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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
4-202-02-01 05:08
Temple, Alinor, Summerset, Aldmeri Dominion
We exit the temple. Before returning to the ground, we go to the eastern side of this floating island and watch the sunrise which is an utterly magnificent sight at this height.
[series of 12 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then press the right arrow to see the next picture etc.; press Esc to return to the text]
We are at incredible elevation. You will recognize the very high tower from yesterday:
Yet, there are places higher still:
Clearly, there's something magical at work in Alinor that somehow raises the water so high.
The temple doesn't have a bath, but it's still so early there are no people about, so we can wash ourselves in a little pond without being seen.
I think we'll take it slow today. Just explore the city, as well as watch out for any signs that the thalmors may be after us or anyone may suspect our true identities. (We're not traveling under false names, but there are surely many Lauras and Lydias in the world.)
So we walk around separately and socialize. Too bad the locals aren't very keen on chatting. But I do find an attractive Khajiit man Ma' Sana. When I run into Lydia on the street, she says every Khajiit man is attractive to me. I try to kick her, but she runs away. Maybe it's time I'll give her that spanking we've been talking about.
We've seen several types of houses in Summerset. The following pictures show what the most common type of home looks like in this city. The ground floor consists of one large living room with alchemy and enchanting facilities. This picture shows about a half of it:
On the second floor is the bedroom. (The houses being pyramid-shaped, the third floor is smaller than the second floor, and the second floor is smaller than the ground floor.)
On the third floor is the bathroom. Note the toilet on the left and the pool on the right. Don't ask me how they keep the water permanently warm. It's no kind of magic I've ever seen.
I use the opportunity to examine up close one of those large purple things with small white things. I end up none the wiser. Well, I can guess it's a fungus of some kind. I mean, giant mushrooms abound on this island, so this is most likely one of them. The point is, no one doesn't seem to live in them and those white things don't teleport you anywhere.
I return to that little stone cabin with teleportation orbs I mentioned last night. One of the orbs, in fact it's the big one in the center, takes me to the king's palace. It looks... I don't know, the word "psychedelic" springs to my mind. I can't remember where I picked it up from, and frankly I don't even know what it means.
That large empty space in the middle is not a hole. It's an invisible floor you can walk on:
Unfortunately, no one here will talk to me. Evidently I'm not important enough for the the king of Alinor to bother with. Point taken.
I exit the palace and walk back to the teleportation orb across this usunusal grass bridge which looks precarious but is in fact perfectly solid:
I return to the ground and use another orb to teleport me to another floating island on which is a large mansion called The Lounge.
I already know from the people on the ground that it's a luxurious brothel. As I've told you before, women are allowed to visit brothels in Summerset, even if it's just out of idle curiosity. I wouldn't miss this opportunity for anything!
The ground floor has a large sitting area with a bar and a pool.
There are only two people present, High Elf women in maid uniforms. One of them, Tarnilla, is very tall even for a High Elf. Her nipples are exactly at the height of my mouth. Not that I mean anything by it. The other one, Norna, is a couple of centimeters shorter than me. So, I guess the customers have pretty much the maximum of variety two women of the same race can possibly provide.
Upstairs are several rooms which I'm not allowed to enter, and one that I am. It has the most magnificent kind of bed I've ever seen.
I just have to put on my gorgeous red dress and take several pictures next to that truly royal bed.
Well, yeah, maybe the bed is a little too short, especially for High Elves.
I wonder if I could pay the establishment for being allowed to come here with my own lover. And I wonder what might be in those rooms I can't get in. Guess I'd better leave before curiosity kills me.
I enjoy myself for a while sitting downstairs at the fireplace, but I give the pool a miss this time. I do, however, taste some of the cheese on offer, and I'm surprised to find out it's much better than Skyrim cheese.
I know I'm not exactly supposed to hang around here, but they don't mind, because they rarely have customers at this hour. Norna informs me they've got some more girls who live down in the city, but they'll come to work later when the business will be brisker.
As I presumed, this is a relatively expensive establishment. The basic fee (what a man has to pay for one vaginal intercourse) is 200 septims.
I leave this delightful place with some regrets. I'll tell my followers about it after we've left Alinor. They'll go green with envy!
As I exit, I'm astonished to see the sky covered with gray clouds. I had already begun to think it never rains in Summerset.
The little glowing sphere is the teleportation orb I'll have to use to get back to the ground.
It's about 3 in the afternoon and I have the feeling I've seen enough for one time. If we hurry, we can even reach Shimmerene before the market closes. Even though we have some business up north, it's Shimmerene I feel I want to go to right now. I don't have to be awfully rational all the time, do I?
I choose a route as different from all the previous ones as I can. We'll go east-southeastwards first, pass between mountains and cross the Sunhold–Ebon highway somewhere between Riverfield and Holly Falls. Then we'll proceed east-northeast through the woods or whatever there'll be, and we should reach a road south of the big lake that leads to Shimmerene.
Between those mountains, we find a pond with entrances to a Sload Den which we're not going to explore today. Past the high towers of Holly Falls to our right, we reach the main road. After thwarting an attack by swamphounds, we find in the middle of the forest a shrine to Clavicus Vile.
He's a daedra, but I don't know anything about Him... no, thank you, Jenassa, I don't want to know either. In front of the big statue of a human of undeterminable sex and a dog are a few benches and a man, apparently a priest of this place. He shows no signs of hostility and there are no altars with bloody corpses, so we leave him alone and move on.
I run ahead of my followers as I usually do, and get attacked by a pack of Plague Rats. Yuck!
Even though not hard to kill, they are more repulsive than any other creature I've ever seen. And the lazybones of my followers arrive only after the battle is over. (In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they had hid themselves in nearby bushes to have a laugh at me.) Lucky I didn't catch a disease.
We arrive in Shimmerene after six, but the traders are still at work, so I get a lot of stuff sold. I find myself strangely fascinated by a woman named Agol.
She looks like a hybrid between an Orc and a Dark Elf (although I'm not sure if it's biologically possible). She's close-mouthed and certainly below the average in terms of feminine charm, but there's something that draws me to her irresistibly. She irradiates some kind of a firmness, absolute confidence. I have the feeling that if I were to just stand next to her, nothing in the world could hurt me or even worry me. Quite frankly, I can't recall if there's ever been a man who has made me feel like that.
Whatever. I'll have to discuss this thoroughly with my followers later, but right now we complete our shopping and head for the Mages' Guild.
I give Quillinda her ring and she asks me to go and meet a female wizard in or near Alinor and help her find a certain mysterious place she needs to go to.
On my way to see Bolwing, I run into my boyfriend Dulizar. I tell him I have to go and report to Bolwing, and it won't take long, and then he can have me. With some reluctance, he lets me go.
Bolwing thanks me profusely and I'm not even surprised to learn he has found out in the meantime he'll need one more ingredient called Black Pearl.
I won't have to go farther than Mana Grove this time, though. It's that spriggan place south of here. Looks like I will no longer be able to spare the lives of the spriggans who live there.
I now go to Dulizar. I tell him I feel like going outside, not one of those dull and sterile study rooms again. The beach ought to be abandoned enough. I mean, making love right outside the front door would be infinitely cool, but a bit too risky.
We find a somewhat elevated place free of pebbles that has a nice view to the ocean and is well out of sight of the Guild building.
This is exactly the kind of romantic setting I was longing for. I'm very happy, and so, it seems, is my lovely Dulizar.
Afterwards, he walks me to my room in the dormitory where I fall asleep quickly.
next awakening
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