Clark - Second Era Options

[ghastley]

Now I've created a second-era Clark, I need a story of how he got there. I'd started something similar for Minx, but it wasn't going anywhere, so I've adjusted a bit. This may be a bit infrequent, as my logic is that Azura sends him back to Morrowind, which is special for her, and needs some attention in this era. However, ESO Clark probably won't go there until we get him up to Champion level, and he can start doing things for the story, and not just levels and skill points.


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Chapter 1 - Arrival


It wasn't exactly deja vu, because this was the first time, and the other happened in the fiuture. Which is why I can't remember it clearly.

Azura told me it would be like this. I would have no memory of the things that hadn't happened yet, because that would cause problems with temporal causality, or something like that. But yet, things that hadn't changed much, like Seyda Neen, where I'd just got off the boat, would seem familiar.

I could remember anything that happened in a Daedric realm, because time worked differently there. So I remember all about my dealings with Azura and Nocturnal, and why they'd made me immortal. I had some recollections of mortal women, including my wife, Dralsi, and our daughter Karliah, but only the things that happened in Nocturnal's Realm. Fortunately, both had been Nightingales, so there was a lot that took place in Evergloam, which might have included Karliah's conception.

I remembered a Bosmer called Cyndil, who'd been made a Nightingale at the same time I was. I had fond, but sparse, memories of a Nord called Gilda, who'd also been a Nightingale with my daughter. There was a Dunmer called Minx, that had joined me in Cyndil's rescue from Mehrunes Dagon's Dremora. Azura tells me that were a lot more that I wouldn't remember in my future.

Most of my memories about Mundus seemed to relate to Nocturnal, and quests that I'd done for her, and yet it was Azura that sent me back here. The mission I was on was particularly hers, as Morrowind was under her protection, perhaps as a result of her turning the Chimer into Dunmer all that time ago. And yet, I didn't really know what that mission was. It would work itself out, just because I was here at the right time.

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This promised to be an interesting time. Azura had told me about Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec, and how they'd used the power of Lorkhan's heart to become like gods. And unlike the Daedric Princes, they had nothing restraining them from interfering as much as they liked in the affairs of mortals. Indeed, it was Sotha Sil who had engineered much of that restraint upon their Daedric rivals.

That didn't seem to concern her too much. I imagine that she felt it was the best arrangement for both sides. I got the impression that she felt that the Tribunal were at least as constrained themselves.

And I knew that Balmora was in that direction, and the city of Vivec was in the other. I might know some of the rocks along the way, but not the trees or mushrooms. I have no idea when I was here before, or rather, when I would be here in future. I might be a child when I learn my way around, or an adult. I'm an adult now, but I'm not sure how old to consider myself, considering that I haven't been born yet. It's so confusing.

I wasn't likely to bump into anyone I knew in future. This was far enough back in my past, according to Azura, that no mortal could live that long. Not even the elven mages could prolong their lives that much. If I did see a familiar face, it might be one of her winged twilights with a message.

Azura had also warned me about history. Everything I'd learned about the past, I'd still remember, up to the now I was in. However, some of the accounts may have been revised before I'd learned them, so they'd be false memories, and anything that had just happened here would be fresh in everyone else's memory, but seem vague and distant in mine. This would be especially true about the Tribunal, who Azura felt bent the truth liberally in their records of this time. If I thought I recalled something, I shouldn't trust that feeling until I checked the facts.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Dec 15 2023, 07:41 PM

[ghastley]

@Acadian: There's a lot of Azura in this quest-line, and Clark might get a bit tired of being steered.

@Renee: Much of it is simple - "kill everything", but we don't do Cyrodiil.

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Previously: Clark had visited the first location his list, and found a mine.

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Part 1.4 - Ald'ruhn and Barilzar

I suppose any cultist is not in a normal state of mind, or they wouldn't have become one to begin with, but why do they have to become homicidal? At least there weren't many of them.

I found a couple of items that might be useful: a Nycotic Ritual Bag that may provide some clue as to what they were doing, and a note that had been dropped by the invading Red Exiles that had stolen the weapon. The latter told me that it was a staff, perhaps the one the divination vision had shown us? It didn't tell me much more, except that the sender's initial were "CC".

After talking to the crew chief again, who was still reluctant to enter even after I told him the place was cleared, I set off for Ald'ruhn.

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As I approached the wayshrine just outside Ald'ruhn, I saw a young(ish) Dunmer woman in an argument with a couple of uniformed men. She was demanding to see her brother, who was apparently in these Red Exiles' camp. Whether that was voluntarily or otherwise wasn't clear.

Red Exiles were the ones who had taken the staff from the cultists, a further clue.

She'd apparently seen me approach, as after knocking the two men down, she called out to me. Even though she didn't appear to need any help, she solicited mine, in return for her assistance with Lord Vivec's quest.

She was Seryn, and her brother Chodala was Ashkhan of the nomadic tribe they belonged to. Her job was as ambassador to the other tribes. He was trying to unite the Ashlander nomads against the Morrowind Great Houses, but hadn't progressed very far with that, yet.

I went to the Red Exiles' camp, hoping they'd be more hospitable to a stranger, but was not surprised that they weren't. I did manage to discover that Chodala was no longer there, but a document of his meeting with them was still lying around. I took it back to Seryn.

I talked with Seryn for a while longer, getting more information about her brother, herself, and their Urshilaku tribe. Something in the document I'd retrieved alarmed her, and she gave me a scroll of her brother's writings to help clarify why. It appeared that he believed himself to be the Nerevarine - a term that rang a faint bell in my faulty memory. I imagined that these writings would make more sense to Vivec, anyway.

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The last location on my list was Barilzar's Tower, and that was way across to the east of the island beyond Molag Mar. Apparently it wouldn't have been a significant journey if I'd found the wayshrine, but you had to travel to those and find them, before you knew how to get there. Since this was my first trip, I'd have to do it the hard way. I could at least use the one at Ald'ruhm to go back to Vivec City, which cut the travel in half.

The route to Molag Mar took me through the town of Suran, which seemed familar in many ways. Azura had told me I'd 'remember' places from the future, if they'd stayed much the same over the intervening years. That was true with Seyda Neen, where things seemed to be where I expected them to be, and there was much familiar-feeling about Suran.

I went into the local tavern, called Desele's House of Earthly Delights with such a feeling, However, the interior was a different matter. Presumably interiors get redecorated more often. I never did discover what the 'Earthly Delights' were. I don't imagine they were the drinks, which seemed to be the same varieties i'd found in the bars of Vivec. In particular, there weren't any dancing girls. I don't have any clue why I was expecting any, other than a vague hope from the name of the place.

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Molag Mar was quite a bit farther. It was built in the same style as the cantons of Vivec city, so I wasn't sure if that was the source of any familiarity, or if I'd been here in future. In any case, Barilzar's tower was out in the coastal wetlands between there and Azura's Shrine. The shrine was on my map, but the tower wasn't. I found the local wayshrine first, and from there a passing traveller pointed out the tower in the distance.

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Barilzar was in his tower when I arrived, but in the middle of an experiment that couldn't be interrupted. I offered to help in exchange for a few answers, and he readily agreed. I could activate the crystals for him while he operated the modulator, whatever that was. Apparently this would make an explosion less likely.

The required order wasn't hard to guess, and we did it quickly, and without any explosions. Barilzar was relieved (and maybe surprised) at that.

I told him that Lord Vivec had sent me to inquire about the transfer of divine energy, and that was a familiar topic to him. Apparently, he'd worked with Sotha Sil on just that topic, and his master had a tool that permitted him to do so. With its aid, he was able to isolate some of his own power and analyze it, drawing conclusions on how it might be sustained, and whether it was temporary or permanent.

I suspected that tool might have been a staff, and the notes he gave me only strengthened that suspicion.

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As soon as I stepped outside, an apparition of Archcannon Tarvus appeared, urging me back to Vivec City as fast as possible. There was ... a problem.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Aug 19 2021, 02:04 PM