Today in Cyrodiil, spoilers version, TES: 4 Oblivion character accounts & stories Options

[Lopov]

I like that Arravyne did enter the gate but then returned back, one doesn't read often about that so it feels refreshing.

I think that 'creature' was the siege crawler but Hirtel probably mistook it for another creature. Never trust a man with a voice like his.

[Renee]

Time: 8:50 pm Sun's Dusk 6, 3E433

Location: Castle Leyawiin Servants' Quarters

Days Passed: 72
Bounty: 90


"Hello".

"So tiresome".

It's early in the evening as Kahreem of Weet, now playing the role of Kahreem 'the Blacksmith', makes his way once again through the bowels of Castle Leyawiin. Out of all the castles he's been in so far, Leyawiin is certainly the most interesting. It is certainly a place full of surprises and secrets.

"You look lost"...says a guard.

Kahreem chooses not to make eye-contact as he replies "well, yes, I am lost. I'm the new blacksmith, come down from Bravil. Just getting a feel for this place; getting to know all the ins and outs. Pretty soon, I won't be lost anymore."

His new ploy involves playing the part of a blacksmith, as was just stated. "Hope you guys don't mind if I take a look at the irons on this chest," he says to the room full of guards he's now standing in. "I won't be in your way. As the new blacksmith, I'll just be making a note of any ill-fitting hinges, locks, and the such that I see. I'll make my repairs later."

The guards in the room say nothing in reply as they take their break, eating bread, grapes, and boar's meat. They have no idea that the Redguard in their room is the same Redguard who's wanted for breaking & entering into the Lord's Manor twice now.

"Hmm. A little rusty here. Guess we'll have to fix that!" Kahreem says, pretending to make a note on a piece of parchment.

After an hour (or so) of goofing around, the guards finally leave. Then, he finds what he is looking for: yet another change of clothes.

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6:14 pm
He ditches his blacksmith's outfit for this new set of clothes mostly because he is not sure if blacksmiths are actually allowed in the castle's private areas. And also, if anybody figures out he's the same Reguard thief who's wanted by the law, he doesn't want to blow his blacksmith's disguise for any future encounters he might have with the town's law or royalty.

Once again, he spends hours cautiously making his way from the castle's basement & storage rooms to Caro's secret torture room. By now, the thief is absolutely confident, as he makes every twist and turn almost by rote. As he re-opens the secret door which leads directly to the Lord's Manor he suddenly crouches down, as he hears Imperial voices coming from somewhere nearby. He peeks his head out of the opening the doorway now makes, and sees nobody. So he climbs several sets of stairs, keeping in mind that the voices he heard could be anywhere, but (again) he sees nobody. As he nears the Lord's lobby, (pleasant music flowing throughout), he ducks into the alcove which leads into this room, and quickly closes the door before him.

"Phew."

Now, he waits. He waits for the sound of anybody, or anything. It's important not to get caught off-guard this time, thinks the Redguard. Time is of the essence, but it's more important to actually get this job done, even if he needs to wait all day for Countess Caro to put her stupid ring back.

"Actually, that's a question. Will the ring actually be there if she's not at home? .. I think that's what Hlidara said; that she sometimes wears it on her person. Fokke!"

As he waits, the castle's music never ceases, making it hard for him to hear his surroundings. But there are times he hears a door open close by, or the sound of footsteps making their way back and forth. Sneaking the 50 or so feet from his hiding spot, through the lobby area, and into the Count's bedroom is the most difficult thing to do. Once he's actually in this room, however, he can apparently wait here as long as he pleases. As long as he stays silent and does not move, of course.

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8:45 pm

"What do you think, Hlidara, the red dress or the blue one?"

"I'd go with blue", says the hand-maiden to her employer. And in all her years in the employ of Lady Caro, her answer has always been the same. "They bring your eyes to the fore with brilliance!"

"Excellent, and quite contentious, if I might say so. Once again, you have shown yourself to be an excellent maiden," Caro says, congratulating herself more than the high elf before her.

"Milady," says Hlidara carefully. "Might I broach the subject of that Redguard thief? The one who made his way into your 'secret' torture room, and up into this court, not once but twice now?"

"What of him, humble servant? I fear him not, as you have shown yourself to be quite excellent, as you pummel him with your fists."

"You aren't afraid he might break in here again?"

"Oh come now, Hildara, grow yourself a set, eh?" scoffs Alessia Caro impatiently. "If he makes his way in here again, he's through. Do you hear me? THROUGH!" she suddenly shouts, breaking her usually-polished countenance. "He's got a bounty which already matches no other, I am sure, and with this in mind, I'd gladly catch him myself. Just you wait and see! Why, I'll tie him up meself, tie him right up to my iron maiden! Listen to his cries of pain as I torture him gladly! Now, no more on the subject, eh? Let's try and have a decent evening, free of this talk of Redguards and rings!"

"Well okay", Hlidara Mothril says reluctantly, noticing that her Lady has been so agitated as of recent, she hasn't even left her quarters all day.

What she doesn't notice is the Redguard thief, the same one from before, as he sneaks his way slowly towards the Countess's bedroom, hears the conversation above, and hides back into the alcove, waiting for royalty to go to bed.

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12:07 am
Finally, he does it. After a long time of waiting, nibbling on food which he's stolen from the basement, he makes the move which will further his career as a thief-of-employ.

As he opens the door to the lobby area, he hears footsteps. A guard walks right by Kahreem's hiding place! He walks towards Caro's bedroom, turns around, and then walks the opposite direction--down a set of stairs, through the lobby (passing the Thief for the second time) and then up a second set of stairs. After this, he is gone for a long set of seconds, so Kahreem makes a daring move; quickly sneaking up through the lobby area. As he sneaks, he makes sure to walk backwards this time, and it's a good thing, too. Within seconds, the guard is now pacing back into the lobby. Kahreem barely has a moment to glimpse the man, before he glides silently into Caro's bedroom, and closes the door.

"Fokke!"

Lady Caro is just getting in bed beside her husband, as Kahreem enters the room. He waits a moment, and (sure enough) hears the footsteps of the guard, who fails to notice that the door which he had walked by just a minute ago is now closed.

Kahreem sneaks through the bedroom slowly, and waits behind a desk until he hears the guard make his rounds past the room once again. He notices that the items which he had strewn across the floor on one of his previous visits (an hourglass, a ceramic plate, etc.) are now back in their place.

"Ha! Someday I gotta get me a place, just like this!" he whispers. "Lots of servants to wait at my very hand, foot, and word."



Once he hears the guard walk past, the Weet Bandit makes the final stretch, and inserts the Countess's stolen jewelry box key into its home socket.

This post has been edited by Renee: Dec 7 2022, 04:57 PM

[Callidus Thorn]

*Tinkers with posts*

I think that 'creature' was the siege crawler but Hirtel probably mistook it for another creature. Never trust a man with a voice like his.

Hmm.. that's a head-scratcher, there. :0 It's cool you notice stuff like this. I think it could just be the surprise of it all--and the fact that it seems she hasn't got her facts entirely straight could be just that--she hasn't got her facts entirely straight. This is how rumors start, rumors which aren't true.

I don't know, I'm somewhat inclined to believe him. There's nothing at the city to suggest the use of a siege weapon, the walls and gate are still standing, as is the Chapel where Martin is. If they'd brought along that they could have leveled the whole city. I think the siege crawler was a one-off for Bruma, a full battle, rather than the massacre of Kvatch.

My theory is that it was actually Mehrunes Dagon. We only ever see one Great Gate, though it seems there was one at Kvatch as well, so I think that between the death of the Emperor and the Great Gate, he was able to break through briefly, only to find he couldn't kill Martin. This explains why he doesn't try to attack personally again and why Kvatch wasn't utterly annihilated as it should have been. The attack depended of Dagon tearing the place up, but he wasn't able to. Frankly since Dagon and Camoran's plan hinged on killing all of the Septim line, the fact that Kvatch wasn't reduced to a smouldering crater simply doesn't make sense, unless something went very wrong.

But all of this is just supposition.

Well, there's not actually any spoilers in this update, but the long updates seem a little out of place in the "Today in Cyrodiil" thread, so I figure they're better off here.

That's one of the reasons I started this thread, actually. I'm in the habit of posting some massive text, which seemed out-of-place in the General thread. That thread has more of a 'where are you now?' sort of mentality, since most of the writers here have their own fanfics, they don't need to post a lot of text in that particular thread.

One of the advantages of posting here is it's quieter. I feel like we can therefore post with more detail about each other's stuff. Sometimes I hold back over at Beth's forums, mostly because I don't want to make other writers jealous.

I know what you mean. When there are half a dozen people who've posted it feels a little awkward only mentioning one or two updates. Though considering you seem to been the only one posting updates before I turned up, it's very nearly me crashing your thread here

Since the collapse of the Tribunal many have turned to the Nine, just as others have turned to the Daedra Lords. Arravyne worships neither, though acknowledge the existence of both groups

Lopov, what do you think? Seems like a Neutral character. Whether Arravyne is Chaotic Neutral or Lawful Neutral, I'm not sure yet. I am noticing that he acknowledges the beliefs of both 'good' and 'evil', while not subscribing to either.

I admit I haven't a clue as to his alignment, mostly because I've never thought about it. I don't think I will either, wouldn't want that lurking in my mind to trip Arravyne up at some point.

but once he started seeing flax flowers growing along the road he collected seeds from every one he could find,

Heh. I bet he did! This is a good way to get past the limitations of the Atronach, eh?

Yep, he spent half his time on the road munching on flax seeds

I am so glad he Arravyne did not go into Kvatch. He's not ready for that.

I like that Arravyne did enter the gate but then returned back, one doesn't read often about that so it feels refreshing.

He would have investigated further, but coming from Anvil meant he didn't have a supply of self made restore magicka potions, and he ran out of magicka. Since he had no idea what was going on, he decided to play it safe, something fairly unusual for my characters.

Edit: Hmm, I seem to have quoted a post that doesn't exist. ???

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Oct 7 2013, 09:39 PM

[Renee]

I know what you mean. When there are half a dozen people who've posted it feels a little awkward only mentioning one or two updates. Though considering you seem to been the only one posting updates before I turned up, it's very nearly me crashing your thread here

Not at all, CT, you're not crashing "my" thread, you're just the first one to also start posting stories here, and I'm glad to have you. Nobody owns this thread, it's open to all. But like I said, most everyone else here has their own fanfic pages, and I imagine most fanfics center on one character at a time. It wouldn't make sense for me to do this because I've got ... 4 characters mentioned so far in this thread. Imagine if each of these had his or her own fanfic? That ... could get ugly.

Enjoy the Kahreem story up above. It's finally done.

[mirocu]

Enjoy the Kahreem story up above.

I sure did As always you did some great writing there, Renee!

[Grits]

The pictures taken with a cell phone have the feeling of being very much right in the action, since there’s no freezing and posing on consoles. I still remember Lady Mara’s Nord (arghh, but his name escapes me!) grinning at Forrester during their midnight target practice session outside the Ill Omen.

I’m enjoying Arravyne’s adventures, Callidus.

The Weet Bandit has the key in the lock at last! Hlidara may not get to pummel him with her fists again!

In Grits news, I’ve made an NPC version of Jerric for Darnand to travel with. So far he looks good but needs an attitude adjustment. Darnand defeated Lorgren Benirus with no help from Jerric at all. That was NOT the plan!

Still, Benirus Manor. It was a good day.

[Acadian]

. . . In Grits news, I’ve made an NPC version of Jerric for Darnand to travel with. So far he looks good but needs an attitude adjustment. Darnand defeated Lorgren Benirus with no help from Jerric at all. That was NOT the plan!

Still, Benirus Manor. It was a good day.

Poor Darnand! Hee! Perhaps the mage should have told his large Nordic (redundant) friend that Lorgren Benirus had a ham sandwich in his pocket?

[SubRosa]

The pictures taken with a cell phone have the feeling of being very much right in the action, since there’s no freezing and posing on consoles. I still remember Lady Mara’s Nord (arghh, but his name escapes me!) grinning at Forrester during their midnight target practice session outside the Ill Omen.

Scarsdale? Skarsgard! I remember because it was like Stellan.

In Grits news, I’ve made an NPC version of Jerric for Darnand to travel with. So far he looks good but needs an attitude adjustment. Darnand defeated Lorgren Benirus with no help from Jerric at all. That was NOT the plan!

Still, Benirus Manor. It was a good day.

Doh! I guess Jerric must have gotten distracted by a bottle of mead. Or maybe some comely Breton lass down at the Mages Guild...

[Renee]

In Grits news, I’ve made an NPC version of Jerric for Darnand to travel with. So far he looks good but needs an attitude adjustment. Darnand defeated Lorgren Benirus with no help from Jerric at all. That was NOT the plan!

Awesome, this sort of thing (creating PCs into NPCs) seems so advanced to me. Are you able to adjust Darnard's aggression at all, so that this doesn't happen?

Scarsdale? Skarsgard! I remember because it was like Stellan.

Yep, Skarsgard. The winner of the Vanilla Male (or at least a runner-up, I don't remember exactly) in the Hot/Not 2012 contest.

[mirocu]

Scarsdale? Skarsgard! I remember because it was like Stellan.

Yep, Skarsgard. The winner of the Vanilla Male (or at least a runner-up, I don't remember exactly) in the Hot/Not 2012 contest.

Ahh, the Hot or Not contest. Such great fun it was!

[Rohirrim]

Scarsdale? Skarsgard! I remember because it was like Stellan.

Yep, Skarsgard. The winner of the Vanilla Male (or at least a runner-up, I don't remember exactly) in the Hot/Not 2012 contest.

Ahh, the Hot or Not contest. Such great fun it was!

When was this?

[Acadian]

When was this?

It was on a thread co-hosted by Renee over on the Bethesda Softworks forum. She ran one the year before over there as well.

[Renee]

When was this?

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1418247-am-i-hot-or-not/

There ya go. There used to be a website called www.amihot.com where people posted up pics. Once the pics were up, somebody could view them and vote from 10 (hot) to 1 (not), so that's where the silly idea came from, except I axed the 1 to 10 system.

Here is the results post: http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1429283-t...rds/?p=21917920

Wow. Grits actually had three males win Vanilla Male. Skarsgard was tied for #3 with Darian. Interesting.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 10 2013, 01:44 PM

[Renee]

Time: Sun's Dusk 10, 3rd Era 433, 7:30 am

Days Passed: 76
Active Quests: 17
Quests Cmptd: 5
Bounty: 90


"Hello."

"Good to see you!"

As day breaks early here in Leyawiin County, one guard arrives at his post and greets another. The morning is so gloriously sunny, it's amazing there ever was a day of fog or rain on Topal Bay.

"What's new with you?" asks Leyawiin guard #1.

"If I had a question about Heavy Armor, I'd probably ask Varnado at the best defense'," answers the other.

"Well, if you MUST have heavy armor, go see Varnado. So heavy, so ugly. But it's your choice."

The two guards stand awkwardly, unsure who will bring up the subject first. Technically, Guard #1 is supposed to be starting his break, while Guard #2 is slated to begin his time at the watch. But both guards stand still a moment. Suddenly, both also speak at the same moment.

--"So that Redguard who"----"Do you remember that Redguard"--

Both look at one another, and then down at the ground, a feeling of guilt and shame passing between them.

"The blacksmith..."

"Blacksmith? I was speaking of the beggar I saw."

"He ..."

"Was he?..."

Both guards stand a moment longer, while time dawdles by. They've already wasted too much of it, making what should have been a simple shift-change into a virtual gossip-fest.

"Go take your break."

"It's about time!"

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7:30 am, Castle Leyawiin Lord's Manor

"Good morning!"

"How delightful!"

Words of forced comfort pass between Marius and his wife, Countess Alessia Caro, as they arise from another platonic night of marriage.

"Have you heard any word about--"

But Marius is already gone. He has left the room, eager to make his way to court, once again.

Countess Alessia spends a moment feeling dumbfounded on a few subjects: Her marriage to an older man, the over-running of Leyawiin by a host of beast races, and (most of all) the thing she does not want to admit, the fact that her 'secret' torture chamber is no longer so much of a secret anymore. Not only this, but somebody has been using the passages below her very bedroom to infiltrate her precious solitude. Not once but twice now.

"'Tis no wonder I spend so many of my days travelling north. Buggered botherations!" the Countess scoffs, as she rises and perfumes herself slowly. "Mischiefs and ministrations! Perhaps Hlidara was right. Perhaps I should take matters further...oh but what am I saying? Leyawiin's guards will take care of it all, sooner or ...."

Suddenly, the Countess stops. She opens her jewelry box, and stops.

"Good morning, milady! How are you today?"

"Hlidara, have you seen my ring?"

"Ring milady? What ring?"

"What ring? MY ring! The ring I have been wearing so proudly as of late! MY ring!!!"

Hlidara Mothril (of course) knows which ring her Lady speaks of, but she cannot help but feel confused, her temper rising just a notch. That blacksmith! "Ohhh milady, but you have so many rings! Perhaps you've simply misplaced the one you speak of, perhaps you've just got them mixed up!"

"I did NOT get them mixed up and I am NOT confused! ... MY ring! It's GONE! Do you hear me? GONE! I Know of it! I did place it in this very box last night, as I always do!"

"It's gone? Is it really gone? But how can this be?" As Hldara now stands aside Countess Caro, she also looks into the jewelry box, the empty jewelry box, and is unpleasantly startled. ... "Wait'll I get my hands on that Redguard SCUM!" Hlidara glares! "Don't you fret, milady! We'll have this all sorted out in a rat's hair of time! Why, he's probably idling down in the Castle's dungeon as we speak!!"

"He's not a very good thief, is he?" Caro says, her temper vanishing. "Yes, you're right. Perhaps he is already caught, and we have not a thing to worry."

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Sun's Dusk 10, 2:30 pm

"HAAA!!! You dare impose the might, OF THE IMPERIAL LEGION!"

As Kahreem of Weet now rides a half-mile north of Leyawiin, safely following an Imperial Guard (who's just taken the time to rid the path before them of a mudcrab) he bounces the ring engraved with the countess's name in its band firmly up and down in his dark hand.

"Not bad for a day's work," he says. "Ahdarji, here I come."

This post has been edited by Renee: Dec 7 2022, 05:59 PM

[Grits]

Skarsgard!! Thank you. I remember his shirt-optional tavern tour of Cyrodiil. That would be a fun event to organize someday. Everyone visit the same tavern in their game and post pictures with a review.

That was a fun contest. Some of my characters have retired, died, or migrated since then, but those three vanilla guys are still going strong. Darian (with his expanding entourage) and the original Jerric are on the PS3 and Selador is on the Xbox. Funny.

I figured out why NPC Jerric was letting bandit dogs chase him all over the Gold Coast. His aggression was right, but a mod was dictating his behavior. D’oh!! Got him straightened out. Plus I learned a lot about how a few things work while I was checking every single thing that could be wrong except for the actual problem. But I guess the solution is always the last thing you try.

Anyway Renee, don’t let my floundering around dissuade you from making your own NPCs! There are some good tutorials out there to read and watch, and the simple followers that I’m making are not difficult. I’m so delighted to finally put my characters face to face.


A sunny day for Kahreem! Maybe the next time that Legion Rider dismounts he’ll say “I’ve fought mudcrabs more fearsome than you.” Kahreem saw it happen.

[Renee]

Skarsgard!! Thank you. I remember his shirt-optional tavern tour of Cyrodiil. That would be a fun event to organize someday. Everyone visit the same tavern in their game and post pictures with a review.

Yeah you know? Perhaps what I'll do is gather up all of Lady Mara's writing for Skarsgard, and ask her if she wants me to organize them into a thread here at Chorrol (with those lovely pics). This way, his entire story will be in one place. At present, they're all scattered about in a bunch of Where are You Now? threads.

That was a fun contest. Some of my characters have retired, died, or migrated since then, but those three vanilla guys are still going strong. Darian (with his expanding entourage) and the original Jerric are on the PS3 and Selador is on the Xbox. Funny.

Sweet!

Anyway Renee, don’t let my floundering around dissuade you from making your own NPCs! There are some good tutorials out there to read and watch, and the simple followers that I’m making are not difficult. I’m so delighted to finally put my characters face to face.

Oh I see. Actually, I have heard it's possible to get almost any NPC a follower via mods, right? The ability to just hire any NPC will be amazing enough for me. Lady Saga especially has been wanting to have somebody to travel with. She used to go around asking a variety of NPCs to follow her, even though I knew this can never happen in vanilla.

A sunny day for Kahreem! Maybe the next time that Legion Rider dismounts he’ll say “I’ve fought mudcrabs more fearsome than you.” Kahreem saw it happen.

It makes me laugh that a guard starts yelling taunts and insults to a creature that can't even comprehend anything greater than its next meal.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 10 2013, 10:18 PM

[mirocu]

Perhaps what I'll do is gather up all of Lady Mara's writing for Skarsgard, and ask her if she wants me to organize them into a thread here at Chorrol (with those lovely pics). This way, his entire story will be in one place. At present, they're all scattered about in a bunch of Where are You Now? threads.

I think she mentioned doing that herself at some point. But since she´s no longer active with Oblivion I guess the idea itself has... well, fallen into Oblivion!


Pun so intended!

[Lopov]

Lucien Lachance has been observing Raven ever since he had arrived to Cyrodiil. He knew more about his past than anyone else except Raven himself and he was also familiar with his father, Adalard Venderaux, who had been a powerful necromancer and a cruel murderer until his own son ended his life. His messengers told him about Raven's massacre at Hackdirt, murder of the bounty hunter close to Pell's Gate and other black deeds that Raven performed, convinced that he's doing it for greater good. But Lucien Lachance knew that Raven has a dark side inside him, only waiting to be waken and unleashed. And now the time to finally visit him, had arrived.



Not a sound could be heard when Lucien Lachance arrived to the deserted town of Hackdirt. All houses were in the dark except for one dim light coming out of the upper window at now abandoned Moslin's Inn. Lucien wickedly smiled, now familiar with Raven's whereabouts. Cloaked by his chameleon spell, he made his way to the inn, silently opened the door and went upstairs to Moslin's private room. Soundlessly, he entered the old room, careful not to wake Raven up. He saw him lying in his loincloth on the double bed but something was wrong...

...Raven's sleep was restless, he was tossing and turning in bed, mumbling some words that Lucien Lachance couldn't understand. As he stepped closer and looked at his face, he saw that Raven was sweating heavily and assumed that he had a fever. Then he saw a dark stain on his forearm and when he leaned closer to check it out, he saw a fresh, deep wound. Lucien Lachance was familiar with many different wounds and he immediately recognized this one to be from a zombie.

"Caught a disease, have you?" thought Lucien."Rockjoint? Astral vapors? Don't worry child, you'll survive it. I actually prefer you in your...weakened state."

He casted a frost spell in the air, chilling the entire room and then bursted a weak shock force to Raven's body, waking him up instantly. He quickly raised his head and stared at Lachance. His face was pale, his eyes blurred and he was breathing slowly.

"You sleep rather soundly for a murderer. That's good. You'll need a clear conscience for what I'm about to propose."

He looked at Raven and expected to see a surprise in his eyes but he didn't see any, the Breton was looking at him like he wasn't even sure whether he was an apparition or a real person. After a few seconds of silence, he slowly said:

"You...explain yourself" *exhales heavily* "Now."

"In due time, dear child. In due time. First, an introduction. I am Lucien Lachance, Speaker for the Dark Brotherhood. And you, you are a cold-blooded killer, capable of taking life without mercy or remorse. The Night Mother has been watching, and she is most pleased. And so, here I am. I come to you with an offering. An opportunity... to join our rather unique family."

Raven's head fell back on a pillow and he closed his eyes. Lachance at first thought that he had lost his consciousness but then Raven slowly turned his head against him and opened his eyes, his gaze still distant. This time he said nothing so Lachance continued:

"So, I have your rapt attention. Splendid. Now listen closely."

Lachance went on and told Raven about the Inn of Ill Omen ("I remember it, I've been there...Manheim...Minerva"), a man named Rufio ("unfamilar name"), kill Rufio ("kill? kill?"), initiation into the Dark Brotherhood ("Initiation? Why? No, I'm...")

"No!" shouted Raven and raised his head. His response surprised Lachance. "I'm...not...a murderer."

"No? The Night Mother seems to think otherwise. Allow me to grant you a gift, in case you reconsider."

Lachance handed him the Blade of Woe and Raven managed to gain enough strength to sit up. He looked at Lucien, confused, and then slowly took the blade in his hands. With one hand he held its pommel, with the other one he was slowly and gently feeling its sharp tip.

"His dark side is waking up, I see it... I feel it," thought Lachance.

"It is a virgin blade, and thirsts for blood. May it serve you well, as does your silence. Now, I bid you farewell. I do hope we'll meet again soon."

Raven looked up at Lachance and saw two faces resting on his shoulders. The face on his left was the face of his father Adalard, who smiled at him. That's odd, since his father never smiled.

"Go on, son," said his father and nodded. "Go on. You thirst for blood. Your body thirsts for blood. Make me proud."

Then Raven looked at the other face, this one of a woman. She was pale and had long black hair that were hiding most of her face. Raven knew why...she was hiding her bruises. And although he couldn't see her face clearly, he saw tears running down her cheek.

"Your path is clear. Send Rufio to his death, and the Dark Brotherhood will embrace you as family," said Lachance and both faces suddenly disappeared. Then he cloaked himself and headed out of the room. As he put his hand on a doorhandle, he felt someone grabbing his shoulder. He turned around and saw Raven, his eyes blurred...but there was something else, something that Lachance couldn't see yet.

"Do you have more questions, dark child?" asked Lachance and wanted to remove Raven's hand, but he grabbed him even stronger.

"This blade...it is still virgin...you say?"

"That it is, my child. It is only but waiting to be covered in blood."

"Then..." said Raven and Lachance didn't like his gaze anymore, it seemed like his eyes were becoming more focused. "...then let's it make it lose its innocence!"

With a powerful swing Raven stabbed Lahance into his chest but magical robe of the Speaker sustained a lot of damage.

"That was your last mistake!" shouted Lachance and pulled out his silver shortsword. "Prepare to die, traitor!"

"Traitor?" Raven and staggered back. "I'm not a traitor. But you're a murderer and a coward. And you called ME a murderer. That was YOUR last mistake."

"You see yourself as a saint, Venderaux? Ha, you have evil running through your veins! Written in your blood! Your father and your grandfather..."

"That is past! And you shall be past too!"

The battle between Lachance and Raven was fierce and at first it seemed that Lachance won't have any difficulties defeating him. Being still weak from the disease, he was often missing and his fingers felt too numb to cast a simple spell. As Lachance was inflicting him a wound after a wound, the face of the black-haired woman appeared again. This time there were no tears but a smile... a kind, warm smile.

Whether was it this smile or whether the disease-curing potion finally began to effect, Raven could feel energy returning to his fingers. He dodged Lachance's attack and touched him with his hands, unleashing his shock fury to the Speaker. Lachance was surprised and stepped back, and for the first time in many years he felt fear. Fear, because there was a slight chance that he won't be able to cope with Raven's magical talents. And he was correct.

Although he successfuly cut Raven a few more times, the Breton eventually sent sparks to his body again and Lachance felt powerless. He dropped the shortsword and fell on the back, knowing that he had only a few seconds before he'll join the Night Mother. Raven was standing above him, Blade of Woe still in his right hand, blood dripping from its tip and a victorious and angry look in his eyes.

"It can't be," whispered Lachance, "it wasn't supposed to end like this. You...you could achieve a lot, I saw it. You have it in your blood..."

"Nonsense! Time to end this little game" and Raven plunged Blade of Woe through Lachance's heart, ending the life of the infamous Speaker.

...

He didn't know how many time had passed while he was crouching next to Lachance's body, thinking of his deeds, his father and his future. The future which finally didn't seem so dark. For the first time Raven felt that he defeated something inside himself. Something dark, something malicious - by disobeying his orders, he finally defeated his father.

Although he still felt weak and his joints hurt badly, he decided to head back to Chorrol to heal himself properly. He slowly put on his clothes, took his stuff from the drawers and headed out of the inn, gasping for fresh air. As he was stumbling towards Chorrol, he looked in the sky and instead of Masser and Secunda, he saw two faces. While angry man's face was slowly fading away, the woman's was getting more intense and Raven could see her smile again.

"Thank you...mother."

[mirocu]

Incredibly good writing, mr Lopov! And actually a very surprising twist!

[Lopov]

Thank you, mr mirocu. I thought that you don't read so long updates.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Oct 16 2013, 03:37 PM