Chapter 2: The Hunt for the Relics

Onward to Morrowind!

Adventurers Wanted!!! 

Seeking a group of capable people looking to make some coin. If you are interested, seek me out in Narsis. 

Dralas Lloren

This was the notice that our newly-formed group of adventurers found as they prepared to leave Stormhold. After doing some shopping in town and getting some shiny new enchantments for their weapons, they prepared to head out. 

Upon preparing to leave Stormhold, the group came across a stressed-out Dunmer man standing next to a broken wagon. This man, Talvyn Hlor, claimed to have been attacked by crocodiles on his journey, which spooked his horses and led to one of the wheels on his wagon being broken off. He offered the group a free ride to Narsis if they helped him fix it.

And so, while Sun-on-Scales held up the broken wagon, Jericho, loudly declaring his intention to help the troubled merchant, fixed the wheel so expertly that the wagon was actually in better shape than it was before. Grateful, Talvyn agreed to bring them all to Narsis.

On the way there, Talvyn explained to the group that he was trying to gain status in Great House Hlaalu, and that his wife would be disappointed in his failure if he came back empty-handed.

"Excuse me," Yew asked, "what's a wife?"

Talvyn looked at her oddly, surprised that she didn't know what a husband or a wife was, but he explained it to her nonetheless. And after a chance encounter with a spriggan, which the group rather easily dispatched, they arrived in Narsis.

Narsis, the center of power for Great House Hlaalu

Stopping for information and getting breakfast at the local tavern, they ran into a pair of Khajiit adventurers, Jo'renji and Ashni, who seemed excited to hear about their exploits. The two told them where they could find the home of Dralas Lloren. 

Dralas, for the most part, seemed like a relatively normal Dunmer mage, although by the looks of his robes, he didn't get out much. He claimed to be looking for four relics that could be found in the Daedric shrine of Ashurnabi, in an attempt to study him.  

"You know, many people believe the Daedric Princes to be evil, but they're really quite fascinating," Dralas claimed. While this seemed slightly suspicious to say, Sun-on-Scales didn't seem to think much of it - he seemed sincere enough. The group was convinced to help him when he paid them two hundred gold upfront and promised more once the job was done. 

Daedric ruins, such as this one, dot the landscape of Morrowind

The group arrived at Ashurnabi and quickly found out that it was an old ruin dedicated to the worship of Mehrunes Dagon, the Prince of Destruction. Inside, they found a rather suspicious book surrounded by a magical ward and guarded by a rather large clannfear. Surrounding this were three hallways, two of which were locked behind large gates. They took the only open one away from the center, and, after battling their way past a few scamps and clannfear, found the first relic - a small statue of Mehrunes Dagon. 

a scamp

Upon taking the statue, the group found that a second door had opened up, leading to another hallway. Again fighting their way past some lesser Daedra, they found the second of the relics - a small, dark purple gem that resembled a black soul gem. Growing suspicious, but continuing to look for the relics, they soon got their hands on the third relic - a small, crudely carved stone dagger. The dagger didn't do anything and was ineffectual as a weapon, but upon further inspection, Sun-on-Scales and Yew could feel it pulsing with Daedric magic. Yew began to wonder what Dralas's intentions for these clearly powerful relics were. 

Meanwhile, in the main room, the ward surrounding the book went down, and the rather large clannfear guarding the book attacked the group. Sun-on-Scales, Alucard, and Yew managed to fight it off without much help from Jericho, who instead chose to grab the book and run as far away as possible. 

A clannfear

Upon trying to read the book, however, both Jericho and Sun-on-Scales were struck with agonizing pain, which was so severe for Scales that he actually passed out. By this point, it was clear that these relics were dangerous, and Yew, Jericho, and Alucard began to wonder if they should really give them to Dralas.

Still, after gathering the relics, they returned to his home, where Dralas quickly got Sun-on-Scales back on his feet and demanded that the group give him the relics. Dralas finally managed to convince the group to give the relics to him after dropping one thousand gold in their laps, but not before threatening them if they didn't give him the relics. After acquiring the relics from the rather reluctant group, he brought them down to the basement of his home, where he laid the relics out on an altar and began to perform a ritual to discern their power.

Upon reading the book, however, there was a flash of blinding light in the room, which paralyzed everyone except Dralas. The room began to shake, and a large booming voice called out.

"Excellent work, my servant. Our work here in Morrowind is only beginning. Now, kill the pawns and come to me, and our true plans can begin”

Dralas then turned to the group. "I'm sorry," he began, "But I'm afraid I'll have to kill you. You know, loose ends and all that. But do not fear, for your deaths will herald a glorious new age for this province. Farewell."

And with that, he opened three Daedric portals in the basement, went through the first one, and disappeared. While lesser Daedra began to come through the other two, the group found that their paralysis had been lifted. At first, they struggled to fight off the monsters attacking them, but fortunately, Jo'renji and Ashni, the two Khajiit whom they had met in the tavern earlier, had heard the commotion and came to help. Jo'renji managed to close the portals while Ashni helped fight off the remaining Daedra.

The group explained what had happened with Dralas and the relics.

"He claimed that he was just going to study them, but he's a Daedra worshipper!" Sun-on-Scales explained.

"He tried to kill us! I'm going to kill him and eat him!" Yew exclaimed.

"More importantly, he tricked us, and that's not the thing I take kindly to," Alucard added.

An investigation of his house revealed that he was a member of a group called the Path of Dawn, and that he was planning to meet a co-conspirator on Vvardenfell, near the town of Ald'ruhn. Jo'renji and Ashni agreed to come with them and help.

And so the group left Narsis and set out for Ald'ruhn, determined to find the treacherous Dralas Lloren and put an end to his threat... 

Chapter 1: Trouble in Black Marsh

Locked in a ship, headed for nowhere

Our journey begins, as it seems so many do, with our heroes locked up in an Imperial ship, bound for a prison in Black Marsh. Not expecting much protest, the ship was rather lightly manned, just a small group of Imperial soldiers, most of them new recruits, along with six transferred prisoners:

Imperial Ship's Sailing Log, 15th of First Seed, 3E 189

Captain: Orthus Attrius 

We have departed from the Gold Coast of Cyrodiil and expect to reach Snakewood Outpost within a week, if the wind holds. This ship holds six prisoners, all of whom have been designated as "high risk" by Regulus Mero, Imperial Prison warden:

Sun-on-Scales: Argonian male, age 28. Convicted of desertion from the Imperial Legion. 

Jericho: Orc male, age 20. Convicted of threatening an Imperial Watchman with a deadly weapon. 

Alucard Helbane: Dark Elf male, age 31. Convicted of destruction of property and disorderly conduct. 

Unnamed Wood Elf female, age 42. Convicted of multiple counts of theft. 

Hassan: Redguard male, age 29. Convicted of multiple counts of theft, as well as escaping from prison. 

Neryon: High Elf male, age unknown. Convicted of multiple counts of kidnapping, as well as forbidden experimentation with necromancy. 

On board the ship Sun-on-Scales, as well as Jericho, Alucard, and the unnamed Wood Elf share their stories and reveal how they ended up in their current situation. For Jericho, it was a misunderstanding involving a drunk guard. Scales deserted the army to join a famous Redguard mercenary group. The wood elf, who had spent most of her life isolated from others in the forests and didn't know how society worked, had stolen food from a cart without knowing that it was against the law. And Alucard had drunkenly crashed a stolen carriage into some poor merchant's cabbage cart. 

Hassan talked openly to them, claiming that they'll probably be locked up for a while, as Black Marsh is generally where people are sent when the Empire wants them out of the way. He himself had never seen a prison in Cyrodiil that he hadn't broken out of, and he guessed they were sending him to Black Marsh so he'd actually stay in prison this time. Neryon, on the other hand, didn't say a word. He glared at them, saying nothing but looking as if he could kill them all where they sat. Alucard affectionately dubbed him "Sir Speaks-a-Lot". Sun-on-Scales complained that he had joined the Legion in the first place to get away from Black Marsh, and wasn't very happy about being sent back there. 

But just as everyone was contemplating their situation, they heard noise on deck. Before they could do much to react, several suspicious looking men in masks dragged the remaining soldiers, which happened to include the ship's captain, Orthus Attrius, down to the brig and threw them in with their prisoners. 

Most of them, including the captain, were heavily injured. The only one who wasn't injured was a young Imperial woman, Marina Varo, who explained that the ship had been boarded by slavers who were led by a Dark Elf called Viron Dres. In order to get the ship back under Imperial control, Marina promised the prisoners a full pardon if they helped take back the ship, which all of them agreed to. 

Sun-On-Scales, who possessed a magic weapon, managed to summon a chest with all of their belongings to them by simply summoning his sword. After retrieving his belongings, Neryon disappeared into a magic portal, escaping from the ship without a second thought before anyone could stop him. The rest stayed, and Alucard used a lockpick to unlock the door to the brig. 

Leaving the injured soldiers locked in the brig for their protection, the escaped captives quickly subdued the two guards who had been left to guard the ship's hold. After getting above deck, they managed to engage the other slavers in a thrilling battle on the ship's deck (in which poor Marina nearly got knocked off the ship) before facing off against Viron Dres himself, who was quite easily defeated after his sword slipped out of his hands. With the ship secured and safe, Orthus agreed to pardon them, and informed them that they would be released as soon as the ship landed in Black Marsh... on the condition that they release them from the brig. As he was writing up their pardons, Orthus told the Wood Elf that she needed to tell him her name so he could write it on the pardon. Allowing her new friends to give her an appropriate name, Sun-on-Scales chose the name "Yew" after the yew tree, as it seemed appropriate for her. She quickly accepted her name, and was then referred to as Yew. 

Upon arriving at Snakewood Outpost, a small Imperial outpost on the coast of Black Marsh, Hassan, pardoned along with the rest, headed off, hoping to find a ship bound for Hammerfell. The remaining group was approached by a Nord soldier, Gretta Wave-Breaker, who told them over a few drinks (more than a few, in Yew's case) that she had heard of problems with slavers near the city of Stormhold. Gretta told them that they should go to the city and talk to Alun-Tei, an Argonian friend of hers, if they wanted to find out more. Jericho, Alucard, Yew, and Sun-on-Scales all agreed to investigate it. 

Stormhold, a city built atop an Ayleid ruin

In Stormhold, Alun-Tei reveals that his brother Jeelus went missing after a hunting trip a couple days ago, and he is concerned that he may have been captured by the slavers who are working out of the area. He told the group that they needed to venture into the swamp to find his sister Inue, who has been tracking the slavers.

The group managed to find her a little ways outside the slavers' camp in the swamp. She informed them that their captives were being held in cages on one side of the camp, while their leader, a Dunmer named Revyn Verelas, was on the opposite side of the camp, along with most of the guards.

And with that information, a strategy was formed and the group split up. Jericho and Yew created a distraction near the leader in the form of a performance, which turned out to be so good that it distracted the leader and most of the guards, including a couple of the ones that were guarding the cages. Alucard used an invisibility potion to sneak up and open two of the cages without the guards noticing, but one of the guards wouldn't leave, so Sun-on-Scales and Inue distracted them by pretending to be escapees. Unfortunately, soon after that, the guy noticed that the other captives had escaped and called out to the others. Several of the slavers attacked Scales and Inue, who managed to take them out. Some of them went into the woods to look for the escapees, while a few, including the boss, began to cast questioning looks at the (still performing) Jericho and Yew. After the attackers at the cage had been defeated, Sun-on-Scales stayed to help his friends take out the leader, while Inue helped escort the escaped captives back to Stormhold.

At this point, most of the guards had either been defeated or run off to try to find the escapees, leaving only Revyn and his two guards to be dealt with. During the fight that ensued between the newly-formed group and the remaining slavers, Jericho repeatedly tried to convince Revyn that he was on their side and that they had been betrayed, but Revyn wasn't buying it. Once the group had taken out Revyn, his bodyguards surrendered and were taken back to Stormhold to be imprisoned.

In Stormhold, Jeelus was reunited with his siblings, and Waits-in-Shallows, the mayor of Stormhold, thanked the group for their service. They were paid for their services and invited to have dinner at the home of Alun-Tei, Inue, and Jeelus, who promised to be there for the group if they ever needed their help.

And the adventure begins...