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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous day
4-201-10-05 06:49
The Retching Netch, Ravenrock, Solstheim, Morrowind
As I walk to the bathroom, I avoid looking in the direction of the barkeeper Geldis. Of course none of the guests from last night are here anymore.
This morning I have to wash myself very thoroughly. After that, it's the usual round of crafting. Gone are the days when I took the strongest weapons and armor to myself and gave my followers the next best. Nowadays I give the best gear to the girls and leave the next best for myself.
Jenassa tells me she heard last night about a ship that ran aground on the southwestern shore some time ago. It was called "Strident Squall". Seems to be the same one that carried that valuable folio Adril Arano's wife Cindiri wanted found.
When I've finished working, I do some shopping with the girls. We seem to be heroes of the town. Everyone we meet congratulates and thanks us for getting the mine reopened and the ash-spawn attacks stopped.
When I go to see Second Councilor Arano, as Captain Veleth said I should, he tells me he has information that someone wants to murder his boss and close friend, First Councilor Morvayn. Apparently Morrowind is ruled by a number of great families who have agreed upon some kind of a power compromise but in fact hate each other's guts. Solstheim is the domain of House... Redoran, was it? And House Hlaalu seems to have come to the idea to try and get Concilor Morvayn assassinated. Arano suspects that there are already some Hlaalus living in Ravenrock under assumed names, waiting patiently for their hour. Or year, rather. Or decade. Elves seem to be able to wait for very, very long.
When Mr. Morvayn tells me all that, I almost exclaim: "It has to be the Severins!" But I keep my silence and try to exercise at least some patience. The little conversation I overheard in Severin Mansion the other day proves that they're up to something upon someone's orders all right, but people do all kinds of bad things and only very few of those involve the murder of a mayor. At any rate, Arano says he doesn't know whom in the town he can trust, but with me he can be certain that I'm not a Hlaalu because I'm not an elf. How about suspecting my follower Jenassa, I almost want to ask him, but that would be a very bad joke and who knows, maybe he'd take me seriously and that might ruin the trust he has in me. I promise to try and find out what I can.
I go to the innkeeper Geldis Sadri. I feel I'm kind of good at getting along with the Sadris. Indeed, Geldis mentions there's an Ulen Ancestral Tomb in this very town. So what? Ulens are a branch of the Hlaalus, he informs me. Oh. I see. The point is, someone's been bringing offerings to the souls of the dead Ulens in the tomb. In fact, Councilor Arano has been trying to find out who, but his attempts have failed because the Hlaalu agents in the town are somehow keeping themselves informed about the doings of the guards. But if I should secretly watch the tomb, I might be able to find out who the snake in the grass is. As it happens, today is one of those traditional offerings-bringing days, according to some elven ritual calendar.
Geldis further tells me that the whole conflict started when one of the Ulens arrived in Ravenrock and instigated a rebellion in order to take over Solstheim for House Hlaalu. He was subdued and executed on the orders of Concilor Morvayn, and now the Ulens feel offended and believe they are entitled to revenge.
I just can't believe this. In Skyrim, when one jarl openly attacks another, it causes a civil war. In Morrowind, when one clan openly attacks another, it's just normal politics. Those elves are crazy.
Now, I'm going to...
I beg your pardon?
Oh. You're asking: didn't I say how elves were so sensible in chapter 23?
Um... let's not waste time on tangential details, okay?
So... as I was saying, the time is half past 2 in the afternoon. As sneaking is better done in darkness (that goes for the Ulens bringing their offerings as well as me and my followers trying to catch them), I figure this is the perfect opportunity to travel to the southwestern corner of Solstheim and try to find that shipwreck "Strident Squall".
This shouldn't take long. Solstheim is small and there are no mountains in our way this time.
About halfway there, we see one of those magnificent netches. We killed a family of them the other day because Milore the alchemist had asked me to bring her some netch jelly. I felt really bad about it afterwards. That's why when a group of hunters approaches us now and asks us to help them kill that very netch we're seeing off the coast, I tell him we will (because there's no point offending him), but in fact we stand aside and watch the battle.
I'm utterly captivated by the gracious movements of the gigantic animal. Contrary to what I had assumed, those extremities are not legs. They are tentacles:
[series of 3 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then click again to see the next picture etc.; press Esc to return to the text]
The netch floats in the air – I wouldn't dare to guess how – and it can actually lash out with those tentacles, as the next two pictures will demonstrate:
[series of 2 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then click again to see the next picture etc.; press Esc to return to the text]
We watch the spectacle in almost reverent awe, hoping that the netch would win. With dozens of arrows in its body, it begins to resemble a giant hedgehog, but the hunters fall one after another.
[series of 2 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then click again to see the next picture etc.; press Esc to return to the text]
Finally the last hunter is dead and we awake from our trance. It has taken an hour. As the netch unhurriedly floats back towards the sea, we cautiously go and loot the dead bodies, trying to look as undangerous as we can. Luckily, we succeed. And then we rush onwards. Indeed, we soon see a ship or a shipwreck right off the shore. The ground next to it has been fortified and there are bandits. They're not expecting an attack. That's why they need some time to get over their surprise and realize our enchanted bows are a serious threat. Thanks to that, we succeed in killing them all, two or three at a time.
This is indeed the Strident Squall we're looking for, and we find Cindiri's folio. I'm mildly appalled to find it's not some album of family pictures or something. It's just the book "The Lusty Argonian Maid" in decorative binding. Is this what we killed almost ten good men for? I feel like the serial killer of Windhelm. No, that's an exaggeration, but it's still awful. I thought I knew that nobles can get very vain and spoiled, but I would have never expected this.
Well, tough luck. We've no time for crying. It's 5 o'clock in the evening and we must waste no time getting back to Ravenrock. Along the way, we see "our" netch peacefully doing its netch things five meters off the shore. We wave it farewell and hurry on.
I quickly drop the folio in the Concilor's residence and get our reward. The Ulen Ancestral Tomb is nearby. We sneak in when no one is seeing, make ourselves comfortable and wait. I rather wish the conspirators weren't the Severins. They're such nice people.
Soon enough the front door opens and in comes none other than Tilisu Severin. My hunch was right after all, I'm sorry to say. We confront her, but she insists she has nothing to do with the Hlaalus. She just thought she was doing a good deed by honoring the memory of the dead as there are no Ulens in the town. I don't believe one word, but there's nothing I can do. So I go to Arano for further instructions. He tells me to search the Severin Manor for evidence and gives me the key to the front door. Of course. Why didn't I think of searching the house as soon as I became suspicious of the Severins? Back then they had no reason to mistrust me and I was allowed to walk in and out of the place freely. But there's little point in pondering on that now.
We find the front door locked and use Arano's key. The house is not empty, though. There are two people inside: the wife Tilisu and the daughter Mirri.
I inform them that they are suspected of conspiracy to murder the First Councilor Morvayn, and we're going to search their house and they are not allowed to leave. To my greatest regret, Mirri attacks us with spells in spite of her mother's entreaties. We have no choice but to kill her.
We search the rooms with Jenassa escorting Tilisu, holding a sword against her back. Tilisu looks terrified. She keeps looking around, seemingly searching for a way to escape, but she knows she doesn't have a chance.
We look everywhere, but find nothing that looks like evidence of anything. I ask Tilisu if there's some kind of a secret hiding place, but she won't say a word. I suppose we'll have to bring her to the town prison for torture, but before that, we'll double-check everything one more time.
Now we find a safe we overlooked earlier. I succeed in opening it and we find this letter:
This is what we needed. Let's go.
Tilisu prostrates herself on the floor and begs me to kill her rather than hand her over to Morvayn. Now that we have found out where her husband is hiding with his gang, she won't be able to tell anything we don't already know. Morvayn would only have her tortured to death in a slow and atrocious manner we can't imagine.
I think she's exaggerating, but her wails are truly heartbreaking, and I liked their family to begin with. I ask Jenassa if it's customary in Morrowind to be so cruel. She says she has no idea. She has never interacted with people important enough to know about such things.
So I decide to grant Tilisu her wish. I instruct her to charge at me, so I can stab her in a manner that looks like we actually fought. I don't want the guards to become suspicious when they come to remove the bodies later.
Tilisu's knees are shaking really badly, but she does her best. I stab her through the chest and then quickly one more time before she falls down. This will have to do.
We bring the letter to the Second Councilor Arano and inform him that Vendil Severin is most likely in the Ashfallow Citadel while his wife and daughter attacked us and we had to kill them. He instructs us to head for Ashfallow Citadel with four of his best fighters. I reply that we're too exhausted to fight and need some sleep. We'll go there in the morning. Those guards can go ahead or wait for us, just as they please.
next awakening
