Mephala's Maiden: Black Rose Clan Options

[Black Hand]

Genevieve stood up, and gave Errisa a knowing nod.

“Get up, Sister. It’s high time we departed.” The Altmer motioned to Sayuri.

The dark flower of the black rose, all five petals, reunited in a rare occurrence of birthing a new petal. From Suran they made there way north, over the mountains into the wilds of the Molag Amur region past the towering skeleton of the Bal Ur shrine, parting slightly northeast they traveled to a nondescript ash-covered hill.

Making some motions before it, Genevieve hands commanded forth a crackling mystic force that dispelled an illusion of a boulder.

“A clever simulacrum from Errisa no less. I do love the Telvanni sometimes.” Said Genevieve heading towards the door that had been revealed, it was the sideways oval that the demented architects of daedric shrines had somehow managed to build. Without the exterior daedric shrine.

Entry into a dark stairwell was met with a few moments of flint and stone clicking together, producing sparks that finally met with the torch, producing flames that slowly ate the chemical into a bright flame. The light producing a flickering luminance that set shadows into a play of up and down.

The light also produced a truly horrific sight that set Sayuri into a shrieking fright. The pale white skin of a womans torso and head, and dead white, pupil-less eyes gazed upon the five. Her long white hair was in crest on her head. The rest of her body was not human at all, rather it was eight red and black legs, and huge abdomen of a spider.

Sayuri fell into shock, hearing the horrible screams that seemed to emanate from around her, her vision blurred, but still she gazed into those dead eyes. The noise emanating from all around her.

She finally came back to her senses with two sharp slaps from Errisa. The golden hue of her skin contrasting sharply with the dead pale skin of the spider daedra, who was now producing those shrieks. With a few moments time, she realized that those shrieks were long, and short, and had precise patterns to them. It was talking, and strangely enough, Genevieve seemed to understand her, and speak with her, in Cyrodiilic.

“Get up, and stop embarrassing us! This is the shrines guardian! You’re lucky she recognizes Genevieve! Otherwise she would have eaten you by now, acting like a common grave robber!” Errisa whispered harshly into Sayuri’s ear, and clasping a strong hand around her arm, pulling her up.

The spider daedra looked at Sayuri again, and back at Genevieve, who was explaining that she was the newest member, the spider woman seemed to give a cold acknowledgement, and turned to the stairwell plodding down with inhuman speed into the shadowy turn.

Genevieve turned to Sayuri, her dead eyes set on hers, her dead expression intimidating the little Bosmer. “Act like that again, and I’ll let her eat you like she asked to. Now enough of this dallying; get down to the shrine, Mephala wants to meet her new spider…”

[raggidman]

boo!

[Black Hand]

Sayuri took the lead, nervously looking at the grey-green walls and steps that made up the foreboding place, the rest of the clan following close behind. Errisa finally broke the silence, her lilting voice echoing off the ancient walls, spinning in with the torch’s inconstant flicker, created an atmosphere of a bard telling a yarn at a tavern at night.

“This shrine was once known as Erustadammus. Built as high and glorious as any other shrine, it, much like the shrine to Boethia, fell into disrepair and misuse with the ascent of the Tribunal in the first era, before it all but disappeared.”

”When the Morag Tong swore fealty to Vivec-who-is-Mephala, and was granted the right to continue worship to his anticipation directly, the Black Rose wasted no time in securing that last known location to worshipping Mephala. Granted special permission by the temple, the Morag Tong, and we, the splinter now have sole access and ownership of it. Not that anyone would necessarily want to come out all this way, only on her holy day, the 13th of Frost Fall, or in times of choosing a new petal, or initiating a new one do we deign to ask her presence.”

Sayuri blinked. “So this is where I was chosen?”

Errisa looked at her incredulously. “Of course.”

The long, winding descent finally ended into a large chamber with many ember-red glowing torch-chandeliers released a mist that slowly fell in a dead dance to the floor, blanketing the stone tile, making it completely unseen.

To the other end of the chamber, stood the massive and impressive statue of Mephala. Sayuri swallowed, almost expecting the fearsome visage would come to life and give judgment to her soul.

The head was a woman’s with fierce eyes that were inlayed with a coppery metal, that in the light flickered with a semblance of life. Her headdress was a strange style that she couldn’t place in cultural terms. Her mouth was opened revealing small fangs, her tongue was hanging from the open orifice ending just below her chin.

Around her neck she wore a necklace of skulls that rested against the massive breasts, her two upper arms were extended outwards, one clutched a dagger in the fist, and the other was a palm offered to the ceiling and heavens. Her two lower arms were clutched together in front of her abdomen. The right leg was extended upwards to the side, and bent at the knee, so that she stood on her left leg, revealing the androgynous aspect of the Daedra, both a man and a woman’s birthing tools. ‘Grossly exaggerated’ as the old texts wrote of, yet so rarely seen since the time of the Chimer in the first era, when the tribunal and the Dunmer first appeared in Resdayn.

“The hands speak of her dualities-in-one. The upper hands outstretch welcoming all to the mother, while the lower ones clasp, holding onto all those who hold her. One upper arm offers a dagger, while one shows a hand offering peace. But the palm hides the true intent of the dagger. And the outstretched arms offering herself, is met with the ambiguity of her sphere, the inability of the mortal mind to understand her, or her secrets.” Genevieve started.

“I could go on for weeks, and none of what is being shown here could begin to make any sense.”

“One of those represents the Morag Tong, and the other represents us?” Sayuri asked pointing to the depiction between the idols legs.

Genevieve looked up and smiled, “I suppose they do. And yet, not, and yet, many other things at the same time. Welcome to your mother/father’s shrine, priestess.”

[minque]

lol - evolution of emoticons



It's all coming out here - from now on she will be known as Minque the minx

Oh my, I can imsgine how scary all this is for Sayuri! So innocent..ahem..yes yes she is! Anyway this is getting better and better, I myself hates spiders but they also thrill me somehow so I'm reading this with a peculiar feeling in my gut. Yet it's fascinating and I can't wait for the continuation.

Way to go, Blackie!

[Black Hand]

The Ritual of the Mother began, and dark robes were adorned. Like beings of light cloaking themselves with garbs of shadows, Sayuri saw herself and the others disappear into the low lighting of the shrine. She and Errisa held torches aloft, whilst Dralsie of Anssi began playing a slow beat on a drum and a small bell. Errisa and the other three began a slow chant the reverberated off the walls even in the low tones they used.

Genevieve took to the altar, kneeling before the effigy of Mephala. Her arms seemed to follow the motions of the statue, arms being outstretched, and then closed. She could not see her face, but Sayuri wondered if she were sticking her tongue out as well.

Uncertain of the time this would take, Sayuri used her musical training to learn the chant, able to keep up masterfully with the cadence and rhythm. Eventually, she was taken to a place between worlds. She still felt the weight of this world, but the mist, the lighting and the constant repetitive chanting seemed to take her to a place outside her body. She felt the cavernous enormity of the forgotten shrine. Than the ash-grey of the rock above it.

“The night sky is Oblivion, Sayuri. When you look out into the stars, you are seeing Aetherius poking through like a ragged blanket trying to hide the sun.”said Bratheru Oran, one night when she was still very small, on a ledge in Vivec.

“So it’s like we are between the gods and the daedra?”

“Something like that. But Gods, Daedra, Tribunal, Saints. Whatever. The only thing that is real, Sayuri. Is right here, right now. This place, this moment in time. The past is gone, the future merely a concept. Mages work with concepts, but they take raw energy, channel it through an idea, and make it real.”

“So when I made the fishing rod, I was a mage?”

Bratheru smiled. “Yes, little one. You were a mage. You can do anything you set your mind too. Don’t ever forget that.”

Her mind returned to the present. The chanting was still going on, and in a corner of the ceiling, Sayuri saw for the first time the silver sliver reflection of webs, they seemed to be moving. The shrines guardian had her own home it seemed, and it looked to be massive. The shifting of the daedras massive weight had caused the gossamer threads to dance in the low lighting of the shrine.

When Sayuri looked down, she saw what was causing the daedras excitement. Her creator was here.The mortal form of her at least.

Where Genevieve once knelt, a monstrosity now stood. Grey eyes with no pupils stared directly at her. A long black tongue hung from the sinister open grin, fingers that had once been tan and lithe were elongated with talons, and were the color of ebony. Sayuri screamed with the terror that can come only from ones soul. But this time she did so silently.

One by one, the cultists approached the Mother. Making offerings of respect as they bowed to one knee, and placed their foreheads on her hand. Sayuri did as they did, feeling none of the reverence the others seemed to show. The creature seemed to sense this as it chuckled, and ran a finger through her hair. The thick robe seemed to hide the shudder that ran through her.

[minque]

Ohhh.....eerie! I promise I saw Mephala for my inner sight!

Sayuri screamed with the terror that can come only from ones soul. But this time she did so silently.

I also would have!

S.G.M.......I want more!

[Black Hand]

Sayuri returned to her position, staring with apprehension at the creature as it began to speak.

”Daughters. We welcome a new member to our fold, blessings on you Sayuri. You have performed my tasks for you well. “ The creatures voice was both male and female, like two poets reciting prose in perfect harmony.

”Your hate, the blood, the tryst. It was all delectable. Now, I have a new task for you. Go to the city that was your home. There you will find a man in your house. You will know him, as he will know you. He seeks to upset the plans of a deceiver with deception, and I am pleased. Assist him. Approach me once more, so that I may bequeath you with a token that might assist you as well.

She did as the creature bade, and stepped closer to the abomination. The hands falling on her shoulders, filling her with revulsion, the eyes seeing into her very soul it seemed.

”Take this ring, mortal. So that it may deepen the shadows in which you hide.” The Mother said as she dropped a silver band encrusted with topaz, and engraved with exquisite designs.

The face then became twisted, pain showing visibly through its expression, the features of the possession began to fade and the body of Genvieve fell to the floor in a heap.

A few hours later when Genevieve recovered, her pale, sweaty skin reflected the torchlight that Anssi held, as Dralsie and Errisa tended to her with spells and potions. Sayuri twirled the ring that the Mother had dropped into her hand. Genevieve’s eyes glinted with recognition, and a slight smile.

“She has given you the ring of surroundings. You should feel quite proud; she wants you to succeed in her latest scheme. I held that ring once, as did Errisa.”

”What is its purpose?” Sayuri asked.

“It is an enchanted ring. Quite useful to people like us. Literally a ring of surroundings, it’s to blend into your environment, move around unseen, with a spell stronger then mere invisibility, sudden movements, and speech does not dispel its effects. What did she say?”

“That I was to meet a man that was in my house. She is pleased with him and his deceptions it would seem, and I am to assist.”


“Than it is time you acted as a full member, Mephala may use riddles sometimes, but its just to move a piece in her direction. Speak to your old caretaker. And watch.”

“Watch what?”

”Watch Mephala’s scheme unwrap itself before you. Damn it, little girl! How well did Mephala choose her newest priestess? You are as free to interpret and enact her desires as I am!!” Genevieve yelled, and then fell back to her stone bed, her hand going up to her head.

“She needs rest, as well as the rest of us do. Sleep now, Sayuri, we will depart this place in the morning.” Dralsie said amiably to Sayuri.

She nodded, and lay down on the stone floor, using her thick robe as both bedding, and blanket.
Thinking to herself that it was so cold in here, and wondering why that would be in the middle of Molag Amur.

After an hour or so of watching Genevieve’s slow, steady breathing, she felt the blackness swallow her consciousness, and she drifted off into a world of shadows, dancing firelight, and nightmares.

This post has been edited by Black Hand: Jun 6 2008, 06:47 PM

[minque]

Ahh the ring of surroundings..hmmm sweet! I wonder who that man is...the one in her house, if I was Sauyri I'd watch out. See I don't trust strange men coming to my house just llike this...

So watch it Sauyri! And thanks Blackie for a great story

[Black Hand]

She was given a little bit of gold, and told what direction to head out to. Alone. Sayuri thought she saw a look of pity, maybe even pride, in Errisa’s eyes. But she knew her mentor well enough that she didn’t really have emotions, not really. Even if she did, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to show them in front of Genevieve. There were no long goodbyes, or presents other than what Sayuri was given by the Mother.

The sun rarely shone in the Ashlands, even on the edge of them here, so close to Suran. But these were one of those rare moments. Moments when graduation was complete, and knowledge instilled produced the first feelings of freedom in a long time in pretty little Bosmer assassin.

An assassin? Or cultist? Maybe a priestess? Who am I? The question rang in Sayuri’s head the whole way back to Vivec. Vivec. Matron. Patron. Would they still be there? She was forbidden from seeing them, from anything she valued in her old life. Maybe they would not recognize her. She was trained to not stand out anymore. To blend in, disappear. Stand out when she needed too.

She had to find the man in her house though, and here she was sent. Bratheru Oran? Her former patron? It didn’t quite make sense, this talk of Vivec and houses, and the fact that her home over the last three years had been a medium-sized telvanni mushroom.

She could use a drink though, and hadn’t been quite old enough to visit the Elven Nations Cornerclub when she lived there. She intended to amend that with her arrival. Give some thought to the entire matter being set out before her.

[minque]

Poor girl...now she's a bit confused, right? My thoughts are with her and I do wish her all the luck to find out about what's expected from her.

More more mooooooooooooooooore!

[mplantinga]

This is certainly an ambitious story, and while you've done an exemplary job so far, I imagine you have your work cut out for you if you plan to continue delving into the complexity behind this group of insidious assassins. It seems like Sayuri's initiation/indoctrination is not yet complete, as, in some ways, she still feels uncertain, almost like an outsider. Her first kill was, as you said, "an offer that she couldn't refuse." My gut tells me that this next job will be a bit harder, emotionally, and that, when completed, will fully "force" her into her new life. I'm looking forward to seeing exactly what you have in mind.

[Black Hand]

She sat in a corner to herself enjoying some sort of Valenwood wine, which wasn't made from fruit at all, but rather a combination of meat and insects. It was absolutely revolting. Perhaps, if she had grown up in her ancestral land, living with the Green Pact, she would have had more of a stomach for the brew. The wench who was also a Bosmeri, had suggested it to her. She would have to learn not to listen to her own people.

As she made small faces sipping on the terrible concoction, she noticed that another person had noticed her. Instantly her mind went into hunters mode, as the cruel tutelage of Errisa took over as a reflex. Amid the still calculation of her scanning, she could almost hear the smooth lilting voice of her mentor scolding her. Always maintaining her composure even under the most dire of circumstances, it drove Sayuri insane how even when she yelled and screamed, Errisa spoke like there was nothing wrong.

Now that calm voice that was like a cliffracers shriek in her mind, was asking her precisely what she thought she was doing sitting down at a table alone, dressed in the clothes of a courtesan, making herself the center of attention. I thought that I had taught you better.

Sayuri's peripheral vision took in the soft red eyes that were covered with the glossy veneer of moderate drunkenness. Then the dark ash skin, and hair of a Dunmeri Maiden. Then the smile and lips moving of a stupor that followed into a gossip.

"Say, she looks like that 'special friend' of Crassius Curio from a while back. I wonder what happened to her?"

So, she wasn't spotted, she was resemblant of another person. Still, it was time to make tracks. She paid for her drink, subtracting the tip for the horrible suggestion, than adding it again not wanting the wench to remember her either way. She would be sure to keep clear of that terrible stuff.

The task at hand was to now enact Mephala's will upon Nirn. The question was, who was the 'Man in your House'? And who was the deceiver he sought to undo by deception? The answers were not obvious as she made her way through the walkways of the Hlaalu canton. Then it happened. Bratheru and Edryno were walking straight towards her.

Her stomach instantly twisted into knots, as she walked forward pretending not to recognize them. She didn't have to work to hard at it, the two of them walked by without so much of a sideways glance. They either did not know her anymore, or pretended not too. It had been a few years. She had changed, grown.
No longer a little girl, but a young woman. That simple happenstance was more of a sign to her than anything else that her old life was gone. A twinge of sadness became overwhelming, and she made her way behind a shop, and cried. She thought her tears had dried up years ago.

She wanted to run back after them. Take them into her arms. Matron! Patron! It's me! Sayuri! I've come back! Let us run away! So far away they would not think to find us! But she knew better. Errisa herself would be charged with the task. She would find them in the deepest forests of Valenwood, the furthest reaches of Akavir, the deepest blackness of Oblivion. She would end them all. No one betrayed the clan.

Perhaps an hour later she finished with her sobs. Cleaned herself off as best she could, and continued to walk the cantons. Blue eyes broken with red spiderwebs. Still, hours later, she found nothing. No deceivers, no man in her house.

The pattern repeated itself over the next week, and Sayuri's gold ran out. She had no lute, so she could not play at the tavern, she was hungry, and desperate. Her already low faith in Mephala's scheme was now non-existent. If she begged on the streets, she would be run out of town by the Ordinators for being an Outlander, if she went to her old home, she risked her and their deaths. The frustration began gnawing at her , at being a plaything in Mephala's supposed scheme.

She couldnt be sure that she wasnt being watched, and so the certainty that SHE was the object of Mephala's desire set in. She hated the deity, she hated the Black Rose. The negativity overpowered anything else she had in her.

After wandering for days, and eating leftovers from after hours at taverns, or hunting rats in the sewers with her dagger, she came across a kind Dunmer woman who took pity on her. Rather, she saw her climbing out of a sewer door with a dead rat in her mouth, she laughed out loud at the sight.

"Alarvnye Indalas. outlander. I work at the glassworkers hall, are you hungry?"

Sayuri was hesitant, but at least dropped her prey from her mouth. "Y-yes Sera. Forgive my.."

Alarvnye silenced her with a gesture and bade the hungry assassin to follow her. After a rich meal in the hall, and a number of odd looks from the local Dunmeri, Sayuri's sense of self slowly began to return, it was the first time she had known kindness in several years.

The two talked for some time, although it was mostly Alarvnye speaking, and how it was the duty of temple going Dunmeri to show the outlanders that the Tribunal was the one true faith by treating them with their own preachings. The grace of generosity being one. She also spoke of the satisfaction associated with creating small works of wonder that was glass. She also spoke of her love of Dwemer Limeware.

It turned out that she had a shipment in lockdown in Ebonheart, that she had spent top septim for the wares, that a 'no offense' greedy little Bosmer in the East Empire Company had raised the price on the day before it arrived, and wouldn't release to her until she payed an additional 3000 septims.

She digressed, and then turned her attention to Sayuri. Was she employed? No? She knew of a job in the domestic capacity. Some Hlaalu noble no less. She was a Hlaalu? Even better. She might even be guaranteed the job then! How wonderful that she found her!

Sayuri felt that exactly. It was wonderful that this woman found her. She opened her house to her, fed and bathed her, and gave her a warm bedroll. Perhaps it was not a mattress, but it was better than the wet smelly tile of the waistworks.

Sayuri arose from her bed, she was pretending to be asleep of course. Ebonheart was only a half hours walk away, fifteen if she ran. The ship that the cargo was on was guarded. The guards themselves were half asleep and drunken, and the lighting was a poorly maintained lantern, the glass covered in soot. There were many shadows and crevices in which to hide, and the locks to the bottom deck of the ship were hardly of quality manufacture.

The Dwemer limeware was heavier than she thought. But they were worth quite a bit. If she sold them on the black market they would yield her enough gold to get her out of this situation for quite some time...

Alarvnye woke to Sayuris light snoring, and gave a little smile. She was so beautiful once that dirt had been washed away, and her hair had a comb ran through it, she would surely get that job now! The next scene left her stunned. The limeware she had paid so much for, and waited so long for, was now arranged neatly on her dining table.

Sayuri felt her arm being grabbed by an angry hand, and forcibly being pulled to her feet.

"Did you do this?" came the seething whisper.

"What, Sera?" Sayuri asked groggily, which was followed by a stinging slap.

"Don't play stupid with me child! This limeware didn't just walk off the ship by itself! I open my home to you, and this is how you repay me? Theft?!"

"Well,...yes." Sayuri said ashamedly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know of any other way to thank you, Sera. I am sorry. I can put it back. No one knows it even gone. Nothing will happen."

"Give it back? After I spent so much time raising the capital to hire the thieves guild? I think not!"

Sayuri was now confused. "The Thieves Guild, sera? But.."

"The Thieves Guild are what they are. They know nothing else. Its already too late for most of them. But Bolrin that sneaky, greedy little Bosmer is a larger thief than any of them, and he deserved what he had coming. But its not too late for you sweetie! Don't you see that that is why I helped you? So that you wouldn't have to go down that path!" she shook her head, than she snapped her fingers and retrieved a bag of gold.

"Here. 1500 drakes. What I was told that this job would cost. Fortunately, no arrangements have been made as of yet. Now listen to me, and really listen to me. Curio Manor is hiring for a housekeeper. You go and you talk to Olms Rathryn, his concierge. And you make an honest woman of yourself. If I so much as hear of a straw missing from servants bed, I will turn you in to the ordinators myself! Now...get out of here."

Sayuri walked out dumbstruck. Alarvnye was an honest woman as far as she could tell. And then the revelation of her willing to deal with career criminals. So she wasn't the only one with a dichotomy. People were zoos of different animals inside them. They were mostly caged and contained. Only one animal out at a time. But those different animals were still there.

[minque]

Brilliant Blackie! I liked the issue with the Dwemer Limeware, jeez Sayuri meant so well....in the only way she knew of! I just love that lil' bosmer lassie

And I love your way with words....oh jeez I just wish I would be able to do half as good as you do....

Thanks for giving me a really good read before bedtime!