Always Lost, Always Hopeful (176) Reach Out and Relax

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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






4-202-02-10 04:50
Proudspire Manor, Solitud, Haafingar, Skyrim


We have a bath and then walk to the inn to eat breakfast there and hopefully get to socialize some.

There are a couple of sailors and the bard Lisette. They say they've already eaten, so we ask them to just sit with us. I'm in high spirits.

When it's gotten light outside, we walk to the harbor and, after some searching, succeed in finding the boat that weird man Rashid told us about some time ago. I have decided that we'll go and check out his quest today. I'm interested in it because Rashid has hinted it might take us to, or at least close to, High Rock.

The boat we've found is indeed a boat . There's barely room for the four of us to sit down. It has to be something magical, because obviously no one in the world would be crazy enough to travel on open sea in this.

I use the weird magical object Rashid has given me and indeed after a few moments of complete darkness we find ourselves on the shore of a continent or island with palm trees and such. We can see several wooden huts, mountains in the distance and a furious battle going on on the shore in maybe 30–40 meters' distance from us.

Clearly, it's going to be a matter of minutes, if not seconds, until we'll be spotted, so we hurry to get out of the boat and ready our weapons.

However, the combatants clearly consider us a minor threat. Observing them more closely, we're seeing not only humans but also animals and black creatures who resemble small trolls. One side seems to be hostile to us and the other one friendly. Either that or they simply haven't noticed us yet.

At any rate, no one is attacking us. Clearly, the smartest thing for us to do is to put our weapons away and wait it out.

In order to not get in anybody's way, we retreat to a wooden structure in about a hundred meters' distance. It's got staircases going to the upper floor, but it doesn't offer any good shooting positions, which is why I prefer to return to the ground.

Eventually that battle ends and we go to check out the bodies. There are half a dozen survivors who don't attack us. In fact, most of them evade us when we approach and none would talk more than a word or two.

Could it be that their native language is different from ours?

Whatever. We circle the island which is not very big. Arriving back where we disembarked, we notice a small ship off the shore. We swim over. There's no one there. I think we can navigate this ship to reach another island we're seeing at some distance.

That island is inhabited by bandits who attack us, so we have to kill them. We find exotic fruits and some skooma-smoking implements. There don't seem to be any more islands, so we return to the first one.

I begin to wonder what are we doing here killing people just to help that retard Rashid to get rid of his enemies. Jordis reminds me we haven't attacked anyone – they attacked us without even bothering to ask who we are and what we want. Those people who chose not to attack us are walking around on the island going on with their lives, unmolested by us.

She's right. Now, what about that slightly nicer house in the middle that has an actual door (round as it may be)? We kind of overlooked it earlier.

I go in first and am attacked by a mage. He's got me in a bad position – I'm blocking the doorway, so my followers can't help me. But I kill him eventually. Wasn't so bad. A couple of more people rush in from other rooms, but we kill them instantly.

We're greatly amused to see this poster on the wall:

Exploring the other rooms, we find a couple of corpses who must have been dead already when we came. Yet, even with all those dead bodies, this house is really very nice.

And the bed... Gods, the bed! It's even more inviting than the one at the Alinor brothel.

Too bad it's only early afternoon. I must come back here someday to make love on and sleep in this fairytale bed!

We find notes in the house suggesting that the man named Gwindor who attacked me just as I entered was an arch-enemy of Rashid. We also find evidence that the man and the woman whose dead bodies we saw in one of the rooms were a married couple enslaved by Gwindor to work at his home as servants, and the man was planning on killing him. Apparently he was found out before he had a chance.

At any rate, we're returning to Skyrim. This is clearly not High Rock, because High Rock is at about the same latitude as Skyrim, so it can't have a tropical climate. And even if this is southern High Rock, there's clearly no way for us to get to the mainland from here.

That man is one of the survivors of the big battle earlier.
Our boat is close to the right edge of the picture, behind that green bush.

In no time, the magical boat takes us back to the shore near Solitud. Rashid is in his camp nearby, sitting and sharpening his sword. I tell him I killed an important-looking dude named Gwindor and a number of militant angry people. Rashid thanks me cordially and then just goes on sharpening his sword.
The man irritates me, so I give his bottom a slight kick. He looks at me with an expectant smile, as if wanting to ask: "Is there possibly something you want?"
"Where is our reward?"
"Sure, you will get your reward," Rashid replies with a cordial smile. "But I have to sharpen this sword. Can you come back in half an hour, please?"
"No," I explain calmly like to a child. "You will give me my reward now and sharpen your sword later."
He lays the sword aside and makes a broad gesture with his arms. "Of course, if you insist! I am not some kind of a swindler!"
Strangely enough, that's precisely what I suspect he is.
Rashid stands up, sheaths his sword and explains that he has his money hidden nearby, in the direction away from the city, and motions us to go first.
"You go first!" I say somewhat less calmly.
"No, please, after you, I insist!" He makes a half-bow and smiles brightly, but as my girls quietly surround him from all sides (with the mountain in his back), his mien turns serious.
"You were not planning on attacking us from behind by any chance, were you?"
"No-no-no!" he bleats, falling on his knees. "I swear I was not going to harm you. I was going to scarper. I'm terribly sorry I have no money. I'll get you some if you give me some time."
"Pfft!" I roll my eyes and then say with a sigh: "I am not giving you any time. You are going to strip naked right now and give us all your gear as a punishment for trying to cheat us. We will leave you some simple clothes and the key to the boat and you can either travel to your islands or go to the city and find something useful to do to earn a living."
He stands up and looks quickly from one to another. I think his hands are shaking as he suddenly pulls his sword and runs at Jenassa who happens to stand in the southerly direction.
That was a bad mistake. She kills him easily.

The day is still young (or at least not too old), so I think we can reach Karthwasten today in spite of the difficult terrain.

We say hello to the soldiers at the Haafingar Stormcloak Camp and then run along the riverbank for a change instead of ascending to the road. The banks are very rough, though, which is why we soon end up swimming across to the eastern side and then climbing uphill after all. A little ahead of my followers as always, I notice some kind of a ritual site. There's a mage absorbed in work at his Alchemy Lab. My special power Sense of Smell  leaves no doubt he would attack me if he noticed me. So I just shoot an arrow into his back. As I step closer, a bandit jumps out of hiding and charges at me. I get to hit him once with my sword. Then Lydia and Jordis appear as if out of nowhere and the bandit is pierced by ice spikes. It was done with absolute perfection. The girls and I are in a flawless combat formation at 120-degree angles to each other around the bandit, with Jenassa behind Lydia and Jordis, ready to attack anyone who might want to try to join the battle. This was pure beauty.

I realize we've ended up at a stone's throw from Dragonbridge. As we'll need to get back to the western bank of this big river anyway (Karth, is it? Should be), Dragonbridge will be an ideal place for getting across.

We exchange a few words with the women on the marketplace and then proceed southwest without wasting any more time. The foggy hills of northern Reach are really beautiful at the time when the sun is beginning to go down.

Halfway to Karthwasten, we get to kill a dragon. Not too evasive one this time. Then I choose a route along mountain slopes which my girls complain is really difficult and uncomfortable, but it takes us to Karthwasten the fastest.

When we arrive, it's not dark yet. Even the blacksmith's shop is still open. The general store has already closed, though.

We drop by the inn and check out the mines.

Those yellow thingies on the wall up there are silver ore.

Then I ask the girls if we should travel to Morpork now or spend the night here. I mean, it's practically night now, but we'd only have to travel by main roads.

The inn in Morpork has a much nicer bath, says Jordis cautiously. Right! I had forgotten about it for a moment. I shall certainly appreciate proper washing facilities. Of course I understand Jordis has an ulterior motive for traveling to Morpork without delay, but what could I possibly have against it?

So let's go. Be well, good people of Karthwasten!

In spite of the clouds, the weather is nice and warm. I'm really enjoying our trip along the highway without any incidents whatsoever.

Having arrived in Morpork, Jordis quickly disappears with Hreinn. The rest of us look around in the taproom. There are a few new faces to whom we say hello and ask what they do and such. I'm particularly fascinated by a Khajiit man who has a curious name Zeugini and most captivating blue eyes. Too bad he's not in a talking mood. Besides, the innkeeper's daughter Hroki keeps looking at me like she wants to kill me when I'm near him.

So I back off and go have an early night.



next awakening






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Always Lost, Always Hopeful (27) I Bring Joy and I Bring Tears

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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.
———————————————




previous day






4-201-09-12 09:03
The Winking Skeever, Solitud, Haafingar, Skyrim


I can see Aurelius is hard. He wants me to suck. I spread my legs and say he can stick it in if he really has to, but I'm not in the mood for physical exercise this early in the morning. So he takes me the conventional way. Maybe that wasn't very nice of me, but I don't feel it's right to agree to oral sex the first night, and besides I'm really not in the mood for straining myself like that the first thing in the morning.

That said, I'm impressed by Aurelius's, er... capability. He has gotten me curious about Imperial men in general.

I go downstairs to have a bath. My followers aren't there, nor in the taproom. Still sleeping, the lazybones! Must have done something exhausting last night. I'll make them tell me everything about it. Yeah, I'll have to tell them too. I know. That's the world we women live in. But it's really a good thing – we can learn not only from our own experiences, but also from many other women's.  :-)

While I'm eating my breakfast, one man after another comes and tries to make conversation, but I can only think of work. You know, the usual routine – improving our gear, taking the best weapons and armor to myself, giving the next best ones to the girls and then selling the rest.

On the main street, there are children running back and forth. They invite me to play tag with them, but I refuse as friendlily as I can.

Halfway to the palace, I find this unfortunate dog. I've no idea how he met his death.

Note that every creature's name becomes visible once it's dead – as long as it has a name.
Names have strong magic to them. Every child knows it where I come from... er... wherever that may be.

I meet Jenassa on the marketplace. I say I hope the three of them managed to get a good night's sleep in a double room. Jenassa says casually: "Oh, it was all right. I had the bed all to myself," and goes on examining the carrots and onions on Jala's stall looking as if she had just given a stranger some directions or something.
I know she's playing with me, but there's nothing I can do about it. I wonder if our timid Rayya did finally get lucky. Jenassa smiles amusedly as we stroll away from the marketplace and I'm so impatient I want to grab her by her shoulders and shake her.
"I'm sorry, Laura," Jenassa finally deigns to say. "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. I don't know what happened either."
She keeps teasing me some more, but then I drag it out of her that they all went to the Jana's Flaggon inn in the southwestern suburb where Lydia and Rayya got chatted up by two sailors, an Argonian named Vozei and a Redguard named Fadeel. Jenassa left early, returning to our inn and going to sleep. She says she's pretty sure the girls intended to go upstairs with the guys – she'd guess Lydia with the Argonian and Rayya with the Redguard, but she doesn't know for sure.
When I've run out of questions she doesn't have answers to, Jenassa says: "Say, isn't that Lydia?" pointing with her jaw at something behind my back. Looking over my shoulder, I see Lydia who has evidently been standing right behind me for quite some time.
I make a move towards laughing Jenassa and she jumps back quickly.
Well, to cut the long story short, Lydia informs me that she and Rayya not only went to bed with the sailors, but they actually did it in the same room. On separate beds, though, and each with her guy, but still Lydia saw and heard everything that Rayya did with Fadeel, and she was quite astonished with her skills. As well as his.
While she's telling me all that, I look carefully in her and Jenassa's eyes. I'm still not sure they're not pulling my leg. Lydia goes on telling that she did it twice with Vozei and then they went to sleep while Rayya and Fadeel were still boning like there was no tomorrow. They hadn't yet woken when Lydia and her partner left earlier this morning.
"So where is Rayya now?" I ask.
Lydia shrugs. "For all I know, she could still be with him."
"Indoors," adds Jenassa. She and Lydia burst out laughing again.
Even now I'm not entirely sure this isn't some kind of a prank, but, well, if it's true, I'm happy for them. Let's go shopping.

It's afternoon by the time we're ready to leave for Dånstar. We exit by the southern gate and go to Jana's Flaggon. The barmaid Bojena confirms that Rayya is still here. Lydia says she'll go quickly and fetch her. No, you won't! I'm not staying behind here. I follow her upstairs. When she stops in front of a door that apparently is the right one, I look over my shoulder. Jenassa has remained downstairs.
I see Lydia's hand raised. Before I can prevent her, she knocks on the door. Well, it doesn't matter, because I find the door locked. Lydia yells that it's us. By the time Rayya comes to open, the dark-skinned man whom I presume to be Fadeel has, of course, had the time to hide under the blanket. He keeps his knees bent, so I can't see the state of his penis.
I sit in a chair, stretch out my legs and say in a completely neutral tone: "If you were in the middle of something, then we can wait."
Rayya casts me a playfully angry glance and begins to get dressed. I say "sorry" to the man before I exit the room after her and Lydia.

"It's actually a good thing you rescued me," says Rayya when we're going out the inn. "But I hope we'll be in Solitud again someday."

I assure her we will.

We walk downhill along the street that goes towards Dragonbridge. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that a Khajiit caravan, one I haven't seen before, has made camp between the inner and the outer city wall. They seem to be... let's say, used to be mistrusted, but they warm up when they sense my sincere admiration. Which doesn't mean any neglect of due diligence on either part. There's no mercy in trading. But neither is there any need to get hostile. Respect. Attention. Diligence.

Sorry, I'm boring you again with my gabbing. When our business with the Khajiits is completed, we turn away from the main road and go to the shore between the harbor and the farm that is south of the city. We hope to find a private place where we can strip to swim to the eastern shore. (Yes, I know, there's a ferry, but swimming across is less trouble than trying to locate the damned boat. Every local I've asked just says it's down at the harbor and looks at me like I was an idiot.) What we do find instead is a distraught-looking man with a painted face and baggy trousers. His name is Rashid. He speaks with a strange accent and quite a few grammatical errors. But I doubt that even when recited by the headmaster of the Bards' College, his story would make much sense. It's something about him being in great danger and me and my followers should go somewhere where there's a boat waiting and travel to some faraway island and beware of pirates along the way. We take leave of him as soon as we politely can, go a little further and swim across the gulf.

In the east lies a swamp:

Those blue-green things are dangerous. They emit poisonous gas.
I got too close to one today and ended up weak and coughing for half an hour.

We have to carefully choose our path. It's rather tedious and dull. In order to pass the time, let me tell you about the different races all those people in this world belong to. I should have done it a long time ago, I know. I will now.

The humanoid intelligent creatures of Tamriel are roughly divided into three groups – human races (or "Men"), elder races (or Mer) and beast races.

The so-called human races are Nord, Imperial, Breton and Redguard. The Nords are the natives of the Skyrim province. The Imperials predominate in the higher offices of the Empire. I, as you hopefully remember, am a Breton, and so are coincidentally the Forsworn insurgents of western Skyrim (although, if I may say so, I don't feel having anything in common with them). Redguards are dark-brown-skinned people who originate from... Hammerfell, right? My follower Rayya is a Redguard.

The so-called elder races are Altmer or High Elves, Bosmer or Wood Elves, Dunmer or Dark Elves, Dwemer or Dwarves (extinct), Falmer or Snow Elves (semi-intelligent evil creatures who live underground) and Orsimer or Orcs. Jenassa is a Dark Elf.
The grammatical way of speaking is "one Altmer, several Altmer" etc., but in the spoken language it's just as common to hear people say Altmers, Bosmers, Dunmers  etc.

The so-called beast races are Argonian (reptile) and Khajiit (feline). A subgroup of Khajiit known as Pahmar walk on four legs. In some regions, Pahmars are intelligent and can talk, in some regions they're wild animals who try to eat you when they see you. There are neither in Skyrim.
Strictly speaking, you're not supposed to say "a Khajiit woman", only "a female Khajiit" (etc.), but it seems weird to me. I always use the words "man", "woman" and "child" for the beast races too.

Belethor, the grumpy shopkeeper in Hviterun, is a Breton, whereas Proventus the steward is an Imperial, as is Evette the market trader in Solitud. Hulda the innkeeperer is a Nord, and so is Lydia. Well, I think you've got the general picture now. We've arrived in a snowy hilly forest area. Just a little farther to the east is a road that takes us quickly to Dånstar – or it would if we wouldn't make a long stop to wait out a skirmish between imps and storks.

They are not many, but they're all unusually tough (or maybe they have difficulties hitting people in the darkness), so it takes quite some time. After we've looted the corpses, we stop to kill a couple of skeevers (animals similar to rats but much bigger and slightly less disgusting) at a roadside ruin, and arrive in Dånstar late in the evening, dog-tired.

The Khajiit caravan is there. Kharjo is already sleeping. I wake him up and give him his amulet. He offers to become my follower. I don't need to be asked twice. Jenassa, I'm sorry, but it's time for you to go. No more than three followers at a time. That's the rule.

Actually, she can replace Kharjo as a caravan guard if she wants to. No, she doesn't. She's going home to Hviterun. But she will travel along with them a part of the way southwards. That's the sensible thing to do. We hug her farewell. It's sad actually. We were a good team. But I want Kharjo. I will surely be seeing Jenassa again, because I'm bound to be in Hviterun a lot.

I can barely move my feet now, so I go to the inn to get some sleep. So does Rayya who evidently didn't get much rest last night. Lydia says she'll go to say hello to Bjarne and join us shortly. Right, shortly.  ;-)

Lydia looks slightly offended and I hurry to apologize. I didn't mean to insult her boyfriend. I was being ironical, meaning to insinuate I didn't believe she'd return very soon. We hug to make up.



next awakening






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