A Thief's Ascension, The story of Jak's life from small beginnings Options

[BretonBlood]

I am by no means a writer, in fact I am horrible but figured I'd post a story I wrote on the Bethesda Forums here. I fully expect to be picked apart for my bad writing, this was also written about 2 years ago. I also like to include pictures to somewhat show what is going on since it kind of helps take away some of the burden of creating the scene through writing.

Chapter 1

"Oh wait, aren't you going to eat something before you go to work?"

"I can't I slept in, sorry mom." Jak said as he quickly rushed out the door to head to the Riften Docks.

Once at the docks Jak got to work quickly with the daily chores he was assigned when he got the job. Luckily he had been doing it for so long that even starting late he could get his work done in time, and after a few hours he took a break to relax watching the lake. It was peaceful for awhile until...

"Hey Jak! What are you doing?" The young Breton came up from behind and sat down beside Jak.

"Hello, Fina..." She stretched her legs out across his lap. "Alright then... well I am on my break, I got all my stuff done and before I get back to work I wanted to relax over the lake."

"Oh, that sounds like fun, I mean I can't imagine working here is all that fun."

"It isn't bad, it can get boring but it pays okay. Plus I get to rest here every now and then and take in the view and fresh air."

"It is beautiful, isn't it? "

"So what are you doing here, Fina?"

"I don't have anything to do since I haven't gotten any jobs from the Jarl or anyone, so I decided I would come see you today."

"Lucky me." Jak smirked and Fina smacked his arm.

Jak eventually stood up and explained he had to get back to work, so Fina hugged him and said good bye. Once the sun began set Jak finished up his remaining work, and headed home where his mother cooked a meal while he recovered from another day of working for the Riften Fishery.

As usual Jak worked a long day at the Riften Fishery and decided to go to the Bee and Barb for an afternoon drink. He sat the bar drinking several mugs of mead trying to take the edge off.

"By the gods, Fina? Is that you?"

"Marc?"

"That's right. Wow it has been years, what are you doing in Riften?"

"I live here, in fact I just got back from a job the jarl gave me to go take care some smugglers. What about you?"

"I have been travelling Skyrim looking for potential patrons, and ended up here. It is great to see you, want to get a drink?"

"Umm, sure." Fina and Marcurio headed to the bar to order some mead when Fina noticed Jak sitting at the bar and walked up to him.

"Jak, how are you?" She stood beside him at the bar and Jak nodded his head as Marcurio walked up to the bar. "Marc, this is Jak... Jak this Marc, he is an old friend of mine."

Marcurio greeted Jak, but Jak gave a quick hand gesture and took another drink of his mead. "Jak are you drunk?" Fina asked.

"Not drunk enough." he replied.

"I'm going to change out of my armor. Marc watch him for me and make sure he doesn't get into trouble." Marcurio laughed and agreed to the request.

"She is great isn't she?" Marc gave a sigh, "It's been so long since I've seen her."

"Yeah, she is great..." Jak replied.

Marcurio leaned forward onto the bar, "So what's the story between you two? Are you?"

"We're just good friends." Jak explained.

"Oh. Interesting."

Marcurio began small talk with Jak and explained how he knew Fina from when they used to study magic in Cyrodiil when they were younger. Then he began to rant about how he was a master of the arcane and his skill in battle was unmatched. He also hinted that if Jak ever needed him he could be hired. Jak didn't pay much attention, he instead noticed the coin purse he had hanging from his belt. After a couple minutes Jak went to get up from the bar, but stumbled and Marcurio caught him before he fell.
"I think you have had enough to drink, at least until Fina gets back."

"Fine. Maybe you are right, I'll just go home now. Tell Fina I said bye." Jak made his way to the door, "Sucker." Jak smirked and put the coin purse in his pocket.

[BretonBlood]

Darkness Eternal: Indeed Mercer is an asshole. He is in Jak's sights now, and with the Guild now on Jak/Karliah's side we will have to see how they want to handle Mercer.



Acadian: Hahahaha Buffy would not get along with Mercer.

And I'm glad you are enjoying it so far.

Chapter 15

Jak and Brynjolf met Karliah at the center of the cistern and Karliah began to speak,"Brynjolf it's time to decide Mercer's fate." Brynjolf agreed and declared that Mercer needed to die for everything he had done. Karliah was happy to hear that Brynjolf's decision and told them to meet her southeast of Riften near a standing stone where there is a path cut up the mountain side. Both Karliah and Brynjolf said they had some preparations they need to make before heading out, so Jak took this time to try and get some sleep, but that proved harder than he thought as his mind overflowed with thoughts of what was going to happen.

In the morning Jak left Riften and made his way southeast, he found the path and followed it up the mountain where he found the two of them already waiting for him.

"I'm glad you're here. This is the Nightingale headquarters, cut into the moutain by the first of our kind. We will hopefully get the edge we need to defeat Mercer."

"What kind of an edge?" Jak asked.

"If you follow me, I'll try to explain on the way." Karliah walked past the two of them and they looked at each other and then followed her. She opened a secret entrance and they all entered a cave, Brynjolf commented on how he had always heard stories of Nightingale Hall but he never believed them, which Karliah says was done on purpose. Brynjolf then questioned why he was there in the first place as he was not religious.

"This isn't about religion Brynjolf... it's business. Now follow me to the armory so we can don our armor and begin the Oath."

They followed her to the armory and she told them to touch one of the three stones to get their armor; Jak watched as both of them obtained their armor.

"What's wrong Jak? Are you nervous to take the Oath?"

He shook his head at Karliah and proceeded to the stone while the two went ahead. He slowly placed his hand on the stone...suddenly a black substance ran up Jak's arm and eventually all over his body forming the Nighingale armor, it was as if the armor was some kind of magical creature bonding itself to him.

"Whoa this armor, it feels good. Magical almost..." Jak said as he joined the other two.

"That's because it is. This armor can take on the shape of any armor or clothing you wish, that way you can disguise your identity as a Nightingale, it also enhances your abilities. Now if you are ready let's begin." Karliah explained.

The three of them proceeded into the main chamber and stood on their respective circle, Karliah then summoned Nocturnal. Nocturnal sounded disappointed with Karliah and asked what she had to offer in order to gain her favor. Karliah then offered Jak and Brynjolf to Nocturnal and said they would be willing to serve her in life and in death; Nocturnal was pleased with Karliah's terms and gave her blessing, making all three of them official Nightingales. They all met back in the center of the room where Karliah explained that they now had an edge over Mercer and that his true crime was stealing the Skeleton Key from the Twilight Sepulcher, she said without the key they had lost their connection to Nocturnal and could not use her gifts. Both Jak and Brynjolf agreed they needed to get to Mercer as soon as possible to get the key back.

"Before we leave lad, we need to talk about the Guild, and its leadership." Brynjolf began, "Once this is all over we will need a new leader, Karliah and I were talking about it before you arrived and we think you should be the new guildmaster."

"Me?" Jak couldn't believe what he was hearing, "What about you Brynjolf?"

"I'm a skilled thief, maybe one of the best, but I am no leader. I have never been in a leading position and never want to be in that kind of position so we figured we should give it to you after everything you have done for the Guild."

"I don't know what to say."

"Don't worry about it yet, lad. We still have some business to take care of and we won't make it official until I have heard from all of Delvin's sources that we have returned to our former glory."

Jak reluctantly agreed to take the position as he was skeptical about his ability to lead the Guild, and so the three of them made their plan to travel to Irkngthand to stop Mercer.

Karliah let them to Irkngthand, and up on arriving found it to be similar to Markarth as it was built into the mountain as well. The three of them sneaked inside and found a group of dead bandits, they assumed it was Mercer's doing, and continued on where they found destroyed dwemer creatures. It wasn't far into the ruins before they came across traps, the first being a room with pillars that revolved shooting fire, they each went through one at a time and made it across the room safely.

They came across the first trap set by Mercer when Jak opened a door and a flail came hurling at him, but he dodged it easy enough. They moved on and came to a balcony overlooking a giant room.

"Look there's Mercer!" Karliah pointed and they watched as he sneaked up behind two Falmer and killed them, "He is toying with us." she said and looked at the other two.

"Let's get a move on then we don't want him to get to the eyes and get away." Brynjolf said.

The three Nightingales continued forward and found themselves in a room where they had two choices, taking the high road or the low road, Brynjolf commented saying he didn't care which one they took as long as they got through quickly so Jak decided on the higher path to avoid most of the Falmer, they did come across one but Jak stabbed him as he got close. The Falmer let out a deafening scream as it died and they knew they needed to get moving before the rest showed up to investigate; luckily the cry from the Falmer drew all the others to its location allowing Jak, Brynjolf, and Karliah to easily navigate through the room and continue onward without a fight. They found a message left by Mercer saying one step ahead.

"He is really trying to get to us, to mess with our heads." Karliah said before they moved on.

In the next large room there was a Centurion Guardian, and Jak had a plan to turn it on and let it fight the Falmer that patrolled the room and they would sneak by during the commotion, his plan was successful as the Guardian quickly dispatched all the Falmer and they were able slip by unseen.

After passing the Centurion and entering the next area they noticed they had found what seemed to be the Falmer's hive, as there were numerous Falmer everywhere, they had to be extremely careful sneaking by because while the Falmer couldn't see they had exceptional hearing and smell. Eventually they found a room with several huts and Falmer walking around the camp, Karliah did not want to fight them and risk alerting all the other Falmer so they began to sneak around them. Jak could have sworn he heard one of the Falmer talking about its precious as they sneaked by, but he brushed it off as he had to stay focused. They did everything they could to avoid the Falmer and even traversed the pipes that ran above through the cave. They finally reached the end of the ruins.

"Are you ready? This is it, Mercer has to be beyond this door." Karliah looked at both of them and they nodded, Jak then put his hand on the door and slowly pushed it open.