Back!
Back I say! Much w00t493. Anyway, from the looks of my life outside
of the box I think updates will come... once every week, give some.
But nonetheless! I'm trying to keep dust from gathering on this
story, unlike some of my other ideas in the past. Such is the price
for taking AP classes. :-
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"Absolutely inexcusable!" Helseth raged. Caelestis had returned to Mournhold once Helseth had analyzed his report on Suran. Much like Gnisis, the Tribunal followers had been slaughtered, their temple desecrated and the head priestess made a gory example of in the archway. During an excavation of the remains a small basement room was found with a makeshift Sixth House shrine built in the center.
"Your Highness, I can assure you that this menace is being sought after with all of the forces you've supplied me." Caelestis said teetering on his words. The urge to let loose the dogs of war with Helseth was becoming too much, "We've got enough proof to hypothesize that this is the doing of the long-extinct Sixth House faction. I've canvassed some informants and have come up with locations of prominent bases for this group."
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Isa idly chopped the intruding mudcrabs into pieces as they attacked. Her feelings of attraction took quite some time to break, and by the time they had vanished the heat from the lava had begun to literally cook her from the inside out. Now, her emotions had been replaced with bitterness and rage. She adamantly swore that once she got her hands on that Balabhas...
The smells in the cavern ranged from death to a sweet, comberry-ish scent. The crimson candles that had burned out over the days spontaneously re-lit themselves, their spent wicks burning with unnatural vitality. Isa was thankful for the red illumination as she sidestepped the rotting corpses of around six dreamers. Gilvoth had yet again invaded her mind and was instructing her to retrieve the Robe before tending to Balabhas, but while she paid him heed she no longer feared him after her face-to-face encounter with Dagoth Ur himself.
Isa had wandered into a wide cavern with a small lava pool. A natural stone bridge curved its way over the lava and led to niche where a set of bells could be seen. She carefully crossed the bridge, mindful of the boiling gasses that would burst from the molten rock, and found the skull of an ascended sleeper sitting near a bubbling cauldron. Isa walked around a bit in the small area, taking note of the quartered plates filled with small wrapped corprus meat hunks, the red and black banners brandishing the round beetle crest, and the troth of random objects, ranging from fine glass boots to forks and knives.
A small, glowing sapphire amulet was buried under a slab of human flesh, and upon closer inspection Isa noted that it too was engraved with Sixth House crest. She picked it up and placed it around her neck as she began to feel an erroneous sense of pride with her new faction. More digging granted her a lock splitter scroll and a potion of rising force. She quirked an eyebrow and looked to the ceiling above her. There was another strip of rock that led to a dead end on both ends, but near the wall a small wooden chest could be seen. Gilvoth screamed in Isa's mind that that chest was where the robe was located.
Mechanically, Isa drank down the bitter tasting liquid and began to feel the effects of it immediately. She walked normally, but instead of moving forward she moved upward, and as she moved the chest came better into view. She squatted on the bridge in front of the chest and began to read the characters on the glowing scroll, one hand on the lock of the chest. The lock gave way with a small click, and when Isa made to open the chest a jolt of electricity went through her arm. Cursing, she prayed that that was the only trap in place and gave a sigh of relief when her good arm opened the lid.
The Robe of St. Roris would have appeared average, even shabby to an extent had it not been an artifact. It was a plain green robe, but it glowed with powerful enchantments. Isa removed it from the chest, folded it and placed it into her sack with the Ask Mask, and slid off of the stone ledge. Her job done, Gilvoth gave her thoughts back to herself and left her about her business. She left the cavern and headed back down the tunnel, this time taking the path she was told to avoid when she first entered Assemanu.
The corpses of a few more dreamers littered the ground before Isa came upon a high precipice. Looking down below, she could see the burnt-out body of a flame atronach lying askew. She turned her back to the scene and slowly climbed down the face of the wall. The area was a small one, and mere moments later Isa ran into a semi-delirious Balabhas with the corpse of an ash slave some yards away from him. Pieces of muscle were missing from the corpse, and judging from the grime covering his hands Isa concluded that Balabhas had been eating the ash slave to survive.
The look in his eyes was wild and desperate as he spied Isa, "Thank the Gods you've come!" he exclaimed hysterically, "This door over here wouldn't open, and I couldn't scale the cliff leading the entrance! It's been days since I've seen the sunlight, and the only thing to eat around here is that wretched ash creature, and it passed its prime long ago!"
At first Isa was glad to hear Balabhas making coherent conversation, but once he had started talking about how to properly season a ceramic bowl she knew he had reached the brink of insanity. After casting a simple sleeping spell Isa picked up the deranged Dunmer and teleported back to Seyda Neen. The city guards eyed her strangely as she awkwardly stood in the middle of the street trying to balance and look around Balabhas at an approaching guard.
"This man needs to get to a temple and fast." Isa said half-setting, half-dropping Balabhas on the ground, "I found him in the Sixth House base southeast of here. From the story he had told me he had become trapped and had to survive off of an ash slave. Saw the corpse myself in fact, not pretty."
Isa handed the guard her purse, which contained enough gold to get someone from Cyrodiil and back, "Keep the change!" she yelled as she teleported back to Citadel Dagoth.
Gilvoth took the artifacts from her without so much as a word and ordered her to report to Vos within a weeks' time.
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Fedris Hler looked squarely at the Dreamer sitting before him. Helseth had made Caelestis and his men go all the way back to Ald-Ruhn and bring the Dunmer they had spoken with to Mournhold so he could be questioned by the Temple (Given his obvious Sixth House connections).
"Can I offer you anything?" Hler asked politely, "A drink, some food perhaps? You must be famished."
"I live only off of the meat my corprus gives me." the Dreamer said with an absent look.
Hler stepped away from the man, slightly panicked at the mention of corprus disease, and found it in best interest to hastily finish his questioning, "I'll be blunt with you. What is the Sixth House planning?"
"You think that I, a devout follower of Lord Dagoth, would divulge such sensitive matters so easily?" the Dreamer said with a mad laugh, "I can tell you that those that don't believe had better be on their guards. A new world order will begin, and Nerevar will fall!"
"Nerevar you say?" Hler laughed, "You do know that that is false Ashlander prophecy, don't you? You've obviously been brainwashed."
The Dreamer suddenly sat forward and slammed his fists on the small table, "No! Lord Dagoth knows for a fact that the Nerevarine is in Morrowind right now, and only his heir can destroy him!"
"You're also telling me that the devil himself has a bloodline? Don't be foolish!" Hler laughed again. Deeming the man raving, he summoned a High Ordinator to make the Dreamer ready for life in the Corprusarium.
"So you're telling me that the Dunmer was of no use?" Caelestis asked Hler as he emerged from the Temple. He seethed inwardly at the wasted trip he had to take.
"I'm sorry, serjo, but the man was spouting nonsense about the Nerevarine, Dagoth Ur having an heir and other madness. It's the corprus taking over his mind." Hler said as Caelestis scribbled the information down for another report to Helseth.
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Balabhas opened his eyes to the harsh glare of the afternoon sun. He cringed at the thought of another day trapped in that dank cave... Sunlight!
Balabhas sat up abruptly, but leaned back jerkily on his elbows as his equilibrium tried to balance itself. Instead of laying on a hard stone floor he found himself in a soft and warm bed under a heavy comforter. A candle burned on the beside table next to a small bowl of water with a rag sitting in it and a rolled up piece of parchment. Curious, he picked up and unrolled the parchment and read its contents:
Balabhas
It seems that you were in quite the situation yesterday. It's fortunate that I found you before you starved to death, or worse went mad in that damned cavern. In case you're wondering, you're now sitting in the Balmora Temple, hopefully medicated and healed. I figured I should return the favor after you cured me of my ash-chancre.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Absolutely inexcusable!" Helseth raged. Caelestis had returned to Mournhold once Helseth had analyzed his report on Suran. Much like Gnisis, the Tribunal followers had been slaughtered, their temple desecrated and the head priestess made a gory example of in the archway. During an excavation of the remains a small basement room was found with a makeshift Sixth House shrine built in the center.
"Your Highness, I can assure you that this menace is being sought after with all of the forces you've supplied me." Caelestis said teetering on his words. The urge to let loose the dogs of war with Helseth was becoming too much, "We've got enough proof to hypothesize that this is the doing of the long-extinct Sixth House faction. I've canvassed some informants and have come up with locations of prominent bases for this group."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Isa idly chopped the intruding mudcrabs into pieces as they attacked. Her feelings of attraction took quite some time to break, and by the time they had vanished the heat from the lava had begun to literally cook her from the inside out. Now, her emotions had been replaced with bitterness and rage. She adamantly swore that once she got her hands on that Balabhas...
The smells in the cavern ranged from death to a sweet, comberry-ish scent. The crimson candles that had burned out over the days spontaneously re-lit themselves, their spent wicks burning with unnatural vitality. Isa was thankful for the red illumination as she sidestepped the rotting corpses of around six dreamers. Gilvoth had yet again invaded her mind and was instructing her to retrieve the Robe before tending to Balabhas, but while she paid him heed she no longer feared him after her face-to-face encounter with Dagoth Ur himself.
Isa had wandered into a wide cavern with a small lava pool. A natural stone bridge curved its way over the lava and led to niche where a set of bells could be seen. She carefully crossed the bridge, mindful of the boiling gasses that would burst from the molten rock, and found the skull of an ascended sleeper sitting near a bubbling cauldron. Isa walked around a bit in the small area, taking note of the quartered plates filled with small wrapped corprus meat hunks, the red and black banners brandishing the round beetle crest, and the troth of random objects, ranging from fine glass boots to forks and knives.
A small, glowing sapphire amulet was buried under a slab of human flesh, and upon closer inspection Isa noted that it too was engraved with Sixth House crest. She picked it up and placed it around her neck as she began to feel an erroneous sense of pride with her new faction. More digging granted her a lock splitter scroll and a potion of rising force. She quirked an eyebrow and looked to the ceiling above her. There was another strip of rock that led to a dead end on both ends, but near the wall a small wooden chest could be seen. Gilvoth screamed in Isa's mind that that chest was where the robe was located.
Mechanically, Isa drank down the bitter tasting liquid and began to feel the effects of it immediately. She walked normally, but instead of moving forward she moved upward, and as she moved the chest came better into view. She squatted on the bridge in front of the chest and began to read the characters on the glowing scroll, one hand on the lock of the chest. The lock gave way with a small click, and when Isa made to open the chest a jolt of electricity went through her arm. Cursing, she prayed that that was the only trap in place and gave a sigh of relief when her good arm opened the lid.
The Robe of St. Roris would have appeared average, even shabby to an extent had it not been an artifact. It was a plain green robe, but it glowed with powerful enchantments. Isa removed it from the chest, folded it and placed it into her sack with the Ask Mask, and slid off of the stone ledge. Her job done, Gilvoth gave her thoughts back to herself and left her about her business. She left the cavern and headed back down the tunnel, this time taking the path she was told to avoid when she first entered Assemanu.
The corpses of a few more dreamers littered the ground before Isa came upon a high precipice. Looking down below, she could see the burnt-out body of a flame atronach lying askew. She turned her back to the scene and slowly climbed down the face of the wall. The area was a small one, and mere moments later Isa ran into a semi-delirious Balabhas with the corpse of an ash slave some yards away from him. Pieces of muscle were missing from the corpse, and judging from the grime covering his hands Isa concluded that Balabhas had been eating the ash slave to survive.
The look in his eyes was wild and desperate as he spied Isa, "Thank the Gods you've come!" he exclaimed hysterically, "This door over here wouldn't open, and I couldn't scale the cliff leading the entrance! It's been days since I've seen the sunlight, and the only thing to eat around here is that wretched ash creature, and it passed its prime long ago!"
At first Isa was glad to hear Balabhas making coherent conversation, but once he had started talking about how to properly season a ceramic bowl she knew he had reached the brink of insanity. After casting a simple sleeping spell Isa picked up the deranged Dunmer and teleported back to Seyda Neen. The city guards eyed her strangely as she awkwardly stood in the middle of the street trying to balance and look around Balabhas at an approaching guard.
"This man needs to get to a temple and fast." Isa said half-setting, half-dropping Balabhas on the ground, "I found him in the Sixth House base southeast of here. From the story he had told me he had become trapped and had to survive off of an ash slave. Saw the corpse myself in fact, not pretty."
Isa handed the guard her purse, which contained enough gold to get someone from Cyrodiil and back, "Keep the change!" she yelled as she teleported back to Citadel Dagoth.
Gilvoth took the artifacts from her without so much as a word and ordered her to report to Vos within a weeks' time.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Fedris Hler looked squarely at the Dreamer sitting before him. Helseth had made Caelestis and his men go all the way back to Ald-Ruhn and bring the Dunmer they had spoken with to Mournhold so he could be questioned by the Temple (Given his obvious Sixth House connections).
"Can I offer you anything?" Hler asked politely, "A drink, some food perhaps? You must be famished."
"I live only off of the meat my corprus gives me." the Dreamer said with an absent look.
Hler stepped away from the man, slightly panicked at the mention of corprus disease, and found it in best interest to hastily finish his questioning, "I'll be blunt with you. What is the Sixth House planning?"
"You think that I, a devout follower of Lord Dagoth, would divulge such sensitive matters so easily?" the Dreamer said with a mad laugh, "I can tell you that those that don't believe had better be on their guards. A new world order will begin, and Nerevar will fall!"
"Nerevar you say?" Hler laughed, "You do know that that is false Ashlander prophecy, don't you? You've obviously been brainwashed."
The Dreamer suddenly sat forward and slammed his fists on the small table, "No! Lord Dagoth knows for a fact that the Nerevarine is in Morrowind right now, and only his heir can destroy him!"
"You're also telling me that the devil himself has a bloodline? Don't be foolish!" Hler laughed again. Deeming the man raving, he summoned a High Ordinator to make the Dreamer ready for life in the Corprusarium.
"So you're telling me that the Dunmer was of no use?" Caelestis asked Hler as he emerged from the Temple. He seethed inwardly at the wasted trip he had to take.
"I'm sorry, serjo, but the man was spouting nonsense about the Nerevarine, Dagoth Ur having an heir and other madness. It's the corprus taking over his mind." Hler said as Caelestis scribbled the information down for another report to Helseth.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Balabhas opened his eyes to the harsh glare of the afternoon sun. He cringed at the thought of another day trapped in that dank cave... Sunlight!
Balabhas sat up abruptly, but leaned back jerkily on his elbows as his equilibrium tried to balance itself. Instead of laying on a hard stone floor he found himself in a soft and warm bed under a heavy comforter. A candle burned on the beside table next to a small bowl of water with a rag sitting in it and a rolled up piece of parchment. Curious, he picked up and unrolled the parchment and read its contents:
Balabhas
It seems that you were in quite the situation yesterday. It's fortunate that I found you before you starved to death, or worse went mad in that damned cavern. In case you're wondering, you're now sitting in the Balmora Temple, hopefully medicated and healed. I figured I should return the favor after you cured me of my ash-chancre.
Isa