Always Lost, Always Hopeful (259) What If They See Us?

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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 inevitably reveals a lot about the game.
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previous day 






4-202-05-05 08:23
Thoromhel's House, Sunhold, Summerset, Aldmeri Dominion


While cuddling with Thoromhel, I ask him about the political situation and me and my girls' safety here. I want to get several people's opinions to have a better idea of the general picture.
Thoromhel says in Sunhold we are heroes. Should a thalmor army approach to apprehend us, someone is bound to come and warn us even in the middle of the night. However, do I know Glenview?
The small military outpost west of here?
Yes. We'd better keep away from it, he says.
All right, we will.
Thoromhel gives me a sign to turn my back on him. I had already begun to wonder if he doesn't want sex at all. Guess the elves have more patience than humans or Khajiits.  :-)

When I meet up with my followers, we run north and then east. That is because I figure that between the road along the coast and the road along the southern shore of the big lake, there should be another eastward road or path. It probably won't go all the way to Dusk, so we'll turn left at some point before the big mountains and run to Shimmerene, and to Dusk from there. I'm reluctant to approach Dusk from the west along the coastal road, because I don't want to have to kill the mage-bandits who reside in the Cliffs of Dusk village. (And, to be honest, they are so strong I'm not even entirely sure we can defeat them.)

Right now, we're still on the Sunhold–Riverfield highway, though. We turn away from it and proceed eastwards, spend some time admiring my favorite adorable little pond northwest of Aro Pass, and then continue eastwards. It's more a path than a road, but it's comfortable to travel along, and there are bridges over bodies of water. I get a nice picture of a swamphound:

Approaching the high mountains, we notice a strange mist to our right. Walking towards it, we end up on the shore of a lake.

There's a number of most curious rocks that look exactly like old men sitting and thinking. They are covered with patterns that look too elaborate to be natural. In other words, these rocks seem very much like statues or even slumbering creatures. But they are showing no sign of an intention to come to life.

There are remains of a wooden pier at the southeastern end of the lake, but nothing like caves or ruins.

We can already see a tower high up the mountains. It must be Dusk. Let's see if we can somehow reach it from this direction after all.

No we can't. We end up at a scenic narrow lake or possibly the beginning of a river where we are attacked by a group of skeletons.

It's impossible to climb up the steep rocky mountains. Yet we are so near Dusk already that I don't want to run to Shimmerene and then come back all the way along the east coast. We'll go south and try to sneak past the bandits, should there be any.

Indeed, with the help of Invisibility potions, we succeed in getting past them. The Invisibility potions are notoriously unreliable, but our Sneaking skill is so high that we succeed in running past right under their noses. We hear bits of obscene conversation and in fact by the time we have reached the winding walkway up to the gate of Dusk, there are confused shouts somewhere behind us. We're not going to find out what it's about. We just run up as fast as we can and enter through the gate. No one is pursuing us. I hurry to Bradwin's place.

We talk and make love and such. When I realize it's quarter past six already, I wonder if I should stay the night. Bradwin reminds me I wanted to come here for a couple of weeks someday, so right now I'd better proceed to where I was headed and return when I don't have anywhere important to go to.

He's right. A few more hours with Bradwin wouldn't give me what I really need, and would only keep me from my goals, the achieving of which would bring closer the time when I could come back and be really properly with him. I know, I tend to get a little philosophical around here.  :-)

I go to the inn (naturally, I'm curious to see what the girls are up to; nothing special this time) and then we exit by the main gate. The sunset has painted the sky in most beautiful shades of orange. I jump right off the top of the walkway onto the ground and land between three bandits. I had completely forgotten there might be some on this side too!

We don't have much difficulties with just three of them, but they gave me a mighty scare. (Or rather I caused it all myself, jumping into unknown like that.)

The road to Shimmerene and the sights from it look truly like fairytale at this hour.

We run past Mana Grove, Fort Nettle and Silverwood and over the bridge across the river without being bothered by anybody.

When we arrive on the Shimmerene marketplace, the traders are just going home. We are eight minutes late!!

Now, what should we do next? We could, of course, go to the nearby Coruscate Mine, but our Spriggan Soap has worn off, which means the swamphounds would attack us, and I'm reluctant to kill them just for a little coruscate. What bothers me more is I don't have the slightest desire to have sex with Dulizar right now, but I can't think of an excuse to turn him down other than lie once again that I'm having my period.

We can travel to Winterhold and spend the night there, Jenassa suggests. Of course. Why didn't I think of it myself? We don't really have any more business in Summerset and no matter how safe Quillinda says Shimmerene Mages' Guild is, it might be wiser not to tempt our fate and spend more time here than is absolutely necessary. And much as I'd love to chat with Berenice, Noemie and Heloise, I feel I'd better not, because someday they may end up being questioned about when they last saw me and what we talked about.

So we run to the Mages' Guild, outside of which we stop for a moment to admire a running hare. When it disappears into the long grass, I cast the spell and we return to Skyrim.

Recalling longingly how beautiful it was in Summerset.

We go to the library, chat with Ertzebet and watch amusedly how Renna and Brelyna sit at one of the tables with Master Tolfdir between them. We can't hear what they're talking about, but the girls look at each other, I'd say, not entirely without hostility. I ask Ertzebet if she knows what's going on. She shrugs and says Master Tolfdir has something mysterious about him and she's sure those two are not the only ones fascinated with him. I quickly change the subject.

Eventually, I retire with Lydia and Jordis to the Arch-Mage's Quarters for the night.

I've been feeling strange about Lydia these past few days. Now I ask her what's wrong. The way she replies "Nothing is wrong," convinces me ultimately. I sit onto her, look her in the eye and demand she tell me what's bothering her.
"I don't want us to fall out over this, Laura," she replies with almost the same words I used that evening five months ago when I was laying on this bed and she was sitting on me.
"Cut the crap, Lydia. What is it?"
"How could you be so heartless about Fastred's parents?"
"What do you mean? They're monsters. Just like that woman in Skaal. Just like..." I shake my head and climb off Lydia. "All right. My childhood friend Petrille – I've told you about her, haven't I."
"Yes."
"I now remember her home. Her parents." I look pensively at the ceiling. "The awful things she told me they said to her. I remember how she dreaded going home, how she tried to stay away from her parents... Fastred is not like that, but the way her parents treat her, it's basically the same. They're destroying her, they want to keep her helpless, kill every bit of belief in herself she has, but she just accepts it. She doesn't have a character like Petrille's."
"Petrille should have been grateful that she at least had parents."
"What?" I'm shocked. I opened my soul to my closest friend and she spat into it! "Do you have any idea how it broke my heart when her mother told me that I should go because she needed to talk to her daughter, and how Petrille looked at me, her eyes pleading "Don't leave me alone with her!" But what could I do when I was ordered to leave someone else's home?"
"I would switch places with her this instant," Lydia says with blood-chilling determination.
Now I'm angry. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
For a moment, I wonder if it was too loud and if Jordis could hear it in her room. Then I realize I don't care.
Lydia's face is icy and she stares somewhere far away. It slowly starts to dawn to me that having no parents can be devastating too, in a different way.
I sigh. "Well, I don't know what I'm talking about either. I'm sorry."
Lydia closes her eyes and doesn't answer.
Whatever. I lie down and close my eyes too.
Half a minute later, I sit up, riddled with guilt. Lydia has turned away from me.
I kiss her shoulder and say: "We'll be friends again in the morning, agreed?"
"Agreed."



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Always Lost, Always Hopeful (258) Taking It All In

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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 






4-202-05-04 02:15
Honor View, Lillandril, Summerset, Aldmeri Dominion


I enjoy my new bath, but not for long. I put on my best calming gear. (It's the enchantment that, with a certain probability, makes people near the wearer reluctant to attack him.) I go to the palace where guards greet me respectfully, because I'm now among the queen's favorites. I ascend to the Dining Hall, empty at this hour of the night, and proceed to the Palace Gallery and the Dressing Room which is normally off bounds.

There's even a guard who sees me but won't prevent me from going further.

I succeed in finding a stock of women's garments and take a few. They have so many there's actually a chance they won't even miss the ones I'm stealing.

Happy I have achieved my goal without having to enter the royal bedroom, I walk out quietly. I hope the king will feel better soon and the life can go on as normal.

It's past 4 in the morning. I decide to pay a brief visit to the prison. Maybe someone will tell me something interesting.

One of the prisoners, a young woman named Ilta, is awake, but she doesn't want to tell me what she's been incarcerated for. The guards, both female, are sleepy and not in a chatting mood at all. I walk back through the servants' dormitory and smile amusedly seeing a woman sleeping on the men's side.

Outside, the sun is rising. A few minutes before 6, my followers come out and join me on the hillside near the harbor.

That's our house in the middle.

I feel very calm here, but maybe we'd better hit the road. They might notice my theft and start looking for the culprit.

We head for Tusamircil's Passage. In fact, I let the girls run ahead to Ebon, because there's no point for them to hang around and wait while Tusamircil and I make love, and they have boyfriends in Ebon they're eager to see. The distance is short and the region is relatively peaceful.

Tusamircil is so awesome! I arrive at his cave pretty much without any emotions and leave so happy you won't believe it. The sights between here and Ebon seem more scenic to me than ever.

I walk around in Ebon and chat with people and generally relax.

That nice woman is called Redli and lives alone. I hope she'll find someone to share her life with.

I step into the Great Hall to say hello to Celebria. She warns me not to hang around in Summerset too much, because an all-out war with our Empire is expected to break out any moment now and everybody knows who I am. When I argue that I'm a citizen of the Dominion thanks to my owning Manor Keep and Honor View, she says a citizen can still be a public enemy. The government is not going to burn my houses down just to vent its anger, but no property will protect me from being arrested, should the central authorities choose to round up all the suspicious people.

Guess she's right. I thank her and go to admire my beautiful dwelling maybe for the last time. The girls have evidently had a feast with their boyfriends and kindly left some food for me too.

I cry a little. At half past one, I summon the girls and we leave for Riverfield.

Looking around and taking it all in, we get attacked by very nasty mages and just barely succeed in defeating them. This was quite horrible. Mustn't forget to always wear Resist Magic  gear in Summerset!

The people of Riverfield are looking at us with even more hostility than usual, so we won't hang about.

On our way over the hills to Manor Keep, we run past another group of mages without stopping and fighting.

This time, we explore the surroundings of Manor Keep thoroughly, pat and hug a beautiful horse

(I still prefer to travel by foot, though), and the servants even show us the local mine.

We have a nice bath downstairs, and then travel southeast. I want to spend the night in Sunhold.

The sun is going down already and the pink and red bushes are particularly adorable.

We make a stop for a picture session.
[series of 6 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then click again to see the next picture etc.; press  Esc to return to the text]

Once again, I can't help feeling that something is bothering Lydia. I must find a chance to talk to her in private.

Before it can get completely dark, we proceed to Sunhold.

Yeah, it's not going to get completely dark with all that moonlight and the clear sky.

We check out the mine and say hello to the refugees from Holly Falls. Seeing Thoromhel on the street, I suggest him we go to the amazing beach they have here. For a moment, I wonder if I should make the girls keep watch out of sight, but then I decide not to. Even if someone accidentally saw us, I would feel less bad compared to being constantly aware that the girls have to sit and wait for us to finish. Let them go to sleep instead.

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Always Lost, Always Hopeful (146) Nice Places

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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






4-202-01-11 05:04
Dusk House, Cliffs of Dusk, Summerset, Aldmeri Dominion

All right, let's find a way up to that damned gate now.

Since we've ascended all the way to this house already, I feel we ought to try climbing just a little higher onto those rocks on which the fortress wall has been built.

This turns out not very difficult. And now we start climbing along the rocky slope trying to circle counterclockwise around the fortress wall and hopefully end up at the gate or at least somewhere near it.

It takes long and looks quite scary at times.

Finally we're there, right in front of the gate. From up here, we can even see a winding path that leads down to the path down below where we were yesterday. We missed the path because we were so busy fighting all those mages.

We climbed up onto the rocks near the farther left corner of the fortress, not visible in the picture,
and circled around the nearer left corner you can see in the picture. At this moment, we are
between the left corner and that round turret in the middle, too small to be recognized.
Observe the winding walkway descending from the gate to the place where we had our first contact with the bandit mages yesterday evening. We descended and proceeded slowly along the path, killing bandits all the way, to the small citadel beyond the bottom left corner of the picture, and it didn't occur to us this morning to come back and look for an easy way up to the gate.

I guess I forgot to tell you earlier that in the dreams I've had, the Dusk fortress has been a dark gloomy place filled with death, ghosts and hopelessness. Once we're entered, I'm surprised to see it's completely different. We have to kill a couple of things all right, but after it's done, it's really beautiful in here. There's a small orchard of sorts in the middle of the lush courtyard, and a number of small huts and a house called Slaughtered Lamb.

Also, there's a number of Dwellings  built right into the fortifications. (In the picture above, we have ascended to the platform in front of one Dwelling's entrance door. Another such platform is visible somewhat lower on the left.) They're apartments, most of which contain one large room with a double bed and a fireplace and such, and something like a pantry up the wooden stairs.

Some dwellings are inhabited by ghosts who attack us when they see us (I take really stupid risks a couple of times), and in some live actual people. Only men, for some reason. Their apathetic reaction to us could be summed up like "take whatever you want, but please don't kill me if you can help it". I find one of the Khajiits really attractive and I greatly regret that we didn't come here two days later.

Slaughtered Lamb is an inn kept by two men.

The place is in excellent state of repair and indeed really cozy, but there are no customers. I guess the locals will come later. It doesn't look like they have anywhere else to go in the evening.

In one of the dwellings, we find a diary that tells about the times apparently preceding the bandit attack that destroyed Dusk. I'll take this to Syrius and see if he likes it. That's all this formerly formidable town has to offer in terms of history.

I hope we can come back here some other time. It's really nice and delightfully peaceful (after you kill all the bad guys).

Jordis has an idea why there are only men here – the bandits took all the women.

Yeah, could be. [Shudder.]

After exiting the fortress, we are now headed west along the southern shore of the Summerset Isle. I prefer it over the road that runs more or less parallelly to it. The sandy beach with palm trees is just too beautiful to stay away from.

We discover a grove of giant mushrooms that are red with white dots. A most unusual sight.

Then I swim to a small island nearby, on which there is absolutely nothing to find, and some time later we run into a pack of bears. I've never seen five or six bears together in the same place. They don't have a chance against our weapons, but had I come here with what I was carrying three months ago, I would have surely ended up as their lunch. (No, silly, says Lydia, you would still have run faster than them.)

The coast turns from sandy to rocky again, so we turn north and go over a hill. There's the road right there below us. Another pack of bears is sleeping on the roadsides, but we won't have to disturb them. We run westwards on top of the hill until we can safely descend to the road.

Ahead of us is a bridge with a woman walking on it:

The place is called Aro Pass. We catch up with the woman. She's an Orc named Dam and she has nothing exciting to tell us.

We admire the scenic pond around us, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, and then we continue traveling to the west, walking with Dam so she can have some company. By 5 o'clock, we reach a large walled town. We wish Dam a nice evening and go to check out the nearby mine (iron and silver). After that, we enter the town through the northeastern gate.

The gate's right here, that arch to our left.

There are many houses, but few people on the streets. To be precise, they don't really have streets as such. Just a hilly field, small houses all over, and some paths in the grass.

All that is surrounded by a very strong-looking defense wall. The place is kind of weird, but also pleasant. Quite a large settlement, but you don't feel crowded. It's called Sunhold.

We walk around and say hello to people, but no one is really interested in exchanging gossip, and we can't find any traders. It's late already, of course. We notice three or four houses marked Vacant House, but nothing like a shop or an inn.

There's a Court House, though, where we meet a friendly woman Erinthil as well as the town ruler. He's Lord Ish. (I mean, Ish is his name, and Lord is his title.) When I ask him if there's any way we can make ourselves useful around here, he suggests we check out a settlement north of here called Holly Falls with which they've lost contact.

We look around in a room with impressive trophies,

a room upstairs with shelves filled with scrolls, and large cooking pots in the cellar.

In one of the other houses lives a man Thoromhel who is quite likeable, but I have no use for him until tomorrow at the earliest. Jenassa seems too shy to chat him up, or maybe she's not sure if I don't want him for myself. Whatever. Most people here are married. I mean, most houses are inhabited by married couples, mostly elves, but there's also one seemingly single Orc man, and in one house lives a nice Khajiit woman Kasha. The weirdest, though, is the house belonging to a certain Beth. It has no furniture whatsoever! Not even a chair to sit on. The woman herself stands outside the southern gate and looks very unhappy. Yet, she wouldn't say what her problem is. Maybe she's intimidated by the four of us.

Well, it's dark already and in the absense of anything more suitable, we shall sleep in one of those Vacant Houses. I mean, if they're called "vacant", then I presume we can just go in. Vacant House 8-3 (I don't know what the numbers mean; maybe land slot numbers in the registry) has little furniture, but really comfortable beds up- and downstairs.

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