We napped through the rest of the morning, trying to make up for at least some of our lost sleep the night before. Over a light lunch of bread and cheese, we talked through our options one more time, and settled on Nepos. If there was even a chance that this man was actually an ally to us, I wanted to secure his support before we investigated the Silver-Blood family directly.

 

Jenassa waved a hand towards the lockers at the back of the temple hall. “Are you going to get your armor?”

 

I thought about that for a second, before shaking my head. “No, let’s leave it here for now. Depending on what we learn from the Nose, we might have to gear up to visit the Silver-Bloods, but if we’re being watched – and I have a creeping feeling we are – then collecting donations for the temple is a good cover for our movements.”

 

Mother raised an eyebrow at that, “spoken like a seasoned spy. I’m impressed.”

 

I shrugged, “more like, ‘spoken like an exiled fugitive.’ Father had a plan if bounty hunters started sniffing around town. When I was older, he shared them with me. Thank the Lady, we never had to use any of them, but it got me thinking about moving freely when unfriendly eyes are watching.”

 

Leaving the temple, we descended down to the Dryside market before climbing several flights of stairs on the far side. When we finally reached Nepos’ home, I realized we were standing directly across the central ‘valley’ of Dryside from the tree where we’d stopped to discuss the politics of Markarth earlier. As I readied to knock on the door I looked left and right to my companions.

 

 

“Let’s start out by playing it straight – ask for donations from everyone present but keep an eye out for clues. Then when the time’s right, we’ll question Nepos directly.”

 

Mother nodded, “agreed, that sounds like a good plan.”

 

Thus agreed, I knocked firmly on the door. After a moment’s wait, a Breton woman pulled it open and then beckoned us within.

 

“You again,” she sighed, “what are you doing here?”

 

I didn’t recognize her, so the greeting put me a little off guard. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

 

“If you must know, I’m the maid. The master of this house is old, and he needs his rest. If you don’t have any business here, leave.”

 

Before I could answer, an ageworn voice carried quietly from deeper in the house. “It’s alright, dear, let them in.”

 

The Breton maid rolled her eyes, but waved me on. “Sometimes I don’t know why I’m even here. Go see him, then.”

 

 

The old man, balding and wrinkled, was sitting by the hearth, paging through an antique-looking book.

 

“I suppose you’ve come to ask for a donation to the temple, then?”

 

“Indeed,” I answered, “I come bearing the gift of Dibella’s love and beauty.”

 

His eyes roamed over my body for a moment, twinkling with hidden thoughts. “My days of cavorting with neophytes are long behind me, sadly. But I’ll still donate generously. My butler Morven will be the one to help with your training.”

 

It didn’t take long for Morven to join us, undressed and rapidly swelling towards erection, and the old man – I presumed this was Nepos the Nose – put down his book to watch. “On your knees, if you please. Show me what you’ve learned about pleasing a man.”

 

I did as the old man asked, massaging his butler’s shaft as I tugged gently at his scrotum with my other hand. Gently, teasingly, I pulled back his this foreskin and revealed the smooth surface of his glans, already beading at the tip with clear fluid.

 

 

Looking into the butler’s eyes, I stuck out my tongue and slowly ran it along the little channel that ran from the bottom of his bulb up to the slit at the front. His first bead was almost tasteless, but it was thick and sticky, leaving behind a long strand that hung between us as I withdrew my tongue.

 

Soon the skin of his penis was taut, the organ having reached its full size and even seeming to strain a bit at its limits. Taking a guess at the old man’s identity, I said, “Nepos, you are the master of this house. Wouldn’t you rather I look into your eyes while your man takes me? Shall I turn around?”

 

A grunt came from the direction of the heart, followed a few heartbeats later by his voice, “very well, neophyte. Do as you will”

 

I rose then, turning around to face him even as I backed my rear end against Morven’s hips. He wrapped his arms against my front and slid into me from behind with practiced ease. Odd, I thought, the man had seemed almost bashful when I was examining him a moment ago, but now he had clearly hit his stride. Was he intimidated by my gaze? I wondered if, perhaps, the Nose was the actual focus of his affection.

 

 

We continued for a time until, with a groan, I felt the butler’s hot seed start to spurt into me. Four large gushes, by my count, followed be a weaker fifth. To his credit, the man didn’t immediately pull out, instead continuing to drive into me until he started to soften, but his technique was rough and unpracticed and I didn’t find it especially fulfilling. I should have asked him to use my back passage – then at least I would have gotten that pleasant scratching-an-itch sensation rather than a barely half-reached and then abandoned orgasm.

 

Watching his butler’s goopy seed start to slide out of me, the Nose nodded, apparently satisfied. “My people will prepare donations for the temple. But that’s not really what you came here for, is it?”

 

“I’d like to know why you sent a thug after me.”

 

“Ah yes, as I suspected. You’ve sniffed me out like a real bloodhound. I’m curious though, why do you think I sent him?”

 

“That’s what I’m trying to piece together,” I said, honestly, “I’m not sure if you have a connection with the Forsworn, or if you’re conspiring to trick the people into thinking there’s a Forsworn threat.”

 

He laughed at that, then shifted in his chair to get more comfortable. “I’ve been playing this game for almost twenty years,” he said. “Sending the young to their deaths, all in the name of the Forsworn. But I’m getting tired.”

 

“Who is behind all of this?”

 

He hesitated, then shook his head and continued. “My king. Madanach. When the uprising fell at the hands of the Nords, they threw him in the mines. Somehow, against all odds, he still lives. I get his messages, and I pass on his orders without question.”

 

“That’s a bold confession. Why are you telling me this?”

 

The old man shrugged and waved vaguely in the direction of the entrance hall. “My dear girl, what makes you think you’re getting out of here alive? The girl at the door is not just some overprotective tart. She’s a Forsworn agent assigned to guard me. You aren’t the first one to get this far… you won’t even be the last.”

 

They were on me almost immediately, as well as Jenassa and mother. The pommel of a short sword struck the back of my head, and I fell to my knees, reeling as a dull roar filled my ears. I could hear the clash of steel in the distance, likely a sign that Jenassa at least wasn’t taken completely unaware.

 

Soon though, the sound of battle subsided and I heard Nepos say, “now, dear, I think it’s time that you give me some answers. Morven, Uaile, bind them and begin.”

 

Hauling me to my feet, the butler and the maid dragged me to the center of the dining room before casting me to floor. Before I could rise, they pinned me town and roughly tied my arms behind my back. Then, as the maid pulled back my hair and forced my eyes open, Morven began to urinate on my face. His water was thick and musky, still carrying the odor of the semen he’d pumped into me not five minutes before, and it stung terribly as it got in my eyes and nostrils. Even before his stream fully waned, Uaile forced my mouth open and poured a potion of some sort into it.

 

Blinded and coughing uncontrollably, I felt my limbs grow rubbery and my head spin. Then the questions started. Fast and insistent, they came one after another. Who are you? Who are you working for? How many more of you are there? They didn’t wait for me to answer, just hammering the questions at me again and again. At length, when I still couldn’t answer, they started again – violation, beating, drugging, and then repeating the same sequence of questions.

 

Finally, after I have no idea how many repetitions of this, the butlers carried me to a waiting wooden horse, built to come to a sharp point rather than a saddle, and placed me on top, tying my angles and wrists so I couldn’t get free. My own weight pushed my hips down, grinding my sensitive inner parts against the horse in burning agony.

 

 

Fruitlessly, I struggled, only provoking laughter and occasional slaps from my captors. Gradually, my vision started to clear and I came back to my senses, the drugs apparently having spent their potency. Morven stood near me, considering.

 

“Well,” he said, “what do we do with you now? The master would be happy to just dispose of the lot of you, but you’ve got a pretty face. I imagine you’d fetch a good price at the Riften slave market.”

 

I shook my head violently, though this mostly served to grind the sharp face of the wooden horse deeper into my vulva.

 

“I told you who I am,” I said, “I… I think I told you who I am. Didn’t I?”

 

“Aye, you did, but that means nothing to me. Your mother might be a priestess, but she’ll be joining you in your fate so what of it?”

 

 

“No…” I said, “That’s not… I’m not… does the name Torvald Bjissen mean anything to you?”

 

Morven shook his head, “sorry, girl, and if it did it wouldn’t matter.”

 

Before we could speak more, the old man’s voice rumbled, “The name Torvald Bjissen means something to me. What do you know of the Black Thane?”

 

“He, ah,” I had to catch my breath to overcome the pain of my bondage, “I’m Kirstia Bjissen, I’m his daughter.”

 

“What a tragedy,” Nepos said, “under other circumstances, we could have been allies. But I think we’re past that opportunity now, don’t you? I mean, after the treatment we’ve given you, would you trust me if our circumstances were reversed? I’ll do this, girl. I’ll give you a clean death.”

 

I heard the man’s dagger sliding free from its sheath, but at the same time I felt one of my ankles start to get some play. I wasn’t sure how I’d suddenly got free, but I didn’t hesitate. Rolling off the wooden horse, the other angle band snapped with the motion and I found myself next to one of the house’s long dining tables. Morven stepped forward to grab me, but I snatched up a knife from table and drove it hard into his eye. The butler screamed and staggered backwards, even as I saw mother breaking loose of the maid’s grasp.

 

A quick, fighting retreat happened as I pulled Jenassa, still shackled at the wrists, after us towards the door. Outside, I called out in my loudest voice, “guards! Guards!”

 

 

Soon armored men surrounded us, shouting questions. Bloodied and battered, and with my burst of desperate energy fast fading, I sat down on the cobblestones almost insensate as mother explained in pointed terms what had happened: we’d gone to request donations, Nepos had unwittingly revealed that he was in league with the Forsworn, then tried to kidnap us to keep his secret. We’d barely escaped with our lives.

 

Evidently trusting in her word as a priestess, the guards forced the door and plunged into the house. Sounds of battle followed, but only for a moment, and the guards soon emerged with the maid, bleeding from an ugly looking scalp wound, held fast between them.

 

“The old bastard took the easy way out,” one of them muttered. “She should have too.” The man punctuated his words by biting the Uaile’s ear, hard enough to draw blood. She looked at me with a stare of pure hate, but said nothing.

 

Jenassa, the guards having broken her shackles, rejoined us and helped me limp back to the temple. I was glad we'd survived our brush with disaster, but I was deeply disappointed with how this encounter had turned out. I couldn't shake the feeling that if I'd been completely candid and up front with the Nose, I might have recruited him as an ally rather than setting in motion the sequence of events that led to his death. As mother and Jenassa washed my wounds and fed me healing brews, I despaired that in my circumspection, I'd closed a door that concealed answers to many questions I had about my past. Now it seemed, all that remained was the Silver-Blood family, and I feared that while I might find justice for Eltrys, my own questions would go unanswered.

 

 

Troubleshooting and Conflict Resolution

During this session, I discovered an interaction between Sexist Guards and Naked Defeat - if Sexist Guards gets stuck looping its character dialogue, Naked Defeat will not properly parse the 'struggle to escape' scene, leaving the player stuck indefinitely in bondage. Resetting the SG quests resolves the issue, so there's a workaround. However, more in-depth investigation is going to be necessary to determine if these mods can 'play nice' with each other without requiring MCM intervention.