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]

30 Last Seed (Day 15) early afternoon

Location: Skulk Egg Mine


"I don't know if I can help, but I'll try!"

Joan arrives to Skulk Egg Mine, located a few miles south of Balmora, with her Imperial guard comrade. The journey goes smoothly and without incident on this pleasantly warm day. Outside the mine, Joan introduces herself to a couple of egg farmers who stand just outside of the mine. They inform her that indeed, a couple of former farmers reside somewhere within: one a male, the other a female. They have proved to be no good, and have caused nothing but trouble as of late.

"Sevilo Othan and Daynila Valus used to work here," says one of the farmers. "Not good people. Could be hiding anywhere within the mine."

Leave it to Stendarr, and leave it to Talos, thinks Joan in so many thoughts. These two Aedra shall guide her path as she calls upon some of their specific qualities: Stendarr for resilience, and Talos for courage. Once inside, she is pleased to see her guard companion lights a torch, so both of them can see better. The mine itself isn't so dark, but the presence of extra illumination makes her feel just a little more confident. Today's contract might not be as easy as fighting rats!

As they walk deeper into the mine, a giant creature lumbers toward them in the darkness! The creature makes a gurgling sound. Its exoskeleton is dark, and it walks on four legs. Joan readies her sword ... but her companion informs her that this creature is nothing to fear. Before them is a kwama worker, which would not attack unless provoked. "Only the foragers attack. And you've already seen a couple of those out in the wilds. Little worm-like menaces, easy to kill!"

Joan puts her sword away.

The pair search the entire first section of the cave, going deep underground. They encounter a dozen workers, several harmless scribs, and finally, a couple hostile foragers. The foragers down here are no tougher than those which crawl upon land, and are easy kills.

They search and they search, but Joan and her guard encounter no poachers. No humanoids at all, in fact.


Hours later
Joan and her guard continue their delve. Eventually they find the Queen's Chamber, which is the mine's deepest portion. In any eggmine, a queen a must thrive. It is the queen who breeds and bears and keeps the eggmine populated. Though she is limited in movement, she can be deadly aggressive, according to the two miners Joan had met several hours before.

Suddenly, something shifts before them in the dark. Shifts, and begins running toward them.

"You n'wah! Now you die!"

The intruders are immediately attacked by Davnila Valas, one of Skulk Mine's two poachers. Davnila (being not much more than a commoner, a former worker of the mine) is unarmored. Lacking any sort of proper weapon, she grabs, then swings her miner's pick at Joan, but the Fighters Guild's newest Associate easily sidesteps the affront. Joan's spirit is abruptly torn. She struggles with her thoughts, and struggles to unsheathe her sword. This is not how she wanted this to go!

"Please. Take one moment to stand down Daynila," she commands, "for we must..."

But before Joan can say much more, her guard steps in. Joan barely has time to attempt to stop him before he's going against their opponent. "Nooo!!!" With just a few swings of his poleaxe, the poacher is fallen.

This is not the way Joan had wanted things to go. Had this woman really needed to fall to her death just now? Perhaps it was my initial calling upon Stendarr and Talos which had apparently caused an aberration of process, thinks she in so many thoughts. Perhaps I shall call upon the personal fortifying aspects of Dibella as I arrive to meet Sevilo.

Sevilo Othan, the second eggpoacher. Joan looks around, checking to see if Sevilo is anywhere near. He is not. So she sheathes her sword, and puts a hand upon the shoulder of her guard. "Sir, might I ask. That you stay within that former section of mine, the one through which we just made passage? For it was my wish to forge an attempt at diplomacy, and pacify each poacher as I may with words."

"As you wish," her guard says, without complaint. He does as he's told, and moves back into the former area of the mine where all the workers and foragers reside.

"Many thanks!" she calls after him, before starting the search for Sevilo.

Earthen walls surround, with occasional flaming sconces to supplement her vision. There are more workers in here. Joan reminds herself that if she does encounter Skulk Mine's queen, she is not to bother her, even if the queen becomes aggressive and attacks. Fighting and killing a queen at Joan's level of proficiency might be darn-well impossible. Plus, it would cause all the mine's friendly workers to turn hostile as well. At least, this is what the outdoor egg farmers had told her.

Here in the Queen's Chamber she finds two initial ways she can go, once she has left the area where Daynila fell to her quick death: left or right. Joan chooses left. It does not take long before she meets Skulk Mine's second egg poacher. Like Daynila, he is Dunmer, and not very happy to see an intruder in his lair. He rushes toward her on sight!

"Sevilo! I am Joan, of the Fighters Guild. Might you and I broach upon the subject of--"

But the former eggminer hasn't got time for words. He brandishes his pick, starts swinging it from side to side, and begins a virtual onslaught upon her! He swings and he swings, cutting Joan's armor several times in a matter of seconds, for she cannot effectively block the man's weapon.

Fortunately, the exit to Skulk's entry passages is a wooden door, and it's just nearby. Joan rushes through this door, slamming it behind her. Joan's guard still stands here, and though she could call upon him for help, she chooses to heal herself instead. She then staggers back through the door, fully healed and confident.

Sevilo the poacher seemed satisfied that he'd scared her off, and hadn't bother to follow her through the door. But within a few seconds, she returns. "Give up thine wicked ways!" Joan calls to him, not bothering to pretty up her language with any attempt at negotiation.

Nevertheless, the poacher does not heed her newly-spoken, more aggressive tone of voice. It seems as though he's quite comfortable with his 'wicked ways', and is not of a mind to give them up.

The fight is brutal. Several times, Joan must dodge away from the miner's flailing pick, quaff down a potion or cast her healing spell, before going back at it. Block, swing! Bash! Parry! Several times as the battle commences, Sevilo seems as though he's going to win the fight.

She opens and slams the door one last time. Drinks down a potion which restores her mana, and then readies her Frostbite spell.

Once back inside the Queen's Chamber, she attempts to freeze the poacher with her spell. Fails to cast it, tries again (while Sevilo bangs her shoulder). Finally, the spell works. "Oogh!" the poacher bellies, bending toward the ground as most of his health falters at once. From this point on, Joan feels the battle-call of Talos. Diplomacy is gone, anger overtakes. Her silver blade moves in a flurry of swings, parries, and thrusts. -- This man, he had his chance! -- Finally, Sevilo the egg poacher is done for.

It takes a few hours to return to surface. Back outside, Joan and her guard are surprised to find the sky above starting to lighten. Soon, it will be daylight. Joan of Cheydinhal takes some time to eat and rest with the two farmers they'd initially met. Then, they head back to Balmora. Back in the Fighters Guild, Joan earns 100 gold for her efforts.

"Perhaps my choice of words to pacify Sevilo upon being assaulted were unwise," Joan mutters to herself before rolling into bed. She makes an aside, a promise to herself, and to the Gods, not to give in so firmly to violence. She'll need to try harder with words next time.

---------------------------------------------

Encounter with some kwama workers

"Might I ask that you stay within that former section of mine?"

"You n'wah!"

Joan's attempts at negotiation don't go so well...