A Knight Without Fear or Blame mk. II, Yes, yes I'm trying again. Options

[TheBrume]

Well, here I go again, trying again with this story. I've completely rewritten it, it has only a few resemblances to the first incarnation (well, it actually has quite a lot, but none of you know that, because you didn't read those parts, because I didn't post them ).
I'll post the prologue now, and the first part tomorrow. From there, I'll try to stick to a schedule, with one update per week, but... I suppose it'll be ready when it's ready and the schedule will probably be out the window by Sunday so....
So, without further ado...

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Prologue

18th Morning Star - 3E 407

Captain Darius shivered as he watched over his men at work, it was incredibly cold, even for Morning Star, he would have liked nothing better than to return his men to Castle Wayrest. But he couldn't, he had to search this town for survivors.

They had received the message late last night.
"The town of Grimdale is under attack by an Orcish warband."
His generals had immediately dispatched Captain Darius' men to the town of course, but they were far too late.
Now, the town was a smoking ruin. Only a handful of the wooden buildings were still standing, even many of the stone ones had collapsed.
There weren't many survivors. A small group of them had been huddled in the chapel of Stendarr. It seems he didn't deign to show any of his mercy on the townsfolk.
They had dug out one or two other survivors from the collapsed buildings, but most of the people they found were dead.

Darius was just about ready to abandon the recovery of bodies and send a scouting party after the Orcs, when he heard some of the dogs barking.
He looked over towards the animals, a couple of Legionaries had started shifting rubble from a collapsed building.
One of them called over to him. "Captain Darius! We've found another survivor!"
Darius brought his horse around and headed towards the growing huddle of soldiers, all trying to clear rubble.
"What have you found?" Darius asked, putting on his best officer's voice.
"A survivor." One of his Bosmer archers said simply.
"A boy." A Nord added.
"Alright." Said Darius as he dismounted and inspected the scene. "It looks like he might be trapped underneath that beam." He thought for a moment. "You four." He pointed at a herd of four cold looking Nords. "Try to lift this beam. You two." He shot his glance at two other soldiers. "Get the boy out, everyone else back away."
The soldiers did as ordered, Darius moved a safe distance away.

He called encouragements as the Nords lifted the beam, grunting with effort, and the two other soldiers darted in and lifted the boy out.

"Excellent work men." Darius said, genuinely pleased at their ability to comprehend orders. "Get the boy to the chapel, put him in front of the fire and fetch the healer."

---

Some hours later, Darius returned to the town, his sword bloody. His scouts had found a band of Orcs at the lake not far from the village, he had taken his force down there and slaughtered them. He didn't like it and it wasn't easy, but justice had been done.

He decided to check in on the boy they had found earlier, so he made his way through the broken town and entered the chapel.
He bowed respectfully at Stendarr's altar before descending down into the priest's rooms which had been serving as a makeshift hospital.

He found the boy, lying in a bed near a crackling fire, a Dunmer woman sat nearby, crushing herbs with a mortar and pestle.
"Is he… awake?" He asked the woman.
As if in answer the boy rolled over and looked at Darius. His eyes were blue and sad, his light hair was a mess, matted and filthy. He had a large cut on his forehead, no doubt he had had a few broken bones too, though perhaps they had been healed.
"Hello." Darius tested.
"Hello." The boy said in response.
"Can you tell me your name?"
"Lucius." He licked his lips. "Lucius Andronicus."

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Queue musical intro...


This post has been edited by TheBrume: Oct 2 2012, 09:20 PM

[TheBrume]

mALX
Anguish?
Glad to have my first comment.

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I
A Knight Without a Sword
1st Last Seed - 3E 422

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies, be brave and upright that the Nine may love you. Never kill in anger, or deceive others for you own gain. Speak the truth when your honour depends on it, even should it lead to your death. Safeguard the helpless, defend the defenceless, and fight for the Nine and the people of Chorrol and this most glorious Empire." The count drew a ceremonial sword, the light danced upon its edge.
"That is your oath."
The sword tapped Lucius' right shoulder, followed quickly by his left.
"Arise, Lucius Andronicus, by the grace of the Nine, I proclaim thee a Knight of Chorrol."
Lucius rose, slowly, savouring the moment before solemnly moving towards Chorrol's other new knights. *

"People of Chorrol," Count Charus proclaimed to the assembled crowd, tightly packed into the great hall. "I give you, your new champions!"
The people cheered and clapped. The Count of Chorrol was usually over enthusiastic when addressing crowds, today was no different.

"Well then, Breton," said Madali, while smiling and waving at the crowd "what now?"
"Aren't we beyond this childishness by now? I'm not a Breton. Why do you always call me that?" He supposed he should wave, like some of the other knights were doing so he did so albeit sheepishly.
She giggled. "Because it amuses me." She looked at him for a moment, still smiling.
"After ten years?"
"No. I think I started calling you Altmer a few years ago, you almost have the ears for it," she teased while pulling her hair back into position behind her own "but that wasn't nearly as fun."

They were interrupted as the new knights were lead from the Great Hall into one of Chorrol Castle's multitude of dark passageways.

Lucius increased his pace in hopes of avoiding more conversation with the dark elf woman. He succeeded, she lost interest in him and was bothering somebody else.

"Where are we going?" Lucius asked to no one in particular.
"The Knight's Hall. Then we'll be told what happens now." Somebody at the front of the party replied.
"Don't we just get to slaying dragons and rescuing princesses immediately?" Someone else asked. A few people laughed, nobody answered.

There were twenty of the knights. Lucius had known them all for years. Ten years to be precise. It had been a long decade. Most days had been spent swinging swords and blocking sword swings, in Lucius' case he had been throwing and blocking balls of fire too.
And when the day hadn't been spent doing sword related things, it was armour related, or horse related, or scrubbing the floors related.

In this time, he had grown bored of Chorrol. He had been into every building that he could go into without being arrested. He had explored the County's caves and ruins. And he even knew the names of all the Mages Guild cats. The mysterious city of his childhood had revealed themselves to him, one by one.
Chorrol was boring.

The group reached the Knight's Hall after a short, mostly silent walk. It was smaller to the great hall, yet it could seat one hundred and Lucius preferred to think of it as cosy.

"What was the first thing I said to you?" Asked the Keeper, a knight of middling rank who Lucius had known since he first arrived. He was stood at the front of the hall, the group migrated closer to him.
Silence.
"I said, 'a knight without a sword is like a hunter without arrows. Useless, impotent, defenceless.' In short, a knight with no weapon is no knight at all." He looked at the assembled dozen.
"You will notice, that despite your fancy new mail, surcoats and shields, you have no sword. Well, you have one of those rusty old things," he conceded "but those aren't swords. Their sharpened iron sticks. And property of County Chorrol besides. So, as Knights Aspirant, your first 'quest' if you will, shan't be to save any farmers from goblins or delve into any ruins. No, you'll need a sword. And not just any old thing, you will go out and traverse Tamriel, do some good deeds maybe, and return to Chorrol three years hence, with a sword which befits a Knight of the Oak. You will not travel to Skingrad, buy a piece of steel and lounge around the city for three years frequenting taverns and brothels."
Somebody laughed.
"No. You'll go out and travel, beyond Cyrodiil, to wherever you wish, and get yourself a fine blade. Unique, strong, the best you can find.
How you get the sword is up to you. Will you break your new oaths and steal it? Will you spend three years as a swordsmith's apprentice? Or perhaps you'll stumble across it in a Dwemer ruin?"

There was silence.

"You will leave in three days. If you want my advice; do some planning, don't wander the world aimlessly. And come back with something good!"

"Wait." Lucius said, "Is it three days including today?"
"You leave on the third of Last Seed."
"That's not three days!" Another knight protested. "It's only two."
"Well then, you leave in two days."
"But you said-"
"You can leave now if you want."
The argument ended with a grumble.

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2nd Last Seed - 3E 422

Lucius frowned at the map, he had drawn all over it and now Cyrodiil was covered in dozens of crisscrossing lines, while there was a growing puddle of ink creeping across Black Marsh.

"Well done Lucius, you've just ruined a perfectly good map."
"At least I'm doing something useful Madali, rather than reading fairytales." He said, while trying to rescue Morrowind from the inky horde.
Madali tutted. "This, I'll have you know, is a copy of Mythical Weapons of Tamriel. I'm going to find this." She turned the book around and pointed at a drawing of a long, curved sword. "Goldbrand."
"Goldbrand," he read, "This magical Sword is almost a complete mystery. Thieves tell tales about its golden make, their tales claim that it was given to a great knight who was sworn to protect the dragons. The Sword lends its wielder the ability to do fire damage on an enemy. In some tales, it has connections to Boethia."
He looked up at her. "Boethia" He repeated. "Daedra. Not good to be consorting with them."
"It all depends on your point of view, Breton. 'Fight for the Nine' the oaths say, well I can do that just as well with a Daedric weapon."

Lucius frowned. "Where did you get that book?"
"Oh, you want a fairytale sword too?" She laughed. "The library. But don't bother looking for another copy, everybody seemed to have the same idea as me, there aren't any left."
He frowned again. He had already been to the library as well as the new bookshop in town, Renoit's Books, and he now had a sizable pile of them on his desk; A Travellers Guide to the Empire, Guide to Morrowind, The Skyforge, Orcish Swordsmiths, Swords of High Rock, he hadn't actually read any of them cover to cover, but he had hoped to have at least some idea of where he was going to go. He had, at first, though of Hammerfell, but so had everyone else and the knights were allowed only brief, limited contact with each other. Plus, it was a little hot.
Instead, he was thinking about Morrowind, Vvardenfell had recently opened up for settlement and plenty of settlers had gone, eager to strike it rich by mining the rich ebony and glass deposits.
One of the senior knights had a sword made of glass. It was strong and light, Lucius knew because he had often been made to clean and sharpen it as punishment. If there was a lot of glass on Vvardenfell, then surely there were a few swordsmiths who would be willing to help him in exchange for… something.

"So where will you find this… Goldblade?"
"Goldbrand." She corrected. "I don't know, it was last seen in High Rock, wielded by the Agent who rediscovered the Mantella, so I suppose I'll start there. And you? Where will you go?"
"I don't know. Maybe Morrowind. Or Skyrim." He began biting the inside of his cheek, he was prone to do that while thinking, which caused him to get ulcers in his mouth, which stung while he ate - he tried not to think about things too hard.
"No reason you cant do both." She said, nonchalantly.

The door to the chamber opened, one of the senior Knights, Antus, stepped in.
He was young, only a few years older than Lucius in fact, but he had risen up incredibly quickly. Probably more to do with his family connections than skill, though he did not lack the latter.
Lucius stood a head taller than him, or would have done if he had been standing.

"Lucius. I must speak with you." He walked deeper into the room and stopped. "Alone."
Madali looked up from her book and heaved a sigh before leaving.
"Why do you wa-"
"Listen." Antus interrupted. He began pacing the room in silence for a few moments, Lucius began to wonder what he was listening for.
"You remember how you came to Chorrol?" He asked. His brown eyes darted around the room, as if wary of eavesdroppers.
"Yes… I was four and I-"
"Do you remember where you came from?"
"High Rock." He answered, it was almost a question.
"Why?"
"I was orphaned. The Legion rescued me and brought me here, to Chorrol, where I lived in Chapel Stendarr's orphanage for a few years. Before being inducted-"
"You don't remember." Antus interrupted - again. Lucius was about to protest. "You don't." He reaffirmed, as if sensing what Lucius was going to say. "You just repeat what you've been told."
"You all lied to me?" Lucius asked, suspicious.
"No. Its true, just not the whole truth." He sighed. "You see… Why do you think you were brought here? This order does not have a policy of inducting every orphan into its ranks. In fact, it has never done so, you need money to join a Knightly order Lucius, orphans don't tend to have a lot of it." He continued pacing. "But you did. Or rather, your parents did. And now you do, it was in their will you see. You were to come here to live with your Uncle and you'd be paid through the Knighthood with you inheritance."
"Wait." Lucius stopped him, grabbing his arm. "I have an uncle?"
"Had. You had an uncle. He went missing just after you arrived, presumed dead. He gave part of his own children's inheritance to pay your way through the order in his will."
"So where is my inheritance?"
"We don't know. Somewhere in High Rock I assume. Locked away in a vault beneath what used to be a village."
Lucius didn't know what to say.
"I mention this in part because the money left for you by your uncle was insufficient to pay for your training. We cannot cover expenses with his legacy, as great a knight as he was."
"So, I'm in debt?"
"Yes. We would like the payment. Of course, your current 'quest'" He air quoted "to get yourself a sword takes precedence, but should you be travelling in High Rock, I would recommend searching for your town, and your birthright."
"How will I-"
"Look for a man named…" Antus interrupted and squinted at a piece of paper, "Captain Darius, in the Imperial Legion. Though he's probably more highly ranked than Captain by now."
"How would I go about finding him?"
"Must I hold you hand?" He sighed. "Go to the Legion headquarters in the Imperial City, they should be able to tell you where to find him." Antus turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Oh, yes. Before I forget" he withdrew a piece of paper from somewhere on his person and handed it to Lucius. "The details for an account with the Sintav Family Bank. A little over a thousand drakes, the last of your Uncles inheritance for you. Spend it well." He sounded almost bitter at the last.

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* Musical Accompaniment...



This post has been edited by TheBrume: Oct 2 2012, 09:21 PM