7/19/25: Sorry about the wait! There’s some new stuff along with the update though, including a side story (this contributed to the wait).
So this call isn’t like… costing me anything, right?
The lilmothiit skeleton proudly explains that CairnCorp® provides leyline rerouting services to all of the top twenty[1]† planes and pocket realms‡ free of charge. It comes at a slight mana cost to the Masters®, but the analyghasts in marketing have found that helping customers reach out to Daedric entities is one of the most effective methods of discouraging customers from reaching out to Daedric entities.
Alright, yeah, I’m starting to understand that.
Hey. Hey! Calm down, it’s alright, you try to say to the Omen soothingly. The fox skeleton can’t hurt you. I’m pretty sure I remember one of them mentioning they’re not even real skeletons, just artificial-molded bones as part of some weird plane-wide Tales and Tallows aesthetic. Being afraid of them is like someone with a royalty phobia being afraid of a vaguely crown-shaped rock, which is a completely ridiculous and embarrassing thing you can’t imagine ever happening to anyone.
Sorry, sorry, sorry, the Omen says. It has one job and it is absolutely botching it. The creature stands up on shaking legs, wipes its general nose-like area, and does its best to put on a brave face, explaining that even if it can’t direct you to Vaermina directly, it is still a being of nightmare and may be able to answer your questions. You had concerns about a recurring dream, correct?
Yeah, I-
Also, I don’t think you brought up to the Omen how there’s a good chance these dreams aren’t coming from Vaermina, and that some third party may be intruding on her realm. |
Actually, wait. Do you know anything about someone named Gaius Atrum?
He was having nightmares like mine, and Vaermina thought they were coming from someone other than her. She told him to reach out to her immediately if he found any more information, especially if his nightmares spoke to him – and my very similar ones did. Did Vaermina leave any directions for if Gaius reached out, or if someone else reached out about him?
Aaaah, how many centuries ago was this?
Like, one twwwwwwwelve-hundredth, if I did that right? It was last month.
Okay, well, I haven’t seen Her Dark Eminence in two centuries, so I might not be completely entirely up to date on the latest goings-on. But this does sound very important! If you’d like, I can share some of my favorite methods of coping with an inability to reach Vaermina.
Look, I can’t spend too long on this, my cloak blinds me and I need to watch the road for my friend. Can you put me in contact with an Omen who can put me in contact with Vaermina?
I, ahh, I don’t actually know any other Omens? I am sure they are very nice Daedra and I see them sometimes in the distant mists but I don’t know where they live or what important jobs the Mistress has bestowed upon them.
Can you connect me to a better Omen?
The skeleton clarifies for you that CairnCorp® can only direct leylines to the plane itself[2][3]. Once the leyline extends into the plane’s local existence, any further redirection will be at the discretion‡† of the plane’s creator or any automated manalattices they created for such a purpose.
So let me get this straight: your entire purpose for existing is to respond to conjurers who reach out to Vaermina’s plane. But you don’t actually have any information about what Vaermina is doing, or any way to pass information to Vaermina. You haven’t even seen Vaermina in hundreds of years. Please explain to me how this is any better than the plane just being un-contactable, and your job any more useful than a brick wall.
Well, it’s, I’d like to think that contacting me is like a little gift from Vaermina. Because the empathetic bond will make you feel some of my fear, it lets you know that she thought about you, about this situation, and left you a present. And I think there’s something really special about that, about me, like a living reminder that Her Eminence wanted to give you an experience you’d remember. I am really happy with this.
I’m actually just invisible. All Khajiit can turn invisible, and we could be all around you.
No Asotil on the horizon yet. You weren’t invisible for that long; a few minutes of blindness won’t be enough to miss him if he comes past.
He’s fine. You even imagined him up one of those apples behind the Omen, because they looked good. He’s loving it. In your mind it tastes like cherries.
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