20: Lava and Darkness

Although the portal itself was cold, the plane of Oblivion was not. It was like stepping through a film of ice into a furnace. I shuddered in the heat and looked around me.

I had seen this place before, back when I was yanked from Cheydinhal into Oblivion. Billowing clouds of smoke rose from an ocean of lava, and the ground itself was close to catching fire. Between the rocks imbedded in the ground there was ooze that glowed faintly and burned my hand when I touched it. Spikes rose from the ground in places, each dripping with blood, and huge gates closed off a bridge nearby. I was overcome by nausea when I turned to face a number of stakes with Dunmer heads impaled on them. I turned away and held back my sickness.

I recovered and focused my thoughts on the task ahead. The gates were closed, so I would have to find a way around them. It didn’t look like too much of a problem, as much of the area around the bridge was in ruin and I could spot two possible paths. The way would be made rough by the rubble, but I would manage. I didn’t exactly know where I was going, but the huge tower in the distance seemed like as good a target as any. I set off across the ash and readied myself for the worst.

The worst manifested itself in a pack of scamps that was harassing a man. I rushed in to help him and between the two of us we dispatched them quickly. The man was wearing a torn guard’s uniform and was bleeding profusely. He started to fall over, but I caught him and healed his major gashes and burns. He muttered something about getting ambushed and the Daedra capturing some of his group. I healed him until he could walk again and sent him off towards the Oblivion gate back to Kvatch. Hopefully the captain will be able to get him to a better healer.

I continued along the rubble strewn ash, dispatching the occasional small scamp with some work. They were difficult, and the heat weighed down on me, making my movements sluggish and ineffective. In fact, the heat seemed to strengthen the scamps, as they would attack more vigorously the closer to lava I became. I found that my Flare and Fireball spells were worthless against the scamps, which was not surprising, but my long range capabilities were severely limited without them. They did some damage to them, but it was too little to count for much.

The scamps were not completely flame-proof, thankfully. They skirted the edges of the lava pools, but never dipped in. I noticed this and tried to use it against them. It worked quite well. One of the more humorous times that it worked, I launched a fireball at the scamp’s feet. It jumped back away from the fireball, and landed right in a pool of lava! It screamed and tried to claw its way out, but the heat melted its very bones. My other attempts at this did not work as well, but they worked well enough.

There was an odd arrangement of flora in Oblivion. All of the plants appeared to be hostile to me, whether it was through a thick, noxious gas, or through direct assault with razor sharp tendrils. I was able to collect some of these rare specimens for study later. They would no doubt prove to be a useful ingredient in potions.

Finally, I reached the base of the huge tower. It turned out to be a central spire at the middle of several others. Two huge stone doors marked the entrance to the spire, and upon them were engraved Daedric runes. From what I could read of them, they meant “The Blood Feast.” I cautiously approached them and they cracked open at my touch.

Inside it was dark and even hotter than the outside. The floors and walls emanated heat and my misery was crippling. At the center of the room was a huge column of magical fire. It roared up from a pool of lava in the center of the tower towards the top of the tower. The tower was huge inside, and I could not see the top from my position. At first I did not know how to climb the tower, but then a small door at the side of the room started sliding open. I turned to see what had opened it, and was met by a huge warrior clad in full Daedric armor! I backed off as quickly as I could, my mind petrified with fear. The Dremora pulled a hefty mace from its side and screamed at me.

“SUFFER, FLESH SACK!” Its voice was painful to listen to, and my mind was further assaulted. It moved extremely fast, and its mace knocked me off of my feet in an instant. I felt several ribs shatter under the huge mace, and the Dremora was soon standing over me. It kicked me in the side of the head with its huge boot, and the spikes slashed open my face. My screams were mere gurgles; obviously my lung had been ruptured by my broken ribs. The end was near, I could feel it…

And yet, light always conquers over shadow. And, just as darkness closed over my mind, the huge doors to the spire flew open. A huge amount of magical force hit the Dremora standing over me. The plates of its armor melted together under the onslaught of magic, and suddenly a familiar face was over me. I felt healing magic enter my body, and my bones began to reset themselves.

“Sleep now Will, I shall watch over you.” The Dark One smiled and my eyelids shut involuntarily.

Not my fault!

Sorry bout that whole not posting at all last weekend thing, but it was out of my hands. I wrote an entry for friday, but the stupid site would not let me update the site! i tried again on saturday morning (no luck, obviously) but then my parents dragged me off to our lake house for memorial day weekend. so sorry, but saturday and sunday will not have posts. Friday's post is now up though, down below this one, enjoy!

Oh, and the new posting schedule will be, effective immeadiately, TUESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY. This is not going to be the permanent schedule, its just a transition into summer that is TEMPORARY. I'm still weighing my options to see what the permanent schedule will be.

19: Weariness

As I walked past the bloody, battered guards, I realized that what had happened here was big. These guards were extremely well trained, and it was not easy to damage their morale. Yet the hellish onslaught had worn away at their nerves; they had watched their city be destroyed and their families be burned away. These men were not soldiers. They were not meant to be fighting off an entire Daedric invasion. They were not meant to watch their city burn.

I passed a badly wounded guard and sent my healing spell into his chest. It did not help his weariness, but when he realized that a capable mage had arrived to help, his eyes brightened a little. I healed him one more time and continued up the line.

It was not much of a defensive line. The guards had simply sharpened logs and piled them into a fence. It was sad defensively, but strangely impressive. The guards must have reacted very quickly and efficiently to be able to construct something in the middle of a war zone. I smiled at the ingenuity of man and mer, and finally reached the captain.

“Sir, I’d like to offer my hand in the retaking of Kvatch.” He looked at me with weary eyes and frowned.

“Retaking Kvatch? That is impossible at the moment. I appreciate the offer, but we simply cannot get into the city with that huge Oblivion gate open right in front of the city gates!”

“Well… Close it.” It seemed like the obvious solution to me, but the captain seemed to get rather angry.

“Close it?! How?! In all my years as captain of the Kvatch guard, I have never seen anything like this. I haven’t the faintest idea how to close it!”

“Well, as an experienced Daedra conjurer, I can tell you that all you need to do is disrupt the anchor.”

“Disrupt the what? Look, I don’t know much about anchors, but I’m fairly certain that they are on boats!”

I sighed. I didn’t want to get into an argument about correct anchor location with the captain, I wanted to help! I began to get somewhat annoyed with the captain; he had no idea what he was talking about! I decided to tell him what I was going to do, and then do it. He could mull over semantics all he wanted, and when I returned we would retake Kvatch!

“Look, captain. I’m going in there.” I pointed at the massive, fiery portal, “When the gate has been closed, we will retake Kvatch. Until then, I would recommend staying here and leading your men.” I stepped over the fence and made my way to the Oblivion Gate. The captain said nothing to me, but I could feel all the soldiers gazing at me as I approached the Gate.

The Gate emanated many things. Heat was the predominant force excreted, but I also felt an overwhelming surge of hatred and sorrow as well. I examined the portal for a moment, looking at the fiery red that swirled violently in front of me. I kicked a rock through to make sure I wouldn’t just explode when entering Oblivion. I knew that this portal was essentially a giant conjuration spell, and that it wouldn’t hurt me, but one can never be too careful. I swallowed my fear, drew my axe from my side, and stepped through the strangely cold portal…

18: Rain

The stables were small and smelled like feces, which was not surprising given it’s occupants. Most of the horses in there were poorly groomed and lazy. They were all a dirty brown, except for the one the old man had told me I could use. It was the only well groomed horse in there and trotted around the stable quite nicely. I went up to it and it gladly followed my tugs at its reins. I pulled myself up into its saddle, and tried to accustom myself to it. I had never been very good at riding horses, but it was not too hard for me to make it move. The saddle was quite comfortable, and I was soon off on my way.

The road brought me past a wayshrine to one of the Nine, but I decided to keep moving, it was getting later after all. The road wound down towards the Imperial City, and then made a sharp turn towards Skingrad. I admired the construction of the Imperial City as I rode by, the sun just starting to dip down towards the horizon. I estimated that it was about four o’clock, and pushed my new horse onwards.

As I neared Skingrad, the skies began to darken. I cursed my luck and pushed my friend onwards, racing to reach Skingrad before the storm broke. The walls came into sight, and I thought that I might make it in time. I came so very close, and the sky opened up onto me as I rounded the last bend in the road. Luckily, the bridge that led to the castle was above me, and kept me fairly dry for a moment. I refused to slow my horse down though, and got him into a small stable area outside the gates. I jumped off and tied him to a pole and ran to the gates, pulling them open and resting for a moment in the dry area beneath the Gatehouse.

The rain pounded down for quite some time, but lessened enough for me to make it to a lodge. I couldn’t make out the name when I was outside because the sky released its drenching payload before I could make it inside. I squelched as I made my way to the bar; a stiff drink was what I needed after that downpour. The Orc behind the bar welcomed me to the Two Sisters’ Lodge, but my temper was as sour as the weather. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s getting soaked. I peeled off my shoes and left them by the fireplace, hoping they would dry soon. I returned to the bar when the Orc barmaid had prepared my drink, and downed it quickly. I asked her for a room, and after an exchange of gold for a key, I made my way up the stairs and opened up my room. It was pleasant, and at ten gold it was a great deal. I shut the door and pulled off my soaked clothing. The rain outside showed no sign of stopping, so I laid myself down to sleep for a while; it was getting late anyway.

It was still raining when I woke up. I cursed my luck and sighed. If the rain didn’t let up soon, I wouldn’t be able to make it to Kvatch in time to meet the Dark One! I pulled on a dry robe and made my way down to the bar. My shoes were almost dry, so I put them on and got some hot food from the barmaid. I finished, and heard the rain stop! I paid for my food quickly and ran upstairs to gather my things. When I returned, I gave my key to the barmaid and stepped outside. The rain seemed to have stopped for good, and the early morning sun was peeking out through the clouds! I thanked the gods and jogged out to where my horse was.

The stable had kept him mostly dry, although the ground was practically a river at his hooves. I mounted him anyway, and set off towards Kvatch.

It was not too long of a ride, and I reached the path leading up towards Kvatch at about 11 o’clock. But something was wrong. The sky was cloudy, and smoke rose from Kvatch’s walls! I pressed my horse on, and met a hysterical man running along the road. He was screaming about how Kvatch was gone! Something about how Daedra had attacked in the middle of the night and destroyed everything! I left him to rant and rode as fast as I could along the road. Soon I came upon a camp of disheveled people, many of them weeping, and I assumed they were the survivors. I slowed only a little as I passed through the camp, and then continued up the winding, rocky path towards the fortress like city of Kvatch. It was perched at the top of a mountain, and the climb was not easy for my horse on the wet ground, but in time I reached the top to find horrors.

The ground was charred beyond belief, and spires the color of obsidian rose from the ground in places. I looked towards the gates, but all I saw was a huge, steaming portal that burned with unholy fire. I could not make out much behind it, but it looked grim. The portal was flanked on either side by obsidian spires with lava running down them, and I was immediately reminded of the portal I had been the creator of years before. But this portal, it was twenty feet high! I didn’t think anything that big could be sustained for any amount of time!

There was a small group of soldiers holding off several Daedra, and I rushed to their aid. There weren’t many of them lurking around, and they were dispatched quickly, but the soldiers seemed to have lost all morale, and they looked extremely tired. I approached the captain of the guard and see where I could put my spells to use…

17: Brother Jauffre

I woke up early, so early that it was still dark outside. I ate a big breakfast at the bar, then set off on my way. Chorrol was a long way off yet, and Kvatch farther than that. I was a little off schedule, but nothing I couldn’t make up.

The road was long and uneventful. I picked reagents and fought off the occasional wolf, but eventually I came to a turn in the road. I checked my map and decided that heading through the wilderness would be faster than taking the road, so I climbed up the mountains. The way was hard and tiring, but eventually I was back on a road. This time it was the Orange Road. My travels on it were uneventful as well, but I did run across a few bandits, who were easily enough dispatched.

Eventually I came to the walls of Chorrol, and entered through the North Gate. I thought about visiting the Mages Guild here, but decided against it because I was still behind schedule. I made a quick stop at the local tavern and took a swig of beer before exiting Chorrol through the south gate. Weynon Priory was a short walk from there.

The Priory was very nice, though not much different from any other place of worship I have seen. The chapel and Priory House were separate from each other, but I decided to pay my respects to the gods before finding Jauffre. My prayer was short, and I made my way back into the Priory House where I was spoken to by an elderly man in a simple, black robe.

“Welcome to Weynon Priory, what can we do for you?”

“I’m looking for Jauffre. I have something for him.”

“Very well, he is upstairs, on your right. Blessings of Talos be with you.”

I thanked him and headed upstairs, turning right like he told me to. There was no one there except for another old man reading a book. I started to wonder if maybe the old man downstairs was losing his mind, but decided to speak with the one reading the book.

“Hello, I am looking for Jauffre. Do you know where I can find him?”

The old man smiled and said, “Last I saw he was sitting right in front of you. I am Jauffre. What can I do for you?”

I was a little surprised that this old man was the Grandmaster of the Blades. I was expecting a huge man that could tear my arms off with one hand. Then I realized that his eyes were extremely intelligent. Obviously he had risen through might of mind, rather than might of muscle.

“I have something for you, information and something… else.” I wanted to make sure that this truly was Jauffre before revealing I had the Amulet of Kings.

“What kind of information?”

“Information about the Emperors assassination.”

His eyes grew wide and he leaned forward to look at me. His voice dropped a little, but became slightly harsher. “What do you mean? Who are you? What do you know about the Emperor’s death?”

“My name is Will Syras, I was at the emperors side when… When the bastards killed him. Just before he died, he gave me something, and told me of you, and what is to come. He told me to ‘Take the amulet to Jauffre, only he knows of the heir to my throne. Find him, and close shut the Jaws of Oblivion.’”

“The Amulet? Did he give it to you?”

“Yes,” I drew it out from my pack, “he told me to bring it to you.”

He took it from me and examined it. “By the Nine! This IS the Amulet of Kings! Only the strange destiny of Uriel Septim could have brought it here to me, stranger still since it was brought by you.”

“What about the heir? Do you know where he is?”

“Yes, I do. His name is Martin, he is a priest at the chapel of Akatosh in Kvatch.” I immediately made a connection between this information, and the fact that I am already headed to Kvatch to meet the Dark One. “If what you say is true, Will, then Martin is our only hope... The Jaws of Oblivion must refer to something, did he say anything else about them?”

“No, but he did make some reference to ‘The Prince of Destruction.’”

“Mehrunes Dagon? This does not bode well for us. If we have an entire Daedra Lord against us, we must move immediately. The Daedra have ways of knowing secret things in our world, and I would not be surprised if they knew about Martin‘s true identity. You must hurry and bring him to me. I can offer some assistance, and I’m sure others in the Priory can help. Many were former Blades after all. Here, take what you wish from my stores, you will need them in the coming days.” With this he stood up and pulled a key from his pocket. He walked over to a chest and unlocked it for me. “Go now, we haven’t much time to lose. Get to Kvatch and bring Martin back alive. I will keep the Amulet safe until you return.”

I pulled a few potions and scrolls out of the chest and said goodbye to Jauffre. I then went downstairs and asked the old man there for any assistance he could provide. When he heard that I was working for Jauffre he offered me his horse. I gladly accepted, and set off to the stables to find my new means of transportation.

16: Hunter/Gatherer

I struck out along the road for a while, and was met with no confrontations, but there was two corpses of bandits. Apparently they were taken out by imperial legion patrols. The had nothing useful on them, so I moved on. The road grew monotonous as I walked on, I refused to stop anywhere, but I did get a little sidetracked.

The road was familiar enough for a while, I had traveled on it to get to Cheydinhal after all, but I noticed more things this time around. For one, I noticed all the beautiful flora. I recognized many of them, and harvested the useful reagents that I could. I wandered off the road in this way, picking flowers and drawing out root pulp as I made my way deeper into the woods. Birds flitted from tree to tree above me, and I encountered the occasional wolf, but otherwise my detour was quiet and uneventful. I encountered a herd of deer at some point, and I dispatched them quickly with fireballs. The meat on them was well cooked by the spell, and I pulled it off quite easily. I enjoyed a small snack of venison, but packed most of it away for later use.

I continued on, pulling out mushrooms and monkshood flowers. I passed an old imperial fort ruin, and checked my map to see where I was. Thankfully, I found that I was actually taking a shortcut through the woods, instead of being wildly off course. Soon I was back on the Red Ring Road, and right back on course.

I came upon a small inn, and decided to rest for a little while. I walked into the inn, and was greeted by roasting venison and foaming flagons of beer. Happy hour was apparently here! The inn was packed with people in armor, mostly shoddy bits of fur, and the cacophony was glorious.

I squeezed up to the bar and ordered an ale, which was promptly served to me by the bartender. I paid her and asked what was going on. She was forced to yell over the din, but I found out why these adventurers were here. Apparently a Necromancer had moved into the nearby cave, causing all sorts of undead havoc. I remembered the Mages Guild’s stance against necromancy, and offered to help her. She thanked me and told me where the cave was; just north of the inn itself. I thought I could handle a necromancer den, so I finished my ale and exited the inn.

The cave was a very short distance from the inn, and I pushed my way into the darkness. It was filled with rats and skeletons, which wasn’t at all surprising, and I made short work of them. I found a necromancer deep in the cave, but he didn’t fit the description of the one I was looking for so I assumed that there must be more. I found a key on the Necromancer’s charred corpse, and had to backtrack to find a door that it fit into. I burst in, ready for anything, and received a fireball in the chest for my efforts.

I was thrown back through the doorway, and I rolled myself over to extinguish the flames. I quickly healed myself and got up. I summoned a skeleton, and sent it to deal with the Necromancer’s own minions. It was quickly blown apart by several spells, and I discovered that I was up against two Necromancers! I launched a fireball at the closest one, and it connected with her chest. I was shocked to see the Necromancer simply keep coming at me. She had a very hefty mace, and appeared to have the intention of making my head it’s best friend. I launched another fireball at her, but in my haste I missed, and was forced jump behind a rock pillar as another fireball was launched at me. I fired off another fireball at her from behind my cover, and this one hit its mark as well. Nevertheless, she kept coming, although admittedly slower and more painfully. I jumped out to meet her, and as I brought my axe down to meet her, I was blasted with a strong bolt of electricity from the other Necromancer. I was once again sent flying, this time twitching as I hit the floor. The woman came to finish me off, which gave me the perfect opportunity to freeze her kneecaps solid. She screamed and fell to the floor, her legs completely frozen stiff. I finished her with my axe and ducked behind some roots as the second Necromancer charged. My magicka reserves were drained, and I was in a great deal of suffering, so I quaffed a few potions very quickly, and felt my strength return. I lobbed a fireball at the oncoming Necromancer, who also ducked down behind some roots. I smiled and sent a few fireballs his way, knowing that his roots would catch fire, while mine would absorb the lighting he sent. I heard a satisfying scream, and charged towards his cover, sending Flare spells at him to keep him down. His robe had caught fire, and he was desperately trying to put it out, which gave me a great opportunity to finish him off. A few fireballs silenced him for good, and the world was slightly safer.

I picked through the belongings of the necromancers, and found a few jewels, scrolls, and potions, but not much else. The Cave was empty now, so I decided to return to the inn and collect the reward.

It was night by the time I was back at the inn, and when I went inside I saw that all the adventurers had left. Word travels faster than I do apparently. I approached the bartender and she rewarded me with a small amount of gold, which I took gladly. I asked if there were any rooms available for the night, and received one free of charge. I hefted myself up to the small room and laid myself down.

Looking back at the past few days, I have accomplished quite a lot. My magical skills are returning to me slowly, and I have not forgotten how to use an axe. Things are looking up, as I have already made quite a good bit of gold, and am well stocked for whatever lies in my path, but I cannot help the feeling of dread that I have. I am worried about what will become of the empire without an Emperor. Perhaps Jauffre will find the heir and restore him to the throne, but who knows. Dark times are ahead, I can feel it. I hope that this enigmatic Dark One that I search for is able to give me some answers.

15: No answers, only more questions.

I hopped out of bed the next morning feeling extremely refreshed. I wandered up to breakfast, but was not particularly hungry. I grabbed an apple and bit into it, but that was the extent of my breakfast. I continued to eat the apple as I went to check on the Dark One, eager to find out what had happened to him. He was reading from a large tome, with Deetsan still asleep in the chair next to his bed. As I came closer, he looked at me with only one eye. I jumped at this, for his other eye was still reading from the tome.

“Good morning, Will. I trust you slept well.”

“Oh, extremely well… umm.” His right eye was still fixed on me, with his left glancing back and forth at the pages.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Does this bother you?” He pointed at his left eye, which continued to read.

“Yes, a little bit.” He blinked, and suddenly both eyes were trained on me. The dark irises were a little unnerving, like looking into a night sky without stars.

“This is a very good book, but it won’t go anywhere. So, I assume you have come with questions?”

The truth was that I had questions, but they refused to form into words I could use. They all fused together into one unspeakable word, something like ‘whaoaeyudoihere.’ Obviously I couldn’t say such nonsense, so I struggled with my words until I had unraveled my thoughts a little. He simply smiled as I mouthed words at him, and I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“I think I know what you are trying to ask me.” I hoped he did, because I certainly didn’t. “You want to know what happened to me. Why did I walk into this guild hall and collapse? Well, I cannot explain it well, but I will let you know that you have been where I was.”

“Oblivion?”

“Correct. But not anything like what you have been through, far worse. We have a similar affliction, you and I. I can explain more, but not now. Time must pass, and walls must crumble. Meet me in Kvatch in two days time, and come prepared.” He smiled, and his eyes returned (both of them) to the tome. He spoke some mystic words, and suddenly he was gone!

I patted at the bed to make sure he wasn’t simply invisible, but he was truly gone. I punched the bed in frustration. Who was he?! Why did he have to be so enigmatic?! Deetsan snored, and I returned to my bed downstairs. I pulled out the map I had bought the other day, and found the city of Kvatch on it. It was easily a day and half’s walk, so I started putting my things together. I had to find the Dark One, I had to know who he was, and know what he knew.

As I readied my pack for the journey, I found the Amulet of Kings, and remembered that I had to travel to Chorrol to find Jauffre. I checked the map once again, and decided it wasn’t too far out of the way, but I would be cutting it close. It looked like it would add about a half day to my travel, bringing it up to two days to get to Kvatch. That was a pessimistic look at how long it would take me, but it turned out to be fairly close to the actual time it took.

I hefted my pack onto my shoulders, and fastened my axe to my waist. Leaving without telling anyone would probably cause some worry, so I told Deetsan that I would be back in a little under a week, and that I was going to find the Dark One. She glanced at the empty bed, but then told me that there would always be a bed open for me here.

I went to the local tavern to stock up on provisions, and set off through the huge gates of Cheydinhal. I would not see them for quite some time.

14: The Dark One

The next morning was uneventful. I ate a good sized breakfast with the rest of the guild, and we discussed various things, many of them centering on Falcar. I hadn’t really known him, but apparently not many of the guild members were surprised about his departure or his affiliation with the darker side of magic. I felt lost in this conversation about his past, so I excused myself from the table and went out on a stroll.

The morning air was once again refreshing and moist, and as I made my way through the city I breathed deep. My lungs had recovered from the wounds I had received in Oblivion, and the fresh air was very welcome. As I passed the chapel, I realized that I had not prayed in the last few days, so I quietly pushed open the large wooden doors to the chapel.

The inside was dark and smelled of incense. I bowed my head, and walked up to the large, circular altar. I knelt and prayed to the Nine, asking for forgiveness of any sins that I may have committed. I continued to pray, but such things are not fit for a journal. I felt the Nine bless me, and their warmth filled my bones for a moment. Smiling, I stepped out of the chapel and into the mountain air. Compared to the musty air of the chapel, the outside air was like the first breath of spring after a long, grey winter.

I walked back to the guild hall, and when I entered I heard the last bits of breakfast being finished off. I went up to the second floor, where there was a good deal of alchemical apparatuses. I pulled out a sack of reagents that I had collected over the last few days, and sat down to begin my work. I didn’t have much to work with, but I was able to make a few restorative potions in case I got tired during a long day. I still had a small amount of ingredients left over afterwards, so I wrapped them better and rebottled several of the more fluid reagents.

Just as I finished packing away my ingredients, the main door of the guild hall slammed open. A robed figure stumbled in and managed a gasp before collapsing. I immediately ran to the crumpled form and called for help. I placed my hands on his torso and released a small healing spell, and the cool blue glow passed through his form. I did this several more times before rolling him onto his back and lifting off his hood.

Beneath the dirty green hood was the darkest Dunmer I had ever seen. His skin was not the usual dark blue of the Dark Elves, instead it was pitch black and he appeared to have red sores on his face. I wondered if his was naturally that way, or if some cruel enchantment was upon him. Deetsan descended on the Dark Elf and cast a much more powerful Restoration spell on him. When she had finished, she asked me to help her get him into a bed. We took him up to my bed and lay him upon it.

I left Deetsan to watch over him for a while, and cleared some of my belongings to an open bed in the basement. When I returned to check on the patient, I relieved Deetsan and assured her that I would watch over him. She seemed satisfied and went back downstairs, but returned soon after with a warm, damp cloth.

“Sometimes the simplest ways are better than magic.” She gave the cloth to me, as well as a bowl full of more warm water, and I started mopping the Dunmer’s face. I dipped the cloth back into the water and wringed out the excess water, and then placed the cloth on the Dunmer’s forehead.

I watched over the Dark Elf for much of the night, but when Deetsan came to relieve me, I gladly went to my new bed in the basement and collapsed. I fell into a deep sleep, but something awakened me before dawn. I was extremely groggy, but I made my way up to where Deetsan was watching the patient. She had fallen asleep, but the patient was beginning to stir.

“Who are you?” The Dunmer spoke in a voice even deeper than was usual for his race. His eyes were pure red, except for the iris, which was black. I was startled by these glowing orbs, and my eyes immediately drifted to his teeth. They were normal, not fang-like in anyway, but one could never be entirely certain…

“I am Will Syras. You are in the Cheydinhal Mages Guild. We are taking care of you, don’t worry.”

“Ah! The Hero of Kvatch. I am pleased to meet you.”

I wondered at this curious title, I had never been to Kvatch after all, let alone done anything heroic there. “Who are you, exactly?” I asked this question gently, not wanting to make the patient feel pressured.

“I am the Dark One. Do not be puzzled by me. Things will become clear in time. Now, go and sleep, I can tend to myself.” He certainly proved this to be true, as he cast a healing spell upon himself of extreme power. The after effects washed over me, and suddenly my weariness caught up with me. I made my way down to my bed and fell into the deepest sleep of my life.

13: Black Secret

I awoke at around 7:30 at night, and I started looking around for Falcar. He was not in the guild hall, so I assumed that he was out on the town. I was feeling very refreshed, and went down to the makeshift practice room that the guild hall had. I went through some more basic summoning, and refreshed my Alteration with some shield spells. By the time I had depleted my energies it was 9:00, and I went to look for Falcar again. He was still nowhere to be found, so I decided to ask Deetsan if she had seen him.

“Oh, yes. I’m afraid you must have slept through it all. You must be a deep sleeper.”

“What happened, Deetsan?”

“Oh well… It’s my fault really, I just couldn’t believe Falcar had given the same task that he had given to Vidkun! I didn’t want to lose any more associates. I confronted him after you got back, and well, one thing led to another, and he stormed out.” Deetsan said this casually, as if it were normal for a guild head to simply walk out of his guild hall.

“Deetsan, I have some bad news. Vidkun isn’t missing. He’s dead.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised. He was gone for several weeks after all,” she sighed “what a horrible way to die…”

“And what about my recommendation?” I realized that if Falcar was gone and wouldn’t give me a recommendation, I might never be able to get into the Academy.

“I was getting to that. Listen, I want you to go into Falcar’s quarters and see if you can find anything… unusual. While you’re in there, look for a recommendation. I don’t know if he filled one out for you or not, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Alright, but what if there is no recommendation?”

“Don’t go jumping to conclusions. We’ll cross that swamp when we come to it.”

With that, I set off for the basement. Falcar’s room was locked, but my skills with a lock pick would be enough to pop it open. I glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and, satisfied that no one was there, I picked the lock.

Inside Falcar’s room was everything a Guild Head would need to do his business. I closed the door and searched through his desk and drawers, but found nothing more than an ink well and some shoes. The only place I had left to search was his personal chest, and that was locked. Once again, I was able to pick the lock, and started rummaging through the papers and clothes in the chest. I looked at all the papers, but none of them were a recommendation. As I got to the bottom of the chest, my hand closed around something smooth and very warm. I pulled it out and examined it. It was a black soul gem. Black soul gems are used in the field of necromancy, and I immediately dropped it onto the ground. It seemed to ooze evil power, and I nudged it away from me with my shoe. I then continued to search through the chest, this time more carefully. I found another black soul gem, and wrapped them both up in some blank pieces of paper.

I returned to Deetsan bearing the grim news. “Oh my, It’s worse than I feared. And no recommendation? Hmm, give me the gems, I must include them in my report to the council.”
“And my recommendation?”

“I’ll explain the situation to the council. Under the circumstances, I think they will accept it as a recommendation. After all, I am now the ranking guild member here.”

I returned to my bed, and read a few books from the rather sparse library. I mulled over what Falcar had been doing. Black soul gems! I thought those were only used for very powerful necromancy! I wondered what Falcar had been doing during his frequent absences from the guild hall. I closed my books, and practiced a few shield spells before falling asleep.

12: Dreams of Blood, Wells of Death

I awoke to sunlight and chirping birds. It was wonderful. The last time I had slept in a bed (if you could call that a bed) I was awakened by guards in the Imperial Prison. I just laid there for a while, feeling the soft sheets envelope me and pull me in and out of light sleep. Finally, I remembered that I had work to do, and managed to pull myself out of the bed.

I stretched my arms out and saw the wounds. They were still there! The spells had closed them, but I could feel them still. It was an interesting sensation, like worms wriggling their way out of my skin, and I couldn’t help but giggle. As I watched them, they started to blister and open before my very eyes. I kept giggling and watched as they spread across my whole body and I collapsed back onto the bed, laughing and rolling in my own blood.

I nearly jumped out of the bed when I truly awoke. I felt my skin and saw that the wounds were closed, and there were very few scars. I breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed back onto the pillow. I then decided that I didn’t want to fall asleep again and have that dream once more, so I got up and headed downstairs.

It was early yet, and most of the guild was still asleep. I picked through the cabinets and found some apples and bread, which I gobbled down. They were delicious, and I found myself digging through barrels full of apples to eat. When I was finished, I realized that I had just eaten 7 apples and two whole loaves of bread. I almost gagged at this extraordinary amount of food, but held it down. I smiled and walked out to get some fresh air.

The sun was low on the horizon still, and I breathed in the early morning air. It was moist and wonderful, and smelled faintly of the mountains. I strolled around Cheydinhal for an hour or so, taking in the beautiful city and enjoying the freedom. The sunlight reflected off of the chapel’s stained-glass, and the grass swished about in the mountain breeze. I stopped and washed my face and arms in the river, but suddenly I was overcome by a feeling of extreme dread.

I jumped back from the river and searched in all directions, looking for the source of this dread, but found nothing. I realized how insane I must look, kicking around in the rushes and frantically peeking into shadows. I shuddered and controlled myself. Obviously the dream I had had was still affecting me; that’s the only explanation.

I returned to the guild hall and found that most of the members had awakened, but Deetsan was still asleep, so my work on a recommendation was postponed. I decided that I might as well practice my magic skills, and went down into the basement to see what training areas it had to offer.

A single training dummy was chained to the ceiling and floor in one corner of the basement, but it was enough for my purposes. I started warming up with some simple Flare spells, and then moved on to Alteration and some light Conjuration. The memory of my accident was still fresh in my mind, so I didn’t try any Daedra, just a simple skeleton. Some might consider this Necromancy, but there is a difference between the two of them.

Conjuration is the opening of gateways to other realms in order to bring forth Daedra or Undead. The Undead are simply pulled from their plane of existence for a short period of time, and no bones or bodies are required to conjure them. Necromancy, on the other hand, is the sustained reanimation of dead bodies, whether they are zombies or skeletons. Necromancy requires a supply of corpses to bind souls to and maintain. Necromancy can create skeletons that last for a very long time, even years, whereas Conjuration of the Undead is restricted to short periods of time. The processes between the two of them are extremely different, and almost mages have come to accept this.

When I had depleted my magicka, I decided to go see Deetsan again. She was awake this time, and when I approached her she seemed fairly happy to see me. Happy until I asked her about the key to the well.

“What?! Oh no, not again. Listen, I have the key, but I'm not going to give it to you until we’ve talked about it.”

“Well, let’s talk now.”

“Not now! I’m sorry, but I just don’t feel comfortable speaking about it while Falcar is within earshot. Later, we will talk.”

I wondered what she was talking about, but agreed and went off to see what spells I could learn. My repertoire of spells was weakened by my time in prison, and I needed to get back up to practice. Spells aren’t cheap though, and I only had enough Septims for one weak Telekinesis spell. I decided that I should sell some of the miscellaneous loot I had come across and see what I could get after that.

I was about to leave the guild hall, but Falcar stepped outside just before I left. I decided this was as good a time as any to speak with Deetsan, so I found her near the alchemy sets and proceeded to ask about the well key.

“Hmm, yes. Falcar is gone now, isn’t he? Good. Listen, the task he assigned you is not an original one. He’s been using it lately to put off people from joining the guild. Who wants to go diving into a well to look for some old piece of jewelry? I thought nothing of it, until poor Vidkun came along. He was the first one to accept the task, and went off to take care of it. He never came back! That was a couple of weeks ago, and I only just got over worrying about Vidkun. Anyway, I’m going to give you the key and something extra. I don’t know how much it will help, but I hope it will be enough.” With that she taught me a spell that not only gave me the ability to breathe underwater, but also lightened my load slightly. Once I had it committed to memory she gave me the key, and as I was leaving she said “Oh, and if you find out anything about Vidkun, I’d be happy to know.”

I walked outside and proceeded around behind the Guild Hall. Right in the middle of the garden behind the hall was the well, and the key fit easily into the huge padlock. The lock seemed unnecessarily large for keeping a well shut, but I thought no more of it. I didn’t want my clothes to get all wet, so I stripped down to my skivvies and laid my clothes on the well. I cast the spell of Buoyancy that Deetsan had taught me, and climbed down the ladder and into the cold waters of the well.

It was dark, and so I cast a simple spell of light to illuminate the darkness. I swam down the well and emerged into a small underwater cavern. The Light spell I had cast an eerie green glow, and when I saw the corpse I tried to scream. The water stopped the sounds of my terror, but it took me a bit of time to recover. There was a bloated corpse floating in the waters of the well, and one of its hands was dragging it downward. I took it to be Vidkun, and I knew immediately what was dragging his hand downwards. I wrenched open his bloated hand and pulled the Ring of Burden from his fingers. It was extremely heavy, and I had to use both hands to support its weight! I started dragging it towards the well exit, but at this point my Light spell went out.

I started to panic, but noticed that there was still an eerie green glow in the room. I looked around and found a very interesting, three-frond plant growing in the soil underwater! It was glowing and humming faintly, and I knew it must be fairly rare, so I carefully harvested the whole plant and attached it to my waist. It provided enough light for me to swim out of the well with the ring in both hands, and I was soon back on dry land. I dropped the ring and dried off with my shirt. I then pulled on my pants, hefted the ring up and carried it into the guild hall.

I went inside and dropped the ring on the first table I came to. I swear that it creaked when the ring landed on it. I then went upstairs and put on a dry shirt. My arms were extremely tired from carrying the ring, and my legs were also tired from swimming with it. I fell onto the bed and took a quick nap.

I woke up 7 hours later. Turns out I was more tired than I realized!