Labyrinthian

 

Dark, twisted passageways, great halls, and riddles. That's what welcomes me here in the Labyrinthian. A tale of two brothers looking for the secret of life. The elder brother was Kanen, strong and cunning, looking for riches and jewels. The younger brother, Mogrus, was a dull witted giant. A lumbering oaf. They too ventured into these halls. Looking for immortality. In their failure they found it. Locked away forever, roaming these halls as shades, they found their immortality. Lucky for me, I'm here for a piece of a staff, not life everlasting. The tales inscribed on the walls lead me through this great maze. Locked doors telling me I need to quest through Mogrus' domain to obtain the key to unlock the first of two doors.

Through ghosts and goblins and golems I fought, leaping pits of lava and crawling through pitch black tunnels, and finally coming upon the shade of Mogrus. A riddle, if I get it right, I get the key. If I get it wrong, I must face this powerful creature. Nothing. The key is mine. But how can I let this creature haunt these caverns? I open the cell of Morgrus and face him. My arrows shredding his essence as he throws dark and twisted magics at me. Soon he is nothing. Now for Kanen...

His halls twist and turn, tying knots in themselves. Treasure guarded by ghouls and zombies and golems and hell hounds dot the rooms. I've fought so many. I fear my gear may break soon... I hope it holds out. After so much time in these maddening halls, I finally come to the cell of Kanen. He tells me his riddles and I answer quickly. I take the Sapphire key and then turn to him. He much be released. I bash the lock on his cell and attack. His spells wound me greatly and as I fire arrow after arrow upon him, he escapes... wounded, I make my way back to the main hall. To my prize locked behind great doors, to the second piece.

The Ice Fortress

Returning to Winterhold, to Skyrim. I must make my way to the Fortress of Ice to find where the next piece of the staff lies...

Greeted by the smooth, glass-like surfaces of ice, emerald, and saphire, I take my first steps into the great fortress. Puffs of my breath billowing in front of my as I shake off the cold. Off in the distance I hear the growls of frost wolves, the clanking of knights armor, and... something else. I cant quite put my finger on it, but there is a heavy, thunderous footfall echoing through the chambers. I dread what I might see in these halls, but I must continue on. The tablet to decifer the Elder Scroll is waiting for me here, waiting to reveal the location of the second piece of the Staff of Chaos.

Guarding the tablet piece was an enormous Ice Golem... my long bow didnt even scratch its armor. How was I to kill it? I had come across a Mithril Bow in my travels, not using it because I felt that maybe the magical enchantments on my normal bow made it stronger, but now with this mighty foe before me, I took the chance and used it. The force which the arrows took from this bow was astounding!  Piercing the thick armor of the golem, magical force pouring from the wounds. Soon I was standing over its corpse, tablet in hand. Back to the Mages Guild in Winterhold to figure out the location of the Labyrinthian, the location of the second piece.

The Staff of Magnus

While my inquiries into the possessed king came up fruitless, on my way out of the palace I hear mention of a man in a local tavern claiming to know how to locate the great Staff of Magnus. I entered the Thirsty Gull with low expectations, my recent time with the king has made me cautious of rumor. But there at the bar a man spoke in hushed tones about the Staff. Of course, I had to bribe him to get any real information out of him. He told tale of a man in the Blades that went looking for the staff, map in hand. He was slain and the map lost. The last location of this Blade was in the cavern of Druthor in the great deserts of Elsweyr. First I will head to the local smith for gear repairs and then I will make the journey.

I journeyed strait to Druthor, not wanting to waste any time in the nearest town. With that man at the bar speaking to anyone about the maps location, time was of the essence. Orcs rule these caverns. No bother, the energies of the Oghma Infinium coursing through me, there is hardly a foe that can stand in my way. Down, down, down to the lowest level of the cavern... what was this Blade searching for here? Quickly I come across the body of the man, map waiting in his pack. It reveals to me my target lies in the catacombs of Gripangod in Valenwood...

Eldenroot, a city in the heart of Valenwood. Gripangod isn't far now. I will sell the goods I found in Druthor for some money for repairs, stock up on potions, then steel myself for my journey to find the great Staff.

I pass through Gripangod nearly unhindered, the denizens of this foul place falling quickly before my arrows. I don't know why, but I always feel as if these ancient, powerful items should be guarded by great beasts and horrid armies... yet they are usually sitting unassuming in some random corner of some random place... I guess that's

why they were forgotten. I know carry the Staff of Magnus. I know its useless to me, but maybe I can find the right person for it for the right price. Now I continue my quest for the second peace of the Staff of Chaos.

The Possessed King

The king... he was.... only a man. Mere rumors.

Infinium

I've heard tale of an ancient tome, the Oghma Infinium, a book of immense power said to grant whoever reads it demi-god like abilities. These stories led me to the dungeon of Morritor in Skyrim, where a map was said to lie containing the location of the arcane tome. Traversing the dark and hostile dungeon, I came upon a chest. I bashed the lock with my broadsword and found what I was searching for, the map. Upon it, the location of the ancient text, the crypt of Trogerugoth in the far off land of the Summerset Isle.

I settled in Sunhold, a beautiful city merely a stones throw away from the old crypt. Here I rested and mended my gear in preparation for my journey into the dank, cold halls of the dead. One night in the tavern, I overheard a drunk rambling on about the king of this fair city being possessed by demons... I will look further into this once I have gained the knowledge from the Infinium.

I set forth into the crypt. The undead, necromancers and orcs haunting its halls. And the spiders... by the gods the spiders. Giant skittering creatures with massive fangs and a venom that will paralyze you in an instant, forcing you to watch as the vile thing slowly sucks the juices out of your body. But against all this, hiding in a far corner of the lowest part of the dungeon was a chest. Small and unassuming. No great guard, no shrine. Just a chest. The Infinium sitting inside, the knowledge of the ageless one, Xarxes, now in my possession. A surge of arcane power blasts through my body, my speed and agility unbound! The journey back to Sunhold under cover of night is a simple one with my new found abilities. Now to see about this possessed king...

The Journey Begins

Sadly, I've begun this log only after I gained the first piece of the Staff of Chaos. At first I felt as if this "destiny" I was to have was merely an illusion. How could a lowly guard, and one of "barbarian" decent at that, be capable of such heroics? Traverse the lands, reforge a weapon of immense power, and vanquish the usurper Jagar Tharn... How could I be capable of this? Only now, holding a piece of the Staff of Chaos, It's power radiating fiercely, do I understand. In such short time I have heard many stories and slain many foul beasts, I have grown so much since this charge was set upon me. I understand now. I must save the emperor. I must slay Jagar Tharn.

Fauans Journey

My big question was this, could I play a single character through all five Elder Scrolls games? With this in mind I had to do a little looking into the average life span of the races of Tamriel. Obviously the human races were out, only living to about 100 years. The recorded history of the beast races doesnt really exist making it hard to figure out how long they live. Going off gut instinct I figure Khajiit live slightly shorter lives than humans, 80 or so years. As for Argonians, throwing them a bone for being reptilian and immune to disease, I would guess around 150 years. Elves... well while some are said to have lived for a thousand years, it seems to me that most live a couple hundred, 300 being considered quite old.

 

There we have it, all this considered, I pretty much have to pick an elf. Which I am ok with. In the Elder Scrolls timeline, Arena takes place in 3E 399. The timeline also states when the Eternal Champion is born, 3E 370. While it does mention that the birth of the hero of Daggerfall takes place in 3E 375, we're gonna ignore that because no other games mention the birth of the hero, probably because Bethesda realized that people wanted to make their own story about their character. From the Eternal Champions birth to the end of the Oblivion Crisis is 63 years, from 3E 370-3E 433. From here the fourth era begins. The events of Skyrim happen at 4E 201. So from birth in 3E 370 to Skyrim at 4E 201 we have 264 years. So while our elf may be elderly at this point, they are still capable. This also means I can do something cool and age my character over this time.

So after figuring that I would have to use an elf, I now had the question, "Which one?" And for that I first had to figure out what class I would be. I did so simply by answering the questions at the start of Arena. I ended up with Archer so I went with the obvious choice of Wood Elf.

Now we stand at the beginning of a long journey. Fauan Oaklock, female Wood Elf Archer. The great destined hero of Nirn.