50 Chapter XXIII: The Webspinner

Without turning around I mutter with some fear in my voice "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly"

I hear a melodious laugh behind me and finally turn around, there at the table previously belonging to Dyrren, sat an unnaturally seductive woman, yet still utterly alien with spider legs sprouting from her back and elaborate chitin covering her body instead of clothes.

I force my fear down and give her a respectful bow "To what do I owe the unending pleasure of your visit, Prince Mephala?"

She, gives me another melodious laugh before speaking in a voice made to play with ones mind "Oh, do not pretend to be happy I am here young Dagoth, I can see within your eyes the lies you are trying to spin"

I shrug uncaringly, this Daedra can read me like a book, so if she won't indulge my attempt I might as well be honest. "A mer has to try at least"

She chuckles as if she heard a child say something funny "Truly, one must. But that is not why I invited you to my parlor as you call it"

I raise an eyebrow "Then how may I be of service?"

She scratches her cheek in what must have been an attempt to be cute or disarming, but I steel my mind, this creature in front of me is the literal embodiment of all lies of this world.

Seeing my lack of reaction just seems to entertain her further, finally after an entire minute of seeing if I would break she speaks "Your little spat with dear Dyrren here has amused me greatly, not because of any great showing from you, mind you, but I do have to admit seeing a Master Telvanni get killed by what compared to him is a child did entertain me greatly"

I scoff "Yes, but if that was all you wouldn't deign to show yourself"

She raises an eyebrow at my sudden brazenness and says teasingly "Oh, and do you really think it wise to speak to me in such a manner, I might throw a tantrum as we Daedra are known to do"

How the hell does she know my opinion about them, seriously?

Seeing my expression she chuckles "Oh please, you are not the first nor the last to think themselves above us just for being 'rational' as some of you mortals like to portray yourselves"

My eye twitches and I drawl out "While the character breakdown of my mortal self is most riveting could you please get to the point?"

She waves her hand, and even that is somehow seductive "Of course, please do forgive me my ramblings, it is oh so dull spending eternity by my lonesome" she drawls back, making my hairs stand up and my eye twitch again.

She laughs at me "Fine, fine, the reason I am here is that a great web is being spun around you, by both you and others, it will be a most entertaining series of events for me so I decided to.... throw in a bit of investment you could say"

I immediately stop her in a firm tone "I am not under any circumstance swearing myself to a Daedra, you could burn everyone I know and love in front of me and it wouldn't change my mind."

Mephala scoffs with a bit of annoyance, almost making me feel sorry on instinct but I rein in my emotions "If you would let me finish then you would know there is no need for such visceral reactions, but you have piqued my curiosity, do tell me why you abhor serving a Daedra so vehemently?"

I shrug "I don't mind providing services for payment, as any businessman does. What I do abhor is adding any tether to my soul"

She raises an eyebrow "Oh, skittish about sharing your essence are you?" purposefully wording it as if we were talking about something other than my soul.

I give her a deadpan look.

She pouts "Fine, keep your little secrets. What I was going to offer to you before I was oh so rudely interrupted was to give you a bit of a hand with the future entertainment you will provide me, naturally I might make some requests of you later on, but don't worry your soul will be safe and sound"

I raise an eyebrow "And what is this bit of hand you speak of?"

She pulls out a locket from Dagoth knows where and tosses it at me.

I inspect it and see that it is made of ebony, radiating no power but still covered in an aura shared with its presumed maker, there is a spider engraved into it.

Mephala speaks again "This locket will show others that you are in my favor, it will also lead you to those who are my followers and give you the right to make requests of them. It will naturally make spinning webs of lies far easier for you"

So, access to some assassins and a speechcraft boost I guess, not bad. I turn from the locket to the Daedra "And what will this cost me in truth?"

She smiles "Oh nothing at all"

I deadpan again.

Just as I am about to ask again a system prompt pops out

[Daedric Prince Mephala offers their favor, in return Reyvin Dagoth shall use the power of said favor to assist and entertain the Prince. If he fails to do so the favor shall be withdrawn, and access to any followers or blessings of Mephala is forever lost.]

I blink "That is surprisingly very generous"

She sighs, a tiny bit of defeat in her voice "You are paranoid to the point that if I offered anything more binding you would have refused out of hand. So go ahead, use my blessing, and bring me some delicious mortal drama."

"Fine" I grit out, getting a system prompt confirming my acceptance.

She nods in satisfaction and then gives me a seductive smile "Or you could stay here and we could have some fun right now"

I scoff "The thot has no power over the honest hardworking mer"

She laughs, probably having expected this "Oh I can see right now that you will be a treat, do go on, there is a web waiting for you to spin, I will be watching" and with one final wink she disappears and I am back to normal.

"Well, that was an experience" I mutter, disoriented.

I hear yelling downstairs, but it is not what I expected. I notice the voice of Hjolmir, who was definitely not part of my group yelling at someone... Well, time to face the music.

I hope the college will be there to bail me out if I fuck up.

Before I levitate downstairs I check my quest rewards.

[Quest completed]

[Stealth-novice => Stealth-apprentice]

[Alchemy-apprentice: +poisoncraft]

[New system function unlocked: Identification]

While the two first rewards are completely expected, and I file the new knowledge entering my mind rather quickly, the third reward gives me a great bit of surprise. The identification function might not be ridiculously powerful, but the knowledge it might provide is sure to be useful in any situation.

Deciding to try it out at least once before I leave the tower I take a look at the locket Mephala gave me.

[Mephala's favor (Minor Daedric artifact): A locket gifted to Dagoth Reyvin by the Webspinner, it is both a status symbol and a powerful artifact enhancing the wearer's ability to hide the truth, this goes for any and all ways of obfuscation up to and including spells. (Take note that while the item doesn't possess any inherent corruptive elements, it does make the wearer tend to lie on instinct while worn)]

Holy shit! Maybe she wanted me to discover the effects on my own, or it's just in her nature to hide the truth, but this will be very helpful in the future, even if the side effect will be annoying.

Deciding to put the locket on just in case I prepare for what will no doubt be a long interrogation by the authorities.

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