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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
4-202-03-13 07:27
Jerall View Inn, Bruma, Bruma County, Cyrodiil
The inn has a big bathroom on the basement floor. They're not too strict here about keeping men and women apart, but if that's the local custom then who are we to complain? Luckily at least there are two large pools (with a few meters' distance between men's and women's) and the lighting is not too bright.
Afterwards, I go up to the taproom to eat a little something. Stantus has a map of Bruma for me as he promised. I thank him and ask if I can do anything for him in return. He says he's worried about a shipment of cider from the nearby village of Applewatch that hasn't arrived in time. If I could go there and talk to a man named Gergus on his behalf, he'd appreciate it. I promise to do it one of these days.
Outside, it's a lovely winter day.
I send my girls shop-(re)discovering and head for the palace. I observe that while the guards' uniforms don't look all that pretty here, they seem properly warm, unlike in Skyrim. But I'm a lot more interested in seeing what the women wear in the palace and what's there to do and learn here, and who knows, maybe Afanna has already some news for me.
Having entered the impressive building, I introduce myself politely to the first man I see. He turns out to be none other than Adius Vilius, the captain of the city guards. He asks if I, by any chance, have come across any items of Akaviri origin recently.
I'm not even sure who the Akaviri were. They're not the same as the Ayleids, are they? Don't worry, I'm not actually saying something so ignorant to Adius. I simply reply I haven't.
We take a few steps aside, out of the people's way, and Adius tells me in great detail how Akaviri artifacts are a great craze among the nobles here, as well as extremely valuable, and now someone important has gotten burglared big time and is driving Adius crazy with his impatient demands that the thieves be caught and, more importantly, his priceless possessions returned. Unfortunately, there is no clue to either who the thieves may be or how they even succeeded in getting in and out. However, Adius's entire career may depend on this case, so should I succeed in helping him with this, I'll find him extremely appreciative, he assures me.
Cautious not to bring up Dar'taqto too soon, I ask Adius about his personal life. He tells me he has a wife and children in Imperial City and came up here looking for work. As you probably have noticed by now, he clearly enjoys talking to me. (Of course he's nowhere near the first man who does.) He says he dislikes the constant political intrigues and persecutions and instability. He makes me realize that in order for the society to function, laws mustn't be changed too frequently – not only because of the confusion it creates, but more importantly because the simple people need the feeling that the law is something real, meaning you don't obey the law just because it's the current ruler's whim, but because it's actually the right thing to do. And for that, it's vital that the laws be stable.
We come to the topic of criminality. Adius explains me that corrupt people in high places are a real menace and he's very unhappy he can't do anything about it. Thieves who actually take things from other people are less a problem for the society. The most peculiar among the latter, he tells me, is a Khajiit named Dar'taqto. He steals from the super rich and sells his loot cheaply to the poor.
I won't tell Adius just yet that I know Dar'taqto. Neither am I going to ask if Dar'taqto could have been the one behind this Akaviri thing. I'd better go and find the palace steward who Adius says can tell me more about the stolen articles. I mean, I need some background information. With my current level of knowledge, I could trip over an Akaviri artifact and fail to recognize it as such.
I say goodbye to Captain Adius and go to find the steward and explore the palace while I'm at it.
Now, I'm certain that someone so important is unlikely to be found in the basement, but I still want to check out the basement first. One can get a better feel of a palace place by looking at the servants' quarters before the throne room.
Passing by a guard, I say hello and he greets back. Looks like my walking around and peeking into various rooms is not a problem. I read a notice about the ruler's reception hours, an advertisement for a museum in the house of our buddy Harald Burdsson, and an appeal to do something about the announced closure of the Nirn Theater.
Another guard whom I politely greet tells me smuggling is a major problem and I ought to report it in the palace if I should hear anything about it.
I have been walking up and down various staircases. Currently I seem to be approaching the nobles' living quarters that are on the ground floor. I ask people if someone has hired mercenaries recently, and learn nothing suspicious.
Then Afanna walks past me as if not knowing me, and puts something into my hand. I walk away casually and find a bench next to a beautiful potted plant to examine the object. It's Simund Gautierre's journal. Most of the entries concern mundane topics uninteresting for me, but my jaw drops when I read the author occasionally mention how annoying he finds the obvious signs of affection by... Afanna Eddici!!
I can't believe Afanna let me see something so embarrassing. I mean, I can understand she hates the man because he has spurned her and caught herself an Orc bandit (yes, obvious indications to that are in the journal too), so she is eager to grab every opportunity to harm him, and that's why she agreed so readily to help me, but why didn't she tear out the pages that are revealing her profound humiliation – for few things are more mortifying than being undesired as a woman?
Well, I'm not sure how to ask her. So I just continue my my exploration tour. A big room that can be a library or a recreation room has a cozy fireplace. I notice a book that has some phrases in the old Ayleid language with translations:
Another one contains proper prayers to all eight gods (we're in the No-Talos-Land once again):
I go on exploring the palace. Among other things, I take a look at a bedroom that has Thalmor Robes laid out on a commode. The occupant is absent. And then I finally reach the servants' quarters. They are much smaller and simpler than previous rooms, but, I daresay, less cramped and far better lighted than most homes in Skyrim. A conversation with an embittered chief cook Bolar reveals nothing interesting. A shy Argonian maid hurries away when she sees me. All in all, I think I like Bruma. In spite of some of the higher-ranking apparently doing bad things, I generally feel good around here.
I guess it's about time to find the throne room now.
Having done so, I first talk to the count (the local name for a jarl) Desilus and then to his steward Rignar. The count is an incredibly nice man, really committed to doing all he can for his people. Even though he's an Imperial, he points out that Bruma is just as much Nord as Imperial. I also learn that Bruma is relatively well-off, because it wasn't damaged too badly in the Great War. Some other counties of Cyrodiil have been really devastated. It's basically the same thing Albecius Jucani told me yesterday.
From Steward Rignar, I learn the stolen Akaviri artifacts were mostly rings and amulets, meaning things that can easily be concealed and hidden, as well as something called a katana. I refrain from asking what it is, not wanting to come across like a barbarian.
I now walk around in the city, talk to a beggar and find the shop where Eddvia works.
It would appear that the man Hulgar she fancies is his boss, the owner of this very shop. He's not here at the moment. It's a nice, clean, cozy establishment, and Eddvia is a beautiful and kind woman. I wish I'd be able to help her somehow.
But now I must have a consultation with my followers about that mercenary affair.
This is the Synod building halfway from the blacksmith's to the temple.
I'm reluctant to tell Dumrag that it was most likely Simund who arranged the kidnapping of his wife. That big Orc looks crazy enough to burst into the palace and kill Simund.
The girls think it's not that bad. From what he's told me, he's very much aware that his wife may be still alive and held in captivity, in which case he'll be first and foremost interested in liberating her. He'll know he can't do that with the mastermind dead. Just because he's very strong and very straightforward, I mustn't hold him for an idiot, they point out.
As for Afanna's motives, we come up with the following hypothesis together:
When Afanna got acquainted with me, she saw an opportunity to use me to harm Simund. However, she feared that if she tore out the journal pages that were embarrassing for her, I might suspect her of foul play. So she left the pages there to convince me that the journal was genuine. Harming Simund was more important for her than avoiding shame herself.
We are in agreement that Afanna could not have fabricated such an extensive journal in one day. Neither could she have fabricated just the one entry where Simund reveals that he fancies that Orc mercenary woman. I mean, when there are, say, six books on a shelf, you can easily insert a book between the second and the third, but you can't replace a part of a written text with another.
But how could Afanna know that I was investigating the kidnapping of the Orc woman, you may ask. Well, that's because I asked her if one of the nobles had hired mercenaries. It was enough for an obviously smart woman like her to put two and two together, even though I didn't say anything about looking for a kidnapped mercenary woman.
Nevertheless, it's not impossible that Afanna fabricated the entire journal, or the last part of it, over a long time, and was patiently waiting for someone to appear whom he could show it to. Therefore, I still refuse to say anything to Dumrag before I've confronted Simund with the journal and given him an opportunity to speak in his defense.
Oh, by the way, Jordis knows that a katana is a special kind of sword, very rare in our part of the world.
We now walk to the marketplace together. It's between our inn and the other inn where I want to enquire about the theft from the palace.
I'm glad to see the nice Bosmer alchemist Ananril, but I'm much more excited by a tailor Gryfard who sells clothes. He says he's not really a good salesman and so he doesn't like the commercial part of his trade, but we are utterly fascinated by the wares he is offering and in fact buy quite a few beautiful things. In addition to that, he's a Breton from High Rock, so I must try and talk to him some more someday.
Eager as I may be to try out all those new garments. I'd better go to The Restful Watchman first. Passing by the temple, we encounter two children on their way home. One happens to be the younger brother of Eddvia and the other one the daughter of Lassinia, the serving girl whose husband is missing, remember?
Both tell us eagerly about their families and how the bad boring adults keep them from fascinating adventures. They don't know anything that would advance me with my goals, though. I lorder my followers to see them home safely and then join me in The Restful Watchman in case I should need help intimidating someone. I'll go and have a look around alone first.
I'm not seeing any new faces in the taproom. The disgusting proprietor Bentior talks to me in an unspeakably sleazy way that makes me want to kill him right here and now. Maybe he senses my anger, because when I insist he tell me if he's heard anything about the theft of Akaviri artifacts from the palace, he reveals to me that a Breton man named Atienne has been visiting his inn every now and then, and he's not from this city which is why Bentior doesn't really know what he's up to, so he might just as well have something to do with that theft.
I have a disctinct feeling that Bentior knows more than that. Yet he refuses to help me further on the grounds that it's bad for business to tell too much about one's customers. By now I'm on my last nerve and inform him I don't give a rat's ass about his business and I have to know where I can find that man. Bentior laughs in my face and I leave, fuming. He wants trouble – I'll give him trouble. That little skeever, who does he think he is? I'm going to destroy him.
My girls remind me it would be a pity if the locals were to lose their familiar neighborhood inn. I counter that if Bentior goes under it doesn't mean the inn has to. I'll talk to Adius tomorrow about making Bentior's life really difficult.
We walk back to our inn by a roundabout route and meet Rilja the trader of Ancient Nord weapons along the way. She talks fascinatedly about Nord heritage and such. Lydia and Jordis seem to like her a lot.
Back at our inn, Jordis asks me if I'm now up to telling them about the reasons behind my reluctance to be with Yrsarald when we were passing by Windhelm, and I tell them what I've already told you. Later the Breton bard Ambric comes to sit with us and we change the topic, and then a couple more men join us and we chat late into the night.
next awakening
