Skyrim Day 053 - Dream Me Another Dream

8 Frostfall, 4E201

Morthal

~~~

With an impatient Serana trailing after me, we left the Windpeak Inn well before the sun even started to rise. It was the only thing she did not complain about all day.

This includes the attack on Dawnstar that swept in from the sea with a challenging roar. Hoping perhaps to catch the city asleep, a Dragon flew over the town as we were making our way to Nightcaller Temple.

If it hoped to cause a panic then it failed miserably. The Dragon War was a long time ago though and today's inhabitants of Skyrim are less willing to bend a knee to their supposed betters. The unfortunate Dragon died in a hail of arrow and fireballs that seemed to erupt from every corner of Dawnstar. As luck would have it, the beast's corpse smashed into the earth just behind the Inn, allowing everyone around me to witness the spectacle of a Dragonborn absorbing a soul, much to her surprise.

A small crowd gathered behind the Inn to gawk at the Dragon's skeletal corpse, one man going so far as to stand underneath the rib cage to better marvel at the creature's size. What they wound up doing with the bones is none of my concern.

After waiting ten minutes or so for Erandur's curiosity to be satiated we three continued our walk to the decrepit Nightcaller Temple.

Erandur stopped outside the door to warn me of the dangers we would find within. The Temple had been attacked by a tribe of Orsimer who were being plagued by nightmares just as Dawnstar was today. Desperately fighting back, the priests inside were slowly overpowered and released a gas throughout the Temple. This gas was normally used in their rituals to bring about a state of sleep said to allow communion with the Daedric Prince Vaermina.

Once the gas was released priest and raider alike fell asleep, protected from the natural ravages of time, but unable to wake. Erandur's warning was that both sides would likely be hostile to us once we turned off the gas, but I felt I could handle some priests and bandits. Serana thought otherwise and elected to "guard" the door while Erandur and I ventured inside to thwart the machinations of a Daedric Prince.

The cause of Dawnstar's trouble was a staff Erandur called the 'Skull of Corruption'. We could see it on a lower level of the Temple, but could not reach it at the time. The Temple itself was a large cylinder that spiraled downwards to laboratories and living quarters, each level one step closer to the Skull.

An archway further ahead was blocked by a purple barrier of magicka, but Erandur thought that the remains of the Temple's library would house a method to dispel it. He knew a lot about the temple for someone who had never been in it before and when I questioned his knowledge he admitted that he was a former disciple of Vaermina.

During the attack on the Temple Erandur fled, saving his own life at the expense of many of his brethren with the survivors being put into a sleep they would possibly never wake from. Overcome by guilt, he turned to Mara to seek comfort, waiting for a chance to redeem himself. When rumors of Dawnstar's nightmares reached him, he realized his redemption was at hand...if he could find someone to assist him.

The assistance was needed, for as we walked to the library the sleeping gas noticeably dissipated and the combatants of both sides started to wake up. The Orsimer probably cared not for who Erandur or I were, attacking us immediately. We were treated no better by the waking priests, I suppose to their perception no time had passed between the attack and today, making us a part of the raiding party. For all his guilt Erandur showed no hesitation in striking down his former brothers and sisters.

Once in the library we split up to search for an alchemy manual titled "The Dreamstride". Despite thousands of ruined pages fluttering about us Erandur was confident I would find the book we needed without much trouble. I did, the manual having escaped destruction due to being on a pedestal, away from everything else.

Inside the manual was a recipe for "Vaermina's Torpor", a concoction used by the Daedric Prince's devout to induce hallucinations mixed with plane-walking to traverse Tamriel via memories and dreams. A powerful ability, but one Erandur warned me was extremely dangerous. Some acolytes went mad after a single draught, others continued to make multiple dream-walks, only to finally come out of one without a shred of sanity.

Erandur's plan was to mix this Torpor and use it to "walk" back to when the Temple was still under attack. The barrier blocking our way would not be there and when he woke from the dream-walk he would be on the other side of it in our time, allowing him to dispel it...or so I assumed.

I guess I should not have thought a former Priest of Vaermina would be drink the ritualistic drink dedicated to Vaermina so that he could briefly traverse Vaermina's crazed plane of nightmares. No, he was a priest of Mara now, so the Torpor would not work for him any longer. But someone unaffiliated to any Princes would be allowed the honor of possibly descending into eternal, nightmarish insanity.

Me, for example.

After reading the manual Erandur was forced to admit that he would not be able to mix a vial of the Torpor for us. Instead, we descended further into the gas-filled Temple, waking and slaying Orsimer and priest as we went. Not quite the behavior I expected from a follower of Mara, but who am I to judge?

In a small laboratory we found an unbroken vial of the Torpor, Erandur urging me to drink it at once. I was a bit put off by his eagerness, but I had no choice but to trust him in this matter. Down went the sour mixture, then everything blurred and went black.

I remember being able to see, somehow, memories of the Temple's previous inhabitants floating about, like globes with little worlds inside of them. I reached for one, then felt myself falling...only to awake to a blurriness around the edges of my vision and two priests arguing in front of the Skull.

The older of the two priests referred to me as 'Brother Casimir', ordering me to proceed to the front of the Temple, through the battle, to activate the 'Miasma', the sleeping gas Erandur and I let out of the Temple as we entered.

It felt as though I was there, in the Temple, fighting the battle, yet at the same time it all seemed an illusion. I "knew" as I ran through the several skirmishes that I would not, could not, be harmed. The raiders did not have the advantage, as I expected, but it was clear that their numbers would overwhelm the defenders soon enough.

The person whose memory I was inhabiting knew that he had to venture to a pull-chain near the entrance to the Temple to release the gas and after "I" did so the dream ended and I was on the other side of the formerly-blocked doorway, Erandur waiting where he could.

He immediately started pestering me with questions about how the "Dreamstride" was, but I could only offer the explanation that it was like being there, only not. He expressed his disappointment at not being able to undergo a Dreamstride himself, then on we went.

The two priests I whose argument I witnessed were, surprisingly, waiting for us at the foot of the Skull's altar. They were angry at Erandur, an anger I initially assumed was for trespassing, but as it turned out they personally knew Erandur...who was formerly known as Casimir, the man whose memory I walked. I guess that explains why his memories were the strongest in the Temple.

Naturally, a battle was inevitable and both priests attacked at once, their long sleep hindering them not in the slightest. But they were priests, not warriors.

Our path to the Skull of Corruption was finally clear. Before arriving at Dawnstar Erandur had a ritual granted to him by Mara to send the accursed staff back to where ever it came from, prompting the guilt-ridden man to make the journey to begin with. Now free to proceed, he bounded up the stairs, no doubt eager to free Dawnstar and clear his conscience.

Moments after he began a woman's voice coyly slid into my head, enticing me to slay Erandur while he remained enthralled in his ritual and take the Skull for my own. But I have had long before now had enough to do with Daedric Princes and ignored Vaermina's prodding.

The Skull of Corruption disappeared in a flash, the workings of Mara through Erandur, formerly known as Casimir. He appeared to be quite spent after he came out of his trance, but refused my offer of an escort back to town. Instead, he planned to construct a small shrine to Mara within the Temple and tend to the grounds, perhaps to one day convert it to Mara's worship, perhaps not. Erandur also offered his companionship should I need it on my adventures. I have found I work better alone, more often than not.

Speaking of being alone, Serana was still waiting for me outside the Temple, irritated and sullen about having been stuck outside the whole time with nothing to do. She said nothing on the walk from Dawnstar to Morthal.

I decided to stop at Morthal because one of the pieces of Mehrune's Razor was said to be here. A few questions led me to a modest farmhouse. The man inside, Jorgen, knew what he was in possession of, but cared little for it anyway. Three hundred Septims bought me the hilt to the dagger, the other two pieces will likely be harder to acquire.

Another day, another problem of someone else's solved. Serana is closer yet to her family's estate, should they still be there, but what we will find once we arrive is a mystery I have some trepidation about solving.

Morrowind Day 53 - Jailbreak

6 Frost Fall

~~~

The day started with my full intention to devote it to duties for House Redoran as part of my larger plan to try and unite the Houses. Naturally, no one is going to listen to a Khajiit outlander, but one that is reasonably well-known in a Great House may be listened to. The threat of Dagoth Ur and the Sixth House is real. That the Houses would rather argue among themselves and ignore the larger problem is something that someone needs to correct and unfortunately that 'someone' seems to be myself. 

My life being what it is, I started the day fully anticipating being able to fulfill my goal. I ate a quick breakfast in Balmora, then visited Neminda in Ald'ruhn to deliver my report on the hapless trader Mathis Dalobar. She thanked me and immediately the inter-House arguing reared its head: my new task was to retrieve a valuable Redoran bonemold helm from a thieving member of House Hlaalu in Balmora. Neminda cautioned me not to strike the thief before being struck, lest he be able to declare a moral victory and smugly point out the murderous intent of House Redoran...or something like that. 

The Hlaalu thief was one Alvis Teri, last seen bragging, and wearing, his new acquisition at the Eight Plates eating house. So naturally I went back to the Mages Guild, teleported back to where I started from, and visited the Eight Plates. Alvis was easy to find, the Eight Plates is just one big room with a bar and tables and he was the only one in there wearing a full helm.

I know little of the five Great Houses (less of the hidden Sixth one), but of the three on Vvardenfell it is House Hlaalu that is looking after and for the money. Knowing this, I offered to buy the helmet from Alvis, who willingly parted with it for two hundred Septims. Perhaps a decent sum for him, but still a paltry one for me. There may have been a more "honorable" way of dealing with the situation, but I am valuing expediency in the execution of my House duties. Actions concerning the Nervarine prophecy or actions against the Sixth House are far more important, now that the choice is wholly mine.

Neminda was pleased and elevated me to the rank of 'Lawman' of House Redoran. Her next task involved an old acquaintance: Drulene Falen, the guar herder who I slew the mudcrabs for a while back. This time her guar were disappearing due to a more dangerous foe: bandits. According to Neminda, a group of bandits were holed up in an ancestral tomb near a the cluster of farms which Drulene's was a part of and they had been raiding the farmers for livestock and crops for some time now. The farmers have petitioned House Redoran for assistance and I am to be the official response. On my way out of Ald'ruhn I spied the couple who I reunited a long time ago. They were seated against the hillside and either ignorant of the danger or heedless of it, having a picnic. I was too far away for them to see me and I left them alone. I can only wonder when I will be braving Nix-Hounds for their sake again due to their recklessness.

Druelene was pleased to see me again and mentioned that she had seen guar tracks leading away from her farm to the south before rain washed them away. Obviously no fighter herself, she had no illusions about taking back her stolen property from armed men desperate enough to steal farm animals and was content to wait for a response from House Redoran, of which her family had been a part of several generations ago. Why not now? She never offered that story and I did not ask.

Her guar were barely fifty yards away, hidden just out of view by the rolling hills of the grassland and peacefully grazing outside of a small tomb. I expected the usual skeletons and bonewalkers, maybe even one of those floating things, but the tomb may have been completely abandoned. Other than the bandits, the only guardians were two starving rats which I put out of their misery.

The fight against the bandits is barely worth mentioning. As I guessed, they were desperate, poorly equipped, and not too bright. There were only two of them, neither of which had anything approaching armor, and only one with a respectable weapon: an Orcish battle axe, the acquisition of which must have been quite a tale. The other simply had a rusty iron dagger. Odd.

Drulene's reward for the return of her guar was more hackle-lo leaves to chew on. Neminda was less grateful: the only thing I got from her was more orders. These were much easier to handle though. While I was out rescuing animals, a local Redoran councilman named Athyn Sarethi had been assaulted in his home by assassins. By the time I had come back from Drulene's farm, the Ald'ruhn guards had barricaded the entrance to the manor and were preparing to storm the place. Neminda's orders were to go in alone and bring Athyn out so that the guards could storm the manor without worrying about him. She mentioned that as a councilman, Athyn technically had authority over me as a Redoran retainer, so his orders were to be obeyed.

The guards stationed at the manor entrance let me pass when I told them Neminda had sent me and I could see Athyn and the manor's dead guardsman from inside the entraceway. The man nearly died of fright when he heard me coming, but he relaxed when he saw me. Evidently Khajiit assassins are not very common in this part of the Empire. It is a good thing they are not, for I could have done a much better job than the two assassins which came running at me from further inside the house. I pushed the councilman towards the door and heard him running up the short flight of stairs as I prepared to meet the assassins.

I expected better than what I got. The men were armed predictably: chitin daggers and short swords enchanted with paralysis and poison. Neither wore armor, though good assassins don't need it if they do their jobs correctly. These two did not and their weapons barely scratched my Dreugh armor as mine effortlessly cleaved into them. The battle probably lasted less than a minute. I emerged from the manor bloody, but none of it was my own. Athyn thanked me and assured me he would remember my deed when it came time to pay the favor back. 

Neminda was just as pleased, for the bandit problem was the last item on her list of outstanding duties and the slaying of the assassins made her look even better, I assume, to those higher up in the House. I now need to find one of those higher-ups to sponsor me if I am to pursue further duties within House Redoran. This is probably what Athyn was referring to.

I had business elsewhere though. I cleaned myself up and teleported to the Vivec Mages Guild in order to visit my friend at the ever-ominous Temple canton. On my way through the cantons of Vivec, I wound up passing through the Redoran compound and visited Faral Retheran, the House Redoran steward of Vivec. She had a task for me...in Balmora. Something about a slandering Hlaalu. I am beginning to notice a pattern here. I agreed to look into the matter and moved on.

A gondolier ferried me to the Temple canton for a few gold pieces and I entered the library, looking for my contact. However, she was nowhere to be found and I resorted to prowling about the priests' private quarters, looking for her room. Helpfully, each door has a small metal plate next to it with the name of the occupant. My friend's quarters was locked, but not very securely. I unlocked the door with a quiet word of magic and slipped inside. So far I had not been seen by an Ordinator and I definitely wanted to avoid becoming involved with them.

The room was sparsely furnished and probably typical of the rooms for the lower caste of the Temple. The only hint that anything was amiss was a note left on the dresser for one "Amaya", the code word that my friend told me she would use to indicate she was in trouble. The letter continued on to say that she was in the Ministry of Truth delivering documents and to be sure to remember to bring two Divine Intervention scrolls she had "forgotten" to bring with her. She said that the guard at the Ministry of Truth, Alvela Saram, would help me sneak into the Ministry. As the Ministry of Justice is really the huge floating rock above the Temple canton, my friend was considerate enough to leave a few Levitation potions in her room.

So at eight in the evening, Levitation potions and scrolls of Divine Intervention handy, I drank one of the potions and floated uneasily up to the scaffolding ringing the rock. There was one guard on duty outside and she asked if I was there to visit anyone. When I told her I was trying to visit my friend, she gave me a key to the three entrances into the rock. She was sympathetic towards the Dissident Priests, but cautioned me against committing violence against anyone inside the ministry. She seemed relieved to hear my plan largely consisted of not being noticed.

I was expecting the inside of the Ministry to be luxurious and opulent, but the inside was a network a rough-hewn rock tunnels into which thick wooden doors were set, very much like any number of the smuggler dens and mines I have found myself in. One might expect sneaking a prisoner out of the Ministry of Justice a riveting tale, but in reality I simply made sure my Invisibility never wore off and magically unlocked any doors I encountered. There were Ordinators patrolling the tunnels, but only singly and never in any sort of coordination.

Behind one of the locked doors was the prisoner holding area, more a pit than anything else. Opening the door removed my invisibility, but I was lucky enough to walk through at just the right moment when the Ordinators were looking the other way. After I was invisible again, I sneaked down to the holding area and starting trying the cell doors. They were all locked, but gave up easily to my unlocking spell. There were three doors and the first two I tried housed common thieves, neither of which had any inclination of leaving cell. The third door held my friend, who was a great deal more eager to leave.

We did not spend much time talking. I gave her a Divine Intervention scroll and told her of our mutual friend's recall back to the Imperial City. She seems to think her imprisonment and his leaving to be connected, but I am not so sure. Before activating the scroll, she told me to look for a woman on the docks of Ebonheart and tell her I wanted to go fishing. This woman would deliver me to a secret monastery of the Dissident Priests, where the lost prophecies of the Nerevarine are kept. With that, she activated the scroll and disappeared. 

Per the plan, I was not to activate my own scroll for five minutes after her departure, as to not raise suspicion about ending up together at Ebonheart. Rather than do that though, I drank my last Recall potion. Better to spend the night at home than in an inn. Once I was home, I immediately barricaded the door with all the spare furniture in the room and laid down in my hammock to write this.

I will immediately pursue the lost prophecies tomorrow, but I cannot lose sight of House Redoran, whose favor I may need to call upon in the days ahead.