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]

@Grits: - Golden Knight again in this part. Well almost, again.

@Acadian: - The game's version of the story seems to be deliberately confusing at this point, so I'm staying vanilla, until someone explains it.

@Renee: - I'd better break up that pattern.

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Previously: Clark and Valsirenn found a Sea Sload in a sinkhole.

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A Sload's Memories

I'll admit I was surprised at Raz's summary execution of Nedoril, but as he put it once we were all back outside the Canonreeves's house "If it had gone to trial, the Canonreeve would probably have been found guilty as well. Treason, murder, conspiracy with Daedra ... people are going to want more than one execution."

He hadn't mentioned the need to act quickly. We didn't know what the next move was going to be. so we went back to brief Ritemaster Iachesis, and see what turned up. Just in time, it turned out, as the Yaghra had started an assault there.

In hindsight, bringing the first Abyssal Pearl back to Artaeum seemed to Valsirenn as being a bad idea. It gave the Sload a focus for the invading Yaghra, although how it got to the beach was still a mystery. Iachesis and I went through the old college buildings to the small beach behind it where the Yaghra forces were arriving. We needed to eliminate the pearl while the others set up defences should they break through to the rest of the Island.

The first part of that wasn't too hard. We'd got there early enough that not too many Yaghra were in place. With the pearl destroyed, there would not be any more, but Iachesis was still concerned. We needed to check the Psijic Vaults beneath the old college, as he suspected the target of this invasion was something stored there. In a sense, he was right. Actually he was the target, but the Sload K'Tora also needed to use one of the stored artifacts against him. The Orbs of B'Raken-Drel were the tool required to extract memories from his mind, and there was something the Sload needed to know, that apparently only Iachesis was privy to.

It was clear from the brief conversation before K'Tora siezed him, that Iachesis had a faulty memory of their last encounter. He recalled defeating the Sload in the invasion 300 years ago, but obviously K'tora was still alive. And whatever he was doing to the Ritemaster also prevented me from reaching them.

I heard Valsirenn calling from outside. She'd come through the old college from the other side, making sure it was cleared, and had heard us.

She directed me to another artifact in another part of the vault. The Ul'vor staff was kept well away from the Orbs, so there would be no interaction between them. Both had been retrieved from the Sea of Pearls after the abortive invasion had been put down, and brought here. She handed me the key to the locker, and pointed me in the right direction.

The staff had attracted more Yaghra, so there was more fighting to do before I got to it, but fewer coming back. K'Tora was still ranting at Iachesis, so apparently he hadn't found the memory he was looking for yet. We still had time.

The staff wouldn't reverse what the Sload was doing, but it could let me in to the mental confrontation, and maybe I could have some influence. It was worth trying.

It's hard to describe accurately what happened. It's like I was walking through the Sload's memories, the way he was trying to explore the Ritemaster's. Scenes played out from the past, and I was getting involved in some of the battles, probably as a defence against my intrusion. I saw K'Tora bargaining with Clavicus Vile, trading the conquest of Summerset for the Heart of Transparent Law. The Sload didn't have it yet, but he was confident he could get it.

That was a useful piece of information. Now we knew what Vile was after, even if I didn't understand what it would do for him. But he'd also mentioned Nocturnal, so maybe she could could explain.

Another scene had K'Tora commanding Iachesis to forget, presumably the outcome of their battle. The Ritemaster obviously recalled himself defeating the Sload, and now I knew that it was a false memory implanted to let K'Tora escape from the rest of the Psijic and Summerset forces.

The final one had the Sload commanding Iachesis to steal the Heart, and then forget about that, too.

At this point, Iachesis may have started to wake up, or perhaps K'Tora noticed what I was doing, but everything reverted back to the present. And a big fight. I was probably still in the Sload's mind, giving me a bit of an advantage, as I knew his moves in advance.

When K'Tora died, I somehow used his memory of the staff, or my own, to return to reality, and found Sotha Sil waiting for me, and examining the Sload's corpse. He told me Valsirenn had taken Iachesis back to Ceporah Tower to tend to his wounds, and asked what I'd learned from the memories.

I told him what I knew, with all the apparent contradictions. In particular, that the Ritemaster had hidden the Heart of Transparent Law, and that Vile and the others were seeking it. However, the Sload had both wanted the location, and had commanded Iachesis to forget it. That made no sense to me.