Super Tamriel Quest Epic

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

Simple Feedback: :thumbsup: = okay :thumbsup: :thumbsup: = good :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: = very good

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NOTES TO BE ADDED/EDITED BELOW

What can be killed, can be resurrected under the right conditions; this is true for a human, a dragon or even a Divine.

G of A TO Z

GIANT:

Edited November 10, 2012 by Maharg67

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

HERE STARTS CHAPTER SIX: ENTERING THE SHADOWTEMPLE

SUPER TAMRIEL SAGA

0033(0006)0001: LUCKYTHIRTEEN: ENTERING THE SHADOWTEMPLE

Jadekia, and Jadedisa, entered the ShadowTemple along with their companions. The door closed behind them and they threaded through great hallways and chambers full of dim light that came from exotic crystalstone lamps. They noted statues, murals, other kinds of crystalstones in brass niches but none looked like those typical of common Ayleid underground cities.

They came upon the remains of an expeditionary outpost of some kind. It was odd because while parts of the encampment were left undisturbed, others had been badly messed up with some kind of violence. Jadekia, Jadedisa, could easily 'sense' that much terrible violence had taken place there in relation to ways of mind, body and spirit.

They found some journals that provided valuable information along with copies of messages, reports, that had been sent to the outside world. There were also reports, messages, that had come from the outside world. There were even practical resources ledgers. The expedition had been well organized. It had also been very large, well resourced and had been, at first, very successful. It had been led by three individuals.

The expedition had been very expensive to set up and behind it were the Baanecosan Soulstones Mercantile Guild based in the large, infamous city of Baanecosa, the Grand Mercantile Guild based in the Province of Prosperana where Baanecosa was also to be found, and something called the Amalgamated Commercial Merchandising Enterprise or ACME.

Jadekia carefully placed a journal on top of a stack of such. “The more recent expedition actually had many goals to gain knowledge, valuable artifacts and to meet other goals. Baanecosa has been creating soulstones, from fragmented soulstones and soulstone dust, for centuries but they are always of petty or lesser quality only. I could see why they would want to be able to produce better quality soulstones and from scratch. Their 'secret' source of fragmented soulstones, of soulstone dust, is drying up. It happened to be an ancient underground temple city deep beneath Baanecosa itself. It is cursed, which explains partly why the city of Baanecosa is very malignant.”

Jadedisa shrugged. “I never did much like narkane magic or soulstones but I have never been as against them as the rest of you have been. I mean, we both know that so called soulstones do not actually trap souls or use them to recharge magicka. No, they absorb life energies of mind, body and spirit, doing some harm to souls while doing so. Souls are never trapped, never used up.”

Jadekia snorted. “The damage done to souls, by the use of soulstones and soulstone magic, is one of the main reasons that the history of Tamriel has been so very destructive and oppressive. The life-death cycle has been badly effected and undeath has arisen in Tamriel. That is more than enough good reason to finally get rid of soulstone magic, and soulstones, here in Tamriel as has already been done in other parts of the world of Nirn. Some of us JadeThirteen have spent time in Ozarnia assisting Aslan, and the Four Monarchs, against the IceEmpress and her minions and monsters. Much of that war was about getting rid of the last of the narkane strongholds from Ozarnia. Even the WizardKing, of the Emerald City of Oz, sent reinforcements to aid against the IceEmpress.”

Jadedisa frowned. “And I missed it! Damn it, that would have been amusing.”

Jadekia shook her head. “No, not amusing! The expedition was seeking other dark knowledge, including the finding of a long list of ancient artifacts of which the Amulet of Kings was only one.”

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

SUPER TAMRIEL SAGA

0034(0006)0002: LUCKYTHIRTEEN: ENTERING THE SHADOWTEMPLE

The list of artifacts to be found gave little information on the items and was an odd collection of less powerful, more common to very powerful and unique items. The list itself may easily have been designed to mislead about the true intentions of the expedition or it may have reflected the pragmatic, opportunistic nature of the expedition backers; perhaps it was both.

There was a chest full of high quality soulstones, some of them elite level and all of them of blackest of unnaturalness. These were necromancer favored soulstones. Jadestone dropped a small glowing crystalglobe into the chest, closed it and there was a slight thump as the soulstones were disintegrated into less than soulstone dust. Then she opened the chest and smiled.

Jadedisa snorted. “Never did like soulstones. That is one treasure I can do with out. Why would the Baanecosan fools want to invest in an expedition so far from home?”

Jadekia spoke about how the Empire had been turning against soulstones and soulstone magic (narkane) and how profits had been suffering for those dealing with soulstones. The Baanecosan Soulstone Mercantile Guild could have been seeking to offset profit losses by gaining more for the soulstones they were still able to sell.

The list of artifacts, to be found, was:

All high quality soulstones including black soulstones.

All high quality soulstone fragments, soulstone dust and such like.

Soulstone mage-artisan and narkane books, tools and anything else of noted value.

Soulstoneguns!

Soulstoneglobes!

Zizazata Artifacts!

Dwemer Artifacts!

Ayleid Artifacts!

Amulet of Kings!

Chest of Soul Wires!

NecroSage Artifacts!

Soulfane Ring of Rings

Azura Lesser Star of Celestial Transitions

Anything else of real value!

The list was impressive and the goals were rather daunting. Both Jadekia and Jadedisa were impressed and also wondered at the wisdom, sanity, of those in the expedition along with their backers. It was the sort of action that could stir up a good deal of trouble. Places like the ShadowTemple were best left alone and the expedition was like shoving a stick into a anthill full of evil, distorted ants ready to swarm out, to cause havoc, at any time.

There was a note state spoke of a joint expedition, another secondary one, in Kvatch that would go down through the ancient ArchDome.

They took useful items with them including spare equipment and supplies, along with clues to what had actually been taking place. The group kept moving and did so quietly, quickly, for its size. The great complex continued much the way it had begun, as a dark twisted Ayleid concept but Dwemer influences began showing up more and more, along with other ones less known. Then they came to a great hub chamber intersected by four great hallways and many more smaller ones. In the center rose a great statue that should, somehow, been beautiful but was in truth deeply disturbing.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Maharg67

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

SUPER TAMRIEL SAGA

0035(0006)0003: LUCKYTHIRTEEN: ENTERING THE SHADOWTEMPLE

The statue, as massive as it was, was very slowly turning clockwise, with a soft 'throoming' sound. It was of a tall man-woman figure, subtle and yet garish at the same time. Great effort at been made to make is beauteous, to make it graceful, in appearance but those efforts had failed. There was something about the great armor-robed figure, with its huge magestaff, that was profoundly sickening, frightening and distressing.

One of the gaebrins spoke. “We know of this thing, this thing of evil that pretends to be good. It is the TwistedHero that pretends to be heroic and to be fighting for good. Goblinfolk once knew 'him' as Saurhron in the Greater Underworld of Nirn. There he caused a great war between the Empires of Mordoro and Gondoro. Saurhron served another, the TwistedGod, and used the Soulfane Ring of Rings to seduce and enslave genuine mighty heroes, turning them into the Three Great Soulfanes and the Nine Heroic Soulfanes. Saurhron was the One, the Grand Soulfane, that controlled them all but he was controlled by the TwistedGod.”

The gaebrin continued. “Saurhron was undone, along with the Soulfane Ring of Rings, when some pesky nobbits found the Soulbane Key, the ancient artifact designed by Saurhron himself to destroy the Soulfane Ring of Rings if he had to do so. Saurhron's own paranoia undid him in the end as he hid the Soulbane Key, along with other Soulbane Artifacts, too well and then lost many of them. Aaahhh, nobbits, so short and annoying but amazingly sneaky and tough. They have hard, hairy feet and don't wear shoes; their feet smell worse than those of a goblin.”

Jadekin smiled. “Thank you for your knowledge. We have gone to the Greater Underworld and did fight against Saurhron in the Great Gondoro Mordoro War. We even went to the United Shires where the nobbits live and dared to drink some of that 'beer' that can make an ogre's toes to curl up with one gulp.”

Jadedisa snorted. “Annoying little critters always with their stupid, jolly songs and little ditty dances that can cause madness in any mortal visitors. Still, the males are pleasingly big in some...”

Jadekia cut her off with a soft glare. “Let us not go there!” Then she looked up at the statue. “Jadedisa, you said that the TwistedGod sent you here to get something before you tried to cheat the TwistedGod.”

Jadedisa nodded slowly, as if thinking deeply, but then gave a quick shrug. “I did pick up a good deal of information but only enough to cause confusion. There seemed to be contradictions in what I learned. Yes, the TwistedGod had something to do with the creation of the ShadowTemple but at times information spoke of some mysterious, wary alliance with another 'fallen entity' of great evil power. This other was just as twisted, in its own way, as was the TwistedGod. I think that this is a great power ward created by the TwistedGod to remind the 'ally' that the TwistedGod was not to be taken for granted; yet I am not sure it worked. I was not sent to find anything in particular but I did find something called the Soulbane Bracelet of Rings of Rings, rather a clumsy name. It was a powerful artifact in its own right but was meant to store the Soulfane Ring of Rings, in a special fashion, and make them harmless while they were so stored. I tried to keep the SBRR myself and the TwistedGod took it from me and got nasty about it.”

Jadekia snorted. “And what else did you try to take in a way that broke your agreement with the TwistedGod?”

Jadedisa looked angry and frustrated. “The Amulet of Kings that turned out to be a cursed fake.”

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

Simple Feedback: :thumbsup: = okay :thumbsup: :thumbsup: = good :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: = very good

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NOTES TO BE ADDED/EDITED BELOW

What can be killed, can be resurrected under the right conditions; this is true for a human, a dragon or even a Divine.

H of A TO Z

HORSE: Common type of domesticated animal through out Tamriel. Used for transportation and war. In some places bred for eating.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Maharg67

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

SUPER TAMRIEL SAGA

0036(0006)0004: LUCKYTHIRTEEN: ENTERING THE SHADOWTEMPLE

Jadekia shook her head in wonder. “You put the cursed false Amulet of Kings on?”

“I am no fool, of course not, but the TwistedGod forced it upon me. Then the TwistedGod not only activated the curse but reinforced its effects so that the curse would effect me such as myself.” Jadekia gave her sibling a bitter smile. “I suppose you enjoy the JadeThirteen black sheep getting stung again.”

“No!” Jadekia sighed. “Nor are you our only 'black sheep'; remember our sibling, Jadebara? Then there is Jadehana.”

Jadedisa, Jadebara and Jadehana were of the same trio of the JadeNine of the JadeThirteen. All had gone bad during the Mythic Wars that had been a darker facet of the Mythic Era. It was the time when even a powerful Divine was undone but one who was of falsehood and of growing evil; he was named Lorkan. Jadebara was the worst, Jadedisa was middling between the two and Jadehana was the least 'fallen' of the three or so was the general consensus.

The two of them noted the halting of the massive statue even as it happened. It faced a larger tunnel mouth to the north. Along that tunnel came a shambling horde of zombies, hundreds of them packing even that very wide hallway. They wore bits and pieces of armored robes, armor and robes along with odd robetunics. They were once Mer of some kind, or so the two 'sensed' for the appearance of Mer was no longer obvious at all.

Jadekia took out a silvery metallic wand and shot a pulsebeam of energies at the oncoming lesser undead. The first layer of them burned away except for one that became a mortal enhanced Mer. This one ran quickly to join the Jade Siblings, already wearing armor and having weapons along with other devices. She had been given a second chance but most of the zombies had been of evil before they had become undead so that they failing the testing-transformations.

Jadekia's wand needed time to recharge so she slipped it away and they all began firing solid or magical projectiles. Jadekia took out a bow that unfolded to shoot sparkling energy arrows that exploded dramatically, burning away many zombies.

Three more were salvaged but not by Jadekia. Neither she or Jadedisa knew who, what, intervened that time but that was often the way with testing-transformations. In truth all testing-transformations were ultimately sourced to, from, the Great Divinity also known as the AllDivine that was also linked to the entities that created Mundus. They only took place, at extreme times, as a form of rebalancing towards a more natural order of things.

The attack was over and the great statue began to move again, once more going clockwise.

Jadekia frowned. “The statue warned us, at least something behind its functioning did so, but I now 'sense' we must go down that tunnel that the attack came up. Also symbols on the floor indicate that leads to a most important place for the Mer dwelling here. Perhaps they were twisted Ayleid in nature.”

=-=No, they were a result of a strange union of Ayleid, Dwemer and Altmer minorities who came to this place, along with other ShadowPlaces, to serve their mysterious deity in numerous ways. Information came to me soon after the great statue of Saurhron stopped moving. That is Saurhron the TwistedDemigod.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Maharg67

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

SUPER TAMRIEL SAGA

0037(0006)0005: LUCKYTHIRTEEN: ENTERING THE SHADOWTEMPLE

So why had the swarms of shambling zombies come attacking along the tunnel?

=-=They were not attacking you but the statue itself that can summon forth monstrous guardian creatures to protect itself with; it did not bother because you did the job for it. Saurhron, himself, created the guardian statue with the help of the TwistedGod. A small portion of Saurhron's essence is in it so it is very powerful but if it was destroyed, he would be harmed.

It appeared that some kind of war was happening between the TwistedGod and the other deity, the mysterious dark one, but one could never be sure with deities.

It felt good to get away from the damned statue guardian statue despite the fact that they were moving deeper into the ShadowTemple. It was not pleasing to realize that they had yet to reach the ShadowTemple proper, that they were only in the 'outer high sector' that was the interactive area between the temple proper and the outside.

They passed strange steammagic mechanisms that merged into walls. Some worked steadily with humming, hissing, thumping and other noises and motions but most worked poorly or were long deactivated. Symbols indicated that raw, and processed, materials from outside were treated in that area and then passed on to the Inner ShadowTemple. Equipment, and other supplies, also came through that area. There were some indications of Ayleid having brought down much in the way of resources using floaterdisks.

They came upon an untidy heap of graceful semi-enclosed shapes of floaterdisks with their various designs for different functions. The vehicles needed recharging, repairs and other work but they were still worth a fortune. In the same area were metallic Ayleid humanoids of Ayleid Guardians; such were also known as the ayliez. Ayliez were not just Guardians but also more basic workers, servitors, servants, guards and others, Guardians being amongst the most powerful of them.

Jadedisa frowned. “I wonder why the Ayleid never had the courage to come and loot the place.”

Jadekia frowned back. “Perhaps because coming here would mean risking more of their people and their population had begun to decline in many of their Kingdoms and the Ayleid Citystates subject to them. The Ayleid began to decline in a way that has not ever been fully and properly explained. Their magic-technologies were in shortage and also began to fail. The surviving Ayleid do not seem to know why it happened or much of what really did happen during that period. There is much conjecture that the secret event that led to the start of the decline might be linked to the event that had the Dwemer vanishing or even might be the same event.”

Jadedisa shook. “No, the Ayleid feared more than risking more people. I can 'feel' it! I think it was something to do with the Ayleid secondary mentality, the shared mind, that all Mer Peoples have, to some extent, and that humans seem to lack.”

The Saurhron Guardian Statue, as they came to call it, was meant to keep undead hordes trapped in the ShadowTemple or at least that was the results of the great artifact being there. There turned out to be only the one main big hallway tunnel that began to slope deeper into the world at a fairly steep angle. The tunnel evened out after some time to become part of a horizontal grid of tunnels, chambers and other spaces. More machinery was active there and small Dwemer machines moved around, tending to things, but were not hostile to the newcomers. Jadedisa led the group through a series of large tunnels, obviously knowing where to take the others to.

Maharg67 · November 10, 2012

SUPER TAMRIEL SAGA

0038(0006)0004: LUCKYTHIRTEEN: ENTERING THE SHADOWTEMPLE