Ch.78

[Turdas, 1st Frost Fall, 4E: 221]

“Ah~!” A young woman in a steampunk diving suit screamed as she fell from the sky. “Shit fuck, fuck, why did I buy this needle?! Where’s my brother and my friend?! Why do I suddenly feel like I was friends with a lot of bears and my nose is bleeding?!”

She fell like a rock onto the metal-reinforced deck of an airship, causing a rather disgusting crunch of breaking bones. Surprisingly, she didn’t die, her bones painfully knitted back together as lizards and horses rushed to her aid as something wiggled in her belly. She groaned from the pain as she got up, much to the shock of the crew.

“Ugh, where am I?” She groaned as her neck fixed itself. “My name's Penny, the last thing I remembered was buying a needle. Does anyone have tinnitus?”

“Miss, are you okay? You’re in Limoth, we were just arriving in the city.” A big red lizard told her as her head spun.

“Where? I...” She threw up disturbingly glowing red fluid in her helmet and passed out.

📜

“Do you feel like another Displaced has shown up?” Pillar questioned Hunter.

“Yes, one has shown up.” Hunter answered with a nod. “In fact, now that I think about it, this one feels familiar.”

“How so?” Pillar was surprised to hear this.

“When I talked to Meen-Rei, she asked me if I remembered her. I told her about Todd and she asked me about someone going by the name of Penny. She claims that one is Todd’s sister.” Hunter explained to his brother.

“Really?! If that’s true, why didn’t he make mention of it sooner?” Pillar questioned.

“I don’t think he remembers much of his past life. This turned out to be true because Hermais confirmed it and I’m going to spare you of the details. In short, time and space fuckery were involved.” Hunter groaned in annoyance.

“Of course they would be. But if what you say is true, I believe one of those naughty little noodles are behind this one’s recent arrival.” Pillar concluded with a shake of his head.

“Probably. I’ll tell the others about this then.” Hunter was about to leave until his brother stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Before you go, do you know exactly where this Penny is right now?” Pillar asked the quiet, telepathic marine.

“No, but if I have to make a guess, she’s probably on her way to Lilmoth.” Of course it would be Lilmoth. Where else would most of the bizarre things happen?

📜

“So...this is legitimate.” Dedeth looked over the writ and hummed with a tug of his goatee. “Talras! Get your worthless skin out here!”

Thankfully I was ready to cover my ears this time so his loud shout didn’t hurt my ears. Why don’t they have a string attached to a bell or something in the other room instead of that horrid shouting? “What is it?!” Came the reply as Talras emerged from the magic muffling curtains.

“Congratulations, your apprenticeship is over. Here’s a good opportunity to make good money as well as maybe make a name for yourself. It was near the time I got a new student anyway.” Dedeth tossed the writ to Talras and he looked it over eagerly.

“Really? Well then, give it here, I’ll pack my things and be on my way. Good working for you, Dedeth.” Talras took off his smock and gloves before practically sprinting out of Dedeth’s shop.

“He seemed...really eager.” Shade commented uneasily and Dedeth laughed meanly.

“He’s too soft for life here in Morrowind, he chafes under the teachings of Boethiah. Getting out of here is maybe the best thing for him. Hopefully young Talras will find his way in life beyond our ashen lands. Now, please leave. I need to close up shop and go to the guilds to find a new apprentice.” Dedeth shooed us out and I shrugged at my annoyed sister.

“Hey, smiths tend to be eccentric from what I know. Anyway, now we’ve gotta find someone we don’t know to sign up.” Which will be tough. Even though we’ve been asking many smiths if they’d be willing to join the venture, only a few have agreed, Talras and Garnag were the easiest sells and they were the only two we really knew.

“How about someone you know by association?” Asked a wizened voice and I turned to look up at a surprisingly tall pale-skinned elf with a long black beard that was tied in knots. People gave him a wide berth, but especially the eldest Dunmer who gawked at him as if he were a ghost. “Greetings clan-friends. You are Meen-Rei and Shade, yes?”

“Ah, yes.” I answered, feeling oddly at ease with his presence. The towering 7 foot tall fair-skinned elf gave off the feeling of a kindly and scholarly grandfather. “Who are you, good sir?” Hot damn is that one epic beard. Like a dwarf beard from other-wait.

“I am not surprised that our mutual friend has not mentioned me or at least not at length. I am Yagrum Bagarn; The Last Dwarf and Walker of the Planes of Reality. I hear that you are assembling smiths to possibly unravel the secrets of Aetherium that my kin’s Skyrim-bound clans had wrought civil war over. I was once a colleague of Kagrenac. Perhaps I may be of assistance?” Yagrum offered and I gaped at him like a fish.

📜

“Ugh, where am I?” Penny groaned as she moved to rub her face only to meet the metal clang of metal on metal ringing her ears. “Ow~ my ears~...” The armored woman groaned and tried to find the clasps for her helmet, but she couldn’t find one. She remembered her costume having one!

“Calm your tits, Pen-pen.” A male voice chided.

“Who?” Penny groaned as she looked at the voice. Who was a huge man wearing gray armor with golden trims.

“Hey Pen-pen, been a while.” The man replied with a neutral tone that annoyed the crap out of her.

“Who the fuck are you to call me that?! Only my besties and brother can call me Pen-pen!” Penny snarled as she sat up in the bed she’d been put on.

The man shook his head before removing his helmet, showing his face to Penny.

“Omigawd! Toadie!” Penny gushed excitedly and she leaped across the room to wrap her oddly lanky arms around his neck and unintentionally smacked her helmet against his cheek, but he didn’t seem to even move, so she kept hugging him.

“It's good to see you are well.” Todd said as he patted her. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

📜

“Please tell me if someone has found the third Pinion? Because these idiots just keep coming even after we find and shut down the lesser anchors and it’s getting annoying.” Brennie growled angrily as she moved the markers around the map again. These persistent assholes keep dropping more anchors around the city! They’re more determined than their old enemies from Hell!

“We’re still searching for it. They are very keen on keeping it hidden from us, Molag Bal doesn’t want a repeat of the last two.” Miun-La replied with a tired sigh.

“My Queen, may I ask how exactly these anchors work?” The Dreadnought, Ferok, inquired. “I know they act as a gateway, but how is it done?”

“What are you getting at?” Birnil inquired.

“Can we simply not get a reading from these anchors? Do they not operate on the same principle? If we can trace the origin back to the main source, would it not lead us to the location?”

“Unfortunately, these Dark Anchors are not traditional portal mechanisms. They are literal physical manifestations, they’re each unique because each anchor is handmade, not mass-produced. It means they have a limited number though, so they’ll eventually run out...eventually. Being immortal and tireless, the slave-smiths of Coldharbour can keep working forever.” Advised a black-robed Redguard named Falion, who had come upon request since he was one of the greatest Masters of Conjuration on Nirn.

“If we cannot rely on the conventional solutions anymore, we must look towards the alternatives. The many races of this world have done many things, be they great or terrible, surely there must be something that will give us the means to find what we seek. Yes?” At his words, many looked towards each other before turning back to their alien companions.

“There...may be a way. However, it involves drawing blood from one of the two children rescued from Coldharbour. I detest the idea of involving children in anything beyond learning or play, but it is the easiest and fastest method. We won’t even need much, just a few drops.” Falion admitted unhappily with a shake of his head. The deceptively youthful man had a great soft spot for children, which was known to all who bothered to read up on his dossier.

“Why not their mother?” Brennie questioned in confusion. Surely the relationship between a mother and her children would-.

“The mother has not been trapped in Coldharbour. The mother has her soul shriven and stored elsewhere for safety. Usually the mother would be perfect; for who is closer to a child than the one who carried them in their womb? However, these things disqualify her. The next closest match is any siblings from the same mother, the fact they are quadruplets only strengthens this.” Falion answered with authority, which confirmed Brennie’s suspicions that his past was likely rife with plenty of strife and dark paths he'd rather not retread.

“What will it be then, my Queen? Do we continue our grueling course until we fall or take the quickest path towards victory and damnation?”

“...Go, do it before I change my mind.”

📜

“So you mean we could’ve just given this writ to the guilds and they would’ve sent volunteers to us?” I demanded from Twilight and she sheepishly smiled with a nod. “Oh my various gods, we’ve spent a good amount of time personally hunting down established smiths already! Ugh! At least we found some people with good skill to head up operations.”

“The fact you stumbled across Yagrum Bagarn on one of his rare moments on our plane of existence is an immense boon too. Who better to help discover dwemer secrets than the last of them?” Twilight asked excitedly while Celestia and Luna nodded from their spots behind her.

“That was less luck and more that he was already looking for us.” Shade reminded her warily with a look at the two reborn senior deities.

“We’re aware of your status as ageless people sharing the boon of the Nerevarine, do not worry about it.” Luna said with a nod from Celestia, so I felt a bit more relaxed since us being ‘Lycans’ is apparently an open secret among those already in-the-know.

“Alright. So, before we toss this writ at the guilds and goof off until we’re needed, how are you two doing on getting reestablished?” Shade asked huffily, since the two senior goddesses seemed content to play second-fiddle to Twilight ever since they were reborn through her.

“We’ve been welcomed back by Our Little Ponies already, so we’re just sticking around until things settle down and we can start figuring out how to arrange for a resettlement voyage back to Equestria.” Celestia answered and I felt a little sadder. Celestia was my adopted mom once upon a time in my old life, seeing and hearing her was just as painful as remembering that Zecora and my other friends are gone.

“Which I will help with, of course. I’ll be staying here though. There are many ponies who won’t want to leave Tamriel after having lived here their whole lives.” Twilight’s eye twitched, a tell of a nervous lie if I’ve ever seen one. I already knew she was going with Brennie. Rarity was such a terrible gossip to us since we were her future wives.

“Right, well, later then.” I turned around and left a bit hurriedly with Shade right on my tail. “Let’s go give the writ to the guild hall and go home. I don’t know about you, but I’m thirsty for some of Rarity’s cream~.” I licked my chops and Shade groaned in a similar want.

📜

Zaeza watched as her son roughhoused with Samantha on the rug of the main room of Rarity’s home. She wasn’t going to chide him for throwing his manners away, not when Samantha was his new sister-to-be and this was their new home even before the marriage was officiated.

“Wee!” Daniel cheered from atop a shelf. He was the most well-behaved, but he loved to fly so much he was always climbing atop things to jump off and glide down.

“Ugh, just watching these rugrats makes me exhausted to think about my own foals baking in here.” Scootaloo huffed and sipped from the magic metal flask she seemed to have on hand at all times while rubbing her surprisingly massive tummy. It already looked like she had a full-term babe in her womb, despite not even being a month along. It worried Zaeza until the pegasus mare told her she had the same trinkets as she did.

“I’m certain you’ll figure something out.” Zaeza assured her new friend. Scootaloo was Sweetie Belle’s mate, which made her family by the eventual marriages since Sweetie and Rarity were sisters.

“You say that, but I’m loaded! I’ve gotta be having at least a dozen brats in here from how well Sweets knocked me up~.” Scootaloo cooed and Zaeza felt flushed at the casual praise the mare gave to her mate’s virility. “I mean...I was just part of the weather crew, part-time courier, Sweetie’s just a bard...how will we afford raising such a huge family?”

“Love finds a way, dear.” Zaeza insisted, because if she didn’t have her son to love, she would’ve broken years ago.

The moment was interrupted by insistent knocking at the door below. Odd, people can just enter. Rarity shortly hurried upstairs, followed by a dark skinned human in black robes. “Darlings, Sammy, Danny. This man needs one of you to volunteer a few drops of blood so that he can hunt down the other Great Anchors where your siblings are being held.”

“Huh, really?!” Samantha gushed before she broke away from Zaeza’s son and held her hands towards the man. “Take it! I want my sibs!”

“I will do all within my power to return them, little one.” The man knelt down and retrieved a lancet to gently prick the tip of the vixen’s finger since her pads were too thick for that. He then opened a small scroll and smeared a streak of blood along it, which then lit up bright red. “I’m on my way.” He stood and waved a hand, summoning a portal which he walked through and vanished.

Goodness! Tamriel is so packed full of magic! Akavir was practically a land of ascetics!

📜

“It is all I can manage with just a small sample of blood, but my divination and mastery of portal magic leads me to believe that the Great Anchors are roughly here in southern Elsweyr and here on the Isle of Summerset.” Falion reported with pins he quickly pressed into said regions. “Search there, you will find them.”

“We will need strike teams to hit these positions.” Ferok recommended.

“Teams I will need to guide. I may not be able to pinpoint them exactly from such a distance, but get me within a half mile of them and I’ll find them.” Falion insisted, galvanized now by the involvement of being able to help children.

“You have executive authority to lead this operation. Get it done.” Brennie permitted the Redguard.

“General, about these strike teams, what would they be equipped with?” Falion questioned since what he has seen from these aliens had been nothing but miraculous.

“Experimental weapons and equipment from what we’ve stolen from Molag Bal. I would like you to oversee their performance and effectiveness.” Brennie answered the old sorcerer.

“How intriguing, turning the enemy’s own weapons against them like that would certainly get under his skin.” Falion said as he rubbed his chin.

“While you are busy infiltrating Coldharbour, I’ll see if I can’t draw Molag Bal’s attention. He’ll settle for nothing less than the best.” Brennie’s choice alarmed the others.

“Wha-?! General, no! It’s suicide!” Miun-La protested with his fellow commanders nodding in agreement.

“I know, but it would be even more suicidal for Falion and the strike teams to go in there while he’s watching.” Their General explained her reason to draw out Molag Bal.

“I’m afraid she’s right. Gods are usually stronger within their domains, pulling him away is the only way to ensure the rescue is a success.” Ferok added on, making them realize that the only way for this to work, is to challenge the Dark God directly.

“Bring in the Atlans, we need to show Molag Bal we’re not fucking around anymore. They’ve been nipping at our heels and it’s pissing me off to no end.” Brennie growled in annoyance, looking a little impatient now.

“As you wish.” Ferok relayed his Queen’s request.

“I’ve been to Coldharbour before, so I know how to hide myself from Molag Bal, just know that I won’t be able to rescue the child without ample distraction.” Falion calmly said to Ferok.

“You’ll get your distraction, wizard.” Ferok assured him with certainty.

“And Ferok, tell them to set up the speakers throughout the city.”

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