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]

I'm running with the assumption that Daedra are rare in central Cyrodiil (or Hammerfell I suppose) and that people instead draw comparisons with what they do know. Hence the whole wingless imps/goblin thing.


In other news, I'm going to lose internet again while the whole building gets renovated. The current estimate till it gets restored is a few weeks but I'm hoping it will be shaved down a bit. So till then, have this short bit. In the next update (which at my usual glacial pace will be next year.) I plan to drop a bomb or two and light a fire under some behinds. Metaphorically.




Chapter 10.5


Lower Kvatch


Lex took his time to approach the wooden structure that used to be the combined barracks and warehouse. Behind him his troops sauntered at ease but he raised a finger and quietly asked for a professional march. The men did so and matched his pace. They even all did their best to put on a grim and aggressive visage. Lex had to suppress a grin. The soldiers Stone-Breaker had given him were good. Good enough to know what he wanted without having to spell it out.


There were two mercenaries standing guard, though a lock would have done a better job. The thugs, for mercenary was too good a word in Lex's eye, were dressed in only the most provisoric of armour and armed with a simple club. It was enough to ward off the few beggers, but didn't stop those with less direct means of obtaining food. Such as the Bosmeri woman who calmly came out a backdoor while dragging a bulging sack over the floor. She passed a hand in it when she walked by a family of two. A wrapped package was dropped into their laps and she continued at the same pace. Lex let it slide. Was stealing from thieves really stealing? Lex thought it was but at the moment he was far more interested in hooking the larger fish. Besides, though he didn't give any stock to the steal-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor stories that surrounded the Grey Fox, he didn't object to the idea on moral grounds.


The crooks waved their clubs threateningly when approached but the weapons dropped when they realized that Lex wasn't the only one making his way through the crowd. It was a simple matter of numbers. Outnumbered six to one by men who were all better armed than they were, they would have to be either monumental heroes or idiots to provocate the soldiers. Chain instead of patched leather, short swords and spears instead of a firehardened stick. The men felt that it would be better if he sought someone else to take the heat.


In this case that someone else was one of the merchants who maintained the monopoly Lex intended to break. The man came out looking most displeased at the interuption of whatever he'd been doing but like the guards posted outside he soon sobered up when he realized that he wasn't dealing with a rabble of hungry refugees. Lex told the man what he wanted in a straightforward manner. The release of the food and any other items that were needed by the refugees. Of course the merchant protested and claimed they were the ones who prevented all-out chaos and hoarding by the strong. Lex countered by stating that he didn't see much of a difference between the hypothetical hoarding of gangs and the real hoarding of the merchant and his colleagues. The back and forth repeated itself a few times until the spokesman for the merchants dipped into a different tactic. Bribery.



"Look, you only arrived this morning. Surely you are an entrepreneurial spirit. So let me tell you something that would peak your interest, sir....?" He said with his best smile. In contrast Lex's face was carefully kept devoid of any expression though inside the guard-captain was practically cheering.
"Try it. If you have the guts." He thought.
"Hieronymous Lex." He said and the merchant, who was a Redguard, paled so far one would be forgiven for thinking he was a Nord instead.
"Who is it?" Someone called from within the building and the spokesman yelled back a single word.
"Lex!" The silence that followed brought a smile to Hieronymous' lips.


He clapped the stricken man on the shoulder. It was a friendly gesture but he might as well have put his sword at his throat.
"I believe you were going to tell me something?" Lex asked and his smile grew.
"It ah, just slipped my mind." The merchantman stammered. "I'm sorry. I can't remember what it was."
"That is just too bad." Lex began. He felt not a shred of pity or mercy for those who would take advantage of a disaster in the name of profit. He felt even less compassion for those who had moved to capitalize so fast it had to be second nature. He continued on while leaning in close to the man's face. The false friendliness was gone, replaced with the commanding tone Lex normally used to adress his guards at the morning brief.
" Let me tell you something instead then, mister. You are going to the healers. You personally, not an employee. You will ask the head healer in detail what she needs and you will provide it immediately. Also you will coördinate with Savlian Mathius of the Kvatch guard in feeding everyone. Meanwhile, these two troopers here will go inside and receive a full inventory on what you have stored away. They will be allowed to check each item with their own eyes. Any obstruction will be seen as a criminal act and punished through the full extent of Imperial law. Am I understood?"


The two soldiers he'd appointed saluted and shouldered their way passed the Redguard into the building where they loudly repeated the instructions they'd just received, as if they were daring anyone inside to take offense. The silence inside the building continued, proving to Lex that there wasn't going to be a problem. That he actually regretted slightly. He would have enjoyed to string them all up and have them carted off to a prison at the earliest opportunity. But he had his priorities and as long as they followed his commands to the letter from here on out, he couldn't accuse them of a crime.


The only one who did protest was the one he'd been speaking to, and even that was only a weak complaint about how his goods had been bought at a high price and how the Redguard couldn't just give it away without financial ruin.
"Am I supposed to consider your prosperity more important than theirs?" Lex thought.
"If you have any objections of a financial nature, keep them. I am certain that the Imperial Customs Department will reimburse you for any monetary loss you receive while saving lives."



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For the rest of the day Lex busied himself with handling all the little conflicts that arose. Who had stolen from who, who had refused to share, who had said a foul word or pushed the wrong person in the rush to escape. All the little things he hated to do, but which no one else could. That evening Ulberth Stone-Breaker descended into the camp and after deliberating with Mathius, Lex and the healers, he had the messengers sent to Skingrad.
"Tomorrow we will see some real aid in this place. And we'll lay siege to Kvatch. No one gets in or out." He said.





"You're going to throw away the key and pretend it never happened. That sure worked out great last time."