Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20150505163801/@comment-25828117-20150509205208

"I must say, I am surprised..."

Arik didn't reply

"You came all this way... Walking through the desert for days, with no food or water? And you still survived?"

The redguard didn't know what he could say, he nodded shortly, shrugging slightly. It was a mystery to him as well.

The man under the hood smirked.

"Perhaps you were really meant to find Mazaruk."

Arik's tired eyes lit up.

How did he know...

The redguard wondered, and even went as far as to ask the strange man:

"How do you know about that?"

The man made himself comfortable on his pillow, careful not to knock over the traditional spiced wine in golden goblets that stood spread out over the tent.

"I've been following you... Well, 'your group' ever since you left Dawnstar, tch... which seems so long ago already."

Arik looked surprised. he didn't quite get it

"Did you like? Stowaway on our boat or something?"

"Hah, no..."

The man sounded amused

"...I knew you were coming to Hammerfell. I can 'see' things..."

"See things?"

"Yes. Things that happen far away, I can be there spiritually... If I concentrate enough. So... I knew you were coming. And it was I, who sent those mercenaries to kill you once you arrived."

Arik's eyes widened.

"Why?" the redguard then asked cautiously. he didn't have his sword anymore, nor the strength to fight in general so if this cloaked guy here decided to end him right here right now, he would be met with little resistance.

"My duty..."

"Your duty is to kill people?" Arik got annoyed by the man's willingness to stay borderline cryptic, it was as if this bloke really enjoyed being a douche.

"Only if they come too close..."

"Too close to what? Mazaruk?!" Arik asked

The cloaked man started to cut to the chase.

"That which lies in Mazaruk must never be uncovered. A thing of such power cannot be wielded by anyone."

Arik's curiousity pierced through the discomfort.

"Wait, so... You're like a guardian of this city right? And since you know what's in it, you have actually been IN mazaruk? I thought it would be a buried ruin still waiting to be unearthed."

"Oh no... The entrance was found already, many years ago.... By your grandfather: Peri'k"

Arik couldn't believe what he heard.

"Are you sure? My grandfather always told me that he never found the city, that he had to leave his work behind because of the great war..."

"Arik, my boy. Peri'k wouldn't leave a dig of his lifework in the middle of the desert just for a war he had nothing to do with... That's not how the man was"

the redguard now felt even more uneasy.

"You talk as if you knew him." The redguard mentioned.

"I did."

"Bullshit, you must be like... thirty...forty years old, how on earth could you have known my grandfather?"

"If you let me finish my story... Perhaps it would make sense."

The young redguard sighed. After which he held his hands up, 'he didn't know nothing' so it would probably be best to just shut up and listen carefully.

"I am Julien Dubois. I worked with your grandfather, Peri'k, as an archaeologist back in 171... He came to me with a map that he claimed could lead us to the location of the lost city of Mazaruk. I was skeptical at first. War was looming, equipment was expansive because of most materials were claimed by the Imperial army... All in all, not the perfect political climate to go digging for an old city no one that isn't a scholar cares about. But Peri'k just couldn't back down. "I am so close!" he would tell me on more than one occasion. Eventually I gave in, and we headed out into the desert with our Caravan from the University of Taneth. Ready to write history..."

"Once we arrived at our destination, we were a little worried at first, the ground didn't seem like it had ever shifted in the many eras it had been there and perhaps the map was wrong. But after we started digging we found the top of an old Dwemer tower. A tower that might have been as tall as the White-Gold tower once, but now completely below the ground. We blew a hole in it and after that we had our entrance to the sand covered city. Dark, and filled with Dwemer artifacts we had never seen before we carefully made our way down, deeper into the city. We met the usual resistance, automated drones still walking the halls and what not. We had our mercenaries try to take down as much as possible each day before we proceeded. We lost some men. But all this was nothing compared to what we found in the lower levels..."