Morrowind, A fanfic Options

[minque]

Uhhh..sweet Azura! It's getting more and more thrilling! Divayth in the cooperation with vampies? gosh...And the power-man? Who might he be? Lots of (still) unanswered questions.....mmmmm

[Alexander]

Chapter 3. The hatching of a plan.

Helseth was pacing in his throne room in Mournhold. If anything had happened he should have been informed by now. And something had better have happened this day. Helseth recalled all the previous gifts and money that had been sent back by Eno Hlaalu. Each time with a polite note saying the writ could not be made, nor carried out, and never a reason given. This time, though, Helseth had sent Eno an offer he couldn’t refuse. Or so Helseth assumed anyway. He’d been anxiously waiting for these past few days, and the gift had not been sent back. Now it was the day of the council meeting and still nothing had come back, but also no messenger saying is was done. Helseth assumed it was only a matter of time.

He was proven correct as a royal herald announced the arrival of Raynasa Rethan. She was a newly appointed Hlaalu councillor, appointed by Vedam Dren just before he left for Cyrodiil, but unbeknownst to him, she’d been in Helseth’s back pocket ever since entering house Hlaalu.

“My king,” she smiled broadly, “I bring grave news- lord Nerevar has been killed.”

Helseth had trouble containing his own smile, but knew he had to. He was in the presence of the captain of his guards, a righteous man left over from the reign of the previous king. So instead of howling with pleasure as he wanted to, he solemnly replied,

“This is grave news indeed, councillor Rethan. Thank you for bringing it to me yourself.”

Out of the corner of his eye Helseth observed the captain casting a troubled look at his first man. They knew this would not make things easy in Morrowind.

“Captain, I require your man Drusus for an assignment.” The captain bowed in obedience and the king motioned for Drusus to follow him. With the guard on one side and councillor Rethan on the other, Helseth strolled back to the reception area of the palace. There he dismissed the people present and turned to look at Drusus. He took the heavy pouch hanging from his belt and gave it to Drusus.

“Take this; use it to bribe councillor Yngling Half-Troll. Convince him the only future of house Hlaalu lies in handing control over to me. When you have his support, travel to Omani and Ules manors and persuade those two hags of the same. No money is required; a stern word is more then enough to get them in line, that and the fact that two other councillors will already be voting for me. Then when you have their support, in writing of course, take all the mandates and visit Councillor Curio in Vivec. Ask leave to stay as his guest and propose he relinquish control over house Hlaalu to me. He’ll likely refuse, but that is to be expected.”

“And what would you have us do with Councillor Bero?” Raynasa asked.

“Now Dram, Dram is someone we’ll never convince. No matter how much money or lands we offer him, he won’t join us. No, I have something else in store for councillor Bero. A lesson which will teach him honor means nothing, only money counts. Go Drusus and Raynasa, and win me my first Great House.”

Helseth was very pleased with himself; things were finally moving along nicely now. It was only a matter of time now before the whole of Morrowind would be completely under his control, as it should be. For what is a king with no country to rule?

Helseth made his way to the throne room and asked his Guard Captain to send word to the leaders of the other Great Houses, that he wanted a word with them the day after tomorrow, and that he expected all of them to be there at noon.

As he was getting ready to go to his rooms for the night, a soft voice behind him spoke,

“Helseth, Helseth my dear boy, is it true, has someone killed that sweet man, lord Nerevar?”

Helseth sighed and turned to the voice, “Yes mother, someone saw fit to end his time on Nirn. But please mother, you shouldn’t be out of bed; the priests told you to rest, did they not?”

If they hadn’t Helseth would have their livers for lunch, he thought.

“Yes, yes they did tell me, but you know how they are, son. Those priests together are worse then a wet nurse when it comes to worrying over someone. I’ll be fine, son.”

Unfortunately so, Helseth thought. It seemed lately that Barenziah was becoming far more alert again. Somehow she seemed to be developing immunity against the poultices of the priests. Helseth made a note to himself to speak to them about that. It simply would not do to have his mother running around the palace asking all sorts of embarrassing and dangerous questions about the goings on.

“Come now mother, let’s get you to bed shall we?” He took Barenziah’s hand and led her to her bedchambers.

After he’d put her to bed, and was standing over her, he felt an urge to put a pillow over her head and be done with it. He was able to contain himself, though. Having the queen mother turn up dead suddenly simply wouldn’t do. Especially since she was ever so popular. If it hadn’t have been for lord Nerevar interfering that day, after Helseth had hired assassins to do the job, he would now be rid of his meddlesome mother. Afterwards lord Nerevar had hinted at suspecting that Helseth had given the order for that kill, but fortunately the one person who could have testified against him had already been dead by then. Ironically killed by lord Nerevar a week before.

That had been a blow to Helseth. After he’d gone through so much trouble to find a place to stay for the Dark Brotherhood, and gotten the Morag Tong out of Mournhold, he’d had almost a private force of assassins at his disposal. They had performed such great services for Helseth, not only securing his throne, but also making sure any nobles who became too vocal in their objections met some “unfortunate” demise. Helseth had had no way of knowing lord Nerevar was so far beyond the Brotherhood’s abilities. Twice they’d come after him, and twice he’d fended them off. Then he decided to come to Mournhold himself and, after disposing of the Brotherhood, stuck his nose in business not concerning him in the least. He had done Helseth a favour though, when he killed Almalexia. Helseth had suspected for a while by then that Almalexia was losing it, but how can you ask a Dark Brotherhood assassin to kill a god? The money it cost alone would have bankrupted Morrowind, not to mention the chance that not only might the assassin be caught, but also that Almalexia would have wrung the truth from him and come after Helseth.

Helseth shuddered at that thought. But then this lord Nerevar had come along, disposed of the god, neutralised the Tribunal temple, for the time being at least, and brought Mournhold firmly under control of Helseth. If only lord Nerevar had been more pliable, if only he’d been more open to common sense and reason, but no, he had insisted on not only pursuing the abolishment of slavery, but also wanted to battle corruption. It, unlike slavery, was something Morrowind, or at least Helseth, could not do without.

Again Helseth sighed. He hadn’t wanted to do it; well maybe he’d wanted it a little, but he’d have preferred a different way. Alas, lord Nerevar was incorruptible and inconvincible.

[Agent Griff]

I like your updates and chapters thus far. The different Point-of-View characters are very well done and they all give out their thoughts very well, each having their own style of doing things and personality, from Varvur to Baladas to Helseth. I like how Helseth constantly plans to do away with his mother, giving her poultices by way of his priests to make her senile. Very evil of him. I like Helseth though, he is the cruel leader who does whatever it takes to stay in power.

These POV characters however gave me a hunch you've been reading A Song of Ice and Fire while you were writing this. Am I correct?

I should know, since I've been reading some of the books myself over the past few days and your chapters so far "reek" of Song of Ice and Fire. That's very, very good though. Matching up to masterclass fantasy books is no meager feat.

[Alexander]

These POV characters however gave me a hunch you've been reading A Song of Ice and Fire while you were writing this. Am I correct?

I should know, since I've been reading some of the books myself over the past few days and your chapters so far "reek" of Song of Ice and Fire. That's very, very good though. Matching up to masterclass fantasy books is no meager feat.

Heh, well funny that you mention it, I did finish re reading ASoIaF in December, and wrote my own story in January, so I guess I that did give me the idea of different POV's.

Oh boy, Thank you for comparing my work with those books, but honestly I don't think I could stand in mr Martin's shadow, let alone match up to his work

[Agent Griff]

Well, of course you couldn't. But I'd like it if people compared my own works with famous or even semi-famous books. Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. That's how the saying goes at least. So far I've only been treating others but who knows? Maybe in the future, others will treat me how I've treated them.

Anyway, I'm really happy for you. I'm in a grudgingly awful situation right now. I've read A Game of Thrones two times until now and I already own A Storm of Swords. The problem is, I can't really find A Clash of Kings. I've read 2 chapters from A Storm of Swords until now, both of them about Jaime (one of my favourite characters btw) and already have been spoiled regarding some things which happen in the second book. Things about a certain candidate for the post of King of Westeros. A Renly chap. Anyway, that's really too bad for me but that's what you get when you feel an incontrollable urge to read a brilliant book which is right in front of you.

It'll be really hard to stop myself from reading A Storm of Swords before getting A Clash of Kings, but I'll do whatever I can. It'll be similar to how those Oriental martial arts masters impose self-control upon themselves.

[Alexander]

Well, of course you couldn't. But I'd like it if people compared my own works with famous or even semi-famous books. Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. That's how the saying goes at least. So far I've only been treating others but who knows? Maybe in the future, others will treat me how I've treated them.

Anyway, I'm really happy for you. I'm in a grudgingly awful situation right now. I've read A Game of Thrones two times until now and I already own A Storm of Swords. The problem is, I can't really find A Clash of Kings. I've read 2 chapters from A Storm of Swords until now, both of them about Jaime (one of my favourite characters btw) and already have been spoiled regarding some things which happen in the second book. Things about a certain candidate for the post of King of Westeros. A Renly chap. Anyway, that's really too bad for me but that's what you get when you feel an incontrollable urge to read a brilliant book which is right in front of you.

It'll be really hard to stop myself from reading A Storm of Swords before getting A Clash of Kings, but I'll do whatever I can. It'll be similar to how those Oriental martial arts masters impose self-control upon themselves.

oh boy, quite a tight spot you're in. Have you checked online stores for ACoK? Might be asking the obvious but still.

[The Metal Mallet]

Hmmm call it a hunch but I think there's some misleading going on here. At the moment it appears that we have two shady groups, Helseth and Fyr with his company. Just because Helseth was told that Nerevar was killed, it doesn't mean that it was his efforts that achieved that result. My hunch tells me it was done by someone else.

Since I'm putting my focus there, I can't wait to see how my prediction turns out. To have multiple fronts of corruption would certainly mean that this story is going to turn into a bloody mess (and I mean in the good, multiple forces colliding at once type of mess).

[milanius]

Wow, I wasn't expecting a successful assassination attempt.

Expect the unexpected.

Maybe it wasn't even successful?

Nice touch with the 'vanishing' poison. Maybe it wasn't even poison at all. Maybe it was so deliberately prepared no one in Nirn could've predicted it [or, few people entities ]. The jester part is also nice touch. How long has he been in Ebonheart? What could've been his purpose of running into that room - distraction, or premonition of what's about to happen?

In any case, nice so far. Lots of questions waiting to be answered. The pace is also good [2 updates/day].

[Olen]

I'm liking it, nice background you've laid down too.

And a lot of intreage and politics and backstabbing.

And regular updates.

This is a real treat.

[Alexander]

Two days later, Helseth was joined in his throne room by Meven Aravel, the Gahprovihn, or faction leader, of house Indoril; Orval Relarys, the Viceroy of house Dres; and Drothal Moven, the Supreme Magister of house Telvanni. While Helseth had summoned Athyn Sarethi of house Redoran as well, that noble sent word that he would not be able to make it. Helseth took this as a sign of defiance and a personal insult, but then he took most things that didn’t go his way as personal insults. He looked around the room, looking each of the men present in their eyes. He’d spent a fortune in gold, jewels and gifts on each of these three to ensure their cooperation. A fortune now, land later.

“Gentlemen, smart of you to come. I hope you fare well.” Helseth never waited for an answer when he asked that, but simply pressed on. “Good, good. Now, on to business. Meven, how are things going with that witness?”

“My king, I’ve asked and pressured everyone that was in that room, but no one was willing to testify against the Redoran. That Sarethi brat must have made quite an impression on people if they will stick up for him this much.”

Helseth cast a stern look on Meven, “So you mean to tell me out of all the guards there, none are willing to testify?”

Meven’s silence spoke clearly enough. Helseth sighed, “Fine. I will find someone. ‘When you want something done well, do it yourself,’ is how the saying goes, right? Now then, on to you, Magister Moven. How go the preparations with house Telvanni? Will you be ready?”

“My king, things are going as planned; I’m convincing the masters we should expand further, and those who oppose it I will take care of before we start.”

“Excellent, Moven.” Helseth turned around to look at Orval Relarys, “And how is house Dres? Are you ready to go to war when I give the order?”

“Ready and waiting, my king.”

Helseth smiled; he had expected it wouldn’t work out for Meven, so now by taking over the task himself, he had only made Meven more eager to please next time. Everything else was going according to plan. “Ok, tomorrow night we have the funeral. Of course we’ll all be there to offer our deepest condolences, and stand side by side with the other great houses, but three days afterwards, we’ll make our move. Now you all remember of course what you’re supposed to do. But just to be sure, let’s go over it one more time shall we?” Helseth hadn’t meant it as a question. “Ok, first house Dres will present a witness, saying he or she saw Varvur Sarethi put poison into lord Nerevar’s cup when everyone was looking the other way. Now Dres is the only house right now whom the commoners would believe; Indoril is tainted with corruption, Hlaalu has never been trusted since siding with the Empire, and Telvanni, well, they’re Telvanni. No one would believe anything they had to say.”

“So, Varvur will be taken in, questioned, he will confess in front of as many people as possible, but then sadly die as a result of too harsh questioning. Though no one will object to the murderer of lord Nerevar dying himself. Before he dies, however, he will name names of corrupt Indoril nobles, that awful Drulvan Vules first and foremost, all of his allies and retainers as well. We may pardon some, provided they pledge their lives to us, but most will die. This clears house Indoril of all taint and will severely discredit house Redoran. We will proclaim that Varvur killed lord Nerevar on orders of his father, Athyn Sarethi, and will declare house Redoran dead, with all of their lands, income and titles to be distributed among the other houses. Telvanni will join us simply to have fun killing people, and to claim some more land, Hlaalu because I order them, and Indoril and Dres to avenge lord Nerevar.”

“We will offer the Telvanni land on the west side of Morrowind, scattering them, and then proclaim them in league with the Redoran and destroy them. Even with their powers, they cannot hope to best three great houses going against them, not to mention the guilds that will join us. In the end, only three houses will survive, and we will reshape Morrowind and share it between us. And of course you Magister Moven, will get the best prize of all, the island upon which Port Telvannis rests, all to yourself as your own sovereign kingdom.”

Hah, Helseth thought to himself, if that fat pig Moven thinks he’s getting anything out of this but the pointy end of a blade, he’s a bigger fool then I assumed. After everything is done, Moven will be the last to die.

“So, is everything clear? Does everyone know what to do?” The three men muttered their agreement. “Good, then be gone, prepare yourselves for the funeral and more importantly, prepare for the days after the funeral.”

[Alexander]

Chapter 4. Aftershock.

Several days had passed. Varvur did not recall getting up from beside the table in the Council Chambers, he did not remember walking out of the chambers or back to his own room. He did remember someone grabbing hold of his arm just as he was about to plunge his dagger into his stomach. It had taken several men, or women, to keep him from hurting himself. It wasn’t until someone had started chanting, and he’d started feeling very sleepy, that he let go of his weapon. When he woke he found his father sitting next to his bed.

Athyn had aged well. Still as tall and strong as he was in his younger years, all that seemed different was his face. A few more lines here and there, some grey streaks in his hair. He looked down on Varvur with those deep, knowing eyes and Varvur just broke out in tears. “It was all my fault, Father; I let him die; I should have tasted the comberry juice again. It should have been me lying there, not him. After everything he did for us, I let him down so much. Oh Father how can I face people again?”
“Yes Varvur, you should have tasted the wine, and you didn’t. Had you, I would have lost a son. Instead, I lost a friend. Neither is something I wanted.”
“Father, how can I redeem myself? Would not the best course be to take my own life, and make sure my family suffers no blame?”

Just then he noticed standing next to Athyn was a magnificent blade. He recognised it at once as he’d seen it so many times on the wall of the rooms of lord Nerevar; the ebony long sword given to Nerevar by Vivec after lord Nerevar destroyed Dagoth Ur. Varvur had always wondered if Vivec knew when he gave the sword to Nerevar, that just a few months thereafter he’d be slain with the same blade. Varvur looked up questioningly at his lord father. “With permission of the other house councils, I’ve taken the sword of lord Nerevar. We wish it to be your tool to redemption. Varvur, listen to me, you cannot bring back lord Nerevar. You could die yourself, but what purpose would that serve? One thing you can do, however, is bring the murderer of lord Nerevar to justice. Take this blade and with it, slay those who slew lord Nerevar, the man who gave the order and all who knew of it and did nothing.”

Athyn stood up. “The guards here have looked for clues but found nothing. I assume will you do better. Tonight we hold the ceremony for lord Nerevar’s funeral. Pay your respects, and then redeem yourself through justice. I will see you tonight and after that, again once you’ve brought justice.” Varvur swallowed hard at that; he knew what his father was saying. He would not be welcomed back at his ancestral home until justice had been served. But at the same time he knew what he had to do. “Very well Father, I will see you this evening.” As Athyn left the room, Varvur heard him say “Good luck.”

Varvur spent the rest of the day meditating. His teachers had taught him inner rest is as important as skill with a blade for a warrior. Concentration comes through inner rest and, without concentration, a warrior had better find a different profession. So meditate he did, allowing his thoughts to travel back to that dreaded day. He went past all the events that day, and after considering things carefully, he decided whatever had happened, must have happened when Jester entered. He had to question Jester. Somehow, someone must have known Jester would interrupt at some point, and thinking on it further, it must likely have been timed at that exact moment, just before Nerevar could name names, so either the mysterious Bosmer was much more than he appeared to be and had been able to fool everyone, or someone had made sure he would enter at that moment by almost physically pushing him in.

And of course there had to have been someone else, someone who put whatever it was into the cup of lord Nerevar. Varvur reviewed the events that transpired after the door was knocked open. All the councillors had been in front of him, facing the door. So it could not have been any of them. All the guards as well. No guards stood at the back wall behind lord Nerevar and Varvur, an arrangement Varvur had himself made. So Councillors and guards were out. That left the heralds and the servants. He remembered the heralds rushing to a side exit but he did not recall seeing the servants. Assuming the heralds had not done it, which was a good assumption based on their placement in the room, there were 4 servants. The servants had circulated throughout the room even while Nerevar was speaking; Varvur had not marked their locations as carefully as he should. Before he gave in to despair and self-recrimination, he recalled his father’s words. Justice must be served. In fact, it was even possible that the plotters had hoped that Varvur would take his own life, an action which would have hurt his father, one of Nerevar’s most loyal supporters. His duty was clear- he must live, not only to thwart the enemy, but to bring him to justice.

Varvur decided to question the servants first thing in the morning.

After freshening up and changing his clothes, Varvur made his way to the courtyard. He had decided to wear lord Nerevar’s blade as a message to the assassin. A large crowd had gathered in the courtyard already, men and Mer of all races together. Argonians stood next to Altmer, Orcs beside Bosmer, Bretons, Imperials, Dunmer, Khajiit, and Nords all were present. As Varvur walked through the crowd he felt the stares from all around him. He walked past most to stand at the very front of the crowd, next to the leaders of the Great Houses, Crassius Curio taking the place of absent Vedam Dren. And at the very centre, he saw king Helseth standing with his royal guards surrounding him. As Varvur approached, he saw Helseth looking him over. And he definitely noticed the sneer on his mouth, and the almost mocking expression in his eyes. Varvur was glad he had meditated; just a little less concentration and he might have done something that he would regret. Not very much, but a little anyway. The thought made him smile, until he looked at the coffin displayed before them.

It was a large solid stone slab. probably weighing a ton. Carvers had carved the likeness of lord Nerevar on the top of the coffin as was customary in western lands. Dunmer preferred to burn their dead, but then lord Nerevar had obviously not been Dunmer. Inside the coffin Varvur knew lay the body of the now dead Nerevarine, Hortator of three great houses, Lord Nerevar reborn. Varvur had always wondered why lord Nerevar had never sought out houses Indoril and Dres to become their Hortator. Perhaps he had simply lacked time to make such a journey.
The Ceremony commenced, a long line of great men and women all sharing their tales about lord Nerevar. Ashlander Ashkans and wise women compared him to the moon and stars, Divayth Fyr recounted how he had at first thought lord Nerevar was a burglar interested in looting his dungeon, Patriarch SaOmayni told how wrong he had been before to outlaw teachings other than those the Tribunal approved, and how glad he still was that lord Nerevar had shown him the way. And so many more. The Nerevarine had touched many lives in Vvardenfell and beyond.

Last in the long line came the king himself. Helseth started by saying how sorry he was to see such a great man go. And how much he had admired lord Nerevar in life. Varvur had no doubt that quite a few people had to force their faces to remain straight at that. Helseth went on:

“People of Morrowind, hear me. As we said, a great man has died this week, but we shall not forget him, he shall never be forgotten here. It was brought to our attention that before he died, he abolished slavery. As a last salute to him we will ratify his decision. We, king Hlaalu Helseth, first of our name, hereby officially outlaw slavery. Slavery is no more and every slave owner is required within a week to release all of their slaves and allow them to leave their land. They may keep everything that they own as they leave.”

“Now I realise just before he died, lord Nerevar was going to announce the names of people he knew were corrupt and taking bribes. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear as if he’s written any of that down. Varvur, you were with him so often, do you know of anything he left? Perchance he’s left some things in your protection, as we all know how good you are at protecting things, eh?”

[minque]

Wonderful! It's a sheer joy to read this story...I'm speechless...(And that's a miracle per se! )

[Steve]

All this plotting is making me cry... LOL!!!
I am enjoying this story very much!
Even though I'm terrible with Morrowind historical whatever!!!

And thank you very much for the regular updates! It's like reading a good book!

This post has been edited by Steve: Mar 5 2008, 12:26 AM

[The Metal Mallet]

Well that was a particularly nasty jab by Helseth there, hehe! Good way to end an update if I do say so.

[Agent Griff]

I can see Martin's trademarks everywhere. The "first of his name" bit is taken from ASoIaF, since that's what heralds say each time they introduce Robert Baratheon or Joffrey Baratheon. So is the ending jab by Helseth. Martin has a way of ending all his chapters with good ending phrases. Kind of like what you did here. Still, ASoIaF transposed into Tamriel is good in my book. I really liked Helseth's plan and how he described the Telvanni as psychopathic lunatics intent on killing people for fun. The ending jab was also brilliant.

[Alexander]

I really liked Helseth's plan and how he described the Telvanni as psychopathic lunatics intent on killing people for fun.

Heh, well we are aren't we? I mean psychopathic lunatics intent on killing people for fun. Some of us are anyway

[Alexander]

It took all of his self control that time, and a long look from his father. Varvur felt his hand on the blade, but seeing the royal guards reach for their weapon he quickly let go of the hilt. ‘I will get you for that one; one day I will get you for that Helseth,’ he thought to himself. What he said was something very different of course.

“Unfortunately not, my liege, though he told me many tales while I was here, nothing was put onto paper. Rest assured though, I will find those responsible and bring them to justice. In fact, I’ll present their heads to you personally. With your permission of course.” And at that he made a deep bow.

Sneering, the king turned his back on Varvur and finished his speech by wishing lord Nerevar blessings in his new life.

With that the ceremony was at an end, the priests using spells would now move the coffin into the prepared tomb just outside of Ebonheart where lord Nerevar would rest forever.

As the crowd dispersed, Varvur spotted the captain of the guards who was present when it happened. “Captain, a word with you if I may; this will only take a minute.”

“Fine, but be quick about it then.”
“All I want to know really is the names of the servants who were present when it happened, and where I can find them.” After Varvur had written down everything he needed to know, he went back to his room to lie in his bed.

Questioning Jester was impossible. The Bosmer was sitting on his bed, with his feet tucked beneath his body and rocking back and forth like a madman. He spoke in jibberish, and all the intelligible thing he said was “I was only trying to help, just trying to make them laugh.” Clearly Jester was scared senseless and would be no help to Varvur.

The first two questionings of servants proved to be fruitless. Tuvene Arethan was a Dunmer who had served in Ebonheart for many years now. She couldn’t stop sobbing during Varvur’s questioning and it seemed all she could remember from that night was being scared silly by a door pounding open, and then hearing the lord had died, upon which she had fainted. The second was Ruccia Conician, an Imperial lady who said little more then “Please don’t kill me, I didn’t do it, please don’t end my life, I‘m innocent.” The third person, however, a very nice Khajiit lady who had just moved to Ebonheart, did have some more information. She had taken residence in part of the now nearly abandoned Imperial Cult Chapels. She had nothing new to tell about what happened in the council chambers, but she did swear she’d seen a boat sailing away on the night of the murder. She had gone to look out the window not long after she’d gone to her room, and saw a boat sailing due east.

Now Varvur approached the place where he would find the fourth and final witness. For some reason he’d chosen to live in the Six Fishes Tavern in central Ebonheart. Varvur was almost certain what to expect, but he was still glad when he found his instinct hadn’t left him yet. The room of the fourth witness was very clean, too clean almost, as if someone had made sure to leave nothing behind with which someone could identify him. The bartender there wasn’t sure when he’d last seen the man, all he knew was that he’d been an Imperial, had payed 2 months in advance and made no trouble. And, the bartender added, that was all he needed to know. Varvur was pretty sure he’d found his man, and pretty sure he knew who had been in that boat. When he checked with the harbourmaster though, no boat matching the description of the Khajiit had been seen for at least a month.

The answer came to him while was questioning a guard who was on duty during the evening of the assassination.

“Yeah I had duty that night. Yeah I saw an Imperial walk past. It was when everything went nuts up there, all the screaming and yelling and everyone shouting lord Nerevar had died. I remember rushing up the stairs and an Imperial was coming down. I looked behind me before I turned the corner and saw him entering the small Imperial Shrine here. I do remember thinking to myself how odd that was, as I thought I’d locked it and the only other key is with the captain.”
“Could you open the door for me,” Varvur asked, “ I’d like to take a look inside.”

“Sure, so long as it doesn’t put me into trouble.”

The room was very small, really little more then 4 small walls and an altar near the centre. Varvur looked over the altar to see if there was something odd about it, but couldn’t detect anything. Walking along the walls he also saw nothing out of the ordinary, or did he? He didn’t see anything, but he felt something. At the joining of two walls in a corner he distinctly felt a light breeze. After he felt around, he found a line running there, a separation of the two walls. And more importantly, he found a hidden lever. Pressing it moved part of the wall aside to uncover a door.

Drawing his blade, he opened the door and found himself in an underground cave. He saw some of the foundation of Ebonheart so he concluded he must be right beneath it. Exploring the cave did not give him much more information, but when he was just about to walk back, he noticed there appeared to be a platform of some kind, some way above the ground. Clinging on to a few projecting rocks in the wall, he climbed to the top and found a small hidden camp. Someone had obviously spent some time there, he thought, as there were plenty of supplies lying around. Most of them appeared to have been prepared especially to remain good for a long time. Whoever had been living here did not want to rush himself.

The second discovery came when he noticed some air bubbles coming up. Still water isn’t supposed to have bubbles popping up like that. Discarding his armour and leaving it at the water’s edge, Varvur went into the water and followed the bubbles. He was lead to a small underwater door that when he went through it, led him just outside Ebonheart to a small cove, secluded from everyone, even from people looking at it from Ebonheart, a place where one could easily store a boat.

He knew he’d just come one step closer to finding the poisoner.

[redsrock]

Great story so far, Alexander. I especially like the size of each post. It's perfect in my opinon; not too long, but not too short either. By the way, did you get my PM?

[Alexander]

Unfortunately I won't be here tonight at the time of the usual update, so I'll give it to you a few hours early. This is the first part of one of the chapters I enjoyed most when writing it. I think if you read it, and consider how much of a fan of the Telvanni I've been since the first time I started playing Morrowind, you can figure out why


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Chapter 5. The more things change…..

Baladas looked around the room. All the powerful Wizards, Lords of the Telvanni, gathered in one room, and none had even tried to kill each other yet. That alone was a testament to the power and influence, and likely dread, Divayth Fyr commanded. Only he could keep all of them from killing their peers.

Everyone had come, Mistress Dratha of Tel Mora, Master Aryon of Tel Vos, the wizard Uvirith of Tel Uvirith, Master Maryon of Tel Branora, successor to the late mistress Therana. Master Empor of Firewatch, Mistress Arala of Velothi’s haven and of course Supreme Magister Moven of Port Telvannis and theoretical head of Great House Telvanni. Theoretical, because when he stood in the same room as Divayth it was clear the Supreme Magister was not even the equal of Lord Fyr’s shadow. He was too afraid even to look into the eyes of Divayth, let alone speak up.

Divayth therefore spoke “Welcome, fellow Telvanni. Welcome also to our esteemed Supreme Magister.” Baladas thought he heard an sarcastic note when Divayth said the word ‘esteemed.’

“My fellow Telvanni, as you all know, grave things have happened. Two days ago, lord Nerevar was poisoned, poisoned in front of the entire Grand Council. Well, almost the entire council, anyway. I am certain the events that will follow will leave their mark on Morrowind for many years to come. But I also have another matter to discuss. Corruption.”

Baladas noticed the Supreme Magister take a step back at the word ‘corruption.’

“Before lord Nerevar died, he was about to announce the names of a number of people trying their best to work with an unknown person to bring down Morrowind. We are Telvanni, so bribery and plotting comes naturally to us, but until now at least we’ve kept it inside our house. Now it would seem outsiders are trying to influence our house.”

And quicker then Baladas’ eyes could register it, Divayth raised his hand, and threw a frost spell straight at the Supreme Magister. He tried to get away, but it was too late. The frost ball engulfed him, and froze him on the spot. Divayth slowly walked up to the Magister, looked him in the eyes for a moment, and then punched the now frozen wizard as hard as he could. On impact, the ice shattered, and with it the body of the Supreme Magister. Pieces of him flew everywhere around the room and Divayth had a smile on his face.

Divayth spoke to the assembled Masters who were mostly still in shock over what they’d just seen. Not that it was uncommon for a Master or even Magister to “step down” like this, it was in fact more usual to be killed then die of old age with the Telvanni, but it wasn’t usually done with such a large and impressive audience nearby.

“What you’ve just seen is the fate of a traitor. I have evidence which I will show you at the end of this meeting, proving beyond a doubt that our beloved and dearly departed Supreme Magister was actually being paid by King Helseth. Not only was he to limit the Telvanni in any way he could, he was also an informant. For the past year we’ve been wondering how it could be that Helseth always proved to know things we were planning before we carried them out, and this is the answer. A traitor.”

“I meant what I said- from now on, the office of Supreme Magister is no more. The Archmagister will lead Great House Telvanni from now on.”

Baladas was the first to call out, “Hail, Archmagister Fyr,” and others almost immediately followed suit, but Divayth raised his hand.

“Though I thank you for your confidence in this, I have no interest in becoming Archmagister. No, instead, allow me to present you with the new Archmagister.”

Suddenly, a figure appeared next to Divayth Fyr. It was the same hooded figure Baladas had seen in Tel Fyr two days past. Baladas felt scared, not a feeling he was used to. A room filled with the most powerful Wizard Lords alive on Nirn today, and no one had sensed that another person was in the room with them. That alone was a testament to the power of whoever this was.

Divayth spoke on, “Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, your new Archmagister right now is a man of few words, no words to be precise. But he has entrusted me with instructing you. You are all to obey the last wishes of lord Nerevar. Some of you have already freed your slaves; the others will do so as soon as they get back from this meeting. Free them, and allow them to return to their homes if they so wish, but you are also instructed to offer them something different. Ask them to serve you for the coming two years, as warriors, messengers, builders, whatever needs be done. And in return, after those two years, you will repay them with a piece of land for their own, money and the right to live as equals among Telvanni everywhere.”

Some muttering followed that; not every Telvanni was as progressive in thought as Divayth, Felen, Baladas and Aryon. Quite a few were still using slaves to work their egg mines and other mines.

“Be silent!” Divayth said. “My fellow Telvanni, trust me when I say this; we are in for a very exciting year. I promise you, even now Helseth is sitting in his palace in Mournhold plotting against us. It would not surprise me if he accused us of killing lord Nerevar as an excuse to seize our lands and rid Morrowind of House Telvanni. I for one will not allow that to happen. Will you?”

A chorus of ‘No’s’ came in answer.

“Well then, here is what we are going to do. I’m sure you’re all somewhat familiar with the Ghostfence and the way it operated, when it was still operating, that is. It channelled the power of the honourable dead and that power was used to create a shield, a shield that kept Morrowind safe from the threats of the blight, and Dagoth Ur. After years of study, I’ve found a way to recreate the pillars used for the Ghostfence.”

“We will create many of them, and place them along the new border of Telvanni lands, then activate them. From then on, we will be able to live our lives as we want to, without having to bend the knee to Helseth or any other would be ruler of Morrowind.”

Baladas spoke up, “But Master Fyr, in days past the Ghostfence relied on the city of Necrom for power. It’s deep inside Indoril territory; how will you wrest away control, let alone hold it?”

“Leave that to me,” came the reply. “For now, what I want you all to do is this. Return to your homes, free the slaves as ordered, and try your best to convince as many as you can to stay and serve. Also, arm and ready all of your forces. Mercenaries must be removed from your cities, for none who could be a spy may be allowed to stay. Be certain that all in your force are true Telvanni. The day after the funeral of lord Nerevar, we start our campaign.”

[BSD-IES]

Coming along very nicely so far, but who is The Hooded Man? I guess you'll let us know sooner or later (I hope sooner, darn these cliffhangers!), but in themeantime I shall simply enjoy the ride you take us on. I certainly am so far