Sleeper in the Cave, a Morrowind fanfic Options

[Thomas Kaira]

I heaved a sigh of relief that we apparently weren't going to end up sleeping on the street and followed Ervesa into Suran.

Ahh... what a relief....

"What do you mean, you're full?"

Was that the sound of a violin string being plucked, or was it another thread of Adryn's sanity breaking loose?

whereas the tapestries showed rich, detailed scenes - the one closest to me depicted what looked like some sort of grand battle, centred on three figures clustered around one lying on the ground

I liked this one. A very good little bit of scene building to have the Temple display artwork of the fall of Indoril Nerevar. After all, it was through his death that gave rise to the Tribunal, and little though she knows it, this is exactly the reason why Adryn is here in Morrowind.

[Grits]

I really enjoyed Adryn’s impressions of the temple, both the description and her reaction to the strangeness of it.

I swallowed hard as I realised I had no idea about Dunmer funeral customs whatsoever. True, so far they were preferable to the Bosmer ones (understatement!), but putting remains on display seemed rather... distasteful.

I love this passage, and it’s only one example. Adryn’s wry thoughts keep her humor and personality right at the front without detracting from the seriousness of the situation.

Uh oh, mad orc berserker? I wonder if Adryn’s danger magnet will somehow drag her past him. And she is just trying just to get indoors.

[Kazaera]

@Thomas Kaira: Adryn's slowly fraying sanity has been giving us the background music for this chapter, yes! We're just about to start the finale. And thank you! I spent some time considering possible Temple decorations, and this seemed pretty logical and a nice nod to the plot, as well.

@Grits: I'm glad you enjoyed the Temple passage! I really wanted to get some first impressions going, because all of this is very, very new to Adryn. And damnit, I wasn't actually planning on having her meet Umbra. Now I feel as if I'm not doing my duty in tormenting Adryn. *ponderponder*

Last installment, Ervesa and Adryn went searching for places to stay. The Temple mysteriously couldn't have them for some reason Adryn doesn't understand, the tradehouse was full because of merchants frightened of some mad berserker Orc in the hills, but they have been told there might be a possibility. Now what could that be...

Note: This chapter contains some sexual content; it's minor and very indirectly alluded to so I really don't think it breaks the forum's rating, but since this is the first such occurence in the fic I thought I ought to mention it for anyone who really wants to avoid such things.

Chapter 4, part 5

*****

"You are joking."

"Um."

Ervesa shuffled her feet. My gaze drifted from her boots (also insectoid - seriously, I do not understand local fashion choices, insect is never 'in') to the door of the place we'd been told we might be able to stay for the night.

Now, I have to admit I was a stranger to this country, totally unfamiliar with their customs and norms to do with everything ranging from food to fashion to exterior decorating. But honestly?

Red lights mean only one thing.

And any attempt at convincing me that actually, in Morrowind those red lanterns meant free housing for people named 'Adryn' or anything like that was doomed to failure by the sign that hung over the front door. The sign saying 'Desele's House of Earthly Delights.'

Nobody is that enthusiastic about mattresses.

"You can't possibly be serious," I tried again.

"Er. Well." Ervesa was studying her feet. Maybe she was reconsidering her choice in footwear - hope springs eternal - but I suspected she was just trying to avoid looking me in the eye. "They'll have free beds?"

"Free? Try pre-occupied," I snapped.

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do," Ervesa said, lifting her eyes to look at me for the first time since I'd spotted the lights. "But we need somewhere to sleep, and unless we want to hike out of town and sleep on the bare ground... in the rain..." she lifted her head in the direction of the clouds gathering overhead. "We can just try to get rooms for the night without any... extras."

I looked at the clouds. Looked at the entrance. Pondered whether sleeping outside in freezing rain was really worse than this, then decided sadly that yes, my chances of dying out here were probably higher than dying in there (even if the death would be decidedly more dignified) and gave a grim nod. "All right. Lead on. But I'm not happy about this."

*****

I tried very hard not to look around the inside of the brothel, tried to ignore the stares of the patrons and the curious looks of the women wearing...

Weren't they cold?

Ignore it, Adryn! I firmly fixed my attention on a picture hanging on the opposite wall. It was a nice picture! With pretty colours! Showing...

...I had no idea it was possible to fit a grape in there.

Thwarted in my attempts to pretend we were somewhere (anywhere) other than where we were, I looked over to where Ervesa was trying to explain the situation to the owner.

"...pretty unusual, is all I'm saying. Lost travellers are one thing, but Armigers generally stay at the temple unless they're looking for companionship. Are you sure you only want-" the owner was saying. She was a Breton, still quite good-looking but with faint wrinkles at the corner of her eyes showing that she wasn't as young as her... employees. Her dark brown hair fell in waves over her shoulders and down to her...

Seriously, wasn't she cold?

I stared at Ervesa's hair, which seemed to be the only safe thing in the room to look at. It was very nice hair - black, twisted together at the back near the top of her head and then plaited so that it hung free in two thin braids to about the middle of her back. Honestly, it looked like a hairstyle that should take hours, a professional and possibly alteration magic to obtain, but I couldn't imagine Ervesa going to that much effort. She was a warrior... bard... thing after all, and at least the first half of that was something that didn't usually go hand-in-hand with creative fashion choices.

Well, unless we count wearing the same clothes for two weeks, rips, patches, bloodstains, dented rusty armour, perfume in the "dead people" flavour or - here - pretending to be a giant insect as fashion choices. Which I for one don't.

Indeed, the only concession to her appearance Ervesa seemed to have made were two earrings of some sparkling amber gemstone which she must have slipped on at some point after we got into town because I couldn't remember seeing them earlier. They were pretty, but small and easy to overlook, swinging from the tips of her ears as she turned around to face me-

Wait a moment.

"-Adryn?"

I started guiltily and pretended I had not just spent some time staring at Ervesa's ears. "Yes?"

There was a clinking sound as she shook a set of keys in front of my face.

"We've got a room."

*****

I stared at the bed.

It was definitely a bed. Four posters, fluffy pillows, a pile of blankets high enough I started to suspect the owner had a hoarding problem, or maybe was preparing for a sudden glacier attack. (Sneaky things, glaciers are, you never know when they'll pop up.) Its aura of general bedness filled the whole room.

Moreover, its singularity filled the whole room, because there was definitely, emphatically only one of it. It was a bed on its own, a bed asserting its independence. It screamed, insofar as furniture can scream, "Look upon me, I am the greatest, softest, most comfortable, most bed-like bed that ever existed, and I tolerate no rivals!"

"I'll take the floor," Ervesa said.

I remembered with a guilty start that this person had saved my life only a few hours ago, and I probably ought to be more grateful. "No, no, I'll take the floor. You've had a long day. Fighting tusky things. Saving poor innocent travellers from them. That sort of thing."

Ervesa shook her head. "Taking the bed would be profoundly unchivalrous. Besides, you still need to recover from your shock. You take it."

Shock?

Oh, right, almost getting gored by the aforementioned tusky thing. Funny how I'd almost managed to forget that in light of new, brothel-related trauma.

"No, no, I..." My voice trailed off as something dreadful occurred to me. "Wait a moment."

Ervesa tilted her head inquisitively.

"This is- this is- I have read these books, all right, I know how this goes. Any moment now one of us will say, well we could just share, the bed is big enough, and then later- in fact, this whole set-up is..." I closed my eyes in the futile hope that it would somehow diminish the horror of the upcoming sentence. "I am feeling more like the heroine of a romance novel every minute."

There was a noise that could, possibly, have been a suppressed giggle.

I cracked one eye open and looked at Ervesa with suspicion.

Her face was perfectly impassive, but her eyes were dancing in a highly questionable manner. "I have to say... and I do take your point about this being a very, ah, stereotypical situation... you'd make an unlikely romance novel heroine." While I was trying to work out whether I ought to be insulted, she continued, "So, what's your suggestion then?"

"Well." I presented my solution. "We could both take the floor."

Ervesa gave me a thoroughly unimpressed look. I was surprised; usually, the sorts of looks my suggestions are met with run along the lines of "please repeat that, because I think a butterfly flapping its wings on the other side of the world caused passing turbulence which changed the sound of the words before they reached my ear - this being more likely than you actually saying what I just heard" or "Since I cannot convince myself some auditory illusion caused this I am led to the inescapable conclusion that you were raised by maladjusted wolves, possibly in the Shivering Isles". (Believe me, I am heartily familiar with both of these looks as well as their variations.)

In short, unimpressed was a much milder reaction than I was expecting. Still, I felt obliged to defend my suggestion. "Besides, we don't know- we don't want to know where that bed has been."

*****

In the end, it was surprisingly comfortable. The Bed (it deserved the capital letters) was furnished with enough fluffy pillows to occupy an entire orphanage of children in a fight for hours, as well as more blankets that would have been necessary in Windhelm during Morning Star. I had to wonder why they went to so much effort, given that what was meant to take place on the Bed was - and I am admittedly no expert - not something that particularly involved those things.

I just hoped they washed them afterwards, or else...

...you know, Adryn, let's not continue down that line of thought.

At any rate, there were enough accessories of various sorts to make each of us a comfortable nest, and in the dim candlelight the whole thing seemed almost like an adventure. Brave explorer Adryn - now complete with sidekick - venturing into the hidden depths of prostitution...

"Well, good night, I guess," Ervesa interrupted my daydreams.

"Good night and... I'm sorry for complaining so much about this," I said, pricked by my guilty conscience. "You did save my life earlier, after all. I don't mean to be ungrateful."

What? Even I can be polite sometimes!

"Don't worry about it. Saving people is part of the job description, and you'd done most of the work in paralysing the kagouti. Dragging people miles out of their way and forcing them to stay in..." she paused, "profoundly unsuitable, shall we say, circumstances isn't."

"Still. Sorry." I relaxed back into the purloined blankets, trying to ignore the stripped Bed looming above me. It was soft and warm and I was very tired...

It was at that point the noise started.

I won't describe it in detail, as I wish I didn't remember it in detail. Suffice it to say that it was completely impossible to ignore and left no doubts whatsoever about what sort of establishment this was.

I looked at Ervesa.

She looked at me.

"I'll see if Helviane has any playing cards," she said.

*****

Notes: When I have time, I might see if I can snag a screenshot of Ervesa - I gave her one of the modded hairstyles (it may have been Ren's Oblivion Hair or Rin's Beauty Shop, I forget) and edited it slightly to give her her ears back.

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: May 16 2020, 02:36 PM

[Grits]

Ervesa's ears were probably the safest thing to look at, given the surroundings. I doubt that “Leave us alone” was the oddest request made that night. I love that Ervesa takes pains with her hair, despite the difficulty.

A screenshot would be great!

[Thomas Kaira]

Adryn's reactions to first entering the HoED were absolutely priceless!

Seriously, wasn't she cold?

Considering all the things they do around these parts, I sincerely doubt that.

It was at that point the noise started.

...

"I'll see if Helviane has any playing cards," she said.

Sounds like its gonna be a loooooong night.

[Kazaera]

@Grits: Yes, I wouldn't have wanted to spend too long looking at anything else in the room! And I will try to dig up a screenshot - although it looks as if I may have actually accidentally deleted my custom version while installing MGE, meaning I have to do all this again, aaaaargh! so it may take a bit. ><

@Thomas Kaira: Glad you enjoyed Adryn's rather... unhappy... reaction to her night's accommodation. XD

skipping summary because I have all of five minutes to post this.

Previous

Chapter 4, part 6

*****

It says something about the way things were going that I was entirely unsurprised when the cards Ervesa came back with some minutes later had very... creative illustrations. By which I mean that I had certainly never seen the figures depicted in quite that way before; I didn't think some of those positions were even anatomically possible.

But I did my best to ignore that (something I was sadly getting a lot of practice in) and instead studied the cards themselves. They weren't quite the ones I was used to even apart from the... interesting... drawings. The suits were slightly different; "cups" seemed to have become "shields" in Morrowind (not that I could quite blame them given the wildlife), I didn't see any Emperors, Knights or Legionnaires but spotted a King and Queen of swords, and finally the trumps looked different as well. At least, I certainly didn't recall a Pilgrim in the decks I was used to, but then again I really wasn't inclined to study the cards too closely so I might be misreading them.

"Hmmm." Ervesa also seemed to be trying to ignore the illustrations. "Pity we don't have a third, we could have a round of sedrathi."

"We could always invite one of our neighbours over for a round, since they seem so... active," I responded. Ervesa choked. "I don't suppose you know any good two-player card games?" Most of the ones I knew were meant for groups. Besides, something I'd learned in my travels was that games can be completely different between different provinces, and it would probably behoove me to pick up the local ones (of which I assumed 'sedrathi' was one) sooner rather than later.

"I know a few, although I wouldn't necessarily call them good. But..." she shrugged. "I'm sure we'll make do somehow."

"Mmm." I nodded.

Honestly, even learning a new game as I was, I wasn't expecting the play to be all that interesting, or Ervesa to be much competition. I'd spent years playing cards with some of the greatest rogues in Skyrim, after all, and Ervesa was a knight (ish) which meant honesty, integrity and a natural disadvantage.

As a result, I was rather surprised when our game quickly turned into a friendly competition as to who could cheat most outrageously.

"I have the king of rings and the aces of staves, shields and swords," I said, laying down my hand triumphantly. Beat that.

"Hmm. Very good, very good indeed." Ervesa looked at her hand. "I have the ace of rings, ace of shields, and... two aces of staves."

"Quite miraculous," I said drily. "I don't think the rules work for this event, given that there's only meant to be one of each card in the game."

"Well." Her voice was mild. "It would help if you didn't use illusions."

I tried to jerk my hand away but she was faster. "Sheogorath take it," I muttered as the dispelling magicka washed over me - in particular, as it washed over the cards I was holding and shifted the aces of staves and shields into a seven and nine of swords respectively. It wasn't something you could use in a serious game where everyone was on the look-out for that sort of magic, but I'd managed to fool quite a few people who weren't expecting it with that little trick all the same.

"I think that means I win." Ervesa sounded satisfied.

"Wait just a moment. I know I saw you slip the aces of shields and staves up your sleeve when you dealt, but where did the other two come from?"

"Well, you're one to talk given that that was how you got the ace of swords," she'd spotted that? I thought for sure I'd got away with it, "and- wait!-"

This time I was faster and managed to grab the offending cards out of her hand. "Wait a moment, these aren't those cards at all! This is Masser and that's... I'm not actually sure, but definitely a trump card." I raised an eyebrow. "How exactly were you planning on sneaking those past me?"

"Well." Ervesa was coolly unrepentant. She'd have made an excellent thief with that attitude towards her crimes. "I thought that since those two superficially resemble the cards in question and if you looked closer you'd be distracted by the illustrations, seeing as they are among the ones where the artist took the most... creative license... don't look!"

Alas, my eyes were a little faster than either my ears or my brain in this case, something I had never regretted quite so much as in that moment.

"I- what- how-" I'd never been a drinker but suddenly, faced with the prospect of having that burned into my memory, strong liquor gained an entirely new appeal. "How is that even anatomically possible and why in the name of the Nine would anyone do it for fun?"

"As far as the first goes, I'm quite certain it's not. Years of combat training tell me that his legs would have broken long ago at that angle, and I don't think you could do that with a slaughterfish anyway. As for the second..." Ervesa shrugged philosophically. "There is a story of Saint Delyn that goes like this: once, when he was young, he came across two philosophers arguing next to a mudcrab colony. When he asked them what they were doing, one of them said: 'I am trying to explain to my imbecilic colleague that the movement of the mudcrabs symbolically expresses the movement of Nirn and the alignment of the stars!' The other retorted: 'No, you fool, the mudcrabs are demonstrating the creation of the world and the death of Lorkhan! See, if you take the one to the right there to be-'

"Saint Delyn shrugged and continued on his way. A few weeks later, he passed by the spot again. Both scholars had starved, having been so involved in their argument they forgot to eat, and the mudcrabs were making a meal of them. 'Sometimes,' thought Saint Delyn, 'it is best to let mudcrabs be mudcrabs.' In other words," Ervesa said, dropping out of her story-telling cadence, "it is best not to try too hard to understand some things, because doing so can only lead to madness, obsession, and having your corpse eaten by mudcrabs."

"That seems a little complicated." And a bit more grotesque than I was used to parables being, for that matter. "I prefer to say that everyone else has been brainwashed, or possibly possessed by Sheogorath, in order to find such an unhygienic, ridiculous activity appealing. Even if you take out the fruit. I mean, this entire place," I gestured around me. "An entire industry devoted to, to sticking body parts into other people's orifices or vice versa. I just don't understand how so many people would decide it's so important without Daedra and their sense of humour being involved somewhere."

I peered at Ervesa, curious about how she would react to this. Although I consider this very sound and logical reasoning, it gets me more "raised by maladjusted wolves" looks and even otherwise rare "I think you ought to be marooned on a deserted island on the off-chance that this is contagious" looks than anything else - something which I think goes to show how sadly widespread Daedric brainwashing is these days. Even Ingerte a-

Well, Ervesa had been surprisingly tolerant so far, so I wondered how the statement that usually made even otherwise tolerant people wonder out loud exactly how I'd survived to my current age without accidentally inciting someone to murder would work on her.

She was quiet for a long moment, staring into the candleflame. "Honestly, I don't understand it either. As I said: mudcrabs. You may not understand why they're doing what they're doing but it's best just to leave them to it. I do have to say that you're the first person I've ever met who shares that opinion." She met my eyes with a wry grin. "All of my fellow trainees thought I was crazy. It's good to know I'm not the only one."

"Brainwashing," I said sagely, but I felt my cheeks stretch into a smile in spite of myself. "Us paltry few who haven't fallen victim to it have to stick together."

We shared a moment of connection, a moment of being the only two people with sense in a world that considered the greatest possible pleasure to involve bodily fluids. It was broken by loud... noises coming from the next room, which goes to show that whichever Daedric Prince is at fault for this has a fine-tuned sense of irony.

*****

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: Jun 22 2013, 03:35 PM

[Thomas Kaira]

which goes to show that whichever Daedric Prince is at fault for this has a fine-tuned sense of irony.

Sanguine, my child!

This was a very nice moment between our knight in shining chitin armor and our alchemist in exile. It was great to see them bond over a not-entirely-honest game of cards with some not-entirely-stomachable illustrations. I particularly enjoyed that little fable of St. Delyn and the Mudcrab Scholars. I could definitely see that coming up somewhere in Morrowind.

It's good to know you're not alone in the universe.

[Grits]

It says something about the way things were going that I was entirely unsurprised when the cards Ervesa came back with some minutes later had very... creative illustrations.

Oh no! The situation becomes even more uncomfortable. At least Adryn found some comfort in a friend with an equal reluctance to engage in fluid exchange. I loved the whole out-cheating each other game and the conversation that went along with it.

[haute ecole rider]

As we so often say on the vets' forum:

BRAIN BLEACH!! I bet Adryn would love some right about now!

[treydog]

Reading! And laughing and cheering.

Chapter 1

As always, the personality you add give to “minor” characters adds tremendously to your story. In Chapter 1, Darvame the strider driver comes beautifully to life.

The description of the Foyada at sunset was wonderful- and shows that perhaps there is more of Vvarenfell in Adryn than even she knows. And that is confirmed by her touching of the Balmora banner- one of those “small” moments that has HUGE narrative value.

I thanked the Nord politely and set off towards the Eight Plates. (Let no one say that I am not contrary to the point of absolute idiocy.)

"My pardon," I murmured, trying to sound like a useless dimwit with more money than- I mean, a noble.

Chapter 2

Adryn’s reaction to the “challenge” of what was in the tea was a nice insight into her character.

The South Wall scene was a treat and provides more hints to Adryn’s past, as well. Her reaction to Caius’ appraisal and his blunt welcome are just the kind of writing we have come to love.

Equally enjoyable was her assessment of her chances in the Mages Guild.

The in media res argument between Ajira and Galbedir was perfectly done, giving us a feeling of an argument that has been brewing for some time.

Your variation on Ajira’s starting quests is a welcome change, as is the slow reveal of WHY the Khajiit is not anxious to go “out” on her own in Vvardenfell, especially down to the south. It was also one of those head-slap “why did I never think of that” moments. Finally, having Adryn actually STUDY the mushrooms, rather than the in-game “go fetch” mission is far more satisfying. Wonderfully done!

I mean, I decided a long time ago that when I die it had better involve the gates of Oblivion themselves opening or something else appropriately dramatic.

OOPS!

wondered again how I'd managed to rise in Dulnea's estimation. If I could only figure out why the change, I might be able to pick up a new trick for my Making People Not Hate Adryn arsenal. It needed all the help it could get, after all.

dearly wished for my daggers. Not that I would have used them. I mentioned not being suicidal, right? But in a way, a pair of daggers in spring-loaded wrist-sheaves can be the well-trained adult's teddy bear replacement. Not particularly cuddly unless you buy the right sheath, and I wouldn't recommend sleeping with them, but there is a certain measure of comfort that comes from knowing you have two instruments of sharp and pointy death at your fingertips and no one knows.

A long quote I know- but the whole of it is needed to get the exact “Adryn flavor”.

Two hundred septims. Two hundred septims exactly. That was how much my life was worth.
I hugged my knees to my chest and cried.

And then- the above. Simply inspiring and sad and wonderful.

even if I used the Blades' money, which I had absolutely no intention of doing. (I had very fond dreams of returning that money to Cosades one day. Preferably from a distance, with a slingshot and good aim.)

Five pairs of eyes snapped to me, prompting me to try to hide (it's a reflex! I can't help it!).

I really had no idea how they'd managed to work themselves to the bottom of my pack, upside-down. Then again, it's always the case that what you need is at the very bottom, no matter where you put it to begin. My theory is that invisible Daedra rearrange your belongings in order to keep whatever you need most at any given moment as far away from you as possible.

And 3 more perfectly "Adryn" moments in the story!

This post has been edited by treydog: Nov 8 2011, 02:52 AM

[McBadgere]

Oh hell did I laugh at this... ...

Damned funny...Brilliant...

Loved the parable, the playing cards...All the...Discomfort...

Fuuunnie!!... ...

Nice one!... ...

[treydog]

The continued discussion/friendly rivalry between Ajira and Adryn is a treasure.

"Merrylice?" Glad I had set my tea aside before reading THAT bit!

As to the "gossiping and experimenting"- those are part of what MAKE this story sing. It is relatively simple to stick with the plot lines within the game (*cough* Story of Trey *cough*). It is quite another matter and much better when the writer goes her own way, giving her characters freedom and personality.

You also cleverly remind us that prison is not the place to stay in good condition for adventuring.

Call me old-fashioned in that regard if you will, but I believe in the Daedric worship argument. After all, everyone knows that saying the odd prayer to Sheogorath will eventually lead to your spending your days in a Daedric shrine, mad and gibbering with your underpants on your head and sacrificing children's toys to the Prince of Madness. Oh, and voluntarily living with Orcs. If that's not a sure sign of madness, I don't know what is.

On the other hand- allowing individual body parts to have freedom and personality probably IS a bad idea.

Outlander?! I was thirty feet away from her and hadn't even opened my mouth! Did I have a sign saying "Not a native, please torment at will" hanging over my head or something?

And Adryn meets the first of the "friendly pilgrims." It is a tribute to her restraint that said pilgrim did not end up in a battered heap beside the trail. Or perhaps it is simply another sign of her lack of conditioning....

I decided that when I was back in Balmora I'd try to find a book or something to learn about this local religion, as this would undoubtedly be more informative and with a lesser chance of getting your nose bitten off than listening to the madwoman here.

The introduction to the fact of slavery on Morrowind was handled perfectly.

To note all the "good parts" from the Humble Pilgrim and Frantic Bosmer sections would require copying and pasting the whole chapter.

Well- OK- have to include THIS one:

My imagination chose that moment to helpfully illustrate 'me with the Jiub look'. "Ack! Horrible mental images!" I yelped. The result looked more like our twisted lovechild - and the mental image that idea invoked made me seriously consider applying my Firebite spell to my own eyeballs.

And THIS one:

Staring at his tear-streaked face, I considered both Adryn's First Law of Adventuring and Adryn's First Law of Self-Preservation (do not do things like this). His height, soulful eyes and the way the snot was leaking out of his nose made him look rather like an upset little kid. I sighed and mentallydiscarded both laws.

And one more:

"Um. Nice... horned monster thing, very nice horned monster thing. You don't want to eat me, do you? I don't taste very good."

Ervesa is priceless- as is the entire time she and Adryn are together- at DESELE'S! The mind reels. And your description of their card game was an instant favorite.

[Kazaera]

Er. I am really, really sorry about the delay - real life and sudden interest switches joining forces and ambushing me, I'm afraid, and I haven't been able to spare a thought for poor neglected Adryn for a while. I swear it's the month of November conspiring against me somehow. Every year I tell myself "okay, so I won't do NaNo but I'll at least try to write more!" and every year I manage to produce nothing at all. I thought that a year where I was writing steadily for several months before would go better, but... November hates me, guys. It's the only explanation.

I sadly can't guarantee I'll be able to regularly update from now on, either - I'm still pretty busy, I need to ease myself back into writing regularly and I don't have as much of a buffer as I'd like (I've written most of chapter 5 and a good-sized chunk of 7, and you may notice the obvious issue here.) However, I at least want to finish off chapter 4 before I disappear into nothingness again!

@Everyone - thank you for reviewing! it really means a lot to me

@Trey - I find myself vindicated that you've picked out some of the scenes I was most proud of when I wrote them as your favourites! And that you enjoy the various fleshing outs and intercharacter relationships, because those are so fun to write and will probably form the backbone of this story.

@McBadgere - I'm glad you're enjoying it! Adryn most definitely isn't, but then again she's funny when suffering. XD

@HER - ah, you caught me - after the story is over, Adryn becomes Tamriel's first supplier of brain bleach, having been forced by necessity to invent it during her travels...

@Grits - glad you enjoyed! And the cheating convo will continue here.

@Thomas Kaira - I'm glad you liked the fable, because that was one of the things I really struggled with writing!

Previous

*****

Chapter 4, final part

I looked back down at the cards. "So... who won?"

Ervesa shrugged. "I think we can call it a tie."

"Fair enough." I wasn't going to argue. "Who taught you how to cheat, anyway? I mean, you're good. I barely noticed you slipping those aces up your sleeve."

"Not good enough, or else you wouldn't have." Ervesa grinned wryly. "As for who taught me - Tidros Indaram, one of my training masters at Molag Mar."

I blinked. This made two floating religious knight-bards that cheated at cards. "Look, I don't know much about your order, but... isn't that a bit unusual? After all," I continued when Ervesa just looked confused, "you were talking earlier about emulating your god..."

"Exactly," Ervesa interrupted, and it was my turn to look confused. "That's why we do it."

Wait.

Wait, I couldn't possibly have heard that correctly.

"Your god cheats at cards?"

"Well, I suppose-"

"Your god cheats at cards?"

I tried to imagine any of the gods I'd grown up hearing about, the Nine or the Nordic pantheon, cheating at cards. This resulted in the mental image of Alduin the great dragon who destroyed the world before time, Kynareth the Goddess of Air, and Talos who was Tiber Septim who conquered all of Tamriel and ascended to godhood... sitting around a table in a tavern playing cards, with Alduin trying to hide an ace between his scales because he didn't have any sleeves (being a giant, world-eating dragon), Kynareth using her powers over wind to blow the cards into the order she wanted when dealing, and Talos simply telling the others that his seven of staves was actually an ace and daring them to object. This in turn resulted in me pondering whether I might have accidentally had any skooma at any point that day without realising, because I had no idea how to explain what was going through my head without drugs coming into the picture somewhere.

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that," Ervesa said. "Do you want to hear the story?"

"Wild kagouti couldn't keep me from finding out the story behind this," I responded.

"All right then. Once, Vivec encountered a group of Dwemer near Falasmaryon..."

What followed was a story involving Vivec, an annoying braggart of a Dwemer who claimed his machine could predict anything that would ever happen, and Vivec talking him into a card game with high stakes. "The other Dwemer told him to be careful, for they knew Vivec was filled with trickery and bore them no love," Ervesa said, showing more pride at the description of her god as 'filled with trickery' than I would have expected. If you closed your eyes and ignored the accent, you could almost imagine she was a Nord talking about Shor. "But Vivec said, 'why, do you not trust your machine? If it truly does what you say, you would be able to tell how the cards will fall even now, and there is no risk,' and he agreed to the game.

"Then as they were playing, Vivec changed the cards so they fell to his favour. The Dwemer realised this and became furious. Yet, Vivec said, if the machine were truly able to predict anything, he would have known this would happen. So the fact that Vivec was winning demonstrated his lie."

"And then what happened?" I asked when she paused.

"The other Dwemer, being a folk that did not prize loyalty, agreed with Vivec's assessment. Thus Vivec's opponent was cast out for his failure and his machine melted down as useless, and thus the land around Falasmaryon came to belong to the Dunmer. Some people say one can still hear the spirit of the bested Dwemer there on dark nights, railing against Vivec's cunning, but," Ervesa shrugged, "Falasmaryon lies deep in the Ashlands and the wind howling through the foyada can lead even the bravest of mer to imagine things."

"That was a good story," I said once it was clear Ervesa had finished. "Do you know any more?" It was a good distraction from our environment - and over the course of the day I'd found myself honestly curious. Ervesa had made a generally good impression on me so far, making me wonder about the god that she was so dedicated to.

"What, weren't you listening to me earlier?" She frowned at me until I wondered whether I ought to be apologising for forgetting something (but what?), then her face broke into a grin. "One of the things we Armigers are dedicated to is poetry and prose. In other words," she winked, "I know very many such stories! I can think of several which I think you might like. But first..."

"First?"

"How much do you know about the Tribunal Temple?" Ervesa asked.

"Very little," I admitted. Then, struck by the intensity of her gaze, I added, "look, if this is some attempt at conversion..."

"No, no! Well..." Ervesa looked a little sheepish, "not really? It just seems to me as if you might be interested in learning more about us. We're not a very missionary sort of people!" she added hastily. "Not like the Cult. But a lot of outlanders, you know, they come to Morrowind and," she spread her hands, "they know nothing about us. Just rumours about savage rituals and heathen worship and," a dark look spread on her face and she almost spat the next word, "necromancy, of all the dreadful blasphemies. And they never bother to learn more. I hear outlanders who've lived in Morrowind decades repeating the same old lies about our beliefs and customs."

"So..." I asked warily, "you're just encouraging me to learn about your religion?" True, I'd been contemplating this myself, but I find it pays to be careful appearing too religiously interested when it comes to clergy and other zealots. You may think you're just passing the time while taking advantage of the healing services but then they get their claws in you and suddenly you find yourself swearing eternal loyalty to Mehrunes Dagon via human sacrifice - I've heard the stories, you know! A measure of reluctance and skepticism is essential when it comes to these things.

She nodded. "Exactly. If you decide to join the Temple afterwards, excellent, but even if you don't at least you'll know what we're about. And I don't mean you should go straight on a pilgrimage or anything. A good friend of mine is at the Balmora Temple - Llarara Omayn, is her name - and she sells books and tracts. I know there's one common one that's aimed at outsiders like you but I don't recall the name... other than that, Saryoni's Sermons is a very popular collection, Cantatas of Vivec is a favourite of mine, Doors of the Spirit is one I recommend to anyone who's heard those slanderous rumours that we engage in necromancy..."

My shoulders relaxed. Books, I could deal with books. I could deal with books very well indeed, considering that I'd been contemplating doing bedtime reading about kagouti mating habits earlier and as far as I was concerned, everything you needed to know about those could be summed up in two words: Stay. Away. "All right-" I paused to yawn, "I'll keep those in mind."

Ervesa smiled at me. My cheeks grew hot, which was definitely, absolutely, emphatically just because of the room being quite warm by now. "Wonderful! Now, I think I've remembered a story you'll enjoy."

"Go on," I said.

As she started talking, I let myself fall backwards into my mountain of pillows. The noise from next door was still audible, but my limbs felt like lead and I had to fight to keep my eyes open. Small wonder; I had used that today after all, and one rejuvenating potion was definitely not enough to get rid of the effects.

The last thing I remembered was Ervesa's face lit by flickering candlelight and her voice rising and falling rhythmically, lulling me to sleep.

*****

End of chapter. (And one day I will finish one not via Adryn falling asleep or otherwise losing consciousness. One day!)

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: Jun 22 2013, 03:36 PM

[haute ecole rider]

What a wonderful story about the god Vivec!

Goes to show that the Dunmer do possess a wry sense of humor!

[Grits]

I hear you about the troublesome order of things. I’ve been wrestling with part of my story that probably won’t get posted until 2013 at this rate, while the next section languishes unwritten. Good thing it’s all for fun, or it could be torture!!

“…Talos simply telling the others that his seven of staves was actually an ace and daring them to object.”

I love Adryn’s vision of the godly card game. I can just see Talos slapping his seven on the table and glaring around at the other gods.

I’m glad you left Adryn in a comfortable spot amongst the pillows. She’s been through a fairly stressful evening with the naughty cards, chorus of delight through the wall, and the proximity of the intensely interesting Ervesa. I’m glad she could finally relax!

[mALX]

What a story you are weaving here! This is Awesome! Your character development is amazing, but even beyond that is your ability to create scenes that are so dynamic they are easily visualized by the reader! My favorite scene in this chapter is Adryn's visualizing the card game - I was rolling at her detailed imagination !! Absolutely Awesome write, you really need to forget Nano and keep writing this story !!!!!!!!!

[Athynae]

I have laughed until I fell out of my chair over this one. What a story!!!! Please do keep going. I KNOW how the whole November/December thing works, believe me, so will wait patiently for the phase to pass. But come January I will be hot on your heels Kaz, and if necessary will pull out the balding spell I created for Treydog. You have too many loyal followers here to let this one go.

Adryn is a wonderful, full spectrum character and we all want to see what happens next with her!!!

[Kazaera]

@All: Thank you very much for reviewing! Have another update before my schedule gets thrown into a mess by going home for Christmas.

@HER - Now, now, don't forget that Ervesa isn't an Ordinator! They've probably excised that story from their collective memories as it does not quite befit the... gravitas and dignity... of a god. I'd always imagined the Armigers as having more of a sense of humour! After all, their idea of an honourable duel appears to be a poetic riddling contest...

@Grits - ouch, that's worse than me! At least if I manage to stick around I should reach the section that's captured my imagination in the next few months. Although I do keep being assaulted by ideas for Sleeper in the Cave, Solstheim version, which definitely takes place after the MQ, which means that by the time I actually reach that point in the fic I will probably be eighty. And I'm glad you liked the card game! I thought for a while to figure out how Talos would cheat.

@mALX - wow, thank you! *blushes* And I'm glad you liked the godly card game, it was definitely my personal highlight of this section.

@Athynae - thank you!! I'm glad you're enjoying it. And eep, it looks like I'd better keep writing then... I like my hair. ;_; (In all seriousness, I will be vanishing from time to time, I'll just keep coming back. You can't get rid of me that easily!)

Chapter 5: 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8

Last chapter, Adryn went out flower-picking and ran into multiple obstacles... culminating in being attacked by kagouti, rescued by a Buoyant Armiger named Ervesa, accidentally teleporting to Suran instead of Balmora and finally needing to spend the night in Desele's House of Earthly Delights because there was nowhere else available. She hopes this day will go better than the last.

Chapter 5.1

*****

This time, when I woke from my nightmare (skin writhing as though there are a thousand worms just beneath it, the creaking as the bones are stretched to their utmost limit-) I didn't bolt upright. Instead, I just scowled at the ceiling - it was the third Oblivion-damned night in a row, if these were really location-induced somehow I'd end up trying to swim to the mainland before the week was out - then rolled over and waited for sleep to come again. The blankets were warm, by the dim twilight outside it was very, very early morning, the sounds of... activity... from next door had abated, I could hear even breathing from Ervesa's side of the room and I was so very tired...

There is fire everywhere. To the right a city is burning, to the left a forest is alight, ahead two armies are battling, their fireballs almost invisible against the glare of the setting sun, behind -

Don't look back. In the name of every single god ever worshipped, don't look back.

Someone's larger hand is clutching my small one, meant to be protective but holding me fast. "Come on!" I shout, pulling at it. The sound almost goes under in the screaming and roar of flames and- other noises. "It's not safe here! We have to keep moving!"

Now the scenery has shifted - the sun at my left, to my right the sea and a battle of two armadas. And-

The ground begins to tremble.

It is coming.

"We have to run now!" My companion still isn't moving. Despite myself, I turn back to look at her.

The stench hits me first - rot mixed with burning flesh, so strong it makes me gag. Maggots crawl over her forehead, the skin of her cheeks already peeling off to expose decaying muscle. There is a crunching noise as the bare bones I am holding snap, the tendons holding the skeletal hand together ripping under the pressure of my fingers. They say corpses stare but hers does not; her eyes are two pits of charcoal, burned clear out of her face, and-

Behind her-

It seemed that my old nightmares weren't just going to lie down and take this intrusion into their territory quietly, that they were in fact launching a counter-campaign. I lay in bed and tried to aim the thought if you don't stop this I am going to bash my head in with a rock just so I can sleep at my subconscious.

Perhaps it worked, perhaps my various nightmares had just exhausted themselves with infighting - this time, when I fell back asleep it was dreamless. When I woke next, it was daylight outside, there was rain spattering the window and Ervesa was gone.

I yawned, sat up and stretched. My back was sore - all the fluffy blankets in the world don't quite make up for lacking a mattress - but it wasn't too bad and I'd certainly slept in worse circumstances.

I'd had to sleep in my clothes as I hadn't taken my new nightclothes with me, but smoothing them down got out the worst of the wrinkles and I could change when I got to the Mages' Guild. (If I ever got to the Mages' Guild. After yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if some god was trying to keep me away from the place. If there was an attack of massed kagouti or bandits or Daedra on the path back, I would be totally unsurprised - I vowed to myself to have my Firebite spell ready just in case.) Reflexively, I looked around for my cloak, then had to remind myself that I didn't actually own one at the moment and that this land had a very balmy climate. What can I say, old habits die hard.

The main room looked entirely different when I got downstairs. Gone were the patrons, the dancers, the lurid lighting. The only person in the place was the owner - Helviane, Ervesa had called her - who was wiping down the counter with a rag. I noted with relief that she was a bit... more warmly dressed, shall we say, than she'd been the day before.

"Up, are you?" she asked me, then continued without waiting for an answer (although really, what was she expecting me to say, "no"?). "Your Buoyant Armiger friend left at first light. Paid for the room and left you this." She pushed a ten-drake coin my way. "Said it was for the strider back to Balmora, and that she was sorry for just leaving but that she had urgent business and didn't want to wake you." By her smirk, I knew exactly how Helviane had taken 'didn't want to wake you', and wished silently that Ervesa had spent a little more thought on her word choice. "I'm Helviane Desele, by the way, didn't catch your name yesterday. And don't look like that, I don't bite." She paused and then winked. "Unless you're paying me, that is."

"Um." It felt as if my tongue had knotted itself overnight. "Adryn. And not biting me is perfectly fine, really, no need to change that, I, I like being unbitten-" I flushed deep purple as Helviane laughed.

"Ah, kids," she said, shaking her head. "Well, Adryn, you're in luck - Folsi should be back from her morning trip to Vivec in a bit, and the next destination is Balmora. If you'd missed that, you'd have had to wait until the afternoon."

"In that case, I'd better get going," I said quickly. At the moment, I really just wanted to get back to Balmora as quickly as possible and forget most of the last day had ever happened. "Wouldn't want to miss it. Er-" some long-forgotten part of my mind that had once learned this strange thing called manners prodded me, "thank you for letting us stay last night."

Helviane shrugged. "Well, you looked miserable enough I couldn't in good conscience send you back onto the streets. Although I do hope those merchants get over whatever terrifying shadows and stories are keeping them in town this time. Good business it may be for me, but bad for trade. Besides, they're getting antsy. Ashumanu's been talking about having to break up fistfights, and I've had to ban one from the premises already for trying to take out his frustrations on one of my girls."

"Er-"

Helviane continued without even looking at me - not that I minded that part so much, given the way she was scowling at the table as if it had insulted her, ah, professional assets. (Well, for all I knew it had - after the Bed I wouldn't be too surprised at anything the furniture here got up to.) "In the meantime, rumour has it there's a murderer loose in Vivec but is anyone afraid of travelling there? Hardly! And now I have those damn Fighter thugs on my back again. 'Debt money' - what debt do they think I owe them, pray tell? Protection rackets, I tell you - I thought the whole point of an Imperial guild was supposed to be that it wasn't a crime syndicate-"

It sounded as if the woman had forgotten that I had any existence bar being a listening ear - in particular, that I was trying to make the strider. It also sounded as if now that she'd got going she wasn't going to be stopping for a while. So I just waved at her and made my way to the door.

When I reached it, I stared outside in resignation. Up until today the weather had been good enough - cloudy, true, but dry and warm enough to be comfortable - but from the amount and type of vegetation and the swamps near the coast I'd deduced that this must be a relatively wet climate. As a result, the pouring rain didn't come as much of a surprise.

I still didn't want to go out in it, though.

Then again, I reminded myself, I was currently standing in a brothel. In comparison, a little water doesn't seem nearly as bad anymore. Refreshing. One might even say cleansing. And maybe, in a sense, lucky, because with the weather the way it was there would be fewer people around to see me leaving said brothel who might get the wrong impression.

I dashed out into the rain.

*****

Next

This post has been edited by Kazaera: Jul 11 2013, 03:38 PM

[mALX]

Adryn's nightmares are worrisome coming from a TES world - always a portent for something bad. The rest of the chapter was an awesome display of your ability to create an unforgetable character in a few short paragraphs! Between the noisy neighbors in the next room and Helviane Desele's revealing chatter (along with Adryn's inner dialogue) you had me rolling !! Awesome Write !!

This post has been edited by mALX: Dec 18 2011, 06:43 PM

[Athynae]

Nice edition to Adryn's story, I am enjoying this tremendously, watching this character take shape and wondering what in Oblivion could happen next.

So glad to hear that you will not be gotten rid of so with that said I will attempt to be as patient as possible, for me that is a feat, but I will try. (Holding on to the Balding Spell tightly so it doesn't accidentally slip).

Would be nice if I had some good reading over the holidays....just sayin....