It didn't take a second demand for me to leave the Arcanaeum; indeed, now that I had a lead on Millonce Curio, I resolved to leave the College campus in its entirety as quickly as I could. I gathered up my gear as quickly as I could; I had a strong suspicion that if I lingered for any length of time, then I'd find myself given little choice but to remain. Certainly at least until the mages had satisfied their curiosity about me. Right until the moment I reached the bottom of the bridge, I was expecting any moment for gates to slam shut before me or a magical grip to hold me fast. Indeed, it even seemed that Faralda's cube had at last stopped stalking me.

 

If anything, my exit felt too easy.

 

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I made way directly to the pier. Jollsen, the boatsman, seemed quite happy to get out to sea, and we sailed with the tide. 

 

 

To reach Millonce's hiding place, I needed to reach the fortress town of Dragon Bridge, then follow the river west-northwest until I reached the camp. We followed the coast westward, all the way until we reached Solitude's docks. I'd had the good fortune of seeing dark clouds roll in from a distance, and I'd packed away my warm fur cloak. While the rain was chilly, the climate here was nothing compared to the frigid northeast. 

 

I set out on the road immediately, hoping that the rain would blow over by the time I reached Dragon Bridge. It wasn't to be, however. If anything, the storm grew stronger. As lightning played across the sky, I conceded at least momentary defeat and started looking for an inn where I could ride out the storm. 

 

 

That inn turned out to be the Four Shields. It was a spacious building with two storeys and a large open central space. Almost as soon as I sat by the fire, one of the workers peeled off from the kitchen and greeted me. 

 

"Wecome to the Four Shields," she said, "can I get you something?"

 

 

"A room, first, I think," I said.

 

The woman shook her head. "Sorry, all the private rooms are full up. But feel free to warm yourself by the fire all you'd like - are you planning on staying the night?"

 

"Ah, I'm of half a mind to press on after the storm if there's no rooms, but I can feel my time on the road catching up with me. Mind if I lay down a bedroll by the fire tonight?"

 

She smiled, "for a cute thing like you? Any time. Just buy some dinner, will you?"

 

"Cute thing, huh? I don't know, you have a recommendation?"

 

"Hmmm," she mused, "you like sweets? Of course you like sweets."

 

I nodded in agreement.

 

"Our cook makes an amazing molé sauce. Pour that over beef and potatoes, with a hot glass of egg nog on the side? That'll take the edge off."

 

It did indeed sound delicious. "Alright," I said, "you've got me convinced. Set your cook to work."

 

Before she could answer me, I heard what sounded like a scuffle behind me, and a man's voice shout "you won't leave here alive." 

 

I started to turn, just in time for my pauldron to be in the way of his knife instead of my neck. Rolling - really falling - forward from my chair, I scrambled to my feet and opened up some space between me and my attacker as I drew my sword. He bum rushed me, landing another ineffective blow on my breastplate. The man's strength was unbelievable. I shoved him back, using some of my own newfound strength, and dashed through an open doorway. Quickly I spun and slammed the door closed, pushing my armored back against it in in a makeshift barricade. I glanced down then, and seeing the light that announced a gap between door and floor, I called forth The Teacher's Children. The spiders surged down my legs and underneath the door, and I heard screaming from the common room. 

 

At length, the screaming stopped and the Children returned to me. As soon as they had all crawled back inside me, I cautiously pulled the door open to survey the room. Two men lay still on the floor, their bodies a welter of angry purple bites. Another patron, a woman, was being held down and tied up by the other inhabitants of the inn.

 

 

The girl who had recommended the molé sauce gestured towards her. "She came in with the other two, and pointed you out."

 

"Is that so?" I asked. Then turning to the woman I pressed her, "why did you have me attacked? What did I ever do to you?"

 

"Oh," she laughed, "wouldn't you like to know."

 

"As a matter of fact," I said, "I would. The way I see it, you can tell me who sent you, and why, and I can turn you over the guards. Or, you can keep quiet, and I have lock you in that old gibbet all night and ask again in the morning." I gestured to a rusty body gibbet that was probably more decoration than functioning restraint.

 

She turned her nose up at me, and I produced my dagger. "Alright," I said, "let's get those clothes off you then. This is going to be a very uncomfortable night for you..."

 

I slipped the blade under her neckline and started to cut the rather expensive looking robe. She struggled fruitlessly a little more and then spoke out.

 

"Stop! Stop, I'll tell you. It won't help you anyway."

 

I stopped cutting but didn't withdraw the knife. "Talk."

 

"Betrid Silver-Blood. She has a bounty on your head. A thousand Septims for you the Nord girl with horns - dead."

 

I groaned at that. I'd really hoped that my troubles with the influential Markarth family had died with their hare brained scheme to kidnap me the previous year, but apparently Betrid Silver-Blood was going to remain a thorn in my side for a while yet. 

 

"Was it just you looking for me?"

 

She laughed at me, sneering, "it's an open bounty. Whoever... no matter if they're high or low, whoever brings back your head can claim the reward."

 

"Lovely." I looked to the serving girl and said, "you better wrap up that beef dinner. I'll be continuing my journey after all."

 

She nodded silently, then scurried off. A few minutes later, the guards had collected my assailant and I'd collected my dinner. I drained the goblet of warm egg nog - just as sweet and tasty as the girl had promised - and went on my way. 

 

 

 

 

Behind The Scenes

Kind of a short entry today as I have some time constraints to deal with, but we've made it most of the way to our objective. I'm not entirely sure why Gilsi (an Interesting NPCs character) attacked me, and that'll warrant some further investigation at some point. I did observe a couple of small mesh conflicts within the inn - notably the Sanguine statue conflicts with a dresser - but overall this was a pretty smooth run (though I've learned the hard way that it's extremely difficult to get random NPCs to enter ZAZ furniture, even with a lot of help from NFF and Proteus. As such, I never got to write my original scene, which had Kirsti locking Gilsi up in the gibbet and interrogating her)