The Wispmother beckons (Sub-territory discovery)

The priestess rarely went to the swamp. She had claimed part of its vastness for her pack's territory, but despite the occasional border patrol, the marshes had not been explored that often. The dark priestess treaded through the muddy ground, wondering what she would find in the swamp.

What she found was silence. An emptiness that she could not describe. Like the Void that the Brotherhood talked so much about? The priestess stopped, twitching her ears constantly, looking for some type of sound to fill the emptiness. She found none. Her guard hairs rose a bit, but her face kept as stoic as she could, and she kept going. She had to find something here. Something.

She did discover something in the murky mists, but it did not fill her ears with the sound she wanted. Lights. Blue lights, faintly drifting in the air. Haunting, eerie silence followed them. Visibly frightened now, the priestess backed away as one light followed her, inching closer towards her nose. What in Sithis' name were these...things?

The illuminated form continued its path before him, and as silent as death itself, the Dread Father followed. Multiple meters away, yet within sight, he followed this dark woman. It wasn't as if he was stalking, yet, he wished to ensure he had stayed close to her. Slade felt some pull of protection over the Night Queen, and as though he were molded of the shadows himself, he kept close to her.

The mistress pathed her destination into the swamp, a place he had ventured into only as many times as he could count on one paw. It wasn't as if the place horrified, or sickened him, it was just a tedious task to remove the rank stench from his fur, and the pelt was something he held pride in.He had sat quite a while back, watching her reaction to the fluttering blue lights that loomed before her. The dark king spectated until he saw the fear contort in her delicate and ethereal features, and from the entombing void of black in which he sat, he spoke to her, his deep baritones bleeding through the inky space.

"Those are cousins of the fire flies, love. They are not of the green luminescence, but of the blue side of the familial tree. More common in places, such as swamps and caves."

Slade had assumed the Queen had only been here as many times as he, but he had explored quite a bit, and pondered if she knew as much as he of the gunky whereabouts in which she stood. So he got to his full height, his summit of regal tall, though his tail were below that of hers, he kept the subtle slip of pride within view.

"Have you been here often, Midnight Mistress? "

Her fear was caused by a ignorant superstition, of wisps who accompany a daedra known as the Wispmother, a malevolent spirit. She thought herself to be above such fairytales, but they always come back to haunt someone somehow. Meldresi cocked an ear and turned towards Slade's voice. Love? She wondered why that term had slipped into Slade's words. Night Queen, Midnight Mistress were terms she heard from him. But not love.

"No I have not, regrettably. I never had the time to." She turned back to peer at the luminous lights again, looking at them now with increased curiousity. "It is very quiet in the part of the swamp. Different from everywhere else. I wonder why..."

Slade knew how some places left untouched by others, could morph either into a sickening prospect, or a beautiful paradise. Some warped into weird chasms, and others into amazing structures. He had seen quite a few places in his time.

"The difference is here for the lack of interference from other matters of society. A course of mother nature. Unchanged. A place of solitude and tranquility from places tainted by non-natives. A place of pureness."

A place of wretched filth, cascading with beautiful blueflies. A place where quick mud reigns, with tall and somber Weeping Willows sway within the bare breeze. A place of disturbing prettiness.
A place perfected in the art of unchanged components, hosting variety forms of multiple plants, different prey, different everything.

She hummed in response, drinking in the peaceful stillness of this neck of the swamp. It was beautiful in it's own right especially with these blue wisps floating about, illuminating the dark tones of the marsh. "I wish we could keep it this way, but it is a part of our territory." The priestess thought that maybe they could use it somehow, for rituals and ceremonies. It was isolated and quiet, so that they would know if anyone was approaching.

"Come, let's explore more of this place." she ordered her dark subordinate, treading deeper into the silent swamp.

"As you wish, Meldresi. "

Slade had almost lost his control, and called the ethereal fae another term of endearment. How quaint. The ominous Slade, the silent but deadly, the murderer, so quick to fall for another. Foolish. He would amend his sins at a later date. The sin of desire. Such a remote feeling, one that devastated his position as a King. A sin he had succumbed to, and lost against. No, no, that sin was trust.
A sin he would never commit, again. Or, so he thought.

As if he had been at her left flank since the dawn of his birth, he took the position there, the guard against any and all who dared. Dared to try. Dared to die. Whichever suited the failures most, only would lead to the Dark Sire sipping their blood as an after sunfall drink.

Simmering gaze glided to and fro from the sights before the duo, and while the Nightmare kept his main focus on the Ebonia, his interest passed from sight to sight in the wretched place. A solemn and reclusive place. As everyother part of the grounds were filled with death, this place held at bay the secretions of its killings, the gurglings of murky waters or the gulpings of frogs, thescuttle of a bush, to the sound of a short-lived prey's last cry befpre it is downed by some mysterious organism too hidden in the impenetrable shadows.

Slade walked besides her as she walked through the dark brown sludge, stepping gracefully through the silent swamp, paying close attention to the minuscule sounds of the near non-existent inhabitants of the marsh. There were animals here, but they were so used to staying completely silent that it was hard to find them. They could learn a lot from these beasts.

Meldresi placed a light paw in some loose looking mud, gasping softly as she sunk in a few inches. Luckily she pulled herself out before she placed any more weight on her paw, or else she might have sunk in. "We should mark this place...this quicksand, so no one will fall in." She said, looking undisturbed by the fact that she nearly drowned in mud.

The Ebony pair traveled through the deadly home, the fog of the place enveloping them both. He had not any trouble keeping up with her, only the trouble of worrying for her. Any puddle of the dark filth she stepped in could be...
And it happened. She placed her paw in the murky mush, and Slade watched as she began to sink. Muscles tense, the brute was prepared to pull her out if she needed his assistance.
But alas, the dark queen held her own. Yanking her paw out of the muck, she relained fine, her face not telling her emotions of nearly drowing in mud.
The strength of the fae impressed the king, and with an appraisial look, he nodded at her subtle command. With no hesitation, the man rolled a fallen and rotten log over near them, and took a thick and agonizingly sharp claw, scratching out a sign in the soft but durable wood.




"Whenever I sent my assassins on missions, they would leave reports back in code for the others to read. That sign there, means danger. Caution. Risk for loss of life."

The NightMares were the sect that many feared, more so for its swift ability to end a chosen life, depending on the pay. They were paid, and paid thoroughly well. With no issue, were the pack unable to take good care of themselves. They flourished, through secrecy, codes, and killings.

Shadowmarks! :D We could start using that. (Sorry for being so late)

She observed the marking of the log curiously. A set of silent signals for her assassins had come to mind, but she had not had the time to truly come up with an alphabet for it. And yet Slade had one previously conjured, and displayed the technique right in front of her. It was made by scratch marks, and was not all that complex. "I suppose you have knowledge of more
marks like that?" She said, truly intrigued.

◆its perf fine, Alisha. And yes, Team Skyrim. W_^V◆



Slade felt a small yet significant swell of pride at the analysis of the Meldresi, as if she had indeed complimented his skill.
The mark was one of many he and his pack had used, and with such came the response his dark voice had to offer.

"I do. My assassins and trainees were taught of such symbols to warn and inform other members of the path that was marked. Such were those of riches, spoiles, information, and other necessities to keep the Nightmares aware of any and all that trespassed around us. "

Casting his solemn yet fully aware fiery eyes upon the soft feautures of her face, he inquired,

"Why ask such, mistress? "

She examined the mark further as Slade explained their origin. If his pack, and only them, used this system of marks that he was describing, then there was less of a chance that any other wolf here would know what the marks detailed, unless they figured it out somehow. "My assassins, no, not only them, my pack can use them."

They would not have to mark their caches with urine, giving away the location, if needed. With only a simple marking on a tree or rock, they could tell their own that here lies food, or herbs. Or this water was tainted, or this marsh was dangerous. "No one else besides your pack knows about these marks correct?"

The obsidian hellion desired to know if others knew of these marks, and with a regal shake of his dark mane, Slade dismissed the possibility. No other besides his own pack knew of the signs. And considering he had left them for so long ago, he pondered whether they still used the symbols.
Or whether they even still existed.

"No other besides The Nightmares knew of such. And it was I who taught the symbols to the Scouters, the observant ones who went out to return supplies and information back to us. However, they are several hundred miles away, and I, having sired no children, have left them leaderless. I feel like they're currently following new customs, so the knowledge of these symbols is gone. "

She was relieved to hear that no one would know of their secret code, except for them. It would be a problem if a wolf defected and revealed their secrets, but it was a risk they were going to have to take. "Teach me more of this code," She commanded, walking over to another soft-looking log. "And I'll see which ones we can use, and then we can discuss where."

◆im so sorry for the laziness. xD ◆



One by one, the dark king obeyed her wish. All the way from the replacing of the word 'Guild' with 'Pack' and 'Sect', the man worded everything so she could have a chance to understand his past, the very pack that had been his life for so long, the place that that made him who he was.

Each mark, holding its own significance, the signs, the symbols, so individualistic, though uniform and unified, held their purpose, and served him properly, along with the rest of his pupils.
They prospered in secrecy, from using these marks.

Stepping back, Slade had finished the last mark, and soon after giving his full explanation of its definition, the void sheathed brute looked at the priestess, his flaming irises hoping the beauty found satisfaction in his etchings.

The priestess drank in the information eagerly, committing the name of each sign to memory. Cache, safe, danger, escape route and the pack could definitely be something she could teach to the others. The placement of cache was obvious as well as empty, escape route could be for the smaller, hidden tunnels they had around the territory. The pack she could place in the tunnels heading towards the main chamber in Mephala's Web, and danger for places like this sinkhole. Yes, she had uses for some of them.

But fence, loot, protected...that might have to wait for when they had connections throughout the Wilds. "Thank you, Slade." She gave the dark male a small smile in thanks. "I think we can start incorporating this system right now, especially with the cache and empty symbols."

In a gentlemanly manner, he dipped his head.

"You are eternally welcome, Meldresi. If there is anything else i can share with you on my previous teachings in the Nightmares,"

He raised his head only slightly to give her a look that clearly spoke that he was sincere to her,

"You only need to ask."

After returning to his height, yet keeping the evident and manditory aspects lowered to keep with the heirachy, Slade gandered again around the putrid swamp area, and only grinned as he watched a snake slither slowly toward a rat-like rodent who innocently nibbled on a piece of moss.

Then he returned his fiery eyes upon the Night Queen.

"Is there anything else you ask of me, my Queen?"

The priestess shook her head as Slade offered to help her further. He was very proactive, the Nightmare. At the moment she had nothing specific to give him as an order, so she simply dismissed the man. "Besides setting up cache marks, nothing else, Slade." She smiled sweetly at the Eta, her smile sincere. "Thank you." She said as a goodbye before leaving the swamp and her second-highest ranking subordinate.

A dipped head was what he offered the enchanting priestess, as he desired to speak no more. Words were of no use in an instant like this, for the very smile she sent him was throb to his heart.
Maybe, he was just having too much pleasure within her company.

The gentleman watched her wisp away within the delirious cast of the swamps borne fog, and then he too, returned to his duties that she had specified to him. He began the marks, nice and efficient.

One,...
Two...
Three...

On and on, the eternal task.
Upon completing the marks, he made note to introduce them to his pupil, and then he left the unforgettable place of the swamp, and returned to the homely despair of the forest, watching, waiting, and making more cache marks along the way.