Alanya woke somewhat later than usual the next day, her duel with Araes having taken more out of her than she realized. With a large yawn, Alanya rose from her hammock, groaning a little as she felt the aches and pains in her side. "Ah, no more fights with people much better than me for a long time," she decided. "The next one my luck might run out ... and while I'm at it, I really should look into getting a proper bed for this place. What's the point of actually sleeping indoors if you're not going to have a bed?"
Gathering up her things, she frowned as she saw how truly beat up her spear and armor were; the weapon was three steps away form being broken and the cuirass was useless on the side where Araes's sword had cracked it. "Right; first stop, the smithy ... hmm, which one to go to today ... I haven't talked with Meldor in a while, so maybe him ... then, the Guild and Caius, and then maybe take the rest of the day off unless the old man has something pressing. Gally and I can catch dinner together at a tavern maybe ..."
Her plans set, Alanya solemnly cast the spell of Almsivi Intervention ... three times over, before it finally worked. It was fortunate that she relied on enchanted items for quick escapes; her magical skills really needed some practice ...
Fortunately, her mundane dodging skills were a little better than her magical teleportation skills, and thus Alanya avoided being bumped into by the poor Dunmer man in the green robe who was hurrying out of the temple as she showed up ...
"Gah!" the Dunmer yelped. "Welcome adventurer; please watch the faithful coming to and fro though ..."
"Sorry," Alanya meeped contritely. "I think I missed the usual spot a bit ..."
"Eh, not really; I always said the Temples should have a special section just for teleporting adventurers and the like ..." the man grumbled, blinking a bit. "Wait ... you're Alanya, are you not?" he asked, looking at Alanya's perfect legs with a look of growing admiration.
"Um, yes," Alanya said, shuffling a little. "No offense sera, but I'm seeing someone ..."
"Three blessings!" the Dunmer said excitedly, taking Alanya's hand with a warm smile. "You saved me from a fate of insanity and worse!"
"I did?" Alanya asked, wondering when she met this guy before. "Wait ... you look familiar ..."
"Rararyn Radarys, Ser Alanya," the Dunmer said, letting go of Alanya's hand and bowing. "The Mage Guild sent someone to tell me of your incredible victory against the Sixth House, and how your actions freed me and others from their terrible hold on my mind ..."
Realization hit Alanya then, and she stuttered "Oh! ... I ... you're welcome ... then, the dreams ..."
"Gone, totally gone," Rararyn smiled, "I haven't slept this soundly in months. All of us who were touched by the Sixth House's dreams have been tended to by Guild and Temple alike; most of us are fully recovered, though one or two ... well, the priests say they just need more time ..."
"I wish them luck and a speedy recovery," Alanya said sincerely, a warm smile growing on her face,. "And I'm happy that you're doing better now."
"Please," Rararyn insisted, "you must let me show my appreciation - hrn, you look like you've been through a mighty battle; your armor's half falling off ..."
Alanya blushed. "Er, yes; I was going to have it fixed ..."
"It will take the armorer a while to repair that much damage," Rararyn noted. "Have you taken your midday meal yet? I would be honored if you would allow me the pleasure of buying you a warm meal and a round of filn ..."
Alanya was about to protest, to say that Rararyn's thanks were payment enough, when her stomach announced to all within earshot that she hadn't eaten at all today ...
" ... Where did you have in mind?" Alanya asked with a cute smile ...
------
As it turned out, the Eight Plates establishment had recently hired on a new cook, one from Ald'Ruhn who came very highly recomended. After seeing what this worthy gentleman could do with Ash Yams, Crab Meat, and various roots, Alanya found yet another reason to frequent Balmora; the Filn here was also very, very good ...
Rararyn had happily paid for Alanaya's meal and his own, a burden made lighter by the fact that most everyone, including the appreciative proprieter, had heard of Alanya by this point; Alanya soon discovered that in the few days since she was last in town, her struggle against Dagoth Fovon had become a war with no less than a dozen Ash Beasts at once, though the more cynical and worldly patrons confessed to Alanya that they knew people had doubled the figure to impress the foolish, and that she had only fought three Dagoths in Hassour and she had had the advantage of facing them one at a time thanks to her quick reflexes and wit to jump on a narrow ledge to prevent them from ganging up on her.
" ... I did all that?" Alanya murmured to Rararyn under the hubbub of the tavernfolk. "I must have missed half the fight; I only remember one Dagoth and we kinda tore into each other ..."
Rararyn shrugged, ignoring the one surly - and obviously drunk - Dunmer who just banged into their table. "In any event, it was an impressive victory," he told Alanya. "One which will be remembered for quite some time - more than that if I have anything to say about it. But tell me, what adventure did you just complete, to have been so banged up this morning?"
"Well ..." Alanya said, grimacing slightly. "It's kind of not such a heroic tale; I had been investigating a bandit cave and found another warrior in the process of clearing them out; turns out he mistook me for one of the bandits and ... well, let's just say, things got chaotic."
"Really?' Rararyn asked, eyebrows raised.
"Really," Alanya lied, "Still, when all was said and done, the bandits were dealt with ..."
"Where did this happen?" Rararyn inquired.
"Where?" Alanya repeated, momentarily unsure where to say. "Um ... it was along ..."
Alanya's lie was interrupted however, by the sound of a crashing table and a drunken roar.
"DIE N'WAH!"
"Look out!" Rararyn yelled, leaping from his chair to push Alanya aside ...
Chaos broke out from that point; Alanya tumbled out of her chair, yelping in surprise; she saw a Dunmer with a serrated blade lunging towards Rararyn; there were cries of pain, outraged screams of "Outlander Lover!" and "Guards! ARghuh .,.."
Alanya fought to get to her feet, reaching for her spear ... to remember it was still in Meldor's shop, being repaired ...
A sharp pain made her cry out; the serrated blade drew blood from her side, inducing a wave of nausea and sickness. Alanya reeled, saying "Poison ... poisoned blade ..." to herself as she reached for a curative potion on her belt ...
A Dunmer collided with her; Alanya saw briefly a rage-twisted face, reeking with sujamma. Then, there was a flash of yellowed bone, a cry of "Halt!", and another Dunmer wrestling with the drunken one, before they both collided with Alanya again and she fell to the ground, hitting her head ...
------
Alanya heard voices speaking above her; Dunmer voices ...
"How is she?"
"She'll be all right, in time; she's strong and her body resisted most of the Netch Blade's sting ..."
"Should have watched Daryn more closely; you know he was Camonna Tong ..."
Alanya heard another voice, a non-native one, ask "Where's Rararyn?" She realized it was her own.
"Where's Rararyn!?"
------
"Sigh; the drunken s'wit ..." the guard sighed, as someone helped Alanya to her feet. "A bad streak of luck, him and her both being in the same place at once. Add the sujamma and ..."
"Where's Rararyn...?" Alanya repeated, her throat growing hoarse.
"Easy, sera," the man who helped Alanya up said soothingly. "The priests have already taken your friend to the Temple; he's in the very best hands now ..."
"He's all right, right?" Alanya asked, turning to the Dunmer with a pleading look. "Please ... tell me he's all right ..."
The man said nothing, his red eyes conveying his message ...
"The priests said in passing that they might be able to save him yet," the proprieter told Alanya, even as she fixed up the place. "It's still too early to tell ..."
Alanya felt her eyes growing moist. " ... He got attacked because of me ..." she said dully.
"The Camonna Tong," the Dunmer man said grimly, "is like that ... it seems you have made some enemies as well as friends in Balmora, sera."
------
As Alanya left the Eight Plates, she saw Decius Pracius running up towards her, his Imperial armor glinting in the afternoon sun.
"Ho there!" he called out. "Tidings to you, Alanya! I just heard there was an altercation ..."
" ... A drunken Camonna Tong member just attacked me," Alanya told Decius in a dull monotone, looking down at her feet as she talked. " ... Someone I just met got hurt in the fight; no one's sure if he'll live ..."
"Lawbreaking scum ..." Decius muttered under his breath. Seeing the look on Alanya's face, he reached out his hand. "Miss Alanya, don't be like that; you survived and your friend may yet live. You can't think him dead until you are told he's gone ..."
"If it weren't for me he wouldn't have been hurt to begin with," Alanya growled, refusing Decius's hand. "The poor man - first the Sixth House messes with his mind, and then he gets himself cut up because of me ...!"
"That's not true, Alanya," Decius said with authority. "You didn't force the attacker to come at you ..."
"I gave him reason enough with the Council Club, didn't I?" Alanya shot back.
"You acted to strike a blow for justice in the Council Club and you know that," Decius countered. "You can't let villians keep you from doing right on the possibility that they'll come after you for their undeserved revenge; today was a tragedy and I grieve for you and your friend, but do not think for a moment that this was your fault."
Decius's voice softens. "You said he was one the Sixth House had affected?" he asks kindly. "Then you saved this man from a fate even worse than death; it was the cruelty of fate, not any doing of yours, that has snatched away his chance to fully enjoy the gift you gave him - and we may yet snatch him back from fate; you said yourself, no one knows yet how he is. There's still hope ..."
Alanya slowly turned away, walking towards Meldor's shop. " ... I have to go get my armor and spear," she says dully. " ... Thanks for trying, though; I'll see you around, Decius ..."
Alanya left Decius staring thoughtfully at her as she made her way away from the Eight Plates ...
------
As you can guess, Alanya was not in the best of moods when she delivered the skull to Sharn gra-Muzgob, nor when she then delivered Sharn's notes to Caius; the Spymaster, having heard that there had been some ruckus in twon - and guessing that Alanya's mood was related to it - muttered something about 'survivor's guilt' under his breath and told her to "Come back in a few days, let me digest what's in these reports; I'll have a new mission for you when you get back. Don't take too long off, though ..."
Alanya quietly took her leave and returned to her cave, her plans to catch dinner with Glabedir forgotten. In place of romantic pursiuts, she decided to seek out bandits to ... deal with; she was bloody-minded after this afternoon.
Thus, the next day, Alanya headed out and traveled north, to explore areas she hadn't had the time to look into before. And thus it was that Alanya came upon her first Dunmer Abandoned Stronghold ...
Hlormaren.
The X-Box's strategy guide describes strongholds as "the closest thing in Morrowind to conventional hack 'n' slash dungeons". This, of course, is utter bunk; large winding caves and Daedra Shrines are much more like conventional hack 'n' slash dungeons. Strongholds are like castles; you could conceviably live in one of them if you were so minded. Do you see yourself wanting to live in a conventional hack 'n' slash dungeon? No? Do you really want to live in a cave or Daedra Shrine?
... Well okay, we'll ignore the caves part =D But other than that, I rest my case ^_~
Alanya's discovery of Hlormaren caused a great deal of excitement both for her and for myself; she because she would get a chance to explore someplace new, and probably multiple chances to vent her frustrations, and me because I was positive a place that big had to have enough loot to make me very, very happy. That, and let's face it - if you have a choice between living in a cave and living in a stronghold, which would you take?
So, Alanya silently crept up to the first door she saw, and entered ... and found two pillar things with special light effects that absolutely killed my framerate.
"Hmm, strange magic," Alanya murmured.
"Hmm, one of those propylon index rooms," I said, smiling. "Now let me see; I bought one for Hlormaren while in Caldera, so ..."
Oops; turns out I needed other indices if I wanted to go anywhere; the one I had was only good for a return trip. Oh well; I'm sure I'll find others soon, I tell myself ...
The actual clensing of Hlormaren of its undesirable bandit elements was almost routine for Alanya; the only bandit who gave me the slightest bit of trouble was the fellow with the Glass Jinkblade. He managed to whittle my health down to about half beofre his charges finally ran out; by that point Alanya was pretty steamed about constantly bing frozen in place and said "You know, you should have put a lot more force in your swings, my friend - like this!" before skewering the bugger.
On the top level of Hlormaren, I found another bandit that qualified as an annoyance, though not a troublesome one; this young woman with steel armor and the spells to summon greater Bonewalkers. Given that I was looting the place as I went along, the Bonewalker's curses left me stuck in place during the fight; pity being immobile didn't affect my ability to kill either the Bonewalker or its summoner ...
With those two jokers down, and with their partners in crime having been much easier than either of them, there was just the matter of Selling The Loot ...
Repeated trips to Hlormaren revelaed a propylon index to the next fortress over, slaves to free, a sewer system, guards who needed to be killed so that I could claim this place for my very own (they were guarding slaves; I felt justified in taunting them to their doom. Besides, they had moon sugar and skooma and were guarding slaves; they must have been evil! ...) Moving into Hlormaren would be a long-term project, but once I was fully moved-in ... ahh, the sweet joy that is living in Hlormaren!
I'm close to Balmora - so I'm close to silt striders and guild guides.
I'm close to Gnaar Mok and Hla Oud - so I'm close to boat services.
I'm practically next door to two Daedra Shrines and a Dwemer Ruin - do I need Golden Saint souls? No problem; give me a day of hunting and I'll probably have three or four. Do I need money? Hey Mister Dremora Man, Play A Song For Me; Something Slow, With Daedra Gear For Bling Bling ...
Do I need storage space? Hey - tons of shelves, the stronghold next in line has four permanent corpses (as I'd find out later) and tons of slelves of its own ...
Let's face it; having your own stronghold rocks - even if you found it instead of built it ^_^
------
The next couple of days were spent moving in to her new stronghold - a task made easier by the expident of hiring on the slaves she just freed to help her move, with the promise of weapons, armor, gold, and supplies for thier payment. The slaves, happy enough to be free, jumped at the chance to earn some extra cash almost to a man (and woman), and Alanya, once settled in Hlormaren, found a certain poetic justice to outfitting the former slaves with the armor and weapons of their former oppressors, as well as from other bandits and slave traders she had met along the way.
Alanya even offered to let the slaves live with her in Hlormaren, upkeeping the place while she was on adventures, but they demurred; Hlormaren had too many unpleasant memories for these poor Argonians and Khaijiit for them to call it home, despite the change in ownership. Finding herself understanding their position, Alanya pointed the former slaves towards Balmora, where they could find work with the various Guilds should they wish to become adventurers themselves, or passage to Vivec and eventually Ebonhart if they simply wished to make their way back to their homelands.
As the former slaves took their leave of Alanya, she paused and looked over her new home - a home that had once housed over a hundred soldiers and their supplies, she estimated. The bandits she had cleared out had barely used a fourth of Hlormaren, even considering the stashes of loot they had built up; Alanya now had her own blacksmith and repair shop, a mess hall with larders meant for a small army, her choice of dormitories and bedrooms (presumably for ranking soldiers and the like), a room full of odd magickal clutter that she guessed was used by the resident battlemage or alchemist, a fully-functioning sewer system, part of which had been converted by the whimsical bandits into Morrowind's first indoor swimming pool, a teleportation chamber she could use to hop over to some other stronghold she hadn't found yet (and wasn't going to look into until later), and all manner of swag.
Alanya felt, with some amazement and wonder, that she could now reasonably call herself affluent; Hlormaren dwarfed even the largest manors in Balmora, even if those manors were more stylishly decorated. She also realized that she also had a huge stronghold and no one else to share it with - a potential problem should another gang of bandits come along and decide to claim it while she was out working for Caius - or even if she was sitting quietly at home.
" ... Um, hmm; how do I adequately protect this place, now that I have it ..." she asked herself.
However, at least now, she had a real bed ^_^
------
First things first; Alanya dedicated her next couple of days to scouting out the surrounding area, to better know what she should expect from her new home. And wouldn't you know it - just a couple hours away from Hlormaren, there were easily two Daedra Shrines, an old Dwemer Ruin, a fishing village (where most of the Dunmer spent their time glaring darkly at any outlanders, herself included - she soon found out that this place, Gnaar Mok, was Camonna Tong territory and wondered at the wisdom of moving into Hlormaren), and of course, Balmora.
Oddly enough, Alanya felt more comfortable at the Daedra Shrines than she did in Gnaar Mok; at least there, the human inhabitants were openly hostile, not to mention half-blind Between the two shrines and the ruin, Alanya ended up with even more loot than she had before, her generous donations to the former slaves notwithstanding, and thanks to her earlier experiences near Hla Oud, she now knew to take the items on the alters stealthily and to jump the resultant summoned Dremora Lord when they appeared.
But treasure hunting could only go on for so long; business back in Balmora beckoned, as well as more personal matters. This time, though, Alanya opted for a change in outfit, dressing in simple robes such that a pilgrim might wear, and switching her chitin armor for Netch leather. A wooden staff replaced her Devil Spear - though not without much reluctance and some attempt to make the tips of the staff semi-pointy - and with the hood of the robe drawn over her head, Alanya felt satisfied that she should be hard to recognize.
One of these days, she would need to take better measures to safeguard herself from random Camonna Tong thugs; for now, though, she simply wanted to avoid them.
Suddenly gaining the 'rights' to a complete Dunmer stronghold did much to lighten Alanya's spirits; in fact, she felt so much better, that after a couple days of ferrying some essentials into her newly-claimed home, she was ready to see Caius again ...
------
Alanya's disguise seemed to work; the people around the Temple greeted her with the polite indifference afforded to most newcomers, with one or two people offering her some directions to the local guilds should she be looking for work. Alanya smiled to herself; it was actually kind of fun to not be recognized, even if her hood kept drooping down over her eyes in her effort to keep her face in shadow.
As for the Temple itself, however ... she found she couldn't quite make herself enter, not just yet. As much as she wanted to know how Rararyn was faring, she wasn't up to being told he had died ...
I'll check in with Gally, and Caius, Alanya promised herself, and then I'll go see Rararyn. This promise made, she started walking towards the Mages Guild, already thinking of Galbedir and the news she had for her. However, she noticed as she walked that the street leading to the Temple had somewhat more people loitering about than she'd have expected for the early hour, and that half of the loiterers spent a lot of time staring at Outlanders ...
------
"Going for a new look I see," Galbedir said with a smirk as Alanya doffed her hood. "A shame; covering up your perfect legs is almost a crime, love."
"I know," Alanya smiled back, her heart thrilling to the sound of Galbedir's voice. "Still ... well, there's a few too many people looking for me nowadays; I was actually thinking of asking about some enchantments to deal with that ..."
"Oh, you mean the Tong s'wits who've been lurking outside?" Galbedir asked, frowning. "Stupid idiots, all of them ..." She looked at Alanya somewhat reprovingly. "I heard about your - incident - at Eight Plates; you should have come to see me ..."
" ... I'm sorry; I wasn't really thinking too clearly," Alanya apologized. " ... Wait; there's Tong people lurking outside the Guild?" Alanya's heart started skipping beats.
Galbedir nodded. "Word is the Tong's making an actual effort to get you," she said glumly. "We're not sure if they know we're seeing each other and are homing in on me, or if they're just harassing the Guild in general because you've done a lot of business with us lately. Ranis's been getting particularly annoyed with them, and she's been muttering about Frost Atronachs 'accidentally' getting out of the Guild to 'bump into' them. Heck, Decius even went over to Moonmoth to talk with Champion Varro about getting some Legion soldiers to come into town; the local guards won't be thrilled about that, I'm sure, but I see where Decius is coming from ..."
Alanya's face alternated between fright at the thought of Galbedir in danger and shame at having been the one to put her in this situation. " ... This is all my fault; I should never have taken Larrius up on his offer for work," she grumbled, with increasing vehemence.
Galbedir wrapped her arms around Alanya, saying soothingly "Now stop that; if it hadn't been you it would have been someone else sooner or later. It might have even been Decius; he's trying to make a name for himself. The Tong hates outlanders no matter weho they are; they'd have found a reason to harass us eventually."
"That doesn't change the fact that you're in danger right now," Alanya retorted.
"Hah; they'll never attack the Guild," Galbedir said confidentally. "Who's stupid enough to do that? There's a reason why we leave the windows open sometimes when we're doing magickal experiments and such; everyone knows what the Guild could do to anyone who tried that."
"What about when you leave the Guild to go home?" Alanya asked.
Galbedir frowned. " ... I'm not helpless," she said, somewhat defiantly. "I may only be a Journeyman right now, but I'm a damn good enchantress and I've got things on me that'll toast anyone stupid enough to try anything ..."
"I'm sure," Alanya said, hugging Galbedir tightly. "But still - I'd rather you not be a target for them at all." She leaned forward to whisper in Galbedir's ear "That, and I just came into some property of my own, that I wanted you to see ..."
"Oh?" Galbedir asked, eyebrows raising. "Something for two, I'm guessing from your tone?"
Alanya grinned, a gleam in her eye. "I'll let you judge that when you see it; meet me by the Silt Strider when you finish your day's work and I'll take you there ..."
------
Alanya ended up spending a couple of hours with Galbedir, outlining a series of enchantments she wanted made for various items; her recent forays into Daedra Shrines had provided her with enough captured souls to make some relatively decent enchantments.
"You ought to look into upgrading your armor though if you're serious about strength-enhancing enchantments," Galbedir had opined. "Chitin's a decent armor for its cost and weight, but it's lousy for enchanting. You should try heading up to Gnisis; I've heard of a place that sells some really good armor and weapons there, including stuff made of amethyst."
"Amethyst?"
"Glass basically, but with certain impurities that give it a lovely purple shade; it's pretty good both for protection and for enchantment."
"Oh; I'll see about getting up there soon," Alanya promised. First, though, Alanya made her way back to the Temple, feeling more up to checking in on Rararyn after seeing Galbedir.
Unfortunately, the local priests seemed unwilling to talk about her new friend's fate ...
"Please; I need to know," Alanya pleaded with one elderly priest. "Did he live or ... did he not?"
The aged cleric looked at Alanya with weary eyes. " ... He is alive," he said quietly, with a heavy sigh, "but the poison did extensive damage to his body before we could cure him. Even now, he remains in a deep sleep, beyond the power of any of us here to awaken or cure any further." He paused. " ... I fear, if he does awaken, that he will be greatly diminished; he may lose part of his memory, or use of his limbs. I have seen a few cases of this happening before ..."
Alanya felt her eyes moistening. " ... Is there anything I can do?" she asked quietly. "I have money - I can pay for healers from out of town if they will help ..."
The old priest smiled gently. "Rararyn is beyond the power of any mortal agency now, my child; his fate is in the hands of ALMSIVI. Offer your donations to their shrines and your prayers; that is the best advice I can give you right now."
When Alanya finally left the Temple, the aged cleric was surprised by the sounds of wonder and amazement from within the Temple; heading to the shrine room, he saw that each shrine had a large pile of gold sitting in front of it, and heard a junior priest exclaim "We tried to explain that quantity in prayer meant nothing to quality, but she wouldn't listen; I think she was afraid the Three wouldn't hear the prayers of an Outlander without overloading the shrines ..."
The old priest felt a smile come to his lips. "Therein lies a lesson, come, let us pray for our wounded brother, and the health and prosperity of the woman he befriended."
The Main Story resumes in the Chapter Revelations in the Holy City.
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