Excerpt from Morrowind [game spoilers]

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I got a little inspired by a certain point in my character's story (RPing woven into the game story) and couldn't help myself. Wrote this in about an hour on IRC in query to Ara, and in the end we both figured I should post it. But there are some main quest SPOILERS from Morrowind and most especially from the Tribunal expansion (though I've taken a liberty or two). And, of course, there will be certain names that those who haven't played the game won't recognize, but I've done my best to explain what I could within the scope of the narrative. Though if there's something you want explained, don't hesitate to ask. And so, here is the next month of my dear, distraught Ezkanya's life.

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She gazed, stunned, at the lifeless body of the god Sotha Sil, and then turned to behold Almalexia, girded for battle. The goddess's words painted a picture of madness; this time not of Sotha Sil's, but unintentionally of her own. And in turn, that madness shifted aim inexplicably toward the reincarnation of her husband Nerevar, the Bosmer known as Ezkanya.

Ezkanya wept for Sotha Sil, a god she had worshipped slain by another, and perhaps also Vivec yet to come, as she battled for her life, never thinking for a moment that she could be anything other than doomed in the face of her goddess Almalexia's wrath. The tears grew blinding, and so it took a moment to realize that there no longer was a form in front of her to fight.

Ezkanya's hopes bloomed at the thought that perhaps Almalexia had decided to leave, and not slay her. But wiping the water from her eyes revealed the truth. Almalexia lay dead at her feet. Ezkanya looked between the blood on her sword and the wounds on the fresh corpse before her, nothing registering in her shocked mind. The thought was so foreign that it could not find a home. She, a mortal, had killed a god.

So inconceivable was the notion, it never did take root. Instead, the same insanity that had swept over Almalexia touched Ezkanya. But unlike the harsh truth, it did find a home. Nerevar reborn, and now Almalexia reborn as well, Ezkanya wrenched the ring off of Almalexia's still hand, not even noticing the crack of breaking bone. And when she put it on, the mad god's scheme lay plain in all its horridness before her. For the Mazed Band she had garnered for the goddess was capable not only of transport between Sotha Sil's Clockwork City and Almalexia's Temple ... but also the Palace of Vivec.

And so she used the ring to jump through the ether, arriving yet more suspiciously directly behind Vivec, opposite the door. As Ezkanya stared at Vivec's back, the god seemingly unaware of her presence, a compulsion arose to draw her bow, but it was pushed aside without even noticing. For while the mind damaging events had planted the seed of madness, it was not yet sprouted.

So she stood for what seemed like an eternity, looking for a sign of life in the last god, hoping beyond hope... There! Though it was small, his sides did move in his meditation. Her involuntary sigh of relief woke Vivec from his trance, and he turned, settling down to the ground. He seemed surprised that she was there...and with this visible weakness the seed began to grow.

Ezkanya spoke at length to Vivec. About the events in Mournhold, about the Apographa, about everything he had done, both in the recent past and the distant. Her questions were almost endless, and each answer was not what she had expected. Vivec spoke not as a god, but as a mortal, and even of being mortal now that the Heart of Lorkhan was destroyed. And with each answer, the truth became clearer in her mind. The beings she had risked everything for, had ventured to Red Mountain to face Dagoth Ur in the service of, were no more gods than the thronging citizens of the city around them.

The seed of her madness had grown with the knowledge, until the weight of the betrayal was too much for the branches to bear and they snapped. As did Ezkanya. Bitter recriminations spewed forth, not only for herself but for the others who had followed false gods. And though the answers to her accusations, godly wise as they were, should have soothed her, they only inflamed the insanity more. Soon, another lay dead at the feet of Ezkanya, killer of gods.

Her sword still dripping with Vivec's blood, she descended the stairs and rushed to the temple. Not even bothering to close the door, Ezkanya confronted Tholer Saryoni with what had happened. But the former Archcanon of the Tribunal Temple denied that it could happen, and nothing Ezkanya said could change his mind; he refused to even go to the palace unless summoned by his lord.

If she had stepped over the brink of madness before, Ezkanya now plunged headlong into its depths. The Ordinators within the city never even knew what hit them, such was her stealthy skill. The entire council of House Telvanni disappeared without a trace in less than a fortnight. Even Baladas Demnevanni and others who had aided her were found slumped in chairs or over desks, with arrows through their eyes.

The rumor mill worked overtime as people vanished left and right. Smugglers feared for their lives with just cause as every cave on Vvardenfell turned into a deathtrap. Speculation abounded about how Hla Oad had become a ghost town, empty save for the boatman that still offered travel to Ebonheart and Gnaar Mok...but said not a word beyond that, staring with a blank smile at something noone else could see.

Whispers spoke of the extinction of slavery, as slaves disappeared from all over the province. Sometimes the bracer of a freed slave was found, and sometimes the body of a slave 'freed' in another way. The two remaining Great Houses turned to the Morag Tong for answers, but they shed little light on the situation. The guild of assassins credited only a few deaths to a lone operator who was never seen, pinning each stolen writ of execution to the unfortunate's chest with a deadly shaft from the shadows.

Or so they said. A select few had seen Ezkanya as she collected the bounties for her duties or received new targets, but to name the Nerevarine as an assassin, and moreover the new Grandmaster of the Morag Tong...such was believed tantamount to suicide. But nothing could be further from the truth, as Ezkanya too was far now from Vvardenfell in both body and spirit. Sailing far from the madness she had outlasted, far from the hundreds that she had killed, far from the many mistakes she had made. Sailing...to Solstheim.

 

Excellent job capturing the insanity of some things we've had to do in Morrowind! I like to think in terms of a story or novella unfolding when I played Morrowind, but could never have used such perfect language to iterate it to others. Hope you do the same with "Werewolf Island." HA HA!

 

A naritive on a game I love. A novel idea .Does this have a companion story, because I realy realy want to read it!

 

Well, I did start a BG1 & BG2 run story a while ago, titled "Quayle's Story: Autobiography of the Smartest Bhaalspawn". It's very SPOILERISH, and I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you've played both games (even if you have no intention of playing the games, because that'd just be silly as everyone in the world should play them ). Unfortunately, it stalled in Ust Natha when I got Morrowind.

As for Ezkanya, I finished everything in the game for her two or three days ago, and there aren't any other excerpts I've written. Being my first run, she was my best thought-out character compared to the five I've come up with since then, the only one with an actually three-dimensional personality. (My current second run is a Redguard Long-Blade-wielding "the law is THE LAW" type, never questioning his orders no matter what.) Though my fourth run - a Dark Elf Telvanni type - might blossom, that's a ways in the future, and may be even farther than that if I get sucked back into my BGs.

However, I have been thinking a lot about Ezkanya's happy ending, and I think I might be able to write something up if there was demand for it. There would naturally be a gap between the two excerpts as I don't really think all the petty stuff would make for good reading (though it did make for good playing ), and I'd probably start in the Hunter's Maze or shortly before.