The tale of Telina Delvanni, chapter 4., Mournhold, City of light City of magic. Options

[Tellie]

Ok, so just a small one today, as this is all I managed to write at this time...



The Tale of Telina Delvanni. Chapter 4. Mournhold, city of light city of magic.



I was surprised by how much longer the teleportation was, compared to the other one’s I had made…I guess travelling over longer distances took longer time. When I had managed to get a look at the room I stood in, I was dumbfounded…sure I had heard of the beauty of Mournhold Almalexia, the city of Lady Ayem…but nothing could prepare me for the sight.

The floor was made up of huge brass and black coloured tiles. The recesses filled with silver, and the walls was of some dark green stone. Gold metal bandings spread along the wall in mid height, and they was crested with rubies and emeralds…Never have I seen such a beautiful room as the throne room though…large round, blood red coloured pillars stretched themselves up to the roof, which had a painting of the battle at Red Mountain…the King was not here, but a Man that seemed to be slightly more significant than the other guards there…I figured that out with all the gold and silver bandings that decorated his armour.

Have I mentioned how much I hate the Royal Guard armour…it have an unsettling colour of…dried blood, the helmets are so tight that you cant see the face of the guard either, and I always get a shock when I suddenly stand nose to nose with one…but enough of that. The imperial seemed reluctant to speak tome, although I could see his eye flickering around the room…as if he was looking for escape routes…hmm, strange. I opened my mouth, but he cut me off…”Excuse me, I have much to do…get out of the throne room”.

Fine, he did not want to talk to me…well, no need for irritating him, as the enchanted Daedric Dai-Katana at his back, was clearly vibrating by all the power contained. As I was in the courtyard, I suddenly realised there was two doors, and with me hating to guess at things like this, I asked the old Imperial sitting on the flowerbed, where to go.

Plitinius Maro, was his name…and I suddenly realised that I stood and talked to the famous writer of the Real Barenzia novels…I may have mentioned before my love for books…it is a hobby of mine that have helped me much with decreasing the number of money in my bank account…but to actually talk to the writer of a book series that I loved was thrilling. We had talked a long time, before I mentioned the subject of the brotherhood being after me…since he could not do anything else than to tell me that they was supposedly in the Great Bazaar sewers, I should contact the temple, as maybe they could help me out. I had just started to walk towards the entrance to the temple courtyard, when a Cyrodiilic voice came tome.

-“Excuse me ma’am, but do I understand you correctly that you’re going down to the sewers”?…”As a matter of fact you did, how’s that”, I asked back, trying to keep the bitterness in my voice to the minimum.

-“Well, I wondered if you would like a companion, I am a good fighter, can carry heavy loads, and I know the sewers well enough, for your needs”. “Now before you answer, there are some rules, I don’t work for free, so I’ll need 250 septims a month…you’re free to give me new equipment anytime you want, and also take equipment…as long I have my gold, and at least 500 septims worth of equipment…so what do you say…we got a deal”.

Ok…he wanted to be my personal bodyguard for an entire month…for only 250 septims…best deal I’ve ever made…I shook his hand, and gave him the gold…after that I gave him some 2000septims, to get equipped and ready for action…Then we parted, and I entered the temple courtyard.

This post has been edited by Telendil Delvanni: Apr 26 2006, 10:48 AM

[Tellie]

Change of plans, i will give regular updates, they will only take a bit more time, as they have to be edited first...so today I give you a very long one...enjoy.


Hmpf, silence him, yeah right…I knew that silence meant kill, I was growing tired of this “high” talk of those stupid Nobles…always wrapping their words in a more…what was it again…ah yes, “peaceful” manner. So silence the author of the Common Tongue…how in the name of Oblivion would I do that, I had not a single clue of where to go…I guess I had to go with the Delvanni family luck (with a little boost from Geanors amulet).

I asked Calvius, and he had not a clue either…but my best guess would be that the author snuck out at night, to spread the word…and he would most likely be stationed at Godsreach, as a good law abiding citizen.

We wandered about in Godsreach, and I suddenly had an urge to go to the museum, they had to have at least something…that something seemed to be a whole lot of guards, and a single hammer.

-“Yes, I know we have few artefacts”, a female Dunmer told me…”people rather not part with their artefacts you know…and we can only give thirty-thousand at the most”. She sighed before her eyes widened…”Is-is that the Mace of Molag Bal I see hanging at your waist…how would you like…saaay, fourteen-thousand septims for it”?, her eyes looked hopefully at me, which made that answer I had to give her even harder.

-“no…I will not sell it”, I held my hand up, as she suddenly looked rather sad, and was about to say something…”The powers in this mace, sings of evil…I will lock it down in a secret place, so its evil will not be used, heck I rather not use it…but I may drop by some day soon, with both the legendary Skullcrusher and the Bow of Shadows…we have a deal”?, I held my hand out towards her.

-“Wow…you would actually part with something as valuable s those two items…that is, that is extraordinary, I’ll take the deal”, she shook my hand, and left me, a big grin stretched across her face.

Calvius, find a roof on the other platform that have most of the manors on, look for anything suspicious that may happen tonight, anything suspicious, follow them, I’ll find a roof here”, I whispered.

He gripped his sword, and walked out, and by the time I had gotten out, he had already found a nice spot on the top of Llethlan manor, to sit on. I started to look around myself, I needed somewhere high up, and central…the Craftsmen Hall was perfect for that, so I found a place on the back, and started climbing.

I quickly realised again that I was far away from my previous shape, and the climb took me several minutes, and I was all drained in sweat when I sat myself close to one of the spires on the tall building…and then, I waited.

The time went…one hour, two hours…three hours, it was getting dark. Four hours, my eyes started to slip. I do not know how long I slept, but I was woken up by a loud sound…a door opening underneath me.

I slipped down the wall silent as a cat. I started to follow the person who had wandered out into this darkest time of the night. He crept through Godsreach, staying out of the light, stopping here and there to hang out posters...posters who seemed to be like the Common Tongue…exactly like the Common Tongue…after all it was the paper that was causing me all of this grief.

I followed the man further, and he exited Godsreach, and walked towards the Great Bazaar, he stopped for over five minutes at the door into the palace, and filled up the entire door with posters, he was laughing silently but I could still hear it, his leather shoes sounded like thunder on the cold stone tiles here in the middle of the night. He had wandered around in the Great Bazaar for half an hour hanging up posters, before he stopped at the booksellers house. He knocked three times, and spoke some word that I did not hear. Mer opened up, and looked hastily around before she pushed him in, and locked the door.

I found myself a bench, sat down and waited. It was strange, I had waited for over an hour, and then the door opened, and the Mer I had followed got out again, I raised myself up again, before I started running towards him shouting, “Oi, wait”…and then he naturally smiled, and waved his hand in some circles, and then he disappeared in thin air…my next words is something I don’t think we need to write down, as they were undoubtly rude and evil of nature.

Instead I just had to go over to the bookseller, and question her out…this would undoubtly empty my purse a bit. I knocked three times just as my disappeared victim had. “Word of the day”, was all I got.

-“Would open up in the name of the Tribunal Temple, or get a bolt through your head suffice”, I asked her a bit angry. Needless to say the door was opened pretty damn quickly, and I quickly slammed the door behind me, and locked it.

-“What may I do for you sera”, she asked in an overridden courteous voice.

-“Ok, I’ll be simple with you, tell me voluntarily now the name of the anonymous author of the Common Tongue…or I take you with me to the Temple for interrogation…I am an Inquisitor, so I can do what I want with you”, normally threats like this used to pay of…this time it did not…figures don’t it.

-"No. I have no idea who the writer of 'The Common Tongue' is. Stands to reason, doesn't it? He's anonymous, right? And I never read 'The Common Tongue', anyway."

Well, I wont say I didn’t try, but as always people were rarely intimidated by my threats, I should really start thinking on another threat to come with. So seeing that there were no other option, I put ten five septim coins on the counter…”I do not quite understand what you talk about”, she said with a smile. I put another ten on the table, and then the septims was quickly swept into her purse before she started to talk again.

-"If I were looking around for an anonymous writer, I'd talk to someone who deals in writing -- books and scrolls, for example. Perhaps a person with a shady reputation -- like a pawnbroker."

I smiled, and then turned my back and got out…ok, a pawnbroker, it was only one choice, and that was to visit each pawnbroker there was in the city. I knew that there was a pawnbroker right across the street, ran by a Dunmer, so that was my first choice.

The Dunmer who ran the shop, a middle aged mer named Sunel Hlas, was a sad and rather grudgy man, who was more rude than what was normal.

-“Gah Women, the curse and blessing here in life…if only my wife was alive”, he seemed rather oblivious of my existence. “Sorry, what’s wrong”? I asked him, in hope of getting a connection with him.

-“I used to be married, I had a beautiful wife, and we constantly wandered around Morrowind in search of a good adventure. One day she told me that we should quit now when the game was still good, as one day it would turn the other way…but I didn’t listen, I convinced her to come on one last quest, she did that. On our way back, we were attacked by a pair of bandits, I managed to drive them away with my family sword, but it was too late for my wife, she had been stabbed in the back, and was already dead when I looked at her…and since then I have not managed to get in contact with new women”.

He sobbed a little, and I got a sudden stroke of inspiration…”You know”, I said putting my arm comfortly at his shoulder, “I have met a beautiful Dunmer woman, names Marena Gilnith who wishes to meet a man, she is really sweet…if you want I can arrange a meeting”.

He looked at me, and his eyes cheered up…”A-a woman, who is beautiful and you think she would want me, I mean look at me, I’m not normally a person someone would fall for”, his attitude had once again changed back to hopeless and sour.

-“Pfft…look at yourself, you are a handsome mer, all you need is to cheer up, be positive when you go to the date with her, be yourself, and by allmeasn treat her nicely, listen to her, and just be happy, if you do that you are sure to get her to like you…no woman likes someone who are just being sour and drained of hope…so be positive”.

I walked to the door, before I suddenly realised why I had come here in the first place…”oh, do you know who the anonymous writer of the Common Tongue is”?

-“First off all, thanks for helping me with this…but I am sorry, I don’t know who the writer is, but you might want to try out Ten-Tongues-Weerhat out, I’m sure he can tell you something”.

I bowed to him, before I opened the door again, by now the Bazaar had managed to be filled up with people who was doing their daily business. Ten-Tongues was positioned next to the Bookshop I had been to earlier, and I found it strange that someone as an Argonian could afford a bigger house to have his shop in…definitely something less legal I presume.

-"Welcome, Dunmer, welcome! The best deals in all of Mournhold can be found here. Low prices every day, and special offers as well! Please, take your time and look through my wares."

I looked around, before I drew up two hundred septims, and pushed them over the counter…I’d like to know what the name of the anonymous writer of the Common Tongue is”.

He smiled a bit, before he made the money vanish into the depths of his money pouch. "Here's what I've heard. I've heard that the guy who writes 'The Common Tongue' is someone named Trels Varis. Now, this is not a name known to me personally. I make it a habit to know the names of people in Mournhold personally. And this guy I do not know. And other people I talk to also do not know. Which is noteworthy in itself. I make the guess that this guy is well-hid, and wants to stay well-hid. But where do I first hear about this guy? In the Craftsmen's Hall. So maybe that is a one place to look."

-“Oh, do you wish to hear some of my special offers, I always have something good in for my friends…let me show you the scrolls I just got in”.
He took up a great number of scrolls, rare scrolls that was, he had five scrolls of Ekash’s-locksplitter, five of Taldams Scorcher, and three Infernobolts, all of tehm was sold tome by the lousy price of two hundred septims…so this was how he was making money, by selling rare scrolls cheap…if I was to buy this any other palace I would probably had to pay several thousand septims, but why should I care, now I had a great place to get deadly scrolls from, I was not gonna complain.


Ok, time to head over to the Craftsmen Hall, the door was naturally open, so it was just to walk in. The entrance hall was big, and it had a larger flowerbed in the middle of the room. I saw a room dead ahead of me, so I could just as well head over there, no reason not to. While I walked towards the room, I noticed a door to my right, locked…locked up too good just to be a storage door…strange.

It seemed that I had gone into the room of a smithy, actually two smiths working in the same room. Seeing as one of them was an Orc, and the other was Dunmer, I tried out the Dunmer first…I have a bad experience with Orcs that’s all.

“Excuse me sera, is it possible for you to tell me who the anonymous writer of the Common Tongue is”, the answer I would get was naturally obvious from the start of.

-“No, I don’t, and it kinda makes sense doesn’t it…I mean he is after all anonymous, so you wont find Trels Varis her….oh crap, I shouldn’t have said that”, he said turning maroon.

I smiled, “ok so where is he, behind that locked door maybe…I think I’ll go check it out”, I turned my back and started to walk towards the door, holding my sword ready…”NEVER”!!!!!, that scream would summon each person in the building here.

He came running towards me, with his sword lifted up high….always a mistake to attack in rage, and this was no exception, I swung out with my sword, and he stopped as the tip of my sword rested on his throat.

-“Drop that blade sera, one wrong movement, and you’ll have to work without a head, I cant imagine how that will be”, the sword fell from his hand, and down to the floor. I punched my elbow in his face, and he fell unconscious to the floor.

I looked at the door, it was heavily locked, that would be easy with the scrolls I had, the problem was the trap that was on it, I don’t think I would have been able to disarm, that, even in my prime…no this needed heavier equipment.

I stepped back, and unfolded the Infernobolt scroll. “Imh narsg amun ashg dagor”, the orange ball flew across the room, and hit the door. The light was to bright, so I had to close my eyes, and the searing flames burned my skin, even though they were far away from me.

AS the flames ebbed out, I looked at the door, it was unsurprisingly blown to pieces, and burnt away, and that gave me a free passage. The room behind held some valuables like ebony and glass, but nothing too spectacular, the trapdoor on the floor however was interesting, and even better it was not locked at all, I opened it and slid down.

I had only managed to turn myself, before I had three blades pointed at my throat, I could see Calvius hanging in a corner, beat up and everything, but thankfully alive.

-“What is your business here intruder”, a Mer dressed in fine clothes asked me.

-“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m just a little burglar trying to make a living that’s all…I though the room was empty”.

He started laughing, he laughed for about a minute or so I think…”a burglar…oh that is got to be the best one I’ve heard in ages...hahaha, but…but seriously tell me what you want or you’ll end up as your friend there”, he pointed at Calvius.

I pointed to the chairs at the table, so I was escorted over, and two of the Mer’s stood behind me, blades drawn and all. I told them the entire story, how Helseth was made to give orders he didn’t want to give, that Tienus Delitian was holding the Royal Family as hostages…that I wanted him to stop writing lies about Helseth.

-“So…I must say you have convinced me, you have a good way of talking to people, and I’d love to believe in you…but why, why should I stop, I mean I have to make a living as well”.

I smiled a bit, I had this all figured out…there would be a rebellion soon, I would make sure of that. People may not love Helseth too much, but if they got to know that a human Imperial was threatening Queen Barenzia, they would want that mans head on a pike by dawn.

-“What’s in this for you…I promise you this, I will give you three-thousand septims for the orphans funds, and I want you to start writing the truth I just told you, about Delitian holding the Royal Family as hostages, wanting to kill both Helseth and Barenzia…but start on it right now…if things go as I have planned, there will be a rebellion, and Delitian will be dead, and you’ll get a substantive reward”.

He pondered on the matter for a moment, before he struck his hand out…”Deal”.

This is where I left him, I managed to get Calvius over my shoulder, and teleport us to the palace, where I again had to drop him off, so that his injuries could be treated. Meanwhile, I had matters with Delitian.

-“Delitian, I managed to persuade the author of the Common Tongue to stop printing lies about Helseth, he said he would go over to honest work, and don’t write about the King any longer”.

-“How did you manage this Delvanni”, he asked rather curious. “Oh I gave him a strict…ah…business offer, and three-thousand septims to the orphans funds”.

-“Very well, you have proven your allegiance to me…no the King I meant, therefore I give you this blade…King’s Oath is its name, it is said that only the pure may use it without getting burned, oh and three-thousand septims for your lost valuables”.

I was about to go out of the door, when he called me back. “Oi Delvanni, you forgot your sword, and the Queen wishes to see you”.

Bugger, always another assignment, I hated this stuff of politics. I took the sword he gave me, and instantly dropped it, it weighed a ton, there was no way I could use it…but I could always sell it, or perhaps Calvius could use it.
The room of the Queen was heavily guarded, at least on the outside…four guards stood watch, and I was as always stopped to tell my business, as soon as I told my name the door swung open.