Memoires of Rales Sarethi, A Morrowind fanfic Options

[Remko]

Dear readers, I posted this in the unnamed forum but since you were so kind to invite me here, I thought I'd "grace" you with my drivel. Without further adue, I present you the adventures of Rales Sarethi.

Part I Homecoming

Chapter 1: Seyda Neen.

Day 1

Over thirty-five years ago, I think I was about nineteen, maybe twenty, I got pulled from my bunk in the cell in Imperial City and was told I was to be deported to Vvardenfell immediately. First by carriage and then by boat.
Gods, even up to this day I resent carriage rides, they’re bumpy, dusty and tiresome, I prefer a horseback ride anyday.

The seajourney is pretty much a blur in my recollection, the gentle relaxing motion of the boat made me drift into a careless and refreshing slumber.
I briefly opened my eyes at times the sea was exceptionally rough and I remember a gentle yet compelling voice speaking to me. Can’t remember the words though, just the sound of the voice that stuck with me.

I woke up when a fellow Dunmer, one donning a huge scar across his face, told me we had arrived and that I needed to get off the boat. He called himself Jiub and asked what my name was. I politely answered my name was Rales. I didn’t bother telling him my last name, after all, he hadn’t told his either.
I never saw the guy again after I disembarked. A shame really, he was kind of like-able.

A grumpy Redguard legionnaire ordered me to report in at the Census and Excise office outside. Like I had a choice. On the boardwalk towards the offices, an Imperial officer asked me several random questions, like my race. Like he couldn’t see for himself. Sjeezzz…. I had to refrain myself from rolling my eyes and possibly insulting or upsetting the guy. Instead, I acted like the good Dunmer they wanted me to be, I played along and answered his questions.

After I had satisfied his curiosity he ordered me to report in at the office for my release form. ‘Release form? I was going to be released?’
I could hardly believe my pointy ears at that time. Let me tell you; looking back on what they had me go through, sometimes I wished they had left me to rot in prison. With a straight face I walked towards the rickety wooden structure that was the consensus and excise office. I couldn’t be showing surprise about my release, what if they had made a mistake and changed their mind?

Quickly I proceeded into the building. An elderly Imperial was sitting behind a desk, going through piles and piles of documents. Pre-occupied as he seemed to be, he hadn’t noticed me yet or maybe he was just ignoring me. Perhaps it had been my body-odour? Figuring that was hardly my fault, they were the ones that had plucked me from my cell, dropped me on a boat and had me report into an office without the chance to clean myself up. I shrugged and softly cleared my throat to get his attention, I didn’t want to startle the old man lest he would die from a heart-attack. Knowing my luck, they’d probably blame me and I’d be back where I started, in jail.

The following conversation with the old git almost felt like a job-interview. Socusius Ergalla, the census and excise officer, asked me all sorts of questions; like my starsign, my skills and whatnot. I didn’t have a clue what they wanted with the info but since it was hardly a secret, I just answered them while the Imperial wrote it all down on some sort of form. After the interview, Socusius told me to take my release form (that’s what the form turned out to be) to Selles Gravius where I’d receive orders. I was almost speechless - almost. ‘Orders? Whatfor?’ I remember exclaiming. He just shrugged. Apparantly he hadn’t a clue either. Well, that made two of us so I went to Gravius, hoping he would tell me more.

Halfway to Selles Gravius I got distracted by a hallway behind a sturdy looking wooden door that led to some sort of a basement where I found a variety of items. Some silverware, some bottles containing local booze, an iron dagger and a bag to put in the items I had “found”.
Ofcourse, only then I realised I still had to see that Gravius guy. He would notice me carrying a bag, suspiciously tingling with all sorts of gear a newly released prisoner shouldn’t have yet. I put the bag next to the table where I had found the dagger, checked my release form was still in my pocket and went to see Selles Gravius.

Gravius wasn’t much of a talker and looked like a formidable warrior. In fact; it made me wonder what in Sheogorath’s name he was doing here in this lousy office. When I asked him while handing him the form he almost bit off my head saying it was none of my busines and unpatiently snatched the release form from my hands. He glimpsed me over for a while with one eyebrow raised and ordered me to wait for a moment while he looked up some documents I was going to need. A few moments later he handed me a letter, some gold I quickly pocketed and a mysterious package for a certain Caius Cosades in Balmora, who-ever that may be. I figured I’d find out soon enough and didn’t ask any more questions.

Having been through that, - what I still consider a bureaucratical ordeal - as I went to retrieve my bag, I suddenly remembered there was a rainbarrel outside I hadn’t looked into. I had little gold and a dagger but no water, no food, no nothing so anything I could find would be useful and most of all; for free.
Turned out it only contained a ring with some engraving. Unfortunately I couldn’t make out what it was saying so I put it in my pocket, again wandered through the offices with an air like nothing was out of the ordinary, fetched the bag and made my way into Seyda Neen.
I was my own man again. I was free to go where I wanted.

***

My first steps outside were, well, quite frankly, disappointing. You’d expect a town with the main docks into Vvardenfell would be a big, prospering town. Suffice to say it wasn’t.
As a matter of fact, it was just the opposite. Most of the houses were run-down, shabby shacks, trading was limited to one tradinghouse and a swamp surrounded it so flies swarmed the town.
I won’t even mention the smell.

Still, I was in Morrowind, I could finally look up relatives I knew to still live here. My mother had told me plenty of stories of her and her cousin Athyn playing together. I couldn’t remember which town though, but from what I’ve been taught, the Sarethi family is well-known and shouldn’t be too hard to track down.

My sense of pride prevented me running off to find them right away, I could hardly arrive wearing nothing but the raggedy clothes, looking like a bum. I wanted to make a name for myself first. I wanted them to be proud to hail back a long-lost relative
For now, my pride would have to wait, I had more pressing matters, like finding somewhere to stay the night.

While looking around and - metaphorically speaking - sniffing up the atmosphere a Woodelf came upto me grinning child-like. The chap introduced himself as Fargoth and extended his hand which I grabbed. From moment one I knew I was going to like this friendly little fellow. Turned out he had been bullied and his family heirloom, a ring, had been taken from him. He told me it was magical and allowed the wearer to heal himself.

‘Would it have engraving, like this?’ I remember asking him while pulling the ring I had found in the barrel outside the office from my pocket and held it in front of his nose. Fargoth frantically shook his head and told me that was the one.
I was happy to give it back to him. Trinkets are easier to find than good friends and the gods know I could use some friends being a stranger in a strange land.
Singing happily he wandered off but not before he told me he was going to tell his friend Arrille a kind Darkelf had returned his ring to him and how happy he was to have it back.
I simply smiled.

My rumbling stomach made me aware that I needed to find something to eat as well. After some asking around I soon found out Arrille’s establishment was the only tradehouse around. If I wanted to survive any trip outside of town, I needed some sort of protection, I needed armour and a weapon and some supplies so I headed off to Arrille’s.

Politely the High Elf, Arille, greeted me and was quick to realize I must have been the stranger that had given Fargoth his ring back. He confirmed what I suspected, Fargoth was slightly retarded, he had the mind of a child and was almost chronically happy.

I removed the items from the bag I wanted to sell and displayed them on the counter in front of Arrille. We came to an agreement, he would gladly take all the items from my hands and I would buy the chitin cuirass, pauldrons and gauntlets, some food, a couple of useful spells and some scrolls. Even with those purchases I had more gold in my pocket than when I had entered the tradehouse. I had kept the dagger.
Then it hit me, I still didn’t have a real weapon, the iron dagger I had kept was hardly any more use than as a butterknife.
In the excitement I had forgotten to buy a real weapon. I double backed into Arrille’s and bought a chitin bow and some arrows.
Now I was set to face whatever was coming to me in the wild, or at least, that’s what I thought at that time.

I nibbled on a Kwama egg on a loaf of bread and adressed some inhabitants. Some locals mentioned Ergalla Socucius was looking for a missing tax collector, Processus Vitellius.
I wasn’t really feeling like heading back into the Census and Excise office, I had just left the damn thing, I decided to do some looking around myself. How hard would it be to find an Imperial tax collector?

Since it is always a good idea getting at least an idea where someone missing could hang out, I asked around for him. Ofcourse, blabbermouth Fargoth had heard rumours the Dunmer in the watchtower, Thavere Vedrano, was the only being able to stomach him. Apparantly, the guy was somewhat obnoxious. It was a start so I headed off to the lighthouse when in the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something shiny – a weapon perhaps? – in a hollow stump. It cost me a pair of wet feet and trousers getting the item from the stump but it was well worth it. The enchanted axe would get me quite some gold, I never cared for axes, they are too heavy and too encumbring, so I intended on selling it but it would have to wait until I solved this mystery.

[Remko]

@Zalphon. Hehe, you're right, Rales is an extension of my very own personality. Even the names Rales isn't something I grabbed from thin air. Rales Sarethi is the exact same amount of letters as my own full name. Although I only figured out last week that Rales is also a nasty physical condition....
mALX I'll increase the size of the posts to get there faster, ok?
Hauteecole Rider: That's something I couldn't resist taking the piss out of Just like the very first sentence of day 5. I am glad they adressed the 24/7 openess of shops in Morrowind. Although it is convenient I guess the convenience store was actually invented in Vvardenfell.

Day 11

The next morning I decided it was a good day to search out Caius Cosades and get rid of whatever it was Selles Gravius had given me to deliver at Caius.
After asking around, I found out his house was in the poorest district of town, the north-eastern part.

Not knowing what to expect, I knocked on what was apparantly Caius’ house and waited for a reply. An elderly voice said I could come in. I was greeted by a balding Imperial man, only wearing trousers. Something smelled familiar in his messy house but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Untill I started looking around that was. I saw familiar satchels, empty bottles and a pipe underneath his bed. The man was a Skooma addict!

‘You have a package for me I presume?’ he asked me.
‘Possibly,’ I responded. ‘After you tell me how you knew that.’
He smiled mysteriously and said it was his job to know.
This didn’t sound like a in-coherent addict at all. There was something in his eyes, something sharp that made me think maybe his addiction was a cover. But for what?
Since the old man already knew I decided it wouldn’t do harm handing him the package - after all, it was destined to him anyway.

Caius briefly went through the contents of the package – I couldn’t see what it was – he looked me over a bit and asked me if I was ready to accept orders from him. Again, orders. Thinking that nothing is for free, not even a prison realease, and that I didn’t have a job yet, I might as well accept. It sounded exhilarating as well.

‘Good,’ he said and then proceeded to swear me into what he called the Blades - the secret Imperial intelligence agency. So that’s what the cover was for. The man in front of me was his Imperial Majesty’s spy-master.
‘Intelligence? Then what am I doing here?’ I joked.
He frowned but didn’t answer.
Instead, he told me to practice my skills, buy some weapons and training or buy a pair of shoes for all he cared, handed me two hundred Drakes and said I should return when I felt up to the mission at hand.
Caius also taught me a secret hand-signal with which fellow Blades could recognise each other.
‘Oh, and get a job, you’ll need some sort of cover. I’d advise you to join a guild,’ he pointed out just before I left.

***

Joining the Fighter’s Guild didn’t really appeal to me. If it was anything like in Cyrodiil – and why wouldn’t it? - it would be just a glorified name for a bunch of mercenaries. A place with swords for hire and where every life was counted in gold - as in how much would anyone pay to end someone else’s life.
I needed – no, wanted – something more glorious, something honourable. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to help people, not simply smyth them with a piece of iron with a pointy end.

Next to the fighter’s guild was the guild of mages. It occurred to me that if I wanted help with my alchemy, this would be the place to find it.
Ranis Athrys, the head of the Balmora guild, told me to talk to Ajira I I wanted to be instructed in the art of alchemy.
I could find her downstairs, all I had to do was follow my nose towards the foul odour.
I wasn’t sure whether she was referring to Ajira or to her potions.

Ajira was more than willing to help an aspiring alchemist out. For a fee obviously.
I doubt she would’ve been as helpful if she had known what she got herself into.
She was shocked when she asked me to give her the ingredients I had collected so we could start with lesson one. She shoved all my ingredients into a bin underneath her desk saying the ingredients were useless. All of the properties of the ingredients had been corrupted by throwing them together. Made sense if you thought about it – which I hadn’t.

She took some fresh ingredients from a drawer in her desk. I could see she had each ingredient in separate small pots, neatly labeled with name and properties.
Ofcourse she had me pay for the ingedients. The next thing she did was hand me bundle of small satchels. Seeing my puzzled face she said they were to store collected ingedients while out in the wild. ‘Or would you prefer to carry a desk with you,’ she asked with a semi-serious face.
She had me pay for the satchels as well. It was a small price to pay to prevent another disaster that had happened on my first alchemy try.

The next thing was to learn the properties of plants available in Vvardenfell.
When I asked Ajira how she knew and kept them apart, she pulled a huge book from a cupboard behind her with all plants, other ingredients and its major properties. For now, I was allowed to use the book to find plants with similar properties that would together create a certain effect. But if I wanted to become an efficient alchemist, it would be advisable memorising the most important ones.
‘Do you have the necessary apparatuses?’
Proudly I dug up the mortar and pestle from my bag and put it on the desk in front of me.
‘Where’s the rest?’
‘The…. rest?’ I hadn’t a clue what she meant.
‘Yes, the rest. Calcinator, alembic and retort.’
‘I- I don’t have those.’
More expenses, my gold was drying up fast. Anyway, after buying the additional required apparatuses we continued. Of course only then Ajira said I didn’t really need the additional tools but they would help making better and stronger potions.

The Khajiit alchemist had me starting with preparing a basic potion with only the mortar and pestle. The use of other tools would be adressed in the next lessons.
She told me to find the ingredients to make a relatively simple potion that would restore fatigue and gave me some useful pointers to help me out. It didn’t take me long to seek out the necessary ingredients in the book: a Kwama egg and a loaf of bread. There are plenty more but those are amongst the ones most common. Making the potion however, was a different matter altogether. It took me ages to get it right. I added too much water, not enough water, cooked it too hot or too cold. Too much of this or not enough of that. I was really starting to lose my temper when finally I got it right. I had made a useful potion, one I wasn’t afraid of drinking without poisoning myself.

Eating the ingedients would have the same effect but would be far less effective than with a concentrated potion, she said. But would taste far better. We had quite some laughs over the afternoon. I always enjoyed the company of the Cat-folk. They are uncomplicated, usually friendly and have a wonderful sense of humour. Many of my child-time friends had been Khajiit. I guess that’s why I was so shocked in Addamasartus.

At the end of the day, my alchemy skill had increased greatly. I knew (well, in theory) how to make the most practical potions and already had memorised the main properties of some of the most common ingredients. Ajira told me most ingredients have more than one effect but only the more skilled alchemist knew which those were, how to recognise them and that I should forget about experimenting with those for a while, unless I had a serious deathwish. She also warned me that I had been lucky that I hadn’t killed myself with the poison I had made in Seyda Neen. It could have been far worse than the effects I had encountered.

Chapter 3: Rings

Day 12

Straying through the, now almost empty, streets of Balmora I was growing restless.
Caius had said I should find a job at a guild. I had already decided the fighter’s guild wasn’t what I wanted. I considered the guild of mages but I sincerely doubted I was mages guild material. Sure, I enjoyed dabbling with alchemy, especially now I - more or less - knew what I was doing but spending hours and hours researching a spell didn’t sound very exciting.

No, if I truly wanted to make a difference and help people, I needed to find something else. Since I had put myself on the, in my eyes, noble path of freeing slaves I thought I’d join the legion. I knew for a fact that in Cyrodiil, where I had grown up, the people frowned upon slavery and as such, as its defender, so did the Imperial Legion.
The Moonmoth Legion, south-east of Balmora didn’t need anymore recruits but the Legion’s commander, Radd Hard-Heart, mentioned the Gnisis Deathshead Legion might be looking for recruits.

Gnisis wasn’t really around the corner. It would be a several day walk or half a day with the stiltstrider. I decided on half-way. I took the stiltstrider to Ald-Ruhn and proceeded by foot to Gnisis after asking some directions. I wanted to see my birth-land, what better way than crossing it on foot?

It was on the third day of my journey that I came across a crying Breton lady.
She explained her ring had slipped from her finger into the small pond nearby when she was taking a drink from the sweet, clear water. When I asked her why she couldn’t retrieve it herself she told me she was a dancer and needed to get to Gnisis and couldn’t afford getting her hair wet. It had taken her hours to get it just right. I could see why, she looked absolutely stunning. I prayed she didn’t notice I was staring.

‘Lady,’ I said confidently, ‘don’t cry, I’ll find your ring.’
I stripped myself from my armour and clothes to my loincloth and dove into the pond. Even with the clearness of the water, it took me nearly two hours finding her ring.
Triumphant, I surfaced holding out the ring only to have an arrow swooshing by, just missing my left ear.
As fast as I could, I moved away from the pond towards the pile with my weapons and clothing while keeping my head down.

Synette, the Breton dancer screamed that she wanted the fancy ring on my finger and said if I didn’t hand it over her friend would put some holes in me and take it from my lifeless body. I shook my head and told her she couldn’t have it. I had almost reached my weapons, slowly I moved my hand behind me to reach out for my sword. Cleverly I managed to keep the dancer between me and where I suspected the hidden archer to be.

Out of seemingly nowhere, Synette pulled a dagger and jabbed at me. I managed to avoid the blade by letting myself fall backwards and grabbed my sword and bag at the same time. I was well aware I was unarmoured, if I wanted to get out of this alive I would have to be clever. I knew if I’d face the two women at the same time with only a sword, they’d have me for breakfast.

I scrambled back on my feet and ran to a cave I had passed about half an hour before I encountered the lovely Breton and her mysterious friend. Even though she had lunged at me with a deadly weapon, I still thought she was pretty and I didn’t really want to end her and her friend’s life. Surely, there would be another way that didn’t result in either having to hand over my ring or with me or them ending up dead?

Luckily for me, the ladies had lost my track and I was safe for a while. Ruffling through my bag I dug up a pair of invisibility potions I had found a few days ago. Knowing the inherent problems with invisibility, Ajira had explained any action would cancel the effect immediately, I exited the cave after having rested for a while and headed back to my armour. I just hoped the effect would last long enough to reach my armour and the rest of my weapons unseen.

My plan worked. I managed to reach my stuff, quickly grabbed it all, drank the second potion and ran back to where I had hidden before so I could put on my armour in safety.
Armed and ready and quite frankly; rather pissed off, I figured it was time for a talk with a pair of misguided girls.

Unfortunately for her, Synette was prettier than she was clever. She attacked me, again. With me being fully armoured. ‘It’s not too late,’ I warned her. ‘Put down your cutlery and I will put down mine.’ Her uncertainty was reflected in her beautiful eyes and they kept darting off to a place behind me. Towards the hidden archer’s position I assumed.

There wasn’t an arrow stuck in my back yet, meaning maybe the fight could be diverted. I heard a clang of a weapon being dropped behind me. Focusing my attention to the Breton in front of me I saw tears welling up in her eyes while she dropped her weapon as well. I lowered my sword.
‘If you want, I can escort you back to civilisation,’ I offered.
She said that wouldn’t be necessary, the girls were capable of taking care of themselves.
I gave Synette her ring back and wished the girls all the best.
‘Look me up if you are ever in Gnisis.’
‘I will,’ I responded and continued my path to fort Darius.

This post has been edited by Remko: Mar 23 2010, 12:14 PM