I read a different theory on fertility of elves: that it depends on the population size. When the population is large, elven women stop conceiving, but when the population shrinks for whatever reason, the chances of pregnancy also increase. But then again several books state that intimacy with humans makes elven women fertile "out of turn", so to speak... Hmm...

The thing with Aldmeri is of course that they wouldn't be intimate with humans, no, sera! At least not to anyone's knowledge.

This episode is a start of an old story shedding light on what exactly was binding the Animal and the Speaker. There will be even screenshots as soon as I get this starting mod done! This will be played.

23 Evening Star, 4E172 - A voyage ahead

Legate Oryn was feeling apprehensive. Fort Sutch was well fortified, with soldiers posted both on its outer and inner perimeter, such as it was, seeing that not much of the structure above ground remained intact. Fort Sutch was chosen exactly because it looked like yet another ancient fort ruin on the outside, even one without an obvious entrance. But the visitors that Legate was expecting, would not only have no issues finding the hidden entrance, but would also not hesitate to take out any foolish soldiers who dared to stand in their way.

"Guard the place against bandits and vagabonds, do NOT engage Imperial operatives or... err... other professionals," the Legate had told them. "Even if they look like bandits or vagabonds!"

It was the best he could do. He could not say any more, and was hoping that not too many of his troops would die by mistake.

...

A distant noise coming from the entrance alerted the Legate, he heard footsteps approaching fast - someone was running, and they were frightened. A young soldier appeared on the lower level, saluted as he ran, but didn't shout out his message. The Legate smiled and nodded to himself - the training was paying off. Finally the soldier stood before him.

"Ghosts, Sir," his message was abrupt, as he was trying to catch his breath. "One brushed right past me," his eyes were round with surprise. "Could be anywhere."

"Did it feel cold?" The Legate fixed the soldier with his gaze.

"Err... No, Sir," the soldier blushed, realising that he forgot some points about the undead. But then again, he'd never faced one before.

"Good, go back to your post, it was probably just the wind," the Legate reassured him. "Or rats. Nothing to worry about. Imperial Battlemages had swept this fort for undead before we took residence here."

The soldier left, somewhat embarrassed, wondering why the Legate didn't tell him off for a false alarm. In fact, he had the impression that the Legate was pleased with his report... How strange.

"Ghosts, indeed," the Legate smirked to himself, facing the door. His visitor would enter any moment now.

"You trained your soldiers well," a voice behind him made him spin around with a jerk. A man in black robes was removing his hood. "Legate Oryn, I presume?"

"Speaker," the Legate quickly composed himself, nodding to his visitor. "You are here."

"Evidently," the man in black robes smiled.

"Your contract?" The Legate sounded tense.

"Has been agreed," the Speaker nodded, unsheathing his sword. The Legate froze involuntarily. "I am not a Legion officer," the Speaker smiled again, watching the darkened steel reflect the light along the razor sharp edge of the short sword.

"Indeed," the Legate made an effort to calm his nerves. "Then all is clear, I trust. The chamber to the left has everything you need in the meantime."

"Then I shall wait," the Speaker sheathed his sword, disappearing behind the door that the Legate had indicated. The Legate sighed a sigh of relief.

...

"First ghosts, now marauders?" The soldier posted near the entrance heard clunking of heavy armour - not Legion issue. He faced the noise, his sword drawn.

"Stand down, Trooper," a disciplined, yet unofficial voice came from the direction of the noise. "Stand down before you get hurt." A man in steel armour appeared from around the corner, his posture straight, his step almost a march, his face set as that of a Legate... Was that the Legion operative that the Legate had mentioned?

"Divines guide and protect us," the soldier said, but didn't sheath his sword.

"By the Nine!" The man in steel armour stopped, but didn't draw his weapon. "At ease."

The soldier didn't know the operative's rank, so he simply saluted, sheathed his sword and returned to his post. The Nine, not the Eight - this wasn't an Aldmeri agent. Or at least that's what he hoped.

...

"Legate," the man in steel armour stood to attention and saluted the Legate. "Reporting to the rendez-vous."

"Agent," the Legate approved of formal greetings - they gave clarity, especially since Imperial operatives from the Special Division did not wear Legion uniforms. "At ease," he nodded. "Have you been briefed?"

"My orders are clear, Legate, Sir," the Agent confirmed, relaxing his stance but not his tone. "When are we to depart?"

"At dawn tomorrow," the Legate shot him a glance, shuffling some scrolls on his desk. "Your companion has already arrived," he jerked his head towards the door to the left. "You might want to get acquainted while you're still within an Imperial fort."

"The Speaker and I have met before," the Agent smiled and nodded, turning towards the door indicated, then changed his mind. Best keep up the formalities. "Any other orders, Sir?" He straightened up again.

"Dismissed," the Legate looked up from the papers, and when the Agent disappeared behind the door, he sighed the second sigh of relief. "Ah, here it is," he muttered, unrolling a scroll. "Information provided by the Animal led to the apprehension of the newly appointed Commander of the Third Aldmeri Division," he read. "Question is, how could his prisoner have given him this information since the new Commander had only been appointed after the prisoner's capture?" The Legate rubbed his chin and shook his head. "Unless..." He stared at the door to the left and smirked. "I never..."

...

An Imperial galleon was waiting at sea not far from the coast. Two figures left Fort Sutch just before dawn, making for the coast. They took a row boat that was soon swallowed by the morning mist.

...

"All aboard," a sailor reported to the captain of the galleon.

"Set sail," the captain nodded. "Before the mist clears."

The galleon departed towards the West.

I am up to the part when she's with the Arch Mage. "We have really began to rely on you" he tells her.

Now she's at the Fighters Guild. Looks like she's about to do the quest with Viranus Donton. I barely remember this quest, but it's funny how we're supposed to 'babysit' the guy. That's exactly what it's like sometimes with vanilla NPC followers, we have to babysit them.

Oh nice, she just found the Crown. It says "Lena could just buy another horse, but didn't want to." How much money (about) would she have by this point?

The side plot with Rayenna is interesting. The gal seems to be plotting something to do with Lena.






8/157

Not much, considering the expenses. She's got to eat, she shares the loot money with her companions and there's Battlehorn Castle to maintain - that's some 13,000 septims a month right there! At that point we still had the castle because Hauk liked it. But then things got busy, and in the end neither Lena nor Hauk could be bothered with it, so she sold it to the Captain of the Guard there for a symbolic 1 septim. He got his guardsmen organised to do stuff... or not, I have no clue! But it's up to them now to come up with 13,000 septims every month for food and drink!

25 Evening Star, 4E172 - The beginning of a friendship

"That is quite an elaborate tattoo for someone as young as you," an assassin stood over a sleeping Imperial Agent.

"Whaa---?" The agent turned over, slowly waking up. "Tattoo? Oh... yeah..." He muttered something incomprehensible, his tongue still thick with yesterday's mead.

"You can sleep longer if you like, we're not going anywhere," the assassin smiled. "It's a week's journey and we've only just set off." The ship was rocking slightly. "But the weather is good and I thought you could use some fresh air."

"Eh... good thinking," the agent smiled back, sitting up on his cot, now reasonably awake. "D'you think we finished that barrel of mead last night? If so, the captain won't let me into the hold for the rest of the trip."

...

"It'll soon be just the two of us, relying on each other," the assassin looked serious when they were standing on deck enjoying fresh breeze and mild sunshine. They were at sea headed to the Summerset Isles. "No one can know who we are of course, but I daresay it's pretty obvious. That we are no locals, I mean." He ran his hand over the length of his sword instinctively. "The Summerset Isles do not get a lot of tourists these days."

"Yeah, the war has changed it all," the agent nodded, turning his chest to the sun and closing his eyes. "Not that the Altmer have ever been very welcoming. But no one from the Empire will go there now."

"Quite." The assassin paused, watching him. "We need to get to know each other."

"Well, what do you want to know?" The agent opened one eye. "Or rather: what is there that you don't know about me already, Speaker?" He smirked.

"Nothing that's on the record," the assassin grinned. "But records don't reveal what a person is really like. I've seen some of it back at the fort in Skyrim. But now - tell me about your tattoo. You have too many lines on it for a 20-year old."

"Twenty one, I'm twenty one already!" The agent retorted irritably, then sighed. "Sorry. Of course you knew that. I get a lot of this in the Legion. Not many get to Agent before thirty... But the War provided opportunities."

"And your brother..?" The assassin prompted.

"Iver has the same rank as me, he has to," the agent nodded. "That's the whole point. Us being twins, having the same last name naturally, and all that. Only Iver is a regular battlemage and fights on the front line, but we must have all the same ranks and titles, otherwise he cannot be me... and visa versa."

"Does Iver has the same tattoo as well?" The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"Not the tattoo, we're supposed to keep our clothes on," the agent grinned. "By the time the armour or the robe comes off, everyone will have had enough mead not to worry about small things like tattoos..."

"And your clients will never live to tell the tale either, Animal," the assassin smirked.

"Well... Mostly not." The skin on his chest started going hot pink - Nords were not made for sunbathing. He turned around and let the sun warm his back instead. "But Iver doesn't like to get his clothes off, so no one knows he's all naked under there," he smirked.

"So, your tattoo?" The assassin insisted.

"A Nord traditional design, the outline is given to you, and you fill it in with lines as you earn them," the agent explained somewhat impatiently. "Why do you ask, Speaker? Surely you know this."

"This I indeed know," the assassin nodded. "But you have a lot of lines already - and yes, I know which ones they are. Tell me about that."

"Oh... well, some are clients, some are enemies, some are friends..." The agent sighed. "They are for memory, see. I didn't kill my friends, they fell in battle. I'd do a line in memory. But mostly it's clients or enemies that proved particularly bothersome. The lines usually cover the scars."

"Scars can be magically removed these days," the assassin rolled up his sleeve, showing clean skin without any blemishes. "See, no scars."

"Well, may be it's not that important for you Imperials..." The agent squinted at the assassin. "But they say that when we Nords finally go to Sovngarde, we keep the appearance of our mortal bodies, with scars, tattoos, whatever. I've had plenty of scars removed, too, but some had to be kept for memory."

The sun stood quite high on the horizon at that point, and the agent's back turned the same hot pink colour as his chest.

"We should go inside, you'll burn up worse than a vampire," the assassin joked. The sun fell onto his face, revealing some wrinkles on his lightly tanned skin.

"Yeah, let's go, Speaker," the agent nodded.

Once inside their cabin, the assassin extended his hand.

"We should drop the titles," he said. "Call me Lucien."

"Call me Hauk."

They shook on it.

Nice, I like this. Bothered me a bit that after a while our guys & gals are making all this money with nowhere to put it. My Renee Gade III character makes a lot of money for instance, but since she's the one keeping her gear (and all the weapons & armors of her followers) intact, she tends to break even with the money. I also have it set up so one of her homes has a rent payment. She can choose to buy it, but that'd be a lot of gold.

Some gamers play these games to escape reality, in the sense that there's no rent, no taxes, and I get it. But for me, the idea that money is cyclical, that it's going back into "the system", lends a bit of reality which I dig.

That's great she sold Battlehorn to her guard captain, too.

11 First Seed, 4E203 - The Telvanni run-around

Hauk was remembering the days during the Great War when he just met Lucien. Their first meeting was in an old fort in Skyrim - Lucien had been sent to assassinate the Aldmeri agent that Hauk was interrogating. It had become standard practice for the Aldmeri to engage Morag Tong or the Dark Brotherhood to end the lives of those of their agents that were unfortunate enough to get captured by an agent of the Imperial Special Division - not only there was no hope for the Aldmeri agent to survive, but the sooner he was killed, the less information he could divulge to the Legion.

Lucien wasn't the first assassin to be sent after one of Hauk's "clients". But Hauk did not appreciate interruptions, and most assassins fell to his sword. He would always warn them first - he had no quarrel with them, but as the assassins insisted on going after their targets, Hauk had no choice but to stop them. So he was quite surprised to see Lucien in his fort, and to realise that Lucien came to negotiate. That job required a Speaker, indeed.

That was some thirty years ago.

Returning to the year 203 of the Fourth Era, Hauk finally reached Sadrith Mora in the beginning of the month of First Seed. There he intended to join House Telvanni and make a name for himself - that was necessary before he could ask for assistance locating Rayenna. Sadrith Mora was not that large of a town but it had everything close together: an Imperial fort that also housed the Mages Guild and the Fighters Guild, a Thieves Guild safe house (at which Hauk grimaced for how obvious it was), a Morag Tong Guild Hall and of course the Telvanni Council House. There were even no visible hostilities between the mages of the Mages Guild and the surrounding Telvanni... How strange. Or perhaps: how sensible?

At first traders didn't want to speak to him because he had no hospitality papers.

"And how can you tell that I'm not carrying those papers?" Hauk glared at a Bosmer smith in the square.

"Because I've never seen you before and you're not waving those papers in my face!" The Bosmer retorted. "You aren't even allowed to walk the ground here! Shoo!"

"Well, it's true about the papers," the neighbouring trader informed Hauk. "Officially you aren't even allowed to walk the streets of Sadrith Mora without the papers. But since no one except him there is ever going to ask you to show those papers... Err... Was there anything you wanted?"

If Hauk had been just passing through, he would not have bothered with the papers. He even considered to immediately go to the Council House and try to join House Telvanni, and then he would never need any such papers anyway. But then he changed his mind.

"Yes, you can purchase your hospitality papers right here!" The host told him at the Gateway Inn. "For 25 septims. And I may even have work for you!" He beamed at Hauk.

Obviously, it was a scam, which is why Hauk went with it - once he'd rise up in rank with the Telvanni, putting pressure on this host would become easier if Hauk had something to hold over him. Especially if that something came for a mere 25 septims. He bought the papers.

The "work" that the host had mentioned, turned out to be a haunting of one of their rooms. "The ghost is easy enough to defeat," he said, "but it keeps coming back! We can't rent out the room this way!"

And therein lay the real problem, of course. Someone with a grudge installed a self-conjuring ghost there, a nifty device commonly used to scare tourists away from forts and towers occupied by mages. After some asking around, Hauk located the conjurer who had set this up - a member of the Mages Guild, as it happened. She freely admitted that it was a joke, and agreed that perhaps it was time to lift it, but when Hauk returned to the host, the host would hear none of it, no, Hauk had to go and kill that ghost first.

"But what's the point if it keeps coming back?" Hauk couldn't quite believe it.

"You have to see it for yourself!" The host was adamant.

"Well, I've seen ghosts before, you know..."

But it was no use. Hauk had to go and battle the ghost, which wasn't all that easy since it turned out to be a Gloom Wraith... What was that host trying to do?! Angry and annoyed, Hauk returned to the host who was now sending him to talk to a certain Telvanni mistress who'd examined the site, even though Hauk had started by talking to that very mistress... No, the whole thing had to be done again, now that Hauk knew what sort of ghost had been haunting the room.

Finally, the same Mages Guild conjurer said the same thing about that being a joke, adding with a wink that perhaps Hauk could now appreciate her displeasure with the host when she first arrived in Sadrith Mora. Oh that host had it coming! Hauk was fuming by that point.

Back to the host, Hauk handed him the mage's annoyed and sarcastic letter, watched the host nearly explode with anger, which, quite magically, made Hauk's anger diminish to the point that he even abandoned his impulse to acquaint the host with Bianca, his blade. He also decided against turning the host into a toad, at least not just yet. Why, that weasel had just given him enough arsenal to make him do whatever he wanted when the time came...

The chores for the magisters of House Telvanni went from trivial to ruthless to crazy, with the wizards living up to their reputation. Receiving 200 drakes for five portion of muck worth hardly a tenner, was a nice turn of events, and receiving another 1000 drakes for confronting a crazy lady with her skirt was another easy win. Master Neloth wanted an enchanted robe currently worn by someone else, and Hauk had to kill that unfortunate person to get the robe - a robe worth some 20,000 drakes. Handing over the robe to Master Neloth, Hauk got just 10 drakes payment... Yes, wizards varied. And he hadn't met all of them yet, but already was told that his services were good enough to make him a Mouth, to which end he needed a patron, and all the great wizards had already been taken... Err... already had Mouths... so... umm... Wait, wasn't there a Morag Tong Guild Hall in town as well? Hauk's head was spinning.

Shaking his head and muttering to himself, he was walking along the market stalls, when someone tugged on his sleeve and whispered that Morag Tong was expecting him. Really? Was that retaliation for that assassin he killed in order to get a ring for one of the magisters? They did say that murder was fair play...

"Agent, this way please," a thrall directed Hauk upstairs in the Morag Tong Guild Hall. No, they weren't looking for a fight... but what then?

"Please, come in, I've been expecting you," Azarath Salvel opened the door to his own section of the Guild Hall. And once they were inside, he declared without further ado: "Considering your recent efforts, we have decided to lend you our assistance. We too have a vested interest in finding Rayenna and avoiding another war of assassins between Morag Tong and the Dark Brotherhood. I shall accompany you on your errands - except the boring ones, that is - and you may stay in this room since I have a spare bed. I daresay it's got fewer bugs than the one in Fara's Hole in the Wall," he winked.

"Thank you," Hauk smiled, still feeling a bit apprehensive somehow. "But this room is not a part of the common area of the Guild Hall... This is your private apartment..."

"Welcome to my home," Azarath smiled at him, and suddenly Hauk saw Lucien standing before him. A darker skin, perhaps, but otherwise... The vision faded and Hauk was looking at Azarath again. "It's the least I can do to welcome my son's friend."

25 First Seed, 4E203 - The best things are free

"House Telvanni was never going to be easy," Azarath Salvel was saying to Hauk at dinner, watching him shake his head in disbelief. Hauk was scanning a long scroll of chores, up and down, down and up, shaking his head and getting a headache. "Forget your common sense - it will only hinder you. Just do the tasks, without question. It is the only way to keep your sanity," Azarath suppressed a laugh, thinking that Hauk had had enough unpleasantness for one day.

"But this is utter madness!" Hauk looked up. "Ask two questions of a mage but don't wait for an answer, bring a coded message to Divayth Fyr - Divayth Fyr of all people! Everyone knows he doesn't mess with politics, yet every time someone has to try... And more such nonsense... Oh wait, here's a reasonable one - quell a slave rebellion. What?! I may be with the Legion, but that's not why they're asking me!" He shook his head again. "Remind me: why am I doing this?"

"Because the Telvanni are the only people knowledgeable enough to be able to put a trace on someone protected by Mephala," Azarath said soothingly. "Rayenna, remember? The war of assassins? A threat to your unborn child?"

Hauk buried his head in his hands.

"Yes, Rayenna." He rubbed his face, then got up for more mead. "She's a threat to all of us. Yet she's protected by Mephala - Mephala, the patron of your order!" He looked at Azarath accusingly, then quickly diverted his gaze. "It's not Morag Tong's fault, I know." He sighed and sat down again. "This is the one job that may be too hard for me."

"It isn't, Hauk," Azarath said softly. "You simply need to take it with a grain of gravedust."

"Whaa--?" Hauk was jerked out of his self-pity. "How's that?"

"Gravedust, the stuff you find in tombs, don't you know," Azarath flicked away a kwama egg and sliced some mutton instead. "The only thing that remains of mortals after they are gone. All these wizards will be reduced to it, sooner or later. When they start getting on your nerves, just picture them as gravedust."

Hauk smirked, but suddenly felt a weight fall off his shoulders. Gravedust. Simple.

"You don't really need any of them," Azarath continued. "The only wizard of any consequence is of course Divayth Fyr. And weren't you asked to bring a message to him? Well, that gives you an introduction," Azarath winked. "As for the other chores... I would not worry. Although a diversion could be nice - wasn't there a slave rebellion to quell?"

"D'you know, none of these chores have anything to do with magic," Hauk said thoughtfully. "Or with my skills as a mage. It all reminds me very much of those chores you had to do for the Mages Guild in Cyrodiil to earn your recommendations for the Arcane University..." He smiled, thinking of home and remembering Lena complaining about the useless chores they had her do... Or wait, that was already after she entered the University... Wherever you looked, people simply seemed to use you to do the things that they could not be bothered to do themselves... "Rats and goblins everywhere," he said aloud. "Here's to rats and goblins!" He raised a toast. "We'll do that slave rebellion tomorrow and then go see Divayth Fyr."

...

"Well, young man, what is it you want?" Divayth Fyr was looking at Hauk with amusement. "A coded message? Again? But of course. Let's see." He scanned it quickly, wrote a reply and handed it to Hauk. "Here, tell them I politely declined."

"I shall, thank you," Hauk put away the scroll. "No surprises there."

"You guessed what the message was?" Divayth Fyr raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I can't read that code," Hauk shook his head. "But knowing who it came from, and knowing that you are the eldest member of House Telvanni, yet not a member of the Council, I would say someone once again was trying to get you involved in politics - on their side, of course. A futile attempt, obviously."

"Yes..." Divayth Fyr took a better look at Hauk. "Say... you are not like the others..." He seemed to look under Hauk's skin. "A mage... no, a battlemage... With the Legion?" Hauk nodded. "Yes... yet seeking advancement with House Telvanni, all while being a member of the Imperial Mages Guild, of course..."  He smiled, poured himself a drink and offered some to Hauk. "This is just wine, do not worry. So, what is it that you really want, Agent?"

The chore with the coded message indeed provided an introduction. Hauk inwardly sighed a sigh of relief - Divayth Fyr had opened a conversation. He didn't strike Hauk as a recluse... Perhaps he just could not be bothered with... err... gravedust?

"I need help that only the Telvanni can provide," Hauk decided to be direct. "Magical help. I need to put a trace on someone protected by Mephala. The person herself is just a mortal, but Mephala's protection makes all the difference."

"Interesting," Divayth Fyr mused. "A Morag Tong matter?"

"Not only," Hauk nodded. "This person - Rayenna - was with the Dark Brotherhood in Cyrodiil, but turned against one of her Sisters, attempted murder, got exiled, got picked up by Mephala with the promise to insert her into Morag Tong, but Morag Tong themselves haven't officially had the news yet."

"Well, that's Mephala for you," the old wizard chuckled.

"Yes. The matter is further complicated by personal relationships of several people here, and by the danger of another war of assassins between the Dark Brotherhood and Morag Tong, in case someone sees this as a provocation."

"And Mephala would do everything in her power to make it appear that way," Divayth nodded.

"And hence we need to try and stop it before anything happens," Hauk looked straight at him.

"Yes... And what is your involvement in this? Besides the obvious allegiance of the Dark Brotherhood and the Imperial Legion?" Divayth's eyes twinkled, and Hauk thought the whole story seemed amusing to him.

"I... err... well..." Hauk hesitated. Then, thinking that the truth would come out soon enough anyway, he decided to dish it out then and there. "It is a love affair, really. Rayenna had an eye on a man, a Dark Brotherhood assassin, but he recently married another woman. That was the Sister that Rayenna attempted to kill. She is pregnant, soon to give birth. The child... is either her husband's or mine... So, I had to do something to protect it."

"And?"

"And?" Hauk looked up, realising that the whole truth meant the whole truth, not just some of it. "Why am I not jealous? I am, and I am not... Her husband... he's an old friend of mine. From much before I ever met the woman. What we've been through... Anyway, I am happy for him to raise my child, if that child is mine."

"And?" Divayth Fyr was visibly enjoying the story, realising full well that that wasn't all.

"And... All right, all right!" Hauk gave a short laugh. "The man's father is a Morag Tong assassin. And we suspect that Rayenna might try to go after him somehow, but we are not clear on the purpose."

"Which is where Mephala comes in, of course," Divayth nodded. "And Mephala would have been protecting your Rayenna until such time that it fits with her plans to bring her out... yes..." He sipped some of his wine, contemplating its colour in a heavy glass. "Mephala may even be willing to take a stab at the Night Mother, or even Sithis himself..." He smirked. "Let's hope not. But you are not asking to kill Rayenna, just put a trace on her. Why?"

"The feeling is that Rayenna's untimely and unexplained death might be used to start that war of assassins..." Hauk hesitated. "I am not entirely sure. I would probably just kill her. But I am not calling the shots."

"But who is?" Divayth looked at Hauk shrewdly.

"The Night Mother, I think," Hauk shrugged.

"I see..."

Divayth seemed lost in thought, still contemplating his wine, and Hauk decided to wait, since he had now said everything there was to say on the matter. A long moment passed.

"Rayenna is with Dagoth Ur inside the Red Mountain," Divayth Fyr said suddenly. "Yes, we've noticed her. I also know who those other people in your story are. I've lived in this neighbourhood for a while, I know what's going on," he laughed. "Tell Azarath it's been too long, I'd love a visit." He laughed again, watching Hauk's surprise. "We've been tracking Rayenna for a while already." Hauk opened his mouth to ask something, but Divayth answered it first: "Who is 'we'? Well, my daughters and I, of course. Not the rest of House Telvanni, do not worry." He paused, and Hauk waited for him to continue. "Dagoth Ur is not dead, but I suppose you've figured it out already. Corprus is back, and Azura knows what else, or rather, Azura doesn't know, and that's the problem. Has she been in touch? Yes? Strange dreams too? Yeah... That's how it started last time. Your place is here for now, Hauk, in Morrowind. You said it yourself - your child is safe. So, get used to kwama eggs... I know it's not mutton, but it will have to do... We've got work to do, you and I. Much work."

...

Hauk and Azarath were once again sitting at dinner.

"So he wants you to walk the path of the Nerevarine," Azarath nodded, listening to Hauk's story. "The same as last time... Who was the poor sod that got pushed into it then? No one knows any longer. It is not the kind of fame that sticks."

"I don't want it to stick!" Objected Hauk. "I am not thrilled about doing it, either! I read history books, I know what happened last time... No fun at all! Corprus, bah!" He grimaced and spit. "That's the one disease I object to contracting!"

"I don't think there is a way out here, Hauk," Azarath looked at him thoughtfully. "If Mephala hid Rayenna inside the Red Mountain, then you'll have to go through Dagoth Ur to get to her..." He sighed heavily. "And if Divayth Fyr says that's where she is, then that's where she is. I don't envy you this task, my friend..."

The sun had long set and Masser and Secunda were dark in the sky over Morrowind. It wasn't a moonless night, it was a night of dark moons. Not an omen but a regular astronomical phenomenon, Hauk kept saying to himself, yet could not help feeling it was an omen after all.

She just got rid of Adamus Phillida. It's so long ago that I did these quests, I'm not even remembering this one.

Ha ha Fenris. That's the former slave guy, right? He seems to really adore Lena.

Maglir defects to Blackwood Company, wow. And this is vanilla, too. Again, I remember none of this. It's cool you're in the midst of doing a bunch of quests during this part, AND also writing up everything which happens. Basically, documenting your story/roleplay, which is great. See you'll remember all these bits because of this.

And she's hunting imps for Aryaire. 🦇 I don't know if you've noticed this, but ironically imp caves often contain the best loot for low-level games. I'm talking about characters whose leveling-upwards is slow, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, and so on. There's always some nice enchanted loot we stumble across at these lower levels in imp/creature lairs, which we can either sell or use. An example is my elf found a Spelldrinker Amulet when she was only L4.

But bleagh, imp gall is what she's after.

Whoa. Got a letter from Hauk. Or so it seems.

This is freaky. Must continue later... 9/167

18 Sun's Dawn, 4E203 - Lord Sheogorath's second term

"Congratulations on your second term in office," Haskill respectfully inclined his head when Lena finally slumped onto Sheogorath's throne. The Greymarch was over, Jyggalag was once again defeated, initial orders given, and with the immediate pressures released, Lena suddenly felt drained and exhausted. Not surprising! It had been a long day.

"Thanks," she replied to Haskill mechanically. "Any other business can wait until I've had some sleep..." She unsuccessfully stifled a yawn.

"Your quarters are ready for you," Haskill smiled, gesturing towards a door behind the throne.

"My quarters?" Lena looked up in surprise. "You mean he didn't..." Haskill nodded, and a wide grin spread over Lena's face. "He didn't! Ah-ha!" She jumped off the throne with an unexpected agility, motioned Scorpio to follow and disappeared into a short tunnel behind the throne that ended in an unassuming stone door.

...

"We should be quite comfortable here, and no, I won't let you go home just yet, you need help with those wounds," Lena pushed a door revealing a spacious and very comfortable bedroom, complete with a bathroom suite. "You're not mortal, I know, but your body takes damage like any other, so don't argue," she looked at Scorpio sternly even though he wasn't arguing. In fact, he was already stripping off blood-covered rags that used to be clothing when he put them on in the morning. Lena turned on the taps and warm clear water started filling the tub. "Dylan!" She called, then froze. Dylan was dead.

"He is a daedra, he will be reborn," Scorpio said softly, putting his arm around Lena's shoulders again, as Lena started silently crying. "Come, the bath is ready."

...

The stone bath tub in Lord Sheogorath's quarters was easily large enough for three or four people. In truth, it was more of a small pool. Lena allowed warm scented water to soothe the pain, both physical and mental. Dylan was dead. Dylan, her friend and consort in the Shivering Isles, the only male Mazken to answer her call when she became Lord Sheogorath the first time around. The others put their established lives first, but Dylan was different. Dylan was curious about this mortal champion of his Prince, this fragile-looking being that nonetheless defeated Prince Jyggalag... How did she do it? How did she survive? Why did she want male Mazken to join the Palace Guard when she already had much superior female Mazken there? He wanted to find out.

Dylan was the one who noticed that Lena did not look right. "Your appearance does not reflect your essence," he said. No, it didn't - the cure for vampirism that Lena had taken a few years earlier, left her looking like an old woman, stooped, scarred and wrinkled, while in fact she was just in her twenties. Dylan was the one to take her to the Wellspring, to make her regain her youthful looks. Dylan was there for her when no one else cared, and now Dylan was dead, his heart sliced in two by Jyggalag's sword in this second Greymarch.

Yes, he would be reborn. But the image of him lying dead on the battlefield with his chest split open, would never leave Lena's memory. Rebirth would take time, and until then Lena was grieving.

...

After some time the pain dulled and the tears stopped running down Lena's cheeks. She washed her face in the warm water of the pool and looked at Scorpio who seemed to be asleep in the opposite corner.

"Don't fall asleep in the water - you could drown even in a small pool!" Lena kicked his shin gently. He opened his eyes.

"I wasn't asleep, I was just giving you time," he smiled. "And enjoying this bath." He ran his hand along the wounds on his thigh and Lena noticed the shimmer of healing magic. "The bleeding has finally stopped," he noted with satisfaction. Then, looking at her intently, he asked: "Tell me about this place, your quarters. Why were you surprised when Haskill told you this room was ready? 'He didn't!' You exclaimed. He - who? And what did he not do?"

"Sheogorath - Prince Sheogorath, that is," Lena smiled. "He didn't remove the extra wing to the Palace that I added when I was holding the throne the first time around. He kept it. I wonder why."

"An extra wing? You mean, Prince Sheogorath did not have his own quarters before you took over?" Scorpio asked in surprise.

"No, he didn't," Lena confirmed. "Daedric Princes are not like you or I, they don't have... shall we say... bodily needs. They have bodies of course, but they don't need to eat, sleep, or anything else, so they don't really have a need for quarters." She mused at the thought, having said it aloud like that, realising for the first time just how strange it must be. Or how strange it must be for a Daedric Prince to imagine having those bodily needs. "I don't really know what Sheogorath is doing when he's not sitting on the throne, or where he spends his time, and it is none of my business!" She exclaimed defiantly, as if expecting Prince Sheogorath to be listening in. You could never be sure with Daedric Princes. "So yeah, I had expected him to get rid of this wing once he was back in the Realm. But look at that - he kept it." She patted the tub fondly. "Which means that there will be breakfast in the dining hall as well! Sweetrolls!"

At that moment there was a knock on the door and a Mazken guard entered cautiously.

"Would you be requiring breakfast?" She asked.

"Yes!" Lena beamed at her. "Like before... err... minus the felldew," she added, blushing. "Leave out the indulgences, will you? Sanguine is not here, so let's just have regular food and drink."

The guard smiled with satisfaction, nodded and left.

...

A couple of days later Lena and Scorpio stood in the gardens of the Palace in New Sheoth enjoying the gentle breeze and warm sunshine. All traces of the great bloody battle that took place there so recently, had been removed. Townspeople were coming in to make sure that life really got back to normal, and courtiers had full schedules processing insurance claims on lost or damaged property by the forces of Order, listening to disputes of citizens accusing each other of theft and vandalism due to temporary insanity under the influence of the forces of Order, and other such mundane tasks. Both the Duke of Mania and the Duchess of Dementia were still serving their sentences for their defection to the forces of Order, and so the courtiers had to do all the work once again. Yes, life was truly getting back to normal.

"So, what's next, Lord Sheogorath?" Scorpio asked Lena with a wink. "What does the Ruler of the Realm actually do all day?"

"Err..." Lena was about to say something, then realised it was a trick question. No, she did not want to bring up the memories of how it was last time, not while Dylan was still lying dead. "The guard said it would take a week or two before Dylan is reborn," she judged that a direct approach to the pain was best. "And then it would take a little while for him to regain his memories. We'll wait for him. He should just walk in here one day, apparently. So... I dunno... What do you want to do?"

...

"You are back!" Bernice was smiling, a rare occurrence for her. "It's all over, we all survived, you did it again!" The joy on her face made her look young. "We must celebrate!"

It was nearly dinner time and Bernice's taphouse started to fill up with the usual customers. Smoked baliwog legs and grummite eggs were brought out, wine and ale followed, accounts of the great battle of a few days ago were getting more and more grotesque by the minute...

"Time to go, I think," Scorpio whispered in Lena's ear.

They slipped out quietly while everyone else was engaging in the celebratory brawls, and Lena slipped a bottle of skooma into Caldana's pocket, thus removing the last person who was still watching them. They went through the city gates and stood overlooking the New Sheoth cemetery that had gained quite a few gravestones in just a few days. Lena sighed. Scorpio took her hand.

"Moonglow is only found by night," he said and she spun around to look at him. "Remember? Wasn't it one of the first tasks you had to do as freshly Arisen?"

If the memories of the previous Greymarch were too painful, perhaps the memories of Gransys would help. After all, Scorpio was with her again and the road stretched before them, calling.

21 Sun's Dawn, 4E203 - Memories of another world

"Moonglow is only found by night," Lena repeated Scorpio's phrase as they set off to walk the roads of the Shivering Isles. "Yes, I remember. A huge party... a huge wild party... well, Sanguine was staying here, so you can imagine," she smirked. "Too much felldew and all kinds of brandy. Then someone pushed me against a statue... or something... don't remember really... but it was a portal, and the next thing I knew I was lying on a beach and this huge dark shadow was hovering over me. The shadow spit fire, frying those people who were still standing..."

"And you..?" Scorpio prompted her as she paused.

"Well, I was having none of it. Still high on felldew and whatnot. Saw a sword on the ground, grabbed it, went after the shadow... Which turned out to be a dragon!" Lena gave a short laugh. "A great big full grown fire-breathing beast of a dragon! Ha!"

"Welcome to Gransys," Scorpio grinned.

"Yeah... The next thing I knew the dragon flicked his tail and everyone still standing at that point, was thrown to the ground, myself included. Then I saw the dragon's face quite close, his eyes lighting up, he was saying something... But I could not understand a word."

"You would understand it now though," Scorpio put in. "Dragonborn."

"Dragonborn? Oh yes, of course, I am Dragonborn, but it hadn't come through yet at the time. Besides, those are not the same dragons, are they?" Lena wasn't sure. She could understand the dragon later, it was true, but she always thought it was because the dragon spoke her language. But what if... "Is that why he picked me, you think?" She raised her eyes to Scorpio.

"No, he picked you because you were the one to pick up a sword against him. Everyone else just froze or else ran and hid! And with a good reason."

"Yeah, probably. So there I was lying on the sand again, this time not able to get up, and the dragon so close, he could have just squashed me like a bug... He could have squashed everyone like bugs, come to think of it, but he didn't do that. He damaged some structures and some boats, and some people died, sure, but rather because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time - he didn't target anyone. I always thought he was just trying to make an impression... It was working, too."

"The dragon visits all parts of the land, looking for the next Arisen. Someone somewhere does what you did - stands up to him, futile as it may be. And that's the person he picks."

"Mmm... He slashed my chest open with his claw and removed my heart! Stuck it onto his claw like a skewer! Then swallowed it! Just like that! While it was still beating! And I was still alive!!" Lena went red with fury. "The impertinence of it!"

"Yeah, he picked the right person, all right," Scorpio grinned.

"I woke up in the village sickhouse a couple of days later," Lena continued. "Overheard two people talking about me - that my wound had closed but that they could not hear a heartbeat inside. I squeezed my hand to my chest - nothing. It was... disconcerting. 'Ill magic', a man's voice said."

"But you did not recognise their voices, did you?"

"No, I didn't know anyone there - I had fallen through a portal just a before that, remember?" She smirked. "But they were talking about me as if I'd always lived there, called me 'cousin' and such. Mass hypnosis, I think."

"False memories, probably," Scorpio agreed. "Except that one old woman, she knew you weren't from there."

"The one in the textiles shop?" Lena could not remember her name. "Yes, she knew what was going on, too. She said it was all in the scripture, and if you listened to the priests carefully, you would have known what to expect all along."

"But people don't listen to the priests, do they?" Scorpio shook his head. "They think that faith is nothing more but a bunch of fairy tales... Yet they go to the chapel, offer their prayers. It's very odd, if you think of it."

"People are odd, generally," Lena agreed. "But after the initial shock wore off, I was quite pleased with my fate - for a little while at least. It was nice to have so many 'cousins' all of a sudden. It was nice to belong somewhere."

"Except that your life which you didn't have, was already forfeit," Scorpio said grimly.

"Yeah... It didn't take long, and Rook appeared. Out of a vortex - as if he was summoned. I looked around for a mage, but there was no one."

"Rook has the worst job there is - he's a babysitter," Scorpio shook his head. "One of those of us who is sent to greet a new Arisen and accompany him or her for a while at the start. Show him or her the ropes, so to speak."

"He was helpful..." Lena nodded and smiled. "The Chief of the village encouraged me to follow Rook's instructions. I think the Chief knew full well what was going on, just wasn't saying it out loud. He just said something like: 'Why don't you take him, perhaps you'll learn aught why he came here?' They speak a bit odd there, like that."

"That Chief was a wise man," Scorpio agreed. "Whether he realised you were not from there or not, it was a good advise anyway. You had to figure things out for yourself, and Rook was there to help you."

"Mmm..." Lena was lost in memories. "And that voice from the Rift... Politely asking me to prove my worth... I was about to send them packing, but Rook started saying something... He basically distracted me until that cyclops showed up."

"It's always a cyclops to begin with," grinned Scorpio. "They are not that hard to kill, actually, if you aim for the eye. But they are impressive. And of course you could not leave that well alone," he laughed.

"How could I? A cyclops? Don't be silly," Lena laughed too. "And apparently that was the test. After that I was invited to touch the Rift stone which turned out to be a portal... Not sure to where, but they told me I should select my 'pawn'. My what? I didn't understand at first, but they asked: 'Male or female?' Then I knew I had to select a companion." She looked at Scorpio fondly and squeezed his hand. "And after a few questions, they showed me pictures of men answering my description... As if you can tell what a man is like from a picture! But I liked the look of you and picked you."


"You were trouble from the start," Scorpio grinned. "You had to delve into every cave, climb onto every cliff, pick a fight with every goblin! Crazy! Rook was saying he hadn't had that much fun in a long time..."

"Well, I had to get my bearings," Lena grinned back. "Until we started running into bandits - gosh, bandits there don't joke, do they? Really tough guys to defeat."

"Well, they've got to be tough, otherwise they wouldn't last long," Scorpio thought it was reasonable. "But I still think the worst thing were those spear-wielding alligators in the well."

"What a nightmare!" Lena exclaimed with a little shriek. "How many times did we try to take them on? A dozen, perhaps? May be more? At least they didn't pursue you if you had to run for your life..."

"Yeah, you had to have a full squad, and loads and loads of healing potions for everyone. Protect Rook so he could heal us all and enchant our weapons with fire."

"It was tough," Lena nodded. "Daggers don't do much damage to that tough alligator skin, it wasn't until we got that big guy with a claymore that we finally prevailed. What was his name? I can't remember."

"I can't remember either," Scorpio agreed. "There were so many others that joined us along the way... Most of them were other Arisen's pawns, this is how it works. A rift in time is opened and a pawn is pulled away from his own Arisen to join your party. They walk with you and hopefully learn something new, so that when you release them and they return to their original master, they bring new knowledge and ideas. Mind you, because of that rift in time, the original master never notices that his pawn had left his side at all."

"Were you picked a lot while you were with me?" Lena suddenly realised that she never thought of that possibility. A pang of jealousy spread in her belly.

"I was picked a fair few times, yes," Scorpio nodded. "But I didn't think it would have been wise to tell you about it," he winked. "Didn't you ever wonder how I knew what to expect in some of those caves?" He grinned. "But you didn't bar me from being picked, and once picked, a pawn cannot refuse..."

"I did not know I could bar you from being picked!" Lena exclaimed with indignation. "No one told me I could bar my pawn from being picked! I didn't even realise how the whole thing worked until much later! I never knew where those pawns were coming from! I thought they were 'reservists'! Arrgh!!!"

"Not reservists, no," Scorpio shook his head, grinning at Lena's reaction. "Pawns in current service are always offered first, such are the rules. It's only if an Arisen gets very choosy, that other pawns may be called - the ones in service of the Pawn Legion itself, but never ones whose Arisen had died. Which means that once your Arisen dies, you are written off forever. And since we don't die... It's a long time to whale away."

"Suddenly Rook's babysitting job doesn't look that bad," Lena said more calmly. "At least he is not written off."

"But he can never be picked, either. Never get an Arisen of his own. Never learn new skills. No, I'd rather wait in the void."

They walked in silence for a while. The night was quiet and Dementia was still. Even grummites seemed to be asleep. They walked into Passwall and Lena automatically went to Dylan's house, then realising where she was headed, stopped abruptly and turned back. "Let's stay at the inn, shall we?" She shot a heavy glance at Scorpio and he nodded.

Drehwen woke up briefly to serve them food and drink, then went back to "resting her eyes". She didn't mind that it was early hours of the morning, she was asleep on her feet most of the time. Lena and Scorpio sat down for their meal, be it a late dinner, a midnight snack or an early breakfast, they didn't try to figure it out.

"We shall walk this land until Dylan returns the same way as we walked the land of Gransys over and over again," Lena said firmly. "It won't be that long either, if that Mazken guard is to be believed. But I won't leave until Dylan is back." A pang in her belly gave her pause. "Unless..." she stroke it. "Unless this baby decides it's time to make its appearance in this world..."

"It won't," a stern voice answered quite unexpectedly, startling Lena.

"Relmyna? What are you doing here?" Lena was looking at Relmyna with suspicion.

"I am visiting my baby," Relmyna said defiantly. "What did you think? The Realm is back to normal, and the new Gatekeeper needs me to look after him. Lest some mundane soul like yourself decides to destroy him in order to gain entry into my Prince's Realm!" She hissed and walked up the stairs into her room.

"And good morning to you too," Lena said after her. Life was definitely getting back to normal.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Revelations by the Lake

"Walk with me," Lena touched Scorpio's arm, beckoning him to follow. She walked towards the lake by the camp, then continued on along the shore until they were not only out of earshot of the others, but also out of sight, with rocks and vegetation hiding them from view. There she picked a spot by the water and sat down. Scorpio sat next to her. "I am worried about the task before us," she said to the lake.

It had been a few weeks since Lena appeared in Gransys and found herself made into an "Arisen". She longed to return to her own world, but first she had to get her heart back from the dragon that took it, and also she had to figure out how to return. The portal that brought her there, was gone. Scorpio was to be her companion, she picked his picture from a stack she was shown. He was hers to shape, they told her, determine what skills he should learn and how he should behave... She felt uneasy about that. But such were the rules.

Scorpio was glad to finally be picked, but also apprehensive as to who his master would turn out to be. Such was the fate of the "pawns" that weren't in service of the Pawn Legion - that is, the vast majority of the pawns. They would drift through the Rift without sense or purpose until an Arisen somewhere would pick them. They would then walk with that Arisen and serve him or her until the Arisen faced the dragon. Should the Arisen die, the pawn would be "written off" - left to drift in the Rift for the rest of Eternity, as no one could be picked twice. What happened during the encounter with the dragon, remained a mystery as each pawn was sworn to keep his Arisen's secret.

It was only the encounter with the dragon that was to be kept a secret however, other experiences could be freely shared. Scorpio knew from the other pawns that humans did not see pawns as equal, pawns were often seen as servants or slaves of an inferior race. It were humans who gave them that name - pawns. After all, didn't the Arisen have the power to shape his pawn in any way he wanted? Pawns had no feelings, no will of their own... such was the notion. Was that true or were they simply meant to act as if it were true?

Scorpio was very careful to maintain the expected image, certainly at first. But Lena was different, she was like no other Arisen he'd heard of, and the other pawns that joined them along the way, only confirmed it. She didn't treat pawns as pawns. If anything, she treated some townspeople as pawns... in particular, knights and nobility. That was most perplexing. And now she wanted a private talk... Why wouldn't she rather ask one of her own kind?

"You have nothing to worry about," Scorpio couldn't quite think of what to say. "It's just a bunch of goblins, from what I hear."

"With a cyclops or two thrown in, yeah," Lena smirked. "It isn't the monsters I'm worried about. It's that one of you pawns falls in battle and I won't be able to get to you in time."

"But... but we cannot die," Scorpio was confused. "You know that, right?" He looked at her sideways. "We simply return to the Rift. We are expendable."

"No, you are not!" Lena exclaimed hotly. "What rubbish!" She was angry but could not think of anything to say that would make sense in that world. She was thinking of Dylan - he was a daedra, and so he too would not die "forever", he would be reborn eventually... But Lena never let him die. "I..." she shook her head, there was so much she wanted to say, but where to start? "Why do you think I stick close to you in battle?" She decided to start with something simple.

"So that I could protect you, of course," Scorpio raised an eyebrow. "A pawn must guard his master with his life."

"No," Lena turned to look him in the eye. "I stick close to you so that I could protect you." She paused to let that sink in, then just as Scorpio was about to object, she continued. "You are the mage in our party now, so you need protection." She smiled, noting a new wave of confusion in his face. "And before that, you were the fighter in our party, and I protected you then as well..."

"You are not making any sense," Scorpio shook his head.

"No, I guess not," Lena agreed. "What I'm trying to say..." This was harder than she expected, she suddenly ran out of words. "You are the most important person in this world for me."

"What..? Why?" This was the last thing Scorpio expected to hear. He was completely at a loss. What did she mean by that and what did she want of him? Some of the things he'd heard of and some of the things he'd seen with the other Arisen, did not bode well.

"Because I am not of this world either," Lena said simply. "I am stuck here, I cannot get back, my heart was stolen, and I don't care for any of the people living here. I picked your picture out of a stack, and for better or for worse, you are stuck with me now. And as for your immortality... It is never that simple, is it? I know, I've been there myself... I was a vampire once..." She smirked, recalling the painful experience of death and resurrection - she could never quite get used to that. "You are never reborn the same as you were before death," she looked at Scorpio sideways and noticed him growing pale. "I shall always do everything in my power to protect those who walk with me."

They sat quietly for a while, then Scorpio said as if to himself: "So I was right - this Arisen is indeed not like the others."

When he turned to look at Lena a few minutes later, she was silently crying, tears running down her cheeks, her face set in stone. What was he to do? What was a pawn to do to console his master? No, what was a friend to do?

Scorpio moved closer to Lena and put an arm around her shoulders.

"So," he said, casting aside the prescribed neutral tone. "We'll go through it together. Goblins today, chimeras tomorrow, harpies, golems, whatever else this world chooses to throw at us. It is all a part of a grand test for the Arisen. Oh yes, you are in the thick of it. I don't know the ultimate meaning, they keep that a secret. We'll figure it out together, that's what friends are for."

4th Era, Year Unknown - Shadow Fort

The Shadow Fort was taken over by goblins. A group of knights was standing in front of a locked gate.

"Our tactics are simple," their Captain told Lena. "We mount an all-out frontal assault. There is just a small snag: the gate is blocked. Barred from the inside. Which is where you come in: go through this tunnel that we dug out, enter the courtyard, find the lever and open the castle gate. Then we'll come in and root out the goblins! Ser Arisen," he added with a smirk.

Lena nodded without a word and descended into the tunnel.

"What did I tell you? Simplicity itself," she told Scorpio quietly. "They are sending us to certain death. Is the Duke trying to get me killed, you think?"

"The Duke was an Arisen himself," Scorpio replied equally quietly. "No one knows how he defeated the dragon in his time, although the pawns that walked with him, must be out there somewhere. But I never met them."

"Why am I not surprised," Lena smirked and prepared for battle.

...

"Watch out for that ballista!"

"Cyclops!"

"An armoured cyclops!"

"Goblin hurling Dragon Spit!"

"Fire, lend thy kiss!"

"Hobgoblin!"

"Aaarrrghhhhh!!!"

The battle in the courtyard was beyond ferocious. The reason why the brave knights did not descend into the tunnel became evident almost immediately: the courtyard was swirming with goblins and hobgoblins, two cyclopes were swinging giant clubs, and a ballista from the opposite wall was hurling exploding cannon balls.

"Those cyclopes aren't half dumb - they keep to the blind spots of the ballista!" Lena noted, taking cover behind a ruin of a wall to catch her breath. "We have a choice: try the other ballista on our side or go for the cyclopes on the ground. Ideas?" She looked at her three pawns.

"Ballista!"

"Ground!"

They said in chorus.

"Right." Lena smiled. "We'll try the ballista first, and if that doesn't work, we'll go on the ground. We still have to find a way to open that gate somehow."

They climbed up onto the upper terrace by the gate expecting to find a ballista there, but that one was broken. Goblins were dancing around it, perhaps it was their doing. There was nothing of interest there.

The terrace on the other side of the gate had a lot more goblins and several hobgoblins on it. The ballista there was in good working order, and there was a socket in the wall.

"This is supposed to have a lever in it for opening the gate!" Lena swore. "Damned goblins! Now, what did they do with the lever?" She looked around but saw nothing that would fit into the socket. Several goblins attacked her at once, she didn't even have a chance to draw her sword and was swept away to the ground. "Daggers next time," she thought, trying to protect her face from goblin clubs. A bolt of lightening came out of nowhere, striking the goblins - Scorpio. The battle had begun in earnest.

They tried using the ballista, but the goblins on the other side had two working ballistas rather than one, so every shot that Lena made, was answered by two blazing cannon balls sweeping them off their feet. They quickly abandoned that strategy. At least goblin crowd on the ground had gone down from two or three dozen to a single dozen, plus two cyclopes...

"We'll take on the cyclopes first and foremost, and any goblins that get under our feet, but don't worry about the ones staying further back for now," Lena looked at her pawns. "Stay together and don't wander off - I am not losing any of you this early in the battle!" She loaded poisoned arrows and drew her bow. "Let's go!"

Where one cyclops is really bad news, two of them are a disaster, in particular when they are armoured. Poison and magic always gets through but the effect is limited on such collosses, and until the armour is rent, sword strikes have hardly any impact. The cyclopes were stomping their crushing feet and swinging their enormous clubs that killed on impact - not surprising, given their size. Lena and Scorpio were circling the cyclopes and each other - was the mage protecting the archer or the archer protecting the mage? Lena was raining poisoned arrows on the cyclopes and Scorpio was casting healing spell upon healing spell, trying to keep them all alive. Payne and Scarlet, the two hired pawns, a warrior and a fighter, took the heat of that battle, climbing onto the towering monsters in order to get their helmets off and eventually get to the one sensitive spot - the eye. A fall from the top of a cyclops would kill on its own right as well... And Lena had to dash a number of times to revive her fallen pawns. Goblins would swarm around her every time, only to turn to a bloody mess in a twirling wind of her daggers.

Finally the cyclopes were slain, but the ballista was still raging and a new wave of goblins filled the courtyard.

"They did send us to certain death!" Lena was getting angry and switched to her sword. "Where is that blasted lever that opens the gate? At this rate the brave knights outside will have no goblins left to play with!" She hissed, slicing through several goblins in one circular motion. "There - look, what's that building? We've got to investigate."

The door to the small building in the courtyard was barred from the inside... naturally. Circling around it, they found a ladder, climbed up under the cannon fire from two ballistas, dropped down, fought waves of goblins coming out of a hole in the ground, all the while keeping a keen eye out for any crates, chests or boxes, and finally they found a big stick that looked like it could have been a gate lever in its previous life. "Well, let's hope that'll still fit into the socket!" Lena grabbed it and dashed for the terrace by the entrance, cutting a bloody path through a crowd of goblins.

The stick fitted and the gate was opened, the knights poured into the courtyard, ferociously fighting off the remaining few goblins that somehow escaped Lena's wrath. The ballista fired another shot narrowly missing one of the knights and causing them all run for cover, goblins or no goblins.

"We have to get rid of that ballista!" The Captain looked bewildered. "Arisen, Ser, there must be a way into the depths of the castle!"

"Well, it may be so," Lena stopped, propping herself on her sword. "But the ballista is on the upper terrace. What good would it be to delve into the underground dungeons?"

"Err..." Clearly, the Captain didn't have all the answers.

A fresh wave of goblins emerged from the tunnels, attacking the knights huddled together behind the building. Anger was building inside Lena, for being sent to certain death, for doing someone else's work, for the much too small a group of knights sent to clear that fortress - there was no way they could have done it on their own. Her sword was spinning faster and faster, goblins falling to it fast and thick, yet her stamina was not running out, she felt strong, she felt... familiar, somehow. The night had fallen and the ground in the courtyard was red with blood.

Suddenly the remaining goblins started hammering on the locked doors of the inner fortress. "Open up!!" They shouted. "Come out and help!!" The doors opened and a large group of hobgoblins joined the battle.

Hobgoblins were significantly stronger than regular goblins, they were bigger, sturdier, quicker, they wore better armour and had better weapons, and were generally much harder to kill. "Aaarrrghhh!!!" Lena screamed, her anger turning to rage.

"The dragon is here, I think," Scarlet winked to Payne. "Does she breathe fire as well, I wonder?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," he smirked, following Lena into the inner fortress and up the stairs to the upper terrace with the ballista.

But the goblins had another surprise in store - the ballista was guarded by another armoured cyclops.

"I swear this one is stronger than the other two!" Scarlet was attacking it with all force, but without any visible impact. The cyclops was swiging his giant club, stomping his feet, trying to grab his attackers... Wham! And both Scarlet and Payne were knocked out. Lena was shooting arrow after arrow from cover, arrows dipped in posion, torpor or blindness inducing solution, even sleep draft derived from the pinions of mountain harpies... The cyclops became sluggish but didn't give up. Lena was blocked in a corridor with several hobgoblins appearing out of nowhere, she had to switch to her sword, giving pause to the cyclops - she could not do both. Scorpio took over shooting lightning at it to keep it subdued, but that meant that Scarlet and Payne had to scramble to their feet on their own and restore their health with medicine instead of Scorpio's spells. They managed, just about. Lena finally shredded the goblins around her and returned to shooting arrows at the cyclops. Her stamina ran out once or twice, she nibbled on a mushroom to restore it, but otherwise she felt a surge of energy... how strange. How familar. The night was dark, with only the fires giving illumination.

Wham! Another blow of the cyclops' club threw Scarlet and Payne on the ground, hard. Stomp! Scarlet was squashed. The cyclops seemed to grow frenzied as he was nearing death. He took another swing with his giant fist and threw Payne off the terrace down to the ground. A fall from that height meant death.

With two pawns down and the cyclops raging on the terrace, a fresh wave of goblins and hobgoblins emerged from yet another secret passage... Lena and Scorpio took a deep breath and redoubled their efforts. Scarlet's body was under the cyclops' feet, but Scorpio managed to grab her and bring her out, bring her to Lena, so that Lena could revive her. But Payne was on the ground, going after him would have meant leaving the others behind, leaving the cyclops to recover... What was it that Scorpio said? "But we cannot die... We are expendable." She didn't believe it, but what was she to do? Payne was too far away for any of them to reach. Lena gritted her teeth and continued shooting at the cyclops.

...

The cyclops lay dead on the terrace covered in bodies of goblins and hobgoblins that came to help. The ballistas stood silent and the knights in the courtyard finally ran out of their cover, celebrating victory. "Victory is ours! Glory to the Duke!" They shouted. Lena smirked and continued on into the fortress, following a few goblins she saw run for their lives. There, in the far chamber of the fortress that had become the goblin lair, the goblin king greeted them, swinging his mace.

"You humans, your time is up!" He shouted. "You've won this battle, but you lost the war! The dragon has come, he will burn all life! Prepare to die!"

But no, he didn't mean die immediately. Instead of attacking, he rushed to the window, jumping out of it and disappearing into yet another tunnel. No, Lena would not go after him. You cannot kill every goblin. Her task was done. Glory to the Duke, was it?

...

"I shall send my report of our victory to the Duke," the Captain looked particularly smug. "And of your help in the matter," he added and blushed. "Thank you. It is appreciated, truly. Here, take this, we won't be needing it now." He gave her a satchel with various medicines and other useful things. Lena thanked him, thinking that he probably realised she would not get any reward from the Duke for this mission.

"Time to head back," Lena turned to Scarlet and Scorpio. "I am sorry I could not get to Payne in time..."

"He knew what he signed up for," Scarlet replied. "He is back in the Rift."

The dawn coloured the sky golden. Lena felt her strength and stamina drain. Was she merely tired from the battle? Or did the sun have something to do with it? She pushed away that thought and headed towards the camp to rest.

Whew, what a battle that was. Poor Payne, even though you know the companions cannot actually die it still hurts when you lose one.

Yeah, it was one of those hard choices... It was actually a real dilemma. In Dragon's Dogma, companions learn as they walk with you - they learn not only how to fight various foes, but most importantly they learn to work as a team, they learn about each other. So when you lose one of them, you can never get him back fully because that knowledge and adaptation to the other members of your party is wiped out on death. That game is great on so many levels.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Bandits, harpies, wolves

"Could I have a word, Ser Arisen?" Someone touched Lena's arm in a busy area of the capital of Gransys, Gran Soren. His voice was calm and words refreshingly devoid of disdain. "Your duties have you travel up and down the country, and I have a favour to ask. I am searching for a magic book - Salome's Grimoir. It was lost in the most recent fire in the Council Library... Oh no, I don't mean burnt - the fire was quickly put out, it is the looting that followed that saw most valuable volumes disappear, the Grimoir I'm after among them. Should you find that book... Bring it to me."

The man standing before Lena looked bookish and serious, and something else... "A scholar," Lena thought. "A practicing scholar," she corrected herself. "He's a sorcerer and seeks to augment his magic. Look at the paleness of his face... A necromancer, perhaps. Should I be helping him?" She wondered. Then said aloud: "What are you offering me for that book?"

"Oh pray, let's speak of recompense once you have found it..."

That was all she was going to get out of him. Well, she wouldn't be scouring the land in search of it exactly, but should she come across it, she'd bring it along, she said.

"The easiest way to get started on this, is to ask around," Scarlet said to Lena. "Someone must know what happened during that looting."

Lena nodded. The only likely place was the apothecary in the square - she already knew not to ask the smith after he told her repeatedly that he had no love for magic of any kind, that iron and steel honed to an edge was all a man ever needed. And then offered her staves and magic bows. Right.

"What? Salome's Grimoir? We don't deal in that sort of magic tomes here!" The apothecary seemed a bit offended. "We are an honest business!" She pursed her lips. Definitely offended. "Such tomes are much too rare and valuable to ever be genuine, it will be either a forgery or else stolen property! And forged magic is the worst kind!"

"Forged magic?" Lena couldn't quite figure that one out. "How's that?"

"Salome's Grimoir isn't just a book for reading," the apothecary softened her tone a bit. "It contains incantations, aye, but most importantly, it is enchanted. Don't know with what exactly, but seeing how Salome went mad in his old age, it can't be anything good!" She shook her head and rearranged a few bottles on the shelf. "The Council Library was looted in the last fire, so if anyone has got that book, it will be a thief. Aye, now there's a fair notion: why not ask a thief?" She smiled contentedly and convinced Lena to buy herbal remedies for the road.

...

"There are several groups of thieves in Gransys, master," their new warrior, Clarke, was trying to be helpful. "An unfriendly lot."

"You don't say," Lena smirked. "We've met a few of them already."

"No, what I meant, there are two particularly prominent groups that are worse than the rest," Clarke corrected himself, not taking any offense at Lena's sarcasm. "There's an all-male group to the South and an all-female group to the North. The women are far worse than the men, I hear..." He looked sideways at Scarlet, somehow feeling more apprehensive of her wrath than of Lena's. But then again, Clarke hadn't seen Lena angry yet.

"Oh yes? A group of feisty women?" Lena grinned. "Well, why don't we pay them a visit then."

"Err..." Clarke had something else to say but he wasn't sure how to put it. "Well... they attack men on sight, you see," he coughed. "You might be better off getting a female pawn instead of me..." He coughed again. "And... err... Scorpio... err... you can't leave him behind, so... you know..."

"What?" Lena was amused. "Shall we just..?"

"NOOOO!!!!"

Lena's and Scarlet's exploding laughter had them nearly roll on the ground. When they finally calmed down, Clarke looked very guilty and tried to hide from Scorpio behind Scarlet.

"I've heard of them," Scarlet managed to say between recurring bouts of laughter. "Not the brightest, it seems. You don't need to... you know... do anything permanent. Scorpio just needs to wear a dress and they'll take him for a woman."

"Scorpio is already wearing a long kilt, is that not good enough?" Lena looked at him, thinking that he wasn't fooling anyone regarding his gender.

"No, not good enough, lots of mages wear kilts like that," Scarlet shook her head. "But you can buy a set of women's clothes, we'll pad them in all the right places, it's not just a matter of wearing a skirt and a corset, you need to get the right shape to your figure, you know..." She started giggling.

"No!" Scorpio protested, his voice even, with unmistakable steel in it. "I am NOT wearing padded ladies' garb!"

"All right, all right, no need to raise the dead!" Lena thought they'd had enough laughs at his expense. "No disguises. Perhaps we should try those male bandits first."

...

Lena wasn't going to chase after any bandits just because a necromancer wanted a magic book. They'd come across it, sooner or later, and she didn't care which. Her duties were taking her North, into the territory that even bandits didn't care to cover.

"How come I have duties to the Duke?" Lena was still trying to make sense of something that happened about a week ago. She was walking down the street in Gran Soren minding her own business, when a knight from the Duke's Guard stopped her and handed her a "Wyrm Hunt License" declaring with much pomp that the Duke had heard of her deeds and deemed it acceptable to allow her to take orders from him and give herself up for the Wyrm Hunt. She was to report to the Castle Grounds to a certain Ser Maximilian for her duties.

"What..?" Lena was looking at the knight in bewilderment. "He found me worthy to take orders from him, did he?"

"The Duke is most generous and benevolent!" The knight briefly stood to attention, then abruptly turned around and marched off, leaving Lena staring at the Wyrm Hunt License in her hand.

"I am allowed to die for the Duke," she summed it up. "Gods forbid I should die without his permission." She smirked and stashed the parchment away. It looked less like a joke in the Shadow Fort however, where Lena very nearly died many times, and where Payne was lost to the cyclops. And now Lena had new duties.

"You didn't have to actually go see that Ser Maximilian, you know," Scorpio said casually. "Not every Arisen follows it all through, that's why the dragon has to keep trying."

"So what - those Arisen just give up?" Lena found that baffling.

"Yes," Scorpio nodded. "No one can force you to actually go after the dragon, not even the Duke," he smirked. "You have permission to do it, but no obligation... Of course that would not get your heart back."

"And therein lies the catch," Lena sighed. "I want it back. I think I do. Do I?" Lena was getting confused. Her heart was missing from her chest, but she could still almost feel it beating... She was alive, she didn't feel any different, except for being in a strange world in the middle of something she couldn't quite figure out yet. What if she too just gave up? Let the Duke defeat the dragon again, hadn't he done it once already?

"The Duke is not the one who must face the dragon now," Scorpio shook his head. "You don't just walk up to the dragon, you know. He'd burn you to a crisp. Err... But the Duke survived that encounter in his time, obviously, so... Umm... It doesn't add up, does it?" He looked at Lena.

"No, it doesn't," Lena was glad she wasn't the only one confused about it. "Ok, never mind that now. Here's an ancient tablet that we've got to decipher. The brightest minds of Gransys haven't been able to pick out anything more than just a few words: 'dragon', 'arisen', 'heart', 'scar', and so obviously it's got everything to do with me. 'Pawn' is missing though," she grimaced. "How am I supposed to decipher something like that? The other words are written in a different script... which is strange."

"Well, why don't we ask around town?" Scarlet smiled. "Perhaps someone knows something."

...

"What? Decipher an old tablet?" A greengrocer was looking at Lena in bewilderment. "And you're asking me?" He surveyed the vegetables on his counter. "How should I know?"

They tried other tradesmen, shopkeepers, innkeeper, knights and nobility, even the priests at the Cathedral, but no one had a clue how to decipher it. Lena was getting desperate, and started asking random people. The working girls in the lower town didn't know. The forger couldn't be sure but offered to make a copy. The knights "patrolling" the working girls area wanted to see Lena's Wyrm Hunt License or else arrest her then and there. The thief that cut Lena's purse didn't know either, but returned the purse in exchange for his life after Scorpio froze him solid. In the commotion Lena bumped into someone running past them, nearly knocking him on the ground.

"Look where you're going!" He wasn't happy about being knocked down.

Lena apologised and on a whim decided to ask him about deciphering the tablet. She'd been asking everyone already anyway, so why not that fellow.

"What? An ancient tablet? Let me see," he was interested. "Hmm... it's got to do with that old man on the hill."

"What..?" That was making even less sense than anything they got so far. "What old man?"

"Provincials!" The man rolled his eyes. "All of Gran Soren knows about the old man on the hill!" He looked down at Lena and her companions, but changed his tone, having noticed a sorcerer's staff in Scorpio's hand. "Well, it's a famous landmark - a drawing of a man on a hillside. You can only make it out from above though, like if a harpy grabs you, you can see that drawing as you're being carried into the harpy's nest to be served for dinner," he grinned. "But they say that if you go there, you'll be able to decipher that tablet. Beats me how," he added with a shrug, turned around and took off before Lena could say anything.

"Well, it's a start," Lena sighed. "Let's go see the man on the hill."

...

"Goblin!"

"Harpy!"

"Direwolves!"

"CYCLOPS!!!"

The road going North was called the Conquest Road, and it soon became obvious why. A group of goblins and hobgoblins was lounging on large rocks by the cliff edge, to get you started. If you decided to leave them alone and continued walking, more concerned by a flock of snow harpies looking for a snack, you'd soon find yourself driven right into the goblins and would have to deal with both groups at once. For some reason it was humans that the harpies wanted, may be goblins didn't taste right. The smell of blood however would attract wolves, or rather direwolves - the white-haired variety, a much stronger and more dangerous type than the brown wolf of the South. So there you were, lulled to sleep by the harpies' voices, frozen solid by their breath, burned and poisoned by goblins' Dragon Spit and ripped to ribbons by the wolves' fangs... And then you'd sleepwalk right into a cyclops. What a conquest indeed.

...

"Perhaps we could avoid further combat?" Their new mage, Cicero, was dusting off his robes. When they set off on that path originally, with Scarlet and Clarke as melee fighters, they found themselves at a severe disadvantage against the harpies that were circling just above their heads, out of reach of their swords and impossible to hit by arrows, as Lena discovered. Only Scorpio could get to them, burning their wings with his magic. So, they retraced their steps and swapped their warrior for a second mage. "I am a healer, not a fighter," Cicero was bathing them in healing magics. "And you've got a sorcerer already, why do you need me?"

"You've done alright for yourself burning those harpies," Lena grinned. "Healer." She patted his arm. "We do need a healer. Scorpio is too busy summoning poisonous fog and splitting the earth and such. Someone's got to keep us alive while Scarlet and I try to avoid combat by eliminating the foes early on."

"Right," Cicero shook his head in desperation. "Of all the Arisen out there, I had to get summoned by an Assassin."

"Assassin?" Lena stopped dead, staring at Cicero. "How did you know..?" She didn't tell anyone of her occupation back in Tamriel, she didn't think it mattered.

"I've walked with a fair number of your kind," Cicero said quietly. "My Arisen... well... he doesn't care for battle much. So I stay in his service, as is our destiny. It's been a long time, Arisen. A very long time."

They walked up a grassy hill, the path was marked with large stones. A man in a toga was sitting on top of a rock, watching them. He said something, staring into the distance. They walked on. The path led to a cave, another man in a toga stood by the entrance.

"I have been expecting you, Arisen," he said to Lena. "You can see me, right? Come in."

They entered the cave, the man who spoke sat on a throne, the other man stood by his side.

"I am the Dragonforged," said the man on the throne. "Forged by the dragon. I know him as he knows me. The tablet you were given, has no meaning, other than to bring you here. Ask and I shall answer."

Lena stood there, looking at the Dragonforged, confused. She had so many questions... too many. She couldn't think of anything to ask. The Dragonforged seemed to have understood it.

"Come back when you know what you want to know," he smiled.

...

The way back to Gran Soren presented them with more direwolves, harpies and goblins, but fortunately no cyclopes. Lena went straight to Ser Maximilian to report that the tablet she had to decipher, had no meaning.

"Really?" Ser Maximilian was confused. "It doesn't make sense..." He shook his head. "It came from the Duke himself, they say..." He gave Lena a long look. "But it is not my place to question Duke's orders," he added firmly. "You've got more duties, here's the list. Which one will you take on next?"

...

"Why am I getting the feeling of being pulled deeper in with each new task?" She looked at her pawns in turn over dinner. "We are not finding any answers, only more questions..."

Cicero was watching her for a while, but remained silent.

"It is your journey, you shape it as much as it shapes you," he finally said. "You will come to know yourself in the end... should the end ever come..."

He did not say anything else, reminding Lena of the man on the hill, the one that sat on the rock at first and stood by the side of the Dragonforged later. Who was he, she wondered. What if..? She had her first question, but didn't judge it wise to ask.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Assassin

"We'll stay here a bit longer," Cicero signalled Scarlet to sit back down when Lena got up from the dinner table, with Scorpio following her. "We'll see you in the morning. You take the room upstairs, why don't you."

The inn in Gran Soren had some private rooms as well as a common dormitory downstairs. The private rooms were rather small however, and would be too cramped for four people. Or at least that's what Lena told herself that Cicero meant. She was too tired after their arduous expedition to see the old man on the hill, and all she could think of at that moment was sleep.

They entered the room and found it to be larger than expected, and although it only had one double bed, it also had a bath tub.

"Gran Soren does live up to its reputation," Lena smiled. "Modern plumbing. Wow."

She opened the tap and clear warm water came out of it as if by magic.

Scorpio stood by the door, not sure what to do. Lena paid him no mind at all, stripped off her blood-encrusted armour, kicked off her boots and peeled off her shirt and tights, taking some of the skin with that as well. "Bah! It's all stuck to the skin, now it's going to bleed again!" She threw it into a corner. "These clothes have been sliced into strips! We'll have to buy all new stuff tomorrow."

"You are bleeding all over," Scorpio said, ignoring the pile of what used to be Lena's clothes and removing his cape and coat in one movement. "Let me close your wounds." He prepared to cast a spell.

"Thanks, but that won't be enough," Lena stood still for the healing magic to work, the wounds closed at first, only to reopen momentarily. "This needs traditional healing."

The tub was full of warm water by then. She closed the tap and cast an ice spell into the water. The top froze over, and ice cubes formed underneath. She broke the ice and stepped in. Scorpio was watching in bewilderment.

"Assassin," he said, mostly to himself. "That's what Cicero said. You are an assassin."

"I am, or rather I was," Lena nodded. "In my world." She submerged under the ice and Scorpio noticed magic being cast. Considering how long she stayed under water, it must have been water breathing spells. Finally, she emerged and stepped out of the bath, her wounds were no longer bleeding.

"This isn't the first time you find yourself covered in blood," Scorpio noted.

"No, some targets put up a fight," Lena smirked. "But do not worry, I have no plans to take up that occupation here. Monsters and bandits will keep us busy." She straightened up, looking at dried blood on Scorpio's shirt. "You got hit a few times yourself," she pointed at the large stains, some still wet. "And you are still bleeding. Strip off," she returned to the tub to refill it, then noticed Scorpio's hesitation. "Modesty will get you killed," she said. "It is a luxury we cannot afford. Strip off and get into the tub." She hit the water with an ice spell.

...

Even though Lena was very tired and needed sleep, it was more important to tend to the wounds first. It took them a while longer to bandage some of the larger cuts, applying dressing soaked in herbal solutions.

"Arisen don't tend to their pawn's wounds normally, you know," Scorpio said when they were finally finished. "The bleeding stops eventually."

"Arisen don't do a lot of things that decent people would do, from what I hear," Lena snapped. "Even assassins, like myself." She sighed. "Sorry, that was uncalled for," she was cooling off. "Do you want to be released?" A thought suddenly struck her. "I'm sure if I kicked up a fuss, they'd allow me to pick a different pawn. I don't want you to be stuck with me against your will or your morals." She looked at Scorpio sideways and noted his perplexed expression.

"Released?" He was confused. "My will? My morals? We don't have any of those, we are pawns..." He broke off.

Lena turned to face him.

"You don't say." Her gaze was piercing. "I don't believe a word of it."

"I..." Scorpio seemed to be fighting an internal battle, Lena must have hit a nerve. Then he sighed and his face was set in resolve - he made a decision. "I do not wish to be released, no," he said. "That is my will."

"So," Lena smiled. "I see. I was right," she gave a short laugh. "What else are you not supposed to have? Oh, yes, emotions. Well, you gave up that myth a while back already, as I recall a certain conversation by the lake..." She sat down, pouring herself some wine. "You're also not supposed to have any spark, or drive, or zeal, or anything, but one look at Scarlet picking a fight with an ogre, and that myth flies out of the window too. You don't fool me, my friend." She raised a toast. "We're equals, Scorpio. Please call me Wolf, I am not your master."

...

"Those two still need to get acquainted," Cicero told Scarlet when Lena and Scorpio were out of earshot. "Scorpio had been waiting in the Rift for too long, heard too many things about the other Arisen, not all of those things true..."

"Well, not everyone is willing to air their master's dirty laundry in public, you know," Scarlet scoffed. "Some prefer to only say nice things."

"Like yourself?" Cicero squinted. "You don't say much about your Arisen at all."

"What is there to say?" Scarlet shrugged. "She's an Arisen. I'll be back with her sooner or later, and she'll never know I'd been gone. You know how it works."

"She doesn't care about you," Cicero nodded, calling for another steak pie. "Is that why you are constantly picking things up as we travel? Herbs, mushrooms, animal flesh? You don't really have to, I've never had that many vials of remedies in my bag as I do with this Arisen."

"An Arisen is not supposed to care for us pawns, you know," Scarlet shook her head. "So yes, I have to pick my own medicines. Or fall in battle. Then wait in the Rift..."

"Did you get picked up from the Rift this time?" Cicero's face lit up in comprehension.

"Yes, actually..."

"I see," he nodded. "Is your Arisen even trying..?"

"To go after the dragon? No," Scarlet shook her head. "So I am well and truly stuck..."

They sighed in unison.

"This here is one unusual Arisen," Scarlet said slowly. "See this cuirass I'm wearing? Her gift. The cloak also. The sword as well. All enhanced and upgraded, too. Even though she'll never get these items back, as they belong to my Arisen now. I said so, but you know what she replied? 'Your Arisen is not the one wearing them.' So no, I am in no rush to leave."

"I wonder how far this Arisen will go," Cicero was musing into his mead. "When she will give up. Whether she will give up..."

"I wonder whether I could quit my Arisen," Scarlet said very quietly.

"Sshhh, don't say such things," Cicero replied equally quietly. "Walls do have ears..."

...

"Need new clothes, dear?" The smith's wife measured up Lena with one glance and started rummaging in her boxes and cupboards producing shirts, tights and other garments, all female. "For him as well?" She raised an eyebrow when Lena pointed out that they needed male garments too. "You can... you know... if he's a bother..."

"What?" Lena asked coldly.

"Well, I would not know exactly, I only got a husband, not a pawn," the smith's wife tried to turn it into a joke, but the smith wasn't finding it funny. "What I'm saying is... you hear things... Apparently, if he falls in battle, you don't have to pick him up again... you know, at the Pawn Guild... or however you normally do it." She laid several items of male clothing on the counter with a smack. "Women need their independence. You don't always want a shadow following you around, do you?"

...

"Unbelievable!" Lena was fuming when the four of them had left the town square. "What she was suggesting..!"

"Happens often enough," Scarlet remarked quietly. "It's true, you know. You can simply leave your pawn behind."

Lena stared at Scarlet in disbelief. Then opened her mouth to ask something, and closed it again. They had met Scarlet walking aimlessly around town, they needed a fighter and Lena thought why not, let's try this girl. She had a spark, she thought, although no armour and barely any clothing, with only her shield for defence.

"Why are there pawns walking the streets here?" Lena asked, looking at the three of them in turn. "Why are pawns walking the roads of Gransys? Why do they gather at the Encampment? Shouldn't they be with their own Arisen instead?"

"The Pawn Guild summons pawns with suitable skills to walk around in the areas where an Arisen is likely to dwell," Cicero answered. "In case that Arisen requires assistance." He paused, but saw that Lena wasn't satisfied with that and continued. "A few of those pawns are in service of the Pawn Legion itself, some are called away from their Arisen... and yes, the others had been left behind. As they are technically still in active service, they qualify..." He stopped talking, slightly shocked by Lena's mounting rage.

"That does it!" She hissed. "If I ever meet any of those Arisen..!"

"You won't," Cicero replied quietly. "The Pawn Legion sees to that."

"Arrgghhhh!!!!"

"Don't we have a chimera to slay?" Scorpio decided to diffuse the tension. "Or perhaps an ogre or two? I distinctly recall you picking up some job notices for that. Come on, master." He motioned her towards the city gates. "Let's go, Wolf," he corrected himself, taking her by the arm. "Before you get yourself arrested for violent and disorderly conduct within the city bounds. Follow me."

Lena nodded and followed. There was nothing like a good fight to calm the nerves.

4th Era, Year Unknown - To catch a thief

"Arisen, Ser, His Grace the Duke saw it fit to grant you an audience," Ser Maximilian told Lena when she came to report on yet another errand. "This is a great honour, see that you do not take it lightly. You will be required to drop any tasks you have lined up as well. Are you ready to go see the Duke?"

"Drop everything and go see the Duke?" Lena mused. "This is very tempting, you know... But on the second thought, there's still the matter of a village thief that requires my attention, and I'm still short of a few rabbits for the smith, oh, and someone wanted forty crows shot, not sure why, but I'm nowhere near forty yet, and... Well, you see, Ser Maximilian, I am dreadfully sorry, but I am still tied up with various tasks that require an Arisen's superior combat skills." She bowed and walked away, noting Ser Maximilian's grin out of the corner of her eye.

"Showing your disdain for the gentry will earn you enemies," Cicero said when they were out of the castle grounds. "This may not be wise. Some of them are actually pretty good with the sword."

"Better than me, no doubt," Lena nodded. "But I know other tricks. Besides, we still have rabbits and crows to slay."

"Not to mention golems and cyclopes," Scarlet put in. "Where to next?"

Next Lena wanted to return to Cassardis, the fishing village where she started off. Something was calling to her there, she couldn't quite put her finger on it, and it wasn't the matter of a village thief.

...

"Please, cousin, we cannot manage without you," Pablo the innkeeper looked at Lena pleadingly. "You deal with golems and cyclopes, what's a petty thief to you, right? Easy peasy!"

Lena was about to explain that catching a sprinting village thief was nothing like fighting a sluggish cyclops, that she was really not good at sprinting, that her trade was that of a deadly shot, not a simple grab and tackle, that... But Pablo's face told her that none of that mattered. She was the Arisen, their Arisen, and therefore she could do anything.

"All right, what's the plan?" Lena conceded, dreading that she would bitterly regret it.

...

"Here, hold this," Lena started stripping behind a screen in Pablo's inn. Scorpio held out his hands to receive her chainmail jacket, leather cape, thigh high boots, sword, bow, daggers, six quivers with various types of arrows, a bag of potions, a satchel of poisons, a pouch of flammable powder, several detonators, a box of poisoned darts and shivs, an oil lamp, several bottles of oil, poison flasks, throwing knives, a bundle of skeleton keys, and a rather large sack with herbs, fruit, nuts and animal rests that they picked up along the way.

"Do you really need all this stuff?" Scorpio was watching with mounting bewilderment. "Explosive powder too? And how many poisoned shivs..?"

"It goes quickly when you get surrounded," Lena replied. "Yes, I do need all this stuff. For battle, not for catching the thief!" She stood in her vest and tights, seeing what else she could shed. To have a chance with the thief, she needed to be as light as possible.

"You are not built for speed," Scarlet put her head in, looking Lena over. "Look at the muscles on you! Those wide shoulders! You're too top heavy and not tall enough. You look comfortable in heavy armour..."

"I am," Lena nodded and sighed - that was an echo from another life. "But it's the wrong skill for catching that thief."

...

It took Lena several attempts, but eventually she managed to intercept that thief in a narrow alleyway and grab him. He was ever so sorry for his sinful ways... Yeah, right. But Lena left it up to the villagers to decide what to do with him, after all they were the people he robbed. She was just glad to get back into her gear.

...

The night was dark, with the clouds hiding most of the stars, making oil lamps lighting the streets stand out more than usual.

"What's that at the end of the pier?" Lena saw a light there as well. "Is that a new lantern?" She asked one of the villagers.

"That... Umm... I dunno, cousin," he shrugged. "Someone fishing at night, perhaps?"

She had a feeling it wasn't just someone fishing at night. She checked her gear once more and signalled her pawns to follow.

As they approached the end of the pier, they realised it was a young woman with a lantern.

"Arisen?" She greeted Lena. "Can you see me?"

Lena felt a tug at where her heart used to be, and thought of the man on the hill who greeted her with the same question. Was this another Dragonforged?

"Yes, I can see you," she replied. "You have need of me, don't you?" Another tug at her absent heart told her that this young woman was going to pull her in so deep, that she might never come out. And that felt bittersweet, somehow.

The young woman took them to the Bitterblack Isle, a place of sorrow and despair, where the air itself seemed to weep. The sky was dark, and moonlight bathed everything in blueish light.

"This is odd," Lena said to Scorpio quietly. "I see no moon. Where does the light come from?"

"Nowhere," he replied. "It's like in the depths of the Rift - the light just is, it exists here, it doesn't come from outside."

"Sadness seems to just exist here as well," Lena noted.

But they weren't there for the sake of sightseeing, and so she turned to the young woman to find out how she could help.

"I am but a shadow of myself," the woman said. "I have lost all my memories. Yet I feel that they are here, that my heart is here, something is calling to me... I would ask you to explore the depths of this Isle and to help me regain my memories. I feel it is so much more than just what I cannot remember..."

Lena shot a glance at Scorpio, he seemed to see right through the woman. Scarlet and Cicero wandered off, poking into the rocks or peering into the sea. Everyone seemed ill at ease and rather subdued. They could have just left... But somehow Lena felt the need to go in.

...

Bitterblack Isle turned out to be a labyrinth. It was a mix of ruins and open spaces with many levels, and one cold never be sure just how many more levels there still were or where the exit was, exactly. The creatures inhabiting the ruins were similar to the creatures in Gransys - wolves, goblins, cyclopes, skeletons, undead knights... but all were stronger and far more dangerous, as if they were cursed.

Lena was hearing voices, too. Desperate cries welcoming death as a relief. Death came, relief didn't.

"Aah, hello friend," Lena felt a dagger at her throat as they entered yet another hall. "Three days, a week at most, that's how long I think you'll last here, dear Arisen. It's a game of mine, to guess how long someone would last in these halls... But pay it no mind, for not once did I get it right." The blade was removed, Lena turned around and saw a man with golden stilettos wearing light but excellent quality armour, someone not unlike herself... "Baroch is the name," he introduced himself. "I've been here half an age... This place is a magnet to the Arisen. They mostly perish here, it's their voices you heard - too stubborn to accept defeat and move on. I was an Arisen myself at some point... Still am an Arisen, I guess," he smirked.

"Then where is your pawn?" Lena looked at him coldly, not caring for his familiar tone.

"Oh, that..." Baroch made a disdainful gesture. "I have no need of him here."

Lena was about to turn around and walk away, but Baroch stopped her.

"Regardless of what you think of me, you need me," he said with uncharacteristic urgency. "This place is a death trap for the Arisen, and I can help. I am an alchemist, you see, a bit of a smith, too, without me you will perish. I was drawn here the same as everyone else, but I embraced it. You have to see for yourself what you make of this Isle."

...

"What do you wish to do, Master?" The pawns huddled together around Lena, they seemed very ill at ease. But Lena could not leave, not yet.

"We shall explore it here a bit," she said, trying to look reassuring. "Try not to die now."

The courtyard where they met Baroch, had several doors, all apparently locked. Eventually they found one that would open, and entered. It was a ruin of a fort, they had to pick out their way carefully, fighting skeletons and undead along the way, but none of it was any different than in Gransys. They started to relax. There were crates, barrels and chests everywhere, some containing unusual items, some valuable weapons or pieces of armour. Lena was getting into the spirit of adventuring, much helped by the fact that apart from the disembodied voices of dead Arisen, the fort ruin felt completely normal.

Another hall, another horde of skeletons. The fight was fierce and short, the hall was cleared, or so they thought... They dropped their guard...

"NOOOOOO!!!!"

Lena lay dead.

The bones of skeletons that they had scattered around, assembled themselves anew, and one of the skeletons was twice or three times the size of a man, carrying an equally huge claymore. One hit, and Lena lay dead.

...

Bright light. Blindingly bright light. Searing pain in every joint, in every sinew. The feeling of levitation. Cold numbing every inch of the body. Spasms, convulsions. Paralysing searing pain.

Lena opened her eyes and saw Scorpio standing over her, crumbling a stone in his hands, letting the dust fall onto her motionless body on the floor of a fort ruin.

"No, not like this, not here!" He was saying. "Awaken!"

The sound of explosions erupted all around her, suddenly breaking the silence. She heard Scarlet's swears and Cicero's incantations - the fight was still in full swing. Another wave of searing pain, and she could move. She jumped to her feet, the huge skeleton was swinging its enormous claymore, narrowly missing Scarlet who kept attacking its ankles, completely undaunted.

"You brute!" She shouted. "DIIIIEEEE!!!!"

If shouts could kill, he would have been dead already.

Lena jumped to her feet, shutting out the pain. Quick, explosive powder. Daggers. Charges. She danced around the ankles of the skeleton brute, covered his bones in powder and flicked her daggers setting them ablaze. Scorpio joined in with fire of his own, giving Cicero a chance to cast a healing spell...

...

When the skeleton brute finally collapsed to the floor, they took no chances and scattered his bones wide. Of course he would rise again, but they hoped not on that day.

"Baroch gave me a wakestone when you walked away," Scorpio said in an unexpectedly calm voice. "He thought something like this would happen. But we have no more wakestones! So try not to die again."

Lena nodded. Resurrection was a painful ordeal.

After that encounter, they became a lot more careful. Just because a hall had been cleared of monsters and undead, it didn't mean it was safe! This was definitely not like in Gransys. The weeps and laments of the dead Arisen now struck a chord.

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Scarlet turned to Lena after yet another battle. "Are we even looking for anything in particular?"

"I do not know," Lena had to admit. "Something is calling to me... from the depths... I cannot explain it."

"Then we follow," Scarlet nodded. "Let us pawns fall in battle. You must survive."

None of them realised just how quickly that would come to pass. They opened a chest, one of so many. They looked inside. A huge tentacle shot out of it, knocking them on the ground. Red mist enclosed them. Cicero fell from the walkway into the water that flooded the lower levels. The water turned to blood - he was taken by the brine. Lena came to just in time to see Cicero perish, to realise that red mist was swallowing Scarlet and Scorpio too, her head was spinning, it wouldn't take long and she would be taken as well...

"You must survive!" Scarlet's voice echoed in her ears. "Let us pawns fall in battle..!"

"Not if I can help it!" Lena forced herself up. The tentacle was the source of the red mist, and Scorpio was already completely engulfed in it. Scarlet fell slightly further away, and Lena had been behind her. "I'm the furthest away from that thing, and hence I still live," Lena quickly concluded. She grabbed Scarlet's body and ran back as fast as she could, out of the circle of red mist.

She ran, but in fact her movements were painfully slow. She kept looking back at Scorpio, he didn't move, and the red mist around him was getting thicker and thicker... She turned away and ran.

...

"What happened?" Scarlet opened her eyes when Lena finally put her down, hoping that they were far enough from the tentacle.

"The boys are dead," Lena said quietly. "I could not save them."

"We need to find a riftstone," Scarlet was getting up. "You need to get Scorpio back. And no more opening chests!" She looked at Lena sternly. "Not today, anyhow!"

"Oh, I think I've had quite enough treasure to last me a lifetime," Lena nodded.

They retraced their steps to the entrace of the fort ruin, trying to walk through the same halls that they had cleared earlier and hoping that no new skeletons were there to greet them. There were a few, but they managed. Their potions were running out, and they had no mages with them to restore their health or to grant fire to their weapons.

Then Scarlet stopped suddenly in front of a pile of rubble.

"This is a riftstone," she said. "Or rather, this was a riftstone. It crumbled with time and disuse, but you can restore it. It takes rift crystals - those shards you've been picking up... And it also takes a little of your soul, if you will... Or else we try to find a way out of here on our own. Then you can use a proper riftstone at the Pawn Guild."

"I am not waiting that long," Lena took a handful of rift crystals from her pack. "Is this enough? What do I do?"

"You just have to will it..." Scarlet took a step back, and Lena crumbled the crystals over the broken riftstone, thinking that no pawn should be left behind...

She felt a wave of warmth and opened her eyes. The riftstone stood as good as new among the rubble of the fort. She touched it and stepped into the Rift.

...

"I could not find Cicero," Lena said to Scarlet when she and Scorpio emerged back in the fort. "I hope he's alright..."

"He's alright," Scarlet smiled. "He is probably back with his Arisen. You worry too much."

Lena didn't think so, but didn't argue. It was time to leave.

4th Era, Year Unknown - The witch

Back in Gran Soren, Lena finally decided it was time to go see the Duke. She could not delay it indefinitely, really. As she entered the castle hall, a jester jumped up and put a jester's hat on her head, then pushed her in. The gentry parted, letting her walk up to the Duke to everyone's derogatory laughs. Oh, she would remember that moment.

The Duke insisted she should keep her "crown", and Lena did not protest. Her time would still come, she thought; she needed to understand where things stood first. The Duke took a sword and "knighted" her, yet he did not name her a knight. That concluded the audience. Lena was perplexed. What was the point of it, besides the humiliation?

Once she was out of the castle however, she was approached by the Duke's chamberlain who explained that the purpose of the audience was to move her up in the hierarchy of soldiers and knights, and that now she would take orders directly from the Duke... well, almost. She would take orders from the chamberlain, and those orders came straight from the Duke, he assured her.

"The Duke is very unwell," he said quietly. "This is why your audience was a bit odd. But I shouldn't say anything else on the matter. I've got assignments for you."

...

"It's a nest of vipers," Lena spit when she stood outside the castle gate. Entry into the castle was by invitation only, and pawns were not invited. Nay, more than that - they were explicitly and categorically prohibited from entering the castle. Lena wondered what the Duke was so afraid of, seeing how he'd been an Arisen himself in his day...

She really didn't care about that however, and brushed the question away.

"I have a list of duties - again," Lena shook her head in disbelief. "Some are official, others unofficial. One is a personal favour for Ser Maximilian... Well, not for him personally, he wants me to investigate a skeleton plague. This seems like a worthy cause." Skeletons plaguing the suburbs of the capital seemed like a serious problem, and Lena was unsure why it didn't make it to the list of official duties and why Ser Maximilian asked her to keep it a secret... Things just didn't add up.

"Who of you has seen the dragon?" A man suddenly started shouting in the street. "Who of you has seen it ravage a village?" A small crowd was gathering before him. "Who has seen him slash open a person's chest and remove their heart?" Lena rubbed the scar on her chest. "Arisen is a myth! She is a fraud! The dragon is naught but a fairy tale and you are all fools for believing it!"

"Let's go," Scorpio tugged at Lena's arm. "Pay him no mind..."

"Hear yee, hear yee!" A herald was reading from an official scroll on the main square. "The dragon has attacked our land! His Grace the Duke is calling on all able men to join the Guard to fight the dragon! An Arisen has appeared and pledged her arms to the Duke as well!"

"I have done no such thing!" Lena started saying, but again Scorpio tugged at her arm and pulled her away.

"Leave them be, you will only get arrested. It won't stop the talk," he reasoned.

"The witch in the woods summoned the dragon, that's what," they were passing a group of townspeople at the market. "Aye, it's all her doing! The wicked witch!"

"She communes with the dragon, no less!" Someone agreed. "Burn her!"

"To the woods! We'll burn the witch!"

The crowd dispersed, but Lena was concerned that someone would make good on that threat. There was but one person living in the dense woods of South Gransys - a young woman named Selene whose grandmother recently passed away. Lena knew this because she'd been there, accompanying one of the healers from the fishing village ravaged by the dragon, another young woman who was hoping to ask the old witch how to get Lena's heart back from the dragon... Selene however had no knowledge of that. "Gran said that the Faith shrouds the truth of the dragon and that I would be in danger from them if I knew anything more... Gran wanted to protect me..." But the crowd in Gran Soren didn't know the finer details and didn't care, they were set on killing the "witch".

"We have to go and see to Selene's safety, first and foremost," Lena was worried. "Skeletons and other assignments can wait!"

...

"Burn the witch!"

"Burn her!"

There was a small crowd with torches and pitchforks surrounding Selene's cottage in the woods. They were hammering on the door and trying to pry open the window shutters. But just as Lena and her companions entered the clearing, one of strange rock formations on it started to move. It rose up, straightened its back... It was a golem. The crowd with pitchforks dropped everything and broken into a run. The golem looked for anyone left standing, it did not distinguish friend from foe...

Unfortunately for that reason it had to be put down. It wasn't an easy fight, but Lena couldn't very well leave an activated golem roam the woods. When it was subdued, they noticed a wooden gate it was guarding. Since Selene did not appear to be in the cottage, she must have slipped away through that gate. They followed.

The tunnel behind the gate led them to a different part of the woods, there was a path which they took, and at the end of it there was a lonely grave. Selene sat by it, it was the grave of her grandmother.

Just as Lena approached, a ghost of an old woman appeared by the grave. Selene seemed to talk to the ghost. Lena stopped, but Scorpio pushed her gently to go ahead. He and Scarlet seemed to have understood what was happening.

"Arisen, I greet you," the ghost said to Lena. Then in so many words she explained that she had been an Arisen herself, but was now dead of old age, and Selene used to be her pawn, but was now fully human. "Bestowal of spirit, is what I call it," the ghost said. "Look how she resembles me. I gave her a part of my soul, and she can now lead a human life in my body... Well, almost. With your help."

This made no sense at all. Lena looked at the ghost and at Selene, and apart from them both being female, she saw no particular resemblance. Selene was mumbling something incomprehensible about not having a will of her own, not being able to make decisions, not having her own voice... And Lena thought that she knew quite a few "proper" humans with the same inability. It had nothing to do with being a pawn. She shot a glance at Scorpio, but his expression was impenetrable. Clearly, this was the case where the pawns felt it was up to Lena to decide what to do.

"My pawn print... it no longer glows," Selene stared at her hand in bewilderment. "This means... this means I am no longer a pawn!" She lifted her eyes to Lena. "I will be with you now, Arisen. I shall live with you."

"What?!" Lena was about to protest, but a quick jab from Scorpio stopped her. So instead she asked: "What do you mean by that, exactly? I am an Arisen, I am going against the dragon. My life is a constant battle. If you come with me, you will die. Permanently, for you are no longer a pawn."

No, that wasn't what Selene meant, exactly. She didn't know what she meant. She now had a will and a voice of her own, because her grandmother said so, but it didn't mean that she knew what to do with it... Lena was watching Selene and thinking that she didn't change at all. She was like a child, she couldn't survive on her own...

"Come with me," Lena sighed. "We'll take you to Cassardis. You can live in my house... It's no good staying in this cottage in the woods all by your lonesome. The people in Cassardis will take care of you." Just another soul to join the village, Lena thought. As long as they didn't tell anyone that Selene had been a pawn, all would be well.

...

"You've done the right thing, Master," Scorpio said after they'd escorted Selene to Cassardis.

"Master?" Lena looked at him with scorn. "That again?"

"Yes, that again," he nodded. "We might not be quite such empty shells as the Legion will have you believe, but you are still the one in charge."

"All right," Lena sighed. "Now, what did you think of that tale that the ghost was telling - 'bestowal of spirit' or some such?" She looked at her pawns in turn, but they both had a closed expression.

"We do not know," Scorpio replied. "The Legion guards that secret very closely. You hear stories of pawns becoming human, and you saw Selene's mark disappear... But is she human for truth? I couldn't say."

"The answer may well lie on the Bitterblack Isle," Scarlet said quietly. "I too feel the call of it now. I think it calls to pawns and Arisen both."

Lena nodded. The sea was quiet, the sun still high in the sky. If they wanted to return to the Bitterblack Isle, they would have to wait for the night. They bought provisions and made camp on the beach.

"You gave up your house then?" Scarlet observed.

"It's Selene's house now," Lena shrugged her shoulders. "If her grandmother thought that I would just bind myself to Selene for some reason, she badly miscalculated. It's her luck that the house has never been mine anyway since I am not from here, but otherwise it is nothing but insolence to simply throw yourself onto another person like that. I choose my own bonds."

The conversation died down. The three of them were looking into the sea, each thinking different thoughts. If they were to survive on the Bitterblack Isle, they would have to revamp their party. Lena would want another mage, she would also want a heavy warrior, but Scarlet was only a fighter. "This Arisen is an Assassin," Scarlet was thinking. "She is good with daggers, sword and bow, but she is too light a fighter herself... What will she do? If I were her, I'd replace me..." She sighed. She did not want to leave.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The story of Selene as well as the concept of pawns and humans and the ultimate meaning of life, is a bit of a problem in Dragon's Dogma. I was utterly confused by it when I first played it, and I finished every bit of the game... Turns out, I am not alone - the story contains large gaps and inconsistencies. I therefore feel completely justified in providing my own interpretation and changing the "lore" to fit my story.

It's the only way to go.

Sometimes I feel that the story writers of Dragon's Dogma tried to fit too many concepts into it and to tie them to a sequence of events that could be made into a game. There are a number of threads of narrative that are only hinted at and not developed. So in my mind, I simply discarded those bits that I didn't like and filled in the gaps in a way that made sense to me. Like with Selene: you save a girl from a mob, and all of a sudden you are married to her? Err... umm... Lena Wolf prefers men, for one... And this is just a small thing, bigger things are still to come.

4th Era, Year Unknown - A day on the beach

"Shall we go?" Scorpio touched Lena's shoulder, waking her up. "To the Bitterblack Isle? The night is nearly over."

They had been sitting on the beach waiting for the night to fall, for it was only at night that they could be transported to the Bitterblack Isle. But the warm sand and gentle breeze lulled Lena to sleep. Lena sat up and looked around. Scorpio looked sleepy, he clearly made an effort to stay awake. Scarlet was asleep by the embers that were their fire before.

"Leave it for tomorrow night," Lena shook her head. "Look at us - we are exhausted. Let's take a day to rest." She stretched out on the sand and immediately fell asleep again.

...

The sun was already quite high above the horizon when Lena woke up to the smell of grilled fish. She opened one eye and saw a pile of armour, she looked with both eyes and realised it was Scarlet's. Scarlet herself was splashing about close to the shore while Scorpio was tending to the fish. Lena also saw a basket of eggs and a jug of milk ready to be made into an omelette, as well as bread rolls, pies and other foodstuffs in a large picnic basket.

"Where's all the food coming from?" She sat up, surprised.

"Pablo from the inn," Scorpio answered without taking his eyes off the fish. "Came here in the morning, brought that basket with food. I think he fancies Scarlet, actually."

"No!" Lena laughed. "Does he know she's a pawn?"

"Oh yes," Scorpio nodded, keeping his voice down and making sure that Scarlet was still out of earshot. "He seems to have a very different attitude towards us from most humans."

"Yeah, and Scarlet's bikini had nothing to do with it," Lena grinned. "Perhaps if you weren't wearing a coat and a full length kilt, Aestelle from the general store would have a better opinion of you."

"No."

"Didn't think so."

It was proving to be a most pleasant morning.

...

"Well, I've got stuff to do," Lena declared after breakfast. "You two can have a day off. Relax, enjoy the beach, who knows when we'll have another chance to relax like that..." She added a bit wistfully.

"What 'stuff' are you going to do?" Scorpio looked at her with suspicion.

"Preparations for the Bitterblack Isle," Lena said somewhat grimly. "I intend for each of us to carry a bag full of various remedies for all sorts of misfortunes which are bound to befall us there. To which end I'll need to convince Pablo to surrender his kitchen to me for the day, as alchemy does not mix with food very well. I might need Scarlet's help with that," she winked.

"This is where having your own house would have been handy," Scorpio said quietly. "Perhaps you should move back in with Selene?"

"No."

...

"But of course, cousin, you can use my kitchen!" Pablo was all smiles. "As long as none of that poisonous stuff gets into the food..." He looked concerned for a moment, then brightened up again. "But that's what you've got your man for - to watch out for you, right?" He grinned. "So you won't be needing Scarlet then? No? Great! Do not rush, take all the time you need! Where is she? Beach? I'm out of here!" And he was out the door before Lena could say anything.

"I think you were right about him," she winked at Scorpio. "All right, how's your alchemy skill? Mmm? This isn't exactly a lab, but it will have to do..."

...

"This smells interesting," Benita put her head in. "So unlike Pablo's cooking... Oh hello, cousin!" She smiled. "Brewing medicine, eh? I could tell you knew what you were doing when you got me those flowers so quickly... You know, just after the dragon struck, and your wound just only closed, and you were already out and about, and... gosh..." She sighed, looking at Lena and seeing someone else. "It's all a bit of a haze, really..." She shook her head. "You had another pawn with you then... Rook, was it? Whatever happened to him?"

"Rook?" Lena was taken by surprise. "Oh, he's still around, we see him sometimes. He..." She paused, wondering what brought that on. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Benita smiled and blushed. "I'll see you later," and she was out the door.

"Did someone spill love potion all over this village?" Lena grinned.

"I wish Aestelle got doused in it," Scorpio scoffed.

...

It took them the rest of the day and most of the evening to finish brewing everything that Lena had started, using up nearly every flask and bottle in Cassardis, to great satisfaction of Aestelle who sold Lena her entire stock of glassware. "You are always welcome here!" She exclaimed cheerfully, but still glared at Scorpio, who, it should be noted, dutifully glared back.

The night had already fallen when Pablo finally reclaimed his kitchen and convinced them all to sit down for dinner.

"You don't want to go anywhere tonight," he said firmly, looking at Lena. "You've been up on your feet all day, you must be tired, cousin! You've given up your house, I know, but you can always sleep here. Come rest a moment!" In Pablo's parlance a "moment" normally meant all night. Scarlet blushed for some reason, Lena stole a glance at Scorpio who smirked, but truth be told, she was actually tired.

"So be it," she said. "We'll take another day off."

...

The following morning Lena woke up rather late, partly because their evening meal was followed by nightcap drinks which were followed by a midnight snack which was followed by... she couldn't quite remember. She also couldn't recall how she got into bed on the top floor of Pablo's inn. She shook her head and looked around. Scorpio was lying next to her reading a book, but Scarlet was no where to be found.

"She's off swimming again," Scorpio said, noticing that Lena had woken up. "You don't hold your liqueur very well, Arisen," he grinned.

"What did I do?" Lena sighed.

"Oh nothing, actually," Scorpio gave her a long look. "But you talk in your sleep. I didn't think it was anyone's business, and so I brought you here. You also seem to sleepwalk, so I had to keep watch... The people here don't need to know that you used to bite necks in the past."

"Thanks," Lena shot him a grateful glance. His neck was red. "Did I..?" She touched the bruise, it was hot and swollen, but the skin had not been punctured.

"You tried to," Scorpio nodded. "But you haven't got the fangs."

"Yeah..." Lena blushed deep. "I should be far more careful with Pablo's whiskey in the future..."

...

A swim in the sea helped Lena to clear her head. She wasn't a vampire, but she still remembered how to be one... This was most disconcerting. Scorpio's attitude towards her didn't seem to change, and Lena wondered just what he'd seen and heard of the other Arisen if he wasn't worried about her attempt to drink his blood. She shuddered and pushed that thought away. It was time to focus on the trip to the Bitterblack Isle and who she would want to join their party.

...

"Pablo, do you have our trunk?" Lena wondered whether the Duke's service would extend to Cassardis - she was promised that her belongings would be forwarded to the inns and rest camps where she'd stay during the Wyrm Hunt.

"Aye, the soldiers brought it in," Pablo nodded. "It's over there."

The trunk was enormous. Lena retrieved a full set of heavy armour that she had put together previously, three heavy maces, four different swords, a huge magic shield, as well as Scorpio's old armour, sword and shield from when he was the fighter in their party.

"Suit up," she told him. "It's time to train."

No, she didn't want Scorpio to take up sword and shield again. Instead, she aimed to refresh her own skills of moving in heavy armour. "I am not losing Scarlet," Lena thought. "Which means that I should be the one with the mace."

Maces in Gransys were nothing like maces in Cyrodiil, they were much larger and much deadlier. They were also very heavy and required skill to handle. They came with magic shields, and Lena had the right to carry one now, since she had been "knighted" by the Duke. The shield was almost as big as herself. "How am I supposed to handle this?" She swore silently, but Scorpio seemed to have noticed.

"Plant it into the ground in front of you like a wall," he started explaining. "Cast a spell... Yes, they come with spells - they are magic shields, right?" Gosh, how did he know? Pawns were prohibited from becoming knights...

They trained all day, to much amusement of the villagers, but by the evening Lena was moving a lot smoother in her armour, was actually using her shield and even managed to hit a seagull with a spell from her staff.

"Ok, we are leaving for the Isle tonight," she decided. "The first few halls are not too difficult there. We'll see how it goes. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done with that place," she added with confidence, but neither Scorpio nor Scarlet were fooled by it.

...

"I am looking for a mage," Lena touched a riftstone on the Bitterblack Isle. "One that isn't afraid of creepy places," she added. "A healer and a fighter in one. Needs to know fire enchantments and be of strong constitution... Poison is a problem here," she recalled that just about everything was poisonous there. "Has to be a nice guy, too... Yes, no women, please..." The clerk was ticking off her wishes on a list. "Oh, and one that keeps an eye on the fight rather than on the loot... err... whom have you got?"

"There aren't many pawns that fulfil your requirements," the clerk looked into a crystal ball. "Let's see now..."

He started summoning. The first pawn to appear was a middle-aged man with a belly bigger than Lena was tall. He claimed to be a sorcerer, but when Lena said she was looking for a mage, he corrected himself. "I can do it all, Arisen," he smiled. Lena moved on.

The second pawn was but a child... "What are you doing here? Where is your mum?" Lena nearly asked but then caught herself. Pawns had no age, and looks were deceptive. But she didn't think a child-like pawn would fit in their group.

The third one was... a woman. "But I said no women?" Lena turned to the clerk.

"There are no men left that answer your other requirements," the clerk replied. "Unless you are willing to pay for the service? We accept rift crystals."

So that's how it worked. Of course.

"All right, I'll pay for it."

Promptly, several mages walked in, with skills and manners that Lena had asked for. She talked to them, they were all willing to join her, up until the moment she mentioned that they'd be going to the Bitterblack Isle. Suddenly they all got urgently called back to their own Arisen. All except one: Cyril. "I should be honoured to travel with you," he said politely.

"So be it," Lena found their mage.

...

"Hello, Cyr," Scarlet greeted Cyril as he and Lena emerged from the Rift. "Wandering the Rift again?"

"No actually, I was specifically summoned this time - against payment," Cyril replied defiantly. "What are you doing in this party?" He squinted at Lena and Scorpio appraisingly. "Aren't they way above your level?"

"Well, obviously I've got something they want," Scarlet scoffed. "We'll see how long you'll be sticking around..!"

"So glad you two know each other," Lena cut in. "Skills and attitude trump level in this party," she said authoritatively and motioned them to follow. She could have sworn that Scarlet stuck her tongue out at Cyril behind Lena's back.

It was time to leave petty squabbles behind. The Bitterblack Isle beckoned.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Malice

"The deeper in we go, the more I sense malice... or something like it," Scarlet shuddered uncomfortably as they were descending into the Garden of Ignominy on the Bitterblack Isle.

"And to think that this is just the beginning," Lena nodded. "It is a cursed place for sure. And who named this garden, anyway?"

The Garden of Ignominy was the first area of the labyrinth that was the Bitterblack Isle. It was in fact a courtyard garden, it had a fountain with a once attractive sculpture in it, and it was infested with wargs, goblins and a cyclops. A huge shade with a scythe appeared every now and again, and the only thing you could do then, was run...

"No, we are not going to fight Death literally, not today and not ever," Lena said sternly when Scarlet dashed to challenge it. "Come back here, Scarlet! It's not your time yet." Sometimes being in charge had its advantages.

"Coming, Master," Scarlet replied automatically and sheathed her sword. It was the first time that Scarlet called Lena "Master", Lena noted.

The Garden of Ignominy led to the Duskmoon Tower which was another misnomer. The area was in fact another enclosed garden or park, a really nice one actually, filled with medicinal herbs and flowers and inhabited by nothing more sinister than rabbits and deer. The ever-present moonlight did give it an eery feel though, and the sounds of the wind high above and the water running somewhere close, gave the impression of sad and weeping music playing constantly...

"Do you hear it?" Lena thought she was going slightly mad. "The music? Or is the place playing tricks with my mind?"

"I hear it too," Cyril confirmed. "It must be a trick though, for who would be playing it? Flute and violin... that's what I hear."

"Wind and water is what it is," Scarlet said dismissively. "Mages..! Always imagining things..."

She broke off as they entered the Ward of Regret and saw zombies crawl out of the ground and bones assemble themselves into skeleton knights. Last time they ran for their lives after the knights killed each of them several times over and all Lena could do was dash between her pawns reviving them, all the while dodging the knights so as not to die herself, permanently. But this time they were better prepared, and Lena forced herself to remember to use her shield...

The skeleton knights were still a problem though. They wore heavy armour and had shields of their own, they charged with enormous force, knocking Lena to the ground, shield or no shield. The shield protected her from the worst of it though, so when Scarlet attacked the knight from behind and he turned around, Lena managed to scramble to her feet and swing her mace, hitting the knight square across his back, first staggering and finally shuttering him into pieces. His armour, shield and weapon vanished - they had been conjured. Scarlet was rising from the floor heavily - her attack was a sacrifice, it caused no harm to the knight but was meant as an opening for Lena. Of course Lena's first move had also been a sacrifice with the same purpose...

"Two sacrifices per knight is too much," Lena said as she and Scarlet were swallowing medicine while being bathed in Cyril's healing magics. "We need a better strategy."

"Leave them alone?" Cyril suggested. "Why did you have to pick a fight?"

"We didn't!!" Lena and Scarlet cried in unison. "They attacked us!"

"No, they were standing there minding their own business until you decided to clear out that room..!"

Their argument was cut short by a huge explosion that set them all on fire. After the knights, they had skeleton magi to deal with.

"Insolence!" Scorpio swore when his conjured firestorm failed to reach the magi but bounced from the bars in the archway, adding to the burns on their own party. "How come they can shoot through the bars but I can't?!"

"Curse this accursed place..!" Scarlet dropped the potion she was drinking and took off down the corridor, with Lena closely following. They had to find a way around the archways blocked by iron bars that the magi could shoot through from the other side but that were completely impenetrable for any attacks from the side our party was on...

"This is magic of the darkest kind..!" Scorpio kept cursing, and Lena wondered whether this was his way to prepare a spell to be cast the moment he had a clear line of sight to the magi.

They ran down some steps, took several turns, and it felt like they should now be on the same side of the arcade as the magi, just through that archway ahead... Lena raised her mace ready to crush the skeletons, ran through the archway... and found herself floating in a thick viscous goo that bound her legs and arms, she moved, yet made no progress... The magi were casting more spells, so close, yet impossible to reach... She felt her strength fail her, her mace was too heavy to lift, her armour was crushing her, it pulled her down, she fell... Scarlet lay beside her, struggling to lift her sword...

"I have it!!" A huge flaming explosion and an enormous ice spike erupted where the magi stood, crushing and burning their bones into dust.

"Strength in numbers, Arisen," Cyril said as if nothing of note had happened, bathing her and Scarlet in healing magic again.

"I didn't know you could cast giant ice spikes," Scorpio was wiping the soot off his fingers on his dark-coloured kilt.

"I didn't know you tossed combustible powder into your firestorms," Cyril grinned. "Where to next, girls?" He smiled, putting away his staff.

...

The Ward of Regret connected to a large circular stairwell - the Midnight Helix. It was a tall tower without intermediate floors, they could see the ceiling far above when they looked up from the ground. The stairs ran along the walls. A giant armoured cyclops was chained to the wall, his enormous club towering in the middle of the floor.

"This cyclops is much larger than anything we've seen so far!" Scorpio watched it in fascination. "Will be far stronger too!" He hit it with a bolt of lightening and the cyclops reeled.

"No!" Lena tugged on his coat. "Leave it alone! It will squash us the moment its chains are rent, and they don't look all that solid!"

"Are you sure?" Scorpio sounded disappointed. "Could be fun..."

"No!"

Lena was about to says something else, but a fireball coming from nowhere knocked her off her feet. Several pools of fire appeared along the walls of the stairwell - skeleton magi. The time for discussions was over.

They ran up the steps, jumping over gaps and trying desperately not to fall off the crumbling rocks to their death. About half way up they realised that large chunks of the stairwell were missing, and fragile looking rope bridges were spun from one side of the stairwell to the other, offering numerous new opportunities to fall to your death.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Scorpio breathed out, catching Lena as she slipped.

"Up!" She pointed at a group of skeleton magi on a platform above them. "To shut them up!"

"Umm... And when we get there, we'll see another group even higher!"

"We'll see! One at a time! Arrgghhh!!!" A shower of bone fragments rained from the platform as Lena swung her mace.

...

"Phew... How many skeleton magi?" Cyril caught up with them on the upper platform. "Good grief! And for what?"

"I'm still working on that bit," Lena was looking around for anything of interest. Was there any point to all this fighting? She couldn't see any...

"What is the point of it all?" She heard a nervous weeping voice. "Leave me alone!"

"Who said that?" Lena spun around. The voice was coming from a corpse, clutching a key. Lena snatched the key and started a careful descent.

...

When they finally stood in the Duskmoon Tower garden again, Lena marched off to the nearest locked door and tried the key - it didn't fit. She tried the next door - no. She kept going until she found a door that accepted the key. She turned around and looked at her three pawns in turn.

"Behind this door lies another section of the labyrinth, I have no doubt," she said. "Do we even want to bother with it? Why are we doing it?"

"Because we've come too far to leave, and yet we haven't arrived anywhere," Cyril said quietly. "Because this place resonates with each of us, we all feel its call, yet we know it calls us to our doom. It is a binding curse, Arisen."

"That young woman who called us here, she has an aura not unlike your own," Scorpio said equally quietly. "Yet also not the same. Similar to Selene too, but also different... It is most disconcerting."

"We have to understand what is going on here," Scarlet joined in. "We haven't found any clues yet. I say we go in."

"So be it." Lena opened the door.

...

The Vault of Defiled Truth connected to the Gutter of Misery that led to the Shrine of Futile Truths. By the time they got there, their potion supply was more than halved.

"This looks familiar," Lena noted as they looked upon a huge circular stairwell. It wasn't the same kind of a stairwell as the Midnight Helix - this one was much, much larger. The spiral walkway along its walls was wide and had an arcade along its inner side. There was no danger of falling off it, except if you purposefully stood on the edge. "This is just like the Everfall," Lena turned to her pawns. The Everfall was a structure under Gran Soren that was believed to be directly connected to the Rift. A permanent group of pawns were guarding it, or tending to it, or whatever else they were really doing. None of the decent townsfolk would come near it, mind. But since the dragon's coming, tremors could be felt coming from it, and so Lena and her companions had to go and investigate their cause. Something was wrong, that something nearly ate them alive, but they escaped... almost... It took them several attempts to get to the bottom of the structure, and each time pawns fell to the monster that had awakened within. Everyone shuddered.

"It is the same structure," Scarlet observed, carefully looking down from the arcade. "What is it doing here, I wonder?"

"There's a monster down below," Cyril pointed at something purple dwelling near the ground. It looked like a huge ball of goo. "I don't like it."

He wasn't alone in that. Their voices must have attracted attention of the monster, who suddenly sprouted long tentacles and started rising through the stairwell towards their level. It turned, and a giant eye looked right at them. Instead of eye lashes, the eyelids had teeth.

"Oooooh I don't like the look of that foul creature!!" Scorpio shouted, charging a spell.

"Noooooo!!! Let go, beast!!!" One of the tentacles grabbed Scarlet, but her frantic resistance made it loosen its grip, and Scarlet was propelled through the air, landing a good distance further down, but still on the floor of the arcade rather than all the way on the bottom. Scarlet had been knocked out, but Lena still had a chance to get to her. She bolted, and as she ran, tentacles were sprouting from the floor, spreading red goo, casting spells, trying to eat you... Exactly the same tentacles that swallowed pawns whole back in the Everfall.

Lena got to Scarlet, helped her up. The way up and down was covered in tentacles. Scorpio and Cyril were still alive, but barely...

"Time to go," Lena fumbled in her bag, fetching a polished stone. "Live to fight another day..!" She tossed it into the air, a vortex opened sweeping them in, there was a flash of light, and they stood by the entrance to the labyrinth where the young woman that had brought them there, was sitting reading a book.

Lena's first impulse was to leave for Gransys immediately. But they still had a lot of potions, and they had not found any clues as to what was going on. She should not give in to her fear, she told herself. She wasn't leaving until she found a clue of some sort, and that was final. Her resolve must have been showing, for the pawns looked at her, nodded, and walked back into the labyrinth.

Now that I play Dragon's Dogma on PC, I can offer you pictures. Here are a few snapshots in Gran Soren, the capital of Gransys.

Exploring the city from the rooftops

"What, you want to go out NOW?" - "Yes, NOW."

Wolf, Scorpio and Reynard the favourite peddler



And a few other pictures. There will be more in future posts.

The Everfall. Also the Shrine of Futile Truths on the Bitterblack Isle. It is huge.

Ogre!!!

Incoming!

4th Era, Year Unknown - A test of resolve

Lena touched a riftstone in a fort ruin. Once again, she had lost Scorpio. The portal opened and she entered the Rift.

The ground was covered in mist, as usual. You could see for leagues, yet the horizon was completely bland and featureless. There were no light sources, yet it wasn't completely dark. A single riftstone shone with diffuse blue light behind her - the portal back.

Pawns started appearing in the distance, they walked towards her, bowing in greeting. Some came quite close, others stayed back. She looked at them briefly, only to nod a greeting of politeness, she didn't come for them. "Scorpio should appear any moment now," she thought. She waited. He wasn't coming.


Lena started to panic. Was he actually dead this time? Was it even possible? And for what? The Duskmoon Tower on the Bitterblack Isle had many doors leading into the labyrinth, and one of those doors led to a round chamber - Rotunda of Dread. It looked to have a corridor going further in, but it turned out to be nothing but an arena. The corridor at the far end led to an abyss. Another abyss flanked the arena on the right, immediately as you came down the steps from the entrance.

What happened there? Lena could not tell. The first time they entered, Cyril quickly spotted another purple blob monster floating near the ground, and they turned around and left, not having a death wish just then. After a while they decided to take another look, saw no purple monsters, and descended into the arena. Before they knew it, they were attacked by half a dozen skeleton knights... The fight was ferocious, the knights skilful. Suddenly Lena felt her heart fall... or rather, she felt a tug in the empty space in her chest where her heart used to be. She looked around and couldn't see Scorpio.

When the fight was done, he wasn't there.

"What happened? How could he have vanished like that?" Lena looked at Scarlet and Cyril in desperation. "Surely, if he took a hit from a skeleton knight, he would have called, like you always do?"

"Not if he fell into the abyss," Cyril said softly. "That's what the knights were aiming for. There is no return from there, neither for an Arisen, nor for a pawn."

"No!!" Lena could not believe it. "But you cannot die!!"

"Do you believe everything that the Pawn Legion tells you?" Cyril's smile was sad.

"No, I do not," Lena nodded, a heartache spreading in her chest. "But not this. I refuse to believe it. He is in the Rift, he must be. I shall get him back." She marched towards the exit, with Scarlet and Cyril following.

...

"Hey!!!" Lena was banging her fist against the riftstone. "Open up!! I need to speak to a clerk!!" She was confused, always before all she needed to do was simply touch the riftstone, and the clerk would appear. But not this time.

"You might need to select a different pawn," one of the pawns touched her shoulder. "If yours had perished."

"He cannot!" Lena turned around. "You cannot die."

"We don't, normally," the pawn nodded. "But there is nothing that cannot happen."

"No!" Lena was adamant. "I do not accept it!"

She walked into the emptiness of the Rift, leaving the pawns and the riftstone far behind. She turned left, she turned right, she walked and walked, but the space was empty. The riftstone became no more than a speck of light on the endless horizon.

Lena stopped. Not accepting Scorpio's death wasn't working.

"All you have to do is to will it," she recalled Scarlet's words about restoring a broken riftstone. "All it takes is a few riftstone shards and a small part of your soul..." Lena took out her pouch of riftstone shards, grabbed a handful. "I will my friend to come back!" She said into the Rift. "Scorpio, come back!" She opened her palm and let the riftstone shards fall to the ground, let them dissolve in the mist.

A few minutes had passed, Lena was not moving from her spot. Nothing.

After a while, she started walking slowly towards the speck of light on the horizon that was the riftstone. Was her will not strong enough to bring Scorpio back? Did she not offer enough of her soul? Was she ready to choose another companion? Would she prefer to be transported back to Tamriel instead?

That question came out of nowhere, as if someone was talking inside Lena's head. She stopped dead. That was the real test. Just what did Scorpio mean to her?

For a split second she hesitated. To return to Tamriel, back to her life, to find her friends again... That was worth giving up a pawn, right? And her heart? Surely, she didn't need it at all...

"No," Lena said into the Rift. "No. Not now. Not like this. I want to go home, but this is not the way. I started something here, I met people... I met pawns that I care for. Scorpio and I have a job to do, and we are not done yet. I need him back."

"You might not get another offer to go back," the voice replied. "Choose wisely."

Was it all worth it? She did not know, but she felt that there was only one choice for her - she could not have lived with herself, had she chosen differently.

"I choose to stay here," she said. "Take what you will of my soul, I do not want another pawn. I want Scorpio back."

"We do not need your soul, we already have your heart," the voice replied. "You made your choice, Arisen."

The voice fell silent. Lena peered into the void. There was a flash of light in the distance and she felt her heart flutter. "Err... something where the heart used to be," she corrected herself, having pressed her hand to her chest and not feeling any heartbeat. She started walking towards the flash, then broke into a run. They promised. They must!

...

The pawns still stood near the riftstone, waiting patiently for the Arisen to return. She would have to choose another pawn, what else was there to do? One of them noticed a flash of light on the horizon. "This Arisen is not like the others," he said, pointing it out. "She brought him back." The other pawns turned to look where he was pointing, but there was nothing to see yet.

...

Lena was running towards the spot where she had seen a flash of light. At least she hoped she was running in the right direction, since all directions looked the same in the Rift. After a while she saw faint blueish light, and ran towards that. The light was growing stronger.

"Nooooo!!!" Lena saw the riftstone and the pawns gathered around it - that was the light she was running towards. She felt betrayed.

She stopped, thinking frantically what else she could do. Was that another test? A test of resolve, perhaps? The Legion certainly liked its tests. Insolence! She'd give them a piece of her mind now! Where was that blasted riftstone?!

The pawns watched in amazement an embodiment of fury run up to the riftstone and plant her dagger into it. "Liars!!!" She bellowed.

"A touch would have sufficed, Arisen," a calm voice said inside her head, as her dagger slid out of the riftstone, leaving no trace. A vortex opened and Scorpio stood before her.

...

"You don't see that every day," the pawns were walking away, but kept looking back at an Arisen and her pawn locked in a tight embrace. "That is one unusual Arisen. She will go far, that one..."

It's really slow at work. Time to read some Wolf. Now... where the heck am I? Ah, Page 9, Post 167. Cool, I remember this. She's about to enter some sort of weird Daedric-inspired arena fight.



Whoa, seriously? She (you) had to do a bunch of fights at once like this? She keeps using poison, too. Good thing. Sounds like she's got a lot of poison.



I've always taken this to mean the end of the shaft which holds the blade, not the axe's blade itself. 🪓 Otherwise, yeah, this caused a lot of controversion in OB, the fact that axes and blunt weapons were now in the same skill...

Anyway, This is a crazy fight. Oh cripes, she's down??? Good gosh. Saved by Sanguine and Dessos.

9/173

The Tournament of Ten Bloods is a really tough quest. In reality she was down quite a few times... And yes, you have to walk out of there on your own, it isn't enough to beat everyone. Boethia is a tough Prince to please, I think you have to be at least level 20 to do it. And there's a reason for that!

4th Era, Year Unknown - Bonds

"You found something there," the young woman at the pier on the Bitterblack Isle spoke first when Lena approached her. "I could feel it, you uncovered something."


"We have?" Lena was surprised as they didn't find any clues to the meaning of the Isle. "How?"

"By being here, I guess," the woman smiled. "My name is Olra, I know it now. I also know that I am bound to this place somehow..."

"Are you bound to this very spot or just to the Isle?" Lena squinted at her. If Olra had questions that needed answering, then why did she need someone else to delve into the depths of this cursed place looking for those answers?


"I... I do not know," the woman confessed. "The Isle... I've wandered the halls, but found no answers."

"And no monsters?" Cyril asked quietly.

"Monsters?" Olra seemed genuinely surprised. "There are dogs and forest beasts, yes, but they leave me alone..."

"Cursed wargs and goblins, more like," Scarlet squinted in suspicion. "Skeleton knights and magi, walking dead of all kinds, gargoyles, cyclopes, maneaters, gazers..." She broke off, as the only reaction from Olra was surprise and incomprehension.

"She is one of them," Cyril said to Scarlet. "She carries the same curse. The same as Barroch, nothing touches him either."

"Was that what he meant when he said he embraced the Isle?" Lena wondered. Barroch was the person they met in the Duskmoon Tower garden, he was an alchemist and a smith, and he'd seen many Arisen come and perish on that Isle. He had been an Arisen himself once (or perhaps was still an Arisen), and like so many, he was drawn to the Isle, but unlike the others, he became one with it. Lena had so many questions for him, but, just like with the Dragonforged, she couldn't think of a single question to ask.

"We are leaving now," Lena said to Olra. "Please transport us back to Gransys."

"Ser!" Olra looked dismayed. "If that is your will..." Lena nodded.

...

The sun was setting when they stood on the pier in Cassardis. Their foray to the Bitterblack Isle left them exhausted in more than one way.

"Pablo's inn is straight ahead, Scarlet knows the way," Lena turned to Cyril. "Rest up, you two," she looked at them. "You too, Scorpio, why don't you," she turned to him. "We are not going anywhere tonight."

"I am not leaving you on your own," he said, squinting. "There is no telling what foolish things you are planning."

Lena grinned. She wasn't planning anything, and she could tell that Scorpio's words were just an excuse.

They walked through the village, the air was warm, the sea was calm and the whole place felt sleepy and content. The light in the textiles shop was on, so they entered.

"Back to your old mischief, minnow?" The old woman stood up from the loom. "You look well, child."

"Thanks, Iona," Lena smiled. "We're just..."

"You had your bond tested," Iona observed, looking them over. "An Arisen is bound to the pawns. The dragon always comes around, sure as the seasons. The Chief and I still remember the last time..."

"Last time?" Lena spun around. "Last time what?"


"Last time the dragon came around, of course," Iona smirked. "Happens every fifty years."

"And what happened?"

"Nothing happened," Iona shrugged her shoulders. "Someone was made an Arisen, the same as you, but not in our village. 'Take up arms and face me, Arisen,' isn't that what the Wyrm says?" She squinted at Lena. "But you don't have to, really. You get used to living without a heart soon enough. The last Arisen didn't even bother with a pawn of their own, as far as I know. Refused to play the game. The dragon leaves after a while all on its own, and life goes back to normal for another fifty years. Simple as that."

"But then..." Lena was confused. "But then why... The Duke is assembling an army to fight the dragon... But if last time the dragon just went away, then why does he bother now?"

"Because of you, of course," Iona looked at Lena and Scorpio in turn. "Because you cannot leave it well alone. Because you are going after the dragon. Because your bond is stronger than most. How old do you think the Duke is? He was an old man last time, he must be ancient now..." She shook her head. "I've said enough. The rest is for you to discover." She gave Scorpio a long and penetrating look, looking into his eyes, as if reading his soul. Then she nodded and returned to her loom.


Lena and Scorpio walked up the path towards the chapel that stood on a high rock overlooking the village. A lawn in front of it ran up right to the edge of the rock, looking out into the sea. The village, the beach, the fishing boats, the ruins of an ancient temple sunk into the sea - it was all before them.

They stood near the edge, watching the lanterns light up as the evening progressed, then watching the lanterns being extinguished as the night deepened. They did not want to go anywhere, talk to anyone, the meaning of what happened in the Rift was slowly dawning on them. Finally Lena broke the silence.

"The Pawn Legion is bound to the dragon," she said quietly. "They are one and the same."

"Not quite one and the same, for the Pawn Legion has pawns, and we are not the dragon," Scorpio objected. "Yet there is someone or something that directs us. May be that is the dragon?"

"Or may be the dragon is in service of the Legion as well?" Lena shuddered, that thought was uncomfortable. "Who was it that spoke to me, I wonder?"

"Barnaby," Scorpio answered flatly. "You remember, the pawn who met us at the Pawn Guild in Gran Soren. He lends the Legion his voice."

"How?"

"Beats me."

"Hmm."

The night was dark, yet the sky was clear, and the stars shone the more for it. They sat down, finally realising that there would be no sleeping that night.

"Where were you?" Lena suddenly asked. "Why did you not come forward?"

"I... was dead," Scorpio said with some hesitation. "Not dead dead like you would be if you were to jump off this cliff," he smirked. "But I was... hmm... held in a sort of purgatory, I guess..."

"Purgatory?!" Lena spun around to look at him. "Waiting for what?"

"For what would come next," Scorpio shrugged. "Phantoms, spirits, the undead - where do you think they come from?" He looked at Lena sideways. "An immortal cannot die, so a transformation was bound to happen..."

"The undead..?" Lena sounded stunned. "I thought they were people who... umm... well... apart from vampires... I thought some evil sorcery raised them somehow..." She was getting very confused, she never gave zombies and skeletons any thought before.

"Some of them, yes, but that's temporary, while the sorcerer's spell lasts," Scorpio nodded. "Reanimated corpses are not proper undead. Undead are immortal. Some mortals become undead if they are too stubborn to leave this world upon death... There is a way into immortality for everyone," he added, his voice sounding hollow.

Lena was feeling cold. She shivered, and Scorpio unclipped his direwolf cape, draping it over her shoulders as he pulled her close. She rested her head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. A heartbeat... something she never gave a thought before either. She pressed her hand to her own chest - nothing.

"Let's not talk about the undead, it's not good for you," Scorpio said quietly. "Look, you are growing cold. Come closer." It may have been the duty of a pawn to protect his master with his life, but was it also his duty to prevent his master from slipping into immortality?

"But I took the cure..." Lena whispered. "The witch had promised..."

"That you would become mortal again," Scorpio nodded. "Did she also promise it to be permanent?"

No, she did not.

...

The rays of dawn coloured the sky gold, but Lena and Scorpio were still sitting on the grassy rock overlooking the sea and the village below. Scorpio's coat and cape were wrapped around them as Scorpio cradled Lena so as to keep her warm. She wasn't sleeping, but her consciousness was floating in that space between worlds that every soul must cross.

As the sun appeared above the horizon, her skin started to burn and she started to shake slightly. Scorpio pulled the coat and cape over her head to hide her from direct sunlight, holding her closer still. An hour or two have passed when Lena opened her eyes. She felt warmth spreading into the tips of her fingers, her face no longer burned, her heartbeat was steady... "Not my heartbeat," she sighed. She started moving, unwrapping herself from the coat and cape, yet not letting go of Scorpio, so she could still feel his heartbeat as her cheek was pressed to his chest.

"We'll get you your heart back," he said softly into her ear. "It's an arduous journey, but I'm with you for the long run." They sat quietly for a while longer, watching the fishermen take their boats out into the bay, then return with the catch; they watched the fish being cleaned and hung to dry and the seagulls hungrily circling around the boats, the fishmonger's tables and then the buckets with discarded waste. The sun was at its full height when Lena declared that watching all that made her hungry herself. It was time to return to the village.


As they walked into Pablo's inn with Lena talking about lunch, Scarlet looked at Lena's  flushed face and sparkling eyes and noted dark pressure patches on Scorpio's neck and upper chest. She grinned, winked and was about to make a witty remark, when Cyril touched her arm and said softly: "No, can't you see - their bonds are stronger than that."

...

"Three chimeras, two ogres, two golems, three cyclopes, ten sauriens, ten phantoms, forty-five undead warriors, twenty harpies and a drake," Lena put a stack of work notices on the table once the lunch had been cleared. "We've got work to do."

"A drake?" Scarlet picked up one of the notices. "As in: a small dragon?" She raised her eyes to Lena in worry.

"I don't know about small, we'll see," Lena nodded. "But yes. A dragon."

"There's room in my bag for more potions!" Scarlet demonstratively dropped her bag on the table. "It's madness."

"No, it's training," Lena objected. "Suit up."

4th Era, Year Unknown - Salvation

Gran Soren was bustling with life when they returned after another round of training. Lena had insisted that they should stay out for several days, fighting both day and night, since undead warriors would never appear in sunlight. Forty-five undead warriors was a tall order, as it turned out. Oh, there was no shortage of undead crawling out from under the ground at night, but most of them were "ordinary" undead - townsfolk and farmers, some still bearing their hammers and hoes. Undead warriors were rare, it would take many a night to encounter forty five of them.

"Why is it that undead knights and magi do not count as warriors?" Lena was complaining. "They fight well enough! Far better than the rest of them, in fact!"

It was odd, but her pawns didn't have an answer.

"At this point, I couldn't care less," Scarlet yawned. "We haven't slept in three days. Inn." She marched decisively towards the inn, ignoring Lena's protests that they should eat first.

"Sleep is most important now," Scorpio chimed in. "Come on, Wolf. Ice baths and bandages can wait till tomorrow," he caught her by the arm as she tried to go see the apothecary.

"Ice baths and bandages?" Cyril stopped dead in astonishment. "Haven't heard that for a while... Say... why would you need an ice bath when I'm here to heal your every wound?"

"Because she gets into more trouble than we can deal with," Scorpio smirked. "But I give it to you - none of the wounds are bleeding."

"I should hope not!" Cyril scoffed.

"Sleep. Now!" Scarlet rounded them up, dangling two sets of keys to the private rooms of the Union Inn. "Cyr, you're sharing with me. You'd better not snore."

...

"We meet again, friend," a man with a foreign accent stopped Lena in the street.

"We do?" Lena squinted - she did not recognise him.

"Mason is the name, if it pleases you," he said and bowed. "I have another favour to ask."

"Umm..." Lena couldn't recall doing any favours for him before, or even seeing him before. What was he on about?

"Salvation, naturally," Mason continued, not giving Lena any time to think. "They have an agent in the Castle now, it seems, and I would ask you to track him down. I know, skulking in the shadows is not your style, but please put your chivalry aside this once, and watch for him at night, then follow, carefully, mind, and unseen. Give your findings to Airsmith, friend." Mason bowed again, keeping one hand behind his back in an elegant gesture, then turned around and walked away.

"Err..." Lena started saying something, then changed her mind. "Another Assassin," she thought, noticing a selection of daggers discreetly arranged about his person, including two or three behind his back, where his elegant bowing gesture made them instantly accessible. "All right," she said out loud, and Mason nodded without turning around.

Her three pawns were staring at her with different degrees of incomprehension.

"What is going on, Master?" Cyril finally asked, calling Lena "Master" for the first time.

"It's a bit of a covert mission, this one," Lena looked at them in turn. "Much of what Mason said was a screen, pay no mind to that. I'm going to have to release you for now - we can't very well tail someone with a group of four people and remain unnoticed, can we?"

"So you actually understood it," Cyril gave her a long look.

"Yes," Lena nodded. "Well... in as much that there's someone that I need to tail discreetly and see where he goes. I expect to learn more as I do so."

"But who is Mason?" Cyril wasn't giving up.

"I've never met him personally before, so I don't know," Lena answered. "But it seems that we might belong to the same organisation... err... to the same sort of organisation," she corrected herself, realising that there was no Dark Brotherhood in Gransys.

"Hmm," Cyril squinted and shrugged. "Takes one to know one, I guess."

"Quite," Lena grinned.

It was still morning, leaving plenty of time before Lena had to take up a position in the Castle Grounds to watch for anyone acting suspiciously, besides herself. Yet there wasn't enough time for any further training, and they were still tired from the previous session, so she released Scarlet and Cyril and allowed Scorpio to make her sit in cafes sipping coffee for the most part of the afternoon.

When the sun set, Lena got up to go to the Castle Grounds, and Scorpio got up with her.

"I need to do this alone," Lena said.

"No."

"Yes. You cannot be seen."

"I have no intention to be seen. I'm just another pawn walking the streets of Gran Soren."

"People know you."

"People know you!" Scorpio said with emphasis. "I don't think anyone looks at the pawns that walk with the Arisen."

"Anyway, it'll be easier for me to do this alone," Lena was not giving up. "Even if... well... it goes sour."

"Stop arguing. I'm not letting you go alone."

It was no use. Lena shrugged and went to the Castle Grounds with Scorpio following at a discreet distance, yet not letting her out of sight. He did look the part of yet another bored pawn aimlessly walking the streets of Gran Soren, and Lena wondered just how many times he'd done exactly that.

The Castle Grounds were far from empty, despite the late hour. People were mostly walking around enjoying the cool evening air, stopping to chat, then moving on again. Some came to visit the Cathedral, and soldiers kept going in and out of the Castle Gates. Suddenly an unnaturally dark shadow by the Castle Wall caught Lena's eye.

Slowing her step to examine a particularly fascinating bit of the pavement, she kept watching the shadow without coming too close. A Ducal knight walked up to it, and in the light of his lantern Lena could see that the shadow was in fact a person dressed in a dark shapeless robe that made him blend with his surroundings. The person gave something to the knight, who carefully put it away before turning around. Lena thought it could be a piece of parchment or a small scroll. "A message of some sort," she decided. "This knight is the one I need to follow."

The knight took a leisurely stroll through the city, turning around and practically bumping into Lena at some point. He struck up a conversation making it clear that he understood the purpose of her being there, but that he wasn't all that alarmed. "Damn, I should be more careful," Lena cursed herself. Perhaps she was being too harsh though, after all, everyone knew who she was.

In the lower town things got easier. With all the women standing around and all the knights strolling slowly among them, it was easy to disappear from view, yet to keep the one knight in question in sight. He appeared to be going into an abandoned house - a previously abandoned house, it had to be said, as it now had lights on and sounds of activity were coming from within. Lena wanted to listen in to the conversation.

"Just what is it worth to you?" She heard the voice of Madeleine, a traveling merchant that she'd met previously. Lena carefully peered through an open window - this was getting interesting.

Madeleine was holding a folded piece of parchment which she stuck into her impressive cleavage while twirling around the knight. He grimaced and snatched it from her, without removing his armoured gloves or touching any part of Madeleine. He read the message and put away the parchment.

"Good work," he said, tossing a heavy coin pouch to Madeleine. She caught it with a smile.

"Is there... anything else... I can work for you?" She ran her fingers up his suit of armour, but he stopped her before she could get to a part of him that wasn't clad in steel.

"I bid you good night," he said forcefully and turned to the door, making Lena jump back quite energetically. She didn't think that another encounter would be advisable. She'd seen what she needed to see, and although she did not understand the meaning of the messages, it couldn't be anything right and proper.

"What is Salvation?" She wondered, remembering Mason's words. She turned to go back to the upper town, when a group of hip swaying laughing women caught her eye. Not the only group in that street by any means, and it weren't the women that attracted her attention, but the person they were trying to charm. Instead of a usual knight, they surrounded Scorpio. "Well, he's certainly making sure to avoid suspicion!" Lena smirked to herself. "No one sees a pawn, right! No one indeed." On a whim, she walked up to them, put her arm around Scorpio's waist which made him jump, and declared: "Sorry, ladies, this one's engaged for the night! You can have what's left of his purse in the morning." The women started to protest when one of them noticed Lena's daggers, signalling the others to switch their attention to a different customer.

"Are you jealous?" Scorpio grinned.

"No, but we're still twenty-odd undead warriors short, so you can't have a night off yet," she grinned back.

...

"So, you are the Arisen," a voice came from the darkness, somehow cutting through Lena's shouts and Scorpio's incantations right in the middle of a major battle with a dozen of various undead. "Our arch-enemy," continued the voice, making Lena stop for a moment, undead or no undead. "Prepare to die!"

"Aarrrgghhhhh!!!" She charged whatever she could make out in the firestorm that Scorpio had summoned around her. When the flames died down, the undead were once again temporarily dead, and Lena could see half a dozen or more pools of light - spells being intoned. Somehow she didn't think those were healing spells.

"Insolence!" Scorpio's angry voice sounded behind her - he too was intoning a spell. But he was one sorcerer against so many.

Instinctively Lena grabbed her bow, started shooting at the pools of light. She interrupted one or the other incantation, but the darkness was hiding the casters, and most of her arrows missed their mark. Some of the spells had blossomed - she was poisoned, petrified and slowed all at once. Her defences were lowered and her skills stifled. "What's next - set me on fire or freeze me solid?" She cursed, frantically swallowing potions from her bag, not bothering to read the labels. With most debilitations cleared, she extinguished her lantern and attacked.

It was a moonless night and the sky was covered in clouds, so not even the slightest star light illuminated the battlefield. Flashes of fire-enchanted daggers were seen near the pools of light, a cry was heard and the light went out, then the same was repeated with the next pool of light, and the next. It would have appeared an effortless run of elimination to a casual observer, but it was far from it. The sorcerers did not need light to know Lena's position, so even though she was methodically taking them out, there were always more of them lined up to poison, petrify and debilitate her. She kept grabbing potion after potion, herb after herb from her bag, until no potions were left to grab, and there were still - again! - half a dozen of pools of light gathering strength in the dark. There was nothing else for it but to keep going.

Scorpio had been taking out the sorcerers with directed fire spells. His fireballs were effective, but they took time to intone, and they were not always immediately deadly. He needed a better strategy. Extinguishing his own lantern and moving to what he thought was the centre of the circle of sorcerers, he hoped Lena would hold out on her own for a while, and started intoning a complex spell.

Lena took out another sorcerer, and noticed that she had run out of poisoned shivs and was nearly out of combustible powder. Not having the help of her tools to eliminate an enemy in one hit was going to be a problem. There was no time to poison her daggers. She ate the last mushroom and charged the next pool of light.

Suddenly the pool of light wasn't there. She heard wind sweeping through the area with an enormous force, she ducked to avoid impact, then stood up - she was in no danger. Scorpio had summoned a tornado.

The wind died down after a minute or two, and Lena saw Scorpio light up his lantern. Another pool of light was gathering in the distance, and Lena silenced that with a poisoned arrow. "A lucky shot," she thought. But the battle seemed to be over. They walked from corpse to corpse trying to understand who those sorcerers were, for they were no simple bandits. They all wore the same dark shapeless robes that made them practically invisible at night - the same robes as worn by the person who gave the knight the first message. One of the corpses had a scrap of parchment in a pouch tied to his waist, there was but one word on it: Salvation.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Prison, again

Lena pushed a door from one part of the sewers into another and was not met by a fresh conglomerate of poisonous spiders and snakes. This could mean one of two things: either she was out of the dungeons, or she was back in. Although the dungeons of Gran Soren had a large and firmly established rat population, they did not have snakes.

"Three days," she heard a familiar voice. "I could locate you by smell alone at this point."

"Not in here," Lena grinned, hugging a suite of chimeric plate that didn't smell of roses either. "Everything smells the same in the sewers."

"Let's hope Asalam will let us back into the inn," Scorpio coughed, and Lena thought that perhaps she did need a bath.

"Were you waiting long?" She discarded her prison rags and pulled on an unassuming set of everyday clothes that Scorpio handed to her.

"Three days, like I said," he shrugged. "When you did not return from the castle within the hour, I figured you took up residence in its lower chambers," he smirked. "Just what did you do?"

"Beats me," Lena shrugged. "Must've offended someone..." She looked sideways.

"Never mind," Scorpio dismissed the topic. "Let's go."

...

Lena's duties to the Duke were taking her to the castle every so often, and being her curious self, she decided to explore the grounds a bit before going to the Great Hall. There she got into an argument with the gardener who got offended and ran off, and the next thing she knew, she was being arrested and thrown into the dungeons, quite literally. She hit her head on a rock (or was hit on the head with a rock), and woke up on some straw in a cell, her belongings stripped clean and wearing a set of prison rags. "How on Nirn did I get out of my clothes and into these rags, I wonder..?" She asked herself, but that question was too uncomfortable and she brushed it away. Her cell had no shortage of sticks and small bones dragged in by the rats that made a nest in the corner, and for once Lena was glad of their presence. Here were the tools to make some lockpicks and some shivs and see about leaving.

It didn't take her too long to unlock the cell door, only to be met by a guard in the corridor.

"Five thousand in gold will buy you freedom," he said with a grin. "Which includes your gear. Can't be fairer than that."

"No thanks," Lena shook her head. "As you can see, I have no money on me at the moment, so couldn't pay you even if I wanted to."

"Oh you are no fun at all," the guard snorted and returned to his post, not even making the slightest attempt to get Lena locked up again.

"Well..." she followed him with her gaze, amazed. "He's nothing like the guards in the Imperial Prison..." That was true; however, she was also never hit with a rock on the head by the guards of the Imperial Prison. "I wonder where is my gear?" She looked around, and the only chests that she could see were near the entrance, with the guard presiding over them. "Ah, the bribe request now makes sense," she sighed, shrugged and decided to look for another exit first.

One of the locked cells had a big hole in the wall that led into the city sewers. Breaking several lockpicks on that lock, she entered the cell and dropped into the hole, and after wandering through the narrow and dark corridors for a while and having killed a dozen or more poisonous spiders and snakes, she finally found a barred door that led out of the dungeon sewers and into the far more civilised city sewers, also known as the slums. Besides rats, these sewers also housed people. There Scorpio had been waiting for her for the last three days.

"I didn't think you'd be leaving by the front door, somehow," he grinned when Lena inquired how he knew where to wait for her. "The first thing you did when we arrived in this city, was to investigate the slums and the sewers, and to commit them to memory. As this here was the only locked door, and as it was right below the castle... Well, obviously, that's the one you'd be coming out of," he concluded with satisfaction.

...

"I started to get worried," Scorpio's tired and hoarse voice greeted Lena as she pushed the same door out of the dungeon sewers for the second time. "A week?" He exhaled sharply and held his breath as Lena squeezed him in a hug.

"I need a bath, I know," she said, letting go of him. "I've been through a bit of an ordeal this time..."

...

"What happened?" Scorpio's voice sounded angry as he was rubbing oils into dark bruises on Lena's back, legs and arms once she had washed off the sweat and dried blood. "You didn't get these in a fight."

"It's a vipers' nest," she grimaced and cursed. "The lot of them. Duke and all."

"Explain."

"Last time when I got thrown into the dungeon..." Lena sighed. "Well, yes, I saw the gardener run off, but before that I bumped into the Duke's wife in the gardens, and she was all smiles and flirts..."

"The Duke's wife?" Scorpio stopped rubbing oil. "Not good."

"No... well... especially just how friendly she got..." Lena shivered. "Complimenting me on my strength and chivalry and gods know what else... as if I was a man... I was completely dumbfounded by it, you know."

"Some women..." Scorpio started.

"I know!" Lena cut him off. "Never mind that. I just ignored it, I guess," she sighed. "And so yesterday... err... a week, you say?" She whistled. "Well then, last week, when I went to the castle again, her maid begged me to meet her in the gardens after dark to hear some special message from the Duke's wife... The maid was all flirty as well, and suggested that it could be ill-construed by some, that the Duke's wife would be paying attention to a warrior such as myself... big and strong and stuff..." Lena shook her head. "Big and strong? And male? Me???"

"Not last time I checked," Scorpio grinned, looking her over. "But that obviously made you too curious to refuse..."

"May be that was the point of it..." Lena nodded. "Anyway. I stayed and went to meet the maid in the gardens at night, and guess what - the message was an invitation to visit the Duke's wife in her bedchamber at night."

"No!!" Scorpio roared with laughter. "And you went?"

"Of course I went," Lena grinned. "But not for the reasons you're thinking. Something was odd about that request."

"Like you not being male?" Scorpio was still laughing.

"Yes, that too... Didn't fit with the compliments and insinuations that they were making... Like it was rehearsed for a man, but I turned out to be a woman, and they didn't have a chance to change the script..." She shook her head. "It just didn't add up and so I went to the Duke's wife's bedchamber at night."

"Which carries a death sentence," Scorpio said gravely.

"Does it now?" Comprehension dawned in Lena's eyes. "Murder by Ducal Executioner," she grinned. "Effective."

"But it didn't happen," Scorpio resumed rubbing oils into Lena's bruises, taking Lena by surprise.

"Ouch! That's still tender," she complained. "Anyway, the Duke's wife started out all flirty, something about me saving her, running away together, whatever... I got so confused. And then the door flung open and the Duke stood there, with his jester pointing the way."

"The spy."

"Obviously."

"And?"

"I hid behind a screen," Lena winced as Scorpio started on a new bruise. "And then the strangest thing happened... A thunderstorm started... The Duke sent the jester away, and as soon as the door was closed, there was another flash of lightning and the Duke threw his wife on the bed and started strangling her."

"Understandably so," Scorpio replied dispassionately.

"No, not in a fit of rage or anything," Lena shook her head. "I looked from behind the screen... The Duke's face was cold... He was drooling... His eyes... I'm not sure... He looked like a zombie," she shivered. "And he hadn't seen me yet at that point."

Scorpio continued rubbing oils into Lena's bruises without saying anything. He seemed to have made a mental connection though. Lena turned to look at him, then continued.

"His wife was struggling for breath, he was going to kill her... So I jumped out from behind the screen, kicked him..."

"Typical," Scorpio muttered. "The Duke is twice your size."

"...and he straightened up, his face cleared up, he looked around, looked at his hands... Like he couldn't understand what was happening, what he was doing there..."

"Mmm."

"And his wife... The..." Lena swore. "She jumped off the bed as if nothing happened, started screaming, accusing me of breaking into her chambers, attempting to... err... there she got into trouble because what she was about to suggest wasn't biologically possible..." Lena cursed her again. "But she kept screaming and calling the guards... The rest you know."

"Dungeons, yes," Scorpio nodded. "But it doesn't explain these bruises."

"The guards weren't treating me as a lady," Lena scoffed. "I might have bitten one or the other in retaliation..."

"Bitten?" Scorpio looked up.

"My hands were tied, my feet too..."

"Fangs?"

"No."

"Thank goodness for that."

...

"Why did you switch to a sword and shield again?" Lena woke up and watched Scorpio put on a chimeric half plate cuirass over chainmail sleeves and clip on a golden bastard sword that they received as a reward for one of those monster slaying contracts. "I thought you enjoyed summoning meteors for every wolf we encountered," she grinned.

"You're making fun of me practicing, I've had enough of that," Scorpio pulled a face at her. "Also, I need to keep my sword arm strong, and I am getting out of touch with heavy armour. This will be slowing me down somewhat, and it shouldn't. I am not just a mage," he added defiantly.

"No, you are a Mystic Knight," Lena noted as Scorpio picked up a magic shield. "Aren't pawns prohibited from carrying those?"

"We are."

"But?"

"Let them try and stop me," he grinned.

...

"You are getting confused," Lena turned to Scorpio as he was trying to figure out how to block with the magic shield while holding the staff with both hands to intone a spell. "It's either the staff and no shield or the shield and a sword or a mace," she took the staff from him. "I had the same problem when I tried it last."

"And you can't swing your sword while blocking," Scorpio noted, hitting his own shield with his sword.

"Well, you're still better at it than I am," Lena observed. "I hardly use the shield at all."

"Not even that extremely overpriced cross-shaped one with a zombie head on it," Scorpio winked.

"Not even that. You know the Black Cat has all that fancy gear..."

"And all of it cursed," Scorpio nodded.

The gear sold at the Black Cat was on average an order of magnitude more expensive than even the best gear sold in regular shops, and all that special stuff had apparently been forged in dragon breath by some Arisen from the past, or belonged to some Arisen from the past, or else had special properties against a particular beast. Also, it looked ferocious.

"If goblins were dropping dead from just looking at you wearing, say, Chaos Armour, then it would have made some sense at least," Lena was looking through the catalogue. "But considering the protection that armour gives you, the only person dropping dead would be you."

"Which is why I stick to my chimeric plate," Scorpio smoothed out his pteruges. "It is a bit too heavy for me at the moment, but the pteruges are long enough not to need any greaves, and if I just wear leather boots and gloves instead of iron ones, I should manage."

"You forgot pants." Lena was watching him with interest. "Your direwolf cape doesn't cover the same area."

"A warrior does not wear pants under his kilt!" Was her answer. Did pteruges count as a kilt? Obviously. They were wide and dense enough to cover the body completely, it had to be said, but Lena just couldn't resist.

"Suit up and let's go find some goblins before Asalam throws us out of here for thrashing the walls," Scorpio straightened up. "I want to see you use that overpriced shield of yours since you insist on going practically naked," he smirked.

"I can't help it that this 'robe' is nothing but two flaps of material on the front and back! I wear other stuff too! I wear pants! They are enchanted!"

Never argue with a woman about her choice of armoured garments, you just can't win.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is another example of a lapse in story in Dragon's Dogma. The quest with the Duke's wife was clearly written for a male Arisen, and not just male, but tall, wide-shouldered, a warrior and never a mage or an archer. When you listen to the comments the Duke's wife and her maid are making, that's that picture that is being painted. But the Arisen can be anyone... such as a smallish Breton woman who happened to be an assassin... Umm... The comments still work, technically, but the impression becomes completely garbled. I decided therefore that Duke's wife must have planned this well in advance, but didn't know who the Arisen would be, then fell into the same trap as did Lydia in Skyrim where she expected a gorgeous tall Nord to become her thane and got that same shortish Breton female assassin instead...

The second part is my gripes with Mystic Knight. Dragon's Dogma works with vocations - you have to choose sword and shield (fighter), bow and daggers (strider) or a mage's staff (mage) to start with, then you can upgrade those to a two-handed warrior, a ranger with a longbow or a sorcerer with a special staff. Finally there are hybrid vocations that are only available to the player: Assassin (sword, shield, daggers, bows - shield for an assassin???), Mystic Knight (sword, mace, mage's staff, magic shield) and Magic Archer (magic bow, mage's staff, daggers). Pawns cannot have a hybrid vocation, and I wondered why. Fortunately there's a mod to fix that.

When I tried to make Lena a Mystic Knight, I kept getting confused with her weapons. So I decided to see if the computer can do any better and made Scorpio a Mystic Knight. And lo and behold! He was as confused as Lena. The computer kept switching from one skill to another, not being able to make a choice! Ha! That made me feel so much better... So the plan is now to let Scorpio figure it out. I'll be removing extra weapons from him so that the choice of associated skills would be limited, and I'll see how he does. Then I'll try to follow his strategy, because Mystic Knight is a useful vocation in theory, just a bit too confusing in practice. The good thing however is that pawns are programmed to learn to use their new skills and equipment, so that even if in the beginning he is in fact hitting his own shield with his sword, I hope that he'll learn to do better and then I can watch and hopefully learn it too.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Skeletons

"We should look into those skeletons allegedly plaguing the city suburbs at night," Lena was saying as she and Scorpio were methodically putting down the undead along the road. "Ser Maximilian said it was more serious than the usual trouble."

"Well, we have so far not encountered anything out of the ordinary," Scorpio replied, not having much difficulty with his share of the undead. "Unless he meant the skeletons along the Deos Hills Road? That's not exactly city suburbs though!"

"And it's nothing new," Lena nodded. "Let's ask around first."

The road crossing Deos Hills was notoriously dangerous: it was plagued by bandits by day and skeletons by night, making for excellent training grounds. But, indeed - it wasn't near the city and it wasn't new. But which skeletons was Ser Maximilian referring to? The city suburbs had their share of troubles, but they were all of a far more fleshy nature: bandits by day and sorcerers by night, as Lena and Scorpio had recently discovered. Sorcerers with specific hatred towards the Arisen, sorcerers belonging to a cult or a group named "Salvation". Perhaps that was as good a start as any.

"Sewers," Lena suddenly stopped bashing the undead and turned around to go back to the city.

"What? Why?" Scorpio sent the last fireball and followed. "Explain."

"Mason," Lena continued in her cryptic fashion. "Remember him?"

"The assassin?"

"Yes. He was talking about Salvation," Lena hastened her step. "He'll be in the sewers."

"How do you know? Why?" Scorpio was trying to keep up.

"Because that's where I'd be," she grinned. "You'll see."

...

"Looking for me, friend?" Mason looked up from his meal which seemed unexpectedly healthy for the surroundings. "Trouble?"

"Salvation," Lena said simply.

"Naturally," Mason gave her a broad grin. "Here, take this - their badge. Makes them think you're one of them. Didn't fool them on my account, but who knows, you might do better. If you find out where they meet, it'll be a start."

Lena pocketed the badge and started asking around.

...

"Surely, an Arisen inquiring after a cult that aims to kill the Arisen would be rather suspicious even to the most idiotic of its members," Scorpio was sceptical. "If Mason couldn't get to the bottom of it, what chance do you have? I don't see it."

"Err... we'll see," Lena winked. "May be I've got a trick or two that Mason doesn't. Let's start with that fellow," she added approaching a guard on duty. "Hello, good ser," she addressed him amicably. "Might you know where the next meeting is held?" She opened the palm of her left hand to reveal the badge of Salvation, while at the same time making a small circular motion with her right hand. Her eyes sparkled and bright green mist surrounded the guard for a brief moment. Scorpio grinned.

"Oh, that," the guard looked overjoyed. "We meet in the city catacombs - there's an amphitheatre of sorts there. There's a meeting tonight."

"Thank you kindly," Lena replied politely and walked away, leaving the guard to enjoy his euphoria for a bit longer.

"Charming," Scorpio smirked. "That was an unusual spell."

"Getting a cure for vampirism does not remove your powers once they've been mastered," Lena winked. "We have a meeting to attend tonight, we should get ready."

...

The catacombs was an ancient burial crypt built well before the current "progressive" faith came to Gransys. For that reason it was now considered to be pagan and archaic, and hardly anyone came there to pay their respects to the dead or to tend to the crypt. As a consequence, it was swarming with undead.

"I wonder how the members of Salvation make it to that amphitheatre through all these hordes of undead," Lena was saying to the rhythmical swings of her fire-enchanted sword. "It looks to me like no living person had walked through these halls in a very long time."

"Well, either your spell backfired and it's a trap, or there is another way in that they are using," Scorpio replied, putting down half a dozen of undead in one twirl.

"Or both," Lena nodded. "Hey, look at that - treasure!" Indeed, the halls had a large amount of treasure among the sarcophagi, mostly consisting of sacks of gold coins, valuable pieces of armour and weapons, and enchanted jewellery. "Do you think someone uses the catacombs for safe storage?" She grinned.

"And I bet they are not paying taxes either," Scorpio was counting the coins. "We should levy some."

"Stay back! It's cursed!" Lena jumped back from a chest she'd just opened - dark smoke was coming from it. "Dark magic. Or just rotten stuff inside," she managed to say through the cough. The treasure turned out to be better protected than they had originally thought - they suddenly lost all desire to open any more chests.

...

"I hear voices," Scorpio said quietly after they cleared yet another hall. "From over there," he pointed into a dark corridor. "Sssh... Listen."

"...and what is the point of living?" An echoing voice was saying somewhere down the corridor. "There is none!"

That must have been the meeting they came to witness. They followed the voice and came to a gallery overlooking an amphitheatre. A large group of people in dark shapeless robes filled the circular arena, leaving the centre free where another man in the same dark robe was speaking. Lena noticed the knight from the castle among the cultists, the one that she had followed before. He wasn't wearing a dark robe, but his darkened plate armour fitted well with the surroundings. He had lowered the visor on his full face helmet, but Lena recognised his statue and his long blonde locks of hair. She smirked, pointing him out to Scorpio.

"Came to join our flock, dear ARISEN?!" Suddenly the speaker turned and pointed at Lena in the gallery. "Come, join in the chaos that is Salvation!" He raised his arms in an incantation, instantly summoning a dark dense fog over them all. People started screaming, and Lena noticed the knight quietly slipping away. Within a few seconds the arena was filled with undead rising from the soil. Lena jumped down from the gallery looking for the speaker, but it was impossible to distinguish one dark-robed figure from another, and with the undead attacking everything and everyone, the screams and the darkness, she stood no chance of catching the man.

...

"Now, that was something," she heard Mason's voice from one of the side corridors. "Probably an everyday occurrence to you, Arisen, but I've never seen such a massacre before. I would thank you to join me here for a moment."

Lena followed his voice and entered a small chamber where Mason stood over a person in dark robes who somehow escaped the slaughter.

"This is the leader of the local cell," he told Lena. "Tried to escape as soon as the speaker started his incantations. The speaker himself is gone, I am afraid, so this man is the best we've got so far. He's all yours." Mason walked out of the room.

"But no, he promised!" The dark-robed man was cowering on the ground. "Please! I never bought into any of that Salvation rubbish!" He was pleading. "It was just to make some coin, all in good fun!" Lena was circling him, not quite believing her ears. Scorpio stood back watching, his arms crossed. The man tried to plead with him as well. "Please! I shall make it worth your while! Salvation has funds! I'm sure we can come to an arrangement!"

"That does it!" Lena's sword came down hard.

"Excellent!" Mason stepped out of the darkness. "I wasn't sure what you'd do with an unarmed man... I am glad we are on the same page," he smiled at Lena.

"We are, Brother," Lena smiled back.

...

"So, Salvation is a dangerous cult," Ser Maximilian shook his head. "But that's no proof that they are behind the skeleton plague."

"Yeah, about that," Lena smiled. "Which skeletons do you mean, exactly? Because, you see, there are no skeletons in the suburbs of the capital, day or night."

"No skeletons?" Ser Maximilian looked puzzled. "But I had reports... Umm... I don't know what to say, Arisen. Have you not found anything strange around the capital, then?"

"Strange? Well, we did run into sorcerers intent on burning me alive, time and time again, but no skeletons," Lena offered.

"It must be related," Ser Maximilian seemed certain. "Follow up on Salvation once more. I hear they also frequent a few spots in the lower town."

...

"Fancy a spot of dressing up?" Lena held up a set of Salvation robes that she brought from the catacombs.

"No." Scorpio backed off. "I'm not touching that."

"Oh, it's just a piece of cloth, I'm sure it's not going to..."

"No."

"Suit yourself," Lena shrugged, but tossed the robes into a corner - she wasn't keen on wearing them either.

Dressed casually and seemingly unarmed, Lena and Scorpio were strolling through the streets of Gran Soren. To any uninformed observer, they would appear to be a couple just about to fall in love. To anyone who knew who Lena was, they were the Arisen and her pawn. To the pawns, they were a squad missing two members. But who were they to the Salvation cultists? That was the most important question of all, since it's Salvation that they were trying to find.

"Sssh... Listen," Lena stopped dead on the bridge linking the upper and lower town.

"I hear it," Scorpio nodded, taking her into an embrace. "Under the bridge," he whispered into her ear. Now they definitely looked like a couple on a romantic walk.

"Shameless..." A townswoman gave Lena a disgusted look. Decent folk did not fraternise with pawns.

"...I did think that the skeletons were a bit much," a somewhat frightened voice was saying. "But I suppose the Conclave knows best."

"It's a grand rehearsal, they say," another voice under the bridge replied. "Bigger things are yet to come, apparently. I can't quite see why we need it, myself. But the Conclave will surely have its reasons."

"It's them, go," Scorpio breathed into Lena's ear. "Before they split up." He turned his back to the passers by allowing Lena to slip out of his embrace without anyone noticing. She curled up in a ball and jumped off the bridge onto the walkway below. There she stood up and took a few steps towards two men in dark robes who were trying to melt into the shadows.

"Hey, where did you come from?!" One of them noticed her. "What are you doing here?!" He seemed frightened. The other man broke into a run.

"Why, it's a public walkway, so I am walking," Lena smiled. "When you talk right under the bridge, your voice carries."

"No! You are the Arisen!" The man had a look at Lena's face. "I... We... I didn't mean any of it! You can go see for yourself, I'll sell you something very important to give you entry! Nine thousand in gold, and it's yours!"

"Erm..." Lena smiled and opened up her jacket revealing her fire-enchanted daggers underneath. "You were saying..?"

"Here..! Take it! I want nothing to do with it! It's in the catacombs, in a closed off area, and here's the key! I was only trying to make some coin, is all!" And with that he ran off.

...

"It must be one of those doors that seemed to be rusted shut," Scorpio was examining the key. "That's a clever lock."

The catacombs were again teaming with undead, but this time they were mostly skeletons.

"A grand rehearsal for what?" Lena wondered aloud, smashing them with her mace. "Let's hope we'll find out in that locked up section."

Apart from the skeletons, the catacombs were completely deserted. The gate that appeared to be fused together with rust, opened smoothly with Lena's key, and she and Scorpio had another chance to practice their fighting skills on two or three dozen of various undead, predominantly in skeletal form. Finally they came to a door requiring five enchanted gems to unlock which sent them exploring every last corner of the catacombs in search of those gems. Another two or three dozen of skeletal undead stood in their way, but not for long.

"These maces are quite effective," Lena was grinning at the relative ease in dealing with the undead. "And you know what - this zombie shield actually works. Although, admittedly, the undead are not crawling back under the ground as advertised..."

"You shouldn't... believe... advertising," Scorpio replied, making a pause for each punctuated swing of his mace. "I see no difference between your shield and mine."

"Mmm... Perhaps the skill of the bearer outweighs any dubious enchantments..." Lena muttered under her breath, blocking a frontal assault by a skeleton knight and not seeing him crawl back under the earth from whence he came.

With the five gems collected, they placed them in the sockets carved into the door, the magic lock clicked and the door slid upwards to reveal a large chamber beyond. It seemed to be completely empty.

"It's a trap," Scorpio said quietly.

"Obviously," Lena nodded and entered.

"Ah, there you are, Arisen!" A man stepped out of the shadows and the door slammed down, locking them in. "I've been expecting you! Prepare to die! Your bones will strengthen my undead army!"

He raised his arms in an incantation, red mist filled the room and Lena and Scorpio braced for an army of skeletons ready to make them join their ranks.

Three skeletons appeared.

Scorpio twirled, smashing them in one movement, not even leaving Lena with anything to do.

The door slid open. The sorcerer had vanished.

"Err... That was all?" Lena looked around, not seeing any further threats. "Underwhelming..."

"Well, there's this pile of soot where the sorcerer stood," Scorpio pointed at a dark stain on the floor. "I think he joined them himself, it seems to have been a ritual of some kind, but since you didn't grace it with dying, someone else had to..."

"Dark magic will always claim a victim," Lena nodded. "Sithis always wins."

"We'll probably meet him again, he'll be a particularly angry skeleton mage, I warrant," Scorpio smirked. "We're done here."




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another baffling bit of story writing on the part of Dragon's Dogma. A trained agent named Mason was unable to get any information from the members of Salvation, a sect that seeks to kill the Arisen. Yet the Arisen herself would naturally have no difficulty in getting those cult members to talk... Huh? I don't get it. So in my story I had to have Lena cast Vampire's Seduction on them, otherwise it just makes no sense!

Oh yes, and the final battle with the big baddy and his Army of Three Skeletons. Huh? Getting there was far, far more difficult than the boss battle itself... So yeah, "we're done here". May be someone forgot to put a few more spawn points in that room...

Scorpio is learning to use his Magic Shield, he no longer hits it with his sword while blocking, and he is no longer trying to block while intoning a spell. However, I found that he is unable to use any of the special skills designed for that vocation, and I was hoping to learn from him how to use them... I guess they were simply too complex to put into the AI, so he is skipping them entirely and using only the regular fighter and mage skills. I too am finding them too complex to get my head around... It seems Capcom couldn't figure out how to program intelligent use of them, so they left it to the player to figure out.

These things are peanuts though. Do not let me discourage you from playing the game. It is in my opinion one of the absolutely greatest games ever, inconsistencies notwithstanding.

Does Cutter have that name for a reason? (I've never had anybody who wanted to go to Shivering Isles.) SI sounds pretty nutty though. I'm reading the dialog in which Lena's needing to revive after her huge fight.

Oh cool, Hauk is back. And so is Rayenna. Hmm. It seems Rayenna doesn't know how old Lena is?

"Surely that meant that Lena was a traitor herself? Except... that was two centuries ago, and the girl in Lucien's bed was in her early twenties" Rayenna thinks or says at one point.

Wow. She's trying to make it seem like Hauk goes away. What a coniving ... tart.


9/176

Cutter is a smith, she makes sharp blades which she tests for sharpness on her own flesh. So yeah, Cutter.


The Dark Brotherhood doesn't just take lives, it also deals in secrets. Any information is only available on a need to know basis. Lena looks young, but advertising her age is definitely not required! Rayenna only knows Lena as a Sister, they met in passing, so Rayenna doesn't know Lena's history. Besides, that was a very painful affair with the traitor and all, it's not something that people are eager to talk about.


She knows what she wants and she's determined to get it. "All is fair in love and war" - isn't it how the saying goes?

Ah, so that's why a lot of gamers are fascinated with Cutter.



Got it. So she doesn't know anything about the vampirism, none of that. She just knows her sister casually.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Wolves

"You are not using any of the special skills that go with your magic shield," Lena noted, having observed Scorpio's technique in a number of fights. "Isn't it the whole point of such a special shield?"

"You are not using any of those skills either," Scorpio pointed out. "And neither do I see you use your Magic Cannon or Perilous Sigil skills."

"Well, I'm an assassin! I poison people, I don't hit them with some ball of magic energy!" Lena pulled a face. "I like getting close and personal with my daggers... or shoot an arrow from a distance! I thought you're the one who knew how to be a Mystic Knight!"

"Your love of daggers is what made me into a Mystic Knight in the first place!" Scorpio replied hotly. "I'm a mage, remember? A sorcerer! And here I am, limited to the kindergarten level spells from a plain mage's staff, forced to use sword techniques with a mace or a glorified club, and robbed of any shield skills because these magic shields are too damned big and heavy to do any bashing with them!"

"I never asked you to be a Mystic Knight, it was all your own idea!" Their exchange was getting hotter by the minute.

"I have to protect you! Both with magic and sword! This was the only way to do it!"

"Oh please, don't make any sacrifices on my account!"

They stopped in the middle of the road, staring each other down.


"Direwolves!!!" Scarlet suddenly shouted. "Stop arguing and start swinging!"

"Should I equip my staff or my sword, Ser Arisen?" Scorpio inquired with exceptional politeness. "Or perhaps my club? My all is yours to shape, Master."

"Oh shut up!!! Arrrgghh!!!" Lena jumped onto three wolves that were attacking her simultaneously, only to see them split up and lunge into opposite directions. She didn't hit any of them.

"I bow to your superior skill," Scorpio went on one knee and bowed his head. "But perhaps we should try to actually hit those wolves next time."

"Staff!! Now!!!" Lena bellowed, as the wolves returned, in ever increasing numbers.

"As you command," Scorpio was still offended, but he quickly equipped his staff and started intoning a fire spell. In a few seconds they were surrounded by flames, sending the wolves reeling - the ones that survived, that is.

"Now sword!!!" Lena decided to give him his due. "Slash them!!!"

"Gee, can't he decide for himself what weapon to use?" Scarlet stopped for a moment, watching the wolves regroup for another lunge.

"Apparently not," Lena shrugged. "'My all is yours to shape' and stuff," she rolled her eyes. "Are you having the same arguments with your Arisen?"

"No," Scarlet's face fell. "She actually buys all that Pawn Legion rubbish," she sighed. "I'm just an animated object to her."

"Oh."

"Get ready!!!"

The wolves had regrouped themselves, with one much larger wolf appearing among them - the Alpha of that pack. Lena and Scarlet stood back to back, and Lena switched from daggers to sword and even took out her shield, matching Scarlet's loadout.

...

"Thirteen pelts, seven large fangs, half a dozen small fangs, a few bits of animal flesh and a handful of rift crystals," Lena was distributing the spoils of that fight between them. "How come we get rift crystals from fighting wolves? Wolves don't come from the Rift."

"But they eat monsters that do," Scarlet pointed out, stashing away the loot. "Have you two made peace yet?" She looked at Lena and Scorpio in turn.

"It is my duty to protect the Arisen, with whatever limited means are at my disposal," Scorpio glared at Scarlet. "And to obey Arisen's every command. You know our charter."

"I don't need a nanny, thanks," Lena was getting cross. "Especially one who waits for me to tell him when to switch weapons because he wanted to be a Mystic Knight!"

Scarlet shook her head and sighed. No, they hadn't made peace yet.

"Well, I hope you sort it out soon, because we can't have your bickering where we're going," she looked sternly at them. "The Bluemoon Tower, remember? The griffin? With a couple of heavy bandit ambushes in tight quarters and a golem blocking our way? With harpies and skeleton knights thrown in for good measure? We need cohesion, or else we'll be dead well before we even approach the Bluemoon Tower."

"Last time we went through that canyon, the bandits had some Magic Archers and Sorcerers among them," Lena shuddered. "Magic Archers! I didn't think bandits could wield magic bows..."

"Pawns are not allowed to wield magic bows, but bandits are not pawns and are therefore held in much higher regard," Scorpio said in a pleasant, dispassionate voice. "Why not switch your regular bow for a magic one, Arisen? You can be a Magic Archer too."

"What is he doing?" Lena turned to Scarlet, completely ignoring Scorpio.

"He is following our charter," Scarlet smirked. "Talks as we are trained to talk. He's being an exemplary pawn."

"Good, then there will be no bickering," Lena's face turned to stone. "Let's go."


...

The road to the Bluemoon Tower was taking them far North from Gran Soren, into the lands inhabited by snow harpies, direwolves and an occasional cyclops. Even goblins seemed to avoid that area. Direwolf packs were getting larger, and as the sun set, they were joined by undead warriors and skeleton knights rising from the ground at night. Lena was hoping to reach a roadside camp before nightfall, but all the fighting delayed them far more than she had anticipated.

"When starting a long journey of this nature," Scorpio was saying in his ever-dispassionate voice, "one should aim to set out at dawn rather than in late afternoon, so one might reach a safe location before all the nighttime monsters appear."

"I shall take it under advisement next time," Lena retorted. "It's too late for it now!"

"The choice is yours to make, Arisen."

"CYCLOPS!!!" Scarlet screamed. "Not bad, it actually hurt!" The cyclops propelled her through the air and she landed on a cartload of dynamite that exploded on impact. "Aaarrrgghhhh!!!"

Lena looked around quickly, Scarlet wasn't knocked out. "That girl is made of strong stuff," Lena thought, loading poisoned arrows into her bow. "Take that, cyclops!!"

The fight was fierce, and Scorpio did not need to be told which weapon to use. But may be that's because he didn't have to switch weapons either - he kept shooting lightning bolts at the cyclops, while at the same time raising flames around them to keep the wolves at bay. "How does he do that?" Lena wondered, catching glimpses of him in between shooting arrows at the cyclops and fighting off wolves, undead warriors and snow harpies attracted to the smell of blood. "And with a plain mage's staff, too? And also blocking when necessary?" She watched in fascination as Scorpio quickly drew his shield to block a wolf's lunge in between intoning spells. "Once a fighter, always a fighter, I guess," she sighed. She fumbled with her own shield that still felt heavy and unwieldy to her, then switched to her bow and daggers. "Stick to what you know."

The cyclops had fallen, but the fight wasn't over. As the night deepened, more undead warriors appeared from under the ground, now joined by skeletons of all kinds - from simple soldiers to knights and magi. The wolves redoubled their attacks - it seemed that another pack or two joined in the fun.

"Mace, please," Lena touched Scorpio's arm. "You're the only one with a mace. Skeletons."

"As you wish," Scorpio nodded, switching weapons. That meant they had lost their mage. Perhaps Lena should have swapped her physical bow for a magical one - going magical would have allowed her to use a staff as well... But it was too late for that.


As they continued going North slowed down by all the fighting, Lena kept telling Scorpio when to switch his weapons - from mace to sword to staff, depending on which threat was the greatest, as far as she could tell. She had put away her bow because it became useless in the dark, and kept swapping between shield and sword or daggers. With all that switching, Scarlet was the most effective member of the group since she didn't have any switching to do. "This isn't working," Lena decided, "We'll need to regroup and... Ouch!" A large Alpha direwolf lunged at her, knocking her on the ground and pinning her down, his fangs at her throat. "Let go!!!" Lena bellowed, but the wolf was unimpressed. She was surrounded, with other members of the pack biting her as well, easy pray that she was, wringing on the ground. Scarlet was too far away, fighting off her own pack of wolves. Scorpio was smashing skeletons - his heavy and slow mace wouldn't do much against the wolves. Lena was on her own. Her eyes met amber eyes of the Alpha wolf. He bared his fangs, ready to bite her neck, but she twisted away and the wolf sank his teeth into her shoulder instead. Searing pain coloured her vision red.

...

The undead were rising from under the ground - the night was at its darkest hour. Two humans with lanterns were fighting off the undead, the wolves and the harpies. The wolves and the harpies wanted a piece of the human flesh, the undead simply wanted anything that moved. Were those two people actually human? Were pawns human? They were to the wolves and harpies - their flesh tasted the same.

A small group of wolves attacked the undead that were slowly closing in on one of the humans - the one with the mace. The other one had a sword - a far more effective weapon against the undead of the fleshy kind that had replaced the skeletons for the moment. The one with the sword was dangerous to all, the one with the mace... well. He had more flesh on his bones anyway.

Crimson teeth cut through the undead, they were no match for a small pack of direwolves that wanted the same prey. Harpies attacked next, they too wanted the man with the mace, even in spite of his heavy cuirass infused with magic. He blocked them with his large shield, conjuring up flames out of nowhere... Two of them fell, the others took to the skies. Nothing stood between the wolves and the man anymore, his shield would do him no good when the pack got him surrounded - his back still remained unprotected.

The Alpha howled, signalling the other wolves to fall in. The small pack coordinated its efforts. The Alpha would mount a frontal assault, while the others would keep the man distracted, it was a tried and tested strategy that worked every time. The Alpha lunged - the attack had started.

...

"Wolves!" Scorpio saw out of the corner of his eye an Alpha direwolf attacking the undead. "Strange, but never mind!" He was too busy repelling an attack by snow harpies. The mace felt heavy and awkward in his hand, but he couldn't switch it for a sword or a staff - not in the middle of a battle anyway. He blocked with his shield. "It's supposed to be able to conjure up flames," he thought. "It's no staff, but let's see..." he froze in concentration for a few seconds, allowing the harpies to approach uncomfortably close, but the shield responded just in time, the harpies hit it... and fell to the ground as their wings caught fire. "Not bad, it actually works!" Scorpio smirked to himself. "Now for the wolves!"

He glanced around, looking for Lena. He was still quite cross with her, but duty was duty, and his duty was to protect her. She could not have been killed - he would have felt it. The terrain was rocky however, so Scorpio wasn't surprised that he couldn't see her.

A small pack of direwolves had him surrounded. He would have to get rid of them first, then go looking for his Arisen.

The Alpha wolf lunged - Scorpio put up his shield - the wolf went clean past him, landing behind him and attacking some undead that rose from the ground... The other wolves froze for a moment, then attacked all at once, knocking Scorpio off his feet as he got distracted by the strange manoeuvre of the Alpha wolf. "Damn, these direwolves are clever!" He cursed himself, covering his head with his arms and hoping that his armour would protect him from the worst of the bites.

The bites let up a bit, and Scorpio looked up. Amber eyes were looking into his, fangs covered in blood were bared, heavy breathing sounded hoarse. The Alpha wolf appeared out of nowhere, lunging itself onto Scorpio and turning him on his back, exposing his neck where it wasn't covered by armour. In a split second the wolf's fangs would be tasting flesh.

The Alpha wolf howled in pain, knocked on the ground, his belly sliced open. Several other wolves lunged onto the same spot, and Scorpio felt the weight of their bodies on top of his, as they rolled and tumbled, seemingly fighting between themselves. It was all over in a few seconds. Amber eyes stared into his again, fangs bared, fur covered in blood... Fur... Dark fur of a warg draped over the shoulders, not the white fur of a direwolf covering the entire body. Fire-enchanted daggers in her hands, Wolf gave a long howl and disappeared into the night.

...

"She's here somewhere, she wouldn't have gone far," Scorpio got up, his anger towards Lena evaporated. "What sort of trouble did she get herself into this time?"

The sky in the East was showing the slightest signs of light, but it wasn't dawning yet. Having switched to his sword and holding it at the ready, he was circling the area, checking every rock, every crevice. An occasional undead was still crawling from under the earth, but their time had passed. Carcasses of freshly killed direwolves and snow harpies littered the area. He noticed lights further up, sharp noises indicated a fight, but by the time he reached it, all went quiet. Half a dozen bandits lay dead in their camp. "Cauterised cuts," Scorpio observed. "Fire-enchanted daggers. She's here." He dragged the bodies away from the campfire, straightened out some skins on the ground and sat down to wait.

He heard a slight noise behind him but didn't turn around. He felt hot breath on his neck and smelled the sweet aroma of fresh blood. Wolf's amber eyes were looking into his, a suggestion of fangs in her mouth, blood covering her neck and dripping from under her feral cape. Her cheekbones were flushed, her cheeks gaunt and grey.

"You lost a lot of blood," Scorpio said, jumping to his feet and casting a healing spell. "Let me close your wounds." She lost consciousness before Scorpio's spell was done, but he caught her just in time. "Let's get you out of here. The army campsite is nearby."

...

"This campsite was set up on the orders of the Duke specifically to assist Ser Arisen in her travels," the soldier at the camp looked at Scorpio with suspicion. "You can't just walk in here like that. Even if you don't look like a bandit," he added with some doubt in his tone.

"This is the Arisen," Scarlet pointed at Lena, still unconscious in Scorpio's arms. "We ran into some direwolves on the way. She got bitten."

"Direwolves..?" The soldier shivered uncomfortably. "They were not rabid, were they?" He took a step back.

"Well, they attacked the Arisen," Scarlet smirked. "I would not vouch for their sanity."

...

When Lena woke up, it was already past midday. Scorpio and Scarlet had dressed her wounds and stopped the bleeding, and dressed their own wounds and stopped the bleeding too. The soldiers left them completely to their own devices, in case the wolf that bit Lena was in fact rabid. "Better her than us," was the verdict. Scarlet got bored and went picking apples from the many wild apple trees growing nearby - she was particularly partial to them, the apples themselves and the sweet white wine that could be made from them later.

"Are you still cross with me?" Lena touched Scorpio's hand. "You are a far better Mystic Knight than I could ever be. I just do daggers."

"You manage all right with those huge shields and maces when you have to," Scorpio smiled. "Especially considering that some of them are bigger than you," he smirked. "I wouldn't have your agility to use the daggers..." He touched her forehead, gauging her temperature. "Your fever has passed. Those wolves weren't rabid, so what happened?"

"I am not sure..." Lena frowned. "I didn't grow any fangs, so it wasn't vampirism... Err... After that Alpha wolf bit me, I just felt one with the wolves... It's strange, I don't know..." She paused, trying to make sense of her memories. "Then I saw you surrounded by a small pack, and had to intervene."

"But you fought them on their own terms, like you were one of them," Scorpio frowned too.

"I was one of them..."

"It's good to have you back." He took her in his embrace, and that embrace wasn't just for show.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Affairs of state

"Arisen! Your urgent attention is required at the Southern Waycastle!"

"Arisen! Ser! Fly to the capital at once!"

"Cockatrice! Arisen! To the Southern Gate!"

"Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!!"

"Wait, isn't the Duke a world-famous dragon slayer? How come it's all up to me then?!"

"Don't think - fight!"

"Here - I'm not losing you again! Petrification antidote!"

...

"Well, I supposed we irritated it enough, so that it decided to fly away from here," Lena was watching a cockatrice take to the skies and leave Gran Soren. It's been a crazy day.

It started simple enough - a messenger from the castle came to the inn looking for Ser Arisen because once again her services were urgently required. Lena grimaced - she didn't like her breakfast interrupted, but went to the castle almost straight away.

"Arisen, we have received an urgent message from the Southern Waycastle - it is extremely important, but the soldiers will only speak with you," the Duke's chamberlain told Lena. "Fly to their side at once and see what is the matter."

"Umm, don't you find it a bit odd that they would not tell you - the Chamberlain - what it's all about?" Lena squinted at him. "Especially after that high profile theft from the Duke's treasury that I had to chase up, and after that rebellion at the Northern Stronghold that, again, for some reason I had to see to? It does form a pattern."

"You are right, I know," the Chamberlain nodded. "But those are the Duke's orders. The other two matters were unrelated, I hope... although it is true that they both involved Salvation... Err... A bit odd, I agree," he looked concerned for a moment. "But I'm sure the Duke knows what he's doing! Off to the Southern Waycastle, please, Arisen!"

There was nothing else to it, Lena shrugged, picked up Scorpio at the gates and the two of them set off to the Southern Waycastle, arriving there a few hours later.

"Arisen, Ser!" An out-of-breath soldier stopped them near the entrance. "An urgent message from the capital! Return there at once!"

"Why? What happened?" Lena steadied him, trying to get some more information. "And what about the urgent message that was supposed to wait for me here?"

"Here?" He looked at her in surprise. "Nothing is going on here, Arisen. Even the bandits are staying away... I thought you were just passing, on your way South, like."

"Oh." Lena nodded. This had clearly been a ruse to get her away from the capital, and now something was happening there. So she and Scorpio turned around and ran back to Gran Soren.

As they approached the capital, giant wings were visible behind the city walls, flapping.

"A griffin or a cockatrice," Lena pointed them out. "Attacking the city. Finally the city guard and all the Ducal Knights get something to do!"

"They are likely just standing around waiting for you, I think you'll find," Scorpio shook his head. "It's a dangerous business, fighting a cockatrice."

"Its breath is both poisonous and petrifying," Lena nodded.

"This gate has been sealed," a guard informed them as they approached the nearest city gate. "To prevent looting, you know. Go to the other gate."

"Don't they want that cockatrice defeated?" Lena turned to Scorpio. "You'd think they'd let us through."

"Come on - the other gate. There will be time for analysis later."

The guard at the other gate informed them that the cockatrice in question started out dead, it was a tribute to the Duke, a gift delivered together with many other gifts from the adoring populace. Once inside the city gates, the cockatrice came back to life and started wreaking havoc, mostly targeting the other tributes. Apparently, the main concern was for the safety of the goods, and not so much of the people.

"Arisen, go and slay it, Ser!"

Naturally.

The fight with the cockatrice wasn't easy. It was just Lena and Scorpio, they didn't have any other pawns with them, and although there was a small army of pawns stationed in Gran Soren, and there was also a small army of soldiers and members of the Ducal Guard watching the cockatrice from a safe distance, none of them actually engaged the creature. Well, there was nothing else for it, such was the fate of the Arisen.

Cockatrices were known to be weak to magic, and so Scorpio was constantly shooting fire and lightning at it, which required him to stand still while intoning spells. Which made him into a perfect target for the dreaded petrifying breath of that beast. Once affected, the victim would turn to stone within 30 to 40 seconds, and there was no spell to dispel it, no hope for a human and no return from the Rift for a pawn. Only an antidote taken before the process was complete, would dispel the ailment. The problem was, the cockatrice blew that stuff with every breath it took...

It didn't take long before Scorpio ran out of antidote vials, even though he did delay taking them until the last possible moment. The beast simply had more petrification on offer than there were antidotes in his pocket.

"But he's still casting," Lena noticed Scorpio's movements slowing down, yet the pool of fire still growing - he was intoning a spell. His light coloured coat and white direwolf cape got a dusting of grey... But no, it wasn't just dust! "He's out of antidotes!" Lena realised. She couldn't care less for the Duke's treasure, she bolted towards Scorpio, fumbling for antidotes in her bag, grabbing a handful to stick into his pocket, then realising that she had to administer one immediately and hope it wasn't too late...

Fire shot from Scorpio's hands, hitting the cockatrice flat between the eyes and sending it reeling, but his hand remained raised, his mouth frozen still speaking the words... He had turned to stone.

"Nooooo!!!!" Lena didn't know what to do. How do you administer a potion to a stone statue? "Oooh it better work!!" She broke off the neck of the little bottle and carefully dropped a little of the antidote onto Scorpio's lips, trying not to touch him, as victims of petrification were known to shutter into dust at the slightest touch...

But he didn't shutter. The antidote worked. First his lips, then the rest of his face regained colour, and Lena poured the rest of the potion into his mouth. A few more seconds, and Scorpio could move, although the dusting of grey on his coat and cape kept reminding them just how uncomfortably close he came to actual death. From that moment on, Lena wasn't leaving his side, shooting arrows at the cockatrice and pushing Scorpio out of the way of its breath, even if it meant that some of his spells got interrupted. After a while the cockatrice simply took to the skies and flew off.

"You did it!" A very excited Ducal knight ran up to them when all was quiet again. "All of the Duke's tributes are intact!" Lena looked around, and only then did she notice stacks of crates along the city walls.

"The tributes... Of course."

"The Chamberlain needs to hear of this! It is your duty to report on this mission!" The knight saluted and ran off.

"Has everyone gone mad, you think?" Lena squinted at Scorpio who was trying to dust off his coat and cape.

"There's only one way to find out - go talk to the Chamberlain," he grinned. "Ser Arisen. I've got a coat to dust off. Oh, and we pawns are not allowed in the castle."

...

"Amazing success!" The Chamberlain was ecstatic. "All the tributes are safe!" This was getting repetitive. "The Duke is very impressed with your excellent service! He wishes to entrust you another extremely important mission - an archeological excavation expedition!" The Chamberlain was positively beaming. "And he wishes to speak to you first! Personally in person! Follow me!"

Wow. Yeah. Lena followed. An archeological excavation sounded exceedingly urgent, considering that the dragon was threatening the very existence of the land... Or at least, that's what everyone had been led to believe. Things just didn't add up. Again.

"The office of an Arisen comes with a great valor, but also ambition," the Duke addressed Lena when the Chamberlain delivered her into the Duke's illustrious presence. "I have something to give you. Follow me."

Another slow and dignified walk through the castle followed, with the Duke leading Lena into the treasury - or perhaps rather one of the many rooms that were the treasury. Everything there was for her to take, comprising some nice armour and weapons and a lot of money. Fair enough. One of the chests had been magically sealed, and the Duke used his signet ring to unlock it. The item inside was a cape, a nice cape as capes went, a very useful cape, no doubt, with some unique enchantments... "Is that the Duke's old cape?" Lena wondered. "From the time when he was an Arisen? Did he confront the dragon wearing this cape?" It could have well been true. She took it with thanks.

Just as she was about to leave, a messenger ran up to the Duke with an urgent message of outmost importance... Lena pursed her lips. But this time the message was genuinely important - Salvation had attacked one of the Duke's strongholds and overwhelmed the soldiers. As that was the largest stronghold, Salvation must have been planning something big. "The skeletons were a grand rehearsal," Lena remembered. "Perhaps the real thing is soon to take place." Naturally, she were to drop everything and fly to that stronghold with all haste...

"Archeological excavations will keep," the Duke smiled at her. "Salvation needs to be dealt with." For once, Lena agreed.

...

"The office of an Arisen..." Lena shook her head, wondering about that turn of phrase with which the Duke had greeted her previously. "Some office! I've got a scar on my chest from which the heart is missing. Valor and ambition? Well, no, I'm just after my heart..."

"Pssst, Ser Arisen!" She heard a woman's voice call to her from the bushes. "Please!"

She recognised the Duke's wife's chambermaid. For some reason no one referred to the Duke's wife as the Duchess. How odd.

"My mistress is in grave danger!" The maid looked frightened. "The Duke flew into a rage again and sent her off to the Northern Prison! She's locked up in that fortress, I fear for her life!"

"That does sound ominous..." Lena agreed.

"Please, you must rescue her!" The maid pleaded. "Here, I stole a suite of armour that the soldiers wear, please, wear it and go to the fortress, they won't let you in otherwise! Rescue my mistress!"

"Umm... Err... Well... I can get to her, I guess..." Lena squinted. "But how am I supposed to 'rescue' her? I've got nowhere to take her, exactly."

"Oh, you'll think of something!" The maid beamed at her, pulling a large bundle of armour from behind the bush. "You're so brave and strong and..."

"...male?" Lena was about to say but kept her tongue. That again. But she took the armour thinking that even if the compliments didn't really work, the Duke's wife probably still didn't deserve to be killed for no good reason.

...

"What's that?" Scorpio took the bundle of armour from Lena's hands as she came out of the castle gates overloaded with gear. "Soldier's armour? Could the Duke do no better than that?"

"That's for something different," Lena shook her head. "You won't believe it..."

...

The matter of damsel in distress had to be addressed first, Lena decided the following morning. Realising that she would have to go into the fortress on her own, and cursing the weight of the soldier's armour, she had to pay close attention to her own armour and weapons, as well as potions and ammunition. She decided to leave her bow and arrows behind and to wear a light silk robe and hydra skin boots instead of her usual reinforced leather armour. She'd carry a shield and take a staff and a mace as well, just in case.

"Ah, the enchanted pants outfit," Scorpio looked her over when she was ready. "At least the shield is protecting your modesty," he grinned.

"Do I have a particularly large and vicious mace here to convince you otherwise?" Lena grinned back, placing her hand on the handle of her morgenstern. "I have to go light. Robes can be worn by Mystic Knights, which is what I am doing."

"You could just wear that soldier's armour, you know," Scorpio thought it was reasonable. "The way to that fortress is long, so why carry it as dead weight?"

"I am not wearing that for any longer than I have to!" Lena said defiantly. "It makes me look fat!"

...

The soldier's armour did come in handy for getting into the fortress. There it wasn't too hard to find the tower where the Duke's wife was being held. Lena looked for a way out that didn't go through the front gate as well. As any fortress, this one also had dungeons with holes in the walls. The only remaining question was what to do once they were out. Lena brushed it aside for the moment.

As Lena walked up the stairs to the lady's tower, she remembered the last time she saw her: it was in the castle dungeons. The lady had brought Lena some keys to help her escape, having betrayed her to the Duke in the first place... "Why did she ask me to join her in her bedchamber? Did she know the Duke would attack her? Was she planning to betray me all along?" Lena wondered. "There is of course something wrong with the Duke, but his wife is hardly any better. Why am I even helping her?" But by then she stood in front of the door into the lady's chamber, and there was nothing else to it but to go in.

The scene that followed was... strange. As soon as the lady recognised Lena under the soldier's armour, she flew up to her, embraced her and kissed her, then pushed her onto the large feather bed and... umm...

...

A few hours later it was really time to get going. Lena felt like she had been hit on the head with a rock again. May be she had been. She was naked and couldn't remember what happened, the Duke's wife kept chattering about their great escape and how she had loved her "warrior" from the moment she first saw her, and all that... "Big and strong" compliment came out a few times as well, and Lena wondered whether the woman had been delusional. Quickly getting dressed, they needed to get out of there. "There will be time for analysis later," Lena remembered Scorpio's phrase from before.

The soldiers in the fort did not take kindly to their prisoner escaping, and Lena had to kill them all. Strangely enough, they presented no challenge... "Weaklings," Lena snorted. Suddenly, the "big and strong" argument started making sense, at least the "strong" part of it, as Lena was still only a short Breton female...

Once they had climbed through the hole in the wall, they found themselves in the sewers with half-demolished bridges that required walking ankle-deep in water and jumping over some rotten planks and potholes. Their damsel in distress couldn't do it, and Lena had to carry her... "Big and strong" started making even more sense at that point. About half way through, Scorpio appeared out of nowhere, or rather from the other end of the tunnel, which was a great relief because he helped Lena fight bandits that inhabited the sewers. Lena tried to suggest that it would be far more practical if Scorpio were the one to carry their damsel in distress over the potholes, but the lady flatly refused, she wouldn't let another man touch her, she wasn't that kind of girl, etcetera, etcetera, and Scorpio looked like he was being forced to touch some rotten fish or worse... And so it was Lena who continued carrying the lady over potholes and puddles of water.

Finally the exit was in sight, and lo and behold, there was the welcoming committee: the lady's maid with two knights from their native land who were there to take the Duke's wife to safety and to make sure that no unwanted "warrior" lovers would follow her. More declarations of eternal love from the Duke's wife ensued, with tears of separation, embraces and attempts at kisses, but Lena strategically lowered the visor of her helmet to stop any such nonsense from taking place. She knew there was a reason why she had put on the soldier's armour again when she woke up naked on the lady's bed a few hours before.

With the Duke's wife and her guards departed, Lena and Scorpio turned to leave as well, only to get attacked by a chimera that jumped out of nowhere... "Where were you when I was getting all those unwanted kisses?!" Lena bellowed at the chimera, attacking the lion's head.

With the chimera slain, she and Scorpio could finally leave too. Lena was spent. There was an army camp nearby, the very same where just a few days ago Scorpio brought her unconscious after that direwolf fight. Now, as the two of them walked in, the soldiers simply pointed them to a tent, having recognised the Arisen and her pawn in need of rest after a hard day at the office. And what a day it had been.

Rayenna thinks she can just kill Lena, or get her killed, ha. She's so obsessed!



Magic. Magic explains everything, at least in an imaginitive way. We never see any stone masons or magicians performing repairs to crumbling foundations and whatnot (well, in ESO we do). But I like to think that in the I.C., all the resources to maintain this sort of stuff are always fully there, whereas out in the countryside, those ruins & forts only have a few outlaw wizards or marauders at best. These folks are too focused upon survival. They are transients, in some cases. They haven't got all the tools and manpower and resources to keep those structures from crumbling and whatnot.

Anyway, this episode's intense. UH oh, Rayenna's been paralyzed. I actually hate this woman for her desire to kill Lena, but now I feel sympathetic toward her.



I know, right?

Bookmark

Some would call it "driven". Or perhaps "in love"?


She's a victim of of a fat little imp with a poisoned arrow.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Romance

"Must be nice to walk with a female who has no qualms taking her clothes off in your presence," said Ser Octavio at the camp where Lena and Scorpio had stopped for the night. "Do you to do 'it' a lot?" He grinned.

"We do not do 'it' at all," Scorpio answered coldly. "Not that it is any of your business."

"Oh come now!" Ser Octavio was still grinning, not offended by Scorpio's rebuff. "You pawns may not be human they say, but I don't see any difference. And neither do the girls in the lower town in Gran Soren."

"Yes, we have the same bodily functions and needs," Scorpio softened his reply. "But it has nothing to do with anything. Wolf and I have a different type of relationship altogether."

"As long as it is one that involves her taking her clothes off, I wouldn't mind it either," Ser Octavio kept grinning. "I wish we had women in our ranks," he sighed.

"It's probably best that you don't," Scorpio said quietly and returned to the tent where Lena was just waking up. "Coffee?" He handed her a cup. "Ser Octavio does make a decent brew, even if I can't say the same for his conversation."

"Oh, do not let me stop you from tending to your bodily needs," Lena grinned. "Even if there are no women around except this one who sleeps with a dagger under her pillow."

"But who cannot resist being hit on the head with a rock," Scorpio smirked. "I told you - some women prefer..."

"Yeah, I get it!!" Lena cut him off, nearly spilling her hot coffee. "I didn't think she'd actually do it! I never gave her any reason to think I'd be even remotely interested!!"

"No, let's see," Scorpio looked pensive. "You chatted her up in the castle gardens to start with. You agreed to meet with her maid after dark. You accepted her invitation to visit her in her bedchamber at night. You actually showed up! And then you came all the way to this remote Northern Prison to rescue her, while again visiting her in her bedchamber... What else was the lady to think?"

"That I accidentally bumped into her in the gardens to start with and was simply making polite conversation? That I thought her request was odd, having met the Duke before, and went to investigate? That I was actually more interested in the Duke's behaviour than in her person? That I didn't think she deserved to die even after she betrayed me?" Lena glared at him. "None of this implies any kind of romantic attraction! She's a woman, for gods' sakes! And I..."

"...prefer men, I noticed," Scorpio grinned. "Don't think I didn't see the way you looked at that knight from her guard, visor or no visor."

"Well, yes, I might have found him appealing," Lena grinned too. "But I didn't hit him on the head with a rock for it."

...

"Another day, another cyclops," Lena sighed after yet another fight on the way back to Gran Soren. "Let's take a break and actually eat some lunch for a change..." She motioned Scorpio towards the hillside. "Before Ser Octavio's excellent pies go stale."

Scorpio didn't argue. He too was feeling tired - perhaps Lena's emotional ordeal of the day before was rubbing off onto him after all. They cleared the hillside of snow harpies, picked a nice spot among the meagre greenery and spent a relaxing afternoon overlooking a Northern landscape with its tall pines, wild apple trees, short dry grass, thorny bushes and rugged rocks protruding from the earth at odd angles. They watched a pack of direwolves lazily lounge on a rock formation, a flock of snow harpies circle around an ox carcass and a group of bandits ambush the road. The air was cool but not cold, the food was plentiful, and for once Lena decided that chasing the dragon could wait.


The nightfall caught them by surprise. Normally Lena would have welcomed the opportunity to travel at night and face nighttime foes, but she felt reluctant to do so that evening. Perhaps she was still tired, or perhaps something else was weighing on her. There was no camp nearby however, nowhere to spend the night, and staying on the hillside was counter-productive if one wanted to avoid the fighting.

"The cave of the Dragonforged is just North of here," Scorpio reminded her. "Perhaps he'll let us spend the night there?" It was worth a try.

...

"What brings you here, Arisen of the present day?" The Dragonforged greeted Lena as they entered. "Do you already know what it is you wish to know?"


"Some of it, yes," Lena smiled. "Forgive me if it sounds too forward, but is your companion in fact your pawn?"

"That is an unexpected question," the Dragonforged raised an eyebrow. "Do you not wish to ask aught of the dragon? No? You wish to know about my pawn instead?" Lena felt his piercing gaze on her but didn't lower her eyes and did not falter. "Very well," the Dragonforged smiled. "Yes, this is my pawn."

"But he has no pawn print," Lena walked up to the pawn and asked him to show his hand with a polite bow. "He is a pawn no longer."

"He is, and he is not," the Dragonforged continued in his ever-enigmatic manner.

"Are you still a pawn?" Lena decided she'd paid enough courtesy to the Dragonforged and could now address his pawn directly.

"It is as my master says," he replied. "I am, and I am not. I no longer answer to the Legion, yet I exist only in the shadow of my master. Were he to perish, so would I."

"This is confusing," Lena had to admit, looking at each of them in turn. "But you are immortal, are you not?" She asked the Dragonforged.

"I am bound to the dragon," he replied, as if that answered Lena's question. She shook her head and looked at Scorpio in desperation.

"Perhaps the meaning will become clear later on," he said quietly. "Remember Selene - her pawn print also disappeared after her Arisen had died of old age."

"Yes, about that," Lena turned to the Dragonforged again. "Forgive me - but does an Arisen continue to age even without the heart? Like that..."

"...like the Arisen of Selene?" The Dragonforged sat down on his favourite chair. "I know of her. Yes, you continue to age and can die of old age if you decide not to pursue the dragon. As the dragon only comes every fifty years, it is entirely possible to die of old age before the next Arisen slays the dragon."

"Before the next Arisen slays the dragon?" Lena repeated his words, letting the meaning sink in. "Because the dragon has the Arisen's heart... So should the dragon die, so will the Arisen." The Dragonforged inclined his head in agreement. "...so will all Arisen whose hearts the dragon holds..." Lena walked around the room, stunned by the meaning of this. "Does the dragon still hold your heart as well?" She faced the Dragonforged.

"Indeed he does," he replied. "I fell in the duel with the dragon, I should be dead. I failed to retrieve my heart. The dragon made me into what I am now."

"And that was a very long time ago," Lena prompted him.

"A thousand years or more," he nodded. "I lost count. Very few Arisen live long enough to even face the dragon."

"And many don't even try," Lena added. "But..." She looked at him with worry.

"No, that question is best left unasked for now." Scorpio stood behind her, with his arm around her waist, and she understood what his words meant - the question about the Duke and his purported slaying of the dragon, if asked and answered aloud, would put events out of sequence. It was enough that everyone in the room knew what she was about to ask, and also knew the answer.

"He who knows what I know, knows it well," the pawn of the Dragonforged said quietly.

"Might we spend the night in your home?" Lena suddenly changed the topic, turning to the Dragonforged. "I feel the dangers of the night might overwhelm me at present."

...

"What do you make of them, master?" The pawn of the Dragonforged asked, once Lena and Scorpio were asleep in the adjoining chamber. "Her pawn's hand print is very dim."

"He's still a pawn and she's still his Arisen," the Dragonforged looked pensive. "The Legion still has hold on him. I don't understand why they released Selene... Her Arisen certainly did nothing for it to happen. We don't have all the answers, my friend," he looked at his pawn with fondness of an age long friendship. "But these two... who knows. Perhaps they will learn more than we ever could."

...

"You seem wistful and distracted lately," Scorpio started carefully as he and Lena were crossing the mountain South of Gran Soren. The narrow mountain pass wedged between high walls of rock made the place feel private somehow, harpies notwithstanding. "What is weighing on your mind?"

"Bonds," Lena answered absent-mindedly. "Several people, including the Duke's wife, have entered my life recently, with needs of love, lust, protection, or... I don't even know what! Why did Selene take over my house?" She looked at Scorpio in confusion. "I don't understand... I never led anyone on... or so I thought..." She shook her head and resumed walking.

"You are the Arisen, the hero of this time," Scorpio caught up with her. "Some of those people simply want to be connected to the hero, without caring too much for your person."

"Now, that I can understand!" Lena smirked. "Madeleine, for one. Asking for fifty-five thousand gold coins to offset her travel expenses!" Lena scoffed. "At least with Madeleine you know where you are - her affection has nothing to do with love what-so-ever."


"But you didn't give her the money."

"Obviously not."

"Even though you have more than ten times as much in the bank, and so many bits of armour and weapons as to raise double that amount."

"True."

"Then why did you not help her out?" Scorpio squinted at Lena.

"Because why would I?" Lena squinted back. "Who is she to me, exactly? A shop keeper. No more."

"Hmm."

They walked in silence for a while.

"Yet you gave gifts to several other shop keepers," Scorpio said suddenly. It seemed he was trying to work it out as well.

"Travelling merchants, yes," Lena nodded. "And I didn't give them money, but something that they could actually use."

"Health and stamina potions."

"Exactly."

"But why?"

"Because I found their services valuable and their manners pleasant. Because I want them to continue providing those services. Because they never asked for any intimate favours!" She finally burst out. "May be that's it."

"So, it bothers you when people ask personal things of you," Scorpio concluded.

"Some people, yes," Lena nodded. "Well, most people."

"Hmm."

The secluded corridor between two walls of rock was about to end and open to the Southern Waycastle. Lena slowed her steps, then turned around and started walking back.

"Ser Maximilian," Scorpio said casually. "You like him, don't you?"

"I like him more than most, yes," Lena nodded. "He's got a good head on his shoulders. But he's a soldier and has to follow orders. He's got the right balance though, I think."

"You will need to give him more gifts and pay him more attention if you want anything to come of it though."

"What?!" Lena stopped dead, staring at Scorpio. "What come of what?"

"You have to be honest with yourself. You know very well what I mean," Scorpio looked at her sternly. "Think on that. Come on, we were going South." He turned around and started walking South, with Lena eventually following.

...

The Witchwood was foggy, as always. They walked through the woods looking for a rare herb that someone wanted for their cooking. It made no sense to Scorpio, other than that Lena wanted to get away from it all. There was no one in the woods, it was quiet and peaceful, apart from a few wolves.

They came to the grave of Selene's Arisen, but no ghost appeared this time. Instead, a person of flesh and blood was sitting by the grave. Lena wanted to turn around, not wishing to disturb him, but he got up, greeted her and pointed at an ancient tablet resting on the gravestone.

"This is an ancient text in wyrmspeak. You should take it, Arisen. The Faith knows how to read such texts, and their services are free. I could read it for you as well, but my fees are highter. What will it be?"

"Err..." Lena was taken aback. "Do I know you? Are you trying to sell this tablet to me?"

"Not at all," the man shook his head. "I am just a traveling scholar."

He offered no further explanation of his presence there, and Lena thought that he didn't look like a scholar at all... But she took the tablet, nevertheless. Something about it was intriguing.

South of Witchwood lay Cassardis, and Lena suddenly felt the need to return there, even though it wasn't her birthplace at all, and "her" house was now Selene's. Still, everyone called her "cousin", and she could use the friendliness. Scorpio too liked the village, it seemed. They spent a few days there doing practically nothing, sitting on the beach, chatting with the locals, eating fish... "An Arisen's life is hard, come, rest a while, cousin!" People thought it was only right. At some point Lena thought that perhaps the priest at the local chapel would be able to read the strange tablet in wyrmspeak. They brought it to him, but he couldn't read it. "I know someone who can, however," he said, somewhat uncertain. "That is, I never met him myself. But there's a hill North of Gran Soren, with a drawing on the hillside, and there..."

"The old man on the hill, of course!" Lena beamed at him. "Indeed. Thank you." It seemed they had to return to the Dragonforged.

...

"Ah, the tablet presented itself to you as well," the Dragonforged held it for a moment, then returned it to Lena. "I held it once before, too. It represents whatever you hold most dear."

"A stone tablet?" Lena was confused. She held it in both hands, and suddenly there was a flash of light, the tablet vanished, and Lena held a golden ring.


"A ring," the Dragonforged nodded. "What you hold most dear, is other people."

"So? Am I to wed?" Lena was even more confused now. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It is called an Arisen's Bond, not quite a wedding ring," the Dragonforged explained. "More powerful than that. Give it to the person you wish to have an eternal bond with, and if they accept, the bond will be sealed. The magic within is immensely strong."

"Oh, this is easy," Lena smiled, turning to Scorpio. "I never wish to lose you again, my friend. Will you accept this bond?" She held the ring in her open hand.

"Never to lose you again," said Scorpio, taking it.

There was a flash of light and the ring vanished.

"You cannot give it to a pawn," the Dragonforged said flatly. "No point - he is already bound to you anyway."

"But I nearly lost him once!" Lena exclaimed, remembering the ordeal in the Rift after Scorpio fell into a deadly abyss and could not return. "He did not return to the Rift!"

"And you got him back?" The pawn of the Dragonforged asked in surprise and amazement. "You offered a piece of your soul?"

"I have," Lena nodded. "But they said they already had my heart."

"You do not need that ring," the pawn shook his head. "Your bond is stronger than that already. Choose someone else," he pointed at Lena's hand - the ring was there again.

"Choose an actual person," the Dragonforged joined in. "The bond will be either your shield or your undoing, it is a test."

"The Legion surely loves its tests!" Lena exclaimed in indignation. "They've been testing me from day one! Whether I am in truth an Arisen! Whether my will is strong enough! Whether I've got the resolve!" She was turning red with anger at first, but now she started turning pale with rage. "Well, I've got an ugly scar on my chest and an empty space where the heart should be. I am an Arisen in truth! Enough tests!" She flung the ring behind the rubble in the cave. It made a noise, then went quiet. "I do not want anyone else." She put her arm around Scorpio's waist. "Thank you," she said to the Dragonforged, her voice sounding perfectly calm now. "Thank you for the explanation, but if I cannot give it to the one I choose, it is of no use to me."

...

"Stubborn," the Dragonforged smirked when Lena and Scorpio had left. He stood in the doorway, watching them walk away. "Well, they can't say we didn't try," he looked at his pawn. "What was that about the soul?"

"If a pawn perishes, the Arisen has to choose a new one," the pawn explained. "It is rare, but it occurs. What is more rare still, and almost never happens, is when the Arisen protests the loss of a pawn. The Legion will ask something in return to bring back the pawn, such as a piece of the Arisen's soul. I haven't heard of an Arisen before who would accept the exchange... until now."

"Stubborn, like I said," the Dragonforged shook his head. "Women." He snorted. "Good thing I never bound myself to any of them... or to anyone else for that matter..."

"Her pawn does not seem to mind though..." He stood next to his master, watching Lena and Scorpio walk away, the road stretching before them.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Escort

"Ser Maximilian is requesting an escort," Lena was reading notices on the billboard in the Union Inn in Gran Soren. "Interesting."

"Aha," Scorpio grinned. "Do I get the night off?"

"Not that kind of escort!" She grinned back at him. "He has orders to march to the Greatwall Encampment by way of training," she shook her head. "But he questions the sanity of going alone."

"He does have a head on his shoulders," Scorpio nodded approvingly, peering over Lena's shoulder to read the notice. "That trek is very dangerous and will run into the night even if we set off at dawn and jog most of the way."

"Three cyclopes, two chimeras, three or four groups of bandits..."

"...five if we are unlucky," Scorpio reminded her.

"Five if we are unlucky," she nodded. "Wights, undead warriors and skeleton knights if we tarry, any number of snow harpies, several large groups of hobgoblins..."

"...a debilitating lake that poisons, blinds and silences all at once..."

"...with spirits and phantasms because it will be already nighttime..."

"...and a few packs of direwolves too, let's not forget about them!"

"Oh yes, let's not forget them," Lena nodded. "So, what do you reckon? Take Rook with us?" She looked at Scorpio.

"Rook?" Scorpio was taken aback. "A mage, yes, but Rook isn't strong enough for all of that. He trains beginners."

"You'll see," Lena winked and marched to the Pawn Guild.

...

"Hello, Rook," Scorpio greeted them when Lena and Rook emerged from the Rift at the Pawn Guild.

"Not here," Rook said quietly and walked briskly towards the exit. Once they were sufficiently far away from the Pawn Guild, he turned to Scorpio and said, smiling: "I know you think it's mad for me to join your party. But I am not really as weak as I might appear. Not that Barnaby needs to hear of it, mind."

"Oh, your secret is safe with me," Scorpio grinned. "Been training, have you?"

"There will be no new Arisen as long as this one is still chasing the dragon," Rook nodded. "So the Legion leaves me alone for now. I've been helping Olra on the Bitterblack Isle."

"Wow!" Scorpio was taken aback. "You're not exactly level six then any longer."

"I have not been level six for a very long time already," Rook rolled his eyes. "It's just what the newly Arisen are led to believe. But even so, I wasn't supposed to gain too many new skills... So Barnaby doesn't need to hear of it. By hiring me now, the Arisen simply wanted cannon fodder, as far as he is concerned."

"Happens often enough," Scorpio nodded. "All right then! Let's go!"

...

Escorting Ser Maximilian to the Greatwall Encampment started off as a lengthy jog along a largely empty road.

"We want to get through this part of the way as quickly as possible," Lena was telling him. "The 'monsters' around here are mostly just wild animals, they don't attack unless provoked. Which we won't do."

"For once," Scorpio smirked.

"For once," Lena nodded. "This isn't that kind of training. We'll face plenty of trouble further on."

"Good thing they didn't require us to wear full suits of heavy armour," Ser Maximilian patted his coat. "I couldn't jog all morning with that on."

"I do hope you have at least something under that coat though," Lena looked him over without stopping.

"I'll let you find out if we make it there alive," he winked.

"Hmm."


The jog continued, with Scorpio leading and Rook staying close to Ser Maximilian in case of adversity - Rook's primary task was to keep Ser Maximilian alive. It proved more challenging than expected, as Ser Maximilian got into the fun of things and insisted on joining every fight that they encountered along the way. "I need practice," he was saying. "Standing still in the Castle Grounds dispatching orders got me out of shape." Lena objected that he should have brought potions, but he flatly refused anything she tried to give him. "Your mage is healing me already, that's enough!" Lena shrugged and gave up eventually. Rook had his work cut out for him.

Two cyclopes and three groups of bandits later, Ser Maximilian was getting complacent, she thought. Next up was a chimera.

"There's a chimera lurking in these woods," she told him as they were climbing a winding mountain path. "We'll try to avoid it, but there are also bandits there, it might get messy."

"Bring it on!" Ser Maximilian grinned. "This sword could use some action!"

"That may be more action than you're used to though," Lena shook her head. "Chimeras can be overwheeeeee...!!!" A giant lion jumped out of nowhere, a goat sat on its back, his tail a giant snake. Chimeras could overwhelm, yes.


"Whoah!!!"

There were several strategies for fighting a chimera, but none of them involved also trying to protect an eager knight who was constantly underestimating the danger. Plus, there were bandits and direwolves to deal with as well. Lena shot a quick glance at Scorpio who was already climbing on the chimera's back in order to try and hack off its snake tail, thus stopping it pouring poison, even though it was a partial blessing as it affected the bandits and the direwolves as well, except that they were smart enough to avoid most of it. Rook was too busy shooting lightening at the lion's head in order to stop him jumping around quite so wildly - Scorpio was hanging on for dear life, never mind hacking anything. Ser Maximilian lunged towards the chimera, his sword drawn, his shield up, but the shield would not protect him from the snake's poison or the goat's magic... or the bandits' daggers and arrows from behind, as it turned out. He was hit, but not too badly, and Lena dealt swift justice to the bandits, but more were coming in, and with the rampaging lion it would not take long before the fight was lost to the opposition...

"Not on my watch!!" She bellowed, grabbing Ser Maximilian around the waist, hoisting him over her shoulder ("Heavy!!") and running off towards the edge of the cliff. The drop to the lower level was only small, Lena jumped off, still carrying bewildered Ser Maximilian over her shoulder. There she sat him down, took out her bow and started shooting poisoned arrows at the chimera from a reasonably safe distance.

"Stay here and don't charge the chimera!" She ordered him. "I don't know if I can carry you again. We'll rejoin the fight once the snake is done, at least."

"Damn, I should have brought some arrows with me as well," Ser Maximilian sighed. "I didn't expect this..."

"No one ever expects a chimera," Lena smirked.

...

"Phew!" The chimera was slain and Lena and Ser Maximilian joined Scorpio and Rook dispatching the remaining bandits and direwolves. Rook had his hands full casting healing spells now, as Ser Maximilian was still refusing potions that Lena tried to give him.

"That's wine," he said, sniffing a bottle. "No drinking on the job!"

"That's wine, aye," Lena nodded. "It keeps you alive. Otherwise there's no job to begin with." But no, he wouldn't have it, not until they were safely at the camp... Lena shook her head at that logic, but gave up.

After the chimera everyone became more cautious, Ser Maximilian included. They dealt with a few more bandits along the way, but otherwise proceded peacefully.

"The next bit is a danger onto itself," Lena warned Ser Maximilian again. "There's a cyclops further up, but the most dangerous thing about this stretch of road is the cliffside. The path is narrow and uneven, one slip, and you're dead. Watch out when we engage the cyclops - the fall is what is likely to get you first."

"Nah, I walked mountain paths before," Ser Maximilian started argueing, but then they made another turn and the full scale of the drop became obvious. "Oh... I see. What a drop." Lena was only hoping that the caution sank in.

An armoured cyclops was towering in the distance, completely blocking the path. There was no other way but to fight it.

"How did you know there would be a cyclops there?" Ser Maximilian squinted at her.

"There's always one there, it belongs to the bandits that hold that fortress," she pointed at the fortress at the end of the cliffside climb. "That waycastle. The cyclops is their guard dog."

"But you've killed it a few times already, haven't you?" Ser Maximilian didn't give up. "So where do the replacements come from?"

"A cyclops farm? What do I know?" Lena shrugged. "Smuggled over the border? Beats me."

"There is a cyclops farm further up, remember?" Scorpio joined in. "It only had one cyclops there last time, but he was quite tame - friendly to the keeper, that is. I bet that's where they get smuggled." That was indeed very odd, but they had to stop their deliberations because they'd neared the cyclops and it started swinging its giant club... The fight had begun.

...

By the time they defeated the cyclops and dispatched another group of bandits further up the path, the sun started to set.

"Well, that was fun!" Ser Maximilian was in good spirits - they were once again on solid ground past the waycastle, without any danger of falling into an abyss.

"No, the fun is only just beginning," Lena pointed at a flock of snow harpies. "Don't rush them. There's another chimera to the left and a poisonous lake just ahead. You don't want to fall into either, but the harpies will bring it on."

Everyone had to exercise some restraint and avoid chasing the harpies, although letting them come too close seemed like a dangerous idea as well.


"Wait for it..." Lena stood still, watching the harpie approach. "It will try to grab you..." She put her hand on the hilt of her fire-enchanted sword. "Now!!" A swift strike threw the harpie on the ground, the fire enchantment setting its wings ablaze. "It doesn't always work, but is always worth a try," she grinned.

"Help me!!!" Scorpio was less fortunate, another harpie grabbed him and was carrying him towards the poisonous lake.

"No, you don't!!" Rook's fireball hit the harpie in flight, singing Scorpio a little, but mostly making the harpie release its grip as it fell to the ground. Lena dashed to it, making sure it would never fly again.

"Ugh, twisted my ankle," Scorpio swore, trying to set it as best he could - they still had quite a way to go.

"Right, everyone fall in and follow me," Lena said sternly. "The slope is slippery, the ground is soggy, and I don't want to see any of you fall into that lake, harpies or no harpies!" They nodded and followed, picking their way as close to the rising hillside as possible.

After some time walking in silence, they found the hillside opening up to a valley.

"Home stretch now," Lena turned to Ser Maximilian again. "Hobgoblins and direwolves ahead, possibly spirits and phantoms, undead warriors or skeleton knights, we'll see."

"Charming."

"Quite," she nodded. "Watch your step and try not to die this close to our goal."

"Let us take the lead," Scorpio joined in. "We've done this before. Heroics are not called for."

Ser Maximilian was going to protest, but changed his mind. Perhaps they had a point.

"Keep your calm about you," Lena patted him on the arm. "Here we go. Remember, I still want to see what you've got under that coat." She winked and charged into the darkness - hobgoblins were ahead.


"Are all Arisen like that?" Ser Maximilian asked Scorpio who was watching Lena's movements closely.

"No, she's one of a kind," he answered without turning, but stopped Ser Maximilian from interfering.


"Holy fury!"

"Fury - yes, holy - unlikely," Scorpio grinned. "Direwolves!"

The battle continued.


"Watch out!" The wolves were going for Rook. Wolves always went for mages, either because continued use of magic made their flesh taste better, or because they had to stand still while intoning their spells. Lena lunged, leaving Ser Maximilian to his own devices, but the wolves were already tearing at Rook's clothes, then jumping back in pain. "Armour," Lena realised. "Clever Rook!" Mages could not wear most of the armour available to buy - iron and steel interrupted their magicka flow, while bone armour carried curses. But the Bitterblack Isle held ore with unusual properties, ore that could be made into armour suitable even for mages. It wasn't a full body suit, but it was enough to make a difference. "Leave... him... alone..!" She bellowed, and the wolves suddenly stopped their attack...

"Help me..!" She heard Rook call - his armour failed to protect him. Holding her blade in wait and watching the wolves, she moved towards Rook lying on the ground. The wolves followed in fascination, their eyes on hers. She reached Rook and helped him up, then pushed him away. She faced the wolves.


Later on, when asked about what happened, she couldn't quite explain it. She howled, and the wolves howled with her. She bared her teeth - not fangs - and growled at them, and the wolves stopped growling and one even turned around and ran, tail between its legs. She was the Alpha.

Until the real Alpha jumped in, that is. A wolf twice as big as any other, he lunged at her, but she flicked her sword aiming to slice open his belly... and missed. It was a sword, not a dagger. She had expected a dagger. The sword did make a cut, but it only angried the wolf even further.

Landing behind her, the wolf turned and lunged again, knocking her on the ground. The other wolves were watching, transfixed. Dark fur of Lena's warg cape mixed with white fur of the direwolf, and both turned red with blood.

"That does it really!!" Another white wolf jumped into the mix, his silver rapier reflecting the light of the lantern... A silver rapier? Flames erupted around them, the wolves in the circle whined and were finished. The Alpha lay dead.

"Wolf? It's over," Scorpio held Lena in an embrace, she was shaking. His white direwolf cape overlapped the dark warg fur on her shoulders. Rook was casting healing magic at them, and for a moment the night was perfectly still.

"Wow." Ser Maximilian came closer. "Is she all right?" He asked in a small voice.

"She'll recover," Scorpio nodded.

Lena was calming down. She held her cheek pressed to Scorpio's chest, listening to his heartbeat, fast at first, and gradually slowing, the longer they stood still. His armour was only a half-plate, protecting the clavicle and the shoulders and running under the ribs; she slid her hands under his cape, she could feel his muscles under the jerkin... She closed her eyes, letting the last of the shaking dwindle. She felt his cheek brush against her hair... did she imagine a kiss?

...

"What are those?" Lena heard a voice a little further away. Ser Maximilian.

"Spirits and phantasms," she heard Rook reply. "They only appear at night."

"And can only be defeated with magic," Ser Maximilian's voice was getting stronger, although he didn't seem to be coming closer. Lena was recovering.

"Yes, that's why you always need a mage with you," Rook's voice was getting stronger too.

"The Duke does not like magic."

"Then prey, never travel at night."

"I'm all right," she looked up at Scorpio. "We should get to the camp."

"We should," he nodded, releasing his embrace.

The camp wasn't far, but there was no need to rush. They walked at a leisurely pace, Lena and Scorpio leading, Ser Maximilian following a short distance behind them, and Rook following Ser Maximilian, who stopped several times to watch the phantasms in the valley below.

"What is that light?" He asked Rook pointing at an eery illumination seemingly coming from the earth itself.

"It's that poisonous lake that we tried not to fall into," Rook scoffed. "Very dangerous. Avoid at all costs."

"Are they close?" Ser Maximilian jerked his head towards Lena and Scorpio who were by then out of earshot. "Are they..?"

"They are close, but not in that way," Rook was looking at them too. "She must really like you, you know."

"She does..? How d'you work that out?"

"This is the first escort request that she picked up. She hates escorting people places."

"Well, in that case..." Ser Maximilian hastened his step, catching up with Lena and Scorpio just as they were crossing the barricades surrounding the camp, with the soldiers greeting them, then switching to salute Ser Maximilian because of course he was a commander. He came up to Lena, may be a little too close for a formal acquaintance, and said: "That was some trek. With all that I am, I thank you."

"I am glad we made it here in the end," Lena smiled. "Shall we see what Ser Alfonso has cooking in that pot? I am starving."

4th Era, Year Unknown - Choices

"And now again, the choice is yours, Arisen," the dragon folded his wings and looked at Lena with interest. They had arrived at the end of their journey - they were facing the dragon on top of the Tainted Mountain. The dragon that could have burned them all to a crisp with a single breath - this was no drake in Devilfire Grove, this was the real thing. And he wanted to talk.


"Are you unique?" Lena walked around his head which was the size of two oxen. "Do you have a name?"

"Grigori," the dragon was watching Lena's movements. "I am as unique as you are, as any living creature. Or perhaps you wish to know if there are other dragons like me? There have been, and there will be, but at each given time there is just the one."

"So, Grigori," Lena squinted at him. "What is it that you want of me? Why did you bring Selene here?"

Selene was cowering on the ground a small distance away.

"She is what you hold most dear, is she not?" Grigori's eye came close to Lena. "She was in your house. You must choose now: sacrifice her and live as the ruler of Gransys, or save her and face me in a duel."

"Err..." Lena was trying to find the right words to explain to Grigori where he went wrong. "Selene was living in my house, yes. Because we rescued her from the woods, and it seemed like the right thing to do to bring her among people. I myself don't live in that house though. Got it? She isn't what I hold most dear."

"Oh... should I have brought someone else then?" Grigori seemed nervous, fire started gathering in his mouth. "Speak up!"

"There is no one in this world you could have brought, who isn't already here," she looked straight into the dragon's eye. "You have my heart. Can you not feel it?"

"Your heart is confusing," Grigori admitted. "I've got so many other hearts, they are plain to read. Yours... you bound yourself to a pawn?"

"I chose a pawn," Lena nodded. "We started out as strangers, then grew close in our time together. He is what I hold most dear. And yes, he happens to be a pawn."

"A pawn won't work," Grigori said flatly. "You cannot have your own pawn as a part of the choice bargain. Selene comes closest, so choose now - sacrifice her and live as the Lord of this land, or save her and face me in a duel."

Selene was watching the dragon transfixed, but now started making small noises.

"Did the Duke face the same choice?" Lena squinted.

"Of course he did," Grigori sounded surprised. "Did the Dragonforged not tell you? Oh, he didn't want to spoil the surprise!" The dragon smirked, and small flames spilled from his mouth. "Yes, this is how it works. You make your choice. Sacrifice your beloved... err... well, Selene in this case... and I shall go away for some fifty years, you will become immortal and will not age and will replace Duke Edmun as the Lord of Gransys. Everything will become normal again. Oh, and you will lose your pawn," he clicked his tongue. "So perhaps the choice works after all."

"So, this is what the Duke chose."

"Yes."

"But I do not get back my heart."

"No. And you can get replaced by the next Arisen."

"This explains why the Duke was trying to get you killed," Scorpio said quietly. "But it is an easy way out. Do not be too hasty to reject it."

"Hush," she shot him a glance. "You already know what I choose, but Grigori needs to understand it... and I want to know more first, now that we're talking."

"You have to say it out loud, Arisen," Grigori was getting bored. "For the spell to work. Come on, what is your choice?"

"Not yet," Lena shook her head. "Tell me first..."

"I do not need to understand your choice!" Grigori was gathering flames in his mouth again. "I grow bored with you, Arisen! What will it be?!"

"You can't just kill me, can you?" Lena squinted. "That'd be against the rules... You'd get punished... A great big dragon like yourself - punished? I wonder who is that powerful... No, wait - I know. The Legion."

"The dragon serves the Legion after all," Scorpio said mostly to himself. "Interesting."

"Nothing interesting about it, pawn!" The dragon spat fire, but not enough to actually burn anyone. "I am an Arisen! I defeated my dragon! You bow to me!"

Scorpio didn't bow but stood there, watching the dragon gathering more and more flames in his mouth.

"Watch out - you'll choke," he said derisively. "I now know what you are. You are an Arisen who got back his heart from the previous dragon but failed to return it to his chest. You forgot what it was for! You fought your dragon for all the wrong reasons!"

The dragon flew into a rage, it seemed. He breathed fire, and Lena dashed to Selene to protect her from the flames. However, the flames were cold.

"So, this is where the Legion gets its replacement dragons," Lena smirked. "Arisen who fight the dragon for all the wrong reasons. Regardless whether they live or die, they would make perfect dragons themselves. Clever."

"A never-ending supply," Scorpio nodded.

"Make your choice!!!" The dragon bellowed. "Now!!!"

"Or what?" Lena put her hands on her hips. "You'll spit more cold fire?"

...

"Stubborn," the Dragonforged and his pawn were peering into a crystal ball, watching the events on the Tainted Mountain. Someone in the Legion was watching it too. "She's taunting the dragon."

"She's taunting the Legion," his pawn objected. "That is most dangerous."

"Stubborn," the Dragonforged repeated, shaking his head in disapproval.

...

Back on the Tainted Mountain Lena was trying to learn from the dragon what was supposed to happen after their fight, in case she won. The dragon wasn't telling; perhaps he did not know.

"It depends on you!" He rolled his eyes.

"All right, tell me how it went for you, then," Lena insisted. "You fought your dragon as a human, then something happened and you got this form..."

"That's personal, that is!" Grigori sounded offended. "That's my business! You'll have to see for yourself what happens to you! Chances are, I'll kill you and you will never find out!"

Lena wasn't getting anywhere with him. Perhaps it was time to make her choice.

"Get Selene out of here," she told him. "I choose the duel."

"Finally!" The dragon sighed a sigh of relief and Selene vanished, teleported away. "Prepare yourself, Arisen!"

...

"She is not dragon material," someone at the Pawn Legion was peering into a crystal ball. "Her heart is still beating inside the dragon, it didn't turn to stone like the others. If she gets it back..." The person looked at another, also peering into the crystal ball.

"She is of no use to us," the other person agreed. "Grigori will kill her."

"And her pawn?"

"And her pawn," the other person nodded. "Before his print goes out. He'll make a decent wight."

...

The fight had begun. It was an epic battle, or rather it started out as an epic battle. Grigori was breathing fire, Scorpio was shooting at him from a ballista, Lena... Well, Lena was no where to be seen.


"Where is the Arisen?" Someone peering into a crystal ball asked nervously. "Dead already?"

"Grigori hasn't started yet," the other person came closer to the ball. "Can't be!"

"Nooooo!!!" They cried in chorus as Grigori faltered and fell, white tendrils engulfing his body.

"You always meant to kill me then," he said, looking at Lena as she lowered her bow a short distance away. "The Maker's Finger..." He squinted at a large white arrow in his chest. "Assassin."

...

"She cheated!" Someone pushed the crystal ball off the table. "The Maker's Finger! Bah!"

"She is an assassin," the other person objected. "She took the easiest way out."

"Giving up Selene was the easiest way out!" The first person exclaimed in rage. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Well, there's always the Final Solution..."

"She cannot be allowed to get to the top."

"Then we'll need to make sure she doesn't."

...

"I cheated." Lena turned to Scorpio. They stood in her house in Cassardis, they were all teleported there by some unknown magic. Selene was there too, still in shock. Rook and Scarlet stood a short distance away. Lena felt apologetic. The fight with the dragon was supposed to be an epic battle, culmination of their long and arduent training, but instead... Was it all for naught? "I took an easy way out." She looked at him with a little smile.

"You killed the dragon," he said quietly. "You won."

"Have I?" She pressed her hand to her chest and felt a faint heartbeat inside. "This doesn't feel right."

"Let me see," Scorpio took her in an embrace. "You should have your heart back, that was the deal." He pressed his hand to her chest. "It's there, but it's very faint. Give it time, perhaps?"

Lena nodded.

"So, what now?" She raised her eyes to his. "Is this the end?"

"If you want it to be."

"No... wait... that's not right! I cannot lose you again!" She exclaimed with worry. "I meant it, what I said to the dragon." She looked into his eyes, but his expression was closed.

"You have your heart back, you've achieved your goal," he said in his dispassionate voice. "You do not need me any longer. You will return to your world and your friends there, and I shall stay behind. Isn't it how the story goes?" He smiled.

"I want to return home, yes," Lena nodded. "But also... No, this is not right." She stepped away from Scorpio who promptly released his embrace. She was pacing the room, her head in her hands. "Not right at all," she was talking to herself, it seemed.

She stopped in front of Scorpio, her face set in resolve.

"I shall release you if you wish it," she said. "But know that in this world or elsewhere, a piece of my soul belongs to you. The choice is yours to make."

"But... but he is a pawn," a small voice said behind them - Selene. "He cannot decide for himself... He cannot make a choice... You have to decide for him, Arisen."

"The choice is easy," Scorpio smiled, taking Lena into his embrace again. "You offered me your Arisen's Bond and I took it. I see that it still holds."

"He kissed her... he made his own choice..." Selene was watching them, in shock once again. "And I..." She rubbed her hand but her pawn print did not reappear. "It seems I am a pawn no longer... in truth... and yet... I did not resist the dragon... I avoided making a choice..."

"It'll come to you one day," Rook put his arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the room. "You'll learn. Come. This night belongs to them, and them alone."

Oh my gosh! And then it took her two days to get back to health. Am wondering if you're gaming with Rayenna or if this is just Lena's story. Pretty sure you've gamed with Hauk as a PC, though i Might be wrong.

Uh oh, she's attacking another DB member. Naughty, naughty. And she got poisoned. Tsk tsk.

Bookmark (hope you don't mind. Easier to get back where I was if I link to it.)

Wow, what an ending. Well done.

Yeah, I played the Mephala quest with Rayenna, but it was a fudge because I dislike her too much to actually play the whole game with her. But for the same argument, Lena would never do such a quest as what Mephala required, so it had to be Rayenna doing it. As for the trolls episode, that actually happened to me on my first playthrough or so, I was exploring and entered that cave... Ouch! Those are some very mean trolls!!! So I figured as Rayenna was getting desperate, she'd just go into every cave, over-confident as she is, and get her ribs kicked in by the trolls.

As for Hauk, yes, I started a brand new game for him - he's doing Morroblivion. I also started a new game for Geralt and one for Lucien... but sssshhhh... didn't get very far in those two yet, that's still to come.


She didn't get poisoned, she's a Redguard, they are almost completely resistent to poison. So what happened to her? If the hint wasn't clear, you'll find out in the next couple of episodes.


Don't mind at all. Helps me too - I can jump back in and refresh my memory.

Thanks, Macole!

In this part of the game I have to give it to Capcom - their concept there is brilliant. The Maker's Finger is an actual item you can procure in-game, it is so to speak a legal cheat. It is extremely expensive, heavy and not always available, so you'd have to really plan and prepare if you wanted to use it against the dragon. Not every vocation can wield a bow either, there are many things to consider. And then you stand there and the dragon offers you that bargain... What? I don't have to fight you at all?

Suppose you take the bargain, as the choice of "beloved" is rather odd, especially if you didn't have a beloved. It doesn't matter really, you're asked to sacrifice another person, but what is one person's life on the balance of safety of Gransys? Plus, you get all the money and power you could ever want, for the whole of eternity? (Unless the next Arisen dares to dislodge you, that is.) And so you say yes, you accept the bargain. A cutscene plays out, a decent end for the game, no judgement there, for men are weak... titles roll... music plays... you are enjoying the last sip of your coffee as you prepare to hang your controller...

BZZZT... "Retry" screen pops up!

What?!

You hit retry and are permitted to make your choice again. However, if you had the Maker's Finger in your inventory before, it is now gone and you have to do battle the hard way. And what a battle it is! You better have many wakestones in your bag, for you'll need them, Arisen!

The original game does not have a save history, so you cannot go back and reload an older save. You have to live with your choices. Of course now there's a mod that makes backups, but I really like the original concept, so I only use backups as backups - in case the game crashes or the save gets corrupted, which again doesn't happen with the clean game, but can be caused by mods.

Once you kill the dragon, one way or the other, there again there's a cutscene, titles roll and it generally feels like the end of the game. You got your heart back. You won. Is there anything else to say? Wait and see.

No kidding! Wow. I've also had a couple characters I didn't like too, yet I did enjoy gaming with them to an extent. Nice to hear someone else has done this as well.

4th Era, Year Unknown - The Final Solution

Lena woke up late in her house in Cassardis, Scorpio lay beside her.

"Good morning, Assassin," he smiled. "How does it feel to have your heart back? You certainly slept soundly."

"Shall we go see what Pablo has cooked for breakfast?" Lena stretched, but sudden pain in her chest made her crouch and cough.

"What's wrong?" Scorpio caught her. "It still hurts?"

"Give it time, perhaps," Lena smiled at him, the pain subsiding.

They got dressed and went outside, it was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, the sea was calm, people were celebrating. But Lena felt a disquiet in her breast that she could not explain. "Just nerves," she thought. "I've been with a man before of course, but not like this... This time it meant something... sealed a bond..." She watched Scorpio take a swim in the sea and remembered one other time when love making actually meant love... Love she could never pursue, she thought, even if she did find a way to return to her world somehow. Her Speaker was out of bounds. "And yet... there he was, in Bravil, in my house. Came to tell me that the traitor was finally dead, that our names had been cleared, that the Brotherhood was ours again... My Speaker... My Brother... My friend..." She sighed. "And he was all of that and none of that..." She watched the seagulls steal fish from the boats. "So long ago... Why did I run away? Pretended it never happened?"

...

Time is a curious thing - it warps and turns, yet always remains linear, except in our memories. The day when Lena fell into the portal in Sheogorath's Palace and landed in Gransys, was a day in a year unknown, yet it was after the Oblivion Crisis was done with, after the Greymarch on the Shivering Isles, after the dreadful events with the treason within the Dark Brotherhood... All of that was behind her. Her vampirism cured, her looks restored. She could breathe easy again... She could have returned to mundus any time, but she didn't, she stayed in the Shivering Isles where time flew by as fast as you wanted, assisted by liquor and felldew. Her duties as Lord Sheogorath were light, and Sanguine's presence turned everything into one constant party.

Gransys was a wake-up call of sorts. Lena found herself in a strange world, embroiled in events she didn't understand, her heart missing, her life in danger. She shook off the felldew and rose to the challenge. She killed the dragon and got back her heart... What now? Should she perhaps just stay? Leave behind everything she knew in Tamriel? Give up that love she could never pursue anyway?

...

The seagulls were fighting in flight over the stolen fish. "That night in Bravil did seal a bond," she nodded to her thoughts. "All that went on before... all that we meant to each other... That bond still holds. The same as this one," she pressed her hand to her chest - her heartbeat was faint, but it was there. "This bond... A bond to a man who is here... in person... in the flesh..." Scorpio was swimming back to the shore, he would come out of the water in a few moments, he would walk over to Lena and stretch out on the sand next to her... "Enjoy the bliss while it lasts," she told herself, for she knew that the disquiet in her breast had nothing to do with nerves.

...

"The dragon is well and truly dead, you did it, cousin!" The people were jubilant.

"Prepare well, child," the old woman at the textiles shop patted Lena's hand. "You have defeated the dragon, now the true fight begins."

"I feel it too, the disquiet in my breast," Scorpio stood behind her.

"It won't still," Rook appeared in the doorway.

"Come, Master," Scarlet stood next to Rook. "Let us face the consequences."

Lena turned around and looked at them in turn. She was still the Arisen, they were still her pawns, her heart was beating in her breast and it made no difference. The fight continued.

...

"What happened? Is this truly the world the Arisen was meant to unleash?" Scarlet got knocked to the ground for the third time, by a mere goblin, it seemed.

"These are no common goblins!" Rook exclaimed, shooting yet another fireball at it. "Grimgoblins or some such! Like I've seen on the Bitterblack Isle!"

The skies were dark, the wind was howling, nature itself seemed to scold the Arisen for destroying the dragon. Beasts that had never been seen before, roamed the land. Hellhounds, succubi, giant undead...

"There is a chimera on the beach!" Scarlet pointed it out.

"Not a plain chimera either..." Rook shook his head. "This is the kind that regrows its tail and kills outright with its magic."

"Just how much time did you spend on the Bitterblack Isle?" Scorpio was taken aback.

"Enough to know the danger we're facing," Rook answered evasively. "Let us focus on the fight! And make for Gran Soren!"

"No, we are going back to Cassardis," Lena turned and motioned them to follow.

"Master?" Scarlet looked up in disbelief.

"I need a word with Olra first," Lena winked. "It is only a fool who rushes into battle unprepared. Isn't it what you always say?"

...

The young woman with a lantern stood on the village pier every night waiting for the Arisen to ask for transport to the Bitterblack Isle. The locals got used to her and paid her no mind. "I am but a shadow, here to serve for transport. My flesh resides elsewhere."

"Hello, Olra," Lena greeted her when they got teleported to the Isle. "Tell me about this place."

"But Ser! I do not know it myself," Olra objected.

"Oh, but I think you do..." Lena walked around her. "You are with the Legion, are you not? A pawn or perhaps an Arisen... You are the siren that calls the Arisen here, to their doom. And so I ask again: what is this place?"

"This is... this is a trap," Olra nodded. "But I know not its purpose!" She exclaimed hotly. "And what I said before... it is all true! I am lost... My hope is that I rediscover myself as you explore the labyrinth's depths and bring me back my memories. And I pray that my goals align with yours, Ser!"

"She speaks the truth, she does not know," Rook said quietly. "They wiped her memory, it seems..."

"If there is aught I can do to help, say it!" Olra seemed genuinely perturbed.

"All right," Lena softened her tone. "Perhaps things will transpire as we go on. I need you to..."

...

"Olra must not betray us," someone at the Pawn Legion was watching the events through a crystal ball. "It is bad enough that this Arisen's heart is still beating - and Grigori will pay for that. But we cannot have Olra talk."

"She won't," another person sounded certain. "She's been purged so many times already, she is truly nothing but a shell now."

"Did you know this about Rook?" The first person looked at the second with worry. "That he goes off on his own? Exercising his will?"

"Yes," the second person nodded. "He keeps Barnaby in the dark, but that's easily done. Rook is no threat to the Legion, he is a pawn, through and through."

"Well, if you say so," the first person shook his head in doubt, but dismissed the matter. "We have bigger fish to fry. Is everything ready?"

"Events have been set in motion," the second person nodded. "She won't survive Gran Soren."

"Well, it better work..." The first person got up from the table. "I am no fan of the Final Solution, it's so much work to put everything back together after that..."

"She won't survive it," the second person got up too. "Quince is already in place."

...

When Lena and her pawns left Cassardis for the second time, they were much better armed and their bags were bulging with salves and potions.

"The Everfall is the key," Rook was saying as they picked their way through hellhounds and succubi. "That light that you've seen in its depths before, those tentacles growing from the ground..."

"It's a gazer," Scarlet nodded. "We've seen one on the Bitterblack Isle."

"We ran from it," Lena reminded her. "We ran for our lives, remember?"

"There's nowhere to run now," Scarlet smirked. "We'll have to stand and fight."

...

Gran Soren was a sorry sight - most of the city had been wiped out, a huge hole gaped inside the city walls, a seemingly bottomless abyss... Beasts rose up from it every now and again, taking to the skies - beasts that now held Gransys. Yet apart from the hole in the ground, the city was unchanged... quiet... peaceful... secure... No beast roamed the streets, and those citizens that had not perished, had nothing to fear. Gran Soren's great walls still served to keep the monsters out, it seemed.

"How is this possible?" Lena was gazing into the abyss, watching the harpies, gargoyles and succubi rise from its depths and take to the skies, yet not one of them land in the city. "Why are they not attacking anyone?" She looked at her pawns in astonishment. "I mean, it's good of course, but..."

"It's like they are being controlled," Rook nodded. "Directed..."

"Like when they descended onto Cassardis together with the dragon," Lena was still watching the beasts. "Not one of them hurt anyone..."

"The purpose being to scare and to impress," Scarlet agreed. "But it ends with the city walls - Gransys has been overrun elsewhere."

"The Duke failed to keep us safe," a bystander nodded. "All his talk of building walls... And the ground caved in under us instead!"

"I shudder to think of the taxes they'll grab from us to rebuild it!" Another joined in.

"The Duke has failed us," another person echoed the sentiment.

"We're all done for! It's the end!"

"Oh shut up!"

Subdued or not, opinions still differed.

"You should go to the castle and confront the Duke," Scorpio said in Lena's ear. "Don't expect it to be a friendly meeting."

"Oh, I have no illusions," Lena nodded. "I'll go in the morning, it'll keep."


It was late and they were tired from their difficult journey from Cassardis that had taken them far longer than it would have done before, especially since Lena had to pick a fight with a dragon along the way... When Scarlet asked her later what possessed her to do such a thing, all Lena had to say was that it looked like an overgrown dragonfly from the ground, it wasn't red and it didn't seem to be that big... It was all true, except the size. It wasn't a great dragon like Grigori, but a dragon nevertheless. "A drake," Lena corrected herself. "It was but a drake."

All in all, taking a break to eat and sleep was the right approach.

...

When Lena came to the castle the next morning, she found it eery empty. No guards, no nobles, no staff were anywhere to be seen. The Duke's Chamberlain was in the throne room. Lena was to go to the Duke's Solar. "Solar?" She scratched her head, climbing the stairs. "Oh, his office. The room with thick curtains in front of huge windows... Solar... A sun room... Except that the present Duke did not enjoy the sun..."

She pushed the door to the Solar. The room was dark, the curtains not only keeping the sun rays out, but the light itself.

"I know you, Arisen," she heard the Duke's voice but could not see the Duke anywhere. "Your avarice, your ambition... You took the dragon's bargain! You came to seize my throne and take my land!"

"Err..." Lena was still trying to locate the Duke. The voice seemed to come from behind a large writing desk in the darkest corner of the room.

"The dragon cannot be defeated!" The Duke stepped into the scarce light in the middle of the room. "A beast like that cannot be slain by man!" He looked old. His hair was white, and although his hand held a mighty sword, his arm had no strength to lift it. His eyes were white as well...

"But you are blind!" Lena exclaimed. "An old man... Your age... You must be ancient!"

"I have ruled this land for many a year!" He might have been weak with old age, but his voice still carried. "You will not take my throne from me!"

The Duke attacked, but Lena could not fight an old man. "Why is he still alive?" She wondered. "He should have perished with the dragon, for the dragon held his heart..." She dodged another attack. "Unless... No, wait..." At that moment the Duke made another lunge at her, but his sword was too heavy for him and he faltered, grabbing at the curtains in an attempt to steady himself, tearing them down, then being blinded by the sunlight flooding in... He fell forward, breaking the glass...

Lena rushed out onto the terrace of the Solar, but the Duke was already rising after his fall, his face contorted with rage. The guards ran in, alerted by the sound of the glass breaking.

"She is a traitor!" The Duke bellowed. "A witch!! She put a curse on me! Seize her!!!"

"Oh, the W-word," Lena smirked. "Sure. Why not." She jumped off the terrace of the Solar and ran out of the gates of the castle.

"Arisen! How could you... No, what am I saying..." A confused but determined Ser Maximilian was barring her way, his loyal troops with him, swords drawn. "I cannot believe it... Yet I am duty bound to heed the Duke's words... Forgive me..." He looked at his men, most of whom seemed as confused as he was. "His Grace commands the Arisen's capture, men!"

Lena knew that it wasn't a bluff. Her pawns gathered behind her, and as she broke into a run, they followed, but the soldiers attacked the pawns while they had the chance... Ser Maximilian himself was chasing Lena, but his long commander's coat was slowing him down somewhat. Or it least he made it look like it was his coat.

"This way, they've sealed the other gate!!!" Lena heard Scarlet shout, but she was already too far away, almost near the wrong gate. "Help me..!" Scarlet's voice sounded hollow. What just happened? But there was no time to think. The gate was sealed indeed, Ser Maximilian was hot on her heels, she dived out of the way of his sword and sprinted in the opposite direction. Scarlet and Rook were both on the ground, she helped them up, sprinted on towards the other city gate...

The abyss of the Everfall released another flock of monsters, and this time they were flying low, close to people's heads, making everyone back off or run for cover... Again, no one was actually hurt, but everyone was scared.

"Ser Maximilian trained his troops well," Scorpio caught up with Lena at the edge of the abyss. "The other gate is also sealed, and they've got us surrounded."

"Follow me," Lena briefly squeezed his hand, then nodded goodbye to Ser Maximilian and jumped into the abyss.

4th Era, Year Unknown - Riddles

Lena was falling into an abyss. She wasn't trying to commit suicide, she was quite sure it was a portal. But she'd been falling for a while, and nothing was happening.

"Am I supposed to do something?" She wondered. She tried to pay attention to the walls, but the fall was really fast and she couldn't make anything out. There seemed to be platforms, lights... "Err... Stop!!" She shouted, but continued falling. There seemed to be objects in flight as well... "Jars of marmalade?" She wondered. One was falling right next to her. "Or-... orange... Orange what?" She read the label. "Hmm... Perhaps I should taste it..." She grabbed the jar... And found herself land on a platform, her pawns landing next to her. "Hmm." The jar was empty.

"This is a test of your strength," she heard a voice coming from the abyss. "Pray, show that you have the resolve to throw off your yoke."

"What?! Another test?!" Lena was outraged. "You destroyed this world just to test my resolve?!"


There was no answer.

"Arisen, I would ask aught of you," a voice came from behind, making Lena jump. "Please take these." A woman with a bow and daggers stood before her - a pawn. She was holding three wakestones, offering them to Lena. Nay, ordering Lena to take them. "I am Quince," the woman continued. "My master was like you - she fought the dragon, only to find the same disaster befall the world as now. She set out to collect twenty wakestones, but died trying. For her sake, continue her search."

Lena looked at the wakestones in her hand, they seemed genuine. She put them away.

"Three stones was as far as your Arisen came before she perished?" She looked at Quince with suspicion. "That isn't exactly encouraging... But why collect them at all? And why twenty? What will it accomplish?"

"I know not, Arisen," Quince shrugged. "It was my master's wish."

"Strange, isn't it?" Scorpio said in Lena's ear. "Very strange."

"Pray, explore the Everfall and bring me twenty wakestones." Quince's eyes were cold, too cold even for a pawn. "I'll wait for you by the entrance."

There was a flash of light and Quince vanished. "Teleportation," Lena thought.

There was just one door leading from the platform into the rock, they braced for monsters and entered.

The room beyond had no monsters in it. It was an old crypt with broken down sarcophagi arranged in rows. Two pawns were walking among them. "My master perished in his pursuit of the dragon," one of them said. "I am now left behind to forever wander these halls. My existence lost its purpose." The other pawn was equally depressed. "Some pawns have gone mad with the infinite wandering," she said. "They now attack anything in sight. Be watchful."

Lena spotted another door at the end of the crypt. Monsters or no, she pushed it.

"Gazer!!" Scarlet was the first to spot the danger. The room was an arena, it had another door to the side, locked. There was nothing else for it but stand and fight.

...

"A wakestone," Lena was collecting the loot that fell out of the gazer's pockets, or perhaps detached from its skin. "So this is how we are supposed to collect them." She put it away. "I still don't understand why though."

"Or how to get out," Scorpio put in. "We're done here but we're also out of potions."

They walked through the crypt and out the other door, they stood on the ledge again.

"We must jump," Rook suggested. "Look - there are lights and other ledges along the walls."

"With more arenas and monsters," Scarlet smirked. "It'll be our death. We need to leave the Everfall and return to the world of Gransys."

"I know," Lena fumbled for a polished stone in her bag. "Let's see if this works." She tossed a ferrystone into the air, shouted "Gran Soren", there was a flash of light, and they stood at the portcrystal by the Pawn Guild. The ferrystone had worked.

...

"She cheated - again!" A person pushed away his crystal ball. "Who allowed Fournival to sell ferrystones?"

"Now, look here - we do not control the populace!" Another person was getting defensive. "Fournival will sell anything - he sold her the Maker's Finger too!"

"Damn," the first person was calming down. "You're right, some things are still out of our control."

"Do not worry, she will never collect twenty wakestones," the second person tried to sound soothing.

"Even Fournival cannot supply that," the first person nodded. "If she doesn't jump right back into Everfall, we'll have to force her hand."

"What do you propose?"

"Gifts. And more dragons."

...

It was late evening, but there were still people about. Guards, too, but no one was trying to arrest Lena any longer. "We aren't with the Ducal Guard, we are just here to keep the peace," the guards were saying. "We have no grievance with you, Arisen." What a relief.

"But perhaps you should stay away from the castle for now," Scorpio put in. "Until things get settled."

"It is so confusing," Lena was shaking her head as they walked through the Craftsmen's Quarter where tents were set up for those who lost their homes. "The Duke still alive with Grigori dead... The Everfall opening up and swallowing Gran Soren and Gransys with it... The monsters, the dark skies... I never expected this! The world was not supposed to end!"

"The world didn't end," Scorpio thought she was overreacting. "Most people are still here. In fact, very few people have died. The Duke... Yeah, that's strange, I have no answer to that."

"It's a curse of some sort, it must be," Rook joined in. "The Duke was acting strange since Grigori came, and I don't just mean by trying to get you killed - that was the logical bit."

"Yes, his Chamberlain mentioned that the Duke had been ill... And then that attack on his wife in her chamber..." Lena was rubbing her chin, calming down. "Perhaps his bargain was not with the dragon..."

"His bargain was with the Legion," Scarlet seconded that. "The dragon was just the messenger."

"'We do not need your soul, we already have your heart.' This is what they told me when... you know..." Lena blushed. "'We' they said, not 'the dragon'. It is the Legion that owns the hearts, and the dragon is just a vessel."

"It is the Legion that decides what happens to the Arisen," Scarlet nodded.

"It is the Legion that turns an Arisen into the next dragon."

"It is the Legion that tends to the Everfall." Scorpio shot a glance at Barnaby, as they had now entered the Pawn Guild. "Keep your voice down."

"The Maker had truly forsaken us this time!" Asalam greeted them at the guild. "I have to run my inn from here..." He shook his head. "The Duke was building walls, but instead the very ground fell away from under our feet! It is a miracle that we're all still alive somehow... The Maker's joke, one can only laugh!"

He wasn't laughing, and Lena tried to make some polite noises.

"But not to worry, friend, we shall survive. My inn is gone, but here, your trunk is still intact... What magic is this, I wonder..."

"Take out what you need and let's walk over to Ser Alfonso by the tents there," Scorpio whispered in Lena's ear. "Asalam still charges you 500 gold coins to sleep on a mat in one of the chambers of the Everfall."

"What?" Lena exclaimed in surprise. "Sleep between the skeletons in the crypts down there?"

"Now, look here, Arisen, I have a business to run," Asalam shuffled uncomfortably. "It is skeleton-free, guaranteed! We've got pawns standing watch..."

"Err... I'll pay for using your storage, but I'll sleep in one of Ser Alfonso's tents, I think," Lena shook her head. "Now, let's see what we need..."

...

Half an hour later they sat comfortably by the tents enjoying Ser Alfonso's cooking.

"It's simple army cooking, but skeleton-free, guaranteed," he joked. "No point guarding the Tainted Mountain any longer - we are needed here instead."

"Now, let's see what we got here..." Lena was finally taking the time to look at the gifts of the dragon - items that miraculously appeared in her storage after the battle. "A sword... a bow... and another sword?" The second sword was short, more of a long dagger. "There is an engraving... 'Exclusively for the Arisen'... And on the other side: 'Gifts ultimate freedom'."

"No." Scorpio sat up. "Put that away."

"What a bad joke," Scarlet grimaced.

"There's no call for that," Rook looked grim.

"You know of this?" Lena looked at them in turn.

"We've heard of this," Rook answered for all of them. "It is called 'Godsbane'. This sword is meant for you to kill yourself."

"What a gift," Lena shook her head. "Is that their way of being subtle?" She grimaced. "First an Arisen's Bond with rules on who can have it and why, and now a sword to commit suicide?" She took a closer look at the sword. "It is ceremonial, not useful for battle." She flung it behind the crates and it vanished from view.

"So, what do we do?" Lena looked at her companions in turn.

"We train." Scarlet straightened her back. "The Everfall must hold some answers."

...

"Where are all the monsters?" Scarlet was looking around in huge disappointment. "Isn't Gransys supposed to be overrun with them?"

"The road from Cassardis to here certainly was," Scorpio echoed her sentiment. "But this... is strange."

They stood just outside Gran Soren, on a vista that was normally home to several packs of goblins, wolves, harpies and an occasional griffin, but now it was completely deserted. Even bandits were staying away.

"How are we supposed to train if there are no monsters around?" Scarlet pursed her lips.

The skies were overcast and may be a bit too grey, but other than that, everything was much more peaceful than before...

Until a dragon swooped down on them, that is.

"DRAGON!!!" Scarlet got excited, even though technically it was only a drake, but this one was red, and therefore of the fire breathing variety. Finally! Something to train with.

The dragon presented a decent challenge, and they geared for a long and protracted battle with many hits. Lena had switched to a magic bow previously, even though she always felt that magic bows were cheats because of all the enchanted enemy-seeking bolts, you didn't have to actually target anything. She also felt that they delivered far too much damage for the effort you had to put into the shooting. But after their extremely difficult journey from Cassardis to Gran Soren followed by the fight with the gazer, she was ready to take any help she could get, cheats or no cheats. And so she took out her new ice-enchanted magic bow and started shooting at the dragon, with the pawns doing their thing as well.

The real danger of this dragon was its tail. One sweep, and you were knocked out, as Scarlet and Scorpio found out repeatedly, and Lena had to dash to help them up. Rook shouldn't have had the problem, but in his enthusiasm he would often stand too close to the dragon, unnecessarily close since his spells did not require bodily contact. After Lena helped him up a few times, she started looking out for him preventively: if he was too close, she'd grab him and carry him over a bit further away.

"You're enjoying it, aren't you?" She winked, putting him down at a safe distance from the dragon yet another time.

"Makes me feel wanted," he grinned.

The dragon seemed to be getting annoyed however. After Rook set its wings ablaze for the third time, the dragon had had enough. It breathed fire knocking everyone off their feet, flapped its wings a few times to put out the flames, and took to the skies... never to return.

"We scared it off!!" Scarlet was shaking her sword at it.

"Well, this one flew off, but the next one won't," Lena didn't like it. "What monsters we do come across, are all much tougher than before. It's like the Bitterblack Isle descended onto Gransys. Each of you needs an upgrade or two, and high level gear is ten times more expensive than the usual stuff..."

"I don't want any new armour, thanks," Scarlet shook her head. She was still wearing the lightest of heavy armours, which had been her choice. "I need to remain agile. Bulky armour will hinder me more than help. I could use a better sword though," she grinned. Yeah, they'd seen one at the smithy, and couldn't even remotely afford it...

"I could use a better staff," Rook said timidly. "This one's Ok, but you can now get those twisted ones..."

"Yeah, we've seen one at the smithy," Lena nodded. "I know..."

...

"Well, and..?" Someone was clearly expecting Lena to come to a certain conclusion. "Did you drop some high level gear in the Everfall to tempt her to go back in?"

"I have... here and there," another person nodded. "Although admittedly may be not in the first chamber she visited..."

"Idiot!!! And who allowed the harpies and succubae to fly back to their nests? They were supposed to prevent her from leaving Gran Soren! Hellhounds, giant undead - where are they?!"

"Staffing the road to Cassardis... We don't have enough for the whole of Gransys."

"Arrggghhhh!!!"

"We'll use Plan B, Master."

"It better work!!"

4th Era, Year Unknown - The meaning of life

"Two arenas, eight wakestones," Lena counted their trophies after a foray into the Everfall. "I don't get it. The fights were tough, yes, but it won't take forever to collect twenty wakestones at this rate... I hope."

"What happens once we've collected them?" Scarlet mused.

"Quite."

"I think the purpose of this is to get you killed," Scorpio looked straight at Lena. "Senseless fights against tough enemies... Gransys isn't exactly terrorised by monsters, except for some pockets. I bet as soon as you are dead, everything will be back to normal. Including the Duke and the Dragonforged."

"It certainly looks like it," Lena agreed. "Duke not dead and all... I wonder whether Grigori is actually dead."

"Even if he is, he can be brought back to life," Rook put in. "If the Legion could transform a dead Arisen into a living dragon, they could raise a dragon from the dead as well, if they wanted to."

"We should pay a visit to the Dragonforged, see what happened to him, don't you think?" Lena squinted at her pawns and they grinned. They didn't think she was supposed to do that.

...

On the way to the Dragonforged they got attacked by a wyvern and later on by a griffin. But both creatures flew off after a short while.

"We'll have to be a lot more deadly if you want to kill them," Scarlet said watching the wyvern hover over the bay and periodically dive into the water. "That wyvern is simply gone fishing."

"I don't see any reason for killing them if they are not bothering anyone besides the fish," Lena shook her head. "What's the point in that?"

"It's making about as much sense as those 'training' notices on some of the billboards: kill 29 oxen, kill 23 deer, kill 15 seabirds... How does it go? 'An Arisen must rise to every threat!' The threat of 45 rabbits, among others," Scarlet mocked the stuck-up tone of some of those notices.

"Well, the rabbit one was at least making some sense - the smith wanted the skins for the armour," Lena objected. "The rest... That's why I didn't take on any of them."

They stood by the entrance to the cave of the Dragonforged. Everything looked the same as before, the fires were burning, there were supply crates and barrels by the entrance, the place still looked lived in. They entered.

The pawn of the Dragonforged stood in the room reading a book, but the Dragonforged himself was no where to be seen.

"Hello," Lena greeted him. She realised that she had never asked his name. "The dragon is dead..."

"And so is my master," he replied. "I've come here in the fullness of time..." He smiled at Lena - that was the greeting of the Dragonforged.

"But you have not perished."

"Strange, isn't it?" He looked at Lena in surprise. "I wonder if I am the Dragonforged now? But I have no wisdom to impart to you, for you know more than I."


"Another instance of 'bestowal of spirit', perhaps?" Rook was watching him with interest.

"Don't say he looks just like his old master!" Lena smirked. "He is a man wearing a toga, and that's where the resemblance ends. What will you do now?" She turned to him.

"The same as what I've been doing for the last thousand years or so: nothing. Watch the direwolves lounge on the rocks, the snow harpies pick at an ox carcass, the bandits ambush the road... with an occasional griffin or wyvern making an appearance," he smirked. "And tell enigmatic truths to an Arisen that might pop in for a visit."

"Do you think you're still immortal?" Scorpio wondered.

"Who is to tell?" The pawn of the Dragonforged shrugged his shoulders. "Should I die of old age one day, the answer will be 'no'. You are the first Arisen to kill the dragon since my master was an Arisen himself," he looked at Lena and smiled. "What happens next, is a mystery."

...

"We should not rush to collect the wakestones," Lena said decisively when they stood outside again. "I have a feeling that will force the hand of whoever is in control here. They haven't killed me yet... we should look around some more."

"You might be forcing their hand by not obeying orders already," Rook objected. "Quince is obviously their agent."

"As is Olra," Lena nodded. "And Barroch on the Bitterblack Isle."

"I'm not so sure about Barroch," Scarlet shook her head. "Perhaps we should have a word with him first?"

"Let's go."

...

"You brought some armour forged in the fire of the dragon's breath for me to upgrade, have you not?" Barroch's eyes were positively sparkling. "Hand it over, let's see!"

Lena handed him her gear.

"That's why you stayed here, isn't it? You're a smith."

"An apothecary," Barroch corrected her. "I was an apothecary when the dragon decided to make me into an Arisen. I still prefer alchemy to smithing, but the real fun is to combine the two. This place has materials that'll keep me busy for an eternity and a half..."

"So, it is knowledge you're after," Lena nodded. "That's why you accepted the curse."

"Curse? What curse?" Barroch looked up in surprise. "You think the creatures don't attack me, is that it? They do. But I've learned to stay out of harm's way and I can defend myself if I really have to. The armour I'm wearing, isn't just for show!" He pursed his lips for a moment, then his expression cleared again. "No hard feelings, friend. I have to thank you for coming here. All the Arisen that fall for Olra's trap, make more than enough kills for me to scavenge..."

"Where is your pawn?" Lena asked again.

"He perished," Barroch looked rather sad saying it. "Fell into the abyss in the Rotunda of Dread. I believe you know what it does to pawns..." He squinted and Lena blushed. "Well. I didn't just leave him behind like some," he looked at Scarlet and her face turned grey. "But when he perished, I didn't pick another."

"I killed the dragon but the world did not return to normal, in fact it is gone dark and monsters from here overrun it," Lena changed the topic.

"Really?" Barroch seemed genuinely surprised. "Forgive me, friend, but I would not know what happens after you kill the dragon. I never went after mine."

"All right. What is the purpose of this place, then? What is its secret?" Lena was still trying to get some answers, although her hopes were dwindling fast. Barroch seemed to be only interested in alchemy and smithing.

"This place is a trap for the Arisen and pawns alike," he answered. "Aye, as far as I can make out. Is there a purpose to all the killing? If there is, I haven't found one. Not that I was even looking..."

...

"We're not getting anywhere," Lena was disappointed. "I have a feeling there's another Arisen somewhere on the Bitterblack Isle, and so what? Even if he is a monster."

"Olra is probably a pawn," Scorpio nodded. "That Arisen's pawn, perhaps? We've seen pawns gone mad in the Everfall, who is to say the same thing cannot happen to an Arisen?"

"And she wants to 'save' him? Perhaps," Lena agreed.

"It's a trap designed to kill the Arisen who are of no use to the Legion, simple as that," Rook put in. "I wouldn't bother with it."

"But what is the Legion's purpose?" Lena wondered.

"Control, what else," Rook shrugged. "Isn't it what makes the world go 'round?"

"Asking these questions will get you killed," Scorpio looked at Lena with worry. "Or worse."

"Worse?"

"They'll make you immortal."

...

Lena decided that it was time to start collecting the wakestones, and so they returned to Gran Soren and entered the Everfall.

"We don't have to deliver the wakestones as soon as we've got them collected, do we?" She winked. "But I'd rather get it over with."

She also had quite enough of being a Magic Archer, she thought that surely she should be able to manage everything with her two swords, three sets of daggers and a dragon-gifted bow with seven different kinds of arrows. Scorpio would carry the largest Morgenstern they could find, Scarlet would be the agile fighter as usual, and Rook - the mage and healer. What could possibly go wrong?

They did a few chambers with grimgoblins, succubae and hellhounds, and everything was fine. They did one with goblins, a cyclops and a golem, and they managed. They even did a drake... But then they faced a hydra. Having spent a long time at it and only managed to keep one head out of five cut off, they gave up. The heads were regrowing faster than they could destroy them, and Lena insisted they should leave the hydra be. The next room didn't look all that dangerous - gargoyles and succubae... But Scorpio's giant Morgenstern was making him too slow, and Rook's primary skills as a healer made his offensive magic weaker in comparison... The flying creatures swarmed. They attacked with a kiss - a deadly kiss, different from creature to creature. They would knock out their victim, and if uninterrupted, they would suck the very life out of them, or else they would trample them with their talons afterwards for good measure. Lena had been unconscious for too long. Rook got the kiss of death.

"We lost Rook," Lena realised when the fight was over.

"He'll be all right," Scarlet was drinking deep from her wine bottle. "These kisses are not fatal to us pawns. Not like petrification can be sometimes..."

This was welcome news, but still, a change of gear was needed. Scorpio took up his sorcerer's staff with his offensive spells, and they found a fellow with a huge ice-enchanted blade to be their heavy fighter. They lost their healer, but decided to compensate with extra potions instead. Something had to give. They returned to the Everfall with this new party. After two days they were done.

"Twenty five wakestones," Lena counted the stones in the box. "Wow!"

"It was good thinking to focus on collecting the wakestones and wakestone shards during the fights rather than afterwards. Those stones tend to vanish after a short while," Scarlet nodded. "And we didn't have to fight the hydra," she grinned.

"No need to make it any more deadly than necessary," Lena grinned back. "Now, I am famished. I wonder what Ser Alfonso has cooking in that pot?"

...

"She collected the wakestones!!" Someone at the Pawn Guild flung his crystal ball into the far corner of the room. "She cheated!!!"

"No, she just..." The other person broke off, it was best not to argue. "Plan B has been set in motion, Master."

4th Era, Year Unknown - The life of a pawn

"I have a feeling this might be goodbye," Scarlet said quietly when they finished their meal. "Once you deliver the wakestones to Quince, something will happen and I shall never see you again. I want you to know..." She broke off, noticing Lena's bewildered expression. "I want you to know that walking with you has been an honour and a privilege, truly." She paused. "I shall be reliving these memories for the rest of the eternity, it will be enough to keep me away from the Bitterblack Isle after my master finally dies."

"Scarlet..." Lena barely found her voice. "I wish I knew what to say..."

"You don't know what will happen," Scorpio gave Scarlet a meaningful look. "I think you are right that a change is coming, but you don't know what happens after that."

"Oh but I do - for me, that is," Scarlet smirked with sadness. "I shall resume wandering the Rift waiting for my master's call... which will never come. Not written off, not released from service, neither here nor there... I shall be walking the streets of Gran Soren looking for a new Arisen to pick me up... For I am certain that the world will be restored once whatever they have in store for you, is done."

"How do you know all of this?" Lena was dumbfounded.

"I don't," Scarlet shrugged. "I've never witnessed a dragon's death, I don't know what will happen."

"But you are immortal..."

"Yes, it means my life has no end. But it did have a beginning."

They sat quietly, each thinking heavy thoughts. Lena couldn't see a way out, a way that would lift the hold that the Legion had on the pawns. Why the charade with the dragon? Why repeat it every fifty years? Especially since most Arisen either died too soon or never bothered with it to begin with... What was the meaning of it all? Rook thought it was control, but control over what?

Lena got up and hugged Scarlet tightly.

"Something will happen, I agree," she said. "I too have this feeling of foreboding. But there is no point in delaying. We've explored everything we could, talked to everyone, followed every lead... We still have no clue what is going on. The only lead left to follow, is the one with the wakestones. I'll give them to Quince in the morning. Perhaps we'll meet again in what comes after that."

Lena lay down on a mat in a tent pretending to sleep. She couldn't sleep, her heart was heavy. Scarlet had become such a good friend... Rook, too. Would she lose Scorpio as well, she wondered? Was she now supposed to venture forth on her own? Perhaps it was better to never deliver the wakestones after all?

All was quiet, and most people were sleeping in their tents. People who lost their homes when the Everfall collapsed. They weren't dead, but their lives were shattered. Everyone's lives were shattered, even when the monsters did not attack, their oppression was palpable. No, that would not do. She could not leave all those people to suffer the world that she had unleashed. She just wanted her heart back! How selfish.

"What happened with the previous Arisen?" She recalled a conversation with Ilona, the old woman at the textiles shop in Cassardis. "Nothing happened," Ilona had said. "The dragon goes away after a while all on its own, and things get back to normal." So, all of it was really Lena's fault. "Because you cannot leave it well alone," Ilona had said, and although there was no reproach in Ilona's words, Lena still felt guilty.

She didn't take the dragon's bargain, either. Perhaps there was wisdom in Duke's words after all. He took the bargain out of fear, it seemed, but it granted the people of Gransys happy and prosperous life for many years... Until Lena had to destroy it all. "Avarice and ambition," he said. Avarice - no, but ambition... self-righteousness... self-importance... yes, she was guilty of that. "The bargain with the dragon was not just about sacrificing the beloved - it was about sacrificing my own heart as well," Lena thought. And she couldn't do it, not even to grant the whole country a happy life for many years.

A sharp pain in her chest made Lena sit up.

"Self-doubt will get you killed. It is a luxury we cannot afford," Scorpio said in her ear, paraphrasing something she told him in the early days of their partnership. "You are no saint, thank goodness for that." He put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. "Martyrdom seems like a noble way out, but it is not a solution. We'll have to fix this world through different means, somehow."

"I am afraid I shall lose you this time," Lena pressed her cheek against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"You won't," he said quietly. "I am still bound to you."

"What?!" Lena sat up. He wasn't talking about the bond she had offered him, this was something else, something she never considered.

"Why do you think Scarlet cannot leave her master?" He smirked. "Why a pawn in your party can never turn on you, whatever you do?" He smiled at Lena's bewilderment. "When you take on a pawn, the Legion binds us to you. We must follow the Arisen's every command and can never turn against the Arisen, as long as that bond holds. That is, either until you release the pawn or until you die. My bond to you still holds. I shall be with you in whatever comes next."

"But you are more than just a pawn, you are and have been my friend..." Lena was still stunned.

"Yes," Scorpio nodded. "This was my personal choice."

...

"You want to make her into the Seneschal," someone at the Pawn Legion grinned, looking into his crystal ball. "That'll certainly stop her asking questions."

"Indeed," another person nodded. "She will either perish in battle, or die of boredom later."

"We can start rebuilding as soon as she jumps into the Everfall."

...

Lena delivered the wakestones to Quince, and nothing happened. Nothing at all! The world looked the same as before. Scorpio and Scarlet were still standing next to her, the other pawns were still walking around.

"What happens now?" Lena asked Quince, but Quince didn't know or didn't wish to say.

"Have you completed all you wanted in this world, Arisen?" She asked. "How about on the Bitterblack Isle? All done?"

"Why, what is it to you?" Lena squinted, she didn't like it.

"It is just something I have to ask you, is all," she smiled, but her eyes looked empty. "What happens next... the choice is yours, Arisen."

Lena turned to her pawns - her friends.

"What kind of a choice is this?!" Tears were swelling in her eyes. "I cannot allow this world to remain broken! Should I just kill myself now? I'm sure any sword will do, not just that 'Godsbane'!"

"You will do no such thing," Scorpio said sternly. "No martyrdom, please. The Everfall is the key, it is a portal, we've seen it already. Look how it transformed - it defies space itself. I wager, were you to jump now, you'd enter another plane."

"Yes, you are probably right," Lena nodded, looking into the Everfall again. "The lights and ledges are gone," she observed. "It's just the blackness of the abyss now... I'll see you later, I hope," she turned to Scorpio. "Remember our bond." And with that she jumped.

...

"Well met, Arisen," a luminescent figure was seated on a throne of white marble in a place covered in fog. "You made it this far. I have a few tests for you."

"Tests?" Lena said warily. "Haven't you tested me enough already? What do you want?"

"Your death, if I may," the figure was mocking her, it seemed. "I am the Seneschal, the Maker, the Keeper and the Guardian of this world. You will do as I say. Defend yourself, Arisen!"

The figure attacked, and Lena quickly responded. It was absolutely surreal. A duel with God? What manner of madness was that? Besides, if this was God, why was he bleeding?

After a while he called off the fight and offered Lena a choice: return to Cassardis at the moment just before the dragon's attack and live a peaceful life, or continue on, towards more tests, deeper into the Rift. He showed her a vision of herself in Cassardis, surrounded by the locals, everyone calling her "cousin", there's more fish than she could possibly eat, there's no scar on her chest...

"Nice try," Lena smirked. "But this has never been my past."

"I can return you to Tamriel, if you prefer," the Seneschal conjured another image: the New Sheoth Palace, festivities in full swing, someone about to push her into a portal... "That statue will just be a statue, you'll get a bump on your head, and that will be all," he said. "The choice is yours, Arisen."

"Remember our bond."

Her own words sounded in her head. She closed her eyes and tried to listen to her heart, but her heart was confused. She tried to listen to her soul, but a part of it belonged in Tamriel, yet another part here in Gransys. Not just in Gransys, she noted.

"There are no pawns in your vision of Cassardis," she said.

"Indeed," the Seneschal nodded. "They are but shadows of life. They have no place among humans."

Lena looked up at the luminescent figure of the Seneschal. He had the form of a man, yet his features were all but erased. "He speaks for the Legion," Lena thought. "I must accept nothing he has to offer."

"I refuse," she said.

"Then pray, proceed with your test."

Illusions of people she knew in Gransys appeared before her, each trying to make her return to Cassardis. She had to evade them or parry their attacks. "Have you no heart that you are attacking your friends?" A voice asked. But she knew they were not her friends, but mere shadows conjured up to confuse her. She pressed on.

"You are getting close!" The Seneschal stood before her again, raising his sword. "Stand against me!" But this time another person was with him, another fighter.

"You made it this far," she heard a familiar voice - Scorpio stood beside her. "There is nothing left to do but fight!"

There was no time to think about it either. "Clear your mind of all else, focus on the fight," Rook's voice sounded in her head. "This isn't a bluff."

It wasn't. The fight was fierce. It was really hard. But eventually Lena and Scorpio prevailed, no small thanks to Scorpio's superior fighting skills.

"Congratulations, Arisen, you passed your test," the Seneschal got up from the floor where he was lying dead a moment ago. "You cannot kill me," he smirked. "Immortality is a curse." He unbuttoned the collar of his jerkin and pulled out a sword. Lena could have sworn that the sword had been inside his chest, not just inside his jerkin. "Take this," he offered her the sword. "This is the only blade that can kill me. My personal Godsbane. Please, release me."

She took it and pierced his heart.

...

"Well done, Arisen," a voice sounded a few minutes later. "You are now the new Seneschal. You will dwell in this chamber for the rest of eternity."

...

"The Legion won," Lena looked at Scorpio in desperation. "I am stuck here now, and you with me."

"You were not the first to fall for it either..." Scorpio was looking at the corpse of the previous Seneschal that had lost its luminosity and now looked like a corpse of a man, an Arisen. The other fighter must have been his pawn, his corpse was also there, the print on his hand extinguished. "You have released them both. But what of you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Lena shook her head.

...

Days had passed, perhaps weeks. They had nothing to do. No where to go. They said all there was to be said and revisited every memory multiple times. Lena could not imagine doing that for the rest of eternity. She did not tell Scorpio of her life in Tamriel - it hurt too much. He understood.

"I don't see a way out," she said to him. "I have to kill myself."

"Then they will have really won," he objected.

"But what do you propose?"

Alas, he saw no way out either.

"I hope... somehow... this isn't the end," Lena looked into his eyes and took his hand. "It's wishful thinking, perhaps... Just promise me one thing: do not bury yourself on the Bitterblack Isle. Become a trader in the Everfall if you have to, that'll give you something to do..." She broke off. "I don't know what I'm saying."

"I wonder..." Scorpio squeezed her hand. "They say an Arisen's Bond carries immense power. Look." He opened his hand, his pawn print dim but visible. And there, on his finger was the Arisen's Bond. "It appeared when I was summoned here," he said.

"All right, wish me luck." Lena kissed him and quickly stabbed herself through the heart before he could protest. She was, after all, a skilled assassin.