Moonlit Clearing is north of the Ayleid ruin of Senalana, near the river. A pair of cat statues flank an altar where a spotted Khajiit woman is praying, and an image of the two moons hovers in the air above the flat stone. Cute.
The Khajiit priest introduces herself by a long name starting with a K that I’m not even going to try to repeat, never mind spell, so I’m just going to call her the priest. She is doubtful about my claim that someone sent me here suggesting that I might be “Moon Hallowed” but suggests I pray at the altar to be sure.
When I do so, an image of the First Mane, Rid-Thar (I am trying to be respectful and not referring to him as “Riddy” but it’s hard), appears and speaks of how the Mane has been corrupted by evil and one of the Lunar Champions must become the new Mane, and I’m to help them on their path. And should we fail, the Khajiit will fall, and with them, the Dominion will fall.
The priest is quite impressed, and tells us we should go to Arenthia. For some reason, the Mane is in league with the Colovian invaders and there’s no end of trouble. Am I to blame Javad Tharn for the corruption of the Mane, too? I think for Reaper’s March I’m just going to assume Javad Tharn is behind everything somehow unless proven otherwise. The Khajiit priest directs us to speak with Cariel, one of the Eyes of the Queen that I can’t remember if I’ve met before.
A book titled The Moon Cats and Their Dance lays on a rock in front of the altar. (Summary: Khajiit dance with their tails and the moons are weird.) I actually ask if I can borrow the book first, too! The priest was right there and it would be rude. The moons are considered to be the body of Lorkhaj (that is, Lorkhan, obviously) which leaves me a little leery of this whole “Moon Hallowed” thing, but not much I can do about it I suppose.
We follow the river to Arenthia, a city comprised of a mixture of Khajiit and Imperial style buildings behind stone walls. These walls are considerably more intact than most of the Imperial ruins I’ve run across, although the bridge across the river is half fallen. I’m not sure how long this city has been considered on this side of the border, but I’m guessing the Colovians are here to take back what they perceive as “theirs”.
A Bosmer woman in leather armor is crouching behind a tree on this side of the bridge, and recognizes us when we walk up. “You five make for a distinctive sight wherever you go. What brings you here? Did Raz send you?”
“No,” I say. “A priestess did. The Mane has been corrupted somehow and is in league with the Colovians for some reason. We’re hoping that it’s mind control.”
“I knew you supported my hypothesis,” Merry says.
“It seems pretty implausible that the Mane has suddenly had a change of heart about whether or not it’s a great idea to break things and summon dark spirits,” I say. “But who knows? I’ve seen less plausible betrayals. I just don’t actually want it to be true. High Kinlady Estre and Vicereeve Pelidil were fetchers to begin with, but I liked the Mane.”
“That’s a dire addition to the mess here regardless of what actually happened,” Cariel says. “Tell me you’re here to help.”
“Yep!” I say. “Although we’d help regardless even if we’d just stopped in to try to buy moon sugar.”
“The Colovians would probably outlaw it,” Ilara says. “A good reason to stop them, yes?”
Cariel asks us to try to help the resistance, and gives us a contact to meet with and a safehouse location. “Unfortunately, I only have one uniform.” She gestures to the corpse on the ground near her, and I am apparently so completely used to random corpses laying around that I didn’t even notice it.
“I’m probably the closest in size to an Imperial,” I say. “Gelur and Ilara-daro can sneak in by normal sneakiness. There’s a wayshrine just across the bridge. Eran, Merry, secure the wayshrine and wait on my signal.”
They nod, and I get changed. I’ll admit that my “Orc King” attire would probably attract attention when attempting a stealth mission. We split up and make our own ways into the city. I put on my best Colovian impersonation after observing the way they move and their posture.
I don’t head straight for the safehouse, but explore town thoroughly and speak to some of the locals. Nobody seems happy here. Cariel mentioned propaganda illusions, but did not describe how prevalent and annoying they were. They urge the locals not to fear and that they will be treated fairly if they obey. The level of bullshit raises my hackles.
The Fighters and Mages Guilds are still trying to do business as usual, staying firmly neutral in the conflict, but they’re on edge to no end. Upon seeing that, I go and tap Eran and Merry to put on guild tabards and hang out at the guildhalls until we inevitably discover that this isn’t just an ordinary war and involves something the guilds would object to. I don’t want to jeopardize the guilds’ neutrality, but I know there is more going on here and it’s likely nobody will notice a couple extras (or survive noticing).
In front of the safehouse, a small cat keeps watch, doing a very good job of pretending to be an ordinary housecat but I suspect is secretly an Alfiq Khajiit. (I’ve found that assuming any cat could be an Alfiq is preferable to the alternative of ignoring them as parts of the landscape that could not possibly be watching and listening to me.)
By the time I get there, Cariel, Ilara, and Gelur are already inside. The leader (I think) of the Arenthia resistance is a Khajiit woman by the name of Kazirra, who has some very interesting news for me. The invasion of Reaper’s March was, indeed, perpetuated by the Worm Cult, or the Stonefire Cult actually, doesn’t make much difference as they’re all fetchers who worship Molag Bal. Manny the Worm’s horrible death won’t stop people from being Daedra worshippers. The Colovians themselves have no idea who is really pulling the strings, though, and she believes they would revolt against their orders if they were to learn the truth.
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Kazirra’s plan is to capture General Lavinia’s second in command, Gavo, and persuade him to confess. To that end, she sends us into the Tower District to search for incriminating correspondence, one of my favorite pastimes. We split up again to explore the area, and along the way I pass along word to Eran and Merry what’s really going on here. Needless to say, the guilds are not thrilled at the prospect, but the Fighters Guild says that they still won’t get involved unless a Dark Anchor literally drops in the middle of town. Fair enough.
Along with some various interesting notes, I run across a book titled The Warrior’s Charge. (Summary: Looks like poetry about constellations.) As for the rest? Well, it never ceases to amaze me how many people write down all the questionable things they get up to. We also find the imprinting crystal for the propaganda projections. That could be fun. Once we’re done with this, I’m going to put something more entertaining on them.
We meet up with Cariel behind the tower that the Tower District is named after, and share information. Gavo is coming to this tower to meet someone he hasn’t met before, which presents a perfect opportunity.
“What happened to Javad Tharn’s actual envoy?” I wonder.
“He had a bit of an accident,” Cariel says.
We capture Gavo without incident, as he clearly would have believed absolutely anyone standing up on this tower waiting for him must have been sent by Javad Tharn. Cariel has Raz’s illusion earring, and has this brilliant plan to make me look like Gavo and dress up Gavo himself as a prisoner.
I bring Gavo back to Kazirra, playing up trying to swagger like a Colovian and pretending to be Gavo the whole way. I think I’ve got their accent down, but no sense in pushing it too far when there’s work to do. Once back in the safehouse, I use the imprinting crystal to record Gavo’s confession. He’s so terrified at this point that he just cooperates in saying the most damning things possible about his compatriots.
I then use the crystal to update the projections. It’s hilarious to see people’s reactions to the news. The Colovians are shocked–shocked, I tell you–to find out that their superiors are working with evil Daedra worshippers. (I wonder how they’d react if Gavo had been instead confessing to belonging to a Sanguine cult that holds secret orgies in the temple cellar.)
I stop by the Fighters Guild. “Hey, guys? Turns out these Stonefire Cult fetchers are planning on dropping a Dark Anchor into the middle of town. They’re holed up in the Temple District.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” groan the Fighters. “Fine. We’ll be ready.”
The Colovian general has taken up residence in the Residential District’s inn. Before I get into any actual combat, I hide behind the building and put my own armor on. Enough of this sneaking around with disguises. It’s time to be the King of the Wood Orcs and Hero of the Dominion again. (This is somewhat less exhausting than being the Hortator if only because House Indoril is more tight-arsed than Orcs.) When I step inside, I catch a glimpse of the Colovian general speaking with the Mane for a moment. I recognize his voice, but his body is shadows rather than fur. He vanishes before I can react.
General Lavinia might be a general and all, but she’s not even a terribly skilled fighter. She tries, but falls quickly enough. By the time she’s dead and I return outside, the fighting has begun in earnest. Many of the Colovians have fled, and the Resistance has struck. I wind up having to make sure that anyone who surrenders is treated fairly, because I am not a complete asshole and see no need to slaughter people who aren’t fighting back unless there’s some good reason to do so.
Back in the town center, I meet up with Cariel, Kazirra, and an Orc from the Fighters Guild, who salutes me when I approach. Above the walls surrounding the Temple District, the skies grow stormy and echo with unnatural thunder.
“Ah, here it comes,” says the Orc, drawing two axes. “Best hurry it up if you want to kill any cultists!” He charges toward the gate.
Cariel stops me from rushing off to tell me something that she insists is more important than the Dark Anchor dropping right over there. She wants to make sure the local devout Khajiit don’t see what the Mane has turned into. She’s worried about what they might do if they think the Mane has defected.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, raising Wobbly. “I’ll see it taken care of one way or another.”
“I probably shouldn’t need to tell you that, considering the way you took care of Estre and Pelidil,” Cariel says.
We don’t waste anymore time before charging through the gates to the Temple District where the fighting has already begun. Alongside the Fighters Guild and Arenthia’s defenders, we kill the cultists and destroy the Dark Anchor and make our way into the temple.
The Temple of the Divines has red banners with Molag Bal’s symbol hanging in front of fancy stained glass windows depicting the Aedra. Javad Tharn (at least I assume it’s him) sends taunting projections but he’s not terribly good at taunting so I’m not sure why he bothers making the effort. I set all the banners on fire out of spite. My friends decline to argue the sentiment or complain of the waste of time.
Along with several mathra, the shadow-engulfed Mane awaits us in the undercroft. Upon being defeated, the Mane leans over and vomits out a dark form from his back, then looks normal again. Huzzah! Trying to hit things to make them less weird actually worked! The dark thing looks at me, and for a moment, I hear a drumbeat like a heart pound in my head a few times before it disappears with a promise that we’ll meet again.
The Mane thanks us for freeing him, and upon confirmation that he was being mind controlled or something similar enough, I quietly declare Merry the winner of this contest of ‘guess the crisis’. (I feel like exposure to me is driving my friends just as mad as me. They’ve seen some shit by this point.)
By the time we emerge from the temple with the Mane in tow, the fighting has died down, with most of the Colovians fled, dead, or surrendered. The Mane is ashamed of what his body did while he was being controlled by the dark thing and declares himself incapable of performing as Mane any longer. Which means I’m still going to have to get one of the Lunar Champions to become the next Mane.
I leave Arenthia with a gift on the illusion projectors around town, depicting me poorly juggling atronach cores while dressed in tights and a hat with dangly bells on it. They deserve a laugh after all this shit. (Look, just don’t ask where I pick up some of these things. I have disguises for days.)