Always Lost, Always Hopeful (216) Lowly Wizardry

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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






4-202-03-23 07:23
Snowstone Rest, Bruma County, Cyrodiil

In heavy snowfall, we head for that crossing near The Sentinel statue from where a path leads to the Gautierre Manor. I remember the path goes further than the house, so hopefully it leads reasonably close to, um... Snowcrag Frost?... well, that high sharp tower, you know what I mean. I mean, the last time we approached it from the south, but I'd hate to have to travel all that long way to reach the southern road and then come almost all the way back uphill to the north along that road. We shall try to reach the tower from this opposite direction instead.

Well, the path doesn't actually lead up the mountain, so we end up doing a lot of climbing and in fact find ourselves on the southern mountainside eventually. Now we're not far from the Hunter's Shack as the crow flies, but it was still a considerable shortcut, because we're already higher than that walkbridge – meaning, very close to the tower.

The nice little big cat attacks us this time. (We didn't have a chance to bathe this morning, so no Spriggan Soap effect.) We try to run away, but it pursues us and we have to kill it. We know now that these animals are called mountain lions.

Finding and destroying the portal in Frostcrag Spire without being noticed is easy enough, and by 11 o'clock we're already back in the outskirts of Bruma. Letting my followers return to the inn to get some rest, I proceed to the Eastern Watchtower. Out of the guards' earshot, I tell Ovacca I destroyed her former gang. She hugs me and cries quite un-ex-bandit-like. Well, I'm glad I was able to help and I hope she can find herself a useful occupation.

After a brief stop at the marketplace, I proceed to the Synod headquarters to report to Cadius.

Most relieved that the danger has been eliminated, he gives me a rather modest monetary reward, as well as a permission to use the Arcane Enchanter in this building. That's awesome!

Now it's a few minutes past noon and I wonder if I ought to do some enchanting now or find Dar'taqto (because it's really not nice to run in and out of the city neglecting my boyfriend thus), or should we venture to the west, the area beyond Applewatch we haven't yet explored. I decide we'll go to the west now, and I'll be with Dar'taqto in the evening when it'll be too dark for meaningful exploration.

On our way to the city gate, we run into a beggar Serulius and somehow start a conversation. He's a veteran of the Great War and says bandits stole all his belongings, including his journal with all his notes on the war. I promise to try and get it back. He shows me the area on the map where he used to live. We'll go and explore that region right now. The northwest can wait.

We exit the city by the gate near the Western Watchtower and turn left. I'm baffled to see there's an entire suburb there we somehow managed not to notice the last time we were near here.

In front of the first house to our left sits an oldish man Balius originally from Skyrim. I think he looks beyond his age because he's blind. He shares a house with that boy who runs around selling those... what are they called, newssheets? Balius asks me if it's true that the Skyrim civil war is over. I confirm it is. He says it's been the talk of the town the past couple of weeks. The thalmors are very cross that they are being blamed for Ulfric Stormcloak's assassination. "Isn't is ironic that the death of the very man who was leading the resistance against the thalmors in Skyrim has ended up dealing a heavy blow to the thalmors?" Balius asks.
"Indeed, it is," I agree.
"Armion is supposed to have said the way this turned out, he wouldn't be surprised if Yrsarald had murdered Ulfric himself."
"No, no! He couldn't have." I'm glad Balius can't see the look on my face.

Lydia and I stand up. We see Jenassa and Jordis chatting with a couple of elves also from Skyrim who escaped the harassment by the Nords after the persecution of Talos worshippers started. (I mean, the elves were not Talos worshippers. The thalmors began to harass the Nords for worshipping Talos and the Nords harassed perfectly peaceful Dark Elves in turn.)

We leave the suburb now and climb down the mountains,

reaching an east-west road that goes through a birch forest. Someone hostile-looking stands on the road, not seeing us. Sneaking closer, we realize it's a minotaur.

We leave quietly towards the hills in the southwest. We see a robbed horse-cart with two dead bodies on the roadside – an Imperial man with a Breton woman this time. Maybe there are some bandits somewhere near? Let's climb up those hills and take a look around.

Indeed, we discover a bandit camp.

It's a very exciting battle with enemies in various directions. They are hard to get a good shot at, because I'm reluctant to give up our advantage of elevation. We kill about a half of them from a distance, but the rest are hiding behind buildings and rocks and such, so we have to climb down after all to take them out. Among other things, we find Serulius's journal, but the man is clearly not a great writer. This place, by the way, is called Plump Rat Camp.

From left: Jordis, Jenassa, Lydia, Laura.

It's almost 6 in the evening by now. Applewatch is almost directly to our north, but I suspect we won't be able to ascend those mountains as easily as we descended them. We shall try anyway. The alternative would be to travel east towards Greenwood, and there would be mountains in our way as well.

It's still perfectly light as a forest path leads us to a place called Underpall Cave. I remember someone in Bruma mentioned it in a conversation. Something about necromancers. Let's go in and take a look.

It's a very big system of caves and underground ruins and even a graveyard.

I can't imagine who would bury their dead in a place like this with heaps of rubbish everywhere.

There's decidedly nothing beautiful here to look at. Just many mages, zombies, walking skeletons and rats. The most amazing part are large halls with coffins placed high above (don't ask me how or why).

Even though we don't bother to explore it all, it's midnight and completely dark by the time we come out again.

A little way to the southwest, we kill yet another mage who is in the company of three dead Imperial Soldiers. She seemed to be in the process of waking them up and I wouldn't be surprised if she had killed them first. The path turns north again and I'm very happy to see stone staircases going uphill. There's a group of aggressive mages we have to kill. Fortunately, they put up wards whose glow reveals their position.

Otherwise, they would be completely invisible with their black robes.

The same mage a few seconds earlier.

The stairways go further to the north and then end.

We're so close to Applewatch. There must be a way up!

Well, it's a hell of a climb, but finally we're in the snowy forest west of Bruma. The big moon Masser gives the city a very dream-like appearance. Either that or we are half asleep already.

It's past 3 when we reach our inn. The only people in the taproom are Stantus, the adventurer Stenar and a man I've never seen. We must look very worn-out, because they jump up, ready to help us the dear guests into our bedrooms. Thank you, it won't be necessary. We'll reach them by ourselves. Somehow.

They give us a hand all the same. Can't pass up on an opportunity like this, can you?  :D



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Always Lost, Always Hopeful (215) Business Is More Pleasure

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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






4-202-03-22 11:52
Jerall View Inn, Bruma, Bruma County, Cyrodiil

The proprietor Stantus is sweeping the floor while his wife Hjotra is working at the baking oven
and the serving girl Lassinia is wiping the counter and providing eye-candy to the customers.

I make small talk with Stantus and then mention casually that I met a strange mage Razzada and does he know him. Stantus grows visibly irritated and tells me Razzada sold him something called Pleasure Candles. It's not what you may be thinking. They were actual candles meant to be lit. They were supposed to emit a scent that would make the customers feel good at his inn. In reality, they did the opposite and in fact made it very hard to breathe. As far as Stantus is concerned, Razzada ought to be chased out of the city, but the authorities ignored his complaint and he doesn't know what else to do. Seems like someone powerful is protecting Razzada.

Stantus goes on to state that it's completely beyond him, firstly, how that bungling fool could be of any use to anyone and, secondly, in case Razzada is indeed friendly with someone powerful, why is he then living in such poor conditions and has to peddle his wares on the street. Anyway, he has just put that jerk out of his mind.

Yeah, and I guess I'm not going to bring up the topic of the payment Razzada believes he is owed. I go out with my followers instead. I ask Lydia if she wasn't with her boyfriend Ambric yesterday. She says he had to sing at a party in the palace, so they just had a quick shag. In fact, she went to the party too, but the people were very boring and haughty, so she left soon.

As for Razzada, Lydia suggests that even a bungling fool can be useful to someone female  in the palace, and maybe she won't let him live there because she doesn't want the whole world to know about such an unworthy relationship. We agree it's a real possibility.

We do a little shopping and socializing and general walking around, the four of us, and then head southeast to find and destroy those bandits who want to kill our new friend Ovacca.

We find them in the location Ovacca gave us – humans and wolf-like animals. We approach across rocky hills, but I'm too uncautious and make a noise. The bandits' sentry spots me and starts shooting.

In less than a minute, the others turn up. We still win without much effort, but I'm not pleased with my carelessness.

Just like Ovacca warned us, those animals are big dogs. They never had a chance with us up on that rocky hill:

We cross back to the western riverbank. We'll proceed northwards – to tell Ungveir he can return to Skyrim, and to destroy those unspeakable horrors that haunt the Imperial garrison at Fort Pale Pass. Strictly speaking, we'll be passing by Bruma quite near, but we won't waste time on going to the city and meeting Ovacca. Another day or two of anxious waiting won't kill her.

The weather is beautiful and we make a stop at the statue of The Sentinel to take some pictures, but quite frankly I find those elks prettier than him:

Ungveir is supposed to be hiding in Serpent's Trail. Indeed, when we enter and I shout his name, he shouts back and arrives quickly. I tell him I didn't learn anything new from the Imperial secret agent in Bruma and he'd better return to Skyrim, because I am going to stay in Bruma for a few more days at least. Then I give the girls a sign to go out. Stepping closer to Ungveir, I put my hand on his arm, raise my head and look him in the eye and tell him it was very cold in the citadel yesterday, but this place is much warmer, as well as romantically dim. He takes the hint and hugs me, and then we kiss, and then we make love standing up.

Quite frankly, it was a mistake. Physically speaking, I'm quite enjoying myself, that is until Ungveir comes shortly after I have. His orgasm is over in a second or two and he seems to be trying to prolong it, moving himself inside me, but then he's already so soft that he slips out of me, yet he continues to furiously squeeze my breasts so that it actually hurts. Jenassa has told me that some men's ejaculations are extremely brief and that's why they don't really get much pleasure out of sex, but they think it's the woman's fault and may actually be angry with you afterwards. Ungveir is evidently that kind of man. Without a word, he puts on his clothes quickly and leaves without even looking at me. It's awful. He makes me feel like a roadside prostitute.

Why did I even do it? I guess it's not a good idea to go without sex for ten days.

The girls try to console me by saying maybe he felt guilty because he had allowed himself to be lured into being unfaithful to his bride. Yeah, whatever. It's getting dark outside. This seems to be the perfect time to go and take care of that Fort Pale Pass business and spend the night in the friendly Snowstone Rest.

When we run past the citadel where I first met Ungveir and look back in the direction we came from (see picture above), the beautiful stars in the sky improve my mood somewhat. Those supposed Akaviri ruins (a large system of icy stone caves with much rubble everywhere) are, however, somewhat of a disappointment. I mean, there's nothing like an exciting challenge. All we encounter are quite common poison spiders.

What a pussy Precilius is! First his constant whining about the cold weather and now this! But I'm not going to tell him how easy this mission was. I just report matter-of-factly that we took care of the task, and he thanks us profusely and tells us to feel free to ask him for a return favor anytime.

It's pitch dark outside. If we didn't know the road so well, we wouldn have little chance of reaching the inn without a lighting ring or such.

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Always Lost, Always Hopeful (214) Conceal and Expose

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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






4-202-03-21 10:45
Gautierre Manor, Bruma County, Cyrodiil

I had planned to go to Bruma today, but looking at the map, I realize Fort Pale Pass is so near that we can go and give that innkeeper some motherworts he asked us to gather the last ime, see if we can find that Stormcloak agent whom Olaf mentioned, and find out what it is Legate Precilius Varro wants from us. Then we can travel to the city or, who knows, maybe even return to Skyrim? At least we ought to locate the border crossing which we somehow forgot to do the last time.

The weather is very nice. Without meeting anybody along the scenic mountain road, we reach Snowstone Rest.

We give the innkeeper the herbs, politely decline the elven bard's offer to sing for us, and move on northwards. As I had guessed, the Stormcloak agent is hiding in that citadel halfway between the inn and the fort. His name is Ungveir and he is quite friendly, as well as good-looking, except for the hairstyle. I tell him Olaf and I retrieved the Imperial secret agents' reports and I have them on me. However, I am going to bring them to Windhelm myself.

Ungveir is clearly not a fanatic who wants to continue the war. In fact, he's not at all happy being away from Skyrim. I ask him if he has a family. He says he hasn't but is looking forward to establishing one with his sweetheart in Riften.

I inform him I'm going to Bruma where I'll try to find the Imperial agent who was supposed to be the contact person for that courier who lost his life. I want to see if I can make him reveal something interesting. Ungveir should return to Skyrim or wait for me on this side of the border, whichever he believes to be safer. Under no circumstances may he fall into the hands of the Imperials.

Ungveir says he can easily hide in the Serpent's Trail and he'll wait for my return from Bruma. Then we can decide if he's going to return alone to the Falkreath Stormcloak Camp where he was stationed or we'll travel to Skyrim together. Technically, the Imperial soldiers in Fort Neugrad aren't supposed to bother him, but there's no way of telling if there may be more thalmors lurking north of the border.

If it wasn't so cold, I might stay a little longer with Ungveir, but now I just urge him to be extremely careful. The girls and I proceed to the fort.

To be honest, I haven't been quite sure we weren't going to find ourselves surrounded by secret police agents upon reaching Fort Pale Pass. But there is nothing of the sort.

All Precilius wants is for us to venture into the ancient Akaviri ruins in the ground below this fortress and try to kill the many frightening undead residing there.

I'm unsure if we should do it now. I've been rather keen to travel to the city today so we could actually get something useful done. At any rate, we'll go and find that official border crossing first. It shouldn't be far. We'd better not return to Skyrim before we have found out more about that weird magical forcefield, but I want at least to know where the border post is.

We follow the road north, slightly uphill. The border gate is just a few minutes away from the fort. The two soldiers guarding it are formally polite but evidently not allowed to chat with travelers.

After a brief stop at the Snowstone Rest, we run towards Bruma. We take the off-road route this time, more or less in the straight line. We encounter a mage who is reviving corpses of soldiers killed in a skirmish with the bandits or something. We kill her, after which the zombie she has just conjured dies by itself.

A little later we discover a tent with a campfire. There's a woman Ovacca who says she's an ex-bandit who quit, and now her former gang members led by a certain Cornelius are chasing her.

I offer to kill him. Maybe he's the same bastard who was harassing the blacksmith's brother.

Ovacca is doubtful, but evidently can't afford to turn down any help offers. So she marks the location of their base on my map. Maybe Cornelius is there, maybe he's somewhere else searching for her. She can't come with us, because she doesn't want her ex-comrades to have any clue as to her whereabouts. She's unsure if she should stay in the wilderness or try to disappear in the city. I have a better idea: why doesn't she come along to the Bruma Eastern Watchtower? Ereia owes me a favor. She can look after Ovacca and Ovacca can help the guards.

Ovacca remains silent for a long time and eyes us most thoroughly. Then she decides we are trustworthy enough, and comes with us.

After I've arranged things with Ereia, we go to the stables that are just outside the city wall. I want to say hello to Ila and ask how she's doing. After a little chat, I mention casually that I encountered a strange mage named Razzada and does she know him. Ila says the man's a fraudster.

Obviously, Razzada can't claim payment for merchandise that was not of the promised value and indeed caused harm. The man ought to be punished. I make a mental note to take it up with the authorities at a suitable moment.

Having wished Ila a pleasant evening, we proceed to the palace where I ask to see Adius's successor. The guard at the entrance wants to know what it's about, and I tell him about Alammu and her late accomplice in the Frozen Grotto. The guard says we can take care of that by ourselves right now.

I give the guad the package I got from that overarousable elven man, warning him about the curse. He says not to worry, they'll ask Synod to send them an expert mage and then let Alammu open it in a safe place.

But first we go to the inn, the five of us. Alammu is there in blissful ignorance of her upcoming downfall.

She protests her innocence, but the guard acts as if he's not even hearing. He puts her in irons. I release my followers and follow Alammu. I could impossibly deny myself the pleasure of walking unhurriedly with the guard and the deceitful bitch all the way to the prison.

Before she's led to a cell, I get a chance to whisper to her that next time she'd better tell her accomplices that if they want me to do something, they ought to ask me first, and sneer and threaten only after I've refused.

The guard thanks me and promises he'll take care of the investigation. I strongly suspect they knew something about Alammu already and I just gave them a welcome excuse for arresting her, but he won't tell me anything.

I catch up with an Orc serving girl Urma on the staircase and find out she's from Skyrim and her brothers would be shocked to see her here, but they can go to hell with their age-old traditions for all she cares.

Now I go to the steward Rignar and report on the destruction of those goblins, and he gives me my reward. I also catch Count Desilus at the dinner table and show him an Akaviri katana I have picked up somewhere. Remember, when I recovered his stolen collection from the bandits, the katana was missing. I ask if this katana is his. He says it's of the same kind but not the same katana, and would I sell it to him. I tell him he can just take it, and reward me now or in the future in whatever way he finds appropriate. He is almost touched to tears and assures me I can always turn to him, should I need anything. He asks me if I've already eaten. I'm not really hungry, but I agree to sit with him and eat a little. Sinja and Afanna join us after a while, but I can see that Afanna doesn't like me any longer. Clearly she was friendly with me only in the hope that I'll denounce Simund, and after I've let him off the hook she has no more use for me. Too bad, but I don't believe in forcing people into friendship, and neither do I think it's right to destroy a man just because he has rejected you. I hope she'll be able to get over this one day and we can be friends again. Maybe she hasn't a very commendable character, but she's incredibly interesting to talk to. You have no idea.

It's getting late. I had actually planned on doing my smithing and alchemy today, but I still have one call to make. I go to The Restful Watchman inn and let a man named Servus Vodaci chat me up. He asks if I've seen a guy called Caius or Claudius or something. He must be the agent the unfortunate courier was supposed to give the secret documents to.

I try to coax some information out of him. I have to be extremely cautious, so he wouldn't guess I actually know something about the dead courier, and so I fail to find out anything. He's a professional and knows how to not blab. Therefore, I excuse myself after a while and leave the inn.

On my way to the blacksmith's shop, I walk past the Synod headquarters, the com... con... whatever they call the place, and I remember I wanted to tell them about those crazy experimenters up on the mountain.

The boss, Cadius, agrees that it's very serious and I did the right thing coming here. However...

I learn that the Synod isn't some kind of a magic authority as I had assumed. They are just one organization and the lunatics up in that Frostspire Crag or Cragspire Frost belong to another organization, and the Synod has no power to go there with a dozen guards and have them all arrested. They would have to go maybe not quite to the Emperor himself, but the official way of dealing with the outrage in the Cragfrag-tower would be long and complicated. Unsurprisingly, there is another way. Me and my followers could just sneak in there and destroy a device called "teleportation portal". Cadius explains me how to do it and warns me not to get caught.

Just teasing him. I know such reckless madness can't be allowed to go on.

Now I go and find Dumrag. This morning in the bath, I discussed the case of his missing wife with my followers and Atul herself, and I think we came up with a pretty good story.

I tell him Simund was actually attracted to his wife. He hesitated to hire Dumrag and Atul for that bandit job. He was torn between the reluctance to put her in danger and the fear that if he won't give them a job, they might decide to leave Bruma and seek opportunities elsewhere. Eventually he came to a decision to hire them. He was devastated when the bandits proved too strong and overwhelmed his task force of mercenaries.

Only several months later did another group of mercenaries hired by another of the nobles succeed in defeating those bandits. The surviving bandits told they had captured an Orc woman during that disastrous raid organized by Simund. They intended to sell her... well, after enjoying her themselves first, but somehow she succeeded breaking out of her cage and was killed while trying to escape. They buried her somewhere in the woods. Simund realized it had been Atul, but he wouldn't tell anyone, fearing that Dumrag would hear about it and accuse him of causing her death.

Dumrag asks to see Simund's journal. I tell him I had to give it back to the serving girl who had stolen it, because if Simund had noticed it missing, she would have been the most likely suspect. The truth is, of course, that I still have the journal on me, but there's no way I can show Dumrag what Simund really wrote about Atul.

Dumrag accepts with some reluctance that the only thing Simund is guilty of is desire for another man's wife, and that her grave will be impossible to find. He murmurs some more curses at the Bretons who are such swine. I suggest that Cyrodiil is generally a crappy place, with all the greed and corruption, and he might want to consider traveling to Hammerfell where I hear there is currently great demand in mercenaries. Dumrag agrees that this might be an idea worth considering.

This taken care of, I can finally get started working on our gear. That lasts several hours, so it's almost morning by the time I can finally go to sleep.

Lydia is already in our bed – without a man, fortunately. Jordis and Jenassa will be in their room. Or somewhere else.



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