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]

Chapter 13

The journey to Bruma had been uneventful, a few wolves and later even some trolls apparently objected to her passing through their areas, but it was nothing a good Chameleon spell couldn’t fix.

After stabling her horse at the Wildeye stables, Filben wasted no time in making her way to the Mages guild chapter there. As she neared it though, she sensed something was wrong. It was strangely quiet on the streets, and there were few sounds coming from inside.

Opening the door she soon learned the reason for it; the Mages guild looked like a powerful fire spell had just gone off. Stacks of books and cabinets were burning, and the floor was riddled with bodies. Some were the mages she had met when she completed the recommendation quest here, but most were undead. skeletons, zombies and the remains of wraiths were scattered throughout the place.

Walking through the guild house, she found several zombies were still animate, but she quickly solved that. Upstairs she encountered one Necromancer still alive, but before Filben even had time to cast a silence spell on her or try to capture her, the Necromancer cast a silence spell of her own on Filben and came after her. It was a desperate swing from her staff that brought the Necromancer down.

Nearly at the same time as she killed the Necromancer, behind her a new sound could be heard. It was that of a Khajiit whimpering in fear. Looking behind her, Filben saw the source of the sound; J’skar. Apparently he had pulled the same trick as he did during her recommendation quest. Only this time no one discovered him.

“J’skar, what happened here?”

“It was awful, he was here, actually here standing in this very room.”

“Who was J’skar? Who did this to them?”

“This morning we were disturbed by noises coming from the basement. We don’t know how but a large gang of undead- zombies, skeletons and the like- had found their way into the basement. They attacked us. At first we were able to fend them off, but then from the attic Necromancers came pouring down. And then he came. We didn’t stand a chance.”

“But who, who lead them?”

“It was the King of Worms himself leading them, Mannimarco. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I think the only reason I’m alive was because I was invisible… but even so, I think he saw me. He killed them one by one, Volanaro was last. I think he was trying to run away, but he didn’t make it did he?”

“No, it doesn’t look like he did.”

“I can still picture it. The King of Worms stood over him, right before he died and he… well, it looked like he sucked out Volanaro’s soul. He said something about a meeting at Kvatch, and destroying the Mages Guild. Then he looked right at me and grinned. You’ve got to do something; you’ve got to tell Arch-Mage Traven!”

“I will; I’ll leave for the Imperial city at once. Will you be able to manage here?”

“I’ll hire people to clean all this up, but then I’m coming to the Imperial City as well. I think the Arch-Mage is the only one who can protect me.”

“Good luck, J’skar.”

J’skar stopped her just before she went downstairs, “Filben, there is one more thing; I saw someone I know with Mannimarco. Caranya was there.”

“You mean she tried to fight Mannimarco?”

“No, she led the Necromancers until Mannimarco took over for her.”

So one of the two missing Master-Wizards was a necromancer. And Filben had to wonder- would the other prove to be one as well?



The Arch-Mage was understandably upset at the news; an entire chapter destroyed just like that, and Caranya a traitor.

“How could I have not seen this? I must be going blind to miss it. And now Filben, we also know who betrayed Mucianus; I did. If I hadn’t named him that day at the meeting he might still be alive and able to give us vital information regarding the Necromancers.”

“But Caranya being a traitor is nothing compared to the news that the King of Worms has returned. This is grave indeed.” He seemed to consider something for a moment. “Filben, I’m sorry it comes in such dire circumstances, but I wish to promote you to Wizard. I also have a new assignment for you, but it will likely be the most dangerous assignment you’ve ever been on. I want you to travel to Kvatch and spy on this meeting between the King of Worms and his minions. Perhaps from the meeting we’ll be able to gather vital information on what his plans are and what we can do to stop him.”

“I understand your concerns Arch-Mage, but I accept the task. I will do what I can.”