The Saga of Vvardenfel, My fanfic, a conversion of Morrowind main quest. Options

[Gaius Maximus]

Well, this is my Morrowind fanfic, a story of my used-to-be minor now main character, Gaius Maximus. Since I didn't find it interesting to re-write the main quest of Morrowind, I decided to try it how I imagine it going after joining Imperial Legion and not touching the Main Quest for 6 in-game years. Any constructive criticism welcome.

The Saga of Vvardenfell
The Legionnaire, the Legend and the Island.

Grand Chapter 1: Every legend has a beginning...

Chapter 1: New Assignments.
Chapter 2: The Night before journey.
Chapter 3: Urshilaku Camp, part 1.
Chapter 4: Urshilaku Camp, part 2.
Chapter 5: Welcoming committee.

Grand Chapter 2: Closer to the Red Mountain.
Chapter 1: Odd Encounter.
Chapter 2: The Trial worth Our Hero, part 1.
Chapter 3: The Trial worth Our Hero, part 2.
Chapter 4: Veni, Vidi, Vici.
Chapter 5: Fire and Ice.

Grand Chapter 3: In the caverns of Vvardenfell.
Chapter 1: Dungeons, without Dragons.
Chapter 2: Dwemer Forge.
Chapter 3: Arming.

(Also note that I'm not sure if there are any more of the modern words left - do say if you see some. Help with that will be highly appreciated.)

Chapter 1: New assignments.

Gaius Maximus was a simple Imperial Legionnaire. Only possessions of his were the Divine Intervention amulet for quick escape, his Imperial steel armor and his broadsword, enchanted with his very own enchantment, made from a soul of a Dremora lord. The enchantment was pretty simple – it inflicted fire damage, along with a weakness to fire spell, which, combined with the steel itself, was pretty good for taking care of bandits, outlaws and other creatures, those native to the land of Vvardenfel.

Gaius was shipped to Vvardenfel 6 years ago, and the trip was quite interesting. During it, Gaius received a strange dream, about the troubles of Morrowind and Vvardenfel in particular, and how he was to save everything. Gaius never told anyone about it, as he later heard about strange dreams troubling people. He doubted they were different from his one, but he wasn’t able to ask anyone, as these so called ‘Dreamer’ and ‘Sleeper’ people would only ramble nonsense when talked to, if they wouldn’t attack him on sight.

Gaius lived in Gnisis, mainly in the Madach Tradehouse, where General Darius was taking residence. Darius would occasionally seek Gaius out, to give him harder assignments that other legionnaires couldn’t carry out. Like that time when he was assigned to rescue a priest from a Daedric ruin, in which he got that soul of a Dremora lord. Or when he was to investigate the mysterious happenings around a Dunmer stronghold, and ended up in a strange Dwemer ruin, fighting a creature called ‘Ash Vampire’. After a hard battle, Gaius beat the Vampire, and after coming back to Gnisis, he heard rumors about Red Mountain erupting and Blight Storms stopping for several hours.

Even now, Gaius was sitting at a table in the Tradehouse, with a bottle of Cyrodiilic brandy. Being rewarded quite healthy for all the special assignments, one would have retired from the Legion already if he was in Gaius’ place, but Gaius liked the Legion for some reason, and had no interest in retiring. As the assignments were given secretly, he never got a lot of promotions, as he couldn’t be promoted for what wasn’t a ‘Legion matter’ as Darius called it.

He heard news of some ‘Nerevarine’, a person claming to be an ancient hero reborn. Yeah, and I’m a trader. Gaius thought, taking another gulp from the brandy bottle. If he knew Vvardenfel right, the poor man would be executed by the Temple in a few days, if he was lucky, after a week. It was even a constant subject for bets in the Legion – how long would a new ‘Nerevarine’ last? They were just appearing out of nowhere – Ashlander tribes, guilds, Temple itself, Great Houses – or just freelancing adventurers, seeking for fame. Now that the Dagoth Ur problem was getting really nasty, everyone seemed to wait for the ‘Nerevarine’ to come, and rescue everyone.

After living in Vvardenfel for 6 years, Gaius soon noticed that whatever the Temple said, everything was turning wrong, and getting out of hand. The Ghostfence was getting weaker, as Gaius noticed while traveling near it, Corprus beasts – more frequent, and assassinations on important people even more frequent than the beasts. The Tribunal wasn’t that much of a help, and more people turned on worshiping Daedra, as Gaius found out while wandering in the ruins.

Gaius was distracted from his bottle by a man walking up the stairs – it was the same Orc that seemed to spend his whole life in Darius’ office. As he walked up to Gaius, the Imperial sighed. No doubt, this meant work.

“General wants to see you. Now.” The Orc said. Gaius never really liked the Orcish names, so he couldn’t recognize them, but he was pretty sure every one of them included ‘gro’.

“Sure thing, officer gro-Mamblang.” Gaius said, and stood up.

“For the last time, my name isn’t gro-Mamblang! One more time you call me like that, and I’ll… I’ll…” The Orc stammered.

“You’ll stammer when speaking with me?” The Orc swore, and rushed off into Darius’ office, with Gaius close behind.

Soon, Gaius was inside Darius’ office. “What now… sir?” The Legionnaire asked, catching Darius’ glare.

“I have another task for you. This one, though, will be official, though it’s quite dangerous. You’re up to it?” Darius began. As if he needed to ask.

“Of course, sir! Which ruin am I going to now?” Gaius asked.

“No, you’re not heading for a ruin this time. I want you to do a harder task this time. It’ll be a really long task, and I could only entrust you upon it. I know this’ll sound weird, but…” The General said, and silenced.

“What is it?”

“I want you to make a go for the Nerevarine prophecy completion.” Darius said.

Gaius felt something blow up in him. For a moment, he almost thought it was his brain. The Imperial Legion wants him to make a go for the Nerevarine Prophecies? What the?! “Okay, is this a really weird kind of joke?” Gaius finally asked, hanging on his last hope. Unfortunately…

“No, I’m absolutely serious.” Darius replied, and raised an eyebrow.

“But… But why? You want to make a bet for how long will I last?” Gaius asked.

“Not funny, Trooper. The Emperor wants to prove to the people of Morrowind that the Empire – and it’s Legions – can offer protection to the people. With the Temple unable to do anything, it’s a perfect chance to gain the trust of the people. You won’t understand it, its political business.” The General said. “Now, I want you to finish off any business before I give you your first assignment concerning this.” With that, he released Gaius.

Gaius went up shocked. Next thing he wanted to do was head into the Barracks and speak with Irr’cah, an ex-thief.

End of Chapter 1.

This post has been edited by Gaius Maximus: Nov 18 2007, 12:41 PM

[Gaius Maximus]

Chapter 10: Fire and Ice.

Upon opening the doors, Gaius was presented with a large room. It was the Skar, alternatively known as the Manor District of Redguard. But once-noble building changed sine its true occupants left and evil took over.

Half of the bridges were knocked down, resting on many bones of Redoran warriors, no doubt. Instead, an odd, swirling resource was used for connecting the doors with the middle. No doubt, the ‘bridges’ were only maintained by magic; only one man did Gaius know who could use such magic. But Dagoth Ur was, supposedly, a great mage, so everything is possible.

Where the magical bridges collided, in the very middle of the hall, rested some sort of an altar, emitting strange blue smokes of some sort. The smokes settled slightly above the floors, shrouding the remains of the bridges and the skeletons of deceased warriors in a mist of some sort. For whatever reason, the smoke didn’t rise up.

The ‘altar’ itself was a structure made out of red material of some sort. It was divided into three levels of sort – on the lowest one rested bowls with highly disgusting meat inside, probably the meat of a Corprus monster; on the second level rested several magical items – enchanted gauntlets and hammer of some sort. And the third level, the top one, was the resting place of a statue of some sort. The statue was what emitted the smokes, though even through the thick layer of mist Gaius could see burning red eyes. The ‘altar’ wasn’t very large, despites having three levels – they were more flat that rising.

Next to the whole structure rested bells, probably used for rituals. A large and seemingly very heavy hammer was lying nearby, most likely used for ringing the bells. Indeed, next to the bells stood a hunchback figure Gaius could recognize as an Ash Slave – he saw several of those unpleasant humanoids back in Kogoruhn.

The whole area was lit with red candles. Due to the mist that was floating around, and the fact that most candles were set up on the floor, the lighting was quite spooky, and reminded of some sort of a burial place. It was no surprise that a shiver went up Gaius’ spine when he pushed the doors open.

To complete the picture our Legionnaire received, only one more detail remains to be added – a large, taller than six feet high figure. A mask covered up its face, as well as most of the hair. The ones that could be seen were a mixture of red and blue, while the whole skin of the creature was white, though not in a clean way. It was a dirty white, bearing a shade of grey. The blood-red nails – or rather claws – were somewhere three times longer than those of a normal Man or Mer. As a completion, this already imposing figure held an Ebony Scimitar that added up to the already spooky lighting with a vibrant blue.

Gaius had a good memory for tools of war, even though otherwise it was nothing above the average. He could remember most, if not all weapons used alongside him, or against him. And the memory of this sword standing in his broadsword’s path was quite fresh, so it was no wonder suspicions arose quickly. It was either that the creature slew the Ordinator he encountered before, or, by means of whatever magic this was, this WAS the Ordinator. Both seemed highly unlikely, since if Ordinators attempted to regain control of Ald-Ruhn, they would’ve set up more than a party of one man.

But the Legionnaire was soon ripped out of his thoughts by the creature.

“So, you have come. Lucillus Jullius is your name, correct? Do not wonder how I know this, for the House of Lord Dagoth knows a great many things… Why are you laughing?”

Indeed, Gaius was the one to laugh now. But even though he was laughing, his minds were far from joyful.

Apparently, his lies to the Ashkhan and the Wise Woman worked in a way that he didn’t expect they would. Seeing as the two were the only ones aware of a person named ‘Lucillus Jullius’ (only Ashlanders could be fooled by a lie like this one, seeing as this wasn’t even a proper Imperial name), and since the Ash Vampire imagined to know who Gaius was, the circle of suspects suffered a great loss, decreasing to as little as two people. So it was obvious that either the Ashkhan or the Wise Woman was working with this ‘House of Dagoth’.

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, your Ash-ness, but Lucillus Jullius is not me. I actually doubt a person by that name exists at all. You either have bad sources of information, or someone made a fool out of you.” While thoughts circled around betrayal, treachery and other things like that, Gaius’ mouth worked out a suitable reply. The tone these words were spoken with was quite offensive, and thus it was quite natural that the Ash Vampire became enraged.

“You will not laugh for long! For now you face the glory of Sixth House, one who seeks the title of Nerevarine!” The massive creature roared in rage, taking a step forward. The Ash Slave picked up the massive hammer, slamming it against the bells as if to announce an arena battle arranged by a disliked noble to become more popular in the eyes of his people.

The Ash Vampire wanted to get this over with quickly, apparently. The creature leaped forwards with great strength, landing next to where Gaius was supposed to be. But, to his great surprise, the Imperial was not there.

Instead, Gaius was already running for the center of the Skar. Due to the reflexes gained from Legion training, employed in many years of battling, he was able to time his roll beneath the opponent perfectly, and when the creature landed, he was already behind him.

It didn’t take long for the Ash Vampire to make out what was going on here, and Gaius barely had the time to turn his head at the sounds of another leap before being slammed down. He slid a short distance, while his monstrous opponent roared in supposed victory, hurling itself down on the Legionnaire. Unfortunately for the servant of Dagoth Ur, the new bridge was slippery enough for Gaius to turn face-to-mask with the Ash Vampire.

Only be several inches did the thrust of Gaius miss the Vampire’s golden mask. The creature had to retreat for the moment, in order to avoid the ruining of his mask by a burning sword. But even these several moments were enough for the Legionnaire.

Swinging himself to his feet again, Gaius was the one to attack this time. His sword was swung forward, leaving a slight trail of fire behind it, before meeting the ice-pulsing scimitar of the Ash Vampire. Only at the moment when their swords crossed did Gaius realize that his opponent was truly the same Ordinator – it felt very much alike to the time when the two struggled in the Ashkhan’s yurt.

Both blades were retreated after several moments of trying to push the opponent off of the bridge. Their retreat was highly temporary – the ice-covered blade was the one to stroke this time. But ice can be countered with fire, and thus did Gaius’ sword counter the blow from his opponent. Once again, attempts to push the opponent off of the bridge followed the coalition, though to no avail. But something told Gaius he wouldn’t be able to win this by sheer force – the strength of the Ash Vampire was greater than his…

Gaius’ broadsword was swung again, only to be met by the same Ebony Scimitar. But this time, as the Ash Vampire prepared for a strong coalition once again, the broadsword only barely touched the surface of his blade.

Instead of colliding with the opposing blade, Gaius’ broadsword was directed left, sliding down to the handle, then further. Finally, when the sword was brought so far left that the current wielding hand could no longer comfortable grasp it, the enchanted steel was thrown up slightly, caught by the free hand. All this took only mere seconds, and before the Ash Vampire could realize what happened, the broadsword collided with his sword-wielding arm.

Roaring in pain as fire engulfed him, the Ash Vampire dropped his enchanted scimitar. Before it hit the ground, though, the creature realized what happened to his weapon, and forced itself to attempt to pick the blade up… But Gaius wasn’t sleeping, and just when the Ash Vampire’s hand grasped the handle of the scimitar, another roar left the creature. But this one was a roar of pain.

Blue blood slid down the broadsword that pierced the Ash Vampire’s chest moments ago. Intense fire spread on its body, creating immense pain. Knowing what would happen next, the creature forced its body to turn with great force, breaking the steel that was still in its chest. Now, Gaius only grasped the handle and approximately one third of the blade, though before he could make note of that, white flames engulfed his opponent, extinguishing the true flames that raged on its body.

Then, with a loud clang of metal hitting against whatever the bridge was made of, the Ash Vampire was gone. Only now did Gaius realize two things. He apparently won this fight, if this wasn’t treachery of some sort. That was the first thing. The second thing was that he was standing on a bridge that’s made out of some magical substance, with a bow-worthless piece of steel in his hands, and an angry Ash Slave behind him.

Good point – the Ash Slave was still there. Thus, Gaius turned around, only to see the creature running at him with clenched fists. Apparently, lower ranking members of the Sixth House didn’t have access to such leaping that the Ash Vampire performed.

Instead of fighting the thing head-to-head, Gaius hurled the remains of his sword at it. Due to years of hurling javelins at enemies and training dummies, even something that didn’t have a sharp tip would enter the target’s insides if hurled by the Legionnaire. And, of course, he was quite accurate with throwing things, since Legion didn’t tolerate missed throws.

And when the Ash Slave’s body, now with the remains of a sword in its head, fell off the bridge, Gaius sighed. The battle, though short, was hard, harder than any battle he yet fought. He was worn out, and certainly wouldn’t hold out against the Corprus beasts inside…

Silent footsteps entered the hall. The Legionnaire lifted his head up, only to see the familiar figure of a Khajiit stepping out of the shadows.

“Good-friend Gaius! This one has found a suitable place for fallback as Gaius requested. However, this one also noticed that while Gaius was inside this… place… an ash storm drew near the ash-skin built city! If good-friend Gaius and this one intent to ever return to the Ashlander camp, they should hurry up and take cover inside the cave this one found.” Irr proclaimed performing a wide gesture around the Skar’s interior at the mention of ‘place’.

Gaius sighed. How much events could a single day pack? This was surely not something he was used to – travelling to an Ashlander Camp through one of the worst regions of Vvardenfell, speaking with a quite stuck-up chieftain that later turned out to be a traitor, embarking on another journey through Ashlands during an ash storm, fighting with an Ash Vampire, and then finding out that there is another ash storm coming…

“Alright, Irr. Lead the way; though do pick the most secretive route you can… I’m quite worn out.” Gaius sighed, speaking slowly. Irr smiled, revealing his white fangs yet again, before taking off one of his numerous rings.

“Take this. As long as good-friend Gaius doesn’t unsheathe speak a word, it shall turn Gaius invisible. Gaius only needs to turn the jewel from left to right, and he shall become unseen to the beasts outside. This one has an amulet for himself as well, so our escape shall be swift and unnoticed… Unlike good-friend Gaius’ usual escapes.”

A slight frown appeared on the Legionnaire’s face.

End of Chapter 10, as well as Grand Chapter 2.

Next: Grand Chapter 3: In the caverns of Vvardenfell.