The Nightingale

P.O.V Nocturnal

It has been a century or two since the last dragon fell upon the land of Nirn, the dovah's life was extinguished by my very own champion. A Khajiit by the moniker Dra-Dar Rava, truly Rava was an excellent find within the pitiful country of Skyrim. Never have I seen his equal within my dominion, He has a swift light step and skills with a long dagger that few could ever hope to replicate. His marksmanship is unparalleled, I don't believe within the time I have held his oath has he ever missed a shot.

If I remember correctly, he was first brought into my order from the Thieves Guild; nothing like vengeance to make a man willing to sell their essence to a goddess for all eternity. He along with one other joined my shadow guard to hunt down and kill one who absconded with my skeleton key, not only did he get my key back, but he also proclaimed himself my champion after killing my betrayer.

It has been many millennia since I felt my heart twitch for one of my dogs, not only has he fulfilled his oath to the letter, but he has also guarded my temple faithfully for the past 265 years as an ever-dutiful shadow.

As I recall the last attempt to steal my treasures was undone by my faithful Khajiit within the last 5 years or so, the thieves seemed to come from the order known as the Dark Brotherhood. They sought my skeleton key so they could kill the emperor, maybe they sought retribution after their miserable display 200+ years ago where they only ended up making fools of themselves. Needless to say, the force of experienced killers but poor grave robbers was well over their heads when facing off against the strongest nightingale within my order.

P.O.V 4.5ish years ago Dra-Dar Rava

I was alerted to intruders entering the Twilight Sepulcher via a detect life rune placed at the entryway of the tomb. Swiftly alerting the nearest "alive" nightingale of intruders via an alarm spell of my design I prepared for contact. Unlatching my trusty nightingale bow from the hook on my back I swiftly loaded an ebony arrow from the quiver attached to my hip into the bow and one ready within the hand holding the bow for swift firing.

Stalking through the shadows towards the entrance of the tomb I spotted a group of 5 people. They wore black and red studded armor with hoods and masks not unlike my own, "fools… they wear the garb of an advanced thief or assassin, but they know nothing of stealth".

The first and second in line appear to be heavy hitters with each sporting a steel war hammer on their backs. The third in line is clearly a mage of a sort, they will make a perfect first target as competent mages are always annoying to deal with. The fourth one has a knife on his hip with a bow slung over his back, and finally, the fifth woman has a small Daedric dagger attached to her leg and an ebony sword above that. The novice tomb robbers clatter down the small hall in front of them. Swiftly setting up a shock rune within the small confines of the hallway I prepare my ambush slightly further behind the hall.

Within seconds the intruders are upon my trap the intruders are upon it, having fallen back 15 meters further into the tunnel I begin to draw back by bow. With the string being replaced monthly it doesn't make so much as a squeak and stands at full draw ready to extract blood with its barbed arrows. Within milliseconds of the shock trap stunning the first two assassins a pitch-black arrow is loosed from the bow woven from shadow and finds it mark within the eye socket of the mage.

Without a doubt the man is dead, but Rava doesn't slow to consider the fact and instead loses the second arrow into his chest. With a cry, the two unaffected members of the invasion party charge down the hall to find the lethal marksman. Having just killed the most vulnerable but most lethal member Rava now sought to play his favorite game of destroying the 4 remaining intruders' minds.

charging towards the origin of the arrows the two rearguards have bought time for their companions to recover from the shock spell while hunting the killer of their mage. It is a smart tactic that would have a killer panicked and running the opposite way as two blood-hungry brutes charged them. But how could one account for a Khajiit warrior who was beyond ancient and had centuries of experience beating the odds stacked against him? He was a slayer of giants, trolls, and on rare occasions dragons, he also represents the most powerful Nightingale in history with his tool bag loaded with self-honed skills and teeming with deception.

P.O.V Sharkrkub Ularg

Going into the tomb was the biggest mistake I have ever committed, second after entry the musky heavy air soaked my mask making it harder to breathe. We knew the ancient lore of the Nightingale; they were fierce fighters of Nocturnal but there could only be three at a time and what were the chances of all three being here at the tomb?

I figured we could handle one or two rats with minimal losses on our end while getting our hands on treasures that would bring the brotherhood back to greatness. Walking into the crypt we were greeted with a wide-open room with what appeared to be a door up a flight of stairs. Our leader a Nord woman by the name of Helga was a fierce fighter and held a key to the special door I wasn't sure how she acquired it but I was in to mood to ask with my mask barely keeping out the horrible air.

Opening the door and walking into the narrow confines of the hallway I was immediately struck by how easy an ambush could be with this architecture. The walls were lined with small outlets where a few people could sit out of view and strike from the sides. After walking for a minute, I felt instant pain come from my arms and legs and my brother was no better than I. Our arms and legs were paralyzed and two whooshes of air were above my attention with my body all but useless.

Suddenly I heard a cry from Helga as she and Dorri charged down the hallway. Swiftly the two disappeared with my brother and I left staring intensely at where they disappeared to with no control over ourselves. Suddenly the shadows moved… down the hallway, the shadows were moving, and a figure stepped out of the shadows clad in black armor. Every inch of his body was covered in this rich black armor save his fingers and tail, the fur on the tail and hands was darker than the armor.

He moved silently, as he approached, he slung a bow underneath his cape while he pulled a wickedly long dagger from his waist. "mmmuh" I tried to make a noise to warn Helga and Dorri of the impending doom that my brother and I now faced but could only let out a soft moan of pain. Without a word he grabbed my brother by the back of the head and ran his knife from jaw line to jaw line letting the blood pour from his throat. "mmHg" I attempted to summon every ounce of fury I could find within myself to kill this monster which just killed my baby brother and failed miserably. Before I could try to give more of a fight the knife slid into the base of my skull and the world faded to darkness.

P.O.V Dra-Dar Rava

With 3 of the intruders dead I walked back to the shadows where I first sat then climbed the wall and sat into a cove I carved in the ceiling years ago. Just in time too, the two others are on their way back after chasing nothing but air.

While I waited for the two left to walk past my hiding place I swiftly applied a Swift acting vial of muscle relaxer to my blade. Remaining silent I activated my goddess's aspect of stealth and momentarily turned invisible. As the two passed within touching distance I dropped behind both, the woman proclaimed her shock at her two freshly slain comrades and took off to look around at the bodies.

P.O.V third person

She wasn't aware of the shadow grabbing Dorri from behind and swiftly driving a knife into his lung while clamping a hand over his mouth to keep the sounds muffled. the woman suddenly flinched when Rava got closer, she probably just now realized the lack of sound coming from Dorri as all five of the intruders were stumbling around like fools making quite the racket earlier. It seems that the lack of sound had alerted her to the fact that something had happened to Dorri and now she was left alone to fight this agent of darkness.

"Come out coward" Helga screamed into the shadows not expecting this extremely calculated assassin to give up every advantage he had made for himself. She was not prepared for Rava to suddenly step out of the shadows but a mere 10 feet from her. "Lady Nocturnal did not give you permission to be here," Rava said in a slightly raspy voice, while Helga was taking in his appearance and trying to find any uncertainty in his movements.

As Rava took a step forward she stuttered out " I.. I will leave", and "We believed this tomb to be abandoned". She lied. Of that Rava was certain, nobody could open the door to Nocturnal's sanctuary without making proper preparations and knowing what to look for suggested by the incredibly rare Nocturnal lore lying around Skyrim. "Unfortunately for you, this one doesn't believe you, heh, not that it would have mattered" he uttered as he swiftly threw his dagger at her which perfectly pierced right between her ribs where her heart was.

Kicking the leader of the dark brotherhood team off his knife, Rava sheathed his knife and began to clean up the fresh bodies he dropped by throwing them deep into the forest. Minutes later a member of the Nightingales stormed through the hall buzzing with questions much to Rava's dismay.