The Striped Cave (Stripes/Hazazi)

Setting

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Characters

Stripes
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Hazazi
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For tonight's story my young children, we shall be visiting an inn located inside of Grahtwood. It was a popular place, yet was always quiet. The innkeeper was a cheerful Altmer male that enjoyed serving up drinks and hearing the latest gossip from travelers. The inn was old, passed down through generations, stone and wood walls, three rooms; the bar area, the kitchen, and the sleeping quarters. Anyways, our story shall be about two Khajiit going on a short, but exciting adventure. On one hand, we have a young male Khajiit by the name of Stripes, who has run away from S'ren-ja, a place he considered his home, after a violent argument between two of his closest friends. The other is a mysterious female Khajiit named Hazazi, who was staying at the inn for a couple of days while she was passing through town. I find this story to be quite interesting and hope you enjoy. Let us begin...

It had been a day or so since the incident in Argo's house, Stripes was still very concerned and stressed about what happened. It was all just a blur, him and Krynger, Argo walking in, the fighting, all of it. However, Stripes did remember the mistake of leaving all of his weapons inside Argo's. The roads were safe, mostly, so Stripes followed them until him came to where the beginning of our story takes place. The sky was cloudy, bound to rain soon, but was still very bright.

Stripes looked around to see if anyone was following or watching him. He took a deep breath and entered the inn, keeping his face covered by his hood. Glancing around the building, he found the innkeeper serving drinks behind a counter, filled barrels behind her. There was a warm fire in the corner of the room, a couple of drunks either passed out or in the process of doing so. However, a strange figure sitting in a chair caught his eye, another Khajiit in dark colored robes, he disregarded them at the thought of them merely being a traveler who wasn't a fan of others. Stopping by the bar, he asked for a glass of water, which he was served at the cost of his story. Moments passed as Stripes talked to the innkeeper, sparing a couple details. Upon finishing his drink and story, another search of the room was done. Not much had changed, the pile of drunks increased, the barrels were slightly less filled, and the strange Khajiit was still in the corner...watching. Stripes shuddered as his gaze caught the figure's, quickly looking away and thanking the innkeeper for the drink. Turning around to leave, Stripes caught a glimpse of a exotic looking staff in the corner. Making sure nobody was watching him, he sneaked over to inspect the weapon. It was made of iron and had the intriguing ability of being able to come apart to be used as a blunt weapon. There was a strange button near the top of the staff, curious, Stripes pressed the button. Luckily, curiosity did not kill this cat, a small blade came out of the bottom of the staff to be used for a more lethal attack than beating someone senseless with the staff. Keeping the staff in two, Stripes slipped it into his bag and headed out of the room towards the beds.

He dropped his bag at the foot of the bed and started to chow down on food that he ordered earlier. The stew was delicious, complimented greatly by the sweetroll that it came with. The Khajiit purred as he finished, setting his plate back on the table and turning to the bed, falling into it for a quick rest. The sounds of the inn were peaceful and entertaining, the drunken "singing" and the chatter of friends. In a matter of minutes, Stripes drifted to sleep, but was woken up by the strange sense of someone watching him. Sitting up quickly and looking around the room, Stripes searched for whatever gave him that strange sense. He dropped his head into his knees with a sigh, the event echoing his mind. He grabbed his bag and quickly exited the room, sliding a couple gold to the innkeeper for the food and bed on his way out. A quick glance over his shoulder to see if anyone was following him before opening the door and going out into the rain.

New Setting

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Stripes quickly fled the inn before the owner of the stolen staff could figure out it was missing. During his chat with the innkeeper, they talked about a couple rumors around town. One was about a local farmer who grew a potato the size of a pumpkin, however that was proved false since the farmer actually hired a mage to cast an illusion spell on his potato. Some of the citizens around town said he must have been compensating for something. Second was about a strange Altmer that came frolicking through the town a couple days ago, throwing flowers and being followed by a trail of butterflies. Yet again, this was proved false due to the one who started it was high on skooma at the time. The third one they talked about was about a mysterious cave just on the outskirts of town. Rumor had it that singing could be heard from inside the cave as well as a faint glow emanated from deep within. This one, of course, peaked Stripes interest, so he decided to investigate. Plus it would provide some shelter from the rain.

On the road to the cave, Stripes heard a faint rustling behind him, footsteps. He turned around to see if he was followed, but found nothing. It seemed his predator was a master of stealth. The lack of a visible pursuer was reassuring to him, regardless of the fact that he was actually being followed. While on the road, he checked his pack to make sure the staff was still there, however, he noticed some of the things inside were moved around and out of place. As worrying as it was, Stripes brushed the thought aside, assuming it must have been from dropping the bag earlier.

Not much time passed until Stripes arrived at the cave. As the rumor said, a dull glow could be seen from the entrance to the cave and Stripes sword he could have heard faint singing from inside, possibly just his imagination from all the stress though. A deep, calming breath before heading inside, having to push a couple branches and plants that were hanging from the ceiling. The singing grew louder as he went deeper into the cave, the sound was ominous and hypnotic, calling Stripes further into the cave. Stripes retrieved the staff from his bag, putting back in one piece, and holding it out in front of him as he cast a simple spell to create a ball of light before him to light the path.

Deeper Inside

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As Hazazi placed a hand over his mouth, his scream was cut off. He gently pushed her hand away from his mouth as he listened to her explain, squinting as he looked into the darkness. It seemed Hazazi had much better eyesight than him since he couldn't see anything at first. Suddenly, a shadows leapt out from the others towards Stripes, clawing and biting at him. Stripes panicked and stumbled backwards, falling onto his butt. Thankfully, Hazazi was able to react quickly, stabbing the creature in the nape of its neck. The two inspected the fallen creature as it collapsed to the ground, dead, its skin was pale and cold, its eyes bright red, it was a vampire. Before either of them had time to react, more vampires jumped out at them, hissing and scratching at the intruders. Hazazi picked Stripes off the ground by lifted him up by his shirt, setting him on his feet before cutting down another vampire. Stripes snatched the staff from the ground, swinging at the bloodthirsty creatures, hitting them in the head and off to the side. He remembered the blade at the end of the staff and pressed the button to extend the blade which he would swing and jab at the vampires with. They managed to cut down multiple vampires before the onslaught slowed and the vampires vanished, hissing from the shadows where only they red eyes could be seen. Then, the hissing stopped, it was dead silent. Stripes turned back to Hazazi, tapping her on the shoulder and handing her the staff, snatching the blade from her hand. "Trust me, this will work out better." He said to her, facing back to back with her as they stood in the middle of the cave.

A set of bright silver eyes shot out of the darkness, leaping at the duo. Stripes pushed Hazazi to the side with the elbow, knocking her out of the way of the new foe. The light from before was still around him, revealing the creature's shape. It was another vampire, but different, it had pale skin, but nowhere near the level of white as the others and its eyes were not the color of what it desired, they were of course silver. Silver-Eyes was a lot quicker than the others and was able to sink its teeth into Stripes wrist, burying its fangs deep inside. Stripes yelped at the immense pain that it caused, stabbing at the beast's neck, but missed as it vanished. The bite marks bled, stirring the remaining vampires to an even deeper level of blood-lust. Vampires sprung out from all corners of the room towards the duo once again, determined to make the Khajiit their next meal.

Side note

This response was for Gear, but was busy so he couldn't post it. Everything in this was worked on by both of us so everything has been approved by both. Enjoy!

Scared, but brave, Hazazi cut down at the thirsty animals, killing a handful of them herself before they retreated. Confused, she swapped weapons with the Khajiit boy, trusting his judgment. She split the staff in two and held one half in each hand, shfting her gaze from corner to corner of the room, prepared to beat down the next wave. However, she didn't catch the gaze of Silver-Eyes so she was surprised when Stripes pushed her aside, falling to the ground. She gasped as the vampire sank her teeth into him, grabbing her staff and swinging at the vampire, but missed as well. She urged Stripes back out of the cave, pushing him if she had to. Hazazi swung at vampires as they chased the two out of the cave, trying her best not to get bit herself. The pesky things were persistant and would not give up regardless of their state.

Many more vampires fell before the light from outside could be seen, taunting the two with its chance of hope. Hazazi gave Stripes another push towards the exit as a vampire caught her leg, stopping her in her tracks just before the opening. She cried out in pain as it dug its fangs into her leg, joined by another set, then another and another. She cast a spell over the staff to engulf it in bright flames, bringing both halves down behind her to try to get the vampires off of her. Panicked, Hazazi commanded Stripes to push forward despite her fatal condition.

Once Stripes had made it out of the cave, Hazazi returned her full attention to the bloodthirsty beasts surrounding her, taking an unsteady breath, attempting to calm her body as the multiple bite wounds started to take effect. Her vision flashed and her legs failed her, causing her to fall to the side. She made a silent prayer before the beasts descended upon her once again, the crackling of fire, the hissing of dying vampires, the singing was replaced with the sounds of violence. Soon, there was silence, only to be broken by the loud shriek of pain from a terrified Khajiit before silence consumed the cave once again.