Death on your tail
Note from the author: Like the two previous chapters, the following text continues the odyssey, worthy of that of Ulysses, Rin Tohsaka and Artoria Pendragon around the Illiac' Bay. Hence an important question: what is the distance between Wayrest (the point of departure) and Daggerfall (the point of arrival)? Well, the area of the map of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall was estimated by the players to be about 346 368 km² or the area of Germany. The two cities must therefore be separated by something like 750 km. A distance that can be crossed in one to two weeks by sea, depending on whether the winds are favorable or not and in 35 days of diligence, by land. And yes, in an hour's car drive, you're doing the equivalent of three days of stagecoach and six days of walking.
A stage or, to be more exact, a "stagecoach" is a huge car pulled by six horses and able to board eight passengers, a driver and a postillion. Weighing more than a ton, the stage had neither glass nor copper lanterns. The former being replaced by simple leather curtains, and there was no need for the latter.
In theory, the stagecoach could travel up to 80 km a day... when the rain was not getting in the way. Otherwise, passengers had to walk next to or even push. The average could fall to less than 20 kilometers per day.
The daily distance was an important feature of due diligence. Because, far more than passengers, their main source of revenue came from the transport of mail and a letter had to arrive at its destination before its contents lost any interest.
No doubt this explains the strong swearing of the coachman when one of the spokes of the front wheel broke on a donkey's back.
Fortunately, the stagecoach was carrying a spare copy. Phillip and Ramer Mercier, the two Dragon Knights assisted the driver in replacing the damaged wheel. Saber had offered his help, but the two aristocrats refused vehemently. They probably thought that worthy knights couldn't let a woman work... With her eyes hardened, her face frozen, Artoria replied that she too was a knight and that it came before, long before, the fact that she was a woman.
Nevertheless, the girl did not renew her offer, choosing to walk along the road, probably to ventilate her anger.
The stagecoach had been forced to stop in a dangerous place, a defile designed for the passage of the road by the imperial legionnaires and prisoners of war. In three centuries of weather and frost, the two cliffs cut with pickaxe and mine bar had cracked and unstable blocks threatened to break away. Of course, there was little chance that a landslide would occur just when the check mark was stopped...
Except that Rin and Saber were pursued by all the curses of the world...
The knight had only time to warn, seeing the first blocks come loose and bounce back on the slope, drawing more rocks that ricocheted in the middle of the dust and pebbles. The two knights, still young, reacted vividly. The coachman also avoided the rocks... Alas, horses could not be asked to remain calm while large stones fell around them. They wanted to escape... except that with one less wheel the coach could not go very far. There was a crack like the jack lifting the vehicle broke... before it fell back on the driver.
Artoria had rushed. Nevertheless, at first glance, she understood that there was nothing left to do. Only the top of the man's body came out from under the stage and a pool of blood quickly expanded.
In spite of the red fluid oozing in his lips, the coachman stared at Saber with an imploring gaze while trying to speak. She stuck her ear to her mouth and caught a few words: "Not... an accident... of men... on the cliff... caused the..." it exhaled without ending, but there was no need for a great imagination to complete.
The driver was buried at the side of the road. The wheel was changed and, after the postillion had taken the driver's seat, the coach departed.
Sitting in the cabin next to Rin, Artoria looked discreetly at the other passengers. They had been tried to kill them... Saber understood that an ordinary coach was attacked to rob it. Nevertheless, she couldn't make any sense of this attack except... unless we wanted to stop her from finding Excalibur.
Before evening they reached the village of Oxwich. It was a grouping of a few houses around a central street. Apart from the inn which served as stagecoach, there was only one general store, not even a temple.
The relay was called "The Red Mountain Ash". It was a shabby and shaky building. The floor of the main hall had not been swept for ages, and the tavern smelled of stale beer, grease and sweat, a stir that gave nausea to anyone entering this wretched move.
It was not the worst hostel on the road... but if Rin Tohsaka were to make a guide on the subject one day, she would give him a special price. While the keeper, a little one-eyed Breton with a deceitful air, led her to the room she was going to share with Artoria, the young woman felt faint at the sight of his scullion clothes of a filthy filth. Here's their cook for this stage...
As for the rooms... the floor was creaking, the beds were wobbly and the mice fled into the corridor when the visitors arrived.
As the owner of the "Red Mountain Ash" moved away, Rin dropped herself in a chair:
- This trip is killing me.
The comeback was humorous. Nevertheless, Saber became slightly tense:
- Rin... you don't think you can say.
In a few words, the King of the Knights repeated what the driver had told her before he died and her own conclusions. Tohsaka did not seem surprised. With her chin in her fist, she looked at the floor with a thoughtful air:
- Our enemies found us very soon after the shipwreck of The Phynaster's stride. There are two equally disturbing possibilities.
She lifted the forefinger:
- Either Angra Mainyu is following us, probably by magic...
Rin raised the middle finger:
- Either it has a widespread organization throughout Hight Rock... maybe both... the magic to locate us, and agents everywhere to mount ambushes, sabotage our vehicles or attack us at the relays.
Saber showed a troubled face, but soon resumed her calm. She was going to speak when they knocked on the door. It was the owner who returned with a tray on which were placed two bowls of... something undefined that was swimming in a cloudy and greasy broth. He put down what should be their... meal (?).
- Enjoy your meal!
He left. Leaving his two clients rather uncomfortable... The food (?) in the plates seemed to want to flee, no doubt offended by having been so badly treated by the so-called cook. Saber looked the most miserable in the world:
- I've never missed Shiro so much...
The young knight's feelings followed a most strange path. The fastest way to reach her heart was through the stomach. That said that evening, Rin understood her perfectly:
- Well, let's stay positive, it may not be as bad as it sounds... after all it would be difficult.
The Magus had just picked up the cutlery and was about to swing a fork into the... "thing" when Saber grabbed her wrist with enough vigor for her friend to make a little cry.
- Rin... this could be even less edible than you think.
With her finger, the female knight showed a drop of yellow-green liquid on the tray:
- Could you do a structural analysis of this product?
After a hesitation, Tohsaka stretched her hand above the plate, the eyelids closed to concentrate better:
- Strukturanalyse!
She opens her eyes abruptly, her skin taking the shade of chalk:
- It is... a green bay distillate and giant scorpion venom from the Alik'r Desert! A deadly poison! Who... who?
As she became confused, unable to express herself in her retrospective fear, Artoria took her in her arms, rubbing her shoulders:
- One of the passengers of the coach.
- Who?
Slowly repelling her, Saber spoke to her calmly:
- That's not important. We have to leave.
- Now?
Artoria nodded gracefully:
- Yes, immediately, before anyone tries to kill us again. The enemy knows our presence on the stagecoach. It follows a determined path, at predictable stops, which gives it too many opportunities to strike.
Artoria had not left her armor and her belongings, some objects purchased along the way, were held in a bag. She gathered everything before helping Rin to do the same.
The hallway and stairs were empty. Laughter and discussion were heard in the main room. An unattractive smell came from the kitchen and Saber made an effort to repel the vengeful fantasy of setting fire to it. As no one had noticed, the King of the Knights opened a service door. Outside, night reigned. There were lights on the windows, but the residents would probably not come out until the next morning.
Now what do we do?
A soldier of Daenia stood, leaning on his halberd, in front of the guard tower at the entrance of the village. You shouldn't have gone past him... even if he didn't stop them, he'd remember them. There were four days of travel to Daggerfall... in a stagecoach. Out of the question of walking, too slow, it would give the enemy time to organize a chase and they could not escape.
Taking Rin by the arm, Saber went around the inn. Yes... at the entrance, a saddled horse was tied to a ring near the door. No doubt one of the tavern's regulars came from a nearby farm.
- Have you ever ridden a horse?
- Yes, but...
- Later!
Glancing at the window and the door, from where the light was filtered and the conversations were deafened, Saber shortened the length of the stirrups, went up, and then and set up her friends in front of her. At the trot, she pushed their horse towards the exit of the village. They had just reached the last houses, when a furious voice rose:
- To the thief!
Saber bit her lower lip... "King Arthur, paragon of chivalry". Her whole life was a lie. She had let the Saxons destroy villages filled with innocent people because it gave her the time to gather her troops and prepare her counterattack... so steal a horse, it certainly wasn't the worst she ever did.
Almost a day after their escape from Oxwich, the horse stolen in front of the inn was trotting on a side road of the kingdom of Daenia. According to Artoria's estimates, despite the weight of the two young women who weighed down the mount, less than three days of travel remained until Daggerfall. Suddenly, a terrified voice came up from the lower side of the road:
- Help, help, help!
As if electrified by the call, Saber spells it out to throw their mount towards the trees and thickets bordering the trail. Rin opened her mouth to appeal to her friend's reason, but closed it without saying a word. A glance over her shoulder had allowed her to recognize the air of valiant determination that Artoria displayed when she did what her knight's oath asked.
In fact, since the day before, Saber had hardly spoken. She was living very badly for having stolen a peasant's horse. Despite the fact that it was the best choice in light of the circumstances and stakes - nothing less than the resurrection of Angra Mainyu- the knights' oath did not authorize theft. The King of the Two Bretagne had slept very badly... reliving once again the clash against Mordred on the Red Hill of Camlann... as often when the doubts returned to haunt her.
The call for help came at the opportune moment to lighten the burden on her heart, giving her the opportunity to fulfill her duty to help others.
The horse mounted by the two young women appeared in a small clearing on the ground trampled. Their arrival froze a most curious scene. Goblins surrounded two knights in chain mail. One of them, leaning on a tree, tried to pull out a beautiful silver spear, inlaid with runes, which pierced him. It carried on the chest the coat of arms of the Order of the Dragon. The second remained frozen, face down... death or few needed. Given his green tabard, he must have belonged to the same chivalrous order than the other knight.
What the hell happened?
A goblin attack? However, the humanoids seemed more terrified than aggressive. Their rusted and chipped weapons were not soaked in blood, unlike the sword lying at the foot of the impaled knight. The scarlet drops in the grass connected him to the second knight, as if he had struck him.
The goblins quivered in their primitive language, making signs towards the impaled man. They seemed to want to explain something... except that Artoria didn't understand a word.
- Rin, takes care of the knight down!
The young woman jumped from the horse and ran to the still man. Alas, she shook her head immediately, he was beyond all help. As Artoria stopped her mount to set foot on the ground, the goblins intervened. Saber hesitated. Having previously faced them, she obviously had some hostility towards these filthy, grotesque humanoids dressed in herds. However, they were not at all belligerent. In fact, she felt that they were trying to warn her against the wounded knight... whom they looked at with fear.
Artoria shook his head:
- Enough, this man needs immediate care. I warn you that I cannot allow you to interfere.
Whether or not they understood her words, they understood her intention when she put her hand on her sword handle. With cries of fear, they fled. Disturbed by their reaction, but happy that the situation was resolved without violence; Artoria knelt beside the knight to examine it.
Apparently unable to speak, he was however conscious and twisted in pain. The King of Brittany's island grabbed the spear with two hands. The shaft was strangely lukewarm, conveying a feeling of palpable power... an enchanted weapon!
Using the Mana Burst, Saber effortlessly pulled the weapon out before leaning over the wound. However, a feeling of discomfort seized her as a buzzing sound similar to that of a swarm of furious bees rose crescendo.
Two things happened simultaneously.
First, Artoria discovered that not a drop of blood was leaking from the wound...
Then, an explosion of pain burst into her head. Only her resistance to magic prevented her from collapsing under this psychic attack!
A hand held tight on her forehead, the knight stood back. She then looked at the face of the enemy... to discover that her features were melting! The eyes were now red chasms that radiated the frightening mental power that hammered her brain with increasing waves of pain.
Artoria struck with what she held in her hand... the enchanted spear that had held the monster immobilized. The young woman's fighting instinct blew her mind; her opponent was not one of the mortals. It emanated from him the cold stench of the living dead coming out of the tomb. However, the runic weapon pulsated with comforting warmth, communicating strength and courage.
Touched, the monster howled and staggered. A horrible transformation seized him. His flesh and skin retracted and scraped together, transforming him in a hideous way. What Saber was now staring at was the face of a corpse with shredded muscles and visible bones. The clawed fingers radiated with reddish vapors.
- A lich!
The frightened voice of Tohsaka shook Artoria who had for a moment released his attention. Lichs were ancient necromancers versed in the dark arts who had transformed themselves into undead to experience some form of immortality. They were usually found at the end of legendary quests in the underground or ancient ruins, surrounded by legions of skeletons and other zombies... not in the woods, near a road!
The monster's hideous cry terrorized the fleeing horse. The lich leaped forward, but its claws were blocked by a swift parade. Saber counterattacked with the same speed and Rin remained with her arm raised, unable to cast a spell because of the too fast confrontation. The adversaries were no longer visible except as fuzzy shapes throughout the clearing, clashing here and there, amidst bursts of energy and sparks.
When we talk about fencing, we think of the sword, of course, but there is actually fencing for the mace, the spear, the halberd, the axe, the dagger... in fact, most weapons.
It can be said that the level in the art of combat attained by an individual depends on two factors: training and physical abilities. For, no matter how much time is spent in training, an individual is bound to be limited by his own abilities.
Whatever the weapon was in the combatant's hands, he had a choice between games that focused either on strength, speed or agility. The fighter therefore had to focus on mastering the methods that were most compatible with his own abilities.
Artoria Pendragon was not without reason entered the legend under the name of King Arthur. At the Battle of Camlann, having lost Excalibur to the attack of Mordred, she had killed her with a single blow from her Rhongomyniad spear. Her retaliation pierced in on fell swoop the robust armor and shattered the helmet of her "son".
From her dragon core flowed a veritable prana tidal wave that strengthened her muscles and bones, improving his reflexes, providing him with insurmountable endurance. In addition, her fighting instinct literally allowed her to predict the future. That was his innate abilities. As for achievements, she had been trained since childhood by superhuman masters themselves, like Merlin. Saber had then spent more than a decade fighting giants and dragons like fighting battles and jousts against the greatest human champions.
It was almost impossible to imagine a better mix of skills and experience. She excelled in all techniques.
However, Artoria struggled in her fight against the lich. In fact, since his arrival on Nirn, it was the most dangerous opponent to have faced her. The undead monster seemed animated by an energy coming from an Outer Kingdom.
Around them the vegetation withered, flowers and ferns browned becoming brittle before crumbling into brown powder. The lich drained all the living energy around it. As the knight had just opened a new wound in its chest, Saber literally saw the wound close before her eyes, healed by the life that the monster was stealing.
The necrotic abomination raised its hand and a red lightning bolt appeared. Artoria dodged it but felt the negative energy that emanated from the attack... antithesis of life itself.
The lich stopped for a moment while Saber was on guard again. Then a decomposed claw rose pointing a long bone claw at the knight's corpse on the ground. A stream of bluish energy enveloped the dead man who stood up moaning.
Rin Tohsaka intervened, drawing a runic S in the air:
- Sigel!
The rune of lightning and luminosity was the antithesis of the undead, the zombie wrapped itself in blue fire and sought to escape, terrified by the radiant symbol. Fortunately, it was ashes after only a few meters. Unfortunately, the lich was simply too powerful to be bothered.
Artoria narrowed her eyes. The brief combat had amply demonstrated the enemy's capabilities. To allow the confrontation to continue would inevitably lead to their defeat. Neither she nor Rin were immune to the monster's necrotizing corruption or had any connection to a dark world that fueled their power. They would eventually weaken when their enemy could count on infinite energy.
The silver spear seemed to have the ability to sever the link between the lich and the Outer Kingdom upon which it depended. It had to be impaled and let the runic weapon drain it of its power. What the original possessor of the spear had done.
The next assault was so rapid that the two opponents left behind a whirlwind of dust before meeting in the middle of the clearing in a sound shock. No ordinary human could have told what had happened. In any case, Artoria managed to plant her weapon in the lich's shoulder.
The attack had succeeded... Unfortunately the abomination from the grave remained strong. Contorting itself while scratching the face of it enemy with one hand, it managed to tear itself from the spearhead that pierced it. Blinded by the blood that flowed over her eyes, Saber retreated.
On the other side, the monster was weakened, but already the energy of non-life healed its wounds. As usual, the instinct of the King of Knights led her to adopt the best solution, press the attack before the opponent recovers.
The spear was spinning, cutting, slashing, piercing... it was a deluge of attacks repelling the lich. However, as the latter retaliated with red lightnings, Saber had no choice but to jump back to avoid them. Rin intervened, sacrificing one of her biggest soul gems:
- Spiegel von Shalidor!
The air before the hand of the Magus became blurred like a circle formed by a mist of heat. Although stated in German, the language still used by Rin in her Magecraft, we could see the effect of an enchantment of the Seventh Circle, the most powerful of Nirn's defensive spells: "the mirror of Shalidor"!
The red lightnings broke on the defensive shield or were sent back to their source. In front, for the first time, the lich hesitated... Its wounds were numerous and its own spells being returned to it, it was weakening. Yet, in spite of everything, the monster still dominated the fight.
Saber took a look at her friend. Her breath was gasping, her face full of sweat... it was obvious that the use of such a powerful spell was tiring her.
The King of the Knights leapt forward, but the undead dodged her first blow, while its claws tore her coat of mail to bring forth blood. At the same time, the lich used its dreadful mental power to paralyze her.
Slowed down, Artoria failed to block the next blow and just managed to avoid getting her head ripped off. However, the monster's claws opened her shoulder.
- Gandr!
A rain of black projectiles haloed with red struck the lich, forcing it to retreat. Saber took advantage to attack again. This time, the knight threw her weapon. The rune lance described a perfect trajectory and pierced the monster in the chest, lifting it from the ground before impaling it to a trunk. The monster, impotent as a butterfly pinned in a collection, contorted without succeeding in pulling the weapon.
Artoria, bloodied, drained, stood only by an effort of will. She was not far from total exhaustion. "Nice shot" remarked Tohsaka. The knight hesitated for a moment while watching the monster who continued to struggle. It would certainly take a long time for the energy of the lich to be exhausted. Waiting here was too dangerous but the King of Britain hesitated to abandon the only effective weapon against such monsters.
Rin listened to her friend express her doubts and then smiled.
- We will end this horror.
The Magus raised her left sleeve and its Magic Crest appeared in the form of some kind of labyrinth of green light as drawn on the skin of her forearm. Reciting incantations, Rin used liquefied soul gems to draw a magic circle around the tree where the lich was impaled.
Attentive, Saber recognized some of the signs her friend had drawn, the runes Algiz, Nauthiz, Ansuz, Inguz and Sigel. When it stopped, the lich howled, wrapped in blue and white flames. "What did you do" asked the King of the Knights. "A circle of imprisonment coupled with a circle of protection against the undead."
It took almost half an hour for the monster to crumble into ashes and cease to exist forever.
Notes of the author:
I am quite happy with this episode. Especially for the fight against lich, but it must seem rather strange to you. It must be said that I combine the magic of the Elder Scrolls and the peculiarities of this universe with certain rules of the Fate's universe. So I had to think about what would win (questionable choice, I don't deny it). In order not to overload the narration, I have left a few points in the shadows and the following notes are intended to clarify them.
- Runes and rune lance: The runes used by Rin come from the Fateverse and here refer to the magic writing invented by Odin and transmitted to men by Scathach and Sigurd. The runic lance comes from the Elders Scrolls; "runes" here simply means "magic inscriptions". Apart from a vaguely similar appearance, these two types of runes have nothing in common.
-Saber's instinct drives her to use the runic spear against the lich rather than her ordinary steel sword... which saves her life! In the first TES (up to TES IV: Oblivion) some supernatural beings are immune to the damage of steel and iron weapons (not enchanted). Moreover, in TES II, this prevention is even stricter. Thus, a steel weapon even enchanted only does the damage of its enchantment. Fortunately, the rune lance is made of silver, the first metal capable of hurting this kind of creature. As you will see later, this invulnerability extends even to the Noble Phantasms. So Kanshou and Bakuya, weapons of steel, cannot hurt a spectrum or a ghost (immaterial creatures) and this despite their strong affinity against monsters. See these immunities as an equalizer; it would be too easy for "strangers" from the Fateverse to sweep everything in their path if the Noble Phantasms were considered exempt from this rule. Excalibur, a steel weapon, however was made from meteoritic iron (several legends assert it and I considered them to be right). Meteoritic iron, coming from Aetherius - the world of stars and planets, magical or even divine in the universe of TES- is capable of affecting supernatural creatures normally immune to steel weapons.
- The fight with the lich was victorious only through the cooperation between Rin and Artoria, however the magic circle filled with runes far exceeds what could normally be done by a Fate Magus. It is a magic circle with two effects and using five runes. Given the way runic magic works, it is difficult to combine very different effects. As for the simultaneous use of more than four runes, it seems impossible for a modern mage. In addition, Rin improvises ritual and magic circle in just a few minutes to affect a creature resistant to magic (runes normally only affect creatures with little resistance to magic). Even Scathach would be impressed. However... it all makes sense. The ritual is short because Rin uses her Magic Crest to simplify it. It affects a creature resistant to magic, but there are two reasons. First, according to the description of the runes in Fate, it is a divine magic. So, on Earth, it was weakened after the end of the Age of the Gods. But, Nirn is a world where the gods are always present... so (logically) the runes must regain all their original power. This also explains that it is possible to combine runes more easily or to obtain more complex effects. Second, Rin used liquefied soul gems to form the magic circle (in the same way as in the circle used to summon Archer in Fate). These gems contain souls of powerful creatures... enough to create several spells of rank A, or (combined) an EX rank spell. We can also add that the runic lance punctures the magic of the lich, a hemorrhage that would otherwise be sufficient to kill it if it prolonged.
Sorry for the long explanation, but it is necessary to understand how I combine the magic of the two universes.
Feel free to comment. I am open to dialogue.