Memoires of Rales Sarethi, A Morrowind fanfic Options

[Destri Melarg]

Interesting revelations about Zerina’s mother! They shed a good deal of light on the origins of Zerina’s arcane skill. I think I know who the Telvanni master-wizard who helped her mother and father is; it will be interesting to see if I am right.

You don’t have to worry about changing some of the MQ around to suit the demands of your story. Your reasoning for doing it is sound; I wondered the same thing myself. Your new version of it, especially Rales’ motivation for seeking out Illunibi, is fantastic! I believe Rales has just fulfilled another part of the prophecy!

[Remko]

Having found my schwung again, I got another update.

I closed my eyes. What had I gotten myself into this time? And where exactly was I?
The short glimpses I had cast around earlier, indicated I was in what looked like a tower where a strange, organic smell linguired all around. I wondered if I was in one of the fabled Telvanni Wizard’s tower. ‘With an old friend,’ Zerina had said. I chuckled softly when I recalled his face. ‘Old indeed,’ I mumbled to no-one in particular.
I couldn’t help but wondering if the old man had been the Telvanni wizard that had helped Zerina’s parents escape.

Several hours later the old man had gathered all of us in his study. He was behind his desk with four women standing behind him that strangely enough all resembled him. I think he noticed I was staring at them. ‘My daughters,’ he said proudly. ‘Made from my own flesh and blood. My wife died ages ago and we always wanted children but couldn’t have any so I made them them in her honour. In fact, initially they were a side-effect from some of my experiments with the Corprus disease. ’ He briefly he looked at his daughters affectionately and continued with a melancholic tone. ‘If only they could have looked like her. But they helped make my long life beareble. Don’t know what I would have done without them these last few hundred years.’
The middle-left one briefly placed her hand on her father’s shoulder and the old man put his hand on hers. ‘Sweet Beyte,’ he mumbled.

The old wizard directed his gaze upon me. ‘As you may have understand by now, you are in Tel Fyr, my tower. My name is Divayth Fyr and these are my daughters. It would appear you have fulfilled another of the Nerevarine Prophecies. Supposedly, only the prophesised re-incarnation of our Lord Nerevar could survive the Divine Disease - or Corprus disease as you know it. Zerina has told me all about your… ah- adventures. Like I said earlier; you were not cured of Corprus - it can’t be cured - but the potion I gave you stopped the disease from spreading and causing the awful deformation to recede and cease forever. However; there are some..... interesting side-effects you should know about. First of all; you will be now immune to all diseases. Second, you may not like this, age will also not catch up on you.’ He paused to let it sink in, and sink in it did. I paled.
‘Surely you don’t mean I..’ I didn’t finish the sentence.
The wizard nodded slowly. ‘That’s exactly what I mean.’
‘That sounds…. lonely,’ I commented.
‘True,’ Fyr answered. ‘Immortality is a burden you will have to learn to live with. It can be lonely at times.’ He smiled briefly. The smile warmed up his wrinkled face and lit up his eyes. ‘However; it seems you have found someone to spend the exceptional long-life with you.’ His gleeming eyes fixed on Zerina for several moments and then looked at me again. ‘Hmm,’ he hummed, ‘judging your response, she hasn’t told you yet.’

I was at a loss for words. First of all because the old man could read me like a book and second because of what he had said about Zerina.
‘I am sorry, my love,’ she excused herself while looking down. ‘I just didn’t know how to tell you. I-,’ she sighed. ‘I am a lot older than you might think.’ Zerina looked in my eyes, the truth was evident.
It all clicked into place for me. Her mysteriousness sometimes suddenly made sense. As did her arcane skills.

‘So, how old are you really?’ I asked her whisperingly.
‘I was born a hundred-fourty-two years ago. The magical powers I inherited from my mother have severely slowed my aging process, like it did with my mother and my godfather.’
‘He,’ I looked at the ancient wizard behind his desk. ‘is your godfather?’ I had never been more confused with my emotions in my entire life. On one side I was exuberantly happy that I had someone like Zerina to share my exceptional long life, on the other side I was not sure how I should feel about being an immortal. Divayth made it very clear that as long as I wasn’t killed by unnatural ways - like a sword or poison - I would never grow old and would never die. That was distinctly different from the mages. Looking at the ancient master-wizard I could clearly see age eventually did catch up on them, regardless of how powerful they were. But I had no idea when.

‘Dare I ask, Lord Fyr; how old are you?’ I needed to know. I couldn’t imagine me spending aeons without my beloved.
‘Let me guess Rales, you are worried of ending up alone?’ I nodded and Divayth shook his head amusedly. ‘To be honest, I have lost count but I think about four thousand years, so you don’t have to worry about that for quite some time.’
‘Four thousand years….’ I breathed in awe.
The wizard winked at us both. ‘And should you end up alone before that, it would suggest you got her killed. In that case; I promise you, you don’t have to worry about living much longer anyway.’ He said it as a joke but I knew it wasn’t.
Luckily for me, I didn’t intend on getting her killed.

This post has been edited by Remko: Jul 5 2010, 05:24 PM

[Acadian]

Yay! If they don't screw up and get themselves killed, Rales and Zerina could be together for a veerryy long time.

[Olen]

Good to catch up on this again

Fyr has to be my favourite character from Morrowind and I like your take on him. I agree that jumping that last bit of the main quest somewhat was a good narrative decision seeing as the build up was really towards him being named nerevarine and horator. I can't wait to read about that.

[SubRosa]

Very cool! I liked how you linked Zerina into it all, as she creates a bridge between Rales and Divyath. At the same time it hints that their meeting may not have been quite as accidental as it first appeared. Rather perhaps there was a divine (or infernal?) hand guiding things?

nits:
But they helped make my long life bareble.
You want bearable there. Bare is to unclothe, or be without covering.


or Corpres disease as you know it
Corpus?


I was at a losfer words.
That is loss for

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 3 2010, 12:19 AM

[Destri Melarg]

Well, turns out I was wrong about the identity of the Telvanni master-wizard. I thought it would be Demnevanni because of his proximity.

You know, it wasn’t until reading this chapter that the side effect of immortality resonated with me. When my character was cured of corprus I concentrated more on the immunity to disease and the fact that I no longer had to quaff potions like a vampire in Oblivion. Once again I think that Rales should thank Azura for putting someone like Zerina into his life. She looks great for being a hundred and forty-two years old!

I hesitate to think about them together four thousand years into the future. Can you imagine the nagging?!

[SubRosa]

Destri's comment about how Rales approaches the idea immortality is one I thought I would reply again to agree with. You did that quite well. It reminds me of Karl Edward Wagner's character Kane (who killed Abel) who was cursed with immortality, and the way Wagner presented it, immortality was definitely a curse.

[Remko]

The take on immortality I've adopted actually kind of comes from the film Highlander but mostly from the song "Who wants to live Forever" by Queen and a little from "Interview with a Vampire". I am not really a big fan of Queen necessarily but the lyrics from that particular song always stuck with me.

@DestriPfaaww.. no nagging with my happy couple

[Remko]

As I said, I had some trouble getting the story to run after their "fun" in the Urshilaku tomb but now it all comes fluently again Writing about Divayth is big fun. I am trying to portray him a bit as though he was kind of Zerina's grandfather so he may be a bit more cheerful than he should be. Come to think of it, my story "lacks" detestable personae anyway. Should I try to incorporate some?

I hope you all like the new parts

‘What about the children we want together after all this?’ I said softly, almost afraid of the answer. ‘Will they share our life-span?’
The corners of Zerina’s mouth dropped. It was clear she hadn’t thought about that yet.
‘Uncertain,’ Fyr answered. ‘The situation you two are in is unprecedented throughout history. Who knows?’ he ended with a shrug and a wry smile.
An unsatisfactory answer but an answer none-the-less.

Divayth stroked his white goatee and moustache thinkingly for a while. ‘It would be interesting to find out though,’ he commented misschievously. Zerina and I looked at eachother for a while, not sure how to react to his interest.
‘You know what, before you decide to have children, come to me first. I will discuss your little- eeuhhm… issue with Baladas. He’s been reading up into that material. I have been wanting to visit him for, well-,’ he smiled briefly and winked again, ‘a couple of hundreds years actually. Time does fly, doesn’t it?’ Suddenly, the wizard got distracted and mumbled something about some armour and started rummaging through a chest next to his desk.
‘Ah, here it is,’ he exclaimed and pulled out a glowing cuirass of the like which I had seen only once before. Only the Lord’s Mail Zerina and I had retrieved from underneath Ebonheart could compete with the splendour of the cuirass Fyr held out reverently.

‘It’s a bit old - ancient in fact - but she,’ he gestured to Zerina, ‘told me about your resentment of heavy armour. You might like this, it’s really light and flexible and will protect you from magical attacks to a certain degree. Hmmm, Cuirass of the Saviour’s Hide it’s called if I remember correctly. I know; it sounds horrible,’ he laughed. ‘Take it, it will be of use to you come your confrontation with Dagoth Ur and his minions underneath Red Mountain.’

Gratefully I took the armour Divayth held out. He was right, it was really light, it weighed about half of the Lord’s Mail and was far more flexible than anything I had ever seen before. I didn’t dare guessing at the value of it nor dare insulting the wizard by saying I couldn’t take it because it was too valuable. Looking around his study, it was easy to see the ancient mage hadn’t a use for coin. Invaluable items were cluttered in his cupboards and weaponracks. I recognised several priceless ebony and daedric weapons. Not to mention the extemely rare daedric armour the wizard was wearing.
‘Thank you,’ I simply said and bowed slightly.
‘You are most welcome, son,’ he answered smilingly. ‘Oh, you also might want to take closer a look at some of the weapons you’ve been eying.’

I suddenly became aware of the lack of a sword strapped around my waist. The question was apparent on my face.
‘I am so sorry Rales,’ Zerina excused herself. ‘When they brought you in, Wretched wasn’t with you anymore.’
‘It’s gone?’ I whispered in disbelief. I couldn’t fathom I had lost Wretched in my disease-induced delirium. Even though I had hated it at the same time, the blade and I had been through so much together, it felt like I had lost an old friend.
‘Take anything you like,’ I have no need for them,’ Divayth added.
Slowly I strolled past all of the weapon racks weighing and balancing the exquisite blades on display. Finally, I stuck to a hellish looking Katana that felt just right. It was heavier than Wretched had been but the balance more than made up for it.

Divayth nodded in approval. ‘Good blade you are holding there. You know, you could have it enchanted to increase the effectiveness of it even more. Or how about a feather enchantment so it feels much lighter?’
The idea of such a formidable weapon feeling lighter appealed to me a lot. Offensive echantments are nice but they always seem to run out of charge when it’s least convenient. My heavy weapons training with the Nord in Balmora, what appeared to be ages ago, helped me a lot but heavy weapons are always that; heavy and encumbersome.
‘Look up my fiend Yagarn in the Corprusarium, he can enchant that blade for you and might have some interesting things to say to you as well. Zerina, remember not to come too close to my patients. The disease doesn't seem to be airbourne but can be transferred by touch. Raise your shield to make sure you don't catch it. It would break my heart to have you down there permanently.’
‘Thank you Lord Fyr,’ I neighed my head respectfully.
He waved his hand dismissively. ‘Call me Divayth, all of my friends do. Now, get out of here so I can finally get some work done again,’ he winked.

This post has been edited by Remko: Jun 8 2010, 11:25 AM

[SubRosa]

You are right, Divayth - or should I say Uncle Divayth? - was very personable. Although I do keep in mind that being Zerina's godfather, he is likely to be predisposed to be a little nicer to Rales than any schmo off the street. Lucky for him he is not a godfather in the sense that Al Pacino was in the Godfather films!

There is nothing wrong with not have irascible characters in your fiction. They can add some interest however.

I feel the same way as Rales does about losing his sword. No Wretched! That is like an elf not having pointed ears, or Homer Simpson without beer! I always loved the name Wretched btw. That was one you created was it not?

nits:
I had retrieved from underneath Ebonheart could strife with the splendour of the cuirass Fyr held out reverantly.
Strife sounds awkward there. I think you mean compete? Also you have a typo in reverently.


‘told me about your rescentment of heavy armour.
A typo in resentment. You might also consider using the word disliking instead.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 4 2010, 08:45 PM

[Remko]

Yes, I made up the name Wretched for the sword myself.

The words you suggested I should change are exactly the ones I doubted about whether or not I got the spelling right... guess not Thanks for pointing them out.

I am sticking with resentment. I want Divayth to speak scholarly, to the point of being formal but not too formal.

This post has been edited by Remko: Jun 3 2010, 04:06 PM

[haute ecole rider]

I too find it difficult to write hateful characters in my fiction, too. I always end up giving them some kind of redeeming quality.

I enjoyed this, but my heart sank when I realized that Firen had lost Wretched. That's like Julian losing her Kvatch Wolf! (which she does, eventually).

SubRosa has caught the typos I noticed, so no nits from me.

[Remko]

errr. H.E.R.... Firen? Rales you mean?

The loss of Wretched is loosely based on my game char swapping the Ebony longsword for a Daedric Katana at some point. But I wanted to make it a bit more dramatical than just discarding a sword for a better one. In my opinion, a swordfighter gets attached to his blade. The blade in its turn has to be just right for the wielder. So I deiced to have him lose it while under the influance of Corprus. Glad you liked it.

[haute ecole rider]

Oops, my mistake!

yes, Rales.

and I agree about a fighter becoming attached to his/her weapon. Especially one that has lasted as long as Wretched (or Julian's katana and Kvatch Wolf), through so much, it's hard losing it. One's hand feels so strange without it.

[Olen]

Divayth certainly doesn't want for coin... I swear he just put ten septims into a high interest account when he was young . I said I liked him and I still do, you show him as very friendly as he is in game and then some.

And wretched gone, I shuld hope the new sword develops a name soon. A daedric katana with a feather enchantment... sounds... nasty...

[mALX]

I knew it was Divayth! Yeah! And in the early chapters Rales said, "And we still are." (happy together) - WOO HOO !!!!!! I love this, of course you know how much I love Divayth anyway - I think you did an Awesome job portraying him !!!!

I agree with you about that attachment to a sword, it fits your hand automatically after a period, you know its strengths and weaknesses - it becomes your friend that is by your side at all times whether others are or not.

I am loving these new chapters!!!!

This post has been edited by mALX: Jun 3 2010, 11:06 PM

[Destri Melarg]

I don’t know how much you want to stray into the lore for a name for the new sword. But since daedric material comes from ebony refined and crafted by the magic of Oblivion’s lesser minions, and since Azura remains Rales’ patron as Nerevarine, Why not name the sword after Azura’s plane of Oblivion: Moonshadow? It certainly fits with the Moon-and-Star relic that identifies the Nerevarine.

As for writing disreputable characters, you should try it. There is something positively liberating about writing a character that just doesn’t give a @#%&! When you do, just make sure that you give him/her some moral imperative that allows him/her to justify actions that the rest of the world would find reprehensible.

[Remko]

Glad you all like what I've done with Divayth.

Not sure I am going to name his new sword. The name "Wretched" came spontanuously because of his love/hate relationship with it. Don't want the name to be to contrived. Moonshadow, think I'd prefer Moonshard. Thanks for the idea though Destri.

Well, I still have the Redoran/Sarethi questline I have some ideas about. God, I hated the arch-master in the game... And then there's Neloth and the Telvanni arch-master.... Hmmmmm...

This post has been edited by Remko: Jun 4 2010, 10:04 AM

[Remko]

In yhis chapter I am trying something new. I hope you like it. I also gave Yagrum a bit more to say than in the game.


Apparently, Telvanni master-wizards have no need for stairs because there were none to be found in Fyr’s tower. Although my arcane skill had improved over the last few months, I was still suffering from the drawback of Corprus and wasn’t quite myself yet. I couldn’t focus my will enough to cast a spell to get me safely down so Zerina cast what she called a “slowfall” spell on me and on herself, allowing us to float down the hole gently. It was completely safe but it still felt good having both of my feet on the ground again. It didn’t take us long to find the huge door leading to Divayth’s Corprusarium. An Argonian, who introduced himself as Vistha-Kai, was guarding the passage into the bowels and warned us not to harm the inmates in any way. He wouldn’t less us pass before we solemnly vowed to leave them in peace.

‘Was I deformed like that as well?’ I asked shudderingly when we entered the bowels of the Corprusarium. Several, barely recognisable as human beings, were aimlessly wandering around while moaning in an completely un-understable language. To be fair, they had plenty to moan about it, no one deserved the awful fate the poor buggers were suffering down there. What sort of madman could justify this horror and call it the “divine disease”?
‘Not as bad as the poor victims you see here but if we hadn’t found you as timely as we did, we wouldn’t have been able to recognise you and you would have been lost to us forever,’ Zerina answered, her voice trembling.

Cold chills ran down my spine as I observed the diseased while we snuck by them so we wouldn’t arouse their anger.
To be honest, I wondered if it wouldn’t be more humane putting them out of their misery but no one deserves death. Besides, maybe studying them would eventually lead to a real cure. As Divayth had stated, so far I had been the only one ever to recover from Corprus meaning the cure was either faulty or just not finished. Had it been luck I had survived or was it providence?

As we slowly made our way down to Divayth’s friend Yagrum my mind starting wandering off to months ago in the Urshilaku camp going over the prophecies with Nibeni.

Neither age nor blight can touch him. The Curse-Of-Flesh before him flies

It seemed Nibeni was right about the Curse-Of-Flesh. It was indeed referring to Corprus; the deadly disease I had conquered and what had rendered me immortal. We had solved the mystery but the price was terrible. What else had those damned prophecies in stock for me? What more did we need to suffer before this whole Nerevarine business was finished?
Shaking my head I pushed the worrying to the back of my mind and focused on the task at hand; finding Divayth’s friend Yagrum down there. I assumed he was a master-wizard like Divayth, helping him with his research of the dreaded disease.
Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to encounter.

Amidst all the horrors down there, there was a carpeted spot and several cupboards like someone was actually living down there. I almost drew my new blade to protect us from what I thought was a construct like I had encountered in the ancient Dwemer ruins. There was some things that set it apart from the mechanical monstrosities. First of all, it was partially organic and partially mechanical. Its upper torso was awfully deformed - much like Corprus victims I realised - and its lower body looked like a metal spider. Secondly, it - or rather, he - spoke.

‘Ye here ta gawk at the last Dwemer or are ye sent by the old coot in his tower?’
Suddenly he became a lot more friendly when his gaze fixed on Zerina.
‘Is tha you ‘Rina?’ he asked, while scratching his monstrous belly briefly. ‘Last time I saw ye, ye were- hmmm… this high,’ he said laughingly while indicating four feet from the ground with his hand. ‘Hmm, I s'pose ye don’t remember, it has been over a hundred years ago.’
His ugly face was split into by a sincere grin.’It seems ye done better than I did,’ and looked down his deformed body. ‘Div and I have been able to slow down me deformation but haven’t been able to find a cure. All the poor buggers keep droppin’ dead when we give them the poison Div’s been brewin'. Anyway, enough of me naggin'. Why ye really here?’

‘Are you Yagrum?’ I asked him dumbstruck.
‘Aye, that be me, Yagrum Bagarn, the last livin’ Dwemer - as far as I know - and master crafter with Lord Kagrenac,’ he proudly stated. ‘What can I do for ye?’
‘I thought all the Dwemer had disappeared?’ I asked him, forgetting why we were down there.
‘Aye,’ he answered, the smile on his face replaced with a sorrowful expression. ‘I was in a different realm when Kagrenac’s tools became my race’s undoin’ so I was spared. Y’know, I warned Lord Kagrenac about tapping into Lorkhan’s heart but he wouldn’t listen to me,’ he continued melancholically. ‘I had been looking for traces of my people for over a millenium - unsuccesfully I might add - when I attracted the Divine disease and have been down here ever since. I guess I was right about usin’ Sunder and Keening on the heart. Me current form is the proof. And I still consider myself lucky, just look at me fellow Corprus victims. S'pose it could’ve been worse, much worse,’ he said thoughtfully.

Much of what he told us was a mystery to me but I had the feeling it was all related. The disappearance of the Dwemer, the Corprus disease and the Nerevarine prophecies.
‘I think you should know I survived the Corprus cure,’ I nearly whispered.
Yagrum’s eyes spread wide. ‘Say again, lad?’
‘I survived the cure Divayth gave me,’ I said aloud.
Yagrum frowned. ‘That could could mean two things; first,’ he ticked off on his sausage-like fingers while looking upwards. ‘the ol’ old coot has finally done it or, second; ye are truly the prophesised reincarnation of Indoril Nerevar. Which is it laddy?’

This post has been edited by Remko: Jun 7 2010, 05:15 PM

[Olen]

Yagrum... that was unexpected. Calling his game version two dimensional would be an insult to flat shapes so I expected you'd do something but not that. I love it. He's a real character and an entertaining one too.

Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to encounter.

We were warned.

Great stuff, real imagination and development and as ever you capture the feel of morrowind as the mystery starts to unravel and things being to come together (which was really what made that game great). Awesome.