ANSWERS FROM THE WISE
WOMAN OF THE URSHILAKU CAMP

We spent the next two weeks visiting Laurenna's mother on Lokken Island. While there, she told her mother about all the strange things that had happened to me, including my bout with corprus disease, and what the cure had done for me. I could tell she was very proud of my accomplishments, but I could tell that she sensed an underlying current of concern with me.

Once we returned to Solstheim Castle, that concern began to grow more and more insistent within me.   

 

There HAD been some concern dwelling within me, recently. I spent more and more time in my private library, pouring over books and texts that I had received within the past month. Most of them dealt with past history, of the Tribunal, the Battle of Red Mountain, the Dissident Priests.

My work for the Illuminated Order had references to dealing with Dagoth Ur, as did my original mission here on the island of Vvardenfell.

It was my destiny I had been brooding about. What would the wise woman say that my future should be?

It had been over 30 days since she told me to leave, and return when the moons had come and gone. I felt it was time to return; to return and resolve this matter, to find out - to know the truth.  

 

I found Laurenna in her chambers, and spoke to her about my concerns.

"Yes." she said, "I agree - it is time to find out what her answer about you is. Just let me get myself together and I'll meet you in your armory."

Nice girl - always ready for a trip.   

 

"Do you really need the black robe and cloak?" she asked.

"Well, it keeps the sand in the Ashlands out of my hair." I replied with a smile.

"Hair??" she laughed.

"Well, out of my beard, anyway." I smiled back.

We gathered our things and headed to the docks. Even though it wasn't too late in the day, I knew the trip to Khuul would take a few hours.   

 

As expected, the trip to Khuul took longer than I thought it would. The wind was not with us, and we had to wait for the boat driver, Basks-in-the-Sun, to arrive from a trip from the mainland before he could take us to Khuul.

When we finally arrived, the sun was already setting behind us.   

 

With both of us weary from the trip, and the sunlight failing us, we decided to pitch our tent just east of Khuul, and bed down for the night. We decided we'd get an early start, and a quick trip would get us to our destination before noon.  

 

The following morning we started off even before the morning mist had been burned off by the sun. It gave the landscape an eerie look, and the dead trees of the west gash area didn't make things look any more friendly than they usually were.   

 

It wasn't long before we were walking past the ancient Daedric shrine, and saw the campsite in the distance.

 

As soon as we arrived in the Urshilaku camp, we heard children shouting "Eldorf is back! Eldorf is back!"

I guess they had heard that I like to hand out gold a lot.

Well, it IS an easy way to win popularity contests around these parts.

I asked if the Wise Woman was available, and seeing a nod to the affirmative, we were guided to her yurt.   

 

"Nibani Macsa." I said. "I have returned as you have asked."

"That is good, Eldorf." she replied.

"I am ready to give you my judgment."   

 

"I am ready." I said. "What have your ancestors told you?"

She stared at me, with a piercing eye that could cut you in half, as if to imply that what she had to say was of the utmost importance.

"The ancestors and stars have given me clear signs." she said. "The lost prophecies leave no doubt - the Incarnate shall be an outlander. You, blessed by Azura, must lift the seven curses of Dagoth Ur. Prophecy has shown that the seven steps of the Nerevarine's path, and I have been chosen as your guide for each step on that path. I will read the signs, and show you the way. It is time for you to walk the path of the Seven Visions, and pass the Seven Trials of the Seven Visions."

She composed herself for a moment, then continued. "You are born on a certain day to uncertain parents. So you have passed the first trial. My dreams show me that you also fulfill the second trial, that 'neither blight nor age can harm him/The Curse-of-Flesh before him flies'. I have read the signs, but I cannot understand. Can you explain this to me?"

I hadn't expected to add any of my own input on this issue, but explained to her about how I had contracted corprus, and was later cured, still having the disease, retaining the ability to resist all other disease but no longer suffering from it's terrible effects. The stunned look on her face was most rewarding.

"That you have overcome the Curse-of-Flesh is strange enough," she replied, "but that it should protect you from blight and age is past belief. Yet the signs of my dreams are clear. You have passed the second trial. But the third trial is unfulfilled. The mystery of the third trial is not my secret to share. Go to Sul-Matuul, the guardian of our cult, and he shall tell  you of the third trial. When you have fulfilled the third trial, return to me for guidance on your next steps on the path of the Nerevarine."

"What exactly IS the third trial?" I asked.

"In legend, there is a shrine to Azura called the Cavern of the Incarnate." she replied. "There are secrets I may not tell you about this cavern. Do not ask."

Well, I never argue with a Wise Woman, and I wasn't about to start this bad habit now.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COMING UP: A SMALL TASK ON
BEHALF OF SUL-MATUUL

 

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