Redemption, part 2 Options

[jack cloudy]

Click here for Redemption Part 1


Alright, part 2. Still not much redeeming going on but whatever. Now instead of continuing the story, I figured I'd use this post for all the miscellaneous stuff. Things like a character list and the recap for part 1. So be warned that this post CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!


RECAP FOR PART 1 Again SPOILERS!

One night, the palace is breached by unknown assailants. Following standard protocol for such events, the Emperor is secretly transported to the prison by his Blades. The Imperial Battlemage, Ocato, declines to join him, claiming that the situation is under control and that his services aren't needed.

Despite having reached the prison safely, the Emperor soon finds that he is still in danger. It is then that Uriel receives help from an unexpected ally. Angoril Bobardi reveals that the very cell he has inhabited for decades, contains a secret escape route that was built during the simulacrum at the order of Jagar Tharn. With this passage and the considerable magical prowess of Angoril, the Emperor manages to flee the deadly trap.

Also freed from the prison by Angoril is Maorlatta Orgnum, a young (by elf-standards) and somewhat naive girl who was arrested for the crime of sleeping in the park. Once free, she quickly makes herself scarce and eventually finds herself in the shack of an old fisherman who lives on an island in Lake Rumare. The fisherman seeks the help of the thieves guild to rid her of the manacles and prison outfit that would have every Legionnaire arrest her on sight. Unfortunately, the one assigned to pick the locks on the manacles informs Vicente Valtieri instead, who takes a personal interest in the girl’s talent for camouflage. Maorlatta is saved by the Redguard Sorian, a young and rather strange lad who keeps going on and on about something he calls an Ansei. The two team up to go treasure hunting in a nearby Ayleid ruin.

Meanwhile, Angoril returns to the prison. Pretending to be from the palace, he gets a vital clue from the Argonian private investigator Grey-Tongue. The Argonian sends him to Chorrol to find the source of the assassins distinctive red robes. To get to Chorrol, he summons a shiftgate, circumventing days travelling. From Chorrol the trail leads to Kvatch, a city whose precise location he does not know. Unable to summon another shiftgate with reasonable accuracy, Angoril seeks more mundane passage to Kvatch.

While Angoril is travelling, Maorlatta and Sorian hit the Ayleid ruin. After some trouble with a zombie, they strike gold and find an abandoned office with some intact artefacts. They attempt to sell the artefacts in the Imperial city, where they are intercepted by Grey-Tongue and then Vicente Valtieri. Sorian again makes the vampire flee. The next morning Maorlatta wakes up in the Imperial palace with no recollection on how she got there or what happened during her stay at Grey-Tongue’s house. Jauffre interrogates her in the garden at the top of the tower.







Redemption's persons of questionable importance

Main characters:
Angoril Bobardi: An Altmeri sorcerer who inhabited a cell in the Imperial prison, fully aware of the secret escape route. After leaving the prison, he makes it his task to track down the leaders behind the red-robed assassins.

Maorlatta Orgnum: A Maormer from Pyandonea, sent to Tamriel at the command of king Orgnum. Circumstances land her in the same prison as the Altmer. After escaping, she returns to the pursuit of her own goals, one of which is to become filthy rich.

Side characters:
Grey-Tongue: An Argonian private investigator. He is a friend of Hieronymous Lex and has been hired by the guard-captain in the past. Grey-Tongue is hired now as well by the city-guard to investigate the events at the prison and find Uriel’s corpse.
Guard-Captain Hieronymous Lex: Hieronymous Lex is the man put in charge of investigating the massacre at the Imperial Prison. Upon finding that Uriel Septim was seen entering the prison that night, he hires Grey-Tongue to help him uncover the truth.
Sorian: A Redguard who saves Maorlatta from Vicente Valtieri. A simple wandering swordsman with a slight Ansei-obsession.
Rajn Geydar: A Wood Elf who lives in Kvatch. At one point possessed a piece of the Balac-Thurm.

Others:
Guard-Captain Argelius: A colleague of Hieronymous Lex who describes him as the man to call when you need subtlety.
Bannon: A merchant who travelled with Angoril from Chorrol to Kvatch
Baleni: Daughter of Rajn Geydar
Doruk: The Bouncer who worked at Rajn Geydar's restaurant. Deceased.
Penald Baurus: Blade and bodyguard of Uriel Septim.
Berius: Lord Protector and Head of the palaceguard in the Imperial City.
Valen Dreth: A Dunmeri prisoner. Not the most pleasant sort.
Jennifer Renault: Blade, recently promoted to captain.
Glenroy: Blade and bodyguard of Uriel Septim.

Fenasim: A member of the emperor's Palace guard.
Mankar Camoran: The father of both Raven and Ruma. He is the leader of the Mythic Dawn and its prophet.
Raven Camoran: The ‘Hand’ of the Mythic Dawn, an organization with an unknown purpose. What is certain however, is that the Dawn wants Uriel Septim dead.
Ruma Camoran: The sister of Raven, she serves the Mythic Dawn as Priestess. In the same night that the attempt on the emperor’s life is made, she infiltrates the vaults beneath the Imperial palace to steal two artefacts.
Harrow: A member of the Dawn, Harrow used to be an Armiger stationed in Vvardenfell.

Ludius Bester: Member of Bester and Bester, the Kvatch Hall of Mercantile Interests. He runs the office in lower Kvatch.
Aelwin Merowald: An old fisherman who lost most of his leg to Slaughterfish. Friend of Delmar Tunius.
Rajn Geydar: Owner of the Eight Provinces, a restaurant in Kvatch.
Ra’Jezhr: A Khajiiti lockpicker in the employ of the Thieves Guild, Ra’Jezhr is also coerced into serving the Dark Brotherhood’s interests.
Simanuel Rosendorf IV: The owner of a silk-plantation near Chorrol

Umbacano: An Altmer who lives in the capital city. A well-known collector of Ayleid artefacts.
Uriel Septim VII: The Emperor of Tamriel.
Brother Tanner: A priest who serves in the Kvatch-temple. Looks like a Septim.
Delmar Tunius: An old fisherman who lives on a small island in lake Nibenay.
Vicente Valtieri: A member of the Dark Brotherhood, he takes interest in Maorlatta’s talents at stealth, and desires to make her an assassin, with or without her cooperation.

Latta’s evergrowing list of people only she knows:
Levvelyn of Glashorn: The hero of a popular series who spends most of his books saving the world, slaying vicious monsters, duelling devious Altmeri warlords and chasing the girl.
Irrillys: A fictional princess of Pyandonea, she is Levvelyn’s love interest. Posesses an unfortunate talent for being kidnapped by devious Altmeri warlords.
Mettildi: The Maormer that taught Maorlatta how to fight, though his methods traumatized her to the point where she is mentally incapable of defending herself.
Master Zelthir: Another Maormer put in charge of educating Maorlatta. Master Zelthir is a well-known and highly respected healer.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Sep 22 2013, 07:36 PM

[jack cloudy]

Curse you, autocensor! Curse you!

And just after I went around it the last time I tried to use the word honoured user. (This get's censored again.) It was when Latta was throwing insults at Jauffre. I first considered just the word itself, or bastarde (I think Taillus or Agent Griff used that to get around the censor), but then I figured that the average reader would interpret it as 'generic curse'. In reality, she was literally claiming that Jauffre was an illegitimate child and his father likewise. So I switched to falseblooded son. Think of it as calling someone's mother a mother of mine (curse you, censor! ), only more serious.

As for Raven, I didn't even remember him till I'd read about him in the UESP. Turns out that he's the one who tries to recruit the player or Baurus ingame. Funny, I guess the guy died so fast he never registered with me. And I'd just like to say that we haven't actually seen Mankar himself yet. I don't know how to make his personality, but I do have a barebones plan prepared as well as an excuse for why he isn't around right now.


And I like the multiverse idea. It's a good way to look at things. Anyway, back to the Blades and I'll get to updating the character list in a bit. But first, the recap! Cause it has been a few months.


In the same night that Raven Camoran is watching the tower but a bit earlier, the Lord Protector Berius (head of the palace-guard) went to Uriel Septim to prepare him for a meeting with the new Blades. In turn that meeting was to be preparation for an official knighting ceremony but I digress. Before the Blades could arrive, a member of the palace-guard tried to kill Uriel. Berius fought the man off and discovered that the guard had been a shapeshifting monster. To be more specific, the same kind of monster he believed he'd personally wiped out the same day that Jagar Tharn was slain by the Eternal Champion.

When the Blades arrive on the scene, Berius instructs them to escape with the emperor by jumping out the window and also promotes one of them to captain. He tells them to take Uriel to the prison and hide there. We rejoin our Blades as they make their way to a suitable window.

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Chapter 8.5


Imperial Palace

There was a small storeroom, not quite on the spire’s opposite side. Unremarkable in both place and name, it would seem to be an odd place to go. But Uriel was resolute in his choice and the two Blades followed his command unquestioningly. After all, as Jennifer Renault reasoned with herself, if she couldn’t trust the man she was sworn to protect, then what was she doing here in the first place?

She led the way in silence, Uriel following behind her and Baurus bringing up the rear. Despite her best efforts, her mind kept following random thoughts and more than once she realized she’d lost awareness of her surroundings entirely.
She shook her head and chastised herself for lacking discipline. But the thoughts would soon return.

They were questions and doubts. What was happening? What did the Lord Protector plan to do after he’d sent them off? Would Glenroy make it safely to the rendezvous, or would he fall to an ambush by their mystery assailants? Just what had burned Uriel’s suite? And above all, could she rise to the task? The Lord Protector had promoted her, a necessity for establishing a chain of command. But while she thought of herself as competent, she could not consider herself a fighting Blade. That was Glenroy’s place, who had learned to survive where the very land tried to kill all that approached. Or Baurus, who even now walked backwards with unnatural fluidity, never stumbling, always aware of the distance between them, though he never turned his head to look her way.

The late hour combined with Uriel’s preference for solitude was a blessing in disguise. There was no staff at this level to ask questions or….She shuddered though the thought wouldn’t form clear words. Just what had the Lord Protector so worried? He’d looked as if he’d found himself in a living nightmare.
“He wasn’t supposed to be like that. He should have been confident, dignified, strong. Like he was in the stories. Or even this morning. He was all I’d expected him to be back then.”

“This is the one.” Uriel said and gestured at the simple door which some painter had made to resemble the white walls. Renault shook herself once more to the here and now. She made to open the door but stopped her hand before it could touch the handle. Following the others into the emperor’s suite had been easy, but she felt in no condition to lead an entry-and-clearing procedure herself. The Divines knew she had trouble enough getting around her lab at times. A dark and unfamiliar storeroom was definitely beyond her expertise.

She raised a finger to her mouth in the universal sign for silence, then drew out a message with the same hand.
[Check it out]
Before she’d even finished the first word, Baurus had already stepped passed her and placed his hand on the doorhandle.
“You already knew, didn’t you? Or did you just assume you were the best man for the job?” Renault thought and shook her head. Of course he was the best, she told herself. The man had at first come across as easygoing to her, but his perception had been simply frightening from the moment they’d come across the dead guard. It had been Baurus who noted the tiny entry-wound, it had been Baurus who found the Emperor and the Lord Protector. Baurus, who seemed to have the eyes and ears of five men.

The Redguard repeated the silence sign, loosened a trio of thin throwing knifes from its sheath with one hand and counted down from three with the other, then kicked the door open. The knives followed in an instant, whistling through the shadows left right and straight ahead, the places where an unsubtle assassin was most likely to be positioned. They clattered on stone and thunked into wood. Baurus listened closely but could not hear any response to his actions. After a moment he peered into the room and willed his eyes to acclimatize to the darkness faster.

Rapidly, the dark blotches resolved themselves into crates, rolled up carpets and various other decorations or pieces of furniture that filled the room till there was barely enough room to stand or move between them. At the far end he could make out a small part of the tower’s bare outer wall. There was no window, but the Blade easily pushed the questions it raised from his mind while holding on to the thoughts that mattered. He noticed plenty of hiding spaces for the small and limber assassin but no one foolish enough to stand or crouch in the open. The Redguard would have to step inside to make certain it was truly safe. So silently he laid both sword and shield beside the doorway before entering and drew the curved knife kept on his hip. Within these cramped confines, he reasoned it would serve him better than the more cumbersome weapon.

He moved slowly, holding his breath and straining his ears after each step. He quickly but effectively inspected every nook and cranny, first by sweeping through with his knife, then his eye. No one challenged him and he made it to the bare wall without incident. Again the question came to his mind and again he pushed it aside.
“Clear.” He spoke softly as he worked his way backwards to the door.

Uriel entered the room, leaning heavily on his stick and breathing as if he’d ran a marathon. Renault looked at him with troubled eyes. Even just circumnavigating one floor of the spire was enough to push the emperor to his limits. She did not see how he could walk to the city prison. Not without aid.
“Sit on that crate and rest, my liege. Brother, seal the door behind us. We’re not going back that way.” She said. While the other Blade began to shift the furniture, she took her time to look at the room. The outside wall was completely bare safe for the knife sticking into it. There was no window or anything that suggested there had been one. Renault paused and took a second look.
“That knife shouldn’t stick into the wall like that. It’s stone bricks and Baurus didn’t hit a crack.”

She pulled the knife free and shook her head with an amused smile.
“It’s wood. They’ve boarded up the window and then painted it to look like stone.” The Breton muttered to herself, not knowing whether it had been done for the sake of paranoia or aesthetics. In any case, she could see that it would increase their chances of surprising any observers on the ground. No one ever expected someone to jump from a window that didn’t exist.
She felt for the ensorcelled brick beneath the planks and pulled it out. Behind it she found another pouch of rings which she pocketed.

“My liege, it is my professional opinion that you are in no shape to make it to the prison, especially in this weather. Is there any other place you know to go?” She asked over her shoulder as she continued to free up the window. Behind her the old man sighed and clutched the jewel that hung from his chest. He could feel his spine complain from having keep his back straight and his lungs burned with an intensity that nearly robbed him of his voice.
“None, we go to the prison. Captain, you studied under…the former court healer. I assume you are capable of fortifying.” He wheezed. The woman ceased her activities to walk up to the emperor and watch the symptons that were written in his posture clear as day. Baurus didn’t wait for the order and continued where she’d left off.
“I could.” Renault decided after a moment. “But the kick afterwards will be too much. I estimate that you would be bedridden for days, and that’s the best case scenario. Worst case, you will die. It’s not worth it.”

Uriel coughed and whipped the dribble of saliva that had freed itself from his throat.
“But it is, captain. I can’t…explain. Staying here is…death.” He coughed again and forced himself to breathe slowly and deeply. It was hard to keep his body from spasming and gasping uncontrollably, but he managed. In return, he regained his voice.
“If you will not do it on your authority as a healer, then I shall order you as a Blade.” He spoke and looked her in the eye.

She couldn’t withstand the gaze that had united a continent and forced countless would-be kings and queens to their knees. The Blade saluted and looked away.
“Understood, my emperor. I shall cast a spell the moment we hit streetlevel.”
“Good, then I won’t be needing my cane.”

It was then that Baurus interrupted them and waved for their attention.
“Sister, emperor. If I may? Someone is emptying baskets below us. The whole sky is lit up.” He said and indeed his face was lit by an unnatural glow coming from beyond the opening he’d made. Renault observed that the gap was wide enough for them all to pass through easily now and decided that now was their best chance to leave.
“That must be the Lord Protector rallying the staff. No telling how long he can keep it up. Brother! Jump now and secure our landing. We’ll be right behind you.” She ordered briskly and lifted Uriel onto her shoulder.
“Hold on tight, sir. It’s a long way down. Try not to blink. We can’t have you stumble on landing and breaking a leg.” She said.

They jumped.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Feb 24 2013, 03:21 PM