Game Epic of Stories

[Maharg67]

Zero [14][77]

Three expeditionary forces were set out as led by Lucky Eddie (Eternal Seeker) along with both Mahargiana and Mahargiata (Eternal Guardian). Jadekia, and Shaekia, (Eternal Champion) were busy in the Mazelands. Baurus, and Venturers, were still busy in the Grand Imperial Palace but were moving out beyond it. Martin was still doing research in the Tritranscube131313 Libraries.

A great army of living-dead appeared in the Underlands, strengthened against the suncrystal of the cavernlands and made immune from the glowcrystal of other areas. Ignoring possible lesser targets, such as small tribes of gnomes and goblinfolk, they headed through the extreme Upper-Western Isomatica. Numbering over a hundred thousand lesser creatures, thousands of more powerful creatures and thousands of support creatures such as pack-carriers, there was nothing at first strong enough to even try to resist them. Only the extreme environment of the Isomatica, a blasted and largely sterile zone as left behind by an ancient magical war, slowed them down. This gave locals a chance to flee, to take resources with them, and to send on warnings to others. Led by a hulking necrolifen monster of undeath, FaneZaenta, they came to an abrupt halt at the Great Larva Pit of Jetting Flames.

Imperiarna, the Grand Imperial City, continued to transform as new structures began to arise. The WhiteGoldTower began to grow taller, broader, but the focus was on tallness. A great central dome began to arise but also small, though still, large domes around it. The Undercity began to transform openly, revealing to most that hidden changes had already been taking place. A few already knew of it.

The investigations of the Grand Imperial Guild were stalled when a powerful, dark magical, force wiped out the Grand Imperial Guild Lodge. All of the common workers, a lesser management, and others of lower ranks escaped. It appeared that all elite leadership all perished as did the archives and vaults with seemingly all in them. Many secrets were lost and few doubted that the action was deliberate. Then it was discovered than many archives had been stolen intact along with a huge amount of imperial coinage, currency notes, blank promissory notes and other valuable resources. The Imperium was not happy! The Imperium would neither forget, or forgive, that great damaging crime against it.

Helpful information had come from an unknown source, through hidden channels. A name came to the fore and that was the Necrowizard Fordcanemano, also named as Chairman Goldfinger of the Grand Imperial Guild, and it was pointed out that he had survived along with his followers.

Attempts to find entrances to the Inner WhiteGoldTower failed, let alone attempts to get through those exotic entrances. The Inner WhiteGold Tower was not 'inside' the Outer WhiteGoldTower in the normal sense of the word. The Core WhiteGoldTower's positioning was even more exotic.

Jensine was no longer of the ImperialEye but she had gained new status as a secret liaison agent between the Empire and various peoples of the Midcity-Undercity. Trade was brisk as Overcity people began to desire her more exotic items.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Two 11.1[17][78]

The CloneEmperor was pleased with his transformed transferred chambers in the Tritranscube131313. He was stronger there, more secure and was even more in touch with the Empire than before. There was his Dragonthroneroom where he lay back and continued to grow healthier, stronger, but also his reception throneroom where he met delegations, report groups and others. The throneroom had two big, slanted, true-mirrors that could become maps, show views or do other tricks. There were many Venturers, Blades and others serving him including the elderly courtiers of a married couple.

In the reception throneroom, Martin had two Venturers hold the magical realm painting up, the one that had been found by Venturers exploring the Grand Imperial Palace. The view had changed to show a distant city that could easily been the Grand Imperial Palace, complete with the WhiteGoldTower.

The CloneEmperor nodded. "A view into a very sophisticated magical painted realm?"

Martin shook his head. "Sire, this is not the entrance into such a realm but the exit from one. This realm is the magical painted one as created by the Grand Aldmer and probably strengthened, enhanced, by some kind of divine power. I doubt that any of the Nine Divines could do this alone or, perhaps, even together. The Great Divinity may have done so or even one, or more, of the Three Lesser Divinities of Mind, Body and Spirit."

"We are inside a great magical painting of the real Tamriel!" He frowned softly and then laughed softly. "Somehow, after all that has happened, this does not surprise me. How big is this realm?"

Martin shrugged, sighed, threw up his hands dramatically. "A team has been formed that is trying to answer that question while other teams are trying to answer other, related, questions. We do know that not everybody, everything, in this realm was created as it but was introduced later, perhaps not much later even in mere mortal terms. The original painting may have been 'brushed up' with a divine Aedric artifact such as the Brush of Truepaint that was woven from Dibella's hair (Dibella of the Nine Divines). This is a great shock to us all, at least to most of us all, who have learned it."

 

The CloneEmperor steepled his fingers in front of his face. "Restrict who you tell, at least for now! Only those, who need to know, need to be informed of what could cause great confusion and trouble. I take it that you still have not managed to get through the 'painting' exit."

 

Martin shook his head. "It remains sealed to us!"

[Maharg67]

Two 12.1[18][79]

Doppelgangers! The group was made up of doppelgangers and those who had come under the mind control of the few doppelganger mages there. Doppelgangers were a kind of limited shapeshifting living-dead. As the Eternal Seeker killed one more of the false humans, causing it to burn away even as it fell away to the floor, he cursed silently. The victims had been fed upon or worked hard but not enough to kill them either way. A catdog took down a fake goblin, ripping the doppelganger's head off and killing it at once.

What were the doppelgangers doing there?

Lucky Eddie fired off his special revolver-pistol and blasted two living-dead shapeshifters with one shot; both died as the quasisolid bullet plowed right through the first to strike the second.

Doppelgangers were one of the more exotic kind of necrolifen and harder to make than more standard kinds. That meant at least one powerful, skilled, experienced necromage was behind their creation. Even the necrovats had to be more special, along with the various necroserums. That meant there had to be necrochemists (alchemists) and necrotisans (artisans), helping with the workings.

 

The surviving doppelgangers were trying to escape, were running, even as they gave up on their false appearances so that they could move with enhanced speed and agility. Doppelgangers had special abilities, as many elite necrolifen did, but when in false appearances the majority could not use the others. Former victims had gained rifles and took revenge with carefully aimed shots. None of the doppelgangers survived alive.

 

The real Major Johnson Tidire was soon putting on his uniform, as retrieved from the ashes of the false one, and trying to look ready to serve the Imperial Commonwealth despite his battered appearance. He spoke to Lucky Eddie and showed his tiredness. "They first infiltrated the group before drugging food, and tea, being distributed from the messy mess, as we like to call it. They killed five of us but mostly they wanted information, life energies and to have some of us laboring hard for them. They had thralls digging up rubble to get into an underground level even deeper than this basement level. Thank you for saving us and for killing that damned traitor of a human purist."

 

Eddie nodded. "Show me where the digging was taking place, for the doppelgangers."

 

The Major nodded and tiredly led the Eternal Seeker to a chamber cleared of rubble. A hole had been smashed in the floor but carefully so as not to bring the weakened structure down. Eddie leapt down into the area below, two Bladers and two catdogs quickly following, and looked around using gray tinged night-vision. What he saw there did not really surprise him at all for it was a dusty, abandoned, sophisticated and elaborate necromancers' laboratory-workshop.

 

There was a big exotic metallic framed painting on one wall that moved, that showed a view of a version of the Grand Imperial City, Imperiarna, that was slowly being covered by an exotic dome. The city was at some distance but the view was on the Grand Imperial Island of Imperiarta.

[Maharg67]

Two 12.2[19][80]

 

A girl was sitting on a wooden stool, on the other side of the 'painting' and was holding a softly glowing artist's paintbrush in one hand. With amazing skill, and accuracy, she had painted the Grand Imperial City but complete with transparent dome and WhiteGoldTower poking up through the apex of the dome. There were smaller, but still large, domes around the main dome, each dome topping circle walls.

 

The girl turned and smiled at Lucky Eddie. At once he knew it was a Subdivine, a puppet avatar of Dibella of the Nine Divines. Being a Subdivine she was called Dibella for she was just an extension with out any real autonomous existence. She spoke. "We Thirteen Divinities do what we have to do! Martin Septim has discovered that his Tamriel is a false one, a divine magical painted realm. Of course he, himself, is a false Martin Septim but he is truly alive and has a soul. We did what we had to do to stop the MadEmperor from bringing back with him a truly threatening entity known as the ShadowEmperor."

 

Lucky Eddie snorted in annoyance. "You did what you did to partly cover your own past crimes."

 

Dibella frowned. "Not our just our past crimes but ones shared with at least one Grand Eternal! The creation of Mundus was begun with Lorkan's clever manipulations, his charming half truths, and he paid with it by his death that created his corpse in the form of Masser and Secunda."

 

Lucky Eddie shook his head. "His death or something other than true death?"

 

The Subdivine Dibella smiled at him, with her mouth, but her eyes were hard. Then she vanished with a soft sparkling shimmer, taking the painting, paintbrush and stool with her.

 

Seconds later the divine magical painting, on the wall of the necromancer chamber, vanished away with a soft shimmering effect. The Eternal Seeker was not at all surprised. The Thirteen Divinities were hiding something but he did not know just what that was. As for any Grand Eternal being involved, in the foolish creation of Mundus, he had no idea who that might be. There were many Eternals but only few Grand Eternals and he was an aspect of one of them. The Eternal Seeker was special even amongst Grand Eternals.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Two 13.1[20][81]

Humphree was a big hairy mixture of a humanoid that seemed to have been fixed up to appear better. He was sitting with Mahargiana and she was holding one of his big thumbs in one of her hands. They were sitting on a blanket on a coloured temple floor. Efforts had been made to make that temple chamber cheerful with colorations, murals, moderately bright glowcrystal lamps, lots of colorful cushions and much else. There were plenty of toys.

There were also companions in the form of patchwork creatures and living animals. Not all living-dead were evil and Humphree was far from being so. He spoke even as a dog lay curled up in his lap, sleeping, and sharing it with a patchwork reanimant that was something like a humanoid with four legs.

Humphree spoke in a warm, slowish, voice. "Those funny red skinned children, they come sometimes to visit me, they come bringing food and trade with me. Shanz, she makes sure that the trading is fair."

Shanz was a living woman with a necrolifen arm, her left arm. She was going over some underground maps with two Bladers. The maps were very old and had never been greatly reliable but were all they had.

Mahargiana spoke. "It is time you, and your friends, found a better home than this one."

Humphree frowned. "But daddy will not be able to find me."

Mahargiana smiled at him. "We (the Eternal Guardian) will make sure that does not happen. There is a special place called Tritranscube131313. Inside is a special place of wonderful caves with wonderful people. All living-dead, who live there, transform for the better. We will ask your daddy to go to live there with you, and your friends. You have no idea where your daddy went?"

Humphree shook his head. "Daddy just rushed off one day, with many of his people. He said he would be back in a couple of months but he was not back in a couple of months. I got very sulky but it did not help very much. Then a wonderful glowing lady came here. She made the temple much more nicer looking. She made things better, made everybody better. She called herself Mara and thought it funny that I did not know who she was."

Mahargiana nodded slowly. "Mara is one of the Nine Divines, is a divine goddess, but you probably met one of her Subdivines. You are very special that Mara would come to visit you, even as a Subdivine."

 

There was a sparkling shimmer and a telecube appeared out of mid air. Out of it stepped Mahargiata and then others of his group.

[Maharg67]

Two 14.1[21][82]

StarMarshal Drake Septim, the Eternal Warrior, examined carefully the living-dead army that was not moving in the Underlands. Instead a fortress of some kind was being swiftly, but carefully, constructed. Most of it was underground but structures were rising above be they blocks, towers or of other kinds. Drake knew that the positioning of the fortress, close to the Great Larva Pit of Jetting Flames, was no coincidence and yet he doubted that it was the only reason that the new settlement was there. The place was a bridgehead into the Underlands but where had so many necrolifen come from so suddenly?

Drake was a tall, broad shouldered, figure in typical Underlands armor of the area or so it looked for he wore divine magical shapeshifting armor. Around him stood magical musketeers, mageteers, with their exotic musket-rifles. There were standard, faster loading ones, that were more common and longer barreled sharpshooter rifles that were less so, being slower to load. Most soldiers, warriors, were equipped with more 'conventional' magical armor-arms.

Around him there were humans, pointy eared elves (not Mer), gnomes, goblins, noblins, hoblins, hobgoblins, orcs, catfolk (not Khajiit), lizardfolk (not Argonians), apefolk, dogfolk, centaurs and many others. Yet it was far from a huge military unit being a reconnaissance, skirmishing, force. Between them, and the enemy, was the great pit itself but it was a narrower end of the pit. The enemy fortress was about a kilometre away.

Drake gave some orders for the unit to move out. The reason was simple; somehow the enemy knew they were there, he could 'sense' it just as he knew there were 'traitors to the living' amongst his ranks. He knew who they were and would make them sorry for their treachery.

Then she was standing there, a Demidivine of the Underlands Divines of which there were at three. She was Magittessa, a semiautonomous demigoddess serving all three of the Divines. She spoke. "Not real traitors but those with families held hostage by the real traitors; I have freed the families. No, I did not read your mind! Even a Divine can not read the mind of a True Eternal."

Drake nodded. "You have always been a clever one, Magittessa! Very well I will not be harsh. This is not the enemy's major attack. They seem to need the Great Pit."

Magittessa nodded. "The pit is a sources of vast resources. The larva has special qualities, ingredients, for it was created by the great magical war that blighted much of this area. It is dangerously unstable stuff to use. Do you know of the Magical Painted Zone of TesziTamriel?"

He nodded. "The Grand Aldmer created, Grand Divine altered-enhanced quasireality of the CloneEmperor and the MadEmperor, of the changing Grand Imperial City, yes I know of it."

Edited August 5, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Two 14.2[22][83]

She nodded. "Supposedly solid illusion that only encompasses a quasireality of the Grand Imperial City, Imperiana, and the Grand Imperial Island of Imperiata. Those have been almost identical to the real Imperiana and Imperiata. Those going into, out of, the quasireality have gone to, and from, special forms of status storage. Here we have the real Underlands, of the real Tamriel, or do we?"

Drake gave her a puzzled look. "A hidden influence, transformation, infiltration of some kind?"

Magittessa sighed. "Probably all three but the so called quasireality has been becoming reality for some time and somehow we, who were meant to watch out for such things, failed to note it. All of the Divinities are investigating but it would appear they may be at least one traitor amongst us."

Drake nodded. "Yes, more than one! We Eternals already know that much. Why did you come here to talk with me, Magittessa?"

She sighed. "To ask that you leave the living-dead army, their fortress, alone and allow them to continue their work. This is most important."

The StarMarshal shook his head. "Since the Dawn Era, the Mythic Era, the First Era, you Divinities have kept hidden too many dark secrets. You have played too many games. I generalize for some of you are wiser than the others but they are kept silent by binding oaths and pressures from other Divinities. The few Divinities who dared rebel, who tried to be truly honest, were imprisoned in comfortable zones, were replaced by deities given the same names. Since the brutal murder of Lorkan, disguised as some kind of noble spiritual suicide, you have done much twisting to conceal that and other dark crimes; by doing so you add to your list of dark crimes. You are not Magittessa but some kind of deceptive Demidivine like entity."

 

The false Magittessa smiled. "You will lose! You, and the other Eternals, will be swept away with the assistance of one of the Grand Eternals."

 

Then the false one was gone with a shimmering. Drake shook his head, just a little, in mild disgust before he ordered the 'traitors' to be rounded up. In truth some were genuine traitors to the living but two had their families being held hostage. He set actions in motion to have the families rescued, doubting that the false Magittessa had kept her word. To his surprise he found he was wrong, that the families had been rescued from a faction known as the Fanelords13. He had not heard of such a faction before but suspected it was either new or renamed or one of many names for the same faction.

[Maharg67]

Zero [15][84]

The magically painted realm of False Tamriel, that was only a copy of part of Tamriel, was growing and becoming 'stronger in its reality' but it was also transforming in other ways.

The magically painted realm of Kayriel was 'inside' the magically painted realm of False Tamriel. It was hard to know just how big that realm really was.

Dibella, through a Subdivine named as herself, had been busy with what looked to be the Brush of Truepaint that Dibella had made with her own hair.

 

There was the real Tamriel of the real Nirn of the real Mundus!

 

What of Earthriel and Terrariel? What status did they have and were they actually real? Then there was the OldEarth.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Two 15.1[23][85]

The CloneEmperor studied the divine magical painting that Martin had brought to show him before. His son had returned with it and was shaking his head with an ironic expression on his face. The painting of a 'magical exit' once more showed a distant Grand Imperial City but Martin had a tone of embarrassment as he spoke. "Sire, I should have noted before the generally abandoned look of the Temple of Ancestors, as the Ayleid called it. There are no Imperial structures, no smoke drifting up from chimneys, no magical wingboats gliding through the air full of passengers, mail and-or cargo."

There were a relatively small number of magical aircraft being used by the Empire but they were difficult to make, maintain and to fly. Wingcraft were a relatively common kind being more wingboats than wingbarges and more wingbarges than wingships. Most common were liftergas airboats and airships.

 

The CloneEmperor smiled. "I noted the truth but wished you to discover it for yourself, my son. We learn from our mistakes. If it is not the real Tamriel, then what is it?"

 

Martin made the scene change, shifting it across, until some trees were much closer. There was something strange about them, something that glistened horribly, that was translucent about the large leaves, something that was bizarrely leathery about the trunks. Then the bones were noted, the skeletons, the other signs of grim death.

 

Martin: "Sire, those are not living trees but things of undeath or living-death or anything else. The forests often them are not as thick as those around our version of the Grand Imperial City. They are living forests."

 

His father frowned. "Perhaps the pattern of magical realms is more complicated than just one being inside another but why would that be so?"

 

Martin nodded. "Sire, this could all be a very elaborate form of trap, trick, diversion from the real Tamriel of the real Nirn of the real Mundus. An amazing interweaving of magically painted quasireality realms might just achieve that. Except that I suspect much of those realms has been brought into them from with out. Extensive researches that seemed to make no sense now appear to be closer to a greater understanding if one brings into the 'equation' the idea of intertwining realms."

 

The CloneEmperor steepled his fingers and looked intensely thoughtful. "We must continue to try to find answers and to make preparations for trouble. This realm, our home realm, continues to expand as it really is and more people, places, are arising into more real existence. All appearing settlements are heavily fortified and there are many fighters, many dangerous creatures that would serve the Empire. I doubt that any of this is coincidence or the doming of Imperiarna. We must bring more civilians into our Grand Imperial City for it is a great sanctuary."

 

[Maharg67]

Two 16.1[24][86]

Venturers moved quickly through the Undercity, penetrating the Shades in a well organized taskforce of three Venturer13s. They slaughtered living-dead entities pouring out of strange temples that had been sealed up. Cults of the living-death, of the Necrolife, had lived and worked there, had worshipped there. Necromages had run terrible experiments there and had created varied forms of necrolifen there.

Necronoids were cult down and there were some huge, hulking, necrogroms smashing at the supersoldiers. Magical swords slashed, stabbed and blocked. The Venturers shot magical energy arrows. They were killing necronoid humanoids, being mostly basic kinds, with basic arms-armor, but also fewer smarter ones with basic magical armor-arms. There were necrotaurs, twisted four legged humanoids of vaguely centaur like nature. There were necroburners, humanoids hurling necromagic flame-jets. There were no necroreanimants, living-dead made from corpses or joined parts of corpses. All the living-death seemed to come from necrovats.

 

Local Shadefolk (Shaders) were fighting hard. They were an extremely tough people, they had to be to survive in the Shades, and were taking their toll of the necrolifen. Yet they had been driven back before the Venturers had arrived to slaughter the living-dead.

 

Friendly living-dead were fighting on the side of Shadefolk, overseen by a young girl-woman figure with blazing eyes and practical, dull coloured clothing and footwear. Even the smarter ones were not greatly bright and she had a way of getting them to do what she wanted to but she loved them very much, even the very ugliest of them. Somehow it seemed no surprise that one of the Venturer13s halted to protect her necrolifen, even the defensive-aggressive ones fighting with basic armor-arms against the dangerous living-dead.

 

It was a Jorzi who led a Venturer13 into a big, dark, partly destroyed temple of hard stone. Bizarre, disturbing, statues had been deliberately destroyed. Burned, smashed, fragments of bone showed what had happened to at least some who had been in the complicated maze of a temple.

 

Then It was found, the metallic framed magical painting that filled up one wall. It showed a bizarre, terrible forest of living-dead trees that were not really trees at all; the necrotrees closed close both sides against a wide flagstoned highway but something seemed to hold them back. The flagstones seemed to be made of some kind of off-white bone like substance. A grayish light filled the moving scene and, in the distance, a military force of necrolifen was coming down that gently sloping highway towards the painting.

 

The black clad Venturers were joined by Venturer mages trained for such circumstances and at once they began to seal up the painting, to lock it so that no more invaders could come from that other magical painted realm. They were working quickly, and efficiently, would achieve their goal but there could easily be other such 'painting gateways' in the Shades. The Shades were not exactly going to be easy to search and the paintings were not going to be so easy to find. Yet there were some tricks that could be used for the paintings were magical and thus gave off 'magical energy signatures'.