Game Epic of Stories

[Maharg67]

One 10.1[13][16]

Jorzi01, Jonni04, Jakor11, Jennz12 and Joplin13 met the bemused Emperor, and his small entourage, in a great big upper basement chamber of the Imperial Palace. Uriel's feeling changed to surprise, and then pleasure, when he saw the amazing treasure trove of items that the four had found in the palace.

There were five golden thin outer skinned golems with magical gem eyes that were studded with other precious gems. They had been created for Emperor Uriel Septim III's inauguration but that was many centuries ago and somehow the powerful, magical, entities had been lost. That was not surprising considering the turbulent history of the Empire and the amazing complexity of the huge palace.

There was a magipainting, an impressively accurate looking painting but which was really a realm in its own right. Only part of the realm, a misty forest, could be seen as the painting. It showed a distant castle that promised to be very massive and, beyond that, far more massive mountains. The magipainting was named the The Realms of Hope.

 

There was a big, neatly arranged, lot of arcane, divine and elemental magical weapons, armor, staffs, tools and other items including both intrinsically magical books and non-magical books of magic. Only a minority of these had any real power to them and only a tiny minority were very potent. Some were considered to be very dangerous.

 

Yet the oddest, most interesting, items numbered three.

 

There was a magical computing device known as a magiputer that was an elegantly designed metal box with a sloping side with a reversed mirror like screen.

 

There was a magical map, a simple cube of hard dark wood with elaborate designs like symbolic map murals.

 

There was a summoning disk, a metre wide and 20 centimetres thick that was made up of rings of electrum (alloy of silver and gold), copper and a mysterious other metal with a purplish color to it.

 

Dark findings were eighteen human skin leather bound tomes of necromantic magic and twenty-two powerful soulstones as used to charge necromantic magic and magical devices. Soulstones were forbidden in the Empire, as was necromancy, but the items would be carefully stored away for future studies in the Arcane University.

 

All had to be studied carefully!

Edited July 19, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 11.1[14][17]

Jensine, the owner manager of the shop known as 'Good as New Merchandise' busied herself sorting out things. The shop had just closed, according to her official hours, but that just meant that other kinds of customers would soon be arriving. From the Grand Imperial Undercity would come tame goblins, hoblins and others including humans.

She paused to examine one of the odd tradegoods that hoblins had brought her to exchange for sweet-water, hand-mirrors, simple magic emblems and other items that they found useful or even just attractive. The blanket was of odd make and very well made. It gave no clues to where it could have come from or how it was made. It was light, strong, warm and seemingly waterproof. Yet she had detected no magic; if it had magical properties they were very well hidden for her powerful, precious, magical devices had detected nothing.

Jensine Branish was far more than the merchant, and shop owner, than people thought of her as being. She was even more than a local VIP (very important person), and chairperson of the Society of Concerned Merchants that had much influence in the Imperial Markets District. For the Cyrodilin, Imperial, woman was an agent of the ImperialEye that was the Emperor's own elite security intelligence service. It was not to be mistaken for the ImperialHand, the even more secretive and infamous assassination service that was linked to the ImperialEye.

 

Very few knew that the ImperialEye, let alone the ImperialHand, existed; not even the beloved Emperor's Blades did so be they Bladeguards (Imperial Bodyguards) or Bladeknights (Imperial elite knights of special training and abilities). Or so it was assumed!

 

Hoblins soon began arriving. With them came so called tame goblins and some small noblins who darted around half crazy and who were kept under control by hoblins. Noblins were generally about half the size of hoblins or goblins. They survived by doing special services for their bigger cousin peoples such as going into smaller spaces to scout or gather items; the noblins did very fine craft work with their smaller hands, and fingers; they were also able to hunt some smaller creatures.

 

Janni02 came into the shop, with her three comrades, and the four looked around the shop in fascination.

 

[Maharg67]

One 11.2[15][18]

The attractive mature brunette, Jensine, examined the four newcomers and suspected at once that they were the source of the mysterious tradegoods, such as the blankets, that she had been asking questions about. She suspected that they had learned of her questioning and had questions of their own.

Jensine spoke. "You are of the Venturers13, the ones who helped to save the Emperor from the MythicDawn traitors, the ones who come from beyond Nirn."

Janni02 smiled. "You are Jensine, the popular and influential merchant. You are also an ImperialEye Agent. We have no intention of exposing your undercover nature. We need to work together against three conspiracies against the Empire, that may be linked in various ways. There may be more than three conspiracies or just one with many guises."

Jensine frowned. Clearly she did not like the idea that the Venturers13 knew that she was an ImperialEye Agent. "There was the MythicDawn Conspiracy to break the barrier between the Realms of Oblivion and Nirn, Tamriel, but that has been defeated and is no longer a threat."

Janni02 shook her head. "No, while the Dragonfires create a barrier to Oblivion Gates opening just any where on Nirn, there are other ways to open ways to Nirn, even to Tamriel. They are ancient secrets, linked with other ancient secrets, long forgotten by the great majority of peoples of Tamriel. The threat of MehrunesDagon invading Tamriel has only been delayed but that delay is of great importance for now people can prepare for trouble; I do not just mean the Empire but independent realms such as the Sunset Isles of the arrogant Altmer and allied realms such as BlackMarsh (Argonia, BlackSwamp and the Island Citystates) of the Argonians plus other folks."

Jensine nodded, as if to her own thoughts. "I will report to the Emperor though there is no real need since you have already made contact with him."

Janni02 snorted softly. "No, we saved a false Emperor from the MythicDawn, a loyal magically created clone who only survives painfully because of the Dragonthrone and his diluted True Dragonblood heritage. You serve the real Emperor Uriel Septim who has remained hidden in the real WhiteGold Tower since he was rescued from Jagar Tharn, the treacherous Imperial Battlemage, by the Eternal Champion Jadekia. Please do not frown so; there is a limit to our knowledge and we are coming to it fast."

 

Jensine sighed. "I do not know if that is a good, or bad, thing!"

[Maharg67]

Zero [4][19]

The Venturers13 had been given a quite wide, deep, foundation of prior knowledge of the Empire, Tamriel, Nirn and Mundus. Yet only so much of that knowledge was directly applicable to solving the puzzles that were facing them. As it was their special abilities were still becoming usable and they had yet to become truly able to utilize any local forms of magic or other special abilities.

Yet they were already trying to deal with secrets, conspiracies and their limitations of knowledge. They were also not trying to assume that what they considered to be true was indeed true; the case of the false Emperor was strong evidence that not everything in the Empire was as it seemed to be on the surface.

Was it three separate conspiracies or was there more to it? The conspiracies were of the MythicDawn, of the Necromancers of the mysterious TrueLife Followers and of the even more mysterious living-dead reanimants. The first step seemed to be that of finding out what had happened to the MythicDawn, to the followers of Mankar Cameran, and what was killing them.

 

Meanwhile changes were happening in the Empire and most of them were not even apparent to those of the Empire, not even to those who were meant to keep a track of such things.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 12.1[16][20]

Emperor Uriel Septim VII, the real one, lay back in an adjusted Dragonthrone that was the primary one of thirteen. The Dragonthrones had once been used by the mysterious Dragonkings and Dragonqueens of the 'lost histories' of Tamriel, of Nirn. Most assumed the Dragonthrones were of Ayleid, or Aldmer, design and make but this was not so. The lost histories were of a time that had been somehow removed from time and that event spoke of intervention of very powerful deities. Even the Nine Divines, of the Thirteen Divinities, would be pushed to do such a thing as would the Sixteen Daedra Princes, and Princesses, of the Thirty-One Daedric Gods.

As Morphiud the SageWizard had often stated, 'Much more of the true histories of Mundus have been hidden than have been revealed and too often that, which has been revealed, is scant or doubtful in nature. I doubt if this is coincidental or accidental."

 

The real Emperor was obviously damaged of body, being partly disfigured of the left side of his body, though he was mostly clad in special imperial garbs that did not chafe against his body. Five healers, five mages and others attended him constantly. Others rested or researched ways to further cure the damage done to him. The irony was that the real Jagar Tharn had not hurt the Emperor but had himself been a victim of betrayal.

 

The real Jagar Tharn stood to one side in the guise of his new identity as the Imperial Mageguard Ralar Tharn, supposedly a cousin to Jagar Tharn. This was used as an explanation to the similarity the man had to Jagar Tharn. The real Ralar Tharn, on his death bed, had willingly passed over his official identity to Jagar. Ralar Tharn's one mission was to protect the real Emperor even if it meant the cost of his own life for though not a traitor, the real Jagar's foolish pride had led to his betrayal and the vulnerability of the real Emperor Uriel Septim VII.

 

The identity of the false Jagar Tharn remained a puzzle that had to be solved; it was a mystery linked to others such as what had the false Jagar Tharn, false Emperor, done when sitting on what had been a false Dragonthrone? Most actions had been recorded but some had not and many of those recorded had proven to be falsely written down for the archives.

 

The false Jagar Tharn had secretly undertaken dreadful researches, rituals and even ritual murders in the ten years that he had been in power. As time passed more terrible crimes were revealed and the entity, for it had been no mortal or lesser immortal, had already proven to be a terrible monster. Yet that one had also suffered and had been hunted by other mysterious forces.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 12.2[17][21]

 

Jadekia stepped up and showed the silvery sphere, rod and cube that she had bought from the Thieves Guild; the guild had gained a grand profit from selling items that they could not use, that very few could seemingly use. She spoke. "Sire, the thirteen newcomers might come from the realm known as Earthriel of the world of NewEarth or Sol4 or even Mars as it was once known. The original home world was Earth or Terra or Sol3 that is also called OldEarth. It was forcefully abandoned during the Great Exodus when the ETEs traded OldEarth for NewEarth; the ETEs changed Mars and added a world-bubble so humanity could live there, along with other creatures. The down side was that the NewEarth became a prison world, though a comfortable one, as the world-bubble would allow none to leave. Then the ETEs began to demand more trades from the NewEarthfolk; yes, the NewEarthfolk gained well from the forced trades but they also had to pay a most terrible price; that was many millions of children."

 

The real Emperor cursed softly in a way that had some of his courtiers flinch for he rarely used such 'language' and many had not even guessed he would be capable of doing so. Then he spoke. "A damned price indeed, a price that none should be forced to pay for the children are the future, are the real investment in centuries to come. Why did the ETEs make such demands?"

 

Jadekia sighed. "I could get only so much information from this dataglobe but the ETEs spoke of a war being waged against a terrible, antinatural, enemy. They also stated that the world-bubble was more to protect the NewEarth than to be a prison. The NewEarthers would need to prepare for their own part in the war, with the help of the ETEs. The term means Extraterrestrial Entities; the ETEs have kept their true identities a mystery."

 

The Emperor nodded. "Anything more from this 'dataglobe'?"

 

Jadekia nodded. "Only the general impression that the NewEarthers have become quite advanced in their own forms of knowledge, and technologies, and that they have been preparing for war against an unknown enemy. The ETEs promised further assistance but suddenly vanished after declaring that they needed to join a great battle, against the great enemy, but that they would soon return; they never did!"

 

Uriel looked around at the exotically beautiful chamber of the 'real' WhiteGold Tower that was transdimensionally 'inside' the supposedly 'false' WhiteGold Tower that concealed it. The mighty WhiteGold Tower, the one that the vast majority of folks took as the real one, had never even been there and had taken it much for granted except for gawking tourists, pilgrims and others who saw it for the first time. Uriel was one of those who had never taken it for granted and was awed even by the so called 'false' or outer tower.

 

Then he looked back to Jadekia. "What of the rod and the cube, what do they do?"

Edited July 20, 2014 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

One 12.3[18][22]

Jadekia responded. "The cube is some kind of transportation and containment device that is bigger inside than out just as the Core WhiteGold Tower is. That is not the Inner WhiteGold Tower but the Core WhiteGold Tower where the Aldmer once dwelt. The rod is seemingly identical to that as used by Jorzi in the morgue of the Imperiarna Sheriffs; it has many purposes, many modes, and does more than has been indicated by Jorzi. I would not be surprised if all of her people are equipped with them."

None had supposedly entered the Core of the WhiteGold Tower since the Grand Aldmer had vanished and the Common Aldmer had spread out across Tamriel, becoming other Mer Peoples until none remained. Or was that even true? There was strong speculation that the last of the Common Aldmer, who were of great knowledge and skills, had exiled themselves to the mysterious Aldmeri Isles, also known as Almeria. New Merfolk had been many such as the Ayleid, the Altmer, the Dwemer and many others. The Ayleid had risen in Cyrodiil, had inherited the metropolis that would much later be renamed Imperiarna, the Grand Imperial City.

The true Emperor nodded. "I need sleep but I will consider matters in my dreaming. What of the search for the real Empress?"

The real Empress Caula Voria had vanished during the last year of the rule of the false Emperor and since then had been replaced by a magical clone that was, ironically, a better person than the real Empress had been.

Jadekia nodded. "She has been tracked as far as the Grand Imperial Undercity but finding anything down there is very hard. I have been seeking some special assistance when it comes to that, and other matters."

The Emperor spoke. "What of the true nature of my three officially legitimate sons?"

The Eternal Champion frowned. "Geldall is your biological son but lacks the true Dragonblood that sometimes skips generations. Enman is your biological son and has the true Dragonblood but admits that he is not good Emperor material and will willingly abdicate in exchange for being the founder of a new, non magical, based Imperial University. He wishes to push such areas, of study, such as biology, alchemy, astronomy, mathematics, geography, studies of society, political theories and history, including the history of the Emperors and Empresses. Ebel is not your biological son and his plans to claim the Dragonthrone have been quietly crushed by our people; his true biological father remains a mystery; he remains a large threat to the Empire. Geldall is, on the surface, a foolish dandy but his real nature remains a mystery as does his true agenda."

[Maharg67]

One 12.4[19][23]

The Emperor was starting to look very tired but his eyes shone brightly. "What of my not so official children?"

Jadekia smiled. "Sire, our son, Martin, is in Kvatch. That is the Imperial City that was seemingly just saved from a major attack by the daedric armies of MehrunesDagon. He is with his adoptive family there and others of the Orders of the Divines. He remains secretly protected. I am going to visit him again, soon. As for the triplets, the girls are happily causing minor chaos at the Battlemages Academy in Kvatch. Their adoptive family is doing fine. They are also very well protected. As for others; we have found Kardina, the DarkDragon Warrior, to be in the vicinity of Anvil; he is busy carrying out petty crime, wenching and evading various Imperial authorities. Shaekia serves me, as you know! We are still seeking others. We have found no existing children, of the false Emperor, except for whispers and hints."

 

The real Uriel Septim VII smiled. "My poor clone-son, the false Emperor, has been having healing assistance of some kind. This directly helps him and indirectly helps me for I can now spend less energies supporting my beloved clone-son. Am I right in saying that this is the work of the Venturers13 who have helped us in many ways?"

 

Jadekia nodded. "The Venturers13 have become surprisingly close to your clone-son in a very short time. They are protective of him and he of them. They have been supplying him with a powerful concentrated healing potion that they have access to; I have brought some with me that will boost your healing and take away much of your pain."

 

The Emperor was fed four vials of the healing serum which clearly soothed away much of his pain. Then he fell into a sleep after Jadekia, his Imperial Concubine, had kissed him on his imperial lips. They would meet again, soon, in a special way.

[Maharg67]

Zero [5][24]

Three conspiracies or was there more than that threatening the Empire?

MehrunesDagon, his daedric armies, and the MythicDawn as led by Mankar Cameran; that threat seemed to be obviously negated but wise people always questioned the 'obvious' appearance of matters. The Venturers13 had spoken of ancient, other ways, that MehrunesDagon might attack Tamriel with though they would be more troublesome to use; they were not the only ones to speak of such matters. The Empire was starting to prepare for invasion, in some places with reluctance, and other parts of Tamriel were doing the same thing.

As for the TrueLife Cult, not much was known of them except that they appeared to be a powerful, exotic, movement of necromancers who had first arrived in the Empire only a very few centuries ago, that is only a short time by terms of the Empire. It was suspected strongly that they ran under the guise of many names and that they preferred basing their operations in various Imperial Undercities. While they traded with more traditional, more local, necromancer circles they had become strong allies with none.

 

As for the necromages, the ones such as the infamous Frankenstane, they and their conspiracy was so little known of that most did not even believe that they were a threat or that they really existed at all.

 

There were always enemies of the Empire be they barbarians from the far north beyond Tamriel or separatist movements or rebels fighting for greater democracy or creatures swarming from the Underlands. There were powerful, influential, wealthy elites who had their own reasons for getting rid of the True Dragonblood Dynasties. In that the Septim Empire was constantly challenged made it no different from most other empires.

[Maharg67]

One 13.1[20][25]

 

Janni02 examined the death scene of fifteen MythicDawners in which all had been killed in a more conventional manner; that is they had been stabbed, hacked and bludgeoned to death except those who had been killed by magical attacks. Or at least the deaths seemed more conventional until it was realized that the cultists had killed each other in an insane frenzy.

 

Around them stretched a big damp cave chamber lit dully by glowmoss where water still flowed as the results of rain falling on the surface world. Big cockroaches, and other critters, scuttled amongst the glowmoss and other cave mosses while blind cavefish swam in the stream or crawled on its muddy sides. Hoblins had caught some cavefish but not too many. Even the 'wild goblins' knew better than to kill too many of the creatures.

 

Her three comrades were soon agreeeing that the traitors, to the Empire, had been somehow driven to kill each other. Except that the magic used to help kill them came from none of the MythicDawners themselves.

 

Janni02 spoke. "The use of daedric magic, like other forms of such magics, needed focus. Clearly these victims had no such focusing ability so while they fought each other, in a more basic fashion driven by blind rage, they could use no magic or even finer skills of physical fighting."

 

Jenia05 nodded. "The magic attacks came from three sources, from different directions, as if three magical figures had ambushed the group of MythicDawn Followers."

 

Janni02 swept her multiple purpose hand-rod through the air and then examined the odd gems on its side but then shook her head. "The magic used is something akin to necromancers' foolishness but is like nothing our people have encountered before and yet there is something familiar about it."

 

Jenia05 picked up a small noblin that had been attempting to gain her attention and held the smaller humanoid, scratching it on its goblin like head. The noblin was obviously pleased by the attention. "Could it be some kind of technomagic that is being used?"

 

Jimni07 nodded his head as he held another noblin. "Yes, technomagic as related to some of the more exotic hightech of our own home world and the renegades that escaped to here."

 

He meant the ones that the Venturers13 had been sent to help hunt down as others had been in the past; others who had vanished under troubling circumstances.