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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
4-202-01-11 05:04
Dusk House, Cliffs of Dusk, Summerset, Aldmeri Dominion
All right, let's find a way up to that damned gate now.
Since we've ascended all the way to this house already, I feel we ought to try climbing just a little higher onto those rocks on which the fortress wall has been built.
This turns out not very difficult. And now we start climbing along the rocky slope trying to circle counterclockwise around the fortress wall and hopefully end up at the gate or at least somewhere near it.
It takes long and looks quite scary at times.
Finally we're there, right in front of the gate. From up here, we can even see a winding path that leads down to the path down below where we were yesterday. We missed the path because we were so busy fighting all those mages.
We climbed up onto the rocks near the farther left corner of the fortress, not visible in the picture,
and circled around the nearer left corner you can see in the picture. At this moment, we are
between the left corner and that round turret in the middle, too small to be recognized.
Observe the winding walkway descending from the gate to the place where we had our first contact with the bandit mages yesterday evening. We descended and proceeded slowly along the path, killing bandits all the way, to the small citadel beyond the bottom left corner of the picture, and it didn't occur to us this morning to come back and look for an easy way up to the gate.
and circled around the nearer left corner you can see in the picture. At this moment, we are
between the left corner and that round turret in the middle, too small to be recognized.
Observe the winding walkway descending from the gate to the place where we had our first contact with the bandit mages yesterday evening. We descended and proceeded slowly along the path, killing bandits all the way, to the small citadel beyond the bottom left corner of the picture, and it didn't occur to us this morning to come back and look for an easy way up to the gate.
I guess I forgot to tell you earlier that in the dreams I've had, the Dusk fortress has been a dark gloomy place filled with death, ghosts and hopelessness. Once we're entered, I'm surprised to see it's completely different. We have to kill a couple of things all right, but after it's done, it's really beautiful in here. There's a small orchard of sorts in the middle of the lush courtyard, and a number of small huts and a house called Slaughtered Lamb.
Also, there's a number of Dwellings built right into the fortifications. (In the picture above, we have ascended to the platform in front of one Dwelling's entrance door. Another such platform is visible somewhat lower on the left.) They're apartments, most of which contain one large room with a double bed and a fireplace and such, and something like a pantry up the wooden stairs.
Some dwellings are inhabited by ghosts who attack us when they see us (I take really stupid risks a couple of times), and in some live actual people. Only men, for some reason. Their apathetic reaction to us could be summed up like "take whatever you want, but please don't kill me if you can help it". I find one of the Khajiits really attractive and I greatly regret that we didn't come here two days later.
Slaughtered Lamb is an inn kept by two men.
The place is in excellent state of repair and indeed really cozy, but there are no customers. I guess the locals will come later. It doesn't look like they have anywhere else to go in the evening.
In one of the dwellings, we find a diary that tells about the times apparently preceding the bandit attack that destroyed Dusk. I'll take this to Syrius and see if he likes it. That's all this formerly formidable town has to offer in terms of history.
I hope we can come back here some other time. It's really nice and delightfully peaceful (after you kill all the bad guys).
Jordis has an idea why there are only men here – the bandits took all the women.
Yeah, could be. [Shudder.]
After exiting the fortress, we are now headed west along the southern shore of the Summerset Isle. I prefer it over the road that runs more or less parallelly to it. The sandy beach with palm trees is just too beautiful to stay away from.
We discover a grove of giant mushrooms that are red with white dots. A most unusual sight.
Then I swim to a small island nearby, on which there is absolutely nothing to find, and some time later we run into a pack of bears. I've never seen five or six bears together in the same place. They don't have a chance against our weapons, but had I come here with what I was carrying three months ago, I would have surely ended up as their lunch. (No, silly, says Lydia, you would still have run faster than them.)
The coast turns from sandy to rocky again, so we turn north and go over a hill. There's the road right there below us. Another pack of bears is sleeping on the roadsides, but we won't have to disturb them. We run westwards on top of the hill until we can safely descend to the road.
Ahead of us is a bridge with a woman walking on it:
The place is called Aro Pass. We catch up with the woman. She's an Orc named Dam and she has nothing exciting to tell us.
We admire the scenic pond around us, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, and then we continue traveling to the west, walking with Dam so she can have some company. By 5 o'clock, we reach a large walled town. We wish Dam a nice evening and go to check out the nearby mine (iron and silver). After that, we enter the town through the northeastern gate.
The gate's right here, that arch to our left.
There are many houses, but few people on the streets. To be precise, they don't really have streets as such. Just a hilly field, small houses all over, and some paths in the grass.
All that is surrounded by a very strong-looking defense wall. The place is kind of weird, but also pleasant. Quite a large settlement, but you don't feel crowded. It's called Sunhold.
We walk around and say hello to people, but no one is really interested in exchanging gossip, and we can't find any traders. It's late already, of course. We notice three or four houses marked Vacant House, but nothing like a shop or an inn.
There's a Court House, though, where we meet a friendly woman Erinthil as well as the town ruler. He's Lord Ish. (I mean, Ish is his name, and Lord is his title.) When I ask him if there's any way we can make ourselves useful around here, he suggests we check out a settlement north of here called Holly Falls with which they've lost contact.
We look around in a room with impressive trophies,
In one of the other houses lives a man Thoromhel who is quite likeable, but I have no use for him until tomorrow at the earliest. Jenassa seems too shy to chat him up, or maybe she's not sure if I don't want him for myself. Whatever. Most people here are married. I mean, most houses are inhabited by married couples, mostly elves, but there's also one seemingly single Orc man, and in one house lives a nice Khajiit woman Kasha. The weirdest, though, is the house belonging to a certain Beth. It has no furniture whatsoever! Not even a chair to sit on. The woman herself stands outside the southern gate and looks very unhappy. Yet, she wouldn't say what her problem is. Maybe she's intimidated by the four of us.
Well, it's dark already and in the absense of anything more suitable, we shall sleep in one of those Vacant Houses. I mean, if they're called "vacant", then I presume we can just go in. Vacant House 8-3 (I don't know what the numbers mean; maybe land slot numbers in the registry) has little furniture, but really comfortable beds up- and downstairs.
next awakening
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