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: Seryn already knows about Isobel and sweetrolls. And banana muffins, taffy, ...

@Acadian: Isobel and beaches could become a theme.

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Previously: Seryn and Isobel went to Port Hunding to help Aurelia.

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Tourists

Sentinel was like a much larger version of Port Hunding. Bigger docks, bigger buildings, especially the Royal Palace, where King Fahara'jad lived. The architecture was the same, just on a larger scale. Many of the buildings were eerily familiar, as the builders had used the same plans when they constructed the same kind somewhere else. So the Sisters of the Sands Inn was just like the Screaming Mermaid that we'd lodged in on the island, and the Crossroads Tavern in Belkarth came to mind, too.

We walked out to the edge of town to return to the wayshrine, and I looked out across the sands, which stretched as far as the eye could see. There were rain-catchers like the one by the wayshrine clustered in the distance, but beyond them was just more sand. Too much desert for my tastes. The few palm trees I could see were around the edge of the city or the rain-catchers.

We took the wayshrine to Daggerfall, the other port that Isobel knew. The Breton buildings were just like those in Wayrest, and it didn't help that it was raining there when we arrived, making them look even greyer. The Rosy Lion was cheerful enough, and we got offered the chance to buy a room, just like we did in Vivec City. It may even have been the same woman who made the offer. I don't remember clearly, as Clark made all those arrangements.

That got me thinking about homes, and not just exploration. I'd bought Snugpod in Grahtwood as a base, partly because it was so cheap, and partly because of its location. I asked Isobel where she'd like to live, if she could choose anywhere she knew.

"Would it mean giving up Snugpod?" she wanted to know. "That might not be my idea of Home, but I wouldn't want to lose the access it gives me to the all the Guilds."

"No, I mean what else do you want from a Home, with the capital H?"

"I'd want it to be on an island, because I like bathing in the sea. And that means warm sea, of course, so no houses in Wrothgar or Eastmarch.

"The bigger the better, but only up to a point. I grew up in a castle, and that's too big to be a Home. You only get to live in a part of one, and there's servant quarters, barracks, and stuff where other people live, so it's not all yours."

We continued discussing the idea, and soon discovered that we both preferred sandy beaches to swamps and mud-flats. We visited Khenarthi's Roost, one of the few places I knew that Isobel didn't, but neither of us liked the way Khajiiti buildings were either stone ruins, or unstable-looking wooden ones up on poles.

I admitted to her that I felt I'd outgrown The Vivec apartment I shared with Clark, and I wanted to find something bigger for us. Since he wasn't here to ask, I was getting my second opinion from her.

"Who's Clark?" she asked.

I had been avoiding mentioning Clark, because I couldn't tell her about him without also giving her the whole story, and that meant Azura, too. I wasn't sure if Azura wanted her to know about sending me to High Isle in the first place.

Of course, she was listening. A winged twilight materialised silently behind Isobel. Nobody paid it any attention, as mages summoned them all the time.

"Perhaps I can help answer that," she said. "Seryn is well-known in Morrowind as the Champion of Azura, as Clark is Vivec's Champion. The two of them saved Vvardenfell from an impending disaster. They're here in the West for a well-deserved vacation, but it seems that neither of them knows how to relax."

"I think I heard something about that," Isobel exclaimed. "Didn't Vivec's Champion clear daedra from the temple in Mournhold, too? Did Seryn have anything to do with that?"

"Yes, Clark was part of that, but no, it was Divayth Fyr with him on that occasion. There's also a lot more to the stories that you won't have heard, and I'm not at liberty to divulge. The Tribunal aren't telling, and nor is Azura."

That pretty well covered all that the public knew, and did match any facts Isobel might dig up. Vivec had announced Clark's title publicly, and Azura's method was a bit more theatrical, but just as public, when she told me. I still miss that feeling of power!

I admitted to Isobel that I wasn't sure what Clark was up to on Summerset. I did know that Azura wanted him to go there, and for me to go exploring somewhere else. He'd been back to visit in Vivec City whenever he could, which was another reason she had Snugpod to use.

"So your trips back haven't just been about hot baths?"

"Hot, yes; baths, no" I confessed.

"And he hasn't told you about what he's doing there?"

"Not much. He's mentioned a few well-known names, like Queen Ayrenn and her Eye, Razum-Dar. He has described some of the places he's visited since I left him at Shimmerene, but nothing that tells me what's really going on. Much like I'm not telling you any more about what really happened back on Vvardenfell, because it's all on a need-to-know basis for our own safety.

"And if it's anything like last time, I'm sure it wouldn't make any sense until it all plays out, anyway."

"So did Azura send you to High Isle, or were you just a tourist?" Isobel wanted to know.

"I was a tourist at her suggestion," I replied. "It was her idea, but not a directive. She'd persuaded me that I needed to travel more, and learn new skills, and that was an opportunity for both. Plus I needed a combat partner while she borrowed Clark, and you fit the bill. I don't know if she has any plans for you beyond that, as she hasn't told me."

"If she does, she'll tell you herself," the twilight added. "That's the way she does things." And she disappeared again.

We decided to go and eat our evening meal at the Screaming Mermaid on Stros M'kai, as we'd both liked the food there on our last visit. Maybe we'd stay the night there, too, and look around in the morning on our way to the wayshrine. We did want to get back to Elden Root and do our dailies for the guilds, but they didn't usually take long, if Isobel avoided beaches..

The innkeeper told us that the big house just to the south was for sale, but it wasn't just a case of coming up with the gold. Pirates could do that, and the King had enough of them. You'd have to prove yourself as honest citizens of the Daggerfall Covenant first.

That was a bit daunting for me, as I now owned property in the other two alliances, and could consider myself a citizen almost anywhere except the Covenant. Isobel, however, was a Breton, so maybe it wasn't an impossible task. The innkeeper pointed out that the honesty part was the important one, as whoever bought the house became a citizen that way.

It turned out that we were part way there anyway. We'd cleared delves, and closed anchors, and a number of other things along the way that had all been noted, The other encouraging aspect was that anyone else who wanted to buy had the same hoop to jump through, so perhaps we had the lead in any race for it.

Now our interests were piqued, Isobel and I went for a tour of the property. "It's on its own island!" Isobel exclaimed, as we walked over the bridge to the imposing front gate.

Indeed the outer walls of the property did enclose the whole island. At the very back, away from the "mainland", there was no wall, but nothing overlooked the beach except a number of large uninhabited offshore rocks. In one direction you could just see Saintsport, but the other direction was open sea to the horizon. We'd been told not to try to swim out too far, as there were slaughterfish in the deeper water, but they didn't come in close enough to be a nuisance. They would, however, make short work of anyone trying to swim in from outside the property. As private a beach as you could ask for.

The house itself had a large courtyard, surrounded by walls tall enough to cast a good shade to sit in. There were a few awnings already in place to provide more, and it would not be hard to add to them. The building was airy and open inside, effectively all one large room on two floors. There were domes at the top where heated air could escape and a very gentle breeze came in through vented walls to keep the place cool. The lack of interior walls helped this circulation, and made the interior very comfortable.

There were several towers whose only purpose was to support the exterior wall, but a larger one on the beach side of the property was big enough for one person to live in, having as much floor space as Snugpod. You could climb up that one and get a very good view of the bay.

There was a stable, a rain-collecting pool, and various other amenities, and plenty of room to add more. We liked this place. The price was a bit more than we had, but with what we'd earn doing quests to qualify for it, it was in reach.

I decided that I wouldn't tell Clark that I intended buying it until it happened. There was a chance somebody else would beat us to it, after all. And maybe I'd wait a little longer, as it would need furnishing, and I wanted to do that myself, too.