Day 115: Return to Gnissis
I should have taken some sort of transport yesterday. I knew that the next pilgrimage would be taking me right back to Gnissis. After yesterday's long walk my desire to do the pilgrimage correctly and walk to the Koal Cave was nonexistent. Last night's blowout party at the Mage's Guild didn't help either. It was well past noon before I cleared the bitter burn of sujamma from the back of my throat. I should know better than to get on the receiving end of Ajira's brewing skills. She is a sweetheart though. I may just have a soft heart for Khajiiti women, but she was my first mentor in the guild and has always stood by me and helped me out. Right now being no exception. She has heard recently about a powerful artifact; the Staff of Magnus, and has passed the rumor on to me. Sometime soon I will need to journey to Mount Kand and recover this valuable relic.
For today though I trudged back to Gnissis. Baladas welcomed me back. I was half afraid that he would have disappeared back up into his tower and left another guardian to insure his privacy. I don't think I was up to battling another daedroth today. Fortunately I didn't have to. Getting his hands on the book, Hanging Gardens, was far too much of an attraction to him. He is convinced that with that for a key he will be able to translate the other Dwemer books, which he says are called The Egg of Time and Divine Metaphysics. It seems we may soon have an answer to one of history's greatest riddles. What became of the Dwemer? I suspect Trebonius will not be pleased when the assignment he handed me as a dead end makes me famous throughout the guild.
While I was excited to be bringing the books I did not forget the purpose of my travels today, that being the pilgrimage. I did what Tuls Valen calls 'walking meditation', dwelling on the goal and lessons of the pilgrimage to Koal Cave. Koal Cave is the site of another of Vivec's legendary encounters, this time with 'Ruddy Man', the father of the Dreugh. No one knows how Ruddy Man came to be. He may have been a human or elf that underwent some transformation; through curse or his own miscalculation, or perhaps even by intent. In any event the fearsome aquatic dreugh trace their origins back to him.
When the ancient Dunmer followed Veloth to Vvardenfell, the dreugh were established in the surrounding waters, though nowhere near as plentiful as they are now. How the Ruddy Man would still be alive in Vivec's time is a question that I will not be asking in the temple, but apparently Vivec defeated the Ruddy Man in his stronghold at Koal Cave. Then he spared his vanquished foe. Vivec claimed for the Velothi, who by then were known as the Dunmer, the right to use the tough hides of the dreugh to make armors. How the dreugh may feel about their progenitor bartering away their hides is another question best left unasked.
Tomorrow I will complete the trek to the Koal Cave, and reenact the climactic battle. I suspect the dreugh who choose to inhabit this historic location will be no ordinary dreugh.
For today though I trudged back to Gnissis. Baladas welcomed me back. I was half afraid that he would have disappeared back up into his tower and left another guardian to insure his privacy. I don't think I was up to battling another daedroth today. Fortunately I didn't have to. Getting his hands on the book, Hanging Gardens, was far too much of an attraction to him. He is convinced that with that for a key he will be able to translate the other Dwemer books, which he says are called The Egg of Time and Divine Metaphysics. It seems we may soon have an answer to one of history's greatest riddles. What became of the Dwemer? I suspect Trebonius will not be pleased when the assignment he handed me as a dead end makes me famous throughout the guild.
While I was excited to be bringing the books I did not forget the purpose of my travels today, that being the pilgrimage. I did what Tuls Valen calls 'walking meditation', dwelling on the goal and lessons of the pilgrimage to Koal Cave. Koal Cave is the site of another of Vivec's legendary encounters, this time with 'Ruddy Man', the father of the Dreugh. No one knows how Ruddy Man came to be. He may have been a human or elf that underwent some transformation; through curse or his own miscalculation, or perhaps even by intent. In any event the fearsome aquatic dreugh trace their origins back to him.
When the ancient Dunmer followed Veloth to Vvardenfell, the dreugh were established in the surrounding waters, though nowhere near as plentiful as they are now. How the Ruddy Man would still be alive in Vivec's time is a question that I will not be asking in the temple, but apparently Vivec defeated the Ruddy Man in his stronghold at Koal Cave. Then he spared his vanquished foe. Vivec claimed for the Velothi, who by then were known as the Dunmer, the right to use the tough hides of the dreugh to make armors. How the dreugh may feel about their progenitor bartering away their hides is another question best left unasked.
Tomorrow I will complete the trek to the Koal Cave, and reenact the climactic battle. I suspect the dreugh who choose to inhabit this historic location will be no ordinary dreugh.
posted by Tim | 3:11 PM
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