451 Trouble in Elsweyr

Elsweyr, a region that lies on the southern coast of Tamriel, and is home to the feline Khajiit. It is divided into two major climates: savannahs, badlands and dry plains in the north, and fertile lands of jungle and rainforests in the south.

Over the ages, many kingdoms ruled over the region starting with the ancient Sixteen Kingdoms, over to the two kingdoms of Anequina and Pellitine, then united into the Elsweyr Confederacy, and once more separated in two kingdoms in the Third Aldmeri Dominion.

Elsweyr is bordered by Valenwood to the west and by Cyrodiil to the north and east, with access to Topal Bay and the Padomaic Ocean to the south.

The northern half of Elsweyr is the Kingdom of Anequina. The region is dominated by harsh badlands and dry plains which gave rise to a hardened warrior culture among the local Khajiit that viewed their neighbors to the south as decadent and depraved.

The southern Kingdom of Pellitine being fertile and rich for its jungles, rainforests, and river basins; its Khajiit held their northern neighbors as uncouth barbarians. Pellitine is also the seat of the Mane, the spiritual leader of Elsweyr.

In the northern Anequina, many martial schools were established since ages old. Somewhere near the city of Orcrest, the Desert Wind Adeptorium has long since stood famed for its Martial Arts. This school was established long ago to shelter many refugees of a Khajiit Tyrant known as the Golden Beast who lived in the First Era so the history of this temple is deep and profound by all means. It was even said that a thousand years ago, this temple has participated in the fight against the threat of Dragons that were unsealed from the Halls of the Colossus.

Jon has arrived at the Desert Wind School following his friends Mirren and Miranda as Isha wanted a peaceful place to stay far from Hammerfell. Elseweyr's north may resemble Hammerfell for the open barren land of endless sand but it was quite different.

Seven months have passed since their arrival and the days passed slowly and peacefully. Martial Arts were something basic in Isha's daily life that didn't make her feel out of place and to Jon, it was a new realm to discover and prove his talent in. As for Miranda and Mirren who are Core Adepts in the school, that was home.

Some Khajiit might find it strange for two humans and two elves to stay in one of the most prestigious schools in northern Elsweyr but every story had its origin.

For Mirren and Miranda, the two were left in the care of the Grand Adept since childhood by their relatives. Many secrets involved their origin but Martial Artists do not care for politics way much less than Mages, the skill of the twins made a lot of Elder Adepts interested in teaching them despite their inability to learn the Claw-Dance as they are not Khajiit.

For Isha, she was accepted as an Exchange Martialist from the Martial School of the Spear from the Citadel of Ebonarm. The Citadel is famed for its Martial Tradition and by being a friend to the Altmer Twins, things went easy for her.

The problem was Jon. He had no martial background and introduced himself as Krilon, a humble mercenary. He even revealed his face as a Nord and revealed his name to the Grand Adept to be Jon, nothing more nothing less.

This was a bit strange for Nords are enemies to the Dominion which Elsweyr is part of and are rarely sighted in the badlands of Anequina. Still, Jon managed to earn a place in the Adeptorium.

How?

Money. As a walking coffer of gold, Jon has experimented on many the best methods to find his way to power. Bribes were merely the beginning as money can be spent under many forms, in many images and for many more reasons than anyone can imagine. Charities, Alms, Gifts, Donations, Offering, and even Buying and Selling. One must learn his way around all those methods to be acceptable in every situation, location and duration.

Seeing how well Jon managed to find himself a place in the school, Isha started calling his money the 'Blood Money'. She wasn't wrong though, during the last half a year, Jon has gone on a lot of Bounty Hunting quests issued by the Government of Anequina and begged the Garrison Quartermaster many times to give him the permit of hunting the infamous criminal Jon Dare but it that permit was ranked as the highest difficulty.

"Khajiit understands how eager you are but this mission is suicide. It would pain Khajiit to see one with potential die in vain, you are one of the good ones after all."

That's how the Garrison Quartermaster replied.

If only he knew… well, that's a story that is unlikely to happen.

All in all, Jon didn't have any difficulties fitting in with the help of his fake identities, background stories and deep pockets. He even made friends in high and low places.

"Pulu."

In a certain slum in the lower part of Orcrest, Jon stood on a wall looking around for anyone coming or going.

"Oh! Pulu's favorite human is here."

"Don't let Nefertiti catch you saying that."

The one called Pulu was a cat, or rather an Alfiq Khajiit, a furstock of Khajiit that looks exactly like house cats save for their sense of fashion.

[A/n: Furstock is a term used to describe the 17 known variations of the Khajiit.]

Pulu is an Alfiq who is a friend to Nefertiti and Jon as well as part of their information network.

"Brought you some Moon Sugar, rare quality." Jon said as he passed a pouch to Pulu.

"Always a pleasure working with you." Pulu snatched the pouch, hid it behind the wall then returned to Jon, "Now, what do you want to know from Pulu?"

Jon thought for a while then asked.

"The situation in Skyrim… how is it?"

"Pulu is not usually interested in far sands but Pulu thought you may ask so we snooped around for a bit."

"And?"

"There is a rebellion going on. Some governor decided to take on the Imperial authorities and the King of Skyrim is mediating for peace." Pulu said.

"So it finally started."

Jon wasn't expecting that a fight would happen this early in the year 4E 200 but must be some early skirmishes to test one another. The real Civil War is still not on yet.

"What else?" He asked.

"Not much about Skyrim."

"Then is there any lead for the Worm Cult or any big groups of Necromancers?"

"No. You can't come across such news easily without the whole city knowing, you know."

"Then what about the Dominion? Is there any movement regarding the hunt for their most wanted?"

"None. The Dominion doesn't bother much with Anequina so you won't find any information here. Try Reaper's March."

There wasn't much information right at the moment about what Jon is after. Detailed information about the state of Skyrim are hard to come by and usually comes later by a month since happening. Information about the Aldmeri Dominion is mostly classified while information about the Worm Cult makes people freak out so most do not look in its way.

It didn't bring either comfort of worry to Jon but rather anxiety. No news is Good News but sometimes the calm before the storm. Whether he liked it or not, the only thing he is capable of is to go back and sharpen his nails and teeth for the next adversary.

"I have information regarding the Star Haven Temple."

The Star Haven Temple is where the Desert Wind Adeptorium is located alongside other schools of the arts.

"What kind of information?"

"It seems like they are sending many Adepts to Rimmen in secret lately."

"Yeah, not really a secret though."

"No but… no new reaches from Rimmen. Even the Thieves Guild does not send people anymore. From what we heard, the city is on lockdown and the Governor is hiring Adepts and Mercenaries for various missions. Some say it is related to the many Argonians refugees locked in the Border Pass."

"Oh. That's vague… but interesting." Jon said as he passed another pouch of Moon Sugar.

"Always a pleasure! Always a pleasure! Pulu never knew Nords are this good with business. Much better than High Elves."

"Thanks."

The Alfiq girl said what she wanted to say and slipped into the narrow alleyways.

Jon remained in his place thinking. There was no much interest for him to take in Rimmen. It is the city to the east of Anequina as large as Orcrest, the city he was in right now.

Still, Northern Elsweyr was indeed a magical place and Jon liked the idea of spending a vacation here from time to time. The deserts were not as dry and deadly as Hammerfell with many mounties providing shade and covered all over the canyonlands. The night sky of Elsweyr was way more beautiful than the North of Tamriel where the night was seen as a symbol of terror. The two moons Masser and Secunda appeared very clear in the sky more than ever lightening up the night sky.

Elsweyr wasn't just a beauty in its nature but also in its architecture and culture. The Warrior Monks and Adepts were among the friendliest people Jon met and the cities and buildings were straight out of a fairy tale. The savannah wood triangular roofs with pointy ends on the heavily decorated yellow sandstones mixed with the green gardens surrounding buildings and the rose-colored flowered climbing these walls… the image was just fantastic.

Even cities like Orcrest were built on a hill with high stone walls that were decorated to tell historical tales and carried many statues for many heroes of the Khajiit.

"When this is all over, I may think of having a Mafia Boss Villa in the wild on some mountain near this city. It will be worth it."

While having his dreams of the future, Jon noticed a Thalmor Patrol coming his way.

Without much thinking, his instincts from the days of Riften kicked in and he changed his direction many times to lose any tail while keeping the Thalmor within his perception.

"From here… the Nord was walking this way." A Khajiit Dagi boy said while leading the Thalmor inside the slum.

"Hm? That's good. A Nord will suffice to cover up for the prisoner who escaped. This way the commander won't have our heads." A Thalmor whispered to another.

"I don't know… I just don't like it. The prisoners transported from Rimmen are all like… I don't know how to say it. I think a Nord will stand out a bit too much, especially if he made a fuss." The other Thalmor replied.

"Don't worry, we only need to break his legs saying he tried to escape and knock him out or poison him. He will look like the prisoners this way."

"Tsk! Those filthy outsiders! They run to us when things go south, their useless Empire is even doing nothing."

"No one can do much on the borders, you fool. Those Argonians who fled through the Empire came to us with their filth and disease. They even transferred that illness to the other humans and elves. We had to kill every last one of them lizards just to keep it clear. That's why we are moving on the borders with an excuse to contain the disease."

"Then just kill the humans. Why take them prisoners and risk the whole thing?"

"The Commander said that races react to disease differently in most cases. Having a lot of specimens will help the healers know what disease is this faster."

"What a pain, let's just find the Nord and get going."

The conversation went on but Jon learned a whole lot.

A disease outbreak in Rimmen coming from Black Marsh through the Empire, Thalmor activity, arresting the refugees, and an infected on the run.

It all started to remind Jon with what happened in Morrowind during the 6th Labour when they and the Old Woman stopped an outbreak Narsis.

More to that, Mirren and Miranda were dispatched to Rimmen once but they didn't say anything about a disease. It was just an escorting and security job.

'Seems like all the fun is in Rimmen. Can't possibly miss that out, can I? Jon thought.

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He took out a mirror, fixed his by a Transformation Potion and made a Telepathic call to Nefertiti to prepare things.

He then walked out of his hiding.

"Hey, shitheads! Looking for me?"

~~~~~~~~~~

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