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 - I'm so glad you enjoyed Jötnar's Journal. I thought it might be a good way to recap as well as get another perspective on things. I'm thinking of doing it every dozen chapters or so, if I ever get that far.

ghastley - Hmmm maybe it is the shoes!


EVERYONE - Apologies for the gap between chapters. There's nothing to blame but my own lack of motivation. I'll try to be a bit more...regular in the future.


Previously - We had a read through Jötnar's journal which covered the events of the story so far. Now Haa-Rei and friends have arrived at the Ayleid ruin of Atatar, where their prize awaits...


Chapter 16


It had been raining for a while now, and the night air had cooled almost to the point of freezing. I was crouched low, behind a large boulder, overlooking the entrance to Atatar. I’d been sent ahead to ‘see what was what’ before the others arrived. Due to the rain, fog, and general darkness, I wasn’t entirely sure what was what or which was which, and I was incredibly uncomfortable. Such is the glamorous life of an adventurer.

Footsteps behind me heralded the arrival of my companions, looking as wet and bedraggled as I felt.

“What’s the situation?” asked Jötnar. He was wearing a cloak over his armour which made him look even bigger than usual and his long hair was soaked through, clinging to his broad face in several places. Sjöfn was barely visible under her large hood and cloak, but a rogue lock of unmistakable red hair gave her away.

“I don’t think there is a situation. If there are any guards up here they’re doing a very good job of hiding.” I stood up carefully and stretched my legs, wincing as the feeling came back to them, and glanced over at the ruin.

Even now, on this foggy night, the ruin was impressive. It wasn’t particularly large, just a broken tower and various debris scattered across a hillside, but the pale white stones caught even the tiniest bit of light and seemed to shine in the gloom. I wished there was a Hist nearby that could show me how the ruin looked a few thousand years ago.

Olorin cleared his throat, bringing me back to the present, and went over the plan again. I was to go in first, clearing any traps I could see and picking off any guards that I encountered. Jötnar would follow behind, as support in case I ran into any major trouble. Sjöfn and Olorin would bring up the rear. We were looking for some sort of stone, but Olorin wasn’t sure exactly what it looked like. Apparently we’d ‘know it when we see it’ which I thought was so vague as to be meaningless. The old Altmer looked rather excited though, so I kept quiet.

“Well lad, this is what we’re paying you for. I’ll be right behind you if you need help.” Jötnar grinned, hefting his impossibly large claymore over his shoulder with one hand and patting me on the back with the other.

With a final ‘good luck’ from Sjöfn and Olorin, I slowly made my way towards the ruin. It was just as deserted as it looked, but the ease with which the door opened meant that it was inhabited…or maybe the Ayleids were just really good at building doors. I hoped it was the latter.


The inside was the very definition of ‘eerie’. Completely silent, and lit only by the faint glow of magical stones. It meant that there were plenty of shadows for me to hide in, but you never know what will already be hiding there.

It wasn’t long at all before I found my first trap. A long corridor stretched out before me, the floor of which was sticky with blood. The source of this were several very large, and very dead, rats, which had large wounds on their backs. The culprit was no doubt the set of large blades which were swinging back and forth down the length of the hall. It was amazing that the mechanism still worked after all this time, and I couldn’t suppress the feeling that these rats were but the most recent in a very long line of victims.

“I bet the blood is murder to clean up in here.” I mumbled to myself, scanning around for a device to stop the blades. With no solution forthcoming, I decided to forge ahead. Very, very carefully.

The blades weren’t fast, but there wasn’t much room between them, and I could feel them whooshing through the air, too close for comfort. Once on the other side of the corridor, after letting out a shaky breath, I found a switch which finally halted the relentless swinging. I’d passed the first test.
The second test was right ahead.

The hallway diverged into three separate paths. On either side it led to some stairs, which seemed to go down into a large room. The middle path went to a small balcony which I assumed would overlook the aforementioned chamber. A lone archer stood on the balcony, facing away from me. We were separated by an iron door, with a sun motif which I was peeking through.

I had no doubt that I could take him out, but if anyone was watching him, or if he fell into the chamber, I’d be in trouble. If I ignored him and went into the chamber then he’d spot me straight away.

Seeing no other option, I eased open the ornate door and carefully moved forward. I stopped about halfway along the balcony as I could now see into the chamber. It was large and open, with two carved pillars supporting the high ceiling. There were no side passages for people to hide in, and the passage ahead looked clear.

The archer on the balcony fell with one of my arrows between his shoulder blades. His body slumped against the low stone wall but fortunately stayed on this side. I quickly moved forward to pull him back, just to be safe. Now I could see further into the opposite passage I could make out the shape of another sentry in the gloom of the tunnel. My arrow found its mark and he also went down without a fuss. This was going well.

I climbed into the chamber and continued on, down more passageways, until I reached the second level of the ruin. The room was dotted with pillars, and atop each pillar sat large cages which sort of resembled metal onions. One cage was raised and I could see a shining stone underneath. Is this it? It would help if Olorin had been a bit more precise.

I ignored the shiny thing for now and moved forward again, but had to stop almost immediately when I heard a noise. Two of the ruin’s resident bandits were engaged in a conversation about goblins, and how horrible they were. I waited for them to finish and go their separate ways before moving again.

One bandit moved further into the ruin, while the other was heading more-or-less in my direction. I moved to the side to get a better angle. Her heavy armour would be tricky to deal with. Thankfully her neck was…less well protected, and she went down – albeit with an alarmingly loud crash as iron met stone.

“Hey, Sera, you alright?” A woman’s voice drifted across the room. Her friend hadn’t gone as far away as I’d thought. I heard her footsteps approaching quickly and turned, bow drawn, to meet her.

This post has been edited by hazmick: Jul 9 2016, 01:11 AM