Necromancer's Dream, A Story of Arvas Options

[Lord Veneficus]

I know, it's short; just bear with me.

Chapter I

Arvas sat in the dim, noisy tavern on the outskirts of the Imperial City. The drunkards stumbled about the room, bumping into tables and spitting curses at the more sober groups of people. Much raucous laughter filled the smoky air as traveling minstrels strummed their lutes and pounded on their drums. The innkeeper was hunched over a dirty glass, proceeding to wipe away the grime caked at the bottom of the mug. He was balding and almost as tall as Arvas; but due to his massive hunch, his head came up to Arvas’s chest. He was slowly swaying back and forth with to the tune of the music.

“Excuse me barkeep, can I have another tankard of beer, please,” Arvas asked, raising his cup up. The barkeep disappeared behind the counter and returned with a somewhat clean mug. He hobbled over to the beer tap and poured Arvas a generous amount. Arvas took the mug and raised it slightly, saying, “Thanks.” He downed the beer in minutes.

His life had recently taken a downfall. He had to flee Morrowind, as he wanted to free himself from the temple. He didn’t agree with all of their beliefs.

A man had stood up, knocking his chair over in the process. His staff glowed with bright blue magicka. No one seemed to care as he screamed into the face of a rather bulky man, who was unfazed by the dark-robed mage in his face. He rather stared off into space. “I…I could… kill ye righ’ now if ye wanted me too, Bjorn.” He stuttered as he wobbled to the door. Arvas stood from the creaky old stool and began for the door. The innkeeper looked at him and said, “Where you goin’ boy? Come pay for this.” He shook the empty mug at him. Arvas sprinted from the tavern, away from the Imperial City.

He entered the fort that he had cleared out a few days ago. It wasn’t very large because it was only built for a captain and several of his men. The beds were ancient and holes were eaten out of the sheets from the many moths that floated about in the darkness. He slumped down into his bed and attempted to sleep, which proved difficult. He was worried that at any moment someone could come in his small makeshift home and take him back to Vvardenfell.

After two hours of tossing and turning, he finally fell asleep, dreaming of one day becoming the greatest sorcerer of the ages…



This post has been edited by Lord Veneficus: May 13 2008, 01:12 PM

[Lord Veneficus]

Chapter X

Arvas awoke from his mostly restless sleep and pulled his sword from its sheath, commencing to shine it. The mint leaf man entered his room, drinking from a bottle. “Hello, we’ve heard from a messenger that the Dunmer mage from the Mages’ Guild is on his way to the city of Skingrad. We do not know the nature of the assignment he has been given, but a brother of ours, Mercator Hosidus, is the count’s steward. He has told us he will set up an ambush for the unsuspectin’ mage and kill him. You are goin’ to go there as well and help in the attack against him. I shall see you later on tonight friend.” He turned from the room, still drinking from the large bottle.

The beds were tightly made and no one was in there with Arvas. He stood and made his dark bed and put his equipment on himself; he left the room with Belator in tow. “Massster, where mussst we go now?”

“We’re going to the city of Skingrad to kill that blue robed man at Wellspring Grove,” Arvas answered. Belator shook his ancient head in disapproval.

“We cannot do that. It’ssss too dangeroussss. Massster, did you not sssee what he did to that cowering man? He froze the man’sss body with no effort. He isss very powerful.”

“I feel as though I’ve seen that spell before; I just can’t place my finger on it. Also, it is Lord Mannimarco’s orders. If we do not follow them, I’m positive he’ll kill us.” They were in the Great Forest going south to the Gold Road. To their right, mountains in the Colovian Highlands rose high and the cool air would occasionally blow past them. The smell of oh-so-sweet smell pine wafted into Arvas’s nostrils, making him feel calm and at ease. However, he knew he could not trust the calming scents and happy nature of the Great Forest; or any other soothing surroundings, as they are full of deceit and imminent danger. He kept his guard up, wanting some practice with his swordplay.

Belator had not said much during the trip; he had gotten to where he would fall into a somber mood occasionally for hours at a time. Arvas didn’t mind the silence, he had gotten quite used to it over the days he spent hiding away in the cleared out ruin west of the Imperial City. But Belator had always seemed the talkative type.

A boar dove from a bush, wildly throwing its tusks in every direction, trying to hit anything and everything. Arvas backed up and yanked his steel long sword from its sheath and swung it at the bulging boar. He cut the tough hide of it, but the boar did not acknowledge that it was just struck rather powerfully. Belator was crumpled in a pile of bones on the ground. Dammit! I’ll have to fix him once I am done with this boar. Arvas thought to himself. His heart was racing, though he didn’t know why. The boar charged and he rolled out of the way; he arced his sword back and brought it down on the head of the boar. It squealed and fell to the loose dirt.

Arvas cut strips of bloody boar hide and bound Belator’s bones back into place. He fixed the last strip and placed his hand upon the head of the skeleton. The dark magic erupted from his fingertips, surrounding the dirty corpse. It began to quake and it slowly rose from the ground. It seemed a bit more difficult this time; the dizziness came back but Arvas kept pushing his magicka into the lifeless bones lying before him. After several long minutes of magicka being drained into the old corpse, Arvas decided there was nothing more he could do for Belator except let him pass back on to Aetherius. A tear rolled down his cheek. I should not have ignored him like that! He’s saved my life many a time, but his re-death will not be in vain. He felt a darkness wash over him.

He wanted to find more bodies to reanimate, even though he knew he could not replace one of his closest friends.