Rastislav
patreon
Arc 8 Chapter LVI: A True Mer of Culture
🕑 Added 2024-12-25 22:02:38 +0000 UTCA/n: I was so bored today I went and did this. Do enjoy a double double chapter! (previus one is 3k words and this one is 3.5k)
But wait, there is more!
Tomorrow awaits the dreaded side story! Am I not a generous god?
-----
The large wooden boat rocked almost rhythmically as Sarushta-Kai, whom I learned was a lifelong Retainer to Divayth Fyr like his ancestors before him, steered the way to the small archipelago to Vvardenfell's west.
There were allegedly hundreds of small islands dotting the area but only a few were of any size worth mentioning, and upon one of the westernmost islands stood an ancient tower grown from an emperor shroom, Tel Fyr.
And it was quite the sight indeed, if the wards around the Urshilaku tribe barely kept the worst of the ash storms at bay, then the wards around Tel Fyr kept every single potentially negative effect out, creating what was essentially heaven on earth when compared to the vast majority of the island and even parts of the mainland.
Though one detail drew my attention immediately.
"The Zainab were given succor by great Divayth." Sarushta-Kai speaks without prompting "In turn they serve the needs of him and his assistants, the nomads are grateful enough that almost no rules were broken thus far."
"Almost?" I ask as I observe the small village, the Zainab were reportedly the least Ashlander of all the greater Ashlander tribes and it showed, as they preferred trade and interaction with outsiders as opposed to the others who were all isolationist to differing degrees.
"Indeed." The lizard hisses with dark amusement "One fool tried sneaking into the Corpusarium without permit, they punished him themselves which is why they are still here."
"Interesting" I mutter and ask "The Corpusarium?"
"My master kept the name" The Argonian pulls his lips back into an animalistic grin "He felt... nostalgic about it."
"Understandable" I nod "An immortal without a hobby sounds dreadfully boring."
He nods almost reflexively, as if having heard the statement hundreds of times before.
We were soon brought to shore and disembarked in short order, only a pair of respectably powerful spellswords watching over us as we did.
Once we got close enough to the great tower, Sarushta-Kai stopped "I will take your servants to their lodgings now, one of the mistresses will greet you once you are inside."
"Very well" I turn to Vayrin and the two Ashlanders "You three should go to the Zainab and tell them what is going on. It would be a shame if they didn't get the message due to bad weather."
Vayrin accepts easily enough and the two Erabenimsun follow along, even as they hold bock sneers of disdain. The two tribes did not like each other very much, as the warriors considered the traders to be weaklings.
It was an old rivalry though, and I did not expect much to come of it.
Anondor and the Unmourned went to have some rest and soon Savos, Akulakhan and myself were entering the tower, the Argonian not looking to stop the automaton as he knew I wouldn't have him with me without good reason.
That and he could not stop me if he wanted to.
'The confidence he has in his master is quite inspiring though.' I note as the wooden doorway splits open on its own and reveals a grand hall within, containing all the opulence of the most powerful nobles and all the mystique of an ancient sorcerer.
"One moment dearest guests!" A cheerful feminine voice rings out and a few moments later a Dunmer woman walks out of one of the adjoining passages.
She looked like she had been sculpted into existence, seemingly not a single imperfection present in her build or looks, dressed in comfortable looking robes she greeted all three of us with a cheerful smile "Greetings, honorable guests, I am Beyte Fyr."
Savos and I introduce ourselves, even if we knew it to be unnecessary, and while she gives us both a blinding smile she focuses a stare on Junior, waiting for him to introduce himself.
Sending a jolt of approval through our bond I feel the faintest trace of exasperation within his core as he speaks "Akulakhan The Younger."
The clone's eyes shine with interest as she claps her hands "Dear husband will be delighted! Please, do follow me." And without waiting she guides us to a carved circle at the end of the hall, above which stood a long hole no doubt leading to Divayth's inner living space.
Without waiting for any further instruction, both Savos and I levitate up while I drag Junior with me.
Telvanni were so annoyingly smug about their magic, they considered anyone incapable of levitating up an emperor mushroom to be unworthy of their presence, and with the mushrooms being partly bound to their owners they alongside them, making visiting more powerful sorcerers that much harder.
Which would admittedly be a rather good filtration system if it didn't leave a massive security breach for anyone powerful enough to use, since they tended not to ward the everloving shit out of their 'elevators' for convenience's sake.
My musings were interrupted as we finally reached the summit of the tower. Beyte offered us a respectful bow and directed us to a nearby room while herself leaving for what I guessed was some form of pantry or kitchen.
Not eager to disrespect an elf of Fyr's renown by snooping around, we followed her instruction and a few silent seconds later entered a grand dining room, within which we found three figures.
One was a bored looking woman, somewhat plain when compared to Beyte but still physically flawless, she was scribbling something down in a large ledger with the experience of centuries.
The other woman present stood behind her and looked down at the ledger with a stern look in her eyes, she looked severe but just as unnatural as the rest of her sisters, and was clad in enchanted bonemold even within her home tower.
The last person, and most certainly not least, was seated against the two as he lazily drawled instructions to the duo, he was clad in simple black robes but I could see an armor stand nearby covered in a full set of the rare openly Daedric enchanted armors in the world.
And yes, the same man wearing the hearts of literal demons during battle was currently talking to two of his clone daughter-wives. Truly, he was the Mer of culture we all aspired to b-
No, I am too disgusted by the idea to even finish the thought. The only fact stopping me from being outright repulsed by the whole thing was that they were clones and thus slightly lesser in my considerations.
It was what it was.
Our host stopped his business the moment he detected Savos' and Junior's presences and immediately perked up, drawing a scowl from his seated clone.
"Dagoth, Aren, how delightful of you both to accept my invitation" Divayth Fyr spoke with a familiarity I did not feel, he turned to his clones and quickly added "Delte, we will finish this later, and Alphe do bring that scowl off your face already."
Uncaring for his clones' deepening scowls he turned back to us "Do take a seat, all of you" He pauses and looks at Junior, an amused smirk on his face "Well, so long as you won't crush the chairs of course."
We follow his instructions and Junior wordlessly stands behind me.
Fyr grins and snaps his fingers, opening the door that had closed behind us and letting Beyte enter as she levitated freshly prepared food all around her. He proceeds to ignore her and looks back to us "I was honestly expecting to get ignored so consider me pleasantly surprised by your presences."
"One can only trudge through as storms for over a week for so long without being tempted to blow up the mountain fully" I drawl "Honestly your invitation was quite a good excuse to take a break so" I raise a glass of brandy Beyte brought "Cheers for that."
"That does bring up the question" Divayth speaks up "Why you would even bother walking across the whole of Vvardenfell if you could truthfully fly or teleport around at will? I do hope it isn't something as blase as masochism."
Rolling my eyes at the reminder I sigh "A prophesy by our dearest Lady of Dusk and Dawn. Me handwaving half the challenge away would probably annoy her and I currently need her support for my ambitions."
"And what ambitions are those?" He quirks an eyebrow, seemingly unaware of the happenings of the Conclave.
"You did not hear of what occurred at Blacklight?" I ask.
He shakes his head "I only know that another Indoril got his head removed, beyond that I frankly do not care. After a few centuries all politics turn into a pattern and become... incredibly boring." He scoffs "And what an understatement that is."
Humming along I nod "I won't try and lecture you about it since I haven't lived nowhere near as long but you should at least pay attention to the invasion going on. That kind of thing can bite you in the back if you aren't cautious."
"Do not think me the same kind of weakling the previous Telvanni council was." He scoffs with genuine derision "Besides, I pay quite enough attention to it all, I even sent my apprentice south as you well know."
"Ah yes" I say dryly "Your apprentice who is yet to finish full battle training and knows only of destruction magic. How very responsible."
He shrugs without a care "I only accepted her under my care when Karvanni offered to supply me for free for a decade. I never assured the fool I would do my best to raise her up."
"Frankly, someone of your reputation teaching her anything will probably raise her within the house by default" Savos cuts in in an amused tone "So it isn't like the favor has been wasted. The letter was followed but not the spirit."
"Exactly" Fyr says cheerfully and turns to me "Now, about those ambitions you mentioned."
"The usual" I shrug "Uniting Morrowind, and helping reunite the Empire, bring peace to the world et cetera, et cetera..."
"How positively droll" The ancient mage says sarcastically and rolls his eyes "I expected more creativity from one of your talent."
"I don't need to be creative with my goals if the means by which it is achieved are creative on their own merit" I point out "Making grand declarations is easy, following through is difficult."
"Too true" The old elf raises a glass in agreement.
I take another short sip of the drink and raise an eyebrow "How very delightful, what is this?"
Fyr chuckles "Dagoth Brandy."
Savos also takes a sip and hums approvingly.
Unable to stop a chuckle I shake my head "You are certainly prepared."
"One grows bored over the millennia" The ancient elf explains "My collection has many things I will not lament losing for good conversation."
"Now that, I can understand." Savos chuckles "After so many years of teaching, my vault is so overflowing I have no idea what to do with most of it." He tilts his head "I tried setting up an orphanage once but after the third corrupt matron I grew annoyed by the idea."
"The laments of rising so far beyond our peers, I suppose" Fyr commiserates.
"What weak mindsets" I shake my head in false pity, drawing curious gazes from my fellow archmagi and one of concealed fury from Alphe "Once you gather enough resources and followers the obvious next step is to create a society you may call your own."
Alphe's furious look shifts into one of instant agreement.
Fyr on the other hand huffs "That sounds like entirely too much work. Dealing with mundanes is so very tiring. Truly Dagoth you waste much of your best years on such petty things."
"Oh please, don't project your boredom onto us old man" I scoff "How else is the world supposed to have any excitement?"
He rolls his eyes but doesn't disagree.
"Also, you don't have to do it yourself." I point out with a slight smirk "Just have someone else do all the work and take all the credit. Think of it as a collection that grows itself, something carved into the world that exists only because of your patronage."
"I do suppose the idea sounds interesting if you put it that way" The ancient mage hums.
"Personally I already started on a project like it" I say with genuine pride "Silruhn Fell is living proof of my idea, so do feel free to visit and see for yourself whenever you have the time."
Divayth Fyr chuckles "I fully expected this to be a meeting where I, the elder, enlighten two magi on the cusp of their power but this is also good." He inclines his head ever so slightly "Consider your invitation accepted, young Dagoth."
He turns to Junior "Now, about your machine." He pauses "It has a rather interesting name."
I was not even slightly surprised he observed our entire arrival.
"He has stopped being a machine a bit of time ago actually" I toss him a proverbial bone, keeping this old fart interested would no doubt bring boons galore "An odd interaction within Sovengarde had his core develop a soul."
"A soul you say" Both of Divayth's eyebrows rise so far they'd likely disappear within his hair... if it hadn't receded as far as it did. His eyes take on a new glint "I don't suppose you brought him here as a gift?"
All three of his present clones tense, fully expecting me to react poorly.
Instead I stare at him for a long while before letting out the most sarcastic "Ha!" Of my life.
Divayth shrugs "Oh well, you can't blame a Mer for trying." And the tension disappears as if it were never there.
A bit exasperated, I say "I am no longer sure if you are just bored or age has finally managed to addle you"
He isn't even slightly offended and waves my 'accusation' away without a care. "You will find yourself much the same if you ever reach my age."
If I failed in finding a way to leave? Probably "As amusing as all this has been" I speak up after a few moments of pleasant silence "What is the real reason you invited us here?"
The old elf gives me a faux offended look before chuckling "How poor a host I make, to be seen through so easily" He straightens in his seat and bluntly states "I wanted to seek your insights into Corprus." Savos stiffens "The Divine Diesease is mostly gone by now but the fact it eluded me for centuries is not something I can stomach."
He looked like the question was driving him insane and considering how knowledgable he was supposed to be it probably was.
"And you expect me to just come out and tell you everything?" I ask with a quirked eyebrow. I did have some instinctual understanding of the cursed thing but it was something too dangerous to just yap about.
That and I did not want Fyr fucking with the Darhashin before I met them personally and ascertained how the disease worked in truth, or better yet once I met the one who made it.
"Of course not" He scoffs "I doubt you even know much about it right now, unless you came to Morrowind as a child without anyone knowing?" He asks sarcastically and seeing me not responding nods to himself "All I wanted was to place the idea within your mind, the rest shall follow naturally."
"Hmmm" I tug on my goatee for a moment before lighting up one of my cigars, drawing a raised eyebrow from the old elf. Without a care I tossed him one and took a long drag, letting it all out in one long breath "I wouldn't mind some cooperation in understanding it all."
Divayth also partakes of the evvil vvizard vveed and raises a surprised eyebrow at how good it felt to one's Magicka "But?" He asks after hiding a slight cough.
He may be magically powerful but his physicality was lacking it seems "But. I am unsure what I should ask of you in return." I pause "Your participation in the upcoming counter invasion is a must."
He looks like he wants to deny me out of hand but holds himself back "War is not something I like participating in."
"You will not be expected to do more than any other archmage" I point out "And in the worst case you can be posted to hold supply routes or whatever but you need to take a walk old man, I am surprised you and your tower haven't rotten from lack of dusting by this point."
Oh boy, all three clones feel like they want to punch me in the neck.
To be fair my words were more a slight against them than Divayth, not that I cared.
"Very well" He grumbles and immediately narrows his eyes "But I can see this will not be enough so before you go and ask me for something asinine like holding a few lectures how about I offer you an artifact from my Corpusarium instead?"
"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow "And what artifact might that be?"
He grins widely "Have you ever heard of the sword going by the name of Umbra?"
-----
The conversation continued deep into the evening, and then into the morning. We discussed everything from Dwemer automata, to Savos' conjuration expertise and the spell he was currently working on, to Divayth's own prowess in alteration and restoration.
He even shared some theoretical snippets with us about creating proper life the artificial way, even if he outright stated that the true process was not something he would trade for anything not of equivalent worth.
In the end I traded a few conjuration-focused enchantments I did on site and contact information for the source of my wizard weed (Hakan would be getting some big orders soon) for a few of Divayth's own journals on restoration, copied of course.
The clones Alphe, Beyte, Delte, and Uupse were all rather ambivalent about my presence. On the one hand I paid their 'Husband' no true respect while on the other I was an honored guest Fyr treated as an equal.
Oh I was pretty sure he could not feel even the slightest trace of my power but the fact alone was more than enough to make him cautious around me.
His Magicka was mighty and honed over millennia but mine was nearly as sharp and a deathly torrent compared to his mere raging river.
Proverbial staff measuring aside, we were currently being led by Uupse Fyr, the caretaker of the Zainab currently living under Fyr's tower, to the small building given to the rest of my followers.
She showed us the way and was promptly dragged away by some concern or other of the nomads.
The band all looked rather well rested and even Anondor looked relieved that he had finally gotten a full day under at least some sun. There was some disappointment we would be leaving so soon but they would learn to thank me for it later.
Which is of course when the Ashkhan of the Zainab stopped me, having learned of the invitation to Aldruhn and seemingly rather put off by it... Naturally that is when I learned it was actually a ploy for him to guilt me into buying all of his stock.
You heard that right, Gilor, the Ashkhan of the ancient Aainab clan was in fact a shady oil salesman trying to sell me his entire stock of natural naptha "It is good product yes?" He asked as he rubbed his hands "It burns well and can be turned into bombs. Excellent for the war effort, no?"
That he was more informed of the war than Fyr was quite telling.
"Fucking fine" I sigh in exasperation after a full hour of the elf chittering "Have it all delivered to Kragenmoor within the month and I will pay you forty septims per amphora."
"Sixty" He snaps back immediately.
Rolling my eyes, and hiding my honest amusement, I answer "Forty five."
He pretends to growl in annoyance and declares "Fifty five!"
"Fifty and if you fuck me I will throw you into Red Mountain." I counter.
He actually shivers at this and nods rapidly "Have no fear good sir, Gilor's merchandise is of the finest quality!"
"Excellent" I grin "Now how about you tell me about that nearby temple to Molag Bal?"
He pales.
---
(General POV)
Gilor of the Zainab was quite happy with his profits today. The terrifying creature posing as Lord Dagoth was quite the negotiator but he still managed a good profit for his tribe.
The mention of the temple was rather worrisome though, even if he suspected the Urshilaku hags had something to do with it...
It was then that Gilor looked north, in the direction of that selfsame ancient edifice to the Lord of Domination... Exactly in time to see a massive explosion of golden flame rising through the disturbed ash followed by a roar of fury and then silence.
Gilor decided he needed to get his tribe moving west posthaste. Best not make that creature wait after all...
