My Time in Hell: Behind the Scenes
By: Jason Cline
The Merchant's Inn, Imperial City – 9th of Morningstar 4E93 8:27 pm
Valin Elenil sat dejectedly at the bar nursing a mug of ale. His final appeal to editors of The Black Horse Currier had failed, his career in journalism was over. The Dunmer poked unenthusiastically at the remnants of the meal in front of him and sighed. This didn't make any sense. His articles weren't *that* controversial.
He smiled to himself. Well…not yet anyway.
But for the Imperial Council to censor him already meant they must anticipate the truths to come. And if that's true then that must mean the Council doesn't want the citizens of the Empire to know the truth! But what was it that Emperor Attrebus Mede wanted to hide?
Maybe it was…
But his thoughts were interrupted by the looming presence of an Orsimer male who had just sat down, rather too closely, beside him. Valin started to move his chair to the left when another Orsimer male sat down on that side. Before he could escape the awkward situation the newcomer dropped an arm across his shoulder in what might have been a friendly manner had Valin the slightest clue who these Orsimer were.
"Hey you're that newspaper guy right? The one who's writing about the last Mage or some such?" The Orsimer whose arm was preventing Valin's escape asked.
"I am." Valin replied desperately searching for the publican who seemed to have gone missing once the large Orsimers arrived.
"See Grubner…I told you that was him." the Orsimer to the left said to the one on the right.
Grubner remained silent, not even turning his head to look at Valin, but his companion continued, "See me an Grubner…we've been reading your stories and well we don't like 'em."
Valin squirmed uncomfortably in his seat but the two Orsimer had him squished in between them and he could not easily remove himself. "What is it you don't like about them?" he asked.
"Well they're not true!" the Orsimer continued. "The Hero of Kvatch wasn't a coward like you wrote. He wasn't no Mage either…he was an Orc like me."
"Sir! I think you will find that historical records are clear…"
The Orsimer backhanded Valin hard enough to knock him backwards out of his chair and down to the inn floor. Valin's vision blurred and blood filled his mouth. His eyes watered and he could tell that his nose must be broken.
The vocal Orc stood over him and yelled, "He was an Orc like me!" The Orsimer kicked Valin hard in the ribs before reaching down to hoist the young Dunmer up by his shoulders until his feet were a few inches above the floor and shake him.
"We better do it quick…" Grubner said, speaking for the first time since the two entered the inn. "That barman will be back soon."
The Orsimer who held him pulled Valin in close until they were face to face and grinned, "No more lies from you Dunmer."
"Put the kid down." An uninterested voice called from the entrance. The two Orsimer turned at the sound but Valin knew the voice well.
Sebastian Ashcroft walked unhurriedly into the room, his arms laden with bags of alchemical ingredients he had purchased that day and an irritated look on his face. He placed the bags on a nearby table and shot the Orsimer holding Valin a withering look, "I said put the kid down."
Grubner leapt to his feet and drew a wicked looking blade, "It's the Heretic!" he spat.
"Heretic?" Sebastian said then nodded his head considering the term, "That's a new one. Never been called a Heretic before."
The Orsimer holding Valin tossed him aside; he collided with a table and it overturned leaving him groaning and holding his face. The Orsimer then drew a matching blade to his companion and moved to flank Sebastian.
Sebastian turned his head back and forth to keep the two circling Orcs in view and said casually, "Look I don't know what the issue is here but I suggest you two leave. No need to involve the guards if you go now." He made a subtle motion with his hand and a faint green light shot out to strike Grubner in his chest.
When the spell impacted a purple aura flared into existence around Grubner and he sneered. He reached to his neck and pulled an expensive looking amulet of obvious Altmer origin out from under his shirt and shook it.
"Did you think we weren't prepared to face a Mage Heretic?" Grubner began closing in on Sebastian with a dark look on his face as his companion moved in on the other side, mirroring his movements almost exactly.
Sebastian moved to put the bar between himself and his attackers and chuckled, "Only one problem Orc…I'm not a Mage. I'm an Alchemist."
With speed born of a century of practice Sebastian produced a small metal vial and downed the contents. The Orsimer lunged but Sebastian vanished from sight. The Orcs came together, back to back as they scanned the room for the missing man. Suddenly the lights from the chandelier overhead were extinguished by an unseen hand, casting the room into a deep gloom. The candles on the still upright tables provided enough illumination that everyone present could see for the most part but dark shadows now filled the corners and the flickering lights of the candles made it difficult to make out any fine details in the Inn.
Movement at the fringes of vision drew the Orcs' attention and they turned as one unit to see a headless shambling corpse lunge out of the darkness towards them. Valin, who had recovered by this time, scooted backwards away from the terrifying creature; but the two Orsimer moved in conduit to engage it. They encircled the corpse and began to harry it; one would dart in to strike with his dagger then jump back as the other would do the same from behind the zombie. It was a sound tactic and in a moment's time they had dropped the monster having suffered only a few lumbering strikes themselves.
As the zombie fell, Sebastian became visible again behind Grubner and stabbed him in the back with a glass bladed dagger. The Orc attempted to turn but his body locked up in agony and he fell to the ground, contorting in pain. Sebastian grinned at the remaining Orc then snapped his fingers and disappeared again in a flash of green light.
The last Orsimer lunged forward with his dagger, deftly avoiding the body of Grubner on the ground which was now smoking and exuding the smell of burnt meat. When his dagger met with nothing but air the Orsimer turned and vaulted over the bar, heading towards Valin.
"Good thought, but no." Sebastian said as he appeared to the right of the Orsimer and stabbing him in the chest. Just like Grubner before him the Orc dropped to the ground, muscles locked in agony. Sebastian stepped over the Orc, who was beginning so smoke and smell of burnt meat like his compatriot had, and helped Valin to his feet.
"A headless Zombie?!" Valin said, a note of hysteria in his voice.
"I know, I know. But it was cramped spaces so I didn't dare summon anything more…dynamic. And I find that a headless corpse stumbling towards you tends to encourage most ne'er to wells to leave…quickly." Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the corpse of the Orc lying at his feet, "Not these two though. Curious."
The two up-righted the table Valin had been flung into and Sebastian pushed a small glass vial into the Dunmer's hand before kneeling down to investigate the smoldering corpse of the Orsimer who had backhanded Valin earlier. Valin swallowed the contents of the vial; the potion was sweet and pleasant with a lingering aftertaste of lavender.
"What did you do to him?" Valin asked, indicating the scorched stab wound in the Orsimer's chest.
"Red Daedric Venom. A little concoction I came up with during the Oblivion Crisis, the trick is introducing elements of Fire Salts into the body *before* they combust. Most of the ingredients were native to Mehrunes Dagon's plane of Oblivion sadly; Harrada…Spiddal Stick…but I can still find substitutions to make a nearly identical mixture."
Valin nodded, feeling the effects of the healing potion knitting together his broken cartilage and closing the tears in his flesh. "And why didn't your charm spell work?"
"This." Sebastian said as he yanked a necklace off the corpse, breaking the clasp, and holding it up for Valin to see. "Looks like this necklace enhanced the Orc's natural resistance to magic greatly."
"Wait…" Valin said and held up a hand, "Didn't you tell me once that toxins made from Alchemy used the Magicka of the ingredients? So wouldn't they be blocked by the amulet as well?"
Sebastian favored Valin with a smile, "Good job! Well-reasoned. Yes alchemical toxins act against the body much the same way a spell does and can be blocked by either natural resistance or magically augmented resistance to magic. However this," he produced the green bladed dagger from a sheath at his hip, "has been enchanted to make anyone cut by the blade more vulnerable to magic. It is very difficult to make oneself completely resistant to magic. It can be done of course, but only if a person's innate resistance is quite strong already."
Valin knew the answer without asking, but the journalist in him couldn't leave the question unasked, "And are you completely resistant to magic?"
"Of course I am." Sebastian said with a frown, as though the answer were obvious. But Valin knew better by now. After more than a hundred years of life Sebastian Ashcroft had gained some measure of humility, but deep down Valin knew Sebastian still loved to show off.
"Seems like a strange thing for a random group of thugs to have don't you think?"
Sebastian's question caught Valin off guard, "What?"
"Well look at them. I mean really look at them. Isn't it funny how they are dressed in shabby clothes but they have very well made weapons. And these amulets wouldn't have come cheaply. And when I was searching the body I noticed that he had nothing else on him. No money, none of the brick-a-brack that seems to accumulate in one's pockets as the week passes. Just very expensive weapons possibly exuberantly expensive amulets and second hand clothing."
Valin sighed exasperatedly, "Just tell me what you're thinking. I'm really not in the mood to stroke your ego by playing 'Lead Valin to the Answer' tonight."
"Fine. These two were sent to kill you." Sebastian said in a matter of fact tone.
"You think the Imperial Council sent someone to kill me because of the articles I wrote about you?" Valin asked.
"I'm not sure it was the Imperial Council. Think about it, if Attrebus or the Imperial Council wanted you out of the way they wouldn't kill you; they'd just throw you in jail forever. Attrebus Mede is the Emperor, he can do whatever he wants to his subjects."
Valin shrugged, acquiescing.
"But the more I think about it, the more I think it might not be the Empire behind the censure in the first place. What if the editors of the Currier are just saying it's the Empire behind the censure? Or what if they only think it's the Empire that is calling for the censure but really it is a third party?"
Valin frown skeptically, "I don't know that sounds awful convoluted. Who would care enough about our interviews to have them banned in such a circumspect way?"
"I'm not sure yet," Sebastian said rubbing his chin. "But for now you should find another publisher. We need to keep the stories coming so we can draw out whoever sent these Orcs to kill you."
Valin nodded then smiled, "Well…it would be a shame for the people of Cyrodiil to miss out on the *true* story of the Hero of Kvatch."
"Yes it would." Sebastian said with a grin to match.