An Argonian's Account, Haa-Rei's adventures in Cyrodiil Options

[hazmick]

Chapter 1

The room was furnished as most high ranking Imperial offices were – dragons everywhere. Dragon curtains (red), dragon floor mat (red), dragon banners (red). I wouldn't be surprised if the guards outside were wearing socks (red) with little dragons on them.

“So we just need to go over a few things here,” the clerk’s piping voice interrupted my thoughts. He studied the notes in front of him “you were born 3E 408?”

“Yes.” I wasn't half as nervous as I thought I’d be, but my mouth was almost too dry to speak.

“Our first official record of you is not until 19 years later. An Imperial prison transport fished you out of the Inner Sea of Morrowind and took you to the port of Seyda Neen. Yes?”

He didn’t look up from his notes, instead arching an enormous grey eyebrow. There was more hair on those brows than on the rest of his head.

“Yes.” Though my mouth was still dry my hands were now clammy. Please gods don’t make him go in for a handshake when this is done.

“Your occupation is listed here as ‘adventurer’. You also seem to have aided the Twin Lamps organisation, among others.” He licked a bony fingertip and turned the page. “This is around the time that you officially joined the Imperial Legion, rising to the rank of Agent.”

“That’s right.” My face reddened slightly when he looked up at me. Apparently a ‘yes’ would suffice.

He took a sip of his drink, a dark gold substance, and winced slightly as it went down. How anybody can enjoy that sort of thing was beyond me. I much prefer tea.

Looking back to his notes, the clerk continued listing various people I’d met who were considered important enough to have an opinion. Mainly guild leaders and Imperials.

I managed to steal a glance at the page, most of which was concealed with black ink.

“Well this seems to be in order. On account of your previous work for the Empire and the skills you have at your disposal, I have no doubt that you will do some good with us.” He stamped my file for approval with an official looking dragon stamp (red).

I grinned widely (any display of emotion towards humans must be greatly exaggerated) and thanked him as he shook my hand firmly.

“Welcome to the Blades, Agent Haa-Rei.”

This post has been edited by hazmick: Jul 9 2016, 01:03 AM

[hazmick]

Acadian - There's always something mysterious going on with Argonians. They're an odd bunch.

ghastley - The Dwemer license idea comes from the fact that selling Dwemer stuff is supposedly illegal, yet plenty of people seem to have Dwemer relics. As for the cup, it's just one of those mysteries that may never be solved...

DE - Welcome to the story, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts.






Previously
Haa-Rei was reunited with Deeh, the old Argonian who had raised him for several years, and we learnt some more about the goings on in Leyawiin. Our adventurers are to have a day off tomorrow, and Olorin wishes to meet with Haa-Rei at the local mages guild...

Chapter 14


I’ve always disliked early mornings, and that day was no different. After a cup of tea and several torturous minutes of walking, I arrived at the Leyawiin guildhall. It was one of the larger buildings in the city, painted bright yellow and featuring a fancy stained glass window above the door. In any other city it would look rather odd, but it fit right in nestled among the other brightly coloured buildings.

The inside was similarly decorated, with rich carpets and polished wooden bookshelves and benches – the latter were occupied by mages of various races engaged in what I can only assume was intellectual conversation about spherical conjunction or transplanar liminality. In the centre of it all stood Olorin, chatting with an even older (as if it were possible) Bosmer woman. I wasn't sure if it was the carpets or the mages, but everything had a very distinct musty smell. Would it kill them to open a window?

“Ah, Haa-Rei. Good morning. May I introduce the head of this branch of the mages guild, Dagail.”

Dagail was indeed very old, and was dressed in the finest robe I’d ever seen. A thick burgundy affair, with swirling gold and red patterns. Her grey hair was fashioned into a large point, like a mountain. She was exactly how you’d picture the head of a mages circle. The only problem was that she didn’t appear to be…all there. She was staring off into the distance and my cheery “good morning” was completely wasted on her. Olorin simply chuckled as if this was normal and ushered me into an adjoining room, leaving Dagail to her thoughts.

“Is she ok?”

“Yes…well, no. That’s part of what I wanted to talk about.” Olorin reached into the depths of his tattered grey robe and handed me a roll of parchment.

“Mages Guild recommendation? For me?”

“I’ve seen your conjuration abilities, and with a little nudge from the guild you could become a master in no time. What do you think?”

Me? A mages guild member? I suppose stranger things have happened, and it would be a good opportunity. I’d never considered myself a mage though, and didn’t relish the idea of studying or wearing one of those hideous robes. I’d have to think about it.

Olorin didn’t seem surprised, and actually looked happy enough that I didn’t flat out refuse him. “Of course, of course. In the meantime though, have a word with Dagail. She could use the help of an adventurer such as yourself.” And with that, he hobbled off into the crowded hall, leaving me with no choice but to talk to the distant Dagail.

“You want wisdom? No, you want words,” Said Dagail as I approached. “Words are…difficult. They come and go. The voices, though. So loud they are, they drown out the words…”

Oh by the Hist this is going to be a long conversation.

“…Without my amulet, my stone to lock the voices away, the words will never come and stay.” Before I could reply, her eyes glazed over and she stared back into nothingness once more. I’d need some help with this one.

Help came in the form of Agata, a middle aged Nord mage who’d overheard my conversation. Apparently Dagail was some sort of seer, and had visions which had recently taken a turn for the worst on account of a lost amulet. All I needed to do was find the amulet. I returned to Dagail to see if she could shed some light on this.

Amidst the jumble of random words and nonsense she repeated the same phrase several times, “blood ran blue”, and the word “fort”. Growing up in Leyawiin, I knew the area very well – the amulet must be at Fort Blueblood, to the south east.

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The fort was nothing special, and on the surface it was actually little more than a heap of rubble, watched over by a lone marauder who fell with one of my arrows in his chest. Fur armor was no match for my new bow.

The inside of the fort was no better, with hallways full of dust and rubble. In my short time as an adventurer I was yet to encounter a group of bandits that cleaned up after themselves.

Making my way through the corridors, I quietly dispatched several more marauders. My legion training came in handy with those wearing heavy armor, and my Hist wood companion made short work of any weak spot I could find. Thankfully they were poorly equipped, and none too observant.

Finally I reached an area that looked important enough to conceal a magic amulet. The heavy oak doors groaned in protest as I opened them, and two imps waited to great me with shock magic. I darted behind an old pillar and summoned Thiazzi to help out. The imp’s spells were absorbed by the thundering bulk of the atronach, who responded with spells of his own. Several exchanges later left the imps dead, reduced to smoking heaps on the cold stone floor. After making sure the coast was clear I dismissed Thiazzi and searched for the amulet, finding it in an otherwise empty coffin. The absence of any large and conspicuous chests made this the only alternative. Footsteps announced the arrival of a potential threat, and I readied my bow as I turned toward the doorway. It was a mage.

“I-I’ll take that. The amulet.” He was dressed in the blue robes of the mages guild, and judging from the mud-stained hem he had followed me from Leyawiin. He seemed so out of place that I almost laughed, but the look in his eyes and the slight scent of decay stopped any such thoughts.

“You’re from the guild? What are you doing here?” I actually had a pretty good idea why he was here, and his plan probably included my corpse joining those of the imps.

“I knew you were looking for the amulet. I knew you’d find it, and I had to stop you. Hand it over.” His face resembled that of a particularly large and ugly baby, but for the thick black eyebrows which seemed to cast a shadow over his eyes.

“Why do you want the amulet?” I asked, setting my bow down on the coffin behind me.

“I took the other one, and that should’ve been enough to get rid of her! I was going to give it back to her once I’d gotten what I’d wanted. That’s not so wrong, is it?” Ah, so he’s not on team Dagail and thinks a change of leadership is in order. “Why? Why did you have to ruin everything!?” He gestured towards me and cast a spell.

A fork of lightning hit me square in the chest, sending me flying against the wall and the amulet spinning across the room. The mage rose his hand, summoning a zombie, and began scrabbling through the rubble for his prize. I attempted to summon a creature of my own, but my magicka had yet to recharge. I was on my own.

Drawing my sword, I met the zombie head on. Smoke rose from my burned armor, causing my eyes to water but the creature's lazy arms were still easy to avoid, and I stepped to the side before bringing my dwarven blade down to (literally) disarm it, before bringing the blade back up to behead it. A puff of foul smelling smoke signaled its departure. The final groan of his summoned ally got the attention of the mage, and he turned just in time to see my sword arching through the air towards him.

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Olorin was waiting when I returned to the guildhall.

“Everything went well, I assume?” He smiled.

I looked down at my chest. The lightning had left a large scorch mark, but I was otherwise unharmed. I handed him the amulet with a nod.

“Olorin. I want to join the guild.” This was going to be an interesting experience.

This post has been edited by hazmick: Jul 9 2016, 01:09 AM