The guards here appear to have forgotten they're not supposed to put prisoners in this cell, though the way the prison is currently very overcrowded might not have helped there. 

There's a woman sitting with her back to a corner, knees pulled to her chest as she scowls down at the floor, her blonde wolf ears alert in a way that contrasts with her posture. She rolls to her feet when she sees the Blades, posture wary.

"What's this prisoner doing here?" asks Renault, sounding irritated. "This cell is supposed to be off-limits."

"Usual mixup with the Watch, I-"

"Never mind," she cuts Bérengère off. "Get that gate open. Prisoner! Stand up and move to the back of the cell."

She rises from her half-crouch and backs up a step - but she can't exactly get much further from the door. 

"What's going on?"

She finishes unlocking the door and steps back into her position.

"No talking!" Renault snaps. At her signal, Berengere and the others draw their swords and advance with the Emperor into the cell. Renault trips a hidden catch to reveal a door in the wall, and leads the way through.

"No way to lock this from the other side," Berengere murmurs.

Baurus snorts quietly. "Looks like it's your lucky day, prisoner. Just don't get in our way."

"You won't know I'm here..." she mutters, eyeing them.

The Blades and their emperor tromp down the secret passage, quickly disappearing from view.

She glances back into the prison as they're tromping, then follows. They're concerned about being followed... She needs a weapon, pronto.

She stays alert, mostly to stuff above and behind her - she's assuming the Emperor (what the fuck?) is going to effectively sweep for any threads that'll pop up ahead of her.

The path splits fairly shortly after the start. One branch seems to built in the same style as the sewers below the Imperial City, the other is a kind of rough tunnel or natural cave.

Berengere is lingering at the sewer tunnel, a little ways in. Her sword is still out and pointed back towards the cell.

She slows down a little, wary. "Something up?" she asks. 

"...You cannot follow."

"Look, I won't cause trouble for y'all, but I want to get out of here, so..."

Does she look familiar...? No, just the lighting.

"You take the other path. Or stay."

"Where does the other path go?"

"We do not know. It is not part of the escape route."

"Can I have a weapon?"

Berengere tilts her head.

Then tosses the prisoner a dagger.

"Thanks."

She inclines her head a little. "I'll see if I can't get out this way, then."

"But... Good luck with your own escape."

...She nods.

"Thank you."

She nods back, and...

Heads into the cave.

Sneaky-like; she'd rather avoid fights if she can, but if pushed, she's no slouch with a dagger.

The cave appears to be home to a small tribe of goblins. They don't appreciate her intrusion, if they spot her. But the only real threat is the witch that seems to be the chief.

Yeah she has zero quarrel with goblins, she is going to hella sneak here. She only has to slit one guard's throat, which she considers a bonus.

(She checks his body, but... Given she now has a rather nice dagger, there's nothing of potential use to her on him except a crude sling with stones, which she steals. She also steals some stuff she could use as lockpicks while working her way around the camp.)

Where does this let out?

After their main living quarters (with a pen for skeevers that appear to be tamed), the tunnel seems to dead-end...

...or it would, if there wasn't a hole knocked into the wall connecting it back up with the sewers.

And she can hear voices ahead.

So much for 'take a different route.' 

She doesn't shout out that she's there, but she stops looking like she's up to no good. Dagger near where she can draw it, but not slinking where a jumpy guard might think she's an assassin.

What seems to be up? 

The tail end of a battle, it seems. Red-cloaked figures fallen to the ground, conjured weapons and armor falling into mist.

Any fighting ongoing?

No, but there seems to be one fewer guard than there was last Lilou saw them. They're arguing discussing what the best way forward it.

Berengere looks up. "Come out," she calls. "I know you're there."

She steps out. "Turns out those caves just looped back here," she says, dryly.

"The prisoner!" Baurus says. "She must be working with the assassins." He makes to draw his sword.

"No, Baurus," the emperor says. "She's not one of them. She can help us. She must help us."

She takes a step back what with the threatened sword, ready to run into the cave and make the jumpy guards into the goblins' problem. "Uh. Yeah, not an assassin, and if you let me follow you guys the fuck out of here, I will absolutely help stab any actual assassins."

"...As you will, sire."

"Okay, cool."

Hmmmm, she has some political notes that she wants to say, especially on their judicial system right now, but during an assassination attempt isn't the best time. Maybe if she takes out a couple she'll be able to get the emperor's ear when it isn't an emergency...

She doesn't get very close to the emperor, but does come to lurk slightly closer to the group. Especially the guard who gave her the dagger earlier. That guard seems more reasonable.

She passes her a torch. "Here."

Yeah not unreasonable to hand the random prisoner the 'look at me' beacon. Lilou takes it, evaluates its use as a bludgeon a bit, but - she's gonna have to be on the lookout more now for 'being the one stabbed,' and she'll have to drop it if she wants to go around backstabbing enemies... Means she has control over dousing part of their light, though.

"Where do you want me to walk?"

"In front. With me."

"A moment," the emperor says. "Come closer, let me see you."

She steps closer, as asked.

(The torch isn't exactly steady, but it does make her features much more visible.)

He's an old man, grey-haired and wrinkled, wearing a rich purple robe, slightly dirtied at the hem, and a large red jewel in an amulet at his neck. He studies Lilou's face.

"Yes... You are the one from my dreams. Then the stars were right and this is the day. Gods give me strength."

Um???

"...Which dreams???"

"I have never been the ruler of my own dreams. I have seen the Gates of Oblivion, beyond which no waking eye may see. Behold, in Darkness a Doom sweeps the land. But in your face, I behold the sun's companion. The dawn of Akatosh's bright glory may banish the coming darkness."

...Okay maybe he has dementia and she should be submitting her proposed legal changes to whichever kid or advisor is actually running things. Which, it's kind of annoying there's no clean mechanism for letting a senile emperor retire, but 'yeah the emperor is senile, but his heir is handling things for him' is much better than 'there's no emperor' or 'the emperor's heir deposed him.'

"Yes, sire," is all she says, only very subtly in the tone she uses with old people with dementia.

His gaze is remarkably sharp and focused for someone with dementia. "You've not seen what I've seen. How can I explain? Listen. Assassins attacked my sons, and I'm next. My guards are strong and true, but even the might of the Blades cannot stand against the Power that rises to destroy us. The Prince of Destruction awakes, born anew in blood and fire."

...Okay that's actually straight to alarming, given the existence of the daedric princes and magic dreams.

Not dementia, then.

"I apologize for doubting, sire. What should I do?"

"I chart my course by the cycles of the heavens. The skies are marked with numberless sparks, each a fire, and every one a sign. The signs I read show the end of my path. I go to my grave. A tongue shriller than all the music calls me. You shall follow me yet for a while, then we must part."

Not actually very helpful, that. "And after...?"

"My dreams grant me no opinions. Their compass ventures not beyond the doors of death."

"We must keep moving," Berengere says.

Nod.

She steps up beside the guard.

Forward into the sewers.

Forward.

She stays alert, eyes scanning for potential assassins - especially snipers.

There's not really much room to hang back in the confines of the underground space-

-and when the next group of assassins does come, seemingly boiling out of empty darkness, the fight spills into a melee almost immediately. "For Lord Dagon!" they shout.

"For the Emperor!"

She hits one in the face with her torch then slashes his gut open as he stumbles.

These dumb prisoner rags don't have any of the subtle magic that makes armor, like, work, but she very quickly confirms that none of their robes do either, and she's faster than them, and a very fortunate feature of melee is your enemy has to be in stabbing range to stab you. 

She gets a bare moment of space between herself and the next assassin - there's no one she cares about behind him - she hits him with a fireball, and he goes flying into one of his allies. He's not dead yet though, and she blasts the ally he stumbled into then throws herself back into dagger range and stabs them both. 

Those three dispatched - she rolls herself out of the crush of melee and starts harassing anyone trying to overwhelm the guards from behind. No fireballs in the emperor's general direction, but she can use those on anyone split off from the pack, and she can stab anyone who turns their back to her to focus on the guards - and, hopefully, the guards can do the same in reverse. 

The Blades stick to swords, no magic, but they are excessively competently wielded swords. The emperor is fenced off by their flashing steel.

This time, they fight the assassins off without losing anyone.

Good. Doesn't seem they have more to lose. 

She heals herself - it drops her to pretty low magicka, but she should recover fast - and makes sure the assassins are dead, checking for valuables as she goes, then retrieves her torch. 

"Keep going?"

"Are you uninjured?"

"Am now."

"I can't heal others, but... I can keep myself going."

"Good."

The Emperor needs a minute to catch his breath, so: "Where did you learn to fight?"

"...Lots of places. A big one was just - ended up on the street as a kid, then figured out I could make some septims letting college students practice on me and playing training dummy for arena fighters. Some of them even answer questions."

"That sounds... difficult."

"I learned a lot, though."

"You must've."

"You're very good."

Grin! "So're you. That was some really nice sword work."

"That's why we're the Blades."

"You live up to it."

"That is our duty."

Serious nod. "Did you learn to fight from the Blades?"

"Yes. We train from childhood."

"Huh. How are people picked for it?"

"That is not information we share."

Slow nod. 

Time to get moving again.

Onward.

She keeps to the same alertness, ears swiveling around at the slightest noise - and attunes herself a little more to the others in her party. (She doesn't know much, yet, about tuning herself to the flows of aetherius like that one freshman was rambling about - but she's got a knack for it she thinks, and if the assassins are using magic to get around, maybe she can make enough of a difference on catching them...)

They get through the next chamber okay, and into the next-

-but the gate leading further is barred from the other side.

"A trap. Spread out."

She's just gonna set this torch down by the gate, how about, angled so hopefully the dancing light will catch the edges of anyone's invisibility spells, while moving strangely enough it'll still be a boon to the Shadow's Blessing if she has to peel off.

"...A defensive huddle might work better," she says, eyes scanning for catches in the stone - unusual cracks, especially any unusually straight bits - anything that could oh, say, be a secret door. "Even if they have bomb spells."

"Not the time, prisoner," Baurus says. "It looks like there's a side passage there, I'll check it out."

Hrmph.

To the local reasonable one, voice low: "They've been here ahead of us - they know the terrain; they probably locked that gate; they either have teleportation magic, invisibility, or secret passages; and we shouldn't split up."

"We know what we're doing."

Maybe not the local reasonable one.

She glances at the emperor, but... He'd sounded resigned, earlier.

"Just - stay alert."

"We always are."

Baurus returns.

"Dead end. No way out."

...Ugh, this is way above her level. She knows what mindset to slide into -

But it turns out live security with a team she's not used to is way harder than testing said security, and also she doesn't actually usually do live target stuff since that is super not her background. She doesn't even know the motives or anything concrete about the abilities of the enemy past what they've demonstrated, which is 'appear suddenly and stab' - makes her lean maybe not powerful mages, but they were calling on a daedric prince, and that's... Yeah. Above her normal pay grade.

- She hates not having time to think things through.

"...I'm going to try the lock," she says, sidling up to it. She's been examining it while trying to talk the guards into being sensible. It looks old from what she can see - plus, the main mechanism is on the other side of the bars, which probably means it'll be awkward and take more time than she likes, and while there's no visible shimmer or trip lines that's not always indicative, and - oh yeah. She should warn them about that. "Doesn't look rigged to explode if picked, but, maybe don't hover over my shoulder."

There is probably no point in saying this, but. "And please don't go hide in any extremely obvious places - your enemy knows what's obvious too."

"Do what you can."

The Blades huddle up to discuss.

This is indeed Very Awkward, but she's technically gotten through worse before - still, she's basically helpless with her arms through the gate, her attention's on doing her task quickly without breaking something she shouldn't...

She's an incredibly fast lockpick. This feels painfully slow to her, especially with improvised tools - each minute moves like an eternity - 

Probably... It'll take her less than five minutes, but only if she isn't interrupted -

Does she consider a shout of "Down!" immediately preceding a fireball an interruption?

Yup!

She lets go off her tools first, then drops and rolls, then looks for whichever asshole is shooting off fireballs at her. 

It is... an actual fire atronach! Probably. There are a bunch of cultists, too.

Does the atronach seem like it's intelligently aiming at people, is it still trying to hit her - are the guards handling the cultists - 

The guards are trying, but there are a lot of cultists. At the moment, their plan seems to be to get the emperor into the side room so they can take down the atronach with risking him being caught in its death explosion.

...Hmmm.

She knows maybe two facts about atronachs, she's the only one who knows how to pick locks, this is dumb -

She's also the only one who can heal herself, and one of the facts she knows about flame atronachs is 'idiotically aggressive.'

She jumps, catches a bit of stonework, pulls herself onto the tiny thin bit of decorative ledge around a column - then tosses her own fireball at the atronach before immediately jumping to the upper platform of the sanctum, tauntingly just outside of its direct line of fire. Hopefully it'll have to abandon the area near the emperor to attack her properly. (Hopefully it can't just fly and has to take the stairs.)

"Hey, fuckface!" she yells at it, glancing around frantically for some dead body or another to steal a ranged weapon off of that's better than her sling. If not: stones to reload said sling with. "Your fire sucks!"

And, of course, it attacks her - gets out of death explosion range of the emperor, and also it's fully willing to hit the assassins to get a shot at her - which means free meat shields for Lilou, especially if anyone tries to stop her from running around and distracting their atronach.

She takes pot shots at it - don't seem to do much, but that does keep it angry with her, so - and at the assassins, dropping one and hopefully throwing the others off - but she mostly tries not to get barbecued.

This involves a lot of flinging herself behind columns or to the floor. Her entire body hates her. 

She gets enough pressure off the Blades it seems, though, that the quieter guard actually comes to help her - she hears a hoarse shout from one of the others but she can't look - the atronach catches up, she slashes at it with her dagger, which keeps it from preventing the quiet guard from stabbing it - 

- This wasn't, it seems, a very durable atronach. 

Lilou flings herself back off the platform, landing hard and painfully, as it explodes. She drops her dagger in the fall, starts scrambling to her feet, but it hurts - 

But... The field is silent, except for the low moans of dying men. 

Lilou takes a deep, shaking breath, and looks around to see if anyone else is still standing, as she tries to steady her hands enough to heal herself. 

No one standing.

The ?reasonable? one is kneeling next to the emperor, who has fallen. She's lost her helmet, revealing coppery, fluffy wolf ears. She holds something shiny in her hands.

Fuck.

She - probably can't help -

She darts up the stairs, checks on the quiet guard - he's dead, and all the assassins appear dead, too, and she can't hear anyone else coming -

Lilou hasn't healed herself yet, but she can't really feel the bruises and burns anymore. Her shaking's worse as she comes to stand by the fallen emperor and the last Blade.

"Is he - ?"

"Dead."

"He thought I was you." She looks up.

...Wait what.

That's her face.

...She has so many questions.

"Are you - " she's not going to be okay. Lilou changes to, "Injured?" without much of a hitch.

"No."

"Okay."

Deep breath. "We - need to get out of here, still. Get his body somewhere safe - "

"...I'd been in that cell a while with no news. What's going on out there?"

Do they still have an empire, for instance.

"...Everything was normal until tonight."

Nod.

"Are his heirs alive?"

"...Not the acknowledged ones."

"Oh. Okay."

That's new.

"...Unacknowledged ones?"

"At least one. Apparently."

Baurus staggers over. "The Emperor... dead. We've failed." He pauses, looks at Berengere. "You have the amulet."

She nods. "He gave it to me. Said to take it to Jauffre, he can help me find Martin, his son."

"Then you should go," Baurus says. "I will watch over the body."

Nod. "I can probably still get that gate open..." she says, softly, tiredly.

...She needs to heal herself. Her entire everything hurts. She starts doing so.

Berengere... will frisk the bodies. Make sure they're all dead. See if they have any potions.

Potions: findable. Poisons, cure poison, cure fatigue, and healing seem most of it, plus one minor magicka potion on the person who was maybe the summoner. They're all dead, and, as far as she can tell, the assassins she saw are all accounted for. 

Lilou runs out of magicka before she finishes healing herself, makes a grouchy noise, and goes to investigate leaving as her magicka slowly creeps back.

"Here," Berengere offers the magicka potion.

"Thanks." She drinks it. 

"How many healing potions do we have?"

"Four. Six poison, three antidote, four fatigue."

"Okay."

 "Think we should save the healing potions..." She only needs one more healing spell, at least, and the last bit of magicka always feels like it returns faster. "Did any of them have a key for the gate, by the way?"

Baurus has it. "Here."

"Thanks." She gets that open, then. It's a lot easier with the key than the lockpick... She still recovers and pockets her improvised tools, though. To Berengere: "Are we good to head out?"

Deep breath.

"Yes."

Nod.

And through the gate, into the sewers. 

As the door shuts behind them - "So, uh. You look weirdly like me."

She's less good at controlling her ears than her face. They twitch.

"Yes. I- don't know why."

"Me either. Didn't have a twin, or even hear one mentioned before I ran away..."

"...I was born on the 20th of Second Seed."

"Me too."

"...I'm twenty four."

"So am I."

"Mother'd had me from another marriage, she said. Didn't mention other kids, but."

"I've always been with the Blades. A foundling."

"Don't think mother ever really wanted me, but, it'd have been weird to give up one kid and keep the other... But if she and her ex split their twins and something happened to her ex..."

"Or I could've been secretly her dead sibling's or something. Who knows." 

Hrmph.

"...My birth parents don't matter."

"I - like you, though. You're competent and reasonable. So... I want to get to know you, regardless of whether we're secretly related."

"And... If you'll let me, I want to help you find the emperor's heir."

Nod.

"My name's Berengere."

"I'm Lilou."

Hint of a smile.

"It's nice to meet you."

Full smile! "It's nice to meet you, too."

"For getting out of here... How quietly can you move? Decent chance there's goblins living down here, and I don't want to pick a fight."

"I'll have to take my armor off." She begins unbuckling.

"Do you have something lighter to change into?"

"Not armored."

She feeds her bracers into her bag, then the greaves, and begins working at her breastplate.

"So... We'll want to be careful about fights, then."

"That was the plan, right?"

Berengere is now mostly naked. Her tail is the same fluffy reddish as her ears.

"Yup." She doesn't look away.

(The other girl's cute. A lot more muscled than Lilou, too.)

"If you've got two sets of normal clothes, that'll be convenient once we get out of here... The prisoner outfit stands out a little. I can get us in and out of the city without much trouble either way, and my apartment has stuff... But, dunno how much secrecy we're moving in."

"Only the one set." She pulls out a linen shirt and rough pants. "But it would be best if Baurus is the only one known to have survived the attack."

She nods. "We can head back to my apartment still, then - I have money and supplies... And it might not hurt to buy a horse or two, if we care mostly about speed here."

She dresses. Her tail hangs free.

"We need to get to Chorrol."

"That'd be... Nine hours along the road for us, I think. You can cut through the scrublands to the west of Weye, though, to avoid the road... Adds about two hours, doing that. A horse would cut off a bit, but, along that route it probably wouldn't actually be worth it."

"Better to stay off the road, I think."

"Okay."

"We'll get to my apartment quietly, grab supplies, and head out then."

"Right."

"Let's go."

Through the sewers first, then... Lilou ends up whispering a charm to get past one of the goblins, but they get out okay, without needing to fight or spend the Shadow's blessing. 

It's daytime when they emerge, as bizarre as that feels - though late, and Lilou can see a long trek in the dark ahead of them. Whatever. 

The news of what happened doesn't beat them back, though there's a worried buzz in the closing market district. Lilou's apartment is small but not very badly placed, overlooking one of the squares - 

And it's rather exceptionally difficult to break into. The only thing in the main area is a small stool with a note on it, and no apparent exits except the door they entered into. Nothing's been disturbed, and Lilou goes to pick up the stool, knocking the note to the floor as she does so. 

"Cozy."

"There's this guy in the Thieves' Guild who keeps hazing new recruits by convincing them to try and break in and steal something from me." She gets the trapdoor into her loft open, balancing on the stool to do so. "The note just says that if they actually got in, they're not getting paid enough, and also that the Guild's fences won't buy anything recognizably mine off them anyways."

"That sounds... tedious?"

"It's sometimes funny, and I've ever poached someone, but, yeah, it's overall pretty annoying." Ladder up into the loft, which is actually nicely decorated with numerous shelves full of books and assorted knickknacks of varying antiquity or interestingness.

"I've got some spare armor in this chest here, some spare weapons in that wardrobe." She gestures to a chest in the low ceilinged part of a little nook first, then a thin and tall wardrobe near it. "It's almost all the sort of light and quick stuff I favor, though, but even if you prefer heavier stuff, it's better than nothing."

Further in - potions and a little alchemy lab with ingredients chests shoved into a weird corner, wardrobe for outfits specifically to mimic different groups - "That might actually have some heavier armor in it...", a cramped writing desk, a bench built into one of the window nooks for reading, a tiny kitchenette mostly suited to the lifestyle of someone who lives right next to a tavern, her sleeping area (behind a folding screen). 

(One of her knickknacks is also a very large sword that looks like someone broke it off an automaton in a dwemer ruin.)

Berengere's attention is drawn to it.

"Where did you get that?"

"Group of adventurers I met in Bruma. They'd been exploring the near bits of some of the ruins on the Skyrim side of the border near there, and picked up too much heavy stuff to reasonably get it all to the fancier buyers, so I got some things cheap."

"Do you keep it sharp?"

"It's never needed to be sharpened, not even once. I just dust it now and again."

"Huh." Berengere is very interested in the sword.

"If you can lift it... It's the best quality weapon I've got, honestly."

She reaches out for it.

"May I?"

"Go right ahead."

She reaches out to take the sword.

It's heavy enough to be awkward until she gets a proper two-handed grip on it, at which point she has much less trouble.

"Feel alright?"

There's not really room to swing it properly, but she dances a few steps.

"Yes."

"I could use this."

"It's yours, then."

"Thank you."

Very cute. "You're welcome."

Next is armor, then.

Probably nothing too heavy, they're still sneaking somewhat...

Probably the chest she uses for her normal stuff, then - she trusts it for combat more, anyways. Boots matter most for sound, and hers are all pretty lightweight there...

So: good quality leather armor for both of them. 

Nod.

She selects a set and dons it. It turns into slick black leather, skintight around her chest and upper arms, cutting off before the elbow and leaving her midriff bare. For the legs, she has a skirt that would possibly cover more of her legs than the very tops if it weren't so poofy, silky leggings, and heeled shoes.

"Sub, huh?" she asks, almost teasingly.

Bit of a blush.

"Yeah..."

Smirk.

And she slips off her rags, puts on a set of very similar armor in its unworn state, though it has a few studs and some different dye patterns - and it's a bit more revealing on her than on Berengere. A black leather collar with metal spikes that curve like fangs, attached to a leather chest band by a few showy lines in front and a sleek plate in back. Her midriff is crossed by thin straps with studs where they intersect, and silver chains hooked to the studs below her waist. Her upper arms have red bands of leather in criss-crossing patterns, matched by red peeking out over the top of her black heeled boots. No skirt whatsoever.

She reaches past Berengere then, grabs a dark cloak that settles around her shoulders without hiding the outfit too much (though some of the bare skin at the top of the outfit is then of course sacrificed) and throws her face into deep shadow when she experimentally raises the hood.

Then, lowering the hood and turning to Berengere - "We're a nicely matched set, it seems."

Oh.

Wow.

"In more ways than one, it seems."

"Though the identical face puts a small hamper on implying you're my sub."

"Not with that cloak on."

"Maybe we should put the cloak on you... Just so no one gets us mixed up, you know." She leans in a little, though she hasn't really left Berengere's space. "Leave it on whenever we're in polite company."

Shiver.

"That would be one way of doing it."

"Do you have other suggestions?"

"Nothing springs to mind..."

"I think it's a rather excellent idea."

"Well, if you think so."

"I'm very wise, so..."

"Clearly. I must concede to your superior argument."

"You're learning already."

"I've been told I'm quick that way."

"A good trait."

"I've always found it so."

Grin. 

Then: "Anything else you want before we set out? I've got my own packing list, but... Might be missing things."

Berengere can compare what she's already put together.

She's got an actually nice lock picking set, and a backup for that. Spare weapons, mostly knives but also arrows and a bow, and two weapon/ armor repair kits. Some lower potency potions - not as effective as the nice stuff, but a lot cheaper. 

Extra knives are always useful.

Maybe a bit of food, but otherwise she thinks they're good.

She can do that. 

"Wait for morning or move now?"

"Tonight," she says after a moment's thought. "Traveling at night can be risky, but... It's not much worse than the day, and this is urgent."

"Sensible," she agrees. "I'm ready."

"Okay."

Down and out, then. She resets everything behind them, puts a sign on the door that she's away on business, then...

Out, and west across the scrubland as the sun begins to set.

They don't encounter major resistance on their way, at least, and they seem set to arrive at Weynon Priory before dawn. 

Speaking of...

"Who's Jauffre?" she asks Berengere as they pass through a small wooded copse. The forests around Chorrol are staggering in, bushes giving way to trees. 

"The Grandmaster of the Blades."

Nod. "It'll be better for you to give the report to him, then."

"Yes. He would ask me anyway, if I did not."

She nods. "What will he expect from me?"

Shrug. "Not sure. Probably that you keep helping me and follow his orders for what to do."

"...I'll follow them to the extent I agree with them or their logic, at least. That's - the most I can promise, right now."

"That's reasonable."

Nod.

"Have you interacted with him a lot?"

"Not since before I was sent to the capital. Seven, eight years now."

"A while, then..."

"Mm."

"He's not the sort to change much, though."

She nods. "Think we'll have any trouble with him?"

"Doubtful. We're on the same side."

Nod. 

And onwards. They arrive at Weynon Priory soon enough, right before dawn. It's barely changed since Berengere saw it last. There's two new horses in the stable, a new garden by the path in, but - the priests still seem to keep the same schedule, and there's several up and about. 

Jauffre will be in the main building, then, breaking his fast.

That indeed seems to be the case. Prior Maborel courses their path first - "Berengere?" he asks, blinking. Then: "It's good to see you well. I - presume you'll be here to see Grandmaster Jauffre?"

"Yes. We have urgent news."

"Of course." He leads them over to where Jauffre - who looks older and more worn than he did the last time Berengere saw him - is sitting at their simple table, clearly in the middle of breakfast. 

Jauffre looks up with a solemn expression. "I hadn't expected to see you so soon again," he says. "Should this be private?"

"The Emperor is dead."

His expression is pained. Grieving. "I know," he says. "Heralds came down the road, and messenger birds went to every city, and mages spoke to each other. The bells of Chorrol tolled for hours. It's a dark age ahead of us, many believe."

"He told us to... find Martin."

Solemn nod. "Martin is serving as a priest in Kvatch, right now. He's unaware of who he truly is, and of his destiny."

"That needs to change, then."

"We have the amulet."

Sharp breath. 

"Good."

"I'm worried the enemy knows who he is - they seem to know much they shouldn't. I sent messengers to all the chapels, and the one sent to Kvatch knows to keep him safe at all costs, but..."

"I didn't want to risk moving too openly, not at this juncture, and I couldn't move with enough force to overwhelm our enemy through that alone."

"We can extract him quietly, then."

"He's stubborn, and might want to stay with his flock... But he knows his duty. Remind him of it if he hesitates."

"We can do that."

"Alright."

"We'll tender any assistance we can."

"Thank you."

"There's supplies, and we can provide you with a horse..."

"Two horses."

"Alright; it will be done."

"If you plan to cut through the wilderness - the bay and black are the two steadiest on trails."

She glances at Lilou.

"Kvatch is nearly directly southwest of here..." Frown. "We shouldn't cut back toward the Imperial City, but - the west is mostly bad hills. I think there's a smaller road down to Skingrad, though, and we can head west from there." She glances at Jauffre.

He nods. "Down past the Wayshrine of Dibella, yes - and it might be the best path to return with Martin along. You can take shelter at Gottlesfront Priory to the east of Brindle Home if needed, too - the village is just past the halfway point."

"Though, a word of caution... The village of Hackdirt has become increasingly hostile to travelers. They don't bother anyone who stays on the road, at least not that I've heard, but... Don't try to take shelter there."

"There's also rumors of a vampire coven somewhere along the road - so, I would recommend caution if you must travel at night."

"Thanks." To Berengere: "We'll take that route, then, but still favor the horses who are steady on trails, since there's a chance we'll have to leave the road."

"Understood."

To Jauffre, "Do you have any heavier armor? Not Blades-issue."

"Some, yes. I can show it to you." He stands. 

She follows.

The heaviest non-Blades armor he has is, in its unworn state, a simple dark steel breastplate, with segmented shoulders and skirt and chainmail for the joins. There's a helmet, too, full cover, and heavy chain-and-plate boots and gauntlets.

That will work well. She puts it in her bag as they're still traveling with a bit of subtlety.

Alright.

Also - he's aware she goes into danger, and he thinks it'd be best to leave the Amulet itself here for safekeeping, and because they might yet find another surviving heir - the deaths of Uriel's direct heirs have been confirmed, and those of many of his grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, but not everyone is accounted for, and there may yet be distaff lines the Amulet will accept. 

Nod.

It'll be as safe with Jauffre as anywhere else. She hands it over.

He takes it with a thanks.

They should probably get going, then.

Yeah. 

She's gotten the horses ready to go while Berengere was talking to Jauffre, so there's nothing else delaying them.

Great.

She hasn't taken this road before, but... Probably six hours if they don't get waylaid...

Objectively fast, but - 

She's nervous. 

Anything specific?

Not - really. Just vague 'the enemy getting there first.'

Hopefully they don't run into too much trouble on the road, then.

Fortunately, they don't run into trouble on the road! 

It looks like trouble got there ahead of them. 

There's dark clouds over Kvatch, billowing like smoke, and an angry red glow suffusing them. 

There's also a trickle of refugees, shell shocked and in tears, many wounded.

...Berengere thinks it would be a good idea to take two minutes to change into her heavy armor.

Do it. 

Lilou dismounts to question some slightly more put together refugees while Berengere arms up, offering them some coin and extracting information as efficiently as she can. 

(The steel plate, perversely, hides less of Berengere than the leather armor did. It's essentially three triangles of strategically-placed metal strung together with chains, an open helmet that frames her face, and steel pads for her feet and the backs of her hands.)

She makes sure the dwarven greatsword is equipped for easy drawing and rejoins Lilou.

(Means it's good quality, though. Her backup leathers aren't the nicest things out there.)

"Daedric invasion. Some of the city guard managed to fight their way out," she reports as she remounts her horse and spurs it forward. "Sounds like the only reason anyone escaped - firey portals opened up all over, and the city's ablaze. Savlian Matius is leading the response; they're currently focused on preventing the daedra from pursing the refugees, so he's on the front line near the city. We'll find him, first."

"Matius... guard captain. Capable, competent. Count Goldwine petitioned for an Imperial commendation for him a year and a half ago. Daedra are not a good sign, though."

"No."

"Especially with a daedric cult as our enemy..."

"Not a coincidence."

"No."

Onward, then, past an emergency triage area - not really a tent - and some stubborn citizens who aren't evacuating or who've joined the guard or the medical teams, such as they are. 

The guards and citizens have done their best to set up multiple barricades - but Kvatch is designed to be resistant to seiges, and there's few points not vulnerable to attack from above. The only major one is in front of the city gates - which are currently blocked by an enormous, evil-looking portal.

The strongest concentration of guards is here, including one man dressed like a captain. 

Over that way, then.

"Savlian Matius?" she calls.

He turns. "Yes, that's me." He seems harried. "Do you have a message?"

"We're looking for one of the priests, Martin."

His face is a bit blank, but: "None of the priests made it out of the city. There were some helping citizens into shelter in the Chapel and healing halls, though - we weren't able to keep the evacuation path open long enough for them to get out. The buildings were still standing last I saw, but... Things have been hectic."

Damn.

"Then we need to get back into the city. Are all the entrances blocked?"

"Yes - this is the only way in, or would be if not for that portal."

"Then we need to close it."

"I've sent in guards, but... None of them returned, and I can't spare any more - right now, we're nearly overwhelmed just with the daedra exiting it."

She looks at Lilou.

"We'll get it closed," she says, solemn.

Nod.

"Hold the line until we get back."

"I will," he says. "And - it's better to close the gate fast, but I'd rather not leave my men in Oblivion, alive or dead."

"May the Divines go with you."

"And with you, Captain."

She draws her sword, and- into the breach with Lilou?

Into the breach, daggers in hand. 

It looks like it leads directly into Oblivion, so they'll have to be ready for anything.

Yup.

The first anything: scamps with fireballs!

Charge!

She hits one with a frost spell and charges in herself, weaving among their enemies (who don't appreciate this one bit, of course).

It doesn't take too long for their opponents to fall, at least. 

Only scamps, so that's really all one could expect.

Berengere takes a look around.

The world is a blasted wasteland, with a set of towers looming over the world. There's a river of lava, a bridge over it, and strange dark plants.

There's also a burned body in the garb of a Kvatch watchman (what of it's left), curled up near the bridge. Not too far from the entrance, actually. 

"...I'm going to get the body back through the portal," she says. "Watch my back."

"Got it." She shifts to a guard stance.

She does so as quickly as she can, then ducks back in. "There were two others who went in," she says.

"We can keep an eye out. Might not be able to retrieve them so easily, if they're dead too."

"Yeah. We can take - an amulet or something, if they have one, or else their weapon. Bury at least that."

"Some sort of token."

She nods at the towers. "I think heading for those is our best bet. There may be a spell focus we can disrupt, or something intelligent enough to interrogate."

"Yeah." Onward, then.

There's other opponents to face - fortunately mostly weaker daedra, but it's enough that injuries both small and large start to accumulate on the two girls, and their potions will only go so far. Lilou heals herself whenever she has the magicka; it's turning out to be a better idea to close with the daedra than to stay back and blast, since most of them are stronger at range, so she doesn't have to ration quite as much.

But - she can heal herself, and Berengere can't, and that apparently means Lilou feels she should take the majority of the hits.

Berengere disagrees with this assessment. She is the one wearing heavy armor here, and Lilou's daggers will be more effective at finding weak spots when she's not also tanking hits. The greatsword doesn't require that kind of finesse.

......Fine. But they'll switch if they get low on healing potions.

Protecting people like this is what she's trained for.

...Yeah. Lilou knows.

She also wants to learn to heal others, though. Berengere - should remain in top form, so she can be as useful as possible.

She will.

Good.

The towers seem to be a bit of a maze, but... They're able to fight their way through, and end up meeting one of the guard who'd survived and escaped, and who's willing to follow them in to help retrieve his companion. 

It's not easy, but - 

They find the mechanism and get the gate closed. Fortunately, it then dumps them outside where the portal had formed. 

...That is fortunate. Getting back would have been- difficult.

...Yeah. Especially in time. 

Lilou's tired, bone deep - but the captain is rallying his men to at least help those trapped evacuate, and...

They can't afford to tarry.

Fatigue potion?

Will probably help with the physical parts. 

She's mentally tired, too, which sadly no one has invented potions for yet - though Berengere's presence is coming close. 

Pat?

Lean!

"We shouldn't wait too long to go in..."

"No."

Off, then, to join the guard as they form up for their rush into the city.

Hopefully there's still something left to save.

Some buildings, at least, though the place is crawling with scamps and clanfear and a few dremora. The scamps and clanfear seem to be just causing random destruction - or eating bodies, or flushing people out of basements to set them on fire and then eat them - 

Yeah, it's total chaos. On the bright side, the largest chapel must have been a converted fort or something, because it's still standing. The dense stone is turning away flame, and narrow high windows give the defenders room to shoot down some of the hordes of daedra trying to break down their doors, and also at the daedra trying to get into the other shelters.

Those same defenders are able to help make sure the tides turn - very reasonably keeping to sniping and pouring boiling lantern oil on attackers at first, but as the siege shatters the doors of the chapel open, and the guards and better trained civilians who'd gotten to shelter there advance out under support from priests armed with a bevy of scrolls and potions and spells, pivoting to help start clearing the city at least a little. 

With any luck, this will coincide with the guards' advance from the gate and they can catch the bulk of the daedra in a pin.

Seems to! It helps that the chapel is pretty far back, and while the keep hasn't kept it together nearly as well, there's still defenders remaining who can at least harry the daedra from a third direction. 

Junior acolytes fan out in the wake of the chapel's defenders to provide emergency medical aid to the wounded, and get anyone recovered who can't fight back into the chapel's walls until the chaos dies down. The smoke and unnatural clouds had been visible from a long ways off, too, and Kvatch's stables and therefore couriers weren't caught in the initial wave - reinforcements arrive early on, imperial patrols and a unit from Skingrad and several adventurers the most helpful. 

It'll be a long, long fight, though, and they might be clearing lesser daedra out of basements for weeks or months yet - but the clouds that had gathered over the gate begin to disperse, sending up a cheer among the defenders and shrieks among the daedra, and the day can be won far enough that they're mostly on a more controlled clean-up before sundown. 

Berengere and Lilou can tag out earlier - they start falling into loose shifts early in the fight, and Lilou's anxious to find Martin.

Besides, she can help fortify positions against retaliation much more effectively than she can stab daedra. One of those is more or less her actual job, and it isn't the knife work. 

They do have an empire to think about. Bigger than this one city.

They can duck into the chapel and start asking around.

People either have no idea who they're talking about or get suddenly very awkward (or oddly mullish) about the questions.

And eventually they attract the attention of one of the priests. A fairly high-ranking one, too.

"I understand the two of you are looking for a Brother Martin."

"Yes. We have an urgent message for him."

"Unfortunately, Brother Martin no longer exists."

"Did he die?"

"In a manner of speaking, perhaps. Who is asking?"

"My name is Lilou Travere." Her gaze slides around, assessing the privacy of their little nook. Then, putting her back to everyone other than Elliane, voice a low murmur that won't carry even with how strange a chapel's acoustics can be - 

"It's a matter of imperial and, frankly, personal security. If he's dead - I need to find anyone of his blood, if such a person exists, to get my message through."

Sigh. "And... If he's in any theoretically recoverable state - I've already entered Oblivion for this. I'll go farther, if I must."

Frown.

"Why in the world would you care about his blood? He was no one, an orphan."

"...Is there somewhere more private we can talk?"

She gestures at a side room and leads the way there, shutting the door behind the group.

"Thanks."

"I'm - assuming you've heard the emperor was assassinated, and all his surviving children. Their children and grandchildren, too, were killed - their entire families. And some members of the distaff line were targeted in the months and years leading up to this, but... More subtly."

"The imperial family has spread its seed wide plenty of times, though, and there's bastards who weren't acknowledged. Some known, some probable, some simply suspected."

"We're tracking down, at this point, every single one of those, every one of their possible descendants, and every distant member of the distaff line, and every member of the Septim family whose deaths haven't been confirmed. They're at risk, and, also, we don't have an heir."

"Why not simply crown someone else? I'm sure there are more than enough willing nobles."

"It has to be a Septim. The Dragonfires must be relit."

"Which is what prevents stuff like that portal."

"...Honestly it's possible the Amulet doesn't require whoever is maintaining the Dragonfires be Emperor, but... I trust its judgment on who to select better than I trust 'this noble really wants to be Emperor.'"

Hmph.

"I was Martin. My name is Elliane now."

"...Oh thank fuck."

"Mm."

"Are you willing to wear the Amulet of Kings?"

"I've no interest in becoming empress."

"Then tell the Elder Council to figure out some kind of regent set up. Are you willing to just add maintaining the Dragonfires to your priestly duties?"

"And, to be clear, the people targeting the Septims are cultists of Mehrunes Dagon. There's a decent chance Kvatch was chosen for this invasion in pursuit of you, and the longer the Dragonfires are unlit, the easier it will be for Dagon to shove his way into this world."

"Perhaps next time you should lead with that."

"I hadn't known who you were."

"News of the purposeful and opportunistic invasion of Tamriel by a daedric lord is of interest to many people."

"...I was kind of suddenly recruited less than thirty six hours ago, I have no idea what is or isn't classified, except general 'it is bad if the Mythic Dawn knows what we're doing.'" 

"Also, I don't know what their information on our state of information is, and I don't know how to reliably spot disguised cultists."

"Then you were a bad choice for this mission. After all, at present you have only my word for who I am."

"By the time I asked to step into private, I was about as certain as I could that you weren't a cultist, and suspected you were either the person we were looking for or protecting him - and I was pretty sure of that by the time you said so."

"I'm sorry I didn't go into more detail on the threat at that point."

"Quite. But I cannot leave while this city is still under threat. I have responsibilities here."

"I understand."

"We'll continue helping turn aside the invasion. But, once the city is secure - "

"Will you follow us?"

"Where are you going?"

"To Weynon Priory to pick up the Amulet, then to the Imperial City."

"Very well."

"Thanks."

"Where would we be most useful here, in the meantime?"

"Outside, I suspect, unless you have talent in healing magic."

"Only self directed, so far - but if you could teach me a spell to heal others, I'd appreciate it, I'm... Not a front line fighter, and my companion is, but she can't heal herself."

Then, wryly: "After helping close the Gate to Oblivion, I've mostly been consulting on fortifications here, but it's hard to stay busy with that."

"Let us go back to the wounded and I will demonstrate where it can do some good."

She nods and turns to her companion. 

"Berengere, where do you think you'll be the most use?"

"...If she's a Septim, she needs a guard."

Elliane narrows her eyes.

"The entire Chapel needs to be guarded. We're doing most of the medical treatment here; that makes it a more desirable target."

"And I do not want to be tripping over you as you try to play my shadow."

Slow nod.

...This is going to be a long day...

"Berengere, join the guard rotation here. If you see the Captain - tell him we need more people. Steady people. Let those adventurers run around doing the sweeps."

"Understood."

"The Divines watch over you."

"Talos guide you." And she's off.

To Elliane, then: "Lead the way."

Out to the injured, and she will demonstrate the basics of healing other people. (And, incidentally, a firm grasp of leadership and clear-eyed calm in crisis, as she continues to manage the organization inside the chapel.)

Yeah, this isn't exactly threatening Lilou's faith in the Septim bloodline.

She falls pretty easily into a follower role once her mind registers that, though she keeps a similar even temper, and while she's no military leader, she's worked with numerous security services with varying organizational schemes, and she's usually pretty good at getting people to listen to her.

Elliane sets her up on triage, then, and dealing with the low-priority scraps when she has a moment.

Triage gives her an interface with those coming in, too. Convenient for her primary job, and for getting updates on the security situation outside - though it's chaotic out there, and not much is getting communicated.

Berengere has a little more of a handle on the security situation outside, by virtue of being in the thick of it. It's mostly scamps hurling flame from dark corners and the occasional charging clannfear- but that's still enough that everyone needs to stay on their toes.

She takes the lead where necessary, she has the most intensive training of any of the guards, and keeps an eye out for the captain.

He hasn't been taking as much rest as he really should, and it's very obvious the next time she spots him - to Berengere's eye, he looks worn down and harried as he checks on the guards resting between pushes, offering quiet words of encouragement. He's boosting morale, at least. 

He sees her fairly soon, and he strides over. "What's the situation?" he asks. 

"We've cut off their reinforcements, and the interior of the chapel is secure, for now."

"Thank you for the good work," he begins - 

And then there's a flare a few blocks over, and loud shouts of alarm - 

He starts rallying the resting guards to defend - and then turns to Bérengère and says, "Go scout what that is and report back."

"Understood."

She takes off at a fast trot.

The problem seems to be...

A dremora.

Specifically, a tall Dremora in very expensive-looking armor - the thin strips of twisted metal arc over her shoulders in jagged patterns and meet at a pair of nipple pasties with sharp metal thorns arcing out from them, barbed chains connected them to each other. Barbed chains form the skimpy connectors of her metal thong, too, and wrap up her legs from sandals with a sharp stiletto heel she puts through a guard's chest as Bérengère rounds the corner. Her right hand holds a slender, wicked sword, and a chaotic ball of lightning crackles in her left. 

She's significantly higher ranked than the churls they've been dealing with - clearly an officer of some caste or another - and well above the paygrade of anyone currently present at the scene. 

Not hers.

Berengere draws her greatsword and prepares to charge.

She turns to Bérengère and smirks, flicking her left hand - the swirl of lightning she's holding whirls into a storm dancing over her skin. It instantly kills the wounded guard she'd just stabbed with her shoe, and scorches the ground. 

She spreads her arms and asks, "Aw, does the little mortal really think she can challenge a Kynmarch?" 

"You are not welcome here."

She licks her lips. "Delightful, isn't it? I do so enjoy showing terrified mortals their place." She stalks towards Bérengère, sword at the ready, lightning snapping around her. "Now, is the little mortal going to play, or just stand there?"

"I will banish you back to the hell from which you came, fiend." She takes a guard position.

She laughs and charges - 

And a woman drops from the sky between them, an ebony dagger with viciously jagged blade-catchers on the hilt raised before her - she catches the dremora's attack on it, and the lightning snaps at her but the oddly shallow wounds heal as quickly as they form - 

And she slashes at the dremora's stomach with a thin ebony blade that glows with the subtle red-orange runes of fire enchantments. (The dremora attempts to laugh, then turns to horror as her race's vaunted fire immunity fails.)

The dremora isn't putting up no resistance - she's definitely giving the newcomer a run for her money - but it's clear the dremora could have slaughtered most of the guards here, and it's increasingly clear that the newcomer will win their fight, fire swirling around her and mixing with a frankly impressive use of combat telekinesis and levitation. 

(The strange woman is a khajiit, with doubled black cat ears and tails. An Ohmes or Ohmes-raht, most likely, by the soft fuzz on some of her exposed skin and the strange way her black hair lies and her posture - and she's hardly furry. Her outfit is the complicated, many-layered fashion typical of Morrowind: numerous weaker armor pieces rather than a few strong ones. Far more expensive and often weaker than the system popular in Cyrodiil, but worlds more flexible, and a skilled enchanter can take it to ridiculous heights. She wears soft black slippers embroidered with black sequins that fade into netted tights with tiny circles of engraved metal bound into the knots, rising into a woven thong. A tiny slip of a skirt flares out over the side of her thighs, a bloody red contrast to her dark skin and clothes, and it clips to a belt of golden chains. She has a ropework harness on her torso - it very clearly doesn't cover her breasts, but she has a red-and-gold robe (really more of a scarf) that just barely covers those, wrapping around her neck and then splitting into two strips that flow down her front, ending in two golden heart-shaped buckles. And between the harness and the robe - a meshwork of ruby shards as her cuirass, spilling from a sleek pauldrons of gold and obsidian, to golden cuffs on her wrists and golden chains wrapped around her hands to attach to a bevy of rings. A gold and black plate-choker circles her neck, an obsidian skull with ruby eyes dangling from the front, and golden chains weave through her braids to connect to a matching circlet-helm.)

...Must be an adventurer. An- impressively experienced one.

She seems like she has the main fight in hand, so Berengere shifts her focus to scanning for other threats, guarding the khajiit's back.

She skewers the dremora through the heart after a few more rounds of their dance, and the dremora gasps and burns and crumples into ash.

She's taken damage faster than she's been healing - but her wounds start closing, and as the healing effect peters out she sighs and sheathes her dagger in favor of a soft golden healing spell.

(Bérengère has been having to deal mostly with attempted interference - scamps and clannfear trying in vain to come to the dremora's aid, a few creatures she'd summoned.)

The strange woman turns to her then, helps her finish off the few scamps that start fleeing when the dremora is destroyed. Then: "You've got good discipline," she says, approvingly, "Do you need healing?"

"I do not."

"The Guard is creating a safe zone at the Chapel of Akatosh, if you need time to rest. There are priests tending to the wounded. Or your assistance with that perimeter would be appreciated."

"I can keep fighting."

"You seem very skilled."

"I've been to a few rodeos in my time."

"How does the current state of affairs compare?"

"Things are chaotic and an incursion like this is a pretty alarming development, but it's not the worst fight I've been in. And if the daedra can gate to this plane now, they'll keep doing it, and they'll be smarter next time."

"We could use your help, if you're willing to coordinate your efforts with ours."

"I am. I don't like daedra, and they seem to be running low on the sort of heavy hitters it makes sense for me to focus on."

Berengere will lead her back chapel-wards, then.

"What's your name?"

"Dar-Kha'azi, or really just Azi." It's not a name Bérengère recognizes. "What's yours?"

"Berengere. It's good to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine."

"Now, what can I do to help?"

"We should report that Kynmarch to the guard captain, and what other notables you've fought."

Nod. "Sensible." She gestures on ahead. "Lead the way."

Back to Matius.