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]

And here is the final part of this chapter.

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Chapter 1.16


They came storming down the path, several dozens of men and women in rattling chain, spilling over into the grass on each side. Groupleaders barked encouragements or insults, whatever got their men moving. I got out of the way before I'd be swept along in the Nords' charge and trampled underfoot. I'd seen a lot of charges during the Great War, most of them under better lighting, but this one I firmly placed on the less disciplined end. This was no wave of soldiers in a tight unbreakable formation, it was a series of leaps, skips and stops. It was the charge of conscripts, torn from their daily life and put on the battlefield without training or preparation. People who didn't trust their fellow man, who let fear of death control their actions. The fact that they could barely see the man in front of them didn't help matters.

"You call yourself Nords?" A coarse voice shouted over all the others. "Look at yourself, shaking in your boots! Afraid of old wives' tales and shadows! I've seen Mudcrabs braver than you! Do I have to bring you your mother's blanket?"
A glittering swarm of green fireflies passed me by. An enchanted suit of armour, nothing else could make glow like that without lighting the environment. And only one person fit gear like that, and that voice. Irileth the Dunmer.


Under her guidance the warriors approached the dragon and began to hack at it. I wondered what Fist was thinking of that, though I couldn't see him in the crowd. Was he amused at the Nords trying to kill something that was already dead, or angry someone would 'claim' his kill once they found out their foe wasn't fighting back? It wasn't my problem, I suppose. All I cared for was getting the cube to Farengar without the Altmer getting close to it. One was by my feet, the other was stomping my way.


"You were told to find us information on that thing, not kill it." The elf began the moment our eyes made contact. I made an exaggerated shrug with shoulders and hands while simultaneously kicking the cube behind my heels, then stood my ground against the witch.
"I learned they die." I said back. The woman got right into my face. I would have stepped back if it wasn't for the cube.
"We already knew that!" She yelled, "The Jarl had one's head mounted above his throne!"


I had to get this spy distracted somehow so I could smuggle Farengar's treasure away from under her nose. The Nords were still swinging their axes at the dragon. They were no longer so afraid of it, but judging by the sounds they weren't making much progress either. Their weapons rang as they bounced off the beast's armour and one soldier let out a curse as his axehead broke from the hilt.
"Uh, it's not moving. I think we're fighting a corpse, Housecarl. Or a castle." Another said.
"You think. You're not here to think, soldier. You're here to kill! So take it apart!"


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The Altmer and I were still stuck in our standoff. I couldn't think of anything to say to get her off my back and as for her, she seemed to have plenty of words on her lips.
"You're injured." She remarked after a few more scathing verbal attacks regarding the dragon and my 'wannabe heroine streak'. "We need to get you to a healer, yesterday."
Her words were compassionate, but I didn't believe them for a second. Thalmor were not known for their kindness or love for others, not even towards their own. This could be nothing else but a ruse. To get me to drop my guard. Then would come the mindaltering potions, the poisonous words, the lies and an accident to round it off. I'd seen it too many times before. Too many times.


"It's nothing permanent." I snapped back. My heel went back only to nudge the stone cube, freezing me in place. "I don't need a healer and I don't need your help."
She came at me, ghastly glow dancing among her fingers. I couldn't move, couldn't give away the cube's location.
"I'll be the judge of that!" My skin pricked, itched and crawled in ways it shouldn't. "You look like an overdone roast." I had to stop her. Before she did something with her magic. Before she rewrote my mind into perfect obedience to her whims or broke it trying.
"And Divines know how we're going to get those furs off of you." My hands groped behind me for the boneknife. They grasped only the chilly air. The knife was where I'd left it, burrowed within the dragon's flesh. "They've practically melted into your skin. I don't see how you're even standing."


I shoved the elven witch away. It was all I could do without a weapon, or the surprise I needed to wring her neck.
"I'll live. Back off." I shouted. To my surprise, she did.
"Fine, keel over then! You impossible pighead! At least tell me you found the brick you were supposed to get in the first place." And there it was, just as I'd thought, the naked truth. The Thalmor wasn't concerned for my well-being, of course not, but for whether or not I'd gotten the artefact or whatever it was that sat in the box. My mind had been taken off of it by the sudden crisis and now I easily found the answer that had been impossible to find earlier.
"Maybe." I answered and jabbed a thumb at the remains of the watchtower. "Check the rubble."


The moment the Altmer stomped off in anger, I snatched up the cube and hurried to Irileth, the Jarl's bodyguard and apparent first response in case of dragons.
"There are two men in that tower. Possibly dead, almost definitely injured." I told her and the Dunmer ordered her archers to start digging immediately. I didn't like it, their efforts could reveal to the Thalmor that the cube wasn't where I'd said it was. But I owed those two that much. The cube wasn't worth it and I wasn't going to hold on to it for much longer myself. Irileth was looking at me in ways reminiscent of the Altmer's just before.
"You don't look so good yourself. Go to a healer." She said after a moment.
"I remember worse." My legs had held so far. And I wasn't in her chain of command. Changing the subject, I held up the cube. I made sure to shield it with my body from the Thalmor woman in case she would look. She was digging herself, moving vast stones with her mind.
"The Septim dynasty outlawed that spell. Hypocrite." I thought and lowered my voice to give instructions to the Housecarl.


"Take this to the court wizard and show or mention it to no one else." I told her and put it in her hand. The Dunmer looked at the cube for a second, feeling the carvings along its faces.
"I'd sooner take this to the Jarl, whatever it is." She then said. I shook my head.
"It seems to have a supernatural knack for drawing in dragons. I am certain that the Jarl would appreciate Farengar's opinion regarding its potential to be a threat more than your own." It was a simple statement of facts and she took it as such, showing no offense at what lesser people would have considered a denouncement of their talents.


"Did someone just say my name?"


Irileth spun around and, accompanied by a floating wisp of light, the court wizard walked up in his pyjamas. Or another set of robes, it was hard to tell.
"Farengar!" The Dunmer exclaimed. "You were told not to leave the keep! It is too dangerous here! How did you even," Her protests were cut off by a dismissive gesture from the thin Nord.
"Yes, yes. Just tell your butchers to leave that perfect specimen alone. I want to take some samples and run some experiments before it's been reduced to boarfodder." He said. Farengar walked by us. He tried to shove his way through the mass of soldiers while yelling at them to stop their 'mutilation'. I looked at Irileth who weighed the cube in her hands. Then I took it from her and marched over to the stupid court wizard.


I reminded him of my mission but he just ignored me.
"Did I? Are you certain you got the right one? Look at the size of it, simply magnificent!" There were a lot of words I would use to describe a dragon, but magnificent wasn't one of them. Especially not when the dragon in question was a pulverized oozing mass of red flesh. I rammed the box into his hands and turned away from him. I saw the Altmer's eyes on me and knew the ruse was up.
"Considering I bluffed a townsized mass of flaming screw you over it, it had better be." I said loud enough to be heard by everyone.


That was it, mission completed. Farengar had his little box and the killer of Helgen had fallen. The Thalmor was still around, but I would figure out how to remove her later. Now, I should rest.
"I want a healer."






OOC:
Originally I just had Farengar say "Are you certain?" Implying that he didn't even remember the quest. But I had to get in the 'bluffed a goddamn dragon' line so I changed it to questioning the cube.


Also, the end of the chapter means I need to get back to planning. I wrote up a plan for myself before Spar even got to Whiterun, but now I think I won't follow it. For several reasons. The next part as per the plan has been done before. It has been done better than I would and it doesn't develop Spar's story very well. All it gets her is a neat sword. And loot alone isn't enough. The good news is that it is perfectly interchangable so I'll probably plug it in at a later time.

But yeah, need to come up with a new chapter that's more relevant to Spar. I've got an idea already, but need to work out the niggly bits.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jan 22 2014, 09:01 PM