Chapter 119: Search and destroy

"What does that mean?" I asked, fighting to keep my temper down. "Surely if I was the Nerevarine - the physical reincarnation of Nerevar - surely I would feel something! I would know somehow."

The wise-woman Nibani Maesa folded her arms and straightened her back, in a light stretch.

"As I said, vampire Frost; you are not the Nerevarine. Not yet, might be what I should say. So even if the Incarnate does 'feel something' - it is to be expected that you do not." The wise-woman fixed me with her red, intense eyes. "You are a puzzle, vampire. I held the belief that you thought you were the Nerevarine. That is what brought you here, is it not?"

By her expression it was obvious that she had seen through my act. It was time to be honest, I decided:

"Yes, alright - you can obviously see that I don't personally believe that I could be the Incarnate." I admitted. "There... are people I know - who encouraged me to come here, and see you; and ask you if I could be the one..." I licked my lips absently. I had to play things carefully; if she suspected that the Imperial government was (to some degree) behind my visit... not only would she refuse to help me, Sirilonwe and I would likely have to leave the Urshilaku camp in an uncomfortable hurry.

"But no -" I continued; "I find it difficult to believe that I could be the one. I mean, how in the world could a man like myself - or a vampire like myself -" I added at a raised eyebrow from Nibani - "possibly hope to drive the Imperial Empire - its army and citizens - from Morrowind?"

But Nibani merely gave me an unfathomable look.

"I have one thing to say to that, vampire Frost. There are participants in prophecy who are not aware of the part they play - or have played - or will play. Just help me - fetch those lost prophecies, if they can be fetched - and then we shall see, you and I. We shall see where we stand."


We left after that, as the wise-woman refused to say anything further. It was quite late when we arrived back at the castle: an hour or so past midnight. For much of the rest of the night, Sirilonwe and I pored over the notes we had made that night, and some of the notes I had made during my earlier research for Caius: anything about Nerevar and the Nerevarine cult that we could lay our hands to.

It was a few hours of frustration. Nothing I had shed any more light on the matter, or provided some magical proof that I was not - and could not be - the Incarnate. Eventually Sirilonwe stumped up the stairs to bed, and I gathered our notes together and teleported across to Balmora in the last hour before sunrise.


"So you really could be him, eh?" Caius said, somehow appearing very bleary eyed and enthralled at the same time. "The Incarnate... amazing. Just amazing."

Not trusting myself to say anything civil, I remained silent.

"She wants you to ask the Dissident Priests about some 'lost prophecies', though - before she can be sure?"

"It was difficult to get Ms Maesa to... commit to anything like that. I think the only way any of us - myself, especially - can be sure that I'm the Nerevarine is if I start to do every little thing the Nerevarine is supposed to do. But yes: there are some prophecies she knows of, but hasn't actually heard. The 'Seven Curses of the Sharmat' was one she mentioned specifically. Do you think these 'Dissident Priests' would have something like that?"

The spymaster yawned and shrugged.

"I don't know. I'll try to get in contact with Mehra Milo - you remember her; she was the one who told you about the Dissident Priests - and see if she can find out for us. In the meantime, I actually have a very important mission for you. And don't look at me like that, Frost -" Caius said, stifling another yawn - "it is important: all this is. It is, however, also very early. You're lucky I didn't have you wait until morning."

Again, I bit my tongue and waited for the Imperial to continue.

"Yes - it is quite significant. We've found a Sixth House base. A real one." I raised my eyebrows, prompting Caius to say: "Yes, I know. I also thought the name 'The Sixth House' cropping up recently was just some petty smugglers or bandits who thought they were smarter than they really are... but this is genuine. The details I have are... a little sketchy, however."

I frowned.

"So you heard about this base from someone else, then? How do you know that this report is genuine?"

"I know -" Caius replied - "because the squad of Imperial Legionnaires who found the base were all killed." He paused for a moment to let that fact sink in. "The report I have says that Fort Buckmoth sent a patrol out to the area surrounding Gnaar Mok, up the coast from here. They were looking for smugglers who were said to have Sixth House connections, but they found an actual Sixth House base in some caves - 'Ilunibi caves', they're called by the locals. They found 'monsters', cultists, a shrine, and some Sixth House priest calling himself 'Dagoth Gares'. 'Dagoth', yes. That word alone would persuade me, if the deaths of those men did not."

The spymaster took a deep breath.

"This is all based on the report of the only trooper who escaped from the caves - and he died of Corprus disease shortly afterwards. Your mission -" Caius said, a note of anger beginning to creep into his voice, "is to go to those caves, and kill everything inside. Everything - and especially that priest, Dagoth Gares. Afterwards, take note of the contents and layout of the base, and bring me a full report on your 'excursion'."

I blinked. Was he serious?

"You're... sending me into a place that was the death of a whole squad of Legionnaires?"

Caius cupped a hand to his ear.

"Hark - what is this I hear? Are these words really coming from the same man who slaughtered an entire Dark Brotherhood Cell all by himself? Before he became a deadly vampire, I might add?" He became serious once more, and I realised that the anger had not left his voice. "I think you will have little trouble, vampire. In any case, go see Champion Raesa Pullia at Fort Buckmoth for the details. She's the one who sent the patrol. You know where Forth Buckmoth is, correct?"

I nodded.

"Good. Off you go, then. Oh, and Frost? I know about Sirilonwe - and I know that you took her along to see the Urshilaku." The spymaster's expression was unreadable. "Just make sure she stays quiet about us, and everything I have you do."


Sirilonwe (who had insisted on coming along, despite my wishes) and I arrived at the fort at dusk that evening. The journey had only taken a few minutes, as we had teleported from Wolfen Castle to the Balmora Mages Guild, and then on to the Ald'ruhn Guild. Fort Buckmoth was just outside Ald'ruhn, so a Divine Intervention spell cast there brought us directly to the doorstep of the building that housed the fort's Imperial Cult shrine.

In the centre of the walled yard we could see the smouldering remains of a great bonfire. Every trooper on duty was doing their best to avoid looking at it as they patrolled up and down. It had to be the remains of the funeral pyre for the soldier that escaped Ilunibi caverns.


"Yes, we had to burn his body." Raesa Pullia, the Imperial woman in command (I assumed) of the fort, said. "We could not risk spreading Corprus." She shook her head sorrowfully. "That disease... We do not even know who it was we put in that pyre! The disease was so... it had gone so far, that he was too disfigured for us to even recognise! But - I should tell you the whole story..."


Champion Raesa (who continued to eye me suspiciously, despite the signed note from Caius I had given her that vouched for my trustworthiness - and more to the point assured her that I would not try to kill her) recounted all she knew - based on the garbled, delirious speech of the now dead trooper:

"Apparently, the squad entered the caves and engaged a large number of disfigured 'man-beasts' - Corprus monsters, I think. The squad was driven deeper into the caves, where they found a shrine of some kind; and a 'half-man creature' named Dagoth Gares." Raesa swallowed, with some discomfort. "This 'priest' Dagoth Gares slew the... the entire squad, save for that one trooper. He told the trooper he was being spared, so he might tell others that 'The Sleeper Awakes,' and 'The Sixth House has risen', and 'Dagoth Ur is Lord, and I am his Priest', and 'All will be One with Him in the Flesh'."

The Imperial woman closed her eyes for a moment. The loss of a whole squad under her command obviously weighed heavily on her.

"I can remember his exact words," she continued, "because that poor trooper kept repeating himself over and over like a madman - until he died. He said he woke up outside Ilunibi and - and he had already begun to change; but he managed to get back here." Raesa's chin began to quiver subtly, her voice becoming choked. "He was crawling when he reached us - dragging his legs behind him: he couldn't move them anymore. I - I just can't imagine..." She closed her eyes again, and clenched her teeth.

I did not want to imagine it either. My skin crawled at the thought of the trooper dragging himself; his body - a body that was rapidly becoming - well, not his own, anymore - all the way from the Bitter Coast to Fort Buckmoth; so far inland. I desired a change of subject.

"Dagoth Ur, he said..." I repeated slowly, mostly to myself. That name again. I had half-wondered if he might come up. "Did he say anything else about the caves?"

"Yes - well, I don't know if it's important," the Legion Champion said, her voice more or less steady again; "but he kept saying 'red candles, red candles, blood candles'. And once he said something like 'red candles, blood candles, and the red whispering shrine'!"

A shock went through my body. Could it be? It sounded just like the horrific spaces I had found inside the Telasero and Falasmaryon strongholds; the red candles, the whispering shrines... Those sickening, ghastly places; full of death, corruption and decay - is that what the Sixth House was? Were they the ones responsible for the Dreamers - the innocent Dunmer enslaved by their dreams, and drawn to live in the horror of a place like Telasero?

I had to see for myself. If that was what the Sixth House cult were about, then Caius' search-and-destroy order would no longer seem so... suspect. I would do it gladly.

I would kill them all.