Alexander in Morrowind (2) Options

[Alexander]

Alexander in Morrowind, Chapter 2


I spent more then a year at Tel Fyr. And many things happened there, but I will not go into all of them. Suffice to say, after I had found myself using magic Divayth offered to take me in for some time and teach me the basics of magic. He promised me that the headaches would never return; the cause appeared to be the gift of magic seeking release and not getting it. But Divayth also made it clear to me that while he could teach me the basics, the rest I had to learn for myself. “It’s always hard to teach someone else what you know, because their brain works in another way, but with you being also from another world, the makes it even harder,” or so he told me. And I’m sure had it not been for the second gift of Azura, I would not have been able to remember everything I was told and thought in that time.

So in that year he taught me many a basic spell, how to transport your body or that of another person, how to levitate or make someone else do so. How to heal and how to damage. How to calm people and how to get them into such a rage that they act without thinking. He taught me how to lock and unlock doors and how to cloak myself with my surroundings. And much, much more. I cannot and will not even begin to try and explain the procedures here as I’m sure you either already know them yourself, or do not and if you do not, then there must be a good reason for that.

During this time I found myself growing fond of not only Divayth but his daughters as well. Now, just so you know nothing ever happened there; Divayth had made it clear that he would not allow that and I’m not a man to not honor his host’s wishes. But we did grow to be friends.

Now all this time I hardly ever set foot outside Tel Fyr so I had no way of knowing what was going on in the outside world, but Divayth kept me informed there as well. He also told me things about the history of the province, how the Chimer became the Dunmer, how the Tribunal had come to be and more. So I can safely say after that year, even without the help of Divayth I would be able to make my way around Morrowind, well so long as nothing bad happened anyway.

Then one day Divayth approached me and told me that I should think about moving on and what I wanted to do with my life here. I knew I couldn’t stay at Tel Fyr for the rest of my life, especially since I knew I would never die of old age anyway, so I had thought about this a lot. And I made my decision then. I asked him, “How do I become a part of the Telvanni?” I knew being a part of a house would help me more then anything else to adapt here and looking at the three houses, the Hlaalu would never be my choice; they were backstabbers and nothing more. The Redoran were the most honorable without a doubt, but also the ones that had the most rules, and with all their honor, they had allowed a dishonorable person like Venim to lead them for so long- no, that would not be my choice either. Now the Telvanni, having never been fond of rules in the first place, and with their great towers, the choice was easily made.

I did not get the reaction I had expected from Divayth. I had maybe expected him to make me a member himself or something like that, but he just stood there and told me:

“If this is what you wish, then I show you the way. Though it saddens me to say, I will not be able to help you further there. To advance it will take your own effort. Becoming a Telvanni is easy, staying one and not getting killed by competitors is much harder and I do not have the time to constantly protect you from others. So if you want this, you must do it on your own.”

I guess that was one thing I hadn’t taken fully into account. Being a high ranking Telvanni was the same as being in jeopardy all the time. No rules meant that anyone that killed you would gain status in the eyes of others. But even then, I realized it was either Telvanni or no one, so my choice was made. And I made that clear to Divayth.

He announced that it was time for bed and that tomorrow we would go to Sadrith Mora and get the easiest part out of the way there.

On the morrow we were awakened by banging on the door; being the one closest to it I went to see who would be calling this early in the morning. It appeared to be a messenger carrying a package who told me he was in search of the Lord of Fyr. I told him where to find him and that was the last I saw of him. He left when I was eating that morning. And then Divayth appeared in the doorway carrying the package the messenger had brought. He gave to me and told me it was a gift he had ordered brought from the House Vault in Vivec. I opened it to find an Ebony Long sword of the finest quality. I knew from what I’ve been told that this was a princely gift, not many swords were a match for this one and so I thanked Divayth many times.

And then it was time to go. I said my goodbyes to the daughters and followed Divayth outside; he told me he had never been very fond of water so we would be transporting ourselves to Sadrith Mora instead of taking the boat. Which I, of course, found amusing seeing as how his tower was surrounded by water on all sides. But we all have our little quirks now and then so doing as he asked and taking his hand, we went to Sadrith Mora the fast way. I can hardly described how that felt, it felt like having your body split into many tiny pieces and then being put back together somewhere else, and the funny thing was, my first thought there was, “I want to go again.” And then I looked at where I was, Sadrith Mora, the biggest city of the Telvanni and the home to both one of the masters and the Mouths, as some of the most trusted servants of the masters were called.

Now Sadrith Mora could best be described of as a Mushroom city. All the houses, all the buildings, everything was of the same material as Tel Fyr only smaller and in different shapes. I had already been told that the manufacturing of the towers allowed for much diversity but this was beyond what I had imagined. In the center of the town was what I found is Tel Naga, the tower of one of the oldest members of the Telvanni. And off on the west side of town was an equally impressive building which had to be the council hall. Walking there alongside Divayth I took in the surroundings even more. And especially what appeared to be a slave market ahead of us. I looked upon it and felt my blood begin to boil. One of the worst things I could imagine was slavery and I had always held it in contempt. We actually walked right past it and I saw the slaver there take his whip and threaten one of the caged Khajiit. Noticing my enragement, Divayth stopped and leaned closer to whisper something to me;

“One of the prime values of the Telvanni is to act on your own. Let no one tell you what is good and what is not but decide for yourself what is. And to want the power, you must be ready to wield it as well without hesitation.”

I got the hint and approached the slaver slowly., Upon seeing me he came to me and asked me if I perchance wanted to buy one or more slaves. He assured me that they wouldn’t die, well not too soon anyway, and that they were perfect for use in experiments of any kind.

Well that was not a smart thing for him to say.. Focusing my will I released it on him and he suddenly found himself floating upside down several feet up in the air. Probably without thinking about it he whipped out his whip and tried to swing it at me- a thought later and his whip was incinerated. I guess that got the message clear because he now resorted to begging for his life. I wasn’t going to kill him of course, but I did want him to know he could not try and hit me without getting something back for it, so I sent him spinning round and round till he was so dizzy his face was turning green. Not wanting him to soil my nice robe, I let him back down and once he had given in to his urges, I demanded the key to the bracers and cells of the slaves. He reluctantly gave them to me but warned me that Master Neloth would hear of this. I knew of course that was the local Telvanni master but I was bound to make some enemies anyway so no sense in avoiding it.

[Soulseeker3.0]

congrats Alesander another good addition

[Alexander]

After the slaves had thanked me and were safely on board the boat to Ebonheart, we resumed our walk to the council hall and went inside.

We were greeted by a female Dunmer called Dalyne Arvel. She apparently had just been allowed to join the house and was now awaiting her first assignment. But from the look she gave us, she had been waiting for a long time already. Divayth ignored her and we moved on through the door into the room beyond. There I saw the mouths for the first time. It was a round room with seven platforms. Five of them were occupied and two were empty. Divayth explained that there once had been seven council members until one had died ages ago and the other was killed by Arthur, obviously only a short time ago. Divayth pointed them out to me one at a time, to the left of the Archmagisters place Arara Uvules the mouth of master Neloth, next to him Galos Mathendis the mouth of master Aryon. And on the other side of the room, at the back Raven Omayn mouth to mistress Dratha, then Felisa Ulessen, mouth to mistress Therana, and just on the left of us Mallam Ryon, once the mouth of Gothren, now the mouth of Divayth after Divayth allowed him to stay on. Both Ryon and Mathendis politely inclined their heads to me and I greeted them back, the others just stood there with an air of self-importance so it was not hard for me to decide there who I liked and who I didn’t.

Divayth was about to tell me something when the door was thrown open violently and an old mean-looking man entered the room. He came up to me right away and demanded to know if it had been me that had released those slaves. Not seeing anything in denial I admitted to this. He then went on a tirade lasting several minutes. I won’t repeat the things he said here but I will admit he found ways of using certain words I had never imagined possible. And it really was very colorful language he was using. Then looking a bit beyond me, he suddenly stopped in mid-sentence as he finally spotted Divayth standing next to me. He quickly closed his mouth when he found he had left it open and tried to regain a bit of his posture. It was obvious from the start that he didn’t like Divayth at all and I’m sure the feeling was mutual. They regarded each other with cold stares for a moment before Neloth, for that is who he was, looked back at me and a smile crept over his face.

“So you’re the famous Alexander that fell out of the sky, I assume. Well now, what brings you here? And I hope I am not so impressive as to make you bring your keeper with you.”
Before I even spoke Divayth took charge and told him I was here to join the house. And that as Neloth well knew he could not stop anyone from joining the house, if that person had brought a patron with him to vouch for him. Neloth smiled and assured Divayth that he knew all about that but that he wondered if Divayth knew the fact that one may only sponsor another member once. And that after this he could not do it again. Divayth said he did, but I must say I had no idea what that meant; I mean entering the house was all it took was it not?. Maybe it was just an empty threat or loose words by Neloth. He then spoke again;

“Well now that that’s settled I will take my leave. A good day to the Lord of Fyr and good luck in our house Alexander. Hahaha.”

Somehow that laugh at the end warned me that I had not seen the last of Neloth and would have ample trouble with him in the future.

Next Divayth told me the time had come for him to leave me on my own. He handed me a purse with some money in it; from the weight of it, a lot of money- and told me that I could return and visit him anytime I liked. I bid him good day and wished him luck, which he did to me as well of course. Then he left and I was alone in the room with the mouths.

Deciding it would be best to talk to one of the nicer mouths before I was rejected right away, I went and talked to Mallam, mouth to master Divayth Fyr. I introduced myself to him and he told me Divayth had already told him about me, so I asked what I would need to do to join the house Telvanni. This is what he told me:

"We trust all members of House Telvanni to use their own judgment. If you steal from another Telvanni, but still live, then clearly you deserve whatever you stole. Murdering your opponents by magic or treachery is the traditional way of settling disputes. If you win, then clearly your argument has more merit. You may be expelled as in any other Great House, but most Telvanni will not care or even know about it. Does this appeal to you?"

I answered that I already knew about this so, yes I did acccept.

“Then I now name you hireling of house Telvanni. Since My master sponsored you into the house, I have no duties for you, but I can give you advice. Talk to all the mouths and get more then one job. Often things are close by and that will save you time. On behalf of my master the Lord of Fyr I wish you much luck.”

Seeing as I had little choice, I moved to the nearest mouth, which happened to be Felisas, mouth to mistress Therana. She was nicer then I had thought when I first saw her and she welcomed me into the house., When I asked her if she had any chores for me, she told me she did have this one small job for me. Apparently her mistress had just ordered the production of a skirt and now Felisa needed someone to deliver it to Therana. “Well,” I thought to myself, “how hard can this be?” So I accepted, took the skirt from her and headed to the docks. Walking past the slave market and seeing it empty and abandoned gave me a good feeling. Arriving at the docks and catching a boat to Tel Branora, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was the same town I passed on my way to Tel Fyr. Of course that meant thinking about Arthur again and how he had left me standing there alone as he went away. He might not have had much choice, but still it was not something I looked back on with mixed feelings. I was happy remembering the time we had spent together, but sorry it had been so brief.

[Soulseeker3.0]

good job Alexander. i liked Neloth's colorful lauguage

[Alexander]

Arriving at Tel Branora, I found the docks to be a disappointment; it looked more like a fishing village then a grand city like I had expected. Of course I found the city itself to be just over the hill. I loved it from the minute I laid my eyes on it. Not as big as Sadrith Mora, it was still bigger then Tel Fyr. I had been told that I could find Therana at the top floor, so after having looked a bit through the shops on the lower level, I made my way up. The first part was easy as there was a normal path but then it became more perilous with a small stair leading up. But without falling I managed to make my way up and found the entrance to her chambers. Entering it I asked where I might be able to find her, and was told she was even higher. So, casting a simple levitate spell on myself, I flew through the hole and into the area where she lived.

I remembered Divayth telling me that one of Therana’s closest retainers was an old friend of his and that were I there, I should look him up and give him the regards of Divayth. So I went out and found Felen Maryon before going to Therana. He looked at me with surprise, but when I introduced myself and gave him the regards of Divayth he became much friendlier. He even taught me several spells to summon certain lesser Daedra. Wanting to get back to Sadrith Mora, I knew I didn’t have long to chat so I took my leave of him and went around the corner to where he told me I could find his mistress. As I approached her, she asked me in a nice tone if it was me that came in just now, and I told her I did and that I had gone to say hi to someone for Divayth for a moment. She then screamed at me if I thought it was normal to enter a house and greet the servant before the master. If maybe I thought I was better then her or worse, if I thought Felen was better then her. I realized we had gotten off on the wrong foot here so I apologized and told her I really didn’t mean anything bad.

Well that seemed to calm her down again and she said she didn’t mean it and asked me what brought me to this place. When I told her I had a skirt to deliver to her she seemed thrilled and asked me to show it. She looked at it and held Iit up to get a better look and her face suddenly became angry again;

“Why did you bring this? This is cursed, did you mean to trick me into wearing it so I could be cursed? How dare you!”

And she went off into another rant. Remaining calm I tried to explain to her that it really wasn’t or if it was then I didn’t know about it as I was only asked to bring it here. She seemed to think on that for a moments and then she said;

“ If it isn’t cursed, then you put it on. That way I can be sure it isn’t.”

I had been warned by Divayth that she was a bit odd even for a Telvanni, but I had never expected to have to wear a skirt for her, but since there was little sense in denying her this and I still needed to get back to Sadrith Mora today I put on the skirt. No sooner had I done that than she shouted;

“You Inwah! How dare you put on my skirt. You will pay for this, you will die for this.”

And I sensed her preparing to throw a spell at me. Remembering then that Felisa had given me two scrolls to transport out of somewhere fast, I used them and found myself in a place looking like Vivec but not nearly as big.

I suddenly understood Felisa saying to take the scrolls should something odd happen. Something odd indeed. I promised myself to have a good talk about this with Felisa when I got back to Sadrith Mora; of course finding out where I was would be the first course of action. A passing Ordinator told me this was Molag Mar and on the bottom level I could catch a boat back to Sadrith Mora.

Arriving back in Sadrith Mora it was later then I had expected so I found myself a room and a good meal in the local tavern. In my sleep I thought over all the nice things I was going to say to Felisa. On the morrow I went again to the council house and found Felisa, and I explained to her what had happened and she didn’t seem surprised at all. Dropping the skirt in Therana's chambers just before I had transported out of there was apparently enough to finish the quest. And she rewarded me by teaching me the basic versions of mark and recall. Little did she know Divayth had already taught me how to mark more then one location, but what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.

At that time I didn’t dare ask her for another quest because you never knew what she would give me this time, so instead I walked to the next mouth, Raven. She told me she had but a simple task now, to go out and buy 5 pieces of muck. With enough money I could just get them at the local alchemist. Remembering the advice of Mallam, instead of going out and getting it right away, I went to the mouth of master Neloth first. And found I had made the right choice, since he asked me to bring him 5 pieces of sload soap. He even gave me some money to go and buy them, not that I needed it but it was still nice. Finding the alchemy store without trouble I bought the ingredients and went back. Upon delivering both sets I was even promoted to retainer. I knew it wasn’t much yet but it was enough.

Again I asked for a job but this time it proved more difficult. Raven gave me the job of finding a ring for hercalled the black jinx ring. She couldn’t say much about it except that it was in Sadrith Mora somewhere. And Arara asked me to go and get him the silver staff of dawn. At least that was a bit easier as he knew it was held by someone in the mages guild. Deciding I would go and find this mysterious ring later, I went to the tall Imperial structure that was called the Wolverine Hall. Finding my way through the imperial cult and up the stairs, I had been told that the mages guild was there, not as grand as they were in other cities but they still had a place for themselves. Entering the room I saw many eyes gazing at me. Apparently they weren’t very fond of Telvanni and I guess I smelled like a Telvanni.

[Soulseeker3.0]

pretty good Alexander.

[minque]

She then screamed at me if I thought it was normal to enter a house and greet the servant before the master. If maybe I thought I was better then her or worse, if I thought Felen was better then her. I realized we had gotten off on the wrong foot here so I apologized and told her I really didn’t mean anything bad.  

I just love that dry humor!! :hugesmile:


Very well written in an excellent language, Alex.......

[Warsgoth]

If I didn't know better, I would think Trey was making this! Very good Alexander!

Do you plan to keep going with it for a long time and make a bazillion chapters like Trey?

:goodjob:

[Alexander]

If I didn't know better, I would think Trey was making this! Very good Alexander!

Do you plan to keep going with it for a long time and make a bazillion chapters like Trey?

:goodjob:

thank you. that is a very big compliment.

and I've finished the second chapter already, so I plan on posting the rest with intervals.
and I have some ideas for the third chapter already, but not sure on how to implement all things, so as soon as I've had a bit more inspiration and such, I'll get busy with that and of course post it

[Alexander]

I approached a woman called Arielle Phiencel and found I was in luck, she was just the person that held the staff and told me she would sell it for 300 drakes. l Money wasn’t the issue here so I paid and in passing asked her if she knew anything about the black jinx ring. It so happened that she did and that she knew it was held by someone called Alven Salas. He was a member of the Morag tong, the local assassins guild,. and that I would find them beyond the hole-in-the-wall tavern where I had spent the night. So, having done what I came to do, I went back to the council house, delivered the staff and got a nice dagger as a reward.

But next came the hard thing, how would I convince an assassin that he hads what I wanted, and moreover, that he should hand it over to me? That crossed my mind on my way to the guildhall of the Morag Tong. Finding it not hard to recognize the guildhall, I entered and found myself confronted by one of the assassins of the Morag tong. He never even introduced himself to me and asked me my reason for being there., I explained to him I was there to get the black jinx ring and he only laughed and told me to go and find Alven in the back. He was easy to find and, deciding there was little sense in subterfuge, I came out and asked him for the ring. He told me that he wouldn’t give it up just like that and that I would have to duel with him to get it. Well I had fenced back on earth and I had practiced a bit with Divayth, but I was unsure if my skill would be up to that of an assassin and did not wantito find out. Instead I resorted to what already came more naturally. I focused my will and he was the second person in this town to suddenly find himself floating in thin air. It was not hard to convince him then to give the ring to me but he did continue to utter curses at me. So I left him in mid-air and went back to the entrance.

This is where I learned one of the most valuable lessons in my life- never turn your back on an assassin, not even when he’s in mid-air. He must have had some dispel potion hidden on his body because the next thing I felt was his body as he jumped me. I was taken by surprise and we rolled down the stairs and wound with me lying under him while he sat on me with a dagger at my throat. This was clearly not going as planned, and I knew if I didn’t act soon he would slit my throat and that would be the end of my story. Fortunately, he wanted to gloat for a moment before finishing the job, which gave me time to strike out with my will and hurl him from me. The force of the spell was so strong that I knocked not only him but the other assassin out as they hit the wall.

Gathering the ring I made my way out as quickly as possible and back to the council house where I gave the ring up and was rewarded with a demoralize spell. And found myself promoted to Oathman as well. Needing time to heal the cuts and bruises, I decided to call it a day and go back to the hole in the wall and rest and heal myself.


Going back the next day gave me a small surprise; even though Mallam Ryon had said previously that he did not have any quests for me, he told me he had one now. He told me Divayth requested the plans to Nchuleft. He told me Divayth was again working on something that involved the Dwemer history. He explained to me the site for the ruins was quite a way to the west of Tel Mora. He also advised me to speak to Galos Mathendis as he remembered him having a chore that was in the area anyway.

As I walked over, Galos gave me a warm smile and welcomed me on behalf of his master Aryon. He told me the Alchemist in Tel Vos was short on cure blight potions and asked me to bring three potions to him. He did unfortunately not have the potions with him so I had to go out and buy them myself. This was quickly solved as the local Alchemist was someone who always hada lot of potions in store and happened to have these as well.

Taking the boat from Sadrith Mora to Tel Mora and then to Vos gave me time to study the surroundings. Where Tel Mora was another standard Telvanni town, Vos and certainly Tel Vos were not. Vos was definitely Telvanni but with many buildings in it in the normal Imperial style. And Tel Vos. Well now that was something definitely unique. It looked like a cross breed of a Telvanni tower on one hand and an Imperial fort on the other. Galos had told me that I could find the alchemist in the services tower and it was indeed easy to find. After having the local alchemist there thank me many times, I was off again. Determined not to dawdle, I left Tel Vos behind me as I headed west.

The local area was called the graze lands and for a reason. Plains as far as the eye could see, with small hills decorating the landscape.

There were a few local animals roaming the lands but several fireballs made sure they wouldn’t follow me and attack me when I wasn’t looking. After about an hour of walking I spotted Dwemer ruins in the distance; that must be Nchuleft, I thought. I found the entrance to the ruins and slowly made my way inside.

I’d never been inside one of these so I knew I had to be careful. I had no idea what to expect but I would soon find out as from around the corner, a Dwarven ghost appeared. Without thinking I threw a frost ball at him. Not wanting to find out if maybe it had friendly intentions, I assumed being here while it was dead for centuries couldn’t have improved its mood. Luckily I found the ghost to be quite fragile and easy to deal with. Casting a look in the other direction revealed yet another ghost. And close by yet another one. As I said, easy to deal with. These ghosts did not stop me from going deeper into the ruins but something else almost did. I had found a barrel and wanted to check it for valuables, even with the money I had received as gift, it never hurt to have a bit more. Just above me I suddenly heard a clonk sound and, spinning around I found myself face to face with a centurion sphere armed with a crossbow. This was the first time I had seen one of these in real life whereas before I had seen them only on schematics in possession of either Divayth or Yagrum.

So I looked at it with interest for almost 3 seconds before it shot another bolt at me.
With that, it was time for another destruction spell. Scientific knowledge is fine, but I wasn’t going to stand around being shot at to gain it. Knowing I would rather be safe then sorry, I unsheathed my sword and held it at ready. Determined to cut down the next thing to come in my path, I was disappointed when the stairs came to a rather large room with some strange mechanics in it,. but no enemies. To the left I saw some shelves and, wouldn’t you know it, one of them held a schematic. Well, of course, not knowing if this was the right or even the only schematic, I made my way back down and decided to head into the other corridor, and at the bottom of the stairs I was glad I had unsheathed my sword because with high speed, I found myself approached by a spider. Working at the same time to ward off its legs and finding its weak spot to strike proved quite troublesome. But in the end it was dead and I was free to explore this room as well.

Looking to my right revealed the fact that I had done the right thing by exploring further as I found yet another schematic. Either one of them should be the right one so I decided to head back to Sadrith Mora. Packed as I was with assorted jewels and such, I decided not to walk all the way back again., but to use a recall. I had fortunately marked the Council house and with a small bit of will, I was back in the entry and Dalyne was so scared of me teleporting in there that she was cowering against the wall. No wonder the mouths had not given her any jobs yet; a mouse would have scared her.

In the hall of mouths I reported my success to Mallam and, for bringing the other schematic as well, he not only gave me some gold but a magical helm. Not wanting to upset Mallam of Divayth I accepted it but promised myself to sell it first opportunity I got. Not that it wasn’t magical and helpful, it wasn’t that. It was the fact that it was ugly as could be.

I then asked him for more chores and he told me Galos wanted to see me once I got back so I made my way to his platform and asked him what I could do for him. He thanked me for delivering the potions first, and not only gave me a nice reward by teaching me a cure blight disease spell, but he also promoted me to Lawman in the House Telvanni. He told me Master Aryon had asked to see me once I got back if I could go there in the morning. Well of course I agreed. This would be the Fourth master I would meet in the house and so far I had met the oldest living man in the world, the craziest still living old woman in the world, someone like Neloth that looked more cadaver then anything else, and I would love to see if the house could surprise me even more with yet another of those colorful figures.

[Alexander]

For now I decided to get back to the Hole in the Wall and spend the night there, surprisingly after that first day I hadn’t been troubled by Neloth anymore. Even though his tower was so close to the hole in the wall that had he wanted to, he could have wiped the entire building with me inside out with a single fire ball. But I guess maybe he had forgotten about me.

On the morrow I found myself once again taking the boat to Vos and walking to Tel Vos. Having looked around the last I was there, I was able to find the entrance to the chambers of Master Aryon without much trouble, I levitated up there and entered. Typical Telvanni style there unlike the service tower I had previously visited, I was able to find the room of Aryon fast. I felt myself nervously approaching him from the back and cleared my throat to let him know I was here.

He turned around and I looked into the face of the most normal Telvanni so far. He was far younger then any of the others I had seen so far and almost looked friendly, had it not been for the Daedric short word he was holding, he would have looked like someone you would normally meet on the street. Well except for the blue robe of course, and the red eyes, and the beginning of the same ageless expression as Divayth had, but other then that, he looked very normal.

He greeted me with friendship and told me he admired my already fast rise in the house, he confided that he once was student to Divayth as well but for far less then a year, even so after that he had rapidly made it to wizard and later to master he told me. But then he went to business and asked me if I had ever heard the name Baladas Demnevanni before. I told him I had since Divayth mentioned him once in passing concerning Dwemer history. “Well” Aryon explained “Baladas is currently a wizard in our house but he decided not to have his stronghold built. He didn’t think it looked nice or so the story goes, so he went off as happens occasionally and has settled into a Velothi tower in Gnisis. That’s a place on the other side of the continent. However, since there have been things that have come up, I want you to go to him Alexander and offer him advancement to Master on the condition that he votes with me the during the next grand council.” I asked him what that was a grand council and he replied “A grand council is something rare. It means all the councilors of all the houses come together and vote on the most important matters at that time. During the next grand council I intend to petition the council for a lift on the restrictions on the training of magic. Now the mages guild has the monopoly and I intend to compete with them and bring even more esteem to the Telvanni. For this I need all the votes I can get so to add a councilor would be to add a vote.”

He then marked Gnisis on my map and wished me good luck in persuading Baladas of this. He mentioned as I was leaving, that it would be a good idea to go there prepared and make sure I knew what kind of person he was. In other words ask around in the town after him.
Looking through my backpack I found myself still in possession of one of the Almsivi intervention scrolls I had been given by Felisa in case of emergencies in Tel Branora. So I used that and found myself in the temple in Ald Ruhn.

This was actually the first time I had visited the home city of the great house Redoran and wanted to take the opportunity to look around. But walking through the streets, I found myself stared at. I knew it had to be the people just knowing somehow that I belonged to the Telvanni and it showed. Where everyone had been kind to me in Sadrith mora, here the people were all grouchy and mean and short with me. So much for sightseeing I guess. So I made my way to the silt strider and with it, traveled to Gnisis. Once there I found myself on a landing platform. It must be a busy port to have such a site here.

I followed the advice of Master Aryon and asked around after Baladas. I found he was living in his tower he had named Arvs Drelen. It was to be found on the other side of town and was hard to miss when looking at it. The entire side of the mountain there was part of the tower. I had of course seen the Telvanni towers already but this would be the first Velothi tower I would see from the inside.

Walking up to the door and checking it, I found it was closed and locked. I guess Baladas really liked his privacy here, but fortunately the lock was simple enough for a small spell to do the trick. Entering the tower I found myself impressed, I found power radiating from someone even here at the entrance. I knew I was again going to meet a worthy member of the Telvanni.

Walking through the small hall there I found myself in a hallway leading to the left and right. The way to the right seemed nothing special but the power was clearly coming from the left. So picking up my courage I walked to the left and followed the hallway there. Quickly disposing myself of a rat lurking in the hall, I found myself before a locked door. Reaching for the doorknob, I froze just before I grabbed it. One of the first thing Divayth had thought me was that looks are deceiving and that no smart wizard would allow just anyone to approach him unnoticed or unopposed.

So carefully drawing back my arm, I sent out a piece of my mind to probe the door and of course my instinct was correct; it was heavily enchanted sure to incinerate anyone touching it. So I walked a little way back into the hall and used a simple telekinesis spell to touch the door from a distance. It burst a flame ball that would surely have killed me but then seemed normal again.

And sure enough, this time when I sent out my mind for spells, there were none left. So I slowly opened the door and found myself face to face with the second thing Divayth had thought me about wizard, why have one line of defense when you can have two or more. True Fyr logic there but even if it didn’t seem to make much sense then, I had learned he was always right.

Curiously enough the creature never made a move after me. He just stood there and sniffed at me with that crocodile beak of his, and after having determined something for itself, it slowly made it’s way to the other side of the room again. Puzzled by this strange encounter, I walked along the wall towards the stairs, determined not to be outmaneuvered by it. And up the stairs I found myself face to face with yet another challenge, a real working Dwemer centurion had positioned itself there and looked only seconds away from striking out. But something must have prevented it from doing so as he suddenly spun and rolled back to a corner.

[minque]

WoW Alex....you certainly show another approach to telvanni wizards and events, that "mind-spell" of yours is indeed very intriguing, really a great piece of work here, I´m almost getting a bit fond of TELVANNI..imagine that!!!
:cake:

[jonajosa]

Very good. I like how your taking it into the telvanni perspective. Good use of detail when going into magic fights also. Keep em comin.

[Warsgoth]

Very good. I like how your taking it into the telvanni perspective. Good use of detail when going into magic fights also. Keep em comin.

Indubudubly!

Trey has some massive competition!

[treydog]

Have to agree with Minque- this story almost makes me want to consider Telvanni instead of my usual Redoran. It might be fun to play a Khajiit as a Telvanni- wouldn't that lead to some interesting conversations?

Excellent writing and characterization as always, Alexander.

[Alexander]

Walking a bit further I then I looked upon what I knew right away to be one of the most powerful people in the land. The only time I had seen such power before was with Divayth and I knew right away this man might be second in power only to Divayth. But where Divayth wore heavy Daedric armor and had almost white hair, Baladas had black hair and looked as if he was in the prime of his years and had only just come to power. Looking into his eyes, however, told another story altogether. They spoke power. And he might dress himself in a normal mage’s robe, but this was no ordinary mage at all.

I cautiously approached him and asked him if I could have a word with him; he didn’t kill me then so I took that as approval. I explained I had been sent by Master Aryon to offer him a position on the council, and gently broached the subject about the vote that Aryon wanted in return. At that name he looked at me with those penetrating eyes. After I had finished he quietly asked me if I knew what had happened for Baladas to move out here. I responded that I did. And he replied, “Well then it will come as no surprise to you that I say to Oblivion with Aryon and the entire house with him. Good day.” And with that he turned his back to me and grabbed a book from the pile on his desk.

Well there I was. Inside the house of Baladas with him not wanting to work with Aryon and me about to fail the mission. I knew it would be a bad idea to go back to Tel Vos without the support of Baladas. So being my bold self and risking life and limb again I walked up to him and without hesitation asked him what he wanted in return for his working with Aryon. I had barely finished when he looked up from his book and his eyes cried out murder. This was it; I knew I had made a mistake. I felt him draw power and knew this was when I would meet my maker.

But then when I expected him to fire something at me, he released the power and a smile crept over his face and suddenly he was laughing. Great, I thought, yet another mad soon to be Master. Just what the house needs. But then his laughter subsided and he stood up and actually clasped my arm. He explained that this was his way of testing me. He had heard some things about the new apprentice of the Lord Fyr and wanted to know if what he had heard was accurate. And he was not disappointed, he told me. But with my mission still in my mind, I broached the topic again. This time he didn’t seem so reluctant but still answered in what I would discover was his normal cryptic way.
“Do I want to cast my vote with Aryon, you ask, Alexander, hm, well I might just do that. Then again, I just might not. It depends really.”

“On what?” I asked him.

“Why on you of course. You see, Alexander I have a few chores that I need someone to do, but I’m so busy at the moment that I really can’t find the time to do them myself, so if I were to find someone able and of course willing to do them for me, then I might just give Aryon my support.”

I got the hint so of course I “volunteered” to do those chores with about as much enthusiasm as I would normally offer someone to pay for their drink. And he told me for the first job he wanted me to set something straight. It seemed to be that a day ago there was someone calling at the door of this tower, and he apparently was so annoying that Baladas transported him to the dungeon of the tower. But again due to the fact that he was so busy at the moment, he hadn’t gotten around to dealing with that person yet. He of course assured me that the person had enough food and drink and such, but he would rather just get rid of him. So if I could get this person off the property there and persuade him never to return, that would please Baladas quite a bit already.

After he told me the prison wing was actually to the left from the entrance, I went there immediately. Since it wasn’t far it only took me a couple of minutes to get there, and as I opened the door leading to the cells I heard shouting and rattling. Apparently someone wasn’t very happy about being locked up and wanted to get out right away. As I approached the cell, she told me the obvious, “Hey you’re not Baladas.”
I’m glad she pointed it out otherwise I might never have had that great mystery unveiled. I asked her name, and she told me she was called Ragash Gra-Shuzgub and that she was the local tax collector. Yes, she was an Orc, but fortunately I had gotten over my fear of them already so I asked her what she was doing here., She explained she was the local tax collector and that she came to collect just that, and after Baladas hadn’t answered the door and she had called out a couple times, she suddenly found herself in here.

I explained that for the time being I was the servant of Baladas and that he wanted her gone. She said she wasn’t going until she had the taxes she came for. Not wanting to get into a discussion, I asked her what Baladas owed them, and after hearing the amount, I gave her triple that, after she promised that she would leave and not disturb Baladas for the next three years.

“Well,” I thought to myself, “if all the chores will be this easy then I’ll be on my way in no time.” Of course we all know even thinking such a thing is tempting fate and wouldn’t you know it, when I reported success, he told me had another small errand to run. He asked me to bring him copies of three odd-sounding books. Nchnak's Fire and Faith, Chronicles of Nchuleft, and Antecedents of Dwemer. Those were the ones he needed for research. He told me I could either steal them from the secret Library in Vivec, or from the Holamayan monastery or buy them in certain bookstores. I knew it would be a bad idea to steal something from a monastery, not that I was or had ever been very religious, but still there were certain things one does not do. The alternative, this secret library he spoke of, sounded nice enough but would bring me awfully close to the Nerevar’s Castle and I knew I wasn’t ready for that either. So I choose to invest yet another bit of my money and just buy the books. I bid Baladas good day and was on my way to Vivec.

I had promised myself to one day visit Jobasha once more and today seemed the perfect day for that. So, taking the silt strider, I soon found myself on my way to Vivec. Quickly walking to Jobasha’s, I heard some people whisper behind my back. Either they remembered I had been infected with corpus there or they knew I was Telvanni and wanted to comment on that. Either way I didn’t stand around and ask them but made my way to the store. Inside I was warmly greeted by Huleeya once again. Just like the last time, he didn’t appear amazed at seeing me and I rather suspected he knew I was coming a mile away. But I hadn’t come here for him so I moved past him and asked Jobasha about the books., He told me he had two of the three and could easily give them to me for a small price of course. It seemed he had both Chronicles and Antecedents. He was also able to tell me that Dorisa in Balmora had the Fire and Faith, the last on my list. So I thanked him mightily and set our for Balmora. A silt strider and a small walk later I was there, and it took me again all the willpower I had to limit myself to the one book I needed. I am convinced I was actually drooling as I had in Vivec, but somehow I was able to get out again without spending my entire fortune.

Content that I had done enough for today, I took the silt strider back to Gnisis and presented Baladas with the three books. He thanked me and as a gift, gave me a few things he just happened to have lying around there, a belt, an amulet, some shoes; like I said, what he just happened to have lying around there. Then he told me to get some sleep as the next day he had one last chore for me but also told me it would be a bit more complicated then these other ones.

[minque]

Well Alex...you almost got me hooked on Telvanni by now...tsk..tsk.. never thought that would happen.......(being truly Redoran)

anyway reading your great piece of work have done wonders with my feelings towards those magical maniacs in their cracy mushrooms... :goodjob:

[jonajosa]

Very good. Are you planning to make up a quest (or quests) that are not in the game? Not trying to insult your story or anything. Just an idea I thought of right now. It would give a little extra suspence (Your story does keep me on the edge of my seat). The people who have played the Telvanni quests can sorta tell whats going to happen next. Anyway Very Very good story. Treydog does have a little more compitition.

[Alexander]

Very good. Are you planning to make up a quest (or quests) that are not in the game? Not trying to insult your story or anything. Just an idea I thought of right now. It would give a little extra suspence (Your story does keep me on the edge of my seat). The people who have played the Telvanni quests can sorta tell whats going to happen next. Anyway Very Very good story. Treydog does have a little more compitition.

well as you can see I've already changed a bit there, and i plan on changing even more in the future though I doubt if I will remove entire quests. I loved doing them far too much to remove them outright

[treydog]

You make Baladas such an interesting character- I have only seen him in reference to the propylon index and (with a different character) the Orc tax-collector. Like Minque, makes me think that I need to develop a Telvanni character.