Teresa of the Faint Smile, Adventures of a Stringy Bosmer Options

[Grits]

What an enchanting encounter among the trees. After Teresa has been upset by her childhood memories of the stone Imperial City, it is a relief to see her being embraced by the forest and its creatures. And it makes sense that a Nibenean with an axe on his shoulder would get a different reception from the spriggans, and thus have a different view of the Haunted Forest.

[hazmick]

*cough* Fangorn *cough*

I loved this chapter. Your descriptions of the forest were brilliant, as was the Spriggan! (although when Haa-Rei meets one it usually turns into a bear summoning competition)

So the forest is not haunted, merely alive. Only a Bosmer could really see that I suppose.

[Glargg]

And the whole story has been as enchanting as the forest. I've been lurking and reading, loving it. This story is as polished and engaging as many a published novel.

[Olen]

A short part but a good one. Now we know why they call the wood haunted, for all their natural right to be there I owuldn't be overly keen on sharing my space with spriggans. Still it appears to realise Teresa is not a threat.

I wonder if that was to do with her meditating and communicating with the spirits. I suspect spriggans would treat anyone as a likely threat and kill them to be certain, but Teresa could have pacified them, or more likely the spirits did on her behalf.

That first photo is amazing!

It makes me wonder more what she'll find in Bawn, and by extension what relationship the forest had with it's original builders. Perhaps it wasn't as strong back then but would it get on with the Arimer? Maybe, or maybe they left eachother well enough alone (they did meet with a sticky end, could the forest have aided that?). It's current occupants though I suspect it may be less well inclined towards, depending on what they turn out to be...

[Acadian]

Firstly, thanks for the hearty meal, courtesy of Maplemill. Nothing like reading on a full stomach!

I'm going to retitle this episode: "Well met, sister of the forest."

What a magnificent job you did here. I could feel that while most would be spooked by the dark forest, Teresa drew comfort from it. Just as she could sense the nature of the forest, so could the spriggan sense the nature of her visitor.

The 'vision' of the Arimer city rising and falling fit perfectly in here. I know of no character that moves as naturally through the forest as Teresa.

[King Coin]

30.1

Read the first word and was excited! Another chapter about our favorite guard.

I was suspecting that Brekke would have been hated for the attention Vols gave her. I'm happy that she took him up on his offer.

It was so nice that Vols found someone to fill the void in his life. Just the opening of him surveying his bare room... I'm glad he has a purpose now, other than just existing and doing his job.

30.2

"Yes indeed," the Altmer shopkeeper insisted, his eyes dancing with mirth. "It is that simple, and that powerful. Magic is the quite literally the ability to reshape the world, and every one of us has it. Including you." The magician tapped a light finger on the street urchin's nose

In my mind I saw Calindil tap a finger on her nose while talking before I even reached that part of the sentence

The whole chapter was very heart warming. Brekke will have a very capable tutor in Calindil I think.

[Jacki Dice]

Her stomach was filled by cornbread biscuits, fried squash, and goat's milk.

If Teresa would be lucky enough to pass by a maple tree, maybe she would like some syrup on the cornbread? I personally don't like it but everyone else in my family says it makes a wonderful breakfast.

Teresa pressed on, and the forest closed in around her like a warm blanket on a winter day.

What a lovely description

And such a nice encounter with the Spriggan! I've always loved them. They're so beautiful, even though they are a pain to fight.

[King Coin]

31.1

Who is Teresa with now? Is she back in that village outside of Bravil? Must be. Yes it is.

Sounds to me like Teresa will be a land owner soon.

31.2

"Oh no!" Vincent groaned from across the room. "Let's get out of here before they start knitting doilies!"

Storm-Tail eh? I seriously doubt Pappy is going to want to accept the child of one of the deceased soldiers from Bruma. Pappy's going to be shouting at him to get out. Then he'll do what he can to drive Storm Tail out. Then he'll grudgingly accept him.

Oh, s---! Chance's dad was the necromancer?
He was a Redguard...
Oh ok he was just one of the outlaws there.
Thank goodness Ancondil was there to keep everything under control.

31.3

Why couldn't they wait for the morning? I wonder what Chance expects to find? A skeleton if anything.

Hey it's been a while since we went with Teresa to her temple.

I'm glad Chance shared that tidbit about his father. I resent him pulling Teresa on this crazy journey a little less now.

[mALX]

I got goosebumps from the meeting with the spriggan, HUGE Write!!! Awesome meeting of two that are each a part of the nature that surrounds them !!! Loved this chapter !!!

[SubRosa]

haute ecole rider: The best thing about playing on the PC is being able to fix things like all the animals attacking you. If you are tried of it, try out my Forest Friend or Witchcraft mods.


Grits: One of the nice things about that last segment was indeed that I was able to use it to dramatically show the difference between Teresa and most other people.


hazmick: Fangorn was indeed one inspiration for the Haunted Forest. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it in the LOTR films. That is not where the pic is from though. I wanted a place in the wilderness that was sacred, more woodsy then even the rest of the woods.


Glargg: Thank you G. Glad you stopped lurking in the forest and came out to say hi!


Olen: That first pic is of the Shiratani Forest on the Japanese island of Yakushima. The trees there live for 2,000 years, and was the inspiration for the setting of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke.


Acadian: This is where Teresa's actions in the past are starting to bear fruit. As you said, the spriggan knew that Teresa was not a threat to her forest, and for very good reason.


King Coin: You saw exactly what I was hoping for. The emptiness of Vol's room was an outward sign of the emptiness in his life. A void now filled by Brekke, who does not know it, but is helping the scarred veteran as much as he is helping her. I am glad you like the doilie line in the following chapter. I worked hard to find something that would fit for Vincent to say.


Jacki Dice: I have always wanted to play as a spriggan!


mALX: That was indeed meant to be creepy, at least the beginning of the encounter with the spriggan. I am glad it worked.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last episode Teresa left Maplemill and journeyed to the Haunted Forest. There she met a spriggan, and found it was not hostile to her. Next, Bawn itself.


Chapter 35.5 - Bawn

In time the dense cedar forest thinned out and gave way to scattered maple and willow trees. Before Teresa knew it, she was standing on a pair of wagon ruts worn though the soil, which had now turned rocky. Turning to her right, she saw the path lead uphill and vanished into a copse of cottonwoods. The Green Road was somewhere back there, she thought. So was Maplemill and a dozen other villages spread out along the length of the peninsula that framed the southern edge of Niben Bay.

Turning to her left, Teresa followed the path downhill, thinking that it might lead to Thistledown. Tertius had said that the fishing village lay on the coast north of Maplemill. From there Teresa knew that she could simply follow the edge of the bay to Bawn.

The trees continued to thin as she went, and soon the road became steep. The cries of gulls were loud in her ears when the white spires of Bawn itself came into view below. First was a circular colonnade rising a hundred feet into the sky. Its roof was missing, and the tips of many of its arches were broken off. Behind it Teresa could see the remnants of a statue that was perhaps twenty feet shorter. She imagined it had been of an eagle, perhaps carrying an elf aloft. But the millennia had not been kind, and little remained that was not covered with moss. Farther down the slope were fragments of walls and arches, leading directly into Niben Bay. More pieces of white stone rose from the water, including another statue that was tilted so far to one side that it seemed on the verge of falling over. Teresa could see that was of an elf holding a sword aloft, its blade long since snapped off and sunken beneath the waves.

Screenshot

It was much like Belda, the wood elf thought, or Nagastani. The circular colonnade would be the focal point of the settlement. Even in just a tomb like Culotte, the main burial chambers had been underneath the same kind of structure. Since Bawn had been a city, she imagined it was the royal palace.

Thinking of Belda and the conjurers there, Teresa stopped to dip one of her arrowheads into the jar of poison at her hip. When she was finished, she re-corked the container and set the deadly missile to the string of her bow. Stepping forward slowly, she moved from cover to cover, making sure that she was only visible for the shortest moments possible.

The wagon trail was obviously not something made by the Arimer, Teresa thought, not after four thousand years. Given how the people of Maplemill shunned the place, she could not believe there was an Imperial settlement there. But while not very deep, the wheel tracks looked relatively fresh. Someone had moved in recently, Teresa observed. Someone with a wagon, who made lights that the fishermen could see from the bay.

Teresa stopped when she saw the boat pulled up to the shore. Over twenty feet long, it was larger than many dories, but lacked a sail. She could see numerous oar locks spread along its length to make up for that, and imagined that it might seat more than a dozen mortals. Or less if the space was taken up by cargo. She was not sure what such a boat was called, but she had seen them carried on large ships like galleons often enough. Yet there was no sign of one of those ships in the bay. But for a small island near the coast to the east, the water stretched on empty to the horizon.

Someone was clearly here, Teresa reasoned. But who? Could it be innocent scholars like Carandial? Or ruthless murderers like the Ebon Moon?

There was only one way to find out, she thought. Taking her time, she crept through the ruins as quietly as she could. She still saw no people, but found numerous footprints going directly from the boat to the colonnade that marked the palace. Still she still took the time to scout through the outer sections of the ruin just to make sure there were no sentries there, before making her way back up the hill to the circle of tall stones.

She heard his breathing before she saw him. It was a heavy, rasping sound, not human or elven, but similar. Sidestepping along a row of low stones, Teresa circled the palace, her eyes locked upon the long, slender openings between columns that had once been windows and doorways.

An amber tuft of fur came into view, and then the rest of the Khajiit it belonged to a moment later. He stood within the circle of stones, clad in armor that was a patchwork of animal hides and holding a strung bow in one hand. An axe was tucked into his wide, leather belt, and a bag of arrows hung from one of his hips.

Teresa fell to her stomach in the grass, so that he would not see her behind the line of stones she used for cover. She crawled her way up the slope to a pair of large boulders and rose to crouch in the gap between them. That gave her a position above the colonnade, with a good view between two of the columns.

Drawing two more arrows from her bag, she thrust them point down into the dirt at her feet. Then setting her original missile back to the string of her bow, she rose to her full height. A glance at her chest showed that her Fighters Guild medallion was in plain view. Good, she thought, if the Khajiit was an honest explorer, it would allay his suspicions, just as it had with the farmers of Maplemill. If not, she had her arrows ready.

She waited for him to step into view between the columns. Just as he looked up and opened his eyes in surprise, she lent her voice to the breeze coming off the bay.

"I'm Teresa," she proclaimed, "of the Fighters Guild."

The Khajiit's eyes widened even farther, and fixed upon the red and white medallion upon Teresa's chest. "It's the law!" he bellowed out of the side of his mouth. Then his hand went for an arrow.

Teresa did not wait. She raised her bow and pulled the string halfway to her chest. Releasing half her breath, she took only a second to take aim slightly above the center of the feline's chest. Then she pulled the feathers of her arrow to her cheek, and before the Khajiit could set his own missile to his bowstring, hers was buried in his torso.

The Khajiit dropped to one knee, arrow falling from his furred digits. Teresa did not wait, and pulled one of the arrows staged in the dirt at her feet and set it to her bow. Yet as she drew it back and took aim, the feline either fell or rolled behind a column. Teresa could not be sure which.

Part of the forester wanted to run forward and finish the sentry off. But she knew that the nightshade on her leaf-shaped arrowhead would kill the Khajiit in minutes. Unless he had an antidote potion handy, and the presence of mind to drink it. More importantly, she knew by the size of the boat and his shout of warning, that more of his compatriots were nearby. Most likely within the palace beneath his feet.

So the forester waited, and took the time to poison the arrow she held. A moment after she was finished, a tall man appeared in the colonnade. His staw-colored hair hung down beyond his shoulders, and his nearly naked frame was bound in rolling muscle. Tattoos that glowed with a soft blue light covered every part of his exposed flesh, tracing intricate loops and whorls around his frame. In his hand he held a massive axe. The shaft of the weapon was taller than half of his body, and its single blade trailed down in a long crescent.

"Most Nords these days will wear mail, or even plate if they can afford it," she heard Pappy's voice rise in her memory. "But the traditionalists won't touch armor. In fact they usually fight naked. But don't take them for pushovers. Their tattoos are enchanted with Shield spells, and the Nordic War Axe will stop a warhorse dead in its tracks."

With her guild commander's words lingering in her ears, Teresa let fly. She saw the Nord's body flash yellow from the Shield enchantment on his tattoos a moment later. He swatted her arrow away with one hand, as if it was a mosquito. She could not be sure if it had penetrated his magical defenses or not. But one thing was plain, he now knew exactly where she was.

An eerie howl split his lips as he tore the loincloth from his hips, leaving his body completely bare. Then he rushed up the hill toward her in a flash of pale skin and blue ink. Teresa reached down for the last arrow staged at her feet, put it to her string, and took aim. Now she saw another human rushing from the colonnade behind the Nord. This one wore mail, and carried a round shield in one hand, and a single-handed axe in the other.

Teresa ignored the second man for now, and once again loosed her arrow at the Nord. He made no move to dodge the missile, which hit home in his belly. This time, she could see it pierced his Shield enchantment. Yet he seemed to barely notice, and continued forward in a rush. Farther back at the entrance of the palace, Teresa saw a fourth and fifth man spill forth. Both wore mail as the third man did, and carried shields. However, one held a wickedly-flanged mace, and the other an arming sword.

That was enough for Teresa. Spinning on the balls of her feet, she sprang up the hill with all the speed her legs could muster. The incline slowed her footsteps, yet she knew it would take an even greater toll on the quickness of the armored men. The Nord was another matter however. He had no armor to weigh him down, and his long legs ate the distance between them.

Still, that arrow had to slow him some, Teresa thought. Unless he was so incensed that he could not feel a thing. Fixing the symbol of her Burning Hand clearly in mind, she reached for her magicka just in case he came too near. She did not put much faith in having the opportunity to use her spell however, given the reach of that long axe of his.

The trees grew thick as she raced off the wagon path, and Teresa had to slow herself to avoid tripping on the exposed roots that now snaked above the turf. Then she realized that the willows and oaks had given way to gigantic cedar trees. The sun faded to a memory in the gloom beneath the canopy, and a nearly impenetrable wall of branches and leaves filled her vision to all sides.

She was in the Haunted Forest once more.

Teresa stopped to draw forth another arrow and set it to her bowstring. At one time she would have been winded from the long race uphill. But now her breath came strong and steady in her lungs. She would lose them in the forest, she thought. All she had to do was stop the Nord. Then the armored men would be child's play to evade and pick off one at a time in the dense woods. As if summoned by her thoughts, the snapping of branches heralded the approach of the tattooed warrior. Teresa waited with bow half way to her chest, and pulled it back to her cheek when he came into view.

Then a branch snaked out from the cedar beside the Nord, and wrapped itself around the tall man's neck. Teresa realized that it was not a branch at all when she recognized impossibly long fingers trailing from the end of the appendage. The Nord stopped as if he had hit a stone wall. A moment later he was pulled back into the brush surrounding the base of the tree. A ferocious thrashing ensued in the undergrowth, and Teresa lowered her bow. It lasted several minutes, until a dark fluid stained the leaves in the dim light, and all went silent.

The jingle of steel rings and cracking of branches announced the rest of the men. Teresa raised her bow once more. But a moment later she lowered it again as the whoosh of magicka came to her ears. A purple disc formed in the air before her and fell to the ground. A grizzly bear formed in its wake, and stepped toward the noise of the approaching men.

Teresa turned her head to one side, and saw another spriggan step past her, following the bear to meet the interlopers. Then a third daughter of the forest appeared from the other side, calling forth another grizzly as she strode forth. Teresa took her arrow off its string and slid it back into the bag at her right hip. The bears vanished into the underbrush before her, and were followed by the spriggans moments later. Then a tremendous clamor of screams, snapping branches, and shaking leaves erupted from the greenery.

This would not take long, Teresa thought with a faint smile.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 5 2011, 12:08 AM

[Doommeister]

Ouch those spriggans were nasty, but how nice of them to watch over Teresa like that!

Wonderful writing Sage Rosa
Nits?

So was Mapemill and a dozen other villages spread out along the length of the peninsula that framed the southern edge of Niben Bay.

It looks like the Nord scared away the L in Maplemill there.

[Acadian]

This was delicious! I could feel you building the tension as Teresa crept around Bawn - there were enough clues that clearly somethin' was gonna happen. That Nord was scary indeed, and Teresa's flashback to Pappy was the perfect way to naturally provide some detail at the right time and place. Even before Teresa spun and ran, I was yelling at her to do so! Good thinking, Teresa! I also noted, even before Teresa reminded us how wise she had been to practice her running for endurance. It surely came in handy here!

Then. . . then, the spriggan assist was magical, first eliciting a faint smile, then a broad one, then almost a cheer from me. I agree, this shouldn't take long.

Superbly done, my friend! I could really 'feel' every bit of this wonderful episode.

[haute ecole rider]

So was Mapemill and a dozen other villages spread out along the length of the peninsula that framed the southern edge of Niben Bay.

Turning to her left, Teresa followed the path downhill, thinking that it might lead to Thistledown. Tertius had said that the fishing village lay on the coast north of Mapelmill. From there Teresa knew that she could simply follow the edge of the bay to Bawn.

I also noticed the same thing as DM, as well as the second incident, when the 'l' came back in the wrong spot.

Loved this part, how Teresa planned her approach, how she prepared for the possibility of more than just a single Khajiit, and especially how she knew when to retreat. So glad she retreated into the Haunted Forest and got herself some excellent allies there. Yes, it wouldn't take long at all.

[ghastley]

Just to pile on that nit.

So were Maplemill and a dozen ...

or

So was Maplemill, and so were a dozen ...

But I would have just got swept along by the story if the others hadn't drawn my attention there.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jul 5 2011, 12:40 AM

[Grits]

"I'm Teresa," she proclaimed, "of the Fighters Guild."

Yay! Theresa standing up and saying that, what a triumphant moment! Her FG medallion makes it perfectly clear that she is the law.

Tattooed Nords have been on my mind lately, I found the Nord especially interesting. The whole chase and spriggan battle was fast and exciting, I loved it! And I liked the last line best of all.

[Olen]

An interesting blend of wooo and sinister. I can see how rumours of evil witches get started - at least if there's any survivors. Equally they did have it coming.

armored men would be child's play to evade and pick off one at a time in the dense woods

I assume you were sort of going for sinister with this line. It's a good one, she's thinking like a witch or at least someone who likes the wilds. But she's a fighter and a lawbringer too, I'm not sure Cyrodiil is ready.

She was not sure what such a boat was called

Both this and her running away worked well for me, it shows that she doesn't know everything and isn't ready for anything which makes her seem all the more real.

This psrt does leave me with a massive 'what happens next?' though.

[hazmick]

Hooray! Nature-1 Bandits-0. Someone needs to develop a 'Summon Spriggan' spell, they certainly came to the rescue here. Are they going to tag along when Teresa goes into the ruin? (Which I hope she does)

[Thomas Kaira]

How much fun is that? A battle between Bandits and Spriggans!

Perhaps if those danged Spriggans would stop attacking me the instant they see me, I would be able to talk things out with them, too? One can hope.

I'm all caught up now, too.

[King Coin]

31.4

I wonder how Tadrose is going to turn out for Teresa.

Took Chance long enough to notice the huge tower stretching towards the sky. He's no lookout

Hilarious joke about the tower. “They wanted everyone to know that theirs was bigger”

It occurs to me that while Teresa is in the IC, she should go visit her adoptive mother!

She is!

31.5

Chance will take a chance with anyone it would seem.

At least his charm was able to soften Jensine. I thought this was going to be a huge fight over the mace. Thank goodness it was as easy as paying for it. Chance owes Teresa quite a bit for this whole escapade.

31.6

Bag of Holding! That will be very useful to Teresa!

I love how Teresa keeps thinking “why does everyone think I want a man?”

31.7

Chance is properly thankful. The Imperial City guild sounds more like a fraternity than a merc company.

Teresa and Aravi share the same view on the Arena. She won't even step into the Arena district of the city even to just pass through.

Whoa. Took me a paragraph to realize that she was having a vision of Vilverin.

That necromancer is in for a world of hurt when Teresa finds him again. She's been practicing her skills since she's left. The necromancer might have more undead, but I doubt he's worked on his skills nearly as much.
------------------------------------
32.1
Ha ha! Chance is good. Going to the ruin with Teresa. I'm sure she'll appreciate the backup.
I just love how he leaps up no questions asked.

Pretty excited to see what all the activity is inside the ruin.

[SubRosa]

Doommeister: Thank you finding my missing 'l' there. Teresa does indeed have friends in the most surprising places.


Acadian: I am glad the Nord came across as being scary, with the glowing tattoos and the nakedness, I wanted him to be that way.


haute ecole rider: Another runaway "l"? These consonants are like herding cats... That last episode is one of the places where Teresa's Fighters Guild training really shows.


ghastley: That looks fine to me, the subject is plural - Maplemill and a dozen villages - so were.


Grits: Will Jerric be getting tattoos then? Hopefully not of Abiene's name, because doing that only insures that you will break up with them.


Olen: I wasn't really going for a sinister attitude with Teresa's thoughts on her tactics. Rather a professional one. That is what Pappy told her to do when outnumbered: withdraw, and trade space for the time you need to get stronger.


hazmick: I did make a spriggan summon spell. It is in my Witchcraft mod.


Thomas Kaira: Maybe you should be nicer to the spriggans? They never bother me.


King Coin: Chapter 31 is something I had in mind when I wrote the original Vilverin chapter, and wrote in Destri as the Redguard with the Dwemer mace. I was glad when I finally had the chance to finally write Teresa's return with Chance. He does indeed owe her big, but as you will see, he works to make up for it.


Previously on Teresa of the Faint Smile: In our last episode Teresa discovered Bawn, and was attacked by the men she found within. After killing one with an arrow, she lured the others into the Haunted Forest, where the spriggans finished them off. Next, in our final episode of this chapter, she ventures within the ruin, and learns who they were.


Chapter 35.6 - Bawn

Teresa left the rent bodies of nearly a dozen men behind her in the forest. The crows deserved their meal as much as the worms after all. Making her way back to Bawn, she strung an arrow and cautiously made her way to the columns that marked the palace. The Khajiit that she had seen first was still unaccounted for, and there might be others who had not joined in the pursuit into the forest.

She found the feline dead just inside the colonnade, bent over and clutching his stomach. The nightshade got him, she thought. That was the classic mark of its poisoning. She ought to know, having learned the hard way after sampling Geen-Rana's nightshade tea so many years ago! For not the first time, she thanked Raven that her Argonian roommate had not been an alchemist. If Geen-Rana had been, then she would have been able to draw out the magical properties of the poison to make it even more lethal.

The wood elf found a spiral stair cut into the center of the colonnade, and followed it down to a pair of open double doors. Pausing on the threshold, she reached into her Thieves Bag and drew forth her nighteye goggles. Pulling them down around her features, she stepped into the inky darkness below.

As always, the entrance led down a long stair, plunging her deep into the bowels of Nirn. Thanks to her goggles, the halls and chambers of the Arimer ruin were lit up as bright as if Magnus himself was perched over her shoulder. Pieces of raw glowstone could be found littering the hall at random places, and Teresa imagined that her attackers had used them to see by.

Screenshot

Soon she came to a large chamber that was lit by more chunks of raw glowstone suspended from metal chandeliers. Teresa imagined it had been a chapel of some sort from the altar at one end. Tall, arched niches were cut into the walls at regular intervals, where she knew that welkynd stones had once perched atop their metal holders. Now all stood dark and empty though, if not plundered by her attackers, then by some other explorers.

Screenshot

The wood elf found a camp within, containing a dozen bedrolls, several wooden stools, and a makeshift table with bread and cheese set out on plain stoneware plates. Several chests were arranged by the bedrolls, and even the cold embers of a cooking fire could be found with an empty iron pot suspended overhead. Numerous wooden casks were stacked up against one wall, and Teresa wondered if they were bandits who had stolen a vintner's shipment on the road.

The forester reined in her curiosity, and continued beyond the chamber to explore the rest of the ruin. As it turned out, there were only a few rooms and halls remaining, and those were empty of all but dust and memories of past glories. If there had ever been an Ancestor Statue there, it had long since been looted, along with any varla or welkynd stones.

Feeling dejected, Teresa returned to the camp of her attackers. On the hopes of finding something to make the journey worthwhile she began looking through their belongings, starting with the chests. All of them were locked, but Teresa's relationship with Methredhel proved its value once more, as she easily picked each. Within the chests she mainly found clothing and other odds and ends. However, she also found several purses of gold septims.

Whoever they were, they certainly made quite a bit of coin from camping out in an empty ruin. Teresa scratched her head. Now how could that be?

Walking to the casks, she turned one end up and pried loose one of its boards with her mithril dagger. Within she found a sweet-smelling liquid, a dark shade of grey in the nearly colorless world of night eye. She pulled the goggles from her eyes, but still saw naught but a glossy black liquid in the subterranean gloom.

Fixing the symbol of her Analyze Alchemy spell within her mind, Teresa called up her magicka and released it through the spell. Gazing down upon the cask with sparkling purple eyes, the symbol that represented the drink erupted into shining light before her. She could see that it was a complex brew, created from several ingredients, all of which had been further refined. It reminded her of sugar, but was far more potent, and far less appealing. For something about the concoction set Teresa's hackles on the rise. It reminded her of poison, yet a subtle one.

Then it came to her. It was something she had seen all of her life on the streets, especially during her three years living in the Chamber Pot with Geen-Rana. Skooma. The poison that had destroyed Simplicia's life.

Teresa recoiled as if she had found a troll within the small barrel. The symbol of her Flare spell instantly jumped into her mind. Drawing up her outrage over Simplicia's destruction by the insidious drug, she loosed it through her hand. The opened cask of skooma burst alight as soon as the flames struck it, and the blaze quickly spread to the other small barrels around it. Teresa fired more and more Flares into the terrible cargo, until her last drop of magicka was depleted, and all were set alight.

Smoke from the inferno filled the air within the subterranean ruin. Teresa was obliged to hold a cloth to her face to keep from breathing in the fumes, and she raced to the surface to greet Magnus once more.

They had not been bandits, but skooma smugglers, she mused. No wonder they had attacked upon seeing her. They probably chose Bawn because of its haunted reputation. That would have kept the prying eyes of the locals away from them. Even the occasional sightings of lights by fishermen would only reinforce the belief that ghosts roamed the halls.

Teresa looked from the wagon ruts leading down the ruin to the large boat pulled up to shore. They did not have a wagon, so obviously someone else must have brought the foul brew here. Their boat did not have a sail, so they probably did not venture too far across the bay. Perhaps to Bravil? Or maybe to a ship that anchored offshore at regular times?

She had to get back to Bravil, and warn someone. If the city guard or legion were quick enough, they could have troops waiting here to ambush the other smugglers when they returned. She looked at the boat. It was far too large for her to row herself. She would need another way back. Perhaps she could find someone in one of the local fishing villages who could take her back to the city?

She considered going along the coast to Thistledown, as Tertius had told her it was only a few miles west of Bawn. Then her eyes turned to the island in the other direction. She could spy out a bridge reaching across the small strait between it and the coast. There must be a village there as well. Otherwise there would be no reason for the span. Since it was definitely closer than Thistledown, she reasoned that would be the best place to go next.

While she was there, she briefly imagined that she could tell the fishermen that it was safe to come and take the boat. One of its size might be valuable to the people who scratched out a living on the bay. But as she thought about it, she knew that if the smuggler's cohorts returned and saw the boat in the village, or upon the bay, they would assume the fishermen had been part of their comrade's deaths.

Well, she was certainly not going to leave the boat for other skooma runners to use. Teresa knew that the destruction of the skooma and the boat would hardly put a dent in the armor of their business. Yet she could not deny the satisfaction that destroying even the smallest part of their enterprise gave her. With that in mind, she guzzled down a magicka potion, and then the boat joined the skooma in the blaze of her vengeance.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 14 2011, 10:47 PM