As the caravan of Nerevar now made for the capital of Veloth, anon Almalexia, there came great rumblings from the oblivion. A duke among scamps wandered into the House of Troubles, pausing before each scripture door to pay his respects, until finally he was met by the major domo of Mehrunes Dagon.
The Duke of Scamps said, 'I was summoned by Lord Dagon, master of the foul waters and fire, and I have brought the pennants of my seven legions.'
The major domo, whose head was a bubble of foul water and fire, bowed low, so that the head of the Duke of Scamps became enclosed in his own.
He saw the first pennant, which commanded a legion of grim warriors who could die at least twice.
He saw the second pennant, which commanded a legion of winged bulls and the emperor of color that rode upon each.
He saw the third pennant, which commanded a legion of inverted gorgons, great snakes whose scales were the faces of men.
He saw the fourth pennant, which commanded a legion of double-crossed lovers.
He saw the fifth pennant, which commanded a legion of jumping wounds looking to hop onto a victim.
He saw the sixth pennant, which commanded a legion of abridged planets.
He saw the seventh pennant, which commanded a legion of armored winning moves.
To which the major domo said, 'Duke Kh-Utta, your legions while mighty are not enough to destroy Nerevar or the Triune way. Look upon the Hortator and see the wisdom he takes to wife.'
And they looked into the middle world and saw:
Evaporating in a throng of thunder
Of red war and chitin men,
Where destines
Take him further from our ways
The heat that we have wanted
And pray they still remember,
Where destines
Clothe the distance,
Glad in the golden east that we saw it now,
Instead of the war and repair
Of the oblivious fracture
A curse on the Hortator
And two more on his hands
And the Duke of Scamps saw the palms of the Hortator, upon which the egg had written these words of power:
GHARTOK PADHOME GHARTOK PADHOME.
The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
Grulmar watched the door to the alchemist's house open and narrowed his eyes in concentration when he saw Talvas enter. The Dunmer looked around with a suspicious frown and the Orc focused more on his spell. He was standing right opposite to the door, but the Dunmer still didn't notice him, instead his eyes kept darting towards the table with alchemical ingredients, notably one potion nestled between two samples of White Caps.
The Dunmer looked around, his eyes going over Grulmar without really seeing him and then his gaze fell back on the potion. Talvas rubbed his eyes and shook his head, almost as if he was under some sort of spell. Grulmar doubled his efforts, cold sweat going down his cheek. Just little bit closer...just one step.
Talvas stepped towards the table, his hand reaching for the potion and Grulmar braced himself.
The Dunmer’s hand stopped half way towards the potion and then began glowing with a green light. He released the spell and Grulmar yelled in surprise as a high-pitched shrieking sound resonated through his ear drums, making him drop to his knees with his hands on his ears.
He distantly heard a splash of water and loud cursing.
The Orc looked up to see Talvas all wet. The bucket that Grulmar was holding above the Dunmer's head with Telekinesis now lying on the floor.
“Seriously?” the Dunmer spread his arms in resignation. “Buckets with water? Now that's low, even for you.”
“Hey, it worked, didn't it? Ya are all wet. I call it a win. Though I can't get the ringin’ out of my ears now.”
“It's only in your head,” Talvas murmured, looking for something to dry his black hair that was plastered to his head. Grulmar tossed him a dish rag to which Talvas frowned but then shrugged and began drying his hair with it. “I just cast a wide-range Illusion spell that assaults anyone's hearing, imprinting the “feeling” of strong sound. You?”
“Grulmar's Aura of Manipulated Attention,” the Orc said, grinning to which the Dunmer only shook his head in mild annoyance.
“Fancy name. Not invisibility then?”
Grulmar sat on the ground, plunging his pinky finger into his ear and then pulling it out quickly to make a loud popping sound. It brought him a slight relief from the blasted ringing. “What?”
Talvas sat next to him, leaning against the wall. “Not invisibilty?”
“Nah.” Grulmar shook his head, letting out a gust of air. “That's still way above me. No, what I did was to create a spell that needs to be cast for the whole duration. It shifts the attention of everyone in its radius. Like...Everyone in the spells range will look at me but not see me, because his attention is shifted towards somethin' I made more interestin', like the potion. Minds are very subjective, so I just made your sight to be...drawn towards the potion instead of me,” Grulmar explained, before shaking his head quickly to get the sound out of his head. “Tuskin' ringin', though! So annoyin'! How did ya do that?”
“Nice,” Talvas nodded. “That's one clever spell right there. As for the sound. It's actually quite simple spell, saved my life plenty of times.” The Dunmer pushed away a disobedient lock of hair from his eyes and chuckled. “Just think about the most annoying or most disturbing sound you’ve ever heard and then project it through magicka into your surroundings or one target. I mean...try to cast something while hearing that, right? Very good for breaking someone's concentration.”
“Right,” Grulmar murmured, narrowing his eyes in thought. “And by surroundings ya mean minds right? It's Illusion, not Alteration.”
“Yes. The trick is in the casting. You either cast a spell with a wide radius that solely focuses its effects on the mind, or you can make it track only the targets you wish to be affected.”
“Mhm,” Grulmar acknowledged. Doesn't sound too complicated. It should be a simple spell. Or maybe I could just combine the spell with Alteration and create a real sound? An illusion turned into reality, from mind to reality? “So what was that sound ya cast? Never heard such terrible shit in my life.”
Talvas leaned his head against the wall and looked at the ceiling, with a dry smile on his face. “A fork screeching against a plate.”
“Ya are shittin' me,” Grulmar raised his eyebrows. How can a tuskin' fork make a sound like that?
“Specifically, a metal fork against a ceramic plate. My grandfather used to do that when we didn't behave at the dinner table. Old crooked vile bastard,” Fathryon released a dry chuckle. “Spiteful you could say. There were plenty of lessons like this.”
The Orc grimaced, remembering Yamarz's lessons. Or Lorbulg's lessons. One was trying to break him under the pretence of trying to make him stronger and the other was trying to make him stronger under the pretence of breaking him. What a bunch. “Be glad ya didn’t have my father or uncle. The real uncle I mean. Real ugly bastards, those two...no wonder, they were brothers, after all.”
“No shit,” Talvas murmured. “Who would have thought that a father and an uncle are brothers?”
“Ha! Yer sarcasm is gettin' better each day,” Grulmar chuckled.
“What choice do I have? I need to keep up with certain Windbag.”
“Gah!” Grulmar waved his hand and then laughed. “Ya are not bad for a Dunmer, Messup. Are all Telvanni apprentices like ya? And by that I mean the same bunglers who at least have a sense of humor?” And this time the Orc really meant it. The Dunmer wasn't really bad, didn't take everything so seriously and even the pranks he was pulling off weren't meant to be mean, just fun. And those were good pranks. Sure, there was a rivality between them, but...it was more of a friendly rivalry.
“Not a Telvanni, remember?” the Dunmer shrugged, rubbing his neck and smiling. “I guess it runs in the family.”
Well, I'm certainly not goin' to complain about that. “Right. Hlaalu tusked up a lot. Now it makes sense.”
“Yeah,” Fathryon sighed and then looked Grulmar in the eye. “But seriously now. We have to quit with the pranks. I mean, how long will it take until we try to kill each other or something? Or...stuffing the other's pillows with guar shit?”
The Orc felt his eyes widen and he scratched his neck, trying to look away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw how Talvas narrowed his eyes in suspicion and then understanding clawed its way onto his features.
“Tell me you didn't-”
“I didn't,” the Orc said quickly. Maybe too quickly, because Talvas shook his head in disbelief, sighing.
“Why is that I don't believe you? Ah, well. You'll clean it up before dusk, is that clear?”
“So no more pranks?” Grulmar questioned. “But, I thought this is how Telvanni do it.”
“I might have exaggerated a little bit when I threw that fireball at you.”
“No shit,” Grulmar murmured and chuckled. The chuckle slowly became a laugh and Grulmar threw his head back in a good and proper fit. “Because it's all in yer pillow,” he managed to blurt out between the spasms of laughter and he saw that Talvas finally got it too, because he roared in laughter too and soon he was lying on the floor.
The door opened and Elynea Mothren entered her apothecary she shared with Grulmar. She looked at the apprentices and frowned. “Why are you two lying here like sacks of guar dung?”
Grulmar and Talvas glanced at each other and erupted in laughter.
Comments
@Harrow Yeah, Gru and Talvas and their prank contest. I actually got to the same conclusion as you, that it would grow over t... more