Excellent. I liked it, exciting and fast moving as ever. And it comes thick and fast too.

I thought perhaps the riddle was a little too obscure, but then daedra princes are so it sort of works. I just thought reading that deep it culd have read other things.

Still I like that even the necromancers are involved. Are they in legues with the snakemen I wander... if so how long until one side backstabs the other... Good stuff.

Chapter 15. Disclosure.

Once the captured Argonian saw the inside of the torture chambers at Cheydinhal, he was more then happy to talk. They had gathered there with only a few men; Ocato was there, alongside Jauffre and the emperor to be. Ocato was determined not to let the former Jester out of his sight even for a few minutes. After having gone through the trouble to get him here, he wasn’t about to lose him again.

They were joined by the Count of Cheydinhal; Andel Indarys and Balen Sarethi, who after having consulted his Archmaster in Blacklight using a scrying mirror, had decided to stay a while longer. Ocato was happy to have him, as he and his Redoran elite warriors had proven themselves during the failed ambush.

The tale of the Argonian confirmed much that Ocato thus far had only suspected. Countess Valga had been behind the deaths of Counts Terentius and Caro. The Argonian also told them of how a messenger had arrived a day ago and told the Argonians when and where to expect the column with the emperor. Obviously it was as Ocato had suspected; someone had intercepted his messenger to his bodyguard and thus found out the route the column was taking.

The Argonian further told of some of the conversations that had taken place while he was present, including Valga’s intentions to basically kill anyone who stood in her way, from the other counts and countesses to Ocato himself. It became clear Countess Valga would do anything to get her way. At first it might have been simply about turning Cyrodiil back to a kingdom, closing the borders and Cyrodiil keeping to itself, but over the weeks it had grown to ambitions to put a puppet emperor on the throne of Cyrodiil and rule by proxy. Clearly these were the ambitions of a very disturbed, very dangerous woman.

Throughout the confession of the Argonian, Ocato had seen the Duke of Cheydinhal become increasingly uneasy. Ocato wanted to point this out to Balen Sarethi, but a glance at him showed Ocato that the Redoran was already well aware of it. After the Argonian had told them what he knew, Ocato had him put into a cell; he might prove valuable later on. As the Argonian was taken from the room, Ocato looked over at Count Indarys.

“Well Andel, would you like to add something to the story of the Argonian?”

Falling to his knees, Andel Indarys looked up at Ocato with tears in his eyes. “I swear, Chancellor, I knew nothing of this attack. Please forgive me for betraying your trust.”

“So I was right then, Andel; you’ve been in the pocket of Countess Valga haven’t you? That’s why you voted in favor of turning Cyrodiil into a separate nation, right?”

“Yes my lord, you were, and I was. I had no choice; she knows things about me, things that would destroy me, and what remains of my family. But in light of what I heard, I cannot remain silent any longer, not even should it be the end of me.” He bowed his head and continued in a low voice:

“During the last war, I secretly had meetings with the Mythic Dawn cult. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. I saw how little Uriel Septim cared for, and helped House Hlaalu in their struggle against the Telvanni in the war, and when he was killed and Mankar Camoran proclaimed himself to be the rightful new emperor, I thought he might be more sympathetic to the cause of my family members still in Morrowind, and that was exactly what the Mythic Dawn promised me to get my cooperation.”

“It goes to show you, Chancellor Ocato; you can never trust a Hlaalu,” Balen said in a gruff voice.

Ocato ignored this for the moment and asked, “But I remember you as one of the most fervent allies in our struggle against the Mythic Dawn. What happened? What made you change your opinion of them?”

“After several meetings in rundown bars and secluded locations, I grew emboldened and invited a ranking Mythic Dawn member into one of my private chambers for a meeting. It would be one of the final meetings before I joined the cult. Disaster struck before I could though, because during the meeting, my wife, Akatosh guide her soul, stumbled across the cultist and me. She was appalled when she saw the man I was with, and made it known very clearly. I asked the man to leave so I could talk it over with my wife, but she would not change her mind. She made it clear if I pursued this course, she would leave me.”

“I went to bed that night feeling miserable and was determined to cut off all ties to the Mythic Dawn. I would not lose the love of my life for anything. When I woke up the next morning, my wife was not lying next to me, and I found the entire castle buzzing with uneasy silence. I tried asking some servants what was wrong, but most hurried away as soon as they saw me. Finally my son came to me, crying. He never cries, and he told me his mother had gone for a stroll on the battlements sometime during the night, and somehow lost her balance and fallen to her death. A guard found her there that morning. Everyone just assumed it was a freak accident, but I knew better. I’ve never heard of someone falling twenty feet to their deaths and not uttering a single cry.”

“When next I saw the Mythic Dawn member that had been there with me that night, he admitted to first knocking my wife out, and then throwing her off the battlement. He did it to preserve his identity, he told me. And he apologized for it. Can you imagine that, he offered me his apologies. Even after I had him tortured, he still had that innocent smile on his face. He died with it and ever since all I could think of was getting my revenge by killing as many of the Mythic Dawn as I could.”

“But where does Countess Valga fit into all this?” Ocato asked.

“Some weeks ago, after the first failed vote, when she initiated the plan to withdraw all remaining Legions to the imperial province and see only to Cyrodiil, she came to me. She told me she knew all about what happened; she told me my wife, on the night she died, sent her a letter explaining she had caught me with someone from the Mythic Dawn and asking for advice. Valga threatened to show the letter to the rest of the Council, but above all to my son. He is everything to me, and even the thought of him seeing me responsible for the death of his mother, and make no mistake about it, I am, fills me with dread.”

“But knowing all that, I cannot go on supporting Valga, I nearly betrayed my rightful emperor once; I will not come close to that again.” Turning to emperor-to-be Dilbor, he spoke, “Before all here I proclaim you emperor of Tamriel and my rightful ruler. Do with me as you will, take my land, my titles, my freedom, my life. I would rather die than betray you.”

Ocato looked at Dilbor and wondered if he should speak in his stead.. One side of him wanted to summon a Daedroth and order it to rip Andel apart. Another side of him wanted to offer him a word of comfort. Dilbor took the choice away from Ocato though when he spoke after apparently a few moments of thought.

“Count Indarys, it seems to me any punishment I can come up with is as dust compared to the punishment you’ve been giving yourself since your wife’s untimely death. I thank you for your show of support, but I am not emperor yet. I therefore only have a favor to ask of you. Chancellor Ocato has told me how fervent you were in your battles with the Mythic Dawn, and now the reason is clear. I would only ask you to join us, with as many men as Cheydinhal can spare and lead them as we do battle with Countess Valga and whomever would support her, and forever after that until the end of one of our lives.”

“It would be my honor, Emperor.”

Ocato smiled. With this the new Emperor surely had found the first of many brave allies he would need to keep the Empire together in these troubling times.

The rest of the trip to the Imperial city went without incident, but then no man or Argonian in his right mind would consider attacking the party Ocato was in now. The mounted Redoran elite warriors, alongside a large contingent of soldiers wearing Cheydinhal livery and accompanied by the remaining mages of the Mages Guild made for an impressive sight.

Before long they were riding up to the stables outside the Imperial city. Handing the reigns of his horse over to the stable master, Ocato turned to Balen, “Lord Balen, I have no idea what to expect inside the city, no idea how far Valga’s reach extends, so it might be wise to be ready for trouble, though at the same time, I am hesitant to ask you to bare weapons first.”

“I understand Chancellor; there’s a fine line between being ready for a threat, or being seen as one.”

As they walked trough the city, Ocato could feel the stares of the population; they had to be wondering why so many Dunmer were moving through their streets fully armed. Apparently so did the guards because as they moved into the Green Emperor Way, Ocato saw squads of soldiers and guards alike moving towards them with weapons ready. At the front of one of the groups Ocato saw his bodyguard Evangeline, and he could have sworn a different group was led by Janus Hassildor. What was the Count of Skingrad doing here?

It was Janus, and he was also the first one to spot Ocato in the group of warriors and call a halt to the Imperial Guards.
“Greetings Ocato.”

“Count Hassildor, good to see you; we need to have a talk about Countess Valga.”

“Yes Chancellor, we need to have a talk, but not just about Countess Valga. But let’s do it somewhere a little more quiet, shall we?”


The Elder Council chamber doors closed with a boom. Inside were Grandmaster Jauffre, Captain Steffan, Ocato and his bodyguard, Count Hassildor and Raminus Polus and, of course, the emperor to be.

“Now then,” Ocato began, “there was something you wanted to discuss, Janus?”

“Yes, Chancellor Ocato; several things have happened that you need to be aware of. First , I’m sorry to say the young Bosmer healer, Filben, has died.”

“Filben has died? Sad news indeed. I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting her once but she was a remarkably talented and kind-hearted young lady.”

“That she was, and I intend to kill the person responsible. Just before she died though, she provided us with vital and very important information. We can’t say how it happened, but Mannimarco is alive, and back in Cyrodiil stirring up trouble with a horde of Necromancer followers. And I’m sorry to say my former Seneschal, Mercator Hosidus is one of them.”

“Mercator? But that means….”

“Yes, from what Filben has been able to tell us, he and his Necromancer friends have turned Kvatch into a place of nightmare. Dark magic is being practiced there and reports of travesties are increasing.”

“Is Mannimarco there as well, Janus?”

“No, and that is what complicates the matter more. Filben learned he has holed up at a place called the Echo cave. It’s located far west of Bruma.”

“This is a troubling matter indeed; it makes Valga look like little more then a fly.” Turning to Raminus, Ocato continued “Raminus, please let Archmage Traven know I wish to speak to him.” Ocato was surprised at the sad look on Raminus face.

“Alas chancellor, Archmage Traven gave the ultimate sacrifice. He forced his own soul to be trapped inside a giant black soulgem. Only those people close to the soulgem are immune to Mannimarco’s most deadly spell; the enthrall spell.”

“How many people do you think the soulgem can protect, Raminus?”

“Not many; I estimate ten at most.”

Ocato thought about where to go next. He couldn’t take the entire force to the Echo cave; Mannimarco would have them as thralls in short order and would likely use his people against each other. On the other hand, he knew both the Echo cave and Kvatch needed to be attended to. His only option would be to split his forces.

“Very well, here’s what I propose we do. Raminus, get me the nine most powerful wizards in the Imperial city. Get them here within the hour. I don’t care if they’re renegades or guild members; promise them anything they want; just get them to agree to come with me. I will lead them personally to the Echo cave to face Mannimarco.”

“Janus, I want you to take whatever forces you can scrape together from this city, and go along with Andel to march on Kvatch within the hour. Get a Mages Guild member to send a message to Count Umbranox in Anvil to gather his forces and assist you. Lord Balen, I would like to ask you to go along with them; I fear they may need any help they can get.”

“Of course, Chancellor Ocato, we will aid them to the best of our abilities.”

“Thank you, Lord Balen. Now, that leaves but one issue unattended.” Ocato pointedly turned to look at the emperor to be. “I cannot take you with us, Your Highness; it would be far too dangerous, but leaving you here is also dangerous. Who knows how many agents either Mannimarco or Countess Valga has within the city?”

Someone cleared her throat behind him and Ocato turned to look at Evangeline, his bodyguard, “Ah, my apologies Chancellor, but since you’re likely traveling by way of Bruma to get to the Echo cave, wouldn’t it be a good idea to leave the new emperor at Cloud Ruler Temple? If any place can be protected it’s that place, and the Blades should be more then sufficient to safeguard him from anything.”

“That’s a wonderful idea; thank you Evangeline.”

“Right then gentlemen; you all know what to do; let’s end this.”

Chapter 16. Failure?

Arriana was troubled. She was pacing back and forth in her great hall inside the Chorrol castle. She should have heard back from the Argonians by now. She had sent word to them yesterday telling them when and where the false heir and his party were coming into Cyrodiil. An unexpected ally inside the Imperial Palace itself had provided Arriana with the exact details, but not just that; she now knew Ocato had not stayed at the Palace as he had told the Elder Council, but instead had gone with Jauffre into Morrowind to collect the impostor personally.

Arriana assumed it likely that while there, Ocato had made evil dealings with the Dunmer and their leaders, this so-called lord Nerevar and Lady Barenziah. Bah, just what the Empire needed, Dunmer stirring up things as well. This was just one more piece of evidence that Arriana had done well in setting forth the plans the Divines had inspired.

Still, some word should have come by now. Ocato being there with the false heir was all the better; one less agent for the evil powers, or could he be strong enough to tip the balance? No. He alone could not the tip the scales that much, and the rest of the caravan that they traveled with hadn’t reached the border of Cyrodiil yet. No she could rest assured that the false heir, Ocato and that meddlesome Jauffre were dead by now; word just hadn’t reached her yet.

Word reaching her. She paced more furiously just thinking about the word that had reached her. Just this morning, she received word from Janus Hassildor that he had evidence proving Mannimarco, King of Worms had risen again and was threatening the Empire. Apparently the King of Worms was located in Echo Cave, to the north of Chorrol. This was awful, just considering the idea that Mannimarco might be the one influencing the Elder Council.

“Oh Stendarr, why me? I’m but a humble servant, please show mercy on me and send me a champion to fight Mannimarco in my stead.”

Turning at the sound of a door, Arriana saw Verata-Ves entering the room. “Ah Verata-Ves, have you received word?”

“I’m sssorry Countesss, word isss bad. The mercenariesss were outmatched. Apparently Ocato and the ressst were accompanied by Redoran warriorsss. The Argoniansss were held back, and later driven away when reinforcementsss of the Redoran arrived.”

“No! This cannot be. How could the Divines let them be defeated?”

“I do not have the anssswer, Countesss, but I fear it getsss worssse. The Redoran captured one Argonian, and after quessstioning in Cheydinhal, he confesssed everything. Count Indarysss betrayed you as well; he confesssed his role during the Oblivion crisisss to the falssse heir, who allowed him to live. He told them of how you blackmailed him to vote your way, and the Argonian told them of how you were behind the deathsss of Countsss Terentius and Caro.”

Arriana for once in her life was speechless.

“Countesss, they will sssurely come for you. Now that the evil forcesss know of you, they will want to end you, thusss dessstroying the Divinesss’ agent on thisss plane.”

“We cannot let that happen, Verata-Ves, but where can we go? No place is safe; I can’t hide in Leyawiin or Bravil; they would expect that.”

“Countesss, why not hide in Bruma? Sssurely anytime now the young Indarysss will return with the Madssstone, and onssse in her posssesssion, Countesss Carvain will no longer fear the evil men.”

“Yes, what a splendid idea, and while we’re there, we’ll tell the young Indarys what sort of a father he has. He too shall prove a loyal ally I don’t doubt. He is still young, and surely ready to devote himself to the Divines. But, Verata-Ves, if we hide in Bruma, we’ll be ever closer to Echo Cave where Mannimarco is hidden.”

“Sssurely Countesss, you have nothing to fear from the King of Wormsss. Arkay himself would come to Nirn and take Mannimarco’sss life himssself before he would allow you to be hurt.”

“Of course you’re right Verata-Ves; even one such as Mannimarco would not dare to lay a hand on an agent of the Divines. It’s settled then; have my carriage readied Verata-Ves; we travel to Bruma this very night.”

As the Tsaesci was exiting the room though, almost as an afterthought Arriana added, “Verata-Ves, what should we do about the Argonian mercenaries who failed me?”

“Countesss, I’m sssure the Divinesss will punisssh thossse who fail them, as they ssshould.”












Walks-in-shades was wondering how it had ever come this far. It had all started with an opportunity, an opportunity given to them by that strange man with the lisp, the one who refused to show them as much as his face, let alone anything else. He’d come to Black Marsh one day and recruited Walks-in-shades and his band of mercenaries for what was supposed to be the easiest job they had ever done.

Well it had started out easy, sure enough; killing four Imperials when you outnumbered them twelve to one was easy. But this last assignment had not gone the way it was planned. The messenger came to them and told them where to find their next target, and once again it would consist of only four men, sure one would be a mage, but still it was easily doable.

But when they got there, they found not four, but fifteen, and not just any fifteen, but elite Redoran at that. And no matter how Walks-in-shades and his band pressed them, they simply wouldn’t retreat, nor back down or die easily. They fought like Ansei and made the mercenaries pay a heavy price for each Redoran they killed.

And then at the moment of triumph, when the Argonians were ready to come in for the final kill, reinforcements of the Redoran appeared out of nowhere. Too many for the battered mercenaries to contend with, they did what any self- respecting mercenary would do when faced with overwhelming odds, flee.

Walks-in-shades still wondered where it had gone wrong though; so far his superior, the Countess Valga, had excellent intelligence. The band had gotten into Cyrodiil easily, dodging the Imperial patrols that crossed the land. And again getting to Reedstand Cave undetected had been easy to do.

Somehow though something must have gone wrong for the Countess; someone might have betrayed her, or been one step ahead of her. Whatever the reason, Walks-in-shades did not think it likely that the Countess would be pleased with them.

Walking through the resting Argonians, some of them treating their wounds, some even dying, a sentry came up to him. “Marshbrother, creatures are approaching.”

Looking to where the sentry was pointing, Walks-in-shade saw the first of a band of riders enter the camp. He couldn’t see the face of the man riding the horse, but noticed that the hands were strangely clawed.

“Greetings. What brings you here?”

Getting up off his horse, the large man came to stand before Walks-in-shade, and slowly pulled back his hood. Walks-in-shades’ eyes suddenly became large as he exclaimed, “Tsaesci!”

It was the last thing he ever said as, with a mighty swing of his sword, the Tsaesci sent Walks-in-shades’ head flying from his shoulders and into the camp.

Endgame.

Baurus, Relien and Varvur felt disoriented, one moment the three of them were in Oblivion, the next they were inside the Imperial palace. It took them a moment to feel at ease. Traveling across plains of existence is never an easy journey. Looking around, they found they had arrived inside the Imperial Council chambers.

The chamber doors opened and in came Evangeline Beanique; Ocato’s bodyguard. “Who are you, what are you doing here?” Only then her eyes noticed Baurus and she stopped in mid-stride. Then her eyes darted to Varvur and she took a step back.

“Evangeline quick, we need to speak to the Chancellor.” Baurus said.

“The Chancellor, of... of course. I’ll get him right away.” She turned around and walked towards the door. Baurus turned to Varvur and was about to ask him how he felt, when a shockwave brushed past him. It seemed to be heading towards the door. Drawing his weapon and turning back he just saw Evangeline hit the outer doors of the palace with the back of her head and slump down.

Relien walked passed Baurus and knelt to check on her, “She was about to hit you with a spell of her own Baurus. Who is she? Because I sense evil in her.”

“Evil? You must be mistaken Relien; she’s been a loyal advisor and bodyguard to Chancellor Ocato for years now. She would be the last person to double cross him.”

“Well, if what you say is true, I’m sure it would be no problem for us to read her mind would it?”

Baurus saw Relien place his right hand over the face of Evangeline. The palm covered the forehead of Evangeline and the fingers, almost like feelers, were spread over the top of her head. Relien closed his eyes, and a soft humming sound seemed to come from Evangeline.

Baurus looked to Varvur for advice, “Lord Nerevar knows what he does Baurus; it won’t harm her.”

After several minutes of nothing but the soft humming sound, Relien opened his eyes and looked at Baurus and Varvur with a very serious expression. “You need to find a place to lock her up, make sure she can’t use her magic. I have to communicate with Reynel Uvirith right away. I hope she has been able to gather enough wizards by now.”

“Baurus, Varvur, time is of the essence now; the Empire is in more danger then we thought.”

Countess Arriana Valga was excited. She had just watched, hidden behind ramparts on the Bruma walls, as an escort of mages delivered the false heir to Cloud Ruler Temple. He was so close now, almost within her grasp. She could feel it. Soon the plans of the Divines would reach completion; with the death of this false heir, the way to an independent Cyrodiil would be open, and when the Madstone was delivered unto Countess Carvain, her vote in the Elder Council was assured.

A noise at the gates made her look down. She saw a small band of riders come up to the gate. All of them wore long dark cloaks and one of them was carrying something large that was draped over the front of his horse. At first glance it seemed like a large bag, but looking closer Arriana saw an arm hanging from beneath a blanket, the arm of a Dunmer. Could it be Farwil? Had he succeeded in getting the Madstone for Countess Carvain?

She couldn’t wait to find out. She hurried down and made her way to the castle. Walking past the courtyard, Arriana saw the horses of the riders that had just arrived. So it was true; it had been Farwil draped over the horse. She walked even faster inside and came into the great hall just as the riders were approaching the seat of Countess Carvain. To her surprise, Verata-Ves stood beside the countess in a position of honor.

“Excellent, Starama-Por. You found him then.”

“Yesss Countesss. And here isss the Madssstone.” The figure handed Countess Carvain a gold-colored necklace with a large stone on it.

Walking forward Arriana faced Countess Carvain, “I’m happy you got what you wanted Narina. Now let’s go to the temple and finish the false heir. You have your men ready, I assume?”

Narina Carvain slowly turned to look at Arriana. “Yes, my men are ready, but I have no intention of killing off the heir. Besides, he’s not a false heir, but the true heir to the Imperial Throne.”

“What do you mean Narina? He is a false heir, the Divines told me themselves!”

“You silly goose. Why would the Divines choose a dumb jellyfish like yourself to speak to? They no more spoke to you, then I intended to vote for your silly proposal. Hard as it is to imagine, you’re even more foolish then you look.”

Countess Arriana was red with suppressed anger, “Verata-Ves, tell this… woman the truth; tell her the Divines sent you to guide me.”

“Countesss, I wasss sssent to guide you, but not by the Divinesss. My Massster sssent me, and he isss no more a messsenger for the Divinesss then I am.”

Countess Arriana was confused. What was happening here? She didn’t understand any of this. She was about to speak again but was cut off by Narina. “No, save it Arriana. You pitiful creature. We’ve had more than enough of your rants. Starama-Por, please end this wretch’s life.”

“My pleasssure, Countesss.”

Arriana saw him move towards her, but she was too stunned to try and run away. She saw the large figure put his hood back, and only then understood it too was a Tsaesci. She felt him grab hold of her head and yank it back, and then felt something very cold and sharp move across her throat.


None of the Divines came to her aid, none of them protected her, and Arriana died a lonely death.

Looking around him, Ocato saw the faces of all his companions were tense. They understood the reality; they were the Empire’s best, and perhaps even last, hope. Mannimarco, the King of Worms, was a legendary figure, nearly a myth. He was the ultimate enemy of the mages, the Necromancer who had battled the legendary Vanus Galerion; founder of the Mages Guild. This was a man of legends, and now the ten of them were getting ready to face him.

Looking around, Ocato saw faces he had known for a long time; some of them he counted among his friends like Raminus Polus, and other had didn’t know too well. Now though the ten of them were combined in this grand quest to end of the life of a seemingly immortal Necromancer.

Ocato looked closely at each face and nodded at them. The nine others nodded back in understanding. They realized some of them, maybe all of them, might die in the coming struggle.

Using the key Ocato had taken off of the body of the fallen Necromancer who guarded Echo Cave, Ocato opened the door and lead the way for the others.

Making their way through the cave was a challenge by itself, for it was riddled with Necromancers, some of whom were obviously high up in the ranks. But against the power of ten experienced wizards like themselves, the Necromancers stood little chance.

One thing they all noticed was the large number of Cairn Bolete plants scattered through the cave. None of them were superstitious, but if legends of the plant were true, that they grew over the place where someone had died, then it was a bad omen.

Making their way through the small maze of corridors, they finally found themselves in front of a bridge connecting two small plateaus high above the cave floor. On the center plateau they found themselves face to face with the entity they had come to defeat; Mannimarco.

What they saw was a tall Altmer with eyes set deep in his face. He was clothed in the garb of a Necromancer with two large Necromancer wall hangings behind and to either side of him. Ocato studied him as he observed their approach. He appeared almost unconcerned seeing ten wizards approach his personal hideout. Finally he stirred slightly and spoke;

“I see Bolor was unsuccessful in delaying you. Very well; I shall reanimate him once we are done here.” The voice was matter-of-fact, almost bored. It held the air of a scholar annoyed by a minor inconvenience that was keeping him from his studies. He continued in the same tone:

“I must say I expected Arch-Mage Traven, rather than you bunch. I am disappointed to see that he could not face me himself. I have met so many of his predecessors over the years. I developed a particular fondness for Galerion, ill-preserved though he may be.“

“But here you are instead. Skilled enough to make it this far; perhaps you'll be as useful to me as Traven would.”

“We will never aid you, Mannimarco.” Ocato said in defiance.

“Oh my dear, I didn’t mean to imply you had a choice. I will make you another in a long tradition of Worm Thralls, and take my time in studying you. Your very souls will be forfeit to me.”

After that Mannimarco called on his powers and, with an almost casual gesture, sent a powerful spell their way. He clearly believed it would be a killing stroke; an expression of satisfaction appeared on his long, ascetic face. But after the smoke cleared, that expression was replaced with one of annoyance; all the mages were still standing untouched.

Immensely glad that the ploy of the late Arch-Mage had worked in protecting them, the ten wizards let out a collected sigh of relief. Mannimarco hardly seemed bothered by his setback though.

“You foolish mortals, do you think you can stop me? Feel my power.” Mannimarco raised his hands over his head and Ocato saw a ball of fire start to form between them. The fire increased exponentially and even across the bridge, the wizards could feel its heat. With a mighty cry, Mannimarco launched the fireball right into the midst of the wizards.

Ocato jumped out of the way, but still felt his hair and clothing singeing, and heard his companions cry in anguish.

Count Janus Hassildor, Count Corvus Umbranox and Lord Balen Sarethi were riding at the front of their combined forces heading straight for Kvatch. Balen and Janus had joined with Corvus earlier that day and now they were marching perhaps to their doom.

Kvatch was one of the most defensible cities in the province, built on top of a mountain with but a single steep road leading up to it; it was said a hundred men in Kvatch could hold an army at bay.

Still, all its defenses hadn’t stopped the city from being overrun in the early stages of the Oblivion crisis. Nor had they prevented its near complete ruin. Parts of the walls had crumbled before the Oblivion onslaught, and much of the inside of the city was reportedly damaged and still broken.

At the foot of the road leading up to Kvatch, the Counts and Lord Balen found the camp of former Kvatch residents. From them they were able to learn much of the weaknesses inside and outside the city.

Although the citizens first thought the force had merely come to investigate their complaints, that some of their messengers had been able to get through to either Skingrad of Anvil, they soon found out it was not so. They immediately volunteered to help take back the city from the Necromancers. After having just recently regained it from the Daedra, they weren’t about to let someone take it from them again.

Both counts and the lord Sarethi realized there would be no way to surprise the Necromancers with an attack. With Kvatch built as high as it was, it had a great view of the surrounding area; anyone on the walls would be able to see for many miles. But while they did not have the element of surprise with them, they also knew that attacking right away would both mean that the Necromancers occupying the city had as little time as possible to prepare, and that their leader Mannimarco would be otherwise occupied.

Without hesitating, the combined forces stormed up the hill and took positions behind the improvised walls that had been used during the Oblivion crisis. Little more than wooden planks and stone piled together, it was better than nothing.

No attack came though; it seemed that none of the Necromancers had had the bright idea to restore the city’s catapults. That was an oversight the forces attacking the city weren’t too upset about. Not too upset at all.

They moved in front of the wooden palisades, and after Count Hassildor had given the signal, charged the walls with a thundering roar of battle cries.

This remains most enjoyable. Good stuff.

In the last tw parts you might want to consider combining some of the paragraphs as a lot of them were ery short and could have been made into one which might improve the readability and flow. Just a thought (and a comment for that sake of commenting).

Back at the Imperial Palace, Baurus found himself with a host of Telvanni Wizards at his back. They had teleported into the Imperial Palace’s council chambers moments ago, and were now all standing, looking at Relien Geles, their Archmagister, and waiting for him to speak.

“Thank you all for coming. As Reynel has explained, we’re facing a crisis of epic proportions. A while before you came here I read the mind of Evangeline Beanique, the trusted bodyguard of Chancellor Ocato. In reality though, she is an agent working for an Akavirii alliance and has been promised immortality as compensation for her assistance.”

“As we speak, two battles are being fought, one to re-conquer Kvatch from a host of Necromancers occupying it, and one against the King of Worms himself; Mannimarco. Both will be hard fought and claim many lives, yet at the same time both are secondary in nature. The real battle is the one we’re about to enter. And it will take place at the northern city of Bruma.”

“I have a feeling Evangeline was not privy to every secret, but from what I’ve been able to gather I can tell you this- since ages past the Tsaesci and Snow Demons of Kamal have allied themselves from time to time to fight the two other races on Akavir. Each time they have been repelled by the alliance of the Monkey people of Tang Mo and the Tiger-Dragons of Ka’Po’Turn. So now they’ve come up with an even better plan. First they wish to conquer Tamriel, and then use its resources to defeat the other two nations on Akavir, thus ruling most of the known world.”

“To conquer Tamriel, they plan to open a long locked gateway that connects Cyrodiil with a city in the land of the Tsaesci. The exit on this side of the gateway was placed here ages past, by possibly the most influential Tsaesci in the history of Tamriel; Versidue-Shea; the Imperial Potentate.

“He was the one who created Cloud Ruler Temple, not as a headquarters to the Blades as it serves now, but instead as a base to protect the gateway. He then created an artifact called the Draconian Madstone as a key to open or close the portal at will.”

“For some reason though, he did not go through with his plan to open the gateway. Perhaps he was killed before he could execute his plans, perhaps for some other reason. The knowledge of this gateway then swiftly disappeared. Or so it seemed until some years back, when the Akavirii started planning a way to execute the plan. For it to succeed they needed chaos, so they started secretly recruiting selected people in Cyrodiil, promising them immortality in return. Others were merely influenced to provide the chaos that would serve as a smokescreen for their actions.”

“That leaves but one thing to explain; for some reason blood from the true Emperor of Tamriel is needed to activate the Madstone. Evangeline didn’t know the reasons behind it herself so I could only speculate as to the how and why of that.”

“My friends, as we speak, the Draconian Madstone is at Bruma, held by another Akavirii agent, the Countess of that city. And the true Emperor is at Cloud Ruler Temple.”

“We need to act with all haste if we wish to avoid disaster in this. None of us have much love for the Empire as a whole, always being content merely to rule ourselves and leave others to their own business, but today I tell you, as I myself was told, if we do not aid the Empire in battling and defeating this foe, we will ourselves be defeated.”

“Now, let us teleport ourselves to Bruma with all haste. Baurus, Varvur, I will take you two there. Good luck everyone in the coming battle, and may Azura be with you all.”

Janus Hassildor, Corvus Umbranox and Balen Sarethi stood close together, and each of them was panting. The attack upon Kvatch hadn’t exactly gone according to plan. Even with walls that were only half erect, and little to no conventional garrison, the Necromancers were putting up far more of a fight then the three of them had expected.

If ever they had expected this battle to be over within a few hours, that expectation was now long gone. As their force got close to the walls, from all sides foul magics came crashing down in their midst.

Dozens died within minutes, and many dozens more were wounded. While they obviously had a great advantage in numbers over the Necromancers, they also knew that at this rate, that advantage would drop swiftly.

On the other hand, they also knew they couldn’t afford to allow the enemy to remain in Kvatch and continue to bolster their might.

“Well Counts, what shall we do now? It seems another full frontal assault is out of the question, unless we want this to be the shortest siege in the history of Tamriel.”

“You’re right, lord Sarethi, but we do not have enough magicians to fight fire with fire, so to speak.”

Above them, the sky suddenly darkened, and a foul smell reached their noses, it smelled of death and decay as if they had suddenly come close to a graveyard.

Looking around them, the three men saw faint red glows around some of the dead bodies lying on the ground, and whatever it was, the glow seemed to be spreading.

Then one of the bodies sat up, and looked at them with eyes that were rolled back into its head.

Balen Sarethi was the first to react, “Back! Everyone back!”

Already, many corpses were standing and slowly moving towards them, and from the gates of Kvatch many more corpses came stumbling out.

A great deed of evil had been done tonight, and the zombies kept coming, rising from the battlefield outside the city and from the broken buildings within.

After a strange sensation of weightlessness, Baurus found himself looking up at Cloud Ruler Temple. It looked as if they had arrived just in time.

A host of Bruma guards and Tsaesci were trying to break down the gates to the temple, using a large tree as a battering ram. None but a handful of Blades were atop the battlements and trying to rain down arrows on the attackers to throw them off their game plan. Why didn’t they just use a levitation spell to get on over the walls, Baurus thought? It’s not like it hasn’t been invented yet in Cyrodiil. right?

Relien was quick to assess the situation and sent his Telvanni forward onto the attackers.

Baurus had been present at many a battle, but most of them had been physical ones. He felt entirely powerless in this environment where magic was used like a soldier might use an arrow. Spells flew all around him. While he was not very knowledgeable in these matters, to Baurus it appeared the Tsaesci wizards were not to be trifled with. They seemed to be holding their ground against the might of the centuries-old Telvanni.

Relien so far hadn’t involved himself, instead choosing to stand next to Baurus and Varvur. Baurus wondered why but soon found out when a stray fireball came straight at him but fizzled against an unseen shield only a few feet from them. Even through the shield Baurus could feel the heat of the spell.

Slowly but surely though the Telvanni seemed to be gaining ground on the Tsaesci and their allies. Caught between two forces, the Tsaesci had a far more difficult time than their attackers.

Suddenly a loud voice could be heard over the battlefield, “Enough of this. You pitiful Dunmer, do you really think you can stop us?”

Baurus had no idea who or what was speaking, but surely the voice sounded like nothing he had ever heard before.

A shimmering could be seen right between the Tsaesci and Telvanni. The shimmering increased until it was ten feet high and many feet across. It seemed to pause and then, with a big bang, Baurus and likely everyone on the field was thrown down.

Looking up at shimmering place, Baurus saw a monstrous shape. Whatever it was, Baurus had never seen it’s like before in Tamriel. It looked like nothing so much as an overgrown white bear, with large tusks protruding from its mouth, angry black eyes and covered head to toe in thick white fur. At it’s back two large wings, as white as snow, could be seen.

It spoke in the same voice Baurus had heard moments before; “Hear my name and hear it well, for it shall be your doom. I am Manta’Na Dir-Kamal, king of the snow demons of Kamal.”

Spells were cast by the Telvanni wizards at the Snow Demon, but none of them had any effect. He brushed them aside as if brushing aside flies. And when the demon let loose a spell of its own, a number of Telvanni went flying.

Baurus had seen Relien move forward. At some unheard command, the Telvanni Wizards drew back from the Snow Demon while Relien kept moving forward.

The Demon finally spotted the lone figure moving forward and addressed him, “And who is this pitiful creature? Have you come to subject yourself to my rule, little man?”

In a quiet and determined voice that nonetheless could be heard all over the battlefield, the response came, “I am Relien Geles, the lord Nerevar reborn, Archmagister of the Great House Telvanni, and I bow to no one.”

He followed his words with a lightning strike that actually knocked the Demon a step back. With eyes filled with rage the Demon looked at Relien, and loosed his own spell but rather than throw down Relien as it had the other Telvanni earlier, it seemed Relien simply absorbed it.

“Are we through playing around now, Manta’Na?”

Ocato felt the sweat running down his face. At least he hoped it was merely sweat and not blood as well. The fireball had scattered the mages; two lay dead where the spell had hit, and the rest had spread out through the cave to make it harder for Mannimarco to hit them.

Looking at the central platform, Ocato saw Mannimarco standing in exactly the same spot as before. The blast from the fireball hadn’t even touched him it seemed. How were they ever going to defeat him?

One by one Ocato saw the other mages throw spells at Mannimarco, a fireball, a lightning blast, he himself tried frost magic. Some tried to paralyze Mannimarco or cast spells of silence, but nothing seemed to harm him. A powerful shield spell protected Mannimarco against anything they might throw at him.

Using telepathy, Ocato ordered the mages to combine their power into groups and thus increase the spells thrown at Mannimarco, but even that had no apparent effect on the King of Worms.

Now Mannimarco turned to look at where one of the mages was standing, and a fireball started forming above him again. Ocato looked at his target and shouted, “Bothiel, no!” But it was too late. Moving his arm forward, Mannimarco cast the spell and Bothiel was shrouded in fire.

He was simply picking them off one by one it seemed. Mannimarco kept throwing spells and each time he threw a spell, another cry could be heard.

Ocato now truly felt despair. He’d seen some of his best friends die this day, some just moments ago, and all apparently in vain. It had been a mistake to come here he now knew. The ten of them combined had been no more of a match against Mannimarco then a slaughterfish would be against Akatosh.

He had to struggle to remain upright and not just lay down to accept the inevitable. Perhaps, perhaps if they held on long enough there, Kvatch could be conquered, the Necromancers there beaten. Perhaps. But would it really matter? Would Mannimarco be less powerful alone and without the followers he had amassed?

Deep inside, Ocato knew the answer, but to even consider it would acknowledge that the day had been a waste and a sham, and therefore he choose not to even think about it.

But who could defeat Mannimarco? If the ten of them couldn’t, not just ten random wizards but ten of the greatest practitioners of magic in all of Cyrodiil, then who could? Could the famed Lord Nerevar? If rumors spoke truth then he might, but he was Akatosh knows where, and although he had guided Ocato and the others to the new heir, it was plain that he held no love for the empire. Ocato judged it more likely Lord Nerevar would simply wait for Mannimarco to move against Morrowind before interfering.

Or perhaps that was just an overly negative thought. If it was, he would never know. Ocato had come to realize a while ago that he wouldn’t make it out of the Echo Cave alive. But even knowing that, and truly realizing it, he also knew he had a choice. He couldn’t choose if he died that day, but he could choose how he died. He could either be blasted away from behind the rock where he was hiding, or he could die facing Mannimarco, and giving his all one last time.

Slowly rising, Ocato wiped the blood out of his eyes and turned to gaze upon the King of Worms. Mannimarco looked at Ocato with those dead eyes of his, empty of all feeling, all compassion, all humanity. On the far side of the room, Ocato saw Raminus Polus look at him from behind some crates. Ocato smiled, glad to see at least one of his companions still alive.

For some reason it filled him with a renewed sense of strength. He rose to his full height and boldly stared at the King of Worms. If it was Ocato’s time, then let Arkay take him with haste and deliver his soul onto another plane.

Mannimarco smiled at Ocato, a twisted mocking smile, and raised his hands. Ocato had seen this before many times this night. The inevitable ball of flame was growing in between the great necromancer’s hands. Ocato knew the end was near, and closed his eyes.

Even through his closed eyelids he saw a great white light growing clearer with every passing second.

Baurus had lost track of the number of spells that had flown between the two. He, like everyone else, was mesmerized by this spectacle of two behemoths of magic battling it out. Both the Tsaesci and the Telvanni simply stood and watched their leaders strive against one another.

Moments ago the Demon King seemed to be nearing exhaustion, but he must have gotten a new source of power from somewhere because he was throwing spells at Relien like never before.

Lightning, fire, frost, and many more spells Baurus didn’t even have a name for were thrown, with neither of the two gaining an advantage.

A nasty spell caught Relien on the side of his face. He fell down clutching his cheek. Baurus was tempted to run towards him but knew there was nothing he could do. He actually had to hold Varvur back, though.

Slowly rising again, Relien took the hand from his cheek to show a painful-looking cut. “Demon, I give you one last chance to return to Akavir never to set foot on Tamriel again. If you reject my offer, I will crush you.”

“Foolish mortal, you cannot defeat me.”

Raising his hands to the sky, Relien began to chant. Within seconds he was surrounded by a globe of ever increasing blue light. Baurus could feel the air crackle with power; every cell of Relien’s body seemed to be flooded with raw power.

With an incredible shout Relien stretched his hands forward and pointed at the form of the Snow Demon. All the built up power was released in a single burst of energy engulfing the Demon. Baurus could hear the creature’s cry of pain, but then, people in the Imperial city had likely heard it.

When the air cleared again, the Demon was lying face down on the ground. It no longer moved. Relien slumped to the ground, obviously entirely spent. Baurus, Varvur and many Telvanni rushed towards him to check on him. He didn’t look hurt, simply tired. Baurus had no idea of the amount of power just used, but assumed it would be quite a while before Relien was back to his old self.

It seemed there was no stopping the zombies. Riddled with arrows, they still came on. Burning from a fire spell, they still came. Balen had even decapitated several and hacked off limbs from others, but the severed limbs came on, and the headless zombies somehow still knew where to find the living.

It seemed all they could do was keep the army of living dead at bay; those who had come here to attack the city were now desperately trying to defend themselves. It seemed as if some work of evil kept the zombies animate even after they had been hacked to pieces.

Obviously nothing they could do could stem the tide of living dead. Corvus looked about him, trying to find of some way to escape, but with the great flow of zombies, their force had quickly become surrounded.

Lord Sarethi was saying something, pointing, it was hard to make out among the many moans of the living dead. Corvus looked at the place where Lord Sarethi was pointing, and saw… zombies lying down, and not getting up? Surely his eyes must be mistaken. But no, looking over the other way there too lay some zombies who had moments ago been trying to get past the hastily erected barriers.

Now he actually saw a zombie fall over. And some more there, and to the right. What was killing them? Surely nothing they were doing.

Some zombies now turned back to the city as if to answer some unheard call for help, but none got further then several feet in front of the gates before they too fell down. Nearly every zombie was now either lying still or falling down.

A great cheer came from those of the defenders still able to cheer.

Corvus did not have to wait long to find out what had happened because soon the gates of Kvatch opened and out came a group of people robed in black. None of them had the black skull and bones of a Necromancer on their apparel though, no these robes were a very dark black, as dark as the night sky with no stars.

Corvus saw Count Janus move towards the group, followed by Lord Sarethi, so he walked after them. Standing in front of the apparent leader Corvus took a step back when the figure dropped his hood. It was Lucien Lachance, the infamous Speaker of the Dark Brotherhood.

During his time as the Gray Fox, Corvus had done his best to keep his guild out of the way of the Dark Brotherhood, hoping that by doing so, he would keep them safe. He knew thieves, as skilled as they may be, could never hope to go toe to toe with the Brotherhood.

Lucien must have sensed his trepidation, for he spoke in an almost kindly tone; “Relax my brother of the shadows; today is not the day we claim your life for our mother.”

Turning to someone standing beside him he continued, “Well, I trust this settles our debt to you, Filben.”

“It does,” came the reply “And thank you, Lucien.”

“You’re welcome, my little pet.” Turning to the three men standing before him he continued, “And may I hope, gentlemen, that we never meet again? For to meet again would likely mean our mother claims your life.”

Turning on his heels, Lucien and his followers walked back through the crowd and into Kvatch, surely returning by the same shadowy route by which they had entered the city.

Corvus looked questioningly at Janus though. “I thought you told all of us Filben here died at Skingrad.”

“Ah, but she did my dear Corvus- in a way. I fear there was no way for me to save her life, not her old one, but I was still able to give her a new one. And after I proposed it to her, she accepted.”

“True,” Filben interceded. “While I might have been hesitant once, my many talks with Janus here allowed me to see there really isn’t too much difference between this life and my old one. At least not so long as I don’t allow there to be.”

“And the look on Falcar’s face right before I sank my teeth into him was more than worth any downside I might experience down the line. I’m not sure what shocked him more, the idea of a semi-dead creature not under his control, or seeing me again.”

“Sank your teeth into him?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, I chopped off his head afterwards; we wouldn’t want someone like him to sour the good reputation of us Vampires, would we?” Filben said with a wink.

A number of Telvanni had been rounding up the remaining Tsaesci. Among them was Countess Narina Carvain; apparently she had survived all the carnage of the day. Seeing the new Emperor come down from Cloud Ruler Temple surrounded by Blades, she broke free of the Telvanni holding her and threw herself before the Emperor to be.

“Emperor, please save me from these brutes. I’m innocent; the Tsaesci forced me to help them; they threatened to kill me if I didn’t.”

Dilbor Septim looked down at her. Behind her he saw Lord Nerevar walk up; he didn’t think he could ever think of Relien Geles as anyone other then the Lord Nerevar, the man who had graciously provided Dilbor with a home, when he knew nothing about him. Dilbor cast a questioning look at Relien, who peered at Countess Carvain for a moment, and then shook his head.

“Countess Carvain, you would add lying to your Emperor to your long list of crimes as well? Hear me now, all of you. There has been enough killing for one day. Tsaesci, I give you your lives on the condition that you return to Akavir at once and promise never to set foot on Tamriel soil again for the rest of your lives. Do you accept these terms?”

The Tsaesci looked at one another, and then slowly nodded their consent. With the Snow Demon king gone, their hope of victory was gone as well.

“Countess Carvain, for your part in all this I hereby strip you of your lands and titles and banish you from the whole of Tamriel. You have until a month from this day to remove yourself to the place of your choosing, if after that month you are ever seen in Tamriel, the punishment will be death.”

“No!” A still sobbing Narina cried.

Ignoring her and signaling for the Blades to take her and the Tsaesci away, Dilbor walked over to Relien. “My lord, it seems the Empire is in your debt. On behalf of the Empire, I thank you for your efforts.”

“I accept your thanks, Emperor Septim, though I fear I still have some bad news to bring. In his dying moments, the Snow Demon king communicated to me that the battle at Echo Cave had gone very poorly. Mannimarco was never the real enemy there; the Mannimarco they faced was merely an apparition summoned by the Snow Demon king. When he felt he was losing his battle with me, he dispelled the apparition to allow himself all possible power reserves. “

“I fear Ocato and the others are badly hurt. Would you allow some of my people to travel there and to Kvatch to see if they can still be of some assistance?”

“Gladly will I allow this Lord Nerevar. I pray it won’t be too late for Ocato and the others there.”

Good stuff, nothing is as it seems... I like

Feels like its winding down but I wander if there might be something else to happen... I hope so.

Commentwise not much really, Splitting the different fights so heavily was a novel idea, I'm not sure it would have worked in a book but online it did quite well. It emphasised their concurrance quite effectivly and kept them all fresh and exciting and linked. And seeing as online is how this is being released it was a good move making full use of the format.

Personally I find killing charactersand bringing them back isn't to my taste but that's just my opinion.

Good stuff

Ocato didn’t understand why he didn’t feel anything. Was this how death felt? Nothing? No pain whatsoever? Of course he no longer had skin to feel with, nor a body for that matter, but it just didn’t feel right. He should have felt something.

Slowly opening his eyes, Ocato saw he was still in the same place he’d been right before. He saw his feet, his legs, he gazed at his hands. Everything seemed the same. Slowly looking up, he expected this to be yet another cruel ploy by Mannimarco, prolonging what they both knew would happen for as long as possible to give Ocato the biggest scare possible, but when his eyes met the place where Mannimarco had been standing, he was no longer there.

Turning left, then right, up and down, Mannimarco was nowhere to be found.

On the other side of the cave, Ocato saw Raminus’ head slowly rising above the wooden crates he’d been sitting behind. He looked unbelievingly at the center platform, then to Ocato and back to the central platform again.

Walking slowly, still shaking, Ocato made his way over to Raminus. “Is it over, Ocato?”

“I’m not sure Raminus; I saw a white light, and then Mannimarco was gone. I have no idea what happened.”

“Nor I. I was afraid to even look after Mannimarco started creating that new ball of fire. Scared he might be aiming it at me. I fear I do not have your courage Ocato.”

“Courage? Is accepting the inevitable courageous? I wonder.”

A moan coming from the other side of Raminus cut off whatever Ocato might have wanted to say next. Moving over he saw the prone body of Tar-Meena lying in a small pool of blood.

Ocato moved to kneel over her and surveyed the damage. “She was hit pretty bad Ocato; I tried to give what power I could to heal her, but I fear for her life.”

Silently nodding, Ocato had already begun to form a spell in his mind. He knew he was unable at that moment to fully heal Tar-Meena, but perhaps he could do enough for her to keep her whole long enough to get her to a proper healer, or at least a mage with enough power left to fully heal her.

Getting back up again, Ocato walked slowly through the bodies, or parts of bodies, of the wizards that had come in with them. It soon became clear to him though that they would not walk out with them again. Ten had entered, and with luck, three might walk out again.

Just then, a humming sound could be heard, followed by a rush of air and not two feet from them, two Dunmer stood- one male in a blue robe, and one ancient looking female clothed in a robe with a spider pattern on it.

The female saw Tar-Meena lying hurt and, without bothering to speak, swiftly walked over to her and knelt beside her. Already Ocato could feel the power flowing from the Dunmer into Tar-Meena.

He looked questioningly up at the Dunmer male, who while not as old-looking as the female, surely didn’t look to be a spring deer.

“My apologies for my companion’s abrupt mannerism Chancellor, but I’m afraid she’s never been one for diplomacy. But where are my manners; please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Baladas Demnevanni, Magister of Great House Telvanni and here at the request of our esteemed Archmagister. The lady tending to your companion’s wounds is Mistress Dratha, also from House Telvanni.”

“You must be wondering what two Dunmer are doing here in the middle of nowhere. Well, to Morrowind this is the middle of nowhere, at least,” Baladas said with a sly wink. “I believe there is quite a bit we’ll have to talk about Chancellor, to inform you of everything that has really happened. But then, we have plenty of time for that.”

For the first time in what seemed an eternity, Ocato felt himself relax as he sat down on a rock to listen to this Dunmer.

They did not wait long for the coronation. After having been deprived of the last heir by fate, and by the bravery of Martin Septim, they did not want to let it happen again by waiting too long.

The Imperial city was crawling with visitors from all over Tamriel. Each province had sent many officials, and many of the regular population had come out for the event as well. From as far away as the Summerset Isles, commoners had come to watch the elevation of the new Emperor of Tamriel.

The Imperial city seemed a rainbow of colors, with flags and banners flying from every window, tower and house. Some people even wore them in their excitement.

Inside the Imperial Council Chambers, a small ceremony had just wrapped up. Emperor Dilbor I Septim was speaking quietly to Lord Nerevar. They had just concluded a binding treaty between Morrowind and Tamriel, one that ratified the treaty made between Chancellor Ocato and Lord Nerevar when Ocato was in Morrowind in search of Dilbor.

Raminus Polus and Baladas Demnevanni, who had stayed around for the ceremony, were quietly speaking to one another in a corner of the room. After having spoken with one another nearly daily for the last weeks, they had fast become close friends. They were even now discussing one of their favorite points of debate.

“And I’m telling you Raminus, if your guild had taken a different stance on the matter, perhaps the fake Mannimarco would never have gotten as many followers as he did. I mean to ignore an entire branch of Magic simply because of mishaps with it in the past, is not a good idea and sure to bring trouble.”

“But we can’t just now change centuries worth of tradition overnight. The guild would never be the same.”

“One should never be afraid of change, Raminus. Without it, the world would soon become a very dark place.”

“You may be right about that, Baladas. But then I fear the guild will be in quite a state of shock already even without the common acceptance of Necromancy as a school of Magic.”

“Really, how so?”

Raminus returned a sly look at Baladas; “Well, before he sacrificed himself, Hannibal Traven made it clear that had Filben still been alive, he would have wanted her to lead the guild. He didn’t know of course that she was in fact still alive, sort of. No, even without a general acceptance of Necromancy, I believe the guild will be in for quite a shock when they find their next Arch-Mage is a Vampire.”

Baladas and Raminus walked away laughing, towards the door. Yes, Baladas thought, the guild is in for quite a shock.

Well that's the last one. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And thanks to all who have already commented, I hope to see more still in the coming days.

As I believe I mentioned earlier, I've been busy writing a third part. Right now I'm really looking into it, it's mostly been written but to be honest I'm not entirely sure I like it as much as I did the first two, as I mentioned it's something entirely different, as in it does revolve around the same characters, but only one POV this time, that combined with what I've come up so far has left me less then confident about posting it. So I'll likely need a while to think it over before I post it, if I post it.

For now though, this is it.

Alex

It was awesome.

I think badda said it.

But to elaborate and point out the parts I thought had most room for improvement (you did ask for comments)...

I think you used the multiple PoVs well, its not a style I normally find works that well but you pulled it off nicely and helped to show the full complexity of the plot. The plot was well thought out and well linked though perhaps could have been better explored in a longer story (and its not often I say that), you built a very good feeling of impending chaos and mystery and I thought paid it off slightly too soon. I liked the political bit very much and its mainly this which i thought would have benefited from expansion. But saying that the fast pace was also most pleasing.

As far as the writing goes it was fine. I can't think whose style it reminds me of but it does remind me of someone. I think the biggest area for improvement would be in the show vs tell region, there were times that I found you told the reader things which might have been better shown though the actions and interactions of the characters. Of course this is a matter of balance and there certainly are times when the speed and simplicity of telling far outweigh the disadvantages, but generally you might consider showing more, at least in my opinion. Having said that though there were no particular infodumps which was a very good thing. I'd say this comment is particularly applicable to the first two parts where, because you were still building the atmosphere and feel, some of the more narrated parts seemed detached and little offputting.

The prose was very readable though, especially once I was into the story (how long was it? that I don't know shows how easy it was to sit and enjoy). I'm not sure I could isolate any one aspect which made it this way, more just the general style and pace (for it was well paced, never dragging its heels but not brushing by things either).

Somewhat linked to my first point I think you paid off all the plots a little too early and that the protagonist's side perhaps won a little to easily. I very much enjoyed the middle with the political manoeuvrings and several plotlines still only slightly linked and would have happily read more of it. There was nothing wrong with doing this but I think you could have given your ending more momentum with a bit more before it. This is a matter of taste of course.

And on matters of taste something which wasn't to mine. Mannimarco not being himself was just a bit confusing, in all honesty I didn't see what that twist added, but perhaps that's just me.

That's all the criticism I have for it really, and a lot is just my own feelings. It was very enjoyable and I look forward to your next piece. Thanks.


I'd say I did

Thanks a lot for the comments



As to this I guess my reasoning was thus;

first off I wanted to create him as far more powerful then he was shown in Oblivion. Reading up on him on the Library and hearing about him as he was pictured in previous games, I knew I had to make him a lot more powerful, which I guess I pulled off.

But then as I was into that storyline, I was wondering what the best way was to finish it, what's the best way for someone to defeat him etc. I already had the major showdown at Bruma, I thought it wouldn't work as well if Relien would defeat the snow demon, and then go on to the "next big fight" in Mannimarco. I guess I've always though one major showdown like that works, but more then one only work if there's suffient amount of time between the two, time which I didn't really have as I didn't want it to drag on longer, and I didn't really have anything else in mind that I could let happen to build up that second showdown.

So I figured, why not have the Mannimarco storyline turn out to be merely a sideline to the real showdown. It would help the Akavirii in creating a diversion, would save Relien from a second big showdown, would give me a way to keep from killing Ocato and those assorted mages I wanted to save etc.

So I guess that's basically what I considered and the reasons I made it the way it was

Thank you very much for this story. I haven't commented on it yet, but now that it is done, I wanted to make sure that you knew that I read it and enjoyed it.

I, for one, enjoyed the deception with Mannimarco as you depicted it; I thought it conveyed an incredible sense of power even beyond that which was obviously apparent from the fight with Relien. The overwhelming magical power of the two beings in that fight was, perhaps, almost unbelievable, but I thought it was very well written and quite convincing.

Overall, a very enjoyable read. Thanks again.

Well, I'm exceedingly late in replying, but better late than never. I hope.

I spent several hours yesterday reading this through, and it's a testament to how enjoyable this is. My other half was not best pleased mind you, seeing as how I got so engrossed in the story, I forgot to meet her in town - but that's another, far less entertaining story...

Considering this is a sequel to Morrowind (we must have a chat about titles one day ) it's appropriate that this follows the same route. Namely a blistering pace, multiple points of view and twists and turns galore. Devious plots, that kept me reading on, never entirerly sure I knew where it was going. You have a talent for plotting, no question, and you have plenty of invention on display, as well as a couple of standout set pieces. Hugely entertaining!

There were a few scenes where I think you've fallen into telling us too much, rather than showing it within the story, but that's a minor quibble here.

Here's hoping for that third installment sometime in the not too distant future

Thanks guys



And I hope Dawn wasn't too mad Jon

She got over it. Of course it took bribes of chocolate and fruit cider, but I've become used to having to do that

Now no sidestepping the issue - how's the third part coming? Is it looking like a possibility?

Save for one or two pages, it's finished. But to be honest I've been second guessing the success of my experiment there. I wonder now more then before if it might not be a lot less well written then my previous works.

The parts that I have finished I've sent tot Treydog thought for proof reading and the likes, so I think I'll await his feedback before doing anything rash (like deleting it, or heaven forbid, posting it )

Wow. That was a fantasic read Alexander. Thanks very much for posting your writing. I've really enjoyed it, and am eagerly awaiting your next work!

It's Here!!! One of my fave stories of all time, Cyrodiil by Alexander!!!! I hope all the influx from BGSF sees this, DESTRI - you will LOVE this story! ZALPHON - this one will ROCK your world! It sure did mine!! DON'T ANYONE MISS THIS STORY !!!!


Alexander, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this story without gobbling like a turkey and giving a standing ovation in front of my PC that lasts at least a week - AWESOME !!!

And I am def going to read your "Morrowind" story too!!!!


Gobble gobble...CLAP CLAP !!!!!