Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20141119151542/@comment-5583506-20141123034801

(Beware: LONG POST!)

Gwendolyne and Razani had hastened after the group. They were confused to see that two other people had joined up with the ghost they were hunting, but they immediately came to the conclusion that it must have cast some sort of spell on them as well.

"It knows no bounds!" hissed Razani angrily.

"Indeed, my furry friend", replied Gwendolyne. "But don't worry. We will save them from the clutches of that evil creature once and for all. I spent the morning making these."

The Altmer revealed a satchel full of silver bolts.

The Khajiit's eyes glimmered. "Oh, Gwendolyne, you shouldn't have!"

"Pfft! They aren't for you. Well, technically they are, but not in the way you are thinking. It's an unholy spirit, remember? Like all unholy beings it has a weakness to silver. Did you remember the crossbow?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Razani and brought up a homemade contraption which was supposed to represent a crossbow, although Gwendolyne had her doubts.

Where is the trigger on that monstrosity?

"As soon as Razani has the creature in her sights, she will end it swiftly with a little blast from this, yes?"

The Altmer nodded. "Yes. And then we can show it to the rest of the mage community and finally be recognised as the saviors and professionals we truly are!"

The Khajiit laughed. "This one almost feel sorry for those lesser mages. It's almost sad how someone can be as incompetent and stupid as they are..."

-

''I can feel her... She is close... The Rift! The Rift! ''he thought.

''I have waited to feel her again for almost three years! I almost had her a couple years back, but now I won't fail. And Rowan is with her as well! This is almost too good to be true!''

''Two in a row... First that little Myling cunt... and then that worthless scum Rowan... ''

''I am close now... Closer than I have ever been... So close to end my centuries of torment... To finally be able to feel and live and... and... and breathe again...''

He chuckled.

And kill...

-

When Riamide was done telling her story to Starkad she found that smith was left speechless and just sat their gawking like a frightened bird.

"So... you are telling me that... that... that you are... M-Meridia?!" stuttered Starkad.

Riamide nodded slowly. "That is the case."

"And Myling is a... woman who has been... dead for centuries?"

Again Riamide nodded. "An apparition. She is not among the living."

He scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to say. "Do you have any idea of how bloody ridiculous this sounds?"

She sighed. "I do. It would make for a great story to tell your grand-children about though."

He laughed nervously. "Yeah, if I ever had any that is... So, how can you prove that everything you have said is true?"

Riamide smiled mischievously and suddenly it appeared a strange golden-armored creature behind the old woman, charging against the smith.

"GAH!" screamed Starkad and tipped his chair backwards before he collapsed to the floor.

And in the precise moment it was about to bring down a greataxe on his head it disappeared.

"What the bload-soaked hell was that?!" the smith roared.

"An auroran", replied the old woman. "One of the many beings associated with my realm. Don't worry, Starkad, it wouldn't have hurt you even if I had let it remain on this plane of existence."

The Nord was still shuddering. "You... you aren't kidding... You... you truly are a Daedric Prince then? And here I was thinking these sorts of meetings only occurred in fairy-tales."

"Some of them do", replied Riamide and offered him a hand to drag him up to which he happily accepted. "But please. Do not refer to me by my real name. Call me Riamide, for that is my name in this guise. Understand?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I can do that. So... what is this whole deal with the ghost oaks then?"

"I don't know", said Riamide and sighed. "The last piece of the puzzle is to be found in that book I ordered Myling to find. It is in the possession of Folkvild, said to be an expert in ancient lore about what you mortals call 'the supernatural'. All I know is that the ghost oaks have something to do with the origin of the apparition's nature as well as their salvation. If I can find out the properties of the ghost oak I might be able to save Myling from the Umbramancer."

"Uh, yeah... speaking of which. I sent my partner Aldoran to go with her. To protect her, you know?"

Riamide's face grew pale. "You... you did what?"

"That was... stupid of me, wasn't it?"

The room darkened as Riamide literally exploded with rage and showed him her true apperance. "YOU IDIOT! PATHETIC MORTAL! DIDN'T I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR THAT MYLING POSES A THREAT TO ANYONE AS LONG AS THE UMBRAMANCER KEEPS TAILING HER?! IF IT FINDS SOMETHING IT LIKES WITH ALDORAN, IT WILL CONSUME HIS SOUL AS WELL! IT WILL GROW STRONGER AND STRONGER!"

Starkad cowered behind the table. "I... I didn't know! You just told me this story until now! How the hell was I supposed to know that Myling had such a dark being stalking her?! Besides, if the Umbramancer finds an interest in Aldoran, it will have to examine him long and properly, because that boy is darn nearly useless!"

The wrath of Meridia passed quickly and she quickly shrunk back into the old woman with the gnarled staff once again. "Let's... let's just hope that is the case", she uttered. "I already told you what happened to Rowan, didn't I? He got himself involved with Myling and eventually picked the Umbramancer's interest. He is marked for death after it has taken Myling's soul, unless she is able to stop it in time. The poor girl has blamed herself ever since."

Riamide sat down on a chair. "It's kind of sad really. I don't want to see her suffer like this. To never be able to rest easy for once. You know, I offered to grant her the eternal rest twice, and twice she has refused. All because it would mean that if she die, the Umbramancer would have been bereaved of its first intended victim and instead hunt down Rowan in her place. So, basically... her cat-and-mouse - chase with this monster is just to ensure Rowan's life, because she holds her own in such little regards that if she were among the living, she would surely be a suicidal."

Starkad lowered his head. "So... this is all about."

Riamide shook her head. "Her love for Rowan... Foolish girl. This is what made her pick my interest. Such a plan is both brave, sweet, unselfish, foolhardy, pathetic and... sad... Sad, because Rowan does not love her back."

"Why is it that Myling loves him then? I really never quite got that bit."

"The Umbramancer's powers are almost that of a sponge. It absorbs energies and memories. When it dried to devour Myling's life it also took some of her memories, among them the memoris of her fiancé Vilgot. But since she managed to escaped before it finished its job, it only got to the grade where she would forget about Vilgot's name and his face."

She made a pause. "A few centuries later, Rowan appeared. He saved her life more than once and showed her kindness and loyalty. In her broken little mind, her memories started to patch themselves together by filling the gaps with her experiences together with Rowan, printing the memories she had of Vilgot on him instead."

"That's... strange..."

Riamide nodded. "Indeed. I guess that the amnesia got to the point where it basically rewrote her whole life. Almost like the offspring of an animal, which believes that the first creature it sets is eyes on is its mother. In this case, for Myling, her mind decided that since there were so many similarities between Vilgot and Rowan, Rowan was indeed the man she loved."

"Poor girl..."

"So now she is stuck with loving Rowan, until she defeats the Umbramancer. When she does, her memories will be restored and she will once again love Vilgot, although I fear that she will fall into a deep grief when that happens. She will come to a grip with everything that happened to her all those centuries ago. The feeling of losing everything she once loved will perhaps be to overwhelming for her to carry."

Starkad nodded in understanding. "I see. So what can I do to help? Say it and I will do it."

Riamide rubbed her forehead. "If you can somehow figure out how to craft the bark of the ghost oak, I think we are definitely on the right track. I can't explain how or why, but I can just sense that the key to Myling, Rowan, and now possibly Aldoran's survival as well as the destruction of the Umbramancer, lies in creating something from the ghost oak. But I need to have that book to confirm my suspicions so that we won't be peering into the darkness here."

"Absolutely", said the smith. "I don't know how, but I swear to you that I will find a way. If my ancestors found a way, why the hell shouldn't I be able to do so?! You can count on me, Meridia!"

"Riamide", growled the old woman.

"Yeah", he shrugged. "That will... that will definitely take some getting used to..."