FormID: 01006164 00Gwydion GREETING 0 Hail and well met, brave one!
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 0 I have been nearly everywhere, but there are lands that I will not go to?
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 1 And they are all on the continent of Akavir to the east.
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 2 The northern part of the continent is a snowy waste called Kamal, or [QUOTE]Snow Hell[QUOTE]. It's inhabited by demons frozen in the ice.
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 3 When the ice thaws, the demons come out and invade the islands of Tang Mo, where the monkey people live.
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 4 The monkey people drive the demons back because they have formed great armies. They are a good folk?
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 5 But from what I've heard, if you get one angry, you will soon find yourself covered in its poo, which it flings with dreadful accuracy.
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 6 The monkey people are allied with the tiger people of Ka Po' Tun, who have the greatest nation of Akavir. It is ruled a tiger-dragon.
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 7 The tiger people want to become dragons like their ruler, but he is the only one who has so far.
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 8 Of course, the actual dragons of Akavir were made extinct thanks to the main reason why I won't go there:
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 9 The Vampire Snakes! (shudder)
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 10 I've heard these are the most terrible beings to walk Nirn. They ATE every man on Akavir!
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 11 They enslaved and killed every dragon! Dragons! How could something besides a god be able to do that to dragons?
FormID: 010053AD 00Gwydion StrangeLands 12 Not just one dragon, or a couple?.EVERY DRAGON! No, I will stay away from anyplace that has things like that around.
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 0 The earliest hero we have record of comes from a time when Tamriel was called, the Arena.
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 1 Long ago in the 2nd era, Tamriel fell into darkness when an Imperial Battlemage named Jagar Tharn stole the Emperor's throne.
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 2 He locked Emperor Uriel Septim IV in another dimension and took control of the empire. If not for an unnamed hero, our empire would have fallen.
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 3 This hero was once a prisoner and?hmmm?Have you ever noticed how so many of our great heroes begin their career in prison?
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 4 I mean what did they do to get there? For all we know they could have been axe murderers and we are building statues for them!
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 5 And what is it that makes them become heroes once they are in prison. Does the empire have some rehabilitation program we don't know about?
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 6 Well, if all it takes to become a world-famous hero is to start a bar fight or piss on a castle guard, then maybe we should all go to prison!
FormID: 01005A87 00Gwydion HerooftheArena 7 Well, anyway, I forgot what I was talking about! I think I need another ale.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 0 I am Gwydion and I have walked more continents and sailed more seas than anyone alive.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 1 Among my favorite tales that I tell is that of Neferheka, whose name means beautiful magick in a lost tongue.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 2 Neferheka was, in my mind, the greatest hero ever to walk Tamriel. Yet she began her career in the most humble ways.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 3 She was living on the streets as a teen and surviving in any way she could. She would often steal to eat and perform menial jobs for gold.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 4 An innkeeper caught her stealing a loaf of bread from his table, so she was taken to prison. There, she found a secret way out of her cell.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 5 Finding her freedom was not chance, however, for it began her career as a heroine. Entering the secret tunnel, she stepped into a life of adventure.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 6 She encountered various enemies in their, including goblins and assassins, and she realized that she had the skills needed to overcome them.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 7 Emerging into the sunlight, she left the Imperial City and embarked on a great series of adventures.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 8 She fought necromancer cults, conjurer conclaves, undead hordes and the wide variety of beasts and monsters that threaten civilization.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 9 She joined every guild and breezed through their ranks. She fought successfully in the Arena and became the lady of Castle Seaview outside Anvil.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 10 She was appointed Countess of Kvatch and found an Ancient Tower full of magic. Yet it was it all seemed to lack any sort of thrill for her.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 11 She then decided to join the Dark Brotherhood in an effort to feel something again. It was about that time her life took her in a different path.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 12 She was bitten by a werewolf and found that becoming one of those beasts helped in her assassination contracts. Yet it was not enough.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 13 Having mastered magic, war, and thievery, she felt like she was capable of much more. Her mentor in the Brotherhood agreed to help her achieve that.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 14 He had her seek out a cure for her lycanthropy, but when she returned fully human again, he made her worse?much worse.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 15 She became a creature of the night, a vampire. This transformation led her into the darkness of life without a single iota of humanity remaining.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 16 I cannot relate the foul deeds she performed in this state. No longer the hero, she was now the very thing she had fought against.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 17 Yet she had more power than she had ever possessed before. She was nigh invincible and her magic surpassed any mage alive.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 18 Still, it was not enough.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 19 When she was young, she had a dream of a tower near Leyawiin. Something told her to seek out this tower and find her destiny.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 20 She found it and with it a lich queen whom she bested in battle. Afterward, she found what she was looking for: the ritual of lichdom.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 21 She sought out the rare items she needed for this, what was to be her final and greatest transformation and began the ritual in her Anvil home.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 22 There were cures for vampirism, so if she ever wanted to be human again it was possible, but with this ritual, there was no turning back.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 23 She would remain a lich forever, yet she saw that as a small price to pay for such power.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 24 To commemorate her new station in life, she renamed herself Yovah and became one of the most dreaded enemies of Cyrodiil.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 25 She raised armies of undead that seemed to appear out of thin air and attacked each city of Cyrodiil, one by one.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 26 All of the city's citizens were slaughtered, and those that she could not kill she tortured. Anvil, Skingrad, Corral, all fell to her within days.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 27 She moved on to Bruma, Cheydinahl, Bravil and Leyawiin. Nothing was left behind in her wake except the dead and the undead.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 28 At last, she turned her gaze to the Imperial City, wherein she began with the Waterfront District.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 29 She led the charge, killing pirate, guard, and commoner without mercy, but then something strange happened.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 30 A little street urchin ran up to her, possibly the only child she ever saw. He said that he had a message for her from his master, Basso the Boxman.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 31 He gave her the message and asked for a gold coin before running off. It was like he was not scared of her at all.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 32 She froze in wonder at the innocence that she just witnessed for it sparked something within her, a memory of her own innocence.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 33 She remembered her life on the street, her fellow street urchin friends and what life was like. Even with all of its struggles, she missed it.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 34 She gazed at the little boy running off, admiring his pureness, his soul uncorrupted by life, and she yearned for it.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 35 She wanted that more than all the power in the world, for she realized that she hated what she had become.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 36 She strode after the boy, wanting to thank him for bringing her to her senses and bask in his goodness one more time.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 37 Yet before she could reach him, one of her undead minions caught up to him and, with one fell swipe, knocked the boy into a far wall.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 38 Several other zombies descended upon the boy, tearing him to pieces. She wanted to cry out, to shout for them to stop?
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 39 But all that came out was silence, for she no longer possessed vocal cords as a lich.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 40 The murder of this innocence snapped Yovah to action. She turned on her minions and engulfed them in flame.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 41 Her shrieks of rage filled only her mind and she did not stop until every last bit of undead flesh was charred.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 42 She then cast the rare [QUOTE]Wings of Kynareth[QUOTE] spell and flew into the air. Yovah was never seen again.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 43 She journeyed back to her Ancient Tower to live out her immortal life in repentance and shame, but visitors waited for her there: the Nine Divines.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 44 Neferheka/Yovah fell to her knees before her gods and goddesses. She hoped that they burn her out of existence for her crimes. They refused.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 45 Akatosh came forward, [QUOTE]You have become a noble hero and an evil villain. You know the extremes of life and death.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 46 [QUOTE]You have tasted the sweet scent of power and have been cut by its thorns of responsibility. You have used it for yourself and for others.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 47 [QUOTE]Tell me now, which of these choices do you prefer?[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 48 Neferheka/Yovah could not speak, but thought, [QUOTE]I prefer to serve others in bliss than to reign in Oblivion.[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 49 Akatosh smiled, [QUOTE]That is why you why you are a true hero. You have tasted the power that is possible, and it ran away with you.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 50 [QUOTE]Yet you retained just enough purity in your soul to be affected by a simple street urchin.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 51 [QUOTE]For that we commend you. And we choose to remove the guise of Yovah from you.[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 52 With his words, her flesh appeared across her once skeletal frame. Her voice grew back and her senses were restored. She was Neferheka again.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 53 Joy flooded through her being and she looked at her deities with tears flooding out of her eyes.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 54 [QUOTE]Praise the gods and goddesses! May you kindness never fall to those who teach you do not exist![QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 55 Akatosh placed his hand on her head, [QUOTE]Neferheka, we are going to do more for you.[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 56 [QUOTE]We are going to send you back to the time before you became a lich.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 57 We saved that specific point in your life knowing full well that it would come this.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 58 [QUOTE]You mean I can go back? And everyone will be alive again?[QUOTE] Neferheka gasped in surprise.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 59 [QUOTE]Yes, you will go back and none of this will ever have happened. Nor will you remember anything.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 60 [QUOTE]And we will guide you to make the decision not to be a lich, so you can resume your life as it was meant to be: as a goddess hero.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 61 [QUOTE]You will not be divine, but you will be a demi-goddess, blessed with a long life, near immortality and admirers throughout the lands.[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 62 Neferheka shook her head, [QUOTE]I don't know if I deserve that.[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 63 [QUOTE]Yes, you do for you will make the right decisions from now on. Now, close your eyes. When you open them, we will be gone and you will be home.[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 64 When she opened her eyes again, she was in bed at Castle Seaview. Her loyal companion, Wynna, lay next to her.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 65 [QUOTE]What a dream![QUOTE] she exclaimed.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 66 [QUOTE]What?[QUOTE] asked Wynna.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 67 [QUOTE]I don't know. I can't remember it, really. I just have the feeling that things are going to very different from now on.[QUOTE]
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 68 So, my story of Neferheka ends, yet her life continued on to greater things.
FormID: 01005A90 00Gwydion GreetingGwydion 69 I hope you enjoyed this tale for it is one that is very close to me. I know it so well that I almost feel like I was her. You know what I mean?