Episode 50: Azura's Star, Revealed
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"I offered an experimental treatment contingent on performing a small errand for me. She has yet to complete it."First, ask "is that errand, perhaps, to retrieve some dwemer boots of flying?"
I agree with the above
I approve of asking about the errand
:
"Would that errand happen to be to retrieve some dwemer boots of flying?":
"No." Divayth pauses for a moment then raises one eyebrow.
"But I did ask another guest for something similar a few weeks ago.":
"Another guest?":
"Yes. How do you know of this?"we have arrived from another world
Tell him that we are a traveler from another world and
that we suspect we were brought here by Azura to become the Nerevarine.
Tell him we're, as far as we can tell, from another world, one in which the world of Morrowind and the recent events and such are part of an interactive story, but that Vivec says we're not from another world and that that confuses us as all get-out.
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"It's a little difficult to explain. I'm from another world. Another world where Morrowind is known...exists, kind of...but it's an interactive story rather than a real place. It's a game that players can participate in. I know about some things here but not everything because this world resembles the game world I've played. That's why I'm here, actually. Kind of. I was going to 'play the game' and somehow I ended up falling into it. Literally, I was sitting in my bedroom then the next thing I knew I was falling from the sky and landed in a swamp.":
"So then, you are a daedra?":
"No, I'm just a human from earth.":
"Human? Earth? What are those?":
"Humans are my species. And earth is my planet. The world I come from.":
"So you're a daedra. Or from your point of view, everyone here is."Divayth sets his puzzle box down and picks up a cup of tea and sips from it.
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"While the more anthropocentrically minded might be inclined to think otherwise, The Planes of Oblivion are an infinite sea of possibility and Mundus itself is merely yet another plane among that infinity. Transit between planes is possible. Doors and portals do exist and can be made. Usually with a tremendous expenditure of magicka. Or much less, granted there is mutual cooperation between planes, as with the case of the school of conjuration.":
"Wait...so a 'daedra' is just any being from a different dimension and any conjurer with the right spell can bring people between worlds? So you're telling me that I was summoned to Nirn?":
"It's not that simple. The conjuration school requires cooperation from both sides. If I summon a golden saint, she comes willingly through a portal I have only half made, not because I have compelled her. And no, I'm not speculating on how you came to be here. The conjuration school is only one means by which the threshold between worlds may be crossed. I'm merely explaining the implications of what you appear to be claiming. The Planes of Oblivion are an infinity of realized possibilities housed within Aetherius. Mundus is one among them. It's been suggested that our world is simply a dream being experienced by a dreamer somewhere, either in Aetherius or another Plane, who's to say? That it might be a game rather than a dream seems similar enough to merely be a question of interpretation."He politely ignores your confused look and sets his teacup down.
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"So you knew I'd asked a guest to fetch some dwemer boots for me because you'd seen it happen in your game?":
"Yes. Though in the game, the person you asked for the boots was the same person you gave the antidote to.":
"So then there are differences. In your game does my potion work?":
"Sort of. It works for one person, then kills everyone else you try it on.":
"I see. Do you know a cure, then?":
"No, in the Morrowind I know you never succeed in finding a cure. The person it works for, it only works for them because they're the Nerevarine and it's part of the prophecy they're fulfilling.":
"Hmm. Then let's intend that this be another thing different between your version of this world and mine. In my experience prophecies rarely play out as expected, and infinity isn't to be taken lightly. It's altogether likely that there are countless variations of this same conversation being had by other Divayths and other Michaels in other Planes of Oblivion. I'd be hesitant to assume that anything here is as you expect it to be, and even if you did have a corprus cure from your world there's only a small chance it would work here. I'd be happy to try it, of course, but the subtle variation between Planes is a big part of why I don't walk through the Doors anymore. It's possible to spend weeks in a world that superficially resembles your own only to one day discover that some harmless little plant you recognize from your childhood is actually a carnivorous monster intent on eating you the moment it touches your lips. And no one thinks to inform you of this because every child in their world knows it. What did you do after falling into the swamp?":
"I recognized this as Morrowind almost immediately, so knowing what I know about the game Morrowind, first thing I did was go to see Vivec. He let me in and we talked, I told him I was from another world, but he told me I wasn't, even though he did say I wasn't an Imperial like I look like. But I honestly don't understand a lot of the things he said, and I'm kind of confused on that point. He mostly spoke in riddles.":
"More likely he told you the literal truth as he sees it. Sometimes his view of truth only make sense after a couple centuries of research." Divayth stares into space for a moment with a sour look on his face, then shakes his head.
"Though it's curious that he spoke to you at all. How did you get in to see him?":
"I slipped a note under his door and he let me in."He laughs.
:
"Haha, well, I'll be sure to try that next time I want to see him. But for all my talk of Oblivion, the fact remains that I inspected you myself and you appear to be rather ordinary and not a daedra at all. There are subtle clues in the most basic structure of being that may be seen by those those who know how to look. It is of course possible that you happen to be from a world so similar that even at the most basic level your structure resembles ours. But amidst an infinity of possible worlds, and given your claim to be from a world so different from ours that Nirn is nothing but a dream, it seems unlikely that the basic structure of our magicka would resemble each other's so closely that we would seem to be grown from the same mushroom, as it were. And you say that Vivec himself confirmed you're not from another world. It seems unlikely that we would both be wrong about you."Ask him what we seem to be, and what was so fascinating about us.
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"Well, ok. I don't have all the answers here, I admit that. But obviously something's going on. I'm pretty sure Vivec doesn't talk to just anybody and even you immediately noticed there was something unusual about me. What was that inspection about? I don't usually get asked to get naked within 5 seconds of meeting someone. What was so fascinating about me that you interrupted yourself mid-sentence to take a look?":
"You bear Azura's mark. I simply wanted to see what other secrets you might have. It was unlikely the armor would have hidden anything from me, but your minor discomfort was a price I was willing to pay to be sure."You blink a couple times at that statement before focusing on the important part.
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"Azura's mark?":
"You didn't know?":
"Umm...no? I mean, I know who Azura is. But what mark?"He brings up his left hand and points a finger into the side of your head near your right ear at about eye level.
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"Look here. Right in the middle of your skull at this position."You close your eyes and focus on your magic vision. You're not really using your eyes to see, so it's not a problem that you're looking basically backwards from them. Actually...you're not entirely sure where the vantage point is when you see magicka. You're not certain it's the eyes doing the seeing at all. Probably not, since it's easier to do with your eyelids closed. Even so, it's difficult to see where he's pointing. There's an awful lot of stuff in the way. It's like looking at the matrix, but your skull and insides are made of the same light you're looking for so there's a lot of interference. It's kind of like trying to make out a stained glass window that's on the other side of a couple other stained glass windows.
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"Here, let me help."Divath casts a spell and you watch with your eyes closed as a flurry of magicka from his hands envelops you and is absorbed by you. Suddenly you feel smarter, and your vision becomes more clear. You see colors you didn't notice before, and in more subtle variations. Peering back inside your head where Divayth pointed you now clearly see a mark in the form of a tiny eight-pointed star, yellow in the middle with eight orange wavy sunbeams extending from it.
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"Is that...Azura's Star? Like, the artifact?"He smiles.
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"Very good."Wait, seriously? "Favored by Azura?" "Born under a certain star and bearing a certain mark?" You've got an Azura's Star mark embedded inside your skull! How could it possibly be more certain?
we suspect we were brought here by Azura to become the Nerevarine.
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"I'm the Nerevarine!" You excitedly blurt out.
His smile turns to an amused grin.
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"Are you, now? Do tell."
Ask politely if Clover was all she appeared to be under similar inspection. May give clues to true Nevarine.
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"Did Clover have the same mark?":
"No.":
"Have you ever met anyone else who did?":
"You might say that. Check me."You close your eyes again and gaze into Divayth's skull. It's more difficult to see into his head than yours, but after some effort you manage to see: Divayth has an eight-pointed star in his head, same mark, same place as you do. Suddenly you feel less certain.
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"But, why? Why would Azura mark you too? Both of us? What does it mean?"He shrugs.
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"I don't know. I ask every couple centuries, but she won't tell me.":
"Anyone else besides the two of us?":
"Quite a few, yes. One of my daughters, a good friend of mine with corprus, Vivec, the High Fane, many others. At one time I believed it was a mark of great consequence, as it's usually only individuals of great power or historical significance who have it. But you are hardly a powerful individual, and you're not the first. Some born with it become nothing more than random merchants or adventurers. I once even met a skooma addict with the mark."Our advanced technology (demonstrate to him the phone)
Show the mobile phone
You exhale with frustration.
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"Ok. Maybe I am the Nerevarine, maybe I'm not. But regardless of what Vivec says, I'm pretty sure I'm from another world. Take a look at this."You remove your backpack and fish out your cellphone, thankful that the water didn't destroy it. You flip it open, turn it on and hand it to him. Divayth accepts it and glances at it for only a moment before looking around the room.
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"What is that aura effect? Why is it so irregular?":
"Umm...what?":
"This device. It's bathing the room in a weak, irregular aura...of a purpose I cannot identify."Aura? All you did was turn it on. He holds it up to eye level and examines it.
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"What does this do?"You glance at the screen. It says it's looking for service.
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"It's called a phone. It's a communication device, but it needs other phones and things to communicate with. Right now it's looking for one.":
"Communication via aura? That seems inefficient. What do these buttons do?":
"They're for calling other phones. Every phone has a number, and if you dial the number for another phone it will allow you to talk to the person who has that phone. Also some other things. Navigating menus and so forth. Here, let me show you."You take the phone back and wait for it to finish. Eventually it gives you a menu. No network found and only one bar of power left. You set it to camera mode and hand it back to him.
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"Now, see how it shows you whatever it's aimed at?":
"Yes, much like a communication crystal, but smaller...and seems to be made of thousands of...what are those?" He squints.
"I've never seen liquid enchanted in this manner.":
"Couldn't tell you. I just use it. Aim it at something, then press this button right here.":
"This one?":
"Yes."Divayth holds the phone up to you and takes a picture.
:
"Ok. It stopped.":
"Yes. You took a picture of me.":
"But now it's just stuck showing me you. Why is that more interesting than what it was doing a moment ago?":
"Because we can save it, take pictures of other things, then bring them back up again later. We can even take full motion video with sound."You spend a few minutes showing Divayth the single frame and video capture features on your phone. It occurs to you that you probably could have come up with some useful use for this before now.
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"Fascinating device. Why does it run on lightning?":
"You mean, electricity instead of magic? This is technology from my world."DIvayth raises an eyebrow.
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"What do you mean? Electricity is composed of magicka, just like every other magic effect. Surely the enchantment would have been simpler without the conversion."You start to answer and then you stop yourself. Just a few minutes ago you were looking inside your own skull, made of magicka, and the pretty lights inside your head, also made of magicka.
examine the Magicka of our phone.
Seconding this.
You close your eyes and examine the cellphone. It's a glowing mess of colors.
Lots of colors. Some colors...you don't even recognize. It's weird. And every now and then the entire room flashes with some color you don't think you've ever seen before. It's actually a bit disorienting, and with your temporarily enhanced magical vision due to Divayth's spell you're seeing a lot more than you're used to. You see the sun through the ground, your body, Divayth's body, the study and everything in it, the light radiating from the cellphone, colors you don't know the name for...wait...WAIT! Cellphones use, which band is it? Radio waves? Microwaves? It's all EM, just like light. Light is magicka. You're
looking at cellphone radiation right now. That must be the aura he was describing. Your cellphone is trying to contact a tower so it's sending out microwave pulses...and you can SEE them.
Divayth catches you as you nearly fall off your feet.
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"Careful.":
"Sorry, just a bit disoriented. Still getting used to this magic vision thing.":
"The enhancement I cast should wear off soon. But you haven't answered my question.":
"The cellphone? It's, well...it's not an enchanted item. It's more like a dwemer device. Yes, it's 'made of magicka' of course, because everything is...apparently. But this was assembled from parts, not enchanted. The electricity that it runs on off was...well, I guess it was made with wires and magnets and things, rather than charged by a spellcaster. No soul gems, or anything like that.":
"Hmm. Apart from the psychomantium I see that it does have a few crystals inside it, but none of them appear to have souls. And they're much too small to be magicka batteries. Most interesting. How much do you want for it?":
"Excuse me?":
"This device. I would like to buy it. How does 600 gold sound?":
"...I could actually really use the money. But I hadn't planned on selling it. Could you go higher? I mean, it's a unique device. The only one of its kind in this dimension.":
"A unique device, the only one of its kind in this dimension...and its primary purpose is to allow the wielder to speak exclusively to people who also have one. I would say that limits its value. But, I would be willing to get a second opinion. You mentioned that it was like a dwemer artifact. Obviously it isn't, but it happens a good friend of mine is a dwemer, and I would be curious to hear what he has to say about it.":
"Yagrum?":
"Yes.":
"In the corprusarium?":
"Yes.":
"No hurting the inmates, but they can hurt me back and I might catch corprus?":
"Indeed. Or they might simply eat you, in which case I acquire it at no cost. I've seen that happen once or twice. And it's possible that even if you speak with Yagrum he might say that it isn't even worth 600, in which case I might accept his appraisal. Or you can take the 600 right now. Your choice."He hands the cellphone back to you.
Level 8
Health 61/61
Magick 69/69
Armor rating: 4
27.2 Strength (20)
35.0 Speed (30)
37.2 Agility (30)
40.1 Endurance (30)
42.4 Intelligence (40)
40.0 Willpower (40)
44.6 Personality (40)
57.0 Luck (50)
Numbers in parenthesis are starting values
32 Acrobatics (0)
22 Athletics (5)
7 Armorer (0)
6 Block (0)
7 Heavy Armor (0)
5 Medium Armor (0)
22 Light armor (0)
9 Unarmored (0)
5 Blunt Weapon
12 Hand to Hand
5 Longblade
6 Shortblade
8 Spear
7 Alchemy (0)
5 Enchanting (0)
21 Speechcraft (10)
12 Mercantile (0)
* Cellphone
* Cruel Viperblade
* Chitin shield
* Chitin left + right gauntlets
* Chitin greaves
* Chitin cuirass
* Chitin left + right pauldrons
* Chitin boots
* Combat belt
* Commoner's shirt
* Commoner's pants
* Interior coinpurse, containing:
* lockpick
* 1 standard invisibility potion
* 1 potion of water walking
* 1 empty bottle
Backpack (Worn) (damp)
Main compartment:
* Tennis shoes
* 3 illegible water logged papers
* 1 illegible water-logged scroll of divine intervention
* Yellow water-damaged notepad with 54 pages left
* 1 pen
* "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt (damp)
* Denim pants (damp)
* wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
* 2 lesser soulgems (empty)
* 29 Whickwheat
Small compartment
* 122 gold
* 8 empty bottle
* 2 Ampoule Pod
* 1 Black Anther
* 7 bungler's bane
* 5 Chokeweed
* 3 Corkbulb
* 25 Heather
* 3 hypha facia
* 11 luminous russula
* 4 Racer Plume
* 8 saltrice
* 2 Stoneflower petals
* 5 spore pod
* 6 violet coprinus
Bearer of Azura's Mark
Blades, Novice
Imperial Legion, Recruit
Fighter's Guild, Associate (1 quest completed)
Mage Guild, Associate
Registered Sadrith Mora business visa, with slave-handling endorsement
* Steel tanto, with scabbard and carrying straps
* Imperial steel Cuirass
* Apprentice mortar and pestle
Alit Hide [1]Resist Poison
Ash yam [1]Restore personality
Ampoule Pod [1]Restore speed
Black Anther [1]Resist poison
Black lichen [1]Drain Health
Bread [1]Restore Fatigue
Bungler's Bane [1]Drain agility
Chokeweed [1]Drain health
Coda Flower [1]Restore luck
Comberry [1]Drain health
Corkbulb Root [1]Restore luck
Crab Meat [1]Restore fatigue
Gravedust [1]Burden
Green Lichen [1]Night Eye
Heather [1]Poison
Hound Meat [1]Poison
Hypha facia [1]Drain speed
Kresh fiber [1]Cure common disease
Kwama cuttle [1]Restore health
Large kwama egg [1]Restore fatigue
Luminous russ. [1]Paralysis
Marshmerrow [1]Resist common disease
Muck [1]Poison
Racer plume [1]Levitate
Rat meat [1]Poison
Roobrush [1]Restore intelligence
Saltrice [1]Restore endurance
Scale [1]Swift swim
Scathecraw [1]Paralyze
Spore pod [1]Paralysis
Stoneflower petal [1]Fortify health
Sm. Kwama Egg [1]Restore Fatigue
Violet coprinus [1]Water Walking
Whickwheat [1]Cure paralysis
Willow Anther [1]Water Breathing
* One picture of you standing in Divayth Fyr's study
* One, very jumpy 10 second video of you and Divayth waving the phone around inside his study
What do you do?
Author
Topic: Marooned in Morrowind (FINISHED) (Read 434170 times)