Dungeons & Daedra (D&D x Elder Scrolls)

Dragonexx · Oct 24, 2022

Dungeons and Daedra

Chapter 1

The Prisoner's Dilemma

The first thing Lorelei noticed on awakening was the splitting headache, which kind of got in the way of noticing anything else. She tried to open her eyes, only to find her vision extremely blurry and the light in the area was only aggravating her pain.

She felt weak, disoriented, her thoughts were a confused mess. Trying to think and process just hurt more, so she instead lay there, curled up, not even attempting to wimper as the pain spread not to just her body but her mind as well. Her thoughts were even more chaotic than normal, an incoherent mess of visions filled with fire and pain and blood that denied the potential for any comprehensible ideas.

Eventually, eventually, the pain subsided, reduced to little more than an ache that was soon forgotten, and the visions faded to darkness. Lorelei began to stir. She opened her eyes, waiting for a moment while they adjusted. Her vision was still blurry. And she felt so damn weak.

Was she hungover? It felt like she had been partying with Dionysus or Ama-no-Uzume again, and that would be an explanation for the pain she had been in. However, as her vision came into focus it became readily apparent this wasn't Olympus. Well, unless Olympus had drastically downgraded their prisons, at least.

She brushed her blond hair aside, scanning her surroundings. No, this wasn't Olympus. Judging from the feel of the place, it wasn't even Arborea.

She was in a small damp dirty cell made of stone, laying in an alcove on a rough sheet of cloth that seemed to serve as a blanket. There wasn't much to the cell; a crude wooden table and chair on which was a simple clay jug and cup, manacles on chains hanging from the ceiling, a bucket in a corner for her needs, though the most notable feature had to be the bones scattered about.

Lovely.

Lorelei looked over herself. Her strength wasn't the only thing that had changed. She had none of her equipment. Her sword. Her armor. Her magic items. All missing. Instead, she wore a crude prisoners smock made of rough, uncomfortable sackcloth. The only addition was a pair of iron manacles on her wrists, though there were thankfully no chains attached to them.

At that, Lorelei started, standing up. Her weakness… Had she somehow been turned into a…

No. Looking within herself, Lorelei felt none of the desires of a mortal, no hunger, or sleep, nor the need to breathe. She still had no physical needs. She was still a Ghaele Eladrin, a Spirit. Albeit very weakened from her former might. Though how was a mystery indeed. Had she been enervated? She wasn't sure. She had been subject to energy drain magics before and this didn't exactly feel like that. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like any answers were forthcoming soon.

Which left the problem of the cell itself. There was a barred window letting in a ray of light opposite a barred gate. Striding up to the gate she placed her hands on it. Before, at her former might, she could have ripped this door off it's hinges, or failing that at least bend the bars to slip through. Now, she had none of those options, try as she might, so instead, she attempted other tricks.

"Hello? Anybody?" She called out, hoping to get the attention of any sort of guards or jailers. She had no idea where she was, and she needed some answers. This must have been a misunderstanding, right? She couldn't recall having done anything to warrant being jailed (at least, not wherever this was). However, there was no response.

Well, not from any staff at least.

"Hey you, you're finally awake!"

It did however seem to get the attention of a prisoner in the cell across from her. As he approached his cell door, she took in his features. Judging from his features, the dark blue skin and pointed ears, he was a Drow. His expression changed from curiosity to a cruel sneer as he took a look at her.

"Hmm… what have we here? A pretty little Wood Elf, far from her forest? Looks like your days of woodland frolicking have come to a tragic end." The Drow gave a snort. "It must be awful. To go from the gladed realm of Valenwood to a rat-infested hole like this."

Lorelei had no idea where this 'Valenwood' was and so said nothing in response, though apparently, her expression gave something away as the Drow laughed.

"How very sad. These walls must feel like they're closing in on you." He continued to taunt. "This is it for you, Wood Elf. No more forests, no more wood land creatures to call to your aid. Well unless you like the rats."

But he was wrong. On many accounts. She wasn't trapped here. She couldn't call woodland creatures to her aid like a Druid, but her magic presented other ways of getting free. Like assuming a glowing incorporeal globe of light. She held up her hand, attempting to invoke the integral transformation that she had done so many times before.

Nothing happened.

She tried again.

Nothing continued to happen.

"Oh, what's wrong? Is there a problem? The woods not coming to your aid? You're not going anywhere soon." The Drow taunted. "No. Instead you'll go mad. And the guards' will slit your throat just to stop the ranting and then toss you in the lake. Oh that's right... you're going to die in her Wood Elf. You're going to die!"

The Drow gave a cackle while Lorelei tried not to let her frustration show on her face. Instead she calmly turned away, heading deeper into her small cell.

She couldn't transform. Why?

For a moment she wondered if she had been thrown into an Antimagic cell, but she was certain she'd feel it if she was. So what gave?

Lorelei looked up, at the single ray of light emerging from the cell window. Out of curiosity, she headed over and leaped up, clambering up the wall to grasp onto the bars. From there, she peered outside.

She could see a field of grass, and in the distance she could vaguely make out a body of water, possibly the lake the Drow had been referring to. It was here that she realized that her senses had been dulled as well. Ordinarily she could have seen much farther, even under the conditions that she was in, but now, the lack was again frustrating.

Not seeing anything changing in the scenery, she let go, landing back down in the cell, and it was here that she had to decide on a course of action.

Seeing as she was in a cell, weakened, and with no avenues of escape presenting themselves, there weren't many courses of action to decide on, save to wait.

Fortunately, one of the perks that came with becoming a spirit was patience. She again lacked physical needs and she didn't quite get bored easily. So Lorelei sat down on the floor, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes to meditate.

Time passed...

Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure how long she had been here in this cell initially and added onto that was the fact that it was easy to lose track of time as a spirit. Boredom didn't come easy. Most spirits could do the same thing for ages without issue. She herself had at times passed away centuries in this method.

At least, she had a window so she could now mark the changing of day to night. Another decent marker was that every so often, a guard, Human by the look of him, came by with a tray consisting of a bowl of thin gruel and dry bread, with the occasional wilted vegetable. None of it looked exceptionally appetizing, which wasn't a problem for her.

She had tried speaking to the guard who delivered her food, demanding to know why she had been imprisoned. He didn't answer her, he would barely even acknowledge her existence, much to her frustration, and the Drow's amusement.

From him, she learned a little more, at least in between all the mockery. His name was Valen Dreth and they were locked up in the prisons of Imperial City, capital of the 'Empire'. That didn't tell her much, though Valen Dreth indicated he was from a country (province? It wasn't clear and trying to press the Dark Elf for more information just resulted in more insults) called Morrowind, on an island called Vvardenfell. Unfortunately, none of those names meant anything to her.

And so, Lorelei waited.

Which left her plenty of time to ponder. One of the subjects of interest was how she had wound up in this cell in the first place.

Lorelei wracked her memories, but it was all a blur. The last clear thing she remembered was wrapping up a mission dealing with some Tanar'ri causing trouble in Limbo. Afterwards she had returned to Arborea to… to…

And that was where things got fuzzy. Had the spell gone wrong? Limbo could do funny things to magic after all. But she did remember arriving in Arborea, didn't she? It was frustrating and the only consistent thing she could recall was the feelings of strong determination, anger, confusion, arousal, outrage, joy and the sensation of falling, though she wasn't even sure what order she had felt those things in.

And then she had woken up here, after strange dreams.

Which made her wonder what had happened to all the magic items she had possessed previously. Her sword, her armor, her rings, her other enchanted garments, along with wondrous items, wands, potions, scrolls and so forth. All the things an adventurer carried around on themselves. Gone. Likely confiscated by the guards of this place, though also possibly lost in whatever mishap or incident had deposited her here in the first place.

Time passed...

Good news: As it turned out, not all her magic was gone.

Bad news: It seemed she was limited to the most basics of basics, mere cantrips and orisons. Fortunately, her more physical skills seemed not to have been lost. A few run through of fighting stances and katas made this clear, she still had her fighting instinct and prowess, though the mystical arts based in magic were now lost to her.

Not that such skill would do much good stuck in her cell. She had tried a few times to pick her cells lock using a splinter of bone, but unfortunately, she had never actually learned how to lockpick. Why when she could have ordinarily just smashed or phased through?

Which again left her in the position of simply waiting, as she had for weeks, sitting cross-legged on the floor of her cell for the most part. When she had stopped speaking to him and stopped moving altogether for long periods of time, Valen Dreth had tried to get in more barbs at her, but she had already tuned him out and at the persistent lack of response he had (eventually) given up.

Time passed...

Lorelei had stopped bothering to keep track of time, simply staying in her meditation stance, eyes closed, thoughts turned inwards. Valen had gone silent, though she could hear him shuffling around in his cell every so often, though he made no more attempts to speak to her.

Which left the cell block quiet enough to hear the sounds of commotion from upstairs one day, sounding like multiple people, which was new. There had only ever been the one guard who delivered her food, which she had never eaten (even after she had realized she could still use Prestidigitation). The food didn't look exactly fresh and she had no idea if something had been placed into it. As a Celestial she was resistant to poisons, but no reason to take risks especially now. If they were at all concerned by her lack of eating, it didn't show. They simply removed her untouched trays and left every day.

But now, things were different.

She opened her eyes and stood up for the first time in weeks, walking towards the bars of her cell. Valen Dreth was there at the bars of his cell as well.

"What's going on?" She asked, as she heard the door open. There was the sound of voices, speaking urgently, though she couldn't quite make out what was being said.

"Hear that? The guards are coming… For you!" The Drow let out a cackle as he moved away from his cell bars.

Was that true? Were they coming to execute her? If they were, well, she wasn't going to make it easy for them. She may be outnumbered, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

Lorelei heard the clatter of multiple armored figures walking down the staircase, as well as finally some intelligible speech.

"Baurus, lock that door behind us." A feminine voice sounded.

"Yessir." A male voice answered.

"Undead in the streets. What is the world coming to?" A third voice sounded, also male.

"It's happening. This is the end. My children. They're dead, aren't they?" Another male voice sounded, this one mournful.

"Sire, we don't know that. The messenger only said they were attacked."

"No, they're dead. I can feel it."

"Well, all I know is that my job right now is to get you to safety."

Some of the newcomers came into view, revealing themselves to be more Humans, in armor, though different from the armor the prison guard had been wearing.

"Wait, what's this prisoner doing here? This cell block is supposed to be off limits! It was decomissioned!" The woman said.

No acknowledgement of Valen Dreth?

A male voice sighed. "Usual mix-up with the watch. I… er…"

So they weren't here for her?

"Never mind, get that gate open. Stand back prisoner!"

Well, if they were going to open the gate, she might as well oblige them.

As she backed away, the soldiers opened the gates. A dark skinned man entered the cell. "Stay put, prisoner."

"No, the less who know of our passage the better, kill her." The woman said.

"Yessir." The man drew his weapon at her orders.

Lorelei immediately dropped into a fighting stance. Her opponents were armed and armored, and outnumbered her. At her former strength, this wouldn't have been too much of an impediment, but now, the odds were very, very much against her.

Still, she knew she wasn't going down without a fight. She'd try to fake him out. Bait him into making the first move. If he tried to swing at her she'd duck and strike at his legs, trip him or at least attempt to get him to drop his weapon, and-

"Stand down!" A powerful voice barked out.

The man paused, and turned as another figure entered the cell. This man was different from the others, being a gray haired elderly man clad in elegant robes, albeit with a sword at his side. However the thing about him that drew the most attention was the large ruby red amulet around his neck. That thing was obviously magical in some form, and it set her on edge. Rubies weren't really a good sign after all.

"You… you're… you're not from here… are you?" He asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean?" She said cautiously, tilting her head. Did he know she was extraplanar? Most Eladrin didn't like to let on to their true nature to mortals, and she'd prefer to adhere to that. "Who are you anyways?"

"I am Emperor Uriel Septim VII, by the grace of the Nine I serve Tamriel as her ruler. As to you... You're not supposed to be here, are you?"

Lorelei got the feeling it was more than just her being in an apparently off limits cell he was referring to. Also, the Nine? That with the prominent magical ruby amulet he was wearing didn't paint a good picture. Still, she was at these people's mercy and needed more answers.

"I don't believe so, stars willing. Which then begs the obvious question."

"Perhaps a quirk of fate or perhaps the gods have placed you here that we may meet."

"Perhaps." Lorelei had speculated many things as to how she had wound up in her predicament. She may have been the subject of a calling spell, it wouldn't have been the first time she had answered the call of a Planar Ally spell or been the target of a Planar Binding. Or maybe a god had plopped her down here like the Emperor suggested. She wouldn't put it past Zeus to have done this on a whim. "Though what are you doing here then, if not here for me?"

"An attack. My Blades and I are moving out of the city." Emperor Uriel said. Lorelei did recall them mentioning something about undead.

"Sire, we must keep moving." said the female bodyguard. She pushed a stone in the cell wall, and it slid inward. There was then a grinding sound as the alcove in which her bedding lay changed, the ledge sliding down while the back wall opened to reveal a secret passage. Would that Lorelei had known about that earlier.

"Well, it's your lucky day prisoner." The dark-skinned guard said coldly. "Just keep your distance."

After a third one of these 'Blades' locked the cell door behind him Emperor and his guards departed into the hidden passage. Lorelei followed behind slowly, letting them get out of sight.

So this is a thing. Of the various official Dungeons and Dragons settings, there are really only three I care much about, the top being Planescape*. I love the plane-hopping, bizarre environments, philosophy, and outsiders. Hence crossing this over with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Oblivion is kind of the red-headed stepchild of the franchise, but it was my introduction to Elder Scrolls, way back when I first rented it from Blockbuster (ain't that dated). I've always had a soft spot for it, janky as it is. Played the crap out of it when I originally rented and later bought it, and recently dusted it off to play again (which is where the idea for this fic came from). However, looking back, one of the things that i rather disliked was despite the game being called Oblivion, you only ever go to one realm (the Deadlands) and only one Daedric Prince is involved in the main story which feels disappointing, so that (and some other things, as you can no doubt tell from this chapter alone) will be changed.

So, we'll see where this goes. Feedback is appreciated. Also someone who's fairly knowledgeable of Elder Scrolls lore.

~Dragonexx

*The other two for the curious are Dark Sun and Dragonlance.

Dragonexx · Oct 29, 2022

Now that I am currently spared the agony of having to type things out on mobile, here we go.

Slaggedfire said:
So I don't know much about DnD and did some research into Eladrin and Ghaele. I'm not sure how she would be confused for a breton... Also they are not immortal, so she's still a mortal. At least that's what the forgotten realms wiki tells me.

it also mentions something about being unbelievably strong. Not entirely sure how that is taken away when for all I know it's just part of being a Ghaele.

Relent26 said:
I agree I don't see mistaking a Ghaele for a Breton is a stretch, why not an Altmer?

Eladrin lore is different depending on what edition your using. So Eladrin were first introduced in a Planescape based card game, Blood Wars, before actually debuing in the game proper in Planescape Monstrous Compendium 2 in which they are celestials and the embodiment of Chaotic Good dwelling on the plane of Arborea (much like Archons embody Lawful Good and dwell on Celestia or Yugoloth embody Neutral Evil ect.). Amusingly, since the PMC2 was released after Planes of Chaos, there's nothing on them in that set.

This continued into third edition largely using the preexisting lore before in 4e they were for some reason changed to fey. As is clearly obvious, I am using the Chaotic Good Celestial Eladrin as that's the version I prefer.

As such, this is a combination of the Planescape version of the Eladrin along with Pathfinders Azata (non-copyright-infringing Eladrin) who are described as looking either human or elven, or sometimes animalistic.

Like this one here. Note the rounded ears.

As to my own stuff. Firstly, why are humanoid celestials so often limited to just human or elven appearances? Why can't they also look like dwarves or orcs or halflings or goblins or whatever? I want them to. So they can. Though as stated earlier, Akari is more on the human end of the spectrum. As her name suggests, she actually looks asian (and was before ascending to become an Eladrin) and could pass herself off as being from Akavir if she had any idea what that was (not that most people in Tamriel would know/care).

Additionally, the Ghaele's abilities and magics are expanded somewhat here, as for example she has access to Prestidigitation.

As to the strength thing. Think of it sort of like the racial classes from Savage Species (except, you know, not shit) in which ability scores are part of the level up.

Kesharrad said:
Oblivion, huh? Can't wait to see the kid of misunderstandings Akari will get into.

Yep, Akari already thinks the Emperor is a Devil worshipper.

Dragonexx · Oct 29, 2022

Chapter 2

Tunnels ~~and Trolls~~

Walking through the tunnel, it wasn't long before Lorelei heard the sounds of combat. Despite wanting to rush ahead to see what was happening, she exercised caution, remembering that she was both weakened and unarmed, and possibly in the presence of a bunch of devil-worshippers.

As she approached the din, the tunnel she was in gave way from natural caverns to worked stone once more, which piqued her curiosity. Architecture and engineering wasn't one of her strong suits, but she could tell that it was a different style from what she could see of the prison she had been in. Was the prison build on an older structure?

But there was time enough to deal with that later, as she was drawing ever closer to the battle. In short order, the sounds grew louder as she approached a large chamber.

"The captain is down!" A voice cried out.

Lorelei ducked behind a pillar, peering out to see the Blades fighting against a group of assailants clad in a mixture of armor and dark red robes, wielding weapons of a strange design, and indeed, true to the shout, one of the Blades lay on the ground, dead.

Even with one of their number down, the Blades still stood to triumph. Even the Emperor himself was fighting, and Lorelei watched as he disarmed one of the assailant and then impaled him with his sword, while the dark-skinned Blade slew the other.

As the two assailants hit the ground, there was a red shimmer, and their equipment faded. The weapons vanished, while their outfits transformed into more mundane clothes.

"Are you okay, my liege?" One of the remaining Blades asked. "We're clear for now."

"Yes." The Emperor said. "But Captain Renault?"

"I'm sorry sire, we must keep moving."

Emperor Uriel sighed mournfully, before moving over to the body of one of the assailants and gasping. "I recognize her!"

"You do?"

"She was one of the palace maids."

"Then you were right." The other Blade said. "The capital is no longer safe."

"So it seems."

"But how could they be waiting for us here of all places?!"

"I don't know, but it's too late to go back now."

"So we keep moving forwards. Don't worry sire, we will get you to safety. They wouldn't be the first to underestimate the Blades!"

The Emperor and his two remaining bodyguards took off down a tunnel.

Once the room was quiet, Lorelei followed after them, only to find her progress barred. There was a solid door in her path, unfortunately locked, to her frustration.

So what now? Was all that came of this merely a larger cell?

No wait… I feel… a draft?

Lorelei followed the draft to its source, finding a section of the wall that was clearly crumbling. A few well placed kicks sent the thing crumbling down.

Bingo!

Before heading into the new tunnel however, she turned back to the room. She had no idea what was waiting for her in that tunnel. She needed to be prepared properly.

No sense in letting perfectly good bodies go unlooted.

She first searched the mysterious assailants. There was no trace of the equipment they had used before, confirming that it was indeed magically conjured. On their bodies, the only thing she found of use was a handful of gold coins.

The Blade corpse was a different story.

The first thing about this Captain 'Renault' that drew Lorelei's gaze was her weapon. A katana, if she wasn't wrong. She hadn't taken too much time to examine their weapons in the heat of the moment but come to think of it, those other Blades also used katanas.

Strange, it didn't really match their armor, which was more western in design, but in the end, it didn't really matter. She'd seen many Prime worlds and beyond and in them a variety of cultures and styles, some simple to understand, some bizarre to the extreme. This was rather tame in comparison.

Turning back to the sword, Lorelei examined it. The blade was made of some sort of strange black metal of which Lorelei was unfamiliar with. Still, it was of very masterful make. Going through a few practice swings let the weapon feel natural in her grip. She didn't favor katanas, but it was better than nothing.

She turned back towards Renault's corpse, pondering over her armor, before eventually deciding it she wasn't interested in taking it. It didn't seem enchanted and without that, it would be a poor fit considering Renault's more modest figure compared to her own. The only other things of note on her person were a sheath for the katana, which she took, and a torch, which with natural darkvision, she had no need of and left behind.

Lorelei then heard a scratching and screeching sound from behind her, and turned to see of all things, two dire rats emerging from the tunnel. The first let out a screech and rushed towards her.

Well, a least I can put this sword to the test right away.

Lorelei sidestepped as the rat leaped into the air, and swung her sword, neatly bisecting the monster. She then stepped towards the second rat in the same fluid motion, bringing the sword down on its head as she did so. She then flourished the blade to flick off most of the blood before examining the weapon again.

Her initial assessment of the weapons quality appeared to be spot on, she had barely felt any resistance when the weapon went through the dire rats, it was razor sharp, and as she thought, very well balanced. A quick usage of Prestidigitation to completely clean off the weapon, and she sheathed the blade. Unfortunately, the sheath had apparently been designed to attach to the armor the late Renault had been wearing, meaning for the time being, she would have to carry the sheath in her hand. No matter. With everything prepared, she set out into the new tunnel.

Right away, she encountered a corpse. Seeing as it had rotted away into mere bones, whoever it was had clearly been dead a good while. They held an old bow and quiver, though the string had long since rotted away. They were possibly an adventurer of some sort, judging from the chest near them, which when Lorelei slashed it open revealed a small amount of gold coins and a gemstone.

Man, this sort of thing really took her back.

But now really wasn't the time to reminisce on her early adventures or she'd be here all month. She really needed to get out of here and get a bearing on her situation. So she forged onwards.

The only opposition she encountered were a few more dire rats, until she came to something that stood out. A Goblin corpse. A fresh Goblin corpse.

The corpse was already in the later stages of rigor mortis, meaning it couldn't have died more than a day ago by her estimate. As to the death, the preponderance of bites on it's flesh and entire chunks missing indicated the Goblin had met his end as a meal to the rodents.

Though less interesting that the cause of death was it's aforementioned freshness. Goblin's tended to group together, so where there was one, there was likely more. Something to watch out for should they prove hostile.

In the meantime, she searched the Goblins body for anything that may be of use. She did find to her pleasure that the goblin had a satchel, in which was contained what appeared to be a potion, as well as some scrolls. Unfortunately, she had no means of identifying what their function was, and so kept them in the satchel to figure out later.

Forging onwards, she pushed past a broken door, continuing through the underways. Despite being on the lookout, the only creatures she encountered were more dire rats, at least, until she heard a distinctive moaning.

Pausing, and drawing her blade once more, she rounded the corner, only to dodge as a clammy hand swiped at her. Lorelei backed away in surprise as an actual zombie stumbled towards her.

She remembered the Blades saying something about undead in the city. Was this one of them? She had no way of knowing, unfortunately.

She easily dodged the zombies clumsy swings and backpedaled, examining the creature all the while. She couldn't identify what race it belonged to, the undead was disfigured, bloated, and heavily decayed. Which did make Lorelei grateful she didn't have to breathe.

Instead she held out her hand, tapping into her magic. She mentally reached out, drawing upon a connection to the Positive Energy Plane, letting the energy from the conduit flow through her and towards the zombie.

A mortal would ordinarily require a holy implement to Turn Undead, however, she was a Celestial. Her very body was a holy implement. As such, at her will, the energy surged outwards from her outstretched hand to wash over the zombie. Calling upon it felt curiously different than all the previous times she had done so. And instead of the uniform blindingly white light, what emerged was a riotous maelstrom of colors. Regardless of the changes, the Turning was effective. The creature grunted, halting mid swing, and instead fled.

Even still, Lorelei frowned. While she was glad that she had retained any Turning ability at all, again, at her former strength, this lowly undead creature would have been blasted to mere ashes and dust. Now, however, her abilities were weakened and she felt more of a struggle to draw upon the energies necessary for Turning.

Instead, she drew her katana, and leaped towards the creature, cutting it down with little effort. The blade was of remarkable quality as always.

Another flourish to flick the blood off, and the blade was sheathed, with Lorelei continuing on her way. As she delved deeper the constructed portions gradually began to give way to natural caverns. Along the way, the only things she encountered were once again dire rats, who were easily dispatched.

After that, the next thing she encounters were skulls, strung up to hang, more than likely marking some sort of territory. Beyond that, she saw a light flickering ahead. Curious, Lorelei crept forwards, weapon at the ready, as she wasn't sure what she would be walking into.

It turned out to be a Goblin, as she had suspected from the fresh corpse earlier, meaning the skulls were marking this place as a Goblin's den. He hadn't noticed her yet, which is why Lorelei cleared her throat, after sheathing her sword.

The Goblin immediately turned towards her, brandishing an old rusted dagger.

"Hello?" She greeted. As a Celestial she possessed the Gift of Tongues, allowing her to speak and understand any language and read the same. It was what allowed her to speak to the Emperor and his Blades, despite the fact that she could tell they didn't share a common language.

Likewise, Lorelei didn't speak Goblin, though that wasn't an obstacle to her. At her greeting, the Goblin paused, perhaps pondering. To perhaps aid his decision, she set down her katana.

"I come in peace?" Perhaps she could negotiate with these Goblins and learn-

The Goblin inhaled deeply and let out a loud screeching wail that echoed through the caverns. He then charged at her, dagger outstretched.

Lorelei stepped to the side and kicked the Goblin as he passed. The assailant hit the ground and rolled, before springing to his feet, though by then, it was too late, Lorelei leaped towards him with a flying kick, striking her enemy square in the head. The Goblin dropped like a sack.

So they were hostile. Lorelei sighed in disappointment. She still had to find a way though here as it was the only path, and weakened as she was, she was not looking forwards to it.

And so, Lorelei inspected the area. The flickering lights had been a fire over which was roasting a dire rat. Looked tasty, but now wasn't the time, unfortunately, much as she would have loved to indulge. While many would have turned up their noses at rat meat, she had had some as part of a mission advising some Kobolds and learned that with the right preparation…

Focus!

The only other things around the area were what appeared to be some sort of alchemy tools set atop a crate. A mortar and pestle, along with several herbs and mushrooms, along with a vial of some sort of liquid, most likely another potion and the end result of whatever alchemic process the Goblin had been performing. Unstoppering the bottle, she gave it a sniff. It certainly smelled rank enough that it was likely some sort of poison oil instead, though she couldn't tell for sure. She closed it again and placed it in her satchel.

If she had the time she'd to try and identify just what these concoctions were, but she unless she felt she truly needed them, she'd prefer to try and find her way out of these caverns first. Surely, there had to be a way? These Goblins had to have access to the surface in some form or-

The patter of feet against the ground alerted Lorelei to someone else approaching. This Goblin was better armed, wielding both a sword and shield.

Lorelei dove for her weapon as he rushed towards her. Grabbing it, she leaped over his slash, landing behind him, and in a quick movement, unsheathed her blade and slashed through his back. The Goblin gave a grunt as his blood splattered against the walls of the cavern before collapsing to the ground.

She really shouldn't linger here, in the middle of a Goblin den. Once again cleaning off her blade, she took off through the cavern.

Fortunately, she encountered nothing other than another bonfire, before coming to a pile of lumber at the top of an incline. Looking down, she could see a party of Goblins heading towards her.

Clearly these Goblins knew nothing about workplace safety.

With a good kick, the logs were sent rolling down the slope and over the Goblins, trapping them beneath them.

Running past them, Lorelei continued down the tunnel until she came to a large open chamber. This seemed to be a large gathering area for the Goblins, as she could see many of them in the area, along with some dire rats in a pen. The thing that drew her attention most of all however, was the Goblin standing over a bubbling cauldron, staff in hand.

Great, a mage.

Still, silver lining, they had yet to notice that she had entered the area, and so, rather than fight. Lorelei elected to use stealth.

While she was confident in her fighting skills, and whatever vestiges of her former power remained could aid her in this fight, Lorelei didn't see a point in taking the risk. She had no real quarrel with these Goblins other than that they stood in her path, and she would rather not risk a large fight in which she was outnumbered and likely outmagicked.

Instead, she kept to the shadows at the edge of the area, away from the light of the torches. The Goblins didn't notice her passing, instead apparently thinking she was still in the tunnel she had emerged from, heading out at the shaman's orders.

Thankfully, she made it to the other side of the cavern unmolested, slipping into one of the back tunnels.

Fortunately, after that point, she encountered no more goblins as she travelled, thankfully it seemed she had left the Goblin den behind, encountering nothing more as she passed.

And after several more minutes of travel, she had left behind the natural caverns as well, as after passing through a shattered gate of sorts, the walls began to transition to worked stone and pillars. And it was there that she heard familiar voices.

Despite the various D&D related fics I've done, this is the first time I think I've written an actual dungeon crawl. It was fun, though I hope I did it fairly well.

~Dragonexx

Dragonexx · Sep 6, 2024

Dungeons and Daedra

Chapter 1

The Prisoner's Dilemma

The first thing Akari noticed on awakening was the splitting headache, which kind of got in the way of noticing anything else. She tried to open her eyes, only to find her vision extremely blurry and the light in the area was only aggravating her pain.

She felt weak, disoriented, her thoughts were a confused mess. Trying to think and process just hurt more, so she instead lay there, curled up, not even attempting to wimper as the pain spread not to just her body but her mind as well. Her thoughts were even more chaotic than normal, an incoherent mess of visions filled with fire and blood that denied the potential for any comprehensible thought.

Eventually, eventually, the pain subsided, reduced to little more than an ache that was soon forgotten, and the visions faded to darkness. Akari began to stir. She opened her eyes, waiting for a moment while they adjusted. Her vision was still blurry. And she felt so damn weak.

Was she hungover? It felt like she had been partying with Dionysus or Ama-no-Uzume again, and that would be an explanation for the pain she had been in. However, as she soon saw, this wasn't Olympus. Well, unless Olympus had drastically downgraded their prisons, at least.

No, this wasn't Olympus. Judging from the feel of the place, it wasn't even Arborea.

She was in a small damp dirty cell made of stone, laying in an alcove on a rough sheet of cloth that seemed to serve as a blanket. There wasn't much to the cell; a crude wooden table and chair on which was a simple clay jug and cup, manacles on chains hanging from the ceiling, a bucket in a corner for her needs, though the most notable feature had to be the bones scattered about.

Lovely.

Akari looked over herself. Her strength wasn't the only thing that had changed. He clothes had changed as well, she was back in her old enchanted uniform, of all things. Something she had worn in her early days soon after she had been transformed from a mortal. The only addition was a pair of iron manacles on her wrists, though there were no chains attached to them.

At that, Akari started, standing up. Her weakness, her old outfit. Had she somehow been reverted back to…

No. Looking within herself, Akari felt none of the desires of a mortal, no hunger, or sleep, nor the need to breathe. She still had no physical needs. She was still a Ghaele Eladrin, a Spirit. Albeit very weakened from her former might. Though how was a mystery indeed. Had she been enervated? She wasn't sure. She had been subject to energy drain magics before and this didn't exactly feel like that. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like any answers were forthcoming soon.

Which left the problem of the cell itself. There was a barred window letting in a ray of light and on the other side a barred gate. Striding up to the gate she placed her hands on it. Before, at her former might, she could have ripped this door off it's hinges, or failing that at least bend the bars to slip through. Now, she had none of those options, try as she might, so instead, she attempted other tricks.

"Hello? Anybody?" She called out, hoping to get the attention of any sort of guards or jailers. She had no idea where she was, and she needed some answers. This must have been a misunderstanding, right? She couldn't recall having done anything to warrant being jailed.However, there was no response.

Well, not from any staff at least.

"Hey you, you're finally awake!"

It did however seem to get the attention of a prisoner in the cell across from her. As he approached his cell door, she took in his features. Judging from his features, the dark blue skin and pointed ears, he was a Drow. His expression changed from curiosity to a cruel sneer as he took a look at her.

"Hmm… looking at you, pale skin and all, you must be a Breton. The 'masters of Magicka' or so they say." The Drow gave a snort. "You're nothing but a stuck up harlot with cheap parlor tricks."

Akari said nothing in response, though apparently, her expression gave something away.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve girl? Well, go ahead, prove me wrong. Try your Magicka in here! Make these bars disappear!" He said, wiggling his fingers.

Her magic didn't work like that, but it could do other things. Like assuming a glowing incorporeal globe of light. She held up her hand, attempting to invoke the integral transformation that she had done so many times before.

Nothing happened.

She tried again.

Nothing continued to happen.

"Oh, what's wrong? Is there a problem? Not so powerful are you Breton? You're not going anywhere soon." The Drow taunted. "No, you're not going to leave this prison 'til they throw your body in the lake. Oh that's right, you're going to die in her Breton. You're going to die!"

The Drow gave a cackle while Akari tried not to let her frustration show on her face. Instead she calmly turned away, heading deeper into her small cell.

She couldn't transform. Why?

For a moment she wondered if she had been thrown into an Antimagic cell, but no, she could still feel the protective enchantments of her clothing. So what gave?

Akari looked up, at the single ray of light emerging from the cell window. Out of curiosity, she headed over and leaped up, clambering up the wall to grasp onto the bars. From there, she peered outside.

She could see a field of grass, and in the distance she could vaguely make out a body of water, possibly the lake the Drow had been referring to. It was here that she realized that her senses had been dulled as well. Ordinarily she could have seen much farther, even under the conditions that she was in, but now, the lack was again frustrating.

Not seeing anything changing in the scenery, she let go, landing back down in the cell, and it was here that she had to decide on a course of action.

Seeing as she was in a cell, weakened, and with no avenues of escape presenting themselves, there weren't many courses of action to decide on, save to wait.

Fortunately, one of the perks that came with becoming a spirit was patience. She again lacked physical needs and she didn't quite get bored easily. So Akari sat down on the floor, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes to meditate.

Time passed...

Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure how long she had been here in this cell initially and added onto that was the fact that it was easy to lose track of time as a spirit. Boredom didn't come easy. Most spirits could do the same thing for ages without issue.

At least, she had a window so she could now mark the changing of day to night. Another decent marker was that every so often, a guard, Human by the look of him, came by with a tray consisting of a bowl of thin gruel and dry bread, with the occasional wilted vegetable. None of it looked exceptionally appetizing, which wasn't a problem for her.

She had tried speaking to the guard who delivered her food, demanding to know why she had been imprisoned. He didn't answer her, barely even acknowledge her existence, much to her frustration, and the Drow's amusement.

From him, she learned a little more, at least in between all the mockery. His name was Valen Dreth and they were locked up in the prisons of Imperial City, capital of the 'Empire'. That didn't tell her much, though Valen Dreth indicated he was from a country (province? It wasn't clear and trying to press the Dark Elf for more information just resulted in more insults) called Morrowind, on an island called Vvardenfell. Unfortunately, none of those names meant anything to her.

And so, Akari waited.

Which left her plenty of time to ponder. One of the more particular things was how she had wound up in this cell in the first place.

Akari wracked her memories, but it was all a blur. The last clear thing she remembered was wrapping up a mission dealing with some Tanar'ri causing trouble in Limbo. Afterwards she had returned to Arborea to… to…

And that was where things got fuzzy. Had the spell gone wrong? Limbo could do funny things to magic after all. But she did remember arriving in Arborea, didn't she? It was frustrating and the only consistent thing she could recall was the feelings of strong determination, anger, confusion, arousal, outrage and the sensation of falling, though she wasn't even sure what order she had felt those things in.

And then she had woken up here, after strange dreams.

Early on, she had checked the pockets of her skirt, hoping to find something of use. Unfortunately, there was nothing but lint. Which made her wonder what had happened to all the magic items she had possessed previously. Her sword, her rings, her robe, her other enchanted garments, along with wondrous items, wands, potions, scrolls and so forth. All the things an adventurer carried around on themselves. Gone.

Time passed...

Good news: As it turned out, not all her magic was gone.

Bad news: It seemed she was limited to the the most basics of basics, mere cantrips and orisons. As Valen would put it, prestigiditations and cheap parlor tricks.

Fortunately, her skills seemed not to have been lost. A few run throughs of fighting stances and katas made this clear, she still had her fighting instinct and prowess, though the mystical arts based on her chi were of course beyond her now.

Not that such skill would do much good stuck in her cell. She had tried a few times to pick her cells lock using a splinter of bone, but unfortunately, she had never actually learned how to lockpick. Why when she could have ordinarily just smashed or phased through?

Which again left her in the position of simply waiting, as she had for weeks, sitting cross-legged on the floor of her cell for the most part. When she had stopped speaking to him and stopped moving altogether for long periods of time, Valen Dreth had tried to get in more barbs at her, but she had already tuned him out and at the persistent lack of response he had (eventually) given up.

Time passed...

Akari had stopped bothering to keep track of time, simply staying in her meditation stance, eyes closed, thoughts turned inwards. Valen had gone silent, though she could hear him shuffling around in his cell every so often, though he made no more attempts to speak to her.

Which left the cell block quiet enough to hear the sounds of commotion from upstairs one day, sounding like multiple people, which was new. There had only ever been the one guard who delivered her food. which she had never eaten (even after she had realized she could still use Prestidigitation). The food didn't look exactly fresh and she had no idea if something had been placed into it. As a Celestial she was resistant to poisons, but no reason to take risks especially now. If they were at all concerned by her lack of eating, it didn't show. They simply removed her untouched trays and left every day.

But now, things were different.

She opened her eyes and stood up for the first time in a week, walking towards the bars of her cell. Valen Dreth was there at the bars of his cell as well.

"What's going on?" She asked, as she heard the door open. There was the sound of voices, speaking urgently, though she couldn't make out what was being said.

"Hear that? The guards are coming… For you!" The Drow let out a cackle as he moved away from his cell bars.

Was that true? Were they coming to execute her? If they were, well, she wasn't going to make it easy for them. She may be outnumbered, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

Akari heard the clatter of multiple armored figures walking down the staircase, as well as finally some intelligible speech.

"Baurus, lock that door behind us." A feminine voice sounded.

"Yessir." A male voice answered.

"Undead in the streets. What is the world coming to?" A third voice sounded, also male.

"It's happening. This is the end. My children. They're dead, aren't they?" Another male voice sounded, this one mournful.

"Sire, we don't know that. The messenger only said they were attacked."

"No, they're dead. I can feel it."

"Well, all I know is that my job right now is to get you to safety."

Some of the newcomers came into view, revealing themselves to be more Humans, in armor, though different from the armor the prison guard had been wearing.

"Wait, what's this prisoner doing here? This cell block is supposed to be off limits! It was decomissioned!" The woman said.

No acknowledgement of Valen Dreth?

A male voice sighed. "Usual mix-up with the watch. I… er…"

So they weren't here for her?

"Never mind, get that gate open. Stand back prisoner!"

Well, if they were going to open the gate, she might as well oblige them.

As she backed away, the soldiers opened the gates. A dark skinned man entered the cell. "Stay put, prisoner."

"No, the less who know of our passage the better, kill her." The woman said.

"Yessir." The man drew his weapon at her orders.

Akari immediately dropped into a fighting stance. Her opponents were armed and armored, and outnumbered her. At her former strength, this wouldn't have been too much of an impediment, but now, the odds were very, very much against her.

Still, she knew she wasn't going down without a fight. She'd try to fake him out. Bait him into making the first move. If he tried to swing at her she'd duck and strike at his legs, trip him or at least attempt to get him to drop his weapon, and-

"Stand down!" A powerful voice barked out.

The man paused, and turned as another figure entered the cell. This man was different from the others, being a gray haired elderly man clad in elegant robes, a sword at his side. However the thing about him that drew the most attention was the large ruby red amulet around his neck. That thing was obviously magical in some form, and it set her on edge. Rubies weren't really a good sign after all.

"You… you're… you're not from here… are you?" He asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean?" She said cautiously, tilting her head. Did he know she was extraplanar? Most Eladrin didn't like to let on to their true nature to mortals, and she'd prefer to adhere to that. "Who are you anyways?"

"I am Emperor Uriel Septim VII, by the grace of the Nine I serve Tamriel as her ruler. As to you... You're not supposed to be here, are you?"

Akari got the feeling it was more than just her being in an apparently off limits cell he was referring to. Also, the Nine? That with the prominent magical ruby amulet he was wearing didn't paint a good picture. Still, she needed more answers.

"I don't believe so, stars willing. Which then begs the obvious question."

"Perhaps a quirk of fate or perhaps the gods have placed you here that we may meet."

"Perhaps." Akari had speculated many things as to how she had wound up in her predicament. She may have been the subject of a calling spell, it wouldn't have been the first time she had answered the call of a Planar Ally spell or been the target of a Planar Binding. Or maybe a god had plopped her down here like the Emperor suggested. She wouldn't put it past Zeus to have done this on a whim. "Though what are you doing here then, if not here for me?"

"An attack. My Blades and I are moving out of the city." Emperor Uriel said. Akari did recall them mentioning something about undead.

"Sire, we must keep moving." said the female bodyguard. She pushed a stone in the cell wall, and it slid inward. There was then a grinding sound as the alcove in which her bedding lay changed, the ledge sliding down while the back wall opened to reveal a secret passage. Would that Akari had known about that earlier.

"Well, it's your lucky day prisoner." The dark-skinned guard said coldly. "Just keep your distance."

After a third one of these 'Blades' locked the cell door behind him Emperor and his guards departed into the hidden passage. Akari followed behind slowly, letting them get out of sight.

So this is a thing. Of the various official Dungeons and Dragons settings, there are really only three I care much about, the top being Planescape*. I love the plane-hopping, bizarre environments, philosophy, and outsiders. Hence crossing this over with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Oblivion is kind of the red-headed stepchild of the franchise, but it was my introduction to Elder Scrolls, way back when I first rented it from Blockbuster (ain't that dated). I've always had a soft spot for it, janky as it is. Played the crap out of it when I originally rented and later bought it, and recently dusted it off to play again (which is where the idea for this fic came from). However, looking back, one of the things that i rather disliked was despite the game being called Oblivion, you only ever go to one realm (the Deadlands) and only one Daedric Prince is involved in the main story which feels disappointing, so that (and some other things, as you can no doubt tell from this chapter alone) will be changed.

So, we'll see where this goes. Feedback is appreciated. Also someone who's fairly knowledgeable of Elder Scrolls lore.

~Dragonexx

*The other two for the curious are Dark Sun and Dragonlance.

Dragonexx · Sep 6, 2024

Chapter 2

Tunnels ~~and~~ ~~~~Trolls~~~~

Walking through the tunnel, it wasn't long before Akari heard the sounds of combat. Despite wanting to rush ahead to see what was happening, she exercised caution, remembering that she was both weakened and unarmed, and possibly in the presence of a bunch of devil-worshippers.

As she approached the din, the tunnel she was in gave way from natural caverns to worked stone, which piqued her curiosity. Architecture and engineering wasn't one of her strong suits, but she could tell that it was a different style from what she could see of the prison she had been in. Was the prison build on an older structure?

But there was enough time to deal with that later, as she was drawing ever closer to the battle. In short order, the sounds grew louder as she approached a large chamber.

"The captain is down!" A voice cried out.

Akari ducked behind a pillar, peering out to see the Blades fighting against a a group of assailants clad in a mixture of armor and dark red robes, wielding weapons of a strange design, and indeed, true to the shout, one of the Blades lay on the ground, dead.

Even with one of their number down, the Blades still stood to triumph. Even the Emperor himself was fighting, and Akari watched as he disarmed one of the assailant and then impaled him with his sword, while the dark-skinned Blade slew the other.

As the two assailants hit the ground, there was a red shimmer, and their equipment faded. The weapons vanished, while their outfits transformed into more mundane clothes.

"Are you okay, my liege?" One of the remaining Blades asked. "We're clear for now."

"Yes." The Emperor said. "But Captain Renault?"

"I'm sorry sire, we must keep moving."

Emperor Uriel sighed mournfully, before moving over to the body of one of the assailants and gasping. "I recognize her!"

"You do?"

"She was one of the palace maids."

"Then you were right." The other Blade said. "The capital is no longer safe."

"So it seems."

"But how could they be waiting for us here of all places?!"

"I don't know, but it's too late to go back now."

"So we keep moving forwards. Don't worry sire, we will get you to safety. They wouldn't be the first to underestimate the Blades!"

The Emperor and his two remaining bodyguards took off down a tunnel.

Once the room was quiet, Akari followed after them, only to find her progress barred. There was a solid door in her path, unfortunately locked, to her frustration.

So what now? Was all that came of this merely a larger cell?

No wait… I feel… a draft?

Akari followed the draft to its source, finding a section of the wall that was clearly crumbling. A few well placed kicks sent the thing crumbling down.

Bingo!

Before heading into the new tunnel however, she turned back to the room. She had no idea what was waiting for her in that tunnel. She needed to be prepared properly.

No sense in letting perfectly good bodies go unlooted.

She first searched the mysterious assailants. There was no trace of the equipment they had used before, confirming that it was indeed magically conjured. On their bodies, the only thing she found of use was a handful of gold coins.

The Blade corpse was a different story.

The first thing about this Captain 'Renault' that drew Akari's gaze was her weapon. A katana, like the sword she had used previously. She hadn't taken too much time to examine their weapons in the heat of the moment but come to think of it, those other Blades also used katanas.

Strange, it didn't really match their armor, which was more western in design, but in the end, it didn't really matter. She'd seen many prime worlds and beyond and in them a variety of cultures and styles, some simple to understand, some bizarre to the extreme. This was rather tame in comparison.

Turning back to the sword, Akari examined it. The blade was made of some sort of strange black metal of which Akari was unfamiliar with. Still, it was of very masterful make. Going through a few practice swings let the weapon feel natural in her grip.

She turned back towards Renault's corpse, pondering over her armor, before eventually deciding it she wasn't interested in taking it. She had never really favored armor, and the enchantments in her old uniform worked well enough as protection. The only other things of note on her person were a sheath for the katana and a torch, which with natural darkvision, she had no need of and left behind.

Akari then heard a scratching and screeching sound from behind her, and turned to see of all things, two dire rats emerging from the tunnel. The first let out a screech and rushed towards her.

Well, a least I can put this sword to the test right away.

Akari sidestepped as the rat leaped into the air, and swung her sword, neatly bisecting the monster. She then stepped towards the second rat in the same fluid motion, bringing the sword down on its head as she did so. She then flourished the blade to flick off most of the blood before examining the weapon again.

Her initial assessment of the weapons quality appeared to be spot on, she had barely felt any resistance when the weapon went through the dire rats, it was razor sharp, and as she thought, very well balanced. A quick usage of Prestidigitation to completely clean off the weapon, and she sheathed the blade. Unfortunately, the sheath had apparently been designed to attach to the armor the late Renault had been wearing, meaning for the time being, she would have to carry the sheath in her hand. No matter. With everything prepared, she set out into the new tunnel.

Right away, she encountered a corpse. Seeing as it had rotted away into mere bones, whoever it was had clearly been dead a good while. They held an old bow and quiver, though the string had long since rotted away. They were possibly an adventurer of some sort, judging from the chest near them, which when Akari slashed it open revealed a small amount of gold coins and a gemstone.

Man, this sort of thing really took her back.

But now really wasn't the time to reminisce on her early adventures or she'd be here all week. She really needed to get out of here and get a bearing on her situation. So she forged onwards.

The only opposition she encountered were a few more dire rats, until she came to something that stood out. A Goblin corpse. A fresh Goblin corpse.

The corpse was already in the later stages of rigor mortis, meaning it couldn't have died more than a day ago by her estimate. As to the death, the preponderance of bites on it's flesh and entire chunks missing indicated the Goblin had met his end as a meal to the rodents.

Though less interesting that the cause of death was it's aforementioned freshness. Goblin's tended to group together, so where there was one, there was likely more. Something to watch out for should they prove hostile.

In the meantime, she searched the Goblins body for anything that may be of use. She did find to her pleasure that the goblin had a satchel, in which was contained what appeared to be a potion, as well as some scrolls. Unfortunately, she had no means of identifying what their function was, and so kept them in the satchel to figure out later.

Forging onwards, she pushed past a broken door, continuing through the underways. Despite being on the lookout, the only creatures she encountered were more dire rats, at least, until she heard a distinctive moaning.

Pausing, and drawing her blade once more, she rounded the corner, only to dodge as a clammy hand swiped at her. Akari backed away in surprise as an actual zombie stumbled towards her.

She remembered the Blades saying something about undead in the city. Was this one of them? She had no way of knowing, unfortunately.

She easily dodged the zombies clumsy swings and backpedaled, examining the creautre all the while. She couldn't identify what race it belonged to, the undead was disfigured, bloated, and heavily decayed. Which did make Akari grateful she didn't have to breathe.

Instead she held out her hand, tapping into her magic. She mentally reached out, drawing upon a connection to the Positive Energy Plane, letting the energy from the conduit flow through her and towards the zombie.

A mortal would ordinarily require a holy implement to Turn Undead, however, she was a Celestial. Her very body was a holy implement. As such, at her will, the energy surged outwards from her outstretched hand to wash over the zombie. The creature grunted, halting mid swing, and instead fled.

Even still, Akari frowned. While she was glad that she had retained any Turning ability at all, again, at her former strength, this lowly undead creature would have been blasted to mere ashes and dust.

Instead, she drew her katana, and leaped towards the creature, cutting it down with little effort. The blade was of remarkable quality as always.

Another flourish to flick the blood off, and the blade was sheathed, with Akari continuing on her way. As she delved deeper the constructed portions gradually began to give way to natural caverns. Along the way, the only things she encountered were once again dire rats, who were easily dispatched.

After that, the next thing she encounter were skulls, strung up to hang, more than likely marking some sort of territory. Beyond that, she saw a light flickering ahead. Curious, Akari crept forwards, weapon at the ready, as she wasn't sure what she would be walking into.

It turned out to be a Goblin, as she had suspected from the fresh corpse earlier, meaning the skulls were marking this place as a Goblin's den. He hadn't noticed her yet, which is why Akari cleared her throat, after sheathing her sword.

The Goblin immediately turned towards her, brandishing an old rusted dagger.

"Hello?" She greeted. As a Celestial she possessed the Gift of Tongues, allowing her to speak and understand any language and read the same. It was what allowed her to speak to the Emperor and his Blades, despite the fact that she could tell they didn't share a common language.

Likewise, Akari didn't speak Goblin, though that wasn't an obstacle to her. At her greeting, the Goblin paused, perhaps pondering. To perhaps aid his decision, she set down her katana.

"I come in peace?" Perhaps she could negotiate with these Goblins and learn-

The Goblin inhaled deeply and let out a loud screeching wail that echoed through the caverns. He then charged at her, dagger outstretched.

Akari stepped to the side and kicked the Goblin as he passed. The assailant hit the ground and rolled, before springing to his feet, though by then, it was too late, Akari leaped towards him with a flying kick, striking her enemy square in the head. The Goblin dropped like a sack.

So they were hostile. Akari sighed in disappointment. She still had to find a way though here as it was the only path, and weakened as she was, she was not looking forwards to it.

And so, Akari inspected the area. The flickering lights had been a fire over which was roasting a dire rat. Looked tasty, but now wasn't the time, unfortunately, much as she would have loved to indulge. While many would have turned up their noses as rat meat, she had had some as part of a mission alongside some Kobolds and learned that with the right preparation…

Focus!

The only other things around the area were what appeared to be some sort of alchemy tools set atop a crate. A mortar and pestle, along with several herbs and mushrooms, along with a vial of some sort of liquid, most likely another potion and the end result of whatever alchemic process the Goblin had been performing. Unstoppering the bottle, she gave it a sniff. It certainly smelled rank enough that it was likely some sort of poison oil instead, though she couldn't tell for sure. She closed it again and placed it in her satchel.

If she had the time she'd to try and identify just what these concoctions were, but she unless she felt she truly needed them, she'd prefer to try and find her way out of these caverns. Surely, there had to be a way? These Goblins had to have access to the surface in some form or-

The patter of feet against the ground alerted Akari to someone else approaching. This Goblin was better armed, wielding both a sword and shield.

Akari dove for her weapon as he rushed towards her. Grabbing it, she leaped over his slash, landing behind him, and in a quick movement, unsheathed her blade and slashed through his back. The Goblin gave a grunt as his blood splattered against the walls of the cavern before collapsing to the ground.

She really shouldn't linger here, in the middle of a Goblin den. Once again cleaning off her blade, she took off through the cavern.

Fortunately, she encountered nothing other than another bonfire, before coming to a pile of lumber at the top of an incline. Looking down, she could see a party of Goblins heading towards her.

Clearly these Goblins knew nothing about workplace safety.

With a good kick, the logs were sent rolling down the slope and over the Goblins, trapping them beneath them.

Running past them, Akari continued down the tunnel until she came to a large open chamber. This seemed to be a large gathering area for the Goblins, as she could see numerous of them in the area, along with some dire rats in a pen. The thing that drew her attention most of all however, was the Goblin standing over a bubbling cauldron, staff in hand.

Great, a mage.

Still, silver lining, they had yet to notice that she had entered the area, and so, rather than fight. Akari elected to use stealth.

While she was confident in her fighting skills, and whatever vestiges of her former power remained could aid her in this fight, Akari didn't see a point in taking the risk. She had no real quarrel with these Goblins other than that they stood in her path, and she would rather not risk a large fight in which she was outnumbered and likely outmagicked.

Instead, she kept to the shadows at the edge of the area, away from the light of the torches. The Goblins didn't notice her passing, instead apparently thinking she was still in the tunnel she had emerged from, heading out at the shaman's orders.

Thankfully, she made it to the other side of the cavern unmolested, slipping into one of the back tunnels.

Fortunately, after that point, she encountered no more goblins as she travelled, thankfully it seemed she had left the Goblin den behind, encountering nothing more as she passed.

And after several more minutes of travel, she had left behind the natural caverns as well, as after passing through a shattered gate of sorts, the walls began to transition to worked stone and pillars. And it was there that she heard familiar voices.

Despite the various D&D related fics I've done, this is the first time I think I've written an actual dungeon crawl. It was fun, though I hope I did it fairly well.

~Dragonexx

Dragonexx · Nov 19, 2024

Chapter 3

Mysteries Aboud, A Decision is Made

Lorelei drew closer to the sound of the voices, following along through the tunnels until she came to a hole in a wall, which seemed to connect back to the main network. Slowing down, she crept along she came upon their source.

It appeared she had caught up with the Emperor and his Blades, right as they were discussing a course of action.

"We should find a defensible spot and protect the Emperor until help arrives."

"Help? What makes you think help will arrive before those bastards do? We need to keep moving. To get the Emperor out of here."

"Well we-"

There was the sound of armored movement, and the Blades immediately drew their weapons.

"Here they come again!"

More of the assailants emerged in their strange conjured armor to engage with their targets. Lorelei however, remained at her perch.

Thankfully, she remained unnoticed, though as she observed the fight, it occurred to her that she had to make some sort of a decision at this point. She was going to have to pick a side, either the Emperor or his assailants.

Weakened as she was, she could potentially be at the mercy of whoever won this engagement or (more concerning) be unable to find a way out. Which was frustrating, as she knew nothing of this conflict, and had no access to any of the abilities that would have let her gain more insight into this situation.

This could be a revolution; mayhaps the Emperor was a tyrant. Or these assailants could be part of some sort of power play, agents of a greedy noble or arrogant grand vizier. Or it was just plain old war. Or maybe all at once.

As it came down to it, while she wasn't exactly a fan of empires, the Emperor had ordered his guards to spare her. His demeanor seemed kind enough (though that could obviously be faked). More importantly he did seem to have a plan to get out of these tunnels. Besides, if he proved to be the bad guy here and/or was an agent of Baator like she suspected she could rectify that mistake and just kill him later.

Though as it turned out, it seemed the decision was already made for her. She heard the sound of movement behind her, and turned to see another of the strange assailants, conjured blade in hand and rushing towards her.

She blocked his swing, but was too slow to stabilize herself, and she was knocked off the ledge, landing on her back. She was disheartened to hear a tearing noise, indicating that her smock had gotten caught on a chunk of rock and torn partially.

Had she been at her former strength this wouldn't have happened, but no use lamenting now. She put concerns of her modesty aside as the assailant leaped down after her. In response Lorelei rolled back and rose to her feet.

"It's that prisoner!" One of the Blades shouted.

"Deal with her later!" The other answered.

The assailant charged towards her, but this time, Lorelei was ready, she blocked his swings, backing away as she did so. This forced him to step forwards. Lorelei aimed a kick at his leg, knocking him off balance, before ducking beneath his swing, stepping forwards, as she sliced him across the other leg.

He collapsed to his knees as Lorelei spun behind him, bringing the blade down across his neck and back. She was surprised at the quality of the material. Whatever it was incredibly durable and sharp, and the armor provided little resistance to her blows.

The man gurgled and slumped to the ground, his magically conjured gear fading.

This caused two more approaching attackers to turn to her. Both charged her at once, forcing her to side step. As she did, she slashed at one of them, landing a hit. Not a fatal wound unfortunately, he was still standing.

As he winced however, the other engaged her with a conjured mace. She dodged and blocked the various swings. As he went high, she ducked and struck low, knocking him off balance and sending him careening to the ground. There, she slashed at his throat. The assailant gagged and gasped, but his strength was quickly failing. Loosing grip on his magic, the conjured armor and weapons faded away, leaving a man in what looked to be the attire of a shopkeeper. Clean pressed clothes and an apron.

No time to ponder, now that her other enemy had regained his wits.

"For the Dawn!" He cried out as he charged, though it was short lived. Lorelei parried his swing, kicked him to the side and slashed down his back, sending him collapsing to the ground.

As she turned, she could see that the Blades were engaged with the last few remaining assailants. Lorelei moved to help. As one raised his arm to swing, she disarmed him, opening him up for one of the Blades to strike the finishing blow. She then turned and intercepted another assailant, heading towards the Emperor, knocking her to the ground, with strike finishing her off. As the fight ended, the Blades looked at her, there eyes wide with confusion.

"Is she… helping us?" One of them asked as he caught his breath. "Why?"

"I seek an exit and have decided to throw in my lot with you for the time being. Do not give me cause to regret that decision." Lorelei answered, matter of fact.

"What?!" The Blade exclaimed, clearly put off by her boldness. "This could be a trick. She could be with the-"

"She is not one of them." The Emperor raised an arm and his guard immediately fell silent. In contrast to his guards, the Emperor seemed merely amused by her proclamation. "Please forgive them, they cannot see what I see."

"And what do you see?" She asked. She returned the weapon to its sheath after cleaning it. The group then continued onwards, with the Emperor talking as he walked.

"The will of the Nine. Throughout my life, I have seen how they guide our lives with an invisible hand."

"The Nine?" Lorelei pressed. From the reverent way he spoke it was clear that he was referring to some sort of divinities. But which divinities was the question? The devil-gods of Hell? Or something else? The tone of how he spoke of these gods didn't resemble that of devil worshippers she had encountered before. While the reverence was there, in the latter case, there tended to be more of an emphasis on the power and prestige it would grant them.

The 'guiding' with an invisible hand tended to be more in line with how benevolent deities were spoken of, which was a start.

"Akatosh, Stendarr, Dibella, Mara, and the rest. I've served them all my days, and chart my course by the cycles of the heavens. The skies are filled with numberless sparks, each a fire and every one a sign."

Had Lorelei been breathing, she would have sighed in relief. Those certainly didn't sound like any archfiends nor did they feel like alternate names for them. Still, she was wholly unfamiliar with these local deities. Which presented some concerns.

Charting one's way by the stars above (and below!) was something she was of course as an Eladrin intimately familiar with. Which begged the question. Was this an ordained path? Were these Nine Divines the ones who brought her here? She asked as much to Uriel.

"I cannot say. Your stars are not my stars. But perhaps it is so. I cannot know. As to the why. There is a coming darkness. Of that, my dreams are certain."

Lorelei's thought back to the visions she had beheld upon first arriving upon this Prime world. Confusing, terrifying visions of blood and fire. And here she was poised to fight against it. This wouldn't be the first time this had happened. Being called down to the Prime to fight against encroaching darkness was something celestials were generally happy to do and she was no stranger to the experience. Still, her current circumstances were unique. Frustratingly so.

"Well, as to the why or how, I myself cannot be certain, but if there a coming darkness, then my opposition to it is a certainty. Fealty towards you and yours, perhaps not."

The light-skinned blade, who had been trying to follow along with their conversation and appearing confused at doing so, now looked outraged once more but again, the Emperor merely looked amused. "So be it, we may-"

"They're here!" Baurus cried. "Glenroy, to arms!"

Immediately, Lorelei drew her blade, scanning the room about her. More assailants were approaching from alcoves and side paths and in short order they were upon them. The battle raged, and as it was fought, the four of them were separated, with the Blades being forced back to one corner of the room, while Lorelei and Uriel were backed into a side room. Lorelei desperately parrying and countering her enemies blows.

She managed to get hits in herself, but they were relentless. What they lacked in skill they made up for in numbers and fanaticism. Where one fell, another would move to take their place, continually keeping the pressure up on her.

The entrance to the chamber, fortunately, was a choke-point, giving her the advantage once she finally planted planted herself in the gateway ensuring only one of them could come at a time,. There, she managed to hold off the assailants, downing them as they approached.

After downing yet another assailant, Lorelei waited for the next, only to see that they were hanging back. At first she thought it was because of the demonstration of her own skill but these cultists (their demeanor very much implied as such) hadn't shown any sort of hesitation before, when the Blades they faced were also skilled. So why would…

Then she heard it. The sound of stone grinding on stone. Daring to turn away, she looked behind her to see the back of an alcove sliding open. Another of these cultists was emerging from a hidden passage, conjured weapon at the ready to strike at the Emperor.

"Look out!" Lorelei dashed, rushing towards the cultist.

Not fast enough.

She hadn't caught on quick enough. He had too much of a lead. And she had no access to any of her long range magics! Unless…

She hurled her katana, the black blade spinning through the air for the hilt to slam into the cultist. It hit them square in the head, knocking them off balance, while the katana ricocheted up into the air. As the cultist attempted to right themself Lorelei came charging in with a flying kick, sending them spiraling into the opposite wall.

From there, the cultist staggered forwards as Lorelei caught her sword and swung, the strange metal of the blade cleaving straight through the cultists armor, neatly severing their head and sending a blood splatter across the wall behind them.

Not sparing another glance, she turned back to the rest of the fight, only to be relieved to see that the Blades had managed to dispatch the rest of their assailants. The four of them scanned the area, but it became clear there were no more cultists.

"Thank the gods." One of the Blades said, panting.

"We're not out of the woods yet." Baurus said.

"Indeed, this is but the beginning of the journey. For all of us, though we may walk separate paths." Uriel said.

"It does?" Baurus asked. It seemed he had warmed to her.

"You catch on quick." Lorelei said. "There is much I would know about this world. This darkness, is it imminent?"

"In this, I cannot say. Unlike you, we men are but flesh and blood. We know our doom but not the hour. But in your face I see the sun's companion, eternal and radiant. The dawn of Akatosh's bright glory may banish the coming darkness. With such hope, and the promise of your aid, my heart must be satisfied."

Lorelei smiled. "As said, I shall walk my own path. Though to stand against the darkness? Take that as a certainty."

"Very well then." The Emperor then gestured, and a yellow light flashed. The iron manacles around her wrists released. "I wish you the best, Lorelei."

Lorelei picked up the manacles and placed them into her satchel. Unfortunately, despite the comfort at being release from them, there wasn't any other change, dispelling the theory that they were responsible for her state.

As she looked back up, she saw the Emperor and one of the blades were heading off down a side passage, while Baurus remained with her for a moment.

"Hmm… I never told him my name." She mused.

"I wouldn't be surprised. They say it's the dragons blood that flows through the veins of every Septim. It let's them see more than lesser men."

So the royal family was descended from dragons, it seemed. It was a common form of sorcerous ancestry and a not unheard of method of justifying authority, though she would have preferred one based more on morality. But then, not every leader could be Queen Morwel.

More interesting was the gift of prophecy. While magic users could use divination magic to predict the future, the ability to see into the future naturally was very rare. Those who bore the ability oft considered it as much a curse as a blessing. Not helped by how frustratingly vague prophecies often were. She new well many stories of those who had met their doom trying to claim or avert such predictions.

Still, that was a concern for the future. A thing to examine in depth once she had learned more of this land, and what dangers might be lurking therein.

"Well, I must be going." She said.

Baurus handed her a key, gesturing to the gate.

"I believe that way should lead to the sewers, from there it shouldn't be too difficult to find your way to the surface."

"Thank you." She said, and with a nod, the two of them split paths. Lorelei's brought her past the gate the Blade had indicated, leading towards a manhole.

Sewers. It always had to involve sewers at some point. Just for confirmation, Lorelei had elected to breathe briefly to confirm, that yes, that was the stench of waste. Faint for now, but it would undoubtedly grow stronger the once she dove deeper in. Thankfully, she could just avoid breathing until she was through. She doubted she would have to speak to anyone further until she was outside.

Plunging down into the entrance, Lorelei scanned her new surroundings. The architecture was clearly different from the previous area, the stone darker and rougher. It did however, resemble the architecture of the prison she had been in earlier.

It was unfortunately, also rather moist. With what exactly, Lorelei would rather not imagine. Besides, she could clean it off once she was through.

With a mental sigh, she continued onwards, descending down the set of stairs, past a pile of smashed debris and into an adjoining tunnel.

There wasn't much to bar her way, other than a few dire rats, which were quickly dealt with and some goblins, who she could fortunately avoid. There was the flow of sewage water, but thankfully, there were stone bridges over the canals, meaning she didn't have to wade through waste, thank the stars.

However, there were also signs of civilization. Crates and boxes filled with old wares, now decayed. Rotted foodstuffs, rusted tools, crumbling materials. There were also many side passages around this area. They were locked, but perhaps others had indeed used this place for storage of excess materials at some point. Or perhaps it was the goblins. Either way, it held little interest for her.

Passing through the winding canals, she eventually saw that the darkness was receding. She saw light! Picking up the pace, she made her way to the final tunnel. And there it was. At the end, beyond a final gate, there was the light of day. Sweet, wondrous daylight!

She made her way to the final gate, which thankfully didn't even have a lock. And there it stood, the way out. However, this wasn't the end. Far from it, this was a new beginning. A new adventure in a new world.

Lorelei felt a bit of apprehension as she stared at the exit. The light at the end of the tunnel. But where that light led, she hadn't a clue. What could be waiting for her out there, she hadn't a clue. And she would be facing it all weaker than she had been in ages. But she wasn't going to find anything out pontificating here. There was much to do and much to learn. And she'd be lying to say she wasn't a little bit excited. And thus, without wasting any more time, she stepped forwards into the light.

...Aaaaand we're back. The first new chapter after the rewrites of the first two. Tried a bit more to make Lorelei's character shine through here, particularly her perspective on things.

~Dragonexx

Dungeons & Daedra (D&D x Elder Scrolls)

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