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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous day
4-201-09-25 05:59
Calixto's House of Curiosities, Windhelm, Eastmarch, Skyrim
We begin the day by cleaning our house.
Much better, isn't it?
I tell the girls about the favor I did Revyn Sadri. Jenassa says there's nothing strange about him trusting me. Should I go to the authorities and tell them Revyn gave me the ring, who would believe me, if he denied it? It would be his word against mine, and I'm an adventurer unknown in the city. (It's highly unlikely Revyn could have heard about me and Yrsarald.) Besides, what motivation would I, an outsider, have for wanting to harm him?
I object that he could have just as well denied everything if the person who sold him the ring to should denounce him. The girls point out that maybe that's someone who would be believed. We don't know who it is, do we?
I remain doubtful, but Jenassa seems to hold Revyn's behavior for perfectly plausible, so maybe it's a Dark Elf thing I'm too ignorant to comprehend fully.
At any rate, I mustn't forget to inform Revyn that his problem has been solved. First, though, we go out into the piercing snowstorm to check out the Windhelm harbor.
There are many ships. Several of them are ready to take us to faraway lands even my followers have never heard about. I pick up a couple of quests.
On one ship is a spiteful fat sow Shana Mae from a place called Tava's Blessing. She says she wants to kill her husband for cheating on her, and acts in a weirdly cordial manner with me. I can think of several possible reasons why her husband's penis started to point elsewhere. Practically since her first words, I feel a strong disliking for her. Of course, my requirements and preferences are likely to differ a lot from her husband's, but still I feel I can understand him.
I'm having the impression that all workers in the harbor are Argonians. One of them who answers to the name Scouts-Many-Marshes tells me that they are having trouble with their employer Torbjorn Shatter-Shield who pays them unfairly low wages. He puts up a good act on facing hardships bravely, but I can feel he's actually begging for sympathy. Well, he's getting none. If you have agreed to do certain work for a certain salary, then you have no business complaining afterwards that it's unfair. You weren't forced to enter the agreement, were you? And if you are regretting your decision now, feel free to walk away when your contract ends, and find a work that pays better. And if you can't find one, then you just have to accept that this is your market value. Stop being a baby and learn to know your place in the world.
It's an entirely different matter when an employer refuses to pay out the agreed salary. Then he ought to be hanged from a lamppost – by his foot the first time and by his neck the second time. But there is no indication that Mr. Shatter-Shield isn't meeting his obligations. Scouts-Many-Marshes simply feels they "deserve" to be paid more. Well, pretty much every worker in the world would like to earn more and work less.
There are two major trading firms who have offices at the harbor. One is Shatter-Shields', the other one is East Empire Company, the one who is extorting money from small traders in Solitud, remember? We learn that EEC's Windhelm branch is in major trouble because their ships are being robbed by pirates whom they suspect to be affiliated with the Shatter-Shields. Poetic justice! They ask for my help, but I'm not going against a local company to help an apparently empire-wide concern with not exactly commendable business ethics increase their profits.
On the passageway between the old and the new harbor, almost directly below the main city gate, is a big statue of Talos.
We stroll to the newer western harbor and return to the city proper by the other side gate. We are hungry, freezing and kind of feel we've had enough of Windhelm for the time being. I have to go to the palace, though, to sign the paperwork for yesterday's house purchase.
We take the longer route through the elven quarter where I go alone to Revyn's shop. He is visibly happy, gives me a generous sum of money and asks if there's anything he can do for me as a return favor. I inform him it's not very easy to get rid of stolen goods, Khajiit caravans being relatively rare. Revyn says it's no problem, I can always turn to him. I thank him and leave.
Just before noon, I'm done at the palace and we head south planning on killing a dragon in nearby Bonestrewn Crest and then proceeding east to find our fourth Aetherium Shard. I look back fondly upon the last two days and hope I can be back in Windhelm soon. You can guess why.
The city is not yet out of our sight when a dragon begins roaring and circling above us. Is it the same dragon we're supposed to kill? We keep running. If he wants to attack us, he's welcome to. By the way, why are all dragons male? I mean, I could understand if males flew around looking for food and females stayed home taking care of the hatchlings, but even in those places where dragons seem to be residing, such as Shearpoint, we've never seen any females.
At any rate, this dragon flies away again. We soon arrive at Bonestrewn Crest which is a stony hill. We are having slight difficulties targeting the dragon who keeps flying to the other side of the hill, and we can't maneuver on the slopes as fast as we'd like to. It's a fire dragon and this time I remember to use the 80% fire resistance ring I have. The dragon turns out like most others – difficult to chase but not awfully difficult to kill when you have three followers assisting you.
The sights are quite stunning here.
Our next destination is a little way to the east. We move around hills and ponds with hot water springs. I'm attacked by a huge bear. Bears are relatively harmless at a distance, because they have the instinctive tendency to get up on their hind legs and roar in order to frighten you, so you can easily put 3–4 arrows into them before they even begin to approach. But when a bear is two jumps away from you, you're in big trouble, as I am now.
My presence of mind is flawless. When I notice myself taking serious damage, I run away. Unfortunately, the terrain is so difficult that I can't put enough distance between us to have time to heal myself properly. Fortunately, my followers are not far and their volley of ice spikes kills the huge animal eventually. My health is frighteningly low. I daresay the girls saved my life here.
What could I have done differently? Run off at maximum speed until exhausted, drinking health potions every once in a while (you can't drink several health potions at once, they won't be effective) and giving up trying to kill the bear? Had I been alone, would I've had enough sense to do that? Yes, you're right, there's no point speculating on it. I am not alone and I'm damned grateful for that.
We see a castle at medium distance, and then a Dwemerish thing which is too decrepit even for a ruin. Nearby stands a giant. We run quickly past him, hoping he isn't aggressive, or at least needs long enough to decide if he is or isn't. And then we see a north–south highway. On the other (eastern) side of it is a staircase with arches going uphill. I think we're on the right track.
In the exact spot I had marked on my map as my best estimate, we find a building called Dwarven Storeroom. Inside is the ghost of Katria. Am I glad to see her! We have to kill a few surprisingly strong spiders and then we get our Aetherium Shard – the final one.
Katria tells us she'll meet us at the Aetherium Forge, the location of which is in her diary I have, and disappears.
I can sense some spiders nearby. We explore the rooms, find some Dwarven Metal stuff (you can use it for smithing) and realize that in order to reach the spiders, we would have to cut through very strong cobwebs. At this point I call a halt and ask the girls if we should do it. The spiders we fought recently were highly poisonous, and behind those cobweb barriers is one much bigger one in addition to the small ones. We would be wasting arrows (of which we don't have too many left) and possibly health potions and put ourselves in danger, and we might find something valuable or not. On the other hand, I feel adventurous. We have much money and can afford to fool around a bit, even if we end up spending more than we loot. So, I ask the girls, what do they think we ought to do?
You're the boss, says Rayya.
No, Rayya, that's not how it works. Of course I'm the boss, but if you want to be my follower, you must not only be able to fight, you are also required to have a brain in your head. You must be able to act in the best interest of our team even when you're away from me and can't ask for instructions. When I'm disabled in combat, it's the three of you who have to come up with a way to save the situation. And when I feel lost and don't know what to do, you must be able to give me advice. I make the decisions all right, but every one of my followers has to be capable of thinking, and give me her opinion when I ask for it.
Looks like I'm getting through to them. After a little discussion, I decide we'll attack.
I go first, cutting through the cobweb barrier and the second one behind it. The big spider is ready and spews poison on me. By Meridia's menstruation, this is a disaster! With more than a half of my health gone in a couple of seconds, I scream "Retreat!" and run back as fast as I can, elbowing my followers aside. They take a few shots at the spider to cover my escape and then follow me promptly. We don't stop until at the entrance door. Thank gods the giant spider has chosen to remain with its children rather than pursue us! We heal ourselves, I take a very powerful potion to temporarily increase my health, and we go in again. This time we kill them all. As I had feared, there's nothing of interest there. Just a large spider cave. All we get is some poison and spider eggs for alchemy.
Loot-wise, this was a crazy waste, but it was fun even though scary, and we got some important things clarified between us girls – every team member has to be involved not only with her limbs but also with her mind, even in situations that don't involve gossiping about men.
By the way, there is something I find greatly puzzling. How can a dragon be weaker than a bear and even a poison spider? I mean, I've had a dragon sitting in front of me 10–20 meters away, breathing flames, and that was never really scary.
I mean, like this.
But that bear earlier was horrifyingly dangerous. He would have killed me with a few blows, had I not run away. Neither would I have had any chance against that big spider in a fair one-on-one fight. Come to think of it, the small ones were also causing me incredible damage. What's happening to the world? Or is it that my dragonbornness is giving me some degree of immunity against dragon attacks?
Whatever. We're out in the sun again, although it's just barely above the horizon at this hour. I want to head west and search for that man Derkeethus from Darkwater who is lost. A little to the south of where we are now, we should be able to take a road to the west and end up southwest of Darkwater. There we can see what the terrain is like and how we can reach the upper waterfalls if needed.
The road that goes to the south is somewhere below us. I step closer to the edge to see if the slope can be descended. I notice there's a town quite near.
It's called Vernim Wood. We run though it, leaving exploration for the next time. The road to the west is where I thought it would be, but we haven't even run for half an hour when we see a massive battle between imps and storks. They take more than an hour to reach a solution (which is the killing of all the storks present). By the time we have looted the corpses, it's completely dark and we're loaded almost to capacity, so we have no other option but to return to Vermin Wood. No, not Vermin Wood. Vernim Wood. Sorry.
We arrive in the inn at 9 o'clock. I realize how tired I am and decide to go to sleep right after a light dinner.
next awakening
