The adventures of Arthago chapter II, The Rebellion Options

[Agent Griff]

Here's the link to Chapter I of Arthago's tale.
http://www.waiting4oblivion.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=1782

We can get this new chapter over with. I can also tell you that after this chapter, Arthago will move to a new province. I'm not telling though, you have to be on your guard. Well, blabbering over, here's the begining of the newest chapter of Arthago's tale. Enjoy!


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I found myself in an icy Arena, fighting someone I didn't know. He was a tall Imperial, wearing ebony plates under his blue cloak. He wielded a great mace which gave him supernatural power. He lunged at me with a ferocity I had never seen before, forcing me to put all my strength into evading his blows. He had a red in his eyes which froze the blood in my veins. What did he want? Why was I fighting him? I woke up in my inn bed after managing to hit this powerful foe. I was sweating heavily, and my head was banging. It had been a nightmare, a very realistic one. I hoped that this I wouldn't experience this kind of nightmare ever again.

Nightmares and monstrous foes aside, I had a meeting with the king of Sentinel and I didn't want to be late. I took a look at my armour. It had some patches of dirt on it, the weather in Sentinel was very windy at the time so sand storms often engulfed the city. I gave the armour a quick scrub with a cloth then put it on. I wanted to look my best if I was going to meet the King and talk affairs of state with him. I made my way downstairs and after greeting the regulars I was on my way to the palace. I decided to collect Marshall Daron from his house first. When I reached his house, I found him shaved and wearing some expensive clothes. So the Marshall had an official side to him eh?
"Are you ready sir?" I asked.
"Ready as can be, let us be off!" Marshall Daron said. And with that we were on our way to the palace.

We reached the palace soon enough, and entered the throne room. The king wasn't wearing his crown or any fancy clothes. This must have seemed like an unofficial meeting to him. Whatever. I greeted him.
"Greetings sire! We have come to discuss the subject of Lord Kain's murder." I said in an official tone.
"Yes. Lord Kain was, a good man. But sadly, the ambitions of another got into the way and he was murdered in cold blood." the King said in a sad voice.
"Aye. Lord Vhosek." Marshall Daron said.
"Yes. Lord Vhosek's personal ambitions were to rule his own province. He has it now, in the form of Lainlyn. The terms I agreed with him were that, if Lord Kain refused to rule in our name Lord Vhosek could slay him and rule the province himself. It seems Lord Vhosek didn't even propose any terms, he just plain murdered Lord Kain. If I were to send soldiers to arrest him, he could go to the kingdom of Wayrest and start a war with us. I can't have that, the men have just returned to their homes after a war. We must wait and somehow bring Lord Vhosek to justice." The king said.
"I know how." I said.
"And how may that be Arthago?" Marshall Daron asked me.
"I will go to Lord Vhosek's palace in Lainlyn and slay him myself. I can't let Lord Kain's murder go unpunished." I said in a bold tone.
"Bold words for someone so young. How will you get past Vhosek's guards? He has his own knight order to protect him." The king said. He was right, I was geting too bold for my own age and experience.
"Yes, you are right my king. But what shall we do? Lord Vhosek might as well build his power in Lainlyn and start a war with us. We must neutralize him. If he lied to your Majesty and murdered Lord Kain just to gain power then he doesn't feel any fear towards your Highness." I said.
"Aye, true words. I must say that you have a great ammount of political savy my boy." the king said. Wow, beeing aknowledged by the king felt great.
"I have heard that some rebellious groups have been popping up in the north of the kingdom. Maybe Lord Vhosek has already started his movements?" Marshall Daron said.
"Unprobable, but we must check into it. We cannot risk Lord Vhosek making troop movements in our own backyard. You are to look into it Arthago." the king said.
"I would be proud my king. Where must I go?" I asked.
"Go to the town of Verkath, south west of Skaven, and inspect the situation there. Come back and report once you've found any evidence of troop movements alright?" Marshall Daron said.
"Aye, I'll be on it right now. I'm off to pack my things and any suplies I might need on the journey. Farewell my king! I shall return once I find enough evidence of troop movements." I said in an anxious tone. Finally, a new quest, not just any quest, a quest from the King! And with that I was off to the market to buy some food and water.


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And that's the first bit of this chapter. It was kind off short, but the next one will be longer, I promise you. And if some of you missed the last update of the first chapter then you should check it out. Cheers!

This post has been edited by Agent Griff: Mar 26 2006, 10:34 AM

[Agent Griff]

Sorry for the delay in my update. As always I've been playing Oblivion. It really helps my creative juices to actually see battles and various types of armour. But enough pointless dabbling, let's not keep Arthago waiting shall we?


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I entered the fortified city of Verkath through its great gates. They were made of wood with some iron here and there, a good combination which could hold off a battering ram just enough for the defenders to rally inside the gates. Through the gates I saw a single street, wide enough for 2 carriages to pass through. In the center of it all was an Imperial Soldier who was passing down small booklets. Pocket Guides to the Empire he called them.
"They have a Hammerfell section at page 56! Come, take some! They are free friends! Here, take this!" the Imperial Soldier said as he gave me the small booklet.
"Well, thanks but I already know Hammerfell's history and things like that pretty well." I said. History was a thing I loathed, but because my father really wanted me to be very smart as well as good with a blade he hired a personal tutor to teach me every little bit of Hammefellian history there was to learn. I was given books like "Redguards, their history and their heroes" and things like that. I learned so much about Frandar Hunding and his glorious life that I could say it like poetry.
"No problem friend, it has an interesting section on places of interest, if that's what you like." the Imperial Soldier said. This guy was really persistent, calling me friend? Who did he think he was? Still, I took the damn book and leaved him on the street.

The section on places of interest said some things I didn't know. Something about Sentinel and it beeing a mighty Forebear city. It also said about Stros M'kai. Mainly about it beeing the ancestral city of the Crowns and things like that. Nothing I didn't already know. It was getting late so I decided to head to an inn. Some beggar I asked directed me to the "Ansei Lodge" inn. Interesting, either he was really looking out for me or he directed me to some of his friends who would ambush me and take my money. I trusted the first opinion and made my way to the respective inn. It looked pretty nice, and it didn't charge much, only 15 drakes for a room. It seemed like a good offer so I headed upstairs to my accommodations. I found a pretty new bed with clean blankets and a small table with some free drinks. Mostly cheap stuff though, beer or ale. I wasn't much of a drinker so I took off my scabbard from my belt and unfitted my armour. I then made myself cousy in the bed and prepared for a good night's sleep.

My sleep was pretty uneventful, no nightmares or things like that. I however woke up to noise. Two men entered my room, they were both armed and armoured.
"The Crowns are taking over this inn!" one of them shouted.
"The what?" I asked, I was still in my sleep.
"Where are you from citizen?" one of them asked me.
"From S.." I stopped. I remembered what I had read in that book. Sentinel, great city of the Forebears, Stros M'kai, ancestral home of the Crowns. I also remembered who the Crowns were, a revolutionary group in search of Redguard freedom. A noble cause but that meant fighting the Empire, and not many people were up for it.
"I'm from Stros M'kai of course!" I said in a jolly voice.
"Oh good, we thought you were some Forebear scum from Sentinel. Go downstairs, the Forebears are attacking the city." one of them calmly said.
"Someone's attacking the city? I just come in here and all hell breaks loose?" I shouted.
"Calm down, go downstairs and suit up if you don't have armour. Go to the wall, and hold it with your life!" one of them said.
"I have my own armour, but I don't want to get involved in this war!" I said.
"If you're not with us, you're against us!" one of them said as he was grasping his sword.
"Alright, I understand! I'll go and defend the damn wall!" I said in an annoyed voice. I really didn't want to get involved in this war that was going on for hundreds of years. I was now a rebel, whether I liked it or not.

The inn had become a recruitment center overnight. It was full of men receiving armour and arms then being sent of to the wall. I passed through the mass of people and into the street. A group of warriors were heading towards the wall, I decided to follow them. I reached the wall in a few moments and was shocked at what I saw over the walls. A great many soldiers were heading towards the wall, carrying ladders. A shower of arrows and javelins started falling over the city. The ladder soon started hitting the walls, and enemy troops started pouring over our defense lines. I stood between and archer, to my left, and an axe man, to my right. When a ladder landed right in front of the archer next to me, he leaned over the wall trying to shoot an arrow down. A javelin pierced his neck and he fell down the wall.
"Bad luck." the axe man next to me said.
"May your axe strike hard!" I shouted as I approached the ladder with my sword drawn.
A hand touched the last handle of the ladder and I chopped it off after a few moments of deciding to strike or not. It was his life or mine, and I wasn't prepared to give up. The poor man fell down, and probably brought some of his comrades down with him. Another soon climbed the ladder, he raised his axe trying to strike me down. I slashed him over the chest before he even lowered his axe, and he was flying down like the others before him. I looked around me to see the situation, the axe man to my right was swinging his axe in a wide arc, slaying enemies like flies. To my left the situation wasn't so bright, enemy warriors were already on the walls fighting the Crown troops.

Before I could clear my thoughts an enemy already scaled the ladder and touched the wall with his feet. He swung his claymore in a wide arc, aiming for my head. I ducked and slashed his left foot, he fell down and my scimitar soon severed his head. The next enemy didn't even get to raise his weapon, I broke the handle of the ladder on which he was standing and he fell down. I looked around once again, I was getting more and more surrounded by my enemies. The axe man to the right was holding that portion of the wall all by himself. I was getting pretty close to his situation, only a scant few men were left to my left. 6 at most, me included. The situation was getting from bad to worse. Reinforcements however soon came in the form of a unit of foot knights led by the leader of the rebel Crowns himself. Wielding a steel claymore he carved a path through the enemies to my right, relieving the tired axe man. The knights in armour did the rest. The city was still in Crown hands, for the moment.

After the battle, the leader of the Crowns called all of the surviving original defenders of the wall to reward them for their bravery. I was among them, a rebel forced to fight. I met the axe man at the ceremony, he was called Davik. He was a good and honest man. The leader of the Crowns named us knights in his service and rewarded us all. I received 3000 drakes out of the town's coffers. The leader of the Crowns approached me after the ceremony.
"I saw you on the wall, you fought bravely my boy." the Crown leader said.
"I didn't have much of a choice, I was getting surrounded." I humbly said. I really didn't want to get on the bad side of this guy after I saw what he did with that claymore of his.
"Don't be modest lad, you deserve that reward. I will also trust you with a task now my boy, I trust you will complete it." he said.
"What task?" I asked, this could be my chance to escape!
"I want you to track down a deserter. He left us after the battle, I fear he will go to the enemy." The Crown leader said.
"Do not fear, I will find him and bring him to you!' I said in a happy voice. I was actually happy to get out of this situation.

The next day after the ceremony, I was already on my horse and on my way back to Sentinel. I had to report all of this to the King!



~~~
And that's the end of this update. This was a more epic part of Arthago's adventure, I hope you'll like it!


This post has been edited by Agent Griff: Mar 29 2006, 06:34 AM