Jump Chain 12 - BTVS 4
Part 7
Vvardenfell. Morrowind.
Morrowind, formerly known as Resdayn and sometimes called Dunmereth or Dwemereth, was a province in the northeastern corner of Tamriel. It was divided into two main parts: the mainland of the same name, and the island of Vvardenfell, which were separated from each other by the Inner Sea. The island of Vvardenfell serves as the setting for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and that was where we were now.
Solstheim was also considered to be part of the province of Morrowind as of 4E 16 before which it was a part of Skyrim, I knew this because I'd been to that island long ago. I was tempted to now go and re-visit the place if I found the time as I had much else to do.
Morrowind was formerly the homeland of the Dwemer and Chimer, and now home to the Dunmer, also known as Dark Elves. Although the Tribunal was a great influence in politics, Morrowind was actually ruled by King Hlaalu Helseth and the Grand Council during the events of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Tribunal in 3E 427.
The Halloween Universe wasn't just a universe as the chaos magic had altered and created new dimensions that were all part of the same multiverse. Because of this, the Elder Scrolls world was not one you could fly to in a ship like the planets that were the settings for Game of Thrones and Dragon Age, to get to Nirn you had to open a portal to the Realms of Oblivion. This was something I could do and had done once I was sure that the ores I'd mined from the Dragon Age world had gone to people who wouldn't use them to do evil.
I'd sent probes to this world to gather information for me and I'd discovered that in this version of the Elder Scrolls world the events of the different games were happening at the same time but in different lands, or at least they had been happening. The Dragonborn had stopped the World-Eater and the Hero of Kvatch had ended the Oblivion Crisis with the help of the bastard prince Martin, and here in Morrowind things seemed calm enough.
While Ahsoka had gone off in the new Battlestar with Padme, so as to keep the former Senator out of trouble as she looked for ways to make the Gothic Consortium some money, and to set up a base somewhere, I still had Raven at my side for this trip and I'd brought along Forestwind as well since this was a version of her home planet. I'd even convinced Amy Madison to join us as she could pick up some knowledge of magic while we were here. Cameron had also come along in her role as bodyguard.
Since portals into the Halloween Universe were a bit wonky we'd not arrived in Morrowind and had ended up booking passage on a ship. I'd paid well and the trip hadn't taken long as the portal hadn't opened up too far off course, and this was good as I had a limited amount of time left in this Jump and I'd already done a Skyrim Jump so it made sense to grab what we could from this world before quickly moving on.
I'd dressed the part before coming here I'd dug out my seat of Dawnguard armour for this world as while that organisation did exist here they were unlikely to have any operatives this far from their base in Skyrim. Even if they did I was a member of the group so I had a right to wear the armour and I would simply wipe the memory of anyone who questioned me about it.
As for Forestwind, she wore her Nightengale armour and carried the weapons she'd used back when she'd been serving as a guide for my group while we'd been in the land of Skyrim. Raven and Amy were dressed as mages their bodies and most of their faces hidden in robes that were made of materials much more advanced than they seemed to be. Cameron was here as well, once again playing the role of servant to hide her true purpose, and doing her best to remain unnoticed, she was very good at it as even I often forgot that she was around.
"Welcome to Morrowind, now get off my boat" one of the people standing on the deck said.
"Not the friendliest of people" I heard Raven mutter.
Amy did not look happy as she looked around at the wooden dock. Unlike Raven and Forestwind she was not so used to travelling to different dimensions and having grown up in a wealthy modern nation she was surprised by the poverty of this place. Compared to Sunnydale this little port was poor and dirty.
"This is the port of Seyda Neen, also known as the Gateway to Vvardenfell", I said to the females with me, reading from files I'd memorised "From what I know House Hlaalu, one of the five traditional Great Houses, governs Seyda Neen, but the Imperial Legion guards the seaport. Its native population is small, though it is a common stop for Imperial travellers going to and from Vvardenfell. Also important to remember is that Silt striders provide convenient travel to Gnisis, Balmora, Vivec, and Suran. We'll take a ride on while we are here".
We were directed to the Census and Excise office by one of the guards. My memories of playing the Morrowind game were so ancient that I could barely recall them at all even with my powerful mind, but I didn't recall the start of the game so I knew that we'd be able to pick up some quests from the office.
Quests were a good way to find treasure and other rewards while at the same time earning some goodwill from the locals. While I didn't intend to hang around this land long enough for that to really matter I would never forgive myself if I didn't go on at least one quest given by a native of this world.
"Hopefully this won't take too long," I said to the girls.
I found myself glad that the clerk didn't actually seem to care about the paperwork, or about the fact that we left a lot of the paperwork blank as we had no idea what our dates of birth were in the local calendar, and none of us had a home town that was part of the Empire. I only had to mind trick her a couple of times.
"Is that everything?" I asked.
The clerk shook her head.
"I noticed that you put down adventurers as your professions," said the Imperial customs officer "We have a bit of a problem with the local wildlife and I was hoping you could help with".
This sounded a bit familiar.
"The cliff racers have been a problem for years" the clerk was now saying "it has finally grown bad enough that the Empire has decided that something needs to be done about it".
I had no desire to slaughter animals who would just be defending themselves and their young.
"Anything else?" I asked.
As it turned out there was.
"I heard about some slavers that like to hang out in a cave just north of town, the guards say they've searched the place a couple of times but I think they've been bribed so as to turn a blind eye" we were informed, "Either way, killing the 'bandits' should get you enough coin to buy some supplies at the trader's shop".
While I had no need of basic supplies the clerk couldn't know that and since slavery was technically legal here in Morrowind I knew that in this world the law didn't really exist once you left civilization so we could go kill the slavers and free the slavers without any legal trouble by simply telling people they were bandits as no one here would care much for dead slavers, even if some of the guards had been getting bribes. However, if the slavers had friends that could lead to trouble, but I could look after myself and we weren't going to hanging around this island for very long.
"We'll see what we go do" was all I said on the match.
With that, we made our way out of the building.
"I want to see about joining the mage guild while we're here so that we can buy some spells that were lost over the years" I mentioned to the girls "Like mark and recall, and levitate".
Between the Morrowind game and the Skyrim game entire centuries passed by as such some spells were lost as new ones were created.
"Mark and recall?" Raven asked curiously.
A very useful spell in the game if I recalled it correctly.
"The knowledge of some magic was lost in the time period I visited during the Skryim Jump" I explained "But I know that in the past mages could levitate and teleport to a location they marked with a spell. I can apparate, open a portal, or use a transporter so finding that spell doesn't concern me much I just want to test out the spell and see what its limits are".
Not on myself, of course, one of my magic users who could respawn if something went wrong would test out its limits during the next Jump when we had plenty of time for such things.
"Can't you already fly?" Amy asked, "You have space ships".
This was true, and again I wanted the spell so as to have something to experiment with. Not that it was important as we had stuff like flying motorcycles and brooms, so if I never bothered learning a method of flight that didn't require such things then it was no big deal.
"Sure, but you can never have too much knowledge," I said, "and we're going to have a whole decade of time to fill so we should try to get our hands on as much research material as we can".
We started to make our way out of town. I knew exactly where to go thanks to the Clairvoyance spell.
"For now let's go deal with the slavers in the cave," I said, "They might have something worth looting".
The looting was always the fun part.
"I doubt they are going to surrender peacefully," Cameron said.
Slavers and bandits rarely did despite that fact that it would extend their lives greatly.
"We can always ask" Raven suggested.
For some reason, I had a feeling that walking in and asking the slavers to surrender would be something that would go horribly wrong.
"I've got a better idea," I said to the females with me "Cameron and can use our cloaking devices to sneak in, and we can just stun the slavers. Then once we have rescued the hostages and tied up the slavers you can ask them to surrender. If they don't then we can knock them unconscious and we'll turn them into the guards here in the port regardless if they surrender or not".
Raven was from a world, or at least remembered being from a world, where you didn't simply kill the bad guys. Doubtless, Amy wouldn't be eager to kill humans, but the slavers would likely be dark elves and her universe things that were humans shaped and not human tended to try eating you so it was okay to kill them.
"That works for me" Raven stated, seemingly pleased that I wasn't going to simply kill the slavers "We don't want them to threaten the hostages, and with your way of taking out the slavers we can apparate out with the hostages if anything goes wrong".
You could take people with you when you apparated, it was just a bit risky, however so was hanging around with slavers, and the locals had their own magic so we couldn't be totally sure that my plan would progress smoothly.
As it turned out the plan went very well and while cloaked we just stunned the bad guys with the phasers Cameron and I were keeping hidden on our person. Once the slavers were down I dropped my cloak so that I could talk to the slaves without panicking anyone. They might think we were ghosts or demons.
"Give me a second I'll get you out of the chains," I told the captured humanoids.
One of the cat people stared at me in confusion as if she had trouble accepting what was going on, at least at first.
"Thank you," he said.
One of the other slaves a lizard man spoke next.
"They were going to sell us as workers in the mines, or for less than pleasant things," he informed.
Slavery was truly a disgusting practice.
"I'm sure the guards will deal with them," I promised.
The slaves didn't think that this was a good idea.
"At least a couple of the guards accept bribes," he said, "They will not remain locked up for long".
Thinking on it I had an idea I'd been meaning to send an exotic creature or two to the fight club in LA which made slaves out of demons. This wasn't something I approved of I just didn't care about the rights of demonic creatures and it seemed like a good way of expending my influence in that world, not that this mattered much to me these days. Perhaps a few dark elf slavers would make good fodder for the ring. They'd think nothing of mistreating their own slaves so harshly and thus punishment would be rather karmic.
"I'll deal with them" I promised the slaves as I unlocked their bindings.
The slaves wore special cuffs which were enchanted to sap stamina and magical power from those who wore them. They should allow me to keep the slavers in line for a while and Raven would be happier if I didn't kill them. Plus I could disenchant the cuffs later on.
(Line Break)
Balmora. Morrowind.
Balmora (or Stoneforest in Dunmeris) was the nominal district seat of House Hlaalu, and the second-largest settlement geographically on Vvardenfell after Vivec. Balmora was located at the southernmost edge of the West Gash, right at the point where the region converges with the Ashlands, the marshes of the Bitter Coast and the lush plantations of the Ascadian Isles. The Odai River runs through its heart and divides it into four districts, High Town, the Commercial District, Labor Town, and the nearby Moonmoth Legion Fort.
On the hill to the west of the river lies High Town, with its elaborate Hlaalu manors, a well-stocked alchemist, a fine clothier, and the Morag Tong guildhall, the local assassin organisation, in the extreme northwest corner. House Hlaalu services are available at Hlaalu Council Manor. Tribunal Temple faithful seek solace and services at the Balmora Temple in the northwest.
Just west of the river, the Commercial District is centred around a large plaza, lined by traders and outfitters with a selection of wares. The Silt Strider port is along the South Wall, across from the Council Club of the Camonna Tong, and the tavern, that was called The Lucky Lockup.
The Fighters Guild and Mages Guild were located next to each other on a narrow street just east of the plaza. There was also an armourer offering something called Dreugh Armor, a smithy, another bar this one called The Razor Hole, a well-stocked bookstore and the tavern known as the Eight Plates.
Located east of the river, was Labor Town which had a large number of modest residences, along with a similarly named road, Labor Stree, running through it. I knew from my files that The Grand Spymaster of the Blades here in Vvardenfell, Caius Cosades, lived in a small, nondescript house in the northeastern corner. Several trainers and merchants, including fellow Blades, lived close by as well. Also, the South Wall Cornerclub, which was owned by Bacola Closcius, was the local hideout of the Thieves Guild.
If a person left Balmora through the South Gate and went east over a small bridge, they would find some signposts that would allow them to reach the Moonmoth Legion Fort. The fort housed the Imperial Legion garrison who did their best to police this region and keep the locals safe from harm.
We'd come here via Slit Strider, riding one of those had been an interesting new experience, and so far we'd spent all our time in the Commerical District checking out the shops. I always worked to increase our information sources so I'd gone to the local book store soon after arriving and while we already had many books from this world I'd been able to add to my groups every growing collection. Hermoine and Raven were both avid collectors of books and would no doubt argue over who got what later on despite the fact that we could just replicate any text that we purchased. Collectors always wanted the first edition.
Since we'd had a lot of ground to cover I'd divided us into two groups, sending Amy and Raven to check out the alchemists, and now we were reforming into one team.
"So where to next?" I wondered.
While checking my Omni-tool I found that the Dwemer Ruin of Arkngthand was just beyond Moonmoth Legion Fort, across a large Dwemer bridge. The Stronghold of Hlormaren was due west over the mountains. The Tharys Ancestral Tomb. An Egg Mine, whatever that was, and the lost Vassir-Didanat Ebony Mine were also all in the area.
"You often mention that you never have enough Ebony" Cameron commented.
While I had an addon that supplied me with ores from this world it never supplied me with enough Ebony for my needs. The metal served well for the creation of magical weapons and in this universe, there was a great demand for weapons of all kind.
"The Dwemer Ruin of Arkngthand sounds much more interesting" commented Raven.
I'd explored similar places back in Skyrim and although I had little desire to do so again I would take the former Teen Titan to the Dwemer Ruin of Arkngthand to make her happy. After all, I had invited her to travel with me so that she could see such sights and in return, she did whatever I asked of her.
"We'll head to the mine and clear it out" I decided "By then it will be dark so we'll camp there tonight and get the ore. When morning arrives I'll transport us the ruin and we can spend a few hours exploring it".
That seemed like a good plan so we got moving again.
(Line Break)
Vassir-Didanat Cave. Morrowind.
"It'll be dark soon, and we shouldn't risk being outside after the sun sets," I said "We don't want to run into any local predators. So we need to stay inside the mine".
It had been simple enough clear out the mine and once we'd done that I'd unpacked a couple of the bigger on the inside tents so that we would remain comfortable. Sure I could portal us out of here or we could have stayed in an inn, but camping in comfort here appealed to me.
I'd wait until morning before letting out the bots that would do the mining work and gather the ebony ore for us. Since the mine was forgotten about no one owned it and so I was free to take all of the ore, and with the metals, I felt sure I'd make some cool weapons.
While it was dull to have to wait that long at least it was pleasantly warm, and the bed beneath my body was reasonably comfortable. After a few moments of lying down, I felt Amy come and lie next to me. We were sleeping two people to a tent and Amy wished to bunk with me, for safety she'd said, and Cameron kept watch outside of the tents.
"I could read to you" I offered.
While I'd not read to Faith much as it wasn't her thing I'd done so a lot for Jane and recently too, as every so often she liked to spend time with me as father and daughter like we had when we'd lived in Hawkins during the Stranger Thing Jump.
"I thought of something else we can do," the young witch said after a moment.
Amy gave me a smile, then she reached down and started undoing my jeans (I'd changed into more casual clothing once we'd set up the tent) I watched as Amy opened my trouser and slipped a hand inside so that she could bring out my cock.
I then smiled approvingly at her as she wrapped her fingers around my already hard cock. Soon she began slowly pumping her fist up and down my hard haft. She didn't really know what she was doing as her grip was too light and her pace didn't increase, but I said nothing that would discourage her.
"Thank you for bringing me on this trip, Sir," she said, "I prefer places that are a bit cleaner, but this is still a lot of fun, and I want to be a good girl for you".
With care the young witch rearranged herself so that she was lying on her side next to me with her head level with my hips, she left one hand playing with my dick as she tried to position herself for what would happen next Amy glanced up at me before taking me into her mouth as best she could.
Getting a blowjob from Amy was a new thing as I didn't ask for them, I didn't need to with my harem, but Amy was new to all this and in the past when we had done stuff like this we moved from light foreplay directly to intercourse.
As it turned out Amy must have been getting tips, from Faith most likely, as she was a rather good cock sucker for such a novice. I gasped in pleasure when her mouth engulfed the head of my cock. She began gradually taking more of my man-meat into her mouth, letting herself get used to it before she started to bob her head up and down on my cock.
She stopped after a while and looked up at me again.
"I'm horny, but I want to please you, Sir, I mean Daddy," she said.
While Amy Madison had taken her place as a member of the group who called themselves the Daughters of Gothic, unlike Jane and Faith, Amy hadn't really been a full member of the group until recently, and while she clearly wanted to do all the same things as her fellow daughters it would take her time to get used to doing all the things they did.
"Do you want me facing towards you or away?" the magic-user asked as she unzipped her jeans.
Before I could reply she pushed her jeans and panties down off of her hips, and shifted around so that she could them down past her knees. Then she sat back on her heels, knees spread and with lower legs flat against the ground as she took off her top before finally removing her bra.
"Towards me," I told her.
She began to move so that she standing over me.
"I'll do my best to please you" she promised, "if I don't do a good job you should punish me".
Her saying that made me think that she wanted to try getting spanked. Faith was a big supporter of me spanking my girls and had volunteered her backside quite often. Amy wouldn't enjoy it the way Faith would so if I did end up spanking her I'd go easy on her ass.
Carefully Amy reached down and took hold of my cock, before pressing firmly up against her pussy, and then she held back moans of either pleasure or pain, perhaps both, as she lowered herself down and her pussy engulfed my rod with its tight, wet hotness.
Once she'd gotten used to this new position she began to slowly roll her hips, and she was watching my reaction to the movements she made. She was attempting to figure out what would please me so I decided not to my power of pleasure causing on her as she needed to focus on what she was doing.
"You're doing great" I assured her.
The young witch smiled upon hearing that.
"Thank you, Daddy," she replied earnestly.
After a few more seconds of moving her hips somewhat awkwardly, the spell-caster began to figure out how to ride my cock in a way that felt good for the both of us. She got into it really quickly, increasing her pace, and she forgot to focus more on me as she taught herself how to enjoy riding cock.
Not that I minded as eagerness for sex was important in those who made up my companions, and Amy had gotten over her shyness quickly, thanks in part to her friendship with Jane and Faith, I would have to find a way to thank both of my adopted daughters for helping out their sort of sister.
For now, I was simply going to lie back and enjoy Amy's attempts to please me.
(Line Break)
Mages Guild. Morrowind.
"What is it?" I heard Amy ask.
That was a good question and all we knew about the strange object so far was that it had to be a Dwemer artefact as we'd found it deep within the ruins of Arkngthand. It was about the size of a fist and made of a coppery metal. It featured a circular design and symbols on one side and some lined marks on the other side.
"I've never seen anything like it" I admitted, "Maybe Serana will know, she is from this dimension, kind of".
Well, this was a copy of her home universe, and I'd planned to bring her later it when I had a free companion slot. I'd decided to bring Raven and Amy here first as they were magic users and hadn't gotten to visit many places with me.
Serana would also have a better idea of what we should grab while visiting Morrowind. We'd packed well during our time in Skyrim, but there were always things you forgot or didn't have enough of and while there was nothing we badly needed there would be a few things worth obtaining so as to restock our supplies for the rest of Jump Chain. There could be potion ingredients we were running short of and things like that.
Since I felt curious I scanned the object just in case that provided some easy answers and it did. It turned out to be a puzzle box and inside was something made of carbon and gold, most likely a ring, when I told Raven this she seemed confused.
"The ring inside must be a reward for figuring out how to open the puzzle box" I explained, "I don't think the ring will be anything special as a puzzle box is a game not a safe. You should keep it and try to solve the puzzle".
Unlike other companions of mine, Raven did not care for material possessions, but she took the box and secured it her pouch of holding. She'd been the one to find the object so it was her treasure to claim.
"There's wasn't much else down there" I was now saying "Guess the ruin got cleared out of the good stuff".
About the only thing of note was how many bandits there had been down there. Once we'd fought our way past them and gotten the cube we'd left to seek out the nearest Mage's Guild building so that we could pick up some spells while we were here.
Once we'd finished with the ruins we'd begun to focus on the Mages Guild which was a professional organization, located throughout Tamriel, that was dedicated to the study and productive application of magicka and alchemy.
Its charter from the Emperor specified that the guild must provide magical services to the public. Anyone can purchase potions, alchemical ingredients, magical items, and a selection of standard spells from the guild. However, training, goods, and services are cheaper for members, and the guild stewards are sometimes able to provide members with work. Furthermore, exclusive services such as spell-making and enchanting were deemed potentially dangerous to the public at large, and are only made available to higher-ranked guild members in good standing.
The Mages Guild is led by an Arch-Mage, and guided by the Council of Mages, a group made up of five archmagisters (including the Arch-Mage). The Arch-Mage and the Council of Mages are headquartered at the guild's Arcane University in the Imperial City. The Council decides important Guild policies, such as its policy on the use of necromancy and also administers recruitment, sale of spells in each local guildhall, and the enforcement of Guild law. In addition, guild halls exist in most cities in Tamriel, each of which is run by a local guildmagister.
The Mages Guild was founded by Vanus Galerion in the early years of the Second Era as a way of centralizing magic and thus moving away from the many separate groups (like the Psijic Order of which Galerion was a member) that had dominated the study of magic until that time.
In the present day, the Guild maintains five branches on Vvardenfell, and offered instantaneous transport between any branch via the Guild Guide system.
Anything could be brought if you had enough gold, and any spell that wasn't known to a mage at this guild would be known to another, or they might know where a trainer who knew that sort of magic could be found, and since it was possible to be teleported from one guild to another I could easily speak to different mages.
Sometime soon I would have to come back with Serana to find those people, so, for now, I focused on spells Amy and Raven would like to learn about. Raven wasn't exactly a novice when it came to magic, but upon me removing her demon side she'd needed to re-learn how to use her powers and coming her to the Mages's Guild was part of that education.
I'd likely bring some of my other magic-using babes as well as they would like a chance to learn and gather research materials for their own use. This made me very glad that I could just replicate gold otherwise this all would be super expensive.