Sudhendra Vahl, the first chapter Options

[minque]

I almost gagged as the door opened under my tentative push and a rush of fetid air came out. Hot, sickly, and carrying a faint scent that was familiar ~ although odour might be a better word than scent. Keeping as close to the wall as I could, I sidled into the building. Red, fitful candlelight flickered at the end of a gently sloping passageway. That wasn’t good ~ anyone entering would be illuminated clearly as they passed in front of the candles and down the ramps I could just make out descending to the floor level below.

THUNK

I back-peddled quickly as a short steel throwing knife clattered onto the floor ~ having bounced off the wall far too close to my head for comfort. Peering forward and risking another thrown knife (which whipped past my ear with a whirring noise in due course) I took a quick glance into the huge central chamber. Almost directly opposite me, I could see a pair of figures standing on a platform protruding from the wall. One of the figures threw another knife, missing me by a country mile. Hmmm, the candles over there made them excellent targets ~ backlighting them as they did.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not brilliant with a bow. If not, I’d like to emphasis the point here by saying that I am not a good archer. So it was a question of who was the more surprised by my first shot. Knocking an arrow, I drew back the bowstring and stepped forward ~ swinging the arrow-point onto target, releasing, and stepping back all in one smooth, fluid motion. There was a meaty thump, closely followed by a gasp, a metallic clatter and another, much louder, meaty thud.

Risking another quick glance, I saw that the duo of knife-throwers on the platform had become a single knife-thrower. Needless to say, I was unable to repeat my initial shot but did pepper the figure with arrows until one finally hit something vital. There was a splash of red and a gurgling scream as he clutched himself and collapsed onto the platform. Emboldened, I slung my bow over my shoulder and hefted my axe before descending into the gloom below.

The red-tiled ramp led downwards to the main floor of the fort, which was also covered in the same small red tiles. Off to one side I could see a door, at the back of the chamber was a hole smashed into the fort: from the debris, it looked very much like it had been made from outside the building. Despite the shadows, I could see something moving down there. Pausing only to recover my arrow from the eye-socket of the fallen knife-thrower, I walked towards the gaping hole. The grey rock behind the thick walls had a strange, melted look to it but that wasn’t my primary concern right at this moment.

The shambling, half-humanoid figure directly in front of me was. The skin, where it wasn’t a flaky grey colour, was livid red and looked rubbed raw. One arm and leg were swollen and disfigured, covered in weeping yellow growths. The same pus-filled growths dotted the more normal looking arm and leg too. The face was something I’ll never forget: brilliant blue eyes stared out of a bloated ruin of a face. The nose was partially rotted and a huge growth bulged over the right eye. The mouth was a lipless maw in which a few rotting teeth stood like decaying tombstones. This, then, was a Corprus Beast ~ the final stages of the disease that had driven that pour soul in Berwen’s shop to madness.

This wreck of a Mer (or Man, it was impossible to tell) lurched towards me, strands of something best left unidentifiable hanging from it talon-like nails and insane fury in it’s eyes. With a silent prayer to whatever Gods might be listening, I braced myself as it made it’s slow, tortured way towards me ~ swinging hard with the axe as it came close. There was a squishing noise as the curved blade buried itself in the side of the creature’s head. Wrenching it free, I swung again and again in a fury of disgust and fear. Finally, long after any normal creature would have fallen under such a fusillade of blows, it gave a soft sigh and collapsed, twitched, then lay still. Fighting down an urge to scream, I stepped away carefully circling the thing until I could peer further down the tunnel.

Other than the soft “gloop-gloop” of the molten rock that filled the small defile at the end of the short tunnel, nothing moved down there. Once more circling the rotting mound on the rock floor, I returned to Telasero and moved towards the door. Pushing it open carefully, axe at the ready, I stepped into a vaulted corridor. Ahead of me lay another door while, off to my right, a ramp led upwards. The floor was covered with the same small red tiles that were in the main chamber while the walls were made of some dark material, the blocks fused together in some unknown manner. And over it all hung an invisible miasma, a sense of something being very much off-kilter.

The ramp proved to only lead to the platform where the two knife-throwers had lain in wait. The short hallway and the ramp were covered in slivers of wood ~ evidence of my poor archery. I returned to the lower level and ventured deeper into the eerie stillness. Several empty chambers and corridors confronted me as I worked my way towards the heart of the fort and the door that now stood in front of me. From behind it I could hear a faint humming noise. Tentatively, I pushed it open and took in the scene that confronted me.

Two huge stone troughs stood in the room, one at each side. There were two doors on each side of the room and, between the massive support columns; I could see a chamber at the extreme end of the room. Chairs and tables had been dragged and piled along the walls. What caught my attention however, were the strange buzzing noise that seemed to emanate from one of the troughs and the bizarre ‘altar’ I could just make out in the end chamber.

Well, that’s the buzzing noise explained ~ although I rather wish it hadn’t been. One of the two stone troughs was filled with odds and ends, stuff that had been discarded: clothing, a small sum of money, a couple of books, and that sort of thing. It was the other trough the buzzing sounds came from ~ and that was because it was filled with huge chunks of semi-rancid meat. Some of the pieces had a certain shape that, if looked at in the right way, reminded me of… no, I’d really rather not think about what they reminded me of.

Having wiped my mouth and spat out the foul taste, I moved shakily to the altar. There was a large disk at the base of it, at the cardinal points of this circle were more of those red candles. From the centre of the disk rose a three-sided obelisk, each face of which was filled with small niches. In some of these niches were small and grotesque statuettes; there were five in total. A large, round ‘font’ dominated one of the cardinal points. Like the trough, it too was filled with the same disturbingly shaped hunks of rancid meat. Having seen more than enough, I returned to the main chamber and started examining the chambers off to each side.

“You en-war,” the completely naked Dunmer screamed at me as I opened the door. “Time to die defiler.” With that, he rushed at me brandishing a heavy looking club. It was obvious he was completely insane. What else would you call it when an unarmoured man armed with the single simplest weapon there is goes up against an armoured opponent whose carrying an axe? I tried to talk him out of attacking me ~ I didn’t really fancy hacking away at a naked and damn’ near unarmed man but he was having none of it. Frothing at the mouth (literally), he got close to me and started swinging the club wildly. All the while he was swinging, he was spitting out strange phrases – “The dreamer shall awaken” and “That which was destroyed, rises anew” are the only two that I specifically recall. After that it got a little brutal and messy.

Two of the other chambers contained similarly deranged Dunmer, all naked and armed with clubs or their bare hands. I was trying, very hard, not to draw any parallel between five of these crazy Dunmer and the five statues on the altar. The synchronicity between the two was a little hard to ignore though.
The biggest danger in the fourth chamber was a couple of large and hungry looking rats ~ although the little black and red statuette tucked up one corner gave me a nasty turn.

“Are you Sondaale?” I asked the frightened Altmer that was crouching on the table. She nodded and asked me to get her out of the fort. I was only too happy to oblige. “Stay close Sondaale, we’re going to be going at speed.”

True to my word, I sprinted through the darkened corridors while Sondaale, carrying a lantern, scurried along behind me. It was a blessed relief when we raced up the ramp and out into the fresh air without let or hindrance. Clasping my knees, I gasped for breath as Sondaale collapsed to her knees and panted heavily. When we’d recovered sufficiently to speak, Sondaale told me she was heading to Molag Mar. From there she intended to go to Ebonheart, thence to Wayrest where, according to her, she intended to stay for a very, very long time. Without another word, she collected her belongings and headed off westwards towards Molag Mar.

Musing that Wayrest was just about as far away from Morrowind Province as it was possible to get, I examined my shoulder. One of the clubs had caught me awkwardly, and I had quite a nasty cut. The darkening skin around the cut suggested that there was going to be one Oblivion of a bruise there too. Wearily, I spoke the incantation “Ex hic absum, ut Balmora.” When things had stopped spinning, I found myself in the market square of Balmora. I made my way back to the house in Labour Town and, after drinking a couple of restorative potions, fell gratefully into bed.

[minque]

The morning was bright and clear as I stepped out of Dura gra-Bol’s house and made my way to the ‘Eight Plates’. It had become my habit, when in Balmora, to break my fast there. After a brief chat with the patron, I cast a Void-Walk spell and travelled to Sadrith Mora.

As I made my way up from the slave-market, I was stopped by a larger than normal Argonian. He said he was a pilgrim and, when I asked what his pilgrimage was, he replied that he was seeking a saviour for his people. This Argonian even went as far as to state that I might be the saviour he was looking for but, if so, I had a grand destiny to fulfil. That cheered me immensely and kept me chuckling all the way to Wolverine Hall. The only destiny I have is to earn a sizeable sum of money and settle down somewhere comfortable and safe.

Hrundi was pleased to see me and, after expressing his utter lack of surprise at Sondaale’s irresponsible behaviour, he paid me five hundred Septims for escorting her and, as he put it, ‘keeping her skinny Altmer asse safe’. “Now,” he said after I’d scooped the money into my purse, “I’ve got another wee job lassie, but it’s nae one ye’re goin’ tae like.”

I knew immediately that it wasn’t ~ Hrundi’s accent had become broader than normal, and that was always a sign that he was under some stress. I indicated that he should continue telling me about the job he had. “It’s a bounty,” he said, “on a Wood Elf name a’ Engaer. Yon haunless bugger is a mercenary frae Master Neloth if ye please. An’ we’ve been given a bounty on him.”

“Why is that a problem,” I asked. “I mean, I don’t like bounty work very much, but it’s a necessary job.”

“Ach weel,” he responded despondently. “See you, this Engaer is a mercenary frae Master Neloth right? Master Neloth as in Telvanni Master Neloth ~ ye ken, them long-lived buggers that let us wee folk live here under sufferance? Now, hae d’ye think he’s goin’ tae feel about us when we whack one a’ his mercenaries? In three words Sudhendra: blod rasende over!”

“Very angry?” I hazarded.

He grinned and said, “Close enough lassie, close enough.”

“Well,” I suggested, “why don’t we just ignore the bounty?”

“An’ let the problem go away? Would nae be that simple lass,” he responded. “See, the bounty has been put on Engaer by Arch-Magister Gothren: the head o’ the whole House. An’ guess what he’s going tae be if we dinnae complete the bounty?”

“Three words?” I said cheekily. He laughed aloud at that and nodded.

“Aye. Damned if we do an’ damned if we dinnae.”

“I’ll need some supplies,” I said. “A good sharp dagger, a couple of chameleon potions, and some poison.” I listed when Hrundi asked me what I needed.

“I cannae help you with the potions or poison lass,” he said, “but the dagger? Here, take this.” With that he handed me a viciously sharp dagger of a design I’d never seen before, made of a very lightweight, dull grey metal. “Adamantium,” he explained when I raised an eyebrow at him. “Very light and takes a wicked sharp edge. As for yer potions? Try old Plebo downstairs. Get yerself a couple o’ levitation potions too, from what I hear Engaer is up on the top-level o’ the tower. Now, for poisons, I suggest you try…”

“…Dirty Muriel’s” I finished for him. He nodded and smiled. I scooped up the dagger and went to make my purchases. I had no trouble getting the requisite potions from the apothecary in the chapel and, after a little haggling; I managed to lay my hands on a small vial of Brown Spider Poison from a shady character in the local hostelry. While not as… immediate as I would have liked, it was virulent enough stuff to stop the heart of a Wood Elf fairly quickly.

My plan had the elegance of simplicity, and it went like clockwork. Almost like clockwork. Downing a levitation potion, I walked air to the top of the tower and touched down on a sort of balcony affair at the top. There was only the once entrance from here ~ a round wooden door that led into the upper reaches of Tel Naga. Walking up to the door, I swung it open with one hand whilst draining the phial of chameleon potion with the other. Stepping inside, I yelled “Engaer!” at the top of my voice. One of the figures in the chamber to my right spun around and looked for whoever had called him.

Sticking to the shadows (and there were plenty of those in this gloomy place), I raced around behind him and drove the envenomed dagger into the middle of his back. See, elegant and simple? As the Bosmer started to froth at the mouth and convulse, I headed back the way I’d come. Only to have my chameleon potion wear off just at the same moment a large and heavily armoured guard stepped into the doorway. Oh, how the Gods do enjoy their little japes.

“Assassin,” he rumbled threateningly.

“No,” I said quickly. “Fighters Guild.”

“Ahh,” this human mountain said slowly. “You must be here after the bounty on Engaer then? Right.” And, with that, this walking crag simply turned around and strode off. Even more surprisingly, the room’s other two occupants ~ both of whom had started to draw their weapons ~ simply sheathed them and turned away as though nothing had happened. I was, to put it mildly, completely taken aback.

“What the frell happened in there?” I asked Hrundi.

He just shrugged and shook his head as he counted out my one thousand Septims bounty money. “Strange people these Telvanni,” he said, “with some very odd attitudes to things. I really can’t explain it ~ sometimes they react like you’d expect them to: other times they do something completely inexplicable. Like that.

“Well,” he said ruefully, “looks like you’ve cleaned me out a’ work lass. I’ve got nothing except a wild Kwama-Egg hunt left.”

“A what?” I asked, visions of someone wandering through egg-mines picking up eggs going through my mind.

“There’s this old tale,” Hrundi said, “of a Kwama Queen that lays golden eggs. This queen supposedly lays one gold egg once every hundred years. ‘Tis said that the Pudai Mine was found by a lucky young man eight hundred years ago who took some golden eggs and made himself a fortune from them. Now we have a very wealthy Telvanni collector from Necrom who’s looking for the seven eggs that the queen has laid since then.

“The problem is, the whole thing is a fairy tale, the sort of thing mothers tell their bairns o’ a night.”

I laughed and told Hrundi that, should I ever stumble across this lost egg-mine, I’d be sure to bring him back seven golden eggs. We then spoke a little about the situation within the guild. He confirmed that the guild was riddled with Camonna Tong sympathisers, including the Guild-Masters at Balmora and Vivec City. He urged me to be very careful whom I dealt with. Assuring him that I would be, I went to Dirty Muriel’s for a libation and a think.

I’d left Balmora because of the Camonna Tong problems there, I reflected as I sipped a glass of Sujamma. So, I wasn’t too anxious to run straight to Vivec City and get involved in the subterfuges there. That only left Percius Mercius in Ald’ruhn ~ and I had a pretty good idea that he’d want me to be out there fighting the Camonna Tong influence in the guild. And that, at the moment, was quite beyond me. Despite my recent improved skills with an axe and my fledgling attempts at magic, I was still woefully under skilled: and likely to be serious outclassed if I went against some of the higher ranking members of the Fighter’s Guild. As I sat wondering where, exactly, that left me, I overheard a conversation.


Here Ends Part 1[b][/b]

[Dantrag]

Well, I'm only a bout a fourth of the way through chapter 1, but I must say...."AMAZING!" keep up the good work!

[Lucidarius]

My nightmare, which I don’t remember, shook me awake in the small hours of the morning. I tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t. Finally, I gave it up as a bad lot and, after dressing, stepped out of the Cornerclub into a Balmora that was already bustling and lively.

<snip>

So it was with a heavy heart and a furrowed brow that I reported back to Eydis Fire-Eye. Even the hundred Septims bounty and the gift of a couple of bottles of a powerful restorative potion failed to cheer me much. So I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be told that my next task was to locate and “dispose of” four Telvanni agents who were spying on the mining operation at the Caldera mines.

Dear moderators,

The above post (shortened in quote) are missing in "Chapter one, part two" at the main fan fiction site (not on the forums, obviously).

I have just begun reading this story and suddenly encountered a big incoherence that didn't fit in with the first writing.

Sincerely,
Lucidarius

[Mazuk]

Only thing I can say is awesome. Great story. Keep up the good work Minque. I will be looking for more updates.

[Bolzmania]

Great story! Not much more to say. Good work!


//Daedroth

By the way; this is my 100th post