Priests of Stendarr and Zenithar do not get along well on projects
The followers of Stendarr fear those of Zenithar give too little
The followers of Zenithar accuse those of Stendarr for giving too much
Never have too many followers of Julianos in charge, though
The acolytes of wisdom will just want to keep researching and then nothing will get done
The team returned the last three survivors with them to Wayrest where they were handed over to the Cult's Inquisition team. Due to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the incident, Claudia decided that special attention was going to be required and that the inquisition was more suited to handle getting information out of the daedra worshippers as well as researching the matter. Claudia was required to stay on hand but the rest of her team was allowed to resume their regular duties.
Except Do'Ravier. The other priests and the archon had not forgotten the explosive tendencies of his experiments so for the time being he was only allowed to work on alchemical potions on an order by order basis. The Khajiit was momentarily upset by this but then pulled out another field of interest he had to keep him busy: Dwemer artifacts.
"Sir, if I might ask...w-why are you doing this again?" a skittish acolyte gibbered to Do'Ravier as he very unwillingly aided the Khajiit in his research.
"To see what makes them work!" Do'Ravier spoke with both enthusiasm and a hint of annoyance. He thought that the purpose was quite obvious.
Once again Do'Ravier was in his study room, the initiate was his assistant for the day. The mage had cleared his desk and was instead poking and probing a defunct, if completely reassembled, Dwemer spider with all manner of tools. The acolyte was just there to hand the proper tools Do'Ravier needed, the Khajiit was too engrossed in his work to be bothered with finding the implements on his own.
"But...but sir, w-what if...what if it wakes up?" the acolyte asked nervously.
"Wakes up?" Do'Ravier asked incredulously.
"Y-you know. I heard that these things guard the ruins...and quite viciously too! W-what if you b-bring it back to life?" the acolyte squeaked.
"Ah, you're worried that I'll reactivate it. Not to worry, I've bolted it's legs to the table. The worst that can happen is that it will just get angry and start rattling the table. Or...maybe in rare cases it might start shooting lightning at us." Do'Ravier murmured, recalling some stories he had heard.
The acolyte whimpered in fright.
"But not to worry, that's why I had you fetch that nice, heavy mallet. Just in case." Do'Ravier waved his paw at the large blunt instrument before tinkering with the soul gem within the spider.
"Are you sure this is safe, mister Do'Ravier?" the acolyte whispered.
"Safe? Eh, 'safe' isn't the word I would use." Do'Ravier muttered.
Suddenly, the spider violently rattled and hissed, raging against the restraints that held it in check. Ecstatic, Do'Ravier immediately set to watching how all the moving parts within the spider interacted with each other while trying to determine the nature of how the soul gem acted as a power source.
Do'Ravier was oblivious to the fact that the acolyte had scrambled out of the room, pale with fright and too scared to scream. In fact, Do'Ravier probably never would have found out that the acolyte had left if it had not been for the very panicked Archon Tacitus arriving at the urging of the frightened assistant.
Do'Ravier's happy studies came to a crashing halt as Archon Tactius frantically smashed the Dwarven construct with the emergency mallet.
A few minutes later, a very disappointed Do'Ravier left the temple with a pile of books in his hands, his studies having been further reduced now to mere research. Knowing that his Dwarven spider was sold off to help ease the cathedral's coffers was little consolation to him.
Elsewhere, Sibylla and Bann-Je were attending to those in the sanctuary seeking advice, consolation and instruction on any number of things. Sibylla was in fact doing most of the instruction, Bann-Je was there mostly to help and to fetch things should they be needed.
A very distraught Imperial mother held a quietly sniffling infant in her arms.
"The healer told us to take this medicine but my baby is still sick." the mother agonized.
Sibylla took a look at the child and then motioned Bann-Je to also assess the situation.
"You work with the healers. What does this look like to you?" Sibylla inquired.
"Hmm, no temperature, little cough, ugh...bit of a runny nose..." Bann-Je muttered to himself as he went through the diagnosing.
"What did the healer say your child had?" Sibylla inquired.
"He said it was a cold." the mother reported, still concerned.
"I'm going to have to agree with this one. Looks like a cold. He should be good in a few more days." Bann-Je nodded optimistically.
"But the medicine isn't working!" the mother protested.
"How long ago did you receive the medication?" Sibylla inquired patiently, wondering if there was some quack alchemist she had to go punch.
"Yesterday." the mother replied, still worried.
"Yesterday?" Sibylla asked, the strain on her patience starting to show.
"Yes, yesterday." the Imperial woman nodded.
Sibylla took in a very deep breath before taking the mother by the arm and started walking her down towards the entrance.
"I'm know you are very concerned with the health of your infant. However, it takes more then a day for the medicine to run it's full course. Be faithful in giving your child the medication and I am sure all will be well. The healers here are always ready in case something happens." Sibylla explained as sweetly as she could. It felt like pulling teeth.
"Are you sure?" the woman asked nervously.
"Positive. Trust me, it took a full week to get a festering wound on my leg healed with medicine and magic." Sibylla nodded.
"Oh. Oh...if I might ask, what was the wound from?" the mother inquired.
"Oh, poisoned sword." Sibylla replied flatly before showing the mother out the door.
"Sheesh." Sibylla grumped as she marched back up the sanctuary. She was intercepted by Bann-Je halfway up.
"I am going to apologize in advance for this, but I am also using this as an opportunity to ask you for permission on something." Bann-Je said quickly.
"What is it, Bann-Je?" Sibylla asked.
"The man over there asked if you were a priestess of Dibella...and was wondering if you could privately counsel him. Somehow, I don't think he's talking about wisdom." Bann-Je muttered quietly.
Sibylla looked over to see a man who appeared to be a merchant, he was smiling a bit too broadly. She did her best to hide a scowl.
Dibella was the Divine of beauty and occasionally, priestess of Dibella provided advice in more...intimate affairs.
"I am asking for your permission to knock some sense into him." Bann-Je finished.
"I can handle this, Bann-Je" Sibylla replied before she plastered the sickliest sweet smile she could on her face.
Marching up to the man, her face still beaming, she demurely took the man by the arm before also marching him down towards the entrance of the temple. Softly, she opened the door and showed him outside.
Her fist connecting to his face catapulted him to the bottom of the cathedral steps.
"Wrong house!" Sibylla shouted at him before slamming the door shut.
"Gods, I wonder what Claudia is doing." Sibylla sighed as she returned to her post.
Claudia was at the local prison where the Imperial Cult inquisition operated out of. The inquisition was not even a formal branch of the cult to the Eight Divines like the Vigilant of Stendarr were. Inquisitors were simply a select group of cult members who were educated enough and trained with getting information out of people. Maybe this was with good reason. No one wanted to be too closely compared to the Thalmor Justiciars who were professional inquisitors. They were not very well thought of by most people within mainland Tamriel.
Claudia was not very comfortable being surrounded by the iron bars and cold stone of the dimly lit, musty prison. Even if she wasn't in fact being held prisoner, it was hard to forget that when you were constantly inside it. Still, she could not leave. She needed to be on hand with the other interrogators in case they needed to consult her. Also, there was no escaping the fact that she did some interrogating herself.
For now, she was taking a break from the grueling task. Granted, she understood as terrible as she might have felt, the prisoners felt even worse. Torture was not uncommon but she was thankful that the particular group of inquisitors she was working with focused less on actual physical torture and more on persistence, patience and some wheeling and dealing.
Still, she was exhausted. She also felt that they were hitting the point of diminishing marginal returns. Even she was starting to believe their captives had told everything they knew. What little else they may have been hiding was probably not every significant.
Finding a nearby cot padded with hay and furs, Claudia decided she could use a nap. She brushed the area off a bit, hoping to get the worst of the dust away, perhaps even a layer of mold as well. She also hoped there weren't any fleas. Getting it as clean as she thought she was going to, she curled up and quickly fell asleep.
Why do you slumber mortal? Why do you sleep?
Vigilance is a necessity you must keep.
In the darkness of the Oblivion those that would plot evil gather
To your hands fall the burden of exposing disaster
Allies you will find in places unexpected
Know that your faith and skills will be tested
These words to you I bear, take heed, walk with compassion, go with care
Claudia woke with a start, startled to have had such a vivid dream with the words still echoing in her head. She also recalled seeing a face, translucent and surreal just before the dream ended. She was struggling to make sense of the face she saw, much less the words when she was suddenly interrupted.
"Miss Vivinici? Are you awake?" one of the inquisitors asked, staying just beyond the threshold of the door so not to disturb her.
"Yes, yes, I am awake. Did you want something, inquisitor?" Claudia inquired, uncomfortably getting to her feet.
"The other inquisitors and I agree, we're not going to get anything more from the cultists. They truly do not know what happened to the others that you found dead at the shrine. They could have possibly been out of their minds, but as much as we don't want to believe it, they ran at the moment you found them, themselves having just realized the condition of their fellow heretics." the inquisitor reported.
"Very well, I shall remember that for my report. Is there anything else you need me for?" Claudia asked as she placed her coat around herself, preparing to leave.
"Yes, while we don't think they will give any more details, one of them did mention a certain associate who may have helped set the shrine up. All the information is on this scroll. It is something your team should investigate. Consider it your next mission."
The inquisitor handed Claudia a sealed envelope which was not even addressed. Claudia folded it carefully into her pockets before speaking.
"Thank you. Anything else?"
"No, you are free to leave." the inquisitor dismissed.
"What will happen to the prisoners?" Claudia asked carefully.
"They will be held for now, no longer under threat of torture. If they do not recant their ways before the captain of the guard decides, then they will be executed." the inquisitor responded with a shrug.
The library at Wayrest had enough tomes, scrolls and artifacts to make any curator proud and any scholar happily busy. When the librarians received word that the temple was sending over one of its best scholars to do research and help out, they were more than happy to welcome the temple researcher. They even granted him one of the best study rooms with a grand table to hold a large number of opened books all at once for quick reference and wall to wall blackboards with chalk and erasers.
After seeing Do'Ravier in his research methodology, many of them were starting to have second thoughts.
The Khajiit's padded paws made him quiet enough so noise wasn't an issue. In fact, that was part of the problem. They noticed that the Khajiit could easily hurry from shelf to shelf, book to book with almost the same enthusiastic speed as a child on a festival day. The problem was he was a fully grown Khajiit and the librarians were certainly not used to seeing anything fast or enthusiastic in their hallowed, serene halls of learning.
Some of the more observant librarians also started to notice something odd. First off, he had practically eviscerated the section they had on the Dwemers. There was scarcely a book left on the shelf in that section. Also, while he dutifully put back any book he no longer needed, there did not seem to be any connection between any of the books he was using. It was like he was researching anything on a whim.
A quick glance at his study room, and the filled chalkboards quickly explained what was going on. The Khajiit was in fact researching several different projects at once. No one topic could keep his attention for long before he got bored and moved onto the next board to pick up where he left off. Eventually he would go from topic to topic until he finally made a full circle and the process would repeat itself.
A quick and discrete messenger sent to ask the archon if this Khajiit was completely stable was simply met with the response of "Be glad he has not blown anything up."
They decided for now, the library was going to be safe even if one of its visitors was far more lively than usual.
Do'Ravier stifled a yawn as he glanced over all of his notes again. Other than all the chalk over his paws, he was actually rather proud of the day's work. He would have to spend the next day putting all the confirmed information down onto parchment and ink but nonetheless he was happy. Assured that none would disturb his work, Do'Ravier closed the doors to the room and was about to head out when he bumped into something he recognized.
"Celestie?" Do'Ravier asked.
"Ah, Do'Ravier, what are you doing here? Enjoying the books?" Celestie asked curiously, looking up from the book shelf she was delving in.
"I was just doing some research for the temple, that's all." Do'Ravier shrugged.
"Now if you don't mind my asking, despite your accent you use the word 'I' when referring to yourself. That's a bit different from most of the Khajiits I've met." Celestie brought up.
"Ah, yes. I grew up in Elsweyr and then I went to study in Cyrodill. I quickly learned that if you want any Imperial to take you seriously, you're going to have to learn to adopt their dialect. Still, people tend to think I'm not that well educated and every now and then this one does like to use his old dialect." Do'Ravier grinned.
"That is a shame people underestimate you just because you're a Khajiit and people just think they're mostly just thieves and trouble makers. I think you're quite a gentlemen." Celestie replied, turning her attention back to the shelf.
"Oh?" Do'Ravier asked, quickly if discreetly stamping on his tail to flatten the erratically thumping limb.
"Yes. I'm just here looking for a book, something to keep me company while on the caravan travels." Celestie smiled.
"Ah, well, what would you be interested in?" Do'Ravier asked, eager to help.
"Celestie, there you are!" another voice echoed through the hallways.
Before Do'Ravier could react, another man had walked up to the woman and the two had embraced. Do'Ravier felt his tail angrily twist around his heel when he saw the two kiss.
"Ah, Do'Ravier this is Mark, he's a merchant here in the Wayrest and we've been courting for awhile." Celestie smiled.
"Divines bless you." Do'Ravier said through barely clenched teeth disguised as a smile as he shook Mark's hand.
"I am also one of the nobles from one of the royal houses. Do keep your paws to yourself if you ever come around any of my stores, Khajiit." Mark warned, casting a suspicious eye on the man.
"This one is always an honest customer, sir noble." Do'Ravier bowed, summoning all his strength to squash the temptation to light the man up with the force of a fierce lightning storm.
"I'm sure. Celestie, how did you happen to meet this Khajiit?" Mark asked the woman.
"Oh, well, Do'Ravier here works for the Cathedral to the Eight Divines here at Wayrest." Celestie replied.
"Huh. You are quite well dressed for a servant." Mark murmured.
"Do'Ravier is indeed a servant to the Eight." Do'Ravier said just above a grumble, hiding his clenched paws in his sleeves so not to electrocute the man's brains out.
"Dear, he's a priest." Celestie corrected.
"Oh, well, I did not realize the Imperial Cult was becoming quite desperate." Mark retorted.
"Yes, help is needed everywhere in Tamriel these days. Ahem, please excuse this one, there are duties to be attended to back at the cathedral." Do'Ravier dismissed himself with a bow.
Claudia read the letter under the candle light on her desk. The information within was rather disturbing. They had reason to believe that the cultists had named one of the Wayrest nobles, Bernard Landuc, as one of the associates to the shrine of Boethiah. In fact, he had been a regular attender.
To the Imperial Cult and the Vigil of Stendarr, this was indeed alarming information. Those that trafficked with Boethiah usually did so with unscrupulous political intents, mostly because Boethiah was the Daedric prince that reveled in revolution and violent political upheaval. Landuc, while not the closest to the city throne, was also not that far away from it either. The stakes were too high to simply ignore the information.
Claudia also realized that they were in a bit of a pickle. While the Vigil was respected throughout the Empire, their reach only went ever so far. If they were ever going to successfully handle a noble, they would have to catch the man in the act, no easy task. They also would not be able to simply call him in for questioning. Nobles had a way of hiding behind position and authority.
Stepping out of her room, Claudia decided to silently assess each of her team members. Do'Ravier was not there she already decided to for the mission she had in mind, he was probably not the best choice. People had a tendency to keep an eye on a Khajiit because of their mischievous reputation. Sibylla was also not a good idea either. Sibylla and the word "stealth" did not usually go in the same sentence.
Her eyes fell on Bann-Je who was too engrossed in his over methodical dusting of one of the shrine alters to notice her.
Claudia found it odd, but she was going to have to admit that the obsessive compulsive Argonian was the best candidate for the job she was planning.
They heard the heavy wooden doors of the entrance open and spotted Do'Ravier slowly shuffling inside. Sibylla was the closest to him and the first to make an observation as she swept the floors.
"Geez, you look like something the cat dragged in." Sibylla said.
"Not funny." Do'Ravier grumbled.
Claudia noticed how his tail sadly dragged along on the stone floor.
The Khajiit passed her without a word and padded into his own room, slamming the door behind him. She and Sibylla traded a glance, the Nord woman giving a very perplexed shrug before getting back to her sweeping. Feeling back, Claudia quietly opened Do'Ravier's door just so that she could slip her head in.
"Hey, whatever happened, I'm sorry about that girl." Claudia murmured discreetly before closing the door.