The Talendor Chronicles, Part One Options

[TheOtherRick]

AUTHORS NOTE AND DISCLAIMER

This is my first attempt at fan fiction. I am not a writer, by profession or hobby. At least it wasn't a hobby until now. We'll see where that goes. So since I am not a writer, grammatical and spelling errors may slip past the spell-check from time to time. Please feel free to point them out so that I may make the proper edits.

I have read very little fan fiction, which is to say that I have not finished reading any story that I started reading...yet. But starting to read a few has put a flow in my creative juices. (Go Buffy!) Any similarity to any other fan fiction posted in this or any other forum is purely coincidental, with one exception. I have posted this story on another site. I am posting it here because I would like feedback, and I am not getting any at the other site. The readers here seem to post more feedback than readers at the other site. I'm not trying to be a glory hound, and I encourage constructive criticism.

The story is a gameplay narrative. It starts in the 3rd person for the prologue only, the rest will be in 1st person. It is not a walk-through of the Main Quest. However, as it is a gameplay narrative, so readers will have to plod through the tutorial section much as I had to plod through while writing it. The tutorial is essential for character development, as you will see. The posts will be relatively short so that the reader will not have to wade through miles of text per post. To keep them short, I am going to borrow Acadian's chapter numbering system (1.1, 1.2, etc.) so I don't end up with three digit chapter numbers.

I hope you will enjoy...The Talendor Chronicles

Post Script - I have already screwed up. Instead of putting "Authors Note and Disclaimer" in the subject line, it should read "Part One". Is there a way to change that?

Post Script #2 - The first four installments after the Prologue are way too long. This was a rookie mistake and has been rectified Beginning with Chapter 3. I apologize for the long posts, but I promise you'll be glad you slogged through them.

This post has been edited by TheOtherRick: Feb 5 2011, 02:00 AM

[TheOtherRick]

Chapter 1.2 – Out of the cell

I can’t believe my eyes. Is that sunlight? Am I breathing cleaner air?

I opened the grated exit, surprised to find that it had no lock. Three steps later I was standing in open air. My lungs couldn’t inhale deeply enough. I just stood there, head craned toward the sky with my eyes closed and took in the fresh air. Lowering my head, I looked at the lake in front of me. The water looked almost black in the gloaming. But that didn’t stop me. I hastily dropped my belongings and dashed the last steps across the beach, diving headlong into the water. It felt sooooooo good! I stayed in water shallow enough to stand in. It would do no good to escape and then drown because I was dragged to the bottom by iron greaves. I submerged my head and sucked water into my mouth and swallowed. Instant relief. I was so thirsty that I wanted to drink down the entire lake. I had not had anything to drink but some potion since I awoke.

I walked back out of the water and looked around. The sun had almost completely set. There was an old wooden dock jutting into the lake a few feet away. Across the water was a ruined building, or buildings, of some kind. The architecture was amazing. Large stone arches, some of which were still completely intact, glowed orange in the light of the sunset. I turned around and faced the grated entrance to that rat infested jumble of underground passages. I hope I don’t have to go underground again anytime soon…if ever. Behind the entrance, the land rose abruptly. From where I was standing, I couldn’t see far beyond the entrance because of the grade and trees. I decided to walk out on the dock for a better view in that direction. I reached the end of the dock, turned, and was afforded a view of even more trees up the side of the hill. I sat down on a crate at the end of the dock.

Think! What next?
Tamriel? Jauffre? Amulet? Emperor?

The words poured and repeated themselves through my mind.

Weynon Priory? Chorrol? Blades? I had pulled it off. They didn’t kill me. THINK!

* * *

After creeping through what had seemed like endless leagues of tunnels, I had encountered the elderly man and his guards again. They were still being harried by figures in shimmering dark armor. Only this time, I got sucked into the fighting as well. I held my own, even though it was a small share. The guards turned on me and had been ready to kill me. But Uriel Septim had stopped them. I can’t get used to the idea that I have an “Emperor”. He said something about the guards not seeing what he had seen or some such. He asked me questions about myself that I could not answer.

Who am I? Where am I? WHAT am I? Stop it. THINK!

We made our way yet deeper into the basements. Finally, after a couple more skirmishes with assassins, we reached a dead end. Glenroy, one of the guards, suspected that it was a trap. He was right. Once again, dark armored assailants were attacking us. Suddenly, the Emperor turned and spoke to me again. He had said that he could go no further. He gave me a necklace with an incredibly large red stone. He called it “The Amulet of Kings”. He told me to take it to someone named Jauffre. Apparently this Jauffre fellow was the only one that knew of his last living son. He had no sooner finished his speech with the phrase, “…close shut the jaws of oblivion”, when another dark armored figure came through a panel in the wall behind him. The assailant slit the old man’s throat in a blindingly quick flash of steel and blood. The attacker wheeled on me and I barely had time to draw and get my blade up to prevent a similar fate. I don’t know how I survived that battle. My movements were completely instinctual. I was acting before thinking about it. And a good thing too, since I am alive.

When the fight was over, I dropped to my knees and quickly fumbled through my shirt/satchel for more of the healing potion. I was bleeding badly from several gashes in my arm and side. After draining two of the small rose colored bottles, I stood up to find Baurus standing over the slain ruler.

“We failed! I failed!” he said.

He went on for a minute about how The Blades had failed their Emperor, and then grabbed me by the shoulders.

“The Amulet of Kings! Where is it? It wasn’t on The Emperor’s body!”

I told him about The Emperor giving it to me and telling me to take it to this Jauffre fellow. Baurus went on about the Emperor trusting me and seeing something in me. He gave me a key and directions out of the underworld I had been stuck in since awakening on the cell floor. He told me where to find Jauffre and to get the Amulet of Kings there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he also relieved me of Captain Renault’s katana. But that’s okay. I pulled it off. I was alive. I was free. I thought sure I would end up back in the cell when I met up with the guards again. They never even asked me my name!

* * *

My name…THINK!

So there I sat, on a crate at the end of a dock and I couldn’t have been more lost. I was just thankful to be out of that hellhole and alive.

Goblins? Zombies? The Nine?

I got up from the crate and walked back to the shore. Kneeling at the water’s edge, I looked at my reflection in the water. Perhaps I could get a clue to my identity by looking at my face. My skin had a slight yellowish hue, very slight. Long pointed ears framed either side of a face that appeared to be in its early thirties. Hazel eyes and an unassuming nose. Eyebrows slightly arched. I stood up and looked at my body closely for the first time. I couldn’t be more than about five feet tall. Everything looked proportionately correct.

At least THAT much looks normal, just too small.

What had the other prisoner said? “Wood elf”? I didn’t look like anyone I have met so far. The fact that the prisoner had called me one leads me to believe that a wood elf is recognizable as such, and perhaps not uncommon. Hopefully wood elves are held in high regard amongst the other races. Except for that prisoner, everyone else looked completely normal. Not counting goblins and zombies, of course. The fact that I am so much smaller could be a hazard. It had almost cost me my life already. The memory of the battle wounds I received in the room where the old man was slain made me wince.

I inventoried what I had brought out of that stink hole. A few more bottles of that amazing healing potion. Some gems, gold coins, lock picks, a hammer. My quiver was crammed full of iron arrows, almost to the breaking point. I was wearing a leather armor cuirass with a sizeable gash in its side, thanks to the old man’s murderer. What animal the leather is made from, I couldn’t tell you. But it is pretty tough. A pair of greaves covered with iron plates. The greaves are way too big and uncomfortable.

Better than the helmet…

I had found an iron helmet back in the passages. I tried to put it on, but my ears wouldn’t allow it, so I didn’t bother bringing it. I have some rough leather boots. Wrist irons which look like they are going to be awfully hard to remove. An iron bow that’s a bit rusty and a double-edged steel short sword. A staff of some kind that will shoot lightning on command. All of this stuff was heavy, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry it over a long distance.

I am sooooooo tired…

I considered lying down on the dock and sleeping. Hearing a wolf howl in the distance squelched that idea in a hurry. It also motivated me as I realized that the sun had set while I sat there and mused. I gathered my belongings and started up the hill. When I reached a break in the trees I stopped and stared in awe at the tallest tower I had ever seen. There were two other towers visible, but not nearly as tall. Massive stone walls surrounded these towers. The wolf howled again, closer this time. It appeared that there was an old and disused switchback pathway up the hill. My fatigue forced me to opt for the shallower slope of the old path rather than the steeper direct route. Another howl, closer yet. I drew my sword and kept a watchful eye. I did almost a complete about-face as the switchback rounded back on itself to continue up the hill. At that moment, a snarling mass of grey fur and gnashing teeth knocked me on my back, its momentum causing it to somersault past me. I sprang to my feet and spun on my heels, holding the sword in front of me. The wolf sprang again. Unfortunately for the wolf, but very fortunate for me, it landed chest first on the point of my sword. With a loud yelp that seemed to be cut off in mid utterance, we tumbled backward. It all happened so fast. One second a flash of fur and teeth, the next I was lying next to a dead wolf, its tongue hanging out and my sword buried to the hilt in its chest.

This whole place is trying to kill me!

I collected my belongings and scrambled as fast as my tired legs would carry me up the rest of the hill. When the terrain leveled out, I found myself at the base of a massive, curved stone masonry wall. I decided to continue along the wall in the same direction I had been heading. Plodding forward, following the wall that kept curving to my right, I reached a bridge. Large cauldrons of flame lit the far end. The end I had approached led to a wooden gate with a sign that read “Imperial Prison District”, written in those same characters that I could not decipher, but knew the meaning of anyway. I knew that wasn’t where I wanted to go, so I set out across the bridge. It was massive and made entirely of stone. Six people could walk side by side and not bump elbows. When I reached the wooden gates at the other end of the bridge, there was another sign. The sign read “Market District”.

I paused for a moment. I had managed to make it this far on mostly pure luck. Going through this door could change all that. But what other options did I have? I needed a place of safety where I could slow down and consider all of the ramifications of my current dilemma. Inside these walls should be safer than out here, but who or what would I encounter on the other side? The better seemed to outweigh the worse, so I made the choice to enter the Market District.

When I passed through the gate, I was surprised to find the street empty. Fortune was still smiling on me. I didn’t want to have to try and explain who I was or what I was doing. I didn’t have those answers. As I continued into the district, I began notice people walking about. I saw one fellow that was a walking reptile! I didn’t tarry to gain more details, but walked quickly in the other direction. Another person, wearing a long skirt and blouse was walking toward me. Just as she was about to go by, she stopped and said, “Hi there”. That didn’t surprise me as much as the fact that her head looked like a cats head! Her voice was deep for a woman, almost a growl.

Cats and lizards?

“Hello” I said and continued walking. So far, so good. No one yelling for a guard or trying to stop me and press me for information. I saw a sign that said “Merchants Inn”. An inn…bed, food, safety. I made for the door and entered the inn. The common room was filled with people. The sudden number of possible encounters gave me pause to continue inward. Some of the people were alone. Others were in groups of two or three. Some were eating at tables. Others were drinking at the bar. The aroma of cooked food and pipe smoke filled the air. The low toned conversations were comingled in a steady murmur, with an occasional laugh breaking through the drone. Steeling myself, I walked up to the publican at the bar.

“Hello. What can I do for you?” he asked.

“I’m looking for a place to sleep tonight,” I replied. “And something to eat.”

“I do have a bed available for twenty gold a night. Would you like to rent it?”

The innkeeper gave me a puzzled look as I tried to count gold coins in my shirt/satchel. I dug out twenty of coins I had found in the underground, hoping that each coin was indeed worth one “gold”. I placed them on the bar and shoved them toward the innkeeper.

“I’ll take it,” I said matter-of-factly.

The innkeeper still looked at me with that puzzled look, and then counted the coins as he slid them off the bar and into his hand.

“16…18…20. Very well then. It’s up the stairs there. First door on your left. Sleep well,” he said and started to turn away.

“Excuse me. I was hoping to get a bit to eat as well,” I reminded the man.

He stopped, turn toward me with the puzzled look again and said, “All rooms come with a meal at The Merchant’s Inn. You will find venison, corn, potatoes, and bread in your room, along with a few bottles of libation. My name is Velus Hosidius. I am the proprietor of this establishment. Let me know if you need anything else.”

With that, Velus turned away and placed the gold coins in a strongbox behind the bar. I made my way to the stairs. As I walked, I caught bits and pieces of conversations.

“The Emperor and all his sons, dead!”
“…see Maro Rufus at the Best Defense.”

I ascended the stairs and passed through a door into the second floor hallway. I reached the first door on the left, opened it, and entered the room. True to the innkeepers promise, food and bottles adorned the table to my left. But straight ahead of me was a bed. A bed! I disrobed immediately, piling my clothing and belongings at the foot of the bed. I walked to the wash basin and cleaned up as best I could. Drying off with the clean towel from next to the basin, I eyed the food. It smelled delicious. I sat at the table and ate until I thought I would burst. Sated and exhausted, I got up and got into bed. I didn’t have time to think of anything before I was sound asleep.

This post has been edited by TheOtherRick: Jan 26 2011, 01:30 PM