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The Tale of Tankot (later known as Desertborn)
Topic Started: Dec 7 2016, 07:13 PM (649 Views)
neildarkstar
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A thought-provoking beginning, Serethil... :)
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Serethil
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Et'Ada
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Three - Postulation:

Tan opened the doors as he came to them; the ones on each of the massive towers opened to climbs upward into the open; the center one opened to a small room with a further door beyond. That door was locked. So for the time being, he set up his bedroll in the room, and ate a sandwich then drank some water. As night fell, Tan settled to sleep, seeing as he drifted into dream Selalla’s trust in him in her eyes.

He woke with the dawn. After packing up, Tan headed for the tower to the left out the door. He climbed, following the long open causeway, at the end of which was a simple metal lever. Shrugging fatalistically, he pulled it to the opposite position, then jumped away.

Nothing happened, anticlimactically. He shook his head, then headed back down and then out, moving downhill to the other side-tower. This was a much longer climb, much higher - and he was exposed to the rush of cold wind all around him. Opening a door, he finally saw another long causeway, where he could see far ahead what was hopefully another lever. It was. He pulled it into the other position, then trudged back to the center door, hoping that the levers would have caused the other door there to unlock. Success!

Pushing the door open, Tan found himself in a room of heavy blocks of marginally worked stone, rising from the floor in layers to near the ceiling. There was a path through the very center of the room, which he began to follow slowly, expecting at any moment to be jumped by - something. But as he reached the far end of the huge room, he realized it was a dead end. Brow wrinkling in puzzlement, he searched the area thoroughly. There was a circular depression. It was empty. There were pillars. There were windows, one to each side. That was all.

As he began to scrutinize the sides of the pillars, something back toward the center of the room caught his eyes. There was a plinth of some sort there suddenly! Tan was startled - the plinth took up nearly the whole of the path’s width - yet he himself had walked through that area just a bit before.... He crept back down the path toward it.

Sliding around it to face back toward the dead end, Tan looked up to see atop the plinth a statue exactly like the one which when touched had given him the vision! He stared a moment, then touched this statue too.... and some sort of brilliant pillar of light immediately was born in the circular depression. He walked toward the light, and realized it was making a strange humming sound. He was determined to watch it carefully for a time before doing anything....

But he found himself close enough that the pillar of light seemed to reach out and grab him - moving him by some strange method through apparently time and space - and dropping him out on another causeway, this one of rough stone.

Tan sat down abruptly. He shivered. This sort of thing was.... not what he expected at all. He decided to go back to the hall. Except.... there was no pillar of light on this side. Swallowing hard, he thought he’d just wait a bit to see if anything else happened....

After a while, he thought maybe an hour - he was still sitting. He’d quit shivering a while back. So - Tan stood and headed to an archway across the way ahead. As he drew near, there was another one of the statues - the same male head in a mask of some sort. Sighing, he reached out to touch it....
Edited by Serethil, Dec 11 2016, 08:07 PM.
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Areial
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Poor guy... that's very unsettling. ..
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Serethil
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Yup. He's had a very - not-normal - life. But this is - something else again....
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Rick
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Ooooh very good Sere...gripping actually :)

BTW...Many happy returns honey, hope you had a great day :)
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Serethil
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Tomorrow.... but it will be great because NOTHING will happen! It will be quiet.... and calm. And Tuesday we'll have lunch out because - shopping....

Thanks sweetie. Yeah, Tan's kind of caught on the wrong side of Scylla and Charybdis....
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Andra Hawksdaughter
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Holy crap, ok, I'll be waiting! Oh Tan.... !

Sere! *hug*
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Serethil
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Thank you sisters! Yeah, I'm not "manipulating" this part - this is pretty much how it plays out. But I'm going to short circuit the next stuff - first because it's all huge spoilers (and some of y'all might want to play it eventually), and because it's.... tedious when writing an RP PoV.
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neildarkstar
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Very very good!
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Serethil
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Thanks, bro!

[Psst - just call me Sere, or Jae. I'm not really.... targeted on "Serethil". I do nicks.... Generally I know who you mean if you use Sere or Jae. It takes me a bit to figure out Serethil.... Sorry - name things are a real issue with me....]
Edited by Serethil, Dec 11 2016, 10:47 PM.
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neildarkstar
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Gotcha! In RL, I hardly ever think to answer to my real name... I may tell you what it is in a PM if you're interested... ;)

My first wife didn't know what my name was until she saw it on the marriage license...
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Serethil
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ROFL!! My first husband knew my real name - because his grandmother was also Vicki (yeah - that was pretty weird - since she died long before I was born). Second husband.... nope. What he knew me as, and used while we were together, wasn't - well, it's not germane now.

Husband now.... he calls me honey, sweetheart, love.... etc. This is because he really doesn't remember who I am I think. Lots of other stuff going on there.... and no reason to - go there.
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Serethil
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Four - Destination:

The statue this time had sent a knowing into Tan’s mind: a sort of litany -

This is the Old Way of the Thief.

Now think as a Thief as you should be,
or you'll never see your home.
***
Days later it seemed, after wending his way through traps, fire, menacing spirits, mazes of hallways, strange sigils, and other oddities he’d never seen the like of before, Tankot walked out of the final corridor into a haze of heat and shimmer. The desert.... he felt an immediate sense of homecoming - which perhaps shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. He had a sudden feeling that he had probably been born in this desert. Well, a part of it far from here most likely - this place had an aura of “unuse”, as if he was the first person to ever walk out of the halls behind him into the light of this canyon in the Alik’r.

Tan spent some time exploring the canyon. There was no water in the area, and his was nearly gone though he’d been able to refill his bota before he entered the last building. So after a bit, he headed down the canyon. He thought he was heading east, and shortly he came to the canyon’s mouth where he could get his bearings. Yes, west was behind him.

He looked around carefully - he didn’t want to make a wrong move until he’d oriented himself. As he set out into the actual desert, Tan saw a man standing over a fresh kill of some sort of - wolf, perhaps. The man looked up in surprise as Tan walked cautiously toward him.

“Who are you? Where have you come from?” His accent was thick, and Tan could barely understand the words.

“I am Tankot. I came from Skyrim through the paths and halls at the end of that canyon.”

“You came from the Halls of the West? No one has ever done so before!” He stood lost in thought a moment, then continued, “Please, come with me to our village. This is a day long awaited!”

Shrugging mentally, Tan said “What is your name, sir?”

“I am Arenar Esdrecus. Please, follow me. I will explain all when we arrive at Ben Erai.”

So Tan followed the man as he moved from the canyon mouth toward buildings shimmering in the haze of heat atop a mesa a mile or so distant. The heat was astonishing to Tan since he’d arrived from the cold of Skyrim. But it felt.... like home.... He found tears in his eyes, and his breath caught in his throat. This - THIS - was home.

Arriving below the mesa, Tan looked around with interest. The village itself was clean, built mostly of some sort of cut stone blocks which were then seemingly plastered smooth. There were bright awnings and most buildings had domed areas on their roofs. There was a central plaza with a well of clean water under an octagonal dome. There was an inn.... there were a number of people wandering the plazas.

The streets were paved with cut stone laid dry, and the plaza areas with tile also laid dry. The whole place was serene and quite beautiful. But Arenar didn’t stop, so Tan followed behind. He hoped he’d have the chance to explore the village eventually.

They wound through the houses and shops of the village, then climbed toward a wall of stonework in which was a massive gate. Arenar stopped just below the gate, and yelled “Open! Open the gate now!” Once the gate was hauled up, Arenar ran inside the walled area. Tan, following, saw crop plants similar to Skyrim’s in neat rows, a well, and some outbuildings crouched around a somewhat taller building with a wooden door under an overhang.

Esdrecus ran up to another man, just outside the door, and said “Tell Lady Syloria that we have a visitor who has come from the Halls of the West!” The man looked startled, but ran off into the building. Tan followed Arenar Esdrecus at a slower pace, and was surprised when inside it was dark and cool, and there was an obvious “basement” level as well as the entry floor.

A woman moved toward them, one clad in Imperial armor....
Edited by Serethil, Dec 14 2016, 08:59 PM.
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Areial
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Good read! very descriptive of the canyon and what Tan saw.
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Serethil
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Thanks, li'l sis! I really do love this mod.... it's being fun to replay with Tan.
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Andra Hawksdaughter
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Loved seeing this through his eyes, and your words. That he felt like he'd come home was telling, and I want more. :D
Well done!!
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Serethil
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Thanks sis! Oh - there will be more. This is truly a DLC sized mod - and I shortcut part of it, not wanting to do spoilers (and I'll be writing around a lot more of it for that reason as well).

Truthfully, this mod is ideal for a fairly advanced character - maybe around level 30. There are of course things to kill (though I'm not really "doing that" with Tan, who's not an adult, and not very high level either); but by far most of the mod is built around puzzles, mazes, thinking through things.... all the sort of stuff I just love!
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Rick
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Oooh....loving this Sere :)
Sounds like plenty of material to get your teeth into...
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Serethil
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Five - Validation:

Tan glanced at the woman, apparently an Imperial officer. She was perhaps a bit older than Siara - maybe his mother’s age. She carried herself with unconscious authority; Tan was a little intimidated as he felt her gaze rake him.

Arenar bowed to the woman. “Lady Syloria.”

She tipped her head toward the Redguard. “What’s going on, Arenar? And.... who is this person?”

“Lady Syloria! He is.... the Gray Fox has come!”

She seemed stunned for a moment. “The - Gray Fox? Arenar, are you sure?”

He nodded. “As sure as I can be, Lady Syloria.” He glanced at Tan. “I did think he would be - older....”

She studied Tan for a long moment. “So then. You - you are the Gray Fox?” Her voice was sharp with - distrust perhaps?

Tan set his chin and answered as boldly as he could. “I was told I am a candidate to take up that position, yes. I would think that I could not do so until I am older.”

The lady nodded forcefully. “No doubt. How did you arrive here?” Tan thought she bristled with suspicion.

“I came from Skyrim - through the Halls of the West. And then Arenar asked me to follow him here.” He tried to keep his tone even, though he was tired, and some of the words came out a bit shaky.

“Have you brought any proof of your claim with you? Surely whoever sent you would not expect you to be welcome without something - solid to prove you to us!”

Tan cocked an eyebrow at her. He reached into his quiver and removed the arrow given him by Seviana Umbranox. “Will this be considered proof enough for you?” He held it out to Lady Syloria.

The lady’s expression turned to shock. “The Arrow of Extrication! It was used underneath the Imperial City to open the way into White Gold Tower by the Champion of Cyrodiil, later known as the Gray Fox!" She nodded, a sort of bow in Tan’s direction. “Welcome to our settlement, where we have awaited your coming for two hundred years. Our mission is to prepare you to enter the Mausoleum of the Champion, the last Gray Fox.

“But no doubt you are tired. You may wish to rest. I will await you upstairs.” She turned to go, and was stayed by Arenar’s hand. “Oh, I see. Arenar wishes to speak to you before you take your rest.” She moved away and was gone in a moment.

Arenar said “If you will follow me again, I have something to show you. I see you are a Redguard like many of us. How came you to be in Skyrim?”

Tan was startled; it hadn’t occurred to him that someone might ask - so he just blurted the truth: “My parents were not married, well, not to each other. Neither of them wanted to be bothered with me, so I was left on my own very early - I became a thief in order to stay alive in Riften, a town in Skyrim. Eventually I and many other orphans of the towns and cities in Skyrim were given homes by another family from Hammerfell - the Alf’agars. It is actually on their behalf I have come here; but I think I should explain further to the Lady first.”

Esdrecus nodded. “Yes. That would be wisest.” He opened the door of one of the outbuildings and preceded Tan into the rooms. There he showed the boy a method to travel back to Skyrim; Tan thought it was similar if not as elegant as the Travel Room beneath the Castle.

“Thank you, Arenar Esdrecus. Now, if you would show me where I could take some rest?” Again Tan followed along, back to the main building; Arenar directed him to a bed in a small alcove. Tan was asleep before his head found the pillow.
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neildarkstar
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:thumb:
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