Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24123288-20150328222815/@comment-24685738-20150331145546

“Everything’s ready?” Apollo asked, looking at Mercury. The boy nodded, lazily, and sat down at his place at the long table.

Apollo sighed and sat at his place, between Mercury and Diana.

Storm clouds began to gather over the old compound of Nissa, and lightning flashed many times. With each flash, a figure sat down at the table, their faces hidden by the shadows cast by the clouds.

When the clouds disappeared, there were fourteen men and women seated at the table, including Apollo, Mercury, and Diana.

Everyone waited in silence until a hooded man with glowing green eyes stood up, to begin the meeting.

Apollo, Mercury, and Diana, being the youngest of the group all visibly shivered when they saw him.

The Patriarch.

“Welcome, my friends and family…” He said, in his raspy voice. He didn’t take off his hood. Of course, he never did.

“Apollo has graciously found us a place to hold our meeting. It’s a nicer place than the Caves under Solitude, I must admit…” He remarked, before coughing slightly. “We did need a fortress in the Reach… While this isn’t quite that… Good work, nonetheless, Apollo.”

Apollo sat up a little straighter, after that compliment.

“Now we can get down to business.” The Patriarch said, before looking around the room. “The three opposing groups are all getting stronger. The False Cult continues to be a thorn in my side in Solitude, even though we mostly eradicated them in Winterhold.”

He coughed again. “The small group working against the other two is also getting stronger. I fear there is someone… Or something… who is almost on par with Bacchus. Bacchus wasn’t very happy when he heard that, were you?”

A small man shook his head, furiously. Bacchus understood that he was the weakest of the fourteen, but he didn’t like being reminded of it.

“No, he was not.” The Patriarch cackled, and everyone else laughed but the beautiful woman on the Patriarch’s left and Bacchus. The woman gave the Patriarch a pat on the arm, as if to tell him to stop making fun of the poor, weak man.

The Patriarch coughed again, and the laughing quieted down. “Anyways… that… thing has to be eradicated as soon as possible. I’ll assign groups for different things later.”

He looked around the table. “Mmmm… And finally, we have the cult-like thing on the hill above us. Their leader is insane, and they’re harboring Jupiter.”

Most of the people grumbled when they heard the name, most of them, in fact. The only ones who didn’t were Apollo, Diana, Mercury, the beautiful woman from before, and a man with a full, black beard and stormy green eyes.

“Before I give out assignments, I’d like to… bring to light a few things.” The Patriarch began, his glowing green eyes searching the room. “We’re getting close to finding it, my friends.” He paused, for a moment.

“The Numidium.”

Apollo frowned. He hadn’t heard of this plan, before.

“Akulakhan. The second Numidium. The first one was too easy to find. But… What we need… is the Heart of Lorkhan, to power it.” The Patriarch continued. “Without it, we would be unable to get to the… special place.”

Apollo nodded. He remembered this part of the plan.

“Now…. Assignments.” The Patriarch said, after giving everyone a few moments to ponder what he had said.

“Venus and Mercury, I want you two to go and hunt down the smaller group, that contains the… powerful creature. It should be rather easy for you two, especially you, Venus.” The Patriarch gave the beautiful woman a grin, and the woman to his left frowned.

“Mars and Diana, you two will be going up the hill and crushing the cult-hunters beneath your boots. I want the leader and Jupiter left alive.” The young girl nodded, and the massive man, who was apparently ‘Mars,’ gave a rumble of assent.

“Neptune, as usual, you have to keep the ships off the ocean. Pluto, keep the plagues in Argonia going. Don’t let them rally again, especially not now that Vulcan is finishing with the first Numidium, down there.”

“Bacchus and Ceres, make sure the prosperity of Southern Cyrodiil continues. They accepted us, they retain the gifts.”

“Minerva, as usual, continue rooting out the False Cult.”

The Patriarch finally turned, and looked at Apollo. “I want you and Vesta to stay here and keep this place alive while I return to Kvatch.”

“Go.” He ordered, before he and the woman on his left disappeared.

Everyone else disappeared, except for Vesta, a short, beautiful woman who was usually quiet, Mars, a massive strong man who wore Imperial armor, and Diana and Apollo.

Apollo and Diana nodded at each other, before Diana left the room, dashing up the hill silently.

Mars raised his hand and a storm began, with fast winds, heavy rain, and a lot of lightning. He slowly trudged up the hill, growing to the size of a giant,

Aratius looked to Nissa. “Nissa!” He screamed. “Get your cultists ready! Th-there’s…. someone coming…”