Old friends (Valan)

“You're too young to remember the Nerevarine, oh yes far too young my dear. Nevertheless, he was a rather good hero. He defeated Dagoth Ur and saved us all from the blight.” Neloth tells Anna as she sits eagerly listening to his tales of Vvardenfell. “Stop talking like I'm dead and she knows who I am, she's my friend after all!” I shout across the room. Neloth gives me a look of disapproval “It's rude to interrupt.” He says with a glare before turning back to Anna “Never stopped you.” I mutter just loud enough for him to hear and go back to my reading.

“Have you ever heard of somebody named Ildari Sarothril, Talvas?” I ask Neloths apprentice “I found something peculiar while reading that mentioned her.” He peaks his head over the book reading the passage until Neloth grabs the book “You will not speak of that name.” He says angrily taking the book and putting it on the “restricted” section of the bookshelf. “Why not?” I ask, curious on the subject of his rather odd reaction. My attention is drawn away for a moment when I notice a visitor had come up to the tower. None other than Teldryn Sero. “Here's your supplies as requested Neloth, including extra Canis root I happened upon earlier. Did I hear you discussing Ildari Sarothril? Thought I heard something about that when I came in.” Neloth takes the package with a huff “No. We were not. She was mentioned, yes, but we were not discussing the matter.” He says unpacking the contents; laundry that had needed to be repaired by the tailor in Raven rock, rice, condensed milk, tea leaves, raw Canis root, and various bottles of potions and ingredients. The typical care package to the tower. “Who's Ildari Sarothril?” I ask Teldryn, knowing he'd give me a better answer than Neloth or Talvas, and that Neloth would leave him alone granted he's a retired member of the Morag Tong...and still takes the occasional job. “Neloths former apprentice, she died a while ago. Somewhat insane girl but seemed a capable wizard for all I can tell. Volunteered for an experiment involving transplanting a heart stone in exchange for ones real heart.” Neloth stares into space grimly “I should not have let her do it, what a waste of magical talent.”

Suddenly the door slams and an out of breath and rather frightened Anna appears “Why are there zombies made of ash and why is a crazy lady with a staff controlling them?!” I take her away from the door and give her a cup of tea. “This was what I was reading about.” I whisper to Talvas on my way by. “Ok Anna tell us what happened.” The five of us sit around a table and Anna pulls out a worn journal. “Farkas and I were exploring an old fort earlier for the captain of the guard in Raven rock, to find out where the ash zombie things are coming from-” Teldryn interrupts “Those are called Ash Spawn my friend. Sounds less scary, and more accurate, anyways continue.” Anna gives him a slight smile “So we were in the fort and all of a sudden lots of those Ash spawn materialize out of the ash, we killed them and drove them off and I found a journal sticking out of something, it's belongs to someone named Ildari Sarothril, and explains how though someone tried to kill her, she came back from the dead, and is out for vengeance. Here, read it.” She passes the journal over. Neloth looks surprised and mutters something under his breath. “Go to the small cemetery just outside the tower down by the water and look in the coffin, that will tell us if this is real.” Neloth says getting up to get another cup of tea. Teldryn, Anna and I start to get up but Neloth makes her stop “Not you, you've been more than helpful. And where's that Nord that's always with you?” He asks “Farkas is in Raven rock talking to Captain Veleth, I saw him on my way out.” Anna nods “We split up after we got out of the fort to distribute information. Since I know more about magic, I came here.” Anna continues to talk to Neloth while Teldryn and I head outside.

On the cliffs overlooking the small cemetery we can see some ash spawn milling about, no doubt looking for their leader. “Bow and Arrow?” Teldryn asks looking at the cemetery and back at me “Eh why not, less risk of being torn to pieces.” He pulls out a bow as I quickly conjure one and within minutes the path is clear as we make our way down finding the coffin that originally held Ildari’s body is indeed empty, and holds a clue of where to find her. Taking the scrap of paper with the clue we return to the tower.

“Anna’s right, She's not dead. It's the heart stone that's somehow keeping her alive. Must be related to the ash.” Teldryn explains passing Neloth the paper “But she's gone insane, she hears the voices of the dead in the ashes, it says that in her journal. She raised an army to kill some miners because she got paranoid.” Anna adds “It's the heart stone that's making her crazy.” Neloth reads the paper over before placing it down. “So it was her that made my tower almost crumble. Here is her location.” He points to a tower that many think is abandoned on the island. “Go and seek her out. Unless you find allies to help you, leave no others alive.” We start to head for the door “Not tonight!” Neloth calls and we stop “The ash is too bad, wait until tomorrow...now where is my tea? I swear the worst thing Ildari has done is killed Varona my new steward makes it too watery.” Moving away from the door with a sigh I begin to go make his tea. “At least you know how to make it right.” He says going over to the cupboard “It's only because I've known you a few centuries, Neloth. Give Drovas a break.” Neloth scoffs but says nothing more on the matter, if there's one thing that can calm him; it's tea.

Having had tea and a small meal for dinner Teldryn and I plan our mission, Neloth works more on his staff enchanter, as Talvas cleans up from an earlier experiment that day and Anna sleeps peacefully curled up in a corner of the library. “So here’s where she’s hiding, and here’s where we are.” Teldryn points to the map “If we can get in without disturbing the ash spawn and who knows what else that’s guarding the place we should be able to find our way to her fairly quickly, the area is mostly a single hallway with some stairs and a couple of rooms off of the main hall.” He explains further and pauses briefly. “Bring something that’s resistant to fire. she sure seems to be a fan of it...” Teldryn trails off and gets up to go look for something.

Having found what he was looking for Teldryn and I get ready, Talvas wishes us luck, Neloth reminds us “not to get to injured or they’ll be no one to make him tea and send off on ridiculous missions.” and Anna continues to sleep undisturbed. We set off into the ash.

“I think this is the clearest night we’ve had in awhile.” Teldryn murmurs looking up at the stars, both moons are visible, and Red Mountain can easily be seen on the horizon. The tower looks abandoned from the outside, except for the occasional movement from a window, showing it is in fact inhabited by createures of a more than unsavory nature. Teldryn and I sneak past a majority of the ashspawn, or kill them quickly if detected. We find Ildari in the middle of some kind of ritual. She turns to face us, her robes cut out around the heart with the implanted heart stone clearly visible. “So you’re the two that Neloth sent.” She glares at us. “He was always jealous, scared that I would surpass him in power, and now I have. You can’t stop me.” She raises her arms and a hoard of ashspawn appear from the ash. They attack us and while sustaining a few cuts and minor burns, are delt with quickly. Ildari stands looking somewhat surprised. “Did Neloth ever tell you he’s a friend of Eno Hlallu?” Teldryn asks killing the last ash spawn. “You really thought we’d go down that easily?” Ildari angilly flings a fireball at him that he easily sidesteps and watches it hit the wall with a smirk. “The Morag tong send their regards.” He throws a knife at her, wounding her arm that holds her staff significantly. We begin to corner her “Did Neloth ever tell you hes a friend of the Nervarine as well?” She looks at me and her eyes widen “It’s you. I should have known from the moment you walked in here, no one else I’ve ever met looks like you.” She pauses “But even you cannot stop me, The heartstone is my lifeforc. The ash is all around us, unlimited power is in my possession.” I look at the pulsing heartstone and get an idea. Teldryn seems to understand from the look I give him, and pushes Ildari against the wall and pinning her hands as I rip the heartstone out, ending her reign of terror. “Well, Talvas can safely cast his ash guardian spell now that we have a heartstone.” Teldryn says looking at Ildari’s lifeless body before burning it. “If she comes back as a very very angry ash spawn...I blame you.” I say scattering the pile of ashes before we return to Tel Mithryn.

“Well? Is she dead?” Neloth asks hearing us come in not looking up from his work. Teldryn tosses the heartstone and catches it “And we got a heartstone for you and Talvas as well.” Talvas takes the heartstone and gives Teldryn a brief kiss on the cheek before taking it to examine further. A still sleepy Anna sits up and abruptly asks Teldryn “Why his face is so red” Teldryn walks off. Neloth thanks is for the help with killing Ildari, his tower has finally stopped wilting and the ash spawn attacks have promptly stopped. “Here’s some money and a staff for the trouble. Now if you could please find Sammie...The tea’s gone cold and” I interrupt him “Drovas can’t make it right” He pats my shoulder “Exactly now stop standing about and go find her.” I leave to go downstairs. Neloth might be a snarky, sarcastic, grumpy old wizard, who may get on my nerves...but we’re still old friends.

It took such a long time to finish this on and off. More things are coming soon!