Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-10197675-20131104175500/@comment-3293219-20131109002801

(I'll have to go back to the past to explain what happened to Nish, does anyone need an ADHD version for what happened in the caves? I've added one for this part, just in case...)

Three years earlier, location unknown
Nish awoke, gasping for breath; he could see a wooden ceiling, lit only by a dull flickering candle.

His hands were clutching the bed sheets, his whole body felt as if it was being rebooted and his brain was the switch. He could feel every nerve in his body coming alive and tingling. The sensation was not a pleasant one, it was both painful and unnerving and it went on for several minutes.

"Oh good, you're awake..." A voice said it came from across the room; Nish didn't have the strength to look up and see who it was.

"You're lucky; few mortal men could withstand such an attack." The voice added.

The voice sounded like that of an old woman, it was cold and quite lifeless with a bitter tone.

"I don't feel like I've survived it..." Nish muttered, reaching for his forehead.

"You didn't..." The voice agreed, "Technically you died seven times last night."

"Seven?" Nish asked, though not in disbelief, he felt like everything that she was telling him was true.

Nish finally had the strength to sit up; he rubbed his shoulders that still felt stiff.

"Stiffness?" The old woman asked. "That's the rigamortis..." She explained. This news was of no comfort to Nish.

"Am I walking corpse?" He asked her.

"No, you are alive, as you were before. I had to use half of my inventory on you and I also broke half of the empire's laws in order to do it... but yes, you are alive."

Nish looked to the old woman, she didn't look like the terrifying figure in the cave, she looked creepy and cold but in a different way and she still made him uneasy.

She was a Breton, pale and haggard; her clothes were cheap and were covered in patches from where they had obviously been repaired at him. Her hair was unwashed and she the skin around her eyes looked purple, her lips were chapped and her fingernails were cracked at differing lengths.

"Who saved me from those... things?" Nish asked, he then remembered; he was bitten by a vampire! He quickly reached for the bite mark on his neck, he felt something but it felt like it had healed over.

"I cured you... Well, prevented you from turning." The woman explained.

"What kind of alchemist are you?" Nish asked, fear in his voice.

"The best kind..." She smirked.

Nish tried to get out of bed, he didn't have the energy to stand yet, so he swivelled his feet around and dangled them over the side of the bed.

"Okay... I'll bite, why'd you save me?" He asked bitterness in his tone.

"Why? Why not? What makes you think that it was I who saved you?" The woman laughed.

"Those eyes... The last thing I saw was your eyes..."

"Something that you have in common with those fiends that were attacking you..." The woman added, bitterly.

"You haven't answered my question..." Nish said, through gritted teeth.

"Something is coming..."

"I guess that this 'something' isn't Daniel Howe with a cart full of sweet rolls..."

The old woman laughed, throwing her head back as she did.

"You, I like..." She smirked. "Back to topic; I saved you, because you and the group that you established are my best chance of pursuing a... worthy rival."

"Erm... 'Worthy rival?" Nish asked, in confusion.

"Yes, a man of power who has awaken from a long slumber... inside the red mountain." She explained.

"Who is this man? What is this man? How do I-"

"So many questions from my 'champion..." she smirked.

"Champion?' My arse, I haven't agreed to anything yet!" Nish protested.

"Not even with your world at stake?" The woman picked up a serious tone and gazed into his eyes, making him uneasy.

Nish groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Why won't any of you thick skulled idiots listen to me?! I am not the bloody Dragon born! I'm not the Champion of Cyrodiil! I didn't save Daggerfall!

I steal from people's pockets for a living! That's my life and I'm content with that! I don't need some moronic prophecy telling me that the gods of the fields are coming to destroy me for not appreciating them enough!" Nish snapped.

"That makes you the perfect voice of reason..." The woman said, ending in a smile.

"If this evil is so bad... then why don't you destroy it?" Nish asked her, bitterness in his tone.

"Something more urgent demands my attention..." She replied, getting up and walking over to a table.

"More urgent than saving Nirn?" Nish asked, leaning back.

The woman laughed and placed her hand the table.

"Believe it or not... yes."

Nish didn't want to know.

"What do you need me to do?" Nish asked.

"Nothing... yet. I'll contact you when the time is right.

For now, continue living your existence as you normally would... when I need to collect your debt to me... you'll know about it."

Nish shrugged; he got to live, so he wasn't complaining.

"Now then, I believe that this belongs to you..." She showed him a familiar bow.

"Sparky?' It's..."

"Fixed? It needed several soul gems and some other components but it works."

"Th-thanks... I don't know what to say."

"You can start by saying 'thank you!' If you know what's good for you." The elderly woman snapped, nagging him like a grandmother.

"Thank you... sorry, you haven't told me your name."

"Agatha... Agatha Tira."

Nish glared at her, he had heard a story of Agatha Tira before but everyone treated it as a fable or a legend. It wasn't true... was it?

"Now, go and live your life, embrace every minute of it... loathe every detail..."

Nish grabbed his gear and got dressed; he made his way over to the door. But then stopped...

"Do you have a problem opening doors? I didn't see any signs of brain damage." Agatha laughed.

"What was with the dreams?" Nish asked her.

"Dreams?" Agatha asked, raising an eyebrow. "As I recall child, I only interfered in one of your dreams."

"Everyone in my group had such dreams, woke up with scratches all over their bodies."

"Ah, a side effect of resisting the dream..." Agatha explained.

"And I'm supposed to believe that you're innocent? After what you did to those... things." Nish spat.

"Believe what you like, it is not my place, nor the place of any other to tell you what to believe."

"I'm not sure what to believe..." Nish sighed.

Agatha smiled at this response.

"It is an old art; practiced by few... someone is trying to tell you something." She explained.

"Who... and why?" Nish asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Now that... is the right question."

Nish turned back to the witch and thanked her again, before opening the door to her hut and proceeding out into the world.

ADHD version:

Nish wakes up in a shack owned by a witch; the witch heals him, gives him a fixed Sparky and sends him on his way.

Nish also finds out that his dream was caused by the witch and the damage to his body was caused by resisting the dream.