{"id":1305,"date":"2018-03-19T01:13:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T01:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/?page_id=1305"},"modified":"2020-02-22T05:22:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T05:22:51","slug":"chapter-23","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/volume-ii\/part-i-dardeh\/chapter-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 23"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Lydia:<\/em><\/p>\n

This is to let you know that I made it safely to Solstheim.\u00a0 There is something odd going on here, and I haven\u2019t decided what it is, yet.\u00a0 Nobody seems to know who Miraak is.\u00a0 Or rather, they all know the name, but they aren\u2019t sure why.\u00a0 The captain who brought me here from Windhelm couldn\u2019t remember, either. \u00a0You can send messages to me at the Retching Netch (don\u2019t ask) in Raven Rock.\u00a0 I hope Roggi is doing better.\u00a0 Love to Lucia. \u2013 Dardeh<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

Dear Roggi:<\/em><\/p>\n

There is something really wrong here. There are these stone altars that draw people in at night and nobody remembers working on them. I\u2019ve watched them doing it. Nobody knows who Miraak is either, but the Second Councilor thought it had something to do with a temple. I helped clear out the old ebony mine in Raven Rock thinking it might be the temple but it\u2019s not.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I did find an odd book, though.\u00a0 It took me to a place where I saw Hermaeus Mora. You know all the old stories, I\u2019m sure you know who Hermaeus Mora is. He thinks he\u2019s going to make me his servant, that\u2019s what he told me the last time I saw him.\u00a0 But the place, Roggi. It\u2019s all full of books, and tentacles, and it\u2019s\u2026green.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When I came out it was into a barrow with some Reaver bandits and\u2026 I killed them all.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even remember doing it.\u00a0 Looking at the bodies\u2026 I don\u2019t mind telling you that I\u2019m kind of nervous, and I wish you were here with me, because I don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening to me.\u00a0 I\u2019d give anything to see you right now and I\u2026\u00a0 I can\u2019t send this to you now that I\u2019ve put that on the paper. I\u2019ll keep it and maybe sometime I\u2019ll show it to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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Dear Dardeh:<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m relieved to hear that the passage was safe and things are going well in Raven Rock, mystery notwithstanding.\u00a0 Lucia misses you. Well, so do I.\u00a0 Roggi mostly slept for the first week or so after you left, on and off. Then he got up and started moving around, and he seemed much better.\u00a0 He was restless, though, so a few days after he got up, I put him on the carriage to Windhelm.\u00a0 I hope he went to Kynesgrove and didn\u2019t follow you, because that\u2019s what he kept saying he wanted to do.\u00a0 Lucia got stern with him. Keep yourself safe, Dardeh. Talos watch over you. \u2013 Lydia<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dear Lydia:<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for the news.\u00a0 Roggi didn\u2019t show up in Raven Rock, so he must have gone home to Kynesgrove, and that\u2019s good.\u00a0 Things here are progressing. I found an old temple, huge and very deep, where the Miraak cultists seem to be centered.\u00a0 I went through it with Frea, daughter of the shaman of a village of Skaal \u2013 Nords like us but of a different line, much older.\u00a0 Their people are being enslaved, Lydia, and I have to help them.\u00a0 I think it has something to do with Miraak.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how long this is going to take but I can\u2019t leave until they are safe.\u00a0 Would you do something for me? Send word to Roggi that I am fine. I keep trying to write to him but there\u2019s just no time.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Love to Lucia too. \u2013 Dardeh<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

Dear Roggi \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n

I went.. into a book and I saw him. I saw Miraak.\u00a0 He was with these creatures that I can\u2019t even begin to describe, huge, hairy, floating things with strong magic. \u00a0Seekers. He stood there and mocked me for being weak. Then he Shouted \u2013 Dragon Aspect, I recognized the words.\u00a0 It makes you powerful. He was surrounded by these auras. \u00a0I wanted to kill him, Roggi. I wanted to rip his heart out for hurting you and I couldn\u2019t get to him.\u00a0 But what he doesn\u2019t know is that I have learned one of the words of that Shout for myself.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see who is powerful in the end.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

The Skaal shaman sent me up into the mountains to find another Shout that allowed me to remove the curse on the stone in Raven Rock and the one near the Skaal village. I had to kill a dragon, but Miraak stole its soul. Then when I tried to clear the stones these horrid, huge monsters came out of the water near them and attacked.\u00a0 They killed so many people.\u00a0 Or maybe I did, by Shouting at the stones.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know anymore.\u00a0 Yes, I do know, it was these creatures that did it, the Lurkers.\u00a0 I killed the Lurkers, for certain.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Roggi, when I talked to the Skaal shaman he asked me whether I was Dragonborn and I told him yes. He said that maybe I would free them, or maybe I would bring about their destruction.\u00a0 Would I do that, Roggi?\u00a0 Am I making a mistake? And then he said \u201cBeware, you are now walking the same road as Miraak.\u201d\u00a0 Is that what is happening to me?\u00a0 Do I have any choice?\u00a0 I can\u2019t just leave these people to him, can I?<\/em><\/p>\n

Old Herma Mora told me the same thing. He told me that only one other person has found the forbidden knowledge I seek and that\u2019s Miraak.\u00a0 He said \u201cI know what you want \u2013 your power as Dragonborn, to bend the will of mortals to your bidding.\u201d\u00a0 I think he meant the rest of the Bend Will Shout, but Roggi, what if that\u2019s not what he meant? Do I really want power over people? I\u2019m really scared right now and I wish I could talk to you.\u00a0 All I really want is to come home and make sure you\u2019re all right because I\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 I can\u2019t send this to you either because you would hate me if I told you that I love you, wouldn\u2019t you.\u00a0 Maybe someday.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Dardeh:<\/em><\/p>\n

I wish you would write more often. It\u2019s been so long now and we\u2019re really worried.\u00a0 We\u2019re hearing more and more about the war going on.\u00a0 I keep thinking they\u2019re going to force Balgruuf into letting the Imperial soldiers into Whiterun, and I just don\u2019t think I can take that.\u00a0 Or maybe he\u2019ll send us into battle, and if that happens you know he will call me up, and I\u2019m worried about what will happen to Lucia.\u00a0 So far it\u2019s still quiet, but it\u2019s worrisome.\u00a0 There are more dragons, too.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard rumors.\u00a0 They can be killed, if enough people work together, but the bodies just sit there; they don\u2019t burn up the way they do if you\u2019re there. I don\u2019t know whether they will come back to life or not.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I tried to send word to Roggi after your last letter but the courier came back with it and said that Roggi had gone to Riften, and he couldn\u2019t locate him down there.\u00a0 I\u2019ll keep trying.\u00a0 I like Roggi and I\u2019m worried about him.\u00a0\u00a0 Please, please be safe and come home to us soon. Talos guide you. \u2013 Lydia<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear Lydia:<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry to hear that things are getting restless again back home.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know when I can leave.\u00a0 I\u2019m closing in on Miraak but it seems as though it\u2019s taking longer than I thought.\u00a0 I met an old \u2013 and I do mean old \u2013 Telvanni wizard who dragged me through an old Dwemer ruin to find a book I probably need to fight Miraak.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know how to describe it any more except that it\u2019s very complicated.\u00a0 I\u2019m not even sure how long it\u2019s been.\u00a0 Things are very strange here.\u00a0 I\u2019ll see you as soon as I can. \u2013 Dardeh<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dear Roggi:<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure that I\u2019m losing my mind.\u00a0 When I go into one of the Black Books I end up in the green place. Herma Mora called it Apocrypha. I think it\u2019s a plane of Oblivion, and I really can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying this.\u00a0 It\u2019s really dangerous in there and I\u2019ve come close to dying more times than I can remember.\u00a0 At the end of one of them I learned a thing.\u00a0 A\u2026 thing. When I use Unrelenting Force now it\u2019s so much stronger.\u00a0 Remember the snow bear, on the way up to High Hrothgar? I think my Shout would tear him into pieces, now.\u00a0 I\u2019m so much stronger now, Roggi, but I keep hearing my father\u2019s voice telling me to kill them all and \u2026 I think I want to do that.\u00a0 Not only that, but now I know two of the words of Dragon Aspect. It helped me make it through one of the places in a Black Book.\u00a0 I\u2019m so strong now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t even know how to describe it to you in a way that won\u2019t make you hate me, because you\u2019re a good man and I don\u2019t think I am, any more.\u00a0 When I came out of the book in the Dwemer ruin, I told Neloth that I had to find the secret knowledge of the Skaal in order to get the last word of Bend Will from Herma Mora.\u00a0 Neloth said it sounded like a bargain, their knowledge and I get to be the second most powerful Dragonborn that ever lived.\u00a0 Second?\u00a0 Only second?\u00a0 I was so angry. I wanted to burn everything down.\u00a0 Second?\u00a0 \u00a0And\u2026 then I remembered you, and why I am here, and how much I want to come home to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And I will never be able to tell you any of this, will I.\u00a0 Lydia says you\u2019ve gone to Riften.\u00a0 Did you find Dagnell? Have you run off with her? Because I know you love her.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gods I am miserable, Roggi.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But I can\u2019t give up now.\u00a0 I\u2019m so close to finding Miraak.\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to kill him because he dared to hurt you.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Part I: Dardeh<\/a><\/div>\n
Previous<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Lydia: This is to let you know that I made it safely to Solstheim.\u00a0 There is something odd going on here, and I haven\u2019t decided what it is, yet.\u00a0 Nobody seems to know who Miraak is.\u00a0 Or rather, they all know the name, but they aren\u2019t sure why.\u00a0 The captain who brought me here … <\/p>\n

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