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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
4-201-10-16 04:11
Dead Man's Drink, Falkert, Falkreath, Skyrim
We run westwards along the highway that goes in the direction of Aurora and Northkeep. Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary is not far. It's still dark and raining heavily, which is why we have difficulties finding the entrance even though it's almost right next to the road. Having finally found it, I say the passphrase and the massive door opens magically.
The interior consists of rooms and halls and corridors, most of which are filled with the most appalling kind of pinkish red light I've ever seen. How can any human being endure it is beyond me. As to the occupants of this dismal place, I figured that they'd be not too alert so early in the morning, and that's exactly how it is. Half of them are still asleep, the other half are too sleepy to even react to our attack. So our vermin extermination mission is a sweeping victory. Not that I was ever afraid of that jokerhood in the first place, but it's good to know I was consistently paying attention and giving my best.
Back in Falkert, I make one last attempt to solve the mystery of that abandoned house across the sawmill. The girls and I go back to the woman's corpse, look everywhere in and near the river, and search the house one more time, and truly – for the life of me, I can't find any more clues to anything. So I strike that so-called quest from my list for good.
We go to Aurora next, to sell our excess loot. There a courier approaches me and gives me a letter from Falk, the steward of Solitud. Apparently they are having some more trouble with those mages who were trying to revive Potema. He asks me to help them out once more when I have time. I like his changed attitude. Last time, he seemed a little jealous of my friendship with the jarl. We will help them, of course, and we're headed in that general direction. But we're still going on a hunting trip in The Reach first. We'll check out the city of Morpork and then explore the region north of it. Eventually we shall reach Rimerock Burrow and do a quest for Noster from Solitud, and after that we'll go to Solitud.
Right now we're headed west.
I'm happy I succeeded in taking this picture of my arrow flying towards the bear.
I have to kill him, because he would attack us if we passed by him which we'll need to do.
I haven't forgotten the bear who nearly killed me in the Darkwater region.
I have to kill him, because he would attack us if we passed by him which we'll need to do.
I haven't forgotten the bear who nearly killed me in the Darkwater region.
We go past that mysterious castle I've been curious to explore, but it's high on a mountain and I really can't be bothered to go looking for a way up right now. We find the highway instead, travel past Granite Hall, get a blessing from Dibella at the roadside shrine, and barely an hour later we discover The Naked Dragon Markarth. Not one forn attack. I'm a little disappointed.
Markarth, as I learn from my followers, is Morpork's traditional name. The original Morpork was a city of thieves in some old legend. With Markarth being a lawless city ruled by the mafia family Silver-Blood, most people have taken to calling it Morpork. In official correspondence of the Empire, it's still referred to as Markarth, but it was called Morpork on a map of Skyrim I recently saw. The Naked Dragon brothel, in turn, uses the historic name.
Of course, we're not allowed to enter the brothel. (I mean, Valdimar would be, but I'm not going to sit outside and wait while he's having a good time inside.) So, with our unsatisfied curiosity slightly increased yet again, we move on, past some farms, until we find ourselves looking at the magnificent sight of the city entrance.
Having passed through the gate, we end up at the edge of a mildly lively marketplace.
We stand there for a while to get a general feel of what is going on in this city. Suddenly a man leaps to a woman and stabs her, shouting "The Reach belongs to the Forsworn!" A nearby guard attacks the man. The man casts fire magic at him. It looks very impressive, but the guard's sword is stronger. He kills the man in three minutes.
I sense that this is something I'd better stay away from. So we just walk the other way. Nearby is the inn where I'm supposed to deliver a letter from Bolli of Bitchen. The innkeeper Kleppr has an incredibly acrimonious wife Frabbi, a son Hreinn who acts a bit infantile for his grown-up looks, and a beautiful daughter Hroki who seems normal in every way.
We walk around in the city and find that the murder on the marketplace has upset the people to such extent that all shops are closed. The only person trading is an Orc blacksmith at the palace. Even the jarl and his steward are absent. The palace itself is most impressive. It's in a large cavern and has obviously been built in what's left of an ancient Dwemer structure. There's an old scholar Calcelmo who talks about his plans to continue excavating some nearby ruins. I have little interest in that.
I hear that there's a Temple of Dibella in the city and I feel strangely drawn to the place, which is not surprising. After all, Dibella (as I know by now) is the goddess of beauty. Therefore, every woman tries her best to be on her good side.
We have to ascend many stairs, but we find the temple quickly and it doesn't occur to me until much later to wonder how come I know my way around so well if I've never been here before.
At the temple door, I tell my followers to wait outside. They sense this is one of those unexplainable hunches of mine and they'd better not ask why. I go in alone.
I'm greeted by a priestess, Senna, who informs me that I can pray to Dibella all right, but the other priestesses are conducting a very important ritual in the inner sanctum and can't be disturbed.
By a strange coincidence, it's that very ritual that I feel I just have to go and see. I say a prayer in front of Dibella's altar, and when Senna has returned to whatever she was doing, I pick the lock to the inner sanctum. A staircase descends and then it winds one way and another way until I lose all sense of direction. I finally find myself in a not very big oblong hall with low staircases and statues and things. Three women are engrossed in some Dibella-guide-us business. When I step closer, a priestess named Orla asks what I'm doing here. She seems upset and orders me to stand still while "the mother" will "deal" with me. The latter is an oldish priestess Hamal who tells me sternly that I have acted in a most sacrilegious manner and must be punished. I ask meekly what the punishment is and hope they're not noticing my suppressing a grin.
My "penance" would be to go to Karthwasten and bring them a certain little girl who is destined to be the next Sybil of Dibella, that is a kind of oracle who is trained to be connected to the goddess and to intermediate her messages to the priestesses.
Apparently the old sybil has died and they now need a new one. I am more than a little doubtful about taking a child away from her family and turning her into some kind of a living ritual object. But I promise to go and do it, because I don't want to upset them more than they already are. Allowed to leave, I now exit the temple the way I came.
After I'm done with my alchemy and smithing, it's already midnight and we go to sleep at the inn. Kleppr leads us to our room. That harpy Frabbi happens to be sleeping in one of the beds. Before Kleppr can stop me (or maybe he was never going to), I unceremoniously push her out of the bed onto the floor. She grumbles something while walking out the door. I let Valdimar have that bed.
next awakening
