Clark in Skyrim, A continued report from across the border. Options

[ghastley]

If mALX is back, then Clark should return too.

We left him in Evergloam at the beginning of the 4th Era, where Nocturnal had just inducted him and Minx as Nightingales, to join Dralsi. The two other members of the first trinity had been slain by Ogrim the Restless, who was the original occupant of the cave complex that became the Twilight Sepulchre.

He's about 225 years old now. Nocturnal and Azura made him immortal, rather than risk having to train a new one. He retired as a Nightingale some time ago, and went back into business managing brothels, and other enterprises that remain profitable in times of war. Much of the other intervening history should emerge as this unfolds.

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Part 1 - Over the border

"So Gilda, have you been into Skyrim before?" Clark asked the young woman sitting next to him. Ahead of them, the horse plodded onward, pulling Clark's carriage along the road towards Helgen. He gave the reins a jiggle, but the horse's gait didn't change. It only knew slow and steady.

Gilda wasn't really paying attention. She was busy looking at the scenery, which is why Clark had asked. "Oh, what? No, I barely got a mile from our farm before now. Mother didn't like me wandering off; she was scared I'd run into bandits."

"Is that how your nose got broken?" Clark guessed.

"Yes, the one time I did get away, she turned out to be right. When the bandits found out I didn't have anything valuable, they ... well, you can imagine what they had in mind. I gave the first one who tried anything my knee, and he did that in return. The others didn't stop me when I ran off, they were too busy laughing at our discomfort."

"How long ago was that? It looks like it's been that way for a while."

"About five months, I think. One day was much like another at our farm, and I lost track of time. I can't thank you enough for getting me away from there."

Clark wasn't sure what had made him offer to take her with him. He did need a new apprentice, that was true, but why he'd suddenly decided it could be her was beyond him. It wasn't her looks, for certain. Apart from her nose, she had crooked teeth, and looked like she never ate anything. Her mother was the exact opposite, so it was clear where all the food went in that household. She was wearing one of her mother's hand-me-down dresses, which fit her like a sack.

But he'd stopped at the farm for directions when he left Bruma, and she'd caught his eye. Before he knew it, he'd told her mother she could have a good career as a merchant's apprentice, hinting that she might be able to send some of her earnings home.

And if she'd persuaded him to do that, she probably had some speech talent, so she might work out well. He'd need to heal her nose, and fix her teeth first, and that would need more magicka than he had. Once he got to Whiterun, he'd be able to use the Alchemy lab at his house to make some fortification potions, but until then he couldn't do anything.

"We'll be in Helgen before long," he told her. "It's just over there, where you can see the smoke rising..." Clark's voice trailed off, as he realised that there shouldn't be that much smoke. Something had apparently set part of the town on fire, if not all of it.

They soon met a ragged bunch of imperial soldiers coming the other way, telling of a dragon attack on the town. Clark didn't think there were any dragons in Tamriel.

"Nor did we, until that one swooped down on us," the legionary told him. "We were preparing an execution for Ulfric Stormcloak and some of his men, when it was interrupted by a blast of magic. Threw everyone around like dolls. We'd heard that Ulfric could use the Thu'um like that, so we had him gagged, but a beast that size doing it was something else entirely."

"General Tullius and the Thalmor Ambassador were there too," one of the other men put in. "We have no idea if they got out."

Nobody knew if it was safe to try passing through. There were trails to Falkreath that might be preferable, as long as you weren't hauling anything heavy.

"But watch out for bandits if you go that way," another soldier advised. "That applies any time you leave the main roads in Skyrim."

Clark had heard much the same from legionaries in Cyrodiil. In his opinion, the roads weren't any safer than any other route, just better paved. He let his horse continue down the road.

Helgen was deserted when they got there. Most of the population seemed to be lying dead in the streets, scorched by the dragon's breath. Anyone alive had presumably fled, and the dragon itself was nowhere around. Clark decided to continue down into Riverwood and let them know what had happened. If the dragon didn't attack there next, of course.

---

Riverwood was intact, but they'd seen the dragon fly over. Gerdur, the mill-owner, told Clark that her brother Ralof had escaped from Helgen, and she thought that Hadvar, the legionary from the town, had too. Ralof had brought a stranger with him, and she'd gone on to Whiterun to warn the Jarl.

Clark knew from his earlier trips that Ralof was a Stormcloak, and he asked Gerdur if he'd been one of the men the soldiers had mentioned as due for execution. Ralof hadn't mentioned that part, just that he'd escaped from the dragon. But now it made sense why Hadvar had been there at the same time. "I'll make sure Ralof stays well hidden," she told Clark.

She turned back to what she'd been doing when they arrived. "When the dragon flew over, I was so startled, I dropped this firewood I'd just split in the river. I was trying to dry it out with a flare spell, but it looks like I'll just have to split some more."

"There's an easier way, you know," Clark told her. He took one of the pieces of firewood and stood it on a stump. "Cast a frost spell on it," he told Gerdur. She did so, until Clark told her to stop. "Now dispel the ice"

Gerdur didn't know that spell, so Clark taught it to her. "Now try the flare."

The wood caught immediately, and she quickly dispelled the flames. "I hardly used any magicka doing that. It was a lot easier than the way I was trying."

"Right, especially as the frost comes easily to you. Here, I'll help you finish these."

"You make it look so easy," Gerdur told him. "Are you sure you're an Imperial, not a Breton?"

"It's all practice, not magicka reserves," he told her. "It looks easy because I'm using less magicka than you would. Just like you know how to roll a log instead of doing it the hard way by lifting. But some spells are beyond my normal reach. That's why I have to wait until I get to Whiterun before I can heal Gilda's nose."

Gerdur noticed Gilda for the first time. "I can help her with a good meal, and you too. I owe you for that firewood trick."

"I hoped you might. Cooking is where you show your skill."

---

"Looking at her, I expected she had no appetite," Gerdur whispered to Clark. "But she's on her third helping of the stew already."

Clark told Gerdur that he suspected her mother had been starving her. Whether that was to keep her thin, or just because the mother ate all the food, he didn't know, but the mother was really fat. "She didn't think enough of Gilda to get her teeth straightened, so I doubt she had any positive feelings for her."

"If Gilda eats like that all the time, she might take after her," Gerdur warned.

"I don't expect she will. I'll get Lydia to look after her, and she'll keep her fit, not fat."

Lydia was Clark's housecarl in Whiterun. She'd been part of the deal when Jarl Balgruuf made Clark a Thane of the city, for his services to its people. He'd forgotten what he'd done for them; nothing major, just a lot of small things that added up. And the Jarl had noticed his effect on the local economy. Even the Khajiiti caravan that camped outside the gates seemed to be more prosperous after Clark had arrived.

They'd be at his house, Breezehome, by the end of the day, if there weren't any problems on the road.

---

"Oh, It's you, Thane," the guard at the gate knew Clark, even if he didn't know the girl. "Is she with you? I have orders to keep strangers out, with dragons sighted in the area."

Clark vouched for Gilda, and the guard opened the gate for them.

"That's a new development," Clark remarked. "The only ones not allowed in before were the Khajiit traders. They have an unjustified reputation as thieves. Well, maybe it's partly justified, but they're not the worst. They just have a more sharing attitude to property than the Nords are accustomed to, and it's often misinterpreted."

---

"What have you got in the sack?" Lydia asked.

"That's not a nice thing to say," Clark admonished. "Even if that is a good description of her outfit. This is Gilda, my new apprentice, and we'll be exchanging that 'sack' for something better-fitting as soon as we can. She's about your height, so is there something in the wardrobe she can try on?"

"You know I only keep a few changes of armour. If you're looking for a dress, you're probably out of luck."

"Leather armour might be more comfortable, if it fits."

Gilda took a look in the wardrobe, but there weren't any dresses, and the leather was loose, even with the straps tightened all the way. She put the "sack" back on, and tied the string back around her waist.

"We have to go to Belethor's in the morning anyway. We'll find you something then. Come out to the back room while I brew up some potions, and then I'll see what I can do about your nose," Clark told her.

Lydia was already back at the cookpot, stirring up some food. She could see that the poor girl needed feeding, even if Clark couldn't.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 2 2014, 07:52 PM

[ghastley]

Acadian: Clark may have learned from Thernd. Practical magic is what appeals most.

haute: Sweetrolls, not doughnuts. But if they had a deep-fryer in Skyrim, they'd be doughnuts.

Grits: Lydia's going to be a character character, if you know what I mean.

SubRosa: Clark is never the main character of the game, he just reports on the events, and gets involved in the peripheral quests. Hopefully, by the end of this, they'll be ones from my mods.

DE: This will make quite a few references back to the Cyrodiil part. Good that you've been there.

All: I'm off to Merry Olde England for a couple of weeks, and probably won't get much internet, so this piece is a bit early, and the next will be a bit late.

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Previously Clark has picked up a new apprentice in Cyrodiil - a skinny young woman with a broken nose and crooked teeth. He's taken her back to his home in Whiterun.

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Part 2 - Whiterun

"Do you know any alchemy?" Clark asked. "If not, I'll explain the properties of each ingredient as I go."

"Only a little," Gilda replied. "We didn't have any equipment for it, but I'd learned about a few things I could eat to cure diseases or poison. And I know that wheat will restore my health, if I can ever hide it from my mother."

"Well, what I need to make is Fortify Restoration and Fortify Magicka potions. There aren't any ingredients with both effects, so I'll have to make separate potions. Longfin and Salt for Restoration, and Jazbay Grapes and Ectoplasm for Magicka." Clark made her watch how he ground and mixed the ingredients, and used the alembic to refine the mixture. "Now you try. Your potions won't be as strong as I can make, but you'll get there with practice."

He let her make a few more potions that she'd find useful. She wondered how he knew the recipes for some of them. Wouldn't only a woman need those? And did teaching her that last one mean anything? Not that she'd object. He was a kind, good-looking man, and she owed him for everything.

"Sit down in that chair," he instructed her, and he drank the two potions he'd made. "Now hold still for a few moments. This is a relatively simple procedure, because you don't have any nose muscles to pull it back out of shape. That means I don't need to use paralysis, as well."

Clark was already squeezing and bending her broken nose back to where it should be as he spoke. He didn't have much time before the potions' effect wore off, and he wanted to do a good job the first time. "There, that does it. Take a look at yourself, and see what you think."

Gilda looked puzzled. How can anyone look at their own face? But Clark was holding something out to her. Something shiny and polished. It was a mirror, the first she'd ever seen. And when she held it right, her own face was reflected. That brought out a smile, but the sight of her teeth made it disappear just as quickly.

"I'd better straighten those teeth, too. Hand me the potions you made. This won't take as much magicka as the nose."

A few minutes later, she had a smile that was worth seeing. Her face was still gaunt, but well-proportioned, and with a bit of Lydia's cooking to fill out her cheeks, she could be quite pretty.

"Soup's ready" Lydia's voice called from the kitchen, as if on cue.

---

The soup was just the first course. Lydia had prepared grilled salmon steaks, potatoes, and leeks, and there were sweetrolls to follow. After all the stew she'd eaten at lunch, Clark didn't expect Gilda to finish it all, but he saw her reach for a second sweetroll. Lydia noticed, too.

"I expect you'll want me to help her with her weapons training and fitness," she asked Clark. "If I don't, she'll be filling that sack before long."

Gilda looked horrified at the thought, and took a long second look at the sweetroll she was eating. But she ate it anyway, took a swig of the wine to wash it down, and burped contentedly. "I think I'll know when to stop," she told them.

---

After another bottle of wine, they were ready for sleep. Lydia took Gilda upstairs. "This is my bed, but you can have it tonight," she told her.

"Where will you be sleeping?"

"I'll work something out," the housecarl replied with a wink.

---

"I really thought you'd lost all your taste in women when you came in with that one," Lydia told Clark, "but she's a lot prettier now you've fixed her face. Or she will be when she's got some meat on her. So do you want me to train her hard like a fighter, or softer like a whore?"

Clark ran his hands appreciatively over Lydia's naked body. "You know I like both kinds, and I've got a fighter already, and more whores than I can handle. So let her decide. She's going to train as a merchant, and that needs a bit of both. I have no idea what weapons she knows, if any, and that might make a difference, too. You need to be lighter and faster for one-handed, compared with two-handed, and archers need all their strength in their arms."

"But you like strong thighs, don't you?" Lydia reminded him.

---

Clark took Gilda into the market after breakfast the next day. He needed to check with Belethor about the Mammoth Tusks he'd asked him to find, and now he needed a dress or two for Gilda.

The Breton trader had a dozen tusks, more than Clark had expected. And the price didn't seem to be any lower, despite the supply. Clark didn't mind too much, and just made sure he got a better deal on the dresses. Belethor had a style that laced up, so it would fit her now, and could just be slackened off as she filled out. Clark bought one of each colour, and some nice boots to go with them.

Then they went next door, to Arcadia's, to restock Clark's alchemy lab. Clark sold a few potions, too, which let him pay for some Alchemy lessons for Gilda. He let her haggle with Arcadia over the potions she'd made last night. Clark was pleased to note that she got a fair price, even before he'd started training her in that skill.

The smithy was the other side of Breezehome so they checked in with Lydia to see what weapons Gilda would need to train with. Lydia already had a few stowed away, but she told Clark to get the best dagger Warmaiden's had. A merchant should always carry a good dagger.

---

Clark left Gilda with Lydia while he went to Warmaiden's. When he came back, Gilda was wearing one of the new dresses, and the two women were ceremonially burning her old one in the firepit, to mark the end of her old life. Gilda looked a little less starved in her new outfit, but she was still way too thin for Clark's liking. Still, her hips and shoulders weren't too narrow. If she could fill out her frame, she had promise.

She could make a start on that while he was away in Markarth. He had to go and negotiate with the Jarl, and the Guild of Prostitutes, for a permit to open a new brothel outside the city. There were a number of mines in the area, and the workers would need somewhere to relax. He had little expectation of taking over the one inside the walls, at least not yet. The Silver-Blood family had a stranglehold on trade inside Markarth, and that would have to be broken first. They were cunningly playing off everyone's fears of the Forsworn to keep out all outsiders, and Clark hadn't found a way to remove himself from that category.

"Aren't you taking either of us with you?" Lydia wanted to know. Clark had revealed to her long ago that Nocturnal and Azura had made him immortal, so she knew he wasn't going to get killed. But he still needed someone to protect him from injury and pain, and that was her job. And if he didn't need protection, shouldn't he be taking Gilda along for the experience?

"No, I need to negotiate with the Guild, and their officials are always women. I'll do better alone."

"Jarl Igmund's a man, don't you need help with him?" Lydia persisted.

"You'd only get into a fight with Faleen again. And Gilda's not ready for that level of work yet." Clark didn't have to explain what he meant by that. "Besides, the Jarl's almost on my side already. He's not one of the Silver-Bloods, and I think he resents their influence."

---

Clark departed for Markarth the following morning in his carriage. Lydia was still asleep when he left, and Gilda found her sprawled across Clark's bed when she went looking for her. "Isn't sleeping with the boss a bit unethical?" she asked her.

"No, it's fun! You should try it, once you've got something to offer. You won't get anything from him that way except experience, but that's valuable, too. You'll learn a lot from my Thane."

"I need to learn from you, first. Clark said you'd teach me weapon skills."

"I can make a start on that, and at least find out what you'll be good at, but I'll need to hand you over to a proper trainer, once I do. The main things I'll be doing are to help you practice, and keep you fit."

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 2 2014, 07:58 PM