@Acadian: Pasha apparently believed there would be demand for a goblin, but her judgement is suspect. I'm frankly surprised that Stanza kept Pasha around, as her business sense may be equally unreliable. In the game, you can't actually persuade her to take any money, and so the Aureals won't do anything for you.

@mALX: I've only seen Barbarella, but IMDB gave me some idea what the other was about. Yup, that's about the mix.

@Grits: I did actually create the spell for her (it just swaps her outfit - the big ones are built-in). I haven't given her an AI package where she needs to use it. As for Mysticism, Azura will be borrowing ideas for filling soul gems from the Skingrad Mages Guild, although it was more likely the other way round.

-----------------

Clark is now back from his visit to the Shivering Isles.

-----------------

Nocturnal - part I

"Can I borrow Clark tonight?" asked Minx.

"Is this business or pleasure?" Taminwe laughed. "If it's business, then it will cost you. And if it's pleasure, then that's business. This is a brothel."

"Oh, I just want him to sleep with me, not sleep with me," Minx answered in kind.

Clark came into the room in the middle of this conversation, so naturally it didn't make any sense to him. He asked Minx to explain.

"Last night, I got a visit in my bedroom, my locked bedroom, from a woman dressed in a black hooded cape. She was surprised that I was alone, and asked me why there was no man with me."

"That surprises me, too," Taminwe interrupted. "I'd have thought that you could at least steal one!"

Minx went suddenly pale, which isn't easy for a Dunmer. "That's just what she said! Then she disappeared in a puff of dark smoke, leaving a raven feather fluttering down to the floor where she'd stood. I think it was Nocturnal!"

"So how does this involve me?" Clark asked.

"Well, I know you have experience of Daedra women, so I was hoping you'd be with me if she came back tonight."

"It's not the same thing! They were ordinary Daedra, not Daedric Princesses! The Mazken, Aureal and Dremora are just like us, even if they do get restored when they die. No special powers, just more experience because of their endless lives. And I know Nocturnal's statue is of a woman, but aren't the Daedric Princes supposed to be able to choose sides at will?"

"She was definitely a woman last night!" Minx replied. "Bare-breasted and larger than life, if you know what I mean. I felt like I was really in her shadow."

"If she was expecting to find a man in charge of the Guild, that could explain why she came as a woman," Taminwe reasoned. "So you might get a different visitor tonight."

"If Clark's with me, we'll have both options covered, won't we?" Minx pleaded. "I'm usually not afraid of anything, but I'd still feel better if I wasn't alone when she comes back."

"So why me?" asked Clark. "You already mentioned the Daedra, but I get the feeling it's more than that."

"That part about stealing a man," Minx replied. "That's something I would never do. It just doesn't fit my idea of what the Thieves Guild is about. We take things that the rich people will never notice missing, and give them, or the gold from selling them, to the poor. Or we'll stop a corrupt merchant from cornering the market, by liberating his hoard. That kind of thing."

"I still don't get it," Clark insisted.

"I don't have to steal you. And any of the other men I could just invite, I'd have to tell them about Nocturnal too. Who'd want to get interrupted by her?"

"So you're basically telling me that I'm the only man you think might agree to this? Are you questioning my sanity?"

"Well you did just visit the Shivering Isles," Taminwe reminded him. "That's not too unreasonable an assumption."

Clark rolled his eyes. Taminwe was not being helpful.

"Let's just think about this for a moment. What if Nocturnal's purpose is to steal from you? I don't want to find myself transported to another realm again. I did that once to get a woman's soul back, and it scared me witless, even though I wasn't alone."

"I can't believe she'd do that. Not without giving me a way to steal you back." Minx was trying to be reassuring, but she wasn't succeeding.

"If she does want to steal you, she might try it the old-fashioned way," Taminwe suggested. "Don't tell me you wouldn't enjoy that!"

Strangely that did make Clark feel a bit better about it. If Taminwe wasn't worried about losing him, maybe he wouldn't be in any real danger. And he couldn't help being curious about what Nocturnal would look like. Her statue at the shrine was somewhat featureless, and probably didn't represent anything anyone had actually seen.

---

"What time did it happen last night?" Clark asked.

"I'm not sure. I went to bed about ten, and I'm sure I'd been asleep at least a couple of hours. So I think it was around midnight, or maybe a bit later."

"Do you think we need to be asleep before she'll arrive?"

"I haven't a clue. For all I know she was hoping to catch me having fun, so she could watch from the shadows."

They decided their best strategy was to be naked in the bed together, so Nocturnal would think she'd got there afterward. Clark wasn't sure that would work, but the prospect of being interrupted by Nocturnal kept a damper on things, even with his arms full of Minx.



----------------------

Note: Clark did visit Molag Bal's realm when he and Freija went looking for the soul of the woman who was sacrificed in exchange for Aranxa the Xivilai. He spent most of his time there invisible, while Freija did all the fighting.

Sleeping with Minx is a hard job I’m sure, but someone’s got to do it! Actually, it sounds as if Clark may be suffering from performance anxiety at the thought of being snooped on by the Daedric Mistress of Shadows.

What a fun and clever set up to meet Nocturnal! We’ve heard (and seen) much of her thanks to your fabulous modding efforts. Looking forward to meeting her, and I imagine Clark is too.

*

The Road To Wellville is hugely funny, while still more or less sticking to the true story it was based on.

The true story: Kellogg is the original maker of the cereals you see on the store shelves (name brand “Kellogg’s) - had unusual ideas when it came to keeping the body healthy. He started his own health farm and invented all kinds of strange contraptions that he was sure would speed up the benefits of their health regiment. One of the things he pressed hardest in his health farm was enemas, all the guests had to have several per day, and with different things each time (coffee enema in the morning, yogurt enema in the afternoon, etc.)

The movie is based on the true story, but adds in Matthew Broderick as a guest who comes to the farm with his wife as a paying guest - his “experiences” in the health farm - hilarious movie, I think you would love it if you get a chance to see it.


Now: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT !!!!!! You are starting the Nocturnal !!!!!! WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!




BWAAHAA! I didn’t see that coming!

What a great chapter and mod! I can't wait to see the ideas you have for it written out - Very excited about this mod !!!

*

Awesome. It's nothing but work, work, work at the Skingrad MG. *sigh*

I love the description of Nocturnal appearing and then disappearing. Intriguing!

@Acadian: Clark's performance anxiety is entirely provoked by the possibility of having to entertain a possibly gender-bending Daedric Princess - he doesn't know what to expect, or prepare for. He should leave the adjustments to Nocturnal.

@mALX: Yes, starting the Nocturnal. I have to try and keep the mod ahead of the story, or I won't know what they're doing next. So if the action here slows down, it means I'm getting stuck in the modding!

@Grits: And re-appearing in this part. She'll stay a little longer, and chat.

--------------

Previously: Minx had asked Clark to spend the night with her, in case Nocturnal paid her another visit.

-------------------

Nocturnal - part II

Sleeping was out of the question, of course, so they both saw the dark swirl of the portal opening. Somehow it glowed black, which seemed an impossibility, but there was no other way to describe it. The figure that stepped from it was the same, except that her eyes showed white, and her lips were a deep red. Her skin was as black as night, but he could see her clearly in the darkness. And yes, she was as female as Minx had described her.

She wore only a cape, that covered her back and arms, but left her entire front bare. The hood fastened at her throat with a jewelled clasp, All of it black, of course.

Nocturnal smiled, and Clark was pleased to note that her teeth were white. He was having enough difficulty keeping his eyes on her face, with the other distractions she offered, and black teeth would have been too much.

"Good choice!" Nocturnal told Minx. "You didn't steal what you shouldn't, and you didn't lie or cheat either. Perhaps the Thieves Guild has a proper Guildmaster at last."

Clark was aware of Nocturnal's presence in his mind. He was grateful to Medora for unlocking that mystery for him, and it was no longer an experience he found uncomfortable. And she knew that he knew, and she silently put him at ease.

Nocturnal unfastened the clasp on her cape and let it slide towards the floor. Before it landed, however, it turned into a large raven. It hopped off across the room and jumped onto a table. It stood watching, as Nocturnal lit a candle by the bed.

"You'll want to be able to see each other. And a little candlelight doesn't bother me," she told them.

In the soft flickering candlelight, Nocturnal looked a lot less daunting. The unnatural dark glow was replaced by the reflection of the yellow flame from her skin and hair. Minx and Clark both began to relax a little.

"You passed the first test, Minx. I had feared that you'd find someone to sacrifice in your place, but you sought out an ally instead. And you even got Taminwe's permission for Clark to be here."

Nocturnal related the story of how Emer Dareloth stole the cowl. It was her intention that it should be stolen, but the way he went about it angered the Daedric Princess intensely. The tale in "Purloined Shadows" was essentially true, except that she'd spared the girl who Dareloth had tricked into being the decoy. Someone had to write the story, or it would all have been a waste.

Her anger was all directed at Dareloth, and she'd put the curse on the cowl in revenge. She wanted the cowl to go to a thief who had the skill and courage to steal it honestly. Dareloth's attempt to have the (relatively) innocent girl take the fall marked him as a coward that did not deserve the reward.

That hadn't quite worked out as well as Nocturnal had hoped. It was her expectation that she'd soon get the cowl back, and remove the curse herself. Dareloth had proved to be a stubborn fetcher, and he died with the cowl still in his possession. It became the symbol of office of the Grey Fox, and was passed, complete with curse, to his successors. Fortunately, Corvus Umbranox, with Minx's help, had undone the curse the hard way.

"I think you deserve to keep it for a while longer, at least," she told Minx. "I know you won't abuse the power it gives you, and you may be able to do some good if you have it available."

"Thieves learn slowly," Nocturnal explained. "Most never get past the stage of stealing for personal gain. A few, like Dareloth, become Masters, who have stolen enough to be comfortable, and just continue for the glory. But you have gone beyond that, and have learned to steal for the love of others."

"Corvus taught you that, I'd imagine. It was the love of Millona that drove his every action. He'd have been the perfect Guildmaster, if she weren't more important to him than the Guild. And you helped him, because you wanted to help, not because of any benefit to yourself. That's the way I'd like all the Guild Thieves to act."

"I know it was the Guild's rules that brought Minx to them in the first place," Clark told the dark woman. "I'd met her before she joined, and I knew she wasn't happy with violence. But I also know she started out just trying to make a living. A thief can't help others if he doesn't have enough for himself."

"I don't expect them to. But having a Guild that encourages them to develop in that direction is essential to my goals. Corvus' rules were a good start, and the foundation needs to be built upon. Emer Dareloth set my plans back three hundred years, but Minx can start to catch up." She gave Minx a wicked grin. "No pressure!"

"And you're an interesting kind of thief," she continued. "A thief of secrets, and hidden information. You're not doing it for gain or glory either. Or just for Taminwe, rewarding though she is. I can understand why the thieves treat you as one of their own."

"You've been Minx's lover in the past, too. Not that it means much to a young Dunmer, but you apparently made a good impression at the time. Enough to change the direction of her life a few times."

---

Clark and Minx woke up late the following day. They'd needed the rest.

"She didn't look as big last night as she did the night before," Minx remarked. "About my size, in fact."

"I think she wanted to be intimidating at first, and we know what she wanted last night. She knew I like you the size you are, so that was appropriate for her, too."

"I'm not sure her is the right word. There were times last night when I was sure I was getting more than I expected."

"Enough speculation. She gave a task to do today. We've got to go down to her shrine outside Leyawiin, and she wants Amusei to come with us."


-------------------

Notes: Purloined Shadows places the theft of the cowl in the reign of Pelagius (the first, since his name is used without a number). That was in the first century of the third era. Springheel Jak was an earlier partner of Emer Dareloth. His diary notes that he can't remember who his partner was, because by that time, he'd stolen the cowl.

In the mod, Nocturnal isn't totally naked without her cape, and she doesn't take it off when she visits. But there you're alone, and it's the player who's Guildmaster.

Just tell Clark to assume the missionary position and pay no attention to what that Daedric Lord is doing behind him, ROFL!


Coming back to read, can't right now.

What a fun night of Nocturnal bliss! Loved her cape, raven, candle, historical observations, all of it.

’... a thief who had the skill and courage to steal it honestly.’

"Corvus taught you that, I'd imagine. It was the love of Millona that drove his every action.” - - The TG questline is absolutely my fave in the game; it is, after all, a love story.


Nit - ‘Her skin was as black as night, but he could could see her clearly in the darkness.’

I just love this description!

BWAAHAA! Loved this whole paragraph!

Oh no, this isn’t the end of Nocturnal’s story, is it? LOVED this episode! Awesome Write!!!

@Acadian: Fitting the story in with the existing is always fun, especially when you're not sure what Bethesda treats as fiction. Nocturnal's philosophy of proper thievery may get some expansion in the next few episodes. She basically believes in the redistribution of wealth, especially when it won't be noticed.

@Grits: The same effect continues in her realm. I'd originally tried to create a decent edge-detection night-eye shader that would turn on automatically when you entered the world-space, but I failed. It still could return if I make any breakthroughs.

@mALX: Not the end, just the end of the beginning.

-------------

Previously: Nocturnal had re-appeared in Minx's bedroom with a call to action. And she wanted them to do some work for her, too.

---

Nocturnal - Part III

At the shrine, Nocturnal's voice spoke from the statue. "Good, you came. What I need to discuss with you should not be spoken in public. I'll open a portal so that you can come to my castle in Evergloam." They all entered the portal as directed, and found themselves in total darkness.

And yet they could "see" clearly. Whatever sense they were actually using made everything clear, even though it was all totally black. They were soon in front of a large castle, and the door was opening.

They walked through the hall to a throne room, where Nocturnal sat waiting for them. Clark noted that her guards were Daedra Seducers. He'd not met one before, but they matched the descriptions he'd read in reports from Daggerfall and Sentinel. No sign of their wings at the moment, as they didn't perceive any threat to their mistress.

"You've heard the story of those two clumsy amateurs who stole my Eye down in Leyawiin, I presume?" Nocturnal asked. Clark had; his boss, the Count of Kvatch, had mentioned retrieving it for her, and getting rewarded well for the task.

"What I didn't explain to him at the time, was why it was available to be stolen. I'd intended that of course, but my plan was that it would be recovered by the Leyawiin Guard, and taken to the Castle. It's a pretty bauble, and I was certain that Countess Alessia would want it for herself. It would have given me an easy way to spy directly on her and the Count, and track what they were doing with the Black Bow bandits, and the Topal Bay pirates, and probably their little torture chamber, too."

"Those stupid Argonians had no real ambition. They didn't even try to fence it, just hid it in a cave, where it was no use to anyone. So I had it stolen back."

"And now I need another plan, and that involves you. There's a giant crystal ball in the basement of the Imperial Palace. Minx, you saw it when you activated the Glass of Time." Nocturnal looked at Minx, who nodded.

She continued. "It's a bit large to walk out with unnoticed, and that's what will make it easy to steal." She held out a small sack. "This is a magical bag of holding, that will contain items much larger than itself. Just put the ball in the sack, and nobody will believe you have it!"

"I take it that it won't be as heavy once it's inside the bag?" Clark wanted to know. "And how do we move it in the first place?"

"Well, naturally there's a spell you need to learn. You cast the spell on the ball, and it puts itself inside the bag of holding. I'll teach it to you, Minx, as this is a job you can do best alone."

"So why are the others here? Amusei, you're here because I want you to become my messenger, as well as Minx's. Some things I can tell you at the shrine, but others may need you to come here to Evergloam. So you need to start to learn the way between the castle and the portal, because you won't have a map to help you."

Amusei looked alarmed at that. He wasn't the best natural navigator, and he relied heavily on a well-annotated map. If he was lost, he just kept going in the same direction, until he came to a road or trail he'd already marked on it. Then once he knew where he was, he'd retrace his steps and add the new landmarks in the blank space.

Nocturnal was telling him he couldn't do that here. But she'd have a seducer guide him until the map was complete in his mind. "You don't need a diagram to tie a knot any more, do you?" she asked with a wink. Amusei looked embarrassed, and Minx blushed, too.

"And your turn will come later, Clark. I don't need information, yet, just physical items that Minx can steal for me."

That reminded Minx that it didn't make sense why Nocturnal wanted the giant crystal ball. "Those giant things down in the palace basement are just novelties, with no practical use, aren't they?"

"They weren't intended that way when they were made," Nocturnal explained. "The giant hourglass was made to measure months, or years, I forget which. But it proved to be too large to turn over. Using feather on it stopped the sand from falling through, and fortifying the strength of the men turning it made it too likely they'd break it."

"So what was the problem with the crystal ball?"

"Well, you need to enchant a crystal ball to do a specific task. You can enchant for scrying, that is searching for something. Or you can enchant two of them, so they can each see what's around the other one. There are a number of uses, but each one requires a spell. The larger the crystal ball, the more magicka it takes. They made the ball so large that no mage could enchant it, because it would take more magicka than anyone has. Unless they're a Daedric Prince, that is."

"So you're the only one that can use it," Minx exclaimed.

"No, there are fifteen of my brethren that could also do that, but I'm the only one that cares to. Vaermina, for example, would achieve the same by listening to mortals' dreams. I'm perhaps the only one that would get extra satisfaction from the theft. Well, maybe Sheogorath might, but he's not himself at the moment."

-----------------

Note: all the quests in the mod after the first are initiated by a message delivered by Amusei. He doesn't participate in the first quest any more than Minx does, but somehow Nocturnal has contacted him. I did give him a monthly visit to her shrine to make it credible.

I love the addition of Amusei to the mod, always liked his character! (and since the Thieves Guild will be completed before the mod starts it should work perfectly and not interfere with his AI, I think he only goes to the newly formed "Guild Hall" after that. My character never hung out there, lol.

I absolutely LOVED Nocturnal's plans to spy on everyone, ROFL! All she'd see watching Count Leyawiin's bedroom would be the Countess complaining of a headache if my story is correct, ROFL!

Loved this update, Awesome Write!

Nice visuals with the darkness that Minx and Clark could see through.

Woot! Magic Bag of Holding! Just the thing to carry a couple dozen extra pairs of shoes (or giant crystal balls). I hope Minx gets to keep the bag after the job!

I’m sure Minx is up for the task, and it's always fun to see the hapless wannabe thief Amusei.

Great story behind the story of the Eye of Nocturnal quest.

I’m wondering if the Bag of Holding is going to be a gift from Nocturnal. That would be handy!

It’s neat to have Amusei doing something out in the world after the TG questline is over.

@mALX: I'm still having issues with Amusei changing in and out his armor in the mod, but his schedule works nicely without any need to alter it beyond adding his trips to the shrine.

The player character almost always owns the shack nearby, so getting the Guildhall doesn't add much, as you can't upgrade it with more storage or anything. The mod starts each quest only when you go there, so it should get more use this way.

@Grits and Acadian: The Bag of Holding's not (currently) a reward for the quest, but I'm sure she'll keep it in this story. Amusei will be a recurring messenger, just like he is for the Grey Fox.

----------

Previously: Clark, Minx and Amusei had visited Nocturnal castle in Evergloam, and Minx had been sent to steal the giant crystal ball from the Imperial Palace.

---------

Nocturnal - Part IV

Clark ran into Minx again a few days later. "Did you get the crystal ball for Nocturnal?" he asked her.

Minx had, and Nocturnal was busy scrying for her bow. The Bow of Shadows had been won by a Bosmer in Morrowind, who was last seen entering an Oblivion gate during the crisis. Nobody was sure if she'd come back out before the gates all closed.

"The Champion told me that anyone who entered a gate would be expelled when the gate closed." Clark told her. "If they were still alive, that is. He rescued Farwil Indarys from a gate outside Cheydinhal. Farwil and Bremman Senyan came out with him when he took the stone, but all the other Knights of the Thorn that had been slain stayed in there."

"So it's likely she died trying to close the gate," Minx surmised.

"Do you suppose Nocturnal can see into Dagon's realm with the ball?" Clark wanted to know.

"If she can, and she finds it, then retrieving it doesn't appear to be a thief's job. She'd most likely put the challenge to another archer, who'd be able to use the bow. I don't expect I'll hear from Nocturnal until she moves on to the next artifact."

But Minx was wrong. Amusei came looking for both of them, with a message from Nocturnal. She'd located the bow in the Deadlands, and the Bosmer woman she'd given the bow was there too, ... and alive!

---

Nocturnal greeted them at her castle, and told them what she knew. "Cyndil must have been dead when the gate closed, but she's not dead now," Nocturnal remarked. "The only thing that makes sense of that is if Dagon brought her back to life. He has that power, and sometimes he does so, if he was sufficiently impressed by the deceased's skill. Of course, he then expects loyalty in return, and he doesn't always get it. I suspect Dagon gave her to his Dremora to play with, when she refused to join him"

"The Dremora wouldn't dare to kill her again, after Dagon has restored her to life. But they're a cruel bunch, and they have other ways to exact their revenge, especially on a woman."

"So it's no longer just a matter of getting the bow back. This has become a rescue mission, as well. The bow, and the Bosmer's armor, are still where she fell. The scamps usually gather up the gear of fallen foes, but the bow has repelled them. They don't like going near other Daedric Prince's artifacts, for some reason. Perhaps they sense the 'otherness' of their power."

"The reason I want both of you to go, is that it will need your combined skills. Minx has the ability to sneak past the Dremora guarding Cyndil, but won't be able to get her back out without Clark's help. She'll need to be calmed, and probably healed. She has to be able to sneak back out with you, too, and it will be hard to persuade her that it's possible."

"It seems to me that we'd want to find her equipment first, so that she has something familiar to use when we try to get her out," Clark reasoned. "What does the enchantment on the bow do for her?"

"It's a fast bow, so she can get off more shots in any amount of time than she would with a regular one, and it silences the target, as well as adding health damage. That makes it a good weapon against spell-casters. The Dremora all include spells in their offence, so it was a good choice for someone entering the deadlands," Nocturnal told them.

"And her armor?" Minx added.

"She was wearing mithril, mainly for looks if you ask me, but she'd had the foresight to enchant fire shield and shock shield on some of the pieces. Again, I can't fault her preparedness. It surprises me that she was taken down."

"But nothing for stealth?" Minx persisted. "It seems to me that we won't be able to just sneak her back out again, even if we do get in undetected."

"There will be issues for us going in, too. The deadlands has fire towers, and those don't rely on seeing you." Clark could remember his trip into Molag Bal's realm. The fire towers there had unnerved him the first time one fired at him. The fireballs were slow, and easy to dodge, but any creature with intelligence would wonder what set them off. He'd had Freija with him to deal with those. This time Minx would be trying to stay undetected, too.

Nocturnal reassured them that she'd only seen lesser daedra outside the towers. The crystal ball had revealed Dremora, but only in the citadel itself. There would be no fire towers inside, so they'd only have to avoid the guards once they got that far.

Clark still felt they'd be safer taking a fighter with them, but violence wasn't Nocturnal's way of doing things.

"Just take some extra jewellery with chameleon for Cyndil, and you shouldn't have to fight at all."

"Do you have any?" he asked Minx. "I only have my invisibility spell, and no chameleon at all."

Minx had a single Ring of Shadows. She also preferred to cast invisibility and only used the ring when she had to open doors.

"I know the Champion has at least one ring, as Claudia told me about his using it to get in and out of the watchtower. I wonder if we could borrow that," Clark mused.

"Borrow, or steal?" asked Minx.

"Borrow," Clark stated firmly. "He obviously finds it useful. Come to think of it, both Goldie and Cybeline also mentioned him using it."

"OK, let's go back to Tamriel and ask him."

---

The Champion had the Ring of Khajiiti, a Grand Ring of Shadows, an amulet that he'd enchanted with a Sigil Stone, and a whole pile of lesser rings that he'd found. "I had enough to make me completely undetectable," he told them, "but once I'd collected that, it seemed like every enchanted ring I found had more!"

They sorted through the spare rings. They'd have problems with not being able to wear two identical rings at the same time, but they managed to put together three pairs of rings that would each provide 45-55%. The strongest set they marked as Cyndil's, as they both had invisibility spells they could use.

---

In Evergloam once more, Nocturnal led them up to her bedroom. She opened a secret door in the wall and they followed her back down to an apparently empty basement room. Nocturnal waved her hand, and a portal revealed itself in one corner. "That will take you to Dagon's realm, close to the pathway where you'll find Cyndil's equipment. Once you find it, you'll have to back track, and look for a doorway. The cave it leads to takes you up to another path higher up the island, closer to the tower. You'll go through one more cave before you emerge on the approach to the citadel. There will be fire towers and mines along the paths. My crystal ball showed no Dremora on the paths, or in the caves, but expect the tower to be full of them. The mages may be capable of detecting life, but it's not a spell they normally use. Good luck!"

Minx took Clark's hand, and they stepped through the blue flame of the portal together.

This quest sounds really exciting and fun! I haven't even gotten to play the mod yet, or even turn my game on since you released it - busy week + storming all week. Really can't wait to do this quest! Somewhere in game Maxical has a zero weight chameleon outfit she could use.

I loved Nocturnal's comment about the Mithral, lol. Guilty of that myself, it is good looking armor, lol.

I am absolutely LOVING this storyline you have made for this mod! Awesome Write!

I hope I haven't implied that you need to use stealth in the mod. Clark and Minx are both keen to avoid combat, and so they're taking that route. Burk gro-Balrog, my test character for this, just waded in with a huge enchanted battle-axe.


Cyndil's mithril isn't exactly the standard fare, and is tailored for appearance. You can't wear it in the mod, because Cyndil needs it to give her a chance to get out with you.

Lol, Clark can remove it later, and Maxical sneak in and steal it like a thief in the night while they are occupied? ROFL !!! (just kidding).

I discovered in Fallout 3's Mothership Zeta that if you kill the Samurai for his armor your chances of getting through the final battle drop to zero, my character is still stuck in there in Fallout 3, lol.

Have you set up different responses for players to discover if their characters don't do what they are supposed to? (I'm terrible for experimenting in game = "I wonder what would happen if I did this..." - I mean, how many of us playing Fallout 3 didn't shoot Daddy James immediately when he gave us the gun at age 10 just to see what would happen? Lol. )

Woot! A good old fashioned rescue the Bosmeri maiden mission! Only this one seems to reward sneaksters more than mouthsmashers. In the typical manner of a Daedra Lord, Nocturnal’s instructions are: ‘Here’s the portal to get there. Find your own way back. Oh, and try not to get killed.’

@mALX: If the player tries to wear Cyndil's armor, it behaves like the Amulet of Kings. The Bow of Shadows can be kept by the player, and Cyndil can be given another weapon (or not). If Cyndil chases someone into the lava, taking the bow with her, that's allowed for, too. That was one reason for making her an archer, as they don't tend to "do a Farwil" so much.

@Acadian: In the mod, it's not necessarily a sneak mission, but that's the only way Clark and Minx can pull it off, at least on the way in. Once they have Cyndil, she can add some firepower for the return trip.
If Daedric Princes didn't make their quests tricky, everyone would be doing them!

-------------

Previously Clark and Minx have gone into Mehrunes Dagon's Deadlands to try and retrieve Nocturnal's Bow of Shadows, together with the Bosmer archer she gave it to.

---------------

Nocturnal - Part V

On the other side, Minx let go of Clark's hand to cast her invisibility spell, but he stopped her. "Wait a moment. Once you're invisible, and I am too, we could get separated, and not know it. Keep hold of my hand and try the spell. If it still works, we'll have less of a problem staying in contact."

She did, and they both became invisible. Clark wasn't expecting that, but it was a bonus if either of them could cast for the two. But now letting go of his hand dispelled the invisibility. It seemed that you didn't get something for nothing, even with magic.

There was only one way they could go from the entrance, so they set off along the path. A daedroth stood near a bend up ahead of them, but the path looked wide enough there to pass without any issue. Clark renewed their invisibility while they were still far enough away that the creature couldn't see him cast.

It seemed to him that he hadn't breathed until they were as far away on the far side of the daedroth. It had been completely unaware of their passage, but the same would not be true of the next obstacle. A fire tower loomed over the edge of the path, a short way ahead of them.

"When the top starts to spin, it's about to shoot a fireball at us," he told Minx. "As soon as it does we go left, and the fireball should miss. Then we run like crazy to get out of range. It takes a few seconds for it to recharge, and we can be beyond it before that happens."

"Left, right," Minx responded. "I mean, got you, left"

"And then run."

Of course, when they started to run, Minx's hand was pulled from his own, and they became visible again. It made no difference to the fire tower anyway, and there weren't any creatures there to see them. "We'd better be more careful if we encounter a tower and a daedroth together."

"There's the doorway we need to use after we find Cyndil's gear," Minx interrupted. They'd almost walked past it without noticing. Clark considered dropping something as a marker, but thought better of it. He contented himself with taking note of what landmarks there were.

A clannfear they found next was no more problem to avoid than the daedroth had been, but around the next bend was something Clark hadn't seen before. Scattered around the broad area were small crown-like objects, just lying on the ground. Perhaps these were the mines that Nocturnal had mentioned, whatever they were.

As they got closer, one rose up off the ground and started to spin. Clark guessed that it meant the same as it did with the fire towers, and told Minx to dodge left again. Sure enough, the thing exploded, and a fireball hurtled towards where they'd just been standing.

Minx looked around, and remarked that there weren't any creatures around. "Maybe these things are dangerous to them, too. And with nothing watching us, I can try something."

She let go of Clark's hand and fired off a flare spell at one of the more distant mines. It exploded, without shooting back at her, and triggered off several more of the others. Now they could see a clear path across the open area, that should be safe for them to cross.

"Nice," Clark told her, taking her hand and casting invisibility again.

There was nothing on the far side to greet them, and they could see the end of the path ahead. A blood well stood on a large rock next to the path. Clark had encountered them before, so he knew it wasn't dangerous. In fact, it would restore some of your health, if you could ignore what it contained and just let it work. This might have been what Cyndil was trying to reach.

As they got closer to the blood well, they could see the small pile of items next to the rock that marked where she fell. There was the bow, on top of a quiver, and several pieces of mithril. And it had to be the Bow of Shadows. It had that same "dark glow" that had been so unsettling when Nocturnal appeared in the Guildmaster's quarters.

Everything fit in Clark's backpack. The armor was light, and the quiver was almost empty, so it wasn't a heavy burden for him to carry alone, and they didn't have to consider splitting it between them. A complete set of Daedric armor might have been a different situation.

"Only the clannfear to avoid on the way back," Minx said brightly. "The mines won't come back, and the fire tower was the other side of the doorway."

"Plus whatever's in the cave, or on the next pathway, or the cave after that."

"And in the citadel. You don't have to remind me. I was just trying to be positive."

"Well, I'm just trying to be cautious. We don't have any slack on this mission."

---

The mines turned out to be the only ones they encountered. There was one new trap, some falling rocks that rolled across their path near the top of the island shortly before they reached the tower. Those would have been a problem if they'd been going faster, but the need to keep a grip on each other's hand kept them down to a much slower pace.

There was a fire tower near the citadel door, but plenty of room for them to skirt around out of its range. Nothing else was guarding the entrance.

"We can't open the door and remain invisible," Minx reminded Clark. "Time for the rings."

The chameleon effect on the rings would also help make the opening of the door less noticeable to anyone inside. Despite its huge size, the door operated silently, and they stood in the hallway undetected. To either side of them a corridor led off, each ending at a door that presumably led to higher levels of the tower. In front of them was a circular pit of lava in the middle of a large empty space that went all the way up the middle of the tower. Around the walls at this bottom level they could see cages containing prisoners. Any one of them might be Cyndil.

There weren't any guards in sight, but they kept their chameleon rings on, and stayed together as they went round checking the cages. Several of the prisoners were female Dremora, and Clark recalled Prizna telling him that the women were often punished just for disrespecting the kyn. One or two were in chains, as well as being inside a cage, and Clark wondered what they'd done.

There was a male Breton, and a Dunmer, but no Cyndil. She was further up the tower, it seemed. Did that mean anything?

---

There were a few Dremora guards on the next level, but no prisoners. They seemed to be there as a barrier between the entry level and the next, which again might mean something, or not. It wasn't hard to sneak past them, but they didn't want to have to deal with these on their way out. Hopefully Cyndil would have enough sneak ability that they wouldn't be an issue then, either.

The corridor led them out into the central hollow of the tower again, and they followed the ramp up to another door.

The corridor behind it led up to a small room, not much more than a landing, before doubling back on itself to go up a level further. As they neared the top of the second slope, they could hear the rattling of chains around the corner. Casting invisibility on top of the chameleon, they crept closer to see what it was.

The chains were holding the pale thighs of a woman up in the air, and they could see a darker pair of hips thrusting between them. The woman's body was hidden from them around the corner of the pillar, so they could not see if this was Cyndil.

That was soon answered for them. A second Dremora approached, asking the first "How do you like the Bosmer?"

"I liked her better when she struggled. She was tighter then, too. Soon she'll only be fit for the scamps."

He was soon finished, and the two wandered up to the other end of the room. The scamps they'd mentioned were busy with the woman there, and the Dremora wanted to watch.

Cyndil's eyes opened wide with shock as Clark whispered in her ear. He clamped a hand over her mouth, in case she made any noise to attract the Dremora back again. "We're here to get you out," he told her. "Minx is unlocking your shackles, and I'll heal you."

"Where is she? I can't see anyone"

"We're using chameleon. I have a couple of rings for you, once we get you down from these chains."

"Can you restore strength? My legs are weak from being chained up like this. I'm not sure I can even stand."

"I'll try, once we get the pillar between us and the Dremora. They can't see us, but they could see the spells."

A groan of pain, and two unsympathetic laughs from the far end of the room indicated that the Dremora were fully distracted, so he took the risk of casting a healing spell. Cyndil gasped, as the circulation was restored in her legs, and they started to tingle. Clark took her weight off the chains, and Minx released the shackles around her thighs.

Before she went to work on the ones around her wrists, Minx slipped the rings onto her fingers, and Cyndil became as invisible as the other two. Then Minx undid the one on her neck, and she was free.

"We have your armor, here in my backpack, but we should get out of this room before they notice you're missing. Hold my other hand, and don't let go until I tell you. We'll stop and get you dressed as soon as we're out of sight."

Minx peeked around the pillar to make sure the Dremora weren't looking in their direction, and then cast invisibility as a precaution. The three slipped back down the ramp to the small landing room, and stopped to let Cyndil get dressed.

"You found my bow, and some arrows too!" she exclaimed as Clark pulled it from his pack. "That makes a big difference to my plans. If I have a weapon, I'm not letting those two live!"

"No wait," Clark grabbed her and spun her around. "If you don't kill them both with a single arrow, the other will raise the alarm, and we'll have to fight our way out. What are your chances of doing that?"

Cyndil wasn't too daunted by the prospect of battling all the Dremora in the deadlands, if she could get her revenge, but she owed her rescuers enough to do as they asked. "All right, we do it your way. For now."

---

Screenshot of Cyndil - with her armor But it probably looks better on her than it would on Clark

A wonderful review of the Deadlands, with its foes, traps and good ways to deal with it all. Found the gear and rescued the Bosmer!

Poor Cyndil. She doesn’t even get to slaughter her two Dremora abusers. For now.

Nice looking mini-mithril armor!

I don't know how I lost the email notice for this, but just happened to notice the yellow cross showing a new post and saw your post and no response from me. Went back to my email and dug around - no notice. It probably got accidentally deleted, I'm really sorry about that.

Holy Cow, Cyndil is gorgeous! You did an amazing job on her eyes and textures! (Nice armor too, but it would be awfully hard not to risk the wrath of a Daedric Lord by running her through enough attacks that its rating was 0 and then pickpocketing it from her when she removed it, ROFL !!!

I liked the little invisibility trick, holding hands to cover two people! What a great idea!

Boy did I ever hate those targeting towers in the Oblivion realms - nearly died from them numerous times, especially when they chase you into land mines, lol.

GAAAAH!!! Can you really set off the landmines from a distance like that? I may go back and play the Oblivion worlds just to try it out !!! Awesome !!!

You did a much better job on your Oblivion world than I did on mine, I am highly impressed by all you've done here, because I know how much hell it was trying to make even a small island or piece together a sigil tower. I didn't even trap mine, other than with Daedra !!! Amazing job, Ghastley !!!

I CAN'T WAIT to try this mod !!! This sounds totally AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!

Cyndil is gorgeous! I like her spirit, especially the grim, “For now.”

Minx and Clark holding hands invisibly past the daedroth was both adorable and hair-raising. I love the notion that they both were concealed by the spell but they were twice as likely to accidentally break it.

I enjoyed the walk through the Deadlands. The part where Minx sets off a bunch of mines brought sweet memories of my first CoC. Very different with an Atronach madman who charges through howling MORE POWER. That’s how I learned (eventually, after much damage) that the exploding mines don’t seem to get Absorbed.

@Acadian: Don't worry about Cyndil's delayed revenge, mayhem is coming up.

@mALX: That's the best use for that flare spell you start with. It flies in a straight line, so your aiming is simple, and you can trigger the mines from so far away, you don't get targeted. The fun part is trying to figure out which one will set off the others! I just picked an existing Random Oblivion World to adapt, and it happened to have mines where I wanted to place Cyndil's gear, so they became part of the story, too.

@Grits: She'll get her wish in the next part.

Holding hands was the only way I could imagine two invisible characters coordinating their progress. It's hard enough when a companion decides to use chameleon in battle, and you can almost see them. If one of the enemy does the same, you can't tell them apart.

The mines and towers of course aren't affected by chameleon or invisibility either, so they're significant for sneakers. Neither of them are Atronachs, so they don't even think of deliberately being hit. I wasn't aware that the tower fire could be absorbed, but the mines can't. I wonder why they made it that way?

------------

Previously: Clark and Minx had just released Cyndil from her chains, and stopped her from drawing the Dremora's attention by killing her captors.

-----------

Nocturnal - Part VI

They were sneaking along the corridor towards the citadel door when they heard the shouting from the balcony two floors up. The Dremora had obviously found the empty chains where Cyndil should have been and raised the alarm.

"Stay calm, they haven't detected us yet," Clark whispered. "We're nearly at the door, and if we can just..."

But two fully armored Dremora were now standing in front of the door, effectively blocking the way out.

"Now we do it my way after all," Cyndil said, and pulled an arrow from her quiver. Shooting with chameleon in effect gave her the chance to pick her shot deliberately, and the arrow thumped into the Dremora's shoulder and spun him around. His colleague had no idea from which direction the arrow came, and he looked around frantically, wondering where the attackers were. As his back turned on her, Cyndil loosed her second arrow into the back of his head.

The first guard was struggling to his feet, badly weakened by the health damage effect on the arrow, but not yet finished. Clark's sword slipped between the plates of his armor before he could see anyone coming. The commotion in the doorway, and the opening of the great door told all the guards where they were, and a throng of Dremora rushed out of the Tower.

"Now they're gone, why don't we release a few more prisoners?" Minx asked. "We have a little time before they notice we're not out there, and I think we could use the distraction."

The cages weren't hard for a skilled lock-picker like Minx. The caged prisoners all had spells they could cast. That was why they'd been caged, instead of just being chained to the walls. Minx was unsure if releasing the Dremora woman was a good idea, not knowing where her loyalties lay, but she ran towards the door with a shock spell beginning to crackle in her hand. The Breton paused to cast shield on himself before running after her.

"They may not have much of a chance against armored men, but it's more than they had in the cages," Minx reassured them.

"Still, we should help." Cyndil wanted at least the chance of getting her revenge. She might not recognize her two tormenters in their armor, but if they were all dead, that wouldn't matter.

The three followed the prisoners out of the door. Without any armor of their own, they were using hit-and-run tactics against the slower guards, and the fire tower was adding its own random element, shooting fireballs at where they once were, and hitting anyone who got in the way. The faster prisoners could dodge better than the guards, and the battle was not as unbalanced as it should have been.

Cyndil's fast bow added to the guards' peril, although she had to be careful not to hit any wrong targets herself. Clark and Minx, still invisible, guarded Cyndil from any Dremora who might deduce her position.

When all the guards were dead, only the Dremora woman remained alive of the three prisoners they'd released. Clark healed her wounds, and she went back into the tower to try and rescue her sister Dremora from the scamps.

---

Although Clark had been able to heal Cyndil enough to get her back to Evergloam, Nocturnal still had work to do. She asked the Bosmer if she wanted to be able to forget her treatment by the Dremora, but Cyndil declined.

"Nothing happened to me that I didn't expect when I went into the gate. I knew I could get killed or captured. Maybe I wasn't expecting a resurrection, but that's not the worst part. And I need to remember why I hate Mehrunes Dagon and his minions."

"You'll not get much opportunity to act on that, now that Tamriel is closed off from the Deadlands," Clark told her. Of course, Cyndil hadn't known about Martin's defeat of Dagon at the Temple of the One.

"That might account for his bad mood when he threw me to the tender mercies of the Dremora," she muttered. "I'm surprised he brought me back at all."

"The Dremora you despise may have been responsible for that," Nocturnal told her. "They have a strange sense of honor, and respect an opponent who's shown strength and skill against them. They probably petitioned Dagon on your behalf."

Cyndil thought back to her restoration. She remembered being helped, lifted even, from a pool of some sort of liquid. There were several naked Dremora men there, dripping as if they'd just come out of the same pool. One of them had been speaking to Dagon, and pointing at her, when the Daedric Prince had interrupted him and spoken directly to her.

He'd made her an offer she could easily refuse, and in disgust at her reply, he told the Dremora to take her away "and do whatever you want with her."

They had her chained to the wall before she could get enough of her strength back to resist. "It could have been worse. At least they put me high enough up that the scamps couldn't reach. Their own women don't get that much respect."

"And I blame my own bad planning, as much as the Dremora. I didn't take enough soul gems to keep the bow charged, nor a decent back-up weapon. I wasn't prepared for the traps, especially the mines and fire towers. Having the Lord for a birth-sign doesn't suit you for those. When the spider daedra ambushed me at the blood well, I was already too weak, and with the bow exhausted ..."

"It was fully charged when we found it," Clark objected.

"That can happen," Nocturnal corrected him. "It was close to a blood well, and the magicka that feeds those can spill over. It was there for quite some time, so it would only take a trickle."

"You rely heavily on that bow, don't you?" she asked Cyndil. "I was originally intending to reclaim it, but I think it will be best if it stays with you. I still believe I judged you well, when I gave it to you in the first place. If you hadn't missed the door to the cave, you'd probably have closed the gate you entered."

Minx agreed that the cave door was easy to pass by without noticing. "We were looking for it, because you'd told us it was there. Cyndil had no way to know of its existence. And if she'd found it, she'd never have gone near those mines."

Cyndil was pleased about keeping the bow, but she wasn't at all clear what to do next. She hadn't made any plans past the Oblivion Crisis. "What's it like in Morrowind now?" she asked.

"That's something I'd like to know, too," Clark replied. "I have contacts in Helseth's court in Mournhold, but they haven't told me much so far. Had Ald'ruhn fallen already when you entered the gate? That's the only major news we've heard in Cyrodiil. There is conflict between the great houses, and border disputes with Skyrim, but that's nothing new."

Cyndil had known about Ald'ruhn. That had been one of the reasons to become involved. She'd had friends in that city. Another gate had opened in the countryside on the mainland, close to the road she was on. "I don't even remember where it was, now. I was travelling from Narsis, headed towards Blacklight, but that's a long way, and much of it's forest trails without any landmarks. I just saw the gate, remembered what I'd heard about Ald'ruhn, and decided on the spot to try and do something."

"Do you have unfinished business in Blacklight?" Clark asked her.

"No, it was just somewhere I hadn't seen yet. I was quite likely to get distracted by some adventure along the way, and never get there."

"Then I think you should stay a little longer here in Evergloam before you go adventuring again," Nocturnal said firmly. "Clark may have healed you physically, but he doesn't have strong enough telepathy to know if your mind was affected by the ordeal you went through. I do, and I can help you let the pain come to the surface and be dealt with. I don't want Sheogorath taking you from me!"

‘...pick her shot deliberately, and the arrow thumped into the Dremora's shoulder and spun him around. His colleague had no idea from which direction the arrow came, and he looked around frantically, wondering where the attackers were.’ - - Woot! One of Buffy’s fave tactics!

’She might not recognize her two tormenters in their armor, but if they were all dead, that wouldn't matter.’ - - Words to live by indeed!

A good day’s work for Clark and Minx. And Nocturnal’s got her elven archer back.

Kill ‘em all, good plan.

I like Cyndil’s mention of her Trollkin weakness to fire.



Argh, I know I’ve spent time searching for the damnable tunnel in one of those worlds. Or possibly more of them.

I’m glad Cyndil gets to keep the bow and Nocturnal’s favor.

Wait, did they bring the female Dremora prisoner back with them? What happens if more prisoners live, do they come back to Nocturnal's realm with the player?

I have had more prisoners die by not killing the enemies first and then releasing them - Dharma, Jeelius, that Redguard from one of the DLC, etc. - had to reload a save and go back, lol.



I absolutely LOVE when you do this, always wonder if you have the rumors in your head rote or if you research them when needed - you stay on top of everything with this, don't miss a detail !!! Love that!

This chapter was fantastic, the rescue itself and Cyndil's memories of her resurrection - Awesome Write !!

@Acadian: Yes, those are stolen Buffy tactics. It seemed reasonable that all Bosmers would know that trick.

@Grits: It's probably the same random world I used. It was missing the door again that gave me the idea for the setup. I just removed the Sigil Stone and fire column, and tweaked the creature spawns in a clone of Random World 7. That meant providing a non-random set of tunnels and citadel, but you'd never notice. Since this can be done after the Oblivion Crisis is over, you don't get out by taking a Sigil Stone, but have to climb back down and go through the portal again.

@mALX: In the mod, the prisoners' cages are unpickable, so that can't happen. They don't get involved at all. The Dremora guards aren't enabled until Cyndil is released, so you can't kill them in advance. My latest character had a lot of problem with them, until I figured out that you can snipe from the first balcony.

------------

Previously Clark and Minx had rescued Cyndil from the Deadlands, using some of the CoC's large collection of chameleon rings.

------------


Nocturnal - Part VII

Clark took the chameleon rings back to Kvatch, as promised. He found the Count in his study, in discussion with an elderly Orc woman, dressed in a mage's robe and hood.

"Come in, and meet Ulliceta gra-Kogg," the Count called out. "She's just arrived from Orsinium, and has a message from Marghak for you."

The message, as it turned out, was really for all of them. Chrysamere had been found, and lost again. The powerful Daedric artifact hadn't been seen since the Emperor's agent had wielded it in the events leading to the Warp in the West. "We're not sure who has it now," Ulliceta told them, "but we suspect the same Altmer that have been trying to collect everything magical across Tamriel."

Clark remembered where he'd seen the Orc's name before. She was one of the magisters quoted in Traven's book "The Black Arts on Trial". He had a copy on his shelf in Imbel Manor.

"Yes, and I believe that volume says I'm a Necromancer," she told him. "Nothing could be further from the truth, but it didn't take much to convince Traven. When I discovered that both the former Arch-mage and my accuser were dead, I got word to the new Arch-mage that I'd like to meet him. And here I am, hoping I can convince him of the true facts."

"My speciality has always been restoration, and I'm well aware of the similarity between rebuilding the living and rebuilding the dead. Indeed, my project at the time of the accusation was right on the borderline between the two."

"We've known for some time that limbs severed in battle can be re-attached, if the healer is sufficiently skilled. And we've also been aware that if you try and attach the wrong limb to the wrong soldier, it usually won't work. It was those exceptions that I was attempting to study. If we knew what determined the success or failure of such operations, we could use the dead to restore the living."

"Naturally, I worked exclusively with corpses. You can't just hack pieces off of living people to see if you can replace them with parts from a dead body. That made it easy for Mucianus to 'prove' his case against me."

"Mucianus Alias?" the Count (and current Arch-mage) asked. "I met him as a worm thrall. Not a pleasant experience for either of us. He'd apparently infiltrated the necromancers as a spy, but they'd caught him."

"I doubt that," Ulliceta responded. "I know he told Traven that he had, but I suspect it was Mannimarco's idea to start with. I was a member of the Council of Mages at the time, and Mucianus wanted to join. Since we had a full quota of members, that meant getting rid of someone, and it would weaken the council to replace any of us with Mucianus."

"Anyone but Traven, that is. He was arch-mage only because he didn't hold strong views that set anyone against him. The compromise candidate, if you will. He was neutral on the subject of necromancy at that time, until Mannimarco decided to tip his hand. He saw the opportunity to divide the Guild and took it."

"From that point on, Traven was effectively a puppet of Mannimarco. Half the mages left the Guild, and Traven just reacted to whatever Mannimarco did, after consulting with the council for long enough to lose any initiative they might have had."

"Mannimarco could easily have won, if it weren't for you. But I must give Traven his due. Once he realised that he was the problem, he got out of the way. A bit too dramatically, if you ask me, but perhaps he thought he was redeeming his reputation that way."

"So where have you been hiding?" Clark asked.

"Orsinium looks after its own. Gortwog was aware of the turmoil in the Guild at the time, and understood my research wasn't necromancy. He and Marghak found me a suitable hiding place where I could carry on working up in the Wrothgarians. Ironically, the bitterly cold weather is an asset when it comes to preserving corpses, so it's turned out to be a better location for my work. And Marghak is past her child-bearing years, so my presence as a restorer at the court isn't needed so much. When her daughters start to need the same services, they can come to me!"

"The Mages Guild is just as divided as ever," the Arch-mage told her. "And I may have contributed to that by elevating Carahil and Orgul gro-Kurak to the Council to replace Irlav Jarol and Caranya."

"That's only a problem if you rely on them for decisions, the way Traven did. They're only supposed to advise the Arch-mage, not dictate his choices. And the combination of the academic with the executive branches was always an artificial one. A university scholar and a battlemage have almost nothing in common. It wouldn't hurt for them to report to separate leadership."

"I'm not looking for reinstatement to the Council. Just access to the Arcane University and its facilities. The Mystic Archives, the other magisters and their own research results. I can work alone, but I prefer not to. Among other reasons, I need the opinions of others as to how much my work could aid the necromancers, and what safeguards it needs. I want the academic debate, not the political one, so I would just as soon give the Council a miss."

"I'll need to talk to Raminus Polus and the others at the University," he told her. "Not that I need their approval, but I'd like to know how they'd react. I suspect those that already knew of your research will approve, but there may be some jealous of your successes. In my experience, those few are the less able magicians, and we might be better off without them anyway."

Clark and the Count left Magister gra-Kogg in the study, and went to take the chameleon rings back to the treasury. "I'm already convinced," he told Clark. "Marghak's relayed her opinions through Ocato and he's had his people check out Ulliceta's story. Can you get one of those communicators for her? That way she can stay at her own research laboratory, and still be in contact with the University."

"But why did she think you'd be interested in Chrysamere?" the Count continued. "Or should I be asking why Marghak would think that?"

"Last time I communicated with her, I'd mentioned looking for Daedric artifacts. I discovered that Nocturnal is collecting them for return to their creators, and that helps the cause of the Empire by removing them from the reach of others. Orsinium had already told us about those Altmer that were seeking the Helm of Tiber Septim, so I knew they were sympathetic to that idea."

The Count recalled going back to Sancre Tor for the helm. "That wasn't Daedric, though. And it's being kept at the Palace, if I remember correctly."

"True, but it seems to be the magical quality, not the Daedric origin, that's important to the Altmer. Nocturnal's interests are only in the artifacts."

"I can't help much with Nocturnal's search. I have Azura's Star, the Ring of Khajiiti, her own Skeleton Key, and that's all. I use all of those fairly regularly, although not so much as I used to. I got the Wabbajack from Sheogorath to give to Martin, figuring that one needed to get used up. The only other one I've heard about is the Sanguine Rose. It seems that he gave it to an adventurer for pulling a prank on Allessia Caro, the Countess of Leyawiin. They cast a spell at one of her dinner parties that made everyone's clothes disappear!"

Clark had heard about that from one of the Kahjiit brothers that ran the Black Horse Courier. He'd had a tip-off that something was going to happen, and had managed to corner the countess for an interview before she could go and get dressed again. In his opinion at least, the countess did have a couple of redeeming features.

--------------

Note: In the mod, this discussion will take place between the player and Ulliceta in the Oak and Crosier in Chorrol. Since I can't control when the player does the quests, she won't name Mucianus, or refer to Traven as dead. She'll still want reinstatement, but her actions against the necromancers in thwarting their sale of Chrysamere will be the bargaining chip.

I love how you highlight that there is a degree of similarity between restoration and necromancy. I know that Grits has also explored this with Abiene and Darnand. I also chuckled at the practical aspects of working with corpses in cooler northern climes. I can imagine that a necrolab in the Black Marsh would be rather. . . oderific.

I did find that it broke the flow for me to go look up what Chrysamere is. I had no idea whether it was an amulet, bread box, ball of yarn, sword or what. I do prefer to see somewhat obscure lore presented in such a way as to ‘stand on its own’. Just a few extra words woven in about the artifact would have done the trick.

I confess that the two times I have completed Oblivion's Main Quest, a highlight was seeing the artifact of that dweeb Sheo (Wabbajack) destroyed in the process.

Clark doesn't know what a Chrysamere is either. He'll have to ask Nocturnal.

When she finds it with her crystal ball, she won't find a sword.

"My speciality has always been restoration, and I'm well aware of the similarity between rebuilding the living and rebuilding the dead. Indeed, my project at the time of the accusation was right on the borderline between the two."

Awesome. I loved this!

Mannimarco’s manipulations were interesting to read. And I was grinning about Ulliceta’s post-natal care. I wish her the best of luck separating academics from politics.

Oh, thanks for explaining in the note. I have Kanet working on the TG quests with an eye toward this mod, so I was over having to do the MG line with her. She is not any kind of mage.

Will the Player also have to complete the Mages Guild questline before doing this quest? (Since it mentions Traven/Jarol/and Caranya being dead). Never mind, lol - your note at the bottom explained! Ignore this, lol.

Ooh, I like your twist on the background of the Mages Guild here, and how Traven was taken into power through mechanism rather than ability and used as a tool to divide the Guild - nice!


BWAAHAA! Clark’s observations, ROFL !!!

This quest sounds like a lot of fun, this chapter was great! I LOVE the research/Lore you weave into everything you do, especially how you work it to your advantage in your stories/mods! Awesome Write!!!!!

@Acadian: The Chrysamere quest is intended to weave in between the others for a while, so it's necessarily coming in slowly. Nocturnal will take some time to locate it, and events relating to it will be sparse.

@Grits: It was the potential connection between Marghak and her Master of Restoration and gra-Kogg being an Orc from Orsinium that started me wondering what she might have been doing, and transplants fit the big picture so well. It gave me a reason for her being accused of necromancy and everything.

@mALX: Making the mod independent of the other quest-lines is one of the hardest parts. I always want to refer things that might not have happened yet. Or using characters who might be dead.

-----------

Previously Ulliceta gra-Kogg reappeared in Cyrodiil, looking for reinstatement to the Mages Guild, and mentioning that Chrysamere has been seen, but little else about it. Before that, we'd met Cyndil, who'll do more in this episode.

-----------

Nocturnal - Part VII (To the Bat Cave!)

Clark reported what he'd learned to Nocturnal. "And what's a Chrysamere?" he asked her.

"A legendary Sword of Heros," she told him. "Specifically, an Adamantium Claymore of unusual size and reach. It's too heavy for most mortals to even lift, although if they can, it will seem light as a feather when they wield it. It has other enchantments, too. It's such a conspicuous item, I can't understand why it won't show in my crystal ball. I'll just have to keep looking."

Clark assumed that he wouldn't get involved if it turned up. That sounded more like the Champion's work, than his.

---

Shortly after that, Amusei came looking for Clark again. Nocturnal wanted mandrake root, which didn't grow in Evergloam, as much as he could find. They grew elf cup, but you couldn't make potions to cure disease without another ingredient, and with mandrake root, you could just eat the stuff. "I found some," Amusei told him, "but I really don't know where to look. Argonians rarely catch diseases, so I don't know much about curing them."

"Did she tell you what disease they wanted to cure? And why she needs more than one?"

Clark had his suspicions. Vampires would be particularly attracted to the permanent darkness in Evergloam, although they'd go hungry for mortal blood. Except for Cyndil, there weren't any mortals living in the castle, and he didn't know of any settlements nearby.

He told Amusei that the Colovian Highlands was the best place to find it, although it grew around Bravil, too, and he'd seen it by the roadside near Anvil. In the Imperial City, or in Leyawiin, where Amusei came from, only the merchants would have any. He recalled Unna making a stash in Sky's Edge Cave, because it was hard to get up in the Jeralls.

Clark decided to pay a visit to Evergloam, and find out what was going on.

---

Nocturnal confirmed his theory. The Seducer guards had seen a lot more vampires skulking around since Cyndil had arrived. The Bosmer seemed to be a magnet for them, and they were coming much closer to the castle, which they'd previously avoided. Cyndil was safe enough inside the castle, but she was beginning to feel like a prisoner again. Having a supply of mandrake root on hand would let her roam freely once more.

Clark had some experience of fighting vampires, from his visit to Nornalhorst with the sisters. They had strengths, and weaknesses, and you could plan accordingly. They were particularly vulnerable to fire, for example.

"Do you know where the vampires are?" Clark asked Nocturnal.

"Most likely the cave to the north of here," she replied. "I've encouraged bats to live there, and given them fireball spells to try and discourage the vampires. However, there are parts of the caverns that connect to the old ruins of an earlier castle, and I suspect the vampires are able to keep the bats out of the ruins. If you can kill them off, I'll pay a bounty for each one you slay."

Clark wasn't much of a slayer, but he could combine his detection and defensive skills with Cyndil's firepower to make a decent team.

"Good idea," Nocturnal agreed. "It will certainly help her get her confidence back, and she won't feel like her presence is the problem. You'll have to share the bounty, of course."

Cyndil liked the idea too, and she was especially happy when Clark handed her a bundle of enchanted arrows. They not only added fire damage, but had an extra enchantment of light to make the target more visible in the dark caves. "Arrows of Sunlight should be the perfect things to use against vampires. I can use one of these for my first shot, and if it doesn't kill them, then ordinary arrows to finish them off."

"Take one of those arrows to the smith here in the castle," Nocturnal told them. "We should be able to make more, and they do appear to be the perfect counter to vampires."

The smith, a Daedra seducer clad only in a leather apron, took the arrow and examined it carefully. "The arrow itself appears fairly normal, but that's an interesting combination of enchantments. Not one I'd ever thought of using before. Still, I think it's something we can reproduce, given a little time. Leave this one with me, and I should be able to start making them in about three days."

"Do you have enough for now, or should we wait before going to the cave?" Clark asked Cyndil.

"Well, we don't know how many vampires there are, so I could only guess," she replied. "I was planning on taking a lot of ordinary arrows as well, so there's no reason to delay."

She had enough soul gems to recharge the bow, too. No more putting it off, it was time to go and find the cave.

---

The bats were only a minor nuisance in the first part of the cave. There weren't a lot of them, and they didn't seem to be all that concerned that there was someone in their home. But those in the deeper part were more agitated, and they soon discovered why. Clark was wearing his ring with the detect life spell, and he could see pink glows that were too large to be bats, just around the corner. He signalled to Cyndil, and they started to sneak up on the vampire. She couldn't see the glow, but Clark pointed, and she saw the shadows move. One of the special arrows soon lit up the back of the cave, and a howl of pain confirmed her target. The vampire charged towards them, trying to cast a spell as he came, but the Bow of Shadows added Silence to its shots, and his attempts were futile.

The combination of fire damage from the arrow, and health damage from the bow, was draining the vampire's life as he ran. He barely had the strength to lift his sword before he toppled to the floor in front of them.

His shout, when the arrow first struck him, had alerted the other vampires, but it had also attracted the bats. They could see fireballs flying into the darkness from the other side of the cave, and arrows and lightning going the other way in return.

They crouched and waited for the conflict to reach a conclusion. The bats weren't particularly fearsome opponents, but they were small and nimble, and hard to hit. Whenever one scored a hit with a fireball, Cyndil added to the woes of the revealed vampire with an arrow of her own. Regular arrows were enough for this supporting fire, as they still dealt the silence and health damage effect that the Bow of Shadows imparted.

When the fireballs started to come in their direction, it was clear that there were no more vampires for the bats to target. "Let's make a run for that door over there," Clark suggested.

It wasn't far, and the bats were low on magicka. The door was unlocked, so they were soon safe behind it. Safe from bats, at least. Clark's life detection wasn't showing anything yet, but it didn't have much range, and he was sure there would be more vampires further in.

"Is this part of the castle?" Cyndil asked. The walls were dressed stone, built rather than dug out. But the style was different from the basement Clark had seen.

"I don't think so, although it could be the ruins of an older castle. I'm sure Nocturnal rebuilds from time to time. ... and we have another vampire."

A pink glow had just appeared, coming their way. Its measured pace suggested the vampire was unaware of their presence, and they'd like to keep it that way. Clark and Cyndil tucked themselves into alcoves either side of the corridor and waited. They attacked after the vampire had passed, hoping to kill her quickly before she could raise an alarm.

"I'm glad she was wearing chain rather than plate. No noisy clatter when she fell," Cyndil whispered.

"That doesn't make a lot of difference, there are two more coming anyway," Clark responded.

"Do they know we're here?"

"They're not hurrying, if that's any indication. I think we may have surprise on our side if they don't see the corpse."

They dragged the body quietly into the shadows, and waited again. The two vampires, a man who might have been a Dunmer, and a woman who was definitely an Orc came through the heavy double doors and stopped. The man raised his hand and cast a spell. Clark recognized it as detect life. If they hadn't already been spotted, they would be now. He pointed at the Orc to tell Cyndil she was her target, and moved toward the Dunmer mage. His outfit reflected magic rather well, and he was hoping that the man would do most of the work for him. If Cyndil silenced him with an arrow, it would make Clark's job harder!

He obliged with a shock spell, but was astute enough to realise what happened. He summoned a dagger instead and snarled. Clark was content to block with his shield for a while. He knew that the spell had a short duration, and the dagger would soon be gone again. As soon as he saw the smoke that signalled the end of the summon, he struck with his sword.

The vampire howled, and reacted unthinkingly with another spell, which again reflected back to him. Clark pressed the attack before he could re-cast the dagger, and the Dunmer was soon dead at his feet.

Cyndil came running to him. She'd retreated back along the corridor as the Orc charged, staying out of her range as the arrow's enchantments did their job. She'd left the Orc quite a distance back toward the door. "Any more coming up?" She asked.

Clark had no more in his detection range, but they weren't very far into the ruins yet.

"We've accounted for four so far, and the bats at least a couple more. I wonder how many are down here?"
"As long as they don't start appearing ten at a time, It shouldn't matter," Cyndil responded. "It seems we can handle them in ones and twos, so it's just a question of keeping it that way."

"That's their choice, not ours. We can't control their movements, just react to them."

"No, but as long as we detect them first, we can avoid encounters where we're outnumbered. Retreat if we have to, and try to stay undetected ourselves."

---

They soon came to a large chamber that appeared to be the main hall of the old castle. It was almost deserted, and the vampires in it were scattered enough that they were able to kill each one without alerting the others.

"So where's the boss? The Patriarch ought to have been here, if there is one. This place appears to be symmetrical, and so the other wing would be just like the one we came through. The only other exit is the front door."

Cyndil cracked the huge door open and peered cautiously out. This door was lower than the one they'd entered through, and led out to a broad area between the ledge they'd cleared, and another on the opposite side. There was a good chance there would be vampires on that ledge too, and they'd have the advantage of height. She closed the door again, and gestured toward the other wing.

That was not quite a mirror of the first, but the vampire opposition was similar. One or two around each corner, none of them expecting the visitors. Finally a door led out to the ledge.

There were no bats to assist them on this side, and the two archers there noticed the door being opened. Since you can't reflect arrows, Clark was anxious to close with them quickly, but he wasn't about to rush in between them and Cyndil. He'd seen what her bow could do, and didn't want to risk friendly fire. Especially in the back.

He headed off to one side, splitting the archers' targets. Their foes' best strategy would be take an opponent each, and trust that the other could handle theirs. He hoped that it also meant that they'd split up, too. The one on his side did drop back as she fired, and he kept moving and dodging. He was nearly level with the other, who turned as he passed to aim at him. That left her more vulnerable to Cyndil, who made no mistake with her shot. The vampire's arrow flew wide of Clark, and he saw her fall.

The one he was chasing was running out of room to retreat. When she backed into the cave wall, she switched to her dagger, and lunged. Clark blocked with his shield, and methodically went about making the most of his weapon advantage. He had the longer blade, and a shield, so it wasn't at all an equal contest.
Cyndil, fortunately, left him to it. She'd gone to the edge overlooking the cavern floor, and had started firing down on what were presumably more vampires there.

"That's three less to worry about when we go out the front door," she told him. "The two up here, and I got one more down below. I think there was another down there, but he didn't stay around."

When they did go out the door, they could see bats firing fireballs at something in the distance. Perhaps it was the same vampire.

They moved along the wall, as far from the bats as possible. Now there was nobody above them, it was safe to do so without having anything dropped on their heads. A small opening in the far wall appeared to lead to another section of caves.

They pushed their way through a curtain of roots that hung down from the ceiling. "Those would keep the bats out," Clark noted. "Maybe we'll find the Patriarch in here."

The cave had apparently been a burial chamber at some point in the past. The walls were lined with coffins, held up on poles driven into the rock. Several more broken ones were scattered on the floor where they'd fallen when the supports rotted.

And at the other end a green swirl of illusion magic indicated that a vampire had spotted them, and cast invisibility. That didn't matter to Clark, who could still see his pink glow, but Cyndil wouldn't be able to see him. Clark ended that problem with a flare spell. It was weak, and wouldn't do much damage, but the flames would give Cyndil her target back. Soon the flames were stronger, and the Patriarch was a beacon of light, as one of the special arrows found him.

He closed on Clark, reasoning that he was dealing less damage, so he might be the weaker opponent. Not a bad estimate, but Clark was concentrating on defense. He made sure the vampire's back was towards the archer, and his bulk shielded Clark from her fire. And to compound his problems, the Orc tried to use a fire spell on Clark. Only once, of course.

"Now we need to take his dust back to Nocturnal as proof," Clark told his companion. "And I'll collect it from all the others on our way back. I gather there's a man in the Imperial City who'll pay over the odds for proof that a vampire was slain."

---

Nocturnal had heard the same, and she was prepared to match the offer. "I don't like them any more than he does, and any you kill elsewhere, will be ones that don't come here." She paid the two for the samples they had, a not inconsiderable sum.

Clark didn't really need the gold, but Cyndil was starting from nothing again. The life of a vampire-hunter had its appeal, she thought, especially if the dust was this valuable. "And the first thing I'll be buying is a ring of detect life. Clark's shown me the value of that!"

"Go see the Count of Kvatch," Clark told her. "We got the chameleon rings from him, and he has a collection of spare jewels you just won't believe."

Nocturnal had one more small extra for the two of them, keys to the guest suite in the castle. "So now you can reward each other."

Cyndil scampered off to check it out, but Clark had noticed Noctunal nod in his direction, and stayed to see what she had to add. "Tell me how she acts. I think she's put her resurrection and the Dremora behind her, but I can't judge the same things you can."

---

"I think she'll be all right," Clark told Nocturnal. "She's confident enough to get her own way, when she wants to do something different, but she doesn't need to take control all the time."

"Good! There were two possibilities that had concerned me: she could have become a submissive, like the Dremora prefer; or she could have over-reacted, and turned into the exact opposite. It would seem to me that she's back to normal."

"Oh, I wouldn't call her normal. Being returned from the dead seems to have given her a reason to make the most of her second chance. She's better than just normal now!"

--------------

Note: In the mod, you find the fire/light enchanted arrows in a chest near the vampire boss. If you take at least one to the seducer smith and wait three days, she'll have a levelled version of them available for sale from that point onward. I added extra levels to the ones already in the game, and they should always be at the player's level. That means if you level up in those three days, the ones she sells might not be the same ones you found.

Your first post came out faulty in the email notice too, other than the comment responses it only showed this below and then nothing else:



This battle was great! Very easy to visualize each character's role in it and what they were seeing, Awesome Write! Ooh, the player can continue getting those arrows! Nice touch!

- - I deleted that post for you.


‘The man raised his hand and cast a spell. Clark recognized it as detect life. ‘ - - Eeep!

A romping good time slaying vampires!

And it seems Clark helped Cyndil readjust to . . . being back in the saddle, as it were.

I find challenge with long episodes is that they run the risk of diluting goodness with too much volume to be absorbed or appreciated in one update.


Nit: ‘Still, I think it's something we can reproduce, given a litle time.’

She had enough soul gems to recharge the bow, too.

Lesson learned!

They crouched and waited for the conflict to reach a conclusion. The bats weren't particularly fearsome opponents, but they were small and nimble, and hard to hit. Whenever one scored a hit with a fireball, Cyndil added to the woes of the revealed vampire with an arrow of her own. Regular arrows were enough for this supporting fire, as they still dealt the silence and health damage effect that the Bow of Shadows imparted.

I just loved this whole passage. I can easily picture the fireball fight in the dark.

Clark was pretty bold, walking up to that mage to reflect some spell damage onto him! Nord Atronach approved.

Those arrows are an excellent reason to come back for a visit, and I love the guest suite reward. I’m looking forward to playing this!

@mALX: It was fun to pair up characters with totally different tactics, without it being the usual "I'll use my bow/ranged spell while you run into my line of fire" that I'm getting when my current character has a follower.

@Acadian: Fortunately, this time they weren't relying on sneaking. Just keeping the battles to small numbers, and not letting the vampires use invisibility against them. And, of course, reflecting spells!

@Grits: Guards may be psychic, but they have nothing on mages when you have Reflect Spell working. They all seem to conjure weapons and attack with those. Fortunately, nobody conjures a Claymore or Battle-Axe.

---------------

Previously: Clark and Cyndil had cleared a cave near Evergloam Castle of vampires, leading to her finding a new vocation as a vampire-hunter.

---------------

Azura

"While you're here," Nocturnal said to Clark "I wonder if you could go and help my sister Azura with a little problem she's having."

Clark could see her not very successfully suppressing a smirk of amusement. Something told him that Azura's "little problem" was going to be an interesting one. Nocturnal wouldn't give him any details. Whether that was because she expected him to refuse to help if he knew, or if there was some other reason, he couldn't tell. He let her lead him back to the basement, and another portal. A pink one, this time.

---

He emerged onto the top of a small mountain. A statue of Azura, similar to the one in Tamriel, but fully nude, stood next to the platform that supported the portal. A flight of steps lead downward towards the sea.

He could see water in all directions from up here, so it appeared that this was an island, conical like a volcano, but without any sign of a crater. The sun was low, close to the horizon, but it wasn't obvious if this was dawn or dusk. In Azura's realm, it would be one or the other most of the time, he imagined.

The path was partly paved, with steps where it was steepest, and it zig-zagged down the hillside. The grass was golden, rather like the Gold Coast back in Tamriel, and the trees were in their fall foliage. With the pinkish light from the low sun, the whole landscape glowed.

Deer ran across the path at one point, but no other animals showed up to impede his progress. A log bridged a stream that cascaded down the mountainside, the spray adding rainbows to the idyllic scene.

The path ended at a door, that reminded Clark of the entrance to an Ayleid ruin, but inside was a normal cave. Naturally, everything that lived in the cave wanted to eat him, but there was only the one route down the mountain. It led him to a similar entrance further down. The path continued to spiral seaward, past the same stream and more waterfalls until it came to a bridge to another, smaller island.

Across the bridge he could see a building in the Ayleid style, but newer, or at least, less affected by decay. It looked like it had just been built, and the stone glowed pink in the reflected light of the sunset. That sunset had been in progress all the time he'd been coming down the path. How many hours had that taken? "You're not in Cyrodiil any more." he reminded himself.

---

Azura wasn't quite as naked as her statue, but her thin skirt didn't hide anything. And apart from a garland of flowers around her head, it was all she was wearing. Daedra Seducers stood either side of her throne, a much simpler one than Nocturnal used, but raised on a platform to add prominence to the occupant.

She glared at him. "I suppose Nocturnal sent you," she said. "My sister has a nasty sense of humour, sending a man when I can't ..."

When Azura noticed the puzzled look on Clark's face she relented somewhat. "She didn't explain? Then I suppose I'll have to do that."

"Some women, when they're ... you know, having fun with somebody, find that they involuntarily cast spells when they ..."

"Particularly enjoy the company?" Clark suggested.

Azura giggled. "Quite. And the spell could be any one they know. Illusion, conjuration, destruction, anything. And the better the ..."

"Emotional involvement?"

"Nicely put. Yes, the better the emotional involvement, the more magicka is released. It's similar to the release when a mortal creature dies, but a lot more to my liking! And since I'm the Princess of Dawn and Dusk, I get involved at the dawn and dusk of life. My Star captures the release of magicka at the end of life, and my Crescent captures the release at the beginning. Of course, it doesn't have to be an actual beginning, the magicka release is a bit before that happens, if it does at all."

"So you've lost your crescent, I take it?"

"Exactly, and I daren't ... er ... get into a situation where I might need it. I thought at first that it might have been Nocturnal that stole it, just as a joke. But she wouldn't have kept it this long, and she wouldn't have rubbed it in by sending you here to taunt me. Ooh! I shouldn't have thought about rubbing, it just makes it worse!"

"So just what are the consequences of not having it? If you know it's going to happen, aren't there other ways to deal with the spell?"

"You know Evergloam Castle's not the original, don't you? You might have seen some ruins around the island of the old one. I first discovered my problem at a party of my sister's. Reshaped the whole landscape, that time. So just doing it outdoors, or in the ocean, isn't enough. I could cause earthquakes, or tidal waves, or anything. Daedric Princes have almost unlimited magicka, and we don't do things in a small way. Ordinary soul gems will capture modest amounts of magicka, but you couldn't carry enough to match the crescent."

"Silence spell?"

"I'm immune, and anyway, you can't cast it on yourself."

"Voluntary mediocrity?"

"Azura is never anything but awesome! Well, not intentionally, that is. My partners always deserve my best efforts. I might as well abstain, which is basically what I'm having to do now. I need that crescent back!"

Clark was left wondering how the crescent was emptied, if the magicka was as much as she described. But that could be done more gradually, he realised. It also made sense to him, now, why she repeatedly gave away the star, but kept the crescent.

He reasoned that it wouldn't be in her realm, or she'd be aware of its presence, so it made sense to go back to Nocturnal and ask her if the crystal ball could reveal anything. He'd also like to be a safe distance from Azura in case she got impatient!

---

Nocturnal had been thinking the same way, and by the time Clark had climbed back up the hillside to the portal, she'd already located the crescent. "There," she pointed into the crystal ball. "Oh, no, you can't see anything, can you? I keep forgetting this kind of magic only works for the one who cast the enchantment."

"Anyhow," she went on, "I found the crescent in Leyawiin. That's not far for you to go, so Azura won't have to wait too long for you to get it back. " Nocturnal couldn't stifle a chortle at her sister's problem.

"A Khajiit woman by the name of Lhasi has it. How she got into Azura's realm to steal it is still a mystery. You'll have to ask her when you retrieve the crescent. She's staying at the Three Sisters Inn, and she doesn't seem to be going out much."

---

Lhasi was eating at the Three Sisters when Clark arrived. No-one else was around, so he sat himself at the same table, and asked if she knew anything about a missing artifact. Of course, she denied it, and was quite indignant that he'd asked her. "Why does everyone always ask the Khajiit when something is stolen?" He could read the movements of her ears, and knew that she was bluffing.

"There's a big reward for its return, you know."

"This one could never return it, even if she had it," Lhasi stated vehemently.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Because this one knows what she wants it for! That blonde woman, a Nord I suppose, she was using it to cheat the Khajiiti women of their birthright!"

Clark was nonplussed by this, and asked for an explanation.

"This one saw her. When the portal opened, this one was bold enough to enter and see where it lead. It was the bedroom of the blond woman, and she was ... busy. So busy, she didn't see this one enter."

"This one did not believe what she was seeing. When Azurah made the Khajiit, she made a bargain with them. They would have to wait until the moons were right before they mated, but when they did, it would be better than any other woman could know. But this one has never had it that good! And then this one saw why. There was a magical item next to the bed. This one could see the magicka swirling around it, and she knew it was the source. So when the woman slept, she took it. It didn't belong to her, that power was given only to the Khajiit!"

"And you came back through the portal with the crescent?"

"This one didn't say what she took! How do you know what it was?"

"Because Azura told me. She was the "blonde woman" you stole from. How do think the Khajiit get the best, if it doesn't come from Azura herself? You've stopped her from collecting the ... special magicka, and now all the Khajiit women will have to do without!"

Lhasi was horrified. She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out the crescent, placing it gingerly on the table in front of him. "Don't tell anyone it was Lhasi! Her sisters will kill her, many times over! Nine lives will not be enough for Lhasi!"

She wasn't too fearful to ask about the reward, however. Clark almost regretted that part, especially as he'd just made the item appear priceless. Well it was, just not quite in the way he'd described it.

Fortunately, Lhasi's idea of a large reward wasn't all that ambitious, and he got away relatively lightly.

"By the way, where was the portal you entered?" he asked.

"It's gone now. It disappeared almost as soon as this one returned. She is fortunate it didn't close sooner!"

Clark persisted, and Lhasi told him that it had been in the basement of the Three Sisters Inn. She didn't offer any explanation of why she was down there, and not in her room, and he didn't press her further. It was likely that nobody else had seen it, which was what he really wanted to know.

---

"So you think I accidentally opened a portal before the crescent started to work?" Azura asked.

"I can't think of any other explanation," Clark replied. "Do you have to cast any spell in preparation for the 'capture', like the soul trap spell when someone uses the star?"

"Well, yes it does work that way. What of it?"

"It seems to me that you'd have to be careful to cast the spell at the right time. Too soon, and it might not last long enough. Too late, and you might ... get a portal that shouldn't have happened? And I doubt that you're concentrating on the spell, not under those circumstances."

"It's a really long-lasting spell, so the first situation won't arise. I mean, I could keep going that long, but my partners couldn't. There's only one Daedric Prince here!"

"So that just leaves the other alternative. Is it possible?"

Azura reluctantly admitted she might have leaked a little magicka out while she was casting the critical spell. "Nothing major, or harmful, but I suppose a portal's neither of those." And it was obvious why she didn't notice anything, even after. She'd been nicely exhausted, and had fallen asleep quickly.

"And now I need to reward you, and I need to make sure the crescent's not damaged. I think we can do both of those at the same time. I've been waiting so long, I'd better cast the spell right away!"

This chapter and this mod are both spectacular! Loved the description of Clark's journey to meet with Azura, the things he saw along the way, and his meeting with her - mostly his inner thoughts, he is hilarious!

The meeting with the Khajiit had me in hysterics, I absolutely loved this line:



Lhasi's personality was adorable! Awesome Write and Mod, I am absolutely loving this mod!

"Some women, when they're ... you know, having fun with somebody, find that they involuntarily cast spells when they ..." - - And I imagine Azura is not subject to the same spellcasting positional limitations that allow Buffy to control that problem.

A fun little quest to Azura’s place, then Leyawiin and back. Nice nod to the important role that Azurah and the moons play in their culture.

And Clark gets to sleep with a Daedric Prince! I’m sure Azura will be done with him by the time the sun in her realm displays the light of mid day.

@mALX: I'm not sure that I didn't borrow that line from one in-game somewhere. It has been apparent with my current Khajiit character that the watch just assume he's criminal scum.

@Acadian: I think it would be correct to describe Azura as completely unrestrained and unlimited. Moonshadow does have breaks for lunch and midnight snacks, but no longer than necessary.

---------------

Previously: Clark had taken a break from Nocturnal's quests to help Azura with a little problem. But Nocturnal's still trying to find Chrysamere.

---------------

Nocturnal - Part IX

Nocturnal had been scrying for Chrysamere ever since Clark had told her about it. The crystal ball kept showing her the same location, but she couldn't see the claymore. "I'm uncertain where it is exactly. It's a large cavern somewhere, and the ball only shows me the interior, so there are no landmarks to help you. Everyone in the cavern seems to be wearing black robes, and there are undead in there with them."

"Most likely necromancers," Clark suggested. "Are you getting any clue why you aren't seeing the sword?"
"It's not clear whether they're hiding it, or they don't even know they have it," she replied. "I'll keep watching them until something shows up to help us figure it out."

---

Back in the Imperial City, Clark was shopping in the Market District. He'd just entered the alleyway that led from the Three Brothers' shop into the road to the city gate when he saw a purple glow. The same one his outfit gave off when it reflected a spell. He turned and saw nothing, but heard something hit the ground behind him.

One of the watchmen came running over. He'd seen a green light that looked like an illusion spell, and suspected an assault. Together they searched the alleyway and found the man who'd cast it, paralysed by his own spell.

"That's an elaborate way to commit a robbery," the watchman thought aloud. "Chameleon and paralysis. Must use a lot of magicka, so I expect we've got an Altmer here. Of course we won't know for certain until the chameleon fades."

He turned to Clark. "I hope you don't mind coming with us to the prison, sir. I need you to make a charge for assault. Since his spell failed, technically it wasn't one, unless you make the complaint."

Clark agreed. He wanted to know who this man was. The Thieves Guild wouldn't try to rob him, and anyone who wanted to harm him wouldn't have used paralysis. Perhaps this was a freelance thief?

When the chameleon dissipated, the thief was revealed as a Breton man in a plain black robe. He'd taken nothing from Clark, and all they found on him was a note. It indicated that anything magical he managed to steal could be fenced in the captain's quarters in the South-West tower.

"The nerve! Right above the watch's heads." The jailor was incensed by the news, and the watchman looked embarrassed. "I used to bunk in that tower," he told Clark. "They must have walked right past me. Even with them using chameleon, we should have noticed something."

"Can we take a look up there now?" Clark suggested. "The fence might be waiting there, and I have a ring of detect life that will make him plain as day."

The watchman liked that idea. Two arrests in one day didn't happen often.

---

The fence had cast invisibility, and was trying to hide behind a crate. He'd heard them coming up the ladder, as they weren't even trying to sneak in. Clark was a bit concerned that he'd try to resist arrest, but with more of the watch on the floor below, the man didn't want to take a chance.

This time, it was an Altmer, dressed in a mage's robe. They found a few stolen valuables, and another note that was a lot more interesting to Clark. It said that "the sword" was in Fingerbowl Cave, awaiting a courier to take it on to Anvil. He'd be paid when it reached its destination, not before.

So now Clark had a name for the cavern. He should go back to Nocturnal with the news, but first he should inform Taminwe. Ocato should be able ensure the thieves stayed in prison until Chrysamere was in their hands. If they were released, they might notify their superiors.

---

Nocturnal had a theory why she couldn't see the sword in the crystal ball. "You see that bolt of cloth, there beside that crate?" she asked Clark.

"No, I can't see anything in the ball. Only you can, remember?"

"Well, there's a bolt of cloth, wrapped around a plank of wood. It's always there in view, and I suspect the sword is hidden inside it. They've probably cut out the board in the middle, and wrapped the cloth around it to hide it."

"They'd soon notice if they tried to move it," Clark reasoned. "The metal sword would be considerably heavier than the wood."

"I don't understand why they need to smuggle it like this. It's not been reported stolen, so nobody's looking for it. Except for us," he added.

"Well, Chrysamere's not exactly inconspicuous, with its shining blue blade, and its size. It's an obvious hero's weapon, and anybody else carrying it is going to look suspicious, and attract a lot of attention. Since its enchantments depend on the attributes of the wielder, it's not easy for anyone but a hero to carry, let alone use."

"The only person I know who could go and get that sword is the Champion of Cyrodiil," Clark told the Daedric Princess. "But I'm sure it would be just the sword he's been looking for all his career. It's not like he'd need it, but the temptation might be too much if we ask him."

Nocturnal disagreed. "The bag of holding will let anyone carry it. It's just a matter of sneaking in and taking it. I'll get Minx to go there."

Clark wasn't happy with that idea. Necromancers were quite capable of casting detect life spells, and the ones that lived in caves were even more likely to do so. And he needed to find out as much as possible about the necromancers' connection with the Altmer who appeared to be the intended recipients of the shipment.

From what Nocturnal had told him about the sword, it made sense that the necromancers wouldn't have been able to make use of it. Presumably they were selling to the highest bidder, but in that case it was strange that Taminwe's spies hadn't caught wind of the offer. At least, she hadn't told him about it, and she usually kept him well informed. Any excuse for a briefing!

Minx and Clark needed a fighter to come along with them. Nocturnal may prefer stealth to confrontation, but these were necromancers, so Clark didn't feel at all sympathetic. Who could he persuade to join the party, that wouldn't covet the sword, but would have the skill to protect them? He thought about Freija, but it was a long way to Gweden, and she liked claymores, too. The sisters were much too involved with the Jemane brothers. He had to go to the Imperial City to pick up Minx, so was there anyone there?

Uzgash! She probably knew Ulliceta from her childhood, and would be happy to help an old acquaintance. And she had the advantage of preferring blunts to blades. But she'd left all her weapons and armor behind in Bruma. That could be a problem.

---

Minx didn't think so. The thieves guild always had a stream of items passing through its hands. There would undoubtedly be something suitable for Uzgash. "She likes a big battle-axe, doesn't she?"

"I'd better fetch her down here, so she can choose for herself," Clark replied, and left for the Red Dragon Club.

---

Uzgash picked out a huge ebony battle-axe, and swung it a few times to test the weight and balance. "This was made for me," she announced. "I prefer it without any enchantment, as they have a habit of running out just when you need them. This will wear a bit, but I can take a few repairs hammers along and fix it myself."

She passed on the armor. "I'd rather do without the encumbrance of armor, and get my defence from magic. I still have a frost shield thong that I wore as a bear rider - I only left one with Gudrun, as she wasn't expecting to ride every day. I have frost shield on a couple of rings, too. The Wrothgarians need a lot of frost resistance, and the shield part was just gravy. Added together, it's more than I'd get from a complete suit of Daedric, and I can move a lot faster."

Clark thought it made a lot of sense. Ghosts and wraiths would use frost spells, and necromancers summoned a lot of those.

Uzgash found a pair of leather boots that had a minor enchantment of spell reflection among the thieves' stash. Not enough to make them really valuable, but they'd be perfect for this job.

"No, I'm not going in there topless, although I know you'd like that. But I don't need a cuirass, just a shirt or something that won't restrict my swing." Uzgash paused, imagining what was going through Clark's mind. "The battle-axe, not those."

I loved the missed attack on Clark in the Imperial City, how funny that he hit himself with the spell! And they do their dirty dealings right in the Watch Tower, ROFL !!! Can't beat that, lol.

Uzgash was hilarious in this, what a great personality! Clark, (as always) was completely entertaining, and surprisingly firm in making sure Minx was protected, nice!

Loved this update, lots of humor and the plot swept forward really fast! Loved it!

‘Clark told the Daedric Princess.’ - - I smiled over this as I imagined you wrestling with the ‘lore correct’ unisex terms ‘Daedra Lord’ or ‘Daedric Prince’ – both of which sound like crap when applied to a being who walks like a woman and talks like a woman. I always took pains to weasel out of making that choice, but I applaud you for taking it on and applying the term Daedric Princess to Nocturnal.

Yay for Uzgash and her frost-enchanted panties! Er. . . I mean . . . armored battlethong!

Off to Fingerbowl Necrocave then!

Moonshadow sounds gorgeous, I can’t wait to go there. And not just to get into Azura’s pink portal. I love the symmetry of the Crescent’s and Star’s purposes.

"Why does everyone always ask the Khajiit when something is stolen?" He could read the movements of her ears, and knew that she was bluffing.

Lol. Lhasi is quite endearing.

Then back to Nocturnal…

"It's not clear whether they're hiding it, or they don't even know they have it," she replied.

I love this line. It shows Nocturnal’s limitations.

"Chameleon and paralysis. Must use a lot of magicka, so I expect we've got an Altmer here. Of course we won't know for certain until the chameleon fades."

How fun to hear a matter-of-fact discussion about a magical crime!

"She likes a big battle-axe, doesn't she?"

Not a big hammer? The frost shield thong made me smile. Memories of Clark and the bear riders.

@mALX: I'd used one of the empty captain's quarters cells for holding Claudia, and that left two more lying idle. It struck me that a thief that could reliably sneak in there would just love the irony of living above the watch. Then I got the idea that a fence would like it even better. Only competent thieves could reach him to do business!


@Acadian: I had Azura herself use the term "Deadric Prince" when she was referring to her class in general. I get the impression that Azura and Nocturnal both prefer a female aspect all the time, and Clark is respecting their wishes.

Uzgash continues to strip off in this episode. She wants freedom to move that she doesn't get in armor, and she's trying to get back some of the speed that a big weapon takes away.


@Grits: The crescent idea came from the fact that she's been handing out the star since Daggerfall at least, and her statues always show her holding the star in one hand and the crescent symmetrically in the other. So she regards them as equal, and opposite, and this was the only thing that made sense.

Thieves using magic is as logical as all of SubRosa's mundane uses. That's a feature I like in her work, as it makes the world more credible.

---------------

Previously: Clark had asked Uzgash to come with him and Minx to find Chrysamere in Fingerbowl Cave. Nocturnal had seen necromancers there (using her crystal ball) and Clark felt they needed a fighter on the team.

----------------

Nocturnal - Part X

Just then, Methredhel came in to the room. "What's that you're wearing?" Uzgash asked her.

"This Huntsman's Vest, you mean? That's a bit of a euphemism for just a leather bra with padded shoulders. The pads are there for carrying game, but it would give you somewhere to rest that axe." Methredhel gestured at the battle-axe Uzgash was leaning on.

"Where can I get one?" Uzgash asked.

"I doubt that Divine Elegance stocks this design, but the other merchants in the Market District should have them. I hope they have your size."

Clark guessed that the reference to Divine Elegance was a comment on Uzgash' dress. She was wearing the one that Gudrun had given her, in trade for the bear riding outfit. The red and green velvet and all the glittery piping looked totally out of keeping with the ebony battle-axe. There was a good chance that Gudrun had bought it there, on one of her trips to the city office, and she probably didn't intend to pair it with her claymore.

Uzgash hadn't much else to wear. She had a uniform at the Red Dragon Club, and a black robe that she wore to sleep in, and that dress. She could do with buying a few more things, so a visit to the Market District was overdue. Uzgash, however, was the complete opposite of Gudrun. She wasn't at all interested in shopping; she'd buy things when she needed them, but not before.

---

As they walked across the city, Clark discussed the possibility of having the bra/vest enchanted. He'd found the spell reflection on his outfit indispensable, and thought everyone could benefit from that. Uzgash wasn't convinced. "I expect to wear some form of protective gear, and I already told you that I prefer magic to steel, or any other material. But using reflection would make me lazy. I want to do all the damage myself. It just feels right that way."

Clark's opinion, of course, was that giving back the damage your opponent intended for you was even more "right", but he admitted that her argument had its merit. Perhaps if his offensive skills were higher, he'd feel the same. He was more than proficient in blocking, but he'd never trained blade to any significant level.

"What about absorption, or resistance? You have only frost resistance at present; what if they throw lightning or fireballs?"

"I intend to silence them with my axe before they get the chance. But that gives me an idea. Do you know a silence spell? You have quite a bit of illusion skill, and it's a great way to disrupt spell-casters, such as necromancers."

Clark hadn't given that much thought. He'd learned invisibility only when Freija had suggested it. Both that and silence were journeyman level spells, and he'd reached that level with completely different ones, like charm and light. Invisibility was a defensive spell, which fit his style, but silence would be his first step into using illusion as a weapon.

"If you don't have a mage on your side, it's a nice safe one to cast. It won't cause any harm if you hit the wrong target. Better yet, you could learn an area spell, and hit everyone anyway."

"Another one you could consider," Uzgash continued "is a spell to command the necromancers' own summons to turn against them. That's a bit trickier to manage, as you need higher skill than the conjurer, or he'll summon something you can't control. And if you fail, you've just wasted a spell."

Clark thought that command spells might be a bit of a gamble, but silence did sound like a good idea. He could check with Calandil, and Edgar Vautrine, and see what they had.

---

Uzgash had no trouble finding her Huntsman's Vest, but neither magic shop had the silence spell. Calandil pointed him at the Arcane University instead. "I think Raminus Polus can teach you that one, even if you're not enrolled there."

Raminus could teach him Mute, but that was an expert level spell, and Clark was just a little shy of the requirements to use it. "Buy it anyway," Uzgash advised. "You can practice on the way to Fingerbowl Cave. Just cast a simple light spell enough times."

"Start now," Raminus concurred. "You're close enough to expert that you'll reach it before you get back to the Waterfront."

---

Minx was waiting for them when they got back, dressed in her adventuring gear. Clark had seen it before, when they went into the deadlands, but they'd spent most of their time invisible, and he really hadn't taken much notice of it. It was all dark leather, with some kind of enchantment to make it even more stealthy.

Minx noticed his scrutiny and explained where she'd got it. The Champion of Cyrodiil himself had given it to her, when they'd met in Cheydinhal one time. He'd just purged the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary there, and this was their standard equipment. It didn't bother Minx that she might get mistaken for an assassin. "Most folk aren't going to see me anyway, and those that do will keep out of my way. And I might not approve of the DB's methods, but they do know a thing or two about leather straps. And stealth, of course."

Once Uzgash had put on her outfit, using Clark's shack as a changing room, they were ready to set out for the cave. You've never seen a more odd-looking band than those three. Clark was dressed in his fancy upper-class outfit that held all the spell reflection enchantments, and carried a sturdy shield and a glass shortsword. Minx was all in leather, carrying just a dagger. Uzgash was showing more skin than most women had. Her thong was barely legal, and the huntsman's vest looked a lot skimpier on her than it had on Methredhel. The leather boots probably covered more of her than all the rest put together. And on her back was that huge axe.

"We'll take the trail around the Island, and cross to the mainland over the north bridge," Minx announced. "We'll get too much attention going around the Red Road, looking like this. We'll cross the road near Aleswell, and the cave's just to the north."

"You do have Nocturnal's bag of holding, don't you?" Clark asked. "We wouldn't want to have to trek all the way back to fetch it, and that sword's supposed to be really heavy without it."

"Heavier than this axe?" Uzgash asked, surprised that a weapon would be too much for one person to carry.

Clark explained that it wouldn't be heavy if you were a Master of Blade. Which none of them were. That made sense to Uzgash. She was familiar with the way that Mastery would stop armor from being an encumbrance, and clearly the same would work for weapons. She'd used war-hammers and battle-axes for so long that they didn't seem heavy to her now, but she could recall her early years when she found it hard to even lift one. "Was I just smaller and weaker then, or was it a lack of skill?"

Clark couldn't imagine Uzgash being small. And she was big in all the right places.

Gosh, my elf and I were completely enthralled. The beautiful interface between fashion, illusion and killin’ necrodudes is so dear to our hearts!

Uzgash squeezing into a huntsman vest conjures quite the image!

I like that the source of Minx’s DB outfit was the Champion pulling it off the cold, dead carcass of an assassin.

Great fun, and looking forward to seeing the necrofun in that big Fingerbowl Cave.

@Acadian: Oh no, The Champion wouldn't have given her one off a corpse! They usually have battle damage. That was an intact spare suit he found in a chest. They all have zero retail value, so giving it to someone who could make good use of it was the best thing.

-----------

Previously: Clark, Minx and Uzgash had set off for Fingerbowl Cave to retrieve a bolt of cloth that was believed to contain the legendary Chrysamere.

-----------

Nocturnal - Part XI

After taking care of a couple of wolves guarding the entrance, they stopped outside the cave to review strategy. "Minx is here to get the sword, and nothing else. You and I are taking out the necromancers," Uzgash announced. "So she should probably go invisible right away."

Clark pointed out what they'd learned in the deadlands. An invisible ally is in danger from their own side. "What if I hit her with silence, and she can't re-cast?"

"I'll stay behind you," Minx responded. "Just keep your spell-casting pointed forward, and there won't be a problem. I'll need you up front to open any doors, or I'll lose my cover."

"I thought you had a ring of shadows for that. Didn't you wear it?" Clark asked.

"No, I'm using detect life and night-eye rings instead. I don't want any skeletons or zombies creeping up on me. And if they've trapped the place, invisibility doesn't help with those."

"That should work," Uzgash agreed. "So I want you, Clark, to prevent them using spells against us. I can handle any minions they manage to summon, and any creatures that might be sharing the place. But if they start flinging spells, I'm getting behind you."

---

The first part of the cave contained undead. Mostly skeletons, including a pesky archer that targeted Clark as soon as they entered his part of the cave. Or maybe he was aiming at Minx, who was hiding behind him. He couldn't turn to see if she was still invisible. Whichever it was, Clark's shield was collecting arrows at quite a rate until Uzgash reached the skeleton. Clark wished there was an enchantment for reflecting arrows.

They had a choice of side-passages, and not much information to decide between them. Nocturnal had sketched a map of the part of the cave that showed in the crystal ball, but it didn't seem to match any part of the current level. And they hadn't met any necromancers yet.

"Let's try this way," Minx suggested. "It smells worse, so that's probably an indication of necromancy."

---

Clark reluctantly agreed to Minx scouting ahead using her invisibility. Only the necromancers would be able to detect her, and she'd run back to the others as soon as she saw anything being summoned. That seemed to be a knee-jerk reaction for them.

The smell was coming from zombies, but they weren't summoned ones. No necromancers in that part of the cave, either. They went back up the ladder, leaving the zombies to themselves, and tried another direction.
Clark and Minx were both using detect life rings, but they didn't have a lot of range. Enough that they wouldn't blunder into enemies around the corners, but it was likely that the necromancers would detect them first, if they suspected anyone was coming. So that meant staying really quiet. Clark was glad that Uzgash was using enchanted clothes instead of amour, and not just because of the delightful view. Plate or even chain is hard to sneak in successfully, and sneak wasn't her strong suit.

Clark was in the lead, as his spell reflection made him the best candidate, so he was the first to detect the pink glows of three figures around the next corner. He stopped to see how they moved. It was about the only way to tell a zombie or skeleton from a necromancer. None of them had the lurching gait of the undead, so it was likely they'd found their targets at last.

A few whispers set their plans in motion. Clark crept forward and targeted the middle one with his new silence spell. They were all close together, so it should affect all three. As it struck, Uzgash ran forward, swinging her axe. The necromancers all wasted time trying to summon, and two of them fell to Uzgash's assault before the final one could fire off a spell. His fireball was aimed at Clark, with predictably fatal results when it reflected back at him.

Minx faded back into view. She'd gone around the wall to the chamber exit to check that nobody was coming from further in. "Nothing in range," she reported. "And I believe I can detect further than they'd be able to hear. That fight was a bit noisy, but I think we got away with it."

The next two rooms went much the same, but the final one was another matter. Clark could see the chest and the bolt of cloth over in a corner. He could also see that the hooded necromancer was carrying a staff. That meant that he'd be able to use it even when Clark hit him with silence.

"I'll aim the silence at him," he whispered to Uzgash. "Hopefully that will draw his attention, and he'll fire the staff at me first. But the others are well-scattered, and I probably can't get them all with one cast."

"Then I'll have to be quicker than normal with my axe," she replied. "It may be worth going berserk. That should mean it takes less whacks to kill one, and I can move on to the next sooner."

Minx was detailed to go grab the cloth bolt. "Stay away from the battle," Clark told her. "That corner's out of the line of fire at present, but things are likely to change rapidly".

Minx nodded, and cast her invisibility. They gave her a few seconds to get clear of them, and then Clark stood up and fired his silence spell at the adept with the staff. Uzgash cast her berserk power and ran at another of the necromancers, close enough to the adept that he'd probably be silenced, but far enough that the adept wouldn't think she was targeting him.

It worked. The adept's staff fired at Clark, and the spell reflected. Except that nothing happened. Clark was puzzled for a moment, and then it dawned on him that the necromancer had just tried to silence him! Uzgash's axe made it a moot point just seconds later, and she and Clark closed on the last of the necromancers just as the silence spell dissipated. Clark got close enough to be spattered with blood as a berserk-driven axe sliced the man in two.

"Sorry about that," an apologetic and rather unsteady Uzgash said. "Berserking makes me stronger, but it leaves me dizzy, and not very accurate. I just aim at the middle of 'em and hope."

Minx appeared by the chest and announced that she'd got the sword. "At least I assume I have. I cast the spell on the cloth bolt and it disappeared."

"Check the chest, in case the sword's in there. If it isn't, we can be pretty sure it's in the bag."

"I already opened the chest. I am a thief, you know. Nothing but a bit of gold and a potion of restore agility."

"Give that potion here," Uzgash demanded. "I need something to stop my head spinning."

"It helped, but I still feel a bit wobbly," she continued after downing the contents.

Clark put an arm round her - to steady her, he said. "Women are supposed to be a bit wobbly," he told her. "Or at least, parts of them are."

@ Ghastley - Ah, I remember those gorgeous Red Dragon Club uniforms!



Clark is very skilled with his blade, just not the one Uzgash was referring to, lol. Loved Uzgash's advice on honing up his skills by casting a light spell. Maxical has cast charm on pigs and horses trying to vamp up her skills before, was tickled to see she is not the only one, lol.

ROFL !! Clark's thoughts had stayed off sex too long, finally at the end of the chapter he starts noticing her figure, ROFL !!! Loved this chapter, even more loving this mod and all you've done !!



Next Chapter:

What a great fight you have going on here! Amazing spell reflection on the Silence, what a great twist that was!

I have to love Clark's protectiveness over a berserking Orc here, you had me in hysterics as his immediate response after the battle is over is to return his thoughts to sex, ROFL !! What an awesome character he makes!

‘Only the necromancers would be able to detect her, and she'd run back to the others as soon as she saw anything being summoned. That seemed to be a knee-jerk reaction for them.’ - - Gosh, isn’t that the truth?!?

This was a great dungeon crawl. Those black robes are pesky indeed. Silence is helpful, but each and every necrodude gets issued exactly two scrolls. With good luck, you get hit by something like disintegrate armor; but a fireball or lightning bolt hurts!

Getting blood splattered from a friendly orc’s melee frenzy is so reminiscent of fighting alongside Sir Mazoga. Uck.

Loved Clark’s wobbly closing comments!

Uzgash sounds like quite a sight. I enjoyed the characters’ thinking on how the game perks work.

But if they start flinging spells, I'm getting behind you."

How fun to hear this from Uzgash of the giant axe. Clark is a worthy adventuring team member. Fun trip through the dungeon!

Clark put an arm round her - to steady her, he said. "Women are supposed to be a bit wobbly," he told her. "Or at least, parts of them are."

@mALX: Clark's mind never leaves the subject. Now he's running the Red Dragon Club, that's his job.

@Acadian: The necrodudes' inventory always seems to include the spells your character is vulnerable to. Mages run into silence spells, tanks get disintegrate weapon, etc. It's random, but as psychic as the guards!

@Grits: Clark has the spell reflection, and Uzgash's not dumb (or blonde).

-----------------

Previously: Clark, Minx and Uzgash cleared the necromancers out of Fingerbowl Cave and retrieved what they hope is Chrysamere, the legendary sword of heroes. Uzgash used her Berserk power, and is feeling the after-effects.

-----------------

Nocturnal - Part XII

Uzgash unwound Clark's arm from around her. "I need a drink, not that," she told him. "Didn't we pass a tavern just the other side of the Red Road?"

"There was one in Aleswell, if that's where you mean," Minx replied. "And I could use a glass of wine, too."

Uzgash hadn't been thinking of daintily sipping wine, she wanted something more like an ale, or several. Now that he thought about it, Clark was feeling a bit thirsty, too.

The three left the cave and headed back south.

---

Aleswell was apparently deserted, but Minx pointed over to a corner of the vegetable patch in the middle of the village. "I can see a pink glow of some animal over there, but I can't see the animal itself." As they got closer, they could hear a sheep, but they still couln't see it.

"Strange," Clark mused. "Why would they have an invisible sheep here?"

The door to the tavern was close, so they went inside to ask. There was a pink glow behind the bar, but no visible barman. He came around the bar and addressed them.

"I expect you're wondering why you can't see me. Or anyone else in town. So are we. It all started a couple of days ago, and we think Ancotar has something to do with it."

"Who's Ancotar?" Minx asked.

"He's the local wizard. He lives in Fort Caractacus, just down the hill from here, and he's been a nuisance ever since he moved in. If it wasn't loud explosions frightening the sheep, it was strange summoned creatures coming up the hill. We went down there to complain, but we weren't able to find him. And now it's this. It was amusing for a while, but now it's become a problem. Who wants to stay at a haunted inn?"

Before they knew it, they'd agreed to go and find Ancotar. "He's probably going to be just as invisible as the villagers," Clark surmised. "Minx and I should keep our rings of life detection on."

---

The large pink glow rushing towards them as they walked down the path didn't look like it was Ancotar, and it sounded a lot like a bear! Clark lit it up with a flare spell, so that Uzgash could see it, and her battleaxe answered its charge.

"Good thing that didn't make it up to the village," Minx remarked.

Most of the other animals they encountered on the way down were rats, but a wolf attacked just as they entered the tower. Clark managed to account for that one on his own. Uzgash had her axe off her shoulder, but couldn't see anything to swing at, and Minx had only her dagger.

"So can you detect Ancotar anywhere?" Uzgash asked.

"There's something up on the next level," Minx reponded. "I hope that's him, and not a troll."

It was indeed Ancotar, completely engrossed in his experiments, and oblivious of the commotion below him.
They had to tap on his shoulder before he noticed them.

"Go away! If you're selling something, I don't want any!"

Clark explained why they were there.

"Invisible? All of them? Well I was working on an invisibility spell. One that would last longer than usual. I wanted to avoid those complaining villagers, and it seemed like a good idea to be invisible."

"How much longer than usual are we talking about?" Clark asked.

"Oh, it will wear off in a year or two," Ancotar reassured him.

"They can't wait that long," Clark responded, and explained the problems that the invisibility was causing. "Isn't there some way of reversing it?"

"Well, if you must, here's a scroll to reverse invisibility. Just stand in the middle of town and read it."

"Are you sure this will work?" Minx wanted to know. "Your invisibility spell didn't quite go as planned."

"Yes, I know, but that's the whole thing about experimental magic. You don't learn anything new if you don't go beyond the boundaries of what's already known. Sometimes things do go wrong, so that's why I made these."

Ancotar pulled a handful of rings from his pack. "These are rings of protection. If anything goes wrong with my experiments, they absorb the adverse effects."

"And I don't suppose you gave any to the villagers, did you?" Clark asked, picking a few from Ancotar's hand. "We'd better wear them when I use this scroll."

---

The scroll did what it was supposed to do, and the villagers, and their sheep, became visible again. It wasn't clear if the rings of protection had done anything, but Clark gave his to Diram Serethi, the publican at the tavern, just in case Ancotar did any more experiments.

"Hey what about us?"

"That's my sister, Adosi," Diram said. "I wouldn't have minded if she and Urnsi, my other sister, had stayed invisible, but it's too late for that."

Minx and Uzgash handed over their rings of protection, too.

Diram was grateful, even if his sisters didn't appear to be. He gave them all free drinks, which reminded them it was what they came for in the first place, and promised a free bed if any of them should need one in future.

"It's not large enough for three, mind you," Diram whispered in Clark's ear.

Clark’s little gang had to work for their drinks!

A delightfully 'Clarkified' rendition of the Aleswell quest. Using multiple rings of ‘protection’ made sense, and you cleverly carried that one step further as the three rings made their way onto the fingers of the publican and his two sisters.

Nit: "Well, if you must, here's a scroll tof reverse invisibility.” - - ‘tof’