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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
4-202-05-18 06:49
Nimalten Barracks, Nimalten, The Rift, Skyrim
It's cloudy and a little foggy, but there's no wind or rain, so it's quite pleasant to be outside, and the forest looks just excitingly sinister.
Vaalmungar is right here, over the nearest hill. We have to jump down from a scary height (because we can't be bothered with finding a road) which of course is completely undangerous with our enchanted armors, but Ghorbash isn't really used to it yet and gives his best to not look frightened.
The front door of Vaalmungar opens into a foyer of sorts which has pretty decent light.
On the floor lie three dead bodies. One is a common draugr. Another one is a very old skeleton. Could be one of those who came here in the distant past with that cursed or accursed ancient treasure. Or not. The third is a quite recent corpse of a Nimalten guard.
We proceed cautiously. There's a place where I must have stepped onto something, because a couple of seconds later a device releases a huge beam of fire which looks properly awesome, as well as very painful. By a mere chance, I stopped to think just one step before it.
In the next halls and passages, light gets really crappy. Of course, I still have the Sense of Smell power. I'm wearing less Resist Shock gear this time, and indeed when a draugr hits me with a shock shout, it only makes me stumble for half a second. Weird.
You'll be glad to hear that Ghorbash is really efficient when equipped with a sword. And he seems eager to make good his past shortcomings. He doesn't even get in our way.
Lydia is impressed too. Later when we get a chance to talk in private, she asks me to ask Ghorbash if he would like to have sex with her. But that's later.
Among the ghosts we kill is Vulkar, a past thane of Nimalten. And we do find a heap of gold bars maybe half a meter high. We can't recognize any curse or evil magic. Of course we're rather ignorant about curses, but Ghorbash has very sharp instincts in that respect.
There's a nice view from outside Vaalmungar, even though the sky is still full or gray clouds.
We return to Nimalten to bring the treasure to the thane. Having given us a generous reward, she seems to prefer we wouldn't hang about, what with us knowing her embarrassing secret.
Well, guess we'll head north now.
No, let's at least find out if one really can't get to Riverwood across the mountains. This means west.
We run a little way along the country road northwest that would eventually end up on the Hviterun–Darkwater–Riften highway. Soon the road turns northeast (right of the pink marker on the map below), but we can indeed see a path that goes northwest, into the mountains.
In a few minutes, we reach an impressive tower up a steep rocky slope.
Bypassing the hill, we soon find a stone staircase that leads to the very structure I saw in my dream in Dunparwall. It's called Candle Makers Hall. Ready for the battle of our lives, we go in.
Well, this is one of the most incomprehensible places ever. Very badly lighted rooms (couldn't they really get at least some more candles?), the motliest variety of people (from a hunter to an Imperial soldier; the only kind that seems to me missing is a vampire necromancer) who would neither attack nor talk nor are engaged in any evident activity, dorms with several times as many beds as there are people present... I can't make heads or tales of this place.
Anyone happen to know what that symbol means?
There's another exit on the other side that opens to a long bridge which in turn leads to a citadel completely empty. The exterior of this fortress is exactly like I remember from my dream.
We head southwest now. It seems highly likely that we can take a shortcut across the mountains and descend all the way to the vicinity of Riverwood bypassing the road that goes past Valtheim and Hviterun.
We can't see High Hrothgar, but we do catch a glimpse of that weird dragon fortress that hangs partially in the air. So that one exists for real as well.
The girls remind me that we have already seen it from the ground near Hviterun. Right, we have.
And that should be Bleak Falls Barrow over there:
Hviterun is just beyond the right edge of the picture, and Riverwood is somewhere on the nearer bank of the river to our left.
After a number of normally-deadly jumps, we can see the eastern defense wall of Riverwood behind some trees a hundred meters ahead. Ghorbash can't even hide his shaking and we do our best to not look in his direction and to act like everything is normal. We should be in Hviterun soon and then I'll take Jenassa back and Ghorbash won't ever have to go through such horrifying fallings.
In Riverwood, we do a little shopping and socializing first, simply because the shops close in the evening whereas a brothel, I presume, won't. At half past six, caressed by the golden rays of the setting sun, we enter the Fox Club under the pretext of making sure there is no skooma there.
Now, this place has a quite pleasant feel to it.
For some reason, all the prostitutes and waitresses (which in fact seems to be the same thing here) wear collars not unlike a dog's.
Even a sleeping girl who is otherwise naked hasn't taken off her collar. Is this some kind of an SM joint? At any rate, the personnel as well as the guests clearly dislike us being here.
We walk in on a couple in bed (sorry!) and then find a truly incredible room with torture devices and two tied-up girls.
I can see Lydia preparing to say something to Jordis and shake my head. That would not be funny.
Well, I can understand the girls are most embarrassed to be seen by women from outside in this kind of a setting.
I wonder if Ghorbash would like to spend some time here, but he doesn't seem to, or is too shy to let us know he would, or hasn't quite recovered from the scare of our jumping down mountains a couple of hours earlier. Jokes aside, he is most likely disgusted by the very concept of women offering themselves for money. He's probably wondering who would ever marry such women.
What I find incredible is how an establishment like this can operate in, of all places, the rustic traditional village of Riverwood. I ask Hadvar that question a little later. He says they pay very good money in taxes, thanks to which Riverwood can afford its modest defense wall and all those guards. But generally the villagers act like the brothel isn't there and there's the strictest agreement that the Fox Club personnel keep to themselves. Their clientele doesn't even visit the local inn, because they (understandably) prefer the bar in the Fox Club, and there's plenty of room for sleeping too. And since they seem to cater for rich people with, um, refined tastes, there are no worries about any of the Fox Club customers stealing a horse or groping a village girl.
We would have enough time to go to Hviterun for the night, but I happen to ask Hadvar if he knows where North Skybound Watch is. He says it's somewhere east of here, but he doesn't know where exactly.
In that case we'll sleep here and explore the wilderness up the hills tomorrow. I apologize to Hadvar for not being able to do anything for him tonight (in fact, I mention I can still suck, but he says not to worry) and go to the inn to have a good night's rest.
I take Ghorbash aside and ask him if he would like to spend the night with Lydia. He replies he'd be delighted. So they'll be sharing a room, and Jordis and I get another one.
next awakening
