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.

----

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."

----

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 quick interlude and Selena's tale. This was the first sub-quest I wrote for the mod, and it's a bit simple, even more so as she has to relate it without having seen it happen. Go there, kill everything, report back. So she'll talk more about Kvatch, from her point of view.


Selena

The second night at Gweden was just starting for the young reporter from the Black Horse Courier. His room was full of all the women he'd already interviewed, and he had a good idea what they had in mind.

They told him that Sugar had a pair of Orc brothers come in from Chorrol, and she was taking both on at once. With just one customer, it was like a cross between a rodeo and a wrestling match, so two was going to be a real spectacle. Tsarrina was selling tickets to watch, and she'd sent all these women over to him, so there would be more room for the men.

"So where would you like to start?" asked Virgilia, as innocently as she could.

He tried to avoid choosing. "Isn't there anyone here whose story I haven't heard?" But Tsarrina had sent those women upstairs over at the Lodge. She was controlling who he talked to, and when. He looked around the room, hoping for a way he wouldn't have to pick between them.

It must have been the way his gaze didn't linger any longer than it had to on Prizna that provoked her. "Come on now", she said. "You know you want to look. Start being honest with yourself!" Prizna was a tall, strong Dremora, and she had a lot of her colleagues backing her up. In seconds, he was lying naked on the bed, and Prizna was making him take a very close look.

That solved his problem with choosing, but now he had to deal with Prizna. He only saw one option, but he wasn't complaining. Prizna was moaning, but it didn't seem to be a complaint.

Inevitably, the others weren't going to just stand and watch. He couldn't see who was doing what, all he could see was Prizna. Sugar was busy, so he knew she wasn't one of them. He just hoped they'd be more gentle with him than she would.

---

"What did Juliana mean by 'silver-tongued Imperial'?" Tsarrina asked with a mischievous grin on her face. He groaned at that one, for more than one reason.

Tsarrina guessed he hadn't had a lot of sleep. She decided he should hear Selena's story next, as it wasn't too complicated.

Selena was a Redguard who'd survived the Siege of Kvatch. She came in and started to tell her tale.

Kvatch was a good town for a prostitute before the Daedra came. There was an Arena there, and a big market, and several taverns. Plenty of merchants and adventurers passing through, who might want a bit of fun while they were in town. The Count ran things with a light hand. Taxes weren't too high, the guard were forgiving, and business of all kinds was encouraged.

I worked for Garanil. He was an Altmer who owned a large house with private rooms that he rented out to us. He'd also solicit for us at the Arena, while we worked the taverns. I was making a good income, and didn't mind giving him a share. He took care of us, had a big Orc for a bouncer at the door to stop any trouble, and dealt with the law when we needed it.

But when the Oblivion Gate opened up outside the city, he ran away. He headed for a hideout in Salted Mine, to the north of Kvatch. We begged him to take us with him, but he told us we were on our own. The Orc bouncer didn't turn up, so we couldn't get any help from him, either.

We scattered, figuring we had a better chance of escaping individually. I climbed over a part of the city wall where a pile of rubble made a ramp, and made my way to the South. I found a campsite on the road. They told me Captain Matius had put up barricades to stop the Daedra coming out of the city, so it should be safe enough there. But they wanted to know where I'd got out, so they could guard there too.

I waited in the camp for the others from Garanil's house. None of them arrived, and nobody among the refugees had any news of them getting out. I guess I was the only one who made it.

A refugee camp's not a good place for a prostitute to do any business. There's just nowhere private enough. Most of us slept on bedrolls in the open, and the few tents were used by the healer, the smith, and others who had a proper job to do. We all pitched in to forage for food, but I had no hunting skills, and I wasn't good at finding the right plants either. I helped tend to the wounded, but I don't know any healing spells, so I still felt useless.

I was still hoping Garanil would return. He'd know what to do, and we'd start getting back to normal. But he didn't come. I was certain he'd got out of the city, so where was he now?

When the adventurer that I now know as the boss came to the camp, I asked him if he could help me find Garanil. I told him where Salted Mine was. That was the only place I knew where he might be. I was still hoping that Garanil would help us rebuild, and I could get back to my old job.

Salted Mine was on the other side of Kvatch, to the North. He asked me if he could go through the city to get there. I told him there was only one city gate, at the end of the road through the camp, and that one was blocked by an Oblivion Gate. Nothing could enter the city until that was shut down.

He strode off up the road anyway, to talk with Captain Matius at the barricades. The following morning a number of people came down the road telling tales of how the Oblivion Gate had just been closed. They'd not seen anything of the fighting, but had been sheltering in the Chapel of Akatosh until help arrived. The chapel had been damaged in the siege, but for some reason the Daedra were unable to enter it, and they'd been spared.

Brother Martin and Oleta, the healer from the chapel, were there, and so were Guilbert Selone, the gardener from the Arena, and a woman called Lenka Valus, whom I didn't know well. None of my sister prostitutes had reached the chapel, and nobody had seen Garanil. I asked Tierra, the guard who'd escorted the new batch of refugees from the city, but she hadn't seen him either.

She had seen my new adventurer friend, though. Captain Matius had told her that he was the one who closed the Oblivion Gate after the guards had failed. He'd rescued Ilend Vonius from the Deadlands too. They were calling him "The Hero of Kvatch" now.

She told me they'd all be trying to retake the Castle as soon as she returned to the city.

Just then a squad of legion men came into camp. They'd seen the smoke from the Gold Road and come to investigate. They followed Tierra back up the hill to Kvatch. I didn't see any of them come back down in the next few days, so I guess there was more fighting in the city.

The Hero came back a day or two later to tell me that he'd found Vampires in Salted Mine. They'd made Garanil a Vampire, too, and he'd had to kill them all. So Garanil wouldn't be coming back, ever.

He told me what the destruction in Kvatch was like. I'd seen some of it myself, but it got even worse after I escaped. He'd been with Captain Matius when they retook the Castle, and he'd found the Count's body himself. Matius was determined to rebuild, but that wasn't going to be happening soon. It would be years before there was a city on the hill again. Years before there would be a proper brothel in Kvatch. He asked me if I'd come here and help Tsarrina, instead. He'd see me here later, but he had to speak to Brother Martin first.

The three of us walked down to the Gold Road, but we went in opposite directions when we got there. I don't know where they were headed. The Hero thought it was best if he didn't reveal his plans. He and Brother Martin had something special they needed to do, and they didn't want to get me involved.

None of us knew back then who Brother Martin really was, and what would come to pass in the following months. I knew that the man I'd agreed to work for was now the Hero of Kvatch, and I had a feeling that he'd not stop there. Of course you know he became the Champion of Cyrodiil and more.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Feb 20 2012, 05:50 PM