The contents of the following post are true events that happened in the late night/early morning of February 19, 2016, written into the form of a crude tale/narration of sorts to retell said events for the most part and for everyone to hopefully enjoy.

A TL;DR lies at the bottom for those who don't want to read.

The Six Who Rose

One dark evening, a High Elf sorcerer entered Cyrodiil through the campaign for the legendary sword, Trueflame. She had been here several times before, but she never really participated in the campaigns between the three Alliances. Nay, she had her eyes set on a bigger goal; the Imperial City.

So she set off to the entrance to the sewers; the only way into the city-turned-deathtrap. She teleported via Wayshrine to the nearest keep and set off on her horse. Arriving at the Aldmeri Dominion sewer base without incident, the sorcerer climbed up onto the streets of the Imperial City and set her sights on decimating the ranks of Molag Bal. She hurled innumerable storms of lightning, turning many of the Daedra into ash in the exchanges of magic. She collected the Tel'var stones the Daedra carried, but always made sure to watch her back in case others of the enemy Alliances were present.

Soon, she had gathered a large pile into a sack and set to returning to the safety of the base. Alas, it was not to be.

She re-entered the sewers and began making the journey back, but was warned not to by a fellow member of the Dominion! Introducing herself as Hannereh, she warned the sorcerer of two enemy members camping outside the base. One red, one blue, but seemingly in a truce.

The sorcerer thanked Hannereh for the warning and blended in with the shadows of the sewer, hiding herself in case they came. The two exchanged communications back and forth, planning on what move to make whilst watching the enemy from the darkness... But they were not alone.

Other members of the Dominion showed up not long after. The formation of a group was decided in order to take the players out. It would be the best course as the two players may have hidden reinforcements and the sorcerer was inexperienced in battling members of the other factions. But alas, a leader would be needed. And it seemed none wish to take on the burden of leadership. The members all exchanged looks with one another in an uncertain manner. But at last, the sorcerer could take no more, and shook her head. So she stood. So she took on the mantle.

"My name is Rhea Branwen."

Hannereh, also known as Han for convenience's sake, became the first to join. She was followed by a Khajiit female, named Kiba-Kira, and Elkrid, a healer and a comrade of Han. The group, scattered all across Aldmeri Dominion territory in the sewers, made their way back to base as quickly as possible. Rhea soon met up with Han. However, Kiba had run into one of the Daedric banner-bearers patrolling the sewer. Snarling, the massive Daedra ran after Kiba, who took off in a panic. Knowing the Daedra would be after them as well, Rhea and Han gulped and quickly fled for their lives back to base.

As fate would have it, it was on their side for once; the two players they were hunting were nowhere to be seen. Rhea quickly bolted through the safety of the door and went to deposit the stack of Tel'var stones in the bank, breathing massive sighs of relief as she did so. Han remained outside to keep watch. By the time Rhea had gotten back outside, Han and the others, including Kiba who had successfully fled the Daedra, were perched on top of one of their prey's body. The other was nowhere to be seen and had no doubt fled, abandoning his comrade to his fate.

With their goal successful, the group lost its direction and wandered randomly about the sewers near the base, killing Daedra as they went. Along the way, they recruited a sorcerer named Ddswdlp. Unable to pronounce his name, Rhea simply called him DD. They also recruited a sixth member, a Khajiit Templar, but he left not long after the group assailed the Temple.

Realizing the group's potential due to their numbers, Rhea called for them to assault the Temple in the middle of the Temple District for a quest of hers. As luck would have it, the other members also had quests to assault it. So they went, keeping an eye out as they did. Once on the streets, they snuck across the paved and cobbled roads, one by one, to the Temple before going in. Rhea struck the first blow, assaulting one of the Daedra Catiffs with a blast of Energy Overload.

The Daedra Overseer was not amused and called in reinforcements. Several more Dremora showed up, backed up by two Grievous Twilights. The battlefield turned into chaos soon after. Members scattered apart, fighting furiously for their lives. Rhea went after the Twilights as she was the one who could bring them down the quickest. Everybody else pounded on the reinforcements as hard they could whilst Elkrid kept them all up as best as he could. In the end, the group won and the Overseer lied slain on the ground. But alas! Their battle was not yet over.

A gigantic Daedra titan soon dived in through the open roof, slamming into the ground and roaring with unhinged fury. The group recomposed themselves as fast as they could and fought more furiously than ever. Every single one of the members fell at least once, but they all came prepared with a large amount of Soul Gems to resurrect themselves. As long as they all didn't die at the same time, they would persevere. And persevere they did!

After a long and arduous battle, the Titan finally collapsed onto the ground, dead from an innumerable amount of wounds. The group cheered and headed back for the sewers. Rhea called for them to head on home, but DD wanted to go on ahead to kill lurking zombies within the sewers. Bidding DD farewell, Rhea turned with the others to head on back.

Midway however, curiosity struck inside her like a lightning bolt to the brain. She asked DD for more information about these zombies. The sorcerer explained that they populated a certain area of the sewers in great numbers and often carried a number of valuables. Intrigued by the prospect, Rhea turned the group around to follow DD.

After fighting their way through, they reached the section of the sewers DD was in and got to work, killing zombies as fast as a hot knife cuts through butter. However, their progress was soon impeded by another one of the banner-bearers. After a moment of hesitance and frantic cries to retreat however, the group stood their ground regardless and decided to fight to the bitter end.

The battle was just as tough as the one with the Titan in the Temple of the Imperial City. The Daedra lasted for a long time, often killing one of the members of the group briefly before they could come back to life. But in the end, the group was successful in felling their adversary. Emboldened by their success, the group cut through the ranks of the Daedra with energy renewed as they set out to return to base to deposit the loot they had received.

But fate, it seemed, had other plans in store. For when they neared the base, in the middle of one of their battles with Molag Bal's grunts, another banner-bearer approached. Things would look bad for the group considering this time, it was not alone as they were already in the midst of a battle. But Rhea took quick action. Overloading herself with stored energy, she smote the grunts as quickly as she could. With their numbers utterly decimated, the battle quickly turned in favor of the group's due to their prior experience.

Emboldened even further by the battle, Rhea jokingly wondered if they could take on the Simulacrum of Molag Bal himself in the middle of the sewers. DD, in response, said that they could take out the outer portals for sure. Excited, Rhea had the group depart for the heart of the sewers. It was decided; they would try to slay the Simulacrum despite their low numbers for they fancied their luck. The journey was a slog through Daedric minions and their generals as well as several more banner-bearers but slowly, and steadily, they made progress. And along the way, they recruited their sixth member, a Khajiit Dragonknight named Banana Batman.

Banana would become the one to take the hits, relieving the burden off of Kiba who had been pseudo-tanking at this time, despite his insistence that he was not suited for the job. But Han reassured him that whatever he did, he would do way better than what she would do in this job.

Soon, the group reached the central chamber. They looked around in awe for only but a moment and soon set to work on clearing the outer portals. They did so without much difficulty, with Rhea commenting as such, but soon ate her words when they started working on the inner portals after being asked if they should try it out.

The forces of the inner portals inflicted casualties among the group, unlike the outer, having many of Molag Bal's elite guard, the Xivkyn. Soon, one of them had even killed Elkrid, their healer. To make matters worse, to the group's dismay, Elkrid's ritual to resurrect himself with a Soul Gem suffered an accident and he was sent all the way back to the Aldmeri Dominion base in the sewers. But he would not give up. Gritting his teeth furiously, he charged back to the area as fast as he could. But his loss for the time being, would have consequences.

Without a dedicated healer, the group fell repeatedly over and over. Members would rise only to fall again three seconds later. But not once did they give up. The battle was the second longest that they faced in the sewers as they literally whittled down the banner-bearer with bug bites until Rhea, finally having enough ultimate power for a giant dose of Energy Overload, unleashed most of it onto what remained of the Daedra's health.

With the Daedra dead, Rhea was about to call for the group to rest, recover, and wait for Elkrid to return, but unfortunately for them, their luck had run out at that moment.

The portal they had shut down was the last of the inner portals. With all of them off, the Simulacrum of Molag Bal appeared in all its glory, cackling at the group before it as it towered smugly and menacingly. A second later, it charged and caused some of the members of the group to wet their pants in terror. But they did not run. No, they would not run. Like before, they stood their ground and would fight to whatever end awaited them.

It was the longest battle they had fought on that night, but despite his awesome power, Molag Bal inflicted surprisingly few casualties amongst the group as they weaved and dodged like masters and inflicted attacks as furiously as they could to whittle him down bit by bit. Any Xivkyn reinforcements that came in would be greeted by blasts of lightning by Rhea and DD, making sure that they would not harm the other members. The group fought like an organized unit, instinctively deciding which targets were the most threatening before taking them out of the equation swiftly and methodically. But despite their efforts, without major healing, they would eventually fall to the sheer numbers and mighty blows of the Daedric Prince.

Until, that is, their luck renewed as a roar of triumph greeted the ears of the group. Elkrid had returned. Like the cavalry of Rohan in Lord of the Rings arriving to save the day, the tides of battle immediately turned with his arrival. Immediately, the healer poured life-giving energies into the weary members and revitalized them. Energized, the group fought with renewed vigor, slowly pushing the Simulacrum back. Bit by bit, the health of the image of the Daedric Prince crumbled until finally, after everything, it exploded into a pile of ashes, killing some of the members a final time before they got back up.

But in the end, they had done it. They had faced the very worst of the Imperial Sewers and lived to tell about it. Nothing could stop them. This was their moment.

Exhausted, but in an utterly joyous mood due to their triumph, the group cheered and celebrated briefly. With the biggest and strongest force in the sewers taken care of, they decided to finally return to the base and go home. They did stop along the way to deal with the outer portals once more, and help two members of their faction defeat another Daedra banner-bearer, but in the end, after another slog, they returned as heroes. With their adventure over, the group members bid each other farewell and went their separate ways. Rhea, however, would stay behind in order to document the events that had transpired, with both anticipation and excitement...

The End


Big thanks to:

Hannareh the Cheerful, for having a really upbeat and wonderful attitude and keeping it the entire time we went. I loved cracking jokes with you. You were an awesome scout too.

DD (Ddswdlp) the Leader, for knowing how to navigate the sewers like the back of his hand. We followed you pretty much the entire time after the Temple, I saw.

Elkrid the Big Damn Hero, for being an amazing healer and for arriving in the nick of time against Molag Bal. Without you, most of what we accomplished this night would not have been possible.

Banana Batman the Indomitable, for being an excellent improvised tank. You may not have been an actual tank, but you sure as heck did a lot better than quite a few PuGs I've seen.

Kiba-Kira the Reliable, for being a solid member of the group despite your relatively low level of Veteran Rank 1.

(For sh*ts and giggles)

Rhea Branwen the Storyteller, for being my character and allowing me to experience the events of tonight so that I could write this out. I had a lot of fun writing this.

Sheogorath the Madgod, for giving me the insanity to stay up so late to do this crap.

Molag Balls, for sucking so much that you got downed by six peeps. Get rekt scrub, lol.

My Inventory bag, for somehow being big enough to store 100 something freakin' armor pieces and a whole bunch of other stuff I got this night. I want the material it's made out of...



TL;DR: Arrived in IC one night, grinded TV stones as usual, went to deposit, but a fellow player warned me of enemies camping outside the base. Group formed to take them out, then the six of us ended up doing a lot of awesome crap, like beating the Temple event in the Temple District, numerous Banner bosses, sewer bosses, and finally took on the Simulacrum of Molag Bal himself and won. We all got epic and fat loot of some sort from this adventure, last I checked. Best pickup group ever. What started out as a group formed to take out a mere two players ended up becoming a LOT more. Thought it'd be a story worth sharing, hence the post.

I have a few screenshots I managed to take here: imgur.com/a/rd8FX