Redemption., Cause being evil sucks. Options

[jack cloudy]

Ok, another start. I was going to hold off on this one for a few months but the point is, if I don't switch my focus around regularly, I'll go nuts. And letting it rot on my harddisk feels like a waste. I'm also a bit worried for spoilers regarding my other stories but hey, this might actually serve to keep my interest in other stories fresh. A spoiler here leads me to ask myself 'then how did it exactly happen?'.

So umm, yeah. Let's get going.

part 2

Redemption

Chapter 1: End of the wait.

Drip….drip…..drip. Cold water dripped down between the bars and along the rough stone. The crackle of thunder roared through the chamber, the flash of lightning erased the darkness for a brief moment.
,,Bloody bad weather today.” The Dunmer who inhabited the cell mumbled. He glanced at the cell opposite his and sneered. He then walked up to the bars and gripped them with his hands.
,,I said, bad weather today.” He repeated. For a few seconds, he waited. Then he scoffed and walked to the dirty rag that was his bed.
,,Not very talkative today, are we? Well, I envy you. All that water coming in through that peekhole. Fresh water! I haven’t had fresh water in months!” He spun around and faced the bars again.
,,In months, you hear me?! Then why don’t you take advantage of the circumstances and enjoy this luxury your cell provides but mine doesn’t?!”

The man in the other cell lay on his back in a corner of the cell, hands folded under his head, legs slightly spread, feet almost lying in the pool that spread on the floor. The window of his cell lay at the bottom of a slope, which allowed a steady stream of muddy water to enter. To any casual observer, it would seem that he was asleep, comfortable despite the Spartan conditions of his surroundings.
,,Don’t get over-excited. Water isn’t the most important thing in the world.” He replied softly without opening his eyes. The Dunmer grit his teeth.
,,You and your self-righteous proclaimants. Then what is the most important thing in the world, wiseguy? Well, out with it. Show us the great wisdom of the Altmer.” He spat.
,,That is a different thing for each individual. What is the most important thing for you?” The Altmer answered calmly.

The Dunmer kicked one of the walls in his cell.
,,Answering a question with a question of your own? Well then, listen carefully. I don’t know why but I’m just going to tell you! The most important thing for me is a woman! I haven’t had my fun with a woman in five years, I’m telling you. Five years! That’s horrible!” He said.
,,But at least I’ll be out of here soon. And when I do, I’m going to enjoy it all the way. I’ve always been popular with the ladies, unlike you. A different girl each night, and then some. Makes you jealous, doesn’t it?” He gloated. The Altmer shrugged, the only motion he’d made in the last two days.
,,I don’t see any need to be jealous.” He said.

The Dunmer cocked an eyebrow and stalked back to the bars.
,,No need? The Altmer says there is no need to be jealous! Oh, but now I remember. You don’t feel the need to be jealous because your blood is so pure and there is a lass waiting back home who was born just to suit you. Born just to suit you, all thanks to the breeding program you High Elves have. All thanks to your quest for purity.” He snickered and watched his fellow prisoner intently. If he’d been expecting a sign of anger or any other emotion, he would be disappointed.
,,Believe what you will.” Was all the Altmer said.

Thunder roared again. Then, silence, safe for the soft clatter of the rain. The Dunmer had returned to his bed and watched the dark sky outside his window.
,,Believe what you will. He’s got issues. I bet his mother always beat him whenever he had impure thoughts.” He muttered to himself hatefully. He then rose.
,,Believe what you will?” He repeated, louder this time.
,,Well, I know what I believe. I believe I’ll use the cache of money I’ve stored under the loose rock in the wall. I was going to save it for later, but this place and you have gotten on my nerves, so there. I’m going to have some fun in this place, even if it kills me!” He decided and pried loose the brick he’d mentioned.
,,Be carefull what you wish for.” The Altmer warned. The pool had now crept up to his bare toes, but he did not move them. Even though the water was near freezing, he did not seem to be bothered at all by it. Meanwhile, the Dunmer scooped up the coins he’d hidden and counted them. He chose to ignore the other.
,,Fifty-four Septims. That’s enough for the guards to buy themselves a couple of bottles.” He spoke, got up and raked one of the coins across the bars.

,,What are you making all that racket for, prisoner?!” A guard inquired in a gruff tone. He’d come to investigate the cause of the noise. The Dunmer looked the man up from head to toe.
,,Tell me, friend? Have you been doing well at your card-games?” He then chuckled. The Imperial’s brow furrowed.
,,None of your bussines, Dark Elf scum! Now keep it quiet down here!” He spat. He waved his arm across, pointing at the Altmer in the other cell.
,,Take an example from him. He’s been here since before I was born, and not even once did he cause trouble.” He added. The Dunmer smiled, revealing two incomplete rows of yellow-brownish teeth. Perhaps he’d once been popular with the ladies but in his current state, popularity would need some help.
,,Just as I thought. You’ve been losing badly, haven’t you? Well, I just happen to have the solution to that particular little problem of yours.” He whispered and flashed a coin. Instantly, the guard became twice as attentive.

,,How much do you have?” He asked in a coarse whisper of his own.
,,Twenty-seven in total.” The Dunmer lied. He then leaned in as close as he could without hitting the bars with his forehead. Thunder echoed through the prison complex.
,,Twenty-seven perfectly legitimate Septims. Twenty-seven shiny bits of gold and copper. They could be yours, so very easily….for a small favour, of course.” He offered. The guard licked his lips and let his eyes slip to the coins the Dunmer now held up in his hand, yet still out of his reach. He thought of going back to the barracks and taking the keys to the Dunmer’s cell, so he could take the money by force. But if he did that, his commander would have him fired and thrown into a cell instantly on the charge of accepting bribes. He would be better off listening to what the man had to offer.
,,I’m listening.”

The Dunmer leaned in even closer, resting his forehead against the bars.
,,Good, good. You see, I’m feeling rather…lonely. While he doesn’t cause any trouble, our friend over there is a poor conversationalist. A man of few words. So I was thinking, if you could help me out, perhaps provide me with….suitable company? I would be more than willing to help out a friend who is in need of a financial boost. Rub my back, rub yours?” He whispered. The guard looked into the crimson eyes of the prisoner, glanced at the Altmer, the coins and weighed the risk. If the Altmer talked, he would still be in trouble. But the gold-skinned fellow appeared to be sound asleep, impossible as it might sound with the thunder and lightning playing outside. The Imperial grinned, a greedy grin.
,,For a friend, why certainly. It would be a pleasure, no, an honour to help. In fact, I just seem to remember that prisonblock C is undergoing renovations. We need to relocate the current occupants. I was just wondering where to move some of them anyway. I’ll see if I can send over a…better conversationalist.” He said and held out his hand. The Dunmer grinned and handed over some of the coins.
,,Half now, half upon delivery.”

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Mar 6 2012, 08:29 PM

[jack cloudy]

Here, Mallet. Let me throw some cold water on your fuse. We don't want spontaneous human combustion, do we?

And Olen, I noticed that I've been incredibly slow with names. Meh, I think it fits. The Dunmer is simply too mean to care, the Altmer won't ever tell his on his own and the Bosmer, she was occupied with other worries. So, let's continue, shall we?


Chapter 2: Gauntlet

The voices dimmed for a second. With the creak of well-used but poorly maintained hinges, the door leading up to the barracks was opened. Neither the Bosmer nor the Altmer could see it open, but in the latter’s case, he’d heard it open and close so often that he would recognize that sound anywhere. Several boots could be heard loudly descending the short flight of stairs, along with a pair of softer footsteps, like someone wearing slippers.
,,I think we should go further into the complex.” A male’s voice said.
,,No, there’s no need. There are twelve guards in the room we just came from, all fully armed, fully awake and facing the entrance with their swords out. What could get past them?” A second voice countered.
,,My liege?” A third voice, female this time.
,,I leave it all in your hands, captain. Don’t mind me, just take care of this according to your best judgement.” A fourth voice, male again and slightly croaking.
,,Alright, we’ll hide in one of the cells here.” The female decided.

The Altmer edged deeper into the alcove.
,,I need you to go sit in plain sight. Don’t let anyone know I’m here.” He whispered urgently. The Bosmer looked up at him with a frown.
,,Why me? If you think they’re dangerous and you’re planning to sacrifice me, no way.” She whispered back. The Altmer gave her a sudden push and before she knew it, she was kneeling on the floor in the center of her cell. She suppressed a yelp as her knee scraped against the rough floor.
,,No one will lay hands on you, I promise.” The Altmer said behind her. She looked at him, but he had vanished.
,,What, where did you go?”

She looked at the bars. The unknown visitors strode into view. First came a male with dark skin, bearing a fresh torch. She held her head sideways a little. When he turned to her, she concluded that he had indeed dark skin, it wasn’t merely the relative darkness of the prison fooling her eyes.
,,I’ve never seen something like him. Where’s he from?” She stammered.
,,This one’s occupied. A single girl.” The man said. The Bosmer now also noticed the light cast by the torch reflecting on a suit of armour.
,,layered bands of metal that overlap, I’ve never seen a suit of armour like this before. The man who arrested me at the park didn’t wear something like this.” She observed. She pulled a whimsical smile. The man tensed as he saw this and his free hand skipped to the hilt of a sword at his side. When he noticed she didn’t take any action, he relaxed again.
,,Doesn’t matter. Anyone coming through the door can see it from the top of the stairs, we don’t want it.” The female voice said, still out of her sight.

The Bosmer pulled her legs under her and shifted into a more comfortable position. Perhaps if she walked up to the bars, she could see the other visitors. But the dark man looked as if he would skewer her just for that. He was awefully nervous, she could practically smell him sweat, even from where she was. She licked her lips. Somehow, the scent made her thirsty. The man walked up to her celldoor and pulled at it.
,,Locked, fortunately. Alright, I’ll check the other.” He said and turned his back on her.
,,Also occupied. Dunmer, looks like a wreck. There are further cells down the corridor, I assume. But that would be too far, right captain?” He spoke.

It was the female who replied.
,,Must be the one in charge of the group.” The Bosmer concluded.
,,Yes, if we stay here, we can listen to the outcome of the fight above. There is no way out of the prison but through the door we just used. If we hide further and somehow, the impossible happens, our assailants only need to barricade this door and starve us out. At least we’ll know how the odds are if we stay close.” The female reasoned out loud.
,,Alright, open the cell. We don’t have the keys, so just stick your sword in the lock and wrench it open. “She then ordered the dark man.
,,Whatever you say, madam. But the pricetag for fixing this sharp beauty will be yours to pay.” The man answered and unsheathed his sword. The tone in which he’d said it though made it clear he was merely joking.

,,Katana. Sharp, light, but fragile. Not suited for prolonged engagements. Not suited against heavy armour either.” The Bosmer looked to where the voice had come from, but the Altmer was nowhere to be seen.
,,He can turn invisible? But…he’s not underwater.” She shook off her confusion and instead got up when she heard the lock crack. She moved in closer to get a better look. She wouldn’t miss the chance to see the Dunmer get roughed up by these knights or whatever they were. As if on cue, the Dunmer woke up from the noise. He looked up with a wide open mouth as his unexpected and armed guest tucked a toe behind one of the bars and pulled the door open, never relinquishing his hold on either sword or torch. He grinned, revealing his rotten teeth in all their glory.
,,Oh, I can’t believe my eyes. A hero has come to resque me!” He said and batted away a tear. The Bosmer on the other side sighed.
,,What a drama-actor.” She thought.

The dark man entered the cell and pointed his sword, the katana, directly at the Dunmer’s throat.
,,Shut up, unless you want to see your blood spilled on the floor. I’m no hero and I’m not here to resque anyone….” He hissed quite loud.
,,Anyone?” The croaking voice asked, sounding quite amused. The Bosmer tilted her head to the right and now she could see him. He was an old man, dressed in a nightgown and indeed wearing slippers almost as pale as she was, which said a lot, with few strands of snowwhite hair on an otherwise bald head. His face was deformed by wrinkles, his mouth was slightly opened as he breathed heavily from the fatigue merely standing there gave him. But his eyes seemed to draw her in. There was something behind them, something that she couldn’t describe.

The dark man didn’t move from where he was standing, but the way his shoulders sagged made it obvious that he felt embarrassed.
,,Except you, my liege. My apologies, please forgive me.” He said sheepishly. The old man laughed and coughed.
,,No, you must forgive an old man his ill-timed humour. Anyway, I’m going to enter the cell now. Please keep an eye on the prisoner.” He chuckled. His chuckling died down as a cacophony of noise erupted from the barracks.
,,There they are! Get them! We prison guards may be the lowest of the low, but we’ll show them that we have the true Legion spirit!” A voice howled, somewhat muffled by the walls. The Bosmer gasped. That was the voice of the commander who had placed her in this cell. She involuntarily stepped back in surprise at her own response. She then lowered her head and closed her eyes.
,,Please, let him be safe. He doesn’t know it, but I am gratefull for not being put together with that creep over there.” She prayed.

She heard an odd roar and redoubled her efforts, though she had no idea which god to pray to. Would her god save a heathen man from a faraway land?
,,Haha!” Her eyes shot open at the sudden laugh and she ran back to the bars to see. She couldn’t believe what she saw. The Dunmer had thrown a loose brick at the Redguard’s head and knocked him out. Now he’d jumped out into the corridor and grabbed the old man by the neck. He held a broken shard of ceramic at the man’s throat. The dark man’s companions, both wearing the same armour as him, drew two more katanas but were unable to do anything without endangering the old man.
,,Ok, now drop those butterknifes or the old coot gets it!” The Dunmer shouted. He was grinning even more than before.
,,You can’t do this! It will be your own doom, fiend! Kill the man, and we kill you. Surrender, and we might let you live.” The woman spat. The Dunmer laughed again.
,,Oh, really? But if I’m not mistaken, this fetcher here is very important. You won’t lift a finger as long as I can slit his throat just like that.” He raised the ceramic shard.
,,Or were you thinking of healing him with a spell? I could just as easily plunge it into his eyeball directly into his brain. Good spell that can fix that!”

,,What are you doing?!” The Bosmer shouted suddenly. All, except the unconscious dark man, looked at her. The Dunmer laughed. It gave her the shivers, how that laugh grated on the ears.
,,Nothing special. I’m just getting out of here, one way or another. Say, girl. You can come with me of course. I’m sure they’ll let you. They’ll do anything. Of course, I am doing you a favour here and favours are meant to be repayed.” He replied. The girl shook her head, then stopped the motion. It would be a way out of this place. She’d only been here for a week or two, but who knew how much longer it would be if she didn’t take the chance. Surely the price would be worth it. He winked, and she made her decision.
,,No way! I’m not selling my body to anyone for anything! Why don’t you just drop dead and rot?!” Her tirade was cut off with another roar. The two warriors looked at the door for a moment. There were no further commands, or battlecries. Only, silence.

The Dunmer looked disappointed.
,,Ah, I was giving you a great chance. Oh well, plenty of girls in the outside world, prettier even. Heh, now where were we? Oh yes, you two were going to drop those swords and the….” He cut himself off.
,,Hey, where did the silent guy go?” He then asked out loud. Before he could say anything else, he simply sank to the floor, dragging the old man with him due to his weight. The shard cut into the man’s cheek, but as if by miracle, it missed his eye.

There was an incredibly loud bang. Then a second bang, but this one was so soft it could barely be heard. The banging continued.
,,This will hold, for a while.” The captain had rushed over to help the old man back onto his feet while her companion put the dark man onto his shoulder. Only the Bosmer wasn’t occupied with anything so only she looked at the door where the banging was coming from. To her surprise, the Altmer was standing there, and the door was wrapped in some kind of green light.
,,How did you get there…the cell is locked!” She stammered. The Altmer turned to her and both corners of his mouth twitched upward just a bit.
,,I’ve been places, done things.” He answered in his usual cryptic way. He glanced at the door for a moment, which now seemed to consist of nothing but cracks. The strange light now seemed to be the only thing that kept the door from buckling inwards.

The Altmer wandered over to the door of her cell. The two warriors were now watching him intently. Neither was willing to just drop their companion and draw his or her sword though.
,,Identify yourself, stranger. Glenroy, arrest him!” The captain ordered. The Altmer ran a quick hand across the lock on the bosmer’s celldoor before turning around and calmly looking down on Glenroy’s brandished sword.
,,For the peace of your mind, I’d rather not tell. And please, young man. Lower your sword. I am neither an enemy nor someone you should waste such a fine blade on.” He then shifted his gaze to the old man. The two locked eyes. Simultaneously, recognition dawned on the Altmer’s face while the old man looked stricken.
,,It has been a long time, my liege. I assume you still remember me?” The Altmer said solemnly and bowed. The old man however, clutched his chest as his heart began to race in the grips of a growing panic.
,,You!…It’s you…But you were dead!”




OOC: As you can see, this is just another Oblivion main quest fic. However, I'm going to follow Redsrock's example and change things so much, that the main quest is little more than a guideline. Here are the changes we have so far.
1: Two prisoners. (The Dunmer doesn't count, is unconscious and we all now know who he is, don't we? )
2: One of the prisoners is not a know-nothing weakling. He seems to know a lot and has plenty of power.
3: The Emperor is as unprepared as can be. He has literally been dragged out of his bed, as the nightgown shows.
4: The Blades are not very concerned at all, till stuff starts happening one bad thing after another.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jan 7 2008, 09:31 PM