Oblivion Day 19 - An Orc's Vengence

15 Heartfire, 3E433

Bravil

~~~

Another day, another two or three Oblivion gates. I cannot keep up this pace for much longer and maintain any sort of belief that I will be able to accomplish anything else with my time.

The gate I had marked on my map lay in-between Leyawiin and Fort Blueblood, making it an hour's journey at worst. The increasing stink of molten rock led me in the right direction and the sun was just rising as I finished dispatching the last of the Scamps outside the gate.

Like yesterday's this gate led to a very small pocket of Oblivion with only one tower to ascend, but this one contained far more Dremora than the last and hardly any Scamps. It was a refreshing change of difficulty, for the Dremora themselves were still quite weak and their tactics uninspired. I did find a Dremora bow on one of them, but it was much heavier than my own, so I took it with me to sell later. It is a fearsome looking weapon, but my testing revealed it to be not much more powerful than my simple wooden bow. I suppose that is a good analogy for the Dremora themselves, none of which posed any sort of challenge for me.

The Daedra's hearts fetched a nice price back in Leyawiin, the bow not so much. The story of the Orsimer Knight who had been bothering the Count of Leyawiin about something stuck in my mind, so I put off my trip to Cheydinhal and visited the castle. 

The Count, Marius Caro, is a friendly, approachable sort of person. He greeted me and asked what business I had in his city. When I replied that I was visiting each of the cities in the province to secure my entry into the University, he exclaimed that my quest was an admirable one and asked if I could be persuaded to delay my journey to provide a small service to Leyawiin.

The small service, unsurprisingly was to speak with the Orsimer and determine what it was she was in the city for. Like most of her kind, she was surly and uncooperative and would not reveal her business to anyone, including the Count. I was not sure then what I could do to succeed in this task, but she solved that problem herself.

Upon approaching her she immediately demanded to know if I knew how to speak properly to a Knight. I felt the best answer was "No", receiving the reply that I needed to address her as 'Sir' every time I spoke with her. An Orsimer putting on airs is not the strangest thing I have had to deal with, but she was certainly an odd character. After ensuring my speech was up to her standards she demanded that I fetch an Argonian hunter named 'Weebam-Na'.

Weebam-Na was also less than cooperative and it took some persuading before he would agree to visit the castle to speak with Mazoga.

Mazoga wanted to go to a place known as 'Fisherman's Rock', but Weebam-Na refused to take her. He excused himself from the conversation and told me where this Rock was, wished me luck, and left, leaving me to escort the heavily-armed Orc. She meant to meet a man there named 'Mogens Wind-Shifter', after which we would, in her own words, see what happens. Clearly this was not to be a friendly chat.

It was a short, unfriendly talk. Mazoga accused Mogens and his little band of murdering a friend of hers, Mogens denied it, then as one the gang leaped at us. But an Orc in full steel armor with a heavy shield and long blade is a foe not to be leaped at without a great deal of thought. Mazoga cut down three of the bandits, including Mogens and I accounted for the two who, for some reason, rushed at me instead.

Having killed all the bandits, Mazoga was satisfied that her oath to avenge her friend was complete. Only then did she admit that she did not know much about being a Knight, but that she thought doing some "good deeds" would be a step in the right direction. She declared my helping her to be a good deed of its own and suggested that I become a Knight as well, which I suppose is as kind a word as I will ever get out of Mazoga.

The Count was pleased by my story and of what Mazoga had been seeking. He declared that Mazoga and I should join his chivalric 'Order of the White Stallion' and that eliminating a local bandit leader was the entrance fee to his self-started Order. However, Mazoga still had not returned from Fisherman's Rock and I was due to be elsewhere by nightfall, so if I do join this Order it will have to be during another day.

It was evening when I left the castle again, so traveling to Cheydinhal was out of the question. Instead I climbed back on my horse and rode to Bravil, intending to spend a day or so there training at the Guild before claiming my recommendation at Cheydinhal.

Naturally the sky began to glow almost as soon as I left the stables. A Gate has opened just off the road, but I had no time to close it today. Once again, that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I arrived at Bravil an hour or so before midnight and am staying at the Guild. After some training and perhaps the purchase of a few spells I will begin to make my way to Cheydinhal, then Bruma, and then I will finally be allowed entrance into the University so that I can find out what these Oblivion stones do. They are clearly enchanted with something, but I am reluctant to pry owing to my lack of knowledge and the deterioration of my magicka-related skills.