Oasis chapter 4, The sign of prophecy. Options

[jack cloudy]

chapter1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Alright, I couldn't stop writing so you'll get the start of the fourth chapter early.



Chapter 4: The sign of prophecy.

My first action was to gulp down all the potions I had, but even they could not remove the power of the curse. Already I could feel it draining my mind and my will. I could slow the curse with my own magicka, but I could not stop it.

I realized that I was doomed and sank to the floor. It would be best for the island if I destroyed the entrance to the cave and made it my tomb. Yet, there were still a few things I had to do. To clear my mind, I looted the chamber and was rewarded with two gauntlets of a strong material. I put them on and then sat down with a few bits of paper and began to write.

,,You’re back? Good, I was worried.” Caius said when I stumbled into his home. He then noticed that something was wrong.
,,What happened?”

,,I killed Dagoth Gares. He gave me the Corprus. I am a death man, Caius. Take these papers. It will tell you everything you need to know. Ajira will receive the Warlock’s ring and the staff of Magnus. Felisa Ulessen of the Telvanni will get my stronghold. You will get the money and my weapons. If you excuse me, I’ll leave now and go kill myself somewhere quiet.” His response to those words surprised me.

,,Fool! Do you really want to give up that fast?! I will not let you do this! As your commanding officer in the Blades, I order you to go out and get yourself cured.” He grabbed the paper out of my hands and ripped it into little pieces.
,,It is no use to give me a last will if you are not death. As a matter of fact, I have been doing some research while you destroyed that base. A Dunmer named Divayth Fyr is apparently the leading expert on the Corprus disease. Find him and see if he has a cure. But first, you need to rest.”

My objections that his bed might become infected with the disease were met with a smile. Caius wasn’t expecting to use his bed any more. I cast whatever spells I knew to slow the curse and went to sleep. I was once again assaulted by nightmares of the man with the Golden mask. This time, I knew it was Dagoth Ur. He was alive, and not happy with my existence.

,,Luper! Wake up! We’ve got guests of the bad kind!” Caius shouted which caused me to awaken. Through my blurred vision, I could barely make at that there were two people in the room, trying to kill each other.

I tried to get up, but the Corprus seemed to have taken hold of me which made moving very difficult. I pulled my ring of my finger.
,,Caius, catch!” The blurred figure who was coloured the lightest turned towards me for a bit. I threw the ring before dropping back into a slumber.

,,Luper, are you awake?”
Caius towered over me with a worried look. Clearly, sleeping when infected with the Corprus was a bad idea.
,,I’m fine. What happened?”

,,It looks like the Sixth House is getting worried about you. One of their minions paid us a little visit.” Caius handed over my ring.
,,Interesting weapon you’ve got there. It saved our lives. I’ll give it back to you, you’ll need it when you seek out Divayth Fyr. Unfortunately, I don’t know where he lives.” Caius said. He also gave me the last of his money and a Dwemer artefact. He called it a little investment.

Caius didn’t knew where to find Fyr, but I did. We were neighbours, sort of. I’d never spoken to him, but I knew where to find his mushroom. One recall later, and I arrived home from where I could begin my journey.

Travelling was the easiest bit, keeping my sanity wasn’t. By the time I made it, I could feel my mind beginning to slip away. Fortunately, I didn’t need to say a word. One of Fyr’s “daughters” took me straight to him where he revealed his plan to me.

He would give me a potion that theoretically should cure the disease, except for that small detail that it killed everyone who tried. In return, I would take a walk in his Corprusarium and pick up a bunch of boots from Yagrum Bagarn. I was not allowed to hurt any of the other victims, even if they tried to kill me. Brilliant as usual. Any other ways to get myself killed?

I had barely made a single step inside before the first corprus victim moved towards me. My first idea was to simply forget about it and just hack my way through, but I needed the potion. Seeing no other way out, I started running.

I ran and ran, picking my direction at random. At one moment I came across something best described as a humanoid body slapped on top of a Spider Centurion standing next to a pair of Dwemer boots. I grabbed the boots and kept running till I found the exit. The warden slammed the door shut behind me, and a dozen Corprus victims slammed into it.

Before me stood Fyr, clapping his hands and smiling as if he had just seen the most amusing thing ever.
,,Splendid, just splendid! It is a shame that you didn’t tried to raid the chests on the way. I love to tempt a thief. Anyway, a promise is a promise. I’ll take the boots and give you the potion which you should drink immediately.” He said.

I could only nod and the last remains of my mind were now slipping away. It took the help of the warden to restrain me as the Corprus took control of me. I never remembered what happened in those few seconds. Fyr must have given me the potion.

It was all over in a few seconds. When I realized that I was alive, I realized something else at the same time. Not only was I alive, but I was completely back to the way I was before being infected. The only sign that reminded me of ever having been infected where my muscles that had grown while I was cursed. Fyr took me over to his office where he explained things to me. I was not freed of the Corprus. Merely all the bad effects had been removed. The good effects, which included immunity to disease and a stop to the aging process of my body were still there.

Aging process? According to Fyr, I would live far longer than any Redguard and even far longer than an Elf if I didn’t met my end on the blade of a weapon. He suggested that I took things slowly, for I now had plenty of time. I merely smiled and didn’t told him what I really thought of that. I’d seen Therana, who had gone crazy through her age. No, if I was immortal I would have to be impatient in order to preserve my sanity.

I took up the offer to spend the night in the guest room. When everyone was asleep, I got up again. So Fyr liked to tempt thieves to rob his Corprusarium? Well I felt more for robbing his house.

I came up with the fur of some creature made into a cuirass. hanging in a closet. It looked expensive and all, so I took it. My second prize was a bit harder to obtain. It all started when I took up a key and used it to open a small chest from which I took an amulet. Out of fun, I put the amulet around my neck.

Before I knew what had happened, I was standing inside a Daedric shrine.
,,So, mortal! You have come to challenge me, Dregas Volar?! I shall bathe my Crescent in your blood!” A voice boomed through the shrine. A Dremora leapt out of the shadows, holding a sword with two blades shaped in half a circle.

I ducked around the first blade and parried the second with my summoned sword. Daedric against Daedric, if I was still using my Glass Longsword, it would have snapped like a twig.
For a few minutes, our swords clashed. I was grateful for the excellent protection of the Lord’s Mail, as well as my new Flamelance spell that focussed what would have been a large fireball into an area the size of a coin to cut through its target. Finally, I gained the upper hand and defeated the Dremora. I just managed to grab hold of its sword before the amulet transported me back to Tel Fyr.

After that, I decided that it would be safest not to find out what would be protecting his other treasures and performed a Divine Intervention back to Sadrith Mora from which I travelled to Caius.

[jack cloudy]

Did I say that some Ashlanders scare me? The Ashkan of this update is one of those.



Ok, now that didn’t go as well as expected. Seriously, if I had to kill every single councillor and put their Mouths in charge, I would go nuts. Though it was nice for Felisa. She deserved to become a councillor years ago. Since becoming Hortator looked a bit hard for the moment, I decided to start on the Ashlanders instead. At least I only had to deal with just the Wise Woman and the Ashkan, not a whole bunch of councillors.

My first stop was the Zainab camp, for no other reason than that I was tired of the Ashlands and needed to see some grass to lift my mood. I made my way to it and first met with the Wise Woman who directed me to the Ashkan, some guy named Kaushad.

What was this guy, some sort of shoe collector? There were shoes all over the place. He looked rather annoyed at me barging in. Ok, if he liked shoes, he could have my old pair that I carried around for use in the city. I never wore those shoes, probably cause I never seemed to spent more time in the city than needed to get to the transportation I needed. I gave them to him and then went straight to the point.

,,You believe you fulfil the Prophecies and wish to be named Nerevarine. Please don’t think I’m rude, but you must admit that an Outlander being the Nerevarine sounds weird.” Blablabla, whatever. Couldn’t we just skip to the part where I go do him a favour?
,,Test me and then decide. Go ahead, give me a task and I’ll see to it. But don’t give me something stupid like turning Red Mountain into a big statue of Azura.”

He rambled on some more and finally directed me to a vampire. Ok, so he wanted me to kill an ancient, hungry and very violent creature. Oh well, at least I didn’t had to worry about catching Vampirism. I set out and got to the cave.

Looks like I wasn’t the first. After I took down a Bonewalker I got the chance to take a look around the tomb. There were death people on the floor with holes in their necks, blood everywhere and the whispers of ghosts. Cozy place. A note that was on the table said something about a necromancer or something. Sure, add a freak in a robe that summons undead nasties to my problems. As if I cared.

In the last room, I encountered a ghost that fell in one swipe of Chrysamere as well as a man who was with no doubt the vampire I was looking for. I mean, either he was a vampire or he just had really long teeth, unhealthy skin and some problems with his eyes. He came at me with spells and a short blade. I took cover behind a pillar and waited. When he got near, I jumped over his head and left my sword behind in his chest. Once back on the ground, I spun around and fired thin beams of focussed fire till whatever might have been left of his brains was turned into vapour. I picked up my sword and took a bunch of his teeth with me. This guy had better name me Nerevarine now. I was not in the mood for more vampire hunting.

,,Here you go, I relieved your vampire of his dentist problem.”
Kaushad ignored the teeth I’d thrown in front of his feet. Oh great, he had another idea.
,,Yes, you appear to be quite capable. Now before I name you Nerevarine, you must know that it is tradition to present the Ashkan with a gift. Since you are an Outlander, I will be so kind to name the gift. I want a high-born Telvanni as my bride. Plump, pretty and with big hips to bring me many sons. Just visit high-born Telvanni lords and tell them that the lordly Ashkan of the Zainab wishes to wed their daughter. Just pick the best one for me.”

I took out a handy notebook I once caught and began to write.
,,Telvanni….pretty…big hips…young enough for children. Anything else on your wishlist? Colour, interests, earlength?” I joked.
,,Just go out and fetch me one. Don’t stand around here all day. If you are the Nerevarine, you can’t keep Dagoth Ur waiting.” Freak.

What the heck, now I was supposed to get him married. Did he had bad luck with women or something? As if any Telvanni would want to give his daughter to that idiot. I played with the thought of sending Felisa, but no. She wouldn’t like it, she would be more helpful in Tel Branora and if she ran away after a few days I would have a whole tribe as my enemy.

What about me? I wasn’t very high-born, being a product of Azura and all, but I was a Telvanni lord. Only problem, I’d never taken the necessary actions to get any offspring. Maybe I could be named Nerevarine by the Wise Woman. Why couldn’t Azura pick someone else for this stupid job?

No help there. Instead, she directed me to speak with a friend of hers who was a slave mistress in Tel Aruhn. Now I had to give him a slave? I’d rather buy every slave in the world and set them free. If I did that, there might not be a world left by the time I’d bought everyone. Time to hike to Tel Aruhn. Stupid Ashlanders who couldn’t get a wife without needing help from some sort of legendary hero who was in a bad mood.

The slavemistress apparently had just what I needed. While she gave the slave some necessary education, I was to fetch some clothes from the other side of the island. After the clothes came some perfume. After that, I was finally allowed to buy the slave. 1200 septims after I’d ran all over the place?! She was nuts!
,,Say, don’t you think you should reconsider this stuff and get yourself a different job?” I asked in an annoyed tone. I hated slavers, they made me sick.
,,Why should I? It pays well and the Arch-Magister himself is one of my most loyal customers. He also provides protection.” So he did? Well, then I would be better of having a talk with him.

It was the first time I met Gothren, and also the last. Let’s just say that I wasn’t happy with his choice of bodyguards. Dremora weren’t my favourite type of Daedra. He also didn’t want to hear about stopping the slavery. That left me one last option, one that he wouldn’t like.

,,In that case, I hereby name myself Magister of House Telvanni and challenge you for the rank of Arch-Magister, prepare yourself!” Really, I should’ve just knocked of his head and done the speech after he was death. Me and my stupid mouth. Right after I said Magister, the Dremora and Gothren began to strike at me and only my reflexes and tough armour saved me. I rolled backwards and pulled out Chrysamere with one hand while summoning my Daedric sword with the other.

Now I wasn’t really the type for duel wielding, but it proved to be decent. I left Chrysamere in the first Dremora and decapitated the second with my Daedric sword. I then put a Flamelance spell between Gothren’s eyes and took care of my injuries. Yep, now I was Arch-Magister. How lovely, now I could expect an assassin on my doorstep everyday.

I went back to the Slavetrader and bought my Telvanni woman.
,,Oh yeah, there is a new Arch-Magister. He doesn’t seem to like slaves.” I told her after getting the key to open the cage.
,,There is? Well too bad for him, but there are plenty of other customers.” She responded before asking me if I wanted to buy some more slaves.
,,I’ve heard that he is a Redguard who likes to walk around in Ebony with the Lord’s Mail and a big Claymore named Chrysamere on his back. Sounds familiar?” Oh, I loved that look of fear in her eyes. She dropped a whole load of other keys in my hands and ran to the nearest ship. It sure was good to be the Arch-magister. Finally I got some respect.

I freed all the other slaves and sent them off on a free trip to Ebonheart. Hey, I was the Arch-Magister. Those boatmasters had no choice but to obey me.
The Telvanni slave dressed up in the expensive clothes I’d gathered and was very impatient to get going. As she said, anything was better then being a slave.

We took the last remaining boat to the mainland after which I brought her to the Zainab camp.
I gave her some time to get her clothes in perfect condition as well as use the perfume. Did I say that that stuff smelled awful? Guess my nose wasn’t normal or something. I remembered Ajira having once smelled like that. Could she perhaps? Nah, couldn’t have been.

Anyway, my little matchmaking turned out to be a success as they both liked each other. Now could that guy please name me Nerevarine so that I could go out and save the world and finally retire? Well yeah, he did but he also dragged me into a corner.

,,I know you’ve tricked me. I don’t mind, she is much better than a Telvanni. The hips are not as big as I’d hoped though. Maybe a clever Nerevarine is the best. Anyway, I want you to have my shirt as a gift. I won’t be needing it for a while. And I hereby name you Nerevarine.” Ok, so I was the Nerevarine but this guy was definitely getting scary. He probably needed some privacy so I went to visit the Wise Woman to receive the symbol that showed that the Zainab had named me Nerevarine. One tribe down, three to go.