The Saga of Joan of Arkay, A Morrowind Main Quest Story Options

[Renee]

Each event is preceded by prophecy, but without the event, there is no hero.

In the waning years before the end of the third era of Tamriel, a prisoner was born on an uncertain day, from uncertain parents. To most, she was ignorant of the role she was to play in that country's coming history.

"They have taken you from the Cyrodiil prison, first by carriage, then by boat. To east and to Morrowind. Fear not, for you shall be watched. You shall be chosen... "

16th of Last Seed, 3rd Era, Year 427



..."Wake up!"....

The lady from Cyrodiil squinted her eyes. Someone was peering at her through the gloom.

"Wake up!" said the voice. The voice of a Dunmer, for sure. "Why are you here?" asked the voice. "Are you with us?"

The smell of rotted wood permeated the air. The lady felt a gentle rocking as she got up off the floor. She wrinkled her face. Was she on a boat?

"That's right, stand up," said the voice. And now that she was standing, the lady could see she had been spoken to by a Dunmer. "You were dreaming," he said in a gravelly voice. "What's your name?"

"Joan. Of Cyrodiil," said she.

"Well, not even last night's storms could wake you," he replied. "I heard them say landfall was made last night." He was standing before her without a shirt on, Joan could see. "We've reached Morrowind, I'm sure and certain they will let us go."

"Who ... shall let us go?" Joan was bleary.

"Quiet. Here comes the guard."

An Imperial soldier was approaching from somewhere up deck. Joan could hear his footsteps clonking along. He made his way down a set of stairs on the far side of the boat, and toward the Dunmer and Joan.

"This is where you get off," said the Imperial with a regal sort of voice. "Now. Come with me."

Joan hesitated, trying to remember what happened. Why she was .... here ... on this boat. And not on the boat with the others. The others from Cyrodiil.

"You'd better do what they say," warned the Dunmer with no shirt.

"Hoy there," Joan called to the guard. "Have I been placed into some manner of custody?"

"You'd better do what they say," warned the Dunmer with no shirt, for the second time.

So Joan did. She followed the Imperial through the ship's dim lower hull. Noticed hammocks, crates, and barrels. She then walked cautiously up the ship's ladder, giving one last look back to the far alcove, where she'd awoken a few moments ago. Finally, she moved through the ship's mid-deck hold, which was brighter and a tad more pleasant than its lower section. Candles, and places to eat.

"Get yourself up on deck and lets keep this as civil as possible," the Imperial growled.

"Yessir," Joan answered. "Ehm. Perhaps this is a case of mistaken identity," she spoke to the Imperial, but didn't dare look at him. She said a quick prayer to superior powers before climbing upon the ship's upper deck.

mid-afternoon
Unsure what had happened, Joan was expecting she was about to walk from the ship's inside straight into some sort witch hunt. She'd walk on deck, and be surrounded by accusers, or some such. Because that's the way she felt, at the moment. Things were not right. She was in some sort of trouble, perhaps. Had to be mistaken identity, though. Had to be.

But this was not the case. Her fears would be allayed.

"This is where they want you," said a man, a Redguard, who was standing ondeck. "Head down to the dock and into the census office."

At this point, Joan noticed three things at once.

1). She was not under any sort of arrest. This was obvious, since she was not bound.

2). She was not about to be accused of anything.

3). She had made it to Vvardenfell.

Joan had boarded the wrong boat, for sure. But she had also successfully made it to her destination, somehow. The weather was balmy. She could see gigantic mushroom trees standing way off in the distance. Finally, the silt strider standing off to the side of whatever town she was in made this area no mistake. Only one place on Tamriel could support those types of flora.

"But what has happened to the others? Where are the rest of my priory?" she asked.

"Let's go," said the Redguard impatiently, ignoring her concerns. "Move it along."

She began to move off the boat. Onto a small bridge, which led to a dock, which led to a Tudor-styled building. So this was Vvardenfell, but the town she was in had Imperial influence. A second guard greeted her as she neared him. Unlike the others so far, he seemed pleasant, maybe even pleased to see Joan.

"You finally arrived but our records don't show from where," he said.

"Cyrodiil. Cheydinhal, as a fact of matter. I am Joan from Cheydinhal."

"Great," the guard said in his pleasant voice. "I'm sure you'll fit right in. Now follow me up to the office."

Joan did so, slowly. If the others did not make it, did this mean her quest within Vvardenfell would not be granted?

"Head on in," said the guard, and so Joan of Cheydinhal did so. It was not as though she really had any choice in the matter.

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Joan of Arkay Chargen Sheet

Joan in Seyda Neen

This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 6 2021, 12:46 AM

[Renee]

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26 Last Seed (Day 11), 3rd Era Year 427

Location: Balmora

Joan spends the morning killing ... rats. Rat killing is Joan of Cheydinhal's first official duty as an Associate of the Fighters Guild. She's become the town's exterminator, apparently. Though such a task might appear to be beneath someone who has just joined one of the most prestigious guilds in Tamriel, this is the very first contract of her career, as an aspiring Knight of Holiness.

Many might complain about this, but not Joan. Whatever and whoever she might become in this strange land full of mushroom trees and gigantic flying creatures which resemble jellyfish, she merely accepts the contract. "We must all commence upon lowly turf from the onset," says she, as she makes her way toward the home of Drarayne Thelas.

Joan enters Drarayne's home and has a chat about the lady's problem: Rats! ... Rats have taken over her bedroom, and her storeroom! Drarayne complains about them nervously, fearing for her life, yet Joan stands vigilant. She enters the Dunmer's bedroom first, deals with the pests in there, then goes upstairs to take care of the ones which have invaded the storage area.

The rats are surprisingly tough! Joan must leave Drarayne's abode once just to heal up, the furry plague she's dealing with are quite vicious. But within an hour, the infestation has been eradicated. Miss Thelas is now free to clean and care for her massive collection of pillows, and Joan can now collect her first legitimate income outside of Cyrodiil.

After this, she begins her quest to find Caius Cosades.

She had been told to head to Balmora's South Wall Cornerclub, located on the east side of town. So she does so, and asks the first person she meets about this fellow named Cosades.

"That old sugar tooth?" asks Sortilde, a Nord lady who seems as though she might dabble in the sugar herself. "I'm not sure where he's living now. But ask Bacola Closetus, the owner... he'll know."

So Joan spends a few minutes looking for this Bacola fellow. Eventually, she finds him upstairs. "Old Caius rents a little bed-and-a-basket just up the hill on the north edge of town," Bacola says. "Go out the front door -- NOT the upper door to the terrace -- then right up the stairs, then left at the top of the stairs, and down to the end of the street." *

Joan wonders if she should be writing this down. Though she is unclear exactly which direction she should start heading for this 'bed-and-basket', she finally finds the hovel owned by Caius, which is all the way up the north side of the avenue. She knocks on the man's door, before walking right in.

"You want something friend?" he asks with his Colovian accent. Caius Cosades stands before Joan ... shirtless. Here's a man who seems to care little for modesty, especially considering the fact that Joan is an exact stranger. Then again, it was she who had just barged into his home.

"You are Caius Cosades? I am Joan of Cheydinhal. I was told to find you."

"Whaaat? Yes I'm Caius Cosades. But, what do you mean, you were 'told to find me?'" he asks, exasperated. "What are you talking about?"

Joan takes a moment to light the candle she had bought across town, for it is rather dim inside of the man's one-room home. "I have this .. erm.. package for you, sir. Was received by my person from a soldier within the quaint village of Seyda Neen, one week and one half ago."

"So. You say your name is Joan of Cheydinhal?" he seems to challenge. "And you've been told to report to me and deliver a package. Perhaps you'll let me look at it?"

"By all means," Joan said, gladly handing it over.

"Yes, very interesting," says Caius as he examines its contents. Which appear to be a series of pages. He reads a couple of these pages. "So. It says here the Emperor wants me to make you a Novice in the Blades."

Joan's jaw drops involuntarily. "A novi--- I--- But I..."

"And that means you'll be following my orders." Cauis's tongue is rough, but his manner of speaking is sharp. Very direct. Which seems rather out-of-place for someone who has no qualms about standing before a stranger, a female stranger, shoeless and half-naked. "Are you ready to follow my orders, Joan of Arkay?"

... And he hasn't taken the time to don a top!

This is what catches Joan off-guard the most. The man before her is odd, boasting a mixture of stern command and reposed nonchalance. Does any of this have anywhich to do with my choice of coming to Morrowind to exact within holy works? Joan wonders. "Ehm... but what are these orders?"

"Good. Welcome to the service," Caius says. "Novice, Joan of Cyrodiil. Now you belong to the Blades."

"I ... belong to the Blades?"

Though she does not say so, Joan's immediate reaction to the unabashed man before her is that he does not seem so grand. He does not seem to come from any position of power. Yet he claims to be a Blade? If so, this means he has to have attained some sort of rank. For Caius was known to the final Imperial guard who'd inducted her into Vvardenfell, back in Seyda Neen. It was not like this guard had told Joan to seek someone else. No, that guard specifically sent her here.

"We're the Emperor's eyes and ears in the provinces," he informs her, before making one of the most ridiculous offers a man can make to a virtual female stranger. "You can use my bed if you need to rest, but leave my personal belongings alone, unless I say otherwise."

Joan is taken aback, and actually hopes she's not blushing. "Not of any concern, sir. But ehm... your bed is your bed. I do have my own to lie upon by now, as across town, and within the Fighters Guild's lower confines do I currently rest mine head."

Caius nods, then continues. "If you like, you can improve your modest skills with our trainers. Or if you're in a hurry, I can give you orders right away."

"Orders?" Was this man sure he wanted her? "Well. What sort of orders have you in mind?"

Right then and there, Caius Cosades tells her she is 'new', and gives her 200 drakes. Two-hundred. "Go get yourself a decent weapon. Or spell..." Caius also informs Joan that she'll need some sort of 'cover identity', immediately making her a little nervous. But it's nothing to get nervous about. He suggests that she should join one of the town's guilds, Imperial Cult, or Imperial Legion. Joan nods dutifully, not bothering to tell him she's already part of a couple of those on his list.

But... a cover identity, hmm? The man seems to imply that perhaps it'd not be wise for her to go around telling people she is one with the Blades.

Finally, he gives her her first Bladely order. She is to talk to Hasphat Antabolis of the Fighters Guild. She should ask him what he knows about the Nerevarine secret cult, as well as the Sixth House secret cult. Information, and lots of it for Joan the new Blade. So this time, she makes sure to write all of this down in her travel journal. "You'll have to do Hasphalt a favor first," Caius says. "Probably an ugly favor."

"Oh my..."

"But do it. Then get the information from him and report back to me."

Joan is unsure whether she'll do so, unsure if the Imperial before her is really a Blade, and unsure if she'll even speak to Hasphalt Antabolis about any of this. It's all happening so fast. Too fast, perhaps. For the first time since coming to Vvarndenfell, she feels a little sad, finally missing home. Her sadness compels her to leave. She prepares to do so, packing away her journal, her quill, she blows out her candle.

As she takes one last look around the home of Caius Cosades, Joan spots a pile of moon sugar on the nearby nightstand. A skooma pipe lies under his bed.


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Joan lights her candle

Caius Cosades

A moment with the Aedra

Joan of Cheydinhal, now a member of the Blades

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Notes: * Note the directions given by the Cornerclub owner to Joan. For those who haven't played Morrowind yet, THIS is what it's like to follow quests in a game without Quest Markers!

I also wish I had gotten a pic or two of the rat extermination process. Sometimes I get too caught up in the moment when action occurs, and I forget about PrintScreen.

This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 2 2021, 12:41 PM