Subject: Re: [Dagger] [PORC]The tour comes to an end, and a new villain arises Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 02:43:43 -0400 From: Mad Madam Mimm To: dagrfall@ods.com Okay, I decided to switch to first person now- it's easier when that's what everyone else is doing. I was glad to see that Zarth had perked up- after he relaxed a bit, talking coherently seemed to become much easier- which is a little-known but valuable fact. "Ah, you too bear a grievance against the Brotherhood?" I responded. "As it happens, the reason I seem rather sad is that they slaughtered my parents a fortnight past. The Brotherhood had hunted my parents since they were both young- my mother was a warrior-mage and my father a master healer, and they both opposed the Brotherhood in different ways- my mother protected the innocent from them and my father tried to heal those whom they attacked. They met that way- my mother had heard of a family that the Brotherhood had targeted and tried to defend them- she drove them off, but was severely injured, as were the adults of the family. My father was fetched by the townspeople, and brought himself near to death from overexertion, but he manages to save all of them, and he and my mother fell in love. Since that time, the Brotherhood has been searching for them. Finally, they brought enough force against my parents to overwhelm and kill them. I was visiting and had just left that morning- if only I had stayed longer!" A tear rolled down my cheek, and my voice shook a little as I continued. "I feel so guilty, like it's all my fault. I have sworn everlasting hatred for the Dark Brotherhood." Mea and Zarth looked stricken and sympathetic, and Mea touched my arm gently. "I understand, Raven. I hate them too. Perhaps someday we can go hunting together." Zarth was eyeing an until-now-unnoticed bandage on my upper right arm. "My Lady," he said shyly, "was it a member of the Brotherhood that gave you that wound?" "As a matter of fact, yes," I answered. "it was given me as a warning by a new member that I heard about from another peon of theirs. I was stupid, and burst into his room upstairs, and he wounded me and left- it was more humiliating than a defeat." I did not try to hid the blush that crept up my cheeks. "I thought that since he was a new member, he would be easy to defeat. This time anger caused the heat in my face as I continued, "Next time he will not find me so naive." "Just out of curiosity, who was he?" Mea asked. "I find it strange that one of them could be lodging in this very inn, Old Elfie's own stomping grounds, without him and all of the rest of us regulars knowing about it." "His name was Jemalas Tamislane, and he was reputed to be from another world, but I am not sure I believe that. Never have I heard of such a thing. But he had strange arms and armor, and was uncommonly heavy..." I trailed off as Mea and Zarth turned identical shades of sheet white. "Are you sure, M'lady?" Zarth asked. As sure as I can be without knowing the man as an acquaintance," I answered. "Do you know him?" "We called him friend, gave him a tour of our fair land..." her whispering voice trailed off in disbelief. "Jemmy a Brother?" she whispered to herself. At that point, the sound of a woman's tears reached my ears, and instinctively I searched for the source of the sounds. A woman who bore some of the same "look" and "feel" of the man I tried to ambush so unsuccessfully earlier this evening was sitting at a table by the hearth crying as if she had lost all she held dear, with two other teary-eyed women trying to console her, one a Tamriellan and one veiled so that she was not terribly recognizable. Ed was hovering helplessly around the edges. I headed towards them, Zarth and Mea trailing me dazedly in a state of shock. "My ladies," I said gently, "permit a well-intentioned stranger to inquire as to the source of your sorrow? I would help if I could." The Tamriellan lady looked at me measuringly for a moment before answering. Finally she said, "I am Alexis, a Tamriellan, and my companions are the Lady Adeline and the Lady Catris. Lady Catris WAS the wife of a good man, a man from a world called Sovere, from which they and Adeline all hail, who became wicked and evil because it suited his lust for power. The Lady grieves for her dead husband. If you love Tamriel, please help us to find and stop him from conquering our homeland!" At this, Catris whispered hoarsely through her tears, "But if he is killed, Alex, you will die too- he performed the Lifebinding!" Alex looked serious and nervous, but determined. "I do know. But I must save my land and people." I looked puzzled, but Mea, Zarth and Alex explained the happenings on th boat to me while Adeline ignored us in favor of Catris. "I see," I said finally. "We must indeed act, and quickly." I turned to Ed. "if you would, Ed, please bring us some more wine, and we will begin our plans." I handed him enough coins to pay for the ale and the estimated cost of two meals, betting that in his state of mind he would not check the amount, and sat at the table with the others. Three tables in half hour- I'm really a nomad! By the time Ed came back, we were deep into our plans. Catris was still sobbing, but she was more or less coherent and being very helpful. I was impressed with her fortitude- the day my parents died I could not have been coherent except to slay the killers of my parents- but I guess maybe that is what she was doing- killing the man who killed her husband. A chilling thought. At one point, I relaxed back in my chair and reached outside of myself to speak to the wind. It brought me to where the armies gathered, let me read Jemalas's war orders, showed me what transpired between Morgiah and Jemalas,and sent me back to my body just in time for a scroll to appear out of thin air with a slight "pop" and drop neatly in the middle of the table. It was Zarth who reached out with a slightly tembling hand to pick up the scroll. His eyes went wide and he began to read it out loud, wonder in his voice. Dear Friends, I know that you may not accept me, but I have seen the error in my ways. I have returned the undead in my army to the peace of their graves. I have dismissed two of my generals. My armies are now reduced to five thousand dragons of various races and a few thousand humanoid troops. It is only a matter of time before my spell on this island will fail. I am sending back the troops as I write this note. I regret to inform you that Morgiah, being the spiteful woman she is, has learned of and used the Sidhe technique of destroying a Sidhe child whilst it is still in her womb. My child is dead, my plans for conquering Tamriel have faded away. I am alone now, for most of my troops avoid me and Morgiah has left. If you still see the need to put an end to my misery on your beautiful world, my castle gates stand open. I will be on the field before the castle waiting to die. The pain is so that my heart will not allow my mind any more words, so with that I close. Lord Jemalas Tamislane, ruler of Kalisis, Master Dweomerkeeper, High Lord of Thornwood, undeserving of love or compassion, hateful little Sidhe, ready to die for lack of Lady Catris." At this, poor Catris burst into a flood of tears again. "I don't know what to do," She said brokenly. "What if he is lying? What if he does this again? He has been so, so hurtful- I don't know if I can forgive him..." Catris stood and turned for the stairs- and I do not blame her, for the poor lady had had more shocks in one day than any woman should have in a lifetime. The rest of us stood to follow or comfort her or ask her to stay, respectively, as a new fellow in crystal armor walked in asking to join the crew and the world dropped out from underneath us... ...And we were apparently on the island of which Jemalas spoke. In fact, There was Jemalas himself right in front of us, all bent over funny with a dagger through his chest and blood everywhere. The fellow in crystal was with us too, but Ed and the other patrons had stayed behind. I was confused, but needed time to heal Jemalas enough to determine if he was sincere and what to do with him, and I was betting that the chap in crystal would be eager to kill him while he was incapacitated because he didn't know about the letter was with us. I acted quickly, snatching the letter from Zarth and handing it to the crystal guy, who stopped short in surprise at the apparent non sequitur, which gave me time to get to Jemalas and begin healing him. The others in our party just watched with mixed feelings while the crystal guy read the letter. I decided to cut off the healing trance before he was healed enough to make any trouble, but while he was well enough to be roused. I slapped his cheeks gently to bring him back to consciousness and stared him straight in the eye as I spoke: "My lord, we have read your letter and it has apparently brought us to you. I decided to heal you enough to be questioned, but as you can tell, you are still a very sick man, so let's not have any silliness, yes? You must explain your actions to us, and I will decide what to do with you. If I find you worthy, I will defend you to the death, but if I believe that you are attempting to trick us or lie, I have no qualms about killing you as you lay here. Now, what say you?" Raven At 02:09 AM 8/12/98 +0800, you wrote: >>>> "I am Raven Hawke, Lady of Gavaudon. May I ask your names?" Raven (who doesn't go by the title on the road or with friends- and actually isn't much of a proper Lady at all ;) "We are pleased to meet you, M'lady, my young friend here goes by the name of Zarthanator and is a very useful and most helpful traveling companion" I said upon invitation "and I well, I'm known hereabouts as Mea Culpa, my mission in life is to rid Tamriel of the Dark Brotherhood" " So tell me what has you so preoccupied, that you hardly found time to enjoy Elfiran's cuisine ?" I said while motioning Ed for another glass, which he promptly brought over, although I noticed that he was being awfully nonchalant about it, his jolly mood sort of restored to his usual terse self, no matter, I thought and picked up the bottle of Valenwood wine and asked the Lady Raven if she would like to partake ? -- Regards Mea /\ /vvvvvvvvvvvv \----------Sacre-Noir------------------------. `^^^^^^^^^^\^ / \/ +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | "Vegemite" the power of love... | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | "I didn't do it, it wasn't my fault" | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ |Homepage: http://geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/6161/ | +-----------------------------------------------------------+