| abstract
| - Elenya climbed out of her bed, and located some clean socks. Her boots took some effort to lace properly, but she enjoyed the dexterous work, and it gave her time to clear her mind. Outside the sky was stained red from an ominous glow from the east. This did not trouble the young elf, her job was to train and oversee the stonemasons working out of Greyton Quarry. There were other people whose job it was to be concerned about glowing skies. If they wanted Elenya's help, they would send for her. She stopped by a stall to buy a potato pastie and a pint of tea. She didn't know why the bakery (called "The Farmer's Cornucopia") sold pints of tea, but she was certainly in favor of the practice. She sat on a nearby bench and quickly consumed them both as she watched the rest of the night shift make their way to work. The quarry was a little way from her home, but she enjoyed the jog in the warm evening air. She passed a group of hobgoblins practicing with spears and shields. She admired and envied their martial skill and well-toned muscles, but she knew her path lay elsewhere. As much as she'd like to be a soldier, her skills were needed at the quarry. She waved at a group of soldiers resting by the roadside. Most waved back, some shyly, others with a flirtatious grin. Elenya was yet to get over the novelty of those smiling faces When she arrived at the Quarry, Albert was out front waiting for her. "A load of supplies came by this morning. They have a new sign for your locker and a new set of tools for you. Take your time getting set up, the team are still eating breakfast." To Albert, everyone working under him was "the team", regardless of their gender, race or number of limbs. You were either part of "the team", or you were dead, or worse, fired. Elenya found her locker, a large chunky cabinet that had seen better days. A metal plate on it read "Property of Snr Mason Jaq Tiefling". Gingerly she unscrewed the plate, and set it aside. She walked over to the arrivals area and grabbed the crate labeled "Elenya". It was heavier than she expected, and her arms weren't as strong as they had once been. She pried it open and fished out a copper plate that read "Property of Snr Mason Elenya Elf". Beneath it were a set of finer tools more suited to her increased finesse and slightly diminished power. The creatures of the Greyton Quarry Masonry team filed in and took up their stations. "Creatures" was the only acceptable term to describe a room that contained humans, dwarves, ogres, duergar, elves, a pair of lizardfolk and even a strange creature that looked like a floating jellyfish with eyes on the end of long stalks. The creature called itself "Cough". Cough could excrete acid from some of its tentacles, and use that to polish and trim large pieces of stone, and was probably the hardest worker of the bunch. The team set about their task of assessing the stones in the massive pile behind them, marking them for cutting and then getting started with a hammer and chisel. Jaq would spend the next few hours moving from worker to worker, offering encouragement, advice and criticism as needed. Occasionally she would pause to use her new tools to carve a few of the blocks that other members of the team had considered too difficult to cut themselves. She would often call some of the workers over to show them how to deal with these tricky stones. The creatures she instructed treated her with respect and a little awe. All were courteous and polite to her. If any knew she had once been the tiefling that so many of them had looked down upon, none of them showed it. She ate her lunch slightly after midnight, sitting on a pile of freshly cut rocks. Food was delivered to the workers by carts that came up from the city center. No one paid, the cost was covered as part of their employment. Mayor Tabitha had been very clear: No Greyton worker was ever to go hungry or without a place to rest. Albert climbed up to join her, his knees creaking slightly with the effort. "How fares the day?" She swallowed her mouthful of cheese sandwich, and nodded. "Good. Very good in fact. The lizardfolk aren't bickering, and everyone's slightly ahead of targets." Albert nodded. "They're afraid. Scared people work harder, and I've had bosses who believed that fear was the secret to productivity. It might be, but all you've got at the end of the day is a bunch of scared critters with big hammers and twitchy nerves. Its no way to get things done. They can be scared of the Warden, or scared of Tabitha, or scared of that red glow in the sky, that's all good and well. But if they're scared of you, then you're just lining yourself up to have a very bad day." Another climbed up to join them. Elenya recognized him, she'd seen him about town a few times. He was a human mand just verging on elderly, with deep scars on his face and a lopsided grin. He'd introduced himself as Xelo-Tath, and seemed nice enough, although he always smelled a bit funny. "Evening kiddos. How you doing?" "Very well Xelo. We were just having lunch. How are you?" "Good. Good good good. Waiting on the Warden, I expect he'll return soon" "Do you have business with the Warden?" Elenya was curious "I do. He and I go way back. If you don't mind my asking and if it was not a matter of privacy, what were you talking about?" "Fear, motivation, the red glow in the sky" "Oh aye. Everyone's got their nose to the grindstone today. If things are about to go bad, no one wants to be seen slacking off." He laughed. "Of course, if they were taking it easy today, and then the world ended, it wouldn't matter would it?" Elenya shook her head. "No, they can feel Balthazar's eyes upon them. If the world is to end, then they lose nothing by being productive and Good in the eyes of their god. If the world doesn't end, then they haven't wasted a day feeling sorry for themselves" Xelo smiled. "You have true faith, don't you? I can hear it in your voice, see it in your eyes. You should try your hands at being a priest. Can't have too much religion on a night like this." Elenya looked up at the glowing red sky "Praise be to Balthazar, for he values the work we do. He has led me from misery to joy, and has shown me the value of who I am, and the worthlessness of those who would judge me on what they imagine me to be. I could never give up my work here to take up robes. But I was a priest, I'd use one of those fancy spells to tell him that even if the world ends tonight, that doesn't invalidate all the work we've done here over the last two years. Not even Orcus can take that from us" Xelo smiled and began to climb down the pile of stones. "Nice talking to you, but I better keep moving. If I see him, I'll let him know" Elenya turned to Albert "What do you think he meant by that?"
- Gold Reward File:GoldIcon.png Reputation Disposition Type Creatures Enemies Quest ID The Path of the Righteous is a quest available in The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine. The Hero has answered the call and has set forth to find the remaining Relics of the Crusader. At the Priory of the Nine, they have discovered from Sir Ralvas, one of the old Knights of the Nine that the Mace of Zenithar can be found in the Chapel of Zenithar in Leyawiin, a task that cost him his life.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)