———————————————
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.
———————————————
previous day
4-201-12-19 12:28
Oudin's House, Amber Creek, Falskaar
I open my eyes. Wow. I feel great.
Full of energy, I jump out of the bed and my eyes fall on a note from Oudin: "Next time you do that, I'll spank your butt." Well, angry as he may have been, he was still merciful enough to let me sleep. [Impish grin.] But I've been warned.
The weather is wonderful: sunny and warm like on the best days in Falkreath.
On my way to the shop, I meet Wilhard, the jarl's cute little son, and he tells me he's going to be the greatest warrior in Falskaar one day. In high spirits, I pass by Oudin's sawmill and eye him cautiously. At least from a distance, he doesn't look unusually tired.
By the time I'm done shopping, the weather is turning bad. Before leaving Amber Creek, there's only one task left. It concerns the Exotic Rubied Sapphire we retrieved from Grimrott Grotto. When Henrik asked me to get the gem the other day, he said he wanted it to be put into a necklace, but he couldn't do it himself, so I was to bring the gem to Rangarr, the best blacksmith in Falskaar.
So I go to the smithy, give the thing to Rangarr and explain Henrik's request. He informs me he can make the necklace all right, but he's going to need special kind of gold for that special kind of necklace, and his supply has been stolen by the bandits who reside in nearby Olgrahm's Tower. That's the same citadel I saw when we returned from eastern Falskaar and took the wrong turn, remember I mentioned it briefly? So, I'm to get that gold and presumably kill a group of bandits to get it. Kind of bloody, this anniversary present is going to get, isn't it? But then again, killing bandits who rob people from Amber Creek is a good deed.
Right now, the girls and I are going in the opposite direction, though – Audmund Farm and from there, Bailun Priory. That is after I've dropped by the sawmill to bring Oudin the house key. We hug and kiss a little and then I rejoin the girls who are waiting on the intersection.
It begins to rain while we run towards Audmund Farm. Helena and Audmund are working on their fields regardless. I give Helena her exotic fabrics. As a reward, she gives me her latest creation – Fine Clothes of Glibness. It's a garment with an enchantment that increases my Speech skill.
I generally like Helena. She seems an intelligent woman and keeps herself informed about things that happen outside of this island. I hope I'm going to have chances to sit and talk with her. Not today, though. I haven't got time for that. Before hurrying to Bailun Priory, I inform Audmund he won't have to chase his cows around anymore. He gives me some of his very special beef and promises me a discount in the future. I guess that's the best he can do, this rather unsophisticated man. So, thanks.
At Bailun Priory, I pray in front of Mara's altar and then walk towards the building without looking back, so that my girls can follow my example or not, just as they wish.
Inside, Brother Arnand informs me that the fragments I've found are from an extremely powerful magical object known as the Dream Crystal . When the crystal was discovered a very long time ago, it was broken in five pieces upon which was placed an incantation to seal their magic within. That was to prevent anyone from using it, ever. Vernan has apparently found a way to remove the incantation. Indeed I remember there was something to that effect in his journal. Now, Arnand says, we must go and find the last fragment, so we can put the crystal together and destroy it.
This makes no sense to me whatsoever. In order to make sure an unimaginably dangerous object is never going to be used, we assemble it from fragments and then we destroy it? Why can't we just destroy the fragments? I'm not going to ask, though, because the way (and the length at which) this man has been talking up till now, I don't think I'll be hearing any sensible explanation from him.
Arnand instructs us to meet him in Volkrund Keep in northwestern Falskaar at noon tomorrow. Right now, me and my followers are going to proceed eastwards to check out those bandits that Oudin suspected are dwelling near the central mountains, and to try to find information about his missing friend Jonulv.
As we trot across the foresty hills, Lydia reminds me that we should return to Hviterun by the end of the month. Of course! It's only 12 days to the new year. We've been talking about it every now and then. I absolutely want to be in Hviterun on the New Year's Eve and so do Lydia and Jenassa, and Borgakh wouldn't mind. After I didn't have a proper birthday this year, I'm most certainly not going to meet the new year somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
To tell you the truth, I'm not all that crazy about birthdays to begin with, but I'm the more crazy about the new year holiday. I can't remember where I come from, but I do remember that where I come from the New Year's Eve is totally the biggest celebration of the year.
We quickly come to the agreement that we'll head for Skyrim on the 27th, to be absolutely sure we won't be late. Wulf said a ship to Dånstar takes less than a day, so we should be comfortably in Hviterun by the 29th. Two days are in reserve for unexpected delays, or we can use them to run around and do things in places not too far from the city.
Approaching the southeastern corner of western Falskaar, we can see mountains at some distance, just as indicated on our (so far not very complete) map. There's also a fortress on top of rocky hills:
It's at significant elevation, but surely not unascendable. I mean, someone was able to climb up there to build the thing, so we should be able to get there too. The question is: from which direction?
As a matter of fact, we are seeing a good road which may well lead right up to the fortress. However, it doesn't seem a very good idea to just knock on the front gate and ask if there are any bandits there. Therefore, we leave the road and try to find a way up that rocky slope.
It's not too difficult. We actually end up just outside an open gate at the end of the road, possibly the same one we turned off from. This fortress is called Stoneridge Watch.
I can sense one bandit up on the wall near the gate, and another one on the ground inside. I sneak closer, having instructed my followers to spread out and keep out of sight for the time being, so the enemy won't know how many we are.
Our attack is a sweeping success. I lure the bandits into attacking me while my well-hidden followers wreak havoc among those I fail to hit. I have a distinct feeling that these bandits are used to attacking civilians at strength. Against an equal number of average town guards, they wouldn't stand a chance.
We sneak up the ramparts and kill one more bandit on top of a citadel who has somehow missed the main action.
We won't need to worry about where to sleep tonight.
And this is just outdoors, in one of the corner turrets.
And this is just outdoors, in one of the corner turrets.
Now we're going in.
We roam the extensive dungeon, killing all the bandits we encounter. I can hear one group complaining about the poor quality of the local mead. The way they're fighting, I suspect they've been taking something much stronger than mead. Two times I turn a corner and almost run into a swaying bandit who doesn't even take notice of me when I kill him.
To cut the long story short, the bandits in the interior are even less a challenge than the ones outside.
Oh my goodness! That's the longest one I've ever seen.
What's really strange is that the deeper we get into the interior, the more women we encounter. Many of them are really pretty. This seems more like a community than a robber gang.
Towards the end, we reach an area with prison cages, dead people in some of them. And then two big rooms with torture devices. I almost gag at the sight of blood and such all over the floors. We've come across real monsters this time. Needless to say, we make short work of the torturers. Women, in case you're interested.
The next staircase goes down. More cages, much smaller ones this time. More like animal cages than prison cells. There are skeletons and animal corpses in some of them, and an alive man in one.
The blue glow, or more like purple in this light, means he's not hostile. At least not yet.
His name is Jonulv. When I ask him if he knows Oudin, he says yes, he's the same Jonulv who used to be Oudin's best friend and went missing a few years ago.
Jonulv confesses without pressure that he was a bandit. The bandits took him prisoner during one of their raids and gave him the choice between joining them or being put to death. He says he felt horrible having to participate in all their atrocities, but he had no choice. I have grave doubts. How can a robber gang keep an eye on you constantly when you're out with them? But I'm digressing, sorry. The point is, just recently Jonulv learned of the bandits' plan to assemble a large force from all over Falskaar and overrun Amber Creek. That's when he sent a warning to Oudin, and that's why I ended up coming here. Unfortunately, Jonulv's treachery was found out and he was imprisoned here, for the torturers to play with when they had no important tasks.
He begs me to release him and hurry together to save Amber Creek. The bandits' attack force is supposed to gather east of Amber Creek, just south of the place where the road turns west, the same road by which the girls and I came from the north the other day. They'll be waiting for reinforcements from other bandit gangs and attack an hour or two before sunrise when the villagers can be expected to be fast asleep. They have all their best fighters out there, Jonulv says. Only women and newbies considered not fierce enough for attacking a settlement were left behind in this fortress.
I tell Jonulv we'll go there all right and fight the bandits together, but afterwards I'll take him to Amber Creek and let Oudin pass judgment over him. Jonulv says humbly he'll agree to anything, let's just please hurry.
Jonulv is confused at first when I ask him to point out the rendezvous point on my map, but when I explain that this line stands for this road and that line stands for that road, he quickly understands the concept and shows me where he believes the bandits to be waiting.
It's a few minutes past midnight by the time we've reached the road outside the fortress gate. No moonlight for us tonight, there are clouds all over the sky, so it's almost completely dark. That ought to be to our advantage unless we screw up badly. After all, I'm able to sense people in darkness and the bandits, as I assume, aren't.
This barely visible road ought to take us right to the vicinity of our destination:
After I've explained our strategy, I run ahead with Jenassa and Borgakh. Lydia follows with Jonulv who acts bravely but has no chance keeping up with our speed in his current tormented state.
As the three of us get closer, we spread out and surround the bandit camp. They haven't put out any sentries. Not very smart if you ask me. Then again, lookouts might accidentally run into guards. In fact, even from here, I can see the latter patrolling the northern road. Of course, they're not trying to hide. The bandits are, and they have chosen their location well. The camp is practically impossible to detect from the road. The downside (from their point of view) is that it's at slight depth which means it's easy for my group to find sniping positions at slight elevation.
I hide in a place is where I can watch out for Lydia and show her and Jonulv their places. I have warned Borgakh most sternly that she's not to do anything to attract attention before I start shooting.
For understandable reasons, the bandits haven't lit a campfire. Even though I have the feeling the clouds are getting thinner, so the moon might come out any moment, the visibility is very poor. Our big advantage is, as I already said, that I can magically "see" targets regardless of darkness. As to my followers, they have a better chance to hit than getting hit, because there are many bandits close together. Fire arrows would of course be ideal for this kind of battle. You see, there are magical arrows that don't burn while you shoot but set the target on fire. That would give us near-ideal visibility after the first hit, and still not betray our own positions to the enemy. Too bad we don't have any such arrows on us. So we'll be relying on me killing most bandits thanks to my Sense of Smell power. And for that matter, Borgakh can see in poor light much better than most humans.
The plan works better than I had expected. The bandits are in utter panic when arrows begin to strike them down and they can't see where they're coming from.
Visibility has gotten a lot better, but it looks like there are no more alive targets.
Even though we did an excellent job sneaking closer and remaining undetected, I'm surprised it was so easy. Quite frankly, I doubt that that lot would have been able to defeat the Amber Creek guards. But many people would have lost their lives, that's for sure. And maybe they would have had a chance with their reinforcements. We're not seeing anyone coming from anywhere, though. When I discuss it with the girls, Jenassa suggests that if the bandits had any sense, they wouldn't have assembled their entire force in one place. They would have let the allied groups hide in various places around Amber Creek and after their main force had, say, set a house on fire as a signal, the other groups would have joined the attack.
I think this makes a lot of sense. It's quite possible Jonulv misunderstood the plan. Maybe the bandits in this camp weren't waiting for the reinforcements to arrive here. Maybe they were waiting for them to take their appointed places elsewhere. Maybe the reinforcements are still out there, waiting for the signal to attack.
Well, no point speculating. I order Jonulv to wait until we've looted all the corpses. He's so impatient to get going that I actually have to order Jenassa to aim an arrow at him and shoot if he tries to leave before I give him permission.
Finally we're finished with the camp and can start running towards Amber Creek.
I tell the guards at the gate to be especially careful, and leave my followers to assist them. Then I run after Jonulv. Something tells me we're going to wake up Oudin again. But I'll let Jonulv do it, so I won't get a spanking.
I'm joking, of course. I can't imagine Oudin could be so mean that he would punish me when I arrive to report I fulfilled his wish and found his missing friend. But why take a completely unnecessary risk and tempt my fate?
Oudin is almost in tears when he sees his long-lost friend, but when he hears what Jonulv has been up to in the meantime, he gets more and more serious. Jonulv begs to be forgiven and allowed to work with Oudin. Oudin finally decides to give his old buddy a second chance. They both thank me cordially and go to Oudin's house where, I presume, Jonulv will be living from now on. I have a bad intuition about this, but I tell myself it doesn't matter, because I have a house of my own now and it's right next door and surely my feminine charms will be able to beat a mere childhood friendship.
I go to my house to sleep. I have complete confidence that my followers together with the guards can handle a few cutthroats, should there be any lurking about. I've done my part for today and I feel squeezed dry of all energy.
next awakening
return to the table of contents
