Chapter 1: Trouble in Black Marsh

Locked in a ship, headed for nowhere

Our journey begins, as it seems so many do, with our heroes locked up in an Imperial ship, bound for a prison in Black Marsh. Not expecting much protest, the ship was rather lightly manned, just a small group of Imperial soldiers, most of them new recruits, along with six transferred prisoners:

Imperial Ship's Sailing Log, 15th of First Seed, 3E 189

Captain: Orthus Attrius 

We have departed from the Gold Coast of Cyrodiil and expect to reach Snakewood Outpost within a week, if the wind holds. This ship holds six prisoners, all of whom have been designated as "high risk" by Regulus Mero, Imperial Prison warden:

Sun-on-Scales: Argonian male, age 28. Convicted of desertion from the Imperial Legion. 

Jericho: Orc male, age 20. Convicted of threatening an Imperial Watchman with a deadly weapon. 

Alucard Helbane: Dark Elf male, age 31. Convicted of destruction of property and disorderly conduct. 

Unnamed Wood Elf female, age 42. Convicted of multiple counts of theft. 

Hassan: Redguard male, age 29. Convicted of multiple counts of theft, as well as escaping from prison. 

Neryon: High Elf male, age unknown. Convicted of multiple counts of kidnapping, as well as forbidden experimentation with necromancy. 

On board the ship Sun-on-Scales, as well as Jericho, Alucard, and the unnamed Wood Elf share their stories and reveal how they ended up in their current situation. For Jericho, it was a misunderstanding involving a drunk guard. Scales deserted the army to join a famous Redguard mercenary group. The wood elf, who had spent most of her life isolated from others in the forests and didn't know how society worked, had stolen food from a cart without knowing that it was against the law. And Alucard had drunkenly crashed a stolen carriage into some poor merchant's cabbage cart. 

Hassan talked openly to them, claiming that they'll probably be locked up for a while, as Black Marsh is generally where people are sent when the Empire wants them out of the way. He himself had never seen a prison in Cyrodiil that he hadn't broken out of, and he guessed they were sending him to Black Marsh so he'd actually stay in prison this time. Neryon, on the other hand, didn't say a word. He glared at them, saying nothing but looking as if he could kill them all where they sat. Alucard affectionately dubbed him "Sir Speaks-a-Lot". Sun-on-Scales complained that he had joined the Legion in the first place to get away from Black Marsh, and wasn't very happy about being sent back there. 

But just as everyone was contemplating their situation, they heard noise on deck. Before they could do much to react, several suspicious looking men in masks dragged the remaining soldiers, which happened to include the ship's captain, Orthus Attrius, down to the brig and threw them in with their prisoners. 

Most of them, including the captain, were heavily injured. The only one who wasn't injured was a young Imperial woman, Marina Varo, who explained that the ship had been boarded by slavers who were led by a Dark Elf called Viron Dres. In order to get the ship back under Imperial control, Marina promised the prisoners a full pardon if they helped take back the ship, which all of them agreed to. 

Sun-On-Scales, who possessed a magic weapon, managed to summon a chest with all of their belongings to them by simply summoning his sword. After retrieving his belongings, Neryon disappeared into a magic portal, escaping from the ship without a second thought before anyone could stop him. The rest stayed, and Alucard used a lockpick to unlock the door to the brig. 

Leaving the injured soldiers locked in the brig for their protection, the escaped captives quickly subdued the two guards who had been left to guard the ship's hold. After getting above deck, they managed to engage the other slavers in a thrilling battle on the ship's deck (in which poor Marina nearly got knocked off the ship) before facing off against Viron Dres himself, who was quite easily defeated after his sword slipped out of his hands. With the ship secured and safe, Orthus agreed to pardon them, and informed them that they would be released as soon as the ship landed in Black Marsh... on the condition that they release them from the brig. As he was writing up their pardons, Orthus told the Wood Elf that she needed to tell him her name so he could write it on the pardon. Allowing her new friends to give her an appropriate name, Sun-on-Scales chose the name "Yew" after the yew tree, as it seemed appropriate for her. She quickly accepted her name, and was then referred to as Yew. 

Upon arriving at Snakewood Outpost, a small Imperial outpost on the coast of Black Marsh, Hassan, pardoned along with the rest, headed off, hoping to find a ship bound for Hammerfell. The remaining group was approached by a Nord soldier, Gretta Wave-Breaker, who told them over a few drinks (more than a few, in Yew's case) that she had heard of problems with slavers near the city of Stormhold. Gretta told them that they should go to the city and talk to Alun-Tei, an Argonian friend of hers, if they wanted to find out more. Jericho, Alucard, Yew, and Sun-on-Scales all agreed to investigate it. 

Stormhold, a city built atop an Ayleid ruin

In Stormhold, Alun-Tei reveals that his brother Jeelus went missing after a hunting trip a couple days ago, and he is concerned that he may have been captured by the slavers who are working out of the area. He told the group that they needed to venture into the swamp to find his sister Inue, who has been tracking the slavers.

The group managed to find her a little ways outside the slavers' camp in the swamp. She informed them that their captives were being held in cages on one side of the camp, while their leader, a Dunmer named Revyn Verelas, was on the opposite side of the camp, along with most of the guards.

And with that information, a strategy was formed and the group split up. Jericho and Yew created a distraction near the leader in the form of a performance, which turned out to be so good that it distracted the leader and most of the guards, including a couple of the ones that were guarding the cages. Alucard used an invisibility potion to sneak up and open two of the cages without the guards noticing, but one of the guards wouldn't leave, so Sun-on-Scales and Inue distracted them by pretending to be escapees. Unfortunately, soon after that, the guy noticed that the other captives had escaped and called out to the others. Several of the slavers attacked Scales and Inue, who managed to take them out. Some of them went into the woods to look for the escapees, while a few, including the boss, began to cast questioning looks at the (still performing) Jericho and Yew. After the attackers at the cage had been defeated, Sun-on-Scales stayed to help his friends take out the leader, while Inue helped escort the escaped captives back to Stormhold.

At this point, most of the guards had either been defeated or run off to try to find the escapees, leaving only Revyn and his two guards to be dealt with. During the fight that ensued between the newly-formed group and the remaining slavers, Jericho repeatedly tried to convince Revyn that he was on their side and that they had been betrayed, but Revyn wasn't buying it. Once the group had taken out Revyn, his bodyguards surrendered and were taken back to Stormhold to be imprisoned.

In Stormhold, Jeelus was reunited with his siblings, and Waits-in-Shallows, the mayor of Stormhold, thanked the group for their service. They were paid for their services and invited to have dinner at the home of Alun-Tei, Inue, and Jeelus, who promised to be there for the group if they ever needed their help.

And the adventure begins...