Trouble never comes alone Options

[jack cloudy]

Yes, so I just couldn't resist and had to get this off my chest. We'll see how long it lasts. Same deal as with redemption, I'll be using this post as a character list and the first part will be in the next one. For now the list is simple.

A question. Should I add a separate entry for Spar at the very bottom that is basically the extra-spoilers edition?

Spar: A female Imperial and the main character of this story. Is guided by 'Them'.
(Portrait)

Silent Fist: A Companion Spar hires to escort her into Bleak Falls Barrow. He doesn't speak, wear shirts or use weapons. Click here for portrait

Faendal: A wood elf who lives in a small village known as Riverwood. He works as a hunter and lumberjack.

Lucan Valerius: The shopkeeper of Riverwood.

Jarl Balgruuf: The Jarl of Whiterun, a city located in the center of Skyrim between the fronts of the Imperial and Stormcloak factions.

Hrongar: Jarl Balgruuf's brother. Looks like he walked off the set of a Conan-film.

Irileth: A Dunmer who serves as Jarl Balgruuf's bodyguard.

Proventus Avenicci: Jarl Balgruuf's steward.


Vilkas: One of the Companions, a mercenary group in Whiterun
Vignar Grey-Mane: Formerly of the Companions, now retired.

Ulfric Stormcloak: The rebel leader in Skyrim, once on of the Emperor's generals.

Arkarik: Someone Spar was supposed to meet in Cyrodiil.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Aug 1 2013, 06:34 PM

[jack cloudy]

Thanks everyone!

Darkness, I personally like the dialogue close to general narrating. Sure, putting them right in the middle of a line flanked on each side with the narrator is a no-no, but I don't like splitting off the dialogue from the paragraphs they go with either.

As for your suspicions on what happened right at the start, you'll get your answer today. It won't be much of a surprise though.


Elisabeth, I always pick Faendal in the love triangle. For two reasons. One, he actually has a reward worth getting. (namely, himself) Two, I don't like Sven's mom.


And to everyone else. Thanks for reading again.




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The dark elf was wrapped up tight and strung to the wall. Right above his head was a cluster of eggs. I looked at the eggsack then back at the thief. He was very lucky those spiderlings hadn't hatched yet. The mer repeated his pleas for freedom but Faendal held up his hand and cut him off.
"Not so fast. You took something from Lucan Valerius' shop down in Riverwood. I want it back." He said. I followed the exchange between the two with growing unease. That Faendal wanted to get the claw before freeing the elf was smart, but not freeing him at all would have been even smarter. I didn't like the bandit's eyes. They'd gone from frightened of dying to pure calculating in a heartbeat. It didn't seem like Faendal had noticed however.


I resolved to tell him and grabbed his sleeve.
"Faendal. I don't trust him. Leave him!" I whispered in his ear. If the dark elf had heard, he didn't mention it and honestly I didn't care if he had. The hunter however shrugged.
"If we walk away, he dies. We free him, and he'll owe us. Besides, even thieves have honour." He whispered back and then took my torch to burn the man out of his binds.
"Say that to the Gray Fox." Or to any other thief. Unless it was a partnership in crime started over friendship, the odds of not getting sold out or cheated the moment it is profitable to do so are practically zero. It was a waste of breath to convince Faendal however and I stopped trying.


Faendal put the torch to the webbing that held up the cocoon and then the outer layers of the cocoon itself. The silk burned, not quickly, but it burned. It also spread a terrible stench as it did so. The thief fell to the ground and tore off big clumps of silk from himself till all that was left was a thin sheet of the stuff and many small globules.
"Many thanks, friend." He said to Faendal once he'd finished patting himself off. The man had no eye for me and in fact I half-wondered if he'd forgotten entirely I stood a few paces back.
"I suppose that to him Faendal looks like the leader of us two. He is bigger, obviously more used to the outdoors and he killed the spider while I cowered in a corner. Hmm, I wonder if the thief saw that part."


"The claw, please." Faendal asked and held out his hand.
"Yes, the claw. Here!" It was bigger than I'd expected. Bigger and heavier. That much gold was worth a small fortune if melted down. So why hadn't they left the area and done so? The elf kept talking.
"I know how it works. I know everything! Where the treasure is, how to get it! The claw is the key!" And there was my answer. The claw wasn't the goal, but the tool. Even as the dark elf rambled about Nord secrets and whatnot, Faendal turned and walked away. The elf was forced to give chase.
"Hey! Where are you going?" He yelled. Stupid Faendal! Never turn your back on someone you can't trust.
"I don't care for treasure. I only wanted to bring the claw back to Camilla and that is exactly what I'm going to do."


The spider was still where it had fallen, with Faendal's knife between its spread mandibles, his broken bow at its feet and a large pool of venom growing around it. The thief looked at it for a second, his eyes lingering on the weapons and then settled squarely on Faendal's back again.
"You don't care about riches? About the power those Nords have hidden away?!" How could he not notice the anger in the thief's voice? It was so obvious! I listened for Them, but they weren't telling me anything. So either I was wrong, or I was so right I didn't need Them's advice.
"It's right beneath our feet, ripe for the taking! Can't you imagine it? More gold than you can dream off! Power that makes the Jarls quake in their boots!" Power? His right hand went down to his hip and I saw that what had seemed to be a lump of silk was actually a sheathed knife. I was right all along. Not that it made me feel better. I kept my eye on that hand and only that hand.


Faendal stepped through the puddle of venom that dripped from the spider's punctured glands. Then the thief did. Meanwhile, the man from Riverwood rejected the thief's proposition again.
"No. It's worth nothing next to a woman's heart." I didn't even need to be a woman to know how stupid that line sounded coming from him. Given how he clearly was trying to buy one with the stupid claw, what would make a pile of treasure any different? The other elf shook his head and drew.





I put my hand on the dark elf's left shoulder. He turns counterclockwise, the dagger takes the long way around, away from me. Step in close, block his right arm with my left, use my right to slam the palm into his chin and expose the throat. Punch it.


He stumbles back, choking and clutching the wounded throat. There was not enough strength behind that blow to crush his windpipe, but it stunned him and made him drop the knife. It's enough. Get close again, kick the side of his knee, grab his head and drive him down to the floor into the venom. He struggles, but my weight on his back keeps his lips touched to his doom. Bubbles pop with every breath. Soon he grows sluggish, weak and fades away.
"You killed him." No, I haven't. Not yet. He could be faking it so I get off and jump on his neck to finish the job. When it cracks I answer.
"Yes."


I looked at the corpse in wonder. It was the first time in my life that I'd killed anything bigger than a fly. I thought I should feel something. Excitement, pride, relief in the knowledge that this body of mine could do the deed when needed? Disgust perhaps at the stupid greed that had forced my hand? Fear at doing things without knowing what I'm doing until I had done it? But when I looked down at the body I realized I didn't feel anything significant. Not about me and not about the elf. Now that it had stopped breathing it was just meat.
I looked at Faendal who jumped back with the torch. He then stepped aside and stuttered. "Ah, shall we leave? Ladies first."
"Yes."


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There had been a change in me. I noticed it while going up. It could just be because I'd been here before, but the disorientating loops in the stone, the open coffins, the whispering air-current, it no longer affected me. But I didn't think it was just familiarity. It was knowing that I could kill threats that gave me confidence. Granted, I still had running away filed away as a preferred course of action but it was now just one option in the bag of tricks instead of the only one.


"Why did you attack him? I just don't get it. We saved his life, you know." Faendal asked me when we neared the top. I could see the glow of the campfire playing off the walls. Why did I? I did it because I would be next and I'd have the greatest chance at killing him while he was focussed on the elf in front of him. Them cut in to tell me that was not an answer Faendal wanted to hear. So I gave him a different one.
"I did it because he was about to put a knife in the back of a lovestruck idealist who couldn't be bribed with the promise of riches." I said without either turning my head or slowing down. Faendal didn't reply.
"And notice how he didn't mention his friends?" I added then, "I bet he planned on killing or swindling them out of their share as well. It happens all the time."


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The monster wasn't there when we emerged from the Barrow. But the signs of it having been there were obvious. The watchtower hadn't looked too stable before, but now it was little more than a pile of rubble. The snow around it was simply gone and the few trees that grew up on the mountain had been reduced to charred stumps. There was no sign of the thief's partners. I stepped out into the shade and shivered as the cold wind struck me in the face. Wait, shade? That wasn't right. It had the wrong shape, not like the Barrow's exterior. I spun around and looked up.


It was right above us. I could count the scales it was so close! My breathe froze in my throat and I didn't dare move. The monster had chosen the Barrow as its nest! Its chest, large enough to house a family of six, rose and fell with the sound of a gale. Its wings were folded up beside it, its head tucked under an armpit. I looked at its eyes and dared to breathe again. It was sleeping.
"Would you?" Faendal suddenly piped up. He was still standing inside the door. I didn't pay much attention to him, rather choosing to give the flying beast a good look while I had the chance.
"Would I what?" I mumbled.


It was definitely some sort of lizard, but not coldblooded like the Argonians. If it had been, it wouldn't be up here. Or maybe it was cold-blooded. Since it had an internal furnace to provide warmth it didn't matter much. It was also massive, and its wingspan could cover half of Riverwood if it fully extended its wings. I frowned at that. Sure, it was the biggest bat I'd ever seen, but the wing-to-body ratio was off. Unless it was hollow like a balloon on the inside, those wings could never lift it. It would have to beat like crazy and it hadn't done so either in Helgen or here. And it wasn't hollow either. I remembered how it had smashed through the wall of one of Helgen's towers. If it was hollow, its skull would have crumpled under the impact. The only thing that had crumpled was the tower, not the beast.


"Would you have taken him up on his offer?" Faendal asked again and the part of me that listened realized he was talking about the dark elf. It wasn't entirely invulnerable. There was an arrow stuck in the soft tissue of its throat. But an arrow was like a bee's stinger to it. Irritating but not dangerous. I stepped away from the Barrow slowly, then faster. With the howling of its breath, it wasn't going to hear me unless I screamed. I wasn't going to do that. Confident that talking would not set it off, I finally gave the elf his answer.
"He was a sociopath. You can't trust those." I did not mention that I had been tempted by the 'power' the dark elf mentioned. It was possibly the one thing I wanted most. The power to do what I was born for, the power to remove all my limitations. But I wasn't suicidal. No one would 'hide' a spell tome or enchanted anti-army sword or whatever form this power took, in the most visible and outright noticeable structure around. There had to be traps, or some 'test of character' or something to protect it that wasn't giant spiders. I wasn't going to tangle with it just because a now dead cutthroat had thought it possible. For all I knew, the sleeping giant was one of the Barrow's protectors. I definitely wasn't going to fight that.


Faendal stepped outside and he too, turned and saw the monster. His response was different from mine. Instead of seeing it was asleep, he dove back inside. He whispered a warning or a command to me, but it was lost to the breathing gale. I shook my head.
"It's sleeping. Let's warn Riverwood to stop making light." I told him and walked down the path without looking if he followed. Beneath the mountain the village twinkled like fireflies. Just as pretty, and just as vulnerable.

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OOC: Damsel in distress status, avoided.
Double OOC: If I mentioned the word dragon in this post. Please tell me. She isn't supposed to know yet!

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Mar 24 2013, 10:23 PM