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> Clark - Second Era
Renee
post Apr 25 2022, 12:17 PM
Post #61


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I like the way they are discussing which daedric being could it be. Really gotta keep up with the lore to know all that stuff.

Whoa. blink.gif (I think you know what I'm whoaing about.) embarrased.gif

Yeah, see if there are crows out there. This could be proof mirocu is in the game.


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Acadian
post Apr 25 2022, 08:19 PM
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I confess that in the game, Buffy and I were cheering Veya as she went on her Redoran hunting spree. Some things are worse than crows. . . speaking of which, mirocu is the only TES crow that I like. Daedric involvement? Could be I suppose, although given how we feel about the great houses, I wouldn't rule out Divine intervention instead. wink.gif


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ghastley
post Mar 12 2023, 10:44 PM
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Time for the annual update to Clark's story - has it really been that long?

Previously: Clark found a potential agent for Nocturnal in Veya, a Dunmer who'd just avenged her brother's death by killing her father. She was conveniently about to be shipped off to hide in the Summerset Isles, which is where Nocturnal needed her.

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Part 2.9 - Reuniting Seht

"I'm not so sure that Veya's going to make those new friends quite as much as you expected, Clark," Nocturnal told me, back at her cottage. "The ruling faction on the Summerset Isle is quite xenophobic, and Altmer look down on everyone else."

"But there are a lot of outsiders there, too. Imperials, Bretons, Nords, Khajiit ..."

"And she'll start under the tutelage of that Razum-Dar, the Eye of the Queen that Naryu has contacts with. He'll not waste the opportunity, but she'll most likely decide that comfort takes precedence over other things, and move on. That will be when I take over.

"You did a good job preparing her for me. She's got 'daedric possession' as a salve for her conscience, if she starts feeling guilt about her father, and at the same time, she has your accounts of Seryn to tell her it's not always a bad thing. Plus, I think I got you masked up before she learned your face, so she likely won't know you if she sees you again. And by that time, I'll be in a position to convince her she's mistaken.

"So now I can help her, if she'll help me."

"Help you how?" I asked

"I don't know yet. Vile hasn't played all his cards, so neither will I. And we still don't know for certain whether Meridia's getting involved, because of the Sload. If she does, then her agent, a Breton named Darien Gautier, is likely to show up. Watch out for him, will you?"

Just then, we were interrupted by the arrival of a crow, flying in through the door and landing by the fire.

"You sent for me, Mistress?" he inquired.

Nocturnal introduced me to the Duke of Crows. "Have you located it?" she asked him

"The heroic Blackfeather Court has done as you asked and found the shiny for you!"

"Then hand it over."

"We found it, but we could not retrieve it, Mistress. The Shadow has taken it."

Nocturnal didn't seem too surprised at this turn of events. "It was to be expected that the Shadow would attempt to take control of the rest of Sotha Sil. If they're reunited, then it loses out to his better judgement, and effectively gets suppressed.

"it wasn't what I had in mind when I set this all up, of course, and it does complicate things quite a bit. Restoring Seht was supposed to be a simple job for the key-bearer, but the Shadow will have turned on all the defensive apparatus of the Cogitum Centralis to protect his back.

"No doubt he'll be looking for a way to make Seht's protective custody permanent. You'll have to go there and put them back together for me."

"Can I get there from here?"

"If you're asking if this part of Evergloam connects to Seht's location, then the answer is no. I wanted the path to be easy to guard, so it's quite cut off from everything else, other than the portals in and out."

"So where do I need to go?"

"There's another gloaming gate, like the one that leads here, out on the eastern edge of Clockwork City, down in a cleft off a canyon where nobody is likely to find it. Nobody but Proctor Luciana Pulllo, that is. See if you can meet up with her and send her the wrong way. You'll need her help in the Cogitum Centralis, but we don't want her starting a fight in Evergloam."

---

I went to the Brass Fortress to try and locate her, and found her waiting for me. She knew of two gloaming gates, and couldn't be in both places at once. She wanted me to explore one, while she searched the other.

"You take the western one, and I'll go east, then. Are you sure there's just the two of them?"

"Clockwork City's not that large. Unless the daedra have opened new ones today, my daily reports only mention the two."

---

"Got that," the voice of Nocturnal in the back of my head acknowledged. "As soon as she steps through the gate here, I'll get a shrike to flip her sleep switch, and she won't even know she arrived.

"It does mean you'll have to rescue her later, but we can stage-manage that so she doesn't suspect anything."

---

The shrike laid down and played dead while I flipped the switch to wake Luciana. Before the Proctor could examine the "corpse" Nocturnal faded her out of our sight.

Luciana looked around. "This isn't the part of Evergloam where I came in," she remarked.

"No, that was the first place they'd expect me to look for you, so you were moved here," I told her. "But wherever we are now, let's get out." I pointed at the nearby gloaming gate.

---

"I know where we are," Luciana exclaimed. "This has brought us to the Mechanical Fundament, just outside the Cogitum Centralis. We must be close to where they're holding Sotha Sil!"

"Well, I hope you know the way from here, because I don't," I pointed out. "This is all new territory for me."

Knowing the way wasn't all the story, of course. The Shadow had activated the Cogitum's defensive mechanisms, which meant that the first part of the way wasn't where we needed it to be. The bridge we had to take was rotated to where we couldn't use it, so our first task was to get it back in the right position.

"And naturally the rotation mechanism is locked," Luciana remarked. "I think I can override it, if I have more power. Can you activate the Core Pumps, so I can try?"

She pointed me off to either side of the bridge, where power terminals were located. "Expect guards," I was told, rather redundantly, as they were already announcing their presence. I managed to reach the first switch, and activate the pump, and headed back for the other.

Back at the bridge, the automata had found Luciana, too, and I went to her assistance. "I can hanlde these.: she shouted. "Get the other switch!"

So I did, and when I got back, she was still in one piece. A rather bent piece, with one arm looking the worse for wear. "I need to mend this first," she told me. "And you'll have to help".

She opened a flap in one thigh and took out some tools. "One advantage of hollow legs." she pointed out. "Now you hold the ends of that strut while I straighten it out."

"Does that hurt?" I asked. Bending my arm that way certainly would have hurt.

"I do have an 'awareness of damage', but it's not exactly pain. It serves the same purpose of dissuading me from letting the damage continue, but I can turn it off for procedures like this. And most repairs are done by the factotums, while I sleep."

She paused, before continuing. "What I'm really missing is a better sense of touch so I can avoid this sort of impact in the first place. I only have that in my hands so I can modulate my grip, and a rudimentary sense in my feet to supplement my balance."

She got back to her work overriding the bridge lock-out, and soon it swung back around to where we could use it. I followed her across.

---

"It's getting rather dark in here," I pointed out. "The shadow obviously has his preferences, and they don't match mine."

"Nor mine either," Luciana responded. "But I'm out of magicka, so we need to find the light switches. You go that way, and I'll try over here."

By the time we found what we were looking for, the shadow had almost reached Sotha Sil, who was locked into a complex apparatus that held him immobile. Someone was trying to pry the metal apart, apparently with no success. And between us and the contraption was the Shadow.

"Deal with the Shadow, while I try and get Seht out of this thing," Divayth Fyr shouted.

"You'll not open that without the Skeleton Key," the Shadow interrupted, "and I have it. So Seht's going nowhere, and you should all just leave now, before I kill you."

Fyr's reaction was to abandon his efforts on the apparatus, and fire a spell at the Shadow. Luciana had regained enough energy to do the same, and I added some physical assault to the mix. Although this was only part 9f Seht we were dealing with, like Fyr's shadow when I arrived in Clockwork City, we all knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

However, Nocturnal was the ringmaster here, and she could help us a bit, so long as Sotha Sil didn't catch on. And the rest of him was there watching, so it had to be a convincing battle. There was an impressive display of light, and dark, effects around us all the time, probably obscuring much of it from Seht's view, but also hindering the combatants. Fortunately that worked both ways. The result was that we won, but Fyr was exhausted, and Luciana took a bit more damage than Nocturnal would have liked.

"Take the Key and release Seht, Fyr commanded. "Turn it in that lock. over there."

As I turned the key, the dark pool that had been the Shadow faded (brightened?) and Sotha Sil himself seemed to become more solid, and aware of what was happening. The confining bands dropped away, and retracted into the walls and floor. Sotha Sil was aware of Nocturnal's presence, and dismissed her, giving her the opportunity to let him know that Summerset was next on our agenda. I suspect she wanted him to take an interest on what was about to happen there.

"We should return to the Clockwork Basilica," Sotha Sill announced. "We can discuss events there."

---

Factotums had carried Luciana back, and Fyr and I had found our own way, not being able to take the same shortcuts the mechanicals could use. By the time we arrived, they were already at work on repairing, or perhaps deconstructing, the Proctor. Sotha Sil asked me what I wanted as a reward for my help,

In the long term, I wanted his help on Summerset, but this part of the story wasn't complete yet. Nocturnal wanted Vile's damage here repaired, and part of that was now Luciana. "Can you save her, again?" I asked.

"Altruism. A rare trait. Luciana will die. If not here and now, then elsewhere and later. I can delay her death if you wish, but to what end? Consider carefully. Luciana means a great deal to me, but grief cannot be avoided - only deferred."

Nocturnal had told me that she thought the Proctor was essential to the recovery of Clockwork City, now that Clavicus Vile had moved on. I concurred with that, even if I wasn't sure that it was what Luciana herself would have chosen. I did have an idea that might make her happier with her continued existence.

---

After I was done with Sotha Sil and Fyr, I went to visit Luciana in her retreat at the Basilica.

"Seht. Sotha Sil. Is he…?"

"He's fine. We did it, Luciana," I told her

"Thank the gears. The people … my people … they're safe. He knew. He knew this would happen. He said I would shine a light one day … do you see? Everything built to this. Everything. Every battle … every sorrow. It finally makes sense."

"You'll see Sotha Sil soon. I asked him to save you."

"You asked him that? After all the impatience I showed you? The bad temper? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I've never met a more altruistic soul. Still, I'm not sure even Sotha Sil could save me this time. I feel it in my bones. This is how I end."

I said nothing, just gave her a hug. After a while, it dawned on her that 'feeling it in her bones' wasn't quite the figure of speech it used to be.

"It feels like I'm in my armour, hugging a man who's also in full armour, so perhaps not what you'd describe as exciting, but from my perspective..."

"Better than before?" I ventured.

"Much better. Thank you."
---







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Renee
post Mar 13 2023, 03:03 AM
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Cool, I was wondering when we'd get to read some more Clark. Even though I barely know what's going on in this game, these chapters are still fun!

So how does Nocturnal appear in-game? As a sultry vixen wearing all black? That's how I'd picture her. Of course, Aedra and Daedra can appear however they'd like. But that's how I'd picture her, showing herself before a mortal.

This whole mechanical part sounds complicated! Trying to picture it all... I found this after a Bing search. Looks sort of Dwemer, eh?

Well it sounds like they are successful at whatever the heck they just did. Mission accomplished. salute.gif Nocturnal can go back to being the Dark Mistress that she is.

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After a while, it dawned on her that 'feeling it in her bones' wasn't quite the figure of speech it used to be.


laugh.gif



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Acadian
post Mar 13 2023, 01:55 PM
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Wow, lots of moving parts here! I do remember some of the chase down Sotha Sil and deal with the shadow. Luciana is on my list of fave NPCs in ESO. tongue.gif


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ghastley
post Mar 23 2024, 01:12 AM
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Wow, March again already! Must be time for another piece of Clark's story.

Previously: Clark had wrapped up things in the Clockwork City, and Sotha Sil was himself again. Luciana was a bit closer to her old self again, too.

-----

To Summerset

I started to wonder if my part in this was over, as we'd concluded all Nocturnal needed in Clockwork City, and she now had Veya for anything that would happen in Summerset. I was happy killing time with Seryn in Vivec City, but expecting at any time that Azura would yank me out of there and send me somewhere else. It didn't quite happen that way.

Azura did change our plans, but not in the way I expected. She told me that I needed to go to Summerset, as it wouldn't all be over until Clavicus Vile's scheme had been thoroughly undone, but I could take my time. Why not take Seryn with me, and go on a slow cruise to Summerset? I could board a ship in Mournhold, travel around the coast, stop off at a few interesting places along the way, and arrive before Nocturnal needed me. Seryn could then take the wayshrine home.

Since she was explaining this to both of us, and Seryn liked the idea, it was going to happen.

---

The war between the Alliances meant that many of the potential stops along the way were blockaded, or at least closed to commercial traffic, but we did get to visit Lilmoth, Kenarthi's Roost, and Vulkhel Guard before we landed at Shimmerene. So now I knew wayshrines in three more provinces, should I ever need to travel there again. I started to wonder if that was part of Azura's plan.

I also suspected that Azura had plans for Seryn. She hadn't ventured off of Vvardenfell before, and the Argonians and Khajiit she'd met were all merchants, not exactly representative of their races' diversity. Altmer seldom visited Morrowind, either, preferring to keep their own company.

I had been referred to as an outlander in Morrowind, but the term didn't seem to include any resentment, just that I wasn't Dunmer, so wouldn't understand the local customs. Here in Summerset, "outsider" was a term of derision, and I was clearly inferior for not being an Altmer. And unwelcome, to boot. They seemed reluctant even to let us off the boat.

We quickly made our way through town to the wayshrine, so that Seryn could return to Vivec City. When a mer ran up to us shouting about the Island springing a leak, and "let the cat take care of them", I decided to investigate, if only as a reason not to head back into Shimmerene. I took my leave of Seryn, and headed in the direction the mer had come from.

Not far up the road, I came upon the Khajiit mentioned, finishing off the last of some hostile creatures I had never seen before. The bodies lying on the road were spiny things that looked like they'd come out of the ocean, and didn't really belong on land at all.

I asked a woman standing nearby what they were, but she didn't know either. "Ask Razum-dar, " she told me, pointing at the Khajiit.

I didn't get the chance to ask, because, after smashing what looked like a large pearl radiating dark magic, he spoke to me first.

"Have you ever seen such creatures? Raz has not. Probably neither have you. You are a newcomer, yes? New to this island of High Elves? This one has an eye for such things. And you look capable. So, can Raz interest you in some cloak-and-dagger work?"

"Cloak-and-dagger work? Sounds ominous," I responded.

"Ominous? No, nothing of the sort. Well, maybe a little of the sort. Depends on how things develop. Raz has come to Summerset at the behest of Queen Ayrenn. To make sure her decree regarding the opening of the island proceeds as she directed."

"So how can I help?"

"Ask some questions. Determine the mood in Shimmerene and see how the newcomers are faring. Rumors have reached the Queen and she is concerned. So Razum-dar comes to see what's happening and fights strange creatures. Now Raz is concerned as well."

"I'll ask some questions around the city," I told him. I'd like to find out more myself, especially if this had anything to do with my being sent here.

"While you ask questions around the city, Raz can take care of some other business. It may or may not involve scratching and clawing. Let's meet near the entrance to Shimmerene when you have something to report."

I started by asking a few of Razum-dar. What was this decree he'd mentioned?

He explained that Queen Ayrenn had lifted the prohibition on foreigners entering the main island, as it hampered her from strengthening the Alliance with the Bosmer and Khajiiti, but many of the more hidebound residents had opposed it. The prohibition was relatively recent, and many had settled here before it came into effect. Of the three people he wanted me to question, only one was an Altmer. The other two were a Redguard and an Argonian.

And I wanted to know why he just decided to trust a complete stranger with this mission.

"But you are not a complete stranger, are you? You are the Champion of Vivec, and the rescuer of Sotha Sil, and Divayth Fyr informs us that Almalexia owes you more than she'd admit. You are known to be in a relationship with Azura's champion, who accompanied you here. And how does this one know it is you? Sotha Sil records his memories, and he shared an image with us when you set off on your trip here. The common folk may not know you, but Raz does."

"Besides, when those creatures attacked, everyone else fled, but you came closer. Raz would have preferred that you arrived a little earlier, but he needed the exercise."

---

I spoke with the three people Razum-dar had directed me to, or rather two of them. The Argonian was dead, and I found a note in his backpack that provided the same information I got from the live ones. Recent arrivals, "newcomers" as they termed them, non-Altmer from other provinces, were being rounded up and taken to the monastery. When I took this back to Raz we witnessed a further example, with several of the locals complaining to an official about their servants being taken away. At least one of them agreed with his pronouncement that they needed to be "sequestered" until their suitability for Altmer society was determined. "Lock up the newcomers" was a bit of an extreme way to phrase it, in my opinion.

Raz and I agreed that we needed to check out the monastery. We split up to approach it from different directions. Raz told me he'd distract the guard, so I could slip inside, and It would be best if I did so from behind the guard's back.

On the way there, a golden-clad knight appeared, from a bright portal, and almost immediately left again, complaining that the portal wasn't working. I don't understand why, but this suggested to me that Meridia was trying to get involved, but was meeting resistance. I'm guessing that thought came from Azura, but she's not confirming it. Nocturnal had mentioned that possibility, and it would mean that Mephala had involved the Sload, whatever they were. The resistance could have been Mephala's doing, but it was also possible that Azura and Nocturnal wanted to keep her involvement in reserve.

Entering the monastery went as planned, and there seemed to be few, if any guards inside. I talked to one monk, who seemed disgruntled by the new Aldarch's methods, but I found nothing of major interest on the ground level. One the floor above, however, I found a large pearl similar to the one Razum-dar had destroyed, but seemingly inert, just sitting on the Aldarch's office desk.

"Unusual knick-knack for an Aldarch's office, wouldn't you agree?"asked a voice behind me. I turned to find an elderly Altmer woman entering the room. She was here looking for a friend who had disappeared, and was about to continue her search in the undercroft. She suggested we do so together.

Immediately on entering the undercroft, we both felt uneasy. "I sense magic, dark magic," she told me. And we both saw the cages. I went to let the one remaining prisoner free, while Valsirenn examined a corpse on the floor. "What's a skaafin doing down here?" she asked.

The obvious answer was that Clavicus Vile was involved, but that was ... obvious, so I said nothing. We continued down the passageways.

It wasn't long before we encountered live skaafin, and some of the same creatures that Razum-dar had been fighting when I met him. It was now apparent that they were being summoned by the same Daedric cultists, so Vile and Mephala had already started to join forces here. There was yet another pearl here in the great hall of the undercroft, and it appeared to be the focus for summoning the sea creatures.

"I'll deal with the pearl, you keep the creatures away while I do that," she decided. Since that was the method I was about to suggest, it's what I did. The cultist that had summoned them had already escaped, so that might mean that reinforcements weren't on the agenda.

When we had time to talk, Valsirenn told me that she was a member of the Psijic Order, and she'd sent the pearl to them for analysis. I told her about Razum-dar and Queen Ayrenn's decree triggering this uprising.

"You'd best inform him about what happened here. I'll catch up with you later," she said. "Living on Arteum for a few centuries doesn't prepare you for physical action, and I need a rest."

---

Razum-dar had a room at the nearby tavern, and he'd been doing a bit of snooping of his own. None of it had turned up anything like a Daedric cult, and a life-sucking pearl, however. But he'd managed to obtain an invitation to an event at the Kinlady's townhouse, where it was likely that the decree would be discussed. In particular he wanted to know whether the Kinlady had sanctioned the Aldarch's actions, or if he was acting on his own. Since the Kinlady knew Razum-dar, and they did not get along, it fell to me to attend.

Talking to Kinlady Avenisse convinced me that she had taken the Aldarch's story about sequestering the newcomers at face value, and had no idea what was really going on. She did have a slight suspicion about him, as her chancellor had been unable to verify the Aldarch's existence prior to his coming here. "He did have high recommendation from Kinlord Mulinthel, whom I trust," she told me.

As I was about to leave, a servant brought in a note from the Aldarch. "He wants me to meet him at the Coral Forest? That's an odd place for a meeting, but I need to hear him out."

---

Raz agreed with her assesssment. And confirmed that Tilcalar did not not exist until he arrived here. "and is this your Psijic friend?"

"I'm glad i found you both," Valsirenn said. "I just saw Kinlady Avenisse sneaking out of the city, and came looking for you."

I made the introductions, and we agreed to meet again at the Coral Forest. "We should travel separately, so we don't arouse suspicion, yes?" Raz suggested.



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Renee
post Mar 23 2024, 03:14 PM
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Cool, was wondering when we'd see some more Clark. Was actually gonna make a request for some! Acadian & I have been waiting with bated breath.

I'll reiterate what I said a year ago: I don't know much of what's going on in this story since I barely have played ESO. But it's fun to read. Yeah. being sent to locations which just happen to have Wayshrines does seem mighty convenient. smile.gif

Ha! It's the Second Era, yet even way back then they still referred to non-Dunmer as Outlanders, from the way this is described at least. Well, they referred to actual Dunmer as Outlanders too, in TES3. Wonder what would happen in ESO if a Dunmer walked around in Morrowind. Outsider does have a more ominous ring to it.

'Spiny things' sound like urchins.

Uh oh. The workings of Clavicus Vile are afoot?

Off to Coral Forest they go. Let's have a picture. Nice.




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Acadian
post Mar 23 2024, 08:12 PM
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Welcome back to Clark!

Locking up newcomers to Summerset is not likely to please Queen Ayrenn. Nice job introducing Raz and Valsirren. I hope Clark gets to visit Arteum – it’s beautiful.


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