Introducing 2 New Characters

I have two new characters that I have been playing with on and off that I want to introduce to y'all: Rano Athrys and Morllea.

Rano Athrys is a Dunmer I made to play exclusively in Morroblvion. He is a young Telvanni magister, but unlike most of the Telvanni, he is very much against slavery. Rano works secretly from within Great House Telvanni to break down the slave trade and free what slaves he can. He can't just go around Sadrith Mora shouting revolution from the rooftops however, so he works with subterfuge and secrecy. 

Outside of his abolitionist work, he is like many Telvanni. He craves power, both magical and political. As long as it is a fair fight, Rano isn't against using violence to climb the ladder of House Telvanni or to acquire more magical strength.

He is a conjurer and starts most fights by summoning a daedra to fight along side him. He is somewhat skilled in destruction magic but he was born under the sign of the Atronach, and as such was cursed with stunted magicka, so he mostly relies on his two-handed blunt staff to damage his enemies. He wears a mixture of heavy armor and enscribed mage robes.

Morllea is an elven necromancer and member of the Dark Brotherhood who has recently become a vampire. She wanted the gift of eternal life - limitless time to study and practice her craft - but didn't want to become a rotting lich as so many necromancer seek to do. Instead she gained the trust of Vicente Valtieri in the Brotherhood and asked to be turned. He granted her wish, and she gained the vampire's eternal life, as well as its thirst for blood.

She spends her time studying musty tomes and improving her necromantic skills. She is still getting used to her new vampirism and is working closely with Vicente to grow her talents and control her bloodlust.

She is a member of the Arcane University in the Imperial City as well, but mostly spends her time there hiding necromantic tomes and scrolls where curious apprentices can find them. She also hides notes around the university and also throughout the guildhalls with riddles leading to secret meeting spots for necromancers, hoping for new recruits.

Both of these characters will be available to download eventually - hopefully soon.

Meet My Characters - Updated 10/21/24

I have several Oblivion characters that are permanent fixtures in my game. They all have their own backstories and personalities, and some of them have houses made just for them. The ones without custom homes will get them eventually. I have a few that fight the same way, multiple mages and archers etc, but it's the backstory and personality that makes them so different. I may ignore one for a long time, before playing them like crazy for again after a while. In my mind they all exist in the word together, but of course, in reality, they are sadly in separate save files.

Any characters that are available for download will be linked below their bios, as well as their homes if they have them.

Luna Starshine:

Luna is my main character, and she is based off of me. Both she and I are nonbinary. Luna is of unknown elven origin - even she herself does not know where she came from. She is a mage and a scholar, and has dedicated research areas in her home in the West Weald - Honeysuckle Hideaway. Although still considered somewhat young for an elf, Luna is the Nerevarine and Archmage of both the Vvardenfell and Cyrodiil Mages Guilds, as well as a member of the Archeology Guild. When Luna gets angry, static electricity flies off her body, and may shock anyone too close. She can channel the electricity to form a magical shield around her, which has a very cool visual effect (like a storm atronach). She mainly uses electrical destruction magic, which gets a boost when this static shield is up. She is optimistic and generally cheerful. Luna is a worshipper of Azura. Remodeling her house is my pet project.

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Suzania:

Suzania is a character who, at least in personality, is based off of my mom. My mom is legally blind, so Suzania is blind as well. My mom lost her vision because of a genetic eye disease, but Suzania was blinded by a childhood alchemy accident when one of her mother's potions exploded. Suzania is a very gifted Breton mage and has learned to use her magic to "see" the world around her. She lives in Shadeleaf Retreat, a small cottage near Shadeleaf Copse in the West Weald. Suzania loves to collect magical trinkets, as her magical sight gives her insight into that which others cannot see. She is a Master-Wizard in the Cyrodiil Mages Guild, and works closely on the council with Luna. She is a follower of the Nine Divines and honors Mara especially. Suzania is kind-hearted, but also blunt. While she will never be cruel with her words, she struggles to put up with situations she feels are pointless or wrong.

Download Suzania & Shadleaf Retreat

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Freya Windsinger:

Freya is a Nord warrior and paladin of the Nine Divines. She feels especially close to Mara, and always stops by the Chapel of Mara when in Bravil to talk to Marz and pray at the Alter of the Divines. She is on a holy quest to become the Divine Crusader. Freya wears heavy armor and fights with a shield and longsword. She lives in Mara's Grace Cottage in the West Weald, and adventures and shares her home with Vilja and Kyle Fergus (companions from mods). She and Kyle have recently fallen into a romantic relationship. Freya is warm-hearted, and will risk all to help her friends. She's a bit over-protective of her younger brother, Fjord, but he understands and they are very close.

Download - Freya Windsinger

Download - Mara's Grace Cottage

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Fjord Windsinger:

Fjord is Freya Windsinger's younger brother. He recently left the Imperial Legion to adventure across Cyrodiil. Fjord is easygoing, quick to laugh, and feels a strong need to help anyone in need. He is a new recruit of the Fighters Guild, and a follower of the Nine Divines. While he isn't as devout as Freya, he has a deep connection to Stendarr. He fights in heavy armor and wields a battleaxe. The Fjord in my game is currently a companion that adventures along side Luna. The two of them are in a romantic relationship and they share Luna's home. Fjord loves to joke around is is generally a very cheerful and happy person. He is prone to putting himself in danger to protect Luna, which can be a sore point between them as Luna doesn't feel she needs protecting, but Fjord is strong enough for the danger to not actually be all that dangerous.

Download - Fjord Windsinger

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Alice:

Alice is a creation of Sheogorath, a cross between a Hunger Daedra and a Breton woman. As is expected from a creation of the Prince of Madness, she is completely out of her mind. She often hears voices no one else can hear, and is afraid of melting in the rain. Alice says that invisible butterflies lead her on adventures. She fights with her claws, channeling magic through them as she strikes. She is very prone to suddenly changing her mind, and has a hard time staying on topic. She has a home in the Shivering Isles near New Sheoth. 

Download - Alice

Download - Wonderland Cottage

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S'dara:

S'dara is a Khajiit alchemist who owns an alchemy shop in Leyawiin. She has an enchanted mortar & pestle that summons a full alchemy set when needed, and she never leaves the shop without it. Lately, she's been thinking of taking her business on the road and seeing a bit more of Cyrodiil. She fights with a bow poisoned with deadly handmade poisons, and is secretly a member of the Thieves Guild. Ahdarji is her second cousin, but they are not close due to Ahdarji's rather unpleasant views on Argonians. The version of S'dara in my game is currently an NPC who runs the shop and offers a quest to pay for rare ingredients.

Download - S'Dara & Her Shop

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Jeelia-Tora:

Jeelia-Tora is an Argonian Shaman who got a bit carried away when licking the Hist Trees as a hatchling. Instead of legs and feet/claws, she has a long snake-like tail that she slithers along on. She has recently crossed the border from Blackmarsh, after leaving her tribe to have adventures in Cyrodiil. She brought only her tribal armor and the bow and arrows she made back in Blackmarsh. Jeelia is a kind of jack-of-all-trades, and is thinking about joining up with the Adventurer's Guild in Leyawiin. She is always looking out for herself, but will help her fellow Argonians whenever she can. She isn't overly fond of Imperials, and they are even more distrusting of her than other Argonians because of her coiling tail. For long journeys, she will shapeshift into a crow to fly quickly over long distances. She lives in Mushroom Manor. She came upon it abandoned and a note inside asked for an adventurer to look after the place, so she made herself at home.

Download - Jeelia-Tora

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Lucky Otis: 

Lucky Otis is an Imperial who has spent the last several years as a beggar and pickpocket in the Imperial City, but has finally scraped enough gold together to set off out into the world. He's a member of the Thieves Guild and has very sticky fingers. Otis fights with a shortsword and the bits of armor he has managed to cobble together. He's headed to Bravil first, as he hears the guild has a solid presence there and he has to start his adventure somewhere. He plans to set up a little shack for himself near the city, but doesn't have much of a plan beyond that, except to wander the land and help himself to everyone else's riches along the way.

Download - Lucky Otis & Larsius River Hideout

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Rano Athrys:

Rano Athrys is a young Telvanni Magister, working as an abolitionist from within Great House Telvanni. He values freedom above all, and that includes for those enslaved by his House members. He doesn't go around shouting his views from the rooftops, but rather works with sabotage and sneakiness. Like most Telvanni, he is hungry for magical power, and as long as the other person has a fair chance against him he has no problem climbing the ladder by violence, as is the way of House Telvanni. He is a conjurer and begins each battle by summoning a daedra to fight by his side. He wears heavily armored robes and uses a two-handed blunt staff as his weapon of choice. When sneaking around behind the other Telvanni's backs, he uses a ring enchanted with invisibility. Rano was born with the curse of stunted magicka, and so has had to become very proficient with alchemy to make up for his lack of magical regeneration.

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Morllea:

Morllea is a necromancer and Dark Brotherhood member who has embraced vampirism to become immortal and immensely powerful. While she wanted eternal life, she didn't want to become a rotting lich as so many other necromancers wish to do. Vampirism was seductive and powerful, and so she went to Vicente Valtieri in the Brotherhood and asked to be turned. She works in the darkness to seek more magical power and to learn more of the undead. Morllea is a member of the Arcane University in the Imperial City, but mainly uses her privileges there to hide necromancy tomes and scrolls where curious Apprentices might find them. She hides notes around the University and Guildhalls filled with riddles telling of secret places for necromancers to meet.

Woodland Spirit Custom Race

I made a new custom race for you guys, mainly because I was bored and not feeling well enough to actually play the game. These are the Woodland Spirits, ancient guardians of the forests. They are tall and thin, and their skin is covered in tree bark. They are deeply connected to Nirn and can stretch their roots into the earth once per day to fully heal themselves. They are able to restore already harvested plants to their un-harvested state, and can summon a black bear of the forest to aid them in battle.

Stats:

STR: 45

INT: 45

WIL: 40

AGI: 30

SPD: 40

END: 40

LUC: 50

PERS: 30

Skills:

Alchemy: 10

Conjuration: 10

Blunt: 10

Light Armor: 5

Alteration: 5

Restoration: 5

There are 2 versions of the mod. One requires Oblivion Magic Extender and the other doesn't. The version that uses OBME has custom spell icons, the Summon Bear effect can be used at the spell making alter and is a new unique version for compatibility's sake, and the text in Healing Roots will read "Plant Roots" instead of "Burden".

Male and female characters have unique facial features/makeup.

Download - OBME Version

Download - Non-OBME Version

Required Mods:

Oblivion Script Extender

Blockhead

Oblivion Magic Extender - Optional

NOTE: The vines on the characters' arms are part of the outfit they are wearing, not part of the race. Just wanted to make that clear.

Health Update - October 2022

I just realized that it has been 2 years since I last posted a health update. I figure I should probably do that, huh?

For reference, my medical conditions are:

-Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - EDS (A connective tissue disorder that causes my joints, skin, and blood vessels to be too stretchy. This results in frequent partial or full dislocations of many joints.)

-Dysautonomia (My autonomic nervous system can't control my body functions properly. For me, it results in my body not being able to properly control its temperature and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)

-Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome - POTS (My heart rate gets raises when I sit or stand up. Without medication it would get as high as 160, which can cause you to faint, but with my medication, it isn't much of a problem anymore.)

-Mast Cell Activation Syndrome - MCAS (A disorder that causes the bodies mast cells (allergy cells) to react to things they shouldn't. This causes allergic reactions that can range from uncomfortable to life threatening. My biggest triggers are smoke, cleaning products, and most perfumes/colognes.)

-Gastroparesis (A partially paralyzed stomach.)

-Chronic Migraine (Frequent very severe headaches)

-All of the conditions listed after EDS are commonly found in people with EDS. Doctors think that the faulty connective tissue may be the cause.

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Thankfully, my Mast Cell Activation Syndrome that was in such a dangerous place in 2020 has calmed down a lot. I got on a new medication and I guess also just got lucky, and I haven't needed an epi-pen since Thanksgiving of 2020, so almost 2 years now. I still have to take Benadryl pretty much everyday, often multiple times, but it's usually because I'm really itchy or flushing red on my face and chest, which I can deal with. I can now eat most of the foods I couldn't back then. The biggest food difference is that I no longer have reactions to corn products. That's fantastic because you really don't realize just how many things have hidden corn in them until you have to avoid it.

I spent a lot of this year in vision therapy to help with severe double vision. My vision had gotten so bad that I was having trouble reading at all, so I went once a week to do a lot of eye exercises to train my eyes to work with each other and to get better at focusing them. It has helped a lot and I was discharged from vision therapy last month. It also helped a lot with my balance. I still  have some trouble, but it isn't nearly as bad, and I have some exercises I can do at home that will continue to help.

I am still going to physical therapy once a week to help strengthen my joints and I try to keep up with doing some exercises at home as well. It has really helped over all. I don't have to use any braces when I go out and I've stopped using my walker. I had a setback in the spring of this year when I fell and dislocated my ankle, but it has healed now except for some occasional pain and popping. Unfortunately I've had to reduce the intensity of the work I do in physical therapy because of extreme fatigue and muscle weakness.

If you've been here for a few years, you may remember that in 2019 my legs suddenly became too weak to hold me up or walk for some time. This has been a recurring issue, in both my arms and legs, seemingly caused by overexertion. Luckily, I am now able to recognize the signs when it first begins and can stop doing whatever is overworking the muscles to keep it from progressing. I still have to stop and can't really do much for at least the rest of the day, if not the next as well, but I've got a handle on it now. We've cut back my physical therapy quite a bit to keep this from happening while doing my exercises and now I never reach the point where it starts. I also experience extreme fatigue that we think is related. The fatigue is so bad that I will set my alarm for at least 2 1/2 hours before I have to leave the house so I can lie down for an hour after my shower and then take breaks while continuing to get ready. It sucks, but I'm learning to work with it. We still don't know what causes the fatigue or the weakness, though.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned, but a couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with mild gastroparesis. That means that my stomach is partially paralyzed and food doesn't move through it as fast as it should. It causes a lot of nausea and, for a lot of people, vomiting. Luckily I almost never throw up, but the nausea has gotten much worse over the last few months and I'm having a hard time eating. My doctor has referred me to a specialist for gastroparesis to try to get a handle on it. I'm really nervous about getting a new doctor in my world, but really could use some help with this constant nausea. Because my gastroparesis is mild and I'm overweight, I've always felt silly talking about it. Many people with it are quite skinny and some throw up everything they eat. Because mine is mild in comparison, I don't like to tell people for fear they'll think I'm lying or something. But even without throwing up, I've lost 15 pounds in a month and a half, so I guess I shouldn't feel so silly asking for help.

I think that about covers it. Hopefully I'll have a mod out for you guys soon. :)

Nova's Adventures In The Archeology Guild - Chapters 1-5

This story contains spoilers for the Lost Spires mod.

Chapter 1

After hearing an interesting rumor while staying at the Merchant's Inn, Nova found himself standing outside of an old, dilapidated castle which was the headquarters for the Archeology Guild in Cyrodiil. The castle definitely looked to have seen better days but didn't seem to be in danger of falling on his head, so Nova walked to the door and headed inside.

Upon entering, he stood looking around for a moment before hearing someone clear their throat nearby. Looking for the origin of the sound, Nova saw a smiling Argonian man in a red robe looking at him with curiosity. He approached the man and asked if the guild was accepting new members. After much discussion about his skills and experience in archeology (Nova was a scholar of Ayleid and Dwemer history), the man, who had introduced himself as Teave, accepted Nova as a temporary member of the Archeology Guild and invited him to look around the guild hall and become acquainted with the other members.

After having a look around and chatting with the his new colleagues, Nova returned to Teave and asked if he had any work that needed done. He did in fact, and sent Nova off to explore a new archeological site the guild had recently discovered, which they were simply calling "The Spire". They desperately wanted to look into it further, but no one in the guild had enough combat experience to feel comfortable delving too deeply inside.

Upon arrival at the spire, Nova instantly saw that the guild members had been right in stating that the structure was unlike any other they or he had ever seen before. He had seen and explored plenty of both Dwemer and Ayleid ruins, and this was nothing like either. After looking around the base of the strange structure for a bit, he decided to venture inside.

The interior of the spire was filled with oddly glowing blue crystals, and Nova wondered briefly about their alchemical properties before continuing further inside. He noticed that some of the cave walls seemed to be affected by the crystals and were speckled with blue. At the end of a winding tunnel tunnel system, he found a crystal shard that was mostly encased in a dark rock, but still shone brightly where it was exposed. He slipped it into his bag and headed back to the guild hall.

Chapter 2

After resting for the night, Nova headed back to the Archeology Guild to talk to Teave. Upon showing him the crystal fragment, he became very excited, but was unhappy with the rock surrounding the brilliant blue shard. 

"You need to speak with Tumyr and get some of his special dissolving agent. It should take this outer rock and grime right off," Teave said. "You'll find him at his dig site near Fort Alessia. Take my advice and don't touch the slime..."

Nova headed out to see Tumyr, arrived at his excavation site around noon. He took some time to get a good look at the fossil they were extracting, as that wasn't something one sees every day. He also got a good look at a large, dripping cocoon hanging from a tent in the campsite. He supposed that was the source of the slime Teave had warned him not to touch.

Tumyr explained that the acidic slime from the cocoon could be mixed with Green Stain Cup Caps to create a strong dissolving agent that he and his assistants used to excavate the giant fossil. He had Nova gather five samples of Green Stain Cup Caps to mix with the slime to create a new batch of dissolving agent, and then sent him on his way.

When Nova returned to the guild hall, Teave took the bottle of dissolving agent from him and told him that the guildmaster wanted to see him. So, with his curiosity peaked, Nova headed to the library to meet with the guildmaster, Kal Rythor. Rythor and Nova spoke for some time, Rythor making Nova's guild membership permanent, and Nova filling him in on his work with Teave. 

Rythor, however, wasn't too interested in what Nova and Teave had been up to, and instead sent Nova on an errand to a mine to ask the miners to dig a tunnel. Apparently on his latest expedition, Rythor had found another spire, but was unable to get inside due to it being severely overgrown with large vines. Rythor wanted the miners in the nearby Bloodvein mine to tunnel into the spire from within the mine. Nova slung his backpack over his shoulder and set off, reaching the mine just as the sun was setting.

This seemed a simple enough task, but when Nova entered the mine, he found all the miners in a state of panic. Speaking with the foreman, he learned that they had apparently tunneled into a vampire's lair, and two of their men had been taken captive. Nova volunteered to go in after the two men, which was a good thing, as the foreman then informed him that they wouldn't be digging any tunnels for anyone until the vampires were dealt with.

Nova summoned a magical torch and delved deeper into the mine, heading for the entrance to the vampire's lair. Only one vampire was within the mine. Nova quickly dispatched it and entered the ancient lair, only to find the two miners sadly strung up and quite dead. There were many vampires hiding in the dark, and they all sprung out to attack when Nova's ethereal torchlight shone on their hiding spots. Upon reaching the inner part of the lair, Nova was shocked to find huge tanks of human blood waiting to feed the vampires living there. A bit shaken, he finished off the last of the vampires and headed back to the foreman, who then agreed to dig the tunnel. With this agreement forged, he headed outside and set up camp for the night.

Chapter 3

Nova awoke in his tent outside Bloodvein Mine early in the morning. After a quick breakfast of apples and cheese, he packed his tent away in his backpack and cast a recall spell, appearing in the main hall of the guild headquarters with his skin tingling from the teleportation magic.

Teave was waiting for Nova when he arrived and they spoke quickly. He had managed to extract the crystal shard from the meteorite matrix Nova had brought back from the first spire, and a glyph was now clearly visible on it. Teave handed Nova a sketch of the glyph and sent him to speak with Domitian Verus, the guild's expert on all types of symbols and ancient languages. He then hurried off to meet Rythor at the site of the spire he had sent Nova to clear out as his first task.

Verus was in good spirits when Nova entered his chambers, and was intrigued by the symbol Teave had discovered. He then frowned, and grumbled that he might have been able to translate it, but the book he needed was in Bravil, and the bookseller was being stubborn about the price. He had settled for a transcript of the expensive book, but it had been weeks, and he hadn't heard anything.

“Rathmer wants to auction the book off to some rich collectors,” Verus told Nova grumpily. “No respect for scholarly research, just money... but, if we're lucky, maybe you can get him to hurry up. Here. Take these coins and head to Bravil. See if you can get the transcript. I hope you have more luck than I've had.” Nova took the coin purse, exited the guildhall, and headed south towards Bravil.

Once in Bravil, Nova walked through the town, to the western end near the Chapel of Mara. Rathmer's Books was a small shop tucked between the chapel and the Mages Guild. Upon entering, Nova approached the owner and tried to negotiate for the transcript of the book. Unfortunately, Rathmer didn't even have it. Apparently, the book was being transcribed by a woman named Rhea Miro in Leyawiin. He did say that it should have been finished by now and that he hadn't heard from Miro in some time.

“If you're in such a hurry, why don't you go down to Leyawiin and seen what's taking so long?” Rathmer said. He dismissed Nova with a polite but bored, “Nice talking to you, my dear sir,” and went back to sorting his books.

Nova groaned with frustration and stepped back outside, pulling on his hood, as it had started to rain. He was not looking forward to walking to Leyawiin in the pouring rain, but knew there was no other choice if he wanted to get this transcript for Verus.

The roads were muddy, but Nova still made good time and arrived in Leyawiin by early evening. He quickly pulled aside a guard and asked where to find this Miro.

“Over by the south wall, but there's been some trouble. Go see for yourself, but I'm not sure what you'll be able to find there...” the guard said, pointing towards a pillar of black smoke rising in the distance on the far side of town.

Nova walked towards the smoke, his nostrils scrunching up at the smell of burnt wood and ash. When he reached the source of it, he saw that the scribe's office had been entirely burned down. After bribing the guard out front, Nova entered the ruined building, only to find Rhea Miro's body in the rubble.

“What in Oblivion...” Nova muttered aloud, wondering how people could do such a thing just to get a book, no matter how rare it may be. Glancing around, he saw a burned bit of paper with familiar runes on it. Assuming that it must be what was left of the transcript of the book that started all this, Nova gently rolled the parchment up and placed it in his pack. He then headed back to Bravil to give the sad new to Rathmer that both his colleague and the book were gone.

Rathmer allowed Nova to take what was left of the transcript with him, and once Nova finished talking to Rathmer, he cast Recall once again and immediately found himself standing in the Archeology Guild's main hall. He headed back up to Verus's quarters and the two of them spent an hour, at least, bent over the burnt parchment, discussing the runes and comparing them to the ones found at the spire. There wasn't an exact match to the rune that had sent Nova to Bravil in the first place, but another rune in the transcript perfectly matched another rune from the spire. It referenced coordinates, and so Verus sent Nova downstairs to talk to Aster Cei, the cartographer of the guild. Nova jotted down the coordinates and headed down the stone staircase to find out where to go next.

Chapter 4

Gripping the parchment with Verus's coordinates on it in his hand, Nova excitedly made his way down to talk to Aster Cei, the guild's resident cartographer. After showing him the paper, Aster explained that these were coordinates to an Ayleid ruin in the region of the Nibenay Basin. Nova flattened his map out on the table in front of them, and Aster made a mark where the ruin would be located. Nova decided to rest in his tent for the night and then set out at first light.

The weather was nice and dry as the sun rose, perfect for traveling, and Nova was quite excited as he pulled on a fresh set of robes. He broke down his tent, put on his pack, and set out heading east from the steps of the guildhall. He used water walking spells to keep his feet dry, and moved through the countryside quickly.

It was late morning when Nova arrived at the coordinates Aster had marked on his map. There was indeed another spire, rising out of the ground, dark and foreboding, and yet Nova was excited to explore it's depths. He quickly made his way to the door and entered the ruin.

Inside, he was greeted by many of the same bright blue crystal formations he had seen in the first spire he'd explored. Fascinated, he summoned his torch and took some time to examine them, even chipping off a small piece to take back to the laboratory in his home. They were incredibly dense and hard, and he had to use a bit of magic to get the piece to break loose. Once he had stowed the crystal chunk in his backpack, Nova headed deeper into the spire.

Further in, Nova was attacked by strange daedra and undead creatures. They seemed to have been mutated by the crystals in the spire. They were covered in splotches of blue, similar to the marks on the cave walls, and near in color to the crystals themselves. They were a bit stronger than their normal counterparts, but Nova didn't have much trouble with them.

At the heart of the spire, it opened up into a large room, and Nova was shocked to see a glowing blue portal, shining brightly at the top of a set of stairs. He quickly cast multiple spells to protect from damage and status effects, and stepped through the glowing doorway.

The magic of the portal burned his skin, but he had little time to dwell on the pain. As soon as he had materialized on the other side of the portal, he was attacked by a strange floating being. It flung spells and even pulled some of the ceiling down on top of his head, but Nova's spells were strong and hit the being hard, knocking it back and stunning it. Reaching out from beneath the rubble, Nova cast a final spell, and the strange being fell to the floor dead.

It was a powerful foe, and even with his preparation, Nova was winded and injured. He cast a strong healing spell, and then began climbing out of the rubble the being had flung down on him. Telekinesis magic helped quite a bit, and soon Nova was able to scramble out of the chunks of stone and really look around.

This seemed to be some kind of pocket realm, and it was beautiful. Nova was standing on a large platform, but all around him the air seemed to shimmer and everything was bathed in a purple-blue light. He walked to the far end of the platform, where the being had been hovering, and picked up the strange staff it had used to fling some of the magic at him. There was some sort of container nearby, emitting a bright blue light. Nova approached the urn, but his attention was drawn to a skeleton on the ground. It looked ancient, so he took utmost care when investigating it. Grasped in its bony hand was a scroll with Ayleid script written carefully across it. He picked it up gently and placed it in his pack. Knowing he had found all he could, Nova cast Recall and appeared in the Archeology Guild Main Hall.

Once back at headquarters, Nova climbed the stairs to Verus's quarters. Verus was glad to see Nova return with new information, and looked intently at the scroll he brought back with him.

“This is definitely an Ayleid scroll, but I can only translate bits of it,” Verus said. “You should take it to Sova. She's the expert in all things Ayleid around here.”

Nova took the scroll back from Verus and headed down the hall to Sova's quarters, but when when he entered, Sova had a shocked and heartbroken look on her face.

“Did you already hear about Teave?” she asked sadly.

“No, what happened?” Nova replied, worry creeping into his voice.

“Teave... Teave's dead. I just found out. Bandits attacked the excavation site and killed Teave and two assistants. Only assistant Mogens survived. They stole artifacts that Teave had recovered, and just... just killed them,” Sova sobbed. “We're having a funeral tonight. Please, come to say goodbye.”

Nova was shocked and saddened by this news, but also angered. He swore to avenge his friend, and then took a quiet moment to himself before the funeral.

The funeral was a short affair – a moment of silence and then they cremated Teave's body. There were many tears shed. Only the headmaster had the fortitude not to cry as they all said their goodbyes. Afterwards everyone headed back inside, and Nova set up his tent by the nearby Doomstone for a night's rest. The next day, Nova spoke with Norlene. She was taking Teave's death particularly hard, but she had also heard a rumor that could help them avenge him.

Chapter 5

Norlene had heard that a private collector named Rodon Dakkon had recently come into ownership of a very unique new sword. By the description, it sounded like one of the artifacts stolen from Teave during the attack on the excavation site. Norlene wanted Dakkon dead, but Nova wasn't a killer and had to hear his side of what happened. Either way, Nova wouldn't murder him.

Dakkon apparently lived in Cheydinhal, and so Nova set out towards the city, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and strapping the new staff he'd won from the magical enemy in the spire's pocket realm onto his back. It wasn't too far to Cheydinhal from the guild hall, and he was at the gates by noon.

Nova approached the beggar hanging around near the gates and asked where Rodon Dakkon lived. The beggar pointed him the large house nearest to the east gates and Nova handed him ten gold coins. Upon entering Dakkon's home, Nova noticed many display cases around the place, each filled with expensive weapons. He found Dakkon on the top floor, but also found the weapon Norlene had told him about. It was clearly from the spire, the tell-tale blue glowing brightly.

Nova confronted Dakkon about the sword somewhat aggressively. At first Dakkon argued, but when Nova mentioned Teave's murder, he quickly quieted down and listened to what Nova had to say. Eventually, Nova got him to admit buying the sword from a group of bandits near Bravil, and he gave up the location of their lair when a bit of fire danced around Nova's fingers. It was just for show, but Dakkon didn't need to know that. With the bandits' lair marked on his map, Nova took the spire sword and set towards Bravil, feeling somewhat better knowing he was one step closer to avenging Teave.

He arrived at the bandit lair near Bravil in only a few hours, and readied himself for what may lie inside. He cast a strong shield spell, summoned his magical torch, and stepped confidently into the cave. Inside the cave the tunnels wound downwards until, eventually, they opened up into a large flooded cavern with the bandits' camp in the middle on a small island. After casting a quick spell of water walking, Nova was on the center island, and was locked in combat with the bandit leader. He was strong and hit hard with his warhammer, but Nova's shield spell was equally strong and the bandit leader fell, lifeless, to the stone ground.

Looking around, Nova saw a large tent and, figuring it belonged to the boss, he pulled the cloth door aside and began to look around. At first he didn't find much, but then he looked inside a chest near one of the tent walls. Inside was a scroll from the spire – the other artifact Teave had found. Nova carefully stowed it in his backpack and smiled, knowing that now Teave's spirit could rest easy. He had been avenged.