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: Gilda's got to have a full-time job, because at the rate Clark's going to collect housecarls, he'll be too busy to devote enough time to her. Not that she'll let that stand in her way...

Grits: Iona needed a better weapon for a later chapter, so Chillrend will star then.

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Previously: Clark became Thane of Riften, and bought Honeyside (with an Iona thrown in).

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Part 19 - Honeyside

"It looks like we get a decent supply of ingredients thrown in with the furnishings," Clark remarked to Iona. "And some recipes, there on the table. I'll show you how the apparatus works, and you can try making some potions."

"What sort of potions should I be making?" she asked.

"Right now, any you can. You need practice, to gain experience, and making anything will help. Once your skill improves, you'll probably want potions that restore or fortify health, or let you carry more. A mage would want to fortify magicka, or magical skills, and an archer might make poisons for her arrows, but I'm guessing you're a sword and shield person."

"I can use a bow, but I'm not the sneaky sniper kind of archer," Iona replied. "And my only magical skills are some restoration, and enough destruction to light a fire."

Clark had heard the same from Lydia. Housecarls must all come from the same school.

He helped Iona with her choice of ingredients for her alchemy, as he already knew a lot of their effects. Since she wasn't wasting items on failed mixtures, she advanced quite quickly, and soon had a decent supply of useful potions. "We'll sell the ones you won't use to Elgrim's Elixirs, and re-stock the shelves with ingredients later. Before that, let me show you how the enchanter works, and make that dagger for Gilda."

Clark handed Iona a black robe that he'd taken from a bandit mage. "There's a cheap enchantment on this, that boosts magicka regeneration. You can learn that enchantment by taking the robes apart, and then use a filled soul gem to put it onto something else. Your skill will improve when you disenchant things, enchant new ones, or recharge a weapon using a soul gem. You can destroy weapons, to learn their enchantments, too, but the only one you have at the moment is Chillrend, and it wouldn't be a good idea to destroy that!"

"So are the enchantments for weapons different from the ones for armour and clothing?"

"Mostly," Clark replied. "The weapon ones will usually add damage, each time you strike with the weapon, and those get used up and need recharging. The ones you put on armour are fortifying ones that work continuously, and don't need feeding with soul gems. I prefer the latter, as I can't be bothered with soul-trapping and collecting gems."

Clark made Gilda's dagger, to show her how it worked. He knew that the fire element of the enchantment was fixed, and he could only vary the duration of the soul trap spell. Since he was putting it on a dagger, he considered a short duration to match the fast weapon, but he had second thoughts. "Gilda will probably switch to her other weapon after using this, so I'll give her enough time for the switch and a couple of swings of that." Finally, there was the choice of soul gem. A larger one would provide a larger number of charges, but since she'd be collecting them quickly with this, it wasn't an important factor. Clark made a reasonable guess at how often she'd use it.

"Now it's your turn," he told Iona. "Disenchant that robe I gave you, and then see what you can use the effect on."

"I can't put that effect on my old sword!" she complained. "Only on my armour."

Clark was expecting her to use a ring, or a necklace. It appeared that Iona didn't have either. She wasn't the type to decorate herself, and not knowing enchantments, jewels just weren't of any interest. He gave her a simple silver ring to use.

"You'll probably get better weapons and armour anyway. That ring should be useful to carry around, even after you find better ones," he suggested.

---


Gilda re-appeared that evening wearing a suit of dark armour that looked like tooled leather. Over it all was a cape, with a hood that incorporated a mask. The only way Clark could recognise Gilda, was the way the top buckles were straining to burst open.

"I take it that's the new Nightingale uniform?" Clark inquired. "It looks a bit tight on you."

Gilda nodded. Maybe she'd said something, too, but the mask muffled her voice.

Clark and Iona helped her out of the armour. Gilda took a deep breath, apparently her first since she squeezed herself into the cuirass. "It's nice armour, but nobody seems to make things to fit me," she complained. "I'll wear my Guild stuff instead. At least I can let out the straps on that."

"I'd keep the boots if I were you. These have a really good Muffle enchantment. And what have you got on the gauntlets?"

"Dual fortifications: lockpicking and one-handed. That's a bit better than the Guild ones, too."

"We didn't have this when Dralsi, Minx and I were Nightingales. I wonder if it's something Karliah developed?" Clark mused. "What do you use to improve it?"

"Void salts. If you can find them. They come from Storm Atronachs, and most of those you'll see are summoned, so you can't collect."

"I think we got some with the furnishings for this place. You didn't use them up, did you, Iona?"

"No, I didn't have any recipes that called for them, and I wasn't going to experiment using the expensive stuff," she replied. "Let me go down and see what we have."

She came back up with three bowls of void salts. "That will improve the boots and gauntlets, and leave one to spare. What does the hood do?" Clark asked Gilda.

"Fortify Illusion. I don't really make any use of Illusion spells, so there's probably no point in using it."

"Not even Invisibility?" Clark was astounded. That was one spell he thought indispensible.

"Not as a spell," Gilda replied. "I carry a potion or two for when I need it. Remember, I can get past most people just by sneaking. Plus, invisibility means your allies can't see you either, and Karliah's an archer."

Clark understood that point. Invisibility was for going in solo, or following someone, out of their line of fire. Gilda would likely be in the lead on her next mission. "Where are you going to look for Mercer?" he asked her.

"All evidence suggests that he's headed for Irkngthand, to get the Eyes of the Falmer. Since it's a Dwemer ruin, we expect automata and Falmer, and maybe bandits outside. A real mix of opponents, and we have to deal with Mercer at the end of it all."

"He'll have all the same enchantments on his gear, and most likely know invisibility and a few other Illusion spells. Do you know Detect Life?"

Gilda didn't. Clark checked his stocks, and the bookshelves in Honeyside, and couldn't find the spell tome for that. They'd have to see if Wylandriah had a copy in the morning.

---

Gilda, Brynjolf and Karliah set off for Irkngthand together. Clark was a bit happier now that they'd upgraded Gilda's equipment a bit, but still disappointed that he couldn't go with them. He made sure Brynjolf knew he was responsible for Clark's daughter and apprentice. "They'll more likely be looking after Brynjolf," Clark thought to himself. "I should stop worrying, and let them work this out themselves."

He left Iona to look after Honeyside, and keep watch on what Maven and her family were up to, while he went back to Whiterun. Now that Gilda had the Thieves Guild almost sorted out, it was time for him to find out more about the dragons appearing. The only place he knew that had any information on them was Whiterun.

---

"I don't think that was us," Clark told Lydia."I definitely felt the ground shaking. And that rumbling noise is still going on."

Lydia reluctantly put some armour on, and followed Clark outside. Several other townsfolk were out in the street, peering into the distant mists at the top of the Throat of the World. Something major was obviously going on up there, as they could see flashes of lightning, flames, and perhaps wings, although it was too far to be certain.

The sound of it all was undeniable. If that was really dragons fighting, they were using Shouts that carried all the way to Whiterun.

Then it all subsided, and they saw a black dragon flying north-east away from the mountain. There seemed to be another, that remained circling the peak, so presumably that one had driven the other off. The black one wouldn't be flying over Whiterun, so everyone relaxed, and went back inside as it disappeared from view.

Lydia dragged Clark back into Breezehome, too. He still had work to do.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jan 24 2015, 02:47 PM