Cyrodiil Options

[Alexander]

Ok, so for the unavoidable introduction babble, as most of you know I was rather pleased with Morrowind. I thought it was far better then the dribble I wrote prior to that, and most people seemed to agree with me. After I finished Morrowind I already had an idea for a sequel, I actually wrote the very first chapter of said sequel while I was posting up parts of Morrowind. Unfortunately though, after that first chapter I kind of lost interest. I didn’t think the ideas I had back then were enough to weave an entire story together, and I was probably right.

But as these things have a habit of developing themselves, over the past months I kept thinking back to the sequel, and kept adding ideas to the pile I already had. Now it’s done. I once again enjoyed writing this, and I hope you’ll have similar fun reading it.

As I’ve explained in the past, I’m not very good at making up things like titles, Akatosh knows it took me about as long to come up with the various titles of the chapters as it did to write the entire thing, so I’ve named the story “Cyrodiil” (catchy wot? )

Before I end my babbling and get on with posting the story, I once again would like to thank Treydog for agreeing to help with my story as editor, and for fixing the many, many, many grammatical and spelling errors, and placing every comma, semicolon and whatchamacallit in the correct place. And thanks to everyone who ever read Morrowind, and commented. I really enjoy the comments.


Now, while you don’t have to have read Morrowind, I believe in order to get the most out of Cyrodiil, it would be recommended.


So, enough babbling and on to Cyrodiil.

[Alexander]

Baurus found himself looking at the gate. Two guards were standing in front of it with torches but other then that everything was dark. Looking around, he hoped Lucien and his Necromancer friend would arrive soon, at least before some patrolling guard mistook Baurus for a criminal and shot him before he could even explain who he was

“There you are.”

Baurus spun around, wondering how Lucien had been able to sneak up on him, a feat no one managed since he completed his Blades training. Baurus barely suppressed a shiver.

“Come now, swiftly Baurus, before someone sees us. It does not do to be seen at night.”

Lucien led Baurus to the back of what appeared to be a long abandoned house. They entered it through a small gate in the well that appeared to be in good repair, despite the apparent rust. Crawling through the passageway into an underground hideout, Baurus saw the inside of it was not as shabby as he had expected. Standing up, he found himself looking up at a tall Altmer who loomed over him in the semi-darkness. The Altmer, like Lucien, wore a black hooded robe, but where Lucien’s had no markings, this one’s robe had a red skull and two hands on the front of it.

“Master Baurus, allow me to introduce my associate; Tarenen. Tarenen, take it away.”

A hollow voice issued from the Altmer; “Death. It’s such a beautiful thing; the body dies, releasing the spirit to live on for ever, just so long as no soultrap spell is being used eh, hahaha.”
The Altmer began to walk around the room standing still occasionally, at times touching a certain object, or a part of the wall.

“I sense much violence has gone on here, many lives taken in a short amount of time. Violent deaths are good for the ceremony; spirits often tend to remain at the scene, confused as to how and why they were released from their fragile flesh.””

“His name was Vicente Valtieri you said, Lucien? I sense him, vaguely, but I sense him. Though not here.” Tarenen turned around until he was looking straight at Baurus, who felt a sudden chill. Then when the Necromancer started towards him, Baurus had trouble not drawing his sword. But luckily Tarenen walked right past him and toward what appeared to be a corridor leading farther downward into the sanctuary.

“Come, come, it’s this way.”

Leading them down several slopes, Tarenen finally stopped in front of the last room in the corridor. One of the doors was open and looking inside, Baurus saw a room where the most striking item was a stone slab. It would not have looked out of place in a graveyard. He assumed this was the room the vampire Valtieri used to call his own.

“Yes, I sense his spirit here; it’s very strong, I won’t be able to control it for long before it might try to take control over me. Please, Lucien, Baurus, step inside and close the door. It’s time to begin our ritual.”

Baurus didn’t know where all the candles came from, but he and Lucien must have lit nearly a hundred over the course of the next hour. Tarenen would instruct them to put each one in a certain place, hesitate, then either have them move it a centimeter or two or give them another one. When he wasn’t giving them directions, he was quietly chanting. Baurus couldn’t really make out the words, but somehow he didn’t think that was a bad thing.

When the last candle was set, at least Baurus assumed it was the last candle, since Tarenen did not hand them another, Baurus looked at the necromancer. He was standing with his back to the room, looking at the slab of stone.

Suddenly Tarenen started talking, but to Baurus, it seemed the voice had a different ring to it than before; “Luuuciiiiennnn, mistaken, MISTAKEN! No traitor here, MISTAKEN!”

Baurus thought Lucien had a look about him as if he’d just heard a ghost, but then he probably had. He was quick to recover though. “Vicente, what happened, happened, please believe that I had a good reason to do what I did. But for now, we need your help with something.”

Again that voice from beyond the grave; “Why help you? MISTAKEN!” Baurus had always been quick on his feet, so before Lucien could reply he interjected, “Vicente, an old friend of yours says hello, Janus Hassildor.”

“Janus? Yes I knew him, many years ago.” Tarenen now turned around to look at Baurus, or rather the body that was usually the Altmer. It was a creepy sight, for the eyes had rolled back into the skull, yet Baurus somehow knew whatever possessed Tarenen could see him clearly.

“You’re not Janus, where is he?”

“Janus could not come, Vicente; he could not leave Skingrad, but he begs your help in an urgent matter. Will you give it?”

Whatever was inside Tarenen seemed to think that over for a moment, “ASK! And I shall answer.”

Baurus looked at Lucien, who nodded for him to continue; “You told your friend Janus of how the Ancient who turned you told stories about robbing Daedra princes in their own realm. What is the name of the Ancient and where can I find him?”

“Ancient, yes, an Ancient turned me, brought me into the dark side. I was out hunting guars one day, and forgot about the time. In the dark, I suddenly saw two white dots coming straight for me, and I felt pain. Then, when I woke up, I was inside a Dwemer structure and saw a man looking out into the sky through a Dwemer telescope. He explained things to me, and I was his from that time forward. His name was Raxle Berne, and the place was Galom Daeus.”

During all this, Baurus noticed the spirit had talked much more coherently then before; perhaps telling the story reminded him more of his humanity, or Vampirity. So Raxle Berne was the Ancient whom he had to find.

“Thank you Vicente. Lucien, thank you for your help; I’m going to leave right away.”

“Of course, Master Baurus, that’s probably for the best. I believe Vicente and I have some things left to ah, discuss.”

Baurus noticed that as he said that, Lucien seemed to loosen his muscles and his hand appeared to be closing onto some hidden weapon or other.

Just as he went through the door though, Lucien spoke one last time; “Ah, Master Baurus, good luck. I sincerely hope you find Varvur and bring him back.”

Baurus nodded once, then walked out the door, closing it after him. From inside he heard a sudden boom, likely a spell had gone off,. followed by cursing and shouting from two people.

Baurus never looked back, He was already thinking about the next place he had to go; Morrowind.