The path of Saruman
Chapter 1
The Emperor Uriel Septim, an old friend of mine, asked me to Investigate the Death of King Lysandus, his spirit doesn't rest. He also asked me to destroy a letter which he had sent to the queen of Daggerfall, the letter in question never arrived and he wished for its contents never to be seen. While my boat was en route to Daggerfall, a storm of supernatural strength boiled over the iliac bay, like a maleficent creature. The boat was destroyed, but I managed to swim through the water to a promontory rock. There I found an entrance to a cave, I hastily entered to escape the storm's wrath. While inside I lit a small fire to warm myself with some wood collected from a group of tree branches found inside. Just as I managed to get an ember going, a mudslide swiftly sealed the entrance which I used to enter the cave. For a solitary moment, I feared I would be sealed inside this cave, buried alive. However, I calmed as I noticed a corridor leading out of the cave. It led to a man-made structure. A small spark of hope was ignited in my heart, that I would be able to escape this place.
I sat by the fire and waited for my clothes to dry. All I had in terms of possessions was a steel sabre, an ebony dagger gifted to me by the Emperor, and a sum of 300 gold, as compensation for agreeing to the task given by the Emperor.
Time skip
I woke up a few hours later. The fire was but embers now and my clothes were mostly dry, a few damp spots but a general improvement. In my exhaustion, I must have nodded off. Apart from the embers of the fire, the only light which I could see was from the corridor which lay on the other side of the cave. I made my way into the corridor, the room it was attached to was well-lit, on a pedestal lay an iron dagger and a small pile of gold. As I made my way to pick it up I heard the sound of scuttling feet behind me; turning my head I was met with a giant rat as big as my forearm, it had brown fur and unnaturally red eyes, It lunged toward me, in the last moment I moved out of the way, and drew my sabre. In a panicked state, I leaned forward and swung at the beast. At this time the rat was turning round to face me again when my blade connected with it. It let out a frightened yelp as it was knocked off its feet and into a wall. Sadly my blade connected poorly only causing a shallow cut on its side. It got to its feet, visibly in its eyes.
For a moment we stood there neither moving, staring each other down. Just as I mustered up the courage to attack the rat rushed at with such speed that I was startled. Regaining my composure quickly I thrusted my blade toward the creature, it dodged to the right. The tip of my blade completely missed it. Shit. Quickly, I tried to pull my blade back into a guard position, but the rat lunged at my arm and bit it. I recoiled in pain as it clung to my arm, sinking its teeth in and widening the hole as I flailed about trying to pull it off. Eventually, I managed to pull its jaw out of my arm. In terrible pain, I bellowed in rage and threw the foul spawn into the air.
I swung my blade toward the falling rat with all my waning strength. The strike connected, and to my joy, the rat let out a terrible squeak when its body connected with the floor. Not allowing it a moment of respite I lunged forward and thrusted my blade through the skull of the wicked creature.
I stood there leaning against the wall, taking in large gulps of air. The throbbing ache in my right arm was slowly becoming unbearable now that I had a moment of clarity.
*Inhale*
Time seemed to slow as I looked within. A large pool of energy set inside of me, forcefully tugging on this energy and it began to move through my body and into my left arm.
*exhale*
A soft green glow emanates from my left hand. I moved it toward my injury and pushed the mana out. The pain begins to dull, and the holes slowly shrink. In a few moments, the muscles were fine and the flesh had knitted itself back together.
Grabbing the loot on the pedestal I headed up a set of stairs which was just outside the room.
Following the corridor I took a left and a right turn before I came across another room.
Walking in I was greeted with a large open room with some cages in the back and a corpse lying on the floor.
As I stepped in, the mana in the air shifted and the whistling sound was approaching from my right. I turned only to be met with a blue ball of magic flying toward me. Taking a step back into the doorway I narrowly dodge the projectile. Walking back into the room, a small green, horned, red-eyed winged creature was glaring at me. It let out a growl as the magic began to shift. Its small hand began to glow blue as it hurtled spells at me.
I charged toward it dodging left, and right and ducking under the projectiles. Until I was within striking distance, Swinging my blade upward from my side, I watched as the Imp swiftly shifted its position to dodge. I had overextended my attack. The Imp seized the opportunity, unleashing a barrage of spells at me. A hot searing pain was felt in my right shoulder before a stiffening sensation ran through my body. I stepped back and my muscles felt stiff, the movements more sluggish.
With a menacing glint in its red eyes, the Imp charged at me, its claws aimed for my left arm. In a quick and precise move, I parried its attack with the hilt of my blade. It flew back a fair distance before course-correcting and soaring to my left.
Flinging a volley of spells at me while trying to maintain distance. I tried my best to dodge but one hit me square in the chest while my attention was on another. My whole body stiffened as a searing pain ran through my chest, I couldn't even scream as my vocal cords would move.
The Imp was upon me in an instant, as it scratched and bit me a demonic smile plastered on its face.
I could feel an unprecedented rage building within me, unlike anything I'd ever experienced. This. thing was mocking me.
It let out a mocking laugh as it tore through my flesh. With all the will I could muster, I tried desperately to move my sword, my right hand began to shake, and a muted sound could be heard from my throat.
Then like a damn bursting I let out a blood-curdling scream as I stepped back; my arm began to swing in the direction of the imp.
The wicked thing was so stunned by my actions, that it didn't move fast enough to avoid my blade completely. Half of its wing was cut off. It let out a feral scream as it fell to the ground, blood gushing from its wound. Rushing forward I thrust toward the ground and skewered it on my blade.
Upon confirming my kill I dropped to my knees and lay down for a short while. I concentrated my mana into both of my hands and that energy rushed forward into a green ball in front of me. The energy released itself and made its way to my wounds healing them slightly. After doing this a few times I was left with just a couple of scratches. I made my way to the corpse I saw when I entered. It was that of a woman who wore a cloak, some vambraces and had a shield strapped to her arm. And a dagger and pouch tied to her belt. I took the pouch which contained a small amount of gold along with the round shield. If it meant survival I would happily loot a corpse she wouldn't be needing anyway.
I couldn't fight my way through this, although I had some practice with a sword I lacked any real experience. being exhausted by an imp and rat. I knew this couldn't continue.
After resting for a short while I walked into a room with a bandit he was sitting behind a table upon noticing me. Before he could do anything I rushed toward the table and used it as a springboard to jump past him toward the door behind him. Shoulder first I barged into the door and entered a large throne room. I was at the top of a set of stairs, two stories below me was a big hall with a large staircase leading to a throne which was on an elevated block of stone beside the throne was what looked to be a lever of some kind. Opposite me was an Identical staircase, an Imp and a rat was fighting on it.
After assessing the room I turned back to see that the bandit had almost gained on me. I Jumped down toward the throne, concentrating on the mana inside me and pushing it toward the ground casting a slow fall spell.
Landing gently next to the throne, I turned around to see a skeleton with a shield and an axe charging me. Before I could find a route of escape, it was upon me. Raising its axe above his head, and swinging it down when it was in range. I stepped to the right and when the axe had reached the end of its swing I delivered a quick thrust to its neck, causing its head to recoil slightly.
The skeleton raised its shield to cover its body, it sent a predictable strike from the bottom right, I tensed slightly my sabre ready to redirect the blow. Suddenly with an overarching swing, its arm was coming down diagonally from the left. Fuck. I tried to move my shield in front of the weapon path, but my posture was unstable causing me to fall back into the lever.
I could hear a rumbling sound to my left and I turned to see the stone with the throne on it was ascending. Turning back to my opponent only to find he had already swung in my direction, I raised my shield and successfully caught the axe. A gap was created between my shield and its axe allowing me to hit its ribs. The skeleton recoiled slightly, quickly I sent back-to-back slashes at it.
The first one hit it however it had blocked the second with its shield. I turned to the throne only to find that it was above my head and still going up, I jumped up and grabbed onto the ledge pulling myself up. quickly I ran down the corridor on this upper platform. It was an ascending slope. After two right turns and a left. I saw a door rushing through it. I was met with a room with a table, a shelf full of books, and a circle of candles with an imp sitting in it. Seeing a door on the right wall I ran to it. The Imp quickly followed me.
The light of the sun hit my eyes blinding me, and slamming the door behind me, turning I pushed the mana out into my hand, and in a burst of magic I melded the metal lock and the metal door frame together. On the other side, the sound of muffled banging could be heard. The smell of burning wood entered my nose. Looking down I could see the wood around the lock smouldering. By now my eyes had adjusted to the midday sun, and I was in the middle of the woods. Fresh snow covered the landscape, a sign of recent winter's grip.