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 Only one Stone collected this time, but they'll turn up from time to time. Now they're looking for them, they'll get noticed.

Once I decided that Clark would buy Proudspire, that quest became inevitable, especially with Gilda becoming Guildmaster.

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Previously: Much the same as the episode before. I'd better change things before Clark gets into a rut - even if he'd like that! So this time we'll leave Solitude and confirm the end of the Main Quest.

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Part 30 - Guild Work

"I brought something else from Riften," Gilda said, once she'd got her breath back. "Madesi gave me this."
She picked up something from the floor. Clark hadn't seen her drop it there, but he'd been concentrating on Jordis.

"He offered to show me how to use it, the cheeky beggar!" Gilda held up a large ivory dildo. The shaft was carved to resemble an Argonian's scales, but perhaps a bit bumpier than the real thing.

"Ah yes, that was the project we discussed last time I was there," Clark told her. "And the reason he made that offer is that this one does something you won't have seen before."

Clark took the dildo from her and looked it over. "Yes, here it is." He twisted the base and the dildo started to writhe in his hands. "It's powered by a Dwemer dynamo core. Those things can run for ever, it seems. There are a lot of parts that slide and turn to make this work, and it's a real piece of fine workmanship. Madesi's done better than I thought possible."

"I think Jordis deserves the first chance to try it," he continued. He handed it back to Gilda, and gave her room.

Jordis lasted about a minute before she couldn't take any more. "Your turn, then," Clark said, taking it back from Gilda. He offered it to Jordis, but she declined. "I just want to watch, and see how much of it she can take."

"Ready or not, here it comes."

Gilda was already losing control when Clark found out that he could twist it further, and speed it up. Jordis was giggling like she was drunk, and clinging to Clark to stop herself falling over. Gilda gripped the sheets tightly and arched her back. This was amazing, and she wasn't going to admit that it was too much for her.
Clark brought her back down gently, turning the speed lower and letting her recover. He took another look at the control. "It looks like you can turn this the other way, too." He did so and it produced a different motion. "Ready to try some more?" he asked Jordis.

"OK, but be gentle, make it last this time." She lay down next to Gilda, and held her hand. Clark slid it into her before turning it on, and increased the power gradually, watching Jordis' face for her reaction.

At the right time, he started dialing back the power. Time to get back to the real thing. He handed the dildo to Gilda, and showed her the other setting, then he pulled Jordis onto him and began to rock her gently over the edge.

---

Clark asked Gilda, over breakfast, how she was doing with her project to repair the Thieves Guild's reputation. "Solitude's dealt with," she responded. "Whiterun, too. I just had to spring an old man from the jail there, nothing too controversial, and I found one of the gems during that caper. Windhelm has a rival gang I still need to deal with, and Markarth's jeweller (and potential fence) needs a candlestick mould recovered from the bandits who stole it."

"Need any help with those?" Clark asked.

"I wouldn't mind having the numbers balanced a bit. I could probably get by on just stealth to recover the mould for Endon, but the Summerset Shadows need to be eliminated. They might notice someone killing them."

"Summerset? Meaning they're all Altmer?" Jordis queried.

"That's the information I have."

"Do you think they might have any connection with the Thalmor?" She was asking both of them, now.

Gilda had no idea, but Clark thought they could have followed the Thalmor to Skyrim, even if they weren't connected directly. They'd have more chance to thrive with Thalmor influence in place.

"And then of course there's Riften, and the Black-Briars. I won't tackle that problem until I have the others sorted, and I'm confirmed as Guildmaster. It's likely she'll still have some of the members on her side right now."

"We'll need all the help we can get for that one," Clark agreed. "But back to the present. Where do you want to start?"

"Those Altmer in Windhelm, or rather its hold. They don't have their headquarters in town, but out in a cave a fair distance away. There's an agent in the city itself, but she already agreed to cooperate if I can get the gang off her back. She used to be a Thieves Guild member, and she'd much rather be back with us."

"We can pick up Lydia on the way. That should give us the numbers we need."

"Can you handle three women at once?" Gilda asked him.

"I've got help now," Clark replied, holding up Madesi's invention.

---

Lydia told them they'd just missed Diablita. She'd been back to tell Jarl Balgruuf about the end of Alduin, the World-eater, and the whole city had held a celebration in her honour. She'd warned them that they might still experience a few more dragons, but Alduin wouldn't be raising more, and some of them would be on Paarthurnax' side, and not hostile.

"Where did she go?" Clark asked.

"She might have headed for Solstheim," Lydia replied. "A couple of Dunmer in weird masks tried to assault her in the street, and she found a note on one of them pointing her that way. It seems that she might not be the only Dragonborn."

"Solstheim? That's somewhere I haven't been," Clark remarked. "There's not a lot of trade, since the ebony mine at Raven Rock closed down. The Dunmer who settled there after the Red Mountain exploded aren't doing too badly; at least they know how to farm the ash. But apart from the produce, and a few gems, they don't have much to sell. The East Empire Company's just about abandoned the place, I hear. They certainly don't sail there from Solitude any more."

He showed Lydia one of the unusual gems. "If you see any of these around, pick them up for me. There are twenty-four of them in all, but we've only found five so far. They're not valuable individually, so you may not have any problem persuading folks to let them go."

"I think I've seen one of them. When we had the festival for Diablita, I went back to Jorvaskr with one of the Companions for a bit of fun, and there was one lying around downstairs. I can't remember exactly where it was. I was in a lot of beds that night."

---

Gilda left to pay the mead hall a visit, and came back a few minutes later with their sixth gem. "Nobody noticed me taking it. In fact, nobody noticed me at all. Should I be worried?"

"You haven't met Diablita, have you?" Clark asked her. "After a man's seen her, just about any other woman will go unnoticed for a while."

Lydia described Diablita for the others' information.

Gilda's opinion: "Definitely not inconspicuous." Jordis was totally amazed that anyone would fight two-handed and naked.

Clark reminded her that he didn't wear any armour either. "She uses spells for that, just like I do. She just takes it all a little further, and doesn't wear clothing, either. And she's not quite naked, she does wear those chains."

Back in her Cyrodiil days, her chains and piercings were her armour, but she'd outlasted them by a couple of centuries. Obviously the supply of Sigil Stones dried up a long time ago, so you couldn't enchant like you used to.