Episode 34: Who was the Nerevarine when the world reset?
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"Now then, I understand that you are knowledgeable about certain things. I wonder if you'd be willing to tell me what you know about the Sixth House."tell him you know who he is and what he is doing
"Ah, Caius Cosades, just the man I've been wanting to see."
You make eye contact with Caius, then turn to watch Darius and Strillian leave the room. Once they have, and the door closes firmly behind them, you exhale and relax.
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"Spymaster Cosades, it's a relief to finally meet you."You see a calculating look in Caius' eyes, but his body and face betray nothing. Instead of speaking he simply waits for you to continue.
Tell him EVERYTHING
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"The sixth house, first off...is real. It is an ancient Great House under the rule of Dagoth Ur, a demi-god who's actually a contemporary of Vivec and the Tribunal gods. Right now he's holed up inside Red Mountain, and he's in the process of building a second Nimudium with plans to conquer all of Tamriel. Something that you...as a Blades operative, should be very concerned about."Caius is still looking at you, waiting for you continue. At no point did he ever so much as blink. You make a mental note to never play poker with him.
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"They have bases all over Vvardenfell, with especially notable bases at Ilunibi, Kogorhun, Odrosal and Vemynal. Beneath Dagoth Ur, there are a dozen or so highly dangeras ash creatures known as ash vampires, which are not actually undead at all...who act as his lieutenants. Beneath them are the ascended sleepers, one of which recently seems to have assaulted Khuul in an act of racial cleansing. So...yes, I know a great deal. What would you like to know?"Caius ponders this for a moment.
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"I'll want to hear more about the bases, but you obviously know a great del more than the General lead me to believe. Tell me, what do you know about the Nerevarine propechy?"make known our awareness of the Nerevarine Prophecy
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"Ahh, the Nerevarine. Supposed to be the reincarnation of Lord Indoril Nerevar, who was a contemporary of the mortals who became the three Tribunal gods, as well as of Dagoth Ur. Prophesied to be reborn to uncertain parents in a foreign...land."...wait a second. What are the actual prophesied requirements of the Nerevarine?
- Born in a foreign land
You're a freshman liberal arts student at your local community college. You're an average student, and you don't do sports. No real hobbies except the internet, games, watching My Little Pony and reading the occasional fanfic on Equestria Daily.
Can't get much more foreign than from a totally other planet.
- Born to unknown parents
: "What's your favorite food? Do you remember even having eaten in your entire life? Do you have any friends? Pets? Family? What are you parents names? In your entire life do you remember ever having spoken to them?"
: "I...don't know. I...don't remember...any of that."
You have no memory of your parents.
- Born under a certain star
: "You didn't exist prior to walking through the front door of your house."
your chair drops out from beneath you and you feel yourself falling backwards. You see a blur, then sunlight in your eyes, then. SPLASH!
The
very first thing you saw upon entering Morrowind was sunlight...from a star...before you even hit the ground.
(GM Comment: after 60 thread pages, seriously disappointed that nobody ever managed to concisely put these pieces together.)What about the rest? You know there were some other things, but nothing immediately testable. Even in-game, the PC doesn't start out immune to disease, or have approval of the Houses or Ashlanders. Weren't there seven requirements? What were the others?
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"...I...might be the Nerevarine.":
"Oh?" ask if he recently received a package from a former imperial prisoner. Ask what this race this person was what this person looked like.
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"...maybe, yes. Caius, did you recently have someone show up with an encoded message? You must have. That's why you knew to ask me about the Nerevarine prophecy.":
"Yes, such a person did come to me.":
"What race were they? What did they look like?"He doesn't answer right away. You can see the gears turning in his head, while he debates whether to answer. Eventually, he does.
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"She was a dunmer. Youthful face, with long straight white hair."...that's not the answer you were expecting. The dunmer woman you originally saw in Seyda Neen had sort of curly-ish dark hair. Is it possible she dyed it? That's probably possible here, and it was something like 5 weeks ago that you saw her.
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"What was her name?"Again, Caius doesn't answer right away. You roll your eyes.
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"Caius, seriously...that secret encoded package from the personal secretary to the emperor himself that I couldn't possibly have read and given to her by Sellus Gravius at the Census Office in Seyda Neen said that the person carrying it might meet the conditions of the Nerevarine prophecy, and asked you to induct her into the Blades and arrange for her to make sure that she does."At this, Caius crosses his arms, and you see a hint of danger in his eyes.
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"Clover. Her name is Clover. Now, tell me friend...how do you know what was written in an encoded imperial document?"leave the "we come from another world" thing till later
agreed
all of this
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"...Caius...it's...complicated. Look, I don't want to be evasive here. But understand that there are many, many things on Mundus besides mortals. There are daedra, there are gods like Vivec and the Tribunal. There are races like the chimer and the dwemer...and, at least one of those is still alive by the way in Divyth Fyr's corprusarium. There are many things that go unexplained. Oblivion. The warp in the west. 'Where were you when the dragon broke?' Me? I...honestly don't know. I have no memory prior to 5 weeks ago. I don't remember being born. But I do KNOW things. I think I might be the Nerevarine. And if I am, it's possible I know these things because I'm supposed to know them."That answer feels kind of weak, but Caius doesn't ask for clarification.
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"What did you discuss with Vivec?":
"Vivec?":
"Yes. You're the first person outside the Temple hierarchy to be granted an audience in decades."Hmm. Well done, Caius. It seems you know some things also.
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"Well, I told him that I might be the Nerevarine, and he basically spoke in riddles. Like...literally at one point he conjured a sword and pushed it around with his finger and asked me how many swords he was pushing and whether they were talking to each other. It was obviously supposed to be some big metaphor for existence, or something...but I didn't really get it. Even if I repeated the conversation verbatim, I don't know if that would help. And we talked about CHIM. Have you read the 36 lessons of Vivec?":
"Yes.":
"A lot of it was like that."He nods.
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"Perhaps it's best we focus on business then. What can tell you me about Ilunibi?":
"Cave of Ilunibi...sixth house base. Dagoth Gares is inside, along with some awesome artifact gloves called the Fists of Randagulf. Actually, wait...have you already sent Clover in there?":
"Yes. Just yesterday.":
"She's going to get Corprus. It's part of Dagoth Ur's plan, but that's also part of the prophecy. The Nerevarine is supposed to be immune to corprus, but she has to catch it in order to become immune to it by talking to Divyth Fyr. He's working on a cure."But wait...are you the Nerevarine or is she? What happens if she isn't? Does she just get corprus and die, or does Dagoth Gares know that she isn't and so won't infect her? From what Caius is saying, the main quest has definitely been started. What's supposed to happen? Or is there 'supposed to' happen here?
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"Who's side are you on, Michael? Where do your loyalties lie? With Vivec? The Empire?":
"Well, it's in my best interest as much as anyone's for Dagoth Ur to be stopped. Really, it's in the interest of every living creature that he be stopped. It's not that I'm personally loyal to Vivec, or the Emperor...but I'm kind of loyal to common sense and self preservation. EVERYBODY dies if Dagoth Ur wins, or they become insane corprus beasts. Or worse. I don't even know. If stopping the destruction of all of Tamriel means allying with you, the Blades, the Empire, Vivec....as far as I'm concerned, we need to all be in this together."Caius nods to himself and seems to relax somewhat.
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"Alright. What you advise?":
"Well, I..."Suddenly you feel dizzy. Something is very wrong. You start to sit down before you fall over, but time seems to slow down and before you hit the ground, everything goes black.
You look down, but you see nothing. Not even your own body. Panicking, you try to scream but no sound comes out. Frantically you feel around, but you can't feel anything. It's like complete sensory deprivation except that it's terribly hot. Wait, heat? Where is that coming from? You look up-
..to see the sun above you radiating heat, and a moment later a blue sky with clouds. You look back down and see an ocean below you that extends to horizon all round you.
You look around, but you don't see...a
you. You can rotate your field of view, but you don't even know how you're doing it. But whatever's going on isn't done yet, and everything is going dark again. You look back up at the sun again just in time to see it quickly obscured by...an ugly brown?
You watch helplessly as the sun, the sky and the ocean are all obscured by brown nothingness. Even the heat from the sun seems to be blocked by it. Then you watch as lines begin to appear. Dozens, then hundreds all at once you watch as the world is rebuilt around you.
And then, the first sound reaches your ears as you hear yourself suddenly inhale a breathfull of air with lungs you're not sure you had a moment ago. You're in the room just as before, and Caius is standing next to you as if nothing happened.
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"Who's side are you on, Michael? Where do your loyalties lie? With Vivec? The Empire?"
What do you do?