Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
R.I.P. neildarkstar. Haven will miss you dearly.
Multi Quote Post
Locked Topic
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 7
  • 9
The Tale of Tankot (later known as Desertborn)
Topic Started: Dec 7 2016, 07:13 PM (644 Views)
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Fourteen - Hesitation:

Tan folded into himself, finding a marginally more comfortable position in the window opening. The wolves - well, that was odd. They knew he was in their territory, but they didn’t seem to know exactly where he was. Ah. Perhaps they didn’t think to look upward. While the window-slits were several feet from the ground outside, inside they were higher than that from the ground inside, perhaps half again as much.

‘So - don’t give wolves credit for thinking things through like men would? No, don’t go that way. Wolves are smart. Smarter than I am probably. Just wait.’ So he settled into his mind, thinking about the things he’d had to do so far, and wondering just how much more he would need to accomplish. And also, mulling over why he was involved in this. Did he want to be the new Gray Fox? Was that his ambition - to be the thief-master? He didn’t know.

Tan was tired. He wedged himself firmly into place, and dozed while the wolves paced and snarled. Eventually he woke fully to a dark sky - the moons weren’t up yet. And the wolves were quiet. Well, he wasn’t about to try to sneak past them in the dark! Especially since he didn’t know where they laired - for all he knew if he dropped down into the temple yard, he land right on top of one. No, that wouldn’t do at all!

He didn’t sleep fully overnight, just dozing off and on. As the sky lightened in the morning, he started to scan the area below, looking for the wolves. Much as he disliked the idea, he knew he had to kill them - there was no way to sneak past them, and they would kill him if he tried.

Ah. There was one - still sleeping, just starting to stir. He limbered his bow, nocked an arrow, and sighting carefully in the dimness, loosed. The wolf slumped without a sound. But Tan didn’t know where the other wolf was. He sat silent and still, waiting as patiently as possible.

Nearly an hour passed, as he gauged it by the sun’s movement. Finally, the third wolf appeared. Oddly enough, it ran past Tan and the dead wolves, and out of the temple. He gulped, and then deciding quickly, dropped down into the plants. He ran quickly to check the area he’d thought was water - yes. He bent and filled his botas hurriedly, then ran for the obvious door to the east.

Inside, it was very dark. And cool. Almost cold, he thought. Though that was probably just a comparison to the warmth outside.... He stood where he was for what seemed a very long time, to allow his eyes to adjust - he hoped there would be enough light to see by, because if it was totally dark.... and he had no torches.... obviously a major miscalculation on his part.

So, here he was. Somewhere in this place was a key.... and he had to have that key. So he waited. Eventually, he realized he could begin to actually see what was around him....
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Areial
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
very nice read.. he's gaining more patience!
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
monkeyemoness
Thane
 *  *  *
Ewww...so I think I've noted that I haven't played the mod? I'm still busy catching up, but I gotta say that I tend to dislike when mods...step on the toes of players and decide the actions of previous protagonists. Like deciding that the Champion of Cyrodiil did indeed become the Gray Fox. Or forcing them to be Dragonborn. I guess what I'm getting at is that I'll only ever experience the mod through Tankot's eyes.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Well.... that's one way of looking at it. But - I can't post the entire run-through - because some will want to play it.... And I just can't do that amount of spoilers.

I think you might be surprised though. Yes, as with most quest mods, you're shoe-horned into doing things the author's way for the most part. But - you can choose what to accept of the overarching premise, and what to throw away.

The mod itself is.... unbelievably detailed and very complex. The adventure is itself the end-result. Whether you choose to become the Gray Fox at the end.... well, that's up to your character.

I actually ran the mod the first time on a non-stealth non-thief character. It was fine. And there was no way she was going to be the Gray Fox. Finished the mod, and she went back to Skyrim to be herself as normal....
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Rick
Member Avatar
Jarl
 *  *  *  *  *
Watching and waiting :pop:
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Andra Hawksdaughter
Member Avatar
Jarl
 *  *  *  *  *
Yep, still on the edge of my seat, waiting and watching! :thumb:
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Fifteen - Motivation:

Tan spent way too much time (in his estimation) sorting out how to get through tricks, traps, tangles and torments. He’d also spent too much time frightened of things he couldn’t see in the gloom - and kicked himself for not having torches or some better source of light - like magic. Not that he had much magicka in his soul - the one spell he’d had to use a bit in the Halls of the West had pushed him to the very limits of what little ability he had. And it wasn’t useful as a light source - at least, not here.

By the time he’d found the damned key, he was exasperated, tired, dirty, and in a really foul mood. All of this - and the end result (if he understood things correctly) was something he doubted he was going to want to do! However, if this exercise gave the family a place of their own, well, that was going to be reward enough for him.

The thought of becoming the Gray Fox became more and more unreal, the longer he worked his way through the Gordian-knotted halls of Al-Shedim. He knew that he was too young in real years to make decisions yet for his life as an adult. Right now he was a youth, becoming a man, bit by bit, year by year.

Tan didn’t know what he wanted to do when he was a man - but he had the uncomfortable feeling that being the thief-master was not going to be it. Still, that was definitely for later. Right now, he needed to get back to Ben Erai. And that meant dodging wolves and Dunerippers. And finding food, and water - though at least there was water in the outer area of the temple.

There was also one wolf left, unless it had gone for good. He knew he couldn’t count on that. And of course, from inside the temple courtyards, he couldn’t climb to the window-slits. They were too high off the ground.

He solved part of it by slumping into the deep shade of one of the largest pillars near the temple’s huge door. He wouldn’t be invisible to the wolf’s nose, but perhaps the shadow would hide his presence long enough for him to get a shot off. If the wolf appeared.... and he really needed to get to the water - his second bota was nearly dry. He pretended he wasn’t thirsty, didn’t smell the water....

It didn’t help. After about an hour, Tan finally slipped into stealth and headed for the nearest water. If there was a wolf, he’d deal with it. But nothing moved, other than the wind and the dust.

Dust. Dust? Riding the wind? What.... he threw himself into the pool nearest, frantically filled his botas, and then retreated as fast as he could run into the doorway of the temple. A simoom would be bad enough.... gods forfend he had to deal with a haboob! He could of course retreat into Al-Shedim. But he really didn’t want to go back inside....

He turned his back to the courtyard, wrapping his shawl over his head and face, and rolled himself into as tight a ball as he could. He made sure to leave room before his nose for breathing - it wouldn’t do to stop his own breath through stupidity!

Settling to endure, Tan sent a thought of love to his adoptive family. If all worked the way it should, they would have their home....
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
neildarkstar
Member Avatar
Overlord
 *  *  *  *  *  *
Out of the frying pan, into the fire... ;)

I once spent a night rolled in a furniture pad alongside a freeway somewhere North of Twin Falls, Idaho. The temps were in the low 20s, and I guarantee I didn't leave a space for my nose... I was counting on heat from my breath to keep me alive. I think a weave would have to be incredibly tight to result in suffocation though.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Eh, yeah. The things I've dealt with over time.... I wound up in what was probably a haboob in N Arizona about 45 years ago (more or less....) The sky got really dark (it was noon for cats'sakes), the wind was shrieking, the dust was blowing.... I pulled off the side of the highway, hopefully far enough that nothing would sideswipe me, rolled up the windows (it was summer.... *sigh*), pulled every piece of clothing out of the suitcase, and layered it over me.

When it was over, I hit the nearest truck stop. Even back then they had showers. That one didn't have showers for women though. Well - tough. That night I showered with the guys. NO ONE made a wrong move, which was a really good thing. I guess we all thought we were lucky to be alive to shower.... Couple of them bought me dinner. I still keep in touch with one of them - the other one died a while back.

Then there was the trip to Albq in a 1964 Rambler which was tricked out with a fancy hemi engine and a "special" shift box - which occasionally dropped the shifting forks out of position. Which of course meant you went nowhere until you put them back.... I got really good at it. But that time, it happened only about 20 miles from home - in the WORST rainstorm ever seen at Hoover Dam - not to mention a very long time before cell phones. I was pulled off just before you started across on the narrow 2-lane, underneath the damn car trying to feel where things needed to go.

I heard a vehicle pull up behind. I grabbed my shillelagh (didn't have a gun just then) and waited.... Boots next to my legs.... Gravely voice says, "Hey, can we help? What's wrong? Can we call someone?"

So I slithered out from under, covered in mud. Look up to 3 guys in power co uniforms - whichever one it was back then that belonged to LA. Still holding the shillelagh (eh, it was a hunk of solid 1 inch steel - like rebar only better - wrapped in several layers of oil-hardened leather.... if I hit something with it, that something HURT....) I stood up and said, "I just need to nudge the shifting forks back into place. I'd really rather not have to call anyone."

The one guy looks at the others and says "Oh. We can probably handle that. Here. You (to me) hold the flash, and Robbie, you're the one with the smallest hands, so see what you can do." So the nice Robbie guy crawls under my car in the muck, I crawl back under with him, point the flash, show him where things need to be reset, takes about 2 minutes, all done.

I was of course very grateful, because the problem was I couldn't hold a flash (huge beasts they were back then) and see what the hell I was doing up in there. That was the LAST time I let that stupid setup screw me around though.... I sold that car to a guy my dad knew, and bought something totally street-stock.

Oh, that was the same trip where I was clipping along across the high mesas from Gallup toward Albq - just crossed a bridge over a deep wash, look up into the rear view mirror - and see a HUGE flood take out the bridge behind me.

I was really glad to get to the motel in Albq. REALLY glad.
Edited by Serethil, Dec 31 2016, 10:58 PM.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
neildarkstar
Member Avatar
Overlord
 *  *  *  *  *  *
Heh, yeah such things are fun in hindsight. When I said along the freeway, I meant I didn't have a vehicle... I was sleeping in the open and on the ground. There was no shelter for miles.

I have fond memories of Hoover Dam as well... I had a 1964 Dodge with a slant six engine, and about high noon on Saturday of the Fourth of July weekend, the engine died right in the middle of the dam. Horns instantly started honking, nobody could pass me because the traffic was bumper to bumper in the other lane.

It took me five minutes to discover a broken wire leading to the coil, and get it fixed but I thought I was gonna get shot before I got it done... :)
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Oh lordy. The things that happened. Old cars and young people.... Well. Damn. The people and the cars were about the same age back then, ain't?

Yeah.... Ramblers. I lived in Reno (well, Stead AFB - after it was turned into duplexes for not-military....) Hmm. Was.... 1970.... At that point I owned a VERY old whatever it was - probably not Rambler, but made by whoever. Looked like a tumblebug.... Bald tires. I couldn't afford new ones. Had a decent job in the manufacturing section of old Reno, working for a furniture mfr. Winter. Had to drive into Reno from Stead.... I think it was 20 miles or so. On bald tires. On ice and snow. Had to be at work at 7 am.... so I had to leave by 4:30.... because I could only drive about 5mph. Never had a problem. At least.... not with the trip....

The job though.... Yeah, that was my intro to computers. I got hired (more about that later) because I'd been a bookkeeper and office manager forever by then - so that meant I had a mind for balance sheets (NOT figures - I don't DO math.... that's why they make adding machines, calculators and computers....)

So, I started with the company in November. I wasn't ever late for work - even with the.... uh... issue of snow, ice, and bald tires. By December I was working with the bank to set up the computerized payroll. Which I must justifiably say with pride, worked perfectly. That went on for a few months, no problems. The problems were.... um.... things like walking into the office on a January morning, to hear the designer and his shag screaming from their office about a "monster bug"....

Go running down there - both guys are up on the partner desk (LOVELY piece of Edwardian, had to be worth the mint....) screaming and staring down at the floor. Where there was a small scorpion. In the dead of winter - poor thing. I stomped it, because otherwise they'd never have quit screaming. I felt sorry for it.... but hell, I was the one in boots after all....

Phil (the office manager) and I became instant friends. She was probably 20 years older, and NOT wiser - she had such issues with guys - which I helped her out with, having been over the hills and through the brush with guys since I was 14 or so.... Don't know how she came to be her age with no experience, she never really explained. When I told her about the "interview" with the boss and his son, she just about came unhinged....

Because.... well.... back then, there wasn't anything approximating "sexual harassment". So they asked me back for a second interview with the boss platoon, and because I not only wanted the job I NEEDED the job, I went.

The son told me there was one last test they had to give me before hiring. And then he held out his hands as if to grab my breasts....

Being me, I didn't really blink. I just looked them both over, dad and son, and said, "Wait. Don't you want me to undress first?"

They.... um. Left. In a hurry. And Phil called the next morning to say I had the job. I was pissed. But I NEEDED the job.... Then again, I never ever talked to either of them afterward when they didn't completely avoid my eyes.

Since my first job ever was with the Las Vegas Jaycees.... well, those two were amateurs.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
neildarkstar
Member Avatar
Overlord
 *  *  *  *  *  *
Once I had to go up to Joseph, Or for a rodeo and my vehicle at the time was a '55 Buick Roadmaster with bald tires. I took three spares with me, and I had my fourth blowout on Main street in La Grande on the way back. Still 70 miles from home and flat broke...
Edited by neildarkstar, Jan 1 2017, 12:21 AM.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Areial
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
very nice update...he's got something going for him!!

Never been in a dust storm....been in rain so hard that you can't see the front of your car...
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I have too Areial - in the old truck towing the trailer through OK into AR. Finally just pulled off to the side of the freeway and hoped people behind could see the flashers and not hit us from the back. Was a good half hour before we could creep down the road to a Love's at the next exit - and the water was a couple feet deep in their lot.... Scary - that whole thing, but at least it wasn't a tornado.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Andra Hawksdaughter
Member Avatar
Jarl
 *  *  *  *  *
Yikes, what a mess, and Tan in the wrong place and time for it! Really nice update!
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Sixteen - Liberation:

A very long time later, Tan woke groggily. How he’d managed to sleep through the dry storm, he had no idea, but at least he was still in one piece. He started trying to move, attempting to uncoil his legs; there was such a weight of - probably - sand and dust on top of him it was a hard struggle.

It took him almost ten minutes to get to where he could stand up. When he turned back to the courtyard, it was to see that the pools of water were covered completely, filled with sand! Good thing he’d filled his botas just as the storm hit. So, now he had to get out of there and head back to Ben Erai - he would be out of food before he got there. It seemed to be morning - so the storm had lasted at least fifteen hours.

Still no sign of the third wolf - Tan wondered if it had sensed the storm. He headed to the first entry into the courtyard some way past the now filled-with-sand pools. Sad. But he supposed it was part of the cycle of desert life.... As he reached the huge opening, he sank into stealthy moves - in case of Dunerippers. But as he exited to the desert itself, he could see nothing moving. Apparently the desert dwellers got under cover when storms attacked.

He set out at a decent pace, still keeping close watch around him for inimical wildlife. Climbing a small mesa just south of the temple, he could see a very long way. Hmm. There was something near water straight away from him - it looked like tents or awnings? He took out the sketch-map - there was nothing there.... But he could head that way - it was not on direct line to Ben Erai, but not far off either.

Some hours later, after having to sneak around wolves most of the morning, Tan looked down from a small rise into the oasis. Beside the water was a tent, a cookfire, and an awning over a table! A Redguard was cooking something - the smell was enough to start him down there. But he took it easy - this man, and others around if there were any, might not be friendly.

But when he approached, hands spread and empty, the man simply nodded at him and said “Be welcome traveler. Food is there, and water for washing in the pool.”

So Tan threw himself, clothes and all, into the water and felt much better for it. He hadn’t realized how dirty he was, or how much he itched from the storm’s sand and dust! Then he went back to the tent and awning.

“What is this place called?” he asked the cook.

“It is Ben Erai Outpost, straight between Ben Erai’s mesa and the canyon which leads into Mora Sul Oasis. Why are you out here in this area?”

Tan had to do a lot of explaining. The man and a second one who had been sleeping inside the tent, were skeptical - but after seeing the Amulet and the Key, they looked him over again with new respect.

“I could go straight to the Oasis from here then, by backtracking just a bit and then heading east, yes?”

“We can give you food, so you do not have to return to Ben Erai. It will save you much time. What will happen when you have reached the Oasis?”

Tan shook his head. “I do not know. I was set on this path in Skyrim - and I don’t know where it is taking me. Your Lady Syloria - well, she sent me to get the Amulet and the Key.... but she didn’t give me any clues other than that I needed to go into the Oasis of Mora Sul. So I suppose once I get there I will meet my destiny....”

After eating his fill of some sort of stew and drinking the first small ale he’d had since leaving Ben Erai, Tan bowed to both men, packed what they could give him of food that would keep a few days, refilled his botas, and slung the knapsack over his back.

“My thanks to you. You have assisted a stranger in his strange destiny - may your gods bless you both.”

They bowed to him, in an odd flowing movement, and Tan turned to the north and east, heading for the canyon access to the Oasis.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Andra Hawksdaughter
Member Avatar
Jarl
 *  *  *  *  *
Great update Sis!! :clap:
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Thanks! :)
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
Serethil
Member Avatar
Et'Ada
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *
BTW - for those who decide to play this mod:

Get the Gray Fox Flora Overhaul, but not the camel - it's.... well - camels ARE ugly.... but the animations are whack.

Oh, the Desert Sand Footprints is pretty cool too!

And here's the main mod link:

The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal

And the Alternative Start and Alternative to Clairvoyance Spell Puzzle (if Clairvoyance acts up like it did for me) are listed in the optional files section under the main file.
Edited by Serethil, Jan 1 2017, 10:32 PM.
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
neildarkstar
Member Avatar
Overlord
 *  *  *  *  *  *
Good reading! :)
Offline Profile Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Single Volume Epics · Next Topic »
Locked Topic
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 7
  • 9

Theme created by Sjaelen Auren from Zathyus Networks Resources