Part 13 Chaos
The adventurers slowly worked their way up the mountain, they had encountered dozens of draugr thus far and they knew something far worse was awaiting them at the summit...
After blasting their way past the last deathlord they found themselves face to face with a mighty frost dragon!
Foolish mortals! he hissed, You cannot defea-----
"Why are you giving the Dragon an Altmeri accent?" Serana Valerian's chancellor asked.
"They make the best villains, now shut up the villain needs to finish his boast!"
She rolled her eyes.
You cannot defeat me! I shall crush your bones and burn your very souls!!!!
"This is getting ridiculous, I shoot the dragon with my enchanted arrows."
*dice roll* "Alright you got a 17 so your hit isn't enough to kill him but it does keep him from flying!!"
"Four questions your grace, 1. Why do these dice have so many different sides, 2 why do each of these "Campaigns" start out with us in prison, 3 Where did you find this "game", and 4 why in Oblivion are we wasting our time with them?"
"You "live" to kill my fun don't you?"
"Of course, now answer me."
Valerian sighed. "The dice are meant for different things, don't ask me to fully explain the rules because I'm pretty sure they're written in Dwemer or something like that." he continued. "The people who wrote the original campaign had the hero escape from prison, ever since that's become some kind of tradition for them."
"Wonderful now where did you get these...things?"
"A merchant from Cyrodiil, he said it was all the rage amongst the bored elite."
"And why are we wasting our time with it?"
"Cyrodiil is in chaos, little Tiber won't hold the throne for long and he's got a whole slew of ambitious cousins, aunts, and uncles who would love nothing more to see him dead."
"Isn't that our goal as well?"
"In a sense, the throne should be mine but I'm not particularly looking forward to murdering a child."
"So... you're hoping one of your kinsmen will do the deed for you? Only for you to sweep down from the north and seize the throne?"
"Essentially."
"Then why haven't you made any preparations?! We should be gathering allies, assassinating potential threats!"
"My dear my preparations have already been made, I'll be marrying princess Morgiah of Morrowind in three weeks."
"So you are marrying your cousin to secure Morrowind's loyalty? Is that it?"
"Of course not, You can join us now Risi."
Valerian had no true born children, his daughter was the result of a night of passion at the end of a feast almost twenty years ago, Risi Cyraliin was 19 intelligent, vigorous, and infused with a passion for life that showed just how strongly she had taken after her father. She was unfortunately (at least as far as the succession was concerned) human so Valerian knew that she could never have succeeded him.
"You summoned me your gra---"
"Risi." Valerian began.
"---Father." she finished.
"Yes I did, Do you remember Tullius Tharn?"
"Of course we grew up together before he went off to be king of High Rock, why?"
"He sent me a letter not too long ago, asking for your hand."
"And what will you tell him?" She was apprehensive.
"That depends on you, I won't lie I need High Rock on my side, especially in the... difficult times we face. But I won't force you to marry him."
"He was ugly!"
"He's a good man, kind and gentle he even included a little poem in his letter for you." Valerian handed her the poem.
Risi read it. "That... that was surprisingly sweet."
"You don't have to decide today, take some time to think it over. Just remember I only want what is bes---"
She sighed "I'll do it, he was always such a sweetheart and this is probably the best match I could ever hope for."
"Thank you, I will write him with your answer later today."
"If you don't mind I would like to take my leave, explore the city one more time."
"Of course dear, try to have fun."
Risi left*
Valerian turned to face Serana "Well that went better than expected."
"Alright so you've actually made some legitimate plans, what do we do now?"
"For now? We wait, now come on we've still got a dragon to kill!"
"You're ridiculous, you know that right?"
"Oh hush you know you love it."
They got back to their game...
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Emperor Tiber I did not have a pleasant childhood, he had twelve cousins who wanted him dead, two uncles that wanted him dead, and an aunt that wanted him dead. The only reason that he lasted as long as he did was because of the machinations of his formidable mother Lucina Reman, he was safe as long as she lived.
Lucina Reman died when Tiber was 12 during the worst outbreak of the Crimson Plague the capital had seen in over a century, by the time the dreaded sickness had passed the imperial family had been decimated, eleven of his twelve cousins were dead, one of his uncles and his aunt had succumbed.
The only members of the emperor's immediate family to survive were his uncle Tiber in far off Akavir and his son Cephorus neither of whom were in any position to topple the child emperor, Tiber married the ravishing Julita Larich when he came of age, less than a year later his daughter Alessia was born. The young emperor relaxed his guard, he finally thought he was safe... he was wrong.
Tiber I was assassinated while walking in the Imperial gardens at 18, his daughter Alessia was crowned Alessia III.
Within weeks of her ascension the empire descended into chaos.
King Tacitan of Hammerfell, the Tai of Eleswyr, and King Ancano of Alinor all declared war on the empire pushing for their own independence, at almost the same time her great uncle Tiber declared war on her hoping to take the throne for himself.
Marlena Tor Alessia's regent sent out an urgent call for aid to those provinces that had remained loyal, Black Marsh was (as usual) the first to respond, Crassius Reman crushed the Khajiit in a lightning campaign before putting the Tai's entire family to the sword.
The Camorans of Valenwood were entrusted with removing King Ancano from the fight, a task they embraced with a will, following a daring amphibious assault on King's Haven the Bosmeri army quickly marched on Alinor's capital taking the rebellious king prisoner with scarcely any blood shed, his head was sent back to adorn the White-Gold Tower.
Tullius of High Rock and his father-in-law Valerian worked together to reduce Hammerfell, attacked from the north and east the Redguards and their Imperial king were quickly brought to heel.
The usurper Tiber was the last foe standing and his motley army was comprehensively destroyed near Firewatch by Morrowind's army, the usurper fell in the fighting. His son was only spared because of his extreme youth.
The "Five years of Chaos" had ended with an overwhelming victory for the Empire.
Marlena Tor the imperial regent thought that would be the end of her troubles, she was wrong...
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(Dragonsreach, Whiterun)
"You're ready now?! You could have attacked at any point during the years of chaos and you wait until things have finally settled down to make your move?!" Serana practically shouted.
"Of course, the other pieces have been removed from the board, Eleswyr and Hammerfell have been devastated they won't be capable of causing trouble for years. Alinor is having another succession crisis and Black Marsh is in the grips of an almost province wide famine. Now we are ready."
"Very well... your grace."
"Oh cheer up Serana it will be fun!"
Part 14 Valerian Triumphant will be out this weekend.
*(Chronicler's note: Though Risi Cyraliin now passes from the main narrative her story is still worth telling (Albeit in a drastically shortened form) she married Tullius Tharn a few weeks later, they proved to the surprise of many to be perfect for each other, the story of their romance has become a favorite all over High Rock, A play was written during the reign of Alessia V describing their misadventures, it proved wildly popular.)