Part I: The Kirinibbi Report

By Nevena Dals, Scribe Adept

Introduction

Over the past eleven months, I have been embedded in the operations of a Sixth House base in the Ascadian Isles region and have been involved in numerous actions against the good peoples of Morrowind as a result of my undercover status, but I have also gained a great deal of information about the Divine Disease and the Sixth House as a whole. Unfortunately, my research was intended to take place over an eighteen-to-twenty-four month period, but my cover was compromised after eleven months when I attempted to protect Dagoth Cerebel from Dagoth Milos.

In the following pages are the details of the operations I have taken part in, the names of my co-conspirators.

Timeline of My Infiltration into Sixth House Base: Kirinibbi Pre-Infiltration (11 Frostfall 3E 424 – 27 Rain’s Hand 3E 425): I relocated from my station in Vivec to Balmora where Temple Intelligenmoving ce suspected a Sixth House Cult was operating. My investigation led me to becoming closely acquainted with Hlavora Andalas, a local woman suspected of trafficking in Sixth House paraphernalia.

Over the period between Sun’s Dusk and Morning Star, Hlavora gave me a mix of basic smuggling tasks such as delivering skooma to her clients throughout town. Caius Cosades, an Imperial living on the east side, and Habasi, a Khajiit with ties to the Thieves’ Guild, were the two largest purchasers; I suspect both of them are involved in street-level dealing.

It wasn’t until I had proved myself with the drug trafficking that I was finally entrusted with the more delicate trafficking like ebony, glass, and dwemer artifacts, which frequently involved making runs to Hla Oad for Dalam Gavyn, Relam Arinith, and Llemisa Marys, a trio of Camonna Tong operatives smuggling it to the mainland from Hla Oad.

Eventually, Hlavora invited me to start doing the real work. The real work involved smuggling Sixth House artifacts to the local operatives of the town (who would later be recalled to Kirinibbi with Hlavora and myself). Over the following months, I moved more Sixth House paraphernalia through Balmora than I had seen before in my life. My logs include: 36 Ash Statues, 18 Sixth House Amulets, 1 Sixth House Gavel, and 240 pounds of Corprus Meat.

On 27 Rain Hand 3E 425, Hlavora gathered the lot of us about two miles east of Balmora where we were met by an Ash Poet and two Ash Zombies. The Ash Poet I would come to know as Dagoth Milos and one of the Ash Zombies I later came to know as Dagoth Cerebel.

Dagoth Milos said that we would no longer be operating out of Balmora and that it was time for our cell to return to Kirinibbi. He also was curious as to who I was, but Hlavora vouched for me. It is good for that, because otherwise I would have been killed.

Infiltration (27 Rain’s Hand 3E 425 – 23 First Seed 3E 426): My initial experience with Kirinibbi was uncomfortable to say the least. There is a stench of death and rot that radiates from deep within the bowels of this profane place and there is a white noise of pained moaning from the corprus creatures.

My initial days were kept in confinement with the other agents of our terrorist cell while they prepared for us and during this time, we were fed exclusively strips of tumorous flesh carved from the corprus beasts that roamed near the surface of the cave. We were blindfolded, gagged, bound, and generally left to rot except when we would be force-fed the meat. It wouldn’t be until a few days after our initial arrival that we would be free to roam the lower levels of Kirinibbi, but even then, we found ourselves frequently under the watchful eye of Dagoth Milos.

Dagoth Milos took great care to ensure we were left unharmed by the others, but it was clear that we were his projects. He had carefully orchestrated and constructed this cell starting with Hlavora to see if it would be an efficient use of his time; I still am not certain of his evaluation, but I do know that there is no creature I have ever seen more soulless than he. He had an aura about him that seemed to kill hope wherever he went and I feared him, I feared him even more than Dagoth Urik, the leader of Kirinibbi whose name was only spoken in hushed whispers, because Dagoth Urik was distant—he was a horror far away, but Dagoth Milos was overseeing every step I took and he made sure we all knew that every step could be our last if he willed it and it was only by the grace of the Sharmat that his hand was stayed for us, for he considered us to be sub-prime life—unworthy of receiving the blessing of the Sixth House—the Divine Disease.

We were tasked with basic functions like tending to the “Lost” (that was their terminology for the Corprus Beasts) and retrieving supplies from Balmora, but ultimately, we were given a large degree of autonomy with our day-to-day functions so long as we remained within the lower levels of Kirinibbi.

I used this time to get to know the local Ash Creatures and to really study them, especially the Ash Zombie that would become Dagoth Cerebel. While most of the Ash Zombies had demonstrable levels of neuroticism and elevated levels of fear at all times, he did not. He had a high degree of serenity about him and felt no fear; this made him a key target for Dagoth Milos’ abuses, as Dagoth Milos did not appreciate the fact that one of his subordinates did not fear him.

Over the following months, Dagoth Cerebel began development the proboscis characteristic of an Ash Poet, but multiple simultaneously. I had never heard about this phenomenon before, but I documented it thoroughly. I noticed however that his skull began to crack and fall away entirely until from his neck was a bloom of these proboscides. I had never seen anything like it before and haven’t seen anything like it since.

Eventually the upper-half of his chest gave way to these massive proboscides and his legs could no longer support the weight—breaking beneath him and leaving him almost entirely immobile. I was terrified of this creature and its existence even stirred Dagoth Urik from his meditation. Dagoth Urik and the other leaders of Kirinibbi retreated to his chambers and I was left there in a mix of terror and mesmerization at the grotesque nature of this creature which seemed to be nothing more than a writhing mass of tentacles sprouting forth from the broken stump of what was once a man. That was when he spoke to me for the first time.

Dagoth Cerebel spoke to me, not with a mouth, nor with word, but through waking dreams—forced imagery. It was an assault on my psyche the first time I experienced it, but though it felt like a penetration of the most personal nature—I could not turn away from it or even try to block him out, but I didn’t want to either. Partially because it was something that defies description and partially because there was a certain closeness—a bond—that also can not be put into words, only experienced.

I felt a unity with the Afflicted—a oneness—I felt the heartbeat of every creature with the Divine Disease and I saw through their eyes; I felt the air in their lungs and the pain of their tumors. I felt it all and it all felt me and that was only possible through Dagoth Cerebel. He saw through me in my entirety and he knew that my intent here was not genuine, but he did not warn Urik or the others, instead, he became my mentor and my teacher.

Each day after my duties, I would find myself meditating before the Ash Mystic as he had become known as; he was the first of his kind as far as I can tell. And each day I would meditate before him, he would take from me my shape and force me into the bodies of the Afflicted; he would show me what it is to be one of the Lost and what it is to be one of the Ascended. He showed me how to hear the thoughts of the Afflicted and how to feel the influence of the Sharmat without actually having been touched by him.

Dagoth Cerebel became my friend and so much more than that. Though it is heresy to confess, I can not deny that I felt some sense of attraction to him. Not to his physical form, but to what was trapped within—the infinite, all-reaching mind of his. It was as though he had tapped into the Sharmat’s mind itself and his body couldn’t contain the horrific power contained within, but all the same, Dagoth Cerebel was more than a man. I dare say he had reached for apotheosis, intentionally or otherwise, and failed, but I could not help my attraction to his sheer strength of will and the presence he commanded throughout the House.

But things changed one day when Dagoth Milos came for Dagoth Cerebel. Dagoth Milos came with intent to kill Dagoth Cerebel and though I tried to stop it, Dagoth Cerebel flooded my mind with agony until I was powerless to move, but I watched as Dagoth Milos cut into the writhing mass and all things ceased to be for a single moment. It was like the universe stuttered, again, only for a single moment, but when it came back into being, none were to be found. No traces of the Sixth House base existed except for the cave it resided in, but the stench, the pained groans, those I came with—all were gone. It was as though Dagoth Cerebel had willed it to stop existing, all of it, and I believe it was to protect me. I still do not understand it, but I know that I did not dream or hallucinate what I experienced—I know it was real and my logs prove it.