Oasis chapter 4, The sign of prophecy. Options

[jack cloudy]

chapter1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Alright, I couldn't stop writing so you'll get the start of the fourth chapter early.



Chapter 4: The sign of prophecy.

My first action was to gulp down all the potions I had, but even they could not remove the power of the curse. Already I could feel it draining my mind and my will. I could slow the curse with my own magicka, but I could not stop it.

I realized that I was doomed and sank to the floor. It would be best for the island if I destroyed the entrance to the cave and made it my tomb. Yet, there were still a few things I had to do. To clear my mind, I looted the chamber and was rewarded with two gauntlets of a strong material. I put them on and then sat down with a few bits of paper and began to write.

,,You’re back? Good, I was worried.” Caius said when I stumbled into his home. He then noticed that something was wrong.
,,What happened?”

,,I killed Dagoth Gares. He gave me the Corprus. I am a death man, Caius. Take these papers. It will tell you everything you need to know. Ajira will receive the Warlock’s ring and the staff of Magnus. Felisa Ulessen of the Telvanni will get my stronghold. You will get the money and my weapons. If you excuse me, I’ll leave now and go kill myself somewhere quiet.” His response to those words surprised me.

,,Fool! Do you really want to give up that fast?! I will not let you do this! As your commanding officer in the Blades, I order you to go out and get yourself cured.” He grabbed the paper out of my hands and ripped it into little pieces.
,,It is no use to give me a last will if you are not death. As a matter of fact, I have been doing some research while you destroyed that base. A Dunmer named Divayth Fyr is apparently the leading expert on the Corprus disease. Find him and see if he has a cure. But first, you need to rest.”

My objections that his bed might become infected with the disease were met with a smile. Caius wasn’t expecting to use his bed any more. I cast whatever spells I knew to slow the curse and went to sleep. I was once again assaulted by nightmares of the man with the Golden mask. This time, I knew it was Dagoth Ur. He was alive, and not happy with my existence.

,,Luper! Wake up! We’ve got guests of the bad kind!” Caius shouted which caused me to awaken. Through my blurred vision, I could barely make at that there were two people in the room, trying to kill each other.

I tried to get up, but the Corprus seemed to have taken hold of me which made moving very difficult. I pulled my ring of my finger.
,,Caius, catch!” The blurred figure who was coloured the lightest turned towards me for a bit. I threw the ring before dropping back into a slumber.

,,Luper, are you awake?”
Caius towered over me with a worried look. Clearly, sleeping when infected with the Corprus was a bad idea.
,,I’m fine. What happened?”

,,It looks like the Sixth House is getting worried about you. One of their minions paid us a little visit.” Caius handed over my ring.
,,Interesting weapon you’ve got there. It saved our lives. I’ll give it back to you, you’ll need it when you seek out Divayth Fyr. Unfortunately, I don’t know where he lives.” Caius said. He also gave me the last of his money and a Dwemer artefact. He called it a little investment.

Caius didn’t knew where to find Fyr, but I did. We were neighbours, sort of. I’d never spoken to him, but I knew where to find his mushroom. One recall later, and I arrived home from where I could begin my journey.

Travelling was the easiest bit, keeping my sanity wasn’t. By the time I made it, I could feel my mind beginning to slip away. Fortunately, I didn’t need to say a word. One of Fyr’s “daughters” took me straight to him where he revealed his plan to me.

He would give me a potion that theoretically should cure the disease, except for that small detail that it killed everyone who tried. In return, I would take a walk in his Corprusarium and pick up a bunch of boots from Yagrum Bagarn. I was not allowed to hurt any of the other victims, even if they tried to kill me. Brilliant as usual. Any other ways to get myself killed?

I had barely made a single step inside before the first corprus victim moved towards me. My first idea was to simply forget about it and just hack my way through, but I needed the potion. Seeing no other way out, I started running.

I ran and ran, picking my direction at random. At one moment I came across something best described as a humanoid body slapped on top of a Spider Centurion standing next to a pair of Dwemer boots. I grabbed the boots and kept running till I found the exit. The warden slammed the door shut behind me, and a dozen Corprus victims slammed into it.

Before me stood Fyr, clapping his hands and smiling as if he had just seen the most amusing thing ever.
,,Splendid, just splendid! It is a shame that you didn’t tried to raid the chests on the way. I love to tempt a thief. Anyway, a promise is a promise. I’ll take the boots and give you the potion which you should drink immediately.” He said.

I could only nod and the last remains of my mind were now slipping away. It took the help of the warden to restrain me as the Corprus took control of me. I never remembered what happened in those few seconds. Fyr must have given me the potion.

It was all over in a few seconds. When I realized that I was alive, I realized something else at the same time. Not only was I alive, but I was completely back to the way I was before being infected. The only sign that reminded me of ever having been infected where my muscles that had grown while I was cursed. Fyr took me over to his office where he explained things to me. I was not freed of the Corprus. Merely all the bad effects had been removed. The good effects, which included immunity to disease and a stop to the aging process of my body were still there.

Aging process? According to Fyr, I would live far longer than any Redguard and even far longer than an Elf if I didn’t met my end on the blade of a weapon. He suggested that I took things slowly, for I now had plenty of time. I merely smiled and didn’t told him what I really thought of that. I’d seen Therana, who had gone crazy through her age. No, if I was immortal I would have to be impatient in order to preserve my sanity.

I took up the offer to spend the night in the guest room. When everyone was asleep, I got up again. So Fyr liked to tempt thieves to rob his Corprusarium? Well I felt more for robbing his house.

I came up with the fur of some creature made into a cuirass. hanging in a closet. It looked expensive and all, so I took it. My second prize was a bit harder to obtain. It all started when I took up a key and used it to open a small chest from which I took an amulet. Out of fun, I put the amulet around my neck.

Before I knew what had happened, I was standing inside a Daedric shrine.
,,So, mortal! You have come to challenge me, Dregas Volar?! I shall bathe my Crescent in your blood!” A voice boomed through the shrine. A Dremora leapt out of the shadows, holding a sword with two blades shaped in half a circle.

I ducked around the first blade and parried the second with my summoned sword. Daedric against Daedric, if I was still using my Glass Longsword, it would have snapped like a twig.
For a few minutes, our swords clashed. I was grateful for the excellent protection of the Lord’s Mail, as well as my new Flamelance spell that focussed what would have been a large fireball into an area the size of a coin to cut through its target. Finally, I gained the upper hand and defeated the Dremora. I just managed to grab hold of its sword before the amulet transported me back to Tel Fyr.

After that, I decided that it would be safest not to find out what would be protecting his other treasures and performed a Divine Intervention back to Sadrith Mora from which I travelled to Caius.

[jack cloudy]

The place was surprisingly empty. Ok, there were two Ordinators and one guy who must’ve been kissing a Guar. Or maybe it was just the flu that was causing his skin to look odd. And he was floating! This god was pathetic. I mean, who floats just to show of how mighty he is? Well, Vivec does.

,,Yes, what do you want?” No fancy riddles? Ok, I could live with that.
,,Let’s play the name-game.” I answered. Luckily, the helmet hid my huge grin.
,,Do you remember the name, Kagrenac?”

Vivec began to sweat. Things were looking good so far.
,,Everyone knows that name. He was the mastersmith of the Dwarves.” He said slightly irritated.
,,True, but do you remember the name Lorhkan?” Now Vivec began to tremble. This was so funny.
I raised my left hand, the hand that bore the Moon-and-Star.
,, Last one. Do you remember the name….Nerevar?”

With a big thud, Vivec fell out of the sky from shock. See, I said that floating to show of your mighty powers was stupid. The two Ordinators finally figured out where this was going and approached me with their fancy maces. A bit of Telekinetic fun later, and they were dressed down till their underwear. Oh boy, I loved playing with the Ordinators.

,,Leave us.” Vivec told the two when he got some control of himself back. He chose to stand instead of floating this time.
,,So, the time of the prophecy is at hand. It is your task to defeat Dagoth Ur. Though I admit that I’d rather prefer that there was another way, I have no choice but to obey the wish of Azura. Take this gauntlet, Wraithguard, it will be needed if you ever wish to hold Kagrenac’s tools. I entrust Wraithguard into your possession and with it, the future of Tamriel.”

I won’t talk about what happened next. He gave me some fancy plans and stuff and sent me off. Outside I experienced the greatest miracle of all. The Ordinators weren’t saying scum to me! Um yeah, I read the plans and all and then threw them away. Alright, I wasn’t a tactician, but there was something smelly about it.

For one, the excuse that the Tribunal had to hold the Ghostgate at the same time as an attack was pathetic, not to mention used a dozen times. If they were worried about not having the manpower to sent an army to knock on Dagoth Ur’s door, then why did they thought that I would be able to do it on my own? Well, they probably wanted me to die anyway. There was the “don’t mess with Vivec or you’ll know the power of a true god” bit. If that wasn’t a threat, I didn’t knew what it was.

Alright, if Vivec and his Ordinator dudes were too lazy to do things themselves, I would make my own army. With those thoughts, I headed for the hall of the mage guild.

I was welcomed by the stewards and officially put in my position as Arch-Mage. I was tehn dragged to my office by Ranis from Balmora. While she was now lower ranked than me, I decided to just let her do her thing while I figured out how to escape the paperwork of my new rank.

,,Alright, Luper Alkad. You know that I’ve sent you to spy on the Telvanni. Did you find anything?” She asked eagerly.
,,I did. The bad guy isn’t a Telvanni.” Maybe the truth was the best choice at the moment.

,,There are two people who might get any advantage out of this. Vivec, that stupid ugly Dreugh and Dagoth Ur. They are also the only ones who can drain enchantments on such a large scale. But enough about that. Ranis, you’ve been worried about a war with the Telvanni for years. Knowing you, you have been preparing. So where did you hide the stuff?” I continued.

,,So you know? I admit, I have gathered and hidden enough enchanted rings and amulets to equip an army. What do you want to do with those?” The Dark Elf asked me.
,,Just what you said, equip an army. Specifically, the Imperial Legion.”

If there was going to be a war, I’d have to prepare. I wasn’t a tactician, but a fighter so I would need to find someone else to lead. I found that someone in Sarethi of House Redoran. Using my power as Hortator, I managed to make all the houses raise an army that would meet when I was ready at Ghostgate. As the highest ranking Blade in Morrowind, I managed to convince the Imperial Legion to join the growing army. As Nerevarine of the Ashlanders, I had them hunt and gather the food needed to feed the army when the battle would begin.

With those preparations being done, I moved on to my personal duty. I entered Red Mountain under the protection of the Amulet of Shadows and raided every outpost of Dagoth Ur where I slayed the Ash Vampires. I also found the hammer Sunder and the blade Keening. After that, I retreated back to Ald’Rhun and gave the signal to make the different parts of the army begin their march to Ghostgate. The war against Dagoth Ur was about ot begin.