The Eldest Councilor, A knight in service of a councilor... Options

[Kiln]

Author's note: Keep in mind that none of the characters in this story are based off of any in oblivion, as I do not have the game and cannot add references to it so just assume that it takes place years after the OB storyline.
Also, this is my first real try at a story from the first person perspective so it may not be so good but hey, I hope you find the time to at least read a little and decide if you like it.
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Prologue

I shall tell you a story that is rarely told, there are few left in this world to recite it. It is a tale of a knight who would stop at nothing to protect his master and friend, throughout time he grew more and more powerful. I will admit that his power was not used only for helping people, they were used for what his master desired and needed. I shall read this story from the journal of Deagan, for he is long gone now and his tale has nearly been forgotten.

Chapter One: In the Beginning...

My name is Deagan, I am but a prisoner now but I was not always locked up like this, believe it or not I once served one of the oldest and most respected councilors in the country...once I was a respected knight serving under what I felt was right...though now I sit here in the darkness, secluded from the other inmates, I can't help but think back to when I first arrived and why I was brought here.

When I first entered the prison, I was on the same floor as the other prisoners but after I escaped my cell and nearly made it out of the complex, the warden added several more guards around me but I was still on the same floor at that time.

The extra guards that were added to the area were always drunk and abusive, they enjoyed hitting me for long periods of time, generally only a few would participate and the beatings would last only a few short minutes but there were always the occasions when they would all enter my cell and hit me at once.

I could have killed them at any time with the amount of experience and training I'd been through but I took the punishment so I could avoid getting into more trouble. Though every man has his limits and eventually I snapped.

One day when the guards entered my cell to begin the usual beating I took the iron mug from the wet stone floor of my room and swung it with my full strength at the nearest guard, causing him to fall to the ground.

As the other guards stood in amazement, I drew the sword from the belt of their downed comrade and jabbed it through the stomach of one of the others. The last guard that hadn't already run unsheathed his sword and I fought him for a few minutes before finally getting through and slicing his neck.

I know it was probably wrong but I felt great, I'd once again gotten the feel of a blade in my hand and felt the blood of the guards who had beaten me regularly for almost four years.

I went for the stairway and fought several more guards in the room with the exit.

Before I left I took a knee near the bodies and searched them quickly for anything that might be of use to me once I had left the prison but there was nothing but a bit of gold and a key.

I went down to the cell room and released the other inmates, no matter what they had done, nobody deserved to be locked up here. The bruised inhabitants of the prison stayed downstairs for now, until I'd checked things outside the prison.

At that point I was starting to feel pretty good, the doorway was right in front of me and I now had a weapon and a bit of gold, I was set to start my new life.

I opened the double doors in front of me and stared blankly into the huge blue sky above me, smelling the fresh air, tasting the winds, absorbing every moment of my newly acquired freedom...but it was a short lived moment of ecstasy.

In all the time I'd been fighting my way out of the prison, one of the guards had already made his way into town and brought back several others. I looked out across the courtyard at the many armored guards in formation in front of me and did a rough estimation of how many were there.

I counted about twenty and readied myself to fight them when I heard the loud thumping noise, as I slowly looked down I noticed the arrow in my chest and quickly broke it off, leaving the tip still inside of my flesh and starting to move closer to the group of men down the stairway.

Another arrow struck my shoulder but I did not let my pain show, instead I continued to make my way closer and closer to the soldiers, knowing that this battle would be my death...unfortunately it wasn't.

A man in a robe emerged and put his hand out as if he wished were motioning for me to stop, from it emerged the spell that ended my escape, it hit me and all my strength faded, I felt as if I hadn't slept in months and I fell to the ground on my knees, barely able to stay awake...which reminds me of why I hate mages since we're on the subject.

The guards surrounded me and forced my head down, the guard drew back his blade and readied to strike me, finishing this once and for all.

Before he could a voice rang out,

"No! Do not kill him, he shall be forced to suffer for what he has done, for the rest of his days he will remember the brave guards he killed today and their deaths will weigh hard on his mind."

In reality I felt no remorse for killing the guards, not even the slightest bit of guilt, my years of killing had taken away the feeling of grief and the feeling of wrongdoing that I had when I first started.

The man leaned down close to me and whispered into my ear softly,

"You will suffer for the crimes you have committed fool, you cannot stop us, we will kill the councilor."

I forced my head to look into his eyes then quickly looked to his feet and spat onto them, showing my hatred for him. If I could have lifted my arms I would have hit him right in the jaw and strangled him but alas, I was powerless.

I stayed awake a bit longer to see one of the guards draw back a wooden club and that was it, I awoke some time later in the darkness, completely alone. I learned later from the warden that they had moved me into the cells in the basement, away from the well behaving prisoners and into the part of the prison with those who would never see day again.

The guards were careful here, never leaving anything in which we could use to escape and never entering our cells under any circumstances. I was in the high-risk section of the prison and nobody wanted to disturb me.

It was a step up from the prison upstairs in some ways, no listening to other inmates complaints and no abusive guards.

Though life in the lower sector got old quickly I'm still here, as I've been unable to escape, its been years since my only escape attempt and I wonder if I would even be in this situation if I had not been in the service of councilor Quin, who would probably be killed by the black diamond assassins, if he had not been already.
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Hope this at least slightly interests some of you.

This post has been edited by Kiln: May 9 2006, 08:14 PM

[Kiln]

Chapter 4: A Meeting with the Past...

As I regained consciousness once again I bounced up and down atop a few bags of grain in the back of an old wooden wagon. I tried to move my hands but they had been bound tightly with thick ropes just as my feet had been tied in the same way. I took a few deep breaths as I stared up at the trees around the road, it was near dark. One of the men sat beside me to make sure I didn't escape and the other sat at the front of the wagon, turning the horses.

"Wakin' up are ya?" The man beside me said with a smile

I tried to curse and say something witty but the thick piece of cloth in my mouth hindered my ability to speak. All that emerged from behind the gag was a series of angry, inaudible mumbles.

"Whats that? I can't understand you...why don't you spit that thing out and talk to me proper?" he said mockingly

He slowly removed the cloth from my mouth so I could speak.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked angrily

"Do I know who you are? Hah! Everyone knows who you are...I mean a bandit like you can't just wander off into the woods and expect for people not to hunt you." He said

"You're after me because I'm a bandit?" I said as things started to make since for the first time since my capture

"Yes bandit now shut up and stay that way." He said as he wrapped the cloth around the back of my neck and pushed a portion of it into my mouth once again before tightening it

These men did not know about my work for Quin, the killing I'd done in his name...they only knew me as a bandit that had plagued the roads of Cyrodiil not so long ago. I'd nearly forgotten about my bounty here for the crimes I'd committed and when they captured me my mind feared the worst, that I'd been discovered as an assassin and was being brought for trial.

For those of you who don't know, if you are discovered operating as an assassin in Dark Brotherhood turf, you're as good as dead unless you have important political friends...like the Black Diamonds had and apparrently still have.

As night came we stopped to make camp for the night, after my captors built a fire they picked me up by the arms and legs then threw me off the side of the wagon. The stiff impact on the ground knocked the wind out of me but as I struggled to breathe again I saw a man in dark clothes and a hooded face peering around a tree at the fire the mercenaries had just created. He held a finger in front of his mouth, signaling for me to stay silent and then dissappeared back into the darkness.

I remained calm and quiet, acting as if I hadn't seen him. Though I wondered who he was, his demeanor told me that he was with me, that he was going to help me. I kept an eye on the forest around us and it became even more apparent that the man was not alone, there were several others around the camp as well.

Urlyn and Aspen enjoyed their meals and chatted merrily, oblivious to the fact that their camp was not so secure as they thought. I looked to the tree as a man swung from a rope and dropped down in the dust not ten feet away from the mercenaries, a cloud of dust formed around his feet but quickly receded.

"Release the prisoner to us, or there's gonna be trouble..." The man said in a completely calm voice, as if he was sure of his safety

Urlyn stood and drew his blade swiftly and Aspen tried to draw his blade as well but he struggled to get it out of the sheath because it was hung on his belt.

"Need some help with that?" The man said, nearly laughing

The man seemed so familiar, his voice, his personality...like someone I'd knew but I couldn't see who because the majority of his face was masked by the hood over his head and the shadow it cast upon his face.

"I tell you what, you give us half your money and your equipment...we'll let you live." Urlyn said in a sinister voice

"I have a better idea." The hooded man said and seemed to pause for a moment

At least twelve men revealed themselves by stepping from the darkness, most of which with bows pointed toward my captors, a few others with swords. Urlyn and Aspen looked incredibly uneasy now, they glanced nervously around them at the armed men with the tips of their swords following the direction of their eyes.

"You give us all your money, release your prisoner to us, and join us...and in return we'll let you live, while sharing any profit we might make." The man continued

Urlyn stood with a depressed look on his face for a moment then made a quick hand motion to his partner. Aspen sighed before walking over to me, he then cut my binds, removed the cloth from my mouth, and helped me to my feet.

"Who are you people?" Aspen asked before pushing me toward the men

"We call ourselves the Band of Brothers...and Deagan is our founder." he said

A numb feeling surrounded me, finally I understood who these people were...the bandits I'd worked with before my service to Quin. I smiled and walked over to the masked men. I shook hands with my old friends and they led me, along with my former captors, back to their new hideout in an old Ayleid ruin less than a mile from the road.

Teris led the way through the ruin, there were several traps set near the entrance that he pointed out and warned us of as we navigated through the place. It was large, with strange glowing objects all around, mixed with torches that the bandits had brought in. There were many more bandits inside, I hadn't seen their full force outside at the camp.

"Alright men, take the two mercenaries and show them around, set up an initiation mission for them...Deagan, you come with me." He said

He led me into his office and sat down, it was exquisitely decorated with silverware and all sorts of expensive brandy.

"Like what I've done with our legacy?" He said humorously

"Its amazing what you've done in the last few months." I replied, still somewhat entranced by how the small bandit operation I'd created had progressed

"We now have a base in Morrowind as well, the drug trade is much more profitable there." He told me

"How did you get so many to come?" I asked

"Money...we're bringing in alot of gold now that we have more members. We all pool our profits and split them among everyone...I call it, organized crime." He said as the look on his face showed that he'd accomplished a dream

"How much are you making?" I asked in a somewhat astonished voice

"Alot...I can reinstate you as my second in command if you like...gods know you have the experience...I mean think of all the people we robbed together...which reminds me...where have you been?" He asked

"Its a long story on where I've been mate, alot of fighting and killing behind me now...and some ahead of me still. On your offer of reinstating me, I'm afraid that I must decline at the moment...there are still many matters that I must attend to. I must be off soon." I said

"Of course, if there is anything I can do to help you then don't hesitate to let me know. My offer will still stand if you should choose to return to us." Teris told me

"Thank you Teris, may business be profitable and your luck be with you. I must be going now." I said

He shook my hand and led me back to the entrance where I waved farewell to him. He handed me a bag of gold, it was only a small amount of what he'd made. I could tell that he was dissapointed that I was leaving but I still had a few things to do before I would set off to kill Tamira, the path to restoring honor to Quin was nearly at its end now...or so I believed at the time. For now I would head to the nearby town to get the latest gossip and catch up on events...perhaps a visit to the tavern as well...these past months had taken their toll on me and a few glasses of liquor would do me good.
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Alright everyone here's the next bit, shakes things up a little and sets up for the next part. Keep in mind that this has not been edited in any way so there is a large chance that there are many errors within it. Anyways comments are welcome, thanks to those of you who comment when you can, and I hope you all enjoy.

This post has been edited by Kiln: Aug 13 2006, 04:07 AM