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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
4-201-12-14 06:19
Amber Mead Inn, Amber Creek, Falskaar
The taproom is empty but for Klara, Njola and that untalkative man Garibald or Gabrial or what his name was. I understand he sort of works here as a bouncer, a backup for the case Njola's motherly steadfastness should fail. He looks depressed and not an interesting person to get to know.
Outside, it's a fine morning. We go to explore the village. The nearest house in the direction opposite to the smithy belongs to Oudin. I order my followers to walk on while I step in to say hello.
Oudin is having breakfast. A quick look around leaves no doubt that he lives alone.
I was already thinking about it last night. Now I feel I have to get it. Right now.
Of course he doesn't need to be persuaded. A man of quick action.
Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. He doesn't finish until I've had my satisfaction. (Well, if you really need to know, a loud earth-shattering orgasm.)
This was much better than I even dared to hope. I feel I've truly hit the jackpot in this particular location.
The look on his face leaves no doubt he's thoroughly satisfied and very happy with my visit. He's late for work, but he doesn't mind. After some lazy caresses in the afterglow, he gives me a hug that makes my bones crackle and tells me to lock up when I leave and bring the key to him to the sawmill opposite the inn, the same one I saw yesterday evening.
I finish getting dressed, make sure my hair is tidy, and exit. I feel more happy and proud I've ever felt for my ability to excite a man so quickly and to give him supreme pleasure. Oudin has filled me with energy that gives me wings and enables me to deal with anything and anyone in the world.
We shall start small, though – with the Riverwatch Hot Springs. I mean, of course it's not something as weighty as banditry, but I feel sorry for the villagers who have lost their pleasant recreation spot. And it's so near anyway. An ideal mission for getting a general feel of Falskaar's bad side, so to speak.
As I go to look for my followers, I pass by a farm kept by two men, Kunnari and Kalevi.
I heard at the inn last night Kunnari had a problem with someone killing his chickens. So I go and ask him about it. He says neither he nor the guards have been able to catch the miscreant. He'd much appreciate it if I tried hiding in the bushes tonight and see if I have better luck. I remain noncommittal. It may be important and urgent to him, but I may have better things to do at night.
The girls have noticed me in the meantime. It's a small village. (I mean, it's really a big village, but it's still a village and it's not awfully hard to run across people.) As soon as I finish speaking with Kunnari, they ask me excitedly what it was like. They mean with Oudin, obviously. I let them share my happiness. As for them, they didn't do anything last night either. They all saw likeable men, but they thought it was better not to make it appear as if they were easy.
Well, there's no hurry. I'm sure we'll be spending considerable time around here.
After I've brought Oudin his key, me and my followers cross the river and run west. It takes us less than half an hour to reach Riverwatch Hot Springs. There's a cave right next to the river and I think that's where we ought to start.
Upon entering, we find ourselves in a spacious cavern with a large pond and a very beautiful triple waterfall.
It could be a very nice place without those necromancer mages. They and the ones further down the dungeon are easy to kill when caught unawares, but quite strong once they get their wards up. Still no match for us, a well-rehearsed killing machine. As for Borgakh, she is learning fast and she's a really good fighter to begin with.
Beyond the dungeon is a Dwemer ruin. A small one – just a few rooms and passages with a few more hostile mages. When we've explored it all, I have the feeling there has to be more. Something creating that evil aura Klara mentioned and that the four of us can in fact still feel.
I use the
Clairvoyance spell and it leads us into a wall. Yes, I already guessed there must be a secret door somewhere, and now it would seem we've found it, but how do we get it open?
Of course! How stupid of me. Loot the dead enemies and see if they carry anything written.
On one of the mages, I find a note saying that in such-and-such a room, there's a switch on the wall. We go to that room, and indeed there's a small but clearly visible switch above a chest. When we were here, I looted the chest, but failed to notice the switch. How's it possible? Was it even there before? Yes, it was, says Borgakh timidly. For heaven's sake, Borgakh, the next time when you see a switch on the wall, tell me about it! I'm very bad at noticing such things.
I've also picked up a book "War in Falskaar", but I'll read it later.
I turn the switch and we return to that spot where
Clairvoyance lead us to earlier. Indeed a part of the wall has opened. There's a short passage, at the end of which is a small pedestal with some sparse decorations around it.
On the pedestal is a metal bowl. In the bowl is a crystal fragment. I cautiously stretch out my arm and take the fragment. A second later we all sigh in relief as we can clearly sense the unnerving "something" has disappeared.
Nearby is a dead end with another switch. It opens a section of the wall, behind which is a waterfall. Just a curtain of water. It's impossible to see what's beyond it.
I jump in. Someone has to.
I fall a few meters into the water.
"Come on, girls!" I shout. "It's just water."
They come, shrieking in unison as they fall, but it's obviously just show. This is the first cavern with the three waterfalls I showed you earlier. The water is indeed warm. We exit and check out the place where the water flows into the river, but it's already cold there. This first cavern must be that "hot spring" place.
We return inside, strip and get in the water. I can imagine this pond doesn't look much in a picture, but the warmth of the water and the tranquil splashing of the waterfalls is most soothing.
Before leaving, I take out the crystal fragment and examine it. None of us has ever seen anything like it. Maybe those erudites in that "priory" place further south know something about it? We've business there anyway, so we can also ask them about this.
First, however, we return to Amber Creek. The sky is cloudy, but it's still warm.
Klara is very happy and says she doesn't have much money to give us, but she'll talk to Njola about getting us a discount at the inn.
I inform her she can actually more than return the favor by telling me if Oudin has a girlfriend. Klara says she's sure he's got none, but is she right assuming he might have one soon?
Yes, I reply, he might. I cast my eyes down with a hint of a smile. Thanks, Klara.
We relax for a while at the inn. We're the only customers as the day is still young. I take the opportunity to read the book "War in Falskaar" while Rurik sings us songs.
It would appear that there are two rivaling clans in Falskaar – Borvaldur and Unnvaldr. The Borvaldurs are the rightful rulers of Falskaar, but a little more than a century ago the Unnvaldrs found themselves unhappy with it and started a civil war that devastated Falskaar and caused a significant part of its population to leave the island. I'll spare you the details, but it's quite an interesting story. Now I understand who the Unnvaldrs are whom the jarl mentioned when I was talking to him yesterday. And indeed I recall that the Amber Creek jarl's house is called Borvaldur Manor. I'm getting the general picture now. The Unnvaldrs seem to be done licking their wounds for a hundred years and are preparing for a rematch. Or at least that's what Jarl Agnar has come to suspect. Well, too bad for the Unnvaldrs the Borvaldur clan found me first and were kind to me. Now I'm on their side.
When I've finished reading, I go to talk to Klara. She tells me the latest rumor. It concerns the farmer Audmund:
I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Audmund yet and I don't really care about him and his cattle.
All the people of Falskaar we've seen so far look like Nords, but they must originate from different regions, because already last night I picked up two very different accents. Maybe it's got to do with that Borvaldur–Unnvaldr thing? Being completely ignorant of ethnography, I couldn't possibly tell if there might be a connection.
The war is being reminded to me once again when Rurik sings about an ancient hero called Olav Borvaldur. Maybe it's the same Olav whom Oudin mentioned last night.
Most of all, though, I find myself wondering about the climate. If there is or used to be a boat connection to Dånstar, then Falskaar must lie northerly of Skyrim. How can it then be so warm? It feels like southern Skyrim.
Well, whatever. I've got enough mundane mysteries to solve without racking my brain with climate. I ask my followers if I should buy that house that's on sale here in Amber Creek. They think it's a good idea. That way we'll have a place of our own whenever anyone of us needs some privacy with someone, and we'll be supporting the local economy, and kind of establish ourselves here, that is get closer to the locals. And we have so much money that 8000 septims is really nothing.
Yeah, it makes sense. Right now, though, I'm leaving my girls to their idling and go to work on our gear. We haven't picked up anything exciting recently. Just lots of average pieces which I can improve at the smithy to increase their market value. I also enchant a few things, but again there's nothing spectacular.
A little girl named Varrina stops to have a chat while I'm working. Apparently this is a village where you don't just walk past a stranger. I learn she's the daughter of Njola and her father lost his life in a battle against bandits. Right now she's on her way back to the inn with some foodstuffs she bought at the marketplace. She tells me excitedly about several novel dishes she invented. What a talented child! Having promised to write down some recipes for me, she heads for the inn.
By the time I'm finished working, it's past 10 in the evening. It looks like the right time to go and try to catch that chicken thief at Kunnari's farm.
I've been doubtful if I want to do that quest at all, but we're not going anywhere this late anyway, so I can just as well take care of this matter.
I go alone, having instructed my followers to stay out of sight, as well as be ready for action at a moment's notice.
I take a look around in Kunnari's farm and choose a good hiding place in the bushes from where I can see the chicken pen. Then I notice some people in the direction away from the inn. I go check it out. It's a couple of guards, a man and a woman around a campfire.
I talk a few words with them and go back to my hiding place. The weather is good, everything is quiet.
At midnight, I see a wolf appearing as if out of nowhere. With very unwolflike cunning, it opens the door of the pen and enters soundlessly. A moment later he reappears with a hen between its jaws and runs away. I follow it at a discreet distance. I have no trouble keeping up with it. In fact, with all the practice I've had, I can by now even outrun wolves, which I usually do when they try to attack me in the forests of Skyrim. No point killing them.
I manage to give a sign to the girls to follow me. Like I've instructed them before, they keep a decent distance. A couple of times I lose the sight of the wolf in the darkness, but luckily I find it again, because it goes in one direction. Eventually, it runs past a farm where nothing is stirring, and then it turns east. After some mote running, I see a group of three or four creatures ahead. One of them turns out to be a mage and the rest are wolves. They attack me when I get closer. I succeed in killing the mage while my followers catch up with me. Together we finish off the wolves.
There's a cave named Sunken Skull Barrow. We sneak in and encounter waves of mages and wolves. The necromancers have a really cool warpaint on their faces. I'm having thoughts of getting one like that myself. Or maybe it would scare people?
They're relatively tough fighters, so we take a serious battering, but we are still stronger.
After several battles, we pass by shelves with dead bodies on them, but fortunately none of them comes to life. The creepiest place is where a mummified corpse is sitting on a small throne.
That one doesn't move either, but it's so scary I think I would have wetted myself, had I come here alone.
We walk on. We've killed quite a few enemies already, but now we can hear wolves howling all around us. Most likely, they're in one or two places and it's the echo we're hearing. Jenassa always warns us how in dungeons like this your talking or casting a spell might be overheard in another cave quite far when you have the misfortune of making the odd-shaped passages and caves resonate.
Indeed we encounter only one group of wolves. Having killed them, we find ourselves in a cavern, at the other end of which is a pedestal or a tripod with a small glowing object on it. It's a crystal fragment similar to the one we found in the Riverwatch Hot Springs. I pick this one up as well. I'm having a hunch that we'll be finding more fragments like these in the near future and that these little adventures are all pieces of a bigger puzzle.
It's past 3 in the night now. Unsurprisingly, there are beds here. Their former occupants won't be needing them anymore, so we could sleep here. I'm not tired at all, though (it almost feels like Oudin's sperm gave me energy like fuel), so I decide we'll move on. We find a secret passage that takes us to a place where we have to jump down 5–6 meters to get to the cave exit.
I remember a notice saying the jarl of Amber Creek wanted a spriggan killed in Stargazer Grove who kept attacking passersby. Stargazer Grove is not far from here, so I think we'll go and check it out.
There's one of those round-hole-in-the-ground structures:
This time there's only a confused-looking sabercat sniffing the corpse of a Khajiit woman. The animal looks like it's unsure if it would be proper for it to eat another feline. I kill the sabercat and thereby solve the dilemma. Pity about the woman. Her name was Shaybani and she must have looked really cute when she was alive.
Not seeing any spriggans anywhere around this structure, we go in through the door at the bottom of the hole. There's a large cavern with some vegetation, as well as passages leading further, but still not one spriggan. Only draugrs. And the corpse of a man named Mattias who has a diary on him. Evidently he and Shaybani were a part of a group of treasure hunters. But I can't be bothered with that right now. This underground structure seems to be very big and elaborate with heaven knows how many nasty enemies. So we exit again.
The farm we ran past earlier is conveniently on the route back to Amber Creek, so I decide to check it out now. It turns out to be Audmund Farm, evidently the same one Klara told me about.
By the time we arrive, the sun has risen.
When a man comes out the door of the farmhouse, we approach him and say hello.
As I had thought, it's Audmund himself. He tells us his cows have somehow acquired the annoying habit of escaping to a cave in the north, across the river. He's fed up with going there and bringing them back, especially since he noticed necromancers in that cave. So he would appreciate it if we went and investigated.
I don't like the man, because he's too bossy. When you need someone's help, you should be more respectful, even when it's a woman and you're a man.
I hit it off a lot better with Audmund's wife Helena.
She tells us she makes clothing and sells it, mostly in Amber Creek. Unfortunately, she has lost a recent shipment with imports from Cyrodiil. She was told it had arrived in a location called Borvald (which is evidently somewhere on the eastern half of this island), but it never reached Amber Creek. I promise her I'll let her know if I should hear anything.
In spite of my physical tiredness, I'm in high spirits. I really like it in Falskaar. I'm glad of having met all those nice people and I'm in no hurry whatsoever to return to Skyrim with its global politics and myriads of crackpot mages attempting to awaken horrible powers that could destroy the world. To say nothing of dragons. Falskaar is giving me a chance to help simple people with things that make sense. Well, mostly.
It's morning already and I think we really ought to return to Amber Creek and get some sleep. Maybe buy that house first. And maybe in the evening check out that Bailun Priory in the southwest from here.
We hold counsel and come to the conclusion that we may have been up all night, but we're not that tired. Better go to the Bailun Priory right now. It's so near. I nod Audmund goodbye and we leave.
On the nearby crossing, I watch how a wolf majestically walks towards the Bailun Priory:
I don't have the heart to kill the beautiful animal. But then it notices me, turns around and attacks. I run past it and my followers kill it.
Bailun Priory is indeed very near. Falskaar is so small that when you're used to looking at the map of Skyrim all the time, you always expect things to be much farther away on the Falskaar map than they really are.
There are big statues of Dibella, Talos and Mara where you can get a blessing if you want to.
Nearby is a high but not very big wooden house. Walking towards it, I meet Brother Thorlogh who wears a brown monk robe, much prettier one than all those mage robes I'm used to seeing in Skyrim. I tell him that Jarl Agnar is asking for help against Yngvarr who seems to be trying to start another war. I'm somewhat surprised when Thorlogh says they won't help anyone with war preparations; they'll only support Jarl Agnar after Yngvarr has actually started a war.
Whatever. It's none of my concern anyway. I shall pass the message.
We enter the building. There's an old man with a beard and long hair. His name is Brother Arnand. Since he looks kind of wise, I show him one of the crystal fragments and ask him if he has any idea what it is. He ends up telling me about a former Prior Vernan. (I remember the name Vernan from the journal found in one of the necromancers caves, I think the first one.) It's a familiar tale – the organization has the policy of researching things with utmost caution and only after thorough deliberation as to what's approvable and what's not, while the bad curious undisciplined Vernan wanted to "rush through" things "without restraint", as Arnand puts it, as well as learn anything he could, "regardless of its source". His ways finally caught up with him and he accidentally harmed two other priors, says Arnand. Then he was expelled from the priory and it would appear from the journals which I've found that his evil nature has now unfolded completely.
Well, that's one way of looking at it. The other way is this: his experiments misfired because he got no support from his fellow "priors" and had to conduct his research secretly and thus with less knowledge he might have had, had he been able to share openly with the others. And maybe what drove him to necromancy wasn't his evil nature that regrettably had escaped detection before, maybe it was his frustration with the restrictions and the rejection by his colleagues that drove him to researching what he could?
Obviously, there's no point in discussing any of this with Arnand. I'm here to learn from him, not to change his ways. And what I do learn from him is that Vernan must have had a hideout where he conducted his secret experiments and it can't be very far from this very priory.
So, let's start looking, girls!
We exit by the back door and then walk around everywhere. I exchange a few words with three more "priors" I happen to meet, one of them a woman. They are at various household tasks in and around the priory.
The animals in Falskaar seem to be much less afraid of humans than they are in Skyrim.
Of course, the fox hasn't come to have a nibble at the cabbages. It's simply passing through.
We criss-cross the surroundings of the priory. Borgakh is the one who finds a trapdoor on the ground covered with some leaves. We enter with extreme caution, but all we find is an empty cave, not very big at that. There's Vernan's journal, though, in which he describes his study of mysterious crystal fragments. Apparently the ones I found belong to his research material. I bring the diary to Arnand and he says he'll need some time to read it thoroughly. I'm to return in a day or two.
Fine. We're off to Amber Creek now.
That's Jenassa just outside the Bailun Priory. This road leads to Amber Creek.
Behind that birch straight ahead are those god statues I mentioned earlier.
In Amber Creek, I go to Kunnari's farm first. I run into his assistant Kalevi. They're both elves and I suppose Kalevi could be considered a youngster in elven terms. In fact, I find out from him that he's Kunnari's son, but he suspects he's been adopted. That is because, firstly, no one would ever tell him anything about his mother, and, secondly, he found information that when a village of Pinevale was burned down, an infant was rescued and brought to Amber Creek, and theoretically that infant could have been him. He asks me to find the ruins of Pinevale and see if I can discover any clues that would point to his origins. I promise I'll do what I can. Then I report to Kunnari that I've eliminated the threat to his chickens. He thanks me profusely, gives me a generous (for his means) reward and swears eternal friendship. Great.
I walk around a little and sell some stuff and then I go to say hello to Oudin working at the sawmill. From there I head for Jarl Agnar's house. I meet the man himself on the street and give him Brother Thorlough's words. The jarl is very disappointed. He does some quick thinking and asks me to travel to the docks in southeastern Falskaar and ask a man named Henrik if he has heard anything about possible bandit activity in that region.
Somewhat sleepy from all this, I remember now I wanted to buy a house. Unfortunately, Jalma is not at home and I chase her all around the village only to catch up with her when she's arrived back at the jarl's house. We seal the deal and I hurry to Oudin.
Now, Oudin told me the other night, that, among other things, he does building maintenance and therefore knows all the houses in Amber Creek like the back of his hand. I now tell him that I'm planning on buying Horndew Lodge, but would he please come to see the house with me and advise me as to its state? Of course I know it's pointless to ask for an assessment of a house from the very man whose job it is to keep houses in good order. I only want an excuse to be alone with him. I'm happy Oudin gets the hint and doesn't say anything about my request being illogical.
The house looks all right, house-wise, but has a lot of dust and no furniture whatsoever, just a few crates and piles of hay lying about. I don't care about any of that now. I practically tear clothes off Oudin. We make wild abandoned love among this filth (you'll excuse me for not showing you any pictures) and I feel like a princess in a marble palace.
Afterwards, Oudin goes back to work. I ask him if I may sleep in his house tonight. (I don't want to sleep in mine, because it hasn't got a bed.) He says I may and gives me the key. My legs can barely carry me. I find my followers and give them the key to our house. Then I totter to Oudin's house and go to sleep immediately.
next awakening
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