the ceiling was a large metal cage, the base of which was at least 12 foot from the ground.

OOC: Intro to Dragon Reaper

Heinrich

"Well, can't say I heard anythin' real, but I'd say that if 't was bad 'fore the whole mess, 't probably just got worse. A lot or a bit, 'pends on exactly how bad 't was." Heinrich shrugged, carefully descending down the stairs to avoid meeting Tucharon's fate. Serves 'im right, bloody adventurer. Too worried 'bout loot ta' even look 'neath his feet... Holding back the urge to laugh out loud, the yeoman continued his slow but steady descent. "Really, I didn't spend lotsa time 'n th' city. So can't say I heard o' any shamans, sorry. Hate ta' say 't, tho', but if he's the kind ta' speak out 'n such, he's likely in trouble."

Such were the sad times in High Rock for a lower class man. Nobles tightened their grip on land and the people living on it, the church was only helping them in search of money. Corruption was everywhere, and the Empire or what was left of it wasn't helping things at all; in fact, with the aid of corrupted officials, the lower class was recieving more and more cuts to their rights. Slowly but surely, the Bretic farmer was becomming little more than a more expensive animal that mattered to the nobility only because it could be milked both for money and for food.

Stepping into the room, Heinrich rose his eyebrows. "Bloody hell... What ta' hell is tis supposed ta' be?"

Tucharon pulled himself to his feet, wincing in pain. He was in some pain from the fall, but it was minor, especially compared to the potential humiliation. He picked up his helmet and put it on, grateful that it hid his face. He walked through the door to see what the others were looking at. He saw a cage hanging from the surprisingly high ceiling, apparently with someone in it, apparently pretty angry at being up ther.

"We're as confused as you are, whoever you are. What happened to you."

Luna slowly came too, her head throbbing, slowly she sat up holding her head. As her mind began to clear she instinctively reached for her weapons only to find them missing. Damn she thought suppressing her rising panic. She took a few deep breaths and took stock of her surroundings. She was in some sort of cage suspended about 12 foot off the ground with no visible way to get down. There was the scraping of stone on stone as a door opened below and a khajiit came rushing in, he stopped and looked around then looked directly up at the cage and was followed closely by a breton. "If you were the ones that locked me in here I'm goning to kill you as soon as I get out" she shouted.

The corridor was pretty much a narrow, smelly and claustophobic area. The place had a few traps, but if you looked closely enough and payed attention you wouldn't make a stupid mistake, like Tucharon did. Dandel was shocked to see the man fall seeing as he thought Tucharon was a concentrated man, for some odd reason it actually frightened him a little, he really wasn't in the mood for pain. Sh*t, guess I gotta watch out after all, the Dunmer thought as he surveyed the area, watching out for everything and anything that could be some sort of booby trap in disguise. However his vigilance was payed off, by the time they group reached the end of their path, Dandel was still in one piece, and so was everyone else for that matter.

Dandel didn't step straight into the room immediatly, the traps could be anywhere, no longer would he get cocky in such situations or be niave. The room was nothing extravagant or daziling like the last two rooms, no treasure or strown up corpses. Just a small mundane room. Which personally suited Dandel just fine, it meant there was no reason to get worked up or panicked, just a little time to relax and rest his legs. Korro obviously though differently, his facial expression expressed much dissapointment for the room. Dandel sat down against the wall, streched and yawned, showing that he was definatly exhausted. He looked up and was amazed. Dandel felt he must of been blind not to notice that towering twenty foot ceiling, and the cage hanging from it, the sight actually almost caused him to choke on the apple he was muching on, he was that suprised. It seemed that there was a human inside the cage, a female. For once, Dandel actually felt like letting the poor soul down, but reconsidered after she decided to speak.

"If you were the ones that locked me in here I'm goning to kill you as soon as I get out." The girl shouted, trying to sound aggressive.

''Okay first of all little girl, we weren't the bastards that locked you up. And you're gonna kill us if we were? You and what f***ing army? If you want your life to be spared, then talk nice a' right?'' Dandel truely couldn't stand people who made stupid threats, even if it was understandable considering the girl had been trapped in a cage at least ten to twelve feet in the air.

Instead of helping the girl, he waited for someone else to go to her aid. Frankly, Dandel just wanted to sleep.

"Easy Dandel! She needs help, besides this is the third [censored] room!" shouted Varar, then turning his attention to the caged girl, "Do you see anything up there that could help us get you down, you do have a better vantage point." Varar had just walked into the room and heard the commotion and talking. "We'll get you down, don't worry. What's your name?"

Varar began to search the room for levers, buttons, pressure plates, anything that could help. If there was one thing in the world he didn't want to see was a damsel in distress. "Dandel, come help me look for something."

"Tanner's quarter being the crappiest neighborhood in Wayrest, it can hardly go worse. The hospital was about the only bright spot and one the few things keeping a full riot from exploding. That should give Ashag some protection. And he's more than smart enough to make himself scarce if he needs to."

But no matter what, that new trend you're speaking about is as stupid as it's wrong. Freemens have always been Highrock's ace in the sleeve each time some outsider tried to muscle in. Whatever extra gold the nobles will rip out off your kind will be burned up to replace volunteers and levies with mercenaries. And not only do they cost an arm and a leg, wherever they go is likely to be ruined. When they're not turning coat..." She grimaced, her low opinion of mercenaries obvious...

While speaking she entered the next room - which didn't display much, except an unusually high ceiling from which hanged a man-sized cage, about twelve feet above the ground. Which happened to contain a woman, judging from the irate voice threatening to kill whoever had packed her inside.

Moving closer to the cage, Elissandre took a few second for a short incantation, calling forth a small ball of light and sending it floating toward the ceiling to get a better view of the cage and whoever was inside. Black clothes, masked face, an armor of the sort favored by assassins... Appearances can be misleading, but that don't speaks me of gratitude nor trustfulness. I don't know who she is, but I'd rather let her in until I know more. "How did you end up there ?"

Luna stood there at a loss for words. More people entered, including another breton and a dunmer, there questions snapped her out of it. "My name is Luna and i don't know how I got here let alone where here is" she replied "all I can remember is drinking in a tavern in Leyawiin about to head off to fort Blueblood, then waking up here". She could tell the new breton didn't trust her, she had seen the look in her eyes before. She couldn't blame her, she still wore the armour of the dark brotherhood.

Tucharon could now clearly see the woman in the cage. He was taken aback when he saw what she was wearing. It looked like Dark Brotherhood apparel, not too unlike the armor that they wore in Mournhold. Ever since his parents were poisoned, he despised most assassins. He could tolerate the Morag Tong, but they were only found in Morrowind.

"Look at her armor, she's obviously an assassin. I say we leave her here to rot, no good can come of letting a murderer for hire loose," Tucharon spoke with some anger. He didn't want to kill a trapped stranger, but he didn't to save her either.

Larth surveyed the situation, and didn't like it at all. The woman seemed perfectly assassin like to him, though he'd never seen the like of the armor. He wondered how the others knew of it. But that was no reason not to save her.

"And, Tucharon? Who made you judge, jury, and executioner?" Larth turned to look at the woman, suspended in the cage. "How long have you been up there? Have you found any way we could let you down?" With any luck there'd be some mechanism.

OOC: This is short, because I don't remember mention of the woman from any of Korroded's posts and I don't know if there was PM's or what but I'm just wanting to be ready to edit this all out.

Elissandre listened to the woman's explanations, and the other's reactions, not finding them especially good. Having a drink in a tavern ? Wearing that ? She could as well send invitations to the watch. If they even let her enter the city the countess's rather picky about whom she accepts inside. In Rivertown the out-the walls-slum, that's another story...

She stepped back a bit, looking at what was visible of the woman's face, doing her best to spot eventual lies "Tucharon is right, you're not wearing an honest parishioner's garb. I'd rather know more before letting you out." She made a short pause "What tavern was that ? You're not exactly dressed for having a relaxing drink on your way either."

Elissandre made an apologetic gesture "I know I'm sounding like a mean, suspicious soul, but truth to be told, I've had a few meetings with peoples wearing that sort of armor. None of them pleasant. Maybe you deserve to be stuck in that cage, maybe not. That's what I want to figure out."

Dandel was actually starting to get comfortable, for the first time in a long time, he used his rucksack as a pillow and lay down on it, slowly resting his eyes and drifting off into a peaceful slumber. That was until Vavar decided he needed help trying to look for some mechnasim to let the girl down, he wasn't a big fan of the girl but he liked Vavar, may as well help a man in need.

''Gah! Fine, but if she tries to kill us then you're taking the blame.'' Dandel spoke in frustration, stretching his legs.

The Dunmer looked around the room carefully and used the best of his sight, the room actually seemed cleaner then most, which you would think that would make the search easier. But you would be wrong, there didn't seem to be anything in sight. This truely made Dandel wonder how in Oblivion the girl got up there. It seemed someone had already asked. The story was difficult to believe, going to the tavern to have a drink in such suspicious clothing? Strange to say the least. Actually, Dandel could of sworn it looked almost like an assassins clothing, causing him to distrust the girl. It would appear that the others were also questioning the girl, and the Dunmer agreed with their questions. What if she is a test or trap? Dandel thought, he doubted it but it's always a possibility.

Eventually, after a long time of inspecting the room Dandel found something that may activate the cage, it was a small miniscule button, no bigger then a fingertip, hiding under some dust. Out of excitement, not bothering to assess the risk level of his actions, the Dunmer pushed the button. ''Hey guys I found something!'' Dandel shouted to the group, feeling happy that he may of done something useful.

At first nothing happened, but after about ten or so seconds the bottom of the cage started to very slowly spread and open, similar to the way the door did in the last room. ''Whoops.'' Dandel muttered as he walked over to the others. The drop wouldn't kill the girl, but it would do some damage. He tried to make what he did a positive thing, instead of waiting for people to have a go at him.

''Well at least when she falls, we can question her more personally, she'll only break her legs or something like that.'' Usually Dandel would be faking, but he did actually believe he had a point, they got to have a closer look at the girl without having to talk upwards. The Dunmer waited for something to happen.

OOC: If you're not happy with the contents of this post just say.

"I'm an ex-assas...." Luna was cut short by a rumbling sound, nothing happened for a few seconds then the floor began to open out. As she fell through the bottom she reached out and grabbed the cage using her momentum to swing her foreward. She let go and continued to fall the rest of the way, bending her knees when she hit the floor and rolling foreward. She stood up carefully making sure her legs wearen't broken, lukily they weren't but there was no avoiding the countless bruises that would inevitably come from such a drop. "like I was saying before, I'm an ex-assassin and i wear this armour to honour a fallen friend" she said as she lowered her mask waiting for there verdict.

Narkiorrou smiled gleefully when he heard the all too familiar grinding noise of something happening but seeing that it was the cage floor that had opened and not the next door was a bit disapointing to say the least. What was even more troubling was that no sooner had everyone finished entering the room and the girl dropped down did the doors close behind them and lock everyone inside yet another room albeit this one was smaller. It appeared that the girl was indeed part of the next test, but with no writings around or anything to activate the test appeared to be overly complicated, that usually meant it was extremely simple just hard to see.

Korro took it upon himself to get friendly with the new stranger, he didnt really have anything against anyone unless they acted like a d*ck; just as Dandel had when they first met, so in his mind this 'ex-assassin' was alright.

"Sooo..." he started as he casully strolled up to Luna "... Any idea of who brought you here? Like do you remember anything about how you became unconscious." A side of Korro that no-one had yet seen was attempting to show through, he seemed oddly calm and smart, asking his question in a considerate tone. Although he somehow still managed to keep hold of his stupid grin while speaking.

Heinrich

The yeoman watched the supposed ex-assassin be released from the cage with a relative lack of interest. By now, it seemed one adventurer more wouldn't change things much and Heinrich cared little whether this new member of their little group would be an assassin or yet another mage or something of the sort. True, he didn't like assassins, for they killed for money; but then, how was that different to adventurers, who'd kill countless bandits, sometimes even attack travellers in worse times. Some time spent as an outlaw allowed him to see the other side of the coin - not all of the bandits were 'evil'. Many were just folks taxed into Oblivion and forced to flee into the wild; some were more cruel than neccessary, true, and the killing of those Heinrich somewhat supported. But to go out and hunt the bandits like boars didn't seem all that noble to him.

'n any case, wonder what's this room 'bout. Last ones had some sort o' clue in 'em, don't seem to be nothin' here... Wonder how long 'till all those 'smart' fellows figure out what we need ta' do next. Seems ta' me the crazy khajiit did more ta' get us here than all 'em 'wise mages'... So much for th' famous brain o' spellcasters. Leaning against the wall, Heinrich looked around. He didn't intend to aid with the process of getting through this room; by now, everyone did fine without his oppinion and he didn't really have anything to suggest, anyway. Let the oh-so-wise adventurers work, as he figured, and get to this mysterious Khajiit as soon as possible...

Tucharon noticed the door close behind him. I really should have seen that coming. Once again, another test. He wasn't particularly fond of Luna, even if she claimed to be an ex-assassin. He wasn't going to harm her without good reason, but he certainly wasn't going to trust her, nor would he stop watching her. He himself had often hired himself out as a mercenary, but he never enjoyed killing other sentients, except in self defense. But an assassin's purpose was to take lives for money, by any means necessary.

What he found puzzling was the test in this room. The only things in here were the cage, the button that opened it, and this "ex-assassin". How is someone who is even more confused than us be a test? Unless either someone is somehow watching us, or if she knows more than she's telling...

"I've dealt with assassin's before, I was a Telvanni Guard, you have all the earmarks of being one. I however believe you. Now, how you ended up here, why you are here, and what your purpose here is still remains to be answered, but right now we all need to think about a way to get out of here. This Khajiit is beginning to piss me off, what's with all these tests!" Varar said and yelled, looking up at the ceiling.

"Anyways, Luna, welcome to the group. And just in case my judgment is wrong, watch yourself." he said in a low menacing voice. Varar then brought a small one foot stick with oil-soaked tinder on one end, out of his pack and lit it. "I'm gonna start searching."

The khajiit walked up to her and introduced himself as Korro. He seemed pretty friendly to her "well at least one of you's friendly" Luna remarked "but I'm sorry Koro I've told you all I can remember". One of the dunmer seemed to make a decision about her "I've dealt with assassin's before, I was a Telvanni Guard, you have all the earmarks of being one. I however believe you. Now, how you ended up here, why you are here, and what your purpose here is still remains to be answered, but right now we all need to think about a way to get out of here. This Khajiit is beginning to piss me off, what's with all these tests!" he said before welcoming her, giving her a warning and walking off. "Hang on, if your talking about the khajiit I think you're talking about, does that mean that this is fort Blueblood?" she asked "and what tests?"

Larth watched with passive disinterest as the woman was released. She seemed chummy enough with the Cat and one of the Dunmer, and that was fine by his mark. He'd no need to befriend every caged vixen they found, left waiting by the Khajiit.

Though when he heard her ask about the trials, he couldn't help but answer.

"Nothing to exciting. We went through a room of treasures, accusing each other of being gluttons. Then we arrived in a room where we had to surrender something valuable to us anyway, and everyone who'd played moral police prior to that got to throw away something they'd brought in then what they'd just picked the one room over. All in all, you've probably had a better time in your cage."

Elissandre listened attentively Luna's words, doing her best to figure out the truth (or lack thereof) in it. Former assassin. Not exactly savory, but I can live with that. Though wearing some 'hey you guards come and hang me' armor don't strikes me as a sensible way to honor a dead friend. But seeing as I keep a blade that's an invitation to robbery as a reminder of my family, I can hardly throw the first stone...

Not detecting any lie, Elissandre relaxed her attention, now looking at the woman's whole attitude. Soon spotting the signs of discomfort in her position. Nothing broken, but probably a whole set of bruises. She dropped like a stack of bricks. Probably caught by surprise when the cage opened.

"Speaking of good times, I don't think your legs are giving you one now. I can do something about that if you want. I might not look the part, but I'm way better than most of the cretins the Mages are licensing as healers these days."

"Given what I've seen so far, there's probably a button lying around to open up a passageway," Tucharon spoke. He walked to the corner of the room and cast a small healing spell on himself to heal the bruises that he himself had gotten when he fell down the stairs. Much better, I only hope I don't have to use that Welkynd Stone to recharge further down the road...

He was going to continue watching this assassin, she may be working for their benefactor. He was never much of a judge of character, and assassins were a particularly deceptive breed. His helmet hid the contempt shown on his face, but his feelings on the matter had already been made perfectly clear. He wasn't going to drop his guard again. Still, he wasn't going to simply kill her, there was always a chance that she was telling the truth. And more importantly, he suspected that how they deal with her may be part of this test.

Luna allowed Elissandre to heal her bruises. "greed and sacrifice" Luna said muttering to herself "this test was obviously compasion so why did the doors shut after I was let out". She sighed, looking up at the lights now twinkling like stars in the night sky. "That khajiit sure is a difficult one to figure out" she muttered before getting up and searching the other side of the room to Tucharon.

ooc: I'm going to assume that evereyone was introduced to Luna so I don't have to keep refering to people by their race.

Luna having accepted her offer, Elissandre quickly went to work, inviting her to sit down to check nothing was broken. "I'll make sure there's nothing wrong with your ankles too. There can be some damage you don't feel yet but who comes to haunt you later."

focusing on her charge, Elissandre helped her out of her boots to guide her knee and feet through the full range of their motion. "No pain ? That's fine, it means there's probably no damage." Then she softly murmured her incantations, channeling the magic through her hands as they ran over Luna's leg, the warmth and faint tickling of restoration magic spreading through the bruises to remove them, leaving her legs as good as new. "I'm done, you should be fine from now on. I've used enough healing for the bruises, but if there's some hidden bone or sinew damage it will still be there. If you feel some pain, don't wait to tell me and I'll make sure it's healed. I don't know what's waiting for us next and I'd rather save my magic in case of serious trouble."

Once done with the healing, she helped Luna put her boots back. "Now let's get a better look at these place and look for doors, levers, button or anything else that might get us out."

OOC: sorry for the delay and as i assume you are all fed up of making posts just within the corridors ill rush through this last corridor and open up the next room, thankfully the final and most exciting one perhaps

IC:

Moments after Elissandre finished fixing up Luna there was an all too familiar whirring and grinding noise, it appeared something had triggered the mechanism without physical contact with a switch. A few seconds passed and the door onwards began to open into what was hopefully the last corridor and the last room.

-----------------

Korro once again leapt as soon as he heard the grinding, he rushed toward the last door and hopped like a little kid waiting impatiently for it to open. The moment the gap was wide enough he slipped through and chased his destination with that familiar grin even in the darkness. As he rounded the corner he saw that the door into the next room was already open, and there was little to no light within the room and an all too distinct scent struck his nostrils. He paused and drew his knives from behind his butt and assumed a crouched run as he closed in on the door, looking in he could both hear and see that in the darkness there were the walking dead, zombies.

From the moaning it sounded like there was maybe two dozen in the room yet he could only see half that, but could see there was a ledge up ahead. He pawed forward but not two steps past the doors threshold he stepped on something and looked down as what appeared to be a large star shaped enchantment circle that had began to emanate a humming and a blue glow as soon as he had touched it. He quickly removed his foot from the star and just as he had the marking became dormant once again.

Odd Korro thought to himself, so transfixed with the glowing mark that he had almost forgotten about the many zombies in the room that had somehow reacted to the sound and light, become agitated by it and appeared to get more lively.

------------------

In the room there is little to no light, you can barely make out the large ditch in the centre of the room. There is a thin stone bridge passing over ditch and next to the bridge is a ladder going down into the ditch, there is also a staircase coming up out of the ditch but only to the other side of the room. There appear be three large glowing star markings within the room, one by the entrance door, another by the door at the far end of the room and the last at the foot of the stairs in the ditch. Within the room there are a large number of zombies and possibly skeletons and they all seem to react and get agitate by the activation of the star enchantments.


http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/klown-korpse/mapofblueblood-1.jpg

Spotting the undead within the mirk, Larth drew his axe.

"If anyone was looking to test their metal," he said, "Why don't you just go ahead and take the first step?" He casually wondered what the point of this chamber was, but then again considering what little luck he'd had so far he thought he'd probably never truly latch onto the concept. Which was quite fine by his marking. Besides, now there were things to smash and slash.