Voice of the World: Morrowind - Chapter 1
It was a fine day in Balmora as a man sat at the bar in the basement of the South Wall Corner Club. This of course was the hideout of the Thieves Guild and nothing wouldn't make this man not to fit in. He was however, a person who had never been in a Thieves Guild and had no intentions to do so. On the contrary, he was in heavy armor and had a long- sword at his waist which made him not very fittable inside a Thieves Guild.
"What can I get ya Jacen?" The man asked the Dunmer in heavy armor.
"I'll take a Flin if you don't mind." The Dunmer smiled weakly and looked around at his surroundings. The only people in the Club was himself, the tender, and an Argonian. There were about 3 people upstairs but Sugar- Lips Habasi was in no eye-sight. It was this man's best guess that the guild had gone "hunting" again. The tender set the Flin on the counter and poured it in a glass as the Dunmer handed the tender the gold.
"Bet your wondering where the whole guild is, eh?" The tender asked, beginning to wash out a cup.
"Yeah...Did they get a lead on some unmentionable treasure or something like that in possession of a noble?" Jacen replied, chuckling at his own response and sipping his flin.
"Actually, yeah. The did...As long as you scratch out the noble part. A man dubbed 'Shadow' tipped off Gentlemen-Jim Stacey that there was a large quanity of Gold and Ebony Armor being transported to Fort Buckmoth. The Ald'Ruhn Thieves Guild and the Balmora's Thieves Guild recruited 30 new members, trained them for free, and headed over there to steal everything they could. A steal-a-thon...But instead of grabbing everything, Fort Buckmoth was expecting thieves...All but two were captured. Those two were killed while trying to escape." The Tender sighed.
"So...Sugar-Lips is captured?"
"Yup. Every guild has a couple guards and one or two members to stand over the guild-halls until the Guild Masters of their respective towns come back. Jim has just hired a mercenary force of 50 to go and rescue all of the guild that he can...Things look pretty grim..." The Tender sighed and began to clean the rest.
"How much is Jim paying for a mercenary?" Jacen spoke out as he sipped his flin.
"Hmm...I think he said 1,000 Septims. It's not a bad deal since you only need to come back with...What...A couple of people. He wants to reduce casualities...After that all the guilds are going to flee their respective towns...Jim is already taking care of 'Shadow' by himself...So...The Thieves Guild is probably going to move to low-profile towns and cities like Hla Oad and a few old strongholds that were abandoned." The Tender finished the cleaning and yawned.
"Alright...I just hope you guys don't get screwed over. Who's going to get the club after you guys leave it?" Jacen asked, finishing off his flin.
"Well...A few people were going to buy it for 15,000 Septims so we thought that could be used to buy the Thieves Guild a respective Hideout until the Imperial Legion will lay off the Thieves Guild. In that time however, we can't do ANY jobs at all unless they were previous clients...Most of us will go broke because of this but we have pride in our abilities." The tender yawned and stretched as Jacen stood up.
"Well, Keep in touch then." Jacen headed out the door as his armor clinked with the motion of the steps. He was in a complete Ebony Set except for his beloved helmet which was currently being repaired. Walking across the bridge to the other side of the river, he noticed a few men dressed in hooded robes. The robes had the sleeves extended- the hands hidden. The faces were hidden but he knew at once who these people must be...
"Jacen Kuriomi, our master wishes to speak with you." The first one in the hooded robes said. His deep voice was obviously that of a fellow dunmer's.
"Tell your master I will never speak with him! I've evaded him for 13 years- I won't stop now!" Jacen cried out, unsheathing his Glass Longsword which was glowing a crimson red. "Where is everybody?"
"You should know that every being in Balmora is scared of the Black- Eyed Dragon Cult. In fact, most of Tamriel is frightened of us. We have little patience right now...Now I'm asking nicely Lord Kuriomi." The man grunted as he pulled out an bolt from his robe and a crossbow that wasn't visable to Jacen at the start from his back. He loaded it into the crossbow and raised it.
"Sorry boys, I don't plan to get captured by you..." Jacen rose an amulet and whispered a few selected words and disappeared in a burst of green fog...Footsteps could be heard, but nobody could be seen.
"Nice try..." The other two men had pulled out darts and a barrage of bolts and darts were following Jacen, a green pool of liquid coming from the tips of every weapon as it hit something.
"How...can...you...see...me..." Jacen panted as his invisabiltity had worn off and he skidded to a hault as the weapons had stopped firing.
"Simpleton...We are beyond your savage people's way of detecting people. We can simply feel you...Since we have lost our eyes in a ceremony, our Lord has given us...The Sight..." The man smiled and aimed his crossbow again. "Good night Lord Kuriomi." Jacen rose to the moment, pulling out a scroll as he jumped 20 feet in the air as the bolt hit exactly where his stomache had been. He jumped on a building and slid off the other side, breaking into a run as the men followed him. Jacen ran for the Fighter's Guild as he burst his way in and shut the door as several thuds hit the door behind him.
"Jacen?" A redguard called out. Jacen just simply panted in response but placed his hand over the lock and whispered a few words as the lock was heard- clinking.
"Sorry...Had to...Find...Place for...refuge..." Jacen smiled at the redguard and took a crate from behind him and placed it in front of the door. "Give me a hand, eh? Put the crates in front of the door while I lock the roof door." Jacen headed up the stairs, and used the same spell he had for the previous door but send a large purple waved at the lock. He walked back down and saw the redguard placing the third crate in front of the door...The two of them blocked both doors for bags and crates before heading downstairs to a few other Fighter's Guild members.
"So Jacen..." The Reguard whispered as they all headed to the training room. "What's the deal?"
"Well...There's three Mages...They're hunting me...Actually it's a whole legion but I don't want to get you guys involved." Jacen yawned and sat in a corner. "Anyways, Hasphat- will you grab me some water please?" Hasphat went to get some water as Jacen looked at the Redguard, another Redguard, and a High Elf.
"So Jacen, where have you been lately? Our operative was responsible for capturing around 70 Thieves Guild Members!" The first Redguard asked Jacen, sitting in front of him.
"Well Dain- I've been in Dwenmer Ruins, Treasure Hunting for those willing to hire me. Worked for a few museums, a few rare collectors, and such but on my last ruin- half of it collapsed and I couldn't get out for a while. I lived off rations until I made a way to squeeze out..."
"Wow, seems like a tough job." The other redguard spoke, sitting next to Dain.
"Yup, Recovered 197 Dwenmer Artifacts. Made about 300,000 Septims myself just from that large collection." Jacen grinned and began to take off his armor as Hasphat looked at Jacen before handing him the water.
"Did you find anything about...You know..." Hasphat asked, looking at Dain and the other Redguard.
"Erm...No. Didn't find one piece of paper about where they hid them."
"Hide what?" Dain asked loudly.
"Just something me and Hasphat have been looking for...A little book that contains Dwenmer Runes said to hide the legendary ability 'The Calling' within it's pages. We only have a page of the book and it only explains what 'The Calling' is..." Jacen spat back rudely. "I don't really want to talk about it anymore as we don't want anybody else but me and Hasphat to know just to make our search a hundred times easier."
"That's awfully selfish..." Dain laughed and paced the room. "I expect that those mages are probably going to blast their way in?"
"Yup. Which means you all should hide in that closet over there. I can probably draw them away if you guys can hold onto my armor for me..." Jacen slid off the last bit of his armor as he looked up at them.
"Alright. We'll take it for now but make sure you come back ASAP because we don't want nobody nicking your stuff." Hasphat smiled and began to unlock the door as he deposited the armor in there. Jacen smiled back. He was wearing pretty expensive clothing but it looked travel-worn from dust upon other things.
"Alright. Once I lose them somewhere north, I'll come back. Probably 3 days max. If worse comes to worse, just hide it in the Vivec Fighter's Guild for me to pick up." Jacen stood up, gulping the rest of his water. "Alright, see ya later." But as everybody ran into the other room, the three mages opened the door.
"Just give up Jacen..." But instead of three mages saying it, ten mages said it- surrounding Jacen.
"Damnit..." Jacen whispered and aimed a finger at the center one. With a few whispered words, he shot a fireball at them and tried to run through them. He could not give up this easily and be dragged all the way to Rotheran. He grabbed his sword from it's sheath and stabbed a mage as he pulled it out. The smoke made everything unclear and he couldn't see ANYTHING. He hacked and slashed in the dust as several green lights shot him all over...his body grew limp...weary...he then passed out and collapsed tiredly as he heard yells...
