Chapter 1: The Morag Tong Assassin
If P'Rassha's memory is right, it all began the tenth day of the Last Seed. A dark rainy day; the kind not even an argonian likes. It was why P'Rassha preferred to stay inside. More accurately, inside the Black Shalk Cornerclub in Vivec. The marvelous city of Vivec. P'Rassha knows the regulars in this cornerclub usually don't like outlanders, even less betmers. But P'Rassha had an edge that made even the Black Shalkers think twice before interrupting P'Rassha's dinners: the Khajiit wasn't a Suthay-raht. The dark skinned elves were used to see the small man-sized Suthay-raht Khajiit, or in rare cases the Breton-like Ohmes, but never P'Rassha thinks, the dark dunmers saw a Cathay-raht.
For those not familiar with Khajiit physiology, P'Rassha will allow a small interlude early in the story. When the catfolks give birth, the shape and powers of their child depends on the moons. The phases of Masser and Secunda -full, fading crescent, etc- at the moment of birth determines whether the Khajiit will look like an intelligent house cat, a bipedal cat, a mer with fur a jaguar or another of the many Khajiit breeds. P'Rassha was born when both moons were waxing, thus he took the shape you can all see. A much stronger, taller and faster breed than what the Dunmers were used to, at least. It's not everyday the dark elves see a 9 feet tall bipedal jaguar with paws the size of their heads. That's why they left P'Rassha alone and didn't bother threatening the khajiit.
Thus, P'Rassha was eating roasted crab meat in the Black Shalk Cornerclub, trying to forget the really ugly weather outside when P'Rassha's friend, Eliandra entered. Usually, two outlanders at the same time in the Cornerclub would be seen as an insult for the regular clients, but Eliandra was quite a sight too. P'Rassha knows no Nords would be tall enough to challenge a Cathay-raht, but Eliandra was excellent at intimidating future opponents with her sheer presence. She is a beautiful woman from the nordic coasts of Skyrim, elegant even in her heavy ringmail and deadly with both her axe and her spells. Eliandra was a powerful battlemage indeed, and more than a head taller than the average Dunmers. Again, the Black Shalkers left Eliandra and P'Rassha alone.
The battlemage sat at P'Rassha's table and took a finely written scroll out of a case.
-What's that? P'Rassha asked.
-It's a marvelous opportunity, answered the Nord woman.
P'Rassha grabbed the scroll out of Eliandra's hands and read the document. The scroll was as follow: "Fabius Retribius. The afore-mentioned have been marked for honourable execution in the accordance to the lawful tradition and practice of the Morag Tong Guild. The bearer of this non-disputable document has official sanctioned license to kill the afore-mentionned personage." This message was quickly followed by the Morag Tong symbol. It was an official document, P'Rassha could tell, and not a fake.
P'Rassha wondered what kind of opportunity this document would give. P'Rassha, for one, doesn't like to kill individuals just because the opportunity presented itself. He asked:
-What do you want to do with this writ of execution?
-Well, Eliandra answered, I want to catch that murderer.
P'Rassha was puzzled by Eliandra's comment. How could she catch a murderer with a writ of execution that legally gives him the right to kill? Eliandra was used to P'Rassha, and noticed the funny look on the khajiit's face. She added without allowing P'Rassha to answer:
-This writ is not even a day old. The murderer hasn't killed its victim yet.
-So what? P'Rassha asked.
-We find this Fabius Retribius and protect him, concluded Eliandra.
P'Rassha found there was something amiss in Eliandra's plan. P'Rassha said even if Retribius was found before it's too late, the murderer would still be protected by the writ. It was the law in Morrowind afterall. For sole answer, she took the scroll back and with a simply snap of the fingers burnt it and transformed it into ash. P'Rassha couldn't hide his surprise, but Eliandra eased P'Rassha by touching one of his gigantic paw.
-Don't worry P'Rassha, said the battlemage. If there is no writ, the murderer has no legal power.
-P'Rassha is not sure to follow friend Eliandra, the khajiit answered.
Eliandra smiled and rose back on her feet.
-Come with me P'Rassha, I'll explain everything to you on the way to Ebonheart.
-Ebonheart? P'Rassha asked. Why Ebonheart?
-I made a little research beforehand, answered the Nord. As you already guessed, Retribius is a man from Cyrodil, the imperial province. He is currently staying at the Six Fishes Inn in the city of Ebonheart. If we want to catch the murderer, better get there as soon as possible.
P'Rassha took his gargantuan Nordic Battleaxe leaning on the table and paid the meal to the bartender. It wasn't long before Eliandra and P'Rassha were outside the Cornerclub, and again outside the walls of the Foreign Quarters of the great city of Vivec, in the rain. Have you ever been to Vivec? A beautiful city, Vivec; a marvelous city I should say. It is divided into 8 different quarters, all of which are actually the size of a normal city. The quarters are huge buildings linked to each others by bridges and passageways large enough for a carriage to go through. The first accessible quarter from the land is, logically, the Foreign Quarter, and thus the gondolier outside the city wasn't too far from Eliandra and P'Rassha.
P'Rassha couldn't help but to be soaked by the time they reached the boat, and even more about an hour after upon reaching the city of Ebonheart. While Vivec was built following Velothi architectural traditions, with a dome shaped roof and rust colored bricks, the city of Ebonheart was clearly an imperial city. The architecture had a much more western influence, with greyish walls and tall towers. The great ebony dragon greeted Eliandra and P'Rassha just like a monster emerging from the rain. The 20 feet tall statue was made entirely from a rare black rock called ebony only common around the Red Mountain, the volcanic center of the province of Morrowind, and more precisely, the island of Vvanderfell. It was quite a sight. Eliandra knew where the Six Fishes were, not P'Rassha, so the kahjiit followed the Nord woman into a small inn. It was crowded, even though the weather would normally keep people inside their homes. The reason was quite simple: Fabius Retribius was there. P'Rassha didn't know the man, but Eliandra did. Thus, Eliandra said he was a renowned Imperial merchant who travelled across Tamriel in search for rare goods. Some say he is a scavenger and a tomb robber, but the items he sold were really interesting. He even had that day something worth a fortune: a daedric dagger.
P'Rassha will allow a little interruption in his story to talk about the Daedric weapons. It is doubtful a lot of you ever say a real deadric weapon. If some of you did, P'Rassha knows you are among the handful of the people in this room that ever did. There are two possible ways to see these marvellous weapons. First, some mages and conjurers are able to call the spirits of the deadras, the denizens of the realm of Oblivion, and force them to take the shape of a weapon for a time. These weapons only last for a few seconds, though, and do not have all the characteristics of real deadric blades. Second, the best armorers in all Tamriel are able to take raw ebony and transform it into deadly weapons. If an echanter is able to summon a deadra and bound its spirit into an ebony blade, then a deadric weapon is created. Only in rare case a mortal was able to create such a weapon. Usually, deadric arsenal is found among the corpses of fallen deadra summoned in this realm by powerful witches, thus the scarcity of these weapons. Defeating a deadra powerful enough to bind the spirits of its own kind into ebony weapons rarely found their match in the mortal world. And now, back to P'Rassha's story.
All the Six Fishes's patrons were standing around Retribius's table in the middle of the room, leaving little room for a close protection. P'Rassha decided the best way to protect the Imperial was to sit on a nearby table, far enough to see all of Retribius's customers, but close enough to react in case of a danger.
P'Rassha touched Violetta, the medallion the khajiit's neck, and waited for something to happen. P'Rassha was particularly careful about the hands of the patrons, trying to spot any weapons that might strike him. The wait was long, very long. Eliandra and P'Rassha only knew there was a writ of execution on the Imperial's head. The exact moment of the execution was unknown. The watch lasted for about 2 hours. By that time, many of the patrons had left the Six Fishes. Only a few customers remained around Retribius, making P'Rassha's job a lot easier. Actually, 7 people were still in the Six Fishes apart from Eliandra, Retribius and P'Rassha. First, the Nord innkeeper called Agning was still behind his counter, it's doubtful the innkeeper himself would be an assassin, thus P'Rassha didn't pay attention to him. Retribius still had three customers around him, 2 dumner, probably a couple, and one imperial guard. The latter was looking with envy the Daedric dagger, but it was most likely way too expensive for a simple guard. Close to Eliandra's table, two argonians, the lizard-like people, were discussing in their serpent-like tongue. Finally, an Altmer, a tall gold-skinned elf, was sitting at the counter, slowly drinking what seems to be a Telvanni Bug Musk. It was hard for P'Rassha to keep an eye on all of them, but suddenly, a spell was cast.
Who casted the spell, P'Rassha didn't know, but the khajiit recognized the familiar sound when someone play with Magicka. The mage was inside the Six Fishes, inside the room, but it happened to fast for P'Rassha to pinpoint the origin of the spell. After this, everything went a lot faster than the human's eye to see. P'Rassha activated Violetta and watched the scene, prepared to jump on anyone attacking Retribius. Suddenly, the imperial guard took the deadric dagger from Fabius's table and tried to stab him. P'Rassha was faster though. Within the blink of an eye, P'Rassha had took his axe, leapt on the Imperial and pushed him out of the way. Meanwhile, Eliandra unsheathed her broadsword and casted a dispel spell on the imperial guard.
P'Rassha saw the eyes of the imperial changed color. P'Rassha knew what that meant. He shouted in Eliandra's direction:
-A command spell, the imperial is not the assa…
But P'Rassha couldn't finish the sentence. P'Rassha could still see what was happening, but someone else was controlling P'Rassha's mind and body. The khajiit raised his axe and tried to cut Retribius in half as soon as the assassin took control but Eliandra, too, was quick to act. The Nord woman jumped between P'Rassha's axe and its target. Hopefully, her heavy Nordic Ringmail prevented most of the damage, but P'Rassha knew the Nordic woman was hurt nonetheless.
She rose on her feet, apparently intact, just in time to block another assault from P'Rassha. Her awareness probably saved three lives this day. P'Rassha couldn't see the counter from where he was standing, but Eliandra could, and she saw the Altmer trying to cast another spell with stealth. The Nord woman dodged P'Rassha's axe and unleashed the power of her right ring in the direction of the Atmer, the assassin, she thought. The ring literraly shrieked and the sound wave thus created disrupted the very fabric of the spell the mage was trying to thread. She now had two enemies to face.
Feinting P'Rassha with a nimble sword trust, Eliandra managed to move to the khajiit's left while distracting the latter from attacking Retribius. Again, she used her ring to prevent the Altmer from casting another spell. Hopefully for Eliandra, activating a ring was faster than casting a spell. P'Rassha could see the Nord woman was thinking as fast as she could to find a solution. P'Rassha felt sorry he couldn't help her in any way.
Eliandra kicked P'Rassha kneecap and tried to disarm him. Unfortunatly, a 9 feet tall bipedal jaguar isn't that easy to subdue. Meanwhile, the Altmer started to cast another spell and even though the Nord was preoccupied by not getting hurt by P'Rassha enormous weapon, she managed to throw another shrieking sound in the spellcaster's direction. While she was trying to carefully aim with her ring, P'Rassha managed to hit her with impressive efficiency. The ring's effect successfully stopped the Altmer's spell, but Eliandra went flying across the Six Fishes.
P'Rassha turned around to finally kill Retribius, but Eliandra bought enough time for him to run away. Furious, the Altmer silently ordered him to kill the Nord woman while he casted one last spell to run away. His error was to not consider Eliandra incredible toughness. She was back in her feet and waited for the Altmer. When his spell was almost completed, he noticed that the Nord was still in relatively good health and she finalized her own little surprise for him. A large lightning arc connected her left arm and the Altmer's body, breaking the latter's concentration and consequently his spell. He kneeled down for a few seconds, giving Eliandra enough time to cast dispel on P'Rassha before the kahjiit had time to attack her.
When the Altmer finally rose on his feet, the 9 feet tall Cathay-raht Khajiit slashes his face with a clawed paw, leaving 4 red and bloody marks. The assassin was knocked down by P'Rassha sheer strength and felt on the ground, unconscious.
-A'Shiir, P'Rassha shouted.
-Don't swear like this P'Rassha, Eliandra answered while holding her left arm. Do you have the bracers?
P'Rassha nodded and showed to the Nord a pair of finely crafted bracers. Without losing a seconds, he locked them around the Altmer's arm.
-P'Rassha is sorry about what happened, the khajiit said.
-No worries friend, assured Eliandra. As long as we are both alive and this mer is under arrest, then I don't mind you broke at least 3 of my ribs and made a deep cut in my arms.
P'Rassha approached the Nord woman, feeling guilty for what the khajiit did under the effects of the spells, but Eliandra simply touched his giant paw with a smile. Everything was said between the two friends.
The imperial guard finally recovered his senses and asked a few questions, but Eliandra and P'Rassha were good enough to control the situation. It wasn't long before the Altmer was behind bars, the bracers absorbing all the Magicka from him, disabling his ability to cast spells.