Chapter 7: Caius explains

Day 64

'I assume you are here to discuss orders?' Caius asked. He didn't ask what had taken me so long.
I nodded in agreement.
'You better sit down, this might take some time.'
Obeying, I sat myself down on a grubby seat and awaited what the Spymaster had to say.

The next hour he briefed me on what was expected from me. He explained the Emperor had taken an interest in the rumours that kept getting stronger about what he called The Sixth House. The Emperor wanted to know if there was any truth to the rumours of it returning and wanted me to investigate. I had the sneaky suspicion he knew more than he was telling but figured he must have had his reasons not to tell me.

When I asked him why he needed me and why Caius couldn't take care of it himself, he simply said he was too old and too high-profile. Everyone knew who he was. I was a stranger so I could get into places he was denied access to.

Recognising the simple truth in that I asked what the first thing was that he wanted me to do. Caius ordered me to look up an informant, Hasphat Antabolis, more clued up on Sixth House cultists and the legend of the Nerevarine (again that name).
Since Caius asked me to investigate upon Nerevarine I didn't bother asking him about it. It was highly likely Caius was as clueless about that as I was.
Locating Hasphat was easy, I could find him in the local Guild of Fighters hall, just across the river Odai that divided Balmora.

Hasphat wanted a favour in return for the information. To be more specific; he wanted me to retrieve a puzzlebox from a Dwemer ruin, called Arkngthand, southeast from Balmora. According to Hasphat the ruin was easy to find - the entrance would be concealed but all I had to do is pull a crank to reveal it - which turned out to be more than true. Especially when you have found out a combination of some rather common ingredients ? including the flying rats' tailfeathers ? make a very convenient flying potion.

I flew across the Balmora city walls and the surrounding mountains, straight to the Dwemer ruin.
Some people in Balmora were pointing upwards when they saw me passing by.
Except for being able to go straight to my goal, another advantage was that I was moving too fast for the Cliffracers - or flying rats as I call them ? to be able to get to me. My flight was uneventful, I arrived at the ruin effortlessly about an hour later. If I had been on foot it would've taken me 3 to 4 hours easily because of the mountains I would've had to circumvent.

The flying potion wore off a bit too soon for my liking; I landed a small distance from the ruin on a huge steel bridge leading to the ruin.
As soon as I set foot towards the ruin, a spell hit me full on and a skeleton attacked me. A set of carriages with crates on it on the far end of the bridge had distracted me so I overlooked a bandit, probably smuggling contraband from the ruin.
The conjured skeleton disappeared with one hit from the ebony blade.

Shouting to the smuggler I didn't mean him harm - as far as I was concerned; his business was his business - proved useless. He snarled something undistinctive and threw another spell at me which I dodged easily.
This really wouldn't do; I gave him a fair chance to surrender. But no.... he had to do it the hard way. I guess his associates were going to have a bigger cut with him out of the way.

I continue to really enjoy the ambling logic that you showcased so nicely in the first part of this story.

The bandit encounter at the end was wonderfully done. I could clearly picture the minor combat scene and reached the same conclusion Rales did.


A couple of those mundane typo kind of things:
You wrote: 'I asked what the first thing was what he wanted me to do.'
I would recommend: 'I asked what the first thing was that he wanted me to do.'

devided = divided // un-eventful = uneventful // circumfere = circumvent

Thank you for another delightful installment. I am having quite the fun time traveling along with Rales. :goodjob:

Thanks Acadian!


So do I :nod:

I love the description I've only read the 1st page so far, but.

Great job catching Caius's personality - great addition!!

As Antabolis had mentioned, an unpenetrable stone cover concealed the entrance. The crank was nearby, as soon as I moved it, the stone cover moved out of the way with a mighty rumble, revealing a heavy steel door, which opened without trouble. Those Dwemer ? whatever they had been - sure knew how to make hinges.
I entered into a hall where more, probably smugglers as well, bandits took offence in my presence. Let's just say my arguments for being there were stronger than theirs.

The ruin was enormous. It took me almost a day to go through all of the lower levels and to realise that's not where the puzzlebox was. I did find several Dwemer artifacts, convenient ingedients, books and some rare weapons. I couldn't carry it all out so I had to be selective with what I took with me. I left the heavier items behind.
Eventually, I got back into the entrance hall, still without the puzzlebox. Frustrated I sat myself down on a stairway, rested a while and had a quick bite while thinking what I was missing. There had to be something I had overlooked.

Carefully I looked around for a door I might have missed when my gaze caught another stairway I somehow managed to have overlooked. Feeling kind of embarrassed I followed it upwards and found a door into a chamber I hadn't been into yet.
Two more smugglers were between me and my goal: behind them was a cupboard with a small, square item I never saw before. One smuggler went down quick, he was badly armoured; my ebony blade made short work of the Breton bandit.

The second bandit, an Imperial, was armoured far better than any bandit I had come across throughout all my travels. This must have been the boss of the smuggling operation they had going on. He was more clever than the rest as well; he kept well out of reach of my terrible sword and flung one spell after the other at me. How could I have been so stupid? I remembered a magical amulet I had found with which I could silence spellcasters, rendering them nearly harmless. It took me some time to find it; of course it was entirely on the bottom of my bag. I had to swallow some more spells which were really starting to hurt.

Together with the amulet I also dug up a healing potion from my bag. I sidestepped when another spell was hurled towards me, downed the potion and activated the amulet. The Imperial tried to cast more spells but soon realised it to be futile, drew his sword and attacked me. Needless to say; that was a bad move from his side. He payed dearly.

The item in the cupboard I had spotted behind him indeed turned out to be the puzzlebox, just as I had assumed. Finally I could leave this wretched ruin and report back with Hasphat to receive the information Caius requested. Returning the way I had arrived, I got back in Balmora in the middle of the night. Rather than disturbing Hasphat, I rented a room at The Eight Plates and went to see him the next morning.

Day 66

Hasphat Antabolis was pleased with my efforts. He told me everything he knew about Sixth House cultists and its re-ascension. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about the Nerevarine legend I didn't already know, which was basically nothing at all.
When I asked him what he wanted with a toy he scowled and said it was a key to? well something else. It appeared he didn't want to share his little secret.
He did give me a a set of notes he made to give to Caius.

'How did you know I came from Caius,' I asked him. 'I am sure I didn't mention him.'
He sighed in a way making me feel like it was pretty obvious. 'He still owed me favour, now we're even.'
So that's how it is being a spy? Doing somebody else's dirty work? I wasn't amused at all.

Still angry I stamped into Caius's house and threw the notes in front of his feet.
'Here's your favour,' I snarled. 'Anything else I can do for his royal Imperial Spymaster?' and made a mock-bow.
The sarcasm wasn't wasted on him. Caius excused himself for using me but also put me back in my place at the same time.

'Look, I needed to know what you're capable of. I know it may seem as though you were doing it for me but don't forget; you are serving the Emperor, and do so without questioning. You owe him that much for releasing you from prison and allowing you to make a life for yourself once more.'
I realised I had been out of order and looked down on my worn-out shoes in shame.
A lesson in humility I guess. With having that ouf the way I proceeded to ask him what would be next.

'I need to you look up another informant. I hoped Asphat could provide all the info we need but I guess you noticed there is no information about the Nerevarine in Hapshat's notes?'
I nodded; I had indeed noticed that.
'There is a mage in the local Mages Guild hall-'
'Who you owe a favour as well?'
Caius smiled. 'You are quick to comprehend the situation, good. That means I won't have to repeat myself. Anyway; I would like you to look up an Orc alschemist called Sharn gra-Muzgob and ask her if she knows anything about the Nerevarine.'

A realisation to the whole situation came to me as I made towards the Guild of Mages. From what I gathered, spying was all about politics. And if you said politics in Morrowind, you also said Tribunal ? the living gods of Morrowind. If I was to spy on the proceedings in Vvardenfell, I needed to come close to the Tribunal. I could see no easier way to create a viable reason to be in their presence than as a representative of the Temple of the Tribunal. But first, I needed new shoes.

Great Addition !!!!

FUN! That's what this is. I find it quite a joy to pop in when you update and spend time with Rales.


Remembering my unfamiliarity with Morrowind, let me tentatively ask if you meant 'he' instead of the bolded 'she' above.




The two quotes taken together are quite simply so ? Rales. Marvelous!

Great job RemkoNL! :foodndrink:

Just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying this story. It's always good to see another retelling of the Morrowind main quest, and making Rales a relative of an existing character is an interesting idea. I'm looking forward to seeing what becomes of his connection with the Sarethis, who are some of my favourite characters.

You seem to post new chapters very quickly, which is great; my only suggestion is that you check them over just a little more carefully before posting. There tend to be a few small errors in each chapter, like the one Acadian pointed out above, which you could probably avoid with extra proofreading. Keep it up! B)

Thank you for reading Helena. I've thought of a clever (in my opinion anyway) to get round the "unknown parents" thing of the prophecy.


The temple hailed me with open arms. Too few were joining the temple nowadays the priests had said. Rumours of the failing of the Tribunal were becoming more prevelant. It was said it was their fault the Blight was claiming more and more victims every day.
Their power was obviously waning, people were losing faith in them and turned to the Imperial cult instead.
The situation suited me just fine. All I had to do to become a member was make a pilgimage to seven Tribunal shrines scattered all around Vvardenfell. I was given the book "The Pilgrim's path" to help me on my way which I stuck in my bag and didn't bother looking into untill I really needed it.

The first pilgrimage was easy; The Fields of Kummu shrine was due east from Balmora.
On my way there I encountered a kind old lady who had lost her way going there as well. Together we continued and reached the shrine without serious trouble. Nothing I couldn't handle anyway.
Nevrasa wanted to give me some gold for escorting her. Initially I declined but she insisted so I promised her to donate it to the temple. A smile on her face told me I couldn't have made her happier. After having donated a piece of muck to the shrine ? I wouldn't have known I had to if Nevrasa hadn't told me ? I felt a weird, elevating sensation. Everything I was carrying felt lighter. The first part of my initiation into the Temple was complete. One down, six to go.

The next two shrines were easy to reach; they were both located in Vivec. I took the Stiltstrider to Vivec, then took a gondola to the Temple where the first of my two destinations was. I was glad I was handed the book. Otherwise I would've never guessed I needed to donate a potion of rising force to receive a blessing. Not that I had one with me; a home-made potions wouldn't do. I needed to buy one from the Temple. Now I understand why everyone wanting to join the temple needs to go through the pilgrimages. The Temple probably makes a decent income from selling these potions.
I flew to my next destination, - after having donated a potion of rising force to the shrine I was blessed with a long-lasting levitation spell ? the palace of Vicec.
Outside the temple I quickly found the Grace of Generosity shrine and donated some gold to receive a blessing. Pay to pray I guess.

On the pilgrimages I had plenty time to think over what had happened to me the last few weeks. I had been pulled into the Blades and I dove headlong into becoming an Imperial legionnaire but so far had neglected my order to investigate the murder of Zabdas. Maybe now was a good time to follow up on these.
I had learned two shrines were nearby Gnisis; I could catch two birds with one stone. Settling the business with the murderous Orc Legionnaire and getting two more pilgrimages out of the way.

Great Write! Is this part of the expansion pack?

Wonderful again RemkoNL! I am now reliant on you to lead this Oblivion player through Vvardenfell. I am having a great time experiencing it through Rales' eyes.

Your conversational style, laced with light humor and clever observations continues unabated.



:goodjob:

Interesting. I have only been able to read the last update, but it looks like you have quite a few things going on with this character.

I did notice a few nits:


You have a few paragraphs like this one, where I am not sure if you meant to have two paragraphs and missed the space between them, or if it supposed to be one paragraph and you started a new line by accident. This could easily be a problem with copying text to the forum, as your formatting can get messed up when you do it sometimes:

The temple hailed me with open arms. Too few were joining the temple nowadays the priests had said. Rumours of the failing of the Tribunal were becoming more prevelant. It was said it was their fault the Blight was claiming more and more victims every day.
Their power was obviously waning, people were losing faith in them and turned to the Imperial cult instead.


Later you seem to have missed a few words/parts of words:

I had been pulled into Blades and I dove headlong into becoming an Imperial legion

I suspect should be:

I had been pulled into the Blades and I dove headlong into becoming an Imperial legionary

@mAlx1: No, it's not the expansion pack. I play the vanilla game on the XBOX. No Tribunal and/or Bloodmoon for me



:facepalm: I tried so hard not having any typo's in the last update... phail..... :facepalm:
I write everything in word and copy it to the board. When written in word it looks like a decent paragraph (I tend to keep them short deliberately) but when copied the end up being two sentences rather than a decent paragraph.
I'll edit it into tidier paragraphs.


Day 68

They day I arrived in Gnisis by stiltstrider an awful storm was blowing. Most people had sought shelter in local inns or inside their homes. It almost appeared as a ghost-town.
Again, I took the trail upwards to the egg-mine and made my way inside.
Remembering the General wanted me to find out why Lugrub had so brutally murdered the miner Vabdas, I started with talking to the miners to try to find out what they had seen or maybe had heard.
Most were still refusing to talk to me. Either they were oblivious to what had happened or just wanted to stay out of the whole deal. Or more commonly said: they were covering their own precious hides.
This wasn't working at all, I needed another approach. Rather than investigating as a Legionnaire, I took off my armour and dressed down as a regular Dunmer ? if Darius would see me I'd probably get in trouble but they way I saw it, I had no choice if I wanted to find out the motive - and acted as a sympathizer to the harsh circumstances the miners were working in.

My new approach reaped its reward. Soon, I found out most miners were scared out of their wits of Lugrub. Apparantly he acted far different than as the honourable Legionnaire Darius knew him to be. One miner let slip that Vabdas had been the only one brave enough to voice his dismay about the miners having to work their butts off in the dangerous mines while the guards do nothing to make it easier on them, which was their ? our ? job. According to the loose-lipped miner, Vabdas had gotten in a serious argument with Lugrub where Vabdas had threatened to take his complaints to the General just before his unfortunate accident.

In the light of this new evidence, it was convincing enough, I was sure Darius couldn't allow this to stand in his precious Legion. I knew what was next. I was going to have to confront the Orc about his mis-behaviour. There was no doubt in my mind about the truthfulness of the miner's story. I had been confronted with the Orc's hideous behaviour myself weeks earlier and really doubted he would've changed his attitude in so little time.
At least, I didn't have to look for him, I knew exactly where to find my soon to be ex-collegue, Lugrug gro-Ogdum.
I made my way deeper into the mine and changed into my armour. I didn't don my usual robe to make it very clear I was on official Legion business. After having checked my weapons ? the ebony blade was as sharp as ever, it appeared it never needed sharpening ? I opened the door and hollered:'Lugrub, time to face justice! General Darius has ordered you to put down your weapons and surrender!'

'I'm never surrendering to a whelp like you,' he barked while running in my direction with a menacing grin on his ugly green face and his axe raised high above his head.
I swallowed hard. An Orc coming at you swinging his huge axe is a very intimidating sight, I wasn't unsensitive to his posture at all. I didn't intend on under-estimating him. That would have been a deadly mistake on my side. I readied my sword, raised my shield and braced for impact.
The fight was long, hard and sweaty. I kept darting away from the swing of his axe as soon as I recognised it and blocked the blows I couldn't get away from. Every hit I blocked send a spur of pain throughout my entire body. I feared my shield wasn't going to take much more of this and would crumble the next blow.
Sweat was pouring down my neck, across my arms and straight into my handpalms. The feel on my sword wasn't what I was used to and a sensation ? fear ? made me feel most uneasy. I had to change the course of this fight or it would end with a very bloody ? and dead ? Dunmer on the ground.

Swing after swing crashed into the rocks underneath our boots, barely missing me. It was getting harder to dodge his swings, I was getting tired. I had hoped swinging the heavy weapon would fatigue the Orc before I was fatigued by dodging it but I had been wrong. The Orc had a strength and stamina unsurpassed. A frightening thought rattled my existence- I was going to lose this battle if I didn't act fast.
I jumped out of the way of another swing of the axe and jabbed my sword to where I had been a split second ago. The blade cut deep into the Orc's left arm but he didn't as much as flinch even though blood was pouring out of the wound staining his bracers crimson.
Then, I made a mistake. For a brief moment I blinked the sweat from my eyes and was too late dodging the flat of the axe aiming towards my head. All I saw was a flash and then everything went black. It could've been a second, it could've been an hour, I don't remember.
What I do remember was a load of screams from behind the Orc just before I was hit and went unconscious.

When I came around, the proud warrior was deduced to a pile of green and red all-over with several miners standing around him with all sorts of sharp objects; pick-axes, chizels, anything they could their hands on. I guess they finally they had found the courage to stand up to the lazy guard who had killed one of them and to save the man who had defended their rights and the honour of their murdered collegue.
He had been maimed to the point of being unrecognisable. I turned and wretched up my stomach's contents. My head was still ringing with the blow and I had severe difficulty focusing. Suddenly I felt my knees getting weak and I collapsed into a helpless heap on the ground.

edit: SubRosa pointed out some flaws

That fight scene was Awesome!! ARGH! A cliffhanger!

Wow! This was incredible!

I really like how you refreshed us gently on what was going on: 'Remembering the General wanted me to find out why Lugrub had so brutally murdered the miner Zabdas, ...' That kind of snapped me right back into what was going on.

'An Orc coming at you swinging his huge axe is a very intimidating sight, ' Oh my goodness yes indeed. It is the stuff of nightmares for my character. You certainly did justice to the awesome threat. Just a wonderful fight scene that was so totally Rales. I loved how he sort of lost, but was saved by the miners (the Dunmer mountain was such a wonderful description).

Again, just great!!! :goodjob:

Thank you both! That made my day. :twirl:


'Wha?- where am I,' I stumbled unhearable when I opened my eyes. A severe throb in my head remembered me of the fight that had almost been my undoing. Gently I brought my hand up to the offending place on my head. A huge bump had manifested itself where the flat of the axe had hit me.
'You should be resting,' a gentle female voice ordered me. It sounded faintly familiar but I couldn't quite place it.
I tried to look around to see who it was that had adressed me but I couldn't see anything. Briefly I panicked ? I was blind ? but then my hand drifted off lower and I found I had been blindfolded.
'You have a terrible concussion so we blindfolded you,' the gentle voice said.
'Don't take it off, lest you want a splitting headache. We blinded your eyes to save you the pain of light into your eyes.'

I tried to speak but only managed to blur out unrecognisable grunts. My mouth felt as though I had been chewing on a dead Cliffracer. Luckily for me, my caretaker understood as I felt a cup being brought up to my lips. I almost choked when I quenched my thirst a bit too enthusiastic drawing a giggle from the nurse.
Having wetted my mouth, I was able to form sentences. 'How long have I been out?' I was sure it had been several days, I felt my stomach rumbling but I wasn't hungry at all. A side-effect of the concussion I figured.
'Almost a week,' was the reply. I was astounded. I had been out a week?
'The miners brought you here; they said you confronted my late husband's murderer and almost lost your life protecting his honour.'

So that's why the voice sounded familiar, I was in widow Vabdas' house again.
I directed my face to where I thought she was standing and smiled. 'Thank you,' I said simply.
'That's okay,' she replied. 'You should try to rest some more, no more talking.'
I had no problem with that, the short conversation had drained me of all my energy. I lowered my head into the castle of pillows and drifted off in a dreamless sleep.

'Rales, wake up,' a gentle hand, belonging to a even gentler voice I didn't recognise, shook my shoulder. 'Time for your medicin.'
'Medicin? What medicin,' I thought but didn't ask. I felt much better so it must do me good. She poured a lightly coloured liquid into a cup and offered it to me. With unsteady hands I tried to take it from her, splashing half of the contents into my lap.
Gently she took the cup from me and held it in front of me so I could drink from it. It tasted slightly bitter but I could feel the healing effect coursing through my body.
The question must have been evident on my face. 'It's a mixture my mother made. She used it for when father got home from the mine with minor wounds, like broken fingers and such,' Vabdas' daughter explained. 'It's simple but effective; ground marshmarrow mixed into some water.'
After having emptied the cup she gently pushed me down on the bed.
'Rest now, we will wake you again soon.'

See? Look what you have taught this Oblivion player: Dead cliffracers taste bad, and you're supposed to stick their tailfeathers in your hair. I also learned about marshmellows, er... marshmerrow. :lmao:

As I have said, I really enjoy tagging along with Rales. He is just a fun character. Great job, as ever!!!

Very exciting battle with Lugrub! I like how you described the desperation on the part of the protagonist, the sweat rolling down his body, the unfamiliar feel of the ebony sword in his hand, etc... It made the scene very engrossing.


Some nits on Day 68:

First your paragraph spacing is messed again.


and acted as a sympatiser to the harsh circumstances the miners were working in.

The word sympatiser should be sympathizer


Soon, I found out most miners were scared out of their wits for Lugrub

Should that be this?

Soon, I found out most miners were scared out of their wits of Lugrub


Is Zabdas supposed to be Vabdas?


Here you use the word even twice in the same sentence:

The blade cut deep into the Orc's left arm but he didn't even flinch even though blood was pouring out of the wound staining his bracers crimson.


At the very end the protagonist falls unconscious and you switch from first person to third person as you describe the miners attacking the Lugrub, then you change back once more to first person. Changing pov is very jarring to the reader, and you should not do it within a single scene. When you want to change your viewpoint you need to end your scene, then begin a new one from the new viewpoint. Your other option is to simply not change the viewpoint at all. In this case it would have been better to describe the protagonist being knocked out, then waking up to find the orc dead and the miners standing around the body. He can deduce what happened well enough, and the miners are certain to tell him as well. I can email you an article on using viewpoints that might help.

@SubRosa: Yeah, you're right. I knew something was weird with the POV change. Thank you for letting me know how to make it better.
I don't understand what you mean with messed paragraph spacing though. I thought I was rather consistent on how I divided it throughout the entire story.
Zabdas should be Vabdas. I thought I had changed all the Z's for V's. I guess I missed one or two.

I slipped in a thank you to a certain pair of ladies in day 89.


Day 89

Almost two weeks later, I was allowed to leave my sick-bed for the first time.
Widow Vabdas' daughter, Zerina, had been at my side tirelessly. I honestly believed I had died and gone to heaven when she took the blindfold away. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Her eyes were perfectly almond shaped and long, red hair crowned her delicate face and draqed onto her back.
She helped me get out of bed, onto my shaky legs, guided me through my first steps and caught me when I almost collapsed again.
I had never met a more caring and tender person ever. In the days of my recovery she was my heaven, my moon, my sun and stars.

Initially, Zerina and I took short walks around the house and to the river-bank and back to get the strength back in my legs.
Soon, we took longer walks and talked about everything that came to mind. I told her things I hadn't told anyone before and about my adventures. I don't think she was very interested in hearing tales of bloody battles but she did laugh heartily when I told her about the feathers and the ring I had dove up for a seriously misled Breton girl.

It was the most care-free time in my life. We went from long walks to long walks hand-in-hand and had long picnics alongside the river. I taught her how to swim and she taught me how to ride a Guar. She would mount first and I would chase the Guar with her on its back until I could hop on behind her. Of course, the Guar wouldn't cooperate and we both ended up rolling through the pastures, laughing until we couldn't breathe and our stomachs hurt.
One such afternoon, as we rolled downhill up and over each other, Zerina's warm breath caressed my face. Impulsively I threw my arms around her, our lips connected and my world went spinning.

Widow Vabdas frowned when it became apparent to her what was happening between us.
One evening when Zerina was out for supplies, her mother asked me what my intentions were. Quite frankly, I had no idea. It had just happened. She, nor I had given it any thought. 'It's not that I don't like or trust you but one day you will disappear, like all adventurers and leave her heart-broken.'
I bit my lip, she had struck a point. I had duties to attend to. Dangers I wouldn't want her to face. If she was to come with me, I had to be sure Zerina was safe somewhere.
'I promise you, I will not break her heart. There are some duties I have to attend to and then I will return for her.'
'Don't tell me, tell my daughter.'

ARGH! How did I miss that one you posted yesterday? Both are great, I am loving where this is going! Awesome writing!

This is wonderfully done! The emotions flow naturally and are nicely presented. Just another joy to read!

I did notice a couple typo/grammar things:




Take a look at the 'she' I have bolded. Pronouns refer generally to the closest preceeding thing, in this case Zerina. Although from your context it is clear that Vabdas is asking, grammatically you are saying Zerina is asking. I had to read this a couple times to get unstuck. May I suggest something like: 'One evening when Zerina was out for supplies, her mother asked me what my intentions were.'

Thank you for the hints and for the most kind words.
I just had to do something with the statement Rales had been lonely.

It was an Awesome surprise, and you did an excellent job writing it - I love it!