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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
4-202-04-23 05:34
Alva's House, Morthal, Hjaalmarch, Skyrim
This early we have the awesome bathhouse all to ourselves. While we wash unhurriedly, I realize we won't have to go to Dragonbridge at all on our way to Mor Khazgur. With the nice weather we're having today, I feel like exploring the mountainous area between two rivers south-southwest of Dragonbridge (greenish-blue marker on the map):
We bypass Dunstad Grove from the north and admire the scenery without discovering anything spectacular – just another Dragon Burial Mound and a hunter's shack called Cliffside Retreat high in the mountains.
The view from the latter is very beautiful and the hunter himself is kind of cool and tranquil. So it was worth the hike.
Headed for Mor Khazgur in the west, we jump down a very high cliff, squealing on top of our voices (because in spite of everything it's still scary) and realize we've landed inside a forn camp. We have to kill two men to get out. Then we run past an Imperial Army patrol and soon arrive in Mor Khazgur.
We get some thorough training in Blocking (that's what we came here for) and then walk around and such. It's a very nice place to be, even though about half of the inhabitants are rather on the grumpy side.
The weather is still warm and sunny as we run to the south and notice a forn camp just in time to safely bypass it.
Near the Dwemer ruin Bthardamz, we see two groups of men fighting. They look both like forns. That's weird. Even weirder is that when we get closer, two men from the surviving group (who are indeed forns) swing their swords threateningly but don't attack us.
Don't tell me the Spriggan Soap works on forns as well!
We're not going to stick around and try to talk to them. Before they can change their minds about not attacking, we leave them behind, run through the empty courtyard of Bthardamz, say hello to the soldiers in the Reach Imperial Camp, admire a most beautiful little pond, almost as adorable as that favorite place of mine in southern Summerset
Lisbet's shop is open, so we step in to say hello. I was going to ask Fortune to tell me why most shops in the city have been closed all this time, but now I can just as well ask Lisbet.
Turns out the Silver-Bloods established (long before Jarl Igmund was ousted) some kind of a guild which everyone who wanted to trade in the city had to become a member of. The problem was that unlike the usual moderate membership fees, this "guild" demanded a major part of the traders' profits, leaving them just enough to get by. Most traders found it outrageous and decided to close down, hoping that the lack of trade would anger the citizens and then the jarl would have to do something about the Silver-Bloods. It didn't exactly work, but the traders were too indignant to back off, and they ended up having very tough times. The blacksmith Moth and the wizard Calcelmo evidently agreed to the terms and so did Fortune, or maybe he provided the Silver-Bloods with some other services. Lisbet says she wouldn't know, and it no longer matters anyway.
Does this means she does know something?
Only rumors, she insists, and she's so happy to be back in business now that the Silver-Blood mafia has been exiled, and she really wants to let bygones be bygones.
Okay. What about the market traders?
The market should reopen in a couple of days, Lisbet says. They are hammering out the rules and fees and who gets which stall and such with the steward.
Great. I'm going to see Fortune now.
Fortune confirms Lisbet's story, except he says it wasn't that bad and he doesn't really understand what those other traders' problem was. I put that Dwemer artifact onto his table and tell him that if I ever find out he or his people are still in contact with the Silver-Blood mafia, they are going to have very much time for begging to be put to death. Fortune swears they are not having and won't ever have anything to do with the Silver-Bloods. He doesn't say they haven't in the past, but I leave it at that because it no longer matters.
Now that Fortune has his desired artifact, he agrees to hire Ut-Keen because, as he puts it, the youngster has proven himself lucky by having found such a capable benefactor as me.
I didn't do this for Ut-Keen's sake, but there's obviously no point telling them that. I join my girls who are chatting with Morilla, Seline and Kjorn. Walking past Uthor, I ask him how he's doing and he says he realized it was actually a good thing to let Elle go, and he gives me a Robes of the Invoker as a present.
I go to the palace with my followers where we are enthusiastically greeted by the jarl's guards. Actually, I wanted to talk to Calcelmo and see if he has something interesting to sell. Or tell.
Calcelmo informs me that he has dug up some information on the Falmers alias Snow Elves. He gives me a bundle of notes with his translations from the old Falmer language which are not all that informative and his handwriting leaves much to be desired too. Something about Blackreach and a mysterious place called Xrib. Calcelmo has found hints that some ancient documents concerning the ancient Falmer civilization may be kept in the biggest temple of Skyrim in Solitud, and it would also be advisable to check the Winterhold College library.
I am ecstatic. Looks like finally my prayers are being answered. I have a good chance to make a breakthrough in my pursuit of understanding the Falmers.
Come to think of it, I have the feeling I have heard the name Xrib somewhere.
I thank Calcelmo, and his assistant Aicantar thanks me when I walk past him.
Excuse me?
Aicantar whispers that he's happy I'm taking the old man's mind off that Falmer thing. He's been talking about nothing else the last weeks and their regular work has started to suffer.
Okay. You're welcome.
I return to open air.
Now, the closest one among the destinations Calcelmo mentioned is Solitud, but we just came from the north and I don't want to go back there so soon. We'll head for Dushnikh Yal as I had planned and then travel to Bruma. That'll be after we've given our house in this city a closer look. As for Xrib, the girls remember something with that name was somewhere in or near the Sightless Pit. That'll be in northeastern Skyrim. Whether it's really the same place mentioned in Calcelmo's notes remains to be found out. Maybe we'll know more after we've visited Winterhold.
The rest of today, however, we're spending in Markarth, checking out the interiors of our house and then just walking around in the city.
Our house being so big, I begin to think why not bring Ma'isha and Sofie here. Ma'isha would have company of her own age and Sofie could get away from the cold of Windhelm, and possibly places that remind her of her parents' death. Markarth has turned a pretty safe location thanks to our efforts, and it's really beautiful. And maybe the children could find meaningful activity by helping out in Lisbet's shop?
I shall think about it.
next awakening
