I am Lena Wolf, Lena's life as it happens Options

[Lena Wolf]

30 Sun's Height, 4E202 - A tour of Kvatch

Lena woke up refreshed in The Wolf Residence in Kvatch. She made herself some coffee and ate the last sweetroll from her pack for breakfast. Today she was going to walk around the city.

The city of Kvatch was wrapped around the Great Chapel of Akatosh, with the Castle taking up the North West corner. The City Gate was at its South most point, and traditionally there had been Kvatch West with the Castle and extensive gardens, and Kvatch East with the Arena and the majority of the populace. The Chapel was facing West with its main doors, and the central square with the statue was just to the North of it, with an alley going towards the gardens and the bridge to the Castle. This square used to be called the Plaza, and was the main feature of Kvatch West. But new Kvatch did not have a walled East side, so the Count was proudly referring to the whole city as Kvatch Plaza. "No one is cut off from either the Chapel or the Castle, no one is excluded. We are one town" - he would say. He did have a point, Lena quite liked the new arrangement. The city felt spacious and open, resembling Chorrol both in type of construction and layout - she wondered whether that was the Count's inspiration.

She went to see the gardens, and found a vineyard instead.

"Blackrock wine is the best in Cyrodiil, even if I do say so myself" - a Redguard working the vineyard told her. "Here - have a bottle. You are Wolf, aren't you?" - he looked her over. "Heard Batul saying yesterday that you've finally arrived. We live next door to you, I'm Chark Blackrock" - he shook her hand. "We are new to the city, my wife Siona and I, well, I say 'new', but it's been a good twenty years that we've come to live here. It's a good place, so why not."

"So you are not suffering from the flashbacks of the Oblivion Crisis?" - asked Lena, trying to approach the topic carefully.

"No, not us" - Blackrock looked sombre. "It's the old folk - the ones that lived through it all. There's a group of ex-refugees on the East side, an ex-priest, Batul and Sigrid, and a few guards. The rest of us are all new."

Lena thanked him and continued her stroll, not going to the East side for the moment.

There was a cluster of shops by the Main Gate - Missy's Dry Goods, The Forge, the Mages Guild alchemy shop, and The One Coin Inn. "I wonder what one coin will get you here" - she mused, but did not enter. She returned to the statue and looked at the buildings facing the Castle. There were just a few of them, with plenty of space left for trees and flowering shrubs. She noticed the Fighters Guild sign, but like the Mages Guild, the building was much smaller than its counterparts in the other cities. "At least they returned" - she thought. The street turned East towards the Arena, with the Mages Guild Hall on the right. She noted a cluster of houses in the South East corner of the city between the Arena and The Wolf Residence - she would talk to those people later. She was standing next to a General Goods store, and remembering that her cupboards needed filling, she went in.

"Welcome to my store, what can I do for you?" - a Dunmer shop keeper greeted her cheerfully, and Lena thought he must have been one of the "new" people. She bought some food and wine and was about to leave, when the shop keeper urged her to see his home wares downstairs. "Straight as you come down the stairs, all along the walls" - he pointed keenly. "I have tapestries and paintings for sale, everything you see there! And all the vases and pottery too!" It seemed he had built himself quite a nice little gallery, and was very proud of it.

"Thank you, I'll have a look" - Lena answered politely, hoping that he wouldn't follow her there, as she had no intention of buying any of it that day. The Dunmer left her alone. She went through the gallery, ready to turn back towards the front door, but there was another exit at the end, so she went through that door instead.

She came out facing a city wall. "Wait, this can't be right" - she looked around. "I should be facing the Arena with another house to the left and the Mages Guild across the road to the right." Instead, there were two gates in a wall just in front of her, with the Chapel of Akatosh to her right. Confused, she turned around and was looking down a densely built up street wrapping around the Chapel with the Undercroft at the end of the street.

This was Kvatch, but not the one she just left. This was Kvatch East of before. "Before the Oblivion Crisis?" - she wondered whether she had been transported back in time. People were walking up and down the street, going into the undercroft, going into their houses and shops and minding their own business. They were friendly enough, and no one seemed to suffer from flashbacks or nightmares.

Following the winding street, Lena turned a corner and came to the Arena.

"There are no matches today, but you can train in the Bloodworks if you want" - the guards told her. "We have matches twice a week now - Middas and Loredas. You can place your bets in advance, too. If you want to compete, see the Bloodworks masters - both teams could use fresh meat" - the guard smirked, looking her over.

"Are the matches to the death?" - Lena asked, rather taken aback by this wealth of information.

"Of course they are to the death!" - the guard looked offended. "What do you think - just because we are in a province and not in the Imperial City, that we would not be taking it seriously?" - he glared at her.

"No, I wasn't suggesting anything like that" - Lena backed off, not wishing to pick a fight. "I'll come back when there's a match."

"Middas and Loredas" - the guard cried after her.

Lena turned her back to the Arena and walked straight into a Mages Guild Hall. This building was as imposing as the halls in the other cities. She entered.

"Well hello, fancy meeting you here, Warlock" - Erana of all people greeted her in the hall. "Welcome to the Kvatch Mages Guild!"

The Guild Hall looked just like the one in Chorrol, except for the people. Erana seemed to have noticed Lena's confusion.

"Yes, this is exactly the same design of a building as in Chorrol" - she explained. "But it's just the building. This Guild Hall is quite different, I assure you."

"But..." - Lena was going to ask about the other Kvatch Mages Guild that she'd visited the day before, but then decided against it. She preferred not to ask favours of Erana. Perhaps the answer would present itself elsewhere in the city, Lena thought, turned around and left.

Walking around the Arena and going North, she came to another stretch of the city wall - not the external city wall, but a smaller one running from the Chapel and featuring two gates - one on the street level and the other on the pavement. "This must be the wall separating Kvatch into East and West" - Lena thought, going through the gate. Indeed, she stood in Kvatch West looking at the Castle across the water and the statue to her left. This was the Plaza, with an alley going along the castle walls towards the gardens - and those were the real gardens with lots of trees in the distance.

Like Kvatch East, Kvatch West was densely built up. There was a large inn facing the Plaza, with an impressive Fighters Guild building and several shops leading towards the City Gate. Taking the alley into the gardens, Lena passed several wooden houses nestled among the trees. The path eventually ended on a clearing with a side view of the Castle - the original Kvatch Castle, definitely not the one she'd visited the day before. This was not the same Kvatch.

-----------------

The other Kvatch is largely Kvatch Roses of Success, completed.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:30 PM

[Lena Wolf]

30 Sun's Height, 4E202 - Batul gra-Sharob

Lena got up from a bench in the gardens of Kvatch West, feeling thoroughly confused. There appeared to be two cities of Kvatch - the one where she woke up that morning, and the one that she found herself in upon exiting the General Goods store. No one in this second Kvatch appeared to suffer from nightmares or flashbacks of the Oblivion Crisis, but perhaps they were just all "new" people - people that moved in here after the crisis, people that didn't live through it and therefore had no flashbacks to suffer from. Perhaps she just needed to talk to someone.

Walking along the garden alley towards the central square and being absorbed in these thoughts, Lena didn't notice an Argonian blocking her way.

"Good day to you!" - the Argonian made her jump. "Is anything troubling you? You look confused - perhaps I can help. I am Weedum-Ja" - she said with a smile. "May The Nine guard and protect you."

"Ugh, hello" - Lena returned to reality. "I am a bit confused, yes. Is this Kvatch?"

"Oh dear" - Weedum-Ja looked concerned. "You are confused. Of course this is Kvatch! Where else will you find a garden as lush as this? Or a Castle as elaborate as this? Even if a bit burned... You need the guidance of The Nine to set you straight."

"Mmm, thank you" - Lena managed. Somehow she didn't think that The Nine would help in this instance. "Have you been living here long?"

"Oh, for some three hundred years, I should think" - Weedum-Ja looked into the distance. "Yes, that's about right. And there's no where I'd rather be" - she added cheerfully.

"And the Oblivion Crisis... the memories... they don't bother you at all?" - Lena approached the topic carefully.

"But it was two hundred years ago, my dear! Who would dwell on it for so long? We have all moved on long ago!"

"Oh, of course" - Lena nodded. "It's been a long time."

"If you are still worried though" - Weedum-Ja looked concerned - "you should go to the Chapel and speak with the priest Ilav Dralgoner. He's been here for nearly as long as I have, he'll help you through. He helps people forget."

"Forget what?"

"Anything."

"Ah." Lena paused, unsure whether she should be asking anything else. "Thank you." She decided not, and walked off, returning to the main square.

It was late afternoon, and Lena hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. She saw an inn, and her stomach directed her inside. It was a large place with a spacious dining room downstairs and several rooms upstairs, nicely furnished, no doubt.

"Welcome to the Castle View Inn!" - the innkeep greeted her. "You look like you've skipped lunch. Anything I can help you with?"

"Yes, please" - Lena smiled at the publican's perceptiveness. "A meal would be nice."

She ordered a meal from a long and elaborate menu and settled down at a table by the fire. Whichever Kvatch she was in, they had food, and for the moment that was all that mattered. Besides, no one was talking of the smell of burnt bodies or recurring nightmares, which was a relief.

The waitress brought the food, and Lena was completely absorbed in her mutton with orange chutney, when someone coughed quite noisily and sat at the table with her.

"The cook really knows her stuff here" - the newcomer said. "Better than in that other inn."

"Oh, there's another inn in the city?" - Lena lifted her eyes to her companion. "Batul!" - she exclaimed in surprise. "Good to see you!"

"Hello, Wolf" - Batul smiled. "So, you finally got here. Haven't seen you in two hundred years, but you haven't changed a bit."

"What? We just talked yesterday..." - Lena started, but Batul's expression suddenly changed from friendly to enraged.

"You went there?" - she spat, fortunately not literally. "They need to wake up! I am the real Batul!"

"I am sure you are" - Lena tried to diffuse the situation. "I am so confused. What do you mean - I went there? Where is there? And where is here, for that matter?"

Batul gave Lena a long look, then called the waitress to order some ale. When the ale arrived, she drank nearly the whole bottle in one go, signalling the waitress for more, then turned to Lena again.

"Kvatch has been split - duplicated" - she started to explain. "After that Oblivion Gate disaster, the soil was still smouldering for a year at least, so apart from brief expeditions, we could not enter the city. The camp was growing though, with more refugees coming from other places - Bruma, Leyawiin, Chorrol, Cheydinhal - whether they'd had a great Gate open near their city or just a small one, they all decided to come to Kvatch for some reason." She furrowed her brow and drank some more ale. "As if we were The Coloured Rooms, for Azura's sake" - she shook her head. "So the Kvatch hill was overflowing with people, we had to do something, and we started pitching tents wherever the soil wasn't burning. This continued for several years - as long as the Crisis lasted. By the time Mehrunes Dagon invaded the Imperial City, Kvatch plateau was filled with tents, with everyone moving inside the city walls as if they were doing any good." She paused, sipping more ale. "Well, they were protecting us from the bandits, that's true" - she reflected as if to herself. "But anyhow - then suddenly one day there was a huge flash - some folks say they saw a lightning strike over the Imperial City, but you can't see the Imperial City from here, so they invented it later. A flash - and that's all, no one felt any different after that, or at least not until we noticed... It was the day when Martin broke the Amulet of Kings, as we later learned." She stopped, looking at Lena who forgot all about her mutton. "You better eat up before it all gets cold" - Batul pointed at Lena's plate. "The story won't run away."

Lena closed her mouth and returned her attention to her plate. "It's all right, I can eat and listen" - she smiled, now picking up her knife and fork again.

"Well, that's nearly it, really" - Batul shrugged. "When we went out of the City Gate and tried to come back in, we started bumping into our doubles. Not all of us, mind - just the folk who'd lived through the Crisis here in the city. The others were not affected, but they didn't have our memories. It's something to do with that."

"But it's not just the people who got duplicated, but the land as well" - Lena started to understand it.

"Exactly" - Batul nodded. "So we divided up - made sure that all the doubles were separated, one in each city. No one wanted twins of themselves. And then time went on, new folk moved in, and we figured out that the two sides of the Main Gate from the outside led each to a different Kvatch."

"But I got here through a shop" - Lena recalled her confusing experience.

"The General Goods store?" - Batul looked up. "Yeah, that's an odd one out. There are other connections, mind, and of course that store didn't exist when we got duplicated, but one way or the other that Dunmer managed to link it up like that. You enter the store through either door, but you exit here through his gallery and to the other Kvatch through his front door. Good for business, he says, serving two cities" - she smirked. "Of course we are used to it now, but it must be confusing to newcomers."

"To say the least" - Lena agreed. "And so you have each a different Count and each city was rebuilt on its own?"

"You are catching on fast" - Batul grinned. "You were always a smart one."

Lena finished her meal and ordered a bottle of wine - that conversation needed help. Batul was on her fifth bottle of ale already.

"So what about the flashbacks and the nightmares?" - Lena decided to be blunt, after all she was talking to an Orc. "People here don't seem to suffer from them."

"People there wouldn't be suffering from them either if they weren't so devoted to their Chapel!" - Batul retorted angrily. "It's their priests - keeping all those ghosts around! People need to move on!"

"I met Weedum-Ja earlier" - Lena tried to steer the conversation into calmer waters. "She said your priest here - Ilav - helped people forget things."

"Weedum-Ja is a knucklehead, don't listen to her" - Batul grimaced, but relaxed. "Ilav is a good sort, he tries to help people move on in whatever way he can. He knows some old magic, though, so yeah, may be he does make some folk forget things, if that's what's needed. I haven't forgotten anything" - she gave Lena a sharp look.

They sat drinking for a while. After the nineth bottle of ale, Batul got up, as steady as ever.

"I should be going - have you seen the time? The moons are out. You can get back to the other Kvatch through the Main Gate - it's like I said, exit from here, then take the right door to the other city - Kvatch Plaza they call it" - she smirked. "Their Count spent all the money on his castle - they have half the houses that we have here! 'Open and spacious' my foot! But anyway, they've got a house for you there, I know, nothing wrong with that - well deserved." She turned to leave, then changed her mind. "If you want to find out more, about why their nightmares wouldn't go away, it's got to do with the Chapel. Or just leave them to their lot and stay here with us! Although I know you won't" - she grunted approvingly. "See you around, Wolf."

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:30 PM

[macole]

Ah ha, a magicka shockwave blew across your Cyrodiil when Martin broke the Amulet of Kings creating a duplicate Kvatch. That’s really a nice touch and your Kvatch #2 looks marvelous. I envy your skill.

[Lena Wolf]

Ah ha, a magicka shockwave blew across your Cyrodiil when Martin broke the Amulet of Kings creating a duplicate Kvatch. That’s really a nice touch and your Kvatch #2 looks marvelous. I envy your skill.

Breaking the Amulet of Kings was always supposed to be the last resort. Now it's broken, there is an impressive statue in the Imperial City, but the rest of us have to pick up the pieces, Kvatch included. Something has to be done to help the people move on though.

The second Kvatch reconstruction was very ambitious, the Count wanted to rebuild the city pretty much how it was. He left his castle almost untouched, just cleaned up, but didn't even bother to fix gashes in the walls and ditches in the floor inside. "This is only for me, it's better to focus on rebuilding the rest of the city" - he'd say. But the project is very ambitious and Kvatch Roses of Success, as he had dubbed it, is still unfinished.

***Technical info: the mod had been abandoned by the author. It has all the landscaping, the pavements, buildings and the garden in place, but no people or insides of any of the buildings. It was meant to be situated in time shortly after the Oblivion Crisis, so there were still many burned trees in the city, which I replaced by living trees since in my game it is 200 years later. I have "filled" all the houses with inner cells and am still working on the people - not all houses have someone living in them yet. Plenty to do, but what a fertile ground for new adventures!

[macole]

***Technical info: the mod had been abandoned by the author. It has all the landscaping, the pavements, buildings and the garden in place, but no people or insides of any of the buildings. It was meant to be situated in time shortly after the Oblivion Crisis, so there were still many burned trees in the city, which I replaced by living trees since in my game it is 200 years later. I have "filled" all the houses with inner cells and am still working on the people - not all houses have someone living in them yet. Plenty to do, but what a fertile ground for new adventures!

The Valenwood mod I use has several cities that are just begging for this kind of treatment. I tell myself that if I ever stop playing I'll take the time to learn how to fill in the empty houses. That's a big if.

This post has been edited by macole: Sep 5 2021, 07:48 AM

[Lena Wolf]

31 Sun's Height, 4E202 - The ghosts of Kvatch

It was Lena's second morning waking up in the Wolf Residence in Kvatch - Kvatch Plaza, as she now knew. The other Kvatch seemed much larger, but of course it wasn't - it simply had more buildings. And more trees. And more people. Yes, it was much larger, Lena sighed. Yet this Kvatch was the one with the Wolf Residence in it, and perhaps once their nightmare problem would have been resolved, it could be a happy city too. After all, the "new" folk seemed happy enough here, she was  thinking over breakfast outside the One Coin Inn.

"Best get on with it straight away" - she thought and went to the Chapel.

...

"What's it like out there?" - a ghost approached her as soon as she entered. "We thought we were the only ones to survive..."

"Tierra?" - Lena peered into the ghost's features. "What are you talking about?" - she asked automatically. Of course she knew what Tierra was talking about - the Daedric invasion of two hundred years ago. "What are you doing here?" This was a better question.

"Guarding the Count, of course" - answered Tierra as if stating the obvious. "He escaped from the Castle and is standing behind the main altar there" - she waved her hand towards the far end of the chapel. "Together with Brother Martin and other refugees."

Lena looked around. When Batul spoke of ghosts the previous evening, Lena took her words figuratively, but in fact the chapel was filled with actual ghosts. The priest and a few townspeople of flesh and blood were mixing with them, talking, lamenting the smell of burnt bodies and the devastation... Yes, how could one move on this way - wasn't it obvious? The mage at the guild said she couldn't figure out what kept the nightmares alive, well, these eight ghosts should have been her prime suspects! Unless what she had meant was that she could not figure out how to send them on to the next world.

Besides Count Ormellius Goldwine and Brother Martin, the other ghosts were Kvatch guardsmen - Savlian Matius, Berich Inian, Tierra, Ilend Vonius, Jesan Rilian and Merandil. The people who did the fighting. The real heroes of Kvatch. The priest - Ilav Dralgoner - was walking among them. "This is not the same Ilav as the one in the other Kvatch" - Lena guessed.

"Welcome to the Chapel, young lady" - he addressed Lena. "You can always find solace and refuge here."

"Thank you" - she smiled at him, hiding her worry. "But refuge from what? It's peaceful out there."

"Oh, but it isn't peaceful inside us, is it?" - he pierced her with his gaze. "You too have lived through that horror. The Gods have abandoned us."

"Don't the Gods still grant their blessings at the shrines here?"

"They do and they don't" - Ilav looked stern. "The magic of the shrines still works, but the Gods never talk to us any more. They lost all interest in Mundus."

Ilav was seriously disillusioned. Lena was no model citizen, but she knew for a fact that the Gods had not turned their backs on Mundus - it was only three days ago that Arkay responded to her prayer while Dibella granted a blessing to Lucien. And although some might question their actions, the Gods were definitely not gone. Not knowing how to restore the faith of the priest, she decided to talk to the ghosts, starting with Brother Martin.

"Sire" - she approached him with what she thought to be an appropriate address - "I am saddened to see that your soul had not been able to move on to the next world. As well as the souls of the others here. I wish to help if I can. Please tell me what happened here."

"You..." - Brother Martin looked at her searching. "You are the first one to ask me this. Who are you? No, wait... we've met before."

"I am Wolf" - Lena nodded. "I was with Emperor Uriel Septim when he was killed - I was his messanger."

"Yes... You are the reason we are stuck here!" - Brother Martin flew into a rage. "You are the reason Kvatch had burned! Had you not delivered that amulet to Jeoffrey, had you just sold it along with your other stolen loot as the likes of you would have normally done, none of it would have happened! Kvatch would have survived and I would have been spared the humiliation of being known as the bastard son of the late Emperor!"

Whatever Lena had expected, it wasn't this. Now the Oblivion Crisis was her fault? But he called her a thief - and a thief she was not.

"I think we have a misunderstanding" - Lena replied, restraining her anger. "I am no thief. I do not steal. You are confusing me with someone else."

"But you were in prison, in that cell - for stealing!" - Brother Martin sounded triumphant. "Oh yes, I've read your file."

"I stole food which I ate on the spot, no more" - Lena was unphased. "There were no 'stolen goods' in my possession."

"It doesn't matter - it is still all your fault!" - Brother Martin was still angry but he softened a bit. "Well, yours and Mehrunes Dagon's" - he admitted. "But without your intervention he would have just opened many small gates rather than a big one here in Kvatch!"

"And without your intervention, he would have burned the entire Mundus" - Lena reminded him. "Or rather, without Akatosh' intervention."

Brother Martin pinned her with his gaze, his rage flaring again. That man had a temper.

"How dare you!" - he spat. "I did what was necessary! A mere mortal cannot hope to defeat a Daedric Prince!"

"But you were no mere mortal" - Lena return his gaze, getting used to his ghostly appearance. "You were Dragonborn, a Septim, you were to be our Emperor - and not just in title as the current one, you were to re-light the Dragonfires and to protect the Mundus from Daedric incursions. Instead, you committed suicide!"

"As if you can know what you are talking about!" - he snorted. "Dragonborn! That means nothing at all."

"Does it not?" - Lena looked at him, smiling. "I have found it to be a nuisance myself, but I cannot say it means nothing."

"You..?" - that got Brother Martin's attention, putting out his rage. "Ah. It makes sense. May be the Gods had not abandoned us at that point yet, putting you in that cell."

"It could have been anyone in my place" - Lena retorted. "It didn't require a Dragonborn to deliver an amulet. And it wasn't a Daedric Prince who murdered the Emperor."

"No, it was an assassin" - Brother Martin answered slowly. "Like you."

"Not like me" - Lena shook her head. "That was a cultist, I am not."

They stared at each other for a moment, their animosity having attracted everyone's attention, ghosts and people alike. It wasn't every day that someone challenged a Septim.

"Get out of my sight" - Brother Martin hissed, turning his back to Lena.

...

"That went rather well" - Savlian Matius winked at Lena. "Walk with me."

He went down the stairs and into the chapel hall, with Lena following.

"Good to see you, Wolf" - he smiled, sitting down. "Pull up a stool, I'll fill you in."

Lena sighed with relief, sitting down as well.

"I lived long enough to see Kvatch recover and start rebuilding, in both halves" - he said, still smiling. "Yes, I know about the other Kvatch - I was Court Steward for many years after that. I died of old age, you know, then something - or someone - brought me back" - he frowned. "Me and the other guards - we all had died of old age at some point!"

"So the Count and Brother Martin are the only two among you who had died during the Crisis?"

"Correct" - Savlian nodded. "No idea how their ghosts got here, but as you can see, Brother Martin is pretty angry, while the Count is just sad. Martin flies into this rage every time some of the townsfolk mention you."

"They think I'm a hero" - Lena smiled uneasily. "But you and the rest of the guard did far more to save Kvatch than I."

"You played your part" - he patted her arm, his touch remarkably solid for a ghost. "And you're the one still alive, one of the few who know what went down here. People need their heroes, you're the last one left."

He looked at her with a steady gaze, a man used to handle other people, from soldiers to castle servants, salesmen, contractors and visitors alike.

"You will figure it out" - he said reassuringly. "How to send us all on to the next world - and how to free the townsfolk from their nightmares. If there's any fighting to be done, you can count on us - we're ghosts, we cannot be killed as we are already dead!" He laughed heartily. "If we fall in battle, we just reappear in a day or two."

"Any idea where I should start?" - Lena asked hopefully.

"Don't do anything rash" - Savlian repeated his favourite advice. "There are daedra in the chapel undercroft, and there's a gate to an Oblivion maze that they are coming from, but it isn't the real problem."

"What?! How?" - Lena spun on her stool. That certainly sounded like a real problem to her.

"The gate cannot be closed in the same way as the old ones" - Savlian smiled at her reaction. "I think it is a symptom rather than the cause. We had cleared out that maze several times already, and it just fills up with angry daedra again. You need to find out how we - the ghosts - got here, and what is holding us. Martin's ghost is different from the rest." He paused, looking at Lena pensively. "So, you are Dragonborn. Interesting. You might well be the only one here who can release Martin's ghost, you know."

They sat in silence for a while.

"The people in the other Kvatch don't suffer from nightmares" - Lena said suddenly. "Are they really the same people as the ones here?"

"I don't know" - Savlian shook his head. "Another thing for you to investigate. This will take a while, but not to worry - it's been dragging on for two hundred years, another few months will make no difference." He smiled and got up. "Time to return to the chapel before the others begin to suspect mutiny" - he winked. "Talk to the mages at the Guild - they've been looking into this" - he added walking back to the chapel proper. Things seemed to have calmed down, and Lena thanked him, nodded goodbye to everyone and left.

"A few months, he said" - she thought. "It may well take as long as that to figure this one out."

---------------------

The Oblivion gate in the undercroft leads to the Mehrunes Maze. Lena will need to have her wits about her for that one... as well as a good sword.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:32 PM

[Lena Wolf]

31 Sun's Height, 4E202 - Yelidiia Blamage

"Call me Yeli, please" - Yelidiia Blamage smiled at Lena, slightly blushing. "That name drives me nuts." Lena walked into the Mages Guild at Kvatch Plaza to talk to the red-haired Breton who had mentioned looking into the townspeople's nightmares. Now Lena wanted to know about the ghosts in the chapel and what Yeli managed to find out.

"All right, Yeli" - Lena smiled back amicably. "I've just been to the chapel. Fill me in."

"Ah." Yeli looked relieved and worried at the same time. "Come with me."

She walked towards the back end of the building, going through a trapdoor into the basement.

"This building is small above ground but it has a huge basement" - she turned to Lena. "Please excuse the mess - we've been dumping stuff here fully intending to sort it out... But you know how it is!" - she added, nearly tripping over a bottle rolling around on the floor.

"It's Ok, I know how it is" - Lena laughed, kicking the bottle out of the way.

At the end of a long and winding corridor with many alcoves, they came to a larger chamber that was well lit and neatly laid out as a study. The back wall had a secret door in it, which stood open. It gave into a darker passage, with necromancy symbols glowing on the walls.

"I thought you said you had no troubles with necromancers here" - Lena looked at Yeli with a question.

"Yes, well..." - Yeli looked uneasy. "I wasn't lying - there is no one here. We found this chamber as you see it now. There's an altar inside but no lich - I've identified the symbols, they are for the transcendence ritual."

"This looks familiar, you know" - Lena remembered Lorgren Benirus in his cellar surrounded by symbols just like these ones. "It takes at least five hundred years for a lich to transcend, so this must be very old, if the lich is already gone. Assuming he transcended?" - she turned to Yeli expecting she'd worked it out.

"The lich has transcended, yes" - Yeli nodded. "Some of the symbols have changed to show it. I have been studying this" - she added, blushing. "I am not a necromancer, but I had to know."

"Oh, don't worry about that" - Lena patted her on the arm reassuringly. "I won't tell Traven" - she winked. "Tell me what you've found."

"Well, the lich transcended and left, I believe he can glide through walls, so he could be anywhere. And he is powerful - not every lich can do that. Yet he cannot raise the dead in the Chapel Undercroft - I suppose you've heard?"

"Daedra, yes" - Lena nodded.

"Right, and he's not raising the bodies burnt into the rock under the streets as there are no skeletons walking around town" - Yeli smiled.

"But the Chapel is filled with ghosts" - Lena pointed out.

"It is" - Yeli agreed. "It could be his work... But the ghosts appeared before we moved in here - which was only ten years ago. Myrdian and I studied together at the University, and when we graduated, we came here. Just walked up the hill out of curiosity - Kvatch does have an air of mystery about it - went through the gate, and found this perfectly lovely town... This building stood empty, just a small Guild Hall with only two beds... Perfect for us, we thought" - she smiled timidly. "Gwendolyn at the Potions shop has been here quite a bit longer, she said there were other mages here before, but they left without as much as a goodbye. So we stayed, and now this is our home."

Lena smiled at the young mage. "Does Gwendolyn know anything about the lich or the ghosts?"

"No, it was before her time too, and she wasn't keen on investigating" - Yeli looked apologetically. "Something about having had too many dealings with ghosts in the past already... But she's friendly and knows alchemy better than most - she studied with Sinderion, I hear."

"What about the other Kvatch and the Mages Guild there - any connection?" It was time to find more of those links, Lena decided.

"There is a link, yes" - Yeli gestured for Lena to follow. "Through there." She walked to one of the alcoves, pointing at a door behind some crates at the end. "It goes to their basement. But we keep it locked, and as you can see, it isn't in use."

"Why not?" - Lena felt there was more to it.

"We don't get on very well..." - Yeli blushed again. "Some of the mages there... Well... They wanted to perform rituals in our cellar - in the lich's chamber - but I disagreed... We argued."

"Was that Earana?" - Lena recalled meeting her at the other Mages Guild the day before.

"You know her?" - Yeli looked relieved. "Yes, it was Earana. We have no quarrel with the others."

"Earana is an Altmer" - Lena mused. "They are very long lived, and she isn't the youngest. Her face looks aged, so she must be really old. May be even older than that lich" - she turned to Yeli. "I am not surprised Earana was interested, but it doesn't prove she had anything to do with it. I shall need to speak with her though."

"Better you than me" - Yeli grinned. "Hope you catch her on a good day."

"I'm not sure there is such a thing with Earana" - Lena grinned back. They liked each other. They walked back to the study chamber, and Yeli got some food and drink out of the cupboard. They both felt the need for sustenance.

"What about Sigrid?" - Lena remembered the only surviving mage from the Guild before the Crisis.

"Poor soul" - Yeli sighed. "Our Sigrid just walks around town aimlessly or sits in the chapel, she says she can smell the burning of bodies... Sometimes she says she's angry that she has to start from scratch, but she isn't doing anything, hasn't been doing anything since... you know" - she shot Lena a glance. "Is it true that you went through it too?" Lena nodded. "I just had to ask for myself... Sorry" - Yeli blushed. "Anyway, the other Sigrid is doing a lot better - she sells potions at the Guild in the mornings, and seems to be busy in the afternoons as well."

"Seems to?" - some hesitation in Yeli's voice caught Lena's attention.

"I don't know... it's just a feeling" - Yeli blushed again. "She... she seems to be absent when she's busy mixing potions at the Guild in the afternoons, if that makes sense. She's there, working, but if you talk to her, it's like she's a shell, like Sigrid is not inside her..."

"And that corresponds to the times when Sigrid here says she's angry" - guessed Lena.

"Roughly, yes" - Yeli looked up. "I never tracked it properly, but you could be right..."

"I think that when those people got duplicated, it only affected their bodies, not their souls. I don't think you can duplicate souls."

"That... would give you nightmares, yes" - Yeli's eyes widened. "But what can we do about it?"

"I don't know" - Lena admitted. "It's just a theory - I could be wrong. I have a feeling there are several things going on here in Kvatch, and they are not necessarily related. Or at least they were not related to begin with, but everything got tangled up by now, no doubt. I am going to talk to Sigrid - both Sigrids - and see if it leads me anywhere. Then there's Batul - both of them - as sane as ever, and Savlian's ghost at the chapel. I shall need to investigate every house and every basement in both Kvatch realms - some might be linked, but perhaps some lead elsewhere. And then there's the Castle - the new Castle here and the old one in the other Kvatch. And the Count - both of them - I spoke to yours here, but the Count in the other Kvatch was not accepting visitors, and no one seemed to have spoken to him for some time. Something isn't right." Lena was making notes in her journal, having covered several pages with her neat writing. "Savlian thought it might take me a few months to get to the bottom of this... I hope it won't be a few years!" - she looked over the pages.

"Sewers" - said Yeli. "You forgot wells and sewers."

"Wells and sewers" - Lena repeated, writing it down too. "And look under every rock, especially if it's been burnt" - she added, smiling. "I have a feeling I'll be making ample use of the Wolf Residence."

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:32 PM

[Lena Wolf]

1 Last Seed, 4E202 - Treasure hunt

It's been three days since Lena arrived in Kvatch, and got herself embroiled into a huge soul-saving enterprise. It wasn't something that she could complete in a day or in a week, and she didn't want to stay away for too long. Besides, she came to Kvatch with the purpose of searching for Nocturnal's Cowl, and she hadn't even started on that. Perhaps she should take Savlian's advice: avoid doing anything rash, or anything rushed. Talk it over with Hauk first, don't stir too many demons by talking to people like Earana. Keep a cool head. "Easier said than done" - Lena smirked to herself, but decided to focus on the search for the cowl. "Talk to some of the 'new' people, something might come to light" - she decided.

"New" people in Kvatch Plaza were fewer than in Kvatch West, so she started with Plaza. The shopkeepers didn't have anything interesting to say, that is nothing that sounded like a possible lead to Lena, so she went to the Castle, and there in the Keep she met a travelling merchant who wasn't going anywhere. "That's unusual" - Lena thought.

"I have all sorts of marvellous things with me!" - he boasted. Most of those things were writs of some sort, including a deed on a house in Kvatch - a mansion, complete with all furnishings, stables, a farm and servants, all for a mere 20,000 septims.

"Where is this mansion?" - Lena asked, not recalling anything by that description.

"Oh, just as you leave from here, by the statue to the left" - the merchant beamed at her.

"Err... There is no such mansion there" - Lena shook her head.

"Oh..." - the merchant looked unconcerned. "Well, then this deed is out of date." He tore it up. "It is the responsibility of the buyer to verify that the goods correspond to the description before paying the money. After that, it's their problem!" - he beamed at Lena. She decided to be extremely careful with whatever else he had in stock.

"What about these notes over here?" - she fingered through a collection of old parchments fraying at the edges.

"Treasure hunts, they are" - the merchant said proudly. "From all over Cyrodiil or possibly beyond! Will lead you straight to proper treasure, guaranteed!"

"Unless you can't find it, of course" - Lena grinned.

"Well, it is up to the buyer's skill to actually find the locations..."

One of the notes had a small symbol in the corner: a diamond with a circle inside. Thieves Guild.

"I'll take this one, it looks promising" - Lena smiled.

"Of course, of course!" - the merchant nodded vigorously. "Like you say - it must be promising."

Lena gave him a long look, trying to figure out whether he was a member of the Thieves Guild or a victim of their activity. "What can you tell me about it?" - she asked, looking at him with significance.

"It's a... err... all right, all right, I'll tell you!" - he burst. "It's a Thieves Guild note leading to one of their caches, I wasn't supposed to show it to anyone or let alone to sell it, but every single person on my list of people who were allowed to see it, is now dead! Dead! Murdered! By the Dark Brotherhood! What am I to do?!" He looked at Lena with desperation.

"So you're connected to the Thieves Guild, are you?" - she asked in a low voice.

"Sshhh, keep it down!" - he whispered. "I used to buy some of their loot... Just a low level fence, nothing more... But not now! Not with all the murders! It's not worth it, I tell you! Their loot is not worth a septim any more to an honest merchant like myself! Well, mostly honest, that is..."

"And this note" - Lena wasn't giving up. "How did you get it, exactly?"

The merchant turned pale but answered. "I was given it by that Umbranox fellow - they say he was the Grey Fox! But may be he wasn't, I couldn't tell, he was high up in the Guild though, that's for sure. He said to keep it between my things, and never to sell it, but give it to one of the people on my list - here, take it" - he thrust a list at her - "all high-ranking members, mind you, and all dead now!"

"Wait" - Lena looked at him with suspicion, something didn't add up. "If you were only a low level fence, you would not be receiving anything from the likes of Umbranox, and you would not be seeing any lists like this! What are you not telling me?"

The merchant was now so pale, he looked almost blue. "I am a travelling merchant, so I was a courier, too. It paid well. All I would need to do is deliver a letter from one place to another, so yeah, I knew them all." He swallowed hard. "Please don't kill me."

"Why would I?" - Lena raised an eyebrow.

"You were seen in the vicinity of each murder when they were committed. We know our people and can put two and two together. You killed a few beggars too." He looked scared.

"Only because they were annoying me more than usual" - Lena brushed it off. "Nothing to do with them working for the Thieves Guild. And you are not on my list. But why are you selling this note now, to me of all people?"

"You are the only person besides the ones on the list, that I could shift it to, since it was so important" - he said quietly. "I couldn't show it to any other member, I was forbidden to even speak of it to anyone who's not on the list! So when I saw you, I slipped it in between the other papers, hoping you'd pick it up, and you did."

"Why not just burn it?" - Lena wanted all the details.

"I could have done, I suppose" - the merchant looked up, struck by the idea. "It just never occurred to me! I could not just burn my merchandise..." - he blushed, embarrassed.

"It's Ok" - Lena laughed. "I'll even pay you for it. How much?"

"Anything you are willing to give me" - breathed the merchant.

Lena gave him 100 septims, considering it as a sacrifice to Nocturnal.

"Here, buy yourself some calming salts" - she smiled. "You are not on my list." She nodded goodbye and walked off.

The note was a rhyme sending her on a treasure hunt. "Typical" - she thought, remembering a four hour long key-in-chest treasure hunt that she and Hauk undertook at Pale Pass. "And we swore to never again go on one of those hunts!" - she fumed. But this time she needed the prize in the end, she was quite certain it would be the Cowl of Nocturnal.

Several hours later she found it. She solved all the riddles, followed all the clues, and had a collection of rhymed notes to show for it. She folded the cowl carefully and stashed it in her pack - she had no intention of putting it on and getting cursed. She would take it to Nocturnal as soon as possible. The moons were out, the breeze was warm, and Lena sat down outside the One Coin Inn for a well-deserved meal. It has been another long day.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:42 PM

[Renee]

I am up to post 37 of this rich tapestry of story. She receives love for reinstating her rank. Very nice.

"You are no longer a vampire, but you can still drink blood - and assimilate it into your own, like a vampire. You don't need it to survive, but you can still use it."

Wow!

[Lena Wolf]

"You are no longer a vampire, but you can still drink blood - and assimilate it into your own, like a vampire. You don't need it to survive, but you can still use it."

Wow!

This comes back to bite her a few times, as you can well imagine. I'm just working on a mod for Vampirism with Relapses. But on the plus side, bottled blood becomes a useful potion in this context, because you never know when you run into something that triggers a relapse... So unless your favourite companion is willing to let you feed on him, you should better carry some of the bottled stuff available for sale at selected stores - I'll let you guess which ones.

[Renee]

Yikes! But it makes sense to have Bottled Blood instead of needing to feed upon somebody, I agree. Feeding is... messy. At least, the way I like to approach it in these games is messy.

[Lena Wolf]

Yikes! But it makes sense to have Bottled Blood instead of needing to feed upon somebody, I agree. Feeding is... messy. At least, the way I like to approach it in these games is messy.

"Hauk dear, lie down and let me bite you..." Oops.

[Lena Wolf]

2-4 Last Seed, 4E202 - Bravil - The Shrine of Nocturnal

"Best deliver this Cowl to Nocturnal straight away" - Lena thought, waking up at the Wolf Residence in Kvatch. Although Kvatch was in need of her help, she wasn't about to delve into it and neglect everything else - a number of other commitments were still open, as her journal reminded her, and Nocturnal was one of them. So after breakfast Lena stopped by all the people who asked her for help in both cities of Kvatch, assured them that she'd be back, that she was working on it, and wouldn't abandon them, and then she went out the city gates, mounted Roach and was off.

The shrine of Nocturnal lay North of Leyawiin on the Yellow Road, and Lena didn't expect to make it there in one day, but with a bit of persuasion, Roach made it to Bravil by the evening.

2 Last Seed

It was a warm evening, and having brought Roach to the stables, Lena decided to take a stroll along Bravil waterfront - a recent development that's been going on for some time. The Count wasn't quite such a ne'er-do-well character after all, and the abundance of construction in Cyrodiil after the Oblivion Crisis was infectious. Why, if Kvatch could rebuild as two cities where only one once stood, and if Anvil could make itself into an Ocean Harbour, then Bravil could claim the title of the largest River Harbour in Cyrodiil, what with the Niben Bay surrounding it.

And that included an expansion of city docks finally boosting the local fishing industry - and not just for the Argonians.

Leyawiin may be blocking the way to Topal Sea and controlling the trade routes, but where there's a will, there's a way - and merchants were not willing to offload all their goods in Leyawiin for road transport further North. Eventually, the Count agreed to remove blockages and allow full shipping access to the Niben, while conveniently levying passage fees...

But Lena wasn't interested in politics. She simply enjoyed a stroll on the docks.

3 Last Seed

Lena reached the shrine of Nocturnal in the afternoon. The worshippers did not try to stop her and did not require an offering - it was a welcome change from other places. She approached the statue and touched the base, calling to Nocturnal in her thoughts - she knew that there was no need to say anything aloud.

"You come to me again, Assassin" - Nocturnal's voice sounded in her head.

"I have recovered something of yours" - Lena replied, putting the cowl onto the pedestal. "I thought you might want it back."

"Ah, you've done well" - Nocturnal said aloud, the cowl disappearing, with the worshippers watching with interest. "What reward do you wish?"

To be asked this was most unusual, and the followers' excited exclamations made it clear just how exceptional the situation was.

"I haven't thought of that" - Lena answered quite truthfully.

"Then why did you bring me the cowl if not for a reward?" - Nocturnal sounded slightly surprised.

"I didn't want the thieves to keep it, I don't like thieves... Even if they count you as their Patron."

"My sphere is the Night and Shadow, and everything that dwells within it. I value not the baubles that the Thieves are after, nor do I care for the lives that you Assassins take in the dark of night. Yet you both dwell in my sphere, and thus I am your Patron. The Nightingales understand it - and have you not spared one just recently?"

"Karliah" - Lena remembered her encounter in Skyrim. "I have no quarrel with her."

"Good." Nocturnal's voice fell silent, and the worshippers exchanged glances of understanding.

"What?" - Lena looked at them with a question.

"Nocturnal will give you a task" - one of them answered. "Wait for it."

But Nocturnal did not speak any more. Lena sat down on a bench with the worshippers and decided to hold a vigil at the shrine until the morning, as a sign of respect for Nocturnal. For in truth, she did not think of a reward for returning the cowl, she simply felt it was wrong that the thieves should keep it... just as she said.

4 Last Seed

"Approach, Assassin" - Nocturnal spoke just before dawn broke. "I have a task for you."

Lena got up and approached the statue, touching the base. She did not kneel.

"You will rebuild the Nightingale Hall in Cyrodiil at a location of your choosing - the old one crumbled centuries ago. You will be the second Nightingale, and you will recruit a third. You will remind your Brothers Assassins that Sithis is not their only Patron, so that they resume paying their respects to me. Which Nightingale power do you choose - Strife or Subterfuge? For Stealth is already taken."

"I choose Subterfuge" - Lena answered, thinking of Mercer Frey using this power quite effectively.

"So be it." Lena felt a cloud of magic surround her, and a new ability tingle in her fingers.

"But if I may ask, My Lady" - she thought it was probably the right way to address a Daedric Prince who chose to appear female. "Who is the first Nightingale? Is that Karliah?"

"Karliah is my agent in Skyrim, you are to be in Cyrodiil, so no. The first Nightingale here is your Brother Lucien Lachance."

Now Lena suddenly understood the significance of the statue of Nocturnal that she saw in Lucien's "bolthole" in the Imperial City. "Arboretum Underground Apartment" was a more suitable name for that comfortable dwelling - far better furnished and appointed than Fort Farragut, Lucien's official address.

"So... he is the Agent of Stealth" - she said mostly to herself, nodding. Of course... His ability to vanish wasn't common among the Dark Brotherhood - it wasn't the Night Mother's blessing, but Nocturnal's. "Is it to be kept a secret? Even from our Brothers?"

"It is not a secret among my followers, but neither is it something to be advertised" - Nocturnal replied patiently. "All things related to me are to be kept in shadow, like the work of the three 'sirens' at Gweden Farm... Yes, that pleased me, Assassin, I have been watching you grow. Go now, shadow hide you."

Nocturnal fell silent. The worshippers gathered around Lena, one of them was kneeling.

"No, please, don't do that" - she lifted her by the shoulders. "No kneeling, please."

"But you are a Nightingale!" - the worshipper gasped.

"Yes, well, this means you might see me here again, that's all."

The worshippers looked on in awe as Lena mounted Roach and rode off towards Leyawiin - she had promised Modryn Oreyn her help with some slightly off the books matter for the Fighters Guild, and he was waiting for her there.

----------------

The Count of Bravil took the building works seriously, engaging as many as four construction companies with their individual proposals, and making them all work together: Bravil Harbour, Bravil Waterfront, Bravil Internal Docks and Bravil South River Bank. He proved to have remarkable people skills after all... or was that the skooma?

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:43 PM

[Lena Wolf]

4-5 Last Seed, 4E202 - Modryn Oreyn

"Finally!" - Modryn Oreyn greeted Lena at the Fighters Guild in Leyawiin. He seemed to have left his smile in Chorrol, or perhaps even in Morrowind. "Took you long enough! What sort of time do you call this?!"

4 Last Seed

It was the middle of the afternoon - Lena didn't go straight to Leyawiin after her vigil at the Shrine of Nocturnal, but instead she took a detour by the Sanctuary at Deepscorn Hollow to eat, sleep and... well... she hoped Fenris would have prepared that... pick up some bottled blood.

He wasn't there, but sure enough, there was a chest by the prison cells with bottled blood. Two types of bottles, labelled "Living Blood" and "Undead blood".

"What on Nirn is this?!" - wondered Lena, lifting a bottle with dark viscous liquid. There was a note underneath.

Mistress,

This is my blood - vampire blood. Drink it to trigger your vampirism to relapse.

Fenris

Yes... She remembered that day in Windhelm when a vampire bit her, transferring some of his blood to her, instantly triggering a relapse, fangs and all. Why would she want to repeat the experience? Well... she was famished when she relapsed. Famished and powerful...

Still, she wasn't ready for this. She took the living blood and left the undead blood in the chest.

...

"We need to go to Arpenia immediately and search for evidence of any battle there" - Modryn said impatiently. "I think we won't find anything."

"Where is this Arpenia?" - asked Lena looking at him with suspicion.

"North from here, not that far."

Lena was going to suggest to leave it until tomorrow morning, but then thought better of it - Modryn's mood would not be improved by waiting. They set off straight away.

...

"Not far" turned out to be three hours at a run. The sun was setting when they reached the ruin, and Modryn was just as grumpy as before, in spite of several fights with bandits along the way. Lena was hoping they would help him blow off some steam, but either the bandits were not challenging enough, or Modryn had even more steam bottled up in him... they didn't help much. As it was, he attacked every rat and mudcrab inside the ruins with exceptional ferocity, and even had a go at the traps, but couldn't break them.

"Stop doing that, Modryn!" - Lena was saying with desperation, casting never ending healing spells at him after yet another encounter with a falling blade. "Those traps cannot be broken - they were made to last!"

"Everything can be broken!" - Modryn replied angrily, examining several damaged spikes on his mace. Quite.

Apart from traps, rats and mudcrabs, Arpenia was empty. There was no evidence of any recent battle there either.

5 Last Seed

"I knew it!" - Modryn was livid. "The Blackwood Company lied! They never killed Blackheart here or anywhere else - they made a deal with him! We're going after him right now! Follow!"

And he set off to yet another ruin. Lena was trying to say that they'd been up all night crawling through Arpenia, that both of them had many fresh wounds from the traps, and that perhaps it would have been wiser to rest and heal up a bit first... But Modryn was already out of earshot. Reluctantly, she followed.

Atatar wasn't far - just an hour or so at a run. And it wasn't empty.

"Vampires?" - Lena wondered aloud when they got attacked by several people emerging from invisibility.

"Bandits" - grimaced Modryn. "I see Blackheart taught them a few clever spells."

"More than just a few" - Lena thought. They were all cloaked, some with chameleon, they all cast Silence, Paralysis and various curses, and they all swung their weapons with unusual dexterity. "Well fed and well rested" - Lena thought. "Not like us." Indeed, the lack of sleep and proper food was making her sluggish, and some of the wounds made by the traps in Arpenia, had reopened. But Modryn pressed on, ignoring "the needs of the flesh".

Eventually they found Blackheart in the deapth of the ruin - he made quite a throne room for himself. Modryn was driven by rage, and he slew Blackheart without much effort. Without his entourage, Blackheart was but one man, and not exceptionally powerful at that.

"Get that ring off his finger - it's the proof we need!" - Modryn was looking at dead Blackheart with satisfaction. "Well done for putting up with me" - he turned to Lena. "I'm promoting you to Warder. See me in Chorrol for duties." And with that he turned around and marched off.

"Phew." Lena sat on Blackheart's "throne", catching her breath. She was not keen on any more Fighters Guild duties.

Having caught her breath, she left Atatar and found herself quite near The Drunken Dragon Inn. "Thank goodness for that" - she thought with relief. It was early evening, so she stayed there for a much-needed meal and a long rest.

---------------

Lena's health is being affected by several things, mostly not beneficial, although realistic. Namely: Bare Necessities - the need to eat and sleep, configurable, with the ability to sleep rough; Dynamic Skills - unused skills drop over time, health can regenerate outside of combat but wounds can bleed and reopen even after healing; Battle fatigue and injuries - penalties for getting hit, complementary to bleeding wounds; Running Revised, with sprinting, fatigue, configurable; and of course Recessive Vampirism (my own mod). Enemies have grown smarter and more unpredictable, both in level and numbers: NPC and Creature Buffer and Oblivion World Balance. Lena is now level 30, and these mods made her enemies varied and challenging, with powers normally only reserved to the player (unjustly so). Every Dunmer now summons an ancestral guardian, so watch out... because they are not level 1 ghosts - still ghosts, just not level 1. They will tear you apart. Another example: we came across a pair of naked bandits stalking the road to Bravil. Easy, right? Wrong... they knocked us out before we could get off our horse. Pugilists. Nudist pugilist twins. Beware.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:48 PM

[Lena Wolf]

7 Last Seed, 4E202 - Nightingales

"Come with me, Nightingale" - Lucien appeared next to Lena as she came out of the Arcane University lobby.

"How did you know I'd be here?" - she gasped at him.

"Arch Mage Traven practically put out a bounty on your head" - he grinned. "He's been searching for you through the Guild channels, and we do have a few Brothers among the mages. So I knew you were on your way here from Leyawiin."

"And you loitered in the garden waiting for me" - Lena grinned at the mental picture of Lucien loitering.

"Cloaked, yes" - he smiled.

"All right, Agent of Stealth, let's go."

Lucien led her to his bolthole in the sewers under Arboretum - "Lucien's Arboretum Underground Apartment", as Lena took to calling it.

"Here - this is for you" - Lucien gave her a package when they were inside. "Now that Nocturnal wants her influence re-established, we should dress the part."

It was only now that Lena realised what was different about Lucien - his robes. Still black, still unassuming and resembling mage robes, but now complemented by dark brown embossed leather rather than plain black, and with deep sanguine trim.

"Throwing knives" - Lena pointed at the top of Lucien's boot. "Finally an alternative to the bow."

"Well, I've had them for a while already" - he smiled. "But you need to learn to use them first. There are throwing stars, too - try A Fighting Chance in the Market District. There's a lot more to Rohssan than meets the eye" - Lucien winked. "There's an additional knife pocket belt to go over the robes as well, but I find it too obvious."

Lena was trying on her new gear.

"And the enchantment? It feels the same."

"It is the same" - Lucien nodded. "The same as the Black Hand robes, and reinforced with the hood."

"So, still no shield enchantment" - Lena mused, slightly disappointed. It was clothes, not armour.

"You should be skilled enough not to get hit, if you are wearing this" - Lucien smiled. "Doesn't always work, of course, but there are other ways to shield yourself."

"Ok, Ok, I'm not complaining" - Lena grinned. "Who should we recruit as the third Nightingale?"

"We?" - Lucien raised an eyebrow. "That's your job - Nocturnal gave this task to you personally. It's your call."

"But I thought because you've been her agent for a while already..." - Lena started.

"No-no, it doesn't work like that" - Lucien shook his head. "This falls outside the Dark Brotherhood hierarchy, so we are equal on this level, as will be the third person. You don't have to recruit from the Brotherhood either."

"So..." - Lena started to understand how this worked. "You never said anything because it wasn't up to you to bring Nocturnal's influence into the Brotherhood - I am to do it, as well as to rebuild the Halls and to recruit the third person. While you..."

"I have my own tasks" - Lucien smiled. "You will learn of them in time, such are Nocturnal's wishes."

...

They sat down for dinner, and Lena told Lucien about her conversation with Corvus Umbranox and a pile of Thieves Guild "requests" that she had found in his desk. They had no interest in any of them, except the one from Rayenna.

"So it wasn't the Thieves Guild who revealed the location of Deepscorn Hollow to Rayenna" - Lucien pointed out. "Hauk thinks it was Mephala, and I tend to agree with him. Which means we should be watchful."

"But she is still a member of the Brotherhood, isn't she?" - Lena looked up. "With one of the Sanctuaries?"

"She is still in Anvil, yes" - Lucien nodded. "Sa'sinar wanted to keep an eye on her, and who could blame him. Although it wasn't his fault, a Silencer's actions always do reflect on the Speaker - after all, she was his choice." He paused. "Anyway, Umbranox' abandoned house is ours - it's one of the terms of the contract. The Countess was only too glad to see it change ownership and to ensure that no Thieves Guild member would set foot into it again. Have you searched it?"

"I've searched Umbranox' room upstairs, but the downstairs area was boarded up, so I didn't look there" - Lena admitted. "Should I have?"

"It has a basement, according to the documents... Could be worth investigating."

Lena nodded, making a note in her journal.

"How have you been feeling lately?" - Lucien asked without changing the tone.

"What?" - Lena was surprised by the question. "How do you mean?"

"Exactly as I said it. Your health - how have you been feeling?"

"Fine" - Lena answered slowly, trying to figure out what Lucien was getting at. "The same as usual. Why do you ask?"

"Your pregnancy" - he took her hand, feeling her pulse, she noticed. "You do realise you are pregnant, don't you?"

"I..." - Lena gasped. No, she didn't realise it, yet. "No... How do you know if even I don't?"

"I noticed a couple of weeks ago, in Skingrad" - he smiled. "Dibella's training had been quite extensive, and I was young back then... I studied eagerly" - he smiled again. "I can sense things like that."

"You? A student of Dibella?" - Lena recalled that Dibella had granted Lucien a blessing just recently - in Skingrad, in fact.

"In my youth, yes, following my mother. I didn't need much convincing either, considering its nature."

"But then something changed... for you are not a Priest of Dibella."

"No, I didn't take any vows" - Lucien agreed. "Other tendencies became evident..." - he was looking into the distance, remembering. "Then I joined the Brotherhood and stopped going to the temple. But I still remember what I've learned." He looked at her with tenderness. "So, it has begun."

"But..." - Lena was still digesting these revelations, both of her pregnancy and of Lucien's ways of Dibella. "But I don't know..." - Lucien seemed certain, yet she didn't feel it yet. "How long have I been pregnant then?"

"Oh I could not tell that" - Lucien laughed. "I'm not a seer. Not that long, I should think, since it doesn't show yet - and you yourself haven't even noticed. But it will put extra strain on your health - which is why I brought it up. You need to be prepared - healing potions, food and blood, have it always with you."

"Blood?"

"In case you run into a wraith or something" - he smiled - "and your vampirism gets triggered again. You have read about that in your great-uncle's diaries, I hope?"

"I..." - Lena swallowed. "I have... But I ignored it at the time. Recessive Vampirism. I assumed it didn't apply to me, since I had taken the witch's cure. But it does, doesn't it? Of course, this is what Vicente meant, this is why I've been needing blood sometimes..."

"You need to avoid going hungry for too long" - Lucien looked serious. "Hungry for blood, I mean, when your vampirism relapses. I know it gives you powers in battle, but it's bad for the child."

Lena was thinking of Molag Bal telling her that her child would be a vampire... if she allowed him to turn her into a pure-blood. But she didn't. Would she still pass her infection to her child? She strained to remember what she had read in her great-uncle's diaries, but there was no mention of children there. She hoped the child would not be tainted.

Lucien watched Lena's sombre face, correctly deducing what she was thinking. He didn't know whether or not the child would carry vampirism, and he was not aware of anyone else possessing such knowledge, so they would have to wait and see. He got up, walked over to Lena and embraced her, crouching next to her chair.

"Don't worry about that" - he said in her ear. "We can deal with it. I love you."

--------------

Nightingale gear is based on DBAssassin.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 02:49 PM

[Renee]

Up to 40. I agree about the bow with the four enchantments...um... Shadowhunt. How the heck would somebody create such a thing? I think the implication is there were (or are) really powerful magic-users who could do so, and our character can't possibly achieve such a level of wizardry. Not without mods!

She's hunting necromancers! And undead!

She was enjoying her new robes as well. It was clothing, so did not hamper magic, and although it did not provide any shielding

Also, repairing dents and dings from armor is not required with robes.

Ha, she pwned Shady Sam. If you have Vile Lair (I think it's Vile Lair) in your game, there's another guy who says "psst" all the time, the one who stays in Weye's inn. I actually added some Conditions to his HELLO in the CS, which will hopefully make him only say this if one of my characters has a significant amount of Infamy.

Off she goes to Cheydinhal. Done reading Page 2 today.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 14 2021, 01:17 PM

[Lena Wolf]

Ha, she pwned Shady Sam. If you have Vile Lair (I think it's Vile Lair) in your game, there's another guy who says "psst" all the time, the one who stays in Weye's inn. I actually added some Conditions to his HELLO in the CS, which will hopefully make him only say this if one of my characters has a significant amount of Infamy.

Shady Sam is not dead. She only wanted his hood after all, so she knocked him out. However, it seems he decided to relocate somewhere safer - closer to the Morrowind border, I hear. We'll run into him at some point, I'm sure.

The other "pssst" trader is Rowley Eardwulf in Weye, from the Vile Lair DLC, yes. We run into him later too. See how I didn't say anything!

[Renee]

Ah, I see. Yeah it is Rowley who gets on my nerves with his constant "psst" every time we pass.

Up to post 44.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 22 2021, 12:59 PM

[Lena Wolf]

8-9 Last Seed, 4E202 - Rohssan - Old Crow Inn - Wolf's Borough

"Come with me, Sister" - Rohssan smiled at Lena when Lena enquired about throwing knives at the Fighting Chance. She led her to the basement of the shop that was set up as a training room and an armoury. "You might like this as well" - she handed Lena a shortsword of dull metal without shine. "This does not reflect light quite as much as most metals, and unlike ebony, it is effective on ethereal beings as well as corporeal. Wraiths and ghosts and such" - she clarified. "Of course your Honorblade does the trick as well, but it's quite heavy, whereas this sword..." - she handed it to Lena - "feel for yourself."

"Wow, fast and light like a... steel shortsword?" - Lena made a few thrusts at the dummy.

"Exactly" - Rohssan nodded. "The same make as your Shadowhunt."

Lena smiled recalling Garrus noting in awe that he'd never seen a steel bow take out a massive orc with two shots... Even without the enchantment, Shadowhunt wasn't just any bow.

"So... The Blade of Woe and the Sufferthorn have the same qualities, too" - she smiled at Rohssan. "Your work?"

"Some of it" - Rohssan smiled back. "But I am mostly a supplier. The Sufferthorns come from another smith - Elven metal is not my speciality. I work iron and steel, with ebony core or silver coating, where necessary."

"Worked to a dull finish so as not to reflect the light" - Lena turned the Assassin's shortsword in her hand - "and to be effective on ethereal beings. A coating."

"There's more to being a smith than just repairing your gear" - Rohssan grinned with satisfaction. "Those fine iron and steel swords that I offer to the general public - they have ebony cores with just a thin layer of iron or steel, so you get higher durability with a reduced weight. And they sharpen better, too."

"I still have a few of those" - Lena nodded. She looked through other weapons on display, noting that each had a "durable" version - with an ebony core, she realised.

...

"Traven wants me to 'supervise' a group of battlemages and storm Silorn" - Lena was telling Hauk over lunch at The Feed Bag. "He wants some special black soul gem that's supposed to be there - and he stressed repeatedly that all that mattered was that gem. I smell a rat" - she turned over her steak with suspicion.

"He will sacrifice the battlemages again" - nodded Hauk. "We should meet with Iver, this is exactly the sort of mission he was talking about."

"But you will come too, won't you?" - Lena looked at Hauk with a question.

"Of course I will" - he nodded. "It's bound to be a trap."

...

They found Iver training in the basement at the University - he already knew about the mission.

"I've been expecting you" - he smiled at Lena. "There will be three of us, but the others do not fully understand the danger yet, I'm afraid. But if you too are coming, Hauk, that will help."

Hauk gave him one of his famous looks - naturally, and Iver mirrored it exactly. Twins.

"We'll see you at Silorn then" - Iver concluded.

...

It was late afternoon but Lena and Hauk decided to get going towards Skingrad and Silorn and stay the night at an inn along the way.

"The Imperial City Council finally released the funds to build three new bridges over Lake Rumare" - Hauk was saying as they were walking to the stables to pick up the horses. "And it is amazing how quickly these things can get built once the payment is forthcoming" - he smirked. "Have you seen them? The new bridges?"

"I was surprised by the one at Fort Homestead, yes" - Lena nodded. "Suddenly I didn't have to cast waterwalking on Roach as we could just cross the lake over a bridge! Where are the other two?"

"Fort Urasek and Fort Caracus, more or less" - Hauk pointed East and North. "And a small bridge to connect the City Isle proper with the lighthouse."

"So that you can actually cross from the City Isle to the Waterfront without going through the City and the infamous tunnel!" - Lena said excitedly.

"Infamous?" - Hauk looked surprised. "It's just a tunnel."

"Yeah, well, it's got cells and guards asking questions" - Lena wrinkled her nose.

Hauk smirked but didn't say anything. They picked up their horses and crossed the Talos Bridge towards Weye, turning South aiming to take the Gold Road. They stopped at The Old Crow Inn just at that intersection.

...

"Mmm, you look like someone who doesn't mind getting her hands dirty!" - the innkeep smiled, looking over Lena's attire. "I need someone 'taking care of', if you catch my meaning" - she winked. There was usually only one way the Dunmer wanted things "taken care of".

"Yeah, I read you" - smiled Lena. "Who is it?"

"My ex-lover" - Ladonna looked angry and disgusted. "He left me - for an Orc!!"

Ouch, that must have hurt.

"You must kill him! And her! Kill them both!" - she exclaimed, completely unconcerned by the presence of an Imperial soldier in the inn. "I shall reward you well for your trouble!"

"Ok, I'll look into it" - Lena said making a note in her journal.

"Do more than just look!" - Ladonna urged her. Here was another scornful woman of the dangerous kind.

...

"Hauk, I am pregnant" - Lena dropped the bomb at dinner.

"Whaaa-?" - Hauk looked up from his mutton. "How long?"

"Not long, a couple of months, perhaps?" - Lena looked uncertain. "I can't even feel it yet."

"So... what are you going to do?"

"Err... carry it to term?" - Lena went red.

"That's not what I meant!" - Hauk focussed on Lena rather than on his thoughts. "I am not suggesting termination. I was wondering if you were going to pause adventuring for a while."

"No!" - Lena was indignant. "Whatever made you suggest that?! No!"

"Whoa - don't start breathing fire now!" - Hauk was taken aback by the intensity of Lena's reaction. "I was just... well, never mind" - he was going to say something, but then reconsidered. "Adventuring it is."

They didn't discuss it any further, but Lena noticed Hauk talking to the innkeep who was first shaking her head, but then nodded and brought out several strong healing potions that Hauk stashed in his pack. Lena sighed - was everyone going to treat her as an invalid now? And even worse - was she going to feel like an invalid in a few months' time?

9 Last Seed

"This is quite a nice area" - Hauk pointed at a high arched wall set across the Gold Road half way to Skingrad. "Wolf's Borough. Have you been here before?"

"I might have, but I don't remember" - Lena was looking around, not recognising any of it. "I don't think I've ever really rode along this stretch of the road - I would always take a shortcut through the wilderness."

"Then let's stop and look around" - Hauk steered his horse to a pasture, he clearly knew where he was going.

"You seem to be very familiar with this place" - Lena looked at him with suspicion.

"You could say that. This is where I grew up - we lived on a farm just behind that building" - he grinned at Lena's surprise.

"What?!" - she laughed. "And you never said anything?"

"It never came up."

Wolf's Borough stretched all the way from the Gold Road to Fort Vlastarus and had several shops, farms and towers. It was something between a farm and a town.

"What happened to the farm where you grew up?" - Lena asked as they walked around.

"After our parents died, we sold it, as neither Iver nor myself saw ourselves as farmers. The new owners have changed a lot of things around, it is barely recognisable. And no, we are not going to say hello." He looked at Lena just as she was about to suggest something with a look of mischief on her face.

"Oh" - she said with disappointment. "Well... But at least we should explore that fort." And she went right in, not giving Hauk an opportunity to protest.

----------------------

Throwing knives Oblivion, Throwing Stars aka Shurikens, Imperial City Bridges, The Xander Waterfront Bridge, The Old Crow Inn, HESU Wolf's Borough.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 03:01 PM

[Lena Wolf]

9-11 Last Seed, 4E202 - Fort Vlastarus - Silorn

"I am not sleeping on a slab!" - Lena was adamant. Fort Vlastarus housed a small group of vampires, and the only sleeping place was a slab. It was past midnight, and Lena had heavy wounds, so Hauk tried to convince her to spend the night at the fort - without much success.

"Your wounds need healing, you have to rest! It's either the slab or the floor - or one of these coffins" - he looked around.

"No, neither" - Lena shook her head again. "I bandaged up the worst of it - we ride to Skingrad."

10 Last Seed

It was 4 a.m. when they finally entered Lena's house in Skingrad.

"Well, now that we are here, we eat first" - Hauk said firmly. "Then sleep until you are recovered. Silorn can wait."

...

They got up well past midday, had a bite to eat and rode to Silorn nearby. The battlemages were already there.

"We asked for reinforcements, and Traven sent you? You are it?" - Thalfin looked over Lena with scepticism, completely ignoring Hauk - one Serck-Hanssen in the group was apparently already more than enough, thank you very much.

"Well, you'll have to do" - she said, resolved. "And Traven put you in charge as well - so let's hear your strategy" - she added with contempt. Perhaps therein lay the root of the problem.

The door to the ruin was magically sealed from the inside, so they had to wait for some of the necromancers to come out, thus unsealing it. Sure enough, three or four of them soon emerged, and were easily dispatched by the battlemages - Lena didn't even have a chance to unsheath her sword.

"Ok, that's done - now in you go" - Thalfin smiled slyly at Lena. "Go get that gem from some High Elf deep inside the ruin."

"What - are you not coming?" - Lena couldn't quite believe it, and Hauk and Iver exchanged glances.

"No, it's your mission now."

Gods preserve us from scornful women. Lena and Hauk entered Silorn looking for some High Elf with a gem...

...

Silorn was a straightforward Ayleid ruin with necromancers behind every pillar. They were a particularly angry sort, but none could withstand Lena's poisons and Hauk's Xivilae. The battlemages were more troublesome - Necromancer battlemages, that is, in full armour - but also they eventually succumbed. Lena was knocked out a few times and sustained serious injuries, yet they still didn't find any remarkable soul gems, so had to keep going further and further in.

"We could have done with the other battlemages now" - Hauk was saying with irritation battling two necromancers, their summons and a skeleton champion. "If it had been up to Iver, he would have come, I'm sure. But he doesn't like going against his orders."

"As no soldier should" - Lena agreed, battling her own bunch of enemies. "It was Thalfin's call. Ouch!" - a skeleton's battleaxe made contact with Lena's arm. Her strength was failing her, and she took a step back to drink a potion and cast a shielding spell. It only took a moment... but in that moment a wraith summonned by the necromancers hit her with a frost curse and Lena felt her blood freeze. Her vampirism got triggered.

"And now you pay!" - she attacked the wraith and the skeleton with renewed vigor, her strength returning - for now.

Falkar was not far away, they found him a few halls further on.

"Hello, old friend" - Lena said pleasantly, baring her fangs.

"You!" - Falkar's face contorted with rage. "You cheated - you should have never survived that well!"

"And now I'll cheat again" - Lena cast Vampire Seduction on him, momentarily confusing him into liking her too much to attack. Her clannfear rammed him before he could recover.

"You are a better mage than I thought" - Falkar whispered. "But Mannimarco is a better mage still - and a High Elf. You stand no chance against him, Breton - gem or no gem."

Falkar had an enormous gem in his pocket.

"This is what we came for" - Lena showed it to Hauk. "I wonder how a single gem can determine the fate of necromancy."

"I find it hard to believe, too" - nodded Hauk. "Traven is hiding something, we'll have to wait and see, I guess." He turned over the gem in his hand. "Well, let's go speak to the others."

11 Last Seed

It was 7 a.m. when they came out, and the sun was shining brightly in a clear sky. Lena started to smolder.

"Damned vampirism!" - Hauk noticed her burning skin. "Get back inside! Do you have blood?"

Yes, she had bottled blood, which she now drank, her vampirism receding.

"There will be still some residual sun damage for a while" - she told Hauk. "So don't panic - I'll cast some healing spells. It's good enough - let's go."

Hauk shook his head but followed. Lena was less worried about vampiric effects than he was, it appeared.

"Oh, you've got the gem!" - Thalfin looked at it in admiration. "Well, take it to Traven straight away, or all of this would have been for naught!"

"I think you are exaggerating" - Lena answered calmly. "But yes, we'll take the gem to Traven and see what he is going to do with it."

"See what I mean about varying attitudes" - Iver said to Lena quietly. "Some still think they've got a career with the Mages Guild" - he smirked, jerking his head towards Thalfin.

"Well, we haven't been dismissed from the Guild yet" - Merete joined the conversation. "And who knows how long Traven will remain the Arch Mage. Although frankly, a battlemage who can barely cast a flare, should not have been put in command here" - she jerked her head towards Thalfin as well. "But friends in high places work here too."

"Yes, she does seem very devoted to... you know" - Lena winked. "Was she hoping we'd be killed in there so that she could go in after a while and claim the gem for herself?"

"She said her concern was for us - but we are not so sure" - Merete winked back. "Come and see us at the University some time - we're mostly in the training rooms."

And with that they said their goodbyes, chuckling all the while at the fact that the three Nords among them were each far better mages than the Wood Elf that was supposed to be their leader.

...

"Skingrad and rest or straight on to the Imperial City?" - asked Hauk when he and Lena got to their horses.

"Let's ride while I still can" - Lena got into the saddle. "I want to get it over with."

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Apr 10 2024, 03:02 PM