The Saga of Laprima Donnaugh Options

[Renee]

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Clavicus Vile

When the dream began, she found herself lying in a cart, lying in hay, lying still, half-hiding from the others. Part of her wanted to be out there with them, while another part felt quietly content to stay right there. Right in that haypile. Staying still, and keeping quiet. It's this latter, secondary part which attained.

The scene was heavily pastoral. Lots of trees, green with foliage. Sunlight and blue skies. A few puffy clouds, a perfect sort of day. The sounds of others around her. The cart she was in had been drawn off to the side, placed in shadow. The horse which had brought it here must have been tethered somewhere else. As she lay in the cart, she began to feel rather lonely. Sad, and lonely, despite the others cavorting nearby.

They were there for her. All of them, gaily awaiting her presence. Dressed in finery. The women wearing whites, pinks, and light blues. Maids and maidens. The men, dressed more somberly, but the sounds from their revelries were no less delighted and cheerful.

Where is she? Where is Laprima?

Someone was calling. A man, sounding a bit tipsy with wine, perhaps. Yet his voice contained an edge of concern. And then, the voice of one of the ladies...

We should go find her! She's probably near! She's going to miss out!

She sank lower, hiding within hay. She could hear them coming, getting nearer, occasionally calling out to her. She cowered. Not with fear, but with some sort of distress. Lonely she was, and part of her did want to join the others.

She scrunched within the hay as footsteps approached and circled the cart. She held her breath. Eventually, the footsteps moved on. Small relief; she exhaled. They hadn't discovered her. So she took a chance. Got situated upon her arms, and raised her head about a foot, attempting to peer over the cart's side. As she did so, she noticed there was a knot in its wooden planking. For no reason at all (other than, this is a dream, and in dreams we sometimes do strange things) she pushed upon this knot, and the knot fell out, leaving a hole. She squinted her left eye, viewing outside of the cart, only to see vague shapes of the departing couple, heading off into a cabin. Still calling out, still calling her name.

...And that's when she noticed the man with the dog.
...He stood off to the side of the meadow, nearer to the woods.
...He stood in shadow. He wore a jerkin of white and black. He beckoned to her.

You there! I can see you, he said quietly. Despite using a soft tone, she could hear his voice clearly, in the surreal way which dreams can magnify. I can see you, and I mean no harm. Why do not you approach me?

She felt a stab of fear. How can he view me, hiding within this cart? But then, she relaxed. For the man was merely a boy. A boy she recognized from her youth. And this boy was her brother.

Laprima! he called. Come hither, posthaste!

And so she did.

She rose from the cart, took a moment to brush stray strands of hay from her clothings, and then ran swiftly toward her brother, skirts ruffling below. She noticed that the dog which had been there a moment ago had vacated, or vanished. She looked to her brother as she drew nearer. And her brother smiled up at her in his typically mischievous way. A smile she hadn't seen since they were, in fact, both children. Her previous feelings of loneliness were gone.

You should depart! her brother said to her, dancing around her with gaited elan. Head on! Depart hence toward Solitude! And do as they say! ... These folks you see in their fabled costumes, all of them here, are of nothing to you! ... To us! .. They mean nothing! ... A wretched lot! ... So onwards must you go! ... Your man, he awaits your presence! And you shall be in high company! Just dandy! Just peachy!

She felt elation at his words. Her brother, right there before her. 'Whatever is to come, would be fine,' he was telling her, seemingly tapping within her thoughts, her hopes, her fears.

Elija, she said to him.

Yes, sister!

She was weeping by now.

Her hands raised to embrace him. But just then, a flash of emotion overcame her. A mixture of revolting sickness, and sweet delight. She recoiled, stumbled backwards in disgust...

Laprima Donnaugh awoke, bolt upright, her eyes teary. Her bed quarters around her, her 8 year-old feline dozing by her side. She'd just had a dream. Her thoughts were racing, so she consciously made an effort to remember all she could. ... Her brother .... A cart ... Some people walking by in gay costume ... A dog by the side of the forest ... Slowly, she pieced it all together. After a minute or so, she sat up in bed, inked her quill and began to scribble words quickly in her journal.

After she had recalled all she could, she realized she was in agreement with her brother. She would head to Solitude.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jan 24 2022, 02:42 PM

[Renee]

Hey. So this is going to be the final chapter of Spring 2022, and I appreciate everyone's attentions. Have some cake. I realized something about Laprima Donnaugh the other day. As a character in a story, she is my most highly-developed. But as a character in the game of Skyrim, she is completely undeveloped. Still Level 1, with absolutely zero progress of skills!

Laprima, the novice to court intrigue versus Sybille who likely has centuries of courtly experience augmented by supernatural abilities. That Sybille emerges with the upper hand here is no surprise.

Yes, Laprima sees Sybille sitting outside her room, and decides she needs to reveal her thoughts, but is surprised to learn the court wizard is able to keep up with the revelations, and is miles ahead, in fact.

With some of these NPCs so far: Sybille and Elisif especially, I tried to do some research at UESP and The Imperial Library. How old are they? Where did they grow up? and so on. There isn't much to go on with these two ladies, so it's hard to say if there are years of courtly experience, or centuries. In the game, Sybille is portrayed as bumbling (at least in the opening Wolfskull Cave scene) but I prefer the idea that she's got some better experience. How else would she wind up as a member of Solitude's court?

Sounds like she's a potential ally for Laprima. Both of them have their secrets, and neither would really benefit from revealing the other. And as vampires go, Sybille seems reasonable... at least so far. Though one wonders if she has an ulterior motive.

Certainly hope there will be more to this!

That is something which could go both ways. I don't want to reveal too much, but Sybille's relationship to Laprima could certainly become Ally, and I think in some ways it will. They will never be Friends though, because both of them now possess cards in the deck which they can use to play against each other. Sort of like if two scorpions meet. They are both wary of each others' stings now.

There will be more, but not for about 6 months or so. I have a weird thing about these games: I only play Elder Scrolls games if the weather outside is cloudy and/or rainy, while Fallout is for sunnier days. I only play Skyrim if it's less than 60-65 degrees F, and that means no Skyrim until October or November. I just feel silly playing a game in which it is cold, when outside it is actually warm and spring or summer-like. But I'll play other games--really keen to get back into Morrowind for instance.

! I had a hunch that Elijah might be mentioned or even appear again, because he deserved a prominent place in Laprima's backstory.

I had a hunch, too. Honestly I did not know Sybille knew about Laprima's brother until just before I began writing two weeks ago. The story originally (in my head) ended with the wizard saying the bit about Laprima changing her looks, as per her aunt's wishes. Then when I began writing it, the final part about her bro *POPPED* up.

That was great that you intuited Sybille already knew about the smuggling, and that she might have learned this after eavesdropping. How did you do this? Hmm, maybe it was just the fact the wizard was sitting right outside her door so quietly.

Now Sybille is sounding like my mother. "You look rather tawdry." ugh.

Sorry to hear that.

I got surprised by that scene, I must say. Going by the effects assigned to skooma in vanilla Oblivion, it is more like Speed or Cocaine or a similar stimulant, not a hallucination-inducing substance. But of course you are free to imagine whatever you like there! So then skooma from Black Marsh makes you see things...

Yes, this is true! In Morrowind the primary effect of Moon Sugar is Fortify Speed, and in Oblivion it is Damage Intelligence, which is why Chamany gives Laprima Alkanet (this restores Intelligence). I tried to do some research reading actual in-game books, to try to learn what skooma actually feels like. There isn't much to go on, that I've found anyway, so I did embellish a bit.

I read your story too, but also don't always comment, just because I sometimes feel bad for falling so far behind. I also do leave bookmarks here and there, I'd be lost without them!

Now that's the Sybille I know and love; dedicated to her court and always 10 steps ahead of everyone. I think their little face-to-face went well. Maybe, Sybille went rather easy on Laprima but I'm not betting a red nickel on Chamany.

Nice, glad you have come to these conclusions. In fact with Chamany, he was supposed to already be found killed. That's how I saw the story going years ago before I started actually writing. He was supposed to be found dead the very next morning.

Working with scripts in Skyrim is a b1tch though. I wanted him to get killed via script, and finally wrote something which compiled okay in the Creation Kit. Did not work in the game though. But maybe this is a good thing. The story's more intriguing than I originally conceived.

I will post the story soon, and later this week I'll also post some picture links. Ciao.

Ah dang... "You have posted a message with more emoticons that this board allows. Please reduce the number of emoticons you've added to the message" ... Always something.

[Lena Wolf]

I got surprised by that scene, I must say. Going by the effects assigned to skooma in vanilla Oblivion, it is more like Speed or Cocaine or a similar stimulant, not a hallucination-inducing substance. But of course you are free to imagine whatever you like there! So then skooma from Black Marsh makes you see things...

Yes, this is true! In Morrowind the primary effect of Moon Sugar is Fortify Speed, and in Oblivion it is Damage Intelligence, which is why Chamany gives Laprima Alkanet (this restores Intelligence). I tried to do some research reading actual in-game books, to try to learn what skooma actually feels like. There isn't much to go on, that I've found anyway, so I did embellish a bit.

Skooma is a potion and not an ingredient, so it's not just the first effect that you need to look at, but all effects. You always get to experience them all, regardless of your alchemy skill. It is similar to wine, in this respect. In Oblivion these effects are: Damage Intelligence, Drain Agility, Fortify Speed, Fortify Strength. In Skyrim it is also a potion and is definitely considerably watered down (Chamaney got that right!) - all it does is Restore Stamina by 25 points, which is miserable, really. Even the Hag's Stallion Potion in Markarth was more effective. In Morrowind Skooma has the same effects as in Oblivion, except that Intelligence is drained rather than damaged. But of course Chamaney's skooma was from Black Marsh, so it could totally have a rainbow around it as well.

Have you tried Felldew? I mean obviously if any of your characters ever tried Felldew? I think you mentioned to have never gone to the Shivering Isles yet... Well... Now there is a hallucinogenic for you!

Sorry to hear that Chamaney was supposed to get murdered. I'm getting quite attached to the guy... Hehe.

I read your story too, but also don't always comment, just because I sometimes feel bad for falling so far behind. I also do leave bookmarks here and there, I'd be lost without them!

Feel bad? Don't. There is no obligation to follow a story as it is being written. I've been reading some stories written years and years back, I find it is actually quite nice to be able to read a story at your own pace. Yeah, bookmarks are your friends, that's for sure!