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.

-------------

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]

Grits:

Alchemy supplies in Honeyside are listed on its wiki page. It also has two of the fire salts that Balimund wants, but it's the expensive way of getting those!

Yes, Diablita is the Dragon born, and we've already established that Gilda becomes TG master, and Brelyna is on her way to becoming Arch-Mage. Clark will only get slightly involved with each of the quest-lines, as is his custom. He'll meet Serana only after the Dawnguard quests are done (by someone else, of course). Diablita has to be the one to go to Solstheim, as that line of quests is only for the Dragonborn, but Clark will visit, with a friend or two, at various times, and get involved in (or just observe) some side-quests. I couldn't pass up an opportunity for Clark to meet Neloth, for example.

Diablita's wings resulted from downloading the Animated Dragon Wings mod to check it out for the Daedra Seducers in Nocturnal's realm. I'd seen them in Victoria's Screenshot thread, and she'd used the same horns I'd used for Diablita (although without any hooves or tail), so she tried them and liked them. They don't let the character fly, but do let them jump higher, and fall softer. There's another mod for flying, and the wings have animations to support it, but I didn't get that one. The spell to sprout or hide them is part of the mod. Hers are retextured to remove an excessive glow, and better match her "outfit".

Acadian:

Diablita's wings aren't strong enough to fly on her own, or she wouldn't need a ride from Ohdaviing (or Sarotaar, once she gets to Solstheim). The "sprout on demand" part is what made me think of the Daedra Seducers from Daggerfall (and Oblivion if you have Evergloam).

Destri:

When you leave Helgen with Ralof, you don't encounter Hadvar on the way, so he must have taken another route out. Since Haming turns up again in the shack of his grandfather Froki, we know he got out. Gunnar Stone-eye is never seen again, so I assume he didn't survive. Adding the two suggests that Hadvar went back for him after failing to find Tullius, who'd already fled.

Both Hadvar and Ralof have to escape Helgen, as they're with you during the CW quests, and you haven't chosen a side yet. The coin-toss put Diablita the Dragonborn with Ralof, although it was biased by Hadvar having the alternative story with Haming.

Having all the quest lines done by someone else is what Clark is all about. He was created in The Gweden Report as "the junior reporter from the Black Horse Courier" to detail the activities of the CoC in my Oblivion mods, and developed into Clark, Earl of Gweden, spy-master to Potentate Ocato. His name was bestowed by the folks here, and worked into the story.

Although he rarely got involved with any vanilla quests, he started to participate in some of my mods' quests along the way, especially the later ones for Nocturnal. His friend Minx had become the Guildmaster of the Cyrodiil Thieves Guild, with a little help from Clark, and she was a partner for some of them.

The mod with Diablita and her sister Angeline never got released, mainly because I wanted voice acting beyond what was possible, but everything they did happened in my game with Clark as the player-character.

Previously: Clark discovered that his old partner Diablita is the Dragonborn, when he met her at Dragonsreach - for the first time in two centuries. She's gone to persuade Tullius and Ulfric to come to a peace conference at High Hrothgar.

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Part 21 - Dragonsreach Balcony

A couple of days later, Gilda arrived from Irkgnthand. She showed Clark a huge gem, one of the Eyes of the Falmer that Mercer Frey had been after. The other one had been sold to Delvin Mallory, but she'd kept this one for herself.

"I take it that Mercer Frey is dead?" Clark asked.

Gilda nodded. "And Karliah and Brynjolf survived. We all had a close call when the chamber flooded, but I found a passage at the top, and we all got out into a cave by the lake. Mercer was already dead at that point. I killed him myself, so I know it. I had to, as he'd made Brynjolf and Karliah fight each other with some spell he cast."

"We all went back to Riften afterward. Karliah wanted to give me her bow as a reward, but of course, I can't use it, so she's keeping it. They're considering making me Guildmaster, once I've done enough thieving jobs to qualify. What do you think, Clark? Should I do those, and take over the guild, or just stop now, and let someone else do it?"

"If Karliah and Brynjolf don't want the job, then it should be yours, if you want it," he told her. "Don't forget about Maven Black-Briar. The Thieves Guild needs a leader that will stand up to her."

"I had forgotten. I was thinking that Mercer Frey was the enemy we had to defeat, but he was just a symptom of the real disease. I have to take the Skeleton Key back to the Twilight Sepulchre in any case. I should speak to Nocturnal when I'm there, and get her advice, too."

---

Before Gilda returned from the Twilight Sepulchre, Clark was summoned again to Dragonsreach. Jarl Balgruuf had returned from the peace conference at High Hrothgar with the Dragonborn, and they were preparing to capture a dragon.

Clark hadn't noticed Balgruuf leaving Whiterun. That wasn't too surprising, as that might have been the cue for a siege. They'd have naturally kept it as secret as possible.

Diablita gave Clark the story. The imperial side had brought Elenwen as an observer, and Jarl Elisif the Fair, and Legate Rikke had accompanied General Tullius from Solitude. Ulfric had brought along Galmar Stone-Fist, Rikke's counterpart in his forces. Balgruuf of course was present as a neutral, and Delphine and Esbern of the Blades were also there as technical advisors on the dragon menace.

Clark was familiar with the Blades as the Imperial bodyguard at the end of the third era. He was aware that they'd taken over espionage after the Red Dragon Club spies had disbanded after Ocato's assassination. But he thought that the Thalmor had wiped them out at the start of the war.

"They're the last two remaining," Diablita told him. "We went to their old Skyrim headquarters at Sky Haven Temple and found it deserted. However, that's where we found Alduin's wall, the history of how he came to this time and place. It's what put us on the path to defeating him."

"The negotiations opened with a nasty confrontation over Elenwen's presence. She made the point that she was there only to make sure the peace treaty didn't conflict with the White Gold Concordat, and would otherwise not interfere. Ulfric's reaction to that was pure hatred of all elves, and having pointed ears myself, I let her stay. I think I was fair to Ulfric's side the rest of the time, but he didn't get off to a good start with me."

"Ulfric demanded control of Markarth, or he wasn't going to sign. We persuaded him to swap it for Winterhold, instead of just having it conceded. And Tullius got reparations for a Stormcloak massacre of civilians. That was an incident I hadn't heard about, and it just confirmed my dislike for Ulfric and the Stormcloaks."

"At that point, both sides were feeling that they'd got a bad deal, which probably proves it was fair, but it nearly stopped the agreement being signed. It wasn't until Esbern made a speech about his research on the dragons that everyone got back on track. He told us that if Alduin wasn't defeated, the whole world could end. That put the Civil War into a different light, and it was quickly agreed that the dragons were more important."

"I was feeling really pleased with the outcome at that point, but then Delphine spoiled it by demanding that I kill Paarthurnax."

"Who's that?" Clark wanted to know.

"He's the dragon who taught the Greybeards, and me, the Way of the Voice. How to use the Thu'um."

"I take it you're not going to do as she asked." Clark remarked.

"Of course not. I ignored her, and went over to talk to Elisif instead. She hadn't said much during the conference, and I was curious why Tullius had brought her. I know she's Jarl of Solitude, and the widow of the late High King Torygg, but she's really not part of Tullius' entourage. Back in Solitude, she lives at the Blue Palace, while Tullius occupies Castle Dour, and there isn't any traffic between them."

"She wasn't sure why he brought her either. She told me that she knew Tullius was only supporting her as Jarl because he wanted a puppet. A strong Jarl would have been replaced by an Imperial governor, and she didn't want that. So she'd acted like a distraught widow as long as she could, and was gradually establishing a new persona as someone who was still learning the job. She'd managed to pass most of the decision making to trusted advisors who were a little further from Tullius' reach, and continued to act like the blond bimbo Tullius expected."

"I told her that she might have revealed more of herself than she intended at the conference. She hadn't said much, but it was well-stated, and showed a greater understanding of the political situation than she might have liked. However, I don't think Ulfric or Tullius was paying any attention to her."

"Elisif told me her greatest asset was that she looked like the dumb blonde that was the Imperial stereotype of Nord women. She flaunts her breasts as much as she can get away with. Not as much as I do, of course; she still has to be the Jarl. Just enough to confirm Tullius' prejudices, and get her dismissed as harmless. And they do distract men's attention from what she's saying."

"I get the impression that she's lonely without Torygg. You should go visit Solitude, Clark. I think you could do some good there."

---

It seemed that Clark was going to be busy in the next few months. If Thongvor Silver-Blood had replaced Igmund as Jarl of Markarth, then the power shift there was going to need some attention. This peace treaty might just have undone everything the death of his brother had achieved. Doubtless the Thalmor presence in Understone Keep would have gone, but what of the other "foreigners"? Thongvor was a "Skyrim for the Nords" type, and the Orcs and the few other elves in the city might be having a hard time. Imperials, Redguards and Bretons, too, if they were too obvious about their race.

And if Diablita was pointing him in the direction of Solitude, he should follow up there too. He'd worked with her long enough to trust her judgement.

---

The business of the moment, though, was the dragon. Diablita had a name - Ohdaviing - that Esbern had found in his researches. The idea was to call it out as a challenge, to see if the dragon responded to his name.

"And what if he comes? How do you bring him down to the trap?"

Diablita told them all about the shout Dragonrend, that she'd learned at the Time Wound atop the Throat of the World. It was a shout powerful enough to bring down Alduin himself. She'd proved that the hard way, battling the elder dragon before he'd fled to Sovngarde.

Balgruuf grew alarmed at that. He'd watched, as they all had, as the lightning and flames had engulfed the top of the mountain. "That was mostly Alduin's doing, and he won't be here," Diablita assured him.

"However, while a lesser dragon than Alduin, Ohdaviing will certainly have his own flames or frost, so non-combatants should not be out on the balcony to watch."

"I think she means you," Balgruuf addressed Farengar, who'd being quietly sidling towards the stairs. The mage sheepishly returned to his quarters.

"Irileth, come with me. The rest of you, wait here." Balgruuf included Clark in that. He wanted all his Thanes safely in the main hall, in case anything went wrong.

---

The whole palace shook as the Dragon and Dragonborn shouted at each other. Then again, as the huge beast landed on the balcony. The rumble of the trap closing seemed peaceful by comparison.

Clark noticed Farengar rushing up the stairs towards the balcony, and decided to follow. If nothing else, he might keep the mage out of trouble.

Diablita was standing in front of the captured dragon, negotiating.

Clark tapped Farengar on the shoulder, startling him. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"I just wanted a sample of the beast's scales," he replied. "I may never get a chance like this again."

"The dragon may be trapped, but he's not muzzled. If he breathes fire over you, you certainly won't get any chances. Besides, you can buy some dragon scales from Belethor if you need them."

"Belethor? Where did he get them?"

"Irileth sold them to him. She got them from the dragon that was slain at the watch tower. Some bones, too, if I recall correctly."

Farengar face-palmed. Why hadn't he asked Irileth if there had been any more remains? He'd just assumed that the Dragonborn had absorbed the whole dragon. That was the way the guards had described it, and he hadn't thought to question the details.

The chains rattled above Clark's head, and he turned to see the great yoke being hauled back off the dragon. It seemed that Diablita had persuaded it to fly her to find Alduin. "Take me to Skuldhafn, then" she commanded.

Diablita blew Clark a kiss. "See you when I get back. I might have time for you then."

---

"Where's this Skuldhafn?" Clark asked Balgruuf as they watched Ohdaviing fly off with Diablita riding on his neck.

"I have no idea, but I heard the dragon say there was a portal to Sovngarde there, and it was the only path to reach Alduin. The only way to get there is to fly, and I gather those wings of hers wouldn't be strong enough for that."

"She tells me they're only useful to slow her when she falls, or to help jump across ravines. They don't have the strength for her to lift herself with them." Clark concurred.