Hey, it's Destana again. Last time I traveled around Skyrim and tied up a lot of loose ends.

 

But this is a special occasion.  Now that I established an actual home, I returned to the bedroll under the Honningbrew Meadery and slept there.  I was taken to Sanguine's realm, as before.

"If it isn't my adherent," he looked up from whipping a young lady, "What brings you here?"

I approached him, pulling away the Nightingale armor around my collar.

Sanguine blinked, "You're bold.  Look at you, wearing an Amulet of Mara.  Interested in me, are you?"

"What do you say?" I asked, "You're immortal, right?  It'll only be until my death do us part.  At the very least, come with me to Nirn.  You don't get out enough."

Sanguine's smile grew slowly, "Do you know what you're asking?"

I smiled, "I do."

He chuckled, waving his hands, and the realm around us dematerialized.  We were standing next to his statue in the caves.  Him, in a blue toga in his full daedric form instead of armor.  

"Are you sure you'd be interested in a life together?" Sanguine asked, "You are interesting company.  More than interesting."

"I'd be more than interested," I replied.

He grinned again, "All of Skyrim...  All of Nirn better get ready to stand the fuck aside then."  He chuckled like a low rumble.

"Let's go to Riften.  That's where the chapel is."

"Sure.  Sure they'll accept a red man like myself?" He asked, then he added, "Well actually, they'll see Sam.  I'll meet you there."

I stopped off and got a wedding dress, then I made my way to Riften.  It wasn't a big ceremony.  Up until this point I haven't made my life the type that puts down roots or keeps friends that have an established place in the world.  Even this wedding ceremony wasn't exactly normal.  I'm sure the Sam disguise looked acceptable and normal, and Sanguine looked good in his blue robes that offset his red daedric skin, that's not what I mean.  I mean monogamy was not in our blood.  I most certainly was going to continue doing whatever I wanted with my body, and I'm certain he would do the same.  This ceremony was a declaration of love, not of ownership.

 

I walked into the ceremony in my red and white wedding dress, looking beautiful.

Maramal made a lot of declarations, but I wasn't really listening. 

"Do you agree to be bound together, in love, now and forever?" He asked at the end.

"I do."

"And you?" 

"I do," Sanguine replied.  

We kissed, and that was that.  Maramal gave us rings.

"It's a simple ceremony, but it'll do.  You're here.  That's what is important," Sanguine said as we walked out.

"Now, let's go to Honeyside.  I just bought it," I smiled, "It may not be up to your normal standards, but, it's what I have for now."

"I'd be honored," Sanguine replied, and we went to my house in Riften.

Obviously our honeymoon was no different from when we first met.  We fucked each other's brains out for four solid days.  Iona supplied us with regular food and water.  Eventually, though, he learned that I was pregnant.  

 

"You know I would've been there for the child whether or not this (marriage) happened, right?" He asked.

"I'm not into taking people's decisions away from them," I replied, "If you want to be a father, then that's your choice."

 

After about a week, I decided I was not going to quit adventuring yet.  

"How'd you like to come with me?" I asked.

"Come with you?  On your adventures?" He asked.

"Yeah.  I've been thinking I'm putting myself in far too many dangerous situations.  There's a civil war brewing without the bodies to get it off the ground.  I need to go catch Mercer before he gets out of Skyrim and is gone forever.  There's a lot to do.  So I've decided I'm going to start... not an army.  An adventuring company?  I learned some basic Restoration and Illusion that augments allies, and I think some meat shields would do me good," I pontificated.  I had been thinking back to all the possible companions offering their services that I'd seen or heard of in my travels.  A number of names came to mind, but I decided I would narrow it down to only a few, and try to maintain some semblance of balance.  I would be the back guy, the thief, and perhaps a healing type.

 

Cue the montage music.

- I would need at least one more melee fighter. 

I handed Sanguine the Dragon's Oath as part of our initial planning phase for this.  I would wield the Nightingale Blade and daggers for now (if needed).  He of course told me he had centuries of combat experience.  But he decided for today he was going to sit out the recruiting, "My, this place is atrocious.  I'm going to clean up in here."

 

- I needed one or two ranged attackers. 

After asking around, I realized there was a strange man in the Riften Jail I'd passed on one of my first days in Riften.  Somebody in jail was murderhobo/unattached enough for me.  I approached the cell.   

"Thank the gods!  You've finally come to kill me!"

"Uh... what?" I asked.

"My friend, do you not remember me?"

".....What?" I asked again.

"I have wronged you terribly.  I must insist that you kill me now, even if your memory is a little fuzzy," he said.

"Wait... what is your name?"

"I am called Inigo the Brave."

"Please, instead of me killing you, how about you take a period of service with me?" I asked.

He shrugged, "I think I can agree to that."

"But wait, you're in prison.  Just let me talk to the Jarl.  I'm a thane here."

"My friend, I can leave anytime.  The guards insist I've done nothing wrong, but they told me I could live in this empty jail cell if I paid them a handsome price," Inigo explained.

I smiled, chuckling, "You're a strange cat, Inigo.  Any good with a sword?  Bows even?"

"I do a little of that.  And I sneak," he replied.

"Good.  You can have a spot on my team," I said, then I led him to Honeyside.  Sanguine and Iona were sitting at the dinner table.

"My love, I cooked you a meal," Sanguine said.

"There's no human flesh in here is there?" I asked, half-jokingly.

"Just a meat pie.  Beef.  Not human meat," Sanguine said, "You know I value consent.  I'd only serve you human meat if you want it."

I pursed my lips, storing that information in the vault.

"This is really good," Iona was enjoying a piece already.

"I am, unfortunately, without equipment," Inigo said.

"And naked," I added, then I walked over to my chest.  I grabbed my Elven Armor, from back when I started my journey.  Then I tossed it to him and he put it on, "Looks good on you."

 

- Then I remembered that woman, a bard and alchemist, who'd been hanging out in the Bannered Mare.  I traveled there, leaving Sanguine at home and just taking Inigo to get her.  

As I approached, she said, "Have you by any chance seen a goodfornothing Nord?"

"No."

"He and his friend stole something precious to me, and I need to find them before they do something I'll regret."

"This is starting to sound like a quest.  I hope a short one, because I'm kind of a quest junkie," I took out my log, flipping through it, "And the quest log is getting awfully heavy."

"Will you help?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll help.  Do you want to be a part of my burgeoning fighting force if I help you?" I asked, "Of course, I'll have to interview your skills when we get to that point."

"Uh.. sure," she replied.  We headed to the outskirts of Whiterun.

 

- My next recruit kind fell into my lap.  By which, I mean... it was an accident, not that she sat in my lap or anything... That comes later.

We'd headed to the Whiterun stables to ride over and find those guys who'd taken Vilja's bottle.  And... there was a naked woman there just lying unconscious in the stables.

Curious (and... wow, she's really hot.  Even more than me!!) I decided I would approach.  I poked her with my boot.

"Oh hey, it's you," her eyes blinked open, "Oh, I mean, I've never met you before.  It's not like I've been following you around or something."

"On second thought..." I turned.

"Wait... I'm injured!  Yeah, injured.  I might die if you leave me here.  Let me come with you."

"You look fine to me," I said.  Very fine.

"Ok, if you let me come with you, I'll make it worth you while."

"I guess I could use more backup," I said.

"Yeah, and I'm strong and good-looking too!"

"And modest," I smirked, "But if you're so strong why do you need my help?  And where are your clothes?"

"I... have no idea," she folded her arms.  But not to hide her nakedness.  She seemed to have no problem with that.  She continued, "My name is Sofia, by the way."

"I'm going to have to give you some armor.  Then we're going to help this one get her thing back," I pointed to Vilja.

I handed her the Stormcloak Armor.  I wasn't going to use it.  Maybe I could find her something better later.

We walked over to the Meadery, which is where the Vilja's thugs were discussing her bottle.

"Is it possible to turn into a donkey if you're cursed?" The big one asked the smaller one.

"So you guys stole from a defenseless woman and now you're cursed," I said, "I can take that cursed bottle off your hands, if you like."

"Please, take it!" The big one said, handing it to me.

Vilja smiled, "That was easy.  I guess an explanation is in order.  My grandmother ..."

I started to zone out during this explanation. 

"...Morrowind... "

I'm not usually rude, but my quest log was already getting really full.

"...Eldergleam Sanctuary..."

"Wait, I think I've been there!" I said.  Now that I think about it, I'm not sure that was true.  But whatever, I offered to go with her there.  But first, I was going to take care of rounding out this group!

 

- I still needed a tank.  I asked around and looked at my quest log at the hundreds of things I'd written down I picked up over the months here. 

One note in particular pointed me to a battle-hardened old woman named Shirley who was a veteran of the Great War.  THE Great War.  The one with the White-Gold Concordant.  Heavily armored, two handed weapons.  Lots of battle experience.  She'd be perfect.  She'd been living alone for a number of years at a house in the mountains.  Let me tell you, it was not an easy climb.  I walked into her house, my entourage already getting somewhat large.  She was sitting there in her living room, wearing a purple old dress. 

"Afternoon travelers, what brings you out here to the boonies?"

"I heard you have a lot of experience.  I'm forming a fighting force," I said. 

"Oh sure, sure.  I've forgotten more things about war and combat than most people know," Shirley said.

I thought she might take a little convincing, so I added, "I'm a pretty good adventurer, but these days, I need protection.  See..."  I looked down at my stomach.

"I understand, honey," she said.

"Of course, everybody gets a cut of the spoils," I explained.

"Problem is, a nasty group of bandits made off with my sword and bow."

I smiled, "Now that's a quest I can get behind.  I'll be back."

It was close.  We were on a mountain, so I casted slow fall and jumped down, running the plains to Silent Moons Camp.  With Inigo, Sofia, Vilja and myself, we decimated the bandits there.  As we overcame them I grabbed the best pieces off each bandit, grabbing an elven shield for Inigo, a bandit shield, boots and gloves for Sofia, and a full suit of Nordic Plate armor.  

When we returned, Shirley clapped me on the back.  Half war hero, half grandma.  She grabbed some steel plate armor, laying it out orderly in front of her.  Then she turned, pulling off the purple dress (still in underwear).  And man... grandma was jacked!  Despite being old, she was covered in muscle and scars!

"Wow!" One of the group said.

"I try to stay in shape," the old lady chuckled.  I stopped her from suiting up, taking out the Nordic Plate, "Here, think of it as an advance.  The Bandit Chief was wearing it."

"Pretty neat fringe benefits!" She chuckled.

Then I handed held out her enchanted greatsword and her bow covered in leaves and vines.

"Ready," she said.

"Now for the final piece we're going to go get find Mercer Frey.  Think of this as your test run.  To the victor goes the spoils."

 

We traveled to Riften, it having been a couple days of travel gathering this group.  I walked into Honeyside again with my entourage.  

Sanguine was waiting there, "You have quite the group.  About to go on adventure?"

"Yeah.  We're going to ... Irk... whatever, a ruin.  There are two more waiting for me there so I think I'm going to leave you and Iona here for this one," I explained.

"Me coming was an option?" Iona asked.

"Just have a bite to eat and I'll be waiting," Sanguine smiled, "Oh, and I may have some business to take care of from time to time in Oblivion, so don't expect me to be here 24 hours a day."

"Of course, you're an important man."

I dipped into my camping skills and constructed a four person tent and bedrolls and set it up for them, as there weren't enough beds for everyone.  We set out for ... the ruin in the morning, fighting some bandits at the entrance, then finding more dead inside.  Brynjolf and Karliah were waiting for me just past them.  To be honest, we steamrolled the dungeon.  I kept Rally up on the group and hung back with bow (and crossbow) while they did the dirty work.  We got to the end of the Falmer and Dwemer tech and found Mercer prying the eyes of the Falmer out of a giant snow elf statue.  

"You can't get the drop on me, Karliah!" Mercer turned to find me, Brynjolf, Karliah, Inigo, Sofia, Vilja, and Shirley waiting for him.  A storm of arrows before he turned invisible.  

"Trying to escape?" I shouted, "You were a fool to think we weren't going to bring backup.  If the rest of the guild weren't a bunch of sneakthieves who avoid combat I'd've brought them too."  One of the arrows somebody'd hit him with was sticking out of his invisible body and he stuck out like a sore thumb.   I snuck while Sofia and Brynjolf engaged him and I started to lay into him from the back.  I got the feeling this was meant to be a duel, but we trounced him.  Justice/Revenge is a bitch.  The place filled up with water but we got out of there.

 

"Damn guys, that was a rousing success," I said.  I turned to Karliah, "I'm going to take the Skeleton Key back now, but I have a couple stops to make first."

Of course, secretly, I kept that thing for a WHILE.  I still had a Thieves' Guild to make great again.  

"I'll be back at the guild, lass," Brynjolf said.

"Of course," I turned to my guys, "You guys did great.  I'm going to divvy out the spoils when we get back to Riften.  How about a bonus job?  We're actually only a short walk from it."

We headed to Korvanjund.  Time to get Ulfric his damn crown.

 

"So you finally arrived," Galmar turned, "Oh."

"I brought some friends," I smirked, "We're going to steamroll this place."

"Damn imperials are trying to get in.  I wonder if it's the same reason we are.  No matter.  Ready to kick some Imperial ass?" Galmar asked.

"Hell yeah, brother!" I shouted, casting Rally on the whole group.  We stormed the Draugr-filled ruin to find Imperial Soldiers there ahead of us.  And the draugr seemed strong and more numerous that I would've expected.  At the end, we had the Jagged Crown.  We returned to Windhelm to deliver it to Ulfric Stormcloak.  I found him in his bedchamber.

"Damn, the old bear was right!" Ulfric sat up in his bed, "I need you to deliver this axe to Jarl Baalgruf of Whiterun.  He'll know what it means."

I smirked.

"Is there a Ms. Stormcloak?" I asked

"No, why do you ask?" He asked back.

I was on a high from all that violence, so I acted on it.  I'm fairly certain Sanguine has been watching me throughout.  I decided I would take a detour to Riften to pick him up, though, before I went to Whiterun.