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EnragedBard

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Hi, it's me, Destana.  Last time I did some work for the Riften Jarl, the Thieves' Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, attended a class at Winterhold, and then I was on my way to Markarth.

 

And what do you know, when I arrived in Markarth, it was being attacked by Lost Valley Forsworn, with a Mammoth and Giant.  I jumped in, managing to take a couple down with my bow and sneaking into the guard tower to continue my onslaught of arrows.  Really, the guards kept them busy while I killed everything (though it took probably 50 arrows for the giant and mammoth, and a few potions because of archers getting wise and firing back).  I walked up to the gate to find all the Markarth gate guards piled in a charred heap.  Guess they'll need to hire more.  

 

Had I been to Markarth before at this point?  I don't think so.  First impressions are crucial.  I walked in and witnessed a murder not five seconds after I thought I was safe within the city walls.  The murderer yelled something about the forsworn.  So, I guess I'll put it on my list to find out about these forsworn guys.  A guy handed me a note and assured me he had no idea what was going on but the note said to meet him later.  But I had more important things to do.  

 

The Silver Blood Inn was right in front of me so I went and talked to the DB contact first - Muiri.  She wanted me to kill a guy in an old dwarven ruin.  He used her.  Her body also.  That's a murder I can get behind.  And bonus, she wants me to kill a woman in Windhelm as well.  I'm sure I'll be back there eventually.

"I will be done," I said, meaning, 'I'll get to it when I get to it.'

 

(EDIT):  I totally forgot about this, but I walked into a house while I was there and Molag Bal contacted me.  A Bro of Stendarr was there with me.  Apparantly Molag Bro told him that it was him or me.  Before he could even finish drawing his weapon, he was stabbed.  I went to the basement and found Molag Bal's statue, who spoke to me.  He asked me to find a priest and destroy him.  Which... I nodded my head, and to this day have still not done.  I did, however, find three Daedra at the entrance to the house on my way out.  And... wondering if they all measured up to Sanguine, I enticed them and got them to show me.  If you know what I mean.  They don't, by the way. (/EDIT)

 

Next, I went to see Calcelmo, into the dwarven ruins that served as a hold for the Jarl.

As soon as I entered, a robed man and a nord were having a disagreement.  Apparently the inner dwemer ruins are locked.  I approached him, feeling like I was going to be drawn into the ruins here eventually anyway, "What's wrong?"  

"People have been showing up with bite marks when coming out of the Hall of the Dead.  You look like an adventurer, want to take a look?"

"Geez, you barely know me and you're offering me the keys?  Sure," I said, taking the keys.  I continued through a passage to Calcelmo.

"What do you want?" He didn't even look up from his notes.

"I'd like to buy some spell tomes," I said.

"Magic, always magic.  Never history!" He seemed unusually angry.

"Well, I am curious about history too.  I've been told you're an expert on the Falmer language," I said.

"Yes, yes I am," he said.

"Could I see your texts?"

"You're crazy.  It's my life's work," he said.

"Surely I could pay you for your time," I replied.

"Being a scholar, money isn't my highest priority," he sneered.

"..." I waited a few seconds, thinking I should formally train my speechcraft, "I'll give you a blowjob."

The old man looked at me with a little disgust, then he smirked, "It's been years.  I guess I could let you into my lab."

So I did.  I'm good at using my mouth to convince people, one way or another.

He handed me the keys to his lab, then I said, "How about the ruins proper?  I'd like to explore.  I'm kind of a dungeon connoisseur."

"Hmm... if you deal with a nasty giant spider, then sure," he said, handing me another key. 

I went to kill the spider first, judging it to be a quicker task.  And, indeed, I sliced through a few small monstrous spiders with my sword and killed the big boy with my bow before he got to me.  After the spider was a journal with a corpse, detailing an expedition that'd been lost, I presumed.  Urgh!  The breadcrumbs!  I wrote that down in my quest log and continued in further.  Once inside, I had my first encounter with the Falmer.  Disgusting creatures.  Because I was completely silent and now getting very good with the bow, I made short work of most the targets I came across, though a Chaurus Reaper was a little tougher.  I gathered journals of the other expedition members and turned on the defenses of the area, at which point I was attacked by a very strong golden dwemer ghost who summoned a large centurion.  Sensing I was beyond my depth, I hopped down to a previous door and ran out between the remaining falmer fighting the now awakened dwemer defense systems.  

 

I then ventured into the museum, ready to have this over with.  A guard tried to stop me, but I showed him the key.  While I was walking away I remember him saying, "This is Markarth, traveler, safest city in the Reach."  I almost burst out laughing.  I nearly got killed twice just trying to get in the doors.  I passed some guards and books about dwemer, then tried to open the doors to the lab.  The key I had didn't open, so I used my own key.  Easy lockpick.  I walked in further to find more armed guards, but not the hold variety.  Looked like freelancers.  They immediately drew weapons on me.

"Help!  Intruder!" The woman in heavy armor shouted, coming at me with sword and shield. 

"I'm here for Calcelmo!" I shouted, but she wasn't hearing it.  I used my shield to knock her sword out of the way and gave her a few good slashes, sending her down.  A man behind her followed up, getting the same treatment.  I took keys and gold from their bodies.  Strange.  

 

I went up some stairs and found two more guards looking at some mechanism.  Not chancing it this time, I put the left guard down with an arrow to the back of the neck.  The right guard hadn't even reacted before he got the same treatment.  I continued on and a third walked toward the scene of gore.  I jumped out from behind him and slit his throat.  Wondering if I was going overboard, I walked up to another guard a few rooms later sitting in a chair.  He immediately drew weapons on me and attacked, so I killed him too.  Another joined the battle and I put him down, then a third, who'd been firing arrows into the room.  I shot her in the leg and finished the job with my sword as I closed the distance.  Who were these guys?  And for that matter, why were they so weak?  They seemed like amateurs.

 

The next room I snuck in quickly before anybody saw me and slit a guy's throat.  A wizard sitting at a table and more guards drew so I booked it out of the room.  When the first guard turned the corner he got an arrow to the face, an arrow to the knee, a shield to the side of the head, then a blade to the chest.  The second guard (single file, I guess) got an arrow between the eyes and died instantly.  I peeked into the next room to find the wizard aiming spells at me.

"Why are you attacking me?  I'm just trying to find something and I'll go!"  

But he kept shooting.  I buried an arrow in his chest, which nearly immediately killed him.  Guess I didn't know my own strength.  Then he started to run.  I stepped into the room and aimed the last arrow in his back.  Were these guys trying to rob Calcelmo or something?  I mean, that's not to say I wasn't taking the stray valuables as I trekked through.

 

I shrugged.  I've killed people for less.  I continued in to Calcelmo's Tower.  Before me, a balcony.  I jumped up onto the balcony to find the slab I'd been looking for.  But I didn't have anything to record the data.  I ventured through the balcony's door and found come charcoal and paper to take a rubbing.  I did the deed and found a few more of the mysterious guards approaching.  My first thought was just to kill them.  But I realized I could just shut the door behind me, cast Lock, wait for them to pass by the balcony and just slip out unnoticed.  One of them stayed to guard the door and I aimed my bow at his head.  But then he also walked into the room.  I slipped out.  

 

Seeing that it was night and feeling the sleep deprivation hit me, I told Calcelmo about the spider and gave him the journals.  I played at the Silver-Blood Inn and slept until noon the next day.  But honestly, who sleeps on stone beds?  Terrible.  I was talking with the innkeeper about rumors and he said Helgen'd been attacked and destroyed, and bandits had taken residence there.  An entry for later.

 

On the way to Windhelm, I stopped at Raldbthar and killed Muiri's target.  Hardly worth a mention - a group of bandits and some random dwemer constructs (found myself a Bandit Skull Shield), then to Windhelm where her secondary target was.  I walked in and talked to her, offering her comfort in the form of sex.  The thing about Windhelm is there aren't a lot of private places, but I was able to do the deed in an alley and stash the body out of sight.  Then I continued to go north to Enthir and Karliah with that rubbing from earlier.  He asked how I got the rubbing, to which I told him I blew the old man.  And he asked for one too.  Sigh, whatever.  Spread debauchery.  After he translated the text we found Mercer had desecrated something called the Twilight Sepulcher.  Karliah gave me a Nightingale Blade and told me to meet her at the guild so we could explain what was happening.  I figured I would get those books the Archmage wanted while I was here.  The Librarian said the books were gone, taken by a mage to a place called Fellglow Keep.

 

Wait!  I already killed everything there a few weeks ago.  Smiling, I decided I would take a detour and just collect the things on the way to Riften.  I slept in my college bed before going.  Good thing I have a horse, I'm doing a lot of traveling.  

 

...Or not!  I showed up at Fellglow Keep to find a group of wizards having moved in.  This was bound to happen after an area is cleared out.  What's more as I drew near voices came from behind me.  A bunch of thugs who'd been hired to hunt me down!  First thing I did was run off into the open plains so the wizards didn't follow, then have a long drawn-out fight with the thugs (stronger by far than anything I'd been fighting recently).  After downing two of them, one of the mages started shooting at the last thug.  I was confused by this, but maybe the mages weren't immediately hostile to me.  When the thug was down, the mage nodded to me calmly, then readied a spell.  I sighed, drawing bow and dealing the last hit to him.  I ventured inside, ready for more of the same.  I killed the first bandit by shooing him between the eyes, killing his pet spiders in short order and the bandit mage sitting at a table easily.  I went into a hallway to find a Goblin Shaman and an Apprentice Fire Mage fighting.  The Goblin kept eying me as I was sneaking behind the mage, like he knew I was going to kill whoever won.  He was right, of course.  But the mage stepped on a dart trap and killed himself, so it saved me the work.  The next room held a jail with vampire fleglings and I threw all the levers, letting them all out.  They rushed past me and wreaked havok on the mages in the next room, both sides decimating each other.  Maybe I hadn't cleared this area.  Lots going on here.  I went into the next room that had dead vampires splayed out on tables.  Forget books - I was interested in what was going on here.  Next room was filled with dead goblins and mages.  Then after that, pyromancers testing fire spells on vampires in cages, which, I killed the mages.  Another jail room, with the mage who stole the books.  I let him out, but he couldn't tell me where the books were, only with the Caller.  Right.  Just another person for me to kill.  

 

"Want me to follow you around and help you find them?" He asked.

"You should get to safety," I replied, not really in the mood to talk to anyone.

"You're sure you don't need my help?" He asked.

"If you don't get out of my face I might kill you myself," I replied.

"I hope the caller turns you inside out," he replied.

I growled, took out my sword and swung it at him in immediate rage and took his head off.  Whoops!!  

I clenched my teeth.  I may have reacted a little bit overboard.  I was just mad and trying to scare him.  I sheathed it and said to myself, "Yeah... those bandits are unbelievable.  Why would they behead him...?"

 

I stepped into a crypt, making short work of skeletons and necromancers, keeping my search going.  Finally, I reached the Caller, who told me she would let me leave even after I'd killed her men, but would not give me the books.  Wrong answer.  I drew my bow and she started summoning, and she was dead before her lackeys came in to help her.  They followed soon after.  Gods, I am on a roll.  

 

From there I headed to Riften to the Ragged Flagon.  Karliah and I showed the guild the proof that Mercer is a scumbag, and they checked the vault.  Everything was gone.  So they tasked me with getting in to Mercer's house in Riften.  I  leapt over the gate and instead of reasoning with Vald I opted for the stabbing him to death - the same method I used with all of Mercer's guards (which, do these people just wait here all the time and just draw a paycheck?  He never comes here).  I got the plans, a mountain of gems and somehow all his traps are super sensitive as I was not able to bypass them.  I found he had a secret path back to the Flagon, which I used to get back there.  Karliah told us to meet at the Twilight Sepulcher, which seems like a good thing for doing immediately.  Blessing of Nocturnal, here I come.  Maybe it was her that was looking after me during my early days.  

 

I went over to the Shadow Stone and we dealt with a couple random necromancers before Karliah led us into the Sepulcher.  We took the oath.  Now I'm a Nightingale, whatever that really means.  So my next mission is to kill Mercer and get the Skeleton Key.  

"We had a long discussion before you arrived," Brynjolf started as he came down from his pedestal, "Somebody needs to take Mercer's place as guild leader."

"Okay," I said, "That's obvious."

"Because of you we were able to root out this cancer in the guild.  We think you should replace Mercer."

I raised an eyebrow as high as I could, "I've been in the guild three, maybe three and a half months.  Why don't you do it?  You're the obvious choice."

"I've been at this a long time.  I might even be one of the best.  But I don't want to lead.  Never desired it, never cared for it.  Don't want it.  Once we establish the foothold we need and we do this one big job, you're it."

"Alright.  I guess," I said, "I mean, I am the boots on the ground.  I am like 70% of the guild's income."

Brynjolf laughed, "That's the spirit.  Mercer is in Irkngthand.  We'll meet you there."

I walked back to Riften and to the Jarl's palace.  

"I sorted out that Skooma den," I told her.

"You're a boon to this city.  Like Mjoll, you've done service to the members of this community.  I'd like to offer you the title of Thane.  Honeyside is available for purchase if you'd like it."

I turned to the steward to make the arrangements.  I handed her a huge sack of gold and said, "Please, add a children's bedroom.  Do I get my own housecarl?"

"Her name's Iona." 

"She sounds lovely," I replied, headed to sleep in my new home.

It would take the Nightingales a couple days to get to that ruin I still can't pronounce.  In the mean time, I decided it was time to raise that army!

 

Spoiler

Never a dull moment with Organic Factions.  

 

Challenge got increased about now.  I feel like a lot of the vanilla stuff wasn't leveled as much as it should be and I started to tear through it.

 

I believe I bypassed a lot of Calcelmo's Lab with Better Jumping.  Also, I jumped over Mercer's gate with Better Jumping.  I love that mod.

 

This entry was a lot of what they call 'doing the work,' and is just pushing forward in the overall storyline.  Next time is when I go find Sanguine again, and go utilize all those follower mods I have downloaded (and at the same time) an army to take care of Mercer and fight a war!

 

Destana12.jpg

Edited by EnragedBard

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