Posts by Napping-ghost

With a slight smile the redguard woman nodded at him. "I may not have to, but I want to. After all I'm sure someone with my skills would be helpful to you in the least." Her smile widened slightly before she turned Shadowmere out from the stables and onto the path, turning to him. "Lead the way, Xariel."

The girl visibly tensed as she glanced at the looming mountain. Letting out a soft laugh she turned to her travel companion. "Well, what do you want to know? While I am no open book I'll answer some questions." She glanced at the sky again, before nervously chewing on her bottom lip. "As for my skills, archery and one handed weapons are my strong suits along with stealth attacks. I can use some magic but I mostly rely on my blade." Ann-Zelic didn't know if she should mention her affiliation with the brotherhood or her run in with Lord Harkan. If anything the armor she wore held enough of a clue. Though she managed to convince many she stole if off of a would be assassin.

Ann-Zelic turned to him, her gaze studying him for a while before she spoke. "That explains many things. Lycanthrope or not you don't have to worry about me." She flashed a fanged grin. "I bear your kind no ill will, and you are correct. I am an assassin, listener of the Dark Brotherhood at your service." Turning her gaze to the scenery around her she spoke quietly, "When were you turned?" The memories of Lord Harkan and his legion still fresh in her mind.

She nodded more to herself than anything. "Being born with such a curse must be exhausting to say the least. I received my 'gift' recently." The venom that coated the word gift was enough to cause even Ann-Zelic to shiver. She shook her head as if to rid herself of such thoughts.

Ann-Zelic shrugged and looked ahead of her at the darkening woods. "I'll survive." Her voice faltered and she smiled warily at him. The gesture showing someone who experienced more than she let on. "Do you think we'll reach a town or will we have to camp out?" Reaching down she pet her horse clicking her tongue softly at him.

Ann-Zelic smirked and kicked her horse. Shadowmere took off, matching the flaming horse's speed. She let out a light bell laugh and turned to face him. The wind had pulled her hood down and exposed her face to the chilled air. "Some days I forget how beautiful it is out here. "

With a nod Ann-Zelic smiled down at the stallion, stopping next to Xariel. "Met a few I might say, he's had his run in with bad company." She let out a soft laugh. "I think he's more than capable of handling anything the world throws at us. What about your friend over there?" She motioned towards Lucky who was panting from the run but wagging his tail happily.

"I've been there once. It was about a year and a half ago." Ann-Zelic laughed softly at the thought. Had it really been that long? She watched the flame familiar with intensity. "I've never seen one of those before." Her lip curled into a smirk as she turned to her friend. "You are full of surprises." She pulled her hood back over her head, her yellow eyes glowing as she scanned the area. "It gets darker earlier the farther up in altitude you go."

Shadowmere reared and tossed Ann-Zelic and ker knapsack to the ground, spilling the contents. She sat up with a groan as her horse charged the troll, rearing once again. Ann-Zelic groaned and shook her head to clear the blurry vision before getting up and grabbing the daedric mace. She turned to Xariel and extended a free hand for him to grab.

Ann-Zelic nodded and followed, she knew Shadowmere would keep the troll busy for at least a little bit. She turned and watched as her steed landed a few blows to the creature before looking forward. She slowed down as they reached the riverbank and stopped for a breath. She racked her brain for a plan when it struck her. "Flames."

Ann-Zelic raised her hand and summoned a flame atronach. She then turned to Xariel. "Trolls are weak to flames. If we find a way to either chase them away or kill them with fire we should be set." As if on cue, Shadowmere came running back towards Anny. He was covered in scratches and blood had matted his fur in places. Ann-Zelic placed a gentle hand on the horse's muzzle before unsheathing her mace and turning to the troll that had been the one to start the attack. She pulled a vial of weakness to fire potion from her hip pouch and handed it to Xariel. "Careful its strong. Had a friend brew it up for me."

Ann-Zelic had disappeared into the darkness, with a swift swing of her mace she landed a few blows to the troll who dropped down, she brought the mace down on the top of its head landing the killing blow as blood splattered, with a grin she turned and looked towards the entrance of the cave the other two had come from, 'Are there more or is it only those two?' She didn't have much time to think when she heard a familiar growl come from the inside.

Her flame atronach had stayed behind, hovering besides Xariel tensely before abruptly turning towards him. It's eyes narrowed as it shot off three fire balls into the shadowed trees behind him. Only one hit it's target as the other troll let out a loud roar.

The redguard took the moment of complete silence to let out the breath she had subconsciously been holding. She slowly let go of her weapon she had been white knuckling, it clattered to the ground the green aura it produced slowly fading as Ann-Zelic sat down in the damp frozen grass. She turned to Xariel. "It was a troll.. Right?" Shadowmere had trotted up and nudged her empty napsack towards her before turning amd trotting into the river to drink.

With a moment to breathe Ann-Zelic fully removed her hood revealing a large scar that wrapped around her neck and ran up the left side of her face. She collected what she could salvage from her spilled bag before sitting by the riverbed, washing off what she could before wringing out the fabric of her hood. "Good thing too. I could go for something to drink." Her eyes flashed mischievously as she checked Shadowmere. His cuts had vanished but the blood was still there, she ran some of the water over his coat to clean what she could.

With a nod Ann-Zelic tied her knapsack to Shadowmere's saddle and placed the mace of Molag Bal on her belt and secured it. "It would be for the best. Any longer out here and we'll either freeze to death or be attacked again." Unbeknownst to her she had begun showing the signs of her lack of feeding, her vampirism becoming a little more obvious to the trained eye. She turned to look towards the bridge and leaned against her horse, before patting his side "Let's go boy.". She nodded again more to herself this time and smiled, mounting the stallion she turned to Xariel. "Ready when you are my friend."

Ann-Zelic smiled back and nodded. Once they reached the bridge she dismounted Shadowmere and led him by the reins. The small town hadn't changed much since she had visited a year ago. As she passed the many faces some staring some minding their own business she could feel the tension in the air. It wasn't until she glanced at the starry sky was she able to clear her mind of hunger and the hunt.

It took Ann-Zelic a moment to process what Xariel had asked but by then the question had been left unanswered and to answer it now would be pointless. She turned and gazed around at the unfamiliar faces. She didn't expect so many Kahjiit this far into Skyrim. She knew of tue caravans, one even being a front for her own organization. Yet the sheer number of cat people threw her off guard. She shook her head and leaned against the bar, her dreadlocks falling in front of her face as she pinched the bridge of her nose as her body began to adjust to this higher saturation of vampirism.

Wilhem quirked his brow at the two newcomers. "If its for both of you the room to the left is still available. There should be two beds. One for each of you at about 20 gold for the night. There's also food and drink. Your companion there looks like she needs it."

Ann-Zelic watched the girl leave before heading into the room with Xariel. With a long sigh she set her stuff down next to her bed. "I'm going to get something to eat. I'll be back in a bit." With a curt nod to Xariel she slipped away, avoidibg the eyes of everyone in the tavern as she pushed the door open and stepped out. She took a deep breath and took to wandering the small town, if you could call it that. It wasn't much nowadays, but being the first place you see before tackling the 7,000 steps gave it a sort of charm. She had been here twice in her whole life, once to eliminate a target and now here as a companion for someone she watched slaughter a dragon. Ann-Zelic made many questionable choices in life but this had to take the cake. She leaned against the bridge and was watching the river trickle into a small waterfall when she caught the strong scent of ale. The redguard grimaced and turned to find a young guard hiding under the bridge. She assumed he was on duty which would explain his attempt at stealth as he downed his 6th bottle of mead. Ann-Zelic crouched and slowly made her way towards the man. Perfect opportunities to feed like this were scarce. She was now behind the guard who was leaning against the suport of the stone bridge. With one swift movement she grasped a hold of him by the throat her other hand covering his mouth as she sunk her fangs into his neck. She shuddered as blood trickled past her lips. She pulled off of him when she was finished and set him down against the muddied riverbank, she took several coins from his pocket before putting one of the half empty bottles back in his hand. He had passed out from the alcohol as well as the bite. Using some of the cold water Anny washed her face and the guard's neck before she returned to the inn. She smirked at Wilhelm and bought a bottle of wine before returning to the room. She hadn't been gone long twenty minutes at most but she had a story in case Xariel was still awake.

Ann-Zelic let out a chuckle and pulled a bottle of Honningbrew mead from her satchel that hadn't been ruined in the troll fight. She held it out to Xariel. "Here take it, I bought myself some Alto wine." She shot him a toothy grin before sitting down on the opposite bed. She absentmindedly wiped her face with her hands before opening her wine bottle and taking a swig to wash the metallic taste of blood from her mouth. The bitter impression followed by the sweet aftertaste left the redguard woman in a form of ease. She would always spend extra to consume the wine when she got a chance.

Ann-Zelic sat up in the bed she had been occupying, sometime in the middle of the night Xariel had yelped out in fear causing Lucky to wake up the woman with whining and pawing. Ann-Zelic had set up a chair to keep an eye on the man. She knew and experienced many night terrors and knew waking him up suddenly could harm or even kill. She stood and conjured a small flame, turned to the nightstand and lit a candle. After a moment she looked over at Xariel, her eyes filled with concern. "Are you alright? You've been calling out in your sleep. Nothing coherent but nonetheless you couldn't be consoled, Lucky finally managed to wake you." Returning to her bed she examined the breton more closely, the yellow glow her eyes cast gave her a more solemn look than was normal for the joker of a woman.