Skyrim: The Faces of Death

by Blackdrag-rose

Solstheim: The Fallen Apprentice

With the first of the Black Books taken care of Za'kera, Wind, and Ma'jera returned to Solstheim, finding themselves back in the upper level of Tel Mithryn, where they discovered Neloth looking over the other tomes their group had found since their arrival on the island, not to mention a stack of pages that looked like they might have been taken from one of the Black Books they had recovered.

"I don't understand... I copy the pages, in a safe manner, and yet the finished product turns into another Black Book, a new one by the looks of it," Neloth commented, where he sipped on his tea as he stared at what was in front of him, a tome that was in the middle of transforming into a brand new Black Book, though Wind had a feeling there had to be a library of them in Apocrypha and this was a way for them to be brought out into the world.

"It's not meant to be understood, at least not by those in your situation." Ma'jera remarked, though she tilted her hand for a second and the tomes that were on the table, those they had recovered so far, floated over to her and rejoined the one her student had just cleared, where Wind took a seat near Amaryllis for a couple of seconds, "however, the first Burden has been cleared, or Seal if you prefer... it really doesn't matter to me... meaning there are six more my student needs to clear before we're done with Solstheim, but for now she can rest before tackling the second book."

Amaryllis smiled for a moment as they heard that, because it meant that Za'kera and Wind had been successful in their mission, the former gaining new powers to improve her Dragonborn abilities while the latter must have unlocked some of her true power after beating the first Burden.

"I suppose I can take a break... but I will beat Hermaeus Mora at his own game!" Neloth stated, showing them that he still felt like he was capable of overcoming everything and anything that the Prince of Fate threw at him, which Amaryllis felt was a bad thing when she considered the curse she had shrugged off, before he glanced at one of the walls, which looked like it was withering, "Elynea better take care of that... or I'll find a mycologist who can, and turn her into another subject for my tests."

While Za'kera and Wind rested, before even thinking of heading into one of the other Black Books they had recovered, as Miraak's was the last one Ma'jera wanted her apprentice to tackle, Amaryllis walked over to Talva's cage while Neloth was distracted, finding out that the person in question was a Dark Elf called Elynea Mothren and her house was to the left of the main tower. Apparently she had been with Neloth for a long time, decades in fact, and she had to be raging right now, as their master was considering tossing her out if she couldn't heal the wounded portion of his house, so she decided to leave Tel Mithryn's main tower and head over to the smaller one, to see what the problem was. Sure enough she found a female Dark Elf raging near one of the tables, meaning Neloth really pissed off everyone around him and they only did this when they were sure that no one was around to witness their actions or hear their words, especially considering Neloth cursed his student to being a Moomer. In fact she was sure that the wizard in question was going to use that as his brand new method of dealing with anyone and everyone who displeased him, just curse them and use them in his experiments, watching the changes unfold as someone's life was ruined, but in the end she focused on Elynea as she entered her part of the tower.

"Damn that man! He's being totally unreasonable." Elynea said, her voice and emotions full of anger, meaning she was at odds with her boss and didn't care much for his request, which told Amaryllis that she either knew what was going on and was incapable of fixing it or she had no idea what to do about the rotted section, "I don't care if he's a master wizard. He can't treat me like this!"

"Unfortunately, he doesn't care about the lives of those who work for him... or any life for that matter." Amaryllis stated, remembering what she and the others had seen from Neloth, in the short period of time that they had been near him, all of which made her dislike Neloth more than most of the people she had encountered during her time in Skyrim, before she glanced at Elynea, "But, out of curiosity, what did he ask of you?"

"That fetcher told me to fix his house!" Elynea replied, confirming what Neloth had said a few moments ago, though that was fine with Amaryllis since it meant she didn't have to waste time worrying if there was anything else she had to find out about, before the lady sighed as considered what her boss had told her, "If I don't do that, he'll find a new mycologist that will. Decades of loyal service, and he's just going to throw me out like yesterday's breakfast. In order to fix the tower I need to soak some taproots in the Headwaters of the Harstrad River, but, due to my old age, I can't get there and back... if you can get three taproots, I'll show you where to find the area they need to be soaked in... technically I need one, but it never hurts to have spares, in case this happens again."

Amaryllis agreed with that, as given Neloth's temper it was best to have multiple taproots prepared for the future, just in case part of the tower ended up withering again, before finding that to find taproots she would either have to kill some Spriggans and tear their hearts out, or buy them from one of the alchemists. Once Elynea gave her the information she needed, which she thanked her for, Amaryllis emerged from her part of Tel Mithryn and quickly unfurled her wings once more, where her first destination was Raven Rock, as she was sure she might be able to acquire some taproots from one of the vendors she had seen previously. The other reason for her picking the Dark Elf settlement was that she could find and take out Mogrul for threatening Za'kera earlier, because he might be a pain in the future, and with her speed it took her no time to get back to the settlement in question, where she found all sorts of residents wandering around, with the Orc hanging out in the market. She made sure no one was watching as she landed near Severin Manor and turned into her normal disguise, making sure people recognized her and didn't question where she had come from, as there was a chance the guards or residents would assume someone had been left behind, before taking a moment to find the alchemist and a few others, like the general goods.

Her luck was great, as she managed to find several taproots and purchased them, along with some food and drink, since it would be some time before the others were able to leave Tel Mithryn and it didn't look like Neloth wanted to provide any food for his guests, making it look like he was shopping for her companions. Once she was done shopping, and found that Mogrul was still out and about, she returned to the manor and disappeared, allowing her to head to the outskirts of Raven Rock before taking on the form of a Reaver she had seen, one of the lighter ones with chitin armor, and silently pulled out her bow. In that moment, before anyone noticed her, she readied one of her lesser arrows, as she wasn't about to waste one of the good ones on the Orc, and focused for a few seconds as she aimed at him, where Amaryllis let the arrow fly and watched as it struck Mogrul right in the chest, causing him to stagger before collapsing. She waited for a few seconds, just to be sure that he was dead, and sure enough the guards called out that there was a murderer on the loose and one even spotted her, causing the murder to be placed on the head of a Reaver that happened to be out in the ashen landscape, but with the deed done she turned and fled, allowing her to disappear once more.

Once she was sure that the guards would be chasing someone who didn't exist, especially since they had no idea that she and Wind were Changelings, Amaryllis reverted to her true form and flew towards Tel Mithryn once more, where she made sure to revert to her Khajiit disguise as she headed into Elynea's portion of the area. Sure enough the old lady was slightly surprised that she had found the taproots so quickly, before deciding that she must have killed several Spriggans to get all three of them, where she informed her of where the Headwaters were located on the map, so she would be able to soak them and return to Tel Mithryn. What she discovered was that her destination was off to the northwest of the Skaal Village, interestingly enough, so it gave her an idea of where to go, and with that in mind she headed outside once more and took off without wasting time, since she didn't want to give Neloth a reason to curse Elynea. As it turned out she didn't have to spend too much time searching for the river in question, where she discovered a cave on the other side of a small waterfall, which seemed to be the area that she needed to work in so the taproots, so she found a good spot and did her task without delay.

She got out of there before any Spriggans showed up, as it seemed like they might be nearby, and made her way back to Tel Mithryn, where Elynea was pleased to have the taproots and took two of them, directing her to place the third in the rotted area of the main tower, to which she nodded and headed inside, finding Neloth in the middle of one of his various experiments once more.

"Curse these heart stones!" Neloth stated, where it was clear that he was holding an ashen stone with red sections to it, an item that had to be native to Solstheim, since this happened to be the first time she had seen something like it, but as he made his annoyance known she took a moment to slip the taproot into the withered section of the main tree, before even turning to face him.

"I take it that there's another problem?" Za'kera asked, as she could see that Amaryllis was curious as to what had upset Neloth this time around, even if she didn't care about the wizard all too much, and part of her agreed with her friend, as it might given them an idea of what to do before he started hurling that curse at everyone.

"I've been having difficulties with my heart stone experiments." Neloth stated, gesturing to the stone on the table, which he had set down after getting annoyed with it, though his former apprentice seemed happy to have a break from what her master had done to her, to which he turned towards them for a moment as he considered something, "Have you heard of the Briarhearts?"

"No, I haven't. Why do you ask?" Amaryllis replied, mostly because she wanted nothing to do with the Forsworn, despite her brief encounter with the group when she was recovering a fragment of Mehrunes' Razor, meaning she had no idea who or what Neloth was talking about or why he was interested in them.

"They are fierce warriors of the Forsworn tribes." Neloth said, where his tone shifted and revealed that he now considered her to be of less value than what he thought previously, causing Amaryllis to frown for a moment, but she said nothing as they waited for him to explain himself, "They actually remove their own hearts, and replace them with large briar seeds, an act that puts their lifesparks in direct connection to the natural forces. I need you to examine one of them. Just investigate them as much as you can, as I'm going to put this memory trace spell on you, so you won't have to worry about taking notes... I doubt you could know what was important anyway."

Amaryllis kept the frown on her face as Neloth applied the spell to her, though the problem she discovered was that there was no way for her to get back to Skyrim and back without wasting too much time, but that was when Ma'jera waved one of her hands and a magical oval appeared nearby, where she explained it was a gateway back to Markarth, since it was the closest place to the Forsworn. In that moment she walked through it and found that she was inside the city in question, as in the portal brought her to the highest point, where it would be impossible for anyone to come across it and accidentally use it, though with that done she took off and headed for one of the ruins she had seen in the past. Her plan was simple, she was going to track down one of the areas that the Forsworn were in control of, figure out where a Briarheart Warrior was located, and then use her disguise to get close and kill her target, which should allow her to study the figure in detail so Neloth could get his notes on the matter. The ruin she ended up in happened to be the same one that she had been to in the past, to recover part of Mehrunes' Razor, and sure enough the Hagraven was still dead, though the Briarheart that was near the Word Wall didn't seem to care and might be looking for a replacement, but right now she found him standing near the stone table and it presented an opportunity for her.

In that moment she cut open his neck with the Razor and let his body fall to the ground, allowing her some time to look at his body and poke at certain areas, like where his heart had been and where the seed was resting, though after some time she felt like she was done and departed, after making sure to remove the briar heart so the figure didn't revive on her or something, allowing her to return to Markarth.

"There, that should be everything you need for your experiments," Amaryllis remarked, speaking once she returned to Tel Mithryn and the portal closed behind her, where she had to admit that Ma'jera's magic was rather handy and made her wish she used some of her more advanced spells when they needed them, before turning her attention to Neloth, where the wizard extracted the time slot associated with her studies, and then she noticed something, "I take it there's more you need assistance with?"

"There are too many coincidences. There must be someone behind all of my recent troubles." Neloth commented, though whether it was an answer to her question or not none of them seemed to care enough to find out, as with him there was no telling what he might be thinking, but it was clear that he was thinking about the events that had happened recently, or at least Amaryllis hoped that was the case.

"You think someone is attacking you?" Za'kera asked, though while she could see why someone would want a figure like the First Councilor dead, as he was an important figure for the people of this island and one of his enemies wanted him dead for a crime he committed in the past, she was starting to think that Neloth was just mentally unstable or mad, as he didn't seem all there right now.

"Yes. I have enemies... legions of them back in Morrowind, in fact." Neloth said, which came as a surprise to them, but as they thought about it Amaryllis recalled the five houses that existed in the province in question and realized that he might have pissed off all sorts of people before coming to this island, before he glanced at the walls of his tower, "However, in this case I have reason to believe it is someone in Solstheim, as I have suffered Ash Spawn attacks, my previous Steward is dead, and part of my house withered, all of which happened in the last few weeks."

"And I suppose you want us to track them down and kill whoever responsible for this?" Amaryllis inquired, because that seemed to be this world's response to someone pissing them off, like what happened when she tracked down the figure who wanted Morvayn dead earlier, and while her comment was for all of them Za'kera and Wind knew that she would be the one to assassinate the figure in question.

"Not yet, that may come later. First I need to identify the culprit." Neloth answered, where he took a moment to search his pockets before producing a ring, one that seemed to be made out of iron or steel and had a small ruby in the center of it, one that had to be important to his plans, "I've enchanted this ring to find the source of the attacks. Here, take it. All you need to do is wear it and it will light up when it finds the source of the attacks."

In that moment Za'kera took the ring and slipped it on, where she, Lydia, and Amaryllis headed down to the base of the tower and headed outside, where she looked around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary, though her companions kept themselves at the ready in case more Ash Spawn showed up, given what Neloth had told them. A few moments later she found a path leading down to an area that appeared to be a graveyard, with coffins that looked like they might made to resemble chitin in some manner, though it was out of sight and meant that the wizard wouldn't see it unless he wanted to gaze up on it. What they discovered was that a few Ash Spawn were hanging around the graveyard, who noticed them approaching and drew their weapons accordingly, causing the trio to lash out accordingly, Za'kera slashing her foe apart, Lydia smashing hers with a swing of her battleaxe, and Amaryllis avoided a Fireball before stabbing her foe in the chest, all of which cleared up the area in no time. Once that was done they looked in the couple of coffins that were buried here, as Neloth's ring claimed that whatever was causing the attacks was in this area, before finding nothing in the grave of Ildari Sarothril, save for a heart stone and a staff, meaning whatever had happened to her was likely being blamed on Neloth, so it might be a revenge play.

With that information in hand Za'kera picked up the stone and returned to Tel Mithryn, where they found the wizard just standing near the door to his staff enchanter, meaning this had to be important for him to stop his experiments, but that just told Amaryllis that they might not like whatever he had to tell them.

"We found some Ash Spawn in the graveyard, and this pulsing heart stone was in one of the graves," Za'kera said, where she held her hand out and let Neloth take the stone from her, giving him a chance to study it before speaking his mind on the matter, all while she and Amaryllis knew what was coming next.

"Hmm. I've known for decades that heart stones will animate the ash, but it would have to be very close by." Neloth stated, showing them that he definitely was thinking about the item he had been handed and what it might mean, all while giving them some additional information, even if it wasn't a lot to go on, before he glanced up for a moment, "Where exactly did you find this heart stone?"

"It was in the grave of Ildari Sarothril." Amaryllis answered, though this was where Neloth had her full attention, as she had a feeling that whatever was said next would reveal things to her and the others, possibly more about the target who was trying to do harm to Tel Mithryn, and the others remained silent as everyone waited for a few moments.

"Ildari? Then it's my own fault. She was my apprentice before Talva." Neloth explained, where the group was surprised for a moment, as they weren't expecting him to admit that something was his fault, but no one said anything and no one even moved as he considered what happened in the past, "She volunteered for one of my experiments involving heart stones... it was quite annoying when she died, as I had to find a new apprentice, which I'm going to have to do now that Talva is no longer able to fill that role."

"Experiment? What did you do to her?" Wind asked, though she had a feeling that Neloth was totally responsible for the death of his previous apprentice and that she must have been forced to take part in the experiment, even if he said that he had given her a choice in the matter.

"My necropsies of Spriggans led me to believe that a heart stone could be implanted in a person's chest, something that would grant them great power." Neloth stated, where he turned for a moment and looked at one of the walls of his tower, recalling his version of the events he was telling them about, the untrue events when they thought about who they were dealing with, "I was considering replacing my heart with a heart stone. Fortunately Ildari offered to let me operate on her first... of course this was before your friend headed back to Skyrim to study a briarheart's. Thanks to that I now know that I did the surgery all wrong and should be able to prevent death from happening again."

"There wasn't a body in the grave... just the heart stone." Lydia commented, where she walked over to one of the chairs and took a seat, since it didn't look like anyone was doing anything and that meant her Thane wasn't heading out, so she could change her position and still keep an eye on what Za'kera was doing.

"What?! That's impossible. Wait... unless she didn't actually die!" Neloth exclaimed, or at least that was what it seemed like, even if he kept his voice the same as he learned that piece of information, which allowed him to use his knowledge to fill in some of the blanks, or maybe gasp at straws until it made sense, "The heart stone could have kept her right at the edge of life and death. Could it be? Could Ildari still be alive? Could she be my nemesis? Wait a moment while I cast a more specific divination."

Amaryllis and Wind glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew what would happen once Neloth figured out where his former apprentice was hiding, he was going to have them head in and take her out, given that he knew that an assassin was among their number, all while he gathered his magic and prepared his spell.

"I call upon the powers of the sun, moons and stars. Ildari Sarothril, reveal yourself!" Neloth said, where he cast the spell and caused a rush of magic to pass through the area around him, only for him to whip his head around and point off to the north, as in to the north from where they were standing, "She lives. Seek her in Highpoint Tower."

"So, what is her sentence? So you want her dead, or do you want her alive?" Amaryllis asked, because she knew that the wizard would likely send her if he desired death, or maybe he would send everyone and overpower his former apprentice as they cut off her escape, to make sure she was captured if he desired such a thing.

"For now, capture her alive," Neloth stated, though that told everyone that he had plans for Ildari, meaning he might be thinking of twisting his former apprentice into another Moomer, as he still had two vials and Tavla was an endless source of the agent that turned him into her current state, before he waved a hand, "By the time you get back I will have decided what her fate should be."

The group had an idea of what her fate would be, even if the wizard wasn't willing to share it with them at this time, likely thinking they might turn away if they knew what his plans were, to which they got up from where they were positioned, headed down the lift once more, and made their way outside without wasting time. Based on what Ma'jera told them the tower in question was to the north of Fort Frostmoth, allowing Amaryllis to lead the way over to their new destination, as she had passed by it more often than the others, though she knew that it was one of the towers that had been buried by all of the ash. Sure enough she found what she was looking for without too much delay, where a number of Ash Spawn rose up to face them, to stop them from reaching their master, and the group lashed out without delay, with Ma'jera being her usual self so she could see how well her apprentice had improved so far, even if she was still working on the tomes the Burdens were located inside. Once the Ash Spawn were dealt with they headed through the door that had been unearthed fairly recently, meaning Ildari must have been revived not that long ago, possibly in the last month or two, and entered the tower, finding an area that looked like it might be the hidden way into the end of this place and a set of stairs that went down into the depths.

As they walked down the path the group discovered an area that looked like there might have been more people here at one point in time, like adventurers or something, though Za'kera kept her weapons at the ready as they passed by a table that had a journal on it, which Wind collected before they reached the bottom level. At the last step she found a tunnel, a short one that brought them to a small stone chamber that had nothing but a passage leading further inward, with a set of soul gem pedestals, so while Za'kera and Lydia cleared the way forward Wind used her magic to snatch the soul gems and cancel out the defenses. Amaryllis kept her eyes open as she and her companions moved forward, pointing out where the Ash Spawn were located and even stabbed a few in their backs, cutting down on the number of foes that they had to deal with, and when she spotted a room with a rune right on the middle of the floor Wind smashed it with an Ice Spike, as that wasn't something to waste her mana on. In addition to that she found a number of torture devices, a wire trap, and some soul gems that had likely been filled by whatever victims Ildari had come across, but they avoided the hazards that were in the room before moving down the passage that was in front of them, before finding an area that held some cages, like a jail, and one lady was still alive.

The female Redguard, Niyya, was happy to see that someone was here to end Ildari's reign, even if Neloth wanted her alive for some reason, though Za'kera made sure she stayed back, as in she would be following them while keeping a fair bit of distance so she didn't get caught in combat, that way she survived and could leave once they were sure the way out had been cleared.

Niyya quickly understood why Za'kera had said that, as the next area they entered had a number of Ash Spawn that rose up to do battle with them, allowing her to witness exactly what each of them were capable of, save for the Demiprince of course, as they hacked, slashed, and blasted their foes to pieces, which was easy since these guys were made out of ash and not flesh. In the next chamber it looked like there was some sort of ritual altar, where they found a female Dark Elf in Telvanni robes staring down at them, meaning Ildari knew they were coming, and sure enough she summoned a pair of Ash elementals that joined a number of Ash Spawn in attacking them, to which Ma'jera let out a slight chuckle as their foe walked away and left them to her minions. Her reasoning was due to Wind summoning her power and blasted the pair of Ash Guardians with a set of Thunderbolts, while at the same time Amaryllis jumped up a side path so she could stab some of the enemies that were higher up, the ranged ones, and opened the way for Za'kera and Lydia, who were hacking their way through their foes, to make their way up to her. Thanks to that they were able to clear out the area and followed the path that Ildari had used to move out of this section of the tower, bringing them to a number of Ash Spawn that guarded the area in question, but it wasn't long before they fell and the group made their way to what appeared to be the chamber Ildari called home, much to her surprise when Za'kera stepped in.

Amaryllis, taking advantage of their foe's surprise, disappeared for a second and appeared behind Ildari, allowing her to strike the revived Dark Elf with a nearby pot, shattering it and knocking her out, and with the defenses of this area taken out her companions were able to join her in no time, allowing them to ransack the chamber of items as Ma'jera made sure Ildari was stunned for some time.

With that done they found the secret path back to the surface and Niyya joined them, as she was interested in what sort of fate was waiting for Ildari, though as they did that Amaryllis noticed that there was a torn section of her robe that had a metallic ring around around it, with a heart stone embedded in her flesh, right below her breasts. It confirmed what had been done to her, Neloth's experiment with the strange stones, though she focused on their task as they exited Highpoint Tower and made their way back to Tel Mithryn, all while Niyya found some nicer clothing to replace the rags she had been left in after Ildari turned on her mining group. They didn't have to worry about the Ash Spawn, because if Ildari was their true leader, as her journals claimed she was, this would take care of them for everyone on the island, which allowed them to get to their destination without too much trouble, and Neloth turned to face them when they arrived in his tower, only a smug look appeared in his eyes as he stared at Ildari. The first thing he did was remove her robes and replace them with a set of rags, leaving the heart stone behind, and placed her in Talva's cage, before weaving a spell to knock Niyya out, even though the others knew he was planning something, and then fixed the broken portion of his previous apprentice's robes, making it look like new.

When Ildari regained herself, however, Neloth confirmed their suspicions as he stuffed one of the vials into her mouth and forced her to drink what was inside it, transforming her into a Moomer and found that she was unable to use any spells, so he didn't have to worry about her trying to escape in the future, before he turned towards them, focusing on Za'kera for a few seconds.

"Well, well, you and your allies have proven to be far more valuable than I anticipated." Neloth remarked, where he took a moment to pull out one of the staffs that he kept around Tel Mithryn, one that seemed far more fancy than what a normal mage carried, and handed it to Za'kera, along with the reformed robes, "I have this staff for you, but I would also like to make you a member of my household... a member of House Telvanni... and you need to look the part, so take Ildari's old robes as well. No need to thank me. I know you are overwhelmed with gratitude."

Amaryllis was sure that Za'kera wasn't feeling the emotion that Neloth claimed she should be feeling, but the good thing about this situation was that they had helped two of the Great Houses of Morrowind, first Redoran and now Telvanni, so it meant they might have some allies when it came time to march on the Aldmeri Dominion, and they might be able to talk the rest of Morrowind into joining the battle for the fate of their world.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

if only everything Neloth tells u about being made a member of his House wasnt a complete lie...i wouldnt be surprised if he wasnt kicked out of the main House of Talvani in disgrace...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11099503 To be fair, we have no way of telling whether or not he lied about that, as he told us that he would be returning to Morrowind in a hundred years, which was when the effect of making the Dragonborn into a member of his house would take effect.

[Night_Moon60606]

11099530
he also promises a bed and chest for the player that never manifests...plus, hes nuttier than a fruit cake...the rest of the House probably sent him to the fringes of Morrowind for the express purpose of getting rid of an embarrassment to the House, the Telvanni dont have the same sort of political pull they had in years past, that particular Great House isnt exactly so great anymore...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11099611 Well, from what I can see the wiki on his House lists him as a respectable member, but there's no way to tell what the House actually thinks of him since he's the only Telvanni we encounter in Skyrim.

[Night_Moon60606]

11099619
oh i have no doubt that the rest of the House respects him, he IS a powerful mage and quite old, what i doubt is anyones want to associate themselves with the man, due to aforementioned coo-cooness...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11099706 Given what the people of Raven Rock say about him, one can only imagine what the people of Morrowind might have to say about him.

[Night_Moon60606]

11099750
theyre probably far less restrained...regardless, i dont think Neloth actually cares one way or the other, he would say or do just about anything to get what he wants, if it happens to be impossible? eh, just means the one hes talking to isnt trying hard enough, not that they matter anyway...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11099778 Yeah, you're probably right.