A.D.W.D. Recap for Arc I and Arc II

  • SPOILERS!!! (Duh)

    ARC I: Survive

    Amari has been caught within an intricate web of Hermaeus Mora’s design since before she was even born.

     

    Her father, Ernard of House Rostorard was a Priest of Mara and met her mother, Yvarra, while on a pilgrimage through the isolated mountains of North Highrock. With the aid of his family's house, he rescued her from a cult of Daedra worshipers and married her. But the high society of Daggerfall wouldn't accept a woman with such a controversial past and the newly weds were soon forced into exile while still carrying a child.

     

    They settled in the smuggler's town of Wayrest; a place that would accept anyone who could pull their weight. Between Yvarra's stained past and their new residence, they knew Amari would be born into a world seeped in danger and did everything within their power to protect her. For thirteen years they had succeeded, until the fateful day she met Scuttles; a squirrel and her future familiar. Since then, her life has been one trial after another without time to ever ask why.

     

    Mora sought an animal with an unbreakable will to survive and after finding Scuttles, sent a hawk to mortally wound it. Playing on Amari’s compassion, a scenario was created where she would use all she had to save the animal. She unknowingly took the bait and accidentally bound her own soul to the squirrel to keep it alive.

     

    The binding was done in the moment and by untrained intuition, thus the result was sloppy and slowly draining the essence of her soul. Her mother came out of hiding to save her child, revealing a wealth of forgotten, Daedric knowledge, as well as the possession of one of Hermaeus Mora’s forbidden Black Books. In short, the books are living Daedric artifacts that exist outside of time and contain pages that link to other Planes. Yvarra used the knowledge contained within to engrave runes into Scuttles that turned the familiar into a very formidable weapon and protector, but linking to the knowledge with the books flowed both ways.

     

    Mora struck through the opened portal to directly attack Amari before Yvarra could finish her protections.In a desperate gamble to save her daughter's life, Yvarra offered her own soul in place of Amari's. The Prince accepted the deal and released the girl, but Yvarra knew this would only delay the Daedra’s ploys. He would seek ways to work around the contract.

     

    After that night, the family went on the run for the next two years; traveling across High Rock, Hammerfell, and Cyrodiil. Amari’s parents taught her everything they could about the Planes of Oblivion and magicka, while down playing how dire their situation was for her childhood’s sake. Amari’s probing questions were always met with misdirection and she never learned the full story, for bother her parents were slain and Hermaeus Mora finally claimed her mother’s soul after a bandit raid after crossing into Skyrim. Amari was taken captive and set to cooking and cleaning for the bandits’ camp, Robber’s Gorge, under the wooden spoon of Gnarly Nan. 

     

    After a year in the camp, the bandits’ eyes started lingering on her longer and one, The Toad, was becoming more direct and physical. It was then she finally realized they were only saving her for when she was older, more developed. She set plans of escape into motion that threw the camp into disarray and killed many, but ultimately failed.

     

    Among the killed was the Toad after he attempted to rape her. Standing over his burning corpse, she caught his soul and in a fit of rage, destroyed it. Molag Bal then came to her as a voice within her head and revealed that the Toad had been his servant and that she now owed him a soul. The Prince gave her the ultimatum of claiming a certain Vigilant of Stendarr’s soul or forfeiting her own. That same night, Silver, a new bandit that had been kind to her, returned with a Black Book stolen from the Dragonborn. The Captain and Silver opened the book and Mora used the portals within to remind Amari that he still owned her mother and to forewarn her of a coming storm.

     

    The next day Amari tried to escape before the storm, but was caught and wounded. The storm came and at its focal point, the Dragonborn. The Dovahkiin and Odahviing destroyed the camp, reclaimed the Black Book, and forced Silver to cut off his own hand for his crime. Stinfelniirspaan (Free Winters Shield), an elder dragon leading the resistance against Paarthurnax’s Way since Alduin’s Fall, intervened for the intrusion onto his territory. An aerial combat ensued that completely flattened Robber’s Gorge, killed all life in the surrounding area, and broke the summer drought. The Dragonborn was victorious and leaves the scene.

     

    Silver and Amari are the sole survivors of the battle, with the exception of Gnarly Nan who may have escaped before the storm began. Silver took on the name Trebonde and they both hobbled to the nearest town he was not wanted in, Karthwasten.

     

     

     

    ARC II: Freedom?

    They recuperated at the town, but were plagued by nightmares. Amari’s included visions of a convoluted journey through the spirit world, her old home, Apocrypha, and a realm of churning sand surrounded by the Void.  Unable to separate what was real and what was only imagination, she set deciphering dreams aside for more practical problems, like the arrival of Vigilant Tyranus.

     

    The priest immediately sensed that Amari and Trebonde were no ordinary travelers and began investigating them. By telling a story about himself, he drew out more information from them by studying their reactions then they would have ever disclosed had he questioned them.  At the same time Trebonde was studying the priest and Amari was trying to gauge whether the priest was powerful enough to actually help. Tyranus also used the situation to inspire the young Belchimac away from the Forsworn and into joining the Vigilants of Stendarr.

     

    The next morning, Tyranus discovered a Totem to Peryite, the Daedric Prince of Natural Order and Pestilence. Infuriated, he orders the totem destroyed and began interrogating the villagers concerning their affiliation with Daedra. The villagers were saved by the inquisition when a Priestess of Dibella intervened with a request to rescue the new Sybil from the Forsworn of Broken Tower Redoubt.

     

    The investigation was put on hold and preparations to rescue the girl began. Trebonde volunteered to help to gain an in for breaking into the Temple of Dibella’s Inner Sanctum and Amari volunteered to free someone from suffering a fate she just escaped. Before leaving on their quest, Tyranus sent Belchimac to the Hall of Vigilants with a pack of letters. Something incredible strong and savage had fed from the totem and Tyranus feared it would turn on the villagers. The only hint of the creature’s identity was a book accounting an exchange with the Quarra; a savage and brutally strong strain of vampires native to Vvardenfell. The letters Belchimac carried contained: a request for reinforcements to Karthwasten; news of his apprentice’s death; his journal update; and the profiles of Amari, Trebonde, and the villagers.

     

    At the tower, the trio disrupted the Forsworn from completing a ritual calling upon the beasts of Hircine. The Forsworn had planned to sacrifice the Sybil and use the girl’s connection to the Divine to fuel the release of a Hunt upon the Nords that had stolen their land. With the girl safe, Tyranus charged the remaining Forsworn and created an opening for the others to escape. However, a sorcerer cut-off the escape and launched a fireball at the Sybil, but Scuttles intercepted the missile and absorbed the blast. Many of the familiar’s runes broke from the overload, but he still escaped into the mountains and transferred much of the energy to Amari. She used the influx to launch a missile back at the sorcerer and they made their escape.

     

    The Forsworn ritual had attracted specters from all across the Reach and riled them into a frenzy. With the focal point disrupted, they sought a new outlet and found Scuttles; a creature spilling the essence of life they so cherished from its wounds. The horde descended and drank in that essence and Amari felt the life ripped from her through the link to her familiar. She left her body behind to mantle her squirrel and together they fought through the ranks of specters.

     

    Meanwhile, Trebonde lead the Sybil, Fjorta, to safety and carried Amari’s body over his shoulder.  Trebonde reached the Temple of Dibella first and the priestesses guided Amari’s spirit back. Only the Daedra leave a taint on all they touch and the priestesses mistook Amari for a Daedra worshipper and when Trebonde was caught breaking into their Inner Sanctum, their belief was only reinforced.

     

    Trebonde and Amari were then arrested and thrown into Cidhna Mine. While in the mines they learned that Madanach, the Forsworn King in Rags, was being held captive and manipulated by the Silver Bloods family. The next day, Fjorta brought them flowers in a vase containing Scuttles’s bones and Amari warned the girl about the Forsworn. Fjorta ran off to inform the temple. The two prisoners waited for nightfall, then woke Scuttles to steal the dozing guard’s keys and escaped the mine.       

     

     Near the city entrance Tyranus caught them and after reprimanding them, told them about the haunted house. Trebonde agreed to help and rushed inside before the guards could catch up. Once inside, they faced the will of Molag Bal. The Prince systematically broke down Tyranus’s resolve and turned him against Amari. Trebonde then intervened to duel the priest. While they fought, the Daedra beckoned Amari to kill the priest, but she resisted until she saw Trebonde about to die. Then she struck from behind, ending the Vigilant’s life.

     

    Molag Bal used her attachment to Trebonde to pressure her into doing yet another favor for him. A servant of his came to guide Amari to the nearby Forsworn redoubt, Hags Rock, to ‘rescue’ a priest of Boethiah held captive there. The captive convinced Amari he was her only chance to break free of Molag Bal, so she agreed to help him instead. Meanwhile, the servant captured the Hag Raven Matron leading the Forsworn Clan and used her as a hostage to escape the Redoubt. Once clear, he forced her to submit before Molag Bal and pledge her forces to him.

     

    On the return trip, Amari released the Priest of Boethiah, Logrolf, and he captured the nameless servant of Molag Bal. Logrolf then cast an illusion that swapped the appearance of him with the nameless one and charmed Amari into following him. Molag Bal saw through the guise immediately, but played along and ordered the death of his servant for failing him.  After the Nameless one was killed, Logrolf paralyzed Amari and Trebonde before revealing that his plan was to sacrifice them to Boethiah on Molag Bal’s Altar as a final act of defilement to the shrine. 

     

    Logrolf bound Amari to the Daedric shrine with a chain blessed to trap both body and soul, and then began summoning Boethiah. The touch of the chains manipulating her soul woke rune engraved on Scuttles skull. As it stirred into power, Trebonde broke free of the paralysis and killed the priest with the Mace of Molag Bal. The mace sought to take priest soul, but he had never forsaken Boethiah and her shadow came to claim it.

     

    As the two deities fought over the soul, Scuttles skull rune finished waking and slipped Amari through the boundary between Planes. She was transported before her mother in Apocrypha, Hermaeus Mora's realm. Her time there was brief, but the visit broke her from the downward spiral of fear, hate, and vengeance she had been succumbing to.

     

    When she reappeared, she was outside of the chain’s bonds and struck down the spirit of Logrolf, but when before she had intended to destroy his soul like the Toad’s, she chose mercy instead. Only problem was she phrased it as a command to Boethiah. Deities do not take commands from mortals, so Boethiah ordered a battle of wills for Amari’s insolence. With Trebonde’s and Scuttle’s help, she defeated Logrolf once more. Boethiah erased his existence and granted Amari a wish.

     

    Amari wished to be free and so Boethiah’s Shadow mantled Amari. Through her body Boethiah destroyed the Shrine of Molag Bal in both Mundus and Coldharbour, thus paving an opening for Amari to claim her own freedom.

     

     

    Note: Sometimes I post general updates on my TOC, so follow that for news!

     

     

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Comments

6 Comments   |   SpottedFawn likes this.
  • A-Pocky-Hah!
    A-Pocky-Hah!   ·  March 30, 2016
    Explaining Straag Rod in 60 seconds? Yeah, let's see they try that given the amount of flashbacks and chapters in the story. And that's just 1/4 of Book One.
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  March 30, 2016
    HAHA, I'd die if they did the Rabbit one with Straag Rod.
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  March 30, 2016
    Thanks! Never saw that episode... that does make me want to see those 'X' story in 60 seconds animated shorts of the longer stories here.
    Maybe for chapter 200? That's a nice round number. :-)
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  March 30, 2016
    I have been thinking of doing this sort of thing. You remember the remake of 'Battlestar Galactica'? There was a special on one of the disks. 'What the frag is going on in Battlestar Galactica' where it gives a very quick and amusing rundown of the first ...  more
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  March 29, 2016
    Ooo, that was painful to read. Sorry audience! I think I caught them all, although the first paragraph is in the 'has been' (Past perfect?) tense, which I'm not sure works. I wrote this in 3 sittings and apparently a different tense each sitting, lol.more
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  March 29, 2016
    This is making me think that I'll need to do a recap when I finish with Book 1. Great to see this condensed, and excellent idea, Exuro.  There are a few places where you slip into a different tense.