Oasis Chapter 2, Trouble with the mages. Options

[jack cloudy]

Alright, welcome to chapter 2 of my fan fic. For those who haven't read part one, please look here:
Oasis, chapter 1

Well, have fun.

Chapter 2: Trouble with the mages.

,,Come one, you stupid rat. Is that the best you’ve got? Hah, missed me! Oops, there goes your head.”
I held up the soulgem that was now emitting a soft glow.
,,And here’s your soul. Welcome to your new home.”
I was happy. It was the first time I attempted to do something other than just taking out the opposition in battle, and it had worked quite well. With no doubt I could sell the gem and the soul contained within it to Galbedir for a nice price.

Yep, things had never been so good. I spent last night in my old shack in Seyda Neen. No one had even touched the small building. Definitely an improvement from the burglary of last time.

And in my pockets, I had samples of four different mushrooms. Ajira would be pleased. Not to mention the favour she would owe me.

It was when the sun had just passed its peak that I came across a small door embedded into a rock wall. Curious, I got closer. Above the door, old Dunmer markings were carved into the rock.

,,Here….last….dead…” I had begun to learn the written language used by the Dark Eves for a little bit. One thing was sure, this was a tomb and probably loaded with wealth just waiting to be taken. Those silly Dark Elves were too serious about this idea that the spirits of the dead stay behind.

Well, I had her mushrooms and I refused to take the Siltstrider. Ajira probably wouldn’t mind a bit of treasure seeking, would she? With some effort, I opened the ancient door and went inside.

Ok, things didn’t look as nice as I expected them to be. At the bottom of a set of stairs I could see what was obviously the corpse of a previous tomb robber. And the corpse didn’t seemed to have been there for so long. I took out my Katana and continued with a slower, more careful pace. I didn’t wanted to be the next victim.

When I reached the corpse, I still hadn’t noticed any sign of life around here. Maybe whatever killed this guy had left? I sat crouched next to the body and took a good look at it.

No stabwounds, cuts, crushed bodyparts, or signs of death caused by magic. Maybe he just fell down the stairs. I stood up again and looked at the corridor that led further into the tomb. It was then that the ghost attacked me.

I’d never seen an undead being before. If I did, I might’ve been more prepared. I performed a overhead chop at the ghost, only to see my blade pass right through it! I got in two more useless slashes before the thing dove on top of me and began to strangle me.

I dropped my sword and desperately tried to create a fireball. No use, I couldn’t focus properly and the best I got were a few miserable sparks. My vision slowly turned to black as I began to lose consciousness.




Sorry about the lack of humor, but there isn't much joking he can do whith that ghost on top of him. He can do a lot of choking though.

[Taillus]

Uh oh.... this is not good. Damn ghosts and their intangibility!!!

[Kiln]

Great way to start the second chapter. I would be worried about the ghost killing him but the story is too good for the character to die so early, I'm not worried.

Good job, keep it up.

[minque]

woah....what a.....disgusting experience, meeting an undead like that....

Good work anyway!

[jack cloudy]

Um yeah, thanks for the comments. Now for the story. I'm not so sure about it, I have this feeling that my way out of the ghost problem was a bit too simple. Just read and you'll see what I mean. I couldn't think of much humor also. That will hopefully change when I get back to Balmora. Tons of people to use there.




,,Wake up, your time has not yet come.” Hot burning air filled my lungs till they were about to explode. Energy soared through my veins. I didn’t need to think, I just plunged the sword into the ghost’s face.

I lied there for a while, unsure about what happened. Fargoth’s ring had reduced the burning in my lungs, though only a little. If I got out of here, I really needed to ask around the mage’s guild for a better healing spell.

Two hours later, I felt capable of moving on. In the meantime, I’d been filled with questions. To who belonged that voice, how did I come back from the brink of death like that? And how did Tarhiel’s sword end up in my hand?

I shook my head, the experience probably messed with my brains and caused me to imagine things. One thing was for sure, if I still wanted to go on into the tomb, Tarhiel’s sword would be the weapon of choice. Just the fact that it managed to touch the ghost made it better than my Katana in this case.

The only remains of the ghost were a few drops of some sort of green goo. I put some of it in one of the small bottles I’d found in Gilnith’s shack. Maybe Ajira was willing to pay for a sample.

When I ventured deeper into the tomb, it was a big difference with how I simply walked in before encountering the ghost. Now I slowly crept forward, keeping low to the ground and my sword raised for a devastating thrust at all times.

After a few more stairs, I came to a corner. A peek around it confirmed what the sound of rattling bones had already hinted at. A skeleton was marching back and forth. I waited till it had turned around and was moving away from me before stepping around the corner.

It caught a fireball right into its stupidly grinning face that knocked its head of. Now headless, the skeleton charged. Quite an amusing sight if it wasn’t potentially lethal. But skeletons are simple and clumsy, so I simply sidestepped its charge and watched it run into the wall. A moment later, I slammed my sword into its spine. The enchantment that kept the thing alive vanished and it dropped to the floor in a pile of bones.

It only had some cheap iron crap on it, not worth the trouble I just went through, but it was better than nothing. I continued on my way and soon found that the corridor ended in a room lined with urns and a few pillars.

An arrow lodged itself deep into my Bonemold chestplate, though it fortunately came just short of penetrating. What’s worse than a skeleton with a sword? A skeleton with a bow.

I took cover behind a pillar and made multiple attempts to move into an attack position. No good, whenever I poked my head out, it would fire an arrow. This required a small distraction.

,,Ok, sack of bones, here’s a little question. Will you shoot your master’s ash, or not?” I muttered and threw the urn at the wall. An arrow hit the wall at the same spot as the urn, only a bit later. The skeleton never got the chance to ready another arrow before its bones were scattered across the room. ,,So you shot it.”

I kicked the remains around a bit. ,,You’re not so tough now, are you? Your bones are lying in a pile, how are you going to stop me? Well, how are you going to do that?” I Thrust my sword through a ghost that was drawn to the scene by the noise I made.
,,Wait for your turn, I’m talking here. Too late now. You’re already dead.” I said and filled my bottle with some more of the green goo. Ghosts were pathetic. The trouble was in actually hitting them, once you did that, they stood no chance.

That was all the opposition I found. There was nothing valuable in the damn tomb. The only thing that got close was a helmet. It was Bonemold, but of a design I hadn’t seen before. It was unlikely I would find it in a store. It looked nice on my head too.

I got out of the tomb only a little later. The rest of the day was used to hit Kwama Foragers, Mudcrabs, Rats and the occasional Scrib. I spent the night in Pelagiad. Though it was an Imperial town, the idea of a bed sounded better than spending the night on a rock. And it was a good place to sell the weapons of the two Skeletons.

[jack cloudy]

Ok, The next part is mostly some quick fun with Ajira's missions.



,,What?!” The Khajit barely even seemed to notice that I was yelling at her. This was ridiculous. ,,I just brought you those mushrooms and now you want me to do that?!” Still no decent response, all I got was another: ,,Ajira thanks friend for mushrooms, but now friend must drop fake soul gem in Galbedirs desk, then Ajira will win the bet.” This was just great.

The damn gem seemed to burn a hole through my pockets, or maybe it was my imagination.
,,Something wrong, Redguard?” Ranis, the steward of the Balmora guild hall stood in my path. She still refused to call me by name. I understand that it was rare to find a Redguard in the mage’s guild, but she was pushing it.

A faint smile developed on her face. ,,I see. Those two have been at each other’s throats since they came here. They’re constantly arguing whether Khajit or Bosmer make better thieves. And there is the occasional duel. I suggest you just do what she says. After Galbedir has finished her accusations, we’ll have some peace. Till Galbedir takes revenge, that is.” Not much help from this one.

I pretended to read a book while waiting for the Wood Elf to leave her room. Actually, I wasn’t pretending, I was reading it and completely forgot about the time. When I finally realized, Ajira’s distraction had been long done and Galbedir was locked up in her room again.

Time for a change of plan, but I didn’t knew what. I walked back to the main hall. There I saw my chance.

,,Don’t Interrupt my thinking! Leave me now!” An Orc was making a lot of noise. I thought I was going deaf. An Orc in the mage’s guild, and then people talk about a Redguard being a strange sight. People are just plain weird. But it did give me an idea.

I ran back to the bottom of the stairs. ,,By Oblivion, that Orc is about to pound someone into the floor! I’m out of here!” I conveniently yelled from the bottom of the stairs and hid behind a few barrels.

Yep, the Wood Elf just couldn’t resist the temptation of excitement and hurried down to look at the commotion. She didn’t even close the door.

I didn’t knew how long she would be gone, so I slipped the fake gem into her desk and left the room as fast as I could.

,,Hi, Ajira. I just came to tell that they send that package you asked for.” Ajira thanked me then immediately came with her next assignment. Where does she get those from?

,,Now Luper Alkad must seek flowers for Ajira.” Yep, another pointless job. This was not what I expected when I joined up. This is the mage’s guild so shouldn’t I have to do tasks more related with things like…magic?

Seeing as it was the only way to get away from her, I accepted. But the Daedra be damned I was not going to hunt for a damn lake! Instead, I just dropped in with the nearest Alchemist and asked if she sold flowers.

,,Yes, I do.” Finally some good news. I would just spent a few days to keep that Imperial drugaddicted spy from sending every person with a weapon after me and buy the flowers after seemingly returning from a long trip.

My next order of business was spend with the local clothier. My robe was nice and comfortable, but it failed to provide the manoeuvrability I needed for real combat. The clothier came with a fine solution, a set of pants covered by a skirt that provided both warmth, manoeuvrability and that swinging style I liked.

,,Ah, there you are.” Caius was still wearing the same ridiculous and elaborate outfit. A set of pants that nearly fell apart. He looked me over. ,,I see you’ve bought a set of Bonemold, and more than you could buy with the money I gave you. But underneath that, you still look the same.” Nice, and you looked the same too. Can’t we just get to business?

,,Ok, gramps. I did what you wanted, so where are these stupid orders of yours?”
,,First, stop calling me gramps. I’m not that old. Now, I want you to ask a man named Hasphat Antabolis about the Sixth House and this Nerevar. He can be fount in the fighter’s guild hall. And one more thing, I didn’t told you to join the mage’s guild. You’re supposed to blend in, not stick out like a sore thumb.”

,,Calm down, gramps. I’m already going. I want to get this done with as soon as possible.” I walked to the door but turned around before leaving.
,,Can I sell that Skooma pipe of yours?”
,,Out!”
,,Is that a yes?”
Before I left, I could hear him mutter one last thing.
,,Out of all the possible prisoners, why did they have to send this one?”

This sounded easy, I would just ask this dude and all. It should be over in an hour or so. But why couldn’t gramps do it himself? Nah, he didn’t looked like the type you see walking into the Fighter’s guild. Too naked and too much drugs.

,,Yes, I do know a few things. As for you, you’ll need to know a bit more about Morrowind. Here, take this book. I’ve still got a copy. And now for the info that old sugar tooth wants. I’ll do it, but I’ll need a favour.” The guy wearing armour and looking all hot and though said. I should’ve known that it was too easy.

,,Ok, what do you want?”
,,There is a nearby Dwemer ruin here. Inside, there is something called a Dwemer puzzle box. I want that box. It is small and has engravings on one side. Get that for me, and I’ll give Caius his information.”

The directions sounded easy enough, so I just got to it. When passing Fort Moonmoth, I realized. He knew too much about the artefact. This was a trap.

[Elidor]

I kicked the remains around a bit. ,,You’re not so tough now, are you? Your bones are lying in a pile, how are you going to stop me? Well, how are you going to do that?” I Thrust my sword through a ghost that was drawn to the scene by the noise I made.
,,Wait for your turn, I’m talking here. Too late now. You’re already dead.”

Two nice updates in a row. Good job Couldnt stop laughing at the skellie archer scene.

[Tellie]

Loved it, you are just a GREAT GENIOUS, I liked the part when Oasis was calling Caius for Cossack and gramps.

Great job, give us more,

[Kiln]

Lots of content and alot of detail as well. I like how the characters thoughts are implemented seamlessly after each time someone talks and when he's doing something. Also, don't worry much about having each update brimming with humor, it isn't a must for your story so just keep writing and add a bit when you feel like it. Good job mate.

[minque]

Heey nice updates!.....I especially liked your interpretations og the mage-guild guys in Balmora!....So very amusing!

[jack cloudy]

Thank you, thank you all. Telendil, are you SURE you want to say that? What if it turns me into a big arrogant, wait for it.....N'Wah?

I just noticed I've slowed down a bit. Normally, I have an update posted by this time. What can I say, I had a lot of fun looking for Maar Gan, only to find that a Siltstrider goes there from Ald-Rhun.

Ok, I won't bother you with my talking. Let's just get to the update.



Let’s see, what would be the best place to place an ambush? Preferably some place where I didn’t had much place to manoeuvre and had to pass through. Got it, it had to be the Dwemer bridge I was supposed to cross.

As expected, the bridge was already taken. One guy wearing a crappy Iron cuirass and nothing else in the way of armour. Only one guy? That fighter’s guild dude really underestimated me. He should have picked at least two. Wasn’t there safety in numbers? ,,Ok, I can handle that.”
Now the guy started waving his hands around and magicka whirled around him. ,,Ok, so that makes one mage and one skeleton. A bit harder, but still doable.”
I ducked to avoid the spark of magical electricity. ,,A skeleton, a mage and bolts of lightning?! Man, this is getting tougher by the second! Alright, here I come!”

I stormed over the bridge at full speed. I considered it best to take out the mage first and worry about the skeleton later.

,,Watch your step, you might trip. Sorry.” The skeleton was as stupid as all members of its kind and easily tripped over my leg. With the skeleton on the floor for the next few seconds, I could focus all of my attention on the mage. Plenty of time to finish him.

My sword swing was stopped by the blade of a really big axe. The situation had just took a bad turn. Taking out a mage would’ve been easy, but a battlemage was a different story.

I traded blows for a bit longer. This definitely wouldn’t end well if I stayed around any longer. I narrowly dodged another swing of the axe, kicked the skeleton in the ribs to send it to the ground again and ran back to where I came from.

I stopped only after I’d entered the fort. Only a fool would start a fight there. The place was crawling with Imperial Legionaires. It appeared that mister axe hadn’t followed me. Good, then I would have a little surprise for him.

I really just wanted to give up on the whole thing, but that was not an option. First, the drugaddicted spy would kill me if I didn’t produce results. Second, it would be a major blow to my ego. Ok, the last one isn’t a good reason. Sorry about that, but I’m just sensitive regarding my ego.

I left the fort and this time, I passed it on the other side. If I was correct, I should end up in the canyon that lead underneath the bridge. From there, I could ambush the ambush.

Why was I trying to kill him? I could just sneak past. But my life was at stake here and I promised I would bring those flowers to Ajira. Besides, he attacked first. ,,Ah, forget this. I’m just trying to ease a damned guilty conscience. I’m just going to kill the freak, period. Now let’s get going.”

I was right and soon found myself standing underneath the bridge. Luckily for me, the stupid idiot never even bothered to look down and his skeleton was gone. Good. I strapped my shield onto my back and started climbing.

I wasn’t all that good at climbing and had the great luck that I didn’t notify the battlemage of my presence. For the last few metres, I took my time. Levitation was still new to me and I found it hard to do rapidly. But after a few minutes of concentrated casting, I could feel myself rising towards the bridge.

Levitation is great, it allows me to float through the air without making a sound. That was what I did now. He never even noticed that I was behind him. It was the oldest trick in the book. The spell cut out just before I reached his back and I landed with a little thump. He spun around just in time to see the flash of the sword that separated his head from his body. The head rolled of the bridge and fell into the canyon.

,,Hmm, he lost his head during combat, that’s not smart.” I muttered as I looted his body for anything of value and ended up taking a couple of coins. Whistling, I finally crossed the bridge to the other side. Dwemer ruin, here I come.

You can say what you like about them, but these Dwemer sure had a strange architecture. Most towers were poking out of the ground at an odd angle, with even smaller towers attached above the ground like little arms.

A Cliffracer was circling the top of one of those towers. It would make a fine soul for my soulgem. Some handwiggling later, the haze of a soultrap spell enveloped the ugly bird.

It dove towards me and slashed at me with its razorsharp tail. I blocked the tail with my shield and then cut it off before the tail got out of my reach again. The Cliffracer stumbled and nearly crashed into the ground. After cutting of its head, it really crashed into the ground.

Strange, why didn’t its soul fill the soulgem? I then noticed the tiny crack in it. Only one soulgem had that crack to recognize it. ,,No, I slipped the real gem into the stupid desk. This is the fake!” No money coming from filled Soulgems for me today.

[Kiln]

Well what can I say? Great update, laced with humor and written well. I especially liked this bit,

"First, the drugaddicted spy would kill me if I didn’t produce results. Second, it would be a major blow to my ego. Ok, the last one isn’t a good reason. Sorry about that, but I’m just sensitive regarding my ego."

And the mistake with the soulgem was realistic and somewhat funny. Anyways keep it up.

[jack cloudy]

Ok, next update.



The door took a while to find, but after that it was a simple matter of turning the crank nearby and running like a maniac before the door would be locked again.

I slipped through just in time to avoid being cut in two. Now, where would I begin my search? I walked away from the door and soon found myself staring at the huge cavern. You could build a small city in here! And some huge towers.

,,Die, Fetcher!” Umm, is it just me, or do these people have a real self-control problem? I mean, everyone just seems to want me dead for no good reason! The three robbers were only equipped with cheap Chitin daggers, so it wasn’t hard to send them to Oblivion with a few well-timed slashes of my sword.

These people were poor. If that was the best they had, I probably could forget about the idea of encountering one of those Dwemer machines I heard about. Of all things, the guy at the bridge was ten times as powerful as these pathetic little bullies.

I randomly picked one of the three doors at the bottom of the huge room and made my way through the maze of corridors, hacking the occasional robber. The place was filled with Dwemer furniture, all of which was made out of the strange steel the Dwemer seemed to use for everything. The only weapons I found were a spear, a shortsword and a Jinksword. The swords would be the nice start of a weapon collection when I ever came back to my shack in Seyda Neen. I kept the spear, you could never know when a bit of extra reach came in handy.

I returned to the big entrance room a few hours later. No puzzle box in sight and I was sure I had tried every single door with the exception of one door that was locked. I decided that there was probably something nasty behind it and left it alone.

My lunch consisted of fried Cliffracer, with the help of a small campfire the robbers had left behind. I saw a balcony I hadn’t been on yet. If I climbed those rocks near it, I should be able to reach it.

After finishing my lunch, I gave it a try. The climb was easy enough and I soon reached the balcony. Time to continue my exploration.

,,Hey, who are you?” Oops, looks like I’d found their boss. The place was filled with artefacts, including a small box. The puzzlebox! Now how did I got out of this mess without a fight?

,,Oh, hi boss. I’m the new guy. Didn’t they told you I’d arrived?” The robber looked at me. I prayed that he wouldn’t be suspicious about my outfit. It was a bit more…elaborate. ,,Really? I don’t know about a new guy. And what’s with that outfit? You look rather rich to me. Did Crito let you pass on the bridge?” So the guy on the bridge was Crito?

,,Yeah, he did. We talked for a while. Interesting fellow.”
,,I am Crito! Now you’ll die!” He came at me with rage burning in his eyes. Why did my plans always fail?

I raised my shield just in time to catch a blow from Crito’s warhammer that nearly broke my arm. Damn, I hated fighting people with heavy weapons. I dropped the shield that now had a really big dent in it. This fight couldn’t be won by defence, I had to avoid his attacks if I wanted to live.

Lucky for me, the big hammer also made him a bit slow, and I managed to put a few minor cuts on him. But dancing within reach of that big block of Iron was too dangerous. Crito soon had me backed in a corner, just out of his reach.

,,You should’ve picked a stronger opponent. I will bath in your bloo…Argh!” The Dwemer cog that flew into his face looked painful. Actually, there wasn’t much of a face left. I hacked at what was left to end his life a bit quicker. There was no need to let him suffer. I stashed the puzzlebox and left the ruins.

,,Redguard? I see that you’ve returned. That pleases me. Have you found the puzzlebox?” The fighter’s guild guy looked surprised to see me. He should’ve known that it took more than a few robbers with daggers to stop me.

,,I’ve got your puzzlebox right here.” I answered. Oh, this guy was so going to get it.
,,Good, then give it to me.” I pushed the tip of my Katana to his throat before he knew what happened and backed him up against the wall. A fireball that was burning in my free hand would complete the threat.
,,I think it’s time we change the deal. You will give me the information and I will keep the damn box. If not, you are going to meet the same end as your friends from the ruins.” I said with my most threatening voice. He was bigger than me, but he literally seemed to shrink.

,,You won’t get out of here. You are already surrounded by everyone in the guild.” As if I expected anything else. I didn’t need to look to know that multiple weapons were pointed at me.
,,Whether I get out or not doesn’t matter. You are a traitor and if you don’t do as I say you will die as a traitor!” I could see the fear in his eyes. His hand slowly went to his pocket and he pulled out a small piece of paper.

,,Take these notes.” He whispered with a trembling voice. I grabbed the paper and released him from my grip.
After that, I turned my back to him and walked away.
,,I can kill you now. Why do you turn your back to your enemy?” The fool. Such a big mouth but no muscles to back it up.
,,I have nothing to fear from you. You are a coward. Next time you try to cheat on me, I will not spare your miserable life.”

Caius seemed to have mixed feelings about the whole thing.
,,Look, you got the information. That is good. But I told you about the blending in thing before. Threatening someone in front of the entire fighter’s guild is not a good way to avoid attracting attention.” He said. He still hadn’t dressed properly.
,,Whatever, Skoomie. I got you the notes, so can I go now?”

,,Skoomie?! If you keep it up like that, I’ll kill you myself.” This was so funny I just had to laugh. He looked so ridiculous when he was angry.
,,You won’t. If the emperor thought it was important enough to send you a letter written by himself, then that means that I’m too important to be killed by a halfnaked spy.”
,,Your purpose is important, not you. If you get killed, we’ll just grab another prisoner.” He said.
,,Now, Antabolis’s notes describe the sixth house well enough, but they are lacking in the case of Nerevar. I believe I know just the person to help out with that.” Oh great, another errand.

[jchamber]

yay, more great stuff. btw how and why do you get the "start quote" marks in the subtext spot?

[jack cloudy]

Ok, I'm back.
,,Jchamber, are you referring to the two little markings I put in front of your name?
Well, I just use two komma's (is this the english word?) Ok let's try that again. just do 2 of these: ,
And I do it that way cause that's the way I learned to write at school. (Yes, we dutch people are stubborn.)

In game news, I pissed of the guards with a stolen bottle in the council club that ended in a slaughter. (Hey, I took a bottle! No need to start killing here! Scamp, give me a hand, will ya?) I managed to pay the fine through the Thieves guild, but they still attack me on sight. Am I screwed?




,,Now, I have an Orc friend in the thieves guild. You may have met her.”
,,Yeah, yeah. I already know what you want from me. Get to your Orc buddy and do anything that’s needed to get the info without drawing attention. If she wants money, it will have to come out of my own pockets because you’re too lazy to put on a shirt with pockets. Whatever, see yah.” And I was out again.

When I shouted that I believed that she was going to beat up someone to lure Galbedir out of her office, I was serious. Man, Orcs scare me. What I don’t do in service of the empire.

,,What is it this time?!” I hoped that I would catch miss greenskin in a good mood, but it appeared there was no such thing as a good mood for her.
,,Cosades would like you to do a little service?” I carefully asked, ready to run as if an army of Daedra was after me.

,,Caius? Maybe I will help him, for a price.” A price, you can never get something without a price here. Aren’t we generous.
,,What do you want?” Let’s hope it didn’t had anything to do with grabbing metal boxes out of a ruin.

,,I want a skull. There is a tomb in the Bitter Coast Region in which the skull of a long dead Dunmer is kept. Of course it has nothing to do with Necromancy.” Yeah, of course not. Not a chance in Oblivion at that. Of course it’s for Necromancy. What else would she need someone’s skull for?
,,Got it. I’ll be back in a couple of days.” I left quickly before the Orc would change her mind and decide that she did want to pound me into the ground.

I brought Ajira her flowers and instantly got jumped by the next job.
Ok, so now I had to buy a bowl from the local trader. Okidoki, that wouldn’t take more than five minutes.

When I came back, one minute later than expected, Ajira had completely forgotten about the stupid bowl.

,,Galbedir has stolen Ajira’s reports. Friend Luper Alkad must find reports for Ajira. Galbedir has not left the guild, so the reports must be here.” Doesn’t this ever stop? I dropped the bowl on her desk and looked around the guild.

One of the reports was underneath a bed. I took a small peek to satisfy my curiosity. Nothing but some boring crap about the usefulness of mushrooms as an ingredient in potions. But the end was different.

,,Ajira works very hard to go all over Bitter Coast and collect all these mushrooms. Ajira deserves rank of Journeyman much sooner than Galbedir.”
What? This was just not right. Ajira travels all over the Bitter Coast? Since when was my name Ajira.

The next report. Was behind a bunch of baskets at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Galbedir’s room. I took a peek in the hope that it was a bit better. It was basically the same thing as the mushroom report, only with the flowers. She wrote all that in just six minutes while I was out to fetch a stupid bowl? And look at this, she did it again.

,,Ajira works very hard to collect these flower samples from the dangerous Lake Amaya. Ajira must do two reports and Galbedir must only do one silly report. Ajira deserves rank of Journeyman very soon now.”
Ok, friend or not, she was not going to get away with it. Time to pay mister sugartooth a visit.

,,Back already? Did you get the information?” The guy seemed genuinely hopeful. Too bad for him.
,,No, not yet. Now step aside and clean up that table. Say, can you imitate people’s writing?" I replied with a big grin.

,,Well, I am a spymaster. What did you expect?”
,,Great. Look, I’ve got these lovely reports here. Now I want you to rewrite them all, but shuffle the effects around a bit.”

He took a quick look at the two reports.
,,This is a report made by a student at the mage guild. Now why would I help you with such a childish action?” He said, looking very insulted. I decided to hit the old man with his own weapons.
,,Look. I don’t want to draw any attention. So if you rewrite those reports, a certain Khajitt is going to create chaos in the guild and no one will notice that I had to do a….sensitive favour for your Orc friend.”
,,Alright. I’ll see what I can do. Just give me an hour.”

It didn’t take long for him to rewrite the reports. I stashed the originals at his place. No one would look for them among the mess that was mister Skooma’s house.

,,Won’t you get caught with that?” He asked in a last attempt to keep me from doing this.
,,Hey, don’t worry. When the whole show starts, there will be only one person who will be blamed for it. And that person isn’t me.

I was back at the mage’s guild a little bit later. Ajira was all too happy with the reports and thanked me again and again. She never even looked at them. Good, that delayed the show till the reports were shown to the steward. Now I had a skull to hunt.

[jack cloudy]

Ok, another update and all that stuff.
And about my guard problem, I'll have to start all over again. I found that I needed some real big cheating just to survive. That will take time, but it will give me the chance to do things again, and a bit better this time.
(Such as saving poor Rabinna. I couldn't protect her when we were attacked by three Cliffracers and a Kagouti after we were surprised by an ash storm. *starts crying*)



I knew of only one tomb, and that was the one in the Bitter Coast Region. Sure, works for me.
I had softened it up a bit the last time I paid the tomb a visit, so I shouldn’t have much of a problem cleaning up what was left.

I was wrong. Barely one step after I’d entered the tomb, a ghost had already impaled itself on my sword. It looked like every creature I killed last time had been replaced. Here we go again.

It makes things easier if you know what to expect and I got past the two skeletons and the second ghost without a scratch. I’d better find the skull quick, though. If I had to deal with that respawning skeleton archer too many times, I’d run out of things to throw at the wall.

One door caught my attention, thanks to the sounds coming from behind it. I carefully opened it and found myself face to face with a Bonewalker. No problem, a bit of hacking later and it was turned into bite-sized chunks. But I already had lunch, so I left it on the floor. Besides, decaying flesh isn’t exactly my favourite.

And look at that, one really big skull was sitting in one of those ash pits. If this one wasn’t big enough, I didn’t know what could be big enough. Oh well, time to head back.

Ajira’s report would be shown to the steward later that day and I didn’t want to miss that. So despite my hate for Siltstriders, I found myself on the back of one again. Let’s just say that the bucket came in handy again.

,,Oh, hello again, Redguard.” I nodded at the steward and made my way into the guild. The skull in my bag made me very nervous. If someone would see it, I was in big trouble. I doubted that I could survive the entire guild throwing spells at me. At least it looked like the show was about to start. Ajira walked up to the steward with the reports in her hands. I stopped to watch.

,,Good, Ajira. May I take a look.” The steward took the reports and was soon frowning.
,,I’m sorry. But are you sure this is correct?” Reports handed back to Ajira, Ajira takes a look at them, time to prepare for lots of noise.
,,GALBEDIR!!!” Wow, I never knew that Khajit could scream that hard.

,,Galbedir *sob*, stole Ajira’s reports and *sob*, made them bad!”
I have to admit, I felt a bit sorry. I knew that Ajira wouldn’t like it, but I never thought she would cry. Crying Khajit break my heart.

I found the Orc during all the commotion and slipped the skull in her arms.
,,I suggest you put this somewhere safe fast. We’ll take care of the rest later.” I told her and turned my attention back to Ajira.

Galbedir had arrived at the scene.
,,Galbedir, do you admit that you took Ajira’s reports and changed them?” The steward asked her. I suddenly noticed that the females outnumbered the males in this hall by a lot. Maybe women have got more talent with this stuff? How do I get these thoughts anyway?

,,No, master. I am completely innocent.” Galbedir answered without showing any sign that she was lying. I bet she’d practised this for a long time.

,,Well, Ajira. I am afraid that I won’t be able to award you the rank of Journeyman at this moment.” Ajira ran of crying. Now I really felt like a big bully. Maybe I could comfort her later, but first I needed to serve the emperor and all that crap.

,,Hi, I was wondering if you could help me with my ancient myths of Morrowind studies?” Funnily enough, the Orc acted a lot more friendly now that she knew I was with Caius. I wondered if she would tell him what had happened with Ajira. Anyway, I received a note for Caius and was out of the hall a bit later.

I read the note on the way. It was some stuff about some Dark Elf named Nerevar who died fighting against the ultimate evil and stuff. Then there was something about a bunch of people who believed that this Nerevar would return, beat up a bunch of gods and drive all of us outlanders of the land. Yeah, and I’m Tiber Septim.

I dropped the note of at Caius and was very happy to learn that I should do some freelance work while he worked out the information. Good, I’d seen enough of my shirtless friend for a few days. I dropped by with Ra’Virr and bought a bit of moonsugar. Maybe I could cheer Ajira up a bit.

[jack cloudy]

And another update. Sorry, but I just couldn't let Ajira cry forever, it would break my heart. I love the beast races.



I found her in her room, still sobbing a little. Man, I was such a dirty evil scumbag. The room was a mess also, not like her. I really shouldn’t have done that.

,,Hi, Ajira. I brought you some moonsugar. So, how do you feel?” I didn’t got much of a response. She nibbled on the moonsugar a bit and gave a nearly soundless:,, Ajira thanks friend Luper Alkad. But Ajira lost the bet with Galbedir.”

Ouch, I never realized how much that rank meant for her. And actually, I think I could understand it a bit. So many Khajit were kept as slaves, being a mage of high rank would be some sort of a personal victory against the evil Dark Elves.

,,Hey, don’t worry about it so much. So Galbedir is now a Journeyman, as if that matters. You’ve got the skills. I bet you’ll be an Evoker way before her.”
It looked like I hit the right buttons.
,,Does friend Luper Alkad really think that?”

I don’t know why I said the next thing. I guess the beast races just make me soft.
,,I sure do. And call me Oasis. That’s what my friends used to call me back home.”
,,Ajira is honoured. Why did friend Oasis come here? Surely he would be well respected by his people”

That was a question I didn’t like to answer. But I didn’t seem to be capable of refusing her anything.
,,nah, I did a few stupid things in the past. My dad was….a smuggler, same thing with my mom. You know, sail the seas and avoid the Imperials and all that stuff. I was still young and thought it was the most common thing in the world.”
I paused for a moment as I struggled to control the storm of my memories.

,,But one day we got caught. An Imperial ship catched up with us. My dad thought he could fight them, so he drew his sword. It was a trap. As soon as the two ships were locked together, more legionaires swarmed out of the hold. I was eight at the time and kind of panicked. I burned one of the Imperials with a big fireball, bigger than the ones I can use now.”

That was the worst memory in my life. I considered the ship’s crew as my family and saw how they were slaughtered in front of my eyes. I didn’t say anything about that. I thought it would be better if I left her with the impression that they all spent a few years in jail and eventually got out.

,,The Imperials won the fight and dragged everyone of to jail, including me. Normally, they would’ve probably dumped me in some other family, but I killed one of them. About fiftheen years later, they put me on a ship and dropped me of at Morrowind. I don’t think I can go back to Hammerfell. And frankly, I’m not sure if I want to go back.”

We ate the rest of the moonsugar without a word. I was happy to see that she had stopped sobbing and seemed to be back to her normal self.

,,So, what’s your story?” I asked. Might as well hear her side.
,,Ajira was normal Khajit who lived happily with her parents. Then evil slave masters came and dragged Ajira to Morrowind were Ajira had to do many unpleasant things. But Ranis bought Ajira and freed her. Now Ajira works real hard to please Ranis and become a wise mage.” So the Steward freed her from slavery? I saw that I needed to change my opinion of the Dark Elf.

After a few more minutes she shoved me out of the door and said she had to go back to work.
I wandered off in the hopes of buying a few more soulgems to fill from Galbedir.

,,Hello, Redguard. I’ve wanted to ask you what you think of the guild.” I nearly bumped into the Steward who looked at me with those strange red eyes.
,,Well, it is a nice place.”
,,But?” Damn, is she telepathic or something?”
,,I thought I had to do things more related with…magic here. So far I haven’t done anything that had something to do with it. Not directly anyway.”
She smiled at that. Hey, I wasn’t trying to be funny.
,,I know what you’ve been doing. By the way, I have to thank you for comforting Ajira. Now to answer your question, take a look at yourself.”

I did. There was nothing strange in my opinion. I was wearing my clothes, shield on my back and my two swords at my sides. My helmet attached to my belt. The Bonemold armour showed a few scratches, but nothing that was worth the trouble of repairing.

,,You don’t see it, do you? You don’t look like a mage. You look like a member of the fighter’s guild. Sometimes we hire a member of that guild to do the dangerous outdoor jobs. I respect your skill with the sword, Redguard, but that is not the concern of the guild. Now I want you to show me your skills in the magic arts.”

The test took over three hours, but in the end she promoted me to Journeyman. I hoped this wouldn’t upset Ajira. I’d just passed her in rank. Utterly exhausted, I went back to bed. This day had given me a lot to think about, but I was sure I would get things sorted out in the end.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Feb 20 2006, 05:39 PM

[Kiln]

Very good updates, soooo much content to read...I loved the last few updates and I'm actually quite surprised that there haven't been many replies to this wonderful story. You learn more about the characters past in the last update (which is very important in my opinion) and with the descriptions you give I can basically see all of the character's actions. Very good mate, keep up the good work.

[jchamber]

There are lots of things I like about your writing, but....

I don't know where people start talking and I have to restart over again and again as I read. Then the name screwing-up thing has begun to bug me, it was funny at first but then....not so much. Also you should think about this... while the names are unusual to us, the character's find names like Cassius Cosades as common as we find the name Bob Smith, or Joe O'neil, or Amy Jones or Takada if you are Japanese..which I don't think anyone here is but you get my point.

I really hope you can forgive me for not following your story really closely. I will check in every now and then just to see how it's going. Again I am sorry, it's just not my kind of reading I guess. I ....feel really bad after you have been so kind in you own comments about my writing. I'm sry, and I still wov you Cloudy.....

This post has been edited by jchamber: Feb 23 2006, 04:29 AM

[jack cloudy]

Thanks, Kiln. I really need to put the time aside someday to catch up on your fic.

jchamber, I understand what you mean. My conversations tend to be a bit...chaotic. And the namescrewing thing is running towards its end. I either use the real name (or part of it, like only using the first name) or I simply don't give a name at all. But Caius isn't going to get away from the insults that easily.

Now, sorry about the lack of updates, but I ran into writer's block. *yeah, the cheapest excuse there is, I know.*
What follows is my attempt at putting my theft of a silver claymore out of a guard tower in Balmora into the story. (I just dropped the thing on the ground and paid of the guard. I'm surprised I wasn't cut into tiny bits.)




Next morning really wasn’t funny. Not only did I awoke with the feeling that I was submerged in lava, I also had a terrible nightmare. I won’t go into details, but I remember someone wearing a big golden mask who was joking around with a bunch of dead dudes.
I just lied there, gasping for breath. Finally, after what felt for an eternity but probably lasted just a few seconds, the agony fled. This was not my favourite start of a new day.

There wasn’t much chance for me to catch some more sleep, so I got out of the bed. I took some breakfast and sneaked out of the hall a few minutes later. Everyone was still asleep, and I had no intention of waking them. I needed some time away from people I knew. Time to think. I wandered the city that was still covered in darkness and gazed upwards at the moons. It was a beautiful sight.

,,Hold it, Redguard.” What in the name of the Daedra? What did I do wrong this time? I turned around, expecting to see one of the local guards, but was greeted by the sight of a Dark Elf wearing a green robe and bearing a scar similar to the one that Dark Elf on the prison ship had.

,,I am a sleeper, one of thousands. Lord Dagoth has awoken and the sixth house shall rise from the ashes. The lord shall command us and drive all outlanders away from our land. Take what you can and leave now, for the lord said that all shall greet him as flesh or as dust.” Ok, now this guy must’ve received serious brain damage with that scar.

To get away from the freak, I ran into the first building I saw, one of the guard towers. I really wanted to be left alone. The building was a bad choice. Since it was a guard tower, I should’ve known that there would be a guard inside. I brushed him aside muttering something along the lines of wanting to take in the view from the rooftop.

The view was amazing. I could look from one end of the city to the other and even look over some of the mountains that surrounded the city. The sight of seeing the sun rise over the top of the mountains was something no one would forget. But life called for me in the form of a grumbling stomach, so I went back down in the hope of getting lunch.
The guard seemed to have ended his duty and was now replaced with a new one. Same armour and stuff, only a bit dirtier. He had his back turned, so I mentally prepared myself for the questioning that would with no doubt begin the moment he saw me. My eyes caught the sight of a shining blade in the process.

I leaned in closer for a better look. On a desk, someone had placed a large Claymore. It was excessively decorated and shone so brightly, it had to be silver. A beautiful and expensive weapon, but I doubted that it was very practical. Most weapons like that are for ceremonial purposes, not actual combat. I just couldn’t control myself, I had to pick it up to try out its balance.

,,You, thief!” Oh, great. Why did the damn guard have to see me now? And why is the first thing he said the word thief?

,,Look.” I started. Getting into a close quarters fight with a guard was the last thing I needed. It was deadly and even if I won, I would be in big trouble with the other guards. ,,I’m not trying to steal it.”

Then I got an idea. The sword looked like it hadn’t been used in a while, but its balance was exceptional. I’d fallen in love with the shining blade. ,,Say, how much is it worth?” I asked.

The guard attempted to scratch his head, but the helmet got in the way. I pity these guys, they can never get out of their armour, no matter how warm it is. They aren’t even allowed to remove their helmet to wipe the sweat of their face.

,,Well, Outlander. It…uh….it is for sale, but it’s quite valuable, you know.” He stammered. Behold, the eternal conflict between duty and greed.
,,How much, guard?”
,,Umm…..371 Septims.”
,,Deal.” I said before he could change his mind, handed him the Septims and walked out with my new toy. Now I felt like taking a little vacation in the Bitter Coast Region. I dropped by with the guild to say that I was going to see what plants grew there as a study and walked out of the gate when the sun was at its highest point. The bad dream had been nearly forgotten.