OxalisV_TES

With Processus dead, it was up to Adraria to resume his work with collecting the taxes the next day. Ergalla had written up a list with the remaining names and the amount of gold they owed. She looked at the names with a sense of dread. If a villager was behind the murder, it was likely that they had not paid yet. In case of emergency, she carried a dagger of her own and knew an arsenal of protective spells but she was relieved that Socucius did not debate her when she requested a guard to follow her.

Vodunius Nuccius lived right next to the station. Adraria planned to begin with his house and then work her way through the main street before moving on to the waterfront shacks. There must have been a method to the way Processus had gone about with his visits, but to Adraria it seemed like he had picked houses at random. It would have been easier to locate suspected murderers if he had moved in a straight line.

There was no reply when she knocked on Vodunius's door. She waited for a while in case he had been asleep and needed to get dressed before answering the door, but then knocked again with more persistence and called for him. There came no sound from inside. The guard took her place and began to bang on the door with his gauntleted hand. At this the door to the next house popped open and the Altmer Eldafire peered out at them.

"You can bang all you want on that door, he's gone off to the mainland and won't return."

Adraria blinked. Gone off? She was quite sure that he had not applied for a travel permit. He would not have gotten one either as long as he had a remaining tax debt of 87 septims. "Did he happen to mention where he was going?"

"I prefer to stay out of people's business," Eldafire said. "I suppose you were planning to visit med next? I was about to complain since you seemed to have forgotten about me. Why, Arrille got a visit two weeks ago already. It's almost like you don't want my money."

"I'm sorry about that, Madame, but we are here now and would like to collect 130 your septims."

Eldafire let them inside and started counting her coins meticulously on the table. If she had truly waited for them for weeks, she was poorly prepared for it Adraria thought but said nothing. The Altmer lady had a lot on her mind and did not hesitate to voice her thoughts. "Sometimes I wonder what exactly I'm paying for. The main road is still unpaved, the bridge is rotting away and there are bandits on the loose that no one is doing anything about."

The guard was about to speak, but Adraria cut him off with a cough. She had learned the hard way that people who had set out to complain, it was best to just let them. Soon enough they were out of the door again with 130 septims in the bag.

"What if it was Vodunius who killed Processus?" the guard said as they walked up the muddy main road towards the bridge. "Why else would he have run off in such a hurry? It can't be a coincidence."

"Be that as it may, but I don't think it's good if we assume that the murderer is gone," Adraria said. "We need to stay vigilant."

The next name on the list was Fargoth. She had not interacted with the Bosmer much, but Ergalla had warned her that he could be troublesome. There was also the fact that Processus Vitellius was found with 200 septims, which happened to be the sum paid by Fargoth's neighbor, Draren Thiralas. Fargoth only owed 111 septims and from the looks of his house, he seemed to be doing rather well for himself, but when Adraria knocked on his door a weak voice came from inside telling them to go away.

"Fargoth? I'm afraid this cannot wait. My name is Adraria Vandacia and I am here to collect your taxes."

The door opened a notch. "I have nothing left. You Imperials have already taken everything I own!"

Could Processus have been here already and not had time to take note of it before he met his demise? It was a possibility. "I'm sorry, but according to the records you have not paid your taxes yet."

"Taxes, taxes, taxes! Is that the only word you know?"

"I am an Imperial tax collector."

"There it was again! Tax, tax, tax! You know what it is? Taxing! Why won't you give a poor mer a moment of peace?"

"I will leave you alone when you have paid."

"Hrisskar says that too and it's a filthy lie. However..." The Bosmer darted inside and came out with a few bottles.

"One bottle of flin and one bottle of greef. It's worth more than 111 drakes."

"How do we know you didn't fill them up with your own pi..."

Adraria cut off the guard. "No, that won't do. Taxes are paid with money."

"But if you sell them you get the money."

"It is not possible." First off, even accepting the bottles could count as a bribe, especially as they were offered with the intent of making her depart from regulations. Second, the reason flin cost a fortune these days was because a huge tariff had been slapped on all imported alcoholic beverages. This was wrong on too many levels to even consider. "Tell you what... I will give you one more day. You may sell those bottles yourself for all I care, but I cannot accept them from you like this."

"Fine. See you tomorrow." He slammed the door shut.

Adraria took a deep breath and backed away from the house. "Alright. Moving on. To the waterfront."

"Are you just going to let him bully you like that?"

"Clearly he had no gold to pay with."

"Then he should be thrown into the dungeon in Fort Pelagiad."

Adraria Vandacia put her pen down and stared at the mast that had suddenly appeared outside her office window. No ships were scheduled to dock now. Puzzled, she pushed her wooden chair back and walked up to the window. From the looks of it the ship had been docked for a while, but she had been so engrossed in the shipping logs that she must have failed to notice. Just now a Dunmer who looked worse for wear was walking down the ramp and as soon as he was off, they pulled in the ramp again.

It was most strange. Socucius Ergalla had not mentioned any new arrivals, even though he usually delegated the task of recording them to Adraria. What was so special in this case that he preferred to do it himself? Adraria fought the impulse to go down and have a look at what was going on. She could take a hint. Or maybe it was nothing. In either case, she decided that it was best to return to her desk and not mention this unless someone actively brought it up with her.

It was not like she did not have enough to do already. The Seyda Neen Coastguard Station was actually bigger than the one in Leyawiin and they operated in an area which was both larger and more difficult to cover. No reliable maps existed of The Bitter Coast yet, which made navigating the waters quite perilous. The smugglers, who often knew the lands better than the officers of justice, could dock undisturbed in secret places shrouded in the ever present fog. Quite a lot of them overestimated their capabilities, though, and ended up crashing into the rocks. The waters outside Seyda Neen was also very busy with regular traffic destined for the bigger ports of trading hubs such as Ebonheart, Vivec and Suran.

Seyda Neen was a bit of a backwater, though. Many at the station complained about having to work in the middle of a swamp, but Adraria was used to Blackwood, so a bit of humid air did not bother her. The salty breeze from the sea and the acrid smoke and ash that constantly hung in the air banished most of the small bugs that made life unpleasant in most marshlands. The main problem was that the fog forced the cutter to remain docked more days than not. It made them inefficient and caused the guards to stir up trouble with the locals out of boredom.

Adraria had almost managed to forget about the docking of the strange ship when Socucius Ergalla came up the stairs and asked her to file two individuals for him. Both of them must have come with the ship, though Adraria had only seen the Dunmer. She glanced over the papers and instinctively saw that something was wrong with the other one. "There is no residence for this one," she pointed out.

"I know," Ergalla said. "But it's fine."

Adraria frowned. "How is that fine?" Without a residence there was no way of collecting the proper taxes, nor get in contact with the subject for other important reasons.

"This person has been released by order of the Emperor. I know that things were not done exactly by the book, but it will have to do."

Mehra Milo had feared for a long time that something was about to happen to her, and Caius had shared these worries. The precautions they had been taking borered on the absurd in the end, and yet it had not been enough. When she was suddenly called into the canon offices one morning, she naturally had a bad feeling about it. When she saw that none other than Berel Sala waited for her in there, the doors were already locked and blocked by ordinators. The head ordinator had little to say to her, other than that she had been found out and it was time to make a little trip to the moon. What the accusations were would be a surprise for later.

On the way out, they passed by Adrusu Rothrano, who had been chased out of her office and now stood in the hallway with her head bowed. She briefly lifted her face to look at Milo, who gave her a reassuring smile. She had prepared several letters and hidden them inside her copy of The Pilgrim's Path. One for each possibility that she and Caius had thought out years ago. Adrusu was the one who had been tasked to place the correct one on the dresser.

While Milo was used to quiet surroundings and had never been one to crave company, being put in an isolation cell was not a pleasant experience. While it was spacious, bordering on huge, she could only move about a few hours after each meal. Those were brought in twice a day, along with a hissing torch. Once it went out she had to make sure to be near her bedroll, otherwise it would be hard to find it again. This had gone on for days now and yet she had not been taken to the Hall of Processing yet. Whatever she was accused of, the Grand Inquisitor apparently did not rely too much on whatever information they hoped to gain from her.

Strictly out of curiosity, I decided to look into where you can find NPCs who are likely to be Erabenimsun outside of the main camp. I have based my judgment both on dialogue and which NPCs are wearing the designated common 01_e and expensive 01_e clothes. As long as at least one person in a camp wears Erabenimsun clothes, I list all of them. The pattern is that if the rest of the camp members are not wearing Erabenimsun specific clothes, they are wearing generic ones. Not clothes belonging to other tribes.

Common Erabenimsun clothes stand out as rather crude patchwork of animal hides, as compared to the carefully tanned and studded leather of the Zainab clothes and the predominant vegetable fibers of the Ahemmusa clothes. The expensive clothes are a lot fancier, but an interesting detail is that they seem to incorporate Khajiit fur.

ASHAMANU CAMP

Kausha Mantashpi

Manu Zainab

Nummu Assudiraplit

BENSIBERIB CAMP

Odaishah Yasalmibaal

KAUSHTABABI CAMP

Adibael Hainnabibi

Assurdan Serdimapal

Ibanammu Assutladainab

Kanit Niladon

Yanit Sehabani

SHASHURARI CAMP

Mamaea Ashun-Idantus

Mimanu Zeba-Adad

Zennammu

SOBITBAEL CAMP

Mal Mibishanit

Mi-Ilu Massitsun

Subenend Urshummarnamus

UNNAMED CAMP 1 (AZURA'S COAST)

Assatlit Assudnilamat

Ibasour Sershurrapal

Sannit Kil

UNNAMED CAMP 2 (AZURA'S COAST)

Raishi Erarbadon

Sal Pudashara

Talkin Ashar-Dad

UNNAMED CAMP 3 (AZURA'S COAST)

Odairan Addaribantes

Turan Tibashipal

UNNAMED CAMP (TEL ARUHN)

Salmat Elarrapal

Zenabi Samma

UNNAMED MABRIGASH CAMP (ASHLANDS)

Berapli Ashumallit

Dissu Ashalkimallit

Shali Assannabalit

UNNAMED MABRIGASH CAMP (WEST GASH)

Elumabi Malibiran

Midnabi Sobdishapal

OTHER

Borwen