As the Imperial woman trudged on ahead, the Blizzard really began to affect her distant vision, forcing her to only view a radius of 30 metres around herself. Arein saw the others behind her moving slowly behind her, and the scout sighed. In this weather it would take a long time to return to the fort, and she moved the thick piece of material she used as a mask over her mouth and nose to prevent getting any more cold than the Imperial already was. The past few days were rough on Aerin, mainly because of all the men in the squad. Most harassed her back in Cyrodil because she was a woman, and also asked for favours which were rewarded to the men with a crushed groin-plate.

Apparently women were uncommon in the Legion and had to work twice as hard to be recognised. But Aerin hadn't another choice. She had nothing before, and doing what she was doing now was better than anything in her entire life. Seeing some shadows in the distance, the scout stopped and dropped to her knees, unslinging her bow, and notching an arrow, just in case whatever it was was not friendly. Something didn't seem quite right as it was only a small shadow. As the shadow moved closer Aerin saw that it was a deer, making the Imperial sigh inwardly in relief. She was not much of a fighter, and if it were more of those Nords she would have to make sure her arrows made their mark.

Keeping the bow in her hand, the scout stood back up, brushed herself off, and continued the slow trudge. They needed a person at the rear more than someone at the front, as charging head-on was not something these men did in these weather conditions. They had a long trudge ahead of them yet, and she hoped that that long trudge would be uneventful.

Blake hated walking in formation, the way they walked in two rows, made them stick out like sore thumbs. The deep snow wasn't helping either, already, Blake had fallen into several deep drifts, and his light armor seemed frozen onto him. He shivered loudly, but kept on. Occasionally he'd pause for a few seconds to get a good view of where they were, and to study the forest surrounding them in case they were being followed.

As he walked, he remembered his short conversation with that Altmer from the Summerset Isles. What was his name...? Ill-Merry? He sighed and attempted to move faster. He looked ahead of the other Legionnaires, spotting the scout ahead of the unit. He did not know much of the Scout, only that she was the only Female in the unit, and was harassed daily by the other men. Me and her share something in common, maybe- His thoughts were cut short as his foot clumsily slipped upon a small patch of ice, he fell backwards but caught himself before he hit the ground. He stood up slowly and grumbled softly. This is why I hate Winter..., after regaining his footing, he continued walking, this time keeping an eye on the ground as well.

ooc: Timeskip time~ I'm sure none of us fancy Rping a 4 hour journey. Therefore! We shall skip time until we're about 300m from Fort Frostmoth, read Shadow's post carefully for i'll send him a PM for what is happening there. >:D

ic: The march was; To Xerca's dismay, uneventful. Instead, they had to travel across the relentless wastes of solstheim, occasionally they'd go under the cover of trees, having a few moments where they could shake the snow from their helmets.

Xerca frowned when he could hear the sounds of battle on the wind, it seemed to be travelling from frostmoth as the wind blew past them. "Men! Ready weapons!" He called out as the cry of a woman rang into Xerca's mind. About freaking time! he thought to himself.

Gwinas drew his weapon as soon as Xerca gave the order, he didn't know why at first, as the air seemed silent and still to him, but soon, it came to him, distant but noticeable. The sound of sword meeting sword, of men and women shouting, he remembered about the woman who had gone forward, the one who was called Hawk, and a look of worry appeared on his face. Xerca had made his way to the front during the march, and was immediately ahead of him. Gwinas spoke before he thought about what he was saying.

"Is Hawk lady alright?" He asked dumbly, immediately wishing he could take his words back. He wasn't clever, but he knew how to hide that -at least slightly- in conversation, but he was prone to saying whatever came to his mind quickly. He often wished he could take back what he said. Xerca no doubt knew about his condition, but nonetheless he tried to redeem himself. "She was-" He struggled to find the word, but remembered it quickly. "-scouting ahead, why hasn't she come back to tell us what's happening?"

That would have to do, Gwinas just hoped that the elf didn't get angry at him.

ooc: I'm quite enjoying this character for some reason.

Blake was too entranced in his mind that the order "Men! Ready weapons!" barely hit him. He paused for a few moments, trying to recap what the Captain had said. The faint yell of a women snapped Blake's mind into place. His right hand automatically shot to the Bow slung over his shoulder, he then pulled out an arrow from a Quiver on his back and brought it to the bow.

He stood as still as a tree, his eyes scanning the area like hungry predators. He glanced over at the other Legionnaires and the Captain, something was wrong. Where's the Scout? He mentally asked. The Scout had gone ahead of the others to....well....Scout, and she had not returned. Some of the other Legionnaires seemed worried as well, one of them was trying to get information out of the Captain. Blake couldn't hear his words properly, but could tell he was stumbling over a few of them, as if he was afraid of the Dunmer Captain. It seemed a lot of people were scared of the man...

Blake wanted to know what was going on as well, but he stayed his place, and looked away towards the wilderness.

Ilmiril, hearing the yells, quickened his pace. He immediatly cast a short medley of spells, Detect Life, Light, and Shield. His shortsword made a slight sound as he unsheathed it and yelled to the Argonian who had been beside him to follow. He gracefully walked-ran towards the sounds, hoping it would be more of those bastardly creatures. He could make out lifeforms far ahead, " Well, Captain, do you intend to help, or run away? "

After a while Aerin could see the outline of Fort Frostmonth. It had been a long journey, and The Imperial began to shake because of the cold. But what she was about to see would make her stop shaking all together. The first thing she saw was fires errupting from the buildings of the place, like the place was under seige.. but there was no one on the outside attacking those inside.. instead it was the men and women inside attacking each other.

This does not look good.. this doesn't look good at all She thought as she turned around and raced back in the opposite direction. Xerca wanted a battle, he sure got one.

Ahead of her she could see the familiar silhouettes of the soldiers and called out. "Sir!, Sir!" Aerin called out when she reached him, panting slightly from the run back. "Something's wrong at Fort Frostmonth!" She said between gasps of air. "Guard is attacking guard and civilian is attacking civilian, its like the whole town has gone mad and is destroying itself"

Xerca's eyes paled slightly, Mad? he asked himself, he hated the word. For the word meant magic. He frowned, "Alright lads, listen up! We've got a situation down in frostmoth, watch who you attack! Civillians will be running around in the open, stick together, and we'll get through it alive." He ordered, "Leave your packs here, we'll come back for them later, for now, we move lightly." He added, turning towards the legionnaire who asked if they were to run.

He glared at the man for a brief second before looking towards the battlefield, Run?! What sort of a coward would recommend such a thing?! he thought to himself before he started to move towards the fort, "Archers! Move in on our right flank, cover us as we go into the city, follow behind us and take the walls and move across the city!"

With that said he threw off his backpack and drew his sword. He didn't like this one bit, "Prepare for close combat lads! And may the gods protect you all!" He added before he began to check his golden armour was in place and strapped tight. With that he looked back at his men with a wicked grin and broke into a light jog towards the city; hoping his men would follow suit.

ooc: Hopefully that makes sense, rather tired at the mo~

Aerin, still with her bow in hand nodded to her superior and turned to the Argonian. "Black-Eye, lets get a move on. There only two of us, so we are going to have to make those arrows make their mark the first time if we need to use them" She told him and moved right as Xerca ordered.

If things start to get out of hand and they start coming after us, then i sure hope the others can keep them off me and Black-Eye.. She thought bitterly as she aimed her bow towards the silhouette of the fort ready for anything that came at them.

eh had to make this quick post before work. i wont be back for 7 hours so this will be my last post for a while.

Blake felt somewhat better when he saw the Scout return, but after seeing the expression on her face, he felt uneasy. She and the Captain spoke lightly for several seconds, before the Dunmer shouted new orders. Blake sighed heavily, and plopped his pack on the ground, carefully making sure didn't drop any arrows. "Archers! Move in on our right flank, cover us as we go into the city, follow behind us and take the walls and move across the city!" Captain Xerca yelled again, Blake froze slightly. That would be me...

He began moving, slowly at first, then forced himself to pick up the pace. He stopped when he was approached by the Scout, "Black-Eye, lets get a move on. There only two of us, so we are going to have to make those arrows make their mark the first time if we need to use them" She told him and moved right as Xerca ordered, Blake followed in suit beside her. He was glad he wasn't the only Archer in the unit, even though it was only them two. They continued running for several seconds, she in the lead, with Blake trailing a few feet beside her.

She stopped suddenly, and prepared her bow. Blake knelt down slightly and did the same. Now, all they had to do was wait on Xerca and the others.

"Finally some action!" Sulla yelled as he followed his captain into battle. Even so, a disturbing thought entered his head. At first he didn't care about the mind-set of the nords that attacked them, thinking that they were just barbarians doing what came naturally to them. Now his own people were fighting eachother like savages, and Sulla suddenly felt a knot form in his stomach.

For now all he could do was follow Xerca to the fort and hope it wasn't as bad as the scout made it seem. He did however wonder how his captain would handle the situation. "How do we take care of friendlies attacking us? Restrain them or kill them? It's your call sir."

Alberon was thinking on the spell that had enslaved the Nords when he heard weapons clashing and a woman scream, at first thinking it was the scout. He threw down his pack, only taking two magicka potions, and his short sword out of it. As the mage jogged forwards he prepared a shock spell and a calm spell incase the attackers were under a spell.

What the hell is going on in this forsaken island?
Why do I think I know?
There's something 'magical' going on.
Guh that sounded like the captain, I agree though.
Mmm no matter what Sulla thinks.
What the hell would he know?
Ye...

'Ohhh crap.'

Very few thing could make Alberon pull out of his head, a near seven-foot tall Orc running at him with a battle-axe turned out to be one of them.

As Aerin prepared her bow she viewed the high elf run out and she sighed, notching an arrow and pointing it in the area in front of the man and the Orc that appeared from the blizzard. "Idiot!" She cursed under her breath as she aimed, steadied herself, and left go, aiming at the hand of the crazed man. After all the hands were one of the Orc's weaker points with all their muscle hiding the other vital points that she could have taken better use of to incapacitate but not kill these people.

Most of these men obviously didn't think of the Dunmer man in high regard, but he was their superior and the way she thought it, but listening to his orders and making sure people do what they are meant to do, that promotion of hers was just a word of approval away.

Xerca ignored the trooper, he didn't know quite what to do himself, but they'd have to defend themselves, which meant they'd have to kill. He continued further into the snow and saw something which confused him, there looked to be ordinary men and women in the fray! There was a big significance between those that were mad and those that werent. For the ones that were had arched backs, their faces a mix of despair and anger.

"Men! Look's like we've got survivors! Watch who you kill!" He added as he came to the aid of a man defending a woman, he wouldn't last long against his attacker and as Xerca slid his blade deep into the side of the monster he fell to the ground holding the woman while sobbing.

Xerca didn't take the time to ask if the man was alright as he was already closing down upon his next target..

---

A legionnaire called out to the captain, "Xerca! It's you! By the gods man we thought you had turned! It's madness! They all turned upon us! We're beating them back but I don't know for how much longer!" The tall redguard called out as his axe cleaved into one of the maddened.

Ilmiril sprinted into the fray, casting an area paralyze spell, dropping four people immediately. He had underestimated the spell, it drained him much more than he had expected. He uncorked a magicka potion, swilling it down swiftly and looking for someone in need of help. Ilmiril found the helpless sooner than he thought.. Himself. A hulking Nord had caught him off-gaurd, ramming her-this massive person was female?!- fists into his back, knocking him to the ground as he reached for his sword, which instead went flying away from him. The Nord woman took advantage of this, landing a swift punch to Ilmiril's stomach. As she came in for another blow, he regained his senses, putting up a hand to hold her back, and cast a flame touch spell. Fire flashed over the Nord's skin, heating her beyong human limits and frying her insides. The body sizzled as Ilmiril made several attempts to roll it off. Ilmiril thought to himself, Xerca may be angry I killed one his precious citizens, but she had tried to kill him. An eye for an eye right?

Confident what he had done was right, he stood up and brushed the snow off himself, looking for the others to aid them.

Here we go..., Blake bit his bottom lip as Xerca and the others engaged to maddened guard and civilians. Shoot to injure.....not to kill....Or was it the other way around? He groaned loudly as he pulled back the bow-string and immediately released it, letting the arrow travel into the thigh of a maddened civilian trying to bludgeon one of his comrades. with a loud thud, the arrow came into contact with the civilians flesh, it yelled loudly and fell over to its side, both hands grasping the injury on its thigh. The wound would be incredibly painful, but it wouldn't kill. Within a few seconds, a new arrow was with drawn from the quiver. Blake pulled back the bow-string once more, and searched for a new target.

He noticed several large hulking figures in the mad crowd, most of them looked like the Barbarians Blake and his unit slain in their previous battle. A few of them noticed Blake and the Scout, and charged towards them, and at a frightening pace. ''We're about to have company!'' Blake shouted, firing an arrow towards the first Nord. The steel-tipped arrow hit him right in the shoulder, but he kept moving as if un-phased. Blake paused for moment, then snatched another Arrow from his quiver, and prepped another shot. The Nords were dangerously close to them, within a few seconds they would be upon Blake and the Scout.

ooc: Cant really think of much to write, my mind got [censored] by math problems.

After Aerin shot the orc in the hand, her attention focused at the Nords. Why is it that the biggest man thinks that he can take me! She thought angrily as she raised her bow and fired an arrow at the least likely spot someone would want an arrow to go. As the Nord howled in pain and fell to the floor, his fallen body slid to a stop in the snow.

"That will teach you to come after me" Aerin said and decided to move back a little. "We are going to need to get to higher ground.. down here we are easy prey" The Imperial woman spoke as she looked around. Soon she spied a ladder up to the Fort's wall, and she motioned to Black-Eye. Without another indication, Aerin ran towards the wall, weaving through the crazed and innocent. She was no use to them down here and so spent no time in helping them.

"Why..does..this..always..have..to..end..up..as..the..worse..case.. scenario!" she said between gasps as she climbed up the ladder quickly, as to not allow any of the crazies grab her and pull her down. As she reached the top she groaned as another man, an imperial this time went to attack her. Stepping on the walls floor, she waited as the Imperial ran towards her, and dropped her bow, grabbing the man as he leaped at her, and directing him over the edge of the wall, hearing a cry of confusion about what had just happened from the man before he hit the ground with a *Thud*.

"Black-Eye get up here!" She called down to the Argonian as she retrieved her bow and began her task of supporting the other squad-members.

Ilmiril saw the archers struggling to survive, one of them running to a rooftop and calling for the other to follow. He could still help with ranged spells, and cut down anyone that climbed up after them.
He turned and sprinted towards the Argonian named Black-Eye, offering a hand to him.
" We must get to the rooftop. "

As he said this, Ilmiril looked into the Argonians eyes, a reassuring look on his face.
He still pondered what was causing all this to happen. Perhaps he could figure something out after this battle was won, for now his focus was on the present moment.

Sulla ran into the fray after his captain, who unsurprisingly was able to cut down his former allies without hesitation. Sulla decided to see if he could find someone to fight, but instead he decided to follow his captain's example and help the civilians in danger. Spotting an old man about to be attacked by a fellow citizen, the Fox-Lion sprung into action to assist. "We shall have no more of this!" he yelled as he sliced the back of the attacker's legs to bring him down, then gave him a quick stab in the chest to finifh him off.

"Oh thank you legionnaire!" the old man cried out, "How can I repay you?"

"My name is Sulla the Fox-Lion, and you can repay me by finding me later and giving me some septims!"

With one citizen saved, Sulla felt good for helping someone and wanted to help another. But that idea ended when he spotted a dead civilian wearing a black burgandy suit, clothing only for the wealthy. "I really shouldn't." he thought, "But he probabely has some septims or jewels on him!"

With his mind made up, Sulla weaved through the crowd and kneeled next to the nobleman before searching his body. After looting a couple rings and an amulet, Sulla was about to leave when a battle-mace smashed on the nobleman's corpse. Sulla quickly jumped up and spotted his attacker, a grin spreading across his face. "Well, well look who it is!" he exclaimed as he placed his treasures in his satchel, "It's Marcus the sheriff!"

Marcus was the sheriff at the fort, but he was a very corrupt and greedy fellow. Behind his superiors' backs he would accept bribes of almost any sort in exchange for "benefits". Sulla did have dealings with this man once after an incident in a tavern, and he never grew to like the fat breton pig. The former sheriff gave a grunt in response, and charged at the legionnaire with his mace held high. A quick dodge and counter-attack left the sheriff with a sliced throat, and Sulla was already off. He took a spot next to his captain and gave a chuckle. "Let's hurry this up sir!" he yelled happily, "I got some stuff to sort through when we are done here!"

Blake was too busy keeping the Nord Invaders at bay, to notice the Scout dart around him, and to the castle wall. His only warning about it was the loud, "Black-Eye get up here!", She called down to the Argonian. Blake clumsily stumbled towards the Castle wall, hoping that no one was pursuing him. As he ran, he stumbled slightly, but enough to cause him to fall. He dived head first into the snow, he lay on the ground for a few seconds, before flopping over on his back. What the hell?!

He tried to get himself back up, until a silhouette covered his entire body. Without bothering to look up, his hand shot to his Steel Shortsword, he whipped it out and stared at his 'attacker'. Instead of what he expected, a sword being smashed into his chest, a hand came down. "We must get to the rooftop." Blake recognized the voice, it was the Altmer he met earlier, Ill-Merrill, or Ill-Merry. Blake grabbed his hand, and the Altmer hoisted him up. ''Thanks'' The Argonian said casually, and made his way to the castle wall. He grabbed hold of the ladder, and slowly began climbing up, using his legs to propel him faster. I hope I get stationed somewhere warmer....with less Nords...

As Alberon sawthe massive Orc crash to the ground in front or him, hands pierced together by an arrow, he looked around and saw it was the scout who had saved him.

Now I gotta save her right?
At least try to.
Wait... this guy's still alive.

Alberon quickly finished the Orc off by stopping his heart with telekenisis.

Okay now.. protect the scout.
Where'd she go?
.....Up there on that building.
Dammit! I hate jump spells.

Alberon quickly ran to near the building, stunning the crazed civilians along the way, as he got near the wall Alberon released the jump spell, launching himself high enough to land on the roof. Badly.

hmm seems a bit of a bad tactic to all follow the scout when the captain ordered otherwise lol. they better not be following because of other reasons -_-

Aerin looked down and saw that the breton and High Elf legionaries were also following the Argonian's suit of getting up on high ground with her and made her groan. They don't seem to be able to follow the captain's orders well do they.. she thought to herself as she peered down and spied the said captain.

He was there with a Redguard who seemed to be unaffected like the others in the fort. She decided that maybe he would know of more since he was one of the few who seemed to have been able to survive thus far. The Imperial fired an arrow past the captain hitting a crazed Breton guard heading his way.

"Sir, the wall is secure!" Aerin called down to him, to try and let him know that she was doing her part.

Xerca felt a pang of fear as his men started following the Altmer, "HOLD YOUR GROUND MEN!" He called out as he sliced the head off one of the attackers before shoving the blade into anothers chest. It was a bloody battle, but they couldn't run from it now! Not while the living were counting on them.

Xerca felt an axe bite into his shoulder and cursed loudly before bringing the hilt of his blade the animals face, turning around and using his blade as an axe as he drove it into his skull. He looked towards his Redguard friend, the man was killing more then his fair share, but both were getting tired as their allies left them for dead.

Xerca was about to slice into an Imperial's chest when a shield smacked into his sword, causing him to drop the weapon and his hand to become stunned. He fell back in pain but before the warrior could raise his weapon, Xerca used his body to push forward and charged into the unexpecting man. Xerca's strong body was able to drive the man back a few paces, giving him time to pick up what seemed like a rusted axe.

The Redguard laughed at him, "Come on Xerca! You're making me look bad!" He joked as he smashed into a skull with his heavy axe.

Xerca couldn't smile, he felt as though the men he had saved and led had turned their backs to him, as if they didn't appreciate all the times he had fought by their side. "We need to pull back to the fort Illiam! We wont be able to stay here much longer!" He cried out as he began to hack into the neck of a dying legionnaire.

"HOLD YOUR GROUND MEN!" At hearing this, and seeing the two men were left alone struggling on the battlefield, Ilmiril lept from the rooftop, sprinting through the snow, kicking up drifts as he went.
Then he stopped dead in his tracks. Why should I help this Dunmer?
Ilmiril immediatly turned and walked towards the Redgaurd, casting a weak fireball into an attackers back, picing up speed to run him through with his Elven Shortsword.
As an idea came into his head, the High Elf grinned. He cast a look in Xerca's direction, surrounded by enemies.
I bet he can handle an Area Fire spell.. I'll be helping him anyways, right?

Popping off the cork quickly, The Altmer drank the Fortify Magica potion and Cast the powerful spell. Fire flew from his hands, rupturing to cover the entire area around the Dunmer Captain.

( OOC: Your turn. )

Gwinas fought with something of a mindless calm, an unwavering picture of concentration on his face. He had learnt to block out emotion while fighting, and stuck close to the commander, not wanting to wander far.

A heavy and large Nord came charging towards him, and he afforded himself some space away from the commander. He took two steps forward, and met his axe with his broadsword. Feeling the force of steel on steel, Gwinas's arms flew down slightly, leaving him open for a sweeping hook from the Nord's closed first. Black dots poured throughout his vision momentarily, and he barely noticed as the axe came swinging across to meet his head again - he ducked down and fell onto his knees as he did so, the axe skimmed his helmet.

Seeing his chance now though, he thrust his sword up through the Nord's ribs. The man wasn't wearing armour, so the sword cut straight through bone and skin, a fatal blow. Gwinas pulled back his sword as the man collapsed to the ground, and, still on his knees, only just saw Ilmiril cast the fire spell.

Having gained a small distance away from the commander, the fire spell didn't affect him as bad is it would have. It still hurt like hell though. The flames scorched his back, and he threw himself forward to get out of the area of the spell, crawling away when he hit the floor, ending up several yards in front Ilmiril himself. The pain was too intense for him to bother complaining about it, and he turned over onto his back, breathing heavily. He unfortunately didn't notice another large Nord coming towards him, sword in hand.