A Wood Elf in Windhelm, Stranger in a Strange Land? Options

[SubRosa]

Ah, back to stupid things that children do. Uh oh, it was a dare! Well, she had to go and pull that big cat's tail now, didn't she?

She never got to even pull the cat's tail. Doh! At least she survived, and apparently learned to not do something like that again.

Sten has a much more amusing - if less life-threatening - story to tell!

Some nice bonding as the pair travels Skyrim's snowy wilds.

[Grits]

I was interested to learn about Bosmer maturation in Lili’s world. The thought of so many toddler years gives me a shudder. I imagine that the whole community would have an eye out keeping their children safe. I loved Lili and Sten swapping stories as they walked.

It sounds like they are well prepared to ride out the storm whenever and wherever it hits. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s inside this cave!

[Renee]

I see what you're saying, how you picture each chapter as a series of scenes. Like in the first sentences, Sten can hear Susanna clearly but not Lili so much. Wow, look at that armor set.

Lili has a feather spell! The Nord is right, pack that fur cloak, this is Skyrim.

It reminds me of zombies and other necromantic entities,” Lilisfina’s voice grew soft, as if to speak of such things aloud would summon them. ---- Agreed. In a world where kitty-cat people walk around and it's possible to call beings from other planes to perform your bidding, certainly it could be possible to speak words which could cause the deceased to rise. You never know.

Conversation about Talos had me smiling. The way it's a touchy subject.

They're getting to know each other on their journey to Forsaken Cave. The Medieval version of us in our modern world, taking a train perhaps, sitting next to someone we don't know (or don't know so well, maybe a co-worker) and filling time with conversation.

... Sten tried to ride a cow at 5 years of age!

Gasp at the view, heck yes.

It’s getting colder, should I pull out the fur cloak? --- Yes.

[haute ecole rider]

@Acadian: Yes, Lili and Sten will eventually progress to "I'll show you mine if you show me yours!" I remember your dissertation of Bosmer fertility and reproduction in previous Buffy books. However, I found in the Lore that Bosmer are the most prolific of the Elven races when it comes to offspring - it is not uncommon to have as many as 12 - 15 children! As I see it, life in the forest is hard, and the survival rate is relatively low, so few children actually survive to reproductive age. Between the senche, the carnivorous plants, and the (occasional) Wild Hunts, I suspect Valenwood can support only so many at a time. And yes, the trio is prepared for camping should they be caught out! Though actual camping won't happen for a while.

@SageRose: I spent a bit of time thinking how they would bond, and realized swapping childhood stories would be a good start for the two. It's a way to highlight how different their early experiences were, yet how similar. More bonding of a different nature coming up! Though not quite what you may think . . .

@Grits: It's interesting that you would point out that the toddler stage is prolonged in the Bosmer world, and that it would take more than just two 'rents to keep an eye on them. I've always pictured those smaller settlements we come across in ESO Valenwood as "family" units - they're all related to each other in one way or another, and all take part in child rearing duties. After all, it takes a village graht-oak . . .

@Renee: Yes, Lili has a feather spell! That, along with her little flame spell and healing touch, are part of her mage's repertoire. As she grows her skills, we'll see that spell list expand over time. As we've come to see, Lili hardly goes anywhere without that fur cloak . . .

And now we enter a cave - or is it a cave?

***********************************

Middas 20 Last Seed - Into the Forsaken

It was an interesting walk from Windhelm up to Forsaken Cave. Boss told a funny tale about pulling a big cat’s tail when she was a kid, and I told her about trying to ride Thistle. Lots of laughter - she has a sense of humor unlike most mages I’ve met. Almost like the Khajiit. We got to the cave without any problems, and even though the weather was threatening to storm, we had good luck with it and got inside before snow started flying.

Wolf howls and barks greeted them as soon as they entered the cave proper. The ice passage twisted to the right out of sight. So that’s where that wolf pack went. Sten shrugged his backpack to the ground beside the entrance and silently drew his zwei-hander. Lilisfina slid ahead of him toward the crook in the corridor, where a ramshackle cart rested. She knelt beside the cart and turned her face deeper into the cavern. Star stood stiffly at her side, silently bristling. Sten eased up to the corner, his eyes on the Wood Elf. She had that distant gaze he had noticed before on the reavers’ wreck. Her hands came up to lower her hood to her shoulders, and he caught the flash of fire in her left palm.

Those brilliant green eyes flickered up at him. She held up four fingers and pointed down the passageway. Four wolves. Sounds about right. He started to move around the corner, but Lilisfina flung her right hand out at him. Sten regarded her curiously, and she held up two fingers, then indicated a small size. Young. They have young. She motioned for him to wait with Star, and moved down the passageway out of his sight.

After a moment the barking and yipping stopped, and Star stepped forward warily. Sten peered around the corner to see her waving him up. Her left hand, empty of fire, motioned silence. Sten moved to join her, and peered into the cave.

Off to the right, gathered around a pile of fresh bones, two wolves, black against the ice, stood tensely watching the Wood Elf. Behind them two smaller forms - cubs, really - hunched against the far wall. Lilisfina waved Stenvar and Star to move behind her deeper into the cave at the left. The hairs on Sten’s nape rose when he realized Lilisfina had used the same calm spell on them as she had on the horkers. She won’t kill animals? Got to ask her about that - the Green Pact is all about eating meat! Later.

He moved westward through the cave, and spotted two immense carved stone columns familiar to him from Yngol’s Tomb. This is more than just a cave. Did she know that? As if his thoughts summoned her, she materialized at his side, already looking further into the depths of the cave. As they moved between the stone columns, Star nosed the large burial urns stacked around the chamber ahead.

They came to an iron door, cast in the ancient Nord style similar to those of the Halls of the Dead. Lilisfina paused before the door, her gaze traveling over the half hidden Nordic facade before them. Sten saw that look of discomfort on her features.

“Looks like a crypt,” he spoke softly. “It’s very old. They say ruins like these are filled with treasure. Of course, they’re filled with traps, too.”

That lopsided smile flickered across her face as she nodded silently. Sten watched a swallow move down her throat and her lips thin. She looked at him.

“Stennvar, let me go first, look for traps. If I find any enemies in there, I’ll let you know. You can fight them all, but
you must let me lead the way.”

“Like we did on The Winter War?” Sten asked. She nodded. “Duck behind me if you see anything.”

“Of course,” Lilisfina reached for the door and eased it open. Loud creaks and groans echoed around the cavern, and they heard yipping behind them, but the wolf family did not follow. Sten pushed the iron panel far enough to admit his bulk, and they slipped into the darkness.

After a moment’s pause, Lilisfina cast a ball of green light ahead of them. It floated a short way ahead, pushing the ancient darkness back. A few steps into the corridor brought them to a rickety wooden spiral stair that ran downwards. Lilisfina peered past the planks, then followed the mage light to the bottom of the stairs. She waited while Sten cautiously tested each creaky step behind her. When he reached her side, they glanced back up to see Star tentatively work his way down to join them. Just then, the mage light vanished. Sten bit down on a gasp and Star whined shortly, but Lilisfina refreshed it easily and sent it down the corridor that stretched away from the stairs. They followed the mage light through the twisting corridor. Lilisfina indicated a floor tile that was slightly more ornate than the rest. Trigger plate. Sten looked past her to see a carved statue at the end of the corridor, small holes barely visible in the crevices. Likely a dart trap. Poison, too. Might still be active after all these years. Even Star avoided it as they worked their way along the wall toward the bend in the hallway.

Lilisfina paused before they reached the bend. Again, Sten saw that distant look on her face, then she gagged and turned away. He watched in alarm as she retched into the nook between two carved stone wall ribs. “Are you all right?” he whispered, touching her shoulder briefly.

She fumbled out a small vial from her belt purse and gulped the contents down. After a moment, she took a deep breath and straightened up to face Sten. Her face didn’t look so discomfited. “There’s undead just up there,” she murmured softly. “Not moving, but I can still smell them, feel them.”

“Show me,” Sten moved back to the bend in the corridor. Lilisfina held up one finger, then pointed to the right. Then she gestured a greater distance away, and pointed to the left.

“I’m going to sneak as close as I can get,” Lilisfina whispered into Sten’s ear as he crouched down. “Let me hit them with my flare first, that will weaken them for you.”

At his nod she refreshed the mage light and sent it around the corner. She slid after it, still moving silently. After a few steps, they heard the sound of a stone slab clattering to the floor, then steps approaching them. Lilisfina slid to the wall opposite Sten and Star as the skeletal form of a draugr appeared beneath the green glow of the mage light. She was nearly within touching distance when she sent a flash of fire into the shambling undead.

Before it could turn toward her, she had skipped back behind Sten, who was already rising to strike an overhead blow with his zwei-hander. As his blade sank into the draugr’s left shoulder, Star dashed forward and seized the undead’s right leg in his jaws. His forward momentum spun the draugr off balance, and Sten made quick work of the burning corpse. Star returned to Lilisfina as the flames flickered out, leaving a charred form on the floor. Sten nudged it with his foot, his blade ready for any last movement. That worked well. Setting it on fire makes it easier for me to see it in the dark. But both Star and I have to be careful not to catch fire ourselves!

Off in the distance they heard another stone slab crash into the floor, followed a few breaths later by more footsteps. The mage light moved forward as Lilisfina passed him into a large open space. Its dim green light showed signs of collapsed stone berths and cracked sarcophagi around the area before it went out again. Sten froze in the darkness, listening as the steps drew closer. He held his breath, and heard nothing from his companions.

Again fire outlined the shape of another draugr, and again he was able to use its light to attack and destroy the undead being before it could find something to hit. Again, Star leaped in and assisted in his own unique way.

As the flames died down, Lilisfina sent up another mage light, and turned toward Sten and Star. “Are you all right?” she whispered, touching Star’s ears as he sat beside her.

“Yes, I’m good,” Sten responded. “You?”

“I’m as well as can be expected,” Lilisfina’s voice caught briefly. “I just hope this potion holds up long enough - my gut and experience is telling me this is only going to get worse the further we go.”

“Hmm, you’re probably right,” Sten responded. “This place hasn’t seen any activity in years, if not centuries.”

“Nurelion did say this Curalmil is a crafty one, even in death,” Lilisfina responded. “That makes me think we’ll need to get past him to find the White Phial.”

“And he won’t be alone, either,” Sten could hear the grimness in his voice. “Well, taken alone, these draugr aren’t so fearsome. They are far more dangerous in numbers.”

“Then we’ll have to try and take them on separately,” Lilisfina declared softly.

[Acadian]

Great thoughts you have on Bosmer longevity. I love that we can take differing approaches and still effectively keep those pesky elves from overtaking the humans.

*

Very clever to open this episode with an ‘In our previous episode. . . ‘ review via a letter from Sten.

Nice touch to bypass the wolves. They were there first and simply being wolves.

Love Lili’s mage light.

Setting a target on fire to make it easier to see in the dark – brilliant!

These two – er, make that three – are working together wonderfully. Sten is protective but realizes Lili is better equipped to lead the way. And Lili is wise enough to hop behind her armored companion once the fighting starts. Even Star is waiting until the fight starts instead of charging in ahead as dogs are sometimes wont to do.

Methinks Lili’s going to need a fair number of those antinausea potions while dungeoneering in Skyrim.

[SubRosa]

Uh oh, it looks like the cave already has occupants of the four legged variety. Let's see if Lil has some sort of Wood Elf magic that might obviate the need for hacking the wolves to pieces.

There it is, the same spell she had used on the horkers. It has been so long since that episode that I had forgotten about that.

So the cave is more than meets the eye. Tombs, treasure, traps, and of course the undead. I could not think of a word that starts with the letter "T" for the last.

Lil has an incredibly uncomfortable undead detector, even worse than Buffy's vampire cramps.

I am hoping that Star rips off the draugr's leg and then runs off with it and uses it as a chew toy...

Lil and Sten once more make for an dynamic dungeon delving duo. Vomit aside. It looks like Lil might want to look into acquiring a magical form of Pepto to settle her stomach if she is going to continue with fighting undead. Puking in every tomb is pretty awful way of making a living.

[Renee]

They're sneaking by the den of wolves, very nice. NICE, that's awesome she uses Calm. Several of mine do the same, or try to. As the proud (owner?) of Star, she's going to consider the lives of canines, I'd imagine. Especially those with cubs. 🐺

That's also a definite strategy, telling followers to stay behind while "I traipse forward". Not just in Skyrim but earlier games as well. Because if our person gets in trouble, he/she merely needs to return to where the follower is, who is going to still have his/her full health.

There's the trap. This is creepy, the fights with ancient draugr!!!