The Great Adventure.
An Elder Scrolls fan fiction.
By: Jacob Gesford.
Off the coast of Black Marsh.
First year of the fourth era.
"What's your name?" An old Nord in sailor robes asked me. I pulled my hood off to get a better look at him.
"Abel" I told him as I continued fixing the straps on my leather armor.
"Mines Haggard, Where are you from Abel?"
"I don't exactly know."
"How do you not know where you are from? Don't you remember the land you grew up on?"
"Long story."
"We've got two days until we reach Anvil, I have time for a fellow Nord's story."
"Alright then." I said as I walked across the deck of the ship and sat down next to some cargo crates, Haggard sat down next to me. "I don't remember much when I was a small child, but I remember being in an orphanage, I don't know where though. Some Khajiit's adopted me for their caravan, not the family I would have hoped for, they had tried to sell me to some Orc's as food one day. I was with them for maybe two years. One night their caravan got raided by bandits, I escaped, they didn't. I was in Cyrodiil at the moment, I made my way to a small villa where they took me in, taught me to farm and hunt. Then I joined the Fighter's Guild, got kicked out of there pretty easily, They say they didn't like my fighting style. Apparently I was too violent for even them, I think it was just because no one could beat me. That's about when I started taking side jobs as a mercenary. Go kill an ogre, or protect a carriage through bandit infested forests. After doing small jobs for awhile I got bigger contracts from other places around Tamriel. Last month I was in a tavern in Morrowind, an Imperial legion messenger came in blabbering about some sort of gates that had popped up around Cyrodiil. He said they were paying a pretty penny for anyone to help close them. And What do you know? Here I am on a ship headed to Cyrodiil.
"I had heard about those gates, you see that man over there? In the fancy dressings?"
I looked around the deck, there were only about ten people on the ship, I saw the Dunmer, or "Dark Elf" as some say, sitting directly across from me. "You mean the one with the three bodyguards? " I said.
"Yea that's him, he's high in the diplomatic area for Morrowind, he's going to Cyrodiil to discuss reinforcements for the Imperials. I've also heard rumors he's in league with the Morag Tong."
"The assassin group?"
"And also the enemy of the Dark Brotherhood, which makes home base in Cyrodiil. If you ask me he's just headed into trouble."
Right then I noticed a change in the wind, I stood up and saw we had turned towards Black Marsh instead of going around. "Why are we headed towards the mainland?" I Yelled up at the captain.
He ignored me, I stood up and went to walk over to him when Haggard grabbed my shoulder.
"Hold on lad, Things are about to get serious."
I sat back down and waited. I saw the three body guards get nervous, one looked as though he was going to go talk to the captain. And just as he took a step forward all three of the guards got arrowed down.
I tried to stand up again but Haggard held my shoulder down, I looked up at him to see he was no longer wearing his sailor robes, but a black and red outfit I had never seen before. I looked around the ship and half the crew were wearing this outfit now. It all went by so fast that I never even saw the dark elf fall to the ground. I heard one of the assassins scream "For the Brotherhood!"
Haggard pulled me up and said to me "Thank you for the story, but we can have no witnesses."
It didn't take me long to realize he what he meant and I quickly made a swift punch to his gut. The blow forced him to his knees, but only for a second. He unsheathed a dagger and lunged at me. I quickly grabbed his wrist and twisted hard until the blade fell to the ground. We fought on the ground trying to reach the blade, until finally, I grabbed it and struck it into his knee.
As he fell to the ground in pain, I pulled out my own dagger, an ebony blade. I took a self defense stance against the remaining assassins, who all had crossbows lined up at me. Good. I thought. Longer reloads.
I heard the faint *Click* of one of the triggers being pulled and with quick instinct I fell backwards as fast as I could. Four bolts hit the crates behind me. But now they have to reload. Now's my chance. I stood up and charged the closest man, who seemed baffled that he missed. I grabbed the end of his crossbow and slammed it into his chin. He fell right to the ground, knocked out cold. I charged at the next man, blade in hand, when suddenly, a burst of fire hit my side and sent me flying off the boat.
As soon as I hit the water I swam towards the shore. I paused for a split second to look behind me, and saw a mage standing on the end of the boat watching me. I took notice to a strange X shaped scar on his cheek.
In the split second I looked back it was enough time for the assassins to aim in on me with their crossbows. I heard the whizzes of crossbow bolts fly by me as I swam even faster now towards the shore. It wasn't far, only a few yards away. Suddenly he felt his side go freezing cold, but he couldn't stop to see what it was now, he had to keep going.
Abel finally reached the shore, he didn't have time to take a breather now, he bolted for the trees ahead. Crossbow bolts were still whizzing by him, barely missing him by inches. He made a quick glance to look at his freezing side and saw that a small ice shard was sticking through him. He did his best to ignore it as he made his way into the tree line. He bolted through the forest, passing trees after trees. Until he finally came to a small Argonian hut and rushed inside.
Inside the small hut was pretty open, save for a bed, fireplace and a table. There was an Argonian sitting at the table, Argonian's are lizard like humans that are native to Black Marsh. He seemed surprised to see a Nord like myself in his home. I slowly put my index finger to my mouth and made a quiet *Shh.* He made a quick nod and pointed towards the bed. I walked over and crawled under it, pulling the hide covers over the side to keep me hidden.
Not even a minute later the door slammed open and I heard three sets of feet enter. The Argonian stood up and yelled for them to leave his home, but was quickly shoved back into his chair. I heard the sound of a blade entering his fleshy scales. Wrong place, wrong time.I thought.
I pressed my hands on the underside of the bed and launched it towards the three men. In half a second I was on my feet, dagger ready. The bed had knocked one of the men to the ground, but the other two were rushing outside. I was confused until I saw the Argonian. He was alive, but he had a dagger sticking out of his chest, which should've been a killing blow to the heart.
Just then the Argonian started growing to a massive size. Spikes came out of his back and his teeth turned into large fangs. I heard of these things in story books, tales of Argonian's turning into these beasts. He was a werecrocodile.
The man on the ground let out such a scream that ashamed little girls everywhere, he made a run for the door, but with one quick arm movement the werecrocodile knocked his head clean off. After watching the head roll around on the floor for a moment the werecrocodile looked at me only for a brief second, then went out the door after the remaining men.
I made my way back outside and looked around. Everyone was gone, all I saw was the murky swampland around me. I saw some tracks that headed East, that meant I was to head West. But first things first, I needed to get the ice shard out of my side. I went back into the hut, started a fire, took some rags from the dead guy, and took a wooden spoon from the table.
Now for the fun part. I thought. Abel stuck the wooden spoon into his mouth and bit down as he got ready to pull the shard out. He had to do this slowly otherwise the shard could shatter. He slowly pulled it inch by inch, it didn't take too long before it was finally out. The pain was immense now, he quickly used tongs to grab a hot coal from the fire and used it to burn the wound shut. When he was done he used the rags to cover the wound. Abel searched the hut one last time and found some bread and rope which he put in his pouch, then he was on his way.
He hiked for hours through the swampy forest, now and then he would stop to admire the small amount of sunlight that got through the thick trees. When sundown came, he trailed off his path to make a fire. Then he climbed one of the tree's and went from tree to tree until he could barely see the fire. Just in case I'm being followed. He thought.
Abel made himself comfy on a thick branch and started eating the bread he took, keeping an eye on the area around the fire for any sign of movement. After an hour or so he decided to get some rest, he used the rope to tie himself to the tree and went to sleep.
The next morning he awoke to the sound of yelling from across the forest. He untied himself from the tree and looked over towards where the fire was. Two Argonian's were searching the area around the dead fire, they looked like simple swamp bandits. The one was short and wielded a sword, while the other was tall and shouldered a fancy long bow. They wouldn't be anything he couldn't handle. I climbed down the tree and walked right towards them. As I walked I could hear them arguing.
"What if it was the leviathan?" The short one said so loudly even High Rock could've heard him.
"Well if it was, we are surely dead now because of your incompetent mouth!" The other one said. "All of Tamriel can hear you talk!".
"I'm just saying, many people say the leviathan can wipe out a whole army camp without leaving any trace."
"That's not what happened here, now stop with your monsters stories and see if you can find anything we can give to the guild."
Guild? They must be scavengers from the Thieves Guild. I thought.
The two were arguing so much they never even saw me walk up behind them.
"Good morning." I said.
They both immediately turned and faced me. The short one had his sword unsheathed, but he held it as if he had no intentions to use it, and the tall one had an arrow ready on his bow, but it was not drawn and he had it pointed at the ground. They definitely didn't want a fight.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?" The tall one said.
"My name is Abel, I'm an Imperial legion member from Cyrodiil, me and my garrison have been deployed to this section of Black Marsh to eliminate the Thieves Guild and its members." They both got tense. "You wouldn't happen to know where to find them would you?"
The tall one smiled "You don't look like an Imperial. You don't even wear Imperial armor." He said.
"Oh I assure you I'm an Imperial, and why would I want to bring such fancy armor to these swamps when all I have to do is clear out some petty thieves?"
"How dare you call us petty thieves!" The short one yelled.
The tall Argonian gave him a slap to the back of the head. "You imbecile." He said.
"So you two are in league with the Thieves Guild? What a shame… Well then I guess ill give you both two options, You can resist and die where you stand, or you can give me your weapons and gear and ill forget I even saw you."
The tall one drew his bow and pointed it at my head. "And what's stopping me from putting an arrow in your skull and leaving you for Skeever bait?"
"A dozen archers in the trees, all ready to fire on my command." I said with a slight smirk.
"You're bluffing."
I raised a my right fist above my head. "I open my fist and you both die, are you willing to risk it?"
After a few seconds of silence the short one threw his sword to the ground "Bluff or not I want to live another day."
After a few more seconds the tall one did the same with his bow. "You said your name was Abel right?"
"That it is." I said as I pick up both weapons, I put the bow over my shoulder and held the iron sword in case they tried something.
"I'll remember that name. And I'll be back for my bow someday."
"I will look forward to it. But for now, your gear. I want your quiver and arrows and both your pouches emptied on the ground, after that I want you to both to turn around and walk away. If you even think of coming back my archers will take you down before you can say sweet roll."
They both did as instructed, but just as they went to walk away I heard this loud screeching noise to my right. I looked over and saw movement in the distance. I couldn't see what it was but I could make out a few details, it was black as night and was as big as a small house. When it got closer I could see tentacles coming out of it from every direction.
When I looked back at the Argonian's they were gone, ran for their life. I quickly grabbed their gear off the ground and ran away myself.
I ran as fast as I could through the swamps, I didn't know where I was going, I just knew I had to get away from that thing.
After about an hour of running I stopped by a large rock, I got on top of it and rested for awhile. I checked my surroundings and thought about what had happened.
Was that the leviathan they were talking about? I thought they were just an old Argonian myth. I guess it doesn't matter now, even if it was chasing me I have a good enough lead that it wouldn't find me for some time.
Abel poured his pouch onto the rock and looked through the loot he got from the Argonian's. There were only a few things of value, a quiver with eleven arrows, a lock pick, a few apples, a silver necklace, a few gold coins and a bottle of what seemed to either be poison or ale… either of which could kill a man with the right amount. The rest of it was just junk, he took the good stuff and then took a moment to admire the sword. It was an old iron sword, rusted at the tip. He decided that he was better off using his dagger then that old thing, so he just threw it behind him ignoring it even existed. Then he took a look at the bow, just by looking at it I would have guessed it to be a simple hunting bow, but after studying the craftsmanship I saw it was so much more. The wood was unlike anything I have ever seen before, it was dark brown and was as hard as a mammoth's tusk. The string was special too, it glimmered even when it was in the shadows. This was truly a magnificent bow.
Abel sat on the rock for a little while longer, eating an apple as he kept a close eye on his surroundings. Nothing but a big swamp. He thought.
When he was done he headed west again. After not even ten minutes he came to a road. There was an old sign on a tree pointing north,. The sign was so old and molded that he could only get one word out of it. "Storm"
It could mean Stormhold. He thought. I could get food and find a ride to Cyrodiil from there.
So he decided to head north. Abel followed the road for hours before he finally reached Stormhold. It was a small city compared to the towns in Cyrodiil, but it was one of the biggest here in Black Marsh. The walls rose high above the buildings, dark green from all the moss.
Abel walked up to the gate, two Argonian soldier's sat at a table playing a game with dice. One of them lost and handed the other a bag of coins. Now that he was upset he stood up and walked towards me.
Great. I thought.
"What do you want?" The Argonian spat.
"Food, shelter, and a passage to Cyrodiil will do." I said.
"And you expect us to just give you these things?"
"Of course not, I have gold and I'm willing to pay the prices your town has to offer."
"Good enough for me. We don't have a law in our town, so if we catch you disturbing the peace we won't ask questions about it. We'll just kill you on sight."
"I'll make sure to stay away from the taverns then."
The guard gave a slight chuckle then walked over to the gate. He pushed open the large wooden door and gave a hand motion for me to follow him in.
From the way the walls looked you would expect stone walkways, tall buildings and just beautiful architecture all around. That's not what I saw. There were a few shops that were built with stone, but the rest of the buildings were just old wooden shacks. The ground was even ugly too. All dirt, not a single blade of grass was to be seen.
"What a beautiful city." I said sarcastically to the guard.
"You must be blind then." He replied. "Since this is your first time here, the city is divided into two sections, the shops are on the west side and the residential area is on the east. Since your just passing through you can stay in the inn. You shouldn't have any reason to go near the residential area. Other then maybe to steal from the residents here, therefore if we see you in the residential area…"
"You'll kill me on sight. I got it."
"Good. You can rest at Neesha's Inn, she always has rooms for rent. And if you need some food you can go to Reesa's Tavern. Just stay away from the ale, if you ask me, that stuff if poison."
"I'll keep that in mind." I said as I tried to keep myself from bursting into laughter.
"And about getting your passage to Cyrodiil, we haven't had any caravans come through here in months."
"Well then I guess I will get some rest and head out tomorrow by myself."
"Well you might not have to go alone, a few days ago an old Nord got here and asked around about needing a bodyguard to get to Cyrodiil."
"Is he still here?"
"Oh yea, you can catch him in the tavern every morning, asking about his bodyguard position."
"I'll talk with him in the morning then."
"One last thing, you're a Nord, correct?"
"Last time I checked, yea."
"Good thing then, we had a fellow come by saying him and his partner got robbed by an Imperial not too far from here."
"If I see an Imperial I will let you know."
The guard gave a slight nod then headed back to his game of dice, closing the gate behind him.
Those two Argonian's I came across earlier must have come here. Abel thought as he threw his hood over his head. They could still be here, I'll have to be discreet.
It was getting late, most of the shops were closing down and the residents heading to the tavern for the night. I made my way over to the blacksmith, who was surprisingly still open. I went inside the old shack and admired the weapons, long swords, short swords, war axes, anything you needed, this place had it. Except the blacksmith was nowhere to be found. I waited a few minutes until I finally went back outside.
When outside, I could hear the sound of hammering metal. Workshop must be out back. I thought.
I walked around the small hut and saw a little forge area where an Argonian woman was shaping a blade.
"Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me." I said.
"What do you need?" She said without even looking away from what she was doing.
"Out in my travels I came across this bow, I was wondering if you could tell me what its made of."
This got her attention. "Let me see it." She said.
Before I had even handed her the bow her eyes had lit up like a little kid getting a present.
"Would you look at this beauty." She said. "I never thought I would get to see one of these in my lifetime."
"I'm guessing it's valuable?"
"Valuable? Do you even know what kind of wood this is?"
"I have no clue."
"This bow is made from Hist bark. One of the strongest wood substances in all of Tamriel."
"How do you know that it's Hist bark?"
"I am all too familiar with the smell, there is an Argonian religious ceremony to taste the sap of a Hist tree. I do it once a year."
"That's very interesting, can you tell me anything about the string?"
"I'm afraid I can't help you there, I have never seen anything like it."
She handed me the bow and I threw it back over my shoulder.
"That's one fine bow you got there." She said. "Where did you find it exactly?"
"I was walking down the road and found it hanging from a tree."
"That makes you wonder who would be dumb enough to leave that behind?"
"Yea it does, but that's all I needed, thank you."
"If you find any other rare weapons on the side of the road bring them back to me so I can have a look at them."
I gave her a slight nod and walked away. I made my way to the Inn and spent the night there.
In the morning I went to the Tavern to speak with the Nord. The Tavern was the one of the nicest places in this town, it was made of stone bricks and even had a nice little chimney. I made my way inside and looked around. The place was empty, save for the bartender, an Argonian passed out at the bar and the old Nord sitting at a table in the corner. It took him a moment to notice me standing by the doorway. He stared at me for awhile then waved me over to sit with him. I walked over and sat across from him. I sat there for a few moments waiting for him to offer me the job, but all he did was smile at me. Finally, I made a conversation starter.
"I heard you needed a bodyguard to get you to Cyrodiil" I said.
"Oh it's much more then that boy." He said. Smiling even more now.
"How so?"
"Boy, tell me." He said. "How would you like to go on an adventure?"