The Triple Invasions

[Maharg67]

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Altered second part of Post #6 (Installment Five)

 

 

Tameriel is much bigger because I have expanded it out and added new settlements, forts, other features for writing as compared to being part of a game.

Cyrodiil is much larger and stretches from to the east and northern coast through thick corridors of land. (East Skyrim and South Morrowind?).

Details to be added.

 

 

 

Copyrighted as follows @ 2009 (basically want people to ask before they use any of these concepts and to acknowledge where they came from).

 

Kurikondi = druidic, healer, battlemage oriented people

Kuriyanwi = very psychic Kurikondi cousin minority

Kurivezzi = very magical Kurikondi cousin minority

Kurikonddis = Trade Encalve on western coast of Cyrodiil

Kurikondor = Mysterious continent far west of Tamriel the continet on the world of Mundus.

druidgon = druidical dragon like creature, magical

 

Kurikanzi = zruidic people, once Kurikondi but broke away to take a dark path

zruids = a dark form of druid believing in twisted nature, forms of demonism and even unique forms of undeath

 

Omnicronos

Opisoriti-Opisori

 

gobbit = goblin like creature

gobgoblin = hybrid goblin-gobbit

 

muckopus

 

Kirndu

Kirnduite

 

Cartorari

Cartorariata

 

skel = animated skeleton

 

elementathrope

Great Cluster = Oztralia, Taziland and the Triple Zealands.

Amazoniss the Goddess of Protection of Nature and Life, (Great Slayer of Undeath and Twisted Nature)

Panyre the Goddess of Natural Magic (Wild Magic)

Gaigia the Goddess of the Cycles (of Birth and Rebirth), Healing and Compassion.

 

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Characters

Empress Evenia Septim

 

Story takes place roughly three hundred years after the death of Martin. (Changed from two hundred years)

 

Since then there have been dark times including the Corprus Plague, the War of the Five False Emperors that is commonly known as the War of the Five but the empire, now called the Cyrodiilan Empire, has arisen back into power again. Now it is under the control of the Imperial Leadership Council and the Imperial Steward. The empire is once more expanding slowly but steadily across Tamriel but is facing many difficulties in doing so.

Three False Emperors still exist with followers and not all ex-Imperial Provinces are eager to return to being part of the Empire.

 

Nobility has changed in ranking being now Duke/Duchess, Count/Countess, Viscount/Viscountees and Baron/Baroness

 

Guilds have risen, have fragmented, have rejoined.

The Mages Guild has grown larger but now there is also a Healers Guild that has many healing focused mages in it and the Magisans Guild (Magic Artisans) who also have many mages but ones focused on making magical devices including weapons.

Illusionaries Guild are mages, often minor level ones, who focus on creating entertainments such as amusing audio-visual projections. Can also work with the Actors Guild as magical effects makers.

 

Fighters Guild has become the Guards Guild representing private security guards sometimes contracted out by the empire.

 

But then a new Fighters Guild arose, a semilegal guild dedicated to fighting outlaws, bandits, minor monsters and other such threats for free and kind affordable donations but only in the urban areas of cities and towns.

 

Theives Guild has remained the same but has gained Subguilds such as Forgers, Burglers, Smugglers, Kidnappers, Bank Managers and others.

 

Other Guilds to rise are the Merchants, Traders, Artisans, Gladiators, Farmers, Sages, Artists, Couriers and others.

 

Workers, Scholars, Actors, Assassins, Mercenaries and Mimes Guilds are semilegal.

 

An attempt to bring back slavery has been only partially successful with powerful forces attempting to abolish it again and many provinces working against it.

 

Druids, Sorcerers, Wizards, Witches, Warlocks and others have come into the land from overseas but their true origin remains a mystery.

 

Three long forgotten Goddesses are rearising being Amazoniss the Goddess of Protection of Nature and Life, (Great Slayer of Undeath and Twisted Nature), Panyre the Goddess of Natural Magic (Wild Magic) and Gaigia the Goddess of the Cycles (of Birth and Rebirth), Healing and Compassion.[/size]

 

 

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Edited July 10, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Installment One

 

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K'Martina knew that she was being followed but she acted otherwise. She had orange-brown skin, black hair and light brown eyes of a Kurikondi. In her robesuit, knee length and hooded, she looked to be a typical gawking tourist from the western coast of Cyrodiil. She kept looking at a cheaply magici-printed map of the Central City Sector even as she kept looking up at the great marbled stone dome.

 

The young attractive woman walked casually along a wide flagstone sidewalk of the Imperial City that was now commonly known as Martinpolis. Around her flowed the population of the city that varied from beggers in tasteful rags to public servants in yellow robesuits to monks in grey robes to merchants and many others. Cityguards strode along the footpath in light magical steel armour and with standard magical steel weapons. There were also Sheriff's Constables, the most basic rank of those serving the Sheriffs Guild and the Sheriff of Central Martinpolis.

 

Horse drawn wagons, carts, buses, delivery trays and other vehicles filled the street. Horse and pony riders were fairly common. Some people rode imported Kurikondi bicycles, big delivery-tricycles or even four wheeled quadcycles. There were a few magikinetic driven vehicles, luxury carriages, taxicabs and even double wheeled magicycles also imported by the Kurikondi but also a sprinkling of local made magical and magical-steam vehicles.

 

It was three hundred years after Martin the Campassionate, Honourary Emperor of the Cyrodilin Empire, had died defeating the Daedric monster Methrunes Dagon and had closed the Oblivion Gates. The city had long fixed up the ruins and the great dragon statue stood now inside a special domed temple. Martin had become the Tenth God being Martinus the God of the Dragon Fires. He had a big temple in the Temple District as the other Thirteen Gods did.

 

Thirteen Gods? The Eight who came first became the Nine with the rise of the first of two Hero Gods, as they were now called. Then Martin had become the second of the Hero Gods. But what of the other Three? They had arisen seemingly out of nowhere with amazing speed and they were contraversial and far from welcomed by all. They were Magros the God of Order, Shagros the God of Loyalty and Zagros the God of Strength.

 

She was a stranger, was openly Kurikondi who imported pedal powered devices, cheaper books, chocolate, coffee, opium, hemp ropes, fireworks, medical serums, power-gems, liftergas, bumpaper, tobacco, spices, sugar and a fair few other items as well. The Kurikondi had a large Trade Enclave on the coast south of Anvil that was known as Kurikonddis. Convoys of Kurikondi galleons sailed into Kurikonddis about once a month coming eastwards from the distant mysterious continent of Kurikondor. Unlike the sailships and uncommon magiships of Tamriel, the Kurikondi vessels were made of light weight but stronger than steel magimetal and were much bigger. Kurikondi had many secrets that they refused to share with Tamriellans and magimetal was one of them.

 

K'Martina had come in one of those great sailships just a month ago and now she was visiting the Imperial Capital just as a tourist. Kurikondi did not often come this far from the enclave. Most visited Anvil if they had to go to any Cyrodilin Imperial City. That was why many people glanced at her with curiosity but her beauty also drew attention. They noted her clever designed backpack, another imported idea now used by many including the Imperial Army of Tamriel.

 

They gaped at the elaborate coloured tattoos on her cheeks, the silver magisilver bladed broadsword scabbarded over her back, the large ornate springback-pistol holstered at her side and the softly glowing power-rings on the middle finger of each of her orange-brown hands.

 

She paused to buy a warm stuffed potatoe. Potatoes had been introduced by the Kurikondi but they were now cultivated in such large numbers in Tamriel that they were no longer imported. The orc nodded and smiled at her toothily. She was an old orc who was one of those who was defying the Edicts of the Imperial Leadership Council. There had been no Emperor since Martin's death and the Imperial Leadership Council had gained power, wealth and influence over the three centuries until few could defy them. Now the new Imperial Steward was pushing out a range of edicts that were causing a good deal of tension and even conflict.

 

K'Martina paid over three copperlow coins and took a roasted potato with bits of vegetable mixed into spiced melted cheese. Then she spoke in Cyrodiilane, the common language now. "What a lovely city you have here. So large and so very impressive. A friend of mine came here and I decided to follow him so lavish was his praise of this fine metropolis."

 

' A friend of mine came here and I decided to follow him' was code informing this fake orc, this Kurikondi secret agent, that K'Martina was being followed by some kind of professional and well experienced person who knew how to slip quietly through crowds and yet mingle with them.

 

The ork woman nodded with another big toothy smile. "What a nice young lady you are and you speak our language so very well. I suggest you make your way across the street and see the blue trailer-stall there. He sells a nice clay mug of coffee for a good fair price he does. Tell him that Azifani sent you."

 

K'Martina sighed. "Shame that the Imperial Steward is trying to have all orcs moved into the one city area."

 

The false orc nodded. "Yes, a deep shame, but its not only orcs who are being pushed so. All non-human peoples are being so badly treated. The new sectors are little better than slums and people are being pushed out of their homes, marriages are being threatened, friends are being split up and there is much weeping and nashing of sharp teeth. As for the poor half-breeds, well where do they go? The edicts don't make that clear at all. Should they go or stay? Oh well, what can we do? The Imperial Leadership Council is backing Imperial Steward Obrasis Isanass to the hilt. The Imperial Guard is big and strong in the city."

 

K'Martina sighed dramatically. "The Ten be with you, fine woman."

 

"The Thirteen, you need to say the Thirteen if you do not want trouble." The false pulled out a greased paper bag filled out with a potatoe shape. "Take this for being such a friendly fine young lady."

 

K'Martina slipped away the bag into her her floppy leather shoulderbag which did not contain a potato. She bowed gracefully and then departed to go across the street. That meant finding a new stone walk-bridge, going up-ramp, along the bridge and down-ramp. As she went across the walk-bridge she saw the White Gold Tower in the distance, huge and rearing up high into the sky. Even many Cyrodilins mistakenly believed the Ayleids had built it but this was not true for it had been the Aldmer. The ancient mystical people who later became various elf peoples of Tamriel, were very much a mystery of Tamriel.

 

The orc at the coffee stall smiled warmly at her. She spoke. "Azifani sent me. She told me you have fine coffee for a fair price."

 

The broad, tall orc smiled. "Fine, perhaps not, but good for a simple street stall like mine. A good brew. Milk, sugar, sweet-spices are normally extra but if Azifani sent you then you can have the sweet-spices for free."

 

She smiled, nodded agreement as she picked up the prearranged code, and took the one use only clay mug full of sweet-spiced coffee. K'Martina passed over three copperlow coins. Then she turned and walked away. As she did the young woman drank the coffee slowly but steadily and then threw the clay cup into a begger's pottery collection bin. The begger would take the pottery and sell it for a few copperlows. The pottery would be broken up and used for road fill or other reasons. With amazing swiftness and cleverness she slipped the object that had been hidden in the coffee into a hidden pocket in her robesuit. Then she was smiling and gawking at the cityscape again.

 

The follower was a monk, a Brother of Shagros the God of Loyalty. Overtly he paced along quietly, serenly but he was a trained killer, an experienced killer, and his monk's quarterstaff was in truth a lethal weapon in more than one way.

 

In the last month five Kurikondi visitors had vanished in Martinpolis. The irony was all had been innocent visitors. They were a scholar, a diplomatic worker, a trade representative and two tourists. The local law had genuinely tried to find out what was going on but they had failed to do so. Now she, a battledruid and secret agent, would act as bait and try to find out what had happened to the others.

 

They were still alive. The Kurikondi were all linked and could sense this but they could not track the missing ones. She soon found what she wanted and like some foolish tourist she turned and walked down a shadowy laneway. Then she was alone as she picked her way around heaps of discarded junk, past an abandoned ground-mattress that beggers and others probably used at times. The monk slipped into the laneway behind her and paced towards her. She had her back to him and looked up and around as if confused and lost.

 

The monk took something, a pale off-white disk out of his robes that glowed softly, and began to pace towards her. His eyes gleamed with fanatical determination and he grinned as he held the disk as if he was going to thrust one flat side against her back.

 

She whirled with amazing speed and agility and struck the pale off-white disk thing out of his hand. It whirled through the air and bounced off a pile of junk and hit the floor of the laneway with a soft clanking noise. The monk leapt back with a good deal of speed and agility of his own, swung up his quarterstaff and swung it at her. From the end sprang a pale off-white metallic point and it glowed softly with a kind of disturbing magic that she had not experienced before. She slid her magisilver sword out with impressive speed and struck the quarterstaff to one side. He was a very good fighter but she was way beyond him in skill and probably also experience. K'Martina was special, was one of the finest battledruids to come out of the Secret Academy in centuries. Yet she did not want to kill him but only to question him. She went at him, moving to strike him with the flat side of her blade to knock him out.

 

Suddenly the monk stiffened, his face frozen in a strange grin, he shuddered horribly and dropped the quarterstaff. His body then glowed a sickly pale white in colour and he simply disintegrated into nothingness. The sickly pale light vanished as the body did and the monk robes plus some other items such as loincloth and hidden small weapons, struck the hard floor of the laneway.

 

At the open end of the laneway she caught the flash of another monk running away. The other monk had killed his comrade in order to stop him being rendered helpless and being questioned, this was clear, but how he had done so was a mystery to K'Martina. She sighed softly in frustration and taking out a thick antimagical cloth she carefully picked up the strange and strangely disturbing disk. Carefully she examined it but she could not see any symbols. Then she slipped it away inside the cloth into a special kind of leather bag.

 

It was not what she had hoped for but at least it was a start.

 

To be continued!

Edited July 5, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Installment Two

Mahargrah woke up and stretched and looked around the big old castle room with its wall tapestries, its tap-sink, its suit of armour with weapons on a display stand, its bear skin rug and various bits of heavy wooden furinture. Castle Maharg it was, it was his castle, his very own castle and it belonged to nobody but him. He grinned and then he sighed because in truth that was not totally true. The castle was a magical castle and she belonged at core to herself. His coat of arms was displayed proudly on one wall.

 

The four poster bed was very large and he shared it with a naked young woman, beautiful and fulsome, a mother cat curled up with her kittens, a large friendly yellow Labrador female dog, a smaller younger silly Labrador male, a yellow-white minidragon which was a dragon that was full grown at one metre length, a pink pig with a yellow ribbon around its neck, a big curled up plush carpet python and five oddly muscular chubby baby type figures.

 

Naked, slimly muscular, lightly tanned white of skin, blonde of hair, blue of eyes, he smiled at the naked young woman nestled against him beneath thick white sheets and a small pudgy muscular baby figure against his chest in a nappy. She was slimly voluptous and the small one was warm baby smooth warmth. He stroked both backs of both females. The woman stirred and opened her beautiful blue eyes to look at him adoringly. The baby grumpled and stretched, then settled back down to sleeping peacefully.

 

She sighed and spoke in the language called Esperanto. "My Lord, the bed is large but shares much life. We are in a mountain castle are we not and the sun rises to shine its beautiful rays upon a new world. You are glorious, my Lord, and I live to serve you in every way. Would you have me go to the taproom and serve you up a bowl of gruel and a mug of warm beer?"

 

At that he grimaced softly. "As lovely as that sounds, my sweetest of the sweet, what about a nice big mug of coffee? But first!" He did something beneath the sheets and she gave a start and smiled even more richly. "How about some fun?"

 

The ever-baby Gritchim was not too pleased to be bumped off onto the mattress but then she was shifted gently to lay against the black Labrador who licked her until the small one settled against the big pup and went back to sleep. The two humans made love.

 

The castle was big and fine a fortress but apart from a few fitted, furnished and decorated chambers and hallways it was quite bare. UI'Tuli-13 the young woman was the core-clone of thirteen clone-sisters of a clone-sisterhood. They got out of bed and washed at the big tap-sink, dried themselves with fluffy towels on a rail next to the tap-sink and slipped into knee length houserobes. On their feet went slippers and around their waists went belts dotted with pouches, a knife in a sheaf, a large springback-pistol in a holster and a button-disk. On the middle finger of each hand they had a power-ring.

 

All were waking now and were hungry so they went into the taproom next door.

This chamber was an arrangement of low rectanguar semisoft tough mattresses on the floor, a big table with chairs and a row of taps running along one wall each with a sink under it. Each tap was colour coded and above each was a crystal square inset into the wall that at that moment all glowed green. Symbols also explained what they were. There were sweet gruel, savoury gruel, sour gruel, meat-vetable soup, meat-vetable stew, custard-mash, egg-mash, sweet beer, mild beer, sour beer, sweet white coffee, mild brown coffee and bitter black coffee.

To one sid of these were five water-taps dispensing cold, cool, room temperature, warm and hot water.

To one side of the taps was a wall with cupboards and shelves lightly filled with basic metal and ceramic items of many kinds to do with dining.

On the wall opposite this were twelve box like dispensers each colour coded and with a symbol that gave forth in turn savoury disk shaped bread-biscuits, sweet bread-biscuits, sour bread-biscuits, meatballs, fruitballs, vegiballs, multigrain breadballs, dark chocballs, milk chocballs, white chocballs, tatoballs and riceballs.

 

It reminded Mahargrah of some sort of exotic medievel cafeteria of efficiently basic and bare appearance and design.

 

Mahargrah, UI'Tuli-13, the grumpy minidragon and the animals all wandered into the chamber. Mahargrah and UI'Tuli-13 had between them the five ever-babies snuggled now in their arms being three females and two males. He sighed and sat down at the table. Animals and the minidragon chose the same great big hard skinned mattress, water and other liquid proof, to gather on.

 

The sleep voice of the castle, strongly warm and female, filled the chamber. "Welcome Lord Maharg. Does the castle not please you?"

 

He smiled. "The castle pleases me greatly. Have you anything urgent to report?"

 

She yawned and then spoke again. "A bunch of gobbits got upset because they thought the castle blocked the entrance to their bleak cold damp cave system, their tribal warren. I mildly zapped one when it pissed against my outer wall. Then I showed them the special tunnel that leades through part of the base of the tunnel with its three strong gates that now make the warren much more secure. The gobbits outside joined the ones inside the warren to discover it is much larger, warmer, cleaner, has an improved supply of fresh water, a small hot-springs for bathing in and other resources. Surprising that gobbits are so like goblins in many ways but are less aggressive, smarter, cleaner, neater and more unified. They have decided to make you their tribal totem god but not their greater deities who are Godly Gods and Goddesses of the Godly Way."

 

He smiled. "My sweetest castle, that better translates as the Holiest of Life as Gods and Goddesses of the Balanced Way. A shorter term is the Goddesses and Gods of the Way. An even shorter term is the Way Goddesses and Gods."

 

The two humans got up and began to serve up breakfast to all the animals and the minidragon. Thankfully all were pleased with what the taps and dispensers provided. All were too tired to grumble too much, even the minidragon. They fed the ever-babies with proper amusing movements and noises. They even managed to feed themselves. UI'Tuli-13's clone-sisters were busy moving around the great castle in four trios checking on things, doing small jobs and activating the steam-golems.

 

The tall, bulky humanoids of metal numbered a hundred and were programmed for working, serving or guarding. For now most would be put into guard mode and set on patrol or sentry duty around the castle battlements, yards and interiors. Each trio of UI'Tuli-13 clone-sisters took five steam-golems with them to assist in various tasks.

 

There was a door that led out to a short hallway dotted with other doors and open of those went to a big semi-enclosed balcony. After everything was cleaned and put away, they all went out into the great big balcony with its large garden area where the demidragon and animals could do what came natural. The rich soil of the big garden bed supported green grass, squat fruit bushes and small fruit trees. Meatworms thrived in the soil along with normal earth worms. Butterflies and moths flittered through the air. Beetles scurried through the dirt.

 

They caught sight of a translucent shimmering castle-elemental, a manifestation of Mahargastle the female oriented mentality of the magic castle. Since Mahargastle was still waking, was still becoming fully active, she had only a few hundred weak castle-elementals active around the castle. The castle-elemental was carefully measuring the quality and health of the soild of the very big garden bed.

 

They were in the Central Keep, a great big squat cylinder, and were looking south downwards into a great wide valley. The castle was at the top of the valley where it dominated. Much of the castle was not only underground, it was dug deep into the hard rock castle. They could see the yards, inner circle wall, curtain walls, outer wall and three outer keeps of cylinder towers plus smaller but still large guard-towers. The castle was designed to defend against air, land and underground attacks but there was a surprise to the castle, one of many, that had to do with a very well hidden harbour and access to a wide ocean.

 

The valley was rich green, fertile, filled mostly with forest but there was a scattering of settlements be they thorps, hamlets or villages. In them lived peaceful leprechauns, gnomes, humans, centaurs and a few other folks. At the very bottom of the valley where it tailed out to a large plain, was a big fortress wall and at either end of it a small city. Linking the settlements were airboats, airships, small dirt roadways and a hidden underground network of road-tunnels and magic-steam rail-tunnels. Various magical craft were used and only for non living items, unless in emergencies, teleportation. With his mind's eye he could see the whole valley but he only did a brief light scan for his powers and strength were still growing.

 

Mahargastle yawned and then spoke from all around. "Duke Rudenee Mocknester of the Northern Haven Valley wishes to discuss with you the legal and royal status of Maharg Castle. He suggests that perhaps the castle would be better served if he was to take residence here and make it his seat of power. That way you can relax and take it easy."

 

He was sitting cross legged on a wooden platform with an ever-baby held against his chest and the mother cat, with her kittens, in his lap. The five kittens were still very young and had yet to open their eyes. He was stroking the mother gently.

 

He sighed and then replied. "Inform Duke Rudeness Mocker (Duke Rudenee Mocknester) that if he ever sends me such a message again that I will rip off his head and shove it up his arse. Also send a message to Queen Shejoy II of the Valleyland, give her my graceful greetings and inform her of the message that Duke Rudenee Mocknester just sent to me."

 

A few minutes passed. The black Labrador ran crazily around and ran into the metal wall, fell back in shock, shook its head and whimpered in self pity because it had not really hurt itself. Then he wandered over to Mahargrah for some pampering. Mahargrah scratched his black head and got a licking in exchange.

 

Mahargastle spoke again. "Queen Shejoy II gracefully thanks you for your message and welcomes you to the Valleyland. She states that the Duke has been rather difficult of late and that she will be sure to give him a visit to make it clear to him and then his replacement of how angry he has made her. My sentinel towers through out the valley have indicated that the Queen has set out northwards from the Royal City of Royalvale with an army of five thousand including an elite force of five hundred knights. The valley is very large and it will take her many days to reach the Northern Dukedom. She has to go through the Southern and Middle Dukedoms to get there, of course, along with much of the Northern Dukedom to get to the Northern Duke's castletown."

 

He was not sure he was pleased or annoyed that he was so soon going to face trouble in the Valleyland but then realised he felt both.

 

To be continued!

Edited July 4, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Installment Three

 

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K'Martina no longer looked like a Kurikondi for she had shapeshifted to become a shorter, broader shouldered white skinned brown haired Cyrodilin woman. Now she bustled through the Lesser Market District full of cheaper shops, taverns, eateries, music-halls, workshoptories, workshops and other services for the poorer classes. Most people walked as there were less horses or ponies here and very few magical vehicles except for magic-steam trams. The buildings were less grand, the streets were dirtier, the beggers were more common and small groups of thugs stomped arrogantly along the footpaths.

 

Magic-steam trams hummed and chuffed along the streets decorated with bright colours and symbols along with advertisements for various goods and services.

 

K'Martina walked along in a kneedress and with a big shoulderbag like some countrysider come into the city to pick up cheap city goods, to do some cheap tourism or to visit some lower class relatives or maybe more than one of these. She passed a big poster for the semilegal Workers Guild, another big poster for the Games Arena where death was painfully simulated thanks to magic, and then paused with her back against a wall to pull a small, thin, fairly cheap book from her shoulderbag. It was the Modern Guide to Martinpolis, the Imperial City and it was Kurikondi printed being fairly crude and with none of the elegance of more expensive traditional books. But it was a fake for inside it was emplaced a device being the disk she got from the fake orc of a coffee seller. The disk was crystal-metallic and was transparent on top with a small silver compass like needle but it was pointing to something other than the north pole. The device was one she was strictly forbidden to allow any non-Kurikondi to even note as existing.

 

A trio of constables strode along the same footpath in light magical armour and carrying magical quarterstaffs. Each was also armed with a new standard tiple-magic shortsword and knife along with a basic spring-pistol that unlike a springback-pistol could only fire one spring-dart before its spring had to be resprung. They were very alert, were wary for they were only too aware of the bad feelings in the area towards the Imperial Government.

 

There had been mounting tension in the Poor Quarter of the city thanks to new Imperial Steward edicts demanding the payment of something called the Poor Tax and the increasing number of disappearances.

The rising influence of the Workers Guild had caused trouble with the powerful Merchants, Constructors, Manufactors, Artisans, Landlords and other High Guilds.

There were also other problems like an odd sickness striking people down, the growing power of Gangers who were outside the Theives Guild, the growing shortages of money and food along with strange things happening in the Undercity and the Sewer-Utility-Catacombs Network.

These things were such as ghostly sightings, strange smells, corpses moving when hours dead, the disappearance of silver, the disappearance of fresh bodies from the ever expanding catacombs, the murder of mages including necromancers, the sighting of strange small or tiny creatures and much else; they were happening with increasing frequency.

 

She closed up the book, smiled as if she had found the information she had wanted as a tourist, put the book back into her shoulderbag and walked along to a haphazard crosswalk strip. Getting across it meant rushing across in a small group with volunteers carrying those who could not move fast enough. K'Martina joined such a group and picked up a boy whose mother already carried a smaller girl. They reached the other side with K'Martina slipping away and the small boy passing a copperhigh coin to his mother. The mother frowned softly but was not too proud to take it.

 

K'Martina entered the Sisterhood Compassionate Community Centre that was a big old rambling building. It was part offices, part cheap goods shop, part free dispensery, cheap or free eatery, healers, alchemists and more. It was crowded in the big waiting room and tired looking Sisters Compassionate and volunteers bustled around trying to deal with people's needs. It was a potent mix of crying babies, sweat, dirt, anger, desperation, hunger and much else. Yet she had experienced far worse and slipped through it easy enough to arrive at a long wooden counter behind which many people hustled and bustled. At first they ignored her, Sisters and volunteers rushing back and forth, overworked and often exhausted, irritated and otherwise losing efficiency.

 

The Kurikondi funded the Sisterhood Compassionate to the level of hundreds of goldworth a day but despite this the Sisterhood Compassionate and other caring services where being swamped by growing problems. To top it off the stupid Kurikondi Hardliners wanted to cut all such funding and put it all into a direct military invasion of Tamriel. So far they were basically ignored on this and other issues thanks to the alliance of Moderates, Softliners and Returnists but the alliance was starting to look shaky.

 

A young woman in the robes of a Sister Compassionate Novice stopped in front of her, tried to smile and then gave up on it frown softly. "Yes, we are very busy. You have to take a wooden card with a number to wait your turn. I must warn you we have run out of all foods except basic gruel powder, some stale bread rolls and some slightly over ripe fruit."

 

K'Martina smiled warmly. "I am not what I seem. I am Carla Tweeden of the Gifting Foundation. I have come with emergency funding and other proposals of assistance. I came dressed as a local just so as not to attract attention since I am carrying a hundred goldhigh coins on me. I need to see the Mother of Compassion here, one Rosema Teressa. Will you please take me to her." She briefly showed the young woman a wooden tablet. "This is most important."

 

The novice nodded nervously and called over a Senior Sister of Compassion who looked on the verge of collapse. This one looked at the tablet, nodded, thanked the novice and then escorted K'Martina through a maze of hallways, small rooms and then down a staircase. They were in a basement level. As they went along the Senior Sister Compassionate frowned at the Kurikondi. "Why did the Gifting Foundation stop funding us three days ago? The Mother Compassionate says you whisper-tubed her and abruptly cut off funding and then you refused to take her return calls or respond to any of her courier messages."

 

Whisper-tubing was one of the good changes that the Imperial Leadership Council had made before five contraversial deaths and two obvious assassinations had seen it change. Whisper-tubing was magic assisted audio tubes that one listened to and spoke into. Quality was not great, sometimes there were troubles with odd echoes and some claimed the Imperial Leadership Council could now listen in on all calls. The last was not true because the whisper-tube network, only to be found in Martinpolis, was completed before the change and it was too damned hard to try to listen in. Other ways of gaining information were far easier.

 

K'Martina nodded. "Three days ago! That makes sense. Have you noticed anything odd about your Mother Compassionate over the last three days. You flinched then. Now you might think that you are being loyal by lying to me but truth is you will be doing the real Mother Compassionate harm. Truth is I am not here from the Gifting Foundation though I do sometimes do work for them and I do have one hundred goldhighs to give you."

 

The other, a real Cyrodilin woman, frowned. "You hide it well but I used to what was called a spy-spotter back in the War of the Five when I served the False Emperor Kizlan Khand of Cyrodiil. I was young and naive. I did not know then what I do now that it was all a set up so that the Imperial Leadership Council could strengthen its hold on Tamriel and kill of any possible bloodlines to the Imperial Throne, no matter how weak they were. Anyway I was trained well and perhaps I have something of the 'extra sight' in me for I see in you an elite killer who has killed many times. Yet you are not evil for all that. You are not Cyrodilin but I do not know what you are. You are so well screened. As for the thing in the office of the Mother Compassionate, she is far from being that. A few of us know the truth but she has three children and a silly young novice as hostages. So far we have kept her trapped in her office which thankfully has all thick stone walls and no thin inner parition walls as too many of our rooms have."

 

"I am Kurikondi! That is all I am going to say on the matter. You do have the second sight and powerful but subtly so." K'Martina said as they went through more hallways past storerooms, too many of them depressingly empty or only partly full. "Go to the Psychic Guild and get training. The Gifting Foundation will pay for it. Training will make you safer, stronger and generally more effective. It will also stop you from being duped, used and fed upon."

 

K'Martina moved so quick that she was not even a blur. She carried the knocked out but healthy and alive other woman into a storeroom with a few shelves of cheap but well made blankets and put the woman on an empty work table. She lifted the other woman, who was heavier, with amazing ease as if the other was a small baby. She rolled up a blanket and put it under the Senior Sister Compassionate's head as a pillow. Then she placed her right hand over the woman's solar plexus. A moment later her hand shimmered and she plunged her hand ghost like into the other woman's body. The real Cyrodilin shuddered softly and moaned softly.

 

Then K'Martina pulled out the doppleganger-tentaclelus that looked like a short repulsive looking purple-black tentacle projecting out of a sphere of the same unnatural flesh. It was demon manifested flesh or, more simply, demon-flesh. It was tricky to created and took much dark energy, much dark magic and a good deal of stolen natural life energies. The tentaclelus allowed the doppleganger to suck energy from more than one victim, explaining why so many Sisters Compassionate and volunteers looked exhausted almost to the point of collapse, but had one drawback. It was a two-way linkage.

 

The Kurikondi battledruid smiled and gripping the evil thing, she burned it with a mixture of elemental fire, electrical and life energies as provided by the Three Kurikondi Goddesses. At that moment a muffled scream echoed through the basement level. The doppleganger had just been badly injured and the doppleganger-tentaclelus burned away into nothingness, its unnatural bonds broken, as if by amazingly quick spontantious combustion.

 

K'Martina quickly lay a blanket over the now peacefully sleeping other woman and rushed out the door with amazing speed. She darted along the hallway the two of them had been going along and then shot along another hallway. A novice and three children held hostage? Something did not seem right about those words. Something else was going on in that supposed place of compassionate service and support. It angered her that evil had chosen to strike there where it could do a great deal of harm.

 

A middle aged Redguard woman raced out into the hallway but she was nothing to do with the Sisterhood Compassionate or the volunteers for she wore the robe of a follower of the Mythic Dawn Cult that once followed the Daedra Prince Methrunes Dagon. The follower cursed something in dark language and hurled a fireball that sizzled through the air at the Kurikondi but K'Martina simply thrust out her hand, palm vertical and facing the oncoming magical projectile; the fireball deflected straight back at the obviously shocked Daedra Follower and then she screamed and burned away into nothingness. The woman had looked surprisingly attractive which was one of the false gifts of the Mythic Dawn and why far too many women joined its ranks.

 

The Kurikondi's Secret Eye Order, its special surveillance order, had picked up whispers of the Mythic Dawn returned to some kind of fairly strong active state in various areas of the empire that had fallen to chaos and conflict, which the Cyrodilin Empire had not yet managed to reclaim. But to see one of them in her robes actually in the Imperial Capital City was a surprise. Not a shock for it took a great deal to shock K'Martina.

 

Another surprise came to her for now she could hear the noises of a savage battle taking place. She turned a corner to find herself surprised again. Mythic Dawn Followers in robes or their own special Daedric armour were busy fighting more of the monks she had encountered earlier. There was the clash of swords, the sizzle hiss of fireballs, the screams of painful death, the thuds of bodies, the thwak of an axe hitting a leather sheild and much else of aggressive confrontation.

 

One of the monks cried out a word she had not heard before being 'Ardead'. It was shouted as if it was a war cry. There were about twelve Mythic Dawn fighters and they were outnumbered three to one at least by the strange fluidly moving monks that came seemingly out of nowhere. Then one of the Mythic Dawn mages saw her, cursed loudly and all of the Mythic Dawn people plus their dead or wounded, vanished with a sparkling shimmer. This was a new trick for these people for it seemed that they had gained not only new numbers but new powers unless of course they had some kind of outside assistance.

 

The monks turned to look at her and then they fled away, vanishing through a large hole in one thick stone wall and into a roughly dug, supported tunnel.

 

As they did she sighed and she spoke. "So they were not just running from me."

 

The young looking man stood in impressive looking gold-silver armour of a foot-knight, an odd class of fighter that had arisen from the War of the Five. The Champion of Tamriel had done many wondrous things. He had helped to win the war against Methrune Dagon, he had helped many other people and was now Honoury many things from Chancellor of the Arcane University to the Gladiator Champion of Cyrodiil and much else. He now had a large castle just north of Martinpolis that was once a crumbling fortress. It was far more than a fortress being a university, an artisan collage, a training academy, a haven for political exiles, a museum, a gallery, a kind of zoo and much else.

 

But the young looking Nordish man, just like K'Martina, was far more than he seemed. He spoke out then. "There is a war raging in the Realms of Oblivion between the Daedra and the Undead Rising. Not only have the lesser undead have turned against the Daedric demons but there are now more powerful undead kinds to be found there. Vampires, intelligent zombors, litches, intelligent skeltors and much else. The Daedra were already weakened by the destruction of Methrunes Dagon and many of his forces along with the closing of the Oblivion Gates which had energy repercussions through out Oblivion. Now the Ardead have arisen to lead the Undead Rising. Much of what is happening here in Tamriel, especially here in the Imperial City, is linked with what is happening there."

 

She nodded. "Bravenheart, I was drawn in this direction by an energy build up, a spike of dark energies both demonic and undeadthly. Why would such be here in the basement of the Sisterhood Compassionate?"

 

He was taller and broader than she, turned and smiled at her. "I can see your real self and you are as beautiful as always. I do not know why for I was drawn here by the same happening. I am glad you are here for there is much we have to speak of. But for now let us take down the doppleganger and try to save the real Mother Compassionate."

 

But when they got to the Mother Compassionate's office they found only her dead, drained and desicated body. They checked her only to find out she was a secret member of the Mythic Dawn. As for the young novice and the three children, they were no where to be found. They explored the office carefully and found a hidden chest of stolen coinage being five hundred and forty-three goldhighs, an Imperial Bank Money Certificate worth two hundred goldworth and some gems of varied value. The undead had been there as had the doppleganger but so had something else evil and powerful. The Mother Compassionate and doppleganger had died horribly by what psychic and magical impressions that were left behind that they could actually read. Much was confusion and a good deal had been erased.

 

To be continued!

Edited July 4, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Animations/blue.gif

 

Installment Four

 

Mahargrah stood at the big magical map table now showing a map of Mahargoria, the Sanctuary Archipelago that were west of Tamriel and Cyrodiil both but hidden inside a large slice of magic dimensional trickery. The map was 3D-isometric from his angle of view and showed the central continent with eight continents being in the eight compass directions out from the central island. The islands were all large, each being a disk shape of three thousand kilometres across. Only the central had a super great mountain at its centre and facing southwards, the great castle that was built into its southern side.

 

While most of the continents were wilderness or semiwilderness, there were areas of habitation of various peoples or other entities more difficult to define. Living in the seas were other peoples also and deep beneath, yet more, for all the continents met as one mass beneath the Sanctuary Inner Sea to plunge deeper on the outer into the Sanctuary Outer Sea.

 

Between the outer ring of continents were three circles of islands, each a disk of land three hundred kilometres across, so there were many island.

 

Now he wore impressive white-gold power-armour and hand a trident-longsword down his back. Only the central was the true blade for the outer were both blade catchers and energy projectile weapons. On the middle finger of each hand was a white-gold power-ring.

 

Mahargrah spoke. "Central are many assorted peoples and the same mix can be found on the northern, western, southern and eastern continents being mortal beings of varied kinds with some minority exceptions. But the north-western continent has Aldmer who came to the Sanctuary Archipelago from Tamriel, the north-eastern continent has dragons, the south-western continent has reformed Ayleids plus reformed Dwemer while the south-eastern continent has Kurikondi, Kuriyanwi and Kurivezzi, the Kurikondi being easily the majority."

 

He sighed. "The inner islands have the standard mix of folks. The middle island ring has the Sanctarori, the guardian people of the Sanctuary Archipeligo and the outer ring of islands are the Sanctuary Guardian Islands."

 

Mahargastle spoke to him quietly in a voice that filled the great room with its magical throne on its disk shaped dais at the centre. "You wished continuous reports on further important developments? I have begun generating new units at a rate of one steam-golem, one steam-flyer and one steam-ray per hour. Castle-elementals are growing steadily stronger, more stable and more numerous. Gobbits have begun to cultivate and harvest glowmoss, shoomics and spicegi in the Gobbit Labyrinth to bring to the castle proper in exchange for tradecredit to buy tradegoods and luxuries. They also come for the free goods and services."

 

He wondered what was happening with the Valleyland and Queen Shejoy II who was making her was northward to the Northern Valleyland Dukedom to teach Duke Rudenee Mocknester, or Duke Rudeness Mocker as he liked to think of him.

 

Mahargastle spoke. "Queen Shejoy II has failed to convince the Underways Keepers to allow her to use the magic-railways down there for they refuse to get involved in any royal or noble based conflicts. The Valleyland has become something of a rather fragmented constinutional democratic monarchy. The queen is helpless to do anything for she relies on the Underways to keep the royal economy, such as it is, actively healthy. She has hired one hundred and twelve steam-wagons to carry her mostly irregular soldiers, equipment and supplies to the north. In doing so she has emptied the Valleyland Royal Treasury by a good deal. To top it off she trusted a royal cousin to rent the steam-wagons to her instead of going to the reliable, honest and fair priced Steamsters Guild. Her cousin has conned her and the steam-wagons are a whole lot of old, over used machines in need of much repair. Now the monarch is in a good deal of trouble and her royal cousin has vanished with all the ill gotten gold coinage. Except that half of the gold coinage he got were fake coins made of gold painted wood. It seems she was just as willing to cheat her royal cousin as he was to cheat her."

 

He sighed. "I am starting to see a particular pattern of character amongst the royalty and nobility of the Valleyland and it isn't pleasing. Gobbits are an amazingly good source of information."

 

She spoke again. "They are smaller than most Valleylands folk, do many menial jobs for a few handfuls of copper coinage or tradechips and are generally ignored. Bigger people tend to say things in front of them or the gobbits find it easy enough to spy. On top of that the gobbits have good strong links with various elemental spirits, nature spirits, gnomes and other peoples of the Valleyland, gaining much information from them. That gobbits are basically honest is a great bonus."

 

He nodded. "What of the stupid northern duke?"

 

Mahargastle sighed. "Perhaps not so stupid. He seems to be building up a secret army and a fine ambush site so he can destroy the queen and her army. He has declared to his closest followers that you are but a great weak fool and that he will prove you are less than nothing by taking Castle Maharg from you. He has gobbit waiters in his private dining room. The gobbits suspect that more is going on than is obvious. They advise caution in your approach."

 

He nodded again. "Thank them for their fine advice and grant to the Gobbit General Treasury one hundred goldworth as a bonus on top of normal payments."

 

Mahargastle spoke. "You have been gaining one goldworth, one mattaling and one wish-point per second since the midnight before you awoke."

 

She changed subject. "The Gobbit Grand Committee for Lots of Good Suggestions has finally worked out a pre-agreement report which they hope to have sent to you by at least tonight sometime. After lots of debate, shouting, sulking, throwing of clumps of soft mud and some wrestling, the report came down to one sentence as follows: 'Can we gobbits have lots of everything you can give us, thank you very much."

 

Mahargrah sighed yet again. "Gobbits have a central mind that links them all in a semiautonomous fashion so why do they go through all this business of committees, sub-committees, councils, semicouncils and much else. How many dukes do they now have?"

 

Mahargastle replied. "It various from moment to moment but right now about a thousand four hundred and thirty; the Duke of Muddy Tunnel Number Thirty-One just resigned because somebody stole his brand new copper duke's crown. Actually it was a copper food bowl he stole from a communal kitchen and not only was it taken back but he is now having to pick mud-worms from goo-mud as punishment. As for why gobbits do what they do, I suppose it is a way for them to keep a balance between their group mentality and semiautonomous individuality. Either that or they are just crazy."

 

Mahargrah nodded. "Smart sense within craziness. Begin to buy from gobbits, in a carefully regulated manner of course, samples of blood, sperm and ovum along with trimmed claw ends and trimmed ear hair. You have activated how many toilets to recycle gobbit urine and feases?"

 

Mahargastle sounded bemused. "One hundred paying toilets. Gobbits can't quite believe that somebody would pay for such things in tradecredit and copper coins but of course they do not understand that my body, the castle, can recycle such substances into useful resources. It also helps me, of course, to keep track of gobbit health."

 

He looked at the throne that was far more than just a normal throne but as yet it was not ready for him to use. Patience was in order and yet he had a feeling that something was not right in the Sanctuary Archipelago and that this was linked with what was happening outside of the Sanctuary Bubble in Tamriel. He needed the throne to be operating and soon but it was part of Mahargastle and she was still waking and becoming fully functional.

 

But of course he had other resources to call upon.

 

He focused and closed his eyes and activated first calling upon a special gift of the Goddess of Fateful Chance, a randoming. He could only use these sparingly for using too many in too short a time would start to drain valuable energy from him.

 

Out of mid air shimmered ten entities each a shimmering softly glowing metre wide sphere of energies and semisolid substance. Five were green of life-elementors and five were blue of phase-elementors.

Then appeared twenty maha-gargoyles, crouching and powerful, two metres tall even while crouching on their haunches, of stone-flesh and capable of much.

Then there were ten tall, proud maha-amazons in tight flexible but very effective metallic scale-armour that protected against many kinds of attacks. Each wore white-gold armour from head to toe and each had a trident-longsword down her back. They were shorter and slimmer than him with smaller but still large swords.

Then there were fifty gobgoblins, gobbit-goblin hydrids bigger and tougher, more aggressive but not as smart as gobbits. They had a tribe-mind but also were hierarchical and looked upon Mahargrah as their born lord. Each was in basic magical whitegold armour and had a basic magical knife, shortsword, longsword, javelin and a box-crossbow, a kind of repeating crossbow with a fixed magazine for ten bolts plus the magical ability to draw back the bow string if it was magically charged enough.

 

For a moment he shuddered and his whole self sparkled and shimmered. Then there were two of him, identical appearing, except that one was quite naked. They were two bodies but it was still just one entity, was still just Mahargrah.

 

But the second Mahargrah then gained a new name and he was called Mahargronan the Barbarian. Suddenly he wore a white-golden set of magical armour and had a very big trident-greatsword slung over his back in a scabbard plus a white-golden battleaxe slung at one side. Now he was no longer slimly muscular as was Mahargrah but broadly muscular, much broader of shoulders with smoothly bulging muscles more of a body builder appearance than those of a weight lifter. Yet he was not over muscular.

 

They, he, faced each other, himself, and looked into each other's eyes, his other eyes.

 

Both bodies now sparkle shimmered again.

 

The naked Mahargrah-self vanished in mid air.

 

Mahargrastle spoke then. "This is very good, all of these new resources, and now you have doubled. What are you doing, that is what is your other self doing?"

 

Mahargrah smiled and stretched. "I do not know for that was chosen as wise, as smart in case I am captured and questioned. My other self is doing what he must do and has gone where he must go."

 

Marhargastle responded a little huffily. "The highway has not been well tended by the Valleylanders because they have little reason to come up this way. They have forgotten their promise to you but I suppose they had good reason."

 

Mahargrah sighed. "Now, please don't get sulky. You know that security means that sometimes I have to hide matters even from aspects of myself. What about a gift to make you happy again, a special gift. What would you like?"

 

Mahargastle spoke with a smile. "Some wall tapestries, fur rugs and other decorations in the big entrance hall in the Southern Keep. I want visitors to be impressed when they come in and not be depressed by all that grey stone-flesh. Suits of armour on realistic mannequins of course, two big rows of them in fine armour and with fine weapons. Big oil paintings in ornate wooden frames. Where are the UI'Tuli-13 Clone-Sisterhood?"

 

Suddenly he grinned in a nasty manner. "I killed them when I killed the minidragon and all the animals, of course, don't you remember?"

 

The magical living castle laughed. "Of course, of course, silly me." :wink:

 

To be continued!

 

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Animations/battlesw.gif :banana:

Edited July 9, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Installment Five

 

The not so dead clone-sisterhood moved quickly and quietly along dark Maharg Castle hallways where Mahargastle was yet to waken properly.

Five of the clone-sisters had a pouch each in which was a sleeping ever-baby.

With the thirteen of them paced the animals or they were in handcarts pulled by the clone sisters.

The mother cat and her kittens were in one such handcart on a cushion.

The minidragon was pacing along the stoneflesh floor fast and smooth.

The every so silly black dog was happily panting in another handcart with the pig so that neither could get into trouble.

All animals were secure.

The handcarts were full of equipment and supplies plus gifts for the gobbits for they were going to live with the gobbits.

 

Each UI'Tuli clone-sistercarried a glowing crystal-torch that lit up the hallway but not too much.

 

Before Mahargrah and Mahargastle had fallen under the influence of a powerful but subtle evil force that had been treacherously planted inside the great magical living castle, Mahargrah had given a list of careful instructions to UI'Tuli, to all thirteen of her. They were doing more than just going to the gobbit caves but of course the minidragon and animals did not know that. Oddly enough the ever-babies did in their own particular fashion.

 

They had fled deep into the depths of the castle, avoiding the steam-golems and the castle-elementals ignored them.

 

Castle areas were mostly typical, were mostly large and surprisingly well ventelated, were often lit by magical ever-burning torches or crystal-lamps, were grey stonework with only some ornateness.

Now and then they would run into a great alcove partly full of great wooden barrels, great wooden boxes, neat stacks of timber, neat piles of great big sacks or other such items protected by shimmering fields of energy.

Then there were rows of what looked like hundred of suits of armour except they were more like actual figures frozen into stillness. They were of common copperish, fewer silverish and even fewer goldish metallic colours.

 

They stopped in a big well lit and comfortable chamber that was combination taproom and sleeping area with toilet and showerbath alcoves. It was no accident they they came to be there for it was part of the plan. There the group went over the plan and waited for somebody to come and meet them.

 

 

To be continued!

Edited July 4, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Animations/dancerani.gif

 

Installment Six

 

K'Martina looked like herself again, at least her human self. She was frustrated because the last days had proven to be both successful and yet also the opposite. The problem was not that they had not found any information but that they had found out too much fragmented information but with out any clear answers. But at least the Sisterhood Compassionate Community Centre was not only up and running again fully and properly but had been boosted with new resources including new monies and new people. A few Sisters Compassionate were being healed along with a few volunteers. A handful of volunteers had been captured as Mythic Dawn agents.

 

She stood in her normal Kurikondi gear in a large basement room in the centre. It had supposedly been converted into a storeroom for stuff that might be possibly useful one day because the sisterhood could not afford to chuck out any resources of possible value. So there were wooden shelves full to almost over flowing with an amazing range of stuff in metal bins, sacks or just loose. There were bigger items stacked against walls. Some of the items in the room were just amazing like the old wooden rowboat leaning against one wall, the skeleton on a metal holding frame, a great big wooden wagon wheel and a suit of armour made from non magical tin.

 

The old man ghost sat on a chair and lazily watched K'Martina who could see him easily enough because of her special nature. He wore rough city clothes but oddly enough also a golden medallion hung around his neck. He was not a damned or lost soul but had staid back voluntarily to help the sisterhood. He looked translucent as he held an expensive wooden pipe in one hand.

 

He spoke and though his voice had an odd slight echo chamber effect, she could hear him clearly. "I was alive back when the Sisterhood Compassionate chose this building. I lived here as a semilegal squatter thanks to some ancient law giving the homeless some chance of finding shelter. I warned the sisterhood that something is bad in this building. I didn't care because I always had the second sight and a ghost repeller's ability inherited from my father. Still even I had some hairy moments and the other squatters all left except for poor old Mad Harry. The Sisterhood Compassionate is a fine and noble order but back then it was naive and it did not listen to my warning. Anyway the sisterhood had a lot less resources back then, back before you Kurikondi and some others started supporting them big time. They had little money to spend and thanks to past bad experiences nobody else wanted to use this building. The Sisters Compassionate sent poor old Mad Harry to one of their warm friendly places instead of those damned asylums the government sends people to who are like him. They gave me the job of caring for this big old storeroom full of stuff scavenged from the building that they did not use or throw out. My mattress and other stuff are still in the corner and I rest there even if I can't really sleep. Sometimes my sister visits me from one of those lower heavens. That's good even if she lectures me sometimes."

 

She turned to him. "Very good! I have painted holy emblems and wards in various places to help protect you, this chamber and the centre from evil intrusions. The doppleganger came briefly into this room once and did what?"

 

Old Jovo scowled. "Doppleganger knew I was here but only jeered at me when I tried to get rid of him. Yeh, it was a him though it was pretending to be a young woman, the naive young Sister Compassionate supposedly held hostage. I could see right through his fake appearance, in a foggy sort of fashion."

 

She nodded. "How did you die?"

 

He sighed. "Stupidity and booze. Came in drunk one night from too much cheap hard drink and fell down the steps leading down here from the upper basement level. Notice the stonework down here? Doesn't seem to be Cyrodilin."

 

"You are a very observant and clever soul, Old Jove!" She knelt and touched a stone block of the floor. "It was built most likely by Ayleid slave labour assisted by their magical devices used by Ayleid workers so it was not a typical sort of rough slave built structure. No, it is very well made though not as well made as the Ayleid structures built by conjured elementals and summoned working Daedra along with Ayleid workers. That was back before all of the working Daedra of the Plains of Oblivion fled away to leave the Towers of Oblivion to slowly degrade and, often, to collapse int the molten seas of Oblivion."

 

Old Jove scowled. "I knew sombody who's ancestor went into Oblivion as a soldier. He was never the same after that. Nobody was who went into that place. They were tainted somehow and many got sick of strange illnesses and died young or went mad and died young or turned to evil and died young. Damned Daedra were immune but not us who went from Tamriel."

 

K'Martina shook her head. "The Daedra are slowly but steadily fading away into oblivion in Oblivion. Methrunes Dagon tried to invade Tamriel simply to escape doom. He had nothing to lose in the end. Lesser Daedra are dying from the same ill effects that did so much damage to Tamriellans who dared to enter Oblivion. The undead are becoming stronger and more numerous in Oblivion because now all dead Daedra become undead and because of other factors. There is a war going on between the Daedra and the undead but the Daedra are slowly and steadily losing that war."

 

The ghost frowned softly. "Always had mixed feeling about the Daedra and couldn't get into Daedric worship but then again I had doubts in the Nine. So why did the Ayleid build such a special chamber down here?"

 

She frowned softly as she stared at a seemingly blank area of stonework. "Symbols are here for those with the proper sight to see. This was the upper section of a whole secret complex of chambers, rampway tubes and tunnels. I suspect that the Ayleid who built it kept it a secret from most other Ayleid and may have killed off many of the slaves who helped build the secret complex just to make sure the secret was kept. Those slaves not killed would have been kept working down in the complex. As for why it was built, sorry I have no answers yet. What did the doppleganger do?"

 

Old Jove frowned. "Examined walls and the floor. Muttered things in some funny language beyond my understanding. Then it went away and never came back. Doppleganger is a kind of lich isn't it?"

 

She looked up at him. "Yes and no! Normal lichs are created when dark mages of much power use that power to become undead through some insanely stupid desire for true immortality. In truth most lichs die not from enemy attacks but from suicide after they realise just what they have become and many others simply give up and fade slowly away into nothingness. Dopplegangers are a mystery not totally solved. They are undead of a particular powerful kind with some odd weaknesses. There are false dopplegangers of many kinds. True dopplegangers have appeared on various worlds through out the greater endless history only to vanish again with out any good explaination why they came and went."

 

She looked back at the stone block and then stood up. "What happened then?"

 

The ghost shuddered. "A secret entrance opened up I wasn't ever aware of, either as a ghost or a live old man and in came Mythic Dawn people. They were fleeing from something and slammed the entrance closed behind them, magically locking it somehow. It shuddered for a while as if something very powerful was striking at it. The Mythic Dawn followers were all badly shaken and most of them were at least lightly wounded. Seems they got got away with their lives from what ever it was that is down there. Then the new Mother Compassionate came down here for the first time and at first glance I knew she was evil at the core. She talked with the Mythic Dawn Followers, warned them about me and then departed quickly after that. She returned with food, drink, medicines and blankets all stolen from the Sisterhood Compassionate. Then she went away again and that was the last time I ever saw her. I suppose the doppleganger killed her after that."

 

"The doppleganger did just that because the fake Mother Compassionate was a powerful mage with lots of magical energies to feed on and who was too dangerous to let live." She turned and walked over to examine the secret door once more. It was already dotted with very powerful holy warding, life and clensing symbols. There was also a large ying-yang symbol, which was one that the undead were discomforted by greatly. This was because ying-yang was of the natural balance of life and death, amongst other natural forces, and opposed to the antinaturalness of undeath. "The strange monks did not come through this way."

 

Old Juve nodded. "They never ever showed up here. I have never seen their kind and by what others have told me, some of the Sisters Compassionate talk to me, I hope I never meet any of their kind. They sound most bizarre and evil."

 

K'Martina turned to the ghost. "I am going but I will return with company. I will be in the building so if you need me you know how to get me."

 

Old Juve nodded. "Having a gorgeous young woman like you around makes me feel young and almost alive again."

 

She smiled and then left by going up the stairs. There was also a rampway going up.

 

Old Juve stretched and the turned to look at the ceiling. "Come on down you busybody."

 

His ghostly sister, a fine looking old spinster, came drifting down in her dress and settled to standing on the floor. She had her hands on her hips. "You silly dirty old man, couldn't you see she is a living goddess and you flirting with her and all."

 

At that the ghost of an old man gave a start. "A living goddess, wow!" Then he grinned cheekily. "Of course I saw what she is but she is well screened and, I suspect, very young for one of her kind but damned powerful already. A quick visit I suppose to lecture me."

 

She smiled warmly at him, which she did now and then. "No, I am here to stay with you until all of this is over and then both of us are going to Heaven."

 

At that he smiled back. "Sounds mighty fine to me."

 

To be continued!

Edited July 5, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

:banana: :starwars: :bunny:

 

Installment Seven

 

Mahargrah stood on top of a sturdy wooden ladder and put another lashing of rose coloured paint on the grey stoneflesh wall with an oversized paintbrush that dripped onto the floor. It was special paint designed for use with stoneflesh. He was dressed in leather overalls and boots along with cloth shirt and shorts. He spoke out. "So what do you think? Rose reddish just like you wanted."

 

The great majestic entrance hall of the Southern Keep was a hive of activity as gobgoblins bustled around with buckets of paint, ladders, bits of decorative stonework, tools and other items while managing mostly not to get much constructive work done at all.

 

The elementors, maha-amazons and maha-gargoyles were doing duties elsewhere.

 

Mahargastle sounded quite excited. "Yes, yes, make it that colour. It clashes nicely with the obviously fake animal furs. I like the row of suits of knight armour with the glowing orange paintwork but those black and white polka dots over there, are you sure?"

 

Mahargrah nodded. "If we are going to be evil, then truly we must have enough black and white polka dots in the great entrance hall. I think I read it somewhere about twenty-eight thousand years ago in some book about something or rather."

 

At the great open doors were squatting a whole bunch of amazed but generally pleased wild goblins, short brownies, butterfly winged fairies and other creatures sipping warm coffee and eating snacks as provided by the gobgoblins. There were at least a hundred of them all fairly close together but they barely made up a small area of the great stone slab of an entrance ramp outside of the great open doors.

It was Mahargrah who decided they might just be a sneaky invading army and to trick them wickedly by providing them with blankets to sit on, food and drink. He had been so impressed by his new found evil cleverness that he had chortled for a while until Mahargastle asked him to please shut up.

 

Some gobgoblins placed a great big bad taste pot next to a large closed set of inner doors. On the pot were the words, in funny script, I MUST BE POTTY TO OWN THIS POT; this was supposed to be highly humerous and put visitors at ease before they were surprise attacked with colourful brochures.

 

A group of embarrassed gobgoblin warriors were dressed up as clowns, jestors, white rabbits and bikini girls, the last being all males. They were all huddled in a corner behind some fake looking potplant bushes pretending to work and trying to hide from further embarrassment.

 

The work on the evil decorations plan went on!

 

To be continued!

Edited July 4, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Animations/Glowing-hooded-skull.gif

 

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/ScreenShot5a.jpg

 

Installment Eight

 

Mahargronan walked along the winding dirt path that led downwards through a shallow sloping walled ravine with sides covered with damp mossgrass and tangler-bush. He wore light white-gold armour, a trident-longsword down his back and other gear including a springback-pistol. Behind him came a pair of donkeys with pack-saddles and the hobgoblin that led them, a larger version of a goblin, hobgoblins being a cousin people of goblins. Behind them came more hobgoblins leading more donkeys. He had hired the five hobgoblins and their fifteen donkeys at the village of Hogro'Diako just fifteen or so kilometres from the edge of Castle Maharg. The hobgoblins had taken the goldhigh coins but he suspected that just their anger and fear of the the Northern Valleyland Duke would have had them helping his cause.

 

Duke Rudenee Mocknester had been throwing his weight around. He had announced that despite the general friendliness and civilised behavour of goblinkind in the Valleyland that they were to be treated like slaves if captured. Only his own scum followers had even tried to take up goblins as slaves and had been thwarted not just by goblinkind. Fighting had broken out in the semiwilderness of the northern valley between rebels and the Duke's Guard. Except that the Duke's Guard were not the pampered, corrupt fools they used to be but were tough, experienced warriors. They were unscrupulous mercenaries hired from the coastlands being magic-musketeers, mediumate horse-soldiers who rode to battle but fought on foot, foot-soldiers and horse-soldiers along with sappers, medics, battlemages and battledruids.

 

Goblins had learned the hard way that hurling themselves in a great rush at magic-musketeers shooting magic-balls was a good way to die in large numbers. Now they and their allies of surprising diversity fought more cunningly.

 

The Duke's Guard controlled the three towns at the Northern Valleyland High along with various smaller settlements closer to them but caused resentment there by their arrogance, bullying and refusal to pay their bills. There were hundreds of mercenaries, many of them deserters from the constant wars between the coastal citystates. The big question was where was the Northern Duke getting the goldworth to pay for them all? His Dukedom had been broke until fairly recenlty when he had begun to hire mercenaries, to spend big on his castle and other properties, to hire powerful necromancers and other dark mages to serve him along with expensive high class mistresses and to host big lavish parties for the famous and wealthy. As for public service and the poor, they continued to be largely neglected.

 

Many said that Queen Shejoy II had proven to be a fool who was now stranded far to the south with her pitiful army and many broken down old steam-wagons.

 

Yet when Mahargronan led the hobgoblins and pack-donkeys out of the gully and into a gently sloping grassy slope lightly covered with trees and bushes, there stood a tall proud woman in white-gold armour with her war-steed and a large cluster of tough looking knights and horse-soldiers. This was the real Queen Shejoy II and she carried a magical broadsword of much power. There were also centaurs with the war party along with some dwarns, true dwarven people of short squatness and surprising physical endurance and strength. Half the humans were common Valliandors, easily the majority of humans through out the Vallyland.

 

Half of the humans were Vashari who were the majority of humans in the Northern High Valleyland being either dusky white or lightest brown of skin colour. Yet Vashari tended to have dirty blonde hair colour and pale brown eyes. Though Vashari were generally poor in magic ability they made up with it by having more resistance to magic than most other human races. The minority of Vashari who were magic tended to be sorcerers of great power and ability.

But a minority of Vashari had one other speciality that they tended to be secretive about. They were natural born weredogs, that is they could transform into great magical dog creatures though they had no choice when the two moons were in certain phases.

 

Vashari had an amazing affinity with dogs and with the group were small packs of battledogs, large and powerful. Yet there were also dogmans, part human and part dog humanoids, who stood close to the battledogs. They varied from those more like dogs, to those in the middle and those more like humans. Vashari were very secretive about how dogmans came to exist but were angered by crude suggestions made in poor jest by non Vashari peoples.

 

Mahargronan bowed to Queen Shejoy II and then spoke. "You are so strong, strong willed, intelligent and aristocratic that you must be Queen Shejoy II. Our worst fears have come to pass but Mahargrah has made plans already now put into place. Mahargrah and Mahargastle are now busy doing an evil project of decorating the great entrance chamber to the Southern Keep of Castle Maharg. The powerful evil force trying to control them is being thwarted by this implanted obsession with decorating the great entrance chamber. It appears that Mahargraph-One is vulnerable to attack though he is surrounded by gobgoblins, but I suspect he has some tricks up his sleeve."

 

The queen was clearly very tired. "My army and I have been on the move for hours over hard landscape from the nearest Underways exit though dragoms carried part of my army here earlier on and they are already repairing, improving and expanding the abandoned Fort Highfight. I intend to have a permanent large garrison placed there if we win this conflict with the real enemies behind this madness."

 

Mahargronan sighed. "We have a strong clue to at least one powerful traitor behind the evil plot, that is one who was trusted by Mahargrah and who betrayed me (us) but you will not like it."

 

The beautifully elegant dusky white queen threw back her dirty blonde coloured hair and frowned hard. "My once beloved grandfather, once King Hejoy III, has long ceased to be the man that I loved, adored and admired. He must be ruinously old now even for we Vashari who live longer than most mortal humans."

 

"He is lich!" The man almost spat out the words in disgust. "His is undead."

 

The queen winced visibly with shock and pain. "Then I must kill him for the sake of his daughter, my mother, whom he betrayed and slew with his own hands along with all the other evil that he has done since he has been seduced by the Dark Side. Do you have what was asked for?"

 

He nodded. "Fifteen flamelighters, each able to project a power flamelight pulse over a hundred metres. Fifteen magic-minicannons each able to fire a magical small cannon-ball for a goodly range. Also special supplies and some other equipment. This is what you wanted for a strikeforce to attack and wipe out a powerful group of undead being vampires, litchs and ghouls plus others. Why did your messanger-elemental ask for such?"

 

The queen scowled. "A powerful force of undead has recently started attacking rebel camps and moving rebel groups. They have killed, wounded and even turned a few into undead though many escaped and a fair few of the undead were destroyed. As soon as I gained contact with rebel forces here in the Northern Dukedom, that does not include part of the Maharg Estate claimed illegally by the fool duke, I met with the duke's eldest son who has turned against him as many have done in the duke's family. It was he who requested that we create such a strikeforce to track down and destroy these undead."

 

Suddenly a horrible squaky voice shouted through the air. "You lot are a lot of weedy folk. You haven't got a chance Queen Shejoy II."

 

The queen winced. "Ruddy mocking-owls. It's too bad it is bad luck to kill a mocking bird though its not good to hear a mocking-owl call your name."

 

Mahargronan frowned and shook his head in wonder. "The Retirw, the ancient force of creative chaos, is strong in the Sanctuary Archipelago. Has this new force of undead been linked to Duke Rudenee Mocknester?"

 

"Not directly!" The queen responded. "It has been linked to a mysterious adviser, a powerful necromancer and sorcerer-scientist named Sage Drakenstein. It is said that Sage Drakenstein is Kurivezzi rogue and that he created a number of patchwork monsters from bits of corpses, human and animal, undead things of great strength but both vulnerable to fire and wild and uncontrollable. As you probably know Kurivezzi are the Kurikondi cousin people who are intrinsically powerful magefolk. They are naturally born to powerful magic, being able to utilise many forms of magic with out even having to learn them though strength and focus of particular abilities vary from individual to individual, froom inheritance to inheritance. Drakenstein joined the undead and as Kurivezzi undead tend to be, became a powerful and deadly lich."

 

Mahargronan stated. "I take it that it was after this strang adviser appeared the the duke turned to evil."

 

"No!" Shejoy II responded with a sound of distaste. "The fool had a tendency to evil long before that. When he was five years old an old nanny fell to her death down a steep old castle spiral staircase. It was whispered since then that he pushed her down stairs because she told him off for wetting his bed. No proof has been found either way. We must head out soon and make our way to my main military force. We then must get to Fort Highfight to link up with a large rebel army. I have packhorses to carry the gear you have brought for us and a saddle-horse for you. The hobgoblins and their donkeys can return to the service of their village."

 

So Mahargronan paid the second half of the fee to the hobgoblins plus a generous bonus and items were transferred. The hobgoblins bowed to the queen, turned and went back to the shallow sided ravine. Soon they were gone in one direction and the military force was heading in the other.

 

To be continued!

Edited July 9, 2009 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/ScreenShot8.jpg

 

Installment Nine

 

K'Martina had learned that there were many forces secretly fighting against each other in the Imperial City, or Martinpolis as most now called the city, and that it seemed that most of those forces were floundering around as much as she was. That is those forces did not know what was really going on.

 

The Kurikondi had captured Mythic Dawn agents, one member of the Dark Brotherhood, three special operatives of the Theives Guild's Spies Subguild, three Imperial Secret Order agents and others, too many others. A whole lot of power players inside and outside of the Cyrodilin Empire wanted to know just what was going on and had sent people to find out and often to carry out other acitivites liking striking against old enemies. From them the shapeshifters learned a whole lot of information but not any vital bits of the puzzle that would tie it all together or answer a series of critical questions.

 

So K'Martina found herself once more in the stone block chamber but this time she was annoyed for something deep inside her had drawn her there but she did not know what it was.

 

She went to the suit of non-magical tin armour and sensed there an amazingly subtle force of magical illusion. So she snapped her finger inside it and there was a flash of golden-yellow light. The suit of armour transformed and now it was white-golden and she knew it to be armour of Mahargrah, the One of Many of One who bore many names, many titles, many identities and who was one of her fathers. It was magical power, it was other kinds of power, it was elemental power and as she stood there it transformed and became fitted to her. It was now her armour.

 

The ghost of the old man stood there looking a little nervous. "Did you really think that Mahargrah forgot you. He has been with you always and in more than one way but he could not be openly with you because you have always been surrounded by traitors to him who are also traitors to the living, to life itself. Mahargrah was treacherously attacked but destroyed his attackers, as powerful as they were. Wounded he sank deep into Mahargastle for protection but the two are linked and she was weakened. Followers and others sank into the great magical living castle to rest, regenerate and rejuvenate. Further treachery was expected, was planned for and has taken place. Put the armour on!"

 

Fuming and yet full of doubts, but feeling no danger when it came to the suit, she stripped off outer layers and then put the suit on over her practical but comfortable undergarbs that were fairly skimpy. The old man ghost prtended not to ogle her but did not do a very good job of it until his sister, another ghost, appeared and frowned hard at him until he closed his eyes.

 

Now in the white-gold armour, she turned and faced the ghostly figures and she spoke. "Amazingly vivid dreams in which I was with Mahargrah and others who vanished with him. I only remembered them when I was dreaming them, episodically, except for a persistent feeling. They were dreamlinking of some kind. He was with me and so were others I assumed who had betrayed me. Why didn't he send for me and my mother to go to Mahargastle? He sent a message to my mother and she pretended to me that it had not come. She told me that Mahargrah was not really one of my fathers at all and that he did not love me. Why did she do that? Is she a monster?"

 

The ghostly woman shook her head. "We both were young when you were very young, you being true immortal and slower to grow than us mortals, and we knew your mother during that period of time. She was very frightened though she strove to hide the fact. We lived in Kurikonddis (the enclave on the western coast of Cyrodiil) though we were only half-blood Kurikondi but amazing enough we were also allowed to visit Kurikonddor in the Sanctuary Archipelago. You came here in one of the shaperkuri that in Tamriel they call the great metal galleons because that is the shapeforms we show them."

 

The great metal sail-galleons that sailed gracefully into and out of the big main harbour of Kurikonddis, the other two were used for smaller Tamriellan ships, only took the form of galleons when closer to Tamriel. As they reached a certain distance the sails were drawn in and the ships altered shape to start flying through the air, just above the waters, at much higher speeds. As galleons they used differing appearances so that locals assumed that there were perhaps more than a hundred big magical metal galleons when in truth just ten small shaperkuri served as all the galleons plus other sorts of Kurikondi vessels on the odd moments that they visited.

 

She nodded. "I came here by that way though I have heard whispers in the Kurikondi Imperial Court of other, older, more secretive ways. Mahargrah did not wish the Kurikondi to have any trade with Tamriel. While I was growing up in court, while I was at the Secret Academy, I heard various reasons why this was done but they tended to contradict each other and none of them proved to be very believable. I picked up a sense of fear, of wariness, that led me to believe that this was the sort of question that was dangerous to ask. The Emperor did not like such questions, the Imperial House did not like such questions, the Secret Order did not like such questions and such questions were not asked openly, not even in the Parliamentary Open Speaking Chamber where anybody is supposed to be able to ask any question and remain safe though an answer is not always a sure thing."

 

K'Martina saw the tall wide mirror and examined herself in it. "Nice fit. One of the whispered stories I picked up that did have a sense of strength about it was that the open trade with Tamriel to get coal, wood, metals, herbs, spices and other such basic goodies, was not the only trade and perhaps not the most important one. An ancient and secret way of going between Kurikondor and Tameriel, to the very Imperial City itself, was opened and smaller, more valauable but more contraversial goods were being passed back and forth through these means."

 

She turned to the two ghosts. "The Imperial Court of Kurikonddor has become oppressive, fearful, filled with nasty little conspiracies, corrupt, dangerous, full of dark horrible little secrets, criminal, perverted and removed from the vast majority of Kurikondi, Kuriyanwi and Kurivezzi. I came to Tamriel both to serve the Secret Eye and the Secret Order and to find perhaps more freedom and safety away from the Imperial Court, especially since it shifted to become its own seperate citystate."

 

Both ghosts clapped and then bowed gracefully.

 

Then he spoke. "Very well acted out and with a psychic dimension to it to make it most convincing. We are not your enemies, K'Martina, far from it. Your mother did not say those horrible things to you because she wanted to but because an assassin was aiming a powerful weapon right at your back. Not at her, for that would not have frightened her into saying words that broke her heart, but at you. She knew the assassin's master would not hesitate to give the order for murder and that the assassin would fire. The assassin's master was the Emperor and the assassin was his third son, Prince Angeliz Jugojazo."

 

K'Martina smiled and nodded. "Prince Angeliz Jugojazo, the dreaded overlord of the Secret Fist, the assassins and assassin-soldiers serving the Imperial House. The man who died a truly horrible death in one of the Secret Fist's torture machines just before the underground main base of the Secret Fist was destroyed by a huge explosion."

 

Old Juve nodded. "But not before what? Before all the prisoners escaped, before many valuable resources vanished including datacrystals?"

 

At that she nodded. "The base has been abandoned but that is only understandable. The Emperor Harnold Jugojazo ranted and raved on the telereflectors for days and demanded that the rebels responsible, especially the invidual who killed his son, go forward and face his brand of fair and noble justice. Oddly enough nobody volunteered to go forth and trust the Emperor's brand of fair and noble justice."

 

K'Martina paused before speaking on. "So you went to Kurikonddis. That must have been before the Imperial House demanded all so called halfbreeds to be forcefully sent to Kurikonddis as unfit to live in the homeland."

 

The elegant old woman spoke. "My name is Janu. Please call me Old Janu. No, the last few times we went were after that evil edict that accidentally did much good. When you came here how much did you know of the Kurikonddis Freedom Alliance, the so called Anti-Imperials and the Constitutionalists?"

 

"Rebels?" K'Martina shrugged. "Kurikonddor is a big place but the rebels only control more isolated areas except for the great arid and semi-arid areas of no real value. I doubt this is the whole story but what can a few rebels do against the Imperial Defence Orders of Kurikonddor, not to mention the People's Defence Orders? I thought there might be successful rebel acitivity in Kurikonddis but it turned out to be as bad as the Imperial Court was."

 

Old Juve nodded. "You could have gone to other parts of Kurikonddor instead of here to Tamriel, could you not have?"

 

K'Martina frowned hard at the two. "I am not pure blood Kurikondi so what am I? I had to get out of the Imperial Court to have a chance to escape before the damned false Imperial House found out that I am a 'half-breed' as they would call me. When I got my orders to come to Tamriel it was a gift out of the mouths of the Three Goddesses. I hoped Kurikonddis would be a haven for half-bloods but when I got to Kurikonddis I could find none. What happened to all those hundreds that reported to the Imperial High Guard?"

 

Old Janu gave a very deep sigh. "The Emperor had them murdered except for about half who escaped thanks to secret rebels and supposedly loyal imperial public servants who simply could not carry out such horrific orders. Now all half-bloods refuse to give themselves up."

 

She smiled. "Then you have much information to give me."

 

But then Old Juve shook his head. "Because we are ghosts, though here of free good choice, we are restricted in what we can say. I stress that this is what we can say and not want we want to say. If we try our words do not form and if we try too much we start to fade away. Still we can give you more information than we have and are allowed to give you some clues. Would you like a nice cup of tea? We can't drink tea but we can project an illusion that is oddly just as pleasing in many ways if not more so because for us the tea is always just perfect. You need time to think about matters. We have some fresh scones that the Sisters Compassion brought down with the tea thanks to our asking for we knew you were coming."

 

She shrugged and spoke. "Thank you, some hot tea and scones would be good, what ever scones are."

 

So she sat and sipped tea, ate the scones slowly and enjoyed them. Then she closed her eyes, fell forward and was dead.

 

The false ghosts both turned to each other and looking into each other's eyes they laughed gayly. Then they shimmered and became wraiths, ghost like beings of evil. They had done well and the unkonwn force, the horribly evil and powerful voice that had offered them the highly profitable task, would be pleased. As for the real ghosts they were amazingly easy to trick and trap in a magical stone box.

 

But then they heard laughter and they turned to see not a dead K'Martina but two very much untrapped and strong ghosts being of course Old Janu and Old Juve. Standing behind the tea and scone splattered chair where the solid illusion had sat eating food and drink was the real K'Martina. She gave the wraiths a mild grin, stretched out her hands and with a blast of magical flamelight sent both of them to eternal damnation.

 

Then she turned to the ghosts. "How did they get past my magical precautions?"

 

The two looked puzzled and Old Janu sighed. "We simply do not know."

 

To be continued!

Edited July 5, 2009 by Maharg67