The Connivers of Bosmora, (a redo) Options

[redsrock]

The following will be a remake of the last one. The previous story was rushed and I just hated it. This one will be much better. Expect the first chapter to either come out tonight, or tomorrow.

[redsrock]

CHAPTER EIGHT


All five councilors, plus Helseth and Sirius, were seated around a large round table, with everyone spaced out evenly for the most part. Nobody in the room was in a particularly good mood, not that it was expected. The Councilors of House Hlaalu wanted nothing to do with Sirius, but of course, like it has been noted several times before, he was their only hope if they wanted to find out the truth.

Helseth explained to the five Councilors of what had happened to Sirius earlier in the morning, with great detail. When it was finished, some five minutes later, the expressions of the Councilors changed, and the room was split in their feelings about the situation.

“How do we know he’s lying?” asked the always-angry Dram Bero. “Hlaalu, you just told us he had been drinking earlier. I think it was all dream, and that Sirius had passed out.”

This of course caused everyone to speak out at once, which infuriated Helseth. “SILENCE! I will not have everyone yelling like damn children. We will speak one at a time, in a formal matter.”

He then pointed to Velanda Omani. “No, this was not a dream, the way I interpret it at least. The way the situation has been described, I think Sirius is telling the truth.”

Just then Sirius remembered the letter the Dunmer with the cowl had given him. He reached into his right pants pocket and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper.

“What is that?” Helseth asked.

“I forgot about this. The elf with the cowl had given it to me before transporting me back to my house.”

“See?” Velanda asked with excitement. “This proves my theory! Please, Sirius read the letter.”

Sirius looked at it for the first time, and realized it was more of a riddle than anything. He began to read it aloud:

Look to the east, where the sun doesn’t shine
Look to the place where conspirators confine

Deep within the shell of rust, and where nothing seems to grow
To the place where all dangers and evils seem to go

A catchy little poem, but one that struck the heart of Sirius like a piece of sharpened steel. The spooky feel of the writing seemed to have chilled everyone to the bone, and apparently they all knew where this was going, except for Sirius.

“No, surely the source of this mess isn’t coming from there?” Velanda mentioned, a worried look spread across her face.

“What are you talking about?” Sirius asked.

“The riddle, Sirius. It describes a place that I have never been to, a place where only terrible stories come from. I’m talking about Bosmora.”

This caused more talking with one another, and Helseth quickly called for silence once more. “It does sound awfully like Bosmora, but let’s not get carried away, Velanda. Let us decipher the riddle one line at a time. Obviously this is rather important to our investigation, and we need to make sure we get it right.”

“Well, the first line looks to signify the atmosphere of whatever location the riddle is describing,” Crassius Curio explained. “It’s obviously saying that it is a gloomy place, one filled with dread and despair. And the second line, it is saying that whoever is kidnapping and perhaps killing our members, they are hiding somewhere in this certain place.”

“Okay, what else can you think of, Crassius?” Helseth asked.

“Hmm, I think the last two lines are most important. The ‘shell of rust’ likely refers to the fact that Bosmora has sort of ‘shelled’ itself away from the outside, and because of that they have essentially ‘rusted’ away from the outside world. They do things their own way, whether that is good or not is not up for discussion. Bosmora is a very bad place.”

“What about the last line?”

“It’s very simple. It purely means that the place is dangerous and evil, and that certainly describes Bosmora well. Nothing good ever comes out of that place. It makes me shudder just to think about it.”

All was silent for about a minute while everyone let Crassius’s explanation sink in, and then Helseth spoke up once again. “I think the best way to find out what is going is to travel to Balmora, Sirius. That is where the vanishings took place, and that is where you might be able to find some clues. Is everyone in favor of this?”

The councilors all nodded their head reluctantly, still worried about Bosmora.

“Very well, then you may leave. I would like to speak with you Sirius, though, in private.”

He waited for everyone else to leave, and then immediately started talking. “I won’t lie to you, Sirius; I am starting to get worried. I don’t like the sound of sending you to Bosmora, not at all in fact. However, it does seem to make sense and I think we need to start talking about our possibilities. You will travel to Balmora tomorrow, by boat, and then by stilt strider. It is important that your identity is not given away at any time during this investigation. Also, five thousand septims are being delivered to your house right now; here is the key to the gold’s container. Use the gold to buy whatever you need, but please do try and calm down on the drinking. Do you have any questions?”

“No, I know what I’m doing, Hlaalu; although I am a bit concerned about Bosmora. You all seem to be very fearful of the place. Why?”

“That will have to wait for another day, I’m afraid, as I have matters to attend to outside of the city. For now search for clues in Balmora, and if anything comes up that points us towards Bosmora, then we’ll talk. I don’t wish to speak of the place if I don’t absolutely have to.”

“Very well then,” Sirius said, still a little confused. “I’ll report to you when I find something useful.”

Hlaalu nodded his head while handing Sirius the key and Sirius left the palace, heading straight for his house to collect his gold.


++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++


Because he was about to embark on his first mission in over five years, Sirius was in need of some equipment. The life of an agent wasn’t an easy one, and those wishing to perfect the art, equipment of the highest quality were a must. Back in his prime, Sirius was the owner of the finest gear known to both men and mer, but over the years those items had been sold to pay for his business in Caldera, not to mention the alcohol.

And now he finds himself barren of anything but the clothes he was now wearing. He walked over to Godsreach and entered his house. Resting on the table was a large chest with a lock. He opened the chest with the key, and what he found made smile. The gold glistened brightly into Sirius’s eyes, almost blinding him. He picked up a handful of coins, almost as if making sure he was not dreaming. Then he grabbed a sack from another room and began filling it with the gold.

Once in Godsreach he first went to the local weapons-smith. A grumpy looking Orc, dressed in fancy clothing, was sitting behind the counter, looking as if he was seconds from falling asleep. But upon hearing the door close, he quickly woke up.

“What do you want?” The Orc asked, upset that Sirius had disturbed him.

“Yes, I want to buy an elven shortsword, pleas.”

“Anything else?” the Orc asked, impatiently.

“No, that’ll be it.”

The Orc gathered the sword and laid it on his counter. “It’s gonna be six hundred septims.”

Sirius happily handed him the gold and then left the store. Next on his list were lock picks, and for this he traveled to the general goods store. An attractive Breton woman was shuffling through some boxes when Sirius entered the store.

“Hello, how are you today? Is there something I can help you with?” The cheery Breton woman said with a pretty smile. She looked to be in her late twenties, possibly early thirties. Her hair was bright red, and ran from her head to down below her nicely-curved bottom. Sirius was mesmerized by her beauty, and for a second he couldn’t speak.

“Umm…yes. I…I’d like to buy some lock picks, please,” Sirius stuttered. He was also blushing, and the Breton woman giggled.

“May I ask what quality you are looking for?” She asked, again with the same beautiful smile.

“I…ugh, I’d prefer Master if you have them.”

“As a matter of fact I do,” She said, pulling up a small chest from behind the counter. “This here is a set of ten picks, all beautifully crafted by a Khajiit on an island just south of Sadrith Mora. I assure you, you will find no better pick than here in my store. And I’d be willing to part with them for a mere eight hundred septims, a bargain I should add.”

Sirius looked at the picks, and sure enough they were of great quality. “I’ll take them.”

He gave the Breton the gold and started to walk towards the door, but then he stopped in his tracks half way. He had the sudden urge to ask this woman out to dinner. He had time because he wouldn’t even be leaving for Balmora until the following morning, and at the moment it was nine o’clock at night. Hession’s diner didn’t close until eleven.

Sirius wasn’t sure why, but he was very attracted to the woman. She was very friendly, and even prettier. There was simply something about her than Sirius couldn’t quite explain. The only thing he knew was that he wasn’t going to leave until asking her out to dinner. So he turned around and walked back to the Breton, who was looking at him with a smiling, suspicious stare. He noticed that there were no rings on her finger, and then he made his offer.

“Um, would you possibly want to have dinner with me tonight? We could eat at the Winged Guar if you’d like.”

The Breton woman smiled brighter than ever and replied, “I’d love to. Let’s say in an hour? I’ll be closing in thirty minutes.”

“That sounds great. I’ll shop around for a little longer until then.”

He waved at the woman and walked to the door. Before leaving he took one more look behind him. The Breton lady was smiling at him with the sweetest set of teeth and the most gorgeous light-blue eyes he had ever seen.

Maybe this drunk can get lucky after all. Sirius thought to himself. And then he left the shop.