Memoires of Rales Sarethi, A Morrowind fanfic Options

[Remko]

Day 401

The following morning we, while still mostly undressed, had a simple breakfast of sweetened Trama roots and the local delicacy; stonepetal tea. We had resolved in wasting no time to get back to Balmora. We gathered what things we really needed; some clothes, being high summer, we didn’t take many; some supplies and our weapons.
‘Grab hold dear,’ Zerina said holding out her hand. ‘I am going to take us to Gnisis.’ She muttered a spell and the next moment we were looking at a familiar sight; the Temple in Gnisis.
The Stiltstrider south of Gnisis took us to Balmora within a day. Zerina slept while I thought recent events over. How would Caius react? I hadn’t reported with him for months but wasn’t worried about that. He had ordered me to prepare for the next mission. I was sure I was now as prepared as I could be. The Corprus had almost been my undoing but now I was stronger and tougher than I had ever been before.

Day 403

‘I am ready for your next assignment, Caius.’
‘I am glad you took my warning seriously, Rales,’ Caius commented. ‘You seem different from last time.’
I nodded. ‘I have been ill.’
‘Ill? Ill how?’
‘I contracted Corprus in Hassour several months ago after I found out about Uryne’s murder.’
‘You what?!’ Caius fumed. ‘And you didn’t bother informing me? And why the hell did you return there?'
Before I could answer the question, Zerina put her hands up in my defense. ‘He couldn’t help himself, Spymaster. The illness basically turned him into a mindless animal. We have been most fortunate someone recognised him before he was lost to us forever and that Divayth Fyr’s cure didn’t kill him like it did all the other victims he tried to treat.’

‘I see,’ Caius said looking defloated. ‘Okay, well, I want you to go to another Sixth House. Our scouts have found a Sixth House base nearby Khartag point called Ilunibi. Except for one terribly deformed soldier, none of the scouting party have returned. All are presumed dead - or worse. We could determine he was one of the scouting party by the scraps of his uniform alone. I want you to venture in and find out what happened to the party and we’d like to you to kill the Dagoth - one of Ur’s brothers - residing in there as well. Oh, you do know where Khartag point is, don’t you? In case you don’t; head to Gnaar Mok first, they will be able to tell you where to proceed from there. Please, be careful, don’t get yourselves killed in there now, you hear?’
‘We won’t, I promise,’ I said.

In Gnaar Mok we were reminded Khartag point was a holy place to Orcs. Apparently a famous Orsimer had died there after a battle so we were asked to act respectfully. It was also believed to be the location of the lost shrine to the Daedric Pince Boethiah.
‘So, no streaking,’ I whispered to Zerina jokingly. She could barely contain her laughter and elbowed me in my side.
From Gnaar Mok we headed north-west to Ilunibi.

From the outside, the cave was nothing special except for the eerie name; Ilunibi, Carcass of the Saint, which gave us both the creeps. Before we entered Zerina raised her shield. If we hadn’t had the specific order to go in and end the reign or terror the Sixth House inhabitants had over the area, I would have left the place as soon as we entered.
The whole place breathed malevolance. Familiar red statues littered the place as well as more Corprus victims aimlessly wandering around, just like in the bowels of Divayth’s Corprusarium. The only pleasant thing in the cave was a wonderful waterfall cascading from a underground stream unto the rocky surface of the cave and throwing up a mist of waterspray. Beams of light coming through the cracks in the rickety entrance door bathed the whole room in a crescendo of dancing colours.

The deceptive beauty of the of the entrance was soon forgotten. As soon as we left the well lit entrance room and entered the more shadowy parts of the tunnels we encountered the first hostiles. Without any form of self preservation, they mindlessly lunged themselves at us. Most were skewered by three feet of Daedric Katana, some were utterly turned to dust by Zerina. There was no holding back anymore. Even Zerina had a grim determination over her into wiping out every single inhabitant from this evil place. They had struck us where it hurt, now we were going to return the favour.
Unlike in the Corprusarium, we eradicated any form of Corprus infection we encountered. Upon inspection of the corpses we found more scraps of the uniforms from the scouting party Caius had described. All had fallen to the dreaded disease. At least they were at peace now and not an unwilling agent for the enemy anymore.

Something I hadn’t really been able to put the test before was proven correct. No matter how many times I swung my blade, I just wouldn’t become fatigued. The blade glew up everytime I struck, indicating Yagrum’s enchantments on it did their work but there was something else. I really was far stronger than I had ever been. Another side-effect of the Corprus disease I had defeated.
After hours of trudging through murky waters that had submerged all passages, eventually we came to our destination; Dagoth Gares.

As soon as we opened the door to Soul’s Rattle, a gritty voice started shouting at us. Promises of a truce if I would just lay down my weapon and agree to the Sixth House terms. Like Dagoth Ur had tried with invading my dreams he claimed Voryn and I could be friends once more, just like we had been aeons ago. Then he made the mistake of threatening Zerina.
‘My name is not Indoril Nerevar,’ I growled between clenched teeth. ‘My. Name. Is. Rales. Sarethi,’ I spat in his deformed face while I drew Moonshard and buried it untill its hilt in Dagoth Gares’ chest. ‘And I will never submit to you or join your despiccable Sixth House. You tell Ur that when you meet him again in Oblivion.’
‘Foolish mortal,’ he maniacally cackled. ‘You will come to my master in his flesh and of his flesh.’
Gares mumbled a spell and a familiar cloud enveloped us both.
I grinned. ‘You haven’t heard the news yet? I am not mortal.’ Dagoth Gares' eyes spread wide as I twisted my blade in his chest and tore it upwards, effectively cleaving his upper torso in two.
I wiped the black blood from my blade on his robe before sheathing it.

~~~

edit: I made some small tweaks so it's more clear. I also added the bit of dialogue Destri mentioned.

This post has been edited by Remko: Jul 16 2010, 01:06 PM

[SubRosa]

Rales is back! And back on track hunting down the Sixth House. I found myself wondering if this was the place where he got Corpus from?

It is neat reading Zerina here again, after seeing her a child in the other topic. She feels deeper and more real here now, thanks to what we know from the other thread.

Soul’s Rattle, that would be a good name for a sword. I had to look it up in the Wiki to find out it was the final level of Ilunbi however. So you might want to change that to simply say "The last level", or "the last door".


nits:
Zerina slept while I overthought recent events.
I believe you want "thought over"


but now I was stronger and fitted than I had ever been before.
likewise, "more fit" would read more smoothly here, or perhaps "tougher"


‘I see,’ Caius said defloatedly.
I think you want to say "Caius said, looking deflated"


the cave was nothing special except for the eery name
A typo on "eerie".

[haute ecole rider]

Rales and Zerina are back in action at last! yea! Now I get to find out what happens next!

I agree with SubRosa on everything she said, including the nits! Zerina seems richer now for having had her own thread for a while.

Loved it! It's good to see Rales again. It has felt a little like a drought over here for a while.

[Acadian]

Yay! Rales is back. Wonderful chapter.

Then he made the mistake of threatening Zerina.

Oooh, big mistake, Gares. Know what Rales is gonna do to you?

I twisted my blade in his chest and tore it upwards, effectively cleaving his upper torso in two.

The whole place breathed malovelance.

Oh my. Before Foxy rolls teasing you about ma love lance, you should change that to malevolence.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Jul 21 2010, 02:09 PM

[Destri Melarg]

Well, it took me awhile but I am finally caught up again. Let’s start back in Divayth’s Tower, shall we? I like your take on the quest with Delyna, and I especially like your comment to haute that you will revisit it in a subsequent chapter. I can understand why she found it somewhat jarring; here we have the daughter of a Redoran lord trapped in Divayth’s closet yet no one in House Redoran seems all that interested in her plight. Explaining exactly who her father is will go a long way toward giving your reader some insight into why her being trapped in Tel Fyr is such an under the radar kind of event.

The discussion that Rales and Zerina have concerning children was perfectly executed. Rales, I have some news for you. Your concern over the prospect of putting the love of your life, the woman carrying your child, in danger is both understandable, and admirable. But if you think that you are going to be in a position to ‘allow’ Zerina to do anything then you have a very rude awakening coming!

One of my favorite things about Morrowind is the names of the various chambers inside the endless number of caves, ruins, and strongholds that you stumble across in your travels. Things like ‘Carcass of the Saint’, ‘Blackened Heart’, ‘Tainted Marrow’, and ‘Soul’s Rattle’ (and that’s just in Illunibi) are wonderfully evocative. I imagine that the Vvardenfell Chamber of Commerce is composed of a group of wizened old Dunmer sitting in the dark drawing smoke from a hookah and getting drunk on Telvanni Bug Musk!

I don’t know why, but I was under the impression that Rales contracted corprus in Illunibi already. That he went through the whole Sixth House quest while in a rage-induced stupor after the death of the maid. It seems that you have changed the order of events around a bit. Good, I love being kept on my toes like this. The only bad part I see is that you miss out on some of Dagoth Gares dialogue: “You will come to my master in his flesh and of his flesh” (I’m paraphrasing) as he curses you with corprus is just chilling!

[Remko]

@Everyone: Thanks for the nits. Of course you were right on all of them
@Acadian: Meh, Foxy doesn't read my stuff anyway But MaLoveLance is a bit too much

I agree with what you're saying Destri, but I think it was always a flaw in the game you can only contract Corprus in Ilunibi so I changed it so he contracted it in the cave south-east of Balmora (the one he ran into after being poisoned)
Remember I wrote that Rales mentioned the cave was familiar to him, that he just didnt notice? Same cave he turned and ran from first time and returned with tail between his legs to Caius? That's where he caught Corprus in my story. I know I am missing out on original game dialogue and breaking a bit with the game's storyline but I'm not bothered. I prefer the dialogue between Rales and Gares I wrote anyway

Shame on me that I didn't make that more clear

As a sidenote: I don't think Telvanni Bug Musk would taste very good. It's a perfume

This post has been edited by Remko: Jul 16 2010, 11:34 AM

[Olen]

Wooo Rales is back! And it's good, he's certainly changed since his last assault on the Sixth house, he tore his way through Illunibi.

I'm glad you included it, I think that quest is great and where Morrowind really starts to stand out as a game in terms of the MQ. It's an interesting change to have him already immune (well sort of...) - good stuff.

[Remko]

A bit short but it's closure of a chapter.

Day 406

‘What is that awful smell?’ Caius asked me when I put a bundle of dirty cloth on his table.
‘That,’ I said, ‘is the remainder of what was once Dagoth Gares.'
Slowly Caius unwrapped the bundle and looked at the contents disgustedly.
‘I had heard they looked terrible but I hadn’t expected it this bad,’ the Spymaster commented while lifting Gares’ head on one of its tentacles thad had replaced his Dunmeri features ages ago and turned it around to inspect it.
With a thud the head dropped onto the table when he was done.

‘Good job, Sarethi. Have you found any trace of the Legion’s contingency that was sent to inspect the base?’
Zerina and I nodded in unison. ‘You’re not going to like it Caius,’ I ruefully said.
‘They’re all dead?’ I saw no point in telling what had really happened in Ilunubi so I simply nodded. ‘There was nothing that could have been done for the poor soldiers anymore.’
‘I see,’ the balding Imperial softly said. Somehow I had the feeling Caius knew exactly what we had meant but much to his credit he didn’t inquire any further. The task had been gruesome enough, we were glad not to have to relive it by having to tell the whole story.

‘What is bothering you Caius?’ I asked. ‘I can tell there is something you’re not telling me.’
The Spymaster sighed. ‘I have been recalled to Cyrodiil, meaning you will have to carry on without me.’
‘What?’ I exclaimed. ‘You pulled me in into this mess and..’ Caius’ look on his face stopped me mid-sentence.
‘I am promoting you to operative so you have full access to the Blades’ resources. Continue in pursuit of the prophecies, find Mehra Milo in Vivec - I haven’t received any intel from her for weeks, I fear the Temple has found out about her sympathy for the Dissidents Priests. I want you to see what’s going on. If anything is wrong, she will have left a note in her appartment with a code word, Amaya.’

‘How can they do this to you, Caius?’ Zerina asked.
‘Word has reached them about my- ah, sugar problem,’ he wryly smirked.
I scoffed. ‘You know as well as I do that’s a cover.’
‘When did you figure that out?’ Caius smiled. ‘You know, you’re a lot more clever than you look Sarethi,’ the old Spymaster winked. ‘Oh, I would like you to have these,’ he said while handing me a black bundle he pulled from underneath his bed. ‘I won’t be needing it anymore. Now, get out here so I can finish packing. Good luck kids and may the Nine be with you.’
‘Thank you Caius- for everything,’ I said while extending my hand.
Caius grabbed it firmly. ‘No,’ Caius shook his head while drawing his forearm over his eyes. ‘Thank you Rales. Finish what we started; save Morrowind from the Blight and free it from the Sixth House menace. Maybe we will meet again some day but I doubt it,’ he said with a faint smile.’
‘Farewell Caius.’
‘Farewell.’ Tears were now running openly over his cheeks. ‘Oh, and Zerina?’
‘Yes Caius?’ she replied.
‘Take care of that scoundrel for me, will you?’

This post has been edited by Remko: Jul 26 2010, 09:31 AM

[Acadian]

Nicely done, Remko. I really liked the interaction with Caius.

Somehow I had the feeling Caius knew exactly what we had meant but much to his credit he didn’t inquire any further.

I think this line was wonderful. Just perfect.

‘Farewell.’ Tears were now running openly over his cheeks. ‘Oh, and Zerina?’
‘Yes Caius?’ she replied.
‘Take care of that scoundrel for me, will you?’

This was beautiful!


A couple tiny nits-

‘Good job, Sarethi. Have you found any trace of the Legion’s contingency that was send to inspect the base?’

I'm sure you want 'sent'.

Caius shook his head while drawing his forearm over his eyes. ‘Thank you Rales. Finish what we started; save Morrowind from the Blight and free it from the Sixth House menace. Maybe we will meet again some day but I doubt it,’ he gleefully said.’

The word gleefully seems inconsistent with the emotional tone you create in this farewell scene. Perhaps you were trying to insert a clever touch that Rales was a lot of trouble? If so, might you consider this?
"Maybe we will meet again some day, but I doubt it." Mustering a smile, the old spymaster added, "Given the trouble that follows you, perhaps that is for the best, Sarethi."

[haute ecole rider]

I echo Acadian - he already picked out the lines I loved!

So old Caius is leaving? He'll be missed! I rather liked him - he was like the reliable old sergeant who can be counted on to fix your screw-ups. Now Rales is really on his own (not really, so long as he has Zerina to cover his back - among other things ).

[SubRosa]

Short, and very sweet. I enjoyed this chapter immensely. Like the others, I will be sorry to see Caius go.

[Destri Melarg]

Ah, the passing of the torch. Rales is now the ranking Blade on Vvardenfell. I wish that you could give orders to the other Blades now in your charge. If that were the case I would order Rithleen and Tyermailin to move. It just seems silly to have three of the, what seven, Blades on Vvardenfell live within a hundred yards of each other. Nine-Toes can stay because he’s sort of entertaining, but it wouldn’t bother me at all if Tyermailin found himself a yurt out in the middle of nowhere like Sjorvar Horse-Mouth . . . out of sight, out of mind.

There is a bittersweet feel to this chapter of the story that I think you have captured well. Losing Caius is always sad, but this also marks the moment when the main quest really begins to take off so I am itching to see where you take Rales and Zerina from here!

[Remko]

@Everyone: Thanks for the kind words.

With "gleefully" I wanted to say it was kind of a bitter/sweet mood. You know, sad to go but also glad to go home? What's the word I was looking for if it's not Gleeful?

Not a bad idea, using the Blades more efficient by spreading them over the province rather than within a stone's throw reach in Balmora.... hmmm....

This post has been edited by Remko: Jul 22 2010, 11:17 AM

[Acadian]

Gleefully normally evokes pure joy, such as the reaction of a child when given a pony as a present.

It can be used with a twist of evil or insanity as well, such as - The necromancer eyed me gleefully as he slowly drew his dagger.

You might try,
. . . he said with a bittersweet smile.
. . . he said with a sad smile.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Jul 22 2010, 04:29 PM

[haute ecole rider]

. . . he said with a rueful smile.

[SubRosa]

Dare I say, a faint smile...

[mALX]

Wow, you have really added a lot to this since I've been away! I am not caught up yet. <3

[Remko]

Good to see you back Malx

Chapter 10: Old acquaintances

When we arrived at Mehra’s appartment and had knocked no one opened so it appeared Caius’ suspicions were correct. Mehra wasn’t at home and judging the dust gathered on the doorknob, she hadn’t been at her appartment for some time. The door proved locked and no matter what Zerina tried, the lock wouldn’t open to any spell. As soon as the patrolling Ordinator turned around the corner out of sight, I put my shoulder to the door and used my Corprus enhanced strength to dislocate the lock and bolt with a powerful push. With a louder crack than I had anticipated - stealth really wasn’t my specialty - the door gave in and quickly we made our way into the small two-room appartment after briefly checking the Ordinator around the corner hadn’t heard the door and would arrest us for breaking and entry. With the door closed one could hardly tell except for the small cracks around the lock. By the time anyone would find out, I was sure we’d be long gone.

While Zerina searched the bedroom - I wasn’t comfortable rummaging through a lady’s properties of the kind one would find there - I scanned the rest of the appartment looking for clues where she might have disappeared to. It didn’t take me long to find the note on her desk.

Amaya,

Sorry I missed you. I had to run some old documents over to the Inquisitor at the Ministry of Truth and I’m likely to be tied up there for a while. Why don’t you meet me there as soon as you’re able? Then we leave together as soon as I’m done.
And Amaya, please don’t forgot to to bring those two Divine Intervention scrolls I borrowed you to study. Or, if you used them, buy a couple of new ones for me. I think I am going to need them soon. The Breton mage, Janand Maulinie, at the Mages Guild in the Foreign Quarter has them in stock.

Alvela Saram is the guard at the entrance, just tell her you’re looking for me and she will let you in.

Your faitfhul friend,
Mehra Mila

Ps. I left some levitation potions for you, just in case. I couldn’t remember if you knew the spell or not, so I drew a couple from stock.

I wasn’t sure if it was true or legend but I was now part of a legend and the rock was really there - floating above the Temple canton - and it was serving as a prison as well as an archive. It hadn’t been necessary to stock up on Divine Intervention scrolls, I always carried one or two with me in case of an emergency but now it would appear they would be used for a jailbreak. Just how we were supposed to find her inside the moonlet I hadn’t a clue yet. I just hoped the guard mentioned in the note would provide us with the information allowing us to locate Mehra Milo somewhere inside - if the whole thing wasn’t a trap.

Our second obstacle was figuring out the best way to actually get up there. We had two options; either Zerina would cast a levitation spell on both of us or we could use a potion I made. We had left the potions Mehra had referred to in the letter, after my ordeal months ago I was careful drinking some random potion. For all we knew it hadn’t been Mehra that had left them for us but by someone else instead, someone with far less good intent. It didn’t make much of a difference which option we would choose, except for the minor detail that I had only three potions left. We decided to have Zerina cast the spell to get there so we could save the potions for later. A spell was noisy and cost time to cast where a potion could be swallowed in mere seconds and the effect would be instantaneous

Slowly we floated upwards to the rock in the sky and headed to where we could see a female Ordinator. Hoping it was Alvela Saram and not another that would arrest us on sight, we made our way to her on the wooden walkway that had been created around the Ministry of Truth.
‘What are you doing here, you are not allowed to be up here citizens,’ she adressed us, her hand slowly reaching for her blade. I had heard enough of the Ordinator’s reputation to not want to fight one.
‘Mehra send us,’ I stated. Those three words were enough for her to stop the descent of her hand towards her sword. In stead, she procured a key from her belt.
‘You can use this key to access the ministry from the back-entrance. Please be aware that even though some of us sympathise with the Dissidents priests and keep an open mind towards the prophecies,’ she looked at me instensely for a brief moment,’ if you kill or harm any of the guards, you will lose that sympathy and we will cut you down. Nerevarine or no. Do I make myself clear?’
I nodded. ‘Crystal clear.’
‘Good.’
‘Alvela?’ I asked.
Her reply was hardly more than a growl.
‘Could you tell us where Mehra is most likely to be held?’

‘Ignorant Outlander,’ she scoffed insultingly but continued to explain us we would need to make our way through the Halls of Processing and at the end we would find a door leading to the Prison Keep. According to Alvela, the door to the Prison Keep was locked with a unpickable lock and that we could most likely find the key in the first room to our right in the Halls of Processing. True to her word, we found the key exactly where she said it would be and soon after, Zerina and I found ourselves in the Prison Keep. The place was crawling with Ordinators. I saw no way to sneak past them to the three small holding cells at the opposite side of the Keep of where we had entered it. Alvela had entrusted us that Mehra was most likely be held in the most southern of the cells but getting there was problematic.
‘The way I see it, we have two options,’ Zerina said. ‘Our first option is to risk sneaking past the guards,’ she paused briefly to look at me in a way I knew she was wondering why she even brought that up, knowing my sneaking skills - or rather; the lack of it - it wasn’t a viable option.
‘Our second option is similar to how we got up here by-’
I interrupted her ‘But we might need the flying potions to get,’
Zerina placed a finger over her lips and shushed me. ‘I was going to say by casting both a levitation spell and an invisibilty spell on us so the guards won’t hear our footsteps nor see us.’
I grinned. Of course she was right, as always. ‘Go ahead. The guards are too far away now to hear your casting.’
Once more I marvelled how easy it was to her. I could feel a tingle as the spells washed over us and our forms slowly disappeared. Gently we pushed off and floated to where - if our information was correct - Mehra Milo was held captive.

My paranoia about a trap proved wrong. Mehra was exactly where she would be according to our sources. The invisibility spell had worn off as soon as we had entered the small cell. I had to check twice to make sure it really was the priestess I had spoken to weeks earlier. Her skin-colour was sooted, her wrists and ankles were swollen and red and her eyes were devoid of any passion. Her hair had been shaven off and traces marked her cheeks. Anger boiled up within me. How could they do this in the name of the Tribunal? Was this the Temple’s benevolance? Locking up and torturing people?
‘Mehra,’ I whispered. She looked up to me without and sign of recognition in her eyes and embraced her knees tighter.
‘Mehra?’ I tried again but she had drawn herself back into a corner of her cell and wasn’t responding to reason and just looked at us in fear. I looked at Zerina in desperation. How was she going to give us any useful information? The Temple had broken her and I wasn’t entirely sure she’d ever recover from it. One thing was sure, we needed to take her out of this place. I cast a regretful look over the other two holding cells close to Mehra’s cell. There was just no time to rescue the other prisoners as well. We didn’t have enough time, nor did we have potions to get them to safety. I promised them quietly that if I was indeed the Nerevarine and was destined to change things, this was the first thing that needed changing. The persecution of innocent people was going to be put to a halt. No Religion could justify what was going on here.

Ignoring her frantic screaming and the scratches she made on my back and shoulders, I gently lifted Mehra’s slender body in my arms and nodded to Zerina to take us out of here. Cries outside indicated we had been heard and that we had to leave in a hurry. Again, I could feel the tingle of a spell as we were teleported to the nearest Imperial Cult shrine – the shrine in Ebonheart. We had made it to safety. Now we had to save Mehra’s mind before it was lost forever. If it already wasn’t.

This post has been edited by Remko: Aug 19 2010, 12:36 PM

[haute ecole rider]

This is new to me! Is it a side quest or part of the Morrowind main quest? I don't remember this from the other MW fan fics I've read.

Pretty grim, torture, but almost a fact of life. Sad in reality, but it certainly adds something to fiction, doesn't it?

[Remko]

It is part of the mainquest. At some point you have to rescue Mehra Milo from the holding cell but I gave it a more sinister twist. I imagine it's not called the ministry of truth because it sounded nice. In my vision I see it as a place where they wring "truth" from people. Bit like the Spanish Inquisition. Hurt people long enough and they will confess to anything.