Oasis chapter 3, In the enemies lair. Umm, mushroom. Options

[jack cloudy]

Oasis chapter 1
Oasis chapter 2

Ok, a new chapter. Let's just see where this goes. I've decided to do a small costume change, the old look got boring.



,,Ah, there you are, Evoker.” I hadn’t even put a step inside the hall, and already the Steward wanted something from me. It made me wonder how they ever managed before I joined.
She dragged me over to Galbedir’s office and waited till the woodelf had left before finally opening her mouth.

,,Tell me, Evoker. Have you by chance come across enchanted weapons or armour?” She asked. What kind of question was that, those things were all over the place.
,,Sure, are you looking for anything specific?” I answered while wondering just what might be so important.

,,Then you must be aware of the fact that no enchanted item seems to be able to hold its charge since a few months back. Only small items, like rings or amulets seem to be safe from it. It is as if something is draining them. Now, I have a very important mission for you.” Ok, so enchanted items couldn’t hold their charge anymore? That sounded familiar.
,,Let me guess, find out who did it and kill him.”

,,No, that would be too hasty. I am convinced that the culprit must be a member of house Telvanni. So I want you to go and join the house. You’ll be our spy on the inside.” Hold on, join Telvanni, the house of psychopathic mages?
,,Are you nuts?! I am already with the mage guild! The guild doesn’t like the Telvanni and the Telvanni doesn’t like the guild. And on top of that, I’m an outlander, how am I supposed to survive longer than ten seconds in their midst?!” I yelled at her face. Now really, this was the most stupid idea ever.

,,Calm down, Evoker. I don’t want the guild to hear this. Now to take care of things, you will be banned from the guild. After your assignment is completed, I’ll get you back in with your old rank, or maybe with a promotion. Skink’s hall in Sadrith Mora will serve as your link with the guild. It is right in Telvanni territory. I want you to prepare and pack. Tomorrow, you’ll leave for the hall in Sadrith Mora. Use the guild guide. Skink will further inform you.” I walked out of the hall with a very confused, and angry look on my face. There went my career as a mage, and I might even lose my life. I could only hope that those Telvanni weren’t as crazy and brainwashed as in mage guild jokes.

Back at my house, I took the time to work out the details. I would be dropped in potentially hostile territory and my only excuse was that I was kicked out of the guild and now wanted to join the enemy for revenge? That was the worst coverstory in history. I decided that a more thorough thing such as a disguise was needed. I had plenty of stuff to dress up with, so I just had to choose.

My new identity would preferably look somewhat magish, so I took Tarhiel’s robe out of the closet. Telvanni supposedly liked shiney stuff, so I replaced my Orcish armour with the new Glass armour I stole from Ghostgate. A Glass staff to walk around with, and my identity was set. I also geared on a Glass longsword for when things got rough. Using a weapon I was unfamiliar with was asking for trouble. I spent the rest of the night removing the markings on my new gear that said who the previous owner was.

Next morning, I got up very early and ate my breakfast enroute to the guild. A quick transportation later, and I arrived in Sadrith Mora.

First thing was to join the house and work my way to the upper ranks. With the skills I had gained during my mage guild career, I would have no problems passing the tests for promotion. That left making friends and making myself known as a loyal house member. How do you do that with a bunch of lunatics?

Sometimes when you don’t know what to do, the bold and direct approach might be the best. So I walked right through the middle of town to the council hall. And any guard who dared to stop me would get a sword in that ridiculous helmet.

[jack cloudy]

Update! Can you find the sci-fi reference?




Staff in hand, I paid the council hall in Sadrith Mora a visit and entered the hermitage. There I met Llunela Hleran, who was apparently the master of mushroom growing. How nice. Either way, when I asked her about strongholds she handed me the big soul gems and told me that she could build me a stronghold if I did two things for her.

One, I needed to get a contract from the duke in Ebonheart to make the whole stronghold legal, as well as marking it on the map of any one who felt like sending an assassin after me. She didn’t say anything about the assassin stuff of course, but it would be just something for me to get a house that becomes a hot spot for murderous freaks.
Secondly, she wanted me to fill the soul gems with two souls of a Storm Atronach or something even better. That would pose a problem, I’d never even seen an Atronach before, and going toe to toe with a Dremora didn’t sound like fun. I’d have to figure out something.

Yep, I had just the idea. I’ve stuck out my neck for the mage guild often enough, so it was time that they did something for me. So I went with my demands over to Skink who was happy to bring me two greater soul gems filled with decent souls if I would just move my stuff out of his hall when the stronghold was done. No problem, that got rid of my soul shortage. With that out of the way, I took a boat to Ebonheart.

Inside the castle, I ran into a bit of a problem. I just couldn’t find the freaking duke! I knew where he was, but the door was locked and guarded by two moody guards wearing some really nice armour. They wouldn’t help me.

That left me with no other choice but to take out my trusty amulet of Shadows again. If I hadn’t met miss dancer and her friend, my life would have been much harder but I still hated those two. Anyway, I merged with my surroundings and pulled of one of these martial arts tricks Caius taught me before I went to spy on the Telvanni. I Put my hand around their neck, thumb on one side and the rest of the fingers on the other.

Some good old squeezing on the hotspots stopped the bloodflow to the brains as well as hitting their nerves in such a way that they were unable to move. Soon enough, they went unconscious and dropped to the floor. While the spell of my amulet was still working, I stripped them of their gorgeous armour and left the building. I hid the two sets of armour in some seaweed. No one would go take a swim with the slaughterfish, so I could pick it all up later. I then made my way back to where the guards where. They were still out cold. A bit of lockpicking later and I was ready to meet the duke.

I could kick myself in the head for my stupidity. All that effort and for what? I had broken into the duke’s bedroom! Damn! I just took all the clothes I could find and hid those next to the armour in the seaweed. On the third visit to the castle, I was finally smart enough to ask for directions and found the duke in just a few minutes.

Once inside, getting the contract was pathetically easy. I just had to swear some dumb old oath that I would protect the people, serve the duke, fight against the forces of evil and all that stuff. I just gave the stupid oath and walked out. I then went to pick up my fresh found loot and recalled back to Skink.

His hall was more full than ever. I was sure that he was getting annoyed by my collecting. I had more weapons and armour right now than your average legion barracks. Oh well, he managed to pull a few strings to get the souls of a Winged Twilight and a Golden Saint for “research”. I brought them to Llunela and then got on the ship to Vos. I slept on the ship.

Next morning, the ship arrived and I set off for the chamber of my patron. Aryon might be imperialized, but he still refused to build a decent ladder. Probably cause with the height that ladder should achieve, it would be rather expensive to find enough wood.

Aryon wasn’t quite happy to be honest. In fact, he was steaming mad.
,,Luper Alkad! Thank the Divines that you’ve come. I know it is not my place to ask this of you, but I really need someone to go to Odirniran and help my friend who lives there. I just got word from his pet Cliffracer that he is under attack by house Hlaalu. Please go there and help him out. By the time you arrive, he’ll likely be making a last stand at the top of his tower. Please, I beseech you!” Hold on, I was getting involved with the House wars? And this friend had to be really crazy to take a Cliffracer as a pet. Then again, if the Cliffracer was trained as a messenger, it would be a damn fast messenger.

I decided to go since House Hlaalu wasn’t my favourite house anyway. I had to take a fast ship to Tel Branora and then do some good old Island hopping. Odirniran was supposedly west of the shrine of Azura. Hmm, maybe I should pay that shrine a visit. I bet it was loaded with loot. But first I would beat up some Hlaalu.


PS: the part with the bedroom and the guards really happened, I never knew that the quest was that easy cause I was trying to get past the guards on the wrong side of the castle.