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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
4-201-11-15 03:43
Severin Manor, Ravenrock, Solstheim, Morrowind
In the bath, I ask Jordis if she's looking forward to meeting Hreinn again the next time we visit Morpork.
"Yes, of course. What about it?"
"Nothing. Just curious."
"Why? Do you know something about him?"
"No, Jordis, I don't know anything about him. I was just wondering if you are beginning to get over..."
"I guess I am. Was about time, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was."
After a moment of silence she says: "Thank you, Laura. For... I don't know, caring."
"You're welcome. So you think you could settle down with Hreinn after our adventures are over?"
"He hasn't said anything to that effect, but I don't see why we couldn't. His parents are a handful, but surely we'll manage somehow."
Jordis is fully aware that they need to get to know each other a lot better first, but at least she's well on her way to leaving the past behind. (Funny I should say such a thing.)
After breakfast, we head south. We need to consult the wizard Neloth in southeastern Solstheim.
Good heavens, that's stars shining through northern lights distorted by volcanic smoke!
Amazing! I've never seen anything quite like this.
Amazing! I've never seen anything quite like this.
We run past the short mountain range and then turn to the east. Not far from our destination Tel Mithryn, we witness a battle between two mages. It looks like small fireworks and one of the mages even conjures a very big atronach. I guess we get too close, because they interrupt their fight and attack us, but we kill them with ease.
We see several netches here and there. They are a familiar sight. But I have difficulties believing my eyes when we're approached by two relatively small (about the size of a fox maybe) spiders who seem to consist entirely of fire.
That's one of them.
Even though they're aggressive, they're amazing to look at.
After a brief trading stop at Silt Strider Port, we reach Tel Mithryn and enter the main building we gave a miss the last time. Having entered through the front door, we see a shaft maybe two meters wide which we apparently are supposed to step into in order to be transported upstairs. It feels very hazardous.
The quarters of Neloth look just about as magical as can possibly be.
That's the elevator shaft, the big opening in the floor just beyond the two wooden posts.
The house is actually living. It's a gigantic mushroom.
Such houses are being grown by the local alchemist who is an expert on fungi.
Such houses are being grown by the local alchemist who is an expert on fungi.
Neloth is moderately condescending, but not unfriendly. More importantly, he's more than willing to share with me his knowledge about the Black Books and Miraak. In fact, he knows which Black Books I'll need if I intend to go against the toerag, and where to find it. It's called "Waking Dreams" and can be found in a nearby Dwemer ruin called Nchardak. Evidently, Neloth is curious to find out what's in the Book, and to have his curiosity satisfied, he's willing to help me in my endeavour against Miraak.
I hope Neloth didn't notice how I flinched when I heard the name "Nchardak". I have dreamed about it and it's a very horrible place.
I drag my feet as we exit the house. Passing by a youngster, evidently Neloth's disciple, I can't help stopping and saying hello. He's a newbie mage practising a spell. He mentions he has difficulties deciphering Neloth's handwriting and asks not to be disturbed. Yeah, in view of his level of skill and sense of responsibility, I have no objections to not continuing to talk to him.
I hurry to catch up with the others. My heart is heavy as we walk northwards. I must be in a really bad state, because Bardslayer connects with me and promises to help me out during this mission. He knows Nchardak is a shithole much too difficult for a common mortal to get through.
The journey does not last long. Nchardak lies just off the coast and seems to be partially underwater.
We sneak closer carefully, because the place looks very much like something bandits would like to make their home. Indeed there are quite a few of them. I am so focused on sneaking up on one that I completely miss another one who sees me first. But we still kill them all by the end.
To tell you the truth, I've seen better.
Neloth explains that Nchardak has switches for manipulating various doors and mechanisms. The switches are operated by placing a special kind of cube of roughly a human head's size on a waist-high pedestal. He has one such cube on him and uses it to open the main door.
We enter what's called Nchardak Reading Room. The Black Book we want is right here, but we can't get to it.
Neloth says we'll have to go further into the Nchardak interior and find four more activation cubes. With the help of those, we can "restore the steam supply" (as he puts it) to the Reading Room and then he'll be able to open the grating.
I can't imagine what would anyone ever need steam for, but apparently I won't have to worry about anything, because Neloth looks like he knows exactly what needs to be done. And that's a good thing, because what follows is just your usual routine of wandering around stone halls and passages while getting attacked by various weird apparatuses made of dark yellow metal. The additional twist in this particular location is that much of it is flooded. The good news is there are switches for draining places of water rather quickly. The bad news is they're operated with the help of those very activation cubes we need for that "steam supply" thing.
He means the pumps that can lower the water level here.
In simpler words: we arrive in a huge hall most of which is underwater. We need to put a cube on a switch, which causes the water to flow away, revealing a passage that takes us further. And so on. We find cubes here and there, but some of them we need to leave behind on those pedestals in order to lower the water. If we removed them, the water would come back. We just have to remember where we put the cubes, so we can pick them up on our way back, in case we won't be able to find sufficiently many new ones.
On one of the consoles of unknown purpose, Neloth locates something that looks like a map, and he can somehow read it to learn where we can find more cubes. Me and my girls, we just follow him from one hall to another, from one combat to another.
It's tiring and some of the automatons are really nasty, but we're in good hands.
The only thing that can go wrong here is Neloth getting killed. Then we'd be in deep trouble.
No, I was too hasty saying that. There are other things that can go wrong. When we seem to be about halfway through this ruin, I go after yet another cube and I end up attacked by Dwarven automatons, and the room is quickly filling up with water and I can't find a way out and I can't swim fast in armor and I hate this place. My brain is a complete mess and I'm simply incapable of handling the situation. So I have to beg Bardslayer to get me out of there.
Oh, YOU are getting tired? We are the ones you keep sending into the water all the time.
Towards the end of our mission, when we need to find just one more cube, even Neloth is at the end of his wits. He tries not to show it, just tells me calmly to go and get the last cube and he'll be waiting for me here. It would be completely hopeless if Bardslayer wouldn't show me the way, but I still have to do the work all alone. That is because my girls aren't too good swimmers, so I prefer to leave them behind in a safe place this time rather than risk them getting stuck in rising water like I did earlier.
I get the cube, we go all the way back, Neloth makes sure we grab all the cubes we left on the switches, and we rush on while the gushing water is re-flooding the areas we just came from. Then we need to find those four switches that operate the aforementioned "steam supply". Finally, Neloth is satisfied that the Dwemer machinery is working like it's supposed to. By that time I don't think I have one dry place left with the possible exception of my vagina. Neloth thanks me for doing the hard work for him, the scoundrel! Although I'm not actually angry with him, because without his knowledge we couldn't have made it. Him being the brain of the operation, it's only fair that me and my followers had to make our hands (and everything else) dirty.
We return to the reading room near the exit.
The unopenable opening in the floor has opened and the pedestal with the book has risen up. Unsurprisingly, Neloth says I deserve the "honor" of reading it first. Yeah, I know. That's what I'm here for. Don't worry girls. I mean, you may worry if you want to, but I know I'll be fine.
Reading the book takes me into one of those nightmare realms with weird gray structures placed in yucky dark green liquid under an eerie poison-green sky. It's called Apocrypha.
I have to operate switches to lower walkways and such, but generally the navigation is quite straightforward. Occasionally there are gigantic tentacles lashing out at me from the so-called water, but they're not too difficult to evade. Every now and then I have to fight two types of monsters – Lurkers, similar to the ones I already know from those shrine-building sites in Solstheim, and Seekers. (Don't ask me what it is they're seeking.) The latter cast some weird and nasty magic, but fortunately they only come one or two at a time, so I'm never in real danger, and after each battle, I'm left alone for long enough to heal myself.
That's a Lurker. It's got very long tentacles.
That's a Seeker. It has its body parts in so abnormal places that looking at it fills me with dread.
Those are just statues:
That's a Seeker hitting me:
All in all, though, this place is nowhere near as horrible as it used to be in my nightmares. And yes, I can confirm now that I prefer this over Ratarseway any time.
I finally reach a large book titled Epistolary Acumen . Through it, Hermaeus Mora Himself speaks to me. Now, Hermaeus Mora is a daedra. The daedras are kind of embodiments of certain essences or principles. They're not living creatures that could be killed. Only when they wish to communicate with us, they manifest themselves in a manner we can discern. Maybe the above was an oversimplification, but I'm not a scholar, okay? Hermaeus Mora is, the best I can understand, an embodiment of knowledge, so that people who want some unusual knowledge in order to gain power over other people, turn to Him and He might help them – for a more or less horrible price.
To me He deigns to appear in the form of a relatively big black frog with a huge mouth and a few short tentacles. Apart from the two more or less normal eyes, He has a couple dozen more eyes floating around. He tells me that Miraak got his power from Him, and if I want to defeat Miraak, I'll need the other two words of the Bend Will shout – that's the one I used for destroying Miraak's shrine construction sites and freeing the zombified slaves, remember?
Hermaeus Mora (gosh, I need to make up a shorter name for Him; how does Hora sound to you?) gives me the second word. For the third, I'll have to get Him the secret knowledge of the Skaal. How? That's up to me to figure out.
The last thing I ask Hora is why is He helping me against Miraak who is his servant. He says Miraak has kind of served out his purpose, and he also has become too ambitious. That's why Hora wants to get rid of Miraak and find a new servant.
Fine. We'll see about that servant part, but I'm pretty confident I won't be getting too ambitious. All I want is a quiet life. (Don't laugh. I mean it.)
Wait! If Hora is the daedra of knowledge, can He give me my memory back? Too late, He's gone. I now have the open book in front of me and I can choose one of three special powers – Dragonborn Force, Dragonborn Flame and Dragonborn Frost . The latter is the only one that seems even potentially useful, so I choose it.
A few moments of blackness follow, and then I'm back in the Reading Room of Nchardak.
Neloth is curious like a blindfolded cat thrown into a fishery. He drowns me in questions.
I tell him I spoke to Hermaeus Mora Himself. Neloth gets very serious and says Hermaeus Mora's help always comes at a price. I say yeah, He wants the secret knowledge of the Skaal. Neloth is rather amused. What can the Skaal possibly know that's so valuable? Some fascinating new ways to skin a horker? He congratulates me on this amazingly beneficial deal and rushes out to continue his research. He has ideas how to find more Black Books, he says. Yeah, good luck if that's what makes you hard, but you can deal me out of it.
I put the Black Book into my inventory. Having no reason to hang about in this place, we exit after Neloth, only to be greeted by a dragon. We kill him, the five of us. That skeever bastard Miraak (I guess I'll call him Bastaard from now on) steals this soul too. No matter, he'll soon be just a splodge of slime under my boot.
We say farewell to our unconventional friend Neloth and I realize only now that it's broad daylight (or almost broad). We've spent the whole night chasing down those stupid cubes and it's already the next morning. And we're exhausted, and the bandits we killed yesterday have very inviting tents with very cozy-looking sleeping mats on top of these stone ruins.
Since their masters won't return to them anymore, we'll give the sleeping mats an opportunity to make themselves useful.
next awakening
