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]

Whew, internet is back. I've got a lot of catching up to do. Well, more than usually.

I like the idea that Lex has a reputation as that one incorruptible guy you can't intimidate, you can't blackmail and who takes bribes as a personal insult.

For now we move back to Latta because she hasn't had a chance to say her thing in a while. And there will be a random rant at the end.





Chapter 10.6


I scarcely noticed the passing of the time. When the sun set, I'd merely called out for light without being aware of just why it had become too dark to work. If it wasn't for the Redguards, who forced me to eat, rest, and dragged me over to observe the Skingrad commander's council, I'd probably still be wandering the tent like some mindless insect. And speaking of eating, I'd had Sorian put everything in my mouth like a toddler. He asked me to say 'ah' and I almost slapped him. Almost. It was embarassing enough already, especially in public, but I couldn't even stand the thought of touching anything after having spent most of the day digging in people's guts. Who knew what and how many taints I'd wedged under my fingernails at the moment.


It had always been sort of a flaw of mine. While I was working, it didn't faze me. But now my teeth and nails itched and I was overcome with a desperate desire to bathe and scrub that made it hard to focus on anything else. Perfumed oils, a glass of extract, the enchanted music cube and of course a skilful massage. I enjoyed the fantasy to take my mind off this place. Off the wounded stuck in the filthy tent, the missing children and the unnatural storm that continued to brew above the stronghold. It was a shame my bubble had to be popped so quick.


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




I didn't see who had so rudely interupted, but it got everyone talking at the same time. The Kvatch and Skingrad leadership had sat themselves down on crates while a small crowd had formed around them. Sorian, Baurus and I stood away a short distance from the group so all I saw were the backs of people. Anyhow, the comments ranged from critiscism to doomsaying to suggestions that themselves ranged from the reasonable to the outlandish. A big green, something, wanted to know when a real man was going to take charge and actually do something. Another fellow right in front of me screeched about end-times and prophecies and how the world was going to end in three days. Off to the side an amberskinned elf was holding her child, while saying how it was all 'his' fault and that she shouldn't have let 'him' steal 'it'. And those were all 'sane' people, though the prophecy-man made me wonder. There was one gray-skinned elf who talked about a brass statue he'd seen in Mourndom as if it could solve their problems. I didn't see how a statue was going to help. Was it supposed to blind the Daedra by being very well-polished? Or perhaps it was supposed to summon a Daedric prince. From what Sorian had told me, we were dealing with at least hundreds of Daedra of various forms. And not just the lowly ones like screechers, but also the bigger elementals and destroyers. The latter were hard to summon, harder to keep in Mundus and especially hard to control. And that was when dealing with just a single Daedra. For hundreds to be summoned to the same place at the same time could only be accomplished in three ways. By gathering hundreds of top-level summoners or by entering into a very costly contract with a prince. The third involved an artifact I'd learned off in my studies, but it had been stolen by an eastern Altmer back in the First Era and never been seen again.
"Someone must have made a contract, it's the only thing that makes sense. But summoning one Daedric army to stop another isn't the answer. That's like curing air-dead water by adding poison."


The arguments began to detoriate into an unruly mob. People began jostling and Stone-Breaker's call for order went unheard. I could feel someone put a hand on my shoulder to gently drag me out of the conflict area. Probably Baurus. He had the right idea, of course. No one would be helped if I got injured in a riot. But I'd begun to think now. Something was up with this Daedric horde. Something that made the usual answers not match up. I shook off Baurus' hand and stepped back forward and then paused. How should I proceed?


"First of all, get people's attention." I reasoned and opened my mouth to add my own voice to the choir. But I didn't even need to say a word to realize that just shouting 'shut up!' wasn't going to change a thing. Everyone was yelling now and deaf to their own words. I had to stop the current chain before the Skingrad officer arrived at the point where he would enforce order by the blade.
"How would grandfather do this?" I thought to myself and to my regret I had not even a clue. I held the king in high regard, but we hadn't met often and most of the time it was in a formal setting surrounded by my elders which made any attempt at actual conversing with the immortal impossible. Also, there were no riots at his palace.


Stone-Breaker raised his hand to his troops and I knew there was no time left to contemplate the right course of action. I would have to trust my instincts and upbringing. I made another step forward to the center of the mob and raised my own hands. I bent them slightly at the fingers and humned the song of heavy afternoons. Crackling wips of lightning darted between my fingers. I clapped, breaking the air trapped within my hands. The resulting CLAP!!! deafened all around and stunned them into silence. I repeated the act, step... CLAP!!!...step...CLAP!!! till I'd got where I wanted to be. Right in front of the Skingrad commander. I nodded to him, as if I was granting him permission to stand down, and then without giving the man the chance to respond I jumped on top of a crate to adress the crowd.


"Everyone, listen up!" I began, but then my lack of confidence in myself got hold of me.
"Damn it, Latta. You are an Orgnum, bred to rule! Taking charge should be in your blood. Besides, if you bite your tongue now, you'll emberass your House. Just improvise." I told myself furiously. I moved on to introduce myself, and steal a few more seconds to think.
"I am Org...Maorlatta Orgnum, empowered by the Lord Emperor Septim the Seventh, ruler of Tamriel, to speak in his name." Mentioning Pyandonea would have been a bad idea. Apart from nobody having heard of the place if Sorian was anything to go by, I needed legitimate authority here. House Orgnum was legitimate, back home, House Septim was in charge here. I could also really do with a bath and a nice dress instead of the bloodsplattered travelling leathers, but damn it, I didn't need any of that. If grandfather could rally demoralized people on a battlefield while he was bleeding out from a dozen mortal wounds, then so could I.
"You will not talk unless given leave to do so by me. Anyone who needlessly interupts will leave. Anyone who uses his or her chance to speak for meaningless drivel will leave."


So far I'd sailed on shock and not giving anyone the opportunity to digest my words rationally. But now Stone-Breaker seemed like he'd gotten over the initial surprise. He was chewing his lip and looked like he was going to drag me down from the makeshift stage. That would be bad to say the least. Thoughts on how to stop him flitted through my mind. Set Baurus upon him? The Redguard would probably do so on his own if the Skingrad giant tried anything, but having a man in uniform gutted would result in absolute chaos. And every soldier out there aiming for our throats. I should tell him to stay put. But how? I could say anything I liked, but I didn't actually have proof I was who I claimed to be.
"Maybe I should reveal my heritage anyway. I don't look like any elf-line they know." I thought. Stone-Breaker nodded to himself and I felt Baurus shift behind me.


Just when I thought it was too late to defuse the situation, the man next to Stone-Breaker, smaller and unarmored but still wearing an uniform of some sorts, simply took the Nord's arm and shook his head. I didn't know who he was or how he'd done it, but Stone-Breaker stood down again. I pushed it all from my mind however as I continued to play the crowd. I set down a few more rules, while also dropping references to Uriel Septim and court laws at various points. I allowed a few to say their thing and fished for a few more eyewitness acounts so I could get a better idea of what was going on. Daedra did sack the city, large numbers of them. But there was something else that Sorian hadn't mentioned. Some claimed that the buildings of Kvatch itself had faded and been replaced with something else. It sounded impossible but I only had to look up at the storm brewing to remind myself that the impossible no longer applied here.



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All this had only been a prelude however. What I really had been after from the beginning was the confession of the amber mer. She had to be a Bosmer, black eyes and twirling hair that was too dark to be of Altmeri stock, not to mention lacking in height. Supposedly I looked like one which was part of the reason why I'd been chosen for the diplomatic mission, but I failed to see any resemblence. That however, wasn't too important right now. I asked her for her name.


"Rajn Geydar." I recognized the name instantly. That was one of the two people the emperor had wanted me to collect from Kvatch. But it couldn't be this woman. The Rajn Geydar on the note had only been 57 years old and the one standing in front of me was definitely much older. I shot a glance at the little girle beside her. Perhaps the name Rajn was passed on from mother to daughter. But where Rajn the elder was too old, the child was too young. Perhaps she had an older sibling.
"Who I notice, is not here. Auri-El protect her."


I asked her to repeat what she'd said to herself when the crowd threatened to riot and though it took some coaxing, I got a coherent story out of here. Apparantly she and a 'Arie', probably her husband, had come into the posession of an artefact that possibly could tear the barriers between Mundus and Oblivion. For years she had it mounted over the door because she liked how it sparkled. But just the day before an Altmer had apparantly recognized the object for what it was and flown into a rage. Later that night, the Daedra arrived and when she took Baleni, which was the name of the little girl, she noticed that the artifact had been stolen. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. The Altmer had taken the object and used it to call out the Daedra.
"Balac-Thurm." I thought. "Did this Bosmer ever realize the meaning of her treasure, the value? Auri-El bound Mundus into the present with it! And she used it as a glorified flagpost!" I could see what had made that Altmer so upset. Then of course he'd taken it and used it for evil, but what else would one expect from an Altmer who had come face to face with the tool of a god?


"Where did you even get the Balac-Thurm in the first place?" I found myself asking in a lapse of judgement. The Bosmer laughed at me as a result.
"Oh, sweetie, that's a long long story and it's time for Baleni to go to bed. Let's just say it is something the big man with the crown gave to mommy and daddy because we saved the world for him. And we beat up someone who was very bad and not nice to children and emperors. Shouldn't forget that bit. What was his name again? Oh right, Tharnie the Terrible. But that's a secret, Baleni. You're not supposed to tell people. Got it?" Somehow, everyone went quiet. Quieter I mean, after removing a few troublemakers no one was speaking unless instructed to first. I felt that this joking answer had some sort of meaning for the people of Tamriel. But I'd never heard of a warlord known as Tharnie the Terrible, nor could I see why his defeat was so important that she would have been rewarded with Auri-El's sacred spear of all things.
"I should ask Sorian and Baurus about this later. But I know one thing now. We need to get the Balac-Thurm back. Or else Kvatch will only be the beginning."






RANT-TIME

Ok, this part was kinda hard. What happens here is that the protagonists find out what occurred at Kvatch. Figuring out how to stop it comes later though, and I'm thinking of doing that off-screen now because today's update already hit the 2000 word mark.

Now to do this I first have to admit I imposed a limit upon myself. As mentioned before I chose not to place an Oblivion gate, and in this part we learn why I suppose. Anyhow, this had the result that I couldn't have anyone reason that the best way to stop the Daedra was to run through the portal and then hope they saw something to undo it.

Without the gate, I needed someone knowledgeable enough to exposit about it in enough detail to convince everyone else. (Though I skipped over the exposition) Now in the story I've so far brought up four people who could conceivably know.



First of all is Mankar Camoran. With the world-piece he can pop up at Kvatch and hold a speech. (or he can just teleport, no reason why he would obey the law while trying to overthrow the symbol of said law.) But he wouldn't have anything to gain from it and I try to stay away from villains who monologue about every detail of his masterplan to the hero.


Second would be Uriel Septim, who fell off for obvious reasons. That leaves us with the two best candidates. Angoril Bobardi and Rajn Geydar.

Angoril knows of course, seeing how he threw a bit fit over the whole thing before Kvatch got Daedra'd. And originally I had him take the role Latta ended up taking, only a bit more direct. I even thought about having him finally make a real reveal over who he is, but in the end I figured that he would rather not do so unless absolutely needed. And since Latta did the job for him, why should he draw attention to himself?

Rajn Geydar originates as Rajn Treesap in another unfinished story of mine which basically tells the tale of the simulacra. To keep things simple, she knows exactly as much as Angoril does for the same reasons. And since she doesn't share his compulsive mystery-man act, I picked her as the one to tell people.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Sep 22 2013, 07:31 PM