NABC Chapter 436: Chapter LV: A Cheesy Situation
Chapter 436: Chapter LV: A Cheesy Situation
Chapter 436: Chapter LV: A Cheesy Situation
"These winds grow more insidious by the hour." Savos comments on the second day of our trek south, a deep frown on his face "I can barely scry the edge of the sea from here."
"Good thing we have the OrbTM then" I comment "Or we wouldn't be able to send messages out either." Not that I had any issues with scrying, which would have been genuinely worrying.
"Reyvin" He sighs "Most magi can't send long range messages no matter what."
I blink "Right. I forgot about that."
He gives me a gaze laden with doubt, for whatever reason.
All I did at this was chuckle darkly.
"Your arrogance aside" My grandfather chuckles "I think we can both agree at this point that the winds are more than simply caused by magic?"
"Yup" I nod immediately "They are quite cursed."
"Of course you already got that" He mutters to himself "And do you know what the curse does?"
"Mostly a type of 'nothing shall ever grow here' curse of spite I'd say" I answer after a bit of silence, drawing immediate eyes from the rest of the magically capable "The perpetrator should be rather obvious but I find it hard to accept that even he would be quite so spiteful." "Indeed" Savos frowns "You don't suppose he enchanted the rock before the fact? Made the whole 'Should you cease to love me I will cease to protect you' threat not a bluff?"
"Wouldn't put it past the sanctimonious ass." I shrug.
We were discussing Vivec quite plainly, yet another topic of curiosity finding its way to our bored minds as we resumed trudging through the ashes of Vvardenfell. And that is how most of our trek went, short bouts of either magical discussion or pointless banter accompanied by long silences only broken by meal breaks and the rare rest stop when the weaker Mer got too tired to go on.
The Ashlanders present, including the Unmourned, also taught me a game of theirs about throwing rocks for points and the like but it was interesting for only a good ten minutes before it too melded in with the monotony.
Kind of difficult to keep a hyperactive mind occupied when all around you is swirling grey with spots of red.
So I decided to do some actual work, pulling out the Aldmer book on spiritualism I won when I took Harkon down, and spent the rest of the day flipping through it all a good three times, making sure every detail of what I wanted to accomplish was in order.
The sheer mental gymnastics one would need to engage in to even comprehend the damn thing would have probably melted my head if I was still my old self, even now I somehow emerged from the experience with a throbbing headache.
I shudder at the memory of it being even worse.
Thankfully I was not forced to delve any deeper into mindboggling mechanics of the universe as upon the dawn of the third day we finally reached our destination, the ruins of Vivec City at the southernmost point of Vvardenfell.
And how refreshing it was to actually see the dawn for once... Fucking ash.
Well, we stopped by the Erabenimsun encampment first but word of my call had already reached them and the entire warrior clan had packed up and were currently making their way to Ald'ruhn and leaving only a short message carved into a waystone, something Massour and Massanor were a mite disappointed about since they saw me give gifts to every tribe I visited. It was just too bad that the tribe priding itself on efficiency was a bit too efficient this time. Nomadic nuisances aside, Vivec City looked just about as pristine as one might expect a city struck by a meteor charged with Daedric energies, which is to say not at all.
Of the once numerous square islands raised by Vivec's 'divine power' only a trio remained on its westernmost fringe, even if the buildings were most certainly abandoned as I could still feel the subtle aura of the crash suffusing the entire place.
Living here would be immensely uncomfortable.
Which is why I didn't even pause as we approached it, the Mer behind me all looking less than enthused by the idea but none of them able to tell me to stop. I had by now carved my right to rule all of them into their minds, intentionally or not.
Baar Dau, the great rock of Sheogorath was shattered by the impact, but the largest chunk of it I could feel was nestled deep within the ruins of the Tribunal Temple itself, no doubt a joke by the mad god, and a final salting of the wounds of Vivec.
Never liked the hermaphroditic little shit, far too preachy for a hypocrite of his caliber.
"It would seem we have found our destination." I raise my voice over the howling of the winds that seemed to be far harsher in this place.
"You don't mean..." Vayrin Indoril pauses as he sees my expression "Is that wise, my lord?"
"Probably not." I shrug "But the job still needs doing, and I doubt we will find a place of power belonging to Sheogorath anywhere nearly as convenient."
"That is what bothers me." Savos cuts in "It feels too convenient."
"Well that is probably because it is, ole' Sheo is known to appear exactly when people find it fitting." I point out "We are still going in though."
Some of them, mostly Savos and Vayrin admittedly, grumbled but in the end they all realized our choices were not abundant here, so with heavy steps we reached the coast of the Inner Sea and I quickly transmuted a boat from all the iron I was carrying around...
Don't ask.
The boat was large and well balanced but it would have probably still toppled over under our collective weight if Savos and I were not keeping it nice and stable the entire way to the temple.
On our way we saw the ruins of hundreds upon hundreds of houses, all of them once neatly stacked next to and atop each other in a place once considered to be the safest and one of the most prosperous in the world.
All we found now was rot, debris, and submerged skeletons, so many gods damned skeletons...
"This place truly is cursed." Dagoth Vemris scowls "So much death, and all of it for the ego of
a betrayer."@@@@
"Those usually have the biggest egos I've found." I quip "Though I feel if we were to start shoveling every wrong done by all those involved we would soon descend into a ten hour religious debate, and not all of us here are as interested in that as Vayrin."
The spindly elf inclines his head in agreement.
The priest on the other hand looks downright disappointed.
Our conversation is stopped as the prow of the boat hits rock, signaling the end of our journey. We disembarked and I had Akulakhan keep watch of over both the ship and the entrance we
found.
Which was rather odd when you consider the temple had been both exploded and under constant ash storms for the past two hundred years.
Very odd, yet oh so utterly expected.
'Why?' you might ask yourself.
Well...
"And so do not lose faith my brothers and sisters!" A voice thundered through the passage we were currently sneaking into "Hold on to your zeal, and your loyalty, and one day our gods will return! Resplendent and powerful, and the golden age will be upon us once again!"
I could practically feel Vayrin vibrating in zealous rage behind me. "The faithless will see the error of their ways and their betrayal will be washed in a sea of blood!" The preacher went on "And we will not make the same mistakes as our ancestors! The vile Ashlanders who kept to the accursed Daedra will not be given a moment of succor!"
Shelly upset! He even told me to bugger off yesterday, I am not he-
It was at this point I let out just a bit too much power on instinct.
He twitches violently now and a crash is heard as the space before me cracks and the old man is
replaced by a majestic red haired woman that looked suspiciously like Minthara, except she replaced all the elegance she got from her elven side and went full Nordic amazon with her
build.
I will be the first to admit, the image did things to me. "You." The woman spoke in a powerful voice "How did you make it flee?" "Champion Ulrika I presume?" I ask instead of answering and her hand twitches, cracking the
space around her "Not one for small talk I see" I chuckle wryly "It could have something to do with my powers, I tend to... irritate beings of power."
She narrows her eyes, the two blue orbs practically glowing with contained might "Can you
make it permanent?"
"Possibly?" I shrug and she immediately glares at me, forcing me to explain what I meant "I
haven't actually tried doing something of that scale at all ever so it could go either way." 'As if I'd ever let an opportunity like this one miss me.' Composing my excited mind I elaborate "But I would be more than willing to help you, seeing
how beings of your power work would be... incredibly useful to me." Tilting my head I add "Though I doubt it will be either quick or uncomplicated."
"Of course" The warrior woman scoffs "Things worth doing are rarely simple or easy."
"Such is the world we live in" I commiserate before adding a leading "I do have a pertinent question though."
"Speak." She commands, slight irritation in her tone.
"Was your other side-" She straight up growls at that "Pushed back by me, or did I simply
give you an opening?"
"The latter, obviously." The Champion rolls her eyes "You are powerful child, but not that powerful."
"Good" I nod "I had no idea what I did exactly."
At this, some amusement enters her eyes "My other side as you call it" She says with
understandable disgust "Is in contact with Mephala, is it not?" "Supposedly?" I shrug "Not like she tells me what she does with the rest of the Daedra all the
time. She just told me to use specific words with the madman and he would open the way for
me." "Good" She nods "I will use her to contact you then, her or the small lizard anyway." She leans on her folded hands "Now, you wanted something from the creature?"
"See, I am on something of a quest right now..." I proceed to explain what she needs to know about my task, much to her growing appreciation.
"A hero of the age" She chuckles "How nice to meet a colleague."
"Oh, but it gets even better!" I say with a smirk.
She raises a surprisingly elegant eyebrow "Oh?"
"Want to hear about your Dragonborn descendant?"
And it was then that I found that Ulrika's own brand of madness manifested in obsession over
her family and those she considered close to her. At first she was thankful I saved Minthara
from the fate given to her by the Void but once she caught one tell too many I was promptly given a six hour long shovel talk by the feminine side of a mad god.
That I managed to survive and leave the place probably meant she kind of accepted me. And I
was not sure if I liked that fact or not...
I left the submerged temple with tired bags under my eyes, too tired to even care about the
irritating peeping tom at the edge of my senses or the worried glances of those who followed me into this literal hell on earth.
"Come on then." I said as I approached my followers, all of whom looked relieved to see me
return to them alive "One final place to visit and we can be done with these damned winds."
It was two days later as we marched north that we were met with a cloaked figure that soon revealed themselves to be an Argonian wearing Telvanni heraldry. He gave me one look, bowed deeply, and spoke "Sarushta-Kai greets the great ones." The title was evidently directed at myself and Savos.
"My master, the mighty Divayth Fyr cordially invites Lords Dagoth and Aren to his tower so
that they may partake of his hospitality." He turns his gaze to the rest of them "Your servants
shall be provided lodgings for the duration of the stay."
Respectful and to the point, Fyr chose his servants well. I shared one quick look with Savos
and we both agreed at the same time ""Eh, why not?""
Uncle/grandma Sheo is an inspiration to all, living inside the stone as they do.
You should follow their example for maximum productivity!
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