Rastislav
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Arc 8 Chapter XLIII: New Recruits
🕑 Added 2024-12-05 21:06:43 +0000 UTC(Reyvin's POV)
'I am really going to need to set some boundaries with Mephala if this shit keeps happening' I grumble internally as I keep patting and cooing at the surprisingly cute spider...
Now there was a sentence I never expected to even think.
Still, as annoyed as I was with my eldrich horror/demonic patron/maybe friend?, the glint of intelligence in Nimhe's too many eyes meant she was now far, far more useful than she could ever have been without Mephala's interference.
Still fucking annoying she didn't bother asking.
"Damn it, will you stop that?!" A voice both frustrated and mildly terrified drew my attention, causing an immediate chitter/growl to come from the annoyed spider.
Turning to the obvious noble I simply rose an eyebrow "What?"
He pointedly did not flinch back, even if I could feel his desire to, and instead looked to the heavily bleeding and rather unconscious mage still sticking to the wall "She is going to bleed out soon, and we ran out of healing potions."
"And that is my problem how?" I ask probingly, even as I begin walking to him and leave Nimhe to her meal "What were you doing in this mine anyway?"
"Just help me save her and I will answer any questions you may have." He grits his teeth "I do not need her Master on my backside."
"A Master's apprentice eh?" I ask and telekinetically yank the spear out, I could hear the capitalization in the title and that meant a Telvanni of great influence. The unconscious woman let out a grunt of pain as blood began to gush out but I quickly dealt with that with an admittedly inefficient burst of restoration.
I really need to master that particular school sometime soon, I've been delaying it for a while now...
The only other elf present looked just about ready to protest as I tossed the spear away but was promptly shut up by the ensuing burst of healing. He gives the perfectly healed woman a baffled look before looking back up to me "Who even are you?"
"I believe it is polite for one to introduce themselves first?" I quirk an eyebrow "Besides, I am the one asking questions here."
"Right." He hides his annoyance well, an arrogant one but not an idiot "My name is Merin Zadir of Great House Dres, she" He points at the calmly breathing woman "Is Cyna Karvanni, Apprentice of Divayth Fyr, and the reason we were here in the first place."
"Fyr?" Finally something interesting "And I am guessing the old coot is the one that sent you here?"
Dres looks at me with barely contained horror but shakes it away quickly enough "Yes, her Master sent her with some vague instructions and used a favor owed to him by my house to have me and my men accompany her."
"Your men?" I look around the cavern "Not a very good showing for a commander to be the last one standing."
"Shove off" He growls "We did not expect to find a unit of Argonian heavy cavalry in the midst of attacking a kwama mine. Argonians aren't even supposed to have proper mounts!"
"All I am hearing is excuses." I drawl, making the poor fucker shake in fury "Is the kwama queen still alive at least."
He bites down his anger, clearly aware of how utterly fucked he would be if he tried acting on his anger, and nods "Yes, we managed to stop them before they could get into the actual mine itself."
"Well you managed that at least!" I grin and clap him on the shoulder, startling the absolute shit out of him by appearing right next to him in an instant "However I am sad to say your work isn't quite done yet."
"Oh?" He looks up to me, much, much more cautious now "And how so?"
"You, my dear friend, are being conscripted!" I keep patting his shoulder "Those were not the only Argonians fucking about and I need all the bodies I can get."
"You are not really giving much information here." He points out as I turn back to Nimhe who was now stacking her cocoons atop each other, neatly preparing them for transport.
It was so damn meticulous even I felt a shiver of fear.
"Well, I won't say no to avenging my men." Merin says after a long pause, purposefully not pointing out the whole 'conscription' bit and choosing to wait and see.
Wise.
He picks up what looks to be a metal whip from the ground and starts dragging Dunmer corpses around "Still not going to introduce yourself?" He asks as I begin helping him with some light telekinesis.
"You can call me Reyvin." I inform him nonchalantly.
He stills "Reyvin, as in..."
I just grin at him.
"Well fuck." He grumbles and gets back to work.
-----
"My non-combatant subordinates are hiding out in a nearby village." Merin tells me as we finish cleaning up the battlefield and checking on the kwama, odd creatures those "They should have a guar cart."
"Go on and fetch them then" I wave him away with only a bit of condescension "I could use a bit of quiet after days of dealing with people."
"I know that feeling" He grumbles and walks off.
Shaking my head and ignoring the far too cheerful spider currently staring Scorch down as he taught her his ways, I summoned a plush chair and my Orb™.
First I messaged Minthara, who naturally immediately began complaining about me getting all the fun while she had to deal with stupid nobles, a couple of whom thought my absence a moment of weakness and tried acting devious.
Jackal had them metaphorically drawn and quartered within a day.
Apparently, Titus decided she needed to be a bit more proactive and sent her out to do some actual work, purposefully stepping on the toes of the Fighters Guild by having her go on a hunting spree, of both beasts and bandits for absolutely free, growing her reputation while at the same time humiliating the current leader of the aforementioned guild into finally ceasing her act and lowering the guild's prices.
That should help a lot of the more remote settlements quite a bit. Sure high nobles such as myself did not need to worry about the rise in prices but some people depended on the protection of the guild and getting fleeced by their protectors was not a good way to inspire public trust and peace.
I did have to make Minthara promise not to interfere in the whole Argonian war unless I asked. This was my opportunity to grow in influence and power and while being seen as tightly allied to the Empire was a good thing for my future plans, being seen as overly reliant on them would just make me out to be the puppet.
She was not the only one I contacted though.
My subordinates in both the Imperial City and Silruhn Fell were running things quite smoothly, even if the latter had been quite emptied by my call to arms. Because of fucking course I would use this chance to enter an army into Morrowind, duh.
The Mighty And Awesome Lizard Wizard was quite dismayed, or as dismayed as he could really get with how he was, by the news of the Argonian attack but told me that as long as I did not go too far he would consider it simple politics.
Going to far here meaning me turning into a filthy slaver of course, so I was safe there.
Torygg was doing quite well for himself, Trygve was growing well and the entirety of Skyrim was celebrating the news of Elisif's second pregnancy. Speaking of my second homeland, the whole place was currently in a period of massive growth, the numerous infrastructure projects with Titus' personal seal alongside Torygg's near absolute authority completely removed most of the red tape the Jarls and Thanes used to keep their influence in the past, allowing the dedicated High King to focus fully on development with no bullshit coming in the way.
Here is to hoping all of it doesn't get burned when the time comes.
The final person I contacted was my maternal grandfather. I considered not bothering him with this whole situation but doing that was just plain cowardly so the moment I informed him of what was going on he made the only reasonable decision in his eyes. He shoved the Archmage position onto Phineas, to the lich's immense protests of course, and was probably already flying across the Velothi Mountains at this very moment.
Should I try recruiting him into the house just so I can say I have more than one archmage? A thing to ponder for later...
"You!" The now conscious woman shrieks.
I, having felt her get up, turn to her with an expression of pure boredom "Did you really just try to startle me?"
"Uhm, no?" She tries and utterly fails to lie to me, and immediately forgets the entire situation an instant later "Anyway! Are you Dagoth?"
I close my eyes and take a long breath, she is far too energetic for someone who nearly got impaled to death "Yes, why?"
"Oh, good!" She claps her hands "Master told me to tell you that he told me to serve as best as I am able while you play at politics! He is reaaaally excited about your presence and wants to see what you can cook up!"
"Divayth Fyr" I say slowly as I remove my monocle and lightly massage my forehead with my free hand "Is excited that I am here?"
"Well yes!" She claps her hands again "He is quite obsessed with your ancestor!"
"Do you have to keep yelling?" I ask, filing the actual information away for later. That could either be great or terrible depending on the situation.
She tilts her head "I am not yelling though!"
"Of course." I sigh "What can you do that would make you useful anyway?"
"I am an expert in destruction magic!" She points up proudly.
I pause "And?"
"And that is it!" She chirps before pouting "Miss Alfe always complains how I focus too much on it but master encourages me to keep at it!"
"Ah yes" I nod along with a dry tone "The 'If explosions are not solving your problems you are just not using enough' school of thought."
Her eyes light up "Exactly!"
"I admit I partake of it sometimes too." I smirk "Though we will have to leave that for later, Merin and his goons are coming and I don't feel like wasting three more hours here by having to explain I am not about to eat their souls or something equally retarded..."
"But eating souls is bad for you" She sounds genuinely confused.
I close my eyes, count to three, and say "The peasants don't know that."
"Oh!" She claps her hands again "That makes sense."
Of fucking course it does.
-----
Having left a whole ass feast for Nimhe as I had to barter for a cocooned (and still living) big lizard, we returned to Kragenmoor a few hours later. There was no panic amongst the officers as I sent Scorch to inform them of the delay and the house nobles were more than happy to receive more help, no matter how low in number.
Merin seemed to have some kind of problem with the priest but so long as they didn't try shit I wouldn't bother with their idiocy. Apparently the reputation of the Indoril for their cowardice and flippancy in faith has not lessened even after a few centuries, and the Dres were really fucking pissed at them due to not getting much help when the Argonians took most of their domains.
The Dres was assigned to the Redoran regulars, as he did not have any forces of his own. He did not complain, much.
Sadras and myself on the other hand were really, really, trying to tolerate the far too energetic Telvanni, who had turned downright apoplectic when she learned I had been giving out free lessons for days now and she had missed them all.
I shoved Scorch at her and told them to go fuck with the enemy camp. That ought to tire the madwoman out at least.
Almeril was all too happy to ignore the presence of the duo now that they had jobs to do, and instead asked me about the mine and its current state. When I informed him how we all left he questioned me on the wisdom of leaving it unprotected.
I just waved his concerns off. That place was now more impenetrable than the city.
(General POV)
If any sentient being was present in the outer shafts of the Kragenmoor kwama mines they would likely defecate their previous meal or flee as swiftly as their legs could take them, as the utterly terrifying noise of a spider currently constructing a deathtrap of metallic webs trying to hum a song rang out through the empty stone halls.
------
(Reyvin's POV)
Days had passed since the kwama mine incident and I once more found myself under the setting sun, looking south in the direction of the Argonian camp, now joined by a relaxed Savos Aren.
The way he just dropped from the skies one day and introduced himself was something I would remember for decades, especially with everyone's eyes attempting to escape their skulls.
"We should be ready by now." I say after a long bout of silence.
"We should, yes." Savos nods "So long as we did not underestimate them."
"Underestimating Argonians is said to be a terminal illness in recent centuries." I quip with a chuckle "But there is caution and then there is paranoia."
"Yes, yes, how very wise of you Reyvin." He rolls his eyes.
I naturally offer a flamboyant bow in turn "I learn from the best of course."
He nods proudly.
"Shalazar is such a great teacher." I elaborate, sighing dramatically at the absence of the great one.
"Hmph!" Savos huffs "Children these days have no respect for their ancestors."
I turn to him with a raised eyebrow "I know you are an old fart but you don't have to advertise it. Is the Morrowind air bad for you? Do you need a nap?"
He grumbles to himself about never getting a win and pointedly shifts the topic "Did you finally manage to discover what is up with the lizards?"
"Yup." I nod "Had to contact Tolfdir and Phineas for it but they helped me narrow it down greatly. Appears to be a standardized ritual to call for aid from the hist, thankfully not one where they turn actual Argonians into their own mounts though."
"So, much like we originally expected." He nods "It is unusual but I doubt it will give them that much of an advantage."
"You never know" I shrug "They won't be too useful in a siege but discounting them as a threat is not something I am about to do."
"Fair enough." Savos hums, pulling out a smoking pipe he got recently and lighting up something that is no doubt illegal in most provinces.
I do much the same, though without a pipe as I am not an old fart.
A few minutes pass in silence before Savos speaks up again "Reyvin. What do you plan on doing with Morrowind?"
I hum lightly for a few seconds "I honestly am not sure."
"Your actions say otherwise." He points out, there was no accusation in his tone, merely curiosity.
"It depends" I say after a few more silent moments "Either the Great Houses kick themselves into gear and do as I want them to, or I drag them kicking and screaming into a better future."
Savos chuckles, causing me to look back at him, only to snort as he offers a dramatic bow as he drawls "Hail, oh Chosen Hortator."
I just raise my nose at him, and huff in disdain. I did not correct him though.
