#oc: arduirel

[morihaus]

Betrayal

Waves splash against the rocky shores of Betony as a small ship rows into port. The docks of Whitefort town are quiet in the dying light of the evening, busied only by sailors and dockworkers as they fix ships to the moorings and ferry cargo about, hurrying to get their work over with so they might retire for the night. There are few people, and of them, the lone passenger of the sailboat blends into the crowd, steel boots stepping onto the dock, cowl held close around her head.

She keeps her head down, not attracting any attention as she takes a circuitous path around the shipyard, pausing only to spare a glance over her shoulder every now and then. It's not her first time here, and she knows where she is going- the grand Imperial ship affixed to the far dock lies foreboding in the corner of her vision- but even miles from the mainland of High Rock or Hammerfell, she feels eyes all over her, grasping hands reaching out for her. She's walking into a pair of them right now.

It's with this note of fatalism that she climbs aboard the Imperial galley, its captain waits for her at a table on the deck, seated warmly in her fine Skyrim furs. Lady Brisienna Magnessen smiles cordially, cheeks rosy, but not bothered by the winter chill as her visitor is, letting her fair hair curl down her shoulders without hat or hood.

"Agent Delarda," She greets her with a refined tone, coarse Nordic tongue dipped in honey, smoothed and shaped to suit the needs of an inter-provincial operative. "Please, take a seat. Let's conclude this as quickly as possible."

Against her better judgement, the agent sits down. Her amber eyes, sitting in dark circles, peer out at the Nord from under her hood. "They know." She says flatly, her voice quiet and weak for the first words she's spoken in days. "Gothryd, Eadwyre, Athoriki, Gortwog-" She slings her pack down one shoulder and reaches inside, producing several written correspondences. She sets them on the table in front of her, unsealed, slightly crumpled. She looks down at them now, rather than Brisienna. "Even Mannimarco, and the Underking. They know, and they want it. They're making offers now. I'm not sure how long they'll wait for me to make up my mind."

Brisienna takes a letter into her deft hands, unfurling it and scanning it over.

Arduirel- code name Delarda- lets her hands lie limp on the table, numb with cold and nerves.

After a minute or so, the Lady speaks up. "They're making quite the hefty offers for it."

"You believe them?" Arduirel says.

Brisienna looks half-insulted. "No," She shakes her head. "I wouldn't be surprised if any or all of them were lying. All that gold, those artifacts, nothing but bait."

"Should I assume the Emperor was lying as well?" She says curtly, still not meeting her eye.

Brisienna purses her lips some, but reaches over into her own pack, producing a small jewelry box. She places it on the table, turning it to her fellow agent. "The Warlock's Ring, as promised. Feel free to check. I wouldn't lie to you."

Arduirel's ears burn under her hood at that. Still, she reaches forward, unlatching the tiny chest and taking a peek at the ring inside. Gold-banded, covered in ancient runes, inlaid with a dazzling red gemstone. She closes it, satisfied with its authenticity, more or less. She looks back up at Lady Magnessen, who peers expectantly at the elf.

"The Emperor has been planning this reward for some time, Delarda. Your efforts, both here and in years previous, are greatly appreciated." For a moment Arduirel looks and only sees a mouthpiece, a puppet; she wonders whether Uriel said any such thing, whether these words were really his, or mere lip service from the Nord woman. She's sick to her stomach either way, not helped by the gentle rocking of the boat in the harbor.

"...I'm curious. What would the other rulers have done with... the Totem." She asks, quite aware of the fact she's expected to be taking it out by now. She doesn't want to touch it, to let it be seen by anyone. Her whole body feels wired, jittery, as though the other agent were about to make a desperate lunge for her pack.

It doesn't come to pass, though, Lady Magnessen remains seated, glancing down once again at the letters on the table. "Nothing good." She shuffles them around, laying one on top of the other, leafing through the names on the pages and thinking on what she knows of the Illiac's politics. "No doubt Daggerfall, Wayrest, and Sentinel would use the Numidium in their petty war games. Perhaps they would even realize the extent of its capabilities- they could undermine the whole of the Empire with this power." Arduirel feels a chill as she speaks. She wonders what Brisienna knows about Numidium. How much does the Emperor know about Numidium? The Nord frowns as she continues to speculate. "Orsinium would no doubt crush its age-old enemies, claim all of Wrothgar for the Orcs, maybe beyond. I cannot begin to wonder at what nefarious end the King of Worms has in mind... he claims he wants godhood?"

Arduirel gives a shallow nod.

Brisienna shakes her head. "By the Nine, what a travesty that would be..."

"Could that even work?"

"If what we are led to believe about big Numidium is true, it very well could. It could be as easy as it plucking him from this world and placing him high up in the heavens." There's an attempted humor to what she says, but Arduirel can only fight to keep up a veneer of composure.

"Is that what Tiber Septim did?" She blurts out.

Brisienna gives her a judgemental stare. "Is that... what? What are you talking about, Delarda?"

Arduirel clenches her fist, grinding her teeth together for a moment. "I just mean-" She looks out into the horizon, the now black sky meeting the edge of the water. "He became a Divine. He also used the Numidium. Is that related? Is Mannimarco trying to do what he did?"

Without looking, she feels the icy stare of her superior. She lets out a sigh. "Tiber Septim didn't become Talos through some... automaton. He was always Talos-" She trails off, shaking her head. "We can discuss theology when you're back in Cyrodiil, Delarda. You have the Totem, don't you?"

"Yes." She quickly replies.

"Where is it?"

Arduirel looks back at her. Brisienna's face is creased with irritation- she knows a diversion tactic when she sees it, she's starting to wise up to what's going on here.

"What is the Emperor going to do with it?" Arduirel asks.

Brisienna pauses. Arduirel stares and picks her apart with her eyes, trying to figure out what she knows. "That's none of your concern, agent." She replies with a blunt, forceful tone. "Just know that he's the only one who can be trusted with it. These petty kings will rip each other- and the Empire- apart in their bickering, and those undead sorcerers will only do the same. This thing belongs in the hands of an Emperor, a Septim, not some pack of quarreling insubordinates."

Her words hang in the air, burning against Arduirel's ears like the cold night air. Her hands begin to shiver. "The last Septim who got his hands on it..." She furrows her brow, glaring from under her hood at the Nord. "The Underking, he's Zurin Arctus, Tiber Septim's battlemage. He claims to have made the thing- that the Mantella is his heart, and that Septim used the thing to conquer all of Tamriel, to destroy all his opponents, to replace all royals with those who would swear loyalty to him." Brisienna tries to get a word in, but Arduirel plows on ahead. "And when he disagreed with this use of the Numidium, Septim fought with him, and both he and his creation were destroyed." She produces another letter from her person, one she hadn't intended on sharing. "This says that the Blades have been gathering parts of the Numidium for centuries- what is the meaning of this??? To what end does it serve???"

Brisienna leans in with a dour expression. "You take the word of a rotting, undead wizard over mine? Over the word of the Emperor?"

Arduirel stands up with a start, frost crackles in her palm as she glares down at the Nord, who reaches for her blade. "What is he planning!? Why reassemble it?! Why use it now??"

"Delarda, stand down!" Brisienna barks out the order with her sword leveled in the elf's direction. "Think for a second! If you don't relinquish the Totem, you'll be branded as a traitor to the Empire of Tamriel- you'll have one more agency hunting you down, is that what you want!?"

"I am NOT giving you the Totem! I won't let this happen again!" Before Brisienna can even question her, Arduirel shoots an ice spike into her chest. She staggers back as it pierces a rib, she wheels back her sword-arm before another spike finds its way into the hinge of her elbow, icing the joint over and sinking deep into her tissue. She cries out in pain before Arduirel charges into her, bashing her off the side of the ship with a forceful elbow to her collar.

The Nord falls into the icy water, right arm stiff and inflexible, lungs pierced by a spike through her ribs. She cries out at Arduirel- "YOU CANNOT DO THIS!" But a torrent of frost is already firing down at her, freezing the water she's fighting against, encasing her in a thick sheet of ice. Her body temperature drops rapidly, she trembles and struggles as her muscles grow stiff and weak.

The small block of ice containing her body floats out into sea. The Agent absconds with the Warlock's Ring and the Totem, forcing her way through the confused crowd and boarding someone else's ship, pushing it out to sea with the force of her magic, arrows from the guards loosing in her wake as they piece together that she had something to do with this.

It doesn't matter. The Emperor will not get the Totem. As soon as she's out of sight from the isle, she makes course for the east, for Hammerfell, as a traitor to the Empire. Her true colors are finally revealed. It's exhilarating. It's sickening. It's the only way to avoid another Summurset.

[morihaus]

ive had fun with skygerfall so far :) ive only played a very little bit but i really love the character i created and im excited to explore her

Arduirel :) or Totally A Loyal Friend Who Isn't Planning To Publicly Murder The Emperor At All

[morihaus]

uriel septim vii: i ask this as your emperor... and as your friend

arduirel: read the room. i am planning to publicly murder you.

[morihaus]

had a very cool session of skygerfall today... the order of questlines i did became a dramatic build of tension as arduirel learned about this whole "totem" business and became very distressed about it. after both rulers she talked to about weird shit happening said "oh well god bless the emperor" or "none of your business, peasant" she said fuck it and went to visit mannimarco to see what he wanted, maybe THIS guy can be more straightforward. all very organic

[morihaus]

just got to the part in skygerfall where i actually have to choose who gets the totem... here's the problem, arduirel has been planning on running away with it and throwing it into the ocean or some shit. she doesn't want anyone to have it. i have to compromise and figure out who she'd give it to

[morihaus]

11 & 12, 14, 24 for the character asks :)

back to da rng: ranso, junah, arduirel, cuan

RANSO

11. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

oh there's probably some competition. like, even beyond the events of the game morrowind, he'd be around for the oblivion crisis, the red year, the argonian invasion- yknow, typical 4th era morrowind stuff. but i feel like that tense period where junah was hiding something from them, and then it came out that she was "claiming to be nerevarine" and the temple put that hit out on her... that must have been kind of a stressful time, cause he obviously wasn't just gonna turn on his friend/lover but they weren't sure what to think and they really didnt get a chance to work it out until MONTHS later, all the while the temple was trying to hunt her down on her quest. the days before the assault on dagoth ur facility would've been an anxious time too (hcing that as having been like, a massive military assault from all the houses instead of just junah going in alone) i think those two moments really stand out for the extra spice of interpersonal relationships involved

JUNAH

12. In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?

whenever i think of junah, who is having a crisis throughout the entirety of the mq, and a moment of calm, i think of thirsk meadhall. after all the shit w the mq and tribunal and all the people trying to kill her and the gods pawing her around like a toy, i could just FEEL the need to get away, and that's what the solstheim was (for awhile) junah really liked the meadhall bc they didnt give a shit abt that whole nerevarine thing, hadn't even really heard about it, she spent some fun nights hanging out with nords telling her funny stories and singing drinking songs and it was a very warm human moment. maybe not THE calmest ever but in terms of emotional relief? hard to match

ARDUIREL

14. Does your character remember names or faces easier?

arduirel has to remember Everything, but she deals with names and information mostly, she's very good at deduction and mapping things out in her head. she's not BAD at faces, but most of the space in her head is taken up by word thoughts instead of image thoughts

CUAN

24. How quick is your character to trust someone else?

cuan is justifiably a bit paranoid, being a prominent figure in a revolution and all that. the reach is where he's most paranoid, outside of it he's more likely to give people the benefit of the doubt in general, but he still has to know a person for awhile before sharing things about himself, even if by all means they seem like a reasonable sort with no affiliation to the silver-bloods or the stormcloaks or the empire or whatever else. people he will always look over his shoulder around include guards, bootlickers (red or blue flavor), and anyone who generally gives off bad vibes in the direction of him and his very noticeable friends (hjulde and peyzae) oh and he definitely doesnt trust the blades or greybeards at like any point

[morihaus]

my two ocs who interact w uriel septim are so funny. arduirel is a witness to tiber septim's use of the numidium who was probably chronically displaced from the event and appears to be plotting against the empire, dazshi is a mephalan demiprince who smiles the whole time uriel does his im about to die and the apocalypse is happening spiel and considers this all an exciting opportunity for power instead of a crisis

[morihaus]

im only just thinking hard abt WHERE and WHEN arduirel was blasted to after the numidium attacked summurset. she'd reappear on auridon, where she was before the dragonbreak, but im imagining how horrifying it'd be for her to reappear in the 300's of the 3rd era and look around to try and figure out what happened, but all of the people she knew were nowhere to be found- not even dead just mysteriously disappeared from the record at the dawn of the 3rd era (as part of tiber septim's removal of disloyals) and anything on his invasion is absolutely bereft of mentioning the numidium in any way

[morihaus]

something about daggerfall is giving me the dumbest thoughts. what if arduirel just throws the totem into the ocean and runs away? what if arduirel pulls an independent vegas with the totem or somehow uses it to stop tiber septim from ever activating it in the first place? what if i made 8 daggerfall agent ocs whose timelines converge when retrieving the mantella and that's why the warp in the west happens- what if they're each one of arduirel's fellow summerset mages who were flung into their own offshoot timelines during the invasion where they tried to fend off against the numidium, and they're only reunited in the violent realignment of the timelines?

[morihaus]

arduirel doesn't trust a single person with a noble title in the illiac bay and it's not even paranoia because they literally Are all fighting espionage wars over a weapon of mass destruction. sure she doesn't explicitly know that that's what's happening, but she has reason to suspect it and it terrifies her and she despises each and every one of them for making this into some sort of game for the adult children they are

[morihaus]

i had this same "why would she use her real name" moment w arduirel and have just given her a codename, delarda (that's essentially aldmeris for "loyal person" bc she's so hilarious) but she's able to use her actual name bc as far as she's concerned she has no life of her own anymore, she's been zapped hundreds of years into the future and all the people she knew and trusted got erased from existence bc they would've threatened imperial rule. she can probably pass "delarda" off as a name though it's not too farfetched

[morihaus]

ok you know what im making a skygerfall spoilers readmore post to try and organize arduirel's thoughts rn

so the journal of lord woodborne only has to do with the lysandus bs which is not her main priority with this "totem" stuff banging around, but she knows from the emperor's letter that woodborne had the totem at some point and now suspects that lysandus may have possessed it, and part of the motivation to kill him was to steal the totem, so it's KIND of relevant?? but all the journal does is incriminate woodborne and gothryd

nulfaga may get some closure from the journal but she also conjured a storm that almost killed arduirel based on ??? a hunch? probably best to just let her find out on her own medora helped make this possible w the dust of restful death but the fact that she was a lover of lysandus makes arduirel think she's also an imperial toady and she honestly has no reason to really trust her. she doesn't like mynisera, who likes the emperor, but that's just because she was cheating with her husband- as an aside mynisera is definitely not getting it for saying "the emperor is the only trustworthy owner of the totem" the entire court of daggerfall is suspect- aubk-i hates the emperor which is honestly a point for her, but she's also gothryd's wife, gothryd who is part of this conspiracy w woodborne and literally incriminated by the journal. showing the journal to either of them feels like direct confrontation which arduirel avoids due to it not fucking working with nobles. also aubk-i is the daughter of athoriki who 1 attempted to hide the contents of the magic painting depicting lysandus's death and 2 reacted to arduirel asking about this with "none of your business, peasant" so that whole thing is a mess wayrest is also a bit suspect, there's nothing to say that eadwyre WASNT somehow involved, although woodborne clearly outlines his plans to do away with him and barenziah's half of the family in the journal, so that might be something?? morgiah i WANT arduirel to like but have yet to think of a good reason. probably not much she could do in this instance basically gortwog is a good choice bc he has a personal stake in lysandus's death, as they were allies, and by revealing this he could vindicate his people and up his standing in the eyes of the empire, which arduirel understands and is supportive of, even though the fact that he has to suck up to the empire makes him a less than perfect ally u_u oh and for some reason mannimarco is an option. arduirel would not even think for a second to bring the journal to mannimarco, he has nothing to do with this.

[morihaus]

thinks about my agent oc. arduirel <3

[morihaus]

got to the point in skygerfall where i have to choose who to give the journal to and im paralyzed by indecision i need to extensively get into arduirel's headspace and ask the daunting question of who she actually trusts