The Gweden report, A story of the story of the stories. Options

[ghastley]

Until I complete the other mods, there's not a lot to add to their stories, so I thought I'd tell the tales associated with Gweden while I work on them.

That mod's anything but linear, as you can do the individual quests for most of the girls in any order. That meant I'd have to come up with a narrative that links them all together and creates a sequence. Rather than take the easy way out and describe it all from the Player-character's viewpoint, I thought I'd try a different approach entirely.

So I'm going to write a story, about a reporter writing a story, about the stories of the girls who work at Gweden. They'll tell them to him one at a time, and there will be a bit of extra narrative added beyond what actually happens when you play through each of the quests they're describing.

The Champion is arbitrarily male as before, and of no specific race. Because of the requirements of the mod for some of the quests, he's also the Madgod, Master of the Fighter's Guild, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Arena Champion, and Archmage, although I'll try to play those down as much as possible. All of those things are less important to his employees anyway. He's the boss, and he did something special for each of them, or they wouldn't be there.

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Prologue

"Listen up girls," Tsarrina began. "This one expects you've all heard the news by now. The Oblivion Crisis is over, and the Gates are all closed. Martin Septim is no more, and the Elder Council is running things ."

"Our boss is now the Champion of Cyrodill, and so everything he does is front-page news in the Black Horse Courier. They're sending a reporter down here to do a story about this establishment of his, in the next few days."

"This one doesn't want it to be just another story about the boss. He's getting a bit tired of that himself. This one wants it to be our story. Your story."

"We probably won't make the front page, as it appears they're sending a junior down to do the interviews. But that should work in our favor. He'll be young, and you'll all appreciate that. Especially Juliana. This one wants you to be ready if he's really inexperienced. The rest of you are to make the best impression you can. We can get some really good publicity from this."

"Should we start shopping for new clothes?" asked one of them, hopefully.

"No, you won't be needing those much," Tsarrina chuckled, "but make sure anything you do wear is is the best you have. And by that, this one means the most effective, not the most expensive. Unless it's both. Dark-eyes, get your uniform starched up and crisp. Cybeline, that red velvet number with the plunging neckline that you keep for special occasions. This is a special occasion."

Everyone looked at Prizna. She just laughed, and Tsarrina had to grin, too. "This one does not expect you to start wearing clothes now."

"This one wants you all to be ready to tell him how you came to be here, and what part the boss played in that. It will keep the stories relevant to his assignment, but they'll be about you as much as they are about the Champion."

"We'll make use of the old farmhouse as the interview room. It's nice and cozy in front of the fire there, and we'll put some comfortable chairs either side. We should keep the main rooms in the Lodge open for business. There's no point losing any trade while he's here, after all."

"Will he be staying at the Count's Arms while he's here?", asked Maeva. "I can walk up with him in the mornings if he does."

"No, we'll keep him here at the farm," Tsarrina decided. "He'll use the main bed in the farmhouse, and this one doesn't want him sleeping in it alone! You'll each get a turn to tell him your story. Make sure you also get a turn to show him what you can do."

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Future pieces will have each of the women telling her story of how she came to be at the Gweden Brothel, or the reporter putting the report together. I'll add a postscript article from the Black Horse Courier about Cousin Miranu's miraculous potion at the end, which should take a post or two to cover it. I have most of the stories drafted, as they come straight from the mod itself, but I'm still working on the wrapper narrative, and haven't finalized the sequence of the individual tales yet.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 7 2016, 04:47 PM

[ghastley]

A mention of Ancondil's warhammer, Persuader, reminded me of Sugar's negotiating axe. About time I had her tell her story.

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Sugar gra-Mazog

"Sugar, this reporter from the Black Horse Courier would like to know all about how you came to work at Gweden" said Tsarrina.

The Orc looked down at him with a scowl, or was that supposed to be a smile? She began.

You may have noticed that there aren't many Orcs in this business. That's because we're not the best salespeople in Tamriel. We need a good pimp to handle the negotiating part of the transaction, or we just don't get the price we deserve. Once I take over, I give good value, and I don't get any complaints. Oh I know what you're thinking, but they come back for more, so it's not that.

So anyway, I thought I had found a pimp I could work with. A scrawny llittle weasel that I didn't really trust, but he had the usual Imperial way with words and he got the job done. Trouble was, he got greedy. He wanted a bigger cut of the gold, and I told him he wasn't getting it.

At first, he tried persuasion, including that Charm spell they all seem to be able to cast. Didn't do anything to me, so he got mad and pulled out his sword. Now that's the sort of negotiation I can handle, so I replied with my axe, until he saw things my way.

So now I'm without a pimp again. He's off getting his face healed, and I figure he's not likely to work with me when that's done. I move to the Imperial city, where I hoped there might be more potential customers, maybe even a few Orcs that know true beauty when they see it. Turned out that most of my customers were Bosmers, whose eyes never got up to my face.

(At this point the words "copious cleavage" are underlined in the reporter's notes)

I was sleeping in an abandoned hut in the Waterfront during the day and working the Arboretum in the evenings. Darkness seemed to help trade in several ways, and it meant I was sleeping while the others who used the hut were working, and vice-versa. I always took my negotiating axe with me, except for the one day I forgot, and that's when it was stolen.

Fortunately, that was also the day the Champion came by the Arboretum. Of course he was just another adventurer then, and I thought he was there on business. My business, I hoped.

So I start to chat with him, and it turns out he knows my old friend Mazoga! She grew up in my family when we took her in as an orphan. Well, not even that. She was born in our cave where we were all sheltering as refugees from the war. Her mother died in childbirth, and we never even got to ask her who the father was. So we named her after my father Mazog, and that's the only name she uses.

He told me Mazoga had become a Knight-Errant of the White Stallion, no less, down in Leyawiin County, and she was busy hunting bandits for the Count. Had her own home just outside town and all. It was good to knows she's on the right side of the law at last.

I told the Champion that it was a good thing she hadn't come to the city, or she'd be hunting down the thief who stole my axe. I just wanted it back, but Mazoga would be after the thief's blood. That's just the way she dealt with things - violently. He nodded with agreement at that.

That's how I came to tell him all about the axe, and the pimp, and everything else. He asked me if I'd consider coming here to Gweden when I got my axe back. Well, of course I would! My own bed, no Imperial pimp to cheat me, what's not to like about it?

When he brought me the axe, he told me all about getting it back. How he'd asked around the Waterfront until one of the beggars sent him to Armand Christophe. I knew the guy slightly, he lived a few huts down from the one I slept in, but I didn't know how much he ran the place. Apparently he has all the beggars in Cyrodiil telling him what's going on!

Someone had seen the thief in Bravil, so the Champion had followed him there. He'd tried to fence the axe down there, but nobody was buying. He'd gone off to some Marauder hideout to try and sell it there. That's where the Champion found him, dead. Still had the axe on him, so it seems the Marauders weren't buying either.

It was always a good axe for me, but I could understand how it wouldn't suit everyone. Heavier than usual, and drains the user's magicka. But it hits hard, especially when I'm using it, and it's durable, too. I still have that axe, though I never need it here at Gweden.

Well, that's not entirely true. I did need it once. After I'd been here a while, the Champ turned up with a bizarre tale about the Dark Brotherhood and a contract to kill me! It was that old pimp of mine behind it, and apparently one of us had to die. I didn't want any killing, but if it was me or Octavius, I knew who deserved it the most.

Champ was going to go off and kill Octavius for me, but I insisted on going along. I found my axe, and put on my armor. That got a few comments from the Champ about a "chainmail bikini", but it does get me noticed, and I'm not going to fight everyone I meet. Got to think about business, too!

What do you mean, skimpy? Look at the size of those pauldrons!

We set off for some Inn on the other side of Cyrodiil. The Drunken Dragon, I think it was called. A bit out of the way for an Inn, but Octavius was still in the pimp business, so a touch of seclusion was what he wanted.

The two sluts he had working the place hadn't seen him in weeks. As soon as they'd pulled in a few coins, he'd gone off to spend them in the city. The legion patrolman seemed to think Octavius had acquired the place a bit shadily, too. Seems the previous owner had been a Dark Brotherhood victim, and Octavius' claim to the property was somewhat doubtful.

We followed my ex-pimp to the city, asked a few beggars, and found him in Luther Broad's. He had an Argonian goon with him as a bodyguard, and they attacked us as soon as we walked in. I'm glad to say I got to finish off Octavius myself, with my trusty axe. Champ had sorted out the Argonian too, before Luther could even get the warhammer off his shoulder and help us.

We gave him the small amount of gold we found on the two as payment for the cleanup. He didn't want to take anything. We'd done him a favor getting rid of them, as they were obnoxious enough to drive his usual customers away. I could see his point.

The Champion and I parted company there in the city and I set off for home here at the farm. Just before I got to Skingrad, I was accosted by a highwayman demanding gold. I told him I didn't have any gold, but I could give him something much better than that. My armor doesn't hide much, and I could tell that he'd noticed.

I pulled him into the bushes and humped him senseless. While he was sleeping it off, I took his weapon, his armor, and everything else he was carrying, and sold it in Skingrad. He probably woke up naked after an hour or so, but I was long gone.I could have just killed him, but that was much more fun! He was lucky it was me and not Mazoga!

So now I keep the axe and armor in the chest at the foot of my bed, and I hope they can stay there. Gweden's a nice safe place. It's far enough from town that the drunks can't make it here without sobering up on the way, and there's the Legion patrolman to keep the peace, too. I like him, and I don't think it's just the discount rate that keeps him spending his spare gold here.

Oh, and my name? It's really pronounced Soo-GAAR, but it's written the same, so everyone gets it wrong. And in this line of work, that doesn't hurt any.


---

She's recounting what are two separate quests in the mod. The second requires the player to be Listener of the DB, and is started by taking to the Lucky Old Lady / Night Mother in Bravil. Since you have to have eliminated the publican of the Drunken Dragon earlier in the DB questline, it makes a perfect location for the new quest.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Aug 4 2016, 09:45 PM