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: - Fewer and less nasties in the vaults in this episode, but the new narrator is just getting started.

@Acadian: - I'm going to need some time to untangle the Summerset quest line, so this is the right time to change viewpoint.

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Previously: Clark dropped Seryn off at the Shimmerene wayshrine, and went off to get involved with Razum-Dar, Valsirenn and the Psijics. While he sorts out that complex mess, we'll get another point of view - Seryn's

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SERYN

I was going to return directly to Vivec City and our apartment, but Azura had other ideas.

She thought I needed some more experience of the lands outside Vvardenfell, and this trip had just been the beginning. So I was going to travel on to High Isle, to have some adventures of my own, without Clark.

"But I need him," I protested. "we work so well together."

Azura agreed that I needed a companion, and one that mirrored Clark's style of getting in close while I used ranged spells, but it didn't have to be Clark. Learning to adapt to someone else will do me good, too, I was informed.

She had someone specific in mind for me, and all would become apparent really soon.

---

When I stepped away from the wayshrine where I had just arrived, I heard two of the locals talking about some Sapphire Tournament that was taking place at the castle just by the wayshrine. This was a regular event, where the aspirant squires had the chance to prove themselves, and gain promotion to full knighthood. This time, there was an extra prize available - the hand of the Knight Commander's daughter.

That got my attention, especially as they said at least two of the squires were female, and the poor daughter didn't seem to be getting any say in the matter. I needed to find out more.

Down near the arch at the end of the jousting arena, I found Aurelia, the "prize", talking with another young lady in light plate who seemed to be trying to reassure her. She introduced herself as Isobel Veloise, and confirmed that she was one of the aspirants in the tourney. She asked if I would be willing to help her, as they were each permitted a second, and she didn't currently have one. Azura told me to agree, so I did.

She filled me in on the background I was missing: Isobel had grown up as almost a sister to Aurelia. Her parents were merchants, and spent a lot of time travelling, leaving young Bella with the Jourvel family. Isobel had always looked on Commander Jourvel as a role-model, who had shown that a woman could be as good a knight as any man. To some extent, that had resulted in Aurelia being a disappointment to her mother, as she did not want to follow in her footsteps, and be constantly compared to her. On the other hand, she hadn't shown any clear interest in any other career, and Isobel could see her mother's point of view, too.

She explained the rules of the tourney. Each of the Knightly Orders had set a task, so there were three possible. They involved retrieving an item, that would be presented to the order as proof of completion. Two of the items were in known locations, which meant they'd probably be hard to reach. The Hilt of Redheart, for the Order of the Iron Knot, however, would need to be tracked down, which might give us an advantage. Isobel remembered reading something in a book in the castle library that mentioned it. She didn't think the others did much reading, although most of them probably could, so they probably would not have come across that clue.

In the library we found several books lying open on the tables, and one indeed did refer to the Hilt. That probably meant that at least one other aspirant had found the clue, and might be a step ahead of us. We headed off in that direction anyway.

Squire-aspirant Langley Le Tarte was already there when we arrived. He was standing in front of a tangle of branches blocking the entrance, commanding his servant (and second) Berjo to clear the way for him. "And hurry up. You still have to cook my meal when you're done."

We decided to go look for another way in. Isobel had been here before, and recalled another entrance around the back of the rocks, a bit steeper and narrower, but hopefully not blocked. There were a few wild creatures along the way, but Isobel and I fell naturally into the same method of fighting that Clark and I had used, without even having to plan it. At the same time, it was clear that we both needed each other's help, and we were learning from working together. Azura's plan was making sense.

We found the Hilt on a stone plinth, and scrambled down the rocks near to where Langley was still issuing orders to his servant. We avoided talking to them, so Langley didn't discover we already had the Hilt. With luck, that meant less competition for the other quests.

With one item collected, we discussed which should be next. The Golden Lute for the Order of the Albatross was down in the catacombs, so we were likely to have to battle our way through undead, spiders, and who knows what else to get there. But that wasn't what Isobel was most concerned about. If we did get the Lute, the Order would also expect her to compose a poem or ditty about her exploits. Poetry was not her forte.

There was another problem when we got to the chapel. The door to the catacombs was locked, and whoever was down there ahead of us had taken the key with him. I suggested picking the lock, but Isobel would have none of that. It wasn't what a Knight would do. "Neither was locking the door behind him," I pointed out.

"There has to be a spare key somewhere. I'll look here in the chapel, you go back to the castle and ask around there. Somebody should have a duplicate," Isobel told me.

I ran into Aurelia in the hall, and she recommended that I ask one of the commander's aides. Either Dame Hendra, or Nilsmon might have a key. I got the impression that Dame Hendra was the preferred option, but she didn't explain why. So I spoke to the Dame, a small amount of gold changed hands, and I had a key.

I opened the catacombs door, and hung the key back where it should have been. If anyone followed us, we were playing fair. Isobel and I continued down the passage, hoping the dead would oblige us by staying that way.

We mostly encountered spiders, who were definitely alive, and aggressive. Nothing that gave us any real problems, especially working together. Then we heard a voice, which Isobel recognised as that of Mortens, another of the aspirant squires. It seemed to be coming from behind a locked door.

"Langley, is that you?" it asked.

"No Mortens, it's Isobel. What are you doing locked in there? Do we need to find another key to get you out?"

"No, I've got the key. I'm just trying to keep myself safe from that spider. And I may have dropped my sword when I ran back here. Could you get it for me? You'll need this other key I have to get further, so perhaps we could trade?"

With a few extra conditions to make sure Mortens could not cheat us, we came to an agreement. Once we had the sword, and exchanged it for the key. he'd leave the catacombs, and not follow us. Suggesting there might be more of those spiders seemed to make him want to leave quickly anyway.

OK, so it was a big spider, but not actually much more dangerous than the smaller ones. It was slower, for one thing, and easier to dodge. And it went down soon enough. We found Mortens' sword and went back to make the trade.

Beyond the next locked door (he had given us the right key) the spiders gave way to skeletons and wraiths. A bone collosus, an amalgam of several skeletons into a single construct, rose up from a bone pile at one point, but we soon took it apart again.

The final foe we had to face was another spectre, that of the Mad Baron that had slain Sir Brenvale, the owner of the lute we were looking for. He was the toughest opponent we'd encountered so far, but not beyond the two of us working in tandem. Isobel blocking, and my fire and lightning spells, wore him down quite effectively.

Then the ghost of Sir Brenvale himself appeared as we picked up the lute, and we thought we were going to have to fight him, too. It turned out he just wanted to serenade us as we departed, which was almost worse.

When we got outside, we had some time to talk. "So Langley is a pompous, self-centered buffoon, Mortens is a cheating coward, what are the other aspirants like?" I asked.

"Well, Snegh is a traditional Orc. His only method for dealing with a problem is to use his battleaxe, and if that doesn't work, hit it harder. Brelannal is motivated entirely by gold. If she wins the tourney, she'll probably want to sell Aurelia into slavery. We'll likely meet them at the next location, and you can judge for yourself."

"So where are we going?"

"To Erlibru's cottage, down by the shore. He loves puzzles, so I expect there will be some cunning device we'll have to solve. We've known him for years, and he taught me a lot of my healing skills. Hopefully that gives me an advantage in this one."

When we arrived, we found the other two aspirants, Snegh and Belannal, examining a magical barrier that had been erected across the only entrance to the cottage grounds. Three tall stone pillars, and a transparent green shimmering wall of pure magic between them.

As Isobel had predicted, Snegh's approach was to hit the barrier with his axe. He went flying backwards, over our heads, and landed on his back in the mud. "I'd better make sure he hasn't injured himself," Isobel said. "That didn't look like a soft landing."

As she did that, Brelannal tried her luck with a bit of her own magic. The result was that she was turned into a cat, which ran away.

I decided not to touch the barrier itself, but examined the pillars, which looked safer. There were markings on them that resembled birds, plants and things that I didn't know. This would need Isobel's local knowledge to decypher. She left Snegh groaning, and came over.

"That bird is a forest heron, they're quite common around here, and that flower is called a cat's paw. The other one is a Spriggan's veil, a cluster of leaves they shed from time to time. I would guess that we need to collect those items, and put them on those little pedestals in the pillars. Well not a whole heron, probably just one of its feathers, and a flower from the cat's paw, not a whole plant."

She pondered a bit longer. "You know, this reminds me of a story Erlibru used to read to us when we just little. I think he lifted the whole thing from that book!"

Snegh groaned again. "I'd better try and heal him some more; can you find the things while I do that?"

Before long, I was back with a feather I hoped was the right kind, and a spriggan's veil, and a flower. That really did look like a cat's paw, apart from the reddish-purple colour. Now to place them, very carefully, into the pillars.

"That did it! Now let's go in and pay our respects to the old wizard." Isobel was eager to see Erlibru again. While she chatted with him about old times, I fetched the staff, which was leaning against the wall outside.

"Erlibru says that Brelannal will turn back again as soon as we leave," Isobel told me. "and he'll make sure Snegh is all right, too, so I don't need to stay and look after him. I'll meet you back at the castle."