The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Story of Octavian
Getting Back Out
I walked to Bruma and went into the castle. It didn't take me long to find Burd. A giant of a man, with a sword to match. He was pretty gruff about everything.
"Alright, Blade. The Countess told me you were coming. whadda you want?" He said.
"I want to find the spies in Bruma, get everything I can out of them, and probably kill them." I replied.
"Well that's good. People say they've seen folks sneaking around the doomstone at about Midnight. It's between the city and that Temple of yours."
I left. He didn't seem to like Blades, or anybody, that much. He reminded me of a lot of people I knew from Skyrim. I waited at the Doomstone for a little while, and figured I should probably feed on one or the other of the spies. They came out of the city gate at Midnight. One, a man, said to the other, "Your orders from the upper echelons, Jearl, are to keep monitoring the secret passage to your house and prepare the Stone for inscribing. A mage will be along through it in three days to take the stone to Lord Dagon."
"Yes sir, should I return to my home now?" Jearl asked.
"No, we also need to scout out the area around Bruma to find the safest route to the Temple up there."
"Yes sir."
I snuck around and kept to the shadows. The blood hunger ached in my veins, and I could see who knew more. So I fell from a rock and fed on Jearl. Redguard tasted a touch like well-done meat. Not bad, but not a favorite. I destroyed the body.
I then felt totally rejuvenated from my little incident, so I appeared in front of the Mythic dawn Officer. He was understandably startled, but didn't have time to react before I severed his magicka with a quick destruction spell and ripped the pathetic Iron dagger from his belt. Before he could make a sound, I grabbed him by the throat and pushed him against the cliff face.
"You know what I need to know. I'll ask you, and you'll tell me. If you tell me the right information, and quickly, and leave the Mythic Dawn, I'll let you go. If you tell me, but stay in with them, either the Empire will have you executed, or you'll be killed when we wipe them out. If you lie, I'll have to get creative. Do we understand each other?" I asked.
"Don't kill me, I have a family! I'm only in this-" He began, I probed his mind. He didn't have any family.
I decided that this would be a warning. I cast a slight strength sapping touch spell through the hand around his throat.
"That's what I mean, now tell me, how many men do you have?"
"Three-thousand in Bruma county, over ten thousand in all of Cyrodiil."
That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but he was telling the truth. "How do you make Oblivion gates?" I asked.
"We have Lord Dagon inscribe a ball of Void with a daedric symbol, and that gives it staying power and the ability to hold a permanent gate open."
"Where is the secret passage to Jearl's house? lead me to it. Try to run away and you'll get roasted." I threatened.
I let him go, and he began to lead me. After a moment, he made a break for it. I cast a weak fire spell and hit him square in the back. He fell, screaming, as the fire disintegrated his shirt and began to burn his back. I quickly put it out.
"I don't make idle threats, you useless pile of Guar shit. Now take me to the passage or I might not remember to put you out."
He whimpered and staggered over to a pile of rocks. He said, "Here it is, now please let me go!"
"I told you that if you were good and obedient, I'd let you go. You were not obedient." I said. "You're being handed over to captain Burd." I marked the spot with a red flag and brought the officer to Burd.
"I got the spies. One's dead and the other's right here." I said.
Burd laughed a hearty laugh. "Great! maybe I misjudged you Imperials, and the Blades. What'd you get out of him?"
"I marked a secret passage with a red flag. Station some men in there and have them arrest anyone who goes in. The rest I need to get to the Blades and Emperor Martin."
'You've got it, buddy. Hey, wait," He said, "I think I know you from somewhere. Your name start with an 'O?'"
Then I recognized him. "Burd! You useless skooma-head!"
"Oc! You fast-talking asshole! I heard you were dead!"
"Not quite. So after Skyrim you came here?"
"Aye. And apparently you're a Blade now. What's with the sudden burst of patriotism? After all that 'We don't need the Empire! let's join the War of Bend'r Mak!' stuff, I thought you'd abandoned the Empire completely." Bur said.
"Hey, the Empire's gotten better since then. Jagar Tharn really brought it down, but the last Emperor did what he could to fix that up. I gotta be going, but I'll probably be back."
I walked out of the castle, refreshed after seeing an old friend. But one more thing happened before I could return to the Temple. As I walked out of the castle, I heard someone sneaking, very badly, on the rooftops. I heard a bow being drawn , and I whipped around as I heard the "twang" of it, and I jumped aside. It stuck into the snow and melted it. A fire arrow. I jumped up to the roof and caught my attacker by the neck.
"Monster! Beast!" He yelled. He was a fanatical vampire hunter. After wasting several minutes trying to reason with him, he whipped out a concealed dagger and stabbed me in the gut. His dagger wasn't enchanted or special in any way, so I was very nearly unphased. Being now justified and out of patience, I tightened my grip and snapped his neck. I searched his possessions, and found a ring with a small set of fangs carved on it, and a necklace of vampire fangs. He must have seen me feed on Jearl. Either way, I had quite a bit to do, so I made my way up the mountain to Cloud Ruler temple.
