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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
4-201-12-27 03:02
a tent, Falkreath Stormcloak Camp, Falkert, Skyrim
I'm very glad that the storks in this camp are so hospitable. Guess they appreciate us dropping by occasionally and selling them cool gear from the big wide world. And maybe they're hoping that if they do us favors, we'll show them our gratitude someday. You know what I mean. Quite frankly, we've no problem with that (or at least some of us don't), but they'd have to put up a tent at some distance from the camp for that. There are things that need privacy and we're not all that keen to lie down in the snow.
And we're not going to tell them any of that. There are certain things men have to figure out by themselves.
It's still pitch dark, so I have to continue using the ring which at least enables us to see a few meters in front of my feet. We travel past Helgen. On our way to the north, we get to admire most spectacular northern lights. My magic ring isn't making those look any different, because they're so far away.
But you can see how it lights the road.
As we turn east towards Riverwood, a cute hare joins us for a part of the way.
Soon we are in the midst of familiar houses. It's too early for the shops, so I walk straight to the inn and into the secret room. Esbern is there with Rudelphine. In spite of having refused to talk to me in Bitchen, he has come here after all. They've been waiting for me, says Rudelphine, in order to proceed together to a place called Sky Haven Temple. Esbern begins to do something and the next thing I know we're in a large cave, a part of which has stone walls that look slightly Dwemerish, except for a high relief depicting a narrow bald man's head that is properly creepy in this light.
Hey, you could have asked me first! My followers are still in Riverwood, you jerks! I can't teleport them here, because I don't know where this accursed place is, and even if I did, it's probably not in range anyway.
Esbern is looking at the walls and commenting on every chisel dent. He still gets very grumpy when I address him. I can't understand what's wrong with him. Maybe he can't take me seriously, because I'm a pretty young woman? Well, Rudelphine is not bad-looking either – I'd say outright dashing if you consider how old she must be. At any rate, Rudelphine becomes a kind of intermediary between him and me. She discusses things with Esbern and then transmits the gist of it to me. The most important part of it is that Sky Haven Temple – the place behind that scary face on the wall – is magically sealed so that it can only be opened by spilling some Dragonborn blood onto that large stone circle on the floor. Meaning, I'm supposed to cut my finger or something.
That's something I just can't do. Can we come back in a couple of weeks when I'll be having my period?
Rudelphine doesn't think it's funny. Neither do I. I wasn't joking. I can't cut myself with a knife.
With a sigh, Rudelphine comes to my "help". I tell her I swear if she cuts anything off, I'll skin her and Esbern alive. Peel off all the skin little by little and leave them die slowly and painfully, with their hands tied behind their backs so they won't be able to cast any healing spells. Then I look away and close my eyes while Rudelphine makes a little cut and lets blood drip onto the floor. It's revolting. I'd rather endure ten anal penetrations. (Four by Yrsarald. Or maybe five.)
I open my eyes when the floor under my feet starts to shake accompanied by a loud rumble. At the same moment, Rudelphine pushes me and screams for me to run away while she hurries to do the same.
I leap to a farther wall, turn around and see it wasn't actually necessary. It's the entrance wall that has moved. The gigantic stone face has been replaced by an opening, whereas the circle on the floor is exactly like it was before.
Rudelphine approaches gingerly from the wall opposite and says I should have the "honor" of entering first. Of course. [Rolling my eyes.]
While Rudelphine gently drags Esbern away from his stone carvings, I enter the temple. I sneak around, exploring everything (I believe) and don't encounter anyone.
In the center of the huge hall is a large crudely made relief. Honestly, I can't tell you what it depicts. Maybe some parts of it resemble dragons if you really want them to. But Esbern is outright elated. He acts as if he were seeing all women of Skyrim lined up naked.
What are you talking about, man? That thing looks like the wall of a very old sewer tunnel to me.
Esbern's blabber seems to never stop. I can see Rudelphine is almost as bored as I am. She keeps delicately reminding him this relief is supposed to contain something that'll help us defeat Alduin so he couldn't go on waking up more and more dragons. Unable to help overhearing, I eventually learn the relief depicts the occasion when Alduin actually was defeated by a race knows as the Akaviri (for good, as people erroneously believed).
Slouching in one of those uncomfortable chairs that are much too large for human beings, I am awoken from a half-slumber by Rudelphine's loud excited voice piercing my skull like a small spike of solid fire. Evidently Esbern has found out that Alduin was brought down by a dragon shout. But they can't tell which shout. Neither Esbern nor Rudelphine has ever heard of a shout that makes dragons fall down from the sky. Have I, asks Rudelphine. What? No, I haven't. Actually I know a shout that makes a dragon obey my orders, which includes carrying me on his back. But I don't mention it, because I just want this to be over as quickly as possible. I don't want to say or do anything that might provoke another discourse from those two.
They agree that the Gaybores might know. Rudelphine tells me I'm to go to High Hrothgar one more time and talk to Arngeir. It has to be me because they wouldn't talk to her and Esbern, she says. Well, I know that. The Gaybores wouldn't talk to Esbern and Rudelphine, because they don't talk to people. Having been admitted into their cult, I'm the only outsider known so far whom the Gaybores would talk to. I'm aware of all that. Can I go now?
Rudelphine says I can. She has become haughty and patronizing again. Maybe she is less afraid of me with Esbern present, or maybe the reunion with Esbern has subconsciously brought her back into her old manner of acting. I don't care. All I want is to get out of this place and get in touch with my followers.
Earlier I noticed doors upstairs that led outside. I go there now. Couldn't we just have entered from here and spared me that disgusting finger-cutting, I feel like asking Rudelphine. I exit, take a few steps and look down, way way down, over the edge. Yeah, I suppose we couldn't. Neither can I possibly descend to the ground from here. But at least I know now where I am – on that island east of Morpork, on and near which was that forn village Karthspire. I can now get in telepathic contact with the girls and instruct them to run to Northkeep and from there towards Granite Hall and I shall meet them somewhere halfway. I tell them to be damn careful, because if they get themselves killed, I shall be very disappointed.
I go back inside and then out to where we entered from earlier. Sure enough, on the other edge of that bloodletting cavern is a passage to the Karthspire mountain dungeon – the one where I killed the last forns to reach my goal of 100 and almost got killed myself. You may remember our path ended in a room full of flame traps before the bridges we had failed to lower.
I am now high up where, I presume, those bridges would have taken us back then.
As the bridges can evidently be lowered from below only, I shall have to jump down from here. Either that or spend the rest of my life with Esbern and Rudelphine in the Sky Haven Temple. (How are they going to get out of here, you may wonder. I've no idea, and I'm not yet desperate enough to go back in there and ask them.)
There's a protrusion or platform below my current position, about two meters square. Or rather one and a half. The horizontal distance is about 5 or 7 meters, but since it's lower than where I am now, I may be able to jump onto it. Got to try. I put on all the health-increasing gear I have (which is not much) and jump. My jump turns actually out too long, but I'm fortunate enough to land on a ledge. It's a lot lower than the platform I was aiming for, but the landing is not too bad. I lose much less health than I was afraid I would. I heal myself and then jump onto the ground. Wasn't so bad after all. (Yes, I know, in fact it was insanely risky.)
The dungeon hasn't been reinhabited. I won't go and find out if the camp has. When I'm out of the cave, I turn east instead. That is after I've killed the dragon that seems to have waited for me here.
It has started to rain heavily, but that's not the main point right now. The important question is where to go next and where to meet up with my followers. Yeah, that's two questions. Actually, the answer to the first one is rather obvious. Old Hroldan is very near, although I don't know how accessible it'll be in this mountainous area. But I shall try and go there. The innkeeper in Old Hroldan is supposed to hold a letter addressed to Reginald. Old Hroldan, in turn, is not far from Fort Masser, that mysterious thalmor stronghold between Granite Hall in the south and Roriksted in the north. The one where the doors leading inside were locked with locks I was unable to pick, remember? I've been wanting to go and explore the courtyard one more time, and this is just the proper opportunity.
I send my girls the telepathic command to meet up with me in Granite Hall. I'll probably be there before them and wait. Then we'll go to Fort Masser together.
The white marker up on the compass shows the direction of Old Hroldan.
After I've swum across a not-too-wide river, it turns out relatively easy to find a path uphill and reach a road that leads south towards Old Hroldan. I run past a campfire with a tent next to it and a bear sniffing around. As I draw my bow and he sees me, he surprises me by running away. Well, suits me fine.
At the campsite, there's a dead woman. I don't know if that bear killed her or he was just passing by looking for food. The woman has a diary with her and apparently she was waiting for her lover, so they could elope together. It's too sad. I don't want to talk about it.
Old Hroldan inn is not far. A path goes downhill, between mountains, and there is my destination:
Actually, Old Hroldan Inn is everything there is. I mean, all that's left from the famous historic settlement of Old Hroldan. The innkeeper says the place has centuries of history, including a room where Tiber Septim himself stayed once. I may rent it if I want to. I thank her and settle for the letter addressed to Reginald. It says another item of supposedly great value has been hidden for me to find in a citadel called Bleakwind Bluff north from here. I know the place, I've been there.
Now, Bleakwind Bluff is so conveniently near that it would be a shame not to go there and retrieve that hidden treasure right away. But then it would make little sense to return all the way south to Granite Hall. Better proceed to Roriksted, wait for my followers there and attack Fort Masser from the north. In fact, I could use the time to be with Erik... and maybe practise you-know-what for Yrsarald?
Great idea! I get telepathically in touch with my followers again and tell them to come to Roriksted instead of Granite Hall. They haven't yet reached the crossing where they'd have to turn to the Roriksted road, so the change of orders will cause them no delay.
I leave the hospitable Old Hroldan Inn and return to the north by the same mountain road by which I came. I run past the recently-discovered Abandoned Lovers' Camp and then Soljund's Sinkhole where I say hello to a miner I've never seen before who is just coming out of the mine. I won't bother going in. Bleakwind Bluff is nearby, through that pass in the picture below and then to the left:
It's still abandoned and I find the treasure – a Royal Gold Ingot . The next clue will be in Dragonbridge, but I'm going to Roriksted which is in the east-southeast not far from here.
When I arrived at Bleakwind Bluff a few minutes ago, I saw a dragon flapping his wings above the hills behind a plateau in the east. He's still there. The way he's circling back and forth, it looks like he's attacking someone on the ground. Don't tell me Roriksted is beyond those very hills and under attack now. I shoot a couple of arrows at the dragon. He should be easy to hit while he's more or less floating in one place, but I find I can't hit him from so far. So I move closer. Turns out it's my old enemy Alduin waking up another dragon. Wait, Alduin saved my life in Helgen, didn't he? Without his interference, those Imperial butchers would have chopped my head off. What the hell am I doing letting myself be pushed into destroying my savior? I should be making mincemeat of the Imperial Army instead.
This is too complicated. Besides, Alduin is invulnerable to arrows anyway. So I focus on the dragon who is trying to get up from the ground. He hasn't saved my life, so I can kill him without scruples. Alduin waves me goodbye (or maybe it's my imagination) and leaves. I proceed to Roriksted.
They still have those delightful lanterns in various colors hanging above streets and such. It's only four days to the New Year's Eve and people are moderately merry already.
After I've visited the shops, I go to the inn and say hello to Erik. We go to his room this time. I tell him, trying to look shy, that he may do what he wanted to do the last time. I say I've never done it before (which is even true) and I've always been afraid to do it, but he's the first man whom I feel I can trust not to hurt me. Obviously, I can't tell him I want to practise for my main boyfriend. Hopefully he'll buy my story. Erik looks naive enough, having spent his whole life in this village growing up without a mother and with an overprotective father, so he shouldn't be too knowledgeable about women.
I've no idea which position would be the least taxing, so we try sideways. (No pictures this time, sorry.) I ask Erik to go very slowly and gently and not to stick it in all the way. (His length is actually quite impressive, but it's nowhere near as thick as Yrsarald's.) He does his best to oblige, but it's not helping much. I brave it for quite some time, only wailing slightly. But eventually I have to beg Erik to finish as quickly as he can. (Trying to squeeze him with my muscles to advance his climax is hopeless.) He has obviously been struggling hard holding himself back with arousal building up. Now the restraints are off, so to speak, and I scream as he pounds all he's got into my recently-virgin backdoor. At the same time, I must admit I'm feeling some strange kind of arousal rising up from somewhere. But the assault ends before I have the chance to make any sense of my confusing sensations. The only thing I can say with certainty is that Erik's pulling out leaves behind a most unusual kind of emptiness. Every muscle in my body goes limp as limp can be, and I feel actually sad the intruder has left, and I sort of yearn to get it back. A few seconds later, though, that longing is drowned in the pain which my tormented backside still feels and is apparently going to feel for some time.
Yes, I know. I can take a health potion. I will. As soon as I'll be able to move. Erik is caressing my body and I'm too knackered to turn around to face him. I'm glad Erik has enough sense not to ask me how it was. Or maybe he's afraid of my possible answer. He'd better be.
Eventually I take that health potion and get dressed and carefully walk onto the street. At least I know now what it's like.
My followers haven't arrived yet. It's half past four, so I can't afford to wait for them, lest we'll have to fight in the darkness again. I instruct them to go directly to Fort Masser, hide well out of sight and wait for me to begin the attack and then join me.
Fort Masser has been manned by a new group of thalmors. None of them are mages. Just swordsmen and archers we have no trouble killing.
[series of 2 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then click again to see the next picture etc.; press Esc to return to the text]
Then we search every nook and cranny, but fail to find a way in, apart from those two locked doors. None of the killed enemies carries any keys. So how do they get in when they need to be relieved or something? Is there anyone in the interior at all, or have the thalmors lost the keys and can now use only the fortress exterior? There's no one here to answer my question.
It's almost dark by now, so we'd better go to Blackmoor for the night. It's a little way to the east. We should arrive just in time to do some exploring and... yeah, guess I don't fancy having sex tonight. My followers might, though.
We run along beautiful low hills in the dusk.
It's light enough to see our way comfortably, but unfortunately it's not sufficient to see clearly what is that weird structure ahead of us. It looks like two towers 10–15 meters high and 2 or 3 meters wide made of metal grating. We approach with utmost caution. There's what looks like an animal. It runs away. It's an elk. I can't detect anyone else. Getting closer, we realize this place is merely a Shrine of Stendarr, completely undangerous. Those two mysterious towers are only stone pillars. There's no metal grating on them, just a trick of the dusklight.
Less than an hour later, we're in Blackmoor.
We enter a nice building which is where the thane, the local ruler, receives visitors. There is no one about except a man Anedhel, quite Nord in spite of his elven-sounding name. He is dressed like a servant, but he completely forgets his manners upon the sight of us. Me, more precisely. He just stands there and stares at me with such admiration and desire that I get tingly all over.
After a few second of utter indecision, I turn around and leave the building.
"That was weird," says Lydia on the street. I can but nod and force my legs to walk.
We check out the temple. Curiously enough, a couple of guards are sleeping in the back room of it. Back on the street, we see a dragon attacking.
In fact, we heard him roaring before, but I was hoping he would just pass by. This time we have no choice, we have to kill him. Then we walk around some more and finally go to the inn to sleep.
next awakening
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