I love how Clark cleared Cragslane Cavern – start a big fight, disappear, then take out the wounded survivor(s).

Thane of Riften, with a Honey of a House and a new housecarl to go with it! I see Clark is never one to waste time. . .
’Clark had to be very careful not to call her Lydia.’ - - I haven’t met Iona yet, but this definitely sounds like good advice.

"I assume you've been busy, too," he countered. "Tell me about it." - - Smooth as ever, Clark doesn’t miss a beat as he deftly deflects Gilda’s accusatory inquisitiveness.

Very interesting what happened in Snow Veil Sanctum with Karliah and Gilda. Glad they’re both okay.

So, it’s off to the College it seems. It makes perfect sense that Enthir there would likely have some sort of ties to the guild of thieves.


Nits:
I don’t want to quote a large block, but if you look at your fourth paragraph into the episode, it looks like you missed a paragraph break.

’She had her own bed, down in the basement, so this was probably a invitation.’ - - I expect you want ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ preceding invitation?

Part 14 – Like Gilda and Clark I was also surprised when the guards came to arrest Brand-Shei in my game. That was the first hint that Skyrim’s TG questline was going to be a bit darker than Oblivion’s. Good job to Gilda on getting the payments without violence.

Part 15 – Wow, Gilda looks great in her too small TG outfit. I especially like her low-riding leather pants. I love Clark’s impressions of Aerin, Mjoll, and the Black-Briar clan. Clark’s view of Mjoll’s scattered chatter made me grin.

He went on to tell Clark his version of how he found her outside Mzinchaleft. Her armour had been ripped apart by the Dwemer constructs, and he could see that she was worth saving.

I wonder if Aerin reconsidered once she started talking. It sounds like she’s keeping him happy, though. Lol.

It sounds like Clark had a tough time in the warehouse. All of my previous relatively pacifist thieves sympathize!


Part 16 – It was worth the 5500 septims he paid for it. She'd asked for 8000, but settled for less, as he didn't have any more gold on him, and he might have changed his mind.

I love it! I don’t think I’ve ever tried that in a game.

Snow Veil Sanctum, yikes. Neat to see the outcome of that quest through Clark’s eyes.


ETA: I forgot to say, I love the illustrations!

Acadian: As we'll find out later, it's the housecarls that are in a hurry. Clark is just easily persuaded. Iona and Lydia have different shades of hair, but I think it's styled the same, and they are the same size, and start in identical gear. Since Jordis also has the same outfit, I assume it's the uniform they get at housecarl school.

Grits: The price of Honeyside is anything from 5000 to 8000, depending on how much you have. There's no way to haggle, if you have the full 8000, you pay it. So you give all but 5000 to your follower before talking to the steward. I think one of the other homes is priced like that, but most are fixed-price.

Clark is not going to get involved too much with Mjoll. Like Neloth, his ears are sensitive.

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

Previously: Clark became Thane of Riften and bought Honeyside. He and Iona, his new housecarl, then followed Gilda and Mercer Frey to Snow Veil Sanctum, where Mercer hoped to find (and kill) Karliah. He failed, but disappeared into the blizzard. Gilda had found Gallus' journal, and they've taken it into Winterhold to see if Enthir can help them translate it.

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

Part 17 - Gallus' Journal

Enthir met them in the Frozen Hearth. Neither Gilda nor Karliah were members of the College, so they weren't permitted into its grounds. "You've got a fair amount of skills in the magical arts, aren't you a member?" Gilda asked Clark.

"Not here." Clark replied. "I learned most of my spells in Cyrodiil."

"College or Synod?" Enthir queried.

"A bit of both. The local guildhalls weren't divided between them when I picked up most of mine. And I've learned most of my summoning spells from other sources."

Clark was glad he didn't have to explain all of those. He could only summon Aureals and Mazken in the Shivering Isles, and he suspected none of these folks had ever met one of those. Winged Twilights and Daedra Seducers were just as foreign. He'd summoned them in Tamriel before, but not here in Skyrim.

"Show Enthir the journal," Clark prompted, to change the subject.

"This looks like Ancient Falmer to me," the elf told them, after a quick perusal. "Not a language I know."

"So who does?" asked Karliah. "We need that journal translated, before I can show it to the Guild."

"The expert on this is Cancelmo, in Markarth, but you won't persuade him to do it. He'll be too busy with his excavations. He never was much for cooperation. Didn't want anybody else taking credit for his work, even if they did most of it."

"So what do we do?"

"Search his laboratory, see if he has a dictionary, or anything like that. I can probably make sense of this if I just know what the words mean. The elven languages do have similar sentence structures and grammar, even if the words are different."

---

When he entered the Markarth brothel, Clark was astounded to find Rhiada, in her final month of pregnancy, sitting naked at the desk. She stood up and strode, not waddled, across to greet him.

"Did Vicuña make you an amulet to take the weight off your feet?" he guessed.

"The amulet just supports my breasts," she replied. "The shoes are carrying junior for me. Separate enchantments makes more sense, as I'll need the amulet until he's weaned."

"And your clothes got too tight?"

"Actually, I do have a loose robe I could be wearing, but here in the brothel, nobody minds me being nude. Especially the men."

"And since she's a member of the Guild, they can pay her to pat her belly, and give her a squeeze." Vicuña told him.

"They do that?"

"Oh yes. It's considered lucky to pat an expectant mother's baby bulge, and make her baby feel welcome. The friendly squeeze makes Rhiada feel good, and a generous tip helps, too."

"So Rhiada's settled in nicely, how about Betrid?"

"To start with, she was difficult. She thought she was worth more than she was getting, being Temple-trained and all. And she tended to perform, rather than do what her client wanted. But then one of them got impatient with her and slapped her butt and told her exactly what she was going to do for him. Nobody had ever done that to her before, and she was shocked, but discovered that she liked it. Not too hard, of course, real pain would be against Guild rules. I've told all the men they can spank her if she misbehaves, and it will only cost a little extra to do that. So now she's making more gold, and everyone's happy."

Vicuña had a question for Clark. "Did you ever open that other brothel outside the walls? The one we negotiated over?"

"No, but I've made an offer for this place. Thongvor's not interested in commerce. He's not like his late brother, at all."

---

Gilda returned from Understone Keep late in the evening with a large piece of paper she'd used to take a charcoal rubbing from a stone in Cancelmo's laboratory. "I had to give Cancelmo's nephew Aicantar a rubbing to get this, if you know what I mean. I hope it was worth it."

"I hope you pointed him in our direction if he likes that sort of thing," Vicuña added. "He's not one of our regulars."

"I doubt he gets the chance to leave the keep," Gilda replied. "His uncle has him working full-time on the excavations, or examining the things they find. I bumped into him in the laboratory, taking a Dwemer spider apart. He was surprised to find me there, but quite helpful ... after I'd persuaded him a little."

"Oh, and I picked this up on the way out. Any idea what it is?" Gilda held up a bronze cube, that seemed to be made up of pieces that slid or turned in various ways. You could probably take it apart, if you moved the parts in the right directions, in the right order. Clark fiddled with it for a while, and handed it back.

"See if Delvin Mallory has any use for it," Karliah suggested. "He collectes oddities like that, and he might give you a decent price for it."

Gilda already knew that. She'd sold a bee sculpture she'd found at Goldenglow to him, and a couple more items from her other jobs.

---

They travelled back to Winterhold together and took rooms at the Frozen Hearth. They found a group of young mage apprentices carousing in the bar, clearly celebrating something, perhaps a birthday?

"No, better than that. They happen every year, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime event. We found a huge magical Orb in Saarthal, and they're calling it the Eye of Magnus. The Arch-mage thinks it's extremely important, perhaps the greatest magical find ever!" the Nord told him.

"It wasn't 'we' that found it," The Khajiit corrected him, "It was Brelyna. You and this one were collecting minor artifacts in the rest of the ruins, Onmund."

The young Dunmer looked embarrassed at being the center of attention, but she nodded assent to the Khajiit's version. "Thank you, J'zargo. I couldn't have done it without Tolfdir's help, of course."

Clark couldn't help thinking that if she didn't want attention, she should have kept more of her clothes on. Then he saw the dice on the table, and guessed what they'd been playing. He wondered which of the others could do telekinesis, and whether Brelyna knew that.

---

"It looks like the same text in Falmer and in Dwemer. Fortunately I know the latter, so it should be straightforward to match up the words. Give me a couple of hours, and I should have the Journal translated for you."

Enthir took the paper and the journal and sat at a table in the Frozen Hearth's basement.

He was working on the last page when he called Karliah over. "Does this make sense? I've never heard of a Twilight Sepulchre, so I'm not sure if I've got that part right."

"Let me see." she replied. "Oh, no! if this is what really happened, then Mercer has the Skeleton Key!"

Gilda looked puzzled, but Clark had heard of the Skeleton Key before. Dralsi, Minx and he had used it to open the Ebonmere, the portal between Evergloam and the Twilight Sepulchre, so that Nocturnal and the Nightingales could pass freely between the realms. If Mercer had taken the key, that would now be sealed, and Nocturnal would not be happy. The portal near her shrine outside Leyawiin had been closed long ago, and the Ebonmere had taken its place.

"If I were you, I'd check the vaults at the Guild. If Mercer turned on Nocturnal, he'd have done the same to the Guild." Clark didn't know that the Guild had any vaults, (he hadn't been there,) but it was a reasonable assumption.

"We need to get to Riften as fast as possible." Karliah told Gilda. "I'll see you at the Ragged Flagon. I need to get another horse along the way; Mercer killed mine."

What a fun episode, spanning much of Skyrim!

Wow, Vicuña’s mind never strays far from filling the brothel’s coffers.

How neat to see Enthir and the three amigo mage students! Poor naïve Brelyna was probably destined to fare poorly with strip poker. Actually, I think she was wise to surrender her robes before her hood - I've seen the poor thing's hairstyle without her hood.

Then back to more thiefy guildy stuff like skeleton keys and such.

Back to Riften next, is it? I’d kill that Mercer fellow for sure for killing Karliah’s horse!

Acadian: Vicuña's a high-ranking official of the Guild, so she tries to be mindful of their interests.

Brelyna's hairstyle will be seen and remarked on next time Clark meets her. She'll have to venture out of Winterhold to continue the College quest line, and their paths will cross again. Brelyna will also meet the Dragonborn, once I've tied in that part.

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

Previously: Enthir translated Gallus' journal, with the help of some text that Gilda obtained from Cancelmo's laboratory in Markarth. They met Brelyna, who'd discovered the Eye of Magnus in Saarthal, and then returned to Riften.

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

Part 18 - Riftweald Manor

Gilda came back to Honeyside, after she'd met with the Guild. "Karliah persuaded Brynjolf and Delvin to use their two keys to check the vaults, and they were empty, like you expected. Mercer couldn't have opened them alone, without the Skeleton Key, so that helped prove his guilt. And they believed me when I told them he'd tried to kill me. So we have the Guild behind us, but we don't know where Mercer went."

"Brynjolf wants me to break into Riftweald Manor. Mercer bought the place some time back, and now it looks like he used the Guild's funds to do it. He's got it sealed up tight, and guarded by some goon called Vald. There may be others inside, but we don't know for sure."

"We'll all go, just in case," Clark decided. That included Iona, but not Karliah, who had gone to try and contact Nocturnal. There was a shrine not too far from Riften that might let her do that.

Clark managed to persuade Vald that Mercer needed him in Markarth, and that they'd keep watch on the place in his stead. That only got them into the grounds, and the door at the back was just as locked and barred as the one at the front. "Do you have a bow?" Clark asked Iona. She nodded.

"Try and hit that mechanism up there under the balcony," Clark asked her. "I think it will release the ramp, and then we can try the door up there."

With a loud clatter, the ramp dropped, and they all ran up to the balcony. "I'm sure, if there's anyone in there, that they know we're coming. Be careful when I open the door."

Clark raised a ward before he did so, and they all stepped in after him. Iona still had her bow at the ready, and the first of the bandits inside was well-pierced before he could reach them. The second, however was close behind, and untouched by arrows. Gilda stepped forward and swung a dark blade at the man. The single blow dropped him, much to Clark and Iona's surprise.

"What's that enchanted with? And where did you get it?"

"Karliah gave it to me. She called it a Nightingale Blade, and it absorbs health and stamina, as well as being a pretty good sword. It looks like Ebony to me, but it has this special insignia on it, so it looks a bit different from a regular ebony sword."

"Do you know how to recharge an enchanted weapon?" Clark asked.

"With a soul gem? Yes, but I don't have many of those, and most are empty. How do you fill them?"

"You need a soul trap spell to do that. It's better to have it enchanted on the weapon, but only a real expert can put more than one enchantment on anything. If that blade has both absorb health and absorb stamina already, it was either enchanted by a powerful mage, or Nocturnal herself."

"Your sword has fire and soul trap together, doesn't it?" Gilda asked. "Did someone else enchant it for you?"

"No, actually there's a single enchantment that does both. I was lucky enough to find another weapon with it, and learned the enchantment from that. If you have a dagger, I could put it on that, and you'd have a way to capture souls, and it would still be a decent weapon."

Gilda wasn't sure. She preferred to use one hand for a blade and the other for spells, and to capture a soul would mean using a blade in each hand.

"But that's only when you need one," Iona pointed out. "If you find enough filled gems, you won't have to. I'd take it as a backup. You never run out of things until you need them."

"Good point, and a dagger's light enough to make little difference."

They continued into Riftweald Manor, looking for clues to where Mercer might have gone. They found nothing in the house, until Clark remarked. "Why aren't there any shelves in this cupboard?"

He felt around the back panel, until he suddenly triggered a hidden switch, and the back slid aside. There was a passage behind the cupboard, leading down to the cellar. Nothing was there, but the passage continued further, towards the temple next door, and the back entrance to the Guild.

"I suspect this passage will be trapped," Clark told the others. "Watch out for them, and any ways to turn them off."

"Pressure plate on the floor!" Iona pointed. They all skirted that without issues, but the floor ahead had a different kind. Iona had seen those before, too. "If you step on the wrong one, it will blast flames up at you," she told them.

"Mercer must have crossed this before" Gilda reasoned. "Look for the ones that are worn or dirty from footprints." Clark went first, partly from chivalry, and partly because he was immortal. He found the right path, and they followed.

The next trap was pendulum blades. Timed sprinting got them past those. Finally they reached a small room, with a desk and some shelves. Among the papers on the desk were some plans and a note. A bust of the Grey Fox stood at the back of the desk, next to a case containing a sword. The sword looked like a glass shortsword, but the blade was blue, and glowed slightly. Clark had seen it before.

"That's Chillrend," he told them. "I haven't seen that since the Champion of Cyrodiil showed it to me, a couple of centuries ago. It has a nasty frost enchantment, if I remember correctly."

He handed it to Iona. "I have fiery soul trap on my sword, Gilda has the Nightingale blade, so I think you need something better than your plain steel."

Iona's eyes widened. She'd never had a weapon like this before. "But what do I have to do to deserve this?"

"Just use it wisely," Clark replied. The way Gilda was looking at him, that's all he could have said.

Just around the next corner was a hole in the floor. Gilda dropped down to find herself in the Ratway. "Come on down, you don't have to go back past the traps this way," she told the others.

Gilda headed to the Ragged Flagon, and Clark and Iona went the other way, back to the canal entrance, and on to Honeyside.

---

"Gilda's taking her time, isn't she?" Iona remarked, and as if on cue, she stepped through the door.

"I need to go with Karliah and Brynjolf to petition Nocturnal for her help," she told them. "Karliah seems to think Brynjolf and I are good candidates to be Nightingales, to replace Gallus and Mercer. Mercer may not be dead, yet, but he's clearly no longer a Nightingale."

"What do you need us to do?" Iona asked.

"Nothing yet. I'll know more once we've spoken with Nocturnal. The Ebonmere may be closed, but Karliah thinks she can still reach Nocturnal through the shrine at Nightingale Hall."

"I need to go over to Mistveil Keep and arrange to have the Honeyside basement furnished," Clark added.

"Once we have Alchemy and Enchanting stations, I can show Iona how to use them, and make you that dagger I promised."

"I thought you'd wait to do that until we got back to Whiterun, but it makes sense to have the capability here as well. Does Lydia use the equipment in Breezehome?"

"She certainly makes her own health potions," Clark replied. "But we don't have our own enchanting lab there, remember?"

"Who's Lydia?" asked Iona.

"Clark's favourite bedmate, except for Vicuña, and the two of us." Gilda replied. "She's his housecarl in Whiterun. For all I know, he has one in each of the other cities, too. Maybe not Markarth; he has a whole brothel there."

"I'm only Thane here and in Whiterun," Clark clarified. "I've visited all the cities, and significant towns, of Skyrim, but those are the only places where I've had any significant business dealings. I've been avoiding Solitude and Windhelm because of the Civil War, and Falkreath, Winterhold, Morthal and Dawnstar don't have traders that deal in the same goods that I do."

"Belethor deals in Ivory, so I go to Whiterun a lot, and I came to Riften because of Karliah. I've dealt with the East Empire Company at the Solitude Docks, but rarely needed to go up into town."

Gilda had to leave, and go meet Karliah outside town. She didn't know where this Nightingale Hall was, so Karliah and Brynjolf were taking her there.

Sounds like Gilda’s rising fast in the guild of thieves.

Different characters collect different things, I guess. Leave it to you to introduce the concept of a housecarl collection.

Nice to see Chillrend again, and I enjoyed Clark’s thoughts on enchanting and soul catching and such.


Nit: "Karliah sems to think Brynjolf and I are good candidates to be Nightingales, to replace Gallus and Mercer.” - - ‘Seems’ is missing an ‘e’ in the first part of this sentence.

Oh, Clark's not trying to collect all the housecarls.

Just the female ones.

What a great idea to give feather shoes to pregnant Rhiada. It must take a lot to surprise Clark with a sight inside a brothel, but she managed it!

I had the same thought as Acadian about Brelyna’s remaining attire – with her original hairstyle she definitely should keep the hood for last!

Excellent gift for Iona. I really like Skyrim’s Chillrend, but I rarely get to see it.

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.

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

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

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

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.

’Clark had heard the same from Lydia. Housecarls must all come from the same school.’ - - I love it! When is your College for Housecarls mod coming out?

Gilda made quite the entrance wearing her mask and buckle-bursting Nightingale armor.

I like that you brought up the hazard of friendly fire using invisibility (or stealth in general). To address the brightly-lit bound bow that Buffy uses, we pretend that only allies can see the blue flaming glow – which helps avoid Buffy getting hit by friends. Foes however can’t see all the blue glowiness so the bow doesn’t give her away to them.

’They'd have to see if Wylandriah had a copy in the morning.’ - - Oh, she likely does, but the big question is would the absent-minded court mage know where she put it?

What a neat glimpse of the main quest as Clark and Lydia observe what seems to be a distant dragon battle near the throat of the world.


Nit: ’Invisilibity was for going in solo, or following someone, ...’ - - Just spelling of invisibility.

Acadian: I find Wylandriah knows where her stock of spellbooks is, because she's not using those. It's the things she uses that she's always putting down and forgetting.

And the main quest is getting closer still ...

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

Previously: Gilda had gone off to Irkgnthand, chasing Mercer Frey, with Brynjolf and Karliah. Clark had returned to Whiterun, from where he'd seen dragons fighting at the top of the Throat of the World.

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

Part 20 - Dragonsreach

The next morning Clark headed for Dragonsreach. He'd been meaning to talk to Farengar Secret-Fire, the court mage, about the dragons, and now was the perfect opportunity.

Half-way there, a guard came up to him and told him that Jarl Balgruuf wanted to see him. He was summoning all his Thanes to advise him on the latest dragon situation. So the heads of the Grey-Mane and Battle-Born clans would be there, too. Clark recalled that they rarely agreed on anything, so Jarl Balgruuf would be asking him to cast any deciding vote.

---

"Diablita?" There weren't many people you could confuse with the red-skinned, horned, tailed, and hooved woman talking to the Jarl. As far as Clark knew, she was the only example of her race, whatever that was.

"Clark? How are you still alive after all these years?"

Clark worried that now the Jarl would know how old he was, but it occurred to him that Balgruuf would have no idea how much time Diablita was talking about. He ignored her question and asked one of his own.

"What brought you to Skyrim? I thought you and Angeline had settled outside Chorrol."

"You know this woman?" Jarl Balgruuf interrupted.

"Oh, yes," Clark confirmed. "I knew her in Cyrodiil, before I came to Skyrim. Why has she come to your court today? Did you summon her?"

"No, she's the reason I brought all the rest of you here. She wants to use the old dragon trap on the balcony to catch a dragon. I don't see how we can take that risk while the Civil War is still going on. As soon as either side sees we're busy with the dragon, they'll make a move."

"Perhaps I can persuade the Greybeards to host a peace conference," Diablita suggested. "Both sides respect the Greybeards, and regard them as neutral."

"Aye, Dragonborn, they do. But do you have enough influence with the Greybeards? I know that they summoned you to High Hrothgar after you helped Irileth slay the dragon at the watchtower, but I know little of what's happened since."

Did the Jarl really call her Dragonborn? Clark decided he needed a long chat with Diablita, as soon as possible.

Balgruuf wanted the Thanes' opinions on her idea. Clark's vote was for, and he was surprised that it was unanimous. Perhaps everyone did believe in the Greybeards' ability to pull this off. Of course, she'd have to convince General Tullius and Ulfric Stormcloak as well.

Well, they were both men, and Diablita had everything she needed to make a good first impression. Clark remembered the first time he'd met her and her sister, as they climbed out of his basement back in the Imperial City Waterfront. She hadn't changed much in the two hundred years since. Her chains and piercings were gold now, and of finer workmanship, but they were still just about all she wore.

---

When the meeting broke up, Clark and Diablita left together. He needed to find out how she'd become the Dragonborn that everyone had been talking about, ... and everything else that had happened in the last couple of centuries.

"I came to Skyrim to learn mage armour spells," she told him. "You know I don't like covering myself up, and I got tired of trying to adapt regular armour to suit me. When I heard about the magical alternative, I wanted to give it a try."

"When I crossed the border, I got caught up in an Imperial ambush that captured Ulfric Stormcloak. I guess they thought I was part of his group, because they hauled us all off to Helgen to be executed. That all got interrupted by a dragon attacking the town, and some of us got away, including Ulfric, Tullius and his Thalmor advisor, and a Nord called Ralof, who took me down to Riverwood with him. He stayed there, while I came here to warn the Jarl."

"When a second dragon was spotted near the watchtower, the Jarl sent me out with Irileth. I was the only one who'd even seen a dragon before, apart from the guard from the watchtower, so it made sense."

"We killed the dragon, and that was as much the Nords' doing as mine. I absorbed some kind of power from it, and learned to use the Unrelenting Force shout. I'd found the first word on a wall in Bleak Falls Barrow, but I didn't know how to use it before."

"That's when one of the men told me I was Dragonborn. Apparently leaning Thu'ums is hard for normal people, and if you can just absorb them from dragons, it's special."

"So it has nothing to do with your horns, and looking a bit like one?" Clark asked.

"You haven't seen half of it," she responded, and cast a spell. Wings sprouted from her back. Leathery ones, that looked just like a dragons' wings.

"You couldn't do that before. Where did you get that from?"

"Nocturnal gave them to us." Diablita looked sad when she said that. "Angeline, my late half-sister, got some, too. We'd retrieved the Ring of Hircine for her, from a werewolf who was terrorising the Gold Coast, and she noticed me looking enviously at one of her Seducer Guards' wings. Or maybe Angeline doing the same. We agreed on a lot of things, after all."

"I wonder why Nocturnal didn't ask Minx and I to get the ring?" Clark asked.

"I think she said you were in Skyrim at the time. Something about a draugr in a cave, and Nightingales. It didn't make a lot of sense at the time, but then we didn't even know what draugr were back then."

"What happened to Angeline?" he asked.

"Died at a ripe old age, surrounded by her family. Our family, really, as it was always dubious who anybody's father was, so we shared. We settled at Weatherleah with the Jemane twins, and had our matching daughters. Born a few hours apart, just like their mothers. I have no idea which of the twins was Elys' father, and Angeline would have told you the same about her Emelie. Then Angeline had twin boys, who looked a lot like their fathers, except that their hair was as blond as their mother's."

"Since three of the four kids were hers, she tended to stay at home and look after them, while I went out adventuring on my own. And of course, she was a round-ear, and aging faster than I was. The Nords all call me an elf because of my pointed ears, and I seem to have their lifespan, too. I still don't know what I am, so Dragonborn is a good a term as any."

"Most of the children and grandchildren etc. were Angeline's, and there were a lot of twins in the mix. Elys and I were the odd ones out, even though we were always close to our respective siblings, the cousins and so on were more distant. I would take Elys with me on my dungeon-diving trips, and we'd be away from the farm for long periods."

"I think Elys went to High Rock some time before the war with the Aldmeri Dominion. I haven't heard from her in a long time. And Angeline's line are too numerous to track; they'd be all over the continent by now."

"Did you have your wings out when the dragon came to Helgen?" Clark asked. The thought had just struck him that the dragon might have seen them.

"Yes, I have to cast the spell again to retract them, and my hands were bound so I couldn't do that. And I wondered myself if that had anything to do with the dragon coming. But it seemed to be attacking everyone, and I wasn't getting any special attention, so I've discounted that idea."

"It might have got me extra attention from Ralof, but then so might a couple of other things. There was an Imperial soldier who wanted to help me escape, too, but I saw him guiding a child out of the town instead. I wonder where the kid ended up?"

They were almost at the door of Breezehome by this time, and Clark invited Diablita to stay. But she was intent on going to Solitude as quickly as possible. She had to persuade General Tullius to attend the peace conference. Once he'd agreed, she thought Ulfric would have no choice, or he'd be seen as the unreasonable one.

Clark wished her luck, and watched her leave through the main gate.

That’s so handy, I had no idea that Honeyside came with three portions of void salts to upgrade the Nightingale gear. I guess Allek my Nightingale who lived there must not have been into Smithing.

It was really neat to see the uproar at the Throat of the World from down in Whiterun. Having the main quest in the background is lots of fun.

Oh my gosh, Diablita the Dragonborn, and she has wings!! This is just getting better and better. I loved hearing about her and Angeline’s family in the last couple of centuries.

And Diablita the Dragonborne enters the story!

Nice job of tying her past, Clark’s past and the Skyrim main storyline all together. And giving her wings! If she can shout and cast in flight, that’s got to be a massive equalizer when fighting dragons.


Nits:
- ’...but it occured to him that Balgruuf would have no idea how much time Diablita was talking about.’ - - Unless it’s a British spelling I’m unfamiliar with, I think you want occurred?
- ’I know that they summoned you to High Hrothgar after you help Irileth slay the dragon...’ - - Here, I’m sure you wanted ‘helped’ instead of ‘help’.
- ’I guess they though I was part of his group,...’ - - Thought vs though.
- ”Apparently leaning Thu'ums is hard for normal people, and if you can just aborb them from dragons, it's special." Learning vs leaning. Absorb vs aborb.

I thin I ned a keboard that doesn't drop charcters so much.

And a spell-chequer that understands homophones.

Hey, back again and all caught up.

I agree that keeping the Skyrim main quest in the background is a great idea! It gives the story a richness that it might not have otherwise. I liked Diablita’s narrative of the game’s opening and I like the fact that she gave us some insight into Hadvar’s fate after she decided to follow Ralof. So he backtracked from the barracks door in order to spirit Haming out of the city, eh? That must have been fun with Alduin still flying about.

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.

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

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.

Yay for Elisef! I knew there must be some reason that Buffy and I like her so much. Those innocuous-looking blondes can be full of surprises.

And Diablita Dragonborn is off, on the wings of a dragon, to fight Alduin!

That scene with Odahviing on the balcony is one of my favorites in the game. I’ve imagined what it must look like to the Dragonborn’s follower who gets left behind. I loved seeing it through Clark’s eyes in your story.

Farengar’s antics had me grinning, especially his face-palm moment. How very like a mage.

Grits: Of course, I only get the option to tell it from Clark's viewpoint here, as that's the theme I've constrained myself to using. How much Diablita tells him later is her choice.
Farengar's desire for dragon scales is part of the regular game, but since most of my characters have sold some to Belethor, it made sense for Irileth to have done so, too.

Acadian: Elisif starts to shine in this one. The way she's portrayed in the game is exaggerated, and my take on it is that it's a deliberate ploy on her part to act dumb. That's easier for a blonde with cleavage, of course.

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

Previously: Diablita has flown off to Skulhavn on the back of a dragon, but before she left, she suggested that Clark should go to Solitude.

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

Part 22 - Solitude

After a couple of days of waiting in Whiterun for Diablita to return, Clark set out for Solitude with Gilda. Although his main intention was to investigate Elisif, Gilda had a Thieves Guild commission there, and she was an excellent distraction.

"We'll go to the Blue Palace to buy a spell tome from Sybille Stentor," Clark told Gilda. "That will give us a chance to look around a little, and maybe find an opportunity for something else."

"Theft, or what?"

"Anything that gives us greater access to the court. If any of the major players, especially the Jarl, has any work for us, that would be perfect. Otherwise, we play it by ear."

---

They arrived late in the evening, and took a room at the Winking Skeever. Gilda, in her tight leathers, got more than a few glances from the men. Then they'd look at Clark, and wonder what he'd got that they hadn't. The women would look at Gilda, know what she'd got that they hadn't, and then wonder about Clark.

They spent most of the following morning wandering around the market. Then it was time to head for the palace.

As they entered the audience room, and climbed the stairs, they could hear someone petitioning the Jarl for assistance. There were strange noises coming from Wolfskull Cave, and lights in the night. The petitioner was from Dragon Bridge, some way from the cave, but he was clearly disturbed by the phenomena.

Elisif was earnestly listening to the man, while glancing at her advisors for clues to their reactions. Her proposal at the end of his pitch caught Clark by surprise.

"We will immediately send a legion to scour the cave and secure your town. Haafingar's people will always be safe under my rule."

Sybille and Falk talked her down to a lesser course of action, of just sending an extra guard or two to Dragon's Bridge. Somebody would take care of the cave, too.

Clark saw his chance and suggested that he and Gilda should go and take a look. Varnius Janius left, happy that the matter was in safe hands.

"You didn't have to volunteer, you know," Falk told them. "The Jarl and I have this routine well-oiled now. She promises the moons, and I bring her down to Nirn again. Everyone loves her for it, because they think she means everything she says. And what they actually get is quite enough to satisfy them."

"Well, we're looking for an excuse to explore the area, so this is no problem for us. And you never know; there just might be something behind that tale of his."

Falk doubted it. That cave had a tradition of being haunted for as long as he could remember, and there was no reason to believe something new was happening.

"But don't let me stop you going there. The caves that everyone avoids are the ones that still hold their treasure, aren't they?"

Gilda whispered in Clark's ear as they left the palace. "I think Falk Fire-Beard and Thane Bryling have something going on. Did you see the way they look at each other?"

"No, I was watching Elisif." Gilda elbowed him in the ribs. "And not just her cleavage. She's quite an actress, and she's playing for high stakes, here."

"What do you mean?"

Clark explained what Diablita had told him. Elisif had to appear weak as a Jarl, so that Tullius wouldn't have her replaced. At the same time, she had to do the job as well as she could. Hence the coded interplay between her and Falk. She'd just told him that she thought something needed to be done about Wolfskull Cave, and probably how much. Falk had scaled it down appropriately, but not changed the basic decision to send more guards to Dragon Bridge, and investigate the cave.

---

The presence of two skeletons guarding the entrance to the cave was evidence that this wasn't a wild goose chase. Something had to have animated those two, and recently, as that kind of magic fades quickly. That something was most likely still in the cave.

"Skeletons usually indicate necromancers," Clark thought. "I wonder how long before we meet one."

As they might have expected, the novice whose job it was to keep the guard in place was stationed not far into the cave. And further in were more experienced colleagues who'd re-animated draugr to assist them. Finally, they came to what appeared to be a dead end. The chamber had a pit in the floor, but the only other exit was back the way they'd come.

Clark peered down. "I don't see any way to climb back up. But this can't be all there is. We didn't pass anything of interest, and there didn't appear to be any accommodations for the necromancers. I can't believe that they come here every day from somewhere else."

Gilda shrugged. "So we go down, and hope there's another exit. That looks like a paved floor down there."

"That's true. And since there isn't one up here, it didn't just fall there."

It wasn't far to drop, and when they landed, they could hear something up one of the tunnels. "It sounds like chanting," Gilda said. "Come on!" She set off down the tunnel with Clark close behind her.

They emerged on a ledge overlooking a cavern. Blue lights were swirling around a tower in the centre, and the sound of chanting they'd heard was coming from the top. "There must be a side-passage back there that leads down, and we missed it." Clark guessed.

Gilda shushed him and pointed. A faint glow was coming from somewhere just behind them. It outlined an opening in the passage wall that they hadn't seen before. The glow was getting brighter, as they watched.

Gilda guessed that someone was approaching, carrying a torch. She crept towards the light, readying a flame spell. An ice spike came back in response, but an explosion of fire ended it. Clark looked down at the pool of burning oil the necromancer had stepped into. "Nice timing," he told Gilda.

"However, I'm sure the others will have heard that, so..." Clark cast Ebonyflesh and readied a ward, too. His other hand held his fiery soul trap sword.

"We summon Potema." The chanting was now close enough for them to hear the words. But it wasn't coming from the draugr that faced them, or the necromancer behind him. As they fought their way around the spiral of stairs and ramps leading up the tower, they could hear another voice being added to the ritual.

"Yes, yes! Return me to this realm!"

"As our voices summon you, the blood of the innocent binds you."

"Summoned by words, bound by blood" The last chanted in unison by several voices.

"What are you doing? You fools! You cannot bind me!"

"Summoned by words, bound by blood" The chorus came again from the necromancers.

"You don't have the power!" Potema's voice mocked.

"Something is wrong. There is an intruder" a single voice interrupted, presumably one of the necromancers near the top had spotted them.

The chanting stopped, and several necromancers came down the stairs, firing spells in their direction. Clark had his ward up, in anticipation, and blocked most of it. Gilda hacked past the ward with her blade, and one by one the necromancers died.

At the very top, one lone necromancer stood trying to continue the ritual. Once she was dead the blue lights stopped swirling, and disappeared through a hole in the roof, and an eerie silence fell. Clark searched around, and found a book, which he handed to Gilda. "Read this. I think I recognise it as a skill book you'd find useful."

Gilda meanwhile had found a lever, that dropped a drawbridge to another tower, set against the side of the cave. There was a chest on the top, with a decent amount of loot, but more important, it lead to a path out of the cave.

---

Back at the Blue Palace, Falk asked what wild animals they'd found. He was convinced that Varnius had just heard wolves howling or something equally innocuous. When Clark told him about the necromancers' ritual, his jaw dropped.

"You stopped them, didn't you? Don't tell me they brought Potema back to life!"

"We stopped them," Gilda replied. "Assuming that was all of them."

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

Edited to add a picture of Elisif's cleavage. Because in the unmodded game she's not showing any.

"You didn't have to volunteer, you know," Falk told them. "The Jarl and I have this routine well-oiled now. She promises the moons, and I bring her down to Nirn again. Everyone loves her for it, because they think she means everything she says. And what they actually get is quite enough to satisfy them." - - Wonderfully done, ghastley! This one statement really supports that theory about Elisef. Not only that, by referencing multiple moons and Nirn, your familiar metaphor fit right into TES. You continue to do good service to one of my favorite NPCs.

I love the Potema quest at Wolfskull Cave. It was great to hear how Clark and Gilda cleared the place.

If Clark's not careful, he's gonna end up getting thaned again and find himself with yet another beautiful housecarl - and a blond one at that!

Acadian: Clark's already admitted that he's collecting housecarls, but only the female ones. Of course, that shouldn't be read as implying that he's restricting himself to housecarls, either.

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

Previously: Clark and Gilda had investigated Wolfskull cave and interrupted an attempt to resurrect Potema.

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

Part 23 - Solitude Docks and Temple

"I need a drink after that," Clark said to Gilda, "and one of the unique drinks that Solitude has to offer is Evette San's spiced wine. Have you tried it yet?"

"It's not one of those sneaky drinks that doesn't seem very strong, but then you wake up in a strange bed realising it was, is it?"

"No it isn't any stronger than regular wine, just tastier. If anything you drink it more slowly, because you want to savour it."

"Then let's get some!"

Evette had a problem. "Sorry, I just sold the last of what I had, and I can't make any more until I get the spices. There's a shipment come in, down at the East Empire Company warehouse, but Vittoria Vici's not releasing it. You couldn't go down there and persuade her to change her mind, could you?"

"If that's the only way we'll get any spiced wine, we'll do that." Clark promised."Will she be down at the docks, or at her house in town?"

"Down at the docks at this time of day. And you'll need to see her there, because that's where she'll book it out."

"This way, Gilda, there's a back way down the stairs here to the other side of the dock bridge. It's a bit shorter than the other route, so if she does leave work early, we'll meet her coming the other way."

---

"The tarrif is how much?" Clark asked.

"I just told you, 2000 gold."

"But that's more than the shipment's worth, and a lot more than Evette can afford. She can barely afford her stand in the market."

"Well I do like her spiced wine, and if she's run out of the spices ..." Vittoria was caught between her greed and her taste for good wine. "Fine, tell Evette San her shipment will be brought up shortly."

---

They took the good news back up to Evette, who handed them a couple of glasses. "I thought you said you'd run out," Clark reminded her.

"Of bottles, I have, but there's a small cask under the counter that has some left in it. We'll finish that off, and then I'll go home and start processing another batch. Come by tomorrow and pick up a couple of bottles."

There was quite a bit in that cask, and the sun was getting low when a courier approached them. "I have a note from Falk Firebeard, at the Blue Palace. He said it was important that I get this to you, even if you'd left town."

Clark read the note. It appeared that the events in Wolfskull Cave hadn't been the end of the matter, and something else had come up. Falk would prefer to tell them in person, so could they come back to the Palace?

Falk sent them to Styr, at the Hall of the Dead, for more information. It appeared that Potema hadn't disappeared entirely after the abortive summoning, but had resurfaced in the catacombs beneath the Temple of the Divines.

Styr told them that she'd used those catacombs when she was Queen of Solitude, and had raised armies of undead there in her lifetime. "Did you know that if she were alive today, she'd probably be the Empress? She's one of the legitimate Septim line, with a much better claim than the incumbent. Fortunately, though, she's not alive, at least not yet. Her necromancer minions may have summoned her spirit, but that's well short of a full resurrection. You still have the chance to prevent that. Bring me her remains from the catacombs, and I can make sure they're sanctified and thus put out of her reach."

"How do we get to these catacombs?" Gilda asked.

"Through the Temple. One of Potema's servants knocked a hole through into the undercroft. We've locked that part off, to keep her at bay, so you'll need this key. And take this spell, too."

Styr handed Gilda a spell tome for Turn Undead.

---

"I expect we won't be finding more necromancers down here. They wouldn't be able to get into the catacombs. It will be draugr, vampires, and the odd skeleton or two. All raised by Potema herself. She may have some ability to use magic against us directly. We won't know until we get closer to where she was buried."

Clark used the key he'd been given to open the gate that lead to the breach in the undercroft wall. The pile of rubble still lay on the floor, and he was half-expecting to find the corpses of those who'd made the hole. But on reflection, they were dealing with Potema. She'd reuse those who fell.

"I don't know how long she has to wait before she can raise a draugr again," he remarked to Gilda, "If she has the same limitations as the other necromancers, a fresh body will fall into ashes if it's killed again after being raised. And she doesn't have access to live ones here."

"So we should only have to kill anything once?"

"I'm never sure with vampires. I think they can be re-animated, even though they're undead. Twice at most, though."

"Then let's hope she doesn't have a large supply of vampires."

Potema's voice greeted them at the entrance to the catacombs. "You've arrived at last. The ones who prevented me from being bound return to my fold. I have much to thank you for, little ones. When you die I will raise you and you can take your place by my side."

They ignored the voice and pressed on. The first draugr was waiting just around the corner, and a vampire was lurking at the foot of the stairs in the first room. "Wait a moment, I want to see if Potema raises her." Clark didn't want any enemies behind them.

To play safe, he set light to the pool of oil on the floor, and watched the body burn up.

They ground their way slowly through the catacombs, slaying mainly draugr. That seemed to be what Potema had in the greatest quantities, and even those were thinly distributed along the tunnels. Presumably, she'd used a lot of her supply in her earlier life. One small consolation for them in their tedious progress.

Potema took every chance to taunt them, when she had any concentration of foes to throw at them. At one point, she raised several draugr and a vampire in a small cell, with closed doors. Fortunately, that took her some time to do, and they were able to attack each one as it raised.

"If she'd done that before we got here, they'd have been more of a problem," Gilda remarked.

"Not so," Clark returned. "They'd have been vulnerable to a fireball from outside. Potema had to wait until we were in the room, too."

"She's probably learned from this. I'd expect she'll have the strongest gather round her at the end."

"You didn't have to say that out loud," Clark reminded her.

Gilda whispered in Clark's ear that she was trying to set up the best situation for that fireball. She knew he couldn't throw many before he ran out of magicka.

---

"This must be the last section, and if I'm not mistaken, we'll find Potema and her guards behind that door." Clark pointed at a solid iron door that seemed more substantial than the others they'd passed through. "Whoever put her behind that meant her to stay put."

He glanced over at Gilda, and gasped. "What happened to your jacket?" Gilda was always threatening to burst out of it, but now she had.

"A buckle let go during that last skirmish. The leather's improved up to the point where it will turn a Deadric blade, but it looks like I neglected the fittings."

"That's not the best timing. You don't want to be vulnerable now."

"I don't think it makes much difference," Gilda replied. "It's not the leather that protects me, so much as the magic of the forge. Armour always has gaps, and it's magic that fills them. You're not using armour at all, are you?"

"No, but the spells I use don't work if I wear any armour."

"This is probably a different kind of magic. I don't think most smiths even think of it that way. They just do the work they've learned, and the armour gets more effective. But consider the facts. Dwarven armour is made from softer metal than steel, but it protects more. That's because it's more magicka-friendly than steel. And look at the materials you use for the really high-end stuff. Daedra hearts, void salts, and so on. Stahlrim and dragon scales are almost pure magicka, if you think about it."

"Yes, I've added a bit more leather when I've improved mine, but sometimes I've removed some, and it's still been an upgrade. It's all in the working of the material, and I'm convinced it's the same as casting a spell."

"Well, if draugr get distracted by that sort of thing, we have one big advantage," Clark noted.

"Count again," Gilda laughed.

I don’t mention it that often, but I do appreciate writers (like you) who precede a new episode with a tiny summary of ‘In our last episode. . . .’

As much as I like reading Clark’s adventures when he’s engaged in unfamiliar territory (like thieves guild stuff), I think maybe I enjoy reading about familiar quests even more. I'm always fascinated by how other players and their characters approach the same situations that Buffy and I know well. All the Solitude stuff Clark and Gilda are doing fit into this category,

I appreciated Clark and Gilda’s concern about the threat posed by leaving dead bodies behind them in the lairs of those who can resurrect them. Although Buffy doesn’t resurrect the undead to fight for her, she does have the ability to raise them momentarily – just long enough to ‘spoil’ their corpses into ash to prevent use by others against her.

I had to smile at Clark and Gilda’s discussion of how ‘less is more’ when it comes to armor and how a daedric bikini trumps full steel plate.

Oh noes, a wardrobe malfunction! Leave it to Clark and Gilda to ferret out a possible of advantage of Gilda Unbound -
"Well, if draugr get distracted by that sort of thing, we have one big advantage," Clark noted.
"Count again," Gilda laughed.’

Acadian: It should be obvious where this is all headed, (no Jordis ... yet) but reminding myself how far it got is just as important for me. The bit I'm writing and the bit I'm posting are getting further apart.

Daedric bikinis aren't going to appear, as they're self-contradictory. Using Daedric material implies that the substance matters most, so you'd use as much as you can. Wearing a bikini as armour indicates trust in the enchantment, rather than the material, so you'd use something more comfortable. Gilda wears nice supple leather. She likes the fortify carry on the Thieves Guild cuirass, even if she can't get the right size. The housecarls don't do magic, so they wear full heavy armour.

Diablita does the magic armour only thing, because she couldn't get physical armour that fits her. Some of it is Gilda's problem, and some is the hooves. Swinging a big sword keeps everyone out of range, too.

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

Previously: Clark and Gilda had entered Potema's catacombs to investigate new activity there. It appeared that necromancers had succeeded in raising her spirit, but hadn't yet brought her back to life. Gilda had experienced a wardrobe malfunction, but she wasn't going to let that stop her.

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

Part 24 - Potema's Tomb

A ghostly shape was floating in the center of the chamber, up near the roof. It was hard to see what it was, as lightning was crackling around it, and flaring randomly at the walls. Potema's voice was coming from the same direction, so they assumed it was her spirit energising it.

Several coffins standing around the periphery fell open when the lightning passed, and draugr emerged and advanced on Clark and Gilda. The first wave were weak, probably just a probe to test them.

"Impressive, but don't applaud yourself too soon!" Potema's voice announced another wave of draugr. Or maybe she'd just noticed Gilda, Clark thought to himself.

There were still draugr lying there from the first wave, and Clark tried an experiment. He raised one of them himself, and sent it back to fight its brethren. That seemed to cause them some confusion, as it was no longer obvious which side any draugr was on. Gilda caught on quickly, and added to the mayhem by using her Turn Undead spell. Clark continued raising any draugr that fell. It was a weak spell, and didn't take much magicka. The reanimated undead were also feeble, but their main task was to be a distraction, and that they did well.

Clark soon noticed that he was taking Potema's cannon fodder away from her. The draugr wouldn't raise a second time, and she was running out of allies. Gilda and he concentrated their offense on the tougher opponents, and let the others beat on each other. Since both of them were mainly using their blades for that, it didn't stop them raising and turning the rest with their other hand.

The final draugr lord shouted Clark's blade out of his hand. But he couldn't repeat that for Gilda, who struck before he could raise his own weapon. She kept him reeling back, unable to regain his balance, until he slipped over the edge of the stairs, down to where Clark was standing.

"Oh, that's where it went!" Clark gleefully grabbed up his sword. The draugr was just getting back on his feet from the fall, when a blow from Clark's weapon set him on fire. Clark kept him falling back, as Gilda jumped down to help.

A soul filled one of Clark's gems as the final draugr lord died. But the greater swirl of magicka was passing through the door at the end of the room. Potema was retreating to her throne room, and they needed to pursue. Clark could see a skull on the throne, presumably hers. He grabbed for it, but was pushed back by a ghostly shape which had to be Potema herself. Not entirely substantial yet, but she was already able to affect the mortal world, and the sword in her hand was real.

"If she can affect us, we can hurt her," Gilda reminded him. She hacked at the ghost, and her blade glowed as it absorbed health from the spectre. Clark could see Potema fade as that happened, and he added his assault to Gilda's. Finally there was no more resistence, and he picked the skull off the throne.

"I thought that someone had put a circlet around the skull, but it looks like these jewels and gold bands are embedded in the bone. I wonder what that would have felt like if she came back to life." Clark mused.

"I, for one, am glad I don't get to ask!" Gilda replied. "And I hope that door is the way out, and we don't have to go all the way back to the Temple. I don't think the priests would like me flashing my breasts there!"

"You can use both hands to hold your jacket in place now. We should be done with fighting."

"I still need to go somewhere I can fix it before we go back to the Temple. Open the door and see where it leads."

"There are a couple more draugr out here, but I don't think they'll be any trouble now Potema's gone," Clark called back to her, "and the next door leads out to the mountainside."

Out in the relative safety, Gilda rummaged through her backpack until she found a leather strip that she could use as a temporary fix.

"That still looks delightfully precarious," Clark told her, "but it won't give the guards an excuse to arrest you."

---

After a short side-trip to Beirand's forge for a more permanent repair, they made their way back to the Hall of the Dead with Potema's skull. Styr was intrigued with the way her followers had encrusted it with jewels. He wondered if that had had any influence on her return. Gemstones were often reservoirs of magicka, and that might have been part of their plans. He didn't detect any magicka now, and he'd remove the gems before the skull was sanctified.

Falk was delighted. He presented them with a Shield of Solitude and a decent amount of gold. "The Jarl would prefer this be kept quiet. You can imagine the chaos that would have ensued if Potema had succeeded in returning. Elisif will be much happier if the people don't start speculating about that!"

Gilda took the coin purse, and handed the shield to Clark. "I need to go back to Riften," she announced. "I have Guild work I should be doing."

"Before you go too," Falk addressed Clark, "there's another small matter that Jarl Elisif would like you to consider."

Elisif beckoned Clark over to the throne, and spoke to him quietly, so that her voice wouldn't carry too far.

"When my husband died, I made offerings to each of the Divines at the Temple. I couldn't make one to Talos, of course, and that's important to a Nord. Since I can't leave the city without a Thalmor escort, could you take Torygg's war horn to one of the shrines in the wilderness? Most of the members of my court are under too much surveillance to do it, but you're a travelling merchant that won't arouse any suspicion."

Out of the corner of his eye, Clark could see Bolgeir Bearclaw, her housecarl, nodding in approval. The White Gold Concordat was observed, but parts of it regularly ignored, in most of Skyrim. Whiterun was nominally under Imperial control, for example, but it still had a shrine to Talos in the Cloud District.

Clark asked if that wouldn't be a better location, but Elisif marked a specific location on his map. "There are reasons for sending you there. And also for my waiting until Gilda left before asking you. We know she's in the Thieves Guild."

"She may be its Guildmaster before we speak next," Clark confirmed.

"Then maybe I need not have worried. They'll be less of a concern under her control. Regardless, the horn is a unique item, and if it wanders from the shrine, that may provide useful intelligence. People who see it will remark on that, and other people may overhear."

---

Clark left with the horn and headed for Whiterun. Elisif had as good as told him that she expected him to be tailed by Thalmor spies, and probably some of her own. Only the former were of any concern, of course. He'd like to have Lydia with him when he went out to the shrine. If the Thalmor were going to do anything, that was the most likely place he'd encounter them.

What they weren't expecting to meet were a dragon, and giants. The latter were herding a couple of mammoths down the valley, and heading away from the shrine. The dragon seemed to be coming from the mountain to the north, headed towards the Throat of the World. The giants saw it, and reversed direction to see off the threat, which placed them between Clark and Lydia, coming from the west, and the shrine, to the east.

They paused, watching to see what unfolded. The dragon circled once, tempted by the mammoths, but then continued on its flight towards the Throat of the World. The giants stared after it for a while, then turned back towards their original path. Something else, however, drew their attention. Clark could see them shaking their clubs at another threat, this time on the ground.

After a minute or two of inaction, the giants resumed following the mammoths. But now it was clear to Clark and Lydia that there was something up ahead, and they were ready for it.

"Bears, do you think?" Lydia suggested.

"I doubt it, you usually hear them first. They'd rather warn you off than fight. No, this is something that likes to stay silent, and hidden. Bandits, for example."

Clark knew who he was really expecting, of course, and he wasn't wrong. A Thalmor Justiciar and a couple of soldiers were loitering near the shrine. They attacked without provocation. It seemed that just visiting that location was reason enough.

Clark did little other than block the wizard's spells with his ward. Lydia, in her carved nordic armour and with her recently-enchanted sword, tore through them without any real effort.

"Hey, this fiery soul trap really makes a difference!" she enthused. "I should have let you do this a long time ago."

"You improved the sword at Warmaiden's too. How do you know that wasn't the main factor?"

"Well, I don't. Not for certain. But the flames certainly intimidate the others. Hit one, and the others back off!"

"The soul trap didn't do anything, though," she added after a moment's thought.

"You don't have a black soul gem. You need one of those to trap a person's soul."

"Are Thalmor people?" she asked, almost seriously.

Clark didn't reply. He reverently laid the war horn that Elisif had given him on the shrine. It wasn't an ostentatiously decorated piece, but the workmanship was fine, and distinctive. He could understand what Elisif had said. Anyone who saw it would talk about it.

I’m continuing to really enjoy the Court of Solitude-related quests here. Loved the humor break when Clark considered that Potema’s ‘impressive’ comment may have referred to Gilda Unbound. Nice ‘quest building’ with the bits about Potema’s skull being encrusted by jewels instead of wearing a circlet.

I liked your treatment of the horn/shrine of Talos quest. There certainly is plenty that can be read into the nature of Elisef’s request.

Oh, and nice reminder that there be dragons about!

"Are Thalmor people?" - - My elf even wonders the same thing.

It was fun to watch Clark’s tactics against Potema’s horde. Having Potema’s skull encrusted with gold and gems rather than just wearing a circlet that mysteriously can’t be removed was a great touch. “Delightfully precarious” made me grin.

Elisif’s request is my favorite part of getting to know Solitude. I enjoyed Clark’s journey to the shrine, especially Lydia cleaving those Thalmor with her newly upgraded sword!

Acadian I could never understand why Elisif sends you to a shrine in the wilderness, so I made up a reason. More dragons this time, too ... and Jordis!

Grits: It was the way the skull is shown in the load screen that inspired that. The circlet is way too tight on the skull, and looks embedded. So I ran with the idea.

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

Previously Gilda and Clark finished off Potema, and took her skull back to Styr, and then Lydia and Clark delivered Torygg's War Horn to a shrine of Talos outside Whiterun.

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

Part 25 - Proudspire

As Clark and Lydia walked up to the main gate, back at Whiterun, the guards were excitedly gathering on the battlements and pointing towards the Throat of the World. The two joined them, and saw a number of dragons flying around the peak. They could hear the great beasts chanting, all their voices in unison. They couldn't understand what was being said, but it was clear that some important ceremony was taking place. Did this have anything to do with Diablita and Alduin?

A visit to Dragonsreach confirmed that she hadn't returned that way. How long had she been gone now? A week?

"Time in Sovengarde may not pass as swiftly as it does here," Jarl Balgruuf reminded him. "Eternity's a long time, no matter how fast or slow it goes. And I'm certain that she prevailed, or Alduin would have been back for vengeance before now."

---

Clark needed to report back to Elisif, so he didn't wait for Diablita's return. She might not go back to Whiterun, anyway. Clark couldn't imagine her not telling Balgruuf what had happened; not after he'd put Dragonsreach at risk for her. But she might have other tasks to attend to before that could happen. He just didn't know.

---

He handed Elisif the orders that he'd taken from the Justiciar's corpse. They named the agent as Lorcalin, not a name she recognised. But the signatory was Elenwen, the Thalmor First Emissary. They didn't mention Elisif, or Clark, but just told him to kill anyone going to the shrine.

Elisif passed the orders to Falk Firebeard. He read them, too, and put them in his pocket. Nobody said anything.

"I'm considering making you a Thane of Haafingar," Elisif announced, as Falk nodded his agreement. "You'll need to purchase property here in Solitude, but I already have reports that you've done enough to help my people. Proudspire Manor is available, isn't it, Falk?"

"It is, if you have the 25,000 gold for the building. It comes with a housecarl, of course, since you'd become Thane. There's only a minimum of furnishing there at the moment, enough to be able to use the place while you upgrade. I can supply better furnishings when you have the funds."

"Then let me pay you for the building now, and we can do the formalities. I'd like to see the place before I know what needs changing," Clark decided.

"Jarl Elisif, Clark is now a property owner in your city. There is no longer any impediment to his becoming Thane, and you have my recommendation."

"Then by my authority as Jarl, I pronounce you Thane of Haafingar. You'll have duties here at the court, but those will be shared with Bryling and Erikur, my other Thanes. We'll let the guard know about your new status, so they won't treat like you were one of the common rabble. And I'll give you a tour of the Blue Palace, so you'll know your way around."

"You're most likely only familiar with the entrance, hallway and the audience chamber, the one we're in now. Follow me to the private sections."

Clark followed Elisif into the corridor at the side.

"The rooms here belong to Sybille Stentor, my court mage, Falk Firebeard, the steward, and Bolgeir Bearclaw, my housecarl. My own is the one at the end." Elisif paused to make sure Clark had registered that.

She turned and led him down the back stairs. "On this level, you'll find the staff quarters, the kitchen and the guest quarters. Bolgeir often sleeps down here, I suspect he likes being close to the kitchen." They walked along the corridor, to emerge at the hallway. Elisif pointed. "Across there is the Pelagius wing. We normally keep that locked, as it's supposed to be haunted. The staff go in and clean from time to time, but reluctantly."

Elisif turned and retraced the corridor to the stairs. "There's one more level below here. We have guests from Markarth staying there at present. Ex-Jarl Igmund and his immediate retinue relocated here after the peace conference. Let's not disturb them right now."

They walked back up the way they'd come down, and Elisif pointed out where Bolgeir usually stood when he was on duty. "He's quite dedicated. Sworn to protect his Jarl, and his wife, and continuing to do so, even now she's a widow. He makes sure nobody disturbs her rest."

Clark got the distinct impression that the arrangement wasn't entirely to Elisif's liking. She made several references to Falk's relationship with Bryling, and the fact that he might not be sleeping at the Palace every night. Sybille was a bit of a night-owl, sleeping most of the day, but you could rely on her staying in her quarters at night.

The final hint was that Elisif's door was never locked. "The Jarl should never be shut away from her people, should she?"

"I'd better go and take a look at Proudspire Manor before I do anything else," Clark reminded her. "I presume my housecarl will be waiting to give me the tour there."

---

Jordis the Sword-Maiden was a blonde version of Iona or Lydia. She had the same basic steel armour that they'd worn when he first met them, and the same introductory speech about protection and burden-carrying, but it stopped there.

That was because she had to show him around the house, and the opportunity for the other part would unfold as she went. She opened the door at street level, and handed him the key. "We're entering at basement level," she told him. "There's not a lot down here at present, just my little room here on the right. Single bed, not enough room for two. On the left there's space for an alchemy lab, and enchanting facilities, if you choose to have them installed."

The housecarl's room was clean and tidy, if a bit sparsely furnished. Comfortable enough, if you only wanted somewhere to sleep, and stash your gear. Clearly, Jordis had just arrived and hadn't had time to tidy any more of the house. The other side was piled with crates and barrels, and straw was scattered everywhere.

The stairs led up to a main floor with an entrance hallway, dining room, and living room. The main door led out to a stairway down to the street, but there was another door that led out to a patio, overlooking the harbour. Most of this floor was devoid of furniture, with just a few broken crates lying among the cobwebs.
On the upper floor was a small living space, with the bedrooms leading from it. The smaller one was empty, and the larger contained just a simple double bed. This floor, too could do with a good cleaning.

"This is the only double bed in the house." Jordis pointed out, sitting on it. "So I assume you'll be using it. Where would you like me to sleep? There's nothing fixed in my duties, but I'm amenable to persuasion."

"Your choice, of course. I should point out that I am Thane in Whiterun and the Rift as well as Haafingar, so I won't always be here. I'm also likely to have duties at the Palace that may continue into the night. In addition, I'd like to get this place cleaned up and refurnished first. That bed looks like it may already have occupants. Ones that bite."

Jordis got up quickly from the bed, and dusted off her posterior.

"So what would you like me to do for you now?"

"Just come with me to the Palace, and we'll arrange for the upgrades. I doubt that it will take long for them to move everything in. While they're doing that, we'll go to Beirand's and see what he has. You'll need better equipment than you have at present."

"You're most likely only familiar with the entrance, hallway and the audience chamber, the one we're in now. Follow me to the private sections."



Woo, Jordis sounds accommodating. A blonde for Clark’s Housecarl collection. I love Proudspire’s patio. Actually I love the whole manor. I can see Clark getting comfortable there.

Another nice reminder of that pesky main quest as dragons dance and sing at the top of the world. Perhaps the mystery of Diablita Dragonborn will remain just that – a mystery.

Wonderful touch that, after ‘thaning’ Clark, the Jarl would give him a tour of the rest of the Blue Palace. Oooh! Elisef dropping some amorous hints Clark’s way!

Then on to Proudspire and the Sword Maiden! And she’s dropping rather unsubtle hints as well.

Grits is right - Proudspire seems like it would suit Clark quite well.

Clark is managing all the attention as deftly as ever.

Acadian: Clark now has to decide whether to give Elisif priority over his housecarl, who's sworn to carry his burdens etc. Not a hard decision, but he does need to make a few preparations.

Grits: Jordis will explain everything in the episode after this one.

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

Previously: Clark has bought Proudspire Manor, and been Thaned again. Both Elisif and Jordis have dropped heavy hints in his direction.

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

Part 26 - Blue Palace

"Ooh! This one's enchanted!" Jordis enthused.

"Then I doubt that's one of Beirand's own. He usually leaves that to his customers. Probably something he bought from an adventurer, and there's no knowing who made it. I'd keep looking, if I were you."

"Quite right, and I thank you for your trust in my work," Beirand chimed in. "But there's one piece I have here that's not of my making, that I think you should consider."

He showed them a steel sword, looking much like one he'd have made himself. Clark looked at it closely. "Is this Skyforge steel?"

"You're a true connoisseur," Beirand told him. "Indeed it is. The woman who sold it to me had a greatsword to match it. Her reason for selling was that she never used it, just its larger brother. So it hasn't seen any battles, except as an observer."

Clark handed it to Jordis. "Give it a swing, see how it feels."

"Better than mine, but that wouldn't be hard. And it does have a good edge," she continued, feeling it with her thumb.

"It should keep that," Beirand told her. "Skyforge steel doesn't blunt easily, like ordinary steel can."

"We'll take it," Clark told him. "And if they've delivered the enchanting station, I can do the rest."

---

Jordis was bubbling with excitement as Clark took her new sword down to the enchanting station. "How does fire damage and soul trap sound?" Clark asked.

"You can do two enchantments?" Jordis didn't believe her luck.

"No, it's one of the rare combination ones that works for weapons. Most of them are for mages' robes. And because the soul trap part will let you recharge often, I don't need to use a large gem. The fire part isn't major, but it does make a big difference, especially when you get multiple hits in a row, and the damage stacks. It's what I use on mine, and Lydia in Whiterun has it on hers."

New steel plate armour, new Skyforge steel sword, now with an enchantment. Jordis was wondering just how good she had to be tonight to deserve all this. She must have wondered out loud, because Clark told her it wouldn't be tonight. He had work to do at the Blue Palace, and she'd have to wait a day or two. "If you're feeling energetic, go whack the training dummy, and see if your new armor needs adjusting. You don't want to wait until you're in the middle of a fight to do that."

---

Clark entered the Palace, and cast invisibility before he slipped up the back stairs and along to Elisif's chambers. The reason for the invisibility was two-fold. First, so that nobody else would know he was there. Elisif had hinted that her housecarl was apparently trying to keep her faithful to her late husband, ignoring her feelings in the matter. The second reason was that there was a slight chance that he was her second string, and he'd find someone else there before him. Better not to embarrass her by interrupting anything.

He found her sitting naked on her bed, gazing hopefully towards the door. Although she couldn't see him, she did see the door open and close, and she stood up. "Is someone there?" she asked. She made no attempt to cover herself, even though she had no idea who had just entered.

---

"What if it had been someone else?" Clark wanted to know.

"That would have been my second choice. But I only invited you, didn't I?"

"And didn't you think I'd like to watch you undress?"

"Games like that are for when it's not urgent."

"So that's why we've only just come up for air."

"Speak for yourself," Elisif told him and went back to persuading him to do it again.

---

Much later, as she lay exhausted in his arms, Elisif had more time to chat. "I hope I didn't call you Torygg, you did remind me of him a couple of times."

"Good times, I hope."

"Oh yes, it was always good times with Torygg. And I miss him so much. Especially when I have to make decisions that affect Haafingar. Falk's a great help, when Bryling's not distracting him. And I suppose she is, too. Sometime I need to talk about women things."

"So the only one of your Thanes who's completely useless is Erikur?"

"Oh, he's not useless. If I want to know what the Legion or the Thalmor are up to, I can count on him to reveal something. And he's just as useful for passing misinformation the other way. I just have to mention that I heard a rumour, and he's off trying to sell what he 'knows' to whichever side he thinks will pay the most. Sometimes both."

"He's also a merchant, so he gets reports from all sorts of places. My people can get copies of those fairly easily. He's the best spy I have, and he doesn't know it."

"So is he the reason for the dumb blonde act?"

"I'm not acting blonde, just dumb. And you've just checked that the breasts are real, too. No, some of that act is for the people. I can promise them the moons, and they blame the Imperial occupation when they don't get them. I'm not sure they take my gestures seriously, but the sentiment behind them gets across. The common folk may laugh at my antics, but they love the show, and Tullius and Elenwen know that."

"I haven't seen those two around the court. Do they ever visit the Palace?"

"No, Tullius doesn't leave Castle Dour unless he has to, and Elenwen's always at the Embassy, up on the next hill. She does throw frequent parties, though. That way anyone she wants to see comes to her, and they're in her playground. She'll probably want to check you out, now I've made you a Thane."

"Who goes to those parties?" Clark wanted to know.

"I'm usually there, just because the Embassy's in my hold, so I get an invitation automatically. Then she's normally invited the other Imperial Jarls, and their thanes. Prominent merchants, rich land-owners, anyone with influence to peddle."

"You didn't mention the General."

"No, it wouldn't be his style to accept. He's the single-minded strategist type who thinks of nothing but the war. And maybe Legate Rikke, too. The legion chose her to be Tullius' second in command on merit, but I suspect she has orders to help him relax a bit. Our dossier on her suggests that she'd be doing that anyway."

"Do either Tullius or Elenwen have spies in the Palace?"

"We assume so, although we have no reason to suspect anyone in particular. They may just send in someone like that Varnius character from time to time, to take a look and listen."

"Or me?"

"That wouldn't matter. I'm on your side now, anyway." Elisif gave Clark another kiss, and laid her head on his shoulder.

What a fun episode – doubtless because it focuses on two of my favorite NPCs in Skyrim.

"Ooh! This one's enchanted!" Jordis enthused.’ - - Using ‘enchanted’ and ‘Jordis’ in the same passage is always a wonderful and accurate idea.

"I'm not acting blonde, just dumb.” - - Spoken like a true blonde! I’m glad to see Elisef ready to move on from her grieving. She is in an awkward position for companionship. Beyond the whole grieving widow of the king challenge, there is the problem that, as Jarl and potentially High Queen, she is too young to likely be enamored of those with appropriate credentials, and too high of station to really be courted by a young man who probably lacks Jarl or Thane-like credentials.

I wonder if Clark’s going to end up at a Thalmor Embassy party?

Acadian: Elisif's not looking for a husband, as he'd take over as Jarl. She's looking for somebody who wants her, not her job.

The Thalmor are much more careful with their invitations after the incident with the Dragonborn.

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

Previously Clark has left Jordis to try out her new armour while he attends to Elisif's needs.

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

Part 27 - Proudspire again

Elisif had already woken, and gone down to the kitchen for breakfast, before Clark surfaced. It made sense for him to go out the same way he came in, invisible once more. He slipped out of the main door behind a guard, and remained invisible he until was on the patio of Proudspire Manor. Then he let it dispel, and opened the door.

He noticed that someone had thought to light the fire. He wondered if they'd done so when they delivered the furniture, or if it had been Jordis. She might have used it to cook something for herself last night. Or she might have just gone to the Winking Skeever. And he'd left her in the mood for some fun, so she might just have brought someone back with her.

He crept up the stairs, considering going invisible again. He decided not to. He hadn't given her any instructions, other than to practice in her new armour.

He opened the door to his bedroom quietly. The new furniture was in, and the place looked much better than the first time he'd seen it. The bed was an opulent four-poster with a canopy rail - and a nude Jordis asleep on it.

Alone, he was pleased to note. Except, that is, for one of those carved horker tusks. Clark wondered if that came from one of his own factories.

Clark left her there, and went down to get himself some breakfast.

---

Jordis still hadn't put any clothes on when she appeared about an hour later. Since he hadn't told her what she should wear around the house, she wasn't going to just grab something from the closet without asking him first.

Put that way, it almost sounded reasonable. If it wasn't for the way she wiggled her hips as she walked over to the cookpot, and spread her legs before bending over it.

"She's trying too hard," he thought to himself. "Which really means she's not quite sure of herself."

He couldn't help comparing her to Lydia and Iona. Blonder, of course, and maybe a little rounder and softer. She was about the same age as Iona, which would be a year younger than Lydia. She was at the peak of fitness, with breasts that couldn't be larger without starting to droop just a little. She should be confident in her desirability, so why wasn't she?

Well, he had just put her off to go sleep with someone else. And there had to be some reason that she wanted him right away. Lydia and Iona had both wasted no time, maybe that was part of their training.
"Let me think about your outfit a little longer," he told her. "I quite like the one you're wearing now."
Jordis giggled, but Clark could see relief in her expression.

"Tell me about your training," he asked her. "My other housecarls had the skills to match their equipment, so I assume you know heavy armour, block and one-handed. What else did they teach you?"

"Everyone learns to heal themselves when they're little, so they don't have to run to their mother every time they fall down. And women learn a few other restoration spells at puberty. Housecarl training adds healing others, so I can protect my Thane better. I can use a bow as well, but I wouldn't call myself an archer. And I can cook, even if it's nothing fancy."

"What about the other magic schools? Do you know any conjuration, or alteration, for example?"

"No, we're taught to use potions, or scrolls, for anything like that. We'd need more magicka, and health and stamina are more important for a housecarl."

"Lockpicking, sneaking, pickpocket, speech?"

Jordis shook her head, and a few other parts jiggled in sympathy. "They didn't teach that, but most of us picked up some skill, just being students, if you know what I mean. Those are the best skills for causing a bit of mischief."

"So what were you best at?"

"Up to now, I thought I was good at persuading. Well, men at least. There's no point having all this if I don't use it, is there? And I have to make my Thane like me. I'm sworn to protect him, but he's only going to look after me if he wants to."

That made perfect sense, and Clark was certain that it wasn't her idea. Not when Lydia and Iona had both bedded him within hours of meeting him. Given their duties, it could be a matter of life and death, after all. A Thane who just didn't care about them would quickly get them killed.

On reflection, he'd done the right thing by upgrading her armour and sword. That should have told her right away that he wanted to keep her. And that reminded him, he had enchanted her sword, but maybe he should make an amulet for her as well. She needed some support, or she wouldn't stay that perky for long.

He took her down to the basement and spent the next few hours teaching her the basics of alchemy and enchanting. "There was one other skill I didn't ask you about," he suddenly thought. "Did you learn any smithing?"

"Enough to make the armour and weapons I had yesterday. They make us do that as part of our course. So not enough to improve the plate you just gave me, and certainly not anything enchanted."

"By the time you need that upgraded, you should be able to. Just improve any iron and steel you pick up, and the better leather stuff, before you sell it. You'll get a better price too, especially if you sell the piece you're wearing."

"You won't want to sell this," he continued, and put the amulet he'd just enchanted round her neck. "How does that feel?"

"Uplifting?" she ventured. "I can't really describe it, but I like it."

"Then I think we've found you the right outfit for home," Clark announced.

"Just this amulet?"

"You're only my housecarl, you don't get a ring."

---

"This is the place," Gilda thought to herself. "And it looks like I have multiple entrances to choose from. They'll typically have the same lock, so you can use the same key anywhere. So I won't go in the basement. I'll go round the back and in the floor above. I'll have more cover back there."

"No shadowmark? That must mean someone new's just moved in. I'll have to add one on the way out."

"Aah! There we go. Nice and quiet. Let's hope they've oiled the hinges already."

She cracked the door open just a little and peered through the gap. There didn't appear to be anyone on this floor; they'd probably gone up to bed already. She slipped in and closed the door quietly behind her.

There was some decent silverware on the shelves and tables, but they weren't why she was here. She had a specific piece to steal, a golden model of a ship. Anything else she picked up was hers to sell, but she had enough gold not to bother. This job was for the benefit of the Guild.

"Yes, they're definitely in bed," she thought. "And not asleep yet. But she'll sleep soundly after that, judging by the noise she's making."

There was no sign of the ship on the main floor. Gilda decided to check the basement, and give the couple a little longer to tire themselves out. Even though she just knew it would be in that bedroom. It always seemed to work out that way.

As expected, the model ship was nowhere in the basement, either. Her hunch that it was in the bedroom was getting more likely all the time. However, they didn't seem to be falling asleep as soon as she'd hoped.

She was just outside their door now, and she could hear more clearly.

"And have you ever tried this?"

"That's Clark's voice!" Gilda gasped. "I could be standing here for hours, if he's on form."

She pondered a few moments, and came to a decision. Pausing only to undo her jacket, she opened the door.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" she asked.

"Gilda, this is Jordis, my new housecarl. Jordis, this is Gilda, my apprentice." Clark spoke without interrupting what he was doing. Jordis didn't reply, except to moan with pleasure.

"Good evening, Jordis. I hope I'm not interrupting anything too important. And do you need any help? Clark can be a bit overwhelming until you get used to him."

Gilda let her jacket fall to the floor, and bent to let Clark kiss her. As he did so, she slid off her boots and pants, and kicked them aside. Then she moved to the other end of the bed and started to play with Jordis' breasts.

"Hers are a bit bigger and softer than Lydia's, aren't they?" Gilda asked, running her tongue around the nearest one.

"So?" Clark replied. "They suit her, and they respond to a bit of attention, which is all I care about."

They certainly did, and the young Nord was getting a lot of attention. Twice as much as she bargained for. "I thought you were going to help me, not Clark," she panted. "Not that I'm complaining, yet."

At her first opportunity, she traded places with Gilda. She'd never seen breasts as big as those before, and she was sure the stranger wouldn't mind her repaying her in kind.

Clark was certainly put through his paces in this episode!

Persuasive logic about why it seems to be in a housecarl’s best survival interest to bed their thane. Practical, if not romantic.

Acadian: It's always struck me that the job of housecarl is like an arranged marriage without any guarantee of the benefits. There's an outside chance of an upgrade, and as Jordis pointed out, they at least need to be wanted.

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

Previously: Clark and Elisif, followed by Clark and Jordis, then Gilda came and joined in.

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

Part 28 - Stones

"So why are you in Solitude?" Clark asked when Gilda lifted her head off his shoulder the next morning.

"Guild job. They actually sent me to rob this house, or rather, to take a specific item from it. A golden model of a ship. Since I haven't found it in the rest of the house, I assume it's in here, somewhere."

"If it is, I haven't seen it. But then I haven't really looked the place over in any detail. This is only the second day since I bought it."

Jordis opened one bleary eye, and pointed. The ship was on a shelf on the other side of the room, next to a small jewel case with a glowing red gem in it. Gilda got out of bed and went over to take a look. Jordis cuddled up closer to Clark, in case he needed her.

"I haven't seen one of these before." Gilda said, picking up the unusual gem and bringing it back to the bed to show Clark.

"But I think I have," he replied. "There was one just like it at the Blue Palace." He didn't mention that he'd seen it in Elisif's bedroom, or why he'd been there. He had enough complications without introducing that one.

"Other than that, I don't recall seeing any others. That glow alone would make me remember. I have no idea if they're valuable, or just a curiosity, either. But the fact that you found one here just lying around suggests the latter."

"Good point," Gilda agreed. "But do you mind if I take this one to show them at the Guild? They have experts on every kind of merchandise there."

"That would be a good idea. You've got to take them the ship, so you'll be going there anyway."

Gilda gathered up the ship and headed out the door. "I'll start breakfast. Come down when you're ready."

Jordis had already decided what she wanted for the first course.

---

Clark and Jordis joined Gilda about half an hour later in the dining room. Clark handed Gilda her leathers, that she'd left in the bedroom. She put them on, but didn't bother doing the jacket up until she left the house.

"Is she going to appear every time we do it?" Jordis asked as soon as the door closed behind her.

"No, it could be someone else next time. Who would you like?" Clark replied. "Like I told you, I have two more housecarls. And did I mention the brothel in Markarth?"

"No you didn't. I'm not sure I want to know."

"Information is useful, even if it's not what you want to hear," Clark insisted. "So I'll tell you anyway. We may need to go there soon, to find out what the change of Jarl has meant to business."

When he described Vicuña, Jordis looked depressed again. "You like really big-breasted women, don't you?"

"Yes, but I like variety, too. Yours are just the perfect size for a housecarl. Did you know Gilda can't use a bow, because hers get in the way of the bowstring?"

Jordis thought about that for a moment. Would she rather have have breasts like Gilda's, or be able to use a bow? She thought of the times her bow had kept her alive, and it wasn't a hard choice. And Clark did seem to like hers, which is what really mattered.

"Get your armour on," Clark told her. "I want to go exploring today, and let you show me how you fight. We need to learn to work together, and a bit of cave-clearing should do it."

He reminded her that she didn't have to worry about him getting killed, but he needed to find out what support she'd need in a fight. "I don't wear physical armour, but I can cast a strong spell, Ebonyflesh, and wards, so not much will get past that. What I don't have is the pool of magicka that an Altmer or Breton would have. So I don't normally do destruction spells, except for an occasional fireball. I'll use my sword, which has the same enchantment as yours, but mainly I'll block while you attack. Understood?"

---

They left the city and walked down the road towards Dragon Bridge. Before they got there, however, Clark decided to take a turn to the north and look for a cave or something. They were bound to find something in the hills between here and the northern shore.

A pack of wolves on the path gave them a chance to fight together against a weak opposition, and Clark got an idea of which way Jordis would attack, and how likely she was to jump in front of him. A little too likely at present, but that was the way she'd been trained. And he'd not complain when it was a bear or troll, instead of wolves. If he'd been an archer, he'd be cursing her for blocking his aim, but he wasn't, so they could easily adjust.

"Look, a cave!" she announced. Just off the road ahead was a dark opening that probably was the mouth of a cave. Clark cast his armour spell and entered, with Jordis close behind him.

The cave was small, and there only seemed to be one occupant. That, however, was a frost troll, and it had seen them. Jordis rushed the creature, and set it on fire with her first swing. That surprised her as much as it did the troll, as she wasn't used to the enchantment yet. Those wolves had died in one swing, so she hadn't seen how the fire enchantment lingered. But she saw her advantage and kept the troll off-balance with a well-timed flurry of further blows. The flames grew as she did so, doing increasing damage each time. The troll turned, and tried to flee, but Clark cast a fireball in its path. Jordis thrust her sword into its back one final time, and filled a soul gem.

Clark showed her how to recharge the sword, before taking a look round the cave. Among the bones littering the floor, he found the remains of a conjurer, with another empty soul gem in his pocket, and a small satchel of alchemy ingredients. Lying next to him was a spell book, unfortunately one Clark already knew, so he handed it to Jordis. Then he noticed a small jewel case, like the one Gilda had found at Proudspire. There was a glowing red gem in this one, too.

’Jordis thought about that for a moment. Would she rather have have breasts like Gilda's, or be able to use a bow?’ - - Buffy tends to give her more, um. . . not-built-for-archery followers firebolt staves or crossbows for this very reason.

"Look, a cave!" she announced.’ - - This brought a chuckle, for I’ve heard her say that more than once.

Nice to see Clark and Jordis fighting effectively together and that the housecarl is doing well with her standard issue Clark-enchanted blade of fiery soul trap.

Heh, Gilda seems the clever one here having, apparently recruited Clark to help round up those unusual gems.

"Look, a cave!" she announced.

Perfect! Ooo, another gem! That was a great observation about the troll catching on fire after the wolves just dropped dead.

Acadian: Gilda throws ice spikes when she needs range.
It's unusual to hear it on the way in. Most followers only notice caves when they emerge afterwards. It's my way of pointing out that Jordis may be blonde, but not stereotypically so.
Neither Clark nor Gilda know yet what the gems are about, so they won't know that the Guild is the ultimate beneficiary.

Grits: After using the fiery soul trap a few times on different weapons, I noticed that it works best on faster ones, as the stacking effect - "more damage to enemies already on fire" - adds up more. It makes it strange that you only find it on a battle-axe.

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

Previously: After finding an unusual gem in the bedroom, Clark took Jordis out to try her new equipment and show him how she used it. They found another of the gems in a cave. So now Clark needs to fetch one he already found.

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

Part 29 - Palace Duties

Clark went to the Blue Palace for the usual weekly meeting of the Thanes, Elisif's council of advisors. Erikur was complaining about the Empire taxes on shipping, which of course wasn't anything Elisif could change, even if she had any sympathy for the fat merchant. Bryling was more concerned with city security. The legion had been recruiting the city guards, and their ranks were getting a bit thin.

"They only have to keep order in the city these days," Falk reminded her. "The soldiers are patrolling the roads."

"True, but their interests aren't quite the same as Haafingar's. I'd be happier if we had more men."
Elisif's glance at Clark told him she'd seen the unintended double-entendre. "I don't think Falk would entirely agree with that sentiment, " she added.

Bryling realised what she'd said, and barely suppressed a snort. Erikur sat there nonplussed. It had all gone completely over his head. Perhaps he didn't know about Falk and Bryling, they were trying to be discreet. Sybille had caught on, but her nocturnal habits probably meant she encountered them together more often.

They discussed a few more topics of general concern, and Elisif declared the meeting over. "Falk, talk to Bryling about the guard situation. We might be able to use part-time volunteers, or something. Clark, could you come with me? I'd like you to look over the Palace's books. Erikur's done his best with them, but I'd like a second opinion from another merchant."

"They're properly balanced, if that's what you're concerned with," Erikur asserted.

"And I'm sure you've checked for any missed opportunities you could see," Elisif agreed. "But a second set of eyes might catch something new."

---

"Last time, you said you'd like to watch me undress," Elisif said, once they were in her room, and the door closed behind them. "Did you mean watch, or did you want to help?"

"Whichever you'd prefer. Let me know when you'd like my assistance."

Elisif stood by a chair, and took off the outer robe she wore. She draped the robe over the chair, and turned to face Clark again. She wore the same dress that she usually did for public audiences, or at least an identical one, but somehow it looked different. Her breasts looked higher, and her areolae were peeking above the neckline. Clark wondered if she'd been teasing the public with those today.

When she slid the dress to the floor, it was clear why she looked different. A lacy corset was pushing her up, and the half-cups presented her nipples delightfully.

Silk stockings covered her legs, held up by thin straps from the bottom of the corset. A minimum of lace ran between her legs to complete the ensemble.

"This was Torygg's favourite outfit. On me, I mean."

"We obviously have something in common," Clark agreed. "And how did he proceed when you presented yourself to him like this?"

"Never the same way twice. He might let me take it off, slowly, one piece at a time; or he might tear it off me with his teeth. Or have me leave it all on."

She turned and bent over, to show him how the lace parted. Clark knew she was enjoying putting on this show for him, so he let her continue. He pulled another chair over, and sat watching.

After a few minutes of strutting around, squeezing her own nipples, and fingering herself, Elisif became impatient, and came to sit on Clark's lap. She presented him a nipple to start on, and started to unlace his fly.

---

"I'm not sure this chair will last much longer," Clark interrupted. "It wasn't intended to support two people, and certainly not this much activity."

Elisif paused to let him lift her up, and he managed to stand without slipping out. She wrapped her legs around his back, and he walked over to the bed. "Walk around a bit more," she suggested. "This feels good."

"I'd rather you were over the bed in case my foot slips, or I trip over something. I can't see where I'm going."

If she'd been a slender little Wood Elf, they might have been able to sustain that position a bit longer, but he soon had to lay her back onto the bed. She took the opportunity to remove her panties.

"Is that corset comfortable, or do you want to take that off, too?"

"It's laced all up the back, I'll need your help."

Elisif knelt, to give Clark the access he needed, and he set to work.

---

"Where did you get the unusual gem?" he asked. Elisif was getting dressed, and it was almost as much fun to watch as the opposite direction. She lifted the dress over her head and wriggled it down her body. Then she turned and answered.

"Oh that, I don't know. Torygg brought it back from one of his trips. He had Sybille look it over, but she only found a little magic in it, enough to make it glow. And the box is enchanted with a minor levitation spell to make it float, but that's all. Just a curiosity. I don't know why I've bothered keeping it."

"I found a couple more of those myself, and I've been wondering about them. Perhaps they're pieces of something, and you need to put them all back together, before anything happens."

"You can have that one if you like. Let me know if you find anything out about them."

"I'll do that," he replied.

---

A few days later, Clark heard the front door of Proudspire Manor open and close again. "Clark! Are you and Jordis busy?" Gilda's voice announced her return from Riften.

"How does she know?" Jordis asked.

"Don't complain, we've had a couple of nights to ourselves," Clark reminded her. "and you've certainly made the most of them."

"Come up and join in," he called down to Gilda.

She strode in, naked already, and straddled Jordis' head. "Catch me up, while I talk to Clark, will you?"

"You know that gem we found? Well I showed it to Vex, and she told me it was one of the Stones of Barenziah. Apparently, there's two dozen of them, and they were all once in her crown. They're not worth anything individually, but the whole set would be a different matter. Yes, just there. I'll do the same for you in a moment"

"Jordis and I found another one in a cave the other day. So we have three so far. Only twenty-one more to find."

"We have five. I found one in Whiterun, and another one on the Dainty Sload. That's why I'm back in Solitude. The Guild sent me to do a job for Erikur, payback for the ship's captain cheating him on a deal."

"Are you sure about that? I wouldn't trust anything Erikur told me."

"Yes, the Guild checked the details before they agreed to it. And we have him nicely in our pocket if he gets out of line now. The guards already know that Erikur had dealings with Captain Volk, and we can plant more of the drugs in Erikur's house, just as easily as I did on the Dainty Sload."

"You suspect that Erikur was dealing the stuff?"

"It makes money, so of course he would. That's the only consideration he ever has. And it feels so good."

Clark looked down. He decided that Gilda had caught up enough, and he'd better rescue Jordis.

And Clark continues the hard work of gathering those unusual gems.

Gilda has an interesting way of keeping Jordis quiet while briefing Clark on what she’s learned about the gems.


Nit - ’Well I showed it Vex,’ -- Missing a ‘to’ before Vex?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

I think Clark and company just might be diverse and into enough things that collecting all 24 gems might be pretty doable for them.

And Diablita! Or at least word of her. Heck, a whole festival for her – makes perfect sense, given that she’s taken care of that pesky old Alduin.

Kind of open as to whether Clark will go to Solstheim. I look forward to finding out. I can imagine that Diablita would have little trouble with some of the more yucky choices required there. The First Dragonborn vs Dovadaedra!

I see that Clark’s exploits in the boudoir have gotten more. . . explicit the last couple episodes. You’ve traditionally made superb use of innuendo in such cases and I’ve always enjoyed how creatively you’ve done so in the past. And a gentle reminder as well that our members can be as young as thirteen. I do believe that when writing such scenes, a bit more left to the imagination can be wonderfully effective. I say this knowing perfectly well that SubRosa, Darkness Eternal and I have, on very rare occasion, written sex scenes that test the edges a bit. But since such activities are a regularly recurring and integral part of Clark’s wonderful adventures in Tamriel, I’d love to see a return to your more subtle touch with those kind of scenes going forward.

Acadian Clark will be going to Solstheim eventually, but since many of the DB MQ activities take place in Apocrypha, which only the Dragonborn can reach, won't be able to take part in those. Diablita gets a mention in this one, though, as does another unusual gem.

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

Previously: Clark is quite worn out, and needs to relax with a bit of life-or-death dungeon diving.

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


Part 31 - Uttering Hills

"We're getting close," Lydia remarked. "I think I can see an archer up ahead, guarding the entrance."

"I think he's seen us, too," Jordis replied, raising her shield to block an incoming arrow.

Lydia already had her bow out, and was preparing to send one of her own back. Gilda fired off an Ice Spike, and Clark a Firebolt. Lydia denocked her arrow, it wasn't needed.

Jordis pulled the arrow out of her shield and checked it for damage, then added it to her quiver. "Only steel, but they're good enough for bandits."

"Do we know how many are in the gang?" Lydia wanted to know.

Gilda hadn't got that much information about them. Just that they were Altmer, so there were bound to be mages among them, and that the leader's name was Linwe. They didn't just need to eliminate the gang; she was also looking for for Fjotli's locket.

"Who's Fjotli?" asked Jordis.

"Was. She was the daughter of of Torsten Cruel-Sea, in Windhelm. The gang killed her and stole her silver locket. Her father wants it back, and he's the one the Guild wants won over. Getting Niranye back as a fence is a bonus."

"Windhelm seems to be a dangerous place for young women," she continued. "When I went there to talk to Torsten, someone had just killed another one in the graveyard outside the Hall of the Dead. I discovered his hide-out in an abandoned house, and tracked him down. That was despite everyone's help, pointing me at the court wizard instead. When I asked him, Wuunferth recognised the amulet I found in the murderer's lair as the Necromancer's Amulet, and it all fell into place. I caught Calixto trying to stab another woman in the marketplace, and put my blade in him, instead."

"They told me that he'd killed two more women before Susanna the Wicked. One of them was probably Friga Shatter-Shield, because he'd taken over her house, but I don't know who the other was. When Torsten told me about Fjotli, I assumed she was the one, but he'd already found her killer, and identified the Summerset Shadows as the people behind the murder."

"And you're sure this Calixto wasn't one of them?" Clark asked.

"He was an Imperial, so I doubt he had any connection. And Fjotli was younger than the women that Calixto was killing, just a child really."

Gilda paused for a moment. "You know, I think I saw one of those gems in Wuunferth's room. When we get back to Windhelm, I'll go check, and see if he knows anything about them."

---

They encountered several other Shadows inside the cave, one at a time, and disposed of each without much effort. The end of the cave was the first time they met two Shadows together, and neither of them was Linwe. "He must be in here," Lydia indicated a door set in a stone wall.

"This looks like there was a tower above at some point. Can't go up, so I'd guess they'll be downstairs," she continued, after they'd gone through the door.

There was nobody in the room below, but a tunnel led off it, and they could hear footsteps coming towards them. Lydia sent an arrow into the dark, and a cry of pain, and the quickening of the footsteps, confirmed a hit. Another Shadow ran out into a flurry of swords. He didn't last long.

Another of Lydia's arrows took out a further Shadow, before she could even get out of her chair, at the end of the next tunnel. "That looks like a dead end," Clark remarked.

"It was for her," Lydia responded.

"Through here," Gilda urged. "This looks like the main chamber."

The ceiling there was higher, and a large banner hung in the middle of the room. Clark had a flames spell ready, so he torched the banner to see if that evoked any reaction. If it did, the Shadows would be emerging from those two doors opposite.

"Stay back and wait for them," he instructed, and as they all rushed out of the adjacent rooms, hurled a fireball into their midst. Since most of the party were using swords with Fiery Soul Trap, the enchantment stacked on the existing flames, and it was quickly over. Linwe was the last to fall, and the locket was on his body.

His room also contained a copy of Mace Etiquette. Clark gave it to Jordis, as the junior member of the crew. She was the most likely to benefit from reading it.

---

Wuunferth knew very little about the unusual gem in his room. He'd found it in a cave somewhere, but he didn't recall where. He'd noted the minimal levitation spell on the case, and that's why he'd picked it up. When he got it back to Windhelm and examined it further, he couldn't find anything special about it.
Gilda told him the little she knew of its origins.

"Well, if you're collecting them, you can have this one. The only reason I still have it was curiosity, and that's more likely to be satisfied if you can get the whole set. Let me know if you manage it."

---

"Where next?" Clark asked.

"The silver mould is supposed to be at Pinewatch. That's a small cottage outside Falkreath, so there won't be a whole gang to deal with there. I was thinking I'd just sneak in and steal it back."

"I think I know where you mean. Siddgeir was trying to sell me a plot of land near there. He's not exactly the trustworthy type, even if he is Jarl. He called it Lakeview, so it wouldn't surprise me to find the land's at the bottom of the lake. Still, I have the directions from his steward, so I could take a look while you're retrieving the mould."

"I take it we're going back home, then?" Lydia asked, indicating herself and Jordis.

"Take Jordis back to Breezehome, and I'll pick her up on the way back. I'm sure you two can find something to do at the Bannered Mare."

"And sell the stuff we picked up here, to pay for the mead?" Lydia inquired.

"I thought the men bought all your drinks?"

"Busted!" Jordis laughed.

---

Before travelling back, they all went to listen to Luaffyn sing, (and have a drink or two) at Candlehearth Hall. Gilda recognised the mage sitting by herself in one corner.

"Isn't that Brelyna, from Winterhold? We met her at the Frozen Hearth when we went back to Enthir to get Gallus' journal translated."

"Yes, I think you're right. I wonder what she's doing here?" Clark agreed. He almost hadn't recognised her. She'd been wearing a rather shapeless Apprentice robe before, with a hood that hid most of her face. Now she had a tailored Expert robe, that revealed a slender, but shapely figure, and showed a bit of leg. She'd shed the hood, and Clark couldn't help thinking the next step should be re-styling her hair.

It turned out she was on her way to fetch some books from Fellglow Keep, not far from Whiterun. A mage apprentice called Orthorn had stolen them from the library, and one of them was apparently connected to the Eye of Magnus.

"And you're going alone?" Clark asked. Brelyna hadn't exactly struck him as the bold, adventurous type when they'd first met. Capable enough, but not really confident in her own abilities.

"Yes, and it surprises me, too. I'd never have believed I could do that before I met Diablita. She's shown me my spells are up to the challenge. Mind you, I'd still feel happier if I had someone with a big sword coming along with me."

Jordis and Lydia both giggled at the double meaning, and drew Clark's attention. "I may have the next best thing," he told Brelyna. "Jordis and Lydia here are heading that way, and would be delighted to help."

"But tell me how you know my old friend Diablita," he continued. "Was she at the College?"

"Only for a short time," Brelyna explained. "She'd come to buy a spell tome for Ebonyflesh from Tolfdir. He's the only one who sells that*. When she arrived, we were all in the Hall of the Elements having a lesson on wards. She listened in, and helped Toldfir with a demonstration, just before we all went off to Saarthal. You know what happened there."

"Was Diablita with you at Saarthal?" Clark asked her.

"No, she stayed behind at the College, shopping for other spells, I think. Anyway, she was there when we got back. I told her all about what had happened, and how scared I'd been. The Psijic monk appearing in a vision, and then all the fights with the Draugr. Fortunately Tolfdir was there to help me with Jyrik Gauldurson, or I'd never have got out alive!"

"Diablita told me that Tolfdir had said the same about me. He said that if I hadn't taken care of Jyrik, he'd be dead. I suppose it was a joint effort, after all."

"She told me I just needed a bit more experience to get my confidence up, and she could help with that. We went off and explored a few caves in the area, and fought a few bears and trolls, and I think she was right. It was her idea to use staves for my destruction, so I wouldn't have to raise all my skills at once. And she helped me with my magical practice, too."

Brelyna looked a bit embarrassed when she said that. "I did turn her into a dog at one point. But my spell to reverse that worked, so it all turned out well in the end. And I'm a lot more confident in my spells now, too."

Clark grinned. "Well, two housecarls may not add up to one Diablita, but they're better than nothing. And they have a lot more armour! Use them as a shield, they're quite tough. Or turn them into dogs, if you feel inclined."

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

Note: Clark and Vicu�a both use Ebonyflesh, and didn't get theirs from Tolfdir, who really is the only source in Skyrim. Clark learned his long ago, and Vicu�a before she arrived from Morrowind.

That’s an inventive application of Dwemer technology! Now everyone’s going to want one.

It’s always fun to hear about the game’s quests going on in the background. Must have been quite a party at Jorrvaskr. It’s fun to think of Lydia with a social life.

I laughed at the thought that with Jarl Siddgeir, Lakeview could mean a view from the bottom of the lake.

Brelyna’s short robe looks nice. Woo, she’s doing the MG questline (maybe)! I can’t wait to see what Clark does with her hair. I have a special fondness for Brelyna. Jerric enjoyed his brief time as a dog.

Clark, Lydia and Jordis are working well together at dungeon clearing!

’Siddgeir was trying to sell me a plot of land near there. He's not exactly the trustworthy type, even if he is Jarl. He called it Lakeview, so it wouldn't surprise me to find the land's at the bottom of the lake.’ - - Same reaction here as from Grits!

Brelyna! She is one of my fave NPCs and it’s fabulous that you have her on a track that might even lead to Arch Magehood for her someday! Yup, gotta do something about her hair though.

And, as ever, I really like that Clark is only part of what is going in Skyrim. Others are doing quests that he either helps with or only hears about – very neat!

Grits: Not everyone is going to feel the same about "the Madesi", as we'll see in this one.

The only problem with having Clark as an observer is remembering which of his companions has met whom, and who needs to be informed about things they weren't involved in. For example, Brelyna has met Diablita, and now Gilda, Jordis and Lydia, but not Iona, yet. I've had to rewrite a few episodes where I lost track.


Acadian: When I first took the screenshot of Brelyna, I'd already fixed her hair, and I had to re-shoot with her original hair to match the story! She's definitely on her way through that quest line, and we'll see her again soon.

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

Previously: Gilda, Lydia, Jordis and Clark eliminated the Summerset Shadows, the first of Gilda's tasks for the thieves Guild. Jordis and Lydia went with Brelyna to retrieve some books for the College, while Clark and Gilda headed for Pinewatch to pick up a silver mould for her next job.

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

Part 32 - Pinewatch

"This isn't a bad location," Clark was thinking. "Decent view of the lake, protected from the wind by the rocks to the East, and far enough off the roads either side for some privacy. There's enough level ground for quite a large building, too."

He wandered around a little, and found several ore veins, and clay deposits, nearby. Those would be useful, as they'd provide quite a bit of the building materials a house would take. There were quite a few mature trees that someone had already started logging. That could have been Gerdur in Riverwood, or maybe Hert at Half-moon Mill. He'd have to go to one of the mills to get lumber sawn anyway, and they hauled it as part of the price.

He heard Gilda calling him. She was waiting outside the door of Pinewatch, beckoning him over.

"The item's not in the cottage, and I found a secret opening behind some shelves in the basement. It looks like there's a whole set of caves leading off beneath the hills. And I found a note that suggests a gang of bandits is based here. That makes a lot more sense of why the Guild sent me."

"I take it you'd like some assistance?"

"If only to carry out the loot," she replied. "Who knows what else they have stashed down there."

"Do we go and get the housecarls from Whiterun, and do it tomorrow in force?" he suggested.

"No, I left a dead bandit in the basement. If we don't do it now, they'll be expecting us."

---

Gilda stepped out of the tunnel onto a platform overlooking a large cave. "It's like a warehouse! This cave alone must be twice the size of the house above."

Certainly there was a resemblance. Shelves held crates and barrels on two distinct levels. A walkway wound around to give access to the upper level, and it seemed to lead off to another cave beyond. Someone was coming from that direction, and he'd probably spot them soon.

When he did, he had no option but to approach along the walkway, and fell to Gilda and Clark's ranged spells before he could use his warhammer. But the archer who emerged behind him didn't have that problem.

Clark pulled an arrow from his arm and cast a healing spell, as Gilda finished off the archer.

"I should have cast my armour quicker, but I didn't think I'd need it right away. I won't repeat that mistake."

"Then cast now, because I think I hear another one."

Clark did, and followed with a ward. The bandit wasn't carrying a weapon, and that usually meant mage. Her frost spell bounced harmlessly off, and Gilda was on her before she could change tactics.

They surprised a trio of bandits around a table in the next cave. Clark sent in a fireball before they could get up, and that made up for their lack of numbers. One of them was already dead in his chair, and the other two down to half their health before they started to fight.

Clark and Gilda paused to heal, and for Clark to get his magicka back. They might need that fireball again. Gilda took the opportunity to look around the cave for the silver mould. She didn't really expect to find it. They hadn't encountered the bandit chief yet, someone called Rigel Strong-Arm, according to the note Gilda had found in the house.

The next tunnel took them into what looked like part of a Nordic barrow. There were coffins around the walls, upright, in the ancient style, and the remains of draugr lying scattered on the floor. It appeared that the bandits had had some clearing of their own to do when they moved in.

One lone bandit was patrolling the area. He didn't put up much opposition. There were two ways out, and no clear choice between them. The first just led into a closed room. "But look what's here!" exclaimed Gilda. "Another of those gems."

There was quite a bit of other bandit loot, but no sign of the silver mould, or of Rigel.

They took the other exit, and soon found themselves entering the bandit gang's main sleeping area. Several of the beds were occupied, but they were all spread out along the wall, and Clark's fireball wasn't going to be very effective. They stopped at the entrance, and Clark put up a ward, while Gilda fired Ice Spikes at the sleeping bandits. With the slowing effect of the frost spell, the bandits could only reach them one at a time, and Clark and Gilda were able to use their swords to good effect.

"There's more coming from the next room"

Gilda responded to Clark's warning by firing Ice in that direction. The bandit slowed in the opening, effectively blocking it for those behind him. That gave Clark time to drink a potion and replenish his magicka. He raised his ward again, for another round of the same tactics.

Still no Rigel Strong-arm. She had to be farther in, probably guarding a chest with that silver mould in it.

Gilda stopped Clark at the entrance to the next room. There were bone rattles hanging from the ceiling everywhere, and an area screened off at the far end.

"I'd bet anything Rigel's behind that screen, probably asleep," she whispered. "In which case, this is a stealth job."

Gilda crept silently across the room, easily avoiding all the rattles, and disappeared around the corner. She emerged a few minutes later and beckoned Clark over to sneak after her. "I just learned how to do this, and I've been itching to try it," she whispered when he arrived.

Gilda pointed at Rigel, naked on her bed. "I pickpocketed her armour, right off her back."

Rigel rolled onto her back, snoring loudly. "Now isn't that pretty?" Clark mused. "How sure are we that she's the last one?" he asked Gilda.

"Fairly sure. There's only the one door out of here, and it's locked. With this key, which she had safely hidden in her armour."

Clark whispered in Gilda's ear, and she giggled. "Ooh, that's mean. Let's do it!"

Rigel's wrists and ankles were quickly tied to the bedposts. She struggled mightily, but she couldn't stop them. Clark reached into his backpack and pulled out Madesi's Dwemer-powered dildo.

"We're not going to hurt you, Rigel. Quite the opposite."

---

"I think she just passed out. She took more than I thought she could."

Clark watched her breasts rise and fall. She was breathing well, so they hadn't killed her. Gilda untied her wrists and ankles and he healed them, where the leather strips had dug in as she struggled.

"I think it's safe to leave her like this. She won't have any stamina left."

Clark remained on the edge of the bed watching the unconscious Rigel.

"Are you finished with staring at her boobs, or do I have to get mine out to lure you away?"

"That won't be necessary, but if you feel like it..."

Gilda pulled him to his feet, and pushed him through the door behind her.

"Careful, you almost pushed me into a trap."

There was a plate on the floor that obviously triggered something. Clark backed up and looked around. "Up there, that beam's set to swing down when it's released. I should be able to set it off without getting hit. There!"

The beam dropped, and swung past him. "Now let's move, before the trap resets."

There were two more traps on the way to Rigel's treasure cache. A dart trap, rigged to another plate on the floor, and a mace trap behind the last door. None of them a problem, because they were expected. A further pressure plate was in front of an altar, but they just went around the other side. The altar was covered in gold coins, gems, ingots, ores, and the silver mould Gilda had been looking for. There were a couple of candlesticks, that looked like they'd been made from the mould, too. Clark piled it all into their backpacks, and hefted one.

"This is about all I can carry. Can you manage yours? I know you have Rigel's armour already."

"No problem," Gilda replied. "The Guild armor fortifies my carrying ability. I don't wear it only to make me look good."

There was a barred door beyond the altar, but the bar was on this side. It led out onto the walkway in the first part of the cave, near the tunnel where they'd come in. They followed it back up to the basement.

Clark dragged the body of the bandit Gilda had killed into the tunnel and pushed the button that closed the secret door. He briefly considered destroying the mechanism, and sealing the place off, but they'd left Rigel alive down there. She'd need to get out, eventually.

---

They sold the armour, and most of the heavier valuables, in Falkreath. Clark found that he had enough gold with him to purchase the plot of land he'd just looked at.

Since he didn't have to deal with Siddgeir for that, just the steward Nenya, he dropped into the Longhouse and made the transaction. A shapely Redguard woman in steel armour and an Alik'r headscarf approached him as he opened the door to leave. "I'm Rayya,your housecarl. The Jarl has decided to make you Thane of Falkreath, now that you own property in his hold. Please come with me, so he can do the formalities."

So he had to meet with Siddgeir after all. The man was as slimy as ever, and told him that he'd have all sorts of interesting work available for Clark now he was Thane. Clark imagined that none of it would be honest.

Clark had to tell Rayya that he didn't actually have a house yet, just a piece of land to build one. "That's no problem," she replied. "Nenya will have had supplies sent to the site, enough to put up the beginnings of your home. I can help you make a start."

"You do that, and I'll go ahead to Markarth," Gilda told him. "You can meet me there when you have Rayya settled in."

I’m so glad that Brelyna will be playing a significant role at the College. Like Jordis and Elisef, she’s among my fave ladies of Skyrim.

Ooh, Pinewatch! I know it well – great fun! Gilda and Clark continue to fight well together.

’Clark whispered in Gilda's ear, and she giggled. "Ooh, that's mean. Let's do it!" - - What a clever use for Clark’s dwemerized secret weapon!

And yet another housecarl to break in! Quite the collection Clark has.

Clark’s going to have a great place to party at Lakeview. I wonder if his neighbor Rigel will come over and say hello. It was fun to remember Pinewatch as Clark and Gilda went through it. That place has a real treasure cache. Neat.

Yay, Rayya! She was worth talking to Jarl Slimeball for.

Grits: Although I'm writing many episodes ahead of posting, I still haven't decided what Rigel will do. She'll be aware that anyone else would have just killed her.

Acadian: More Brelyna soon, I promise. Clark now has the "complete set" of housecarls, so he may not want to get Thaned again!

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

Previously: Clark bought the plot of land at Lakeview and discovered that he'd been Thaned again. Gilda knows what that means, so she's left Rayya with Clark and gone to Markarth to see Endon and give him back his silver mould.

In this one, I couldn't help commenting on a few of the oddities of Hearthfires.

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

Part 33 - Lakeview

Rayya showed Clark the workbenches that had been delivered to the site. There was a chest of materials, including ingots of iron and corundum, and an anvil where he could make building materials. "You start making some locks, and nails and things. I'll go see if there's a pickaxe over there by the stone quarry."

Apparently there was, as he soon heard her picking away at the rock. She came back and dumped a load into the chest and returned to dig some more.

Clark read the plans, which didn't have many options to start with. It appeared that he'd have to put up a small house, but he'd get the chance to convert it to be the entryway to a larger one later. That needed some of the stone for a foundation, and more for the floor. He was glad Rayya had started with that. Perhaps she knew in advance?

He worked on laying the stone, as Rayya cut it. Before long, he was able to put a smooth course on top as a floor for the house.

Clark consulted the plans again. The next step was wall framing, which needed logs. Rayya pointed to a pile of them, over by the clay deposits. He noticed a chopping block there, too. He could turn any cut-off pieces into firewood.

With Rayya's help, he put up the roof framing next, before filling in the walls with wattle-and daub panels. There was enough clay in the chest to do that without digging up any more, but he wasn't sure if he needed any for the roof.

No, no clay for the roof, just timber. And nails. Clark had to make more of those first. He'd used the first batch up doing the walls. Now the only thing to add was the front door. He needed to make hinges and fittings for that, and they used up the last of the iron ingots in the chest.

Some of the left-over wood assembled a workbench inside for making furniture. Raaya had apparently put together a chest, too, but the rest of the room was bare. Clark checked the plans, to see what furniture he could make. "We'll want a bed as soon as possible," Rayya reminded him. She was much more subtle about it than Lydia, Iona or Jordis, but he knew what she meant.

"We don't have the materials for that. Did you need to use the last of the timber for the chest?"

Rayya pointed out that they didn't have any straw, and a bed needed that, too. He wouldn't have been able to make one anyway.

"Where do I get straw? And is there anything else we need to buy?"

"Read the plans. There should be a list of materials there somewhere."

There were a couple of items that he'd only be able to get at a general store. Straw was one, and glass was another. Goat horns, for making lamps, could be obtained from dead goats, but it looked like he'd need more than he'd find easily. He'd better buy some of those, too.

Clark looked outside. The sun was on its way down, but they could just get to Riverwood before the stores there closed.

---

Clark sent Rayya to buy iron and corundum ingots from the smithy, while he picked up the other materials from the Riverwood Trader. "And if you're done before I am, head for Gerdur's mill and order some more logs."

"Of course, my Thane."

---

It was getting dark when they arrived back at the Lakeview site. Clark made some more nails, and put a bed together. Then some iron fittings, so they could have lights inside and out, using some of the goat horns he'd bought.

"I won't put a fireplace in yet." he told Rayya. "If I'm reading the plans right, it looks like it would have to be removed if we make the house bigger. The bed can be moved, but a firepit can't."

"What I will do, is put up a smelter. We've got iron and corundum veins right here, and we might as well use our own materials. And we have enough of them to make an armorer's workbench and a grindstone."

Rayya looked over the plans. "If you add the Animal pen, that includes a tanning rack. You used the last of your leather strips making the bed. We'll probably need more later on."

She went inside while he did that, to put a bear pelt over the bed. It would keep the straw from poking through, and making them itch. Somewhere in the plans were instructions on upgrading the bed, but for some reason that might not be possible until they'd added on the main hall. Perhaps there was some piece of equipment he had to construct first. He needed to read it all through a few times, and figure out what he needed, and in what order.

The animal pen was simple enough to put together, and Clark made some more leather strips, and stowed them in the chest for future use. He decided to test out the smelter, too, so he mined some iron ore and made a few ingots. He stowed those away, and went inside.

Rayya had changed out of her steel armour into something more comfortable. A pair of baggy trousers, made of sheer silk that he could easily see through. She'd swapped her grey headscarf for a more colourful one, but the only other thing she was wearing was a sash around her waist.

Her breasts were small, high, and absolutely beautiful. They suited her slender, willowy figure perfectly, and they jiggled enticingly when she laughed.

She kept her headscarf on, even in bed. "An Alik'r woman doesn't show her hair to strangers. It's considered immodest."

"But you showed me everything else."

"I didn't say our traditions made sense, I just told you what they are. And now we've got to know each other, I can take it off."

Her hair was jet-black, and Clark guessed that it had never been cut. It reached down her back all the way to her buttocks, and might have gone further if it had been straight, instead of being curled into ringlets.

Although the hair on her head might never have been cut, she had none anywhere else. She explained that it was all part of not showing it to strangers. She couldn't just cover it up, or he'd never get to know her properly.

---

Clark now had three Nord housecarls that all fought the same way: with sword and shield. Rayya hadn't been carrying a shield, and her sword looked different, too.

"Yes, I use two scimitars. I prefer the faster attack to the greater defense of a shield. They taught us all the same way, so I know heavy armour, and have the smithing skill to make it. And block, even though I don't do that. Archery, of course, and enough restoration to heal both of us."

"You can make different armour on the anvil outside, if you'd prefer something lighter. Heavy and fast dont really go together."

"I might do that, once I have the skill. I quite like the look of the armour the Thalmor soldiers wear, except that I wouldn't want anyone to think I was one of them."

"You mentioned having other housecarls," she continued. "Where else are you Thane?"

"Riften, Solitude, and Whiterun. I also have property in Markarth, but it's a brothel, not a home. I'm basically a businessman, and that's just one of the businesses. I trade with the merchants and the shipping companies, and have some factories in various places."

"Making what?"

"These, for example. I can't live at all my houses all the time, so these are invaluable." This wasn't Madesi's, just a plain one, carved from a Horker tusk.

"Ivory, isn't it? I think I've seen this style before, too. They make them like this in Hammerfell."

"Yes, that's where that one was made, in one of the coastal cities. I've had to move my factories several times because of wars and pirate raids, so I can't remember where exactly that one came from."

"Does this mean you'll be leaving soon?"

"Not yet, but it does let me try a few things with you that I couldn't do without help."

---

"How many iron ingots do we have?" he asked.

Rayya looked up from the chest, where she'd been taking stock. "I think we have just enough to put up the main hall, and then we need to decide whether to mine and smelt, or buy more."

"We can add the cellar as well," Clark stated. "That just needs stone and logs. I want to install the Alchemy and Enchanting stations in the main hall, even if we build the towers later. You'll be able to use them to practise while I'm away, and if we put the target dummies in the basement, you can use those too."

"Are you going to have time to make all the furniture? I thought you needed to go to Markarth fairly soon."

"No, but if I appoint you steward, you'll have the authority to hire someone to do it for us. If you make the materials, here on the anvil, it will improve your smithing, too. When I get back, we'll decide about the wings. I'm thinking kitchen first, then bedrooms, and the tower at the back, for the view."

"Why the extra bedrooms? We'll have three beds already in the main hall, and you and I only need one of them."

"Because I may bring other people here. If it was just the housecarls, I'm sure we'd all be in the same bed, but ..."

"I get the point. I was just worried you were thinking family already."

"You may be sworn to carry my burdens, but I expect you to avoid carrying that one."

Rayya laughed. "Of course, my Thane."

Clark the homebuilder! I suppose it is good that all the other Jarls provide men for housecarls. That helps keep Clark’s collection manageable.

It was nice of Clark to do so much of the work instead of just delegating to Rayya and disappearing. I don’t think manual labor is his forte, but he gave it a good shot. And it was fun to follow along with his and Rayya's progress on the house.

Ahah, no plans for any little ones at this point. I wonder if they'll adopt?

No, silly! You can’t upgrade the bed until you build the big hall!

Acadian: Clark may need another housecarl to help take care of his housecarls! (They'd probably like that).

He expects Rayya to hire someone else to help with the work. He's determined that her persuasive skills are up to the job.

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

Previously: Rayya and Clark built the small house at Lakeview and put in a bed, but not much else. He's added the main hall, and made her Steward, so now he can continue to Markarth.

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

Part 34 - Markarth

Makarth hadn't changed much. The few differences Clark could detect seemed to be confined to Understone Keep. The old Jarl's retinue were gone, displaced to Solitude, and Thongvor's people had taken their places. The Thalmor no longer stalked the inner corridors, but Moth gro-Bagol was still the Jarl's personal smith, and the cooking staff remained. Even the dogs were still there.

As Thane of other cities, Clark paid his formal respects to the new Jarl. He asked after Cancelmo, and was told that the Altmer was still working in his excavations. If he wanted to buy any spell tomes or scrolls, he'd have to try and find him there.

Thongvor's attention seemed to be turned outside the city, which he was basically leaving to go about its own business. The Forsworn, the ones that had killed his brother especially, were his focus. They had to be tracked down and exterminated at any cost. It appeared that Thongvor didn't equate Forsworn with Breton, however, or he'd never have trusted his kitchen staff, all of whom were Breton.

Satisfied that his business interests in Markarth weren't under threat from the new regime, Clark went looking for Gilda. The Temple of Dibella was close, and he always enjoyed the company of the priestesses. He was also curious how Fjotra was getting on in her new life as Sybil.

Senna was in the public chamber, as usual, and Fjotra was helping her tidy the shrine. "Yes, if the flowers are wilting, it's all right to throw them away. The worshipers will bring fresh ones."

"Are the others downstairs?" Clark asked.

"Yes, they're in the middle of a ritual, which is why Fjotra's up here with me. She's not ready for those yet."

"They let me join in some of them, but not others," Fjotra added. "I haven't worked out what makes the difference, yet. And sometimes men are allowed to go down there and watch, but I'm not. Other times, it's only the priestesses. It's very confusing."

"Which kind is this one?" Clark asked Senna.

"You can go down," Senna told him.

---

As Clark had expected, Orla and Anwen were dancing. Wearing only lilies in their hair, they were performing an "invocation of natural beauty", which involved a lot of twining themselves around each other, and passing their hands over the other's body. A small audience of men was watching, and Hamal was passing a plate for donations to the Temple.

Clark leaned over her shoulder and put a few septims on the plate. His other hand announced his presence, too.

"Careful," Hamal whispered. "We don't want anybody thinking that's on offer."

The dancers finished and bowed to their audience, who clapped enthusiastically. Then they turned and bowed to the statue of Dibella behind them, to even louder applause.

The men shuffled out of the room. Some of them seemed to have difficulty walking, until they adjusted their clothing. Hamal smiled beatifically, and raised her hands in a sign of blessing.

"Staying prosperous, I see."

"I'm sure most of the men don't actually look at how much they're putting on the plate," Hamal replied. "They don't want to miss anything."

"What brings you here today? Apart from us, of course?" Anwen asked.

"I just looked in to see how Fjotra was doing. I was curious how you're managing to preserve her innocence, and train her for this at the same time."

"It's a question of determining what she understands, before we expose her to it. She has to understand how her body works, and how and why men's are different, before she can understand the rest. She's in the middle of puberty right now, and we've done some of the rituals for that," Hamal explained. "She already knows the spell for cleansing herself. And the one she doesn't need yet. If we make it part of her daily habit, she won't forget it when she's older."

---

Clark found Gilda over at the brothel, chatting with Vicuña. She'd delivered the silver mould to Endon, who'd offered his services to the Guild as a fence in return. "What have you been up to, Clark? Found any more of the Stones of Barenziah?"

Vicuña and Rhiada wanted to know what those were. Clark was carrying one in his backpack, so he showed it to them.

"I've seen one of those before," Rhiada exclaimed. "Now, where was it? Can't have been in the Warrens, so it must have been at the Treasury House. I don't recall where, exactly, and I haven't been over there for a while. Maybe Betrid remembers seeing it, too?"

"Yes, Thonar had one of those. Silly little bauble, it doesn't do anything but sit there, slowly turning, and glowing slightly. Not enough light to read by, or it would actually be useful."

"Gilda?"

She was already gone. The Treasury House wasn't far, and at this time of day, the main door would be open. She'd only have to pick a lock if it was in a back room.

They didn't expect her to take long, so when she hadn't returned a couple of hours later, Clark started to worry. He was walking to the door to go look for her, when she came in.

"After I picked up the first one, I suddenly recalled where I'd seen another," she explained. "There was one in the Dwemer museum, up at Understone Keep. I ran into Aicantar again, and he remembered me from my last visit. He'd rather enjoyed that, and hoped that I'd stay a while. I suggested that he come here, instead, but he can't get away from his uncle for long. So we had a quickie in his room before I came back."

"Quickie? You've been gone for hours!"

"A quickie is when he doesn't use any stamina potions," Gilda stated, looking at Vicuña for confirmation. The Dunmer nodded agreement.

"Aicantar's an elf. We're never in the same hurry you people are."

Politicians Jarls come and go, but I figure the nature of Clark and Vicuña’s business in Markarth render it mostly immune to such events.

Gilda got two stones and one elf in the same outing!

"Aicantar's an elf. We're never in the same hurry you people are."

Lakeview: Clark got his furniture together much faster than I ever have, but of course he didn’t have to interpret stick figures drawn by Ikea. Funny about the straw bed before the main hall, nice bed after. How fun that Rayya had all of that hair tucked under her headwrap! I love her outfit.

Markarth: The line Acadian pointed out was also my favorite!