A Thorne In The Lion's Paw – ( IC )

Replies: 7

A Thorne In The Lion’s Paw.

Chapter I

Ascension

Loredas, 14th day of Heartfire, 2E 583.

The Soul Cairn, 4.34am.

Ava Blackthorne & Marissa Blackthorne, The Soul Cairn.

” Well that was certainly worth the trouble, wasn’t it ? ” The Keerilth chuckled to herself, as she continued collecting soul gems from the fallen bonemen, who were now nothing more than tiny piles of black soul ashes laying on the ground. ” You think we have enough Marissa, or should we sweep for a few more ? “

Marissa looked up, before turning her attention back to filling her travel back with the soul gems. ” This should be enough, but always better to be safe. Besides with Father’s coronation being tomorrow, we don’t have much time, we need to start wrapping this up. ” She spoke, as she quicken her pace.

While The Soul Cairn is primarily inhabited by the souls of those unfortunate enough to be soul trapped then killed, it has long been a place of interest for the Keerilth vampire clan. With them often taking time to explore it’s vast realm, searching for both soul gems, and any other secrets it might hold. They were never foolish enough to consider making deals with The Ideal Masters, knowing that would mostly likely bound them to The Soul Cairn, and keep their souls from reaching Coldharbour upon their deaths. They did however find a strange sense of peace while inside The Soul Cairn, in a lot of ways it was very much like Coldharbour, but still not enough for them to be foolish enough to make a deal with The Ideal Masters. They more so saw it as a place of sanctuary, as a place to harvest important resources such as soul gems, and rare alchemical ingredients for alchemy, that could be found inside of the realm of The Soul Cairn.

With the coronation of their father Lycidas Blackthorne to the position of the mayor of Southpoint taking place soon, the Keerilth clan was hard at work preparing themselves for the coming change in their lives, but also in preparation, should other vampire clans native to Valenwood try dislodging them. The threat of attack from outside of Valenwood was unlikely, but not impossible, the Keerilth had no shortage of rivals. Ranging from The Cyrodiil Vampyrum Order, the Bonsamu, The Whet-Fang, all the way to the self proclaimed, ” pure bloods ” known as Lamae’s bloodline of vampires. The Keerilth had not bothered to form alliances with the other factions of vampires scattered throughout Cyrodiil, seeing them as inferior, or simply too stupid to bother with. Through out the years the clan had been preparing for an assault on their home, both in Southpoint, and their lair known as The Eternal Abyss. Located deep in the forest’s of Greenshade, just west out Southpoint, this is where the clan maintained it’s primary stronghold in the province of Valenwood.

Previously Mayor Aulus has served as the mayor of Southpoint, until His mind was twisted by Sheogorath and forced into turning Southpoint into a cesspool of madness. House Blackthorne took advantage of this situation, by publicly denouncing him as an incapable leader and vied for ownership over Southpoint. Due to it’s ruling not governed by birthright, but rather a more democratic approach, House Blackthorne was given the chance to prove themselves capable and decent rulers of the port. It took some time, but with the backing of House Shadyhollow, as well as the support from House Velvntia they eventually earned the majority vote, leading to Lycidas Blackthorne being selected by the citizens of Southpoint to claim the position as the brand new Mayor of Southpoint. House Blackthorne had earned the respect of the citizens of Southpoint, by helping stop the former Mayor Aulus, and restoring the city to it’s former glory. Many lives were saved due to the actions of the Keerilth clan, particularly House Blackthorne, as well as House Shadyhollow, who had had saved the city from certain madness at the hands of corrupted mayor. The battle that took place during this time left most of Southpoint in complete ruins, and resulted in the death of many of Southpoint’s inhabitants to be killed, including several members of the Keerilth clan itself. It was the actions of House Blackthorne during this time of chaos that lead to many in Southpoint as seeing the Blackthorne’s as trustworthy leaders in the community. This was not the only contributing factor to their rise to power, the success of their family business, their ability to transport goods, all the way to their vast wealth all contributed to this recent accession.

Ava stood up, taking a moment to brush off her clothes, before turning towards Marissa. ” Let’s get going, tomorrow is going to be a long day. ” Together the two began walking back towards the way they had came, they were no strangers to The Soul Cairn, having been here countless times before today.

” These spell tomes should prove to be interesting, just goes to show you never know what you are going to find around here. ” Marissa commented, as she pulled out the tome to conjure a Wrathman. ” Always nice to find something unique, and we have more than enough soul gems, more than worth the effort “

” Tomorrow will also prove to have been worth of the effort, finally we can start shaping Southpoint as we see fit. “

Marissa felt satisfied for the first time in a long time, looking forward towards the future of Southpoint. While their new position would make somethings more difficult, with feeding being the utmost concern for the coven, they already had plans in place for the coming change. For all of their evil deeds over the years they had never once taken an innocent life inside of Southpoint to satisfy their need to feed, instead they relied on alternative measures of obtaining fresh blood. The clan much preferred to feast on the blood of those who threatened the security of Southpoint, from cut throats, bandits, even that of rival clans. During The Alliance War they even went as far as to feed on fallen Ebon Heart Pact soldiers who they had defeated in battle, but never did they once attack those from The Daggerfall Covenant, knowing that should they be defeated by either The Aldmeri Dominion, or The Ebon Heart Pack that it could potentially be the end of the High Rock as they knew it. As much as they called Valenwood their home they had never given up hopes of returning to High Rock to reclaim what they had abandoned so long ago, this was just the beginning of a much greater vision, a vision of reclaiming what was theirs, a vision of their ascension.

” Looks like they don’t want us to leave, well let’s try not to disappoint them now ! ” Marissa laughed, as a couple of Bonemen began charging towards them from each side, their weapons at the ready. The Keerilth sorceress responded by lashing out towards the closest Boneman with a vicious bolt of lightning.

Ava smirked as she watched bones go flying into the air as a result of Marissa’s lightning bolt, she unsheathed her sword, slashing as the nearest Boneman with her Blackthorne Blade. Her strikes quickly found their mark, within a matter of seconds the Boneman was nothing more than a scattered pile of bones. With two more quickly closing in she raised her free hand into a position to where she could freely cast spells, before casting a dark orb towards the ground in front of her. The orb had an area of effect, one that stunned both of the Bonemen, severally slowing them both down for just a couple of moments.

” Take this ! ” Marissa shouted, as she began to cast a series of dark orbs herself, striking the Bonemen directly from behind as Ava attacked with a spell known as dark flames, engulfing the Bonemen in black fire as they collapsed to the ground, before turning into piles of black soul ashes on the ground around them.

” Pathetic little things aren’t they ? ” Ava smirked once again, as she knelt down to quickly collect more of the soul gems from the black soul ashes. Marissa did the same, it didn’t take long before the two sisters where back on their way, walking towards the portal connecting to a chamber within The Eternal Abyss.

Marissa walked in front of Ava as the two approached the portal, before stopping, then turning to face her sister. ” See you on the other side, try not to dally ! ” She chuckled as she walked through the portal, and within a matter of moments stepped out on the other side, setting foot back inside of Valenwood.

Ava shook her head with a large smile on her face before stepping through, only to bump directly into Marissa as she emerged on the other side of the portal. ” Speaking of dallying. Come on shake a leg, move it, we don’t have all day, your words, not mine ! ” She spoke teasingly, as she gently pushed passed Marissa.

” Let’s drop these off, then we can return to Southpoint, there are a few things there I want to ensure are taken care of before tomorrow. “

• This topic was modified 5 days, 4 hours ago by  Ava Blackthorne.