Chapter 215 - A Fork For Your Thoughts
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, this is just something I wrote hastily in the car while traveling. Also, I hate to break it for you guys but Sheogorath does not appear in this part. In exchange, his Daedric Quest (in the future) will be changed just like how I did with Vaermina and Hircine so far. The explanation is in the chapter.
Enjoy~❤
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I read the letter that is said to be from Sheogorath and my brain just seized from functioning.
This simply can't be true!
This shouldn't be true from the start.
I didn't download that mod.
In attempt to understand what is going on here, I requested a room in the Retching Netch innkeeper to stay in alone for a while, I took Nefertiti, the Fork and the Note with me then started studying what I have.
This was unbelievable.
"System, call the Augur!"
<Confirmed!>
{What is it you want?}
"Do you see what am I seeing?"
{... It seems you have come across something unexpected, indeed.}
"What do you mean unexpected? It shouldn't be here."
{You are mistaken, I find it natural and completely logical for you to find this here.}
"What do you mean."
{Why don't you check this out?}
The Augur viewed a screen for me, on it a memory of mine was being displayed. In that memory, the past me was holding a tablet device and browsing throw a web page.
{Do you understand now?}
"... I- I see."
This is really unexpected… but logical. Still, things needed more confirming.
"Show me the other pages."
More memories started popping up on more screens and I started confirming things I never foresaw happening.
After 17 years of my reincarnation, I discovered something new. These web pages I was viewing in my past life were about the Mods that came from the Creation Club, that below-average modding community of that was supported by the game's company that added official mods to the game. I never downloaded a mod from that Creation Club as its mods were all charged for with real money and of course, the free mods in the Nexus were far better in quality and immersion. [A/N: Remember to always support your favorite modders.]
But the thing I didn't take notice of was that these mods from the Creation Club are 'OFFICIAL', what it means is just like the DLC content, these mods are canon in the lore. The Raven Rock I am in right now existed in the lore by a DLC which meant it should exist after my reincarnation… and so the Creation Club mods that I didn't download.
"Oh, bummer!"
The realization hit deep, I took my enchanted quill and a paper from the Haven Amulet around Nefertiti's neck, who transformed into her Cat Form, and started copying these notes from the screen, I confirmed all the mods that are possible to exist and what they provide.
Strangely, not every mod from the Creation Club existed in the lore at the official description and the unofficial wiki so I started to include some mods and exclude the others based on the immersion and how possible they are.
[A/N: I am adding only artifact mods from the Creation Club, other mods like 'Sunder and Wraithguard' or 'Divine Crusader set' are really far fetched in terms of lore.]
"Artifacts, huh! These are really interesting. Never have I thought I would get my hands on them."
These artifacts were in a sort easier to acquire than the other Artifacts, mostly in the hands of other people and only needed to be 'liberated'.
The first artifact we come across is the Staff of Sheogorath, how to acquire it is simple. Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of madness and the most dangerous one to deal with in my opinion, has offered the staff as a reward for whoever hunts two Bull Netches with a fork, not just any fork but the Fork of Horripilation.
A very unreasonable demand by the most unreasonable Daedric Prince. Sheogorath himself is known to be the Mad God whose motives and purpose are unknowable. In my opinion, they are unknowable because I am sure that Sheogorath himself is not sure about his motives. He is just a hot mess of a Daedric Prince with a lot of power and a ton of time to waste.
Dealing with Sheogorath is dangerous, I would prefer to avoid him as much as possible because one minute he loves you as fuck and the other he is forcing you to make the choice of your life. Sheogorath once tricked Arch-Mage Shalidor, the one who founded Winterhold's College and the city. Shalidor once built a safe haven on an island to all mages but Sheogorath tricked him with a knowledge that is incomprehensible and traded it with the island which was Shalidor's greatest regret and what led him to lose everything. It was later recovered by the help of a Senpai Hero of mine called the Soulless One [A/N: ESO Player Character] but that is a story I am not really familiar with.
All in all, dealing with Sheogorath is dangerous but the reward is really appealing this time. According to the notes I have, this bet with Sheogorath is not direct and not really harmful and the staff itself is powerful.
I opened the door of the room and asked Wulfur to come in.
"What is with you? You just went in and…"
"It is Sheogorath. The Challenge is real, not some prank."
"Whoa!"
Wulfur face turned pale.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Wulfur had an unpleasant experience with the Daedric Princes from the time he got trapped in Quagmire so he wouldn't be really reacting well to this.
He looked at the fork and seemed like a guy who was turned off from a naked girl.
"This fork is called the Fork of Horripilation, it is a cursed artifact created by the Daedric Prince Sheogorath."
"Really?"
"Yes, he really loves it and refers to it affectionately as 'Forky', even though in appearance and in function it is just a mundane iron fork, legends say that in the hands of the right people, this fork can be a deadly weapon because of a mysterious enchantment on it. Sheogorath is fond of forcing mortals to use it as a weapon and doing challenges with it, kinda a thing for his amusement."
"I see… what does horripilation mean by the way?"
"It is the erection of hairs on the skin due to cold, fear or excitement. But the reason why the fork is called with that name is unknown."
"So, is using it safe?"
"I guess it is as long as you only use it as a weapon and don't infuse any Magicka into it, it is pretty much just a fork."
Wulfur started thinking in hesitation, he was really excited about the challenge but it seemed he is now thinking about it.
"A fork for your thoughts." I put the fork in his hand and asked him.
"When I asked about the fork, they told me that some people tried to do the challenge before but mostly failed and some were injured, in all cases, the fork magically returned to its place with the note and all." He said.
"Natural."
"People think that a Master Wizard called Neloth who lives in the east of Solstheim is the one who made that prank."
"Neloth? I know him, believe me, he is bored enough to do something like that but that is not him. This is Sheogorath himself."
Wulfur started thinking again then finally gave up to the temptation.
"Dammit! I want to do this so bad but I am afraid. Jon, what do you think?"
"I think you shouldn't tell Bjorna if you are going to do it, actually, the reward is a magical staff so don't think too much of it."
"I don't want the staff, I want the fork."
"Oh, I see. Fine, if you do the challenge, I will come with you and the staff will be mine."
"Okay. We shouldn't tell the girls."
"Sure."
"And we should get dead drunk." Wulfur said and turned around.
"... I knew you are my best friend for a very good reason."
At that time we headed out to do something really foolish.