The Ordinator, The time of change is approaching... Options

[Gaius Maximus]

So, I decided I would psot it ehre as well. Enjoy!

Chapter I

Raynari Vandareth sighed in relief, taking off his Indoril helmet. Sweat gushed down his brow, and he could feel the same was happening to his back, which gave him an uncomfortable feeling, since he could do nothing with his armor on. However, he wasn’t an Ordinator captain for nothing, so he could endure this feeling, like he endured the hits that came from Corprus monsters a mere several minutes ago.

“Captain? Are you alright?” A voice distracted Raynari from the dead body of a once-man in front of him.

Turning around, he was faced with an Indoril helmet, worn by one of his Ordinators, with whom he was tasked to clear out a nest of Sixth House heretics.

“Yes… Yes, I’m fine. Only several dents in my armor… Those damn monsters know how to pack a hit.” The Ordinator Captain replied, cleaning the sweat off of his brow with a gauntlet-less hand. The gauntlet that was supposed to rest on the hand was lying in dirt, deformed to the point where it was impossible to use it for its original purpose.

“Casualties?” Raynari finally asked after a moment of silence.

“We’ve got at least half a hundred of those beasts. Yet at a high cost, they took at least a quarter of our own men, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s double the number of them left in this cave.” The lower-ranking Ordinator replied with a sigh. Raynari shook his head slightly.

“Tell the remaining men to regroup into a schiltron. The heretics aren’t known for patience, they’ll come at us soon, so we have to be ready.” The Ordinator Captain ordered with a weary voice, again cleaning the sweat from his brow – it was still pouring. “Dismissed, Suleri.” Raynari added, cleaning the tip of his spear into the ground, which was also stained in blood.

With a salute, the Ordinator called Suleri hurried off, leaving Raynari alone with his thoughts once again. However, those thoughts weren’t the nicest ones, as the Ordinator Captain could hear footsteps approaching them – more Corprus beasts were coming into the cavern in which the Ordinators were trapped.

If this lasts for long, we’ll all be dead. Apparently, the informant underestimated the Sixth House while gathering information about this goddamn cavern… Vehk save us if no reinforcements come. Raynari sighed again, then shot a glance at his Ordinators. They were all weary, yet still more than willing to fight for the glory of the Temple and the Tribunal. They didn’t have much hope of surviving, and the little hope they did was in the form of a circular schiltron, a forest of spears deadly against cavalry and useful against infantry.

When the second wave of Corpus monsters finally began, the spear-armed Ordinators met it with grim face expressions and tightly gripped spears and shields. However, the mad beasts did not stop for even a moment of consideration, slamming into the schiltron. The tight formation retreated slightly, yet suffered light casualties, while leaving many bodies of Corprus monsters on the ground.

The Corprus monsters slammed into the schiltron again, suffering more casualties, yet making the circle of spears retreat a bit more. This was certainly not a welcomed situation, as soon enough, the Ordinators would be pushed into the wall, and their formation disrupted. Raynari had to quickly think a way out of this. However, it wasn’t that hard.

When the Corprus monsters slammed into them for the third time, he yelled out the command that could either doom the Ordinators or save them:

“ATTACK!”

Thus, when the Corprus monsters slammed into a part of the schiltron, their flanks were crashed into by the other Ordinators. Soon enough, the Corprus monsters were forced into fighting on three sides – their flanks and the front. Now was the time when Raynari had to lead a handful of Ordinators to smash into their rear, an action that the Corprus monsters would not expect.

As fast as possible, the party of some ten Ordinators separated from the main force, trying to stay away from the fighting. It didn’t take long for them to reach the location from which they could charge down on the rear of the Corprus beasts, hopefully turning their attention away from the other Ordinators long enough for the fighting to turn the way they wanted.

Raynari smirked, looking at the temptingly vulnerable rear of the Corprus monsters. However, the smirk was left unnoticed by his companions, since his head was covered with the Indoril helmet, which was in turn smeared with blood, as was his whole armor. He knew that soon enough, his armor would receive a new layer of blood, and a new set of dents from the monsters that fought ahead of them. Since there was no time to be wasted, the Ordinator Captain lifted up his spear into the air, then yelled out the phrase that all of the Ordinators were eager to hear:

“CHARGE!”

It took several moments for the Corprus monsters to realize what happened when the handful of Ordinators slammed into their back, and when they did, several of the monsters’ numbers were already dead with spears in their backs. However, when they did realize what happened, they turned to fight with ferocity that Raynari had not foreseen.

The Captain himself, though, fought with ferocity that equaled, if not surpassed, the ferocity of his enemies. However, his ferocity blinded him temporarily, which almost cost him his life. As he impaled a Corprus monster with his spear, another one lunged at him from behind, knocking him on the ground.

Raynari was unfortunate enough to land on a rock with his unarmored hand. With a sickening crunch, he looked as his arm twisted in an unusual way, indicating that it broke. As if that wasn’t enough, he cut it quite deeply, and blood started gushing out of his wound. But it wasn’t the only of his problems – the Corprus monster jumped on him, pressing him to the ground.

After a bit of struggling, Raynari managed to turn himself around, coming face to face with the disfigured face of the monster. A sickening stench blew at his face, though he did his best to ignore it, hitting the monster in the face. This didn’t seem to have much effect, though, and in return Raynari got a hit that broke his nose. He felt warm blood on his face, yet ignored it, moving his head to avoid another such hit.

What the Corprus monster failed to see was that Raynari’s fine arm managed to grasp the shortsword that hung at the Ordinator Captain’s side. Just as the creature was going to land another hit, Raynari swung the shortsword. It too several moment for the monster to realize what had happened, yet it soon roared in pain, staring at what was left of its arm. The rest of it landed nearby, cut off by Raynari’s shortsword.

Blood poured out of the remaining part of the beast’s arm, mixing with the blood on Raynari’s face and arm. The Dunmer frowned in disgust, then drove the shortsword in his hand into the creature’s neck, causing more blood to pour on him and mix with that of his own. With a one last roar, the monster fell down on Raynari in full weight, hitting his head against a rock.

The last thing Raynari heard before passing out was cheerful shouts and heavy footsteps of many armored feet.

***

Raynari looked around a large room, seemingly made out of gold. He did not know where he was, nor how he got here, yet what he knew was that he didn’t want to be here. Still, the room was so beautiful, and the wooden door leading outside seemed so ugly in comparison, he couldn’t make himself leave. What drew him more were other doors, made out of precious gems and diamonds of all sort.

In an oddly sluggish way, Raynari walked towards the diamond doors. It took only several moments for him to reach them and open them. However, when he did, he felt himself falling through the floor before he could even see what was inside. As he fell into the abyss, darkness surrounded him. The Ordinator Captain heard someone laugh, before opening his eyes.

Sweat gushed down his enormously hot brow. Raynari felt weak and sick, which was probably the case, as the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a man in blue robes – the Ordinator healer. Raynari was back in Vivec.

[Gaius Maximus]

Thanks for the replies! I finally present you with the third chapter.

Chapter III

Raynari groaned, throwing the blanket off of himself. Sweat was again covering his body, and he felt hot… Too hot, given that he was a Dunmer, and only on rare occasions would feel like he was now. However, the thoughts of heat were soon pushed out of his minds, as his whole attention was focused to his arm. A loud gasp left the Mer’s mouth.

There were growths appearing on his left arm, which was also changing color to oddly gray. It was almost as if it was rotting, yet instead of decomposing, it seemed to grow… And, no stench had appeared, the reason why Raynari only now found out what happened to one of his limbs. The others, he could see, were also showing signs of change, yet none were as obvious as the ones on his left hand.

I had seen such things before… But…Where? I’m sure it wasn’t that long ago… Slowly, he forced himself to think. Whatever disease he had caught had disrupted his thoughts, and just made it hard for him to think at all. Raynari blamed hat on the disturbing dreams that followed him every time he went to sleep, always insisting that he ‘belonged to ‘me’, whoever the ‘me’ was.

Even with his slow mind, it didn’t take long for Raynari to realize where he had seen such growths and such color. He gasped loudly again, as the realization wasn’t at all pleasant.

Corprus monsters… I’ve seen it on Corprus monsters… Those smaller ones, they had similar skin color… And growths, that too… Soon after that thought hit him, Raynari threw up on the floor, sickened by the possibility of becoming such a monster.

However, as he cleaned his mouth slowly, another thing struck him.

If I am infected with Corprus… And I am in the middle of Vivec… Then… He forced himself to continue thinking, yet he almost fell unconscious in the process. .. Then I’m going to be killed by my own comrades! As a simple beast! The realizations truck him again, yet Raynari kept himself from throwing up again.

The Captain’s eyes widened slowly, as he remembered another case similar to his. An Ordinator had caught Corprus as well… And he himself had killed the man right after the first signs of Corprus began appearing. Now, the same was going to happen to him…

Unless… Raynari lifted up slightly. Unless I run, flee Vivec and go into hiding. However, two obvious problems presented themselves immediately – where was he to go, and how the hell would he escape Vivec in the first place?

The answer to the first question came soon enough.

Red Mountain… I was invited there. It is the only place where I would be welcomed after the change will be complete. He remembered the invitation that came through the dream, urging him to come to the Red Mountain, right into the hands of the Devil Dagoth Ur. His choices were not the best – Raynari could either remain here, where he would be executed, or go to the Tribunal’s worst enemy, who seemed to be inviting him? It did not take him long to decide, and when he did, the small piece of him that wanted to go to the Red Mountain all along seemed to explode, filling him completely.

Now, the only question that remained was how was he to get out of Vivec. After that, Raynari would’ve had enough time to think about how would he reach the volcano or what would he do upon reaching it.

However, Raynari believed it not to be much of a problem, if he wasn’t separated from his possessions. Once, he had bought a Divine Intervention scroll from an outlander, in the case he ever ran out of Almisivi Intervention scrolls. He could use that scroll to get to the nearest Foreigner city or fort, and from there make his way out into wilderness, to seek out a road that would lead him to the Red Mountain, and supposedly his destiny.

Slowly, Raynari tried to get up, in order to begin fulfilling his plot. However, he was immediately faced with the issue of being too weak to walk. Now that was a problem. He knew a weak spell that would’ve enhanced his strength for a period of time, yet Raynari was no magician, and even the maintenance of such a simple spell would’ve cost him enormous efforts.

Silently, the Ordinator muttered the right incantation, and again attempted to stand up. This time, he had more success, yet only barely was he able to stand still. The world around him swirled like the thoughts of the Mad God and his movements were very reminiscent of those of a drunkard.

Still, the Captain continued onwards, and managed to reach one of the two doors that was in the room, on the opposite side of the room than the door through which the healer had left. What lay behind those doors would either deem Raynari’s plan either successful, or a failure. Thus, it was nothing odd that his heartbeat rate increased when he turned the handle slowly.

Equally slowly, Raynari opened the doors, careful not to make any noise that could’ve attracted the attention of the people he knew were patrolling behind the other door. After he had made a gap large enough to look through, the Corprus victim pressed his head against the door, peering into the room.

Only barely did he hold himself from shouting in joy. Behind those doors was a set of Indoril armor, battered and broken at places, which Raynari could identify as his own. Next to the armor hung a blue cape, the standard robe of a Temple priest. And placed against the wall was a large chest.

Grabbing the robe, Raynari kneeled down before the chest, and opened it with some difficulty. His shivering hands slowly searched through the contents of the chest, looking for what he needed for his escape – a Divine Intervention scroll. It took some effort to locate it between the countless Almisivi Intervention scrolls, also simple scrolls that contained notes that were important in the past.

Finally, however, Raynari held in his hands a scroll that gave out a slight purple-ish glow. Daedric Runes that were on the scroll recorded the incantation that was a one-way ticket to Ebonheart.

With some effort, Raynari managed to cover himself in the blue cape completely. He was feeling even hotter within the robe; yet it would’ve attracted far too much attention to just appear in the middle of a city almost naked. Thus, confident that none of the signs of Corprus are visible, Raynari unfolded the scroll, the read the incantation, and disappeared in a flash of purple.

Next thing the ex-Ordinator knew, he had slammed down on the ground on the docks of Ebonheart, the largest foreigner fort in Vvardenfell. Raynari’s weak strength fortifying spell was not enough to keep him up, though, so he was forced on his knees upon the impact. However, in the bustling crowd of people that currently covered seemingly every brick of Ebonheart, the new arrival was barely noticed.