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]

Huh, that's a very good point there. When I played, I'd either avoid triggering the gates entirely or closed them all asap. It never occurred to me that taking the middle road would lead to a proper crisis. Maybe I should experiment.

As for who the mighty Dremora is, we'll hear in due time. But first we have another helping of Hieronymous Lex. Just one more part with him after this, and I'll be ready to set up for the climax of the chapter. So....another three to four months?




Chapter 10.3


With the dozen troopers Stone-Breaker had promised him, Lex returned order to Lower Kvatch. He also brought captain Matius. Not because the familiar face and code of arms would give an air of legitimacy to his actions, but because the man refused to rest and the only way to get him off the front lines was by ordering him to take part in some other assignment. He intended to have the man organize the relief efforts once they got going. First however, Lex went to the tent of the healers. He had to know how the situation was in there.


The answer, as it turned out to be, was not good.


There were no beds of any sort, with most patients lying on a matrass of their own clothes. Half of the healers looked passed out and those who didn't fumbled around in shock. Family and friends got in the way, further complicating things. Lex looked but saw precious little of the tools he'd come to associate with the healer's practice. No potions, only empty bottles strewn about. No herbs and powders, though a mortar and pestle sat at the feet of a heavily burned man. No scrolls, no books and no rolls of bandaging. It was chaos, with but one oasis of calm and certain action.


She was there. Cutting and sewing with the precision of an artisan, red hands moving so fast it seemed like they'd barely touched a wound before going to the next. If Lex didn't know better, he'd say she was under the influence of a spell. But Grey-Tongue had told him the elf appeared to have an aversion to magic. What she was doing wasn't magic however. It was the healing arts all mothers knew. The art of cleaning the wound and stopping the leaking of blood so that the body could repair itself. Only hers was like the difference between a master-at-arms and a raw recruit. A raw recruit who was very, very drunk.


"I still don't get how putting a knife into people actually makes them better. But the results are there." Lex thought to himself and tensed the tendons in his legs. Only a slight ache and stiffness reminded him of the knees which the Dark Brotherhood vampire had cut. The same knees the Maormer had repaired like the broken axle of a wagon.






He thought about approaching her but choose not to. She had been in his convoy and there wasn't anything for her to tell him. She also hadn't shown any sign of recognition over the day and frankly, he didn't want to get in the way of the Redguard she'd hired for her protection. The professional one, not the fop who was still up near the walls. The man was now occupied warding off all the worried people who couldn't understand what she was doing but Lex still felt he was aware of his presence as he'd been the moment they joined the convoy. He had that look Lex had seen only in exceptionally perceptive people like Grey-Tongue.


Instead of tangling with that brute for no reason, Lex approached what he assumed to be the most senior healer in the camp. At the least she was the oldest, a wrinkled crone with twig-like fingers that trembled from both exhaustion and the old-man's shakes. At first she waved him off and when Lex offered his help, she accused him of trying to steal the last coin of people who didn't have any. The Guard-captain grimaced.
"Madam, if I took money from you, I would have to arrest myself." He said. That got her to turn and look at him. She saw his deskuniform, and Skingrad's soldiers behind him.
"You're not from here. Stendarr's mercy, did the Empire see our plight?"


"We saw your city burn from Skingrad, and came. More will come in a day. Now madam, can these people be moved?" Lex asked her. It seemed that the 'enemy', for lack of a better term, wasn't going to leave Kvatch in force. But he didn't feel like taking chances. If the injured could be taken to Skingrad or the nearby port-city of Anvil, they should be. There they would also have access to the healer's facilities rather than this dirty tent. The matron glanced across the wounded and shook her head.
"In theory, yes. But I wouldn't advise it. Handled ineptly and many would die." She said. Though she didn't tell him, Lex knew exactly what she'd meant. In the Legion he had learned to never move an injured comrade, unless it was to drag them out of the line of fire. There was just too much that could go wrong and turn a serious wound into a fatal one.
"Then we'll have to take care of them here. Again I ask you, what do you need, madam?"



"More aid materials of course, but our real shortage is trained staff here." She told him when a man coughed and puked up crimson slime. The head healer immediately turned and shoved aside the novice who'd come look. She placed her hand over the man's chest, which Lex now saw, was caved in. The woman began the gestures of healing, panting and biting down on her lip as if she was in great pain and unable to scream. It took a long time but finally the injured man relaxed. The healer wiped her brow, gave instructions to the novice and came back to the Guard-captain. She told him about the loss of the Healer's hall in central Kvatch and how with it most of the experts, references and supplies had been lost. As she explained, only the ones who were out on late night visits to patients or bunked with family instead of in the dorms, had been lucky enough to escape.
"So what you are saying," Lex said, "is that they are not trained to handle these kind of injuries."
"Most of us are. First to third years aren't, so they get the lighter work. Simple fractures, nursing, assisting their seniors. It's a matter of scale. Smith literally killed himself trying to push out one more healing spell. Binds-the-Straw overdosed on magicka restoration potions, I didn't even know an Argonian could overdose on anything. The rest of us walk on the edge. We don't have enough people and don't have enough magicka."


There was little Lex could do to resolve her problem. He could always round up a few volunteers who knew a thing or two about healing, but they were unlikely to be more knowledgeable than even a first year student of the guild. And from what he understood, they needed masters, not novices.
"How about mercenaries? Aren't they skilled at treating battlefield injuries?" The man ventured after some time. Most mercenaries, at least the good ones, knew how to deal with the injuries they suffered in their line of work. While the ones that had joined the convoy weren't under any direct authority of either Stone-Breaker or himself, he was certain he could hire them with the promise of later compensation from the Cyrodiil guard. As a Guard-captain he did have the liberty to modify the budget as needed.


"Mercenaries treat wounds like they're nails with a big hammer. Just hold up your hand and pump magic into yourself till the flesh is kind of okay." The old healer scoffed and mimed the motion. "And in a few years you're hobbling around on knees that grew sideways and your heart feels like its dangling on a string. Mercenaries can't even heal themselves proper, nevermind others."


Lex gestured with a thumb at the Maormer.
"You did seem to allow one in your tent." He answered. She didn't seem to be unwelcome. Had she said who or rather what she was? It didn't seem likely to him. She had maintained a false identity when they last met and to be fair, he didn't think that saying one was a princess would be a good idea in this refugee camp. At best, they'd laugh her away for she didn't look like one, at worst she'd get mobbed for help.
"She's Stendarr's mercy," The old woman said, "sent by him in our time of need. I don't know where she came from and she's not guild but someone must have given her the optional course. Maybe one of the teachers had his own secret protégée, not that I care right now. All I care is that she knows how to fix people without magic. It doesn't get them on their feet, but they won't die and we'll have plenty of time to finagle out the details for a full recovery. No comment on the makeup though."




"Look, sir. If you want to help us, get those greedy bastards in the warehouses to open their damned doors. We can use the fresh clothes they store by the cratefuls to improvise bandaging. It wouldn't be the real deal but it beats the mud-raked filth we're all wearing right now. And food. No one's had a bite to eat since the escape. The patients need strength to heal and we need it to keep saving them. Get that for us, please. I beg you."


Lex nodded and saluted.
"I'm on it, madam. You have my word." He said and turned to his men.
"Come along, troops. We've got some law to enforce."