Matthew was struck by Winna's last statement. What if he couldn't bear to carry their deaths on his conscience? He already had to deal with the burden of always worrying for his brother, but if he had to actually watch two of his teammates die it would be truly nightmarish. The only way to get his mind clear of this was to get someone else to either join him or Winna. He remembered Fin and decided to call him over. "Hey Fin!" he called to the argonian, "I need to discuss something with you!"

He would have the two most trustworthy people discuss this with him. If they both agreed to make the two stay, then he would go with it as well.

OOC: I know it's short, but it was just to get Fin in the mix.

ooc: Well put plainly he and Theresa might fight over who has Dar'shandi But there is more.... Hmm how about dreamers or band of scavengers/bandits? Cliff racers in Cyrodil? Doubtful.

ic:

Ra'shinavi plodded along slowly they were getting further and further away from the cave. His mind filled with all kinds of thoughts ranging from food at home to finding a 'play mate' for when he gets back. The slow sound of footsteps made him stop. Nearby, the trees were rustling, old dead leaves were being crushed. His ears twitching, facing alil more to the direction of the sound. Theresa walked up by him "Hey what is it?" she asked quietly Ra'shinavi closed his eyes listening to the very sounds of the world "I think we have followers.." he whispered "Keep going, move faster though. Keep your ears alert..." Theresa nodded and looked at S'kragki and chuckled "Come on stay alert and lets keep going."

OOC: If Shinavi likes Kragki, then he probably wouldnt be interested in Soft and cuddly like Shandi. But Theresa is a character that you have been dreaming of entering the RP, Scow. A female khajiit! That blows Ren and Winna out of the water!

Also, Chaos, I missed you! Of course you can join in! And thanks for that, Canzeri. It's good to get people involved.
IC:

Ren was surprised but not upset by the hug (she felt like she needed one at that moment), but was quite put off when Dar'Shandi danced off and ignored her question. She sighed. Typical. He just doesn't care about the serious things... Ren thought, and this was indeed why she'd never really considered Dar'Shandi as a lifemate.

But how was she going to find out what had been happening now? She got the distinct impression that something bad was going on, but couldn't place what without further information.

In true Ren fashion, she resolved to stomp over and find out for herself. Catching up with Winna and Matthew, and walking just a pace behind, she asked plainly, "What are you talking about?"

Winna glanced at Ren, and then away again, clearly unwilling to answer. "Fin!" she called as well. "Get over here!" Like Matthew, she considered Fin to be one of the most trustworthy.

Fin, jolted out of a brief reverie, jogged over to where Matthew, Winna, and Ren were. He looked quizzically from one to the next, briefly wondering why he would be wanted for discussion, which was not one of his strong points. He turned his gaze to Matthew.

"I am needed? For something other than beheading a small contingent of monsters? I'm actually rather surprised." Fin contorted his face into an exaggerated expression of amazement, which just managed to match up to the facial stylings of man and mer, an impressive feat for an Argonian, a member of a race known for their very subtle expressions.

OOC: I've been doing some thinking on how exactly should we lose the extra cast and I thought of two ways. One is to have a natural disaster. Earthquake, landslide, something among those lines. Toxic rain is a bit out of the question. The other is for one of them to exactly had contracted Corprus without knowing. So when all chars are asleep and sentries posted outside of the camp, the infected char would become a full Corprus and started killing among the sleeping chars. Then all other chars who are staying could take that single Corprus out.

OOC: I like the second way best, but I'm not sure if it's the best way for our groups to meet, or the most realistic in terms of how many that corprus would kill before we got it together. Natural disaster though... *evil grin* Potential. Better watch out: it's gonna be big...

Perhaps Ur is expanding his lava underground?

OOC: *Craps himself as an Alien explodes out of the inactive characters' chests and runs off into the night, soon to be devoured by corpus or akulakan.

OOC: Enough with the OOC, guys. I've go it worked out, thanks to the brilliant suggestions by Peleus, Scow and Canzeri.
IC:

"You're better for more than that, Fin!" Ren commented, smiling widely as the argonian approached. She felt like it'd been ages since she'd seen him- though really, it had only been a few hours since they spoke. For a moment, it looked as if Ren had forgotten about trying to glean what they were all talking about, but then Ren turned on Winna, "So what were you and Matthew talking about? 'Cause if you were talking about me, I deserve to know, right?"

-----------

Winna breathed a sigh of relief when Ren turned her attention on Fin, but then she was at it again- and asking pretty directly. Winna was physically incapable of lying to someone's face- she was just too straight-forward a woman for that. So she sighed and said plainly, "We were talking about whether or not you and Dar'Shandi should be left in Cheydinhal," she informed the breton. "I think you should both be left there."

Winna had spoken firmly, but her eyes told a different story. She hated doing this to Ren- and even to Dar'Shandi, mad as she was at him. But she just couldn't see it any other way. She only hoped Ren would take it well, but it wasn't much of a hope. The girl wasn't known for her cool temper.

----------

Ren blinked once, twice, her lips pressed tightly together as she took in what Winna was saying. For a moment, it looked as if she was going to have another of her temper explosions, but instead she said quietly, "I hardly think that's your business." Her tone was extremely frosty: in fact, she had never sounded that cold- only ever angry or gentle, really.

They can't leave me in Cheydinhal... Ren thought. What about my quest? What about the Gods?

She appealed to Matthew and Fin, looking over at them for support, her eyes pleading.

OOC: Can I adopt Arathor? The character was far too interesting just to randomly die... I'm good at playing the short and annoying characters.

IC: When Ren walked over to the group to ask about the plans to ditch her and Dar'shandi in Cheydinhall, the young khajiit danced his way over to the cluster of the self-appointed group leaders and Ren. "Dar'shandi thinks Winna and Fin just want to get rid of Ren and Dar'shandi. They do not really care about whether we live. What happens to Ren-oh and Dar'shandi when they stay in Cheydinhall?" he asked, his voice returning to the snarkier, more aggressive tone from earlier. He then turned to address the Argonian and Dunmer directly. "Do you think that Ren-oh will just head back to Cyrodill and tell the legion we didn't want her? Do you expect Dar'shandi to return to Orcrest and say, 'Sorry ladies, but some people Dar'shandi met told him to go back home,'?" His questions were almost rhetorical, but he did want to hear an answer before he gave the correct one.

While awaiting the two to come up with their answer, he turned his questions to Matthew, "Legion, weren't you tasked with keeping this group somewhat together? Dar'shandi does not see how telling members they cannot come achieves that objective." He had a whole littany of castigation planned out, all he needed was them to attempt an answer.

Matthew was not suprised that Ren and Dar'Shandi were angry at the idea of being left behind. Ren was looking at him while Dar'Shandi assaulted him with a hard question that he would have to answer.

"To tell the truth," he said as he looked at Ren, " I want the two of you to stay, but it seems that Winna and Fin are both willing to have you leave the group." He then turned to Dar'Shandi, "And my mission is to keep this team together, but if any members would put the mission at risk I think it would be best to leave them behind."

He was on their side,but he didn't want to put Winna and Fin on the spot, so he would have to seem like he was on their side as well. "Ren," he said softly, " You are a liability to the team because of your lack of combat experience. You are too much of a distraction, since we would have to constantly look after you. People could die trying to save you."

"And you," he said with a stern tone as he turned to Dar'Shandi, "You simply lack maturity. I am not the only one here that thinks you could act a little more serious. Your constant flirting and desire to show off is something that could bring the team down. You are a good combatant, but your lack of discipline is something I don't want on this team. You need to realize this mission is not about you, it's about defeating Ur and saving Tamriel."

He took a deep breath after he finished talking. Dealing out lectures was always his brother's thing, not his. He was used to just following his brother, not actually leading. And now it seemed that he would have to actually become his brother to help the team. "If Isaac was here he would be doing a much better job than me." he thought as he thought about what he just said. It was hard to lead, and he wished that either Fin or Winna would take the position so that he would never have to.

Kharro listened as he kept his walking pace constant, all the while looking at the hilltops around them, inspecting them for a sign of another ambush.

None of them pay any attention to the surrounding. The mere fact we are using the roads is foolish. An ambush is usually waiting on the road. We are practically asking to be attacked. Instead, they argue about leadership!

That is precisely why Kharro never had any desire to become a part of any group. Some people instinctively believed they possessed authority over others. That is why Imperial Legion had to have a triangular structure. You simply must put some people above others or they will spend too much time wrestling about who is better to lead and who is not.

Such foolishnes! Leadership is instinctive in intelligent beings. There are simply those who have it and those that don't. A pack of animals has a single master. If another leader appears, the matter is settled immediately. It is the whole point of a group, of a community. Orders must come from as little heads as possible, otherwise they get scrambled and they lead to paradox.

I know this. But does this mean that I should take the lead of this group?
Nonsense. I am an individual. I have no desire nor experience to lead others.

But then again... What is a leader but an individual?

ooc: Ok, Im not waitin anymore and Imma not wantin this to die. Ill move myself along some.

ic: Ra'shinavi's ears twitched a little, the sounds of rustling, snapping of branches coming from behind. Spinning around his eyes widened with what appeared to be horror. As the loud bashing, was followed with grunts and roars as minotaurs burst through the trees. Blighted, crazed and in pain as one massive creature charged towards them. Shinva turned and bolted, faster than greased lightening. "RUN!" he shouted. Theresa paled and started running as well, almost ripping off S'krakgi's arm before letting go. Neither of them looked back as the only way was forward. The beasts were crazed and inhumanly strong, it would have been suicide to take four of them on. "Into the forest!" Shinva called out to the others and shot into the dark dead wood. Theresa was right behind, as they both dodged, jumped and ducked logs, tree branches and other things.

OOC: Correct me if I am wrong, but I find a number of inconsitencies with that.

1) Werent you just in a cave? (Most likely I am wrong on this one)

2) Aren't most trees, you know, cracked, brown, dead? No leaves? Think nuclear fallout.

3) Thats a little bit of a big encounter to summon, you know, four minotaurs. Out of no where.

ooc: Sorreh, people. I'm in Oregon pickin' up my new compy. That's why I been gone.

ic: At the first crunching sound, S'Kragki reached down to his pre-primed crossbow, but as the minotaur came crashing through the trees, Theresa pulled him off-balance and made him stagger. He swore in his head as the two ran, turning and putting the butt of his weapon against his shoulder. He aimed and fired a shot into the forehead of the creature and it.. bounced off. S'Kragki hadn't thought about the toughness of minotaur bones being augmented like those of human victims, but upon a moment of thought, it made sense that the disease would do the same thing to anything it affected; bone and muscle density, regeneration rates and aggression all went through the roof while tact and logic seemed to vanish entirely with full infection. Why would minotaurs be an exception?

"[censored] this." he grunted, then shoved the empty weapon back into its sheath and turned tail, skittering expertly through the underbrush, hopping logs and holes, ducking under branches and ignoring the rips he was putting in his coat. What would I need to take that bastard down? Perhaps headshots are futile and destroying the vitals is the only way. His legs worked on autopilot to bring him closer to the two siblings ahead of him. He ignored the thought that it might be unkillable. He didn't want to think of anything being invincible. Immortal, he could deal with, but invulnerable was an issue he didn't want to think about. So far, he'd never met anything he couldn't kill, and he liked to think that was still true.

As he came to Ra'Shinavi and Theresa, S'Kragki heard a roar behind them as the minotaur lost sight of them and cried out in rage that its quarry was escaping. Just because he can't see us doesn't mean he can't still smell us. "That freak's got a skull like a damn boulder. I don't know if my shot even drew blood; it bounced off its damn forehead. Just keep running until we either lose 'im or I think of a way to kill 'im." S'Kragki said gruffly. It wasn't so much an order as a suggestion, but unless they had a better idea, they'd be smart to follow it.

Theresa looked at S'kragki panting alittle as she tried catching her breath. "Well, fighting things like that, with one deseased?. We wont last. I certainly wont. Big, ugly, they reek." she placed her hands on her knees and panted some more, catching her breath.

Shinva shook his head slightly and looked at the older male. "Whats the idea..?" he looked around, ears perked as the creature roared out, he looked around they were near a ravine the smell of water was close his mind started working like a predator or prey to understand one was to understand the other in a way. His arm had a nice cut in it with alittle blood. "Ow.." he growled as it stung, grabbing a small bottle of his best salve from its sheath on his bandoleer he applied a small amount of it, tensing as it stung like hell on a pike.

OOC: Sibera, shush. You're wrong. Aula and Sibera now have to edit. No minotaurs- that was a ridiculous amount- four?

The plant life being dead is the POINT Sibera- that the whole world is dying. Only plants that can sustain this kind of heat and barren ground have survived- no trees, just shrubs that ain't pretty. It ISN'T JUST VVARDENFELL, it's Cyrodiil and various other provinces too.

We all had the courtesy not to uber in this RP, I would imagine that by joining you agreed not to as well. And don't correct people who've been here from the start: they are likely to have a clearer idea of what is going on.

People who cannot take correction are not fun to RP with Sibera. Learn to take criticism like the rest of us.

@Chaos: Thanks. And POST silly!
@Scow2: You can adopt Arathor, so long as you play him as he was already being played. At least one of the inactive players will have something to come back to, then.
IC:

Ren was absolutely heart-broken. She was a threat to the group. She was a liability. But somehow, she still felt a part of it. And more so than that, she had a task... a mission. They had to know about it, they had to be told, when she decided to go it alone.

But at the moment... there was so much conflict. Could she really trust any of them?

Yes... she thought, surprising herself. I can... She thought of Fin and Phoenix and Mordereth who protected her. She thought of Winna and Matthew, the cool-thinking warriors who tried so hard to be fair and keep going. She thought of Dar'Shandi and Arathor, the fool-hardy but warm-hearted young men who'd come on this mission without really understanding. She closed her eyes for a moment. She trusted them. In spite of it all.

Maybe... maybe this will help bring us together... she thought. Maybe, when I leave, if they all share this knowledge, they will be more of a team...

That settled it then. When they got to the Cheydinhal Shelter, away from Ur's wastes of Cyrodiil, she would tell them the truth.

If they survived that long.

Fin looked over to Matthew. "Matthew, I think you may be being a bit...harsh, on the little one. She is young yet, and has much to learn." Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at her and whispered something to Matthew. "Also, I can not help but get the feeling that she is important in some other way. Why else would the Captain have enlisted her?" Fin shook his head slowly, though, when Matthew spoke of Dar'Shandi.

He flicked his tongue out in distaste and thrashed his tail. He stopped and turned around to look at the khajiit. "It is my opinion that, if you cannot pull yourself together, Dar'Shandi, and stop being so immature and hostile to your fellow party members, I will see you left behind in Cheydinhal."

He turned around again and kept walking. "And if you follow us afterwards, I will, sadly, be forced to put you down. I will not have a young fool with delusions of grandeur and a flirt always on his tongue endanger our mission, even though I am lax to resort to violence." He gave a slight hiss, uncommon for him, and increased his pace to catch up with Matthew and Winna.

OOC: I got to sleep for a month and a half, wake up, and what do you know? A month and a half of posts go by . I got a couple questions, IN you mind if I come back and if you don't mind can someone give me a quick overview of what's happened?

ooc: Sib informed me that we could keep our favorite minotaur so we wouldn't have to totally redo all that. I think he was as lost as I was at how to go about a total reworking, and maybe a little reluctant. Thanks for the exception, IN.

Anyway, I edited my above post to be a single minotaur rather than three or four or whateverz, if it matters.

As for the plant life, I do agree with Sib partly; no plants means no oxygen replenishing which means we're all buggered. Surely there must be some ash-plants or hardy stuff (maybe Nirnroot's adapted yet again to a climate change?) that survived. No plants means no food and air which means no life about two to three years after the catalyst (blight infection in this case) that plunged the world into ruin.

I'm not trying to nitpick, I'm just trying to think of what could still be alive and able to sustain what minimal animal life and oxygen/CO2 recycling the world still has/needs?

ic: S'Kragki stopped, no labor to his breathing at all even after all the running. He wasn't sure if it was his vampirism or his level of activity that let him run for miles and not tire, but he was damn glad of it.

"Well, like I said, it's bones are impenetrable by anything less than a Daedric crossbow, if that even exists, and that's questionable." he laughed, then realized it was a tad inappropriate and cut it off abruptly. "So we can't shoot 'is head. Unless it mutated some kind of extra bone inside, it should be vulnerable in the little soft spot under the sternum just like any mammal. I suggest disemboweling it; I don't care how tough it is, it can't do squat without organs." the vampire stated calmly, then drew his sword from his back.

"I'm not asking either of you to help, mind you. You have each other to think of and look out for. Run if you like. I'll either catch up later or die." he added, still nonchalant. Death meant nothing to him anymore on a personal basis -it'd come when it came, if ever- but the lives of others did matter. People were a dwindling populous, individuals dying either in childbirth or before they could reproduce. Preserving people, especially young ones like Theresa and Ra'Shinavi, was a critical thing if the world wanted any chance of rebuilding when and if Ur was ever dethroned. That and his conscience wouldn't let him not protect them. They've got their whole lives ahead of them. I'm just a relic of a past they probably never knew.

Think morrowind plantlife, around red mountain and the ashlands. Thats about all. Completely devoid of green and color. It is a harsh existence, but an existence nonetheless.

OOC: You do realize that 90% of Earth's oxygen comes from the ocean, created by algae?

And if you look at it another way: there is a reason why areas around volcanoes are not deserted. One of them is that soil is very fertile, because ash means an abundant source of minerals. The problem is that you also need water and volcanoes tend to destroy water springs or reroute the ground-water systems.

So, if Dagoth Ur is eventually defeated, all you do is work the land, covered in ash, add water and you have a paradise. Has great story-base potential, if you want to look at it this way. The ecosystem could be imported from regions not yet touched by Dagoth Ur or even from other continents. Akavir, Atmora and others are not yet touched by Dagoth Ur in this story, right?

ooc: I think we ought to keep the OOC to a minimum, but.. I'll chime in just a tad.

Yeah, but this isn't Earth. For one, we don't know what kinds of oceanic life Nirn supports in the way of plants beyond what we see on the little outskirts of the game worlds. Deep sea life is a total unknown.

Also, I was under the impression that this blight kinda made stuff die everywhere, so if it infects the ocean, it screws the algae just like the trees. Another factor is we don't actually know the ocean-land ratio on Nirn in its entirety, and the amounts and types of plant life are relatively unknown like I said, so we don't know how much impact algae could have compared to trees and other land-based flora. If nothing else, the world minus terrestrial flora would have less oxygen-rich air that a healthy world, at least in infected areas, so it'd be harder to breathe, if only a little.

Anyway.. I was just saying that there's some credit to what Sibera said and you've got to think about some of that stuff.

EDIT: I doubt the Akaviri are gonna be like, "Sure, mate, have some seeds and stuff. We've been trying to kill you blokes for as long as we can remember, but sure, we'll help you!" Unless you suggest people steal trees, which.. I dunno how you'd really do that in a non-mechanized world. Atmora.. I donno.

OOC: Nor the majority of Elsweyr and Valenwood. And it is quite possible local flora and fauna will recover quicker than expected after Dagoth's defeat.

I looked over my past posts from the first two threads (especially the first) to get some inspiration for Dar'shandi's character, and noticed he's practically a Khajiiti paladin... of sorts.

IC: Dar'shandi turned to Matthew as the legionarre summed up the complaints against the khajiit in the most rational manner, ignoring Fin's empty boast that the Argonian would be able to accomplish what the dozen best warriors in Torval had failed to do in a year. "You say Dar'shandi threatens the mission. If anything, the gloom of the party is a bigger threat to success than Dar'shandi's silliness will ever be. We are going up against gods. Merrunz, Lorkahj, Numidium... How can mortals succeed unaided against such threat? Dar'shandi doesn't think so. So he brings along the blessings of Baan Dar, Rajhin Riddle'Thar, Sheggorath, and Mara," he answered, raising an eyebrow as he attempted to discredit the arguments against him.

"Our mission, whether the one assigned or the more important one, will need Dar'shandi's skills. You are legion, and understand tactics. How will we accomplish our objective if we just march through in our heavy armor? We need some people to be sneaky, and Dar'shandi can be very sneaky if he needs to," the khajiit continued, explaining why he felt why the party would not succeed without him.

A sneer burst out of Kharro's mouth as he heard the other Khajiit's self-centered speech. And, although he didn't like joining in petty quarrels of people who always found useless
topics to argue about, he couldn't be quiet on this one.

"You can be sneeky, you say. I seriously doubt as you never seem to keep your snout shut. And do not speak of the gods," Kharro rasped. "You soil their very name by speaking them aloud."