Chapter 37: A welcome distraction

[10th – 18thof First Seed4E 202]

A few days later T'mara admitted that she was getting somewhat tired of learning and practicing spells and was looking forward to getting distracted; maybe I knew about a little adventure around, she asked me? I did have some ideas, but before I could start to make specific suggestions, we learned that we had a visitor – Ria from the Companions. We were told that she was waiting for us outside of the college grounds, and we quickly went there to meet her. As there was snow coming down again, as usual for Winterhold, the three of us quickly decided to hurry into the cozy local inn to talk. While we had milk and mead, T'mara and I asked Ria what brought her to this remote area, and she excitedly told us:

"Well, of course we are all curious how you two are doing and how married life suits you. We, that is Aela, have received a task to clear a location from wild animals, and that location happens to be in this hold. Knowing that you would be here at the college, Aela asked for volunteers to travel to the city of Winterhold, find the two of you, and ask you to assist me in doing the quest. You know that we almost never do quests alone, so that we were hoping that you could find the time to do this with me for a few days. And, in addition to that, I have really missed both of you!"

T'mara smiled happily and replied: "We have been missing you and the Companions, too, my dear Ria. Just this morning I have told my husband that I am slowly getting bored from all of the learning and spell casting, and that I am looking forward to finding a distraction. This is perfect timing – where are we supposed to go to?"

Ria looked relieved and happy to hear that: "The place is called 'Bleakcoast Cave', and it is located on an island off the coast east of here. We should be able to travel there in not more than one day, so that the total travel time should be not more than three days, I should think."

I looked at my wife, smiled, and suggested tentatively: "Maybe you would like to do this with Ria and I get back to my learning?"

She looked at me and sternly responded: "Oh no, you don't – you are going as well. Both of us need the exercise, and remember what happened last time you did something on your own!"

I responded with the only possible answer: "Yes, dear", and that was settled.

Ria got a room at the inn for the night, and we agreed to meet again next morning at sunrise. Of course, the next day started with snowfall rather than sunshine, but that was not really a surprise here in Winterhold. We were all properly dressed and had had a good breakfast after a sound sleep, so that we were full of energy and could soon walk off in southeasterly direction. After consulting the map on the day before, we had decided to follow the road to the area of 'Whistling Mine', turn left towards 'Journeyman's Nook' and find a way down to the coast from there. The small island we needed to get to should be right across, and maybe some ice floats would help us to get over there without getting wet.

After a brisk walk we reached the mine later in the morning. We met Thorgar, the mine's owner and foreman, and we were told that the miners were working hard, but had failed yet to find something really valuable. We wished them good luck and turned left as we had planned, and not quite one hour later we reached the nook. When we approached, a man in fur armor got out and immediately started to attack us with his war axe. Ria was ahead and killed him swiftly with her sword. T'mara shook her head: "You know, some bandits are really crazy. They see three strong warriors approaching, but rather than surrendering or running away or hiding they bluntly attack against all odds – I don't get it!"

I could not resist the temptation to tease her: "Not sure about that; maybe he looked at you and thought you are a pussy cat, and I am walking you?"

My wife looked at me and just shook her head again; while she tried to look annoyed, I could hear her chuckling and mumbling: "I will show you about the pussy cat when we are in our bedroll tonight..." - and now it was my turn to chuckle.

We decided to take a break here in the nook, as the interior provided some shelter from the wind and snow. Inside we found a corpse, and we assumed that the bandit might have been responsible for the kill. Searching the corpse we noticed three iron arrows in the back and a dagger close to his hand, and according to some papers we found this was Borvir, who used to be a student at the college.

T'mara put in: "Wasn't there a bulletin in the college lately about missing students? Maybe this is one of them?"

I replied: "Yes, this is possible. We should mention it to Tolfdir when we get back."

We also found a little bit of loot, a skill book, and a treasure map. While eating lunch from our supplies, we looked at the map we had found and tried to figure out what it showed. We failed to make sense of it for some time, when Ria had an idea: "You know, those structures could be the Valtheim towers, and the water in front might be the waterfall on the east side – what do you think?"

I nodded and told her: "Yes, you may be right about that. As this is close to Whiterun, why don't you take the map, and next time you are in the area, you can go looking for the treasure. If you find something valuable, it can be shared among the Companions."

Ria nodded and stowed the map in her backpack, and when we were done we stepped outside again. Soon we found a narrow and steep trail leading down to the coast which we followed. When we were down at sea level, we encountered a few horkers, and T'mara noticed a small chest which was barely visible in a small niche behind the horkers. As we were curious what was in there but did not want to kill the horkers, I pretended to attack the animals, which made them all move in my direction; when I had lured them away from the niche, I simply ran away from the slow moving animals. T'mara picked the lock and got the contents out, and we met again at the coast. The chest had had only another skill book in it.

T'mara looked at me: "Another skill book. How come that we can find items like this in the wilderness? Is there somebody walking around putting loot into chests so that explorers like us can find it?"

I shook my head: "I do not know. Maybe part of that is bandits storing loot and forgetting about it. But again, this is Skyrim for you."

As we had reached the coast and the horkers had calmed down and were back at their resting place, we looked around and indeed saw the island which supposedly was our goal quite close, just a few hundred meters away. Between the island and us, though, there was clear and very cold water, and we did not really feel like swimming through it. While we were pondering our options, T'mara pointed east and said: "Look over there – there seems to be a small ice field which might help us – let's have a look and find out if we can get across there!"

We walked over and indeed found a field of ice which looked like it might allow us to get to the island without swimming. It took us a few attempts to find the proper path, but we finally succeeded and stepped on the island, close to our target cave. Wildlife was peculiarly scarce on the island; no horkers lingered on the ground, no snow foxes and ice wolves were visible, and even the birds and insects seemed to avoid the area – a clear sign of impending danger. As the sun was still up and we were still quite awake and fit, we decided to enter the cave right away. Of course, we would need to be very cautious as we had not been told what kind of beasts were likely to wait for us. The companions had only been told that the cave was infested, including one really dangerous animal. Well, the three of us should be able to handle that, I guessed.

After the entrance, the passage narrowed, and after a few bends it opened up into a larger hall. Naturally, we did not enter the hall right away but looked around cautiously while sneaking. There was a smell in the air none of us could identify. Right in the hall we could soon see a number of frost trolls, and a few corpses were on the ground. We attacked the trolls simultaneously with fireballs and T'mara's 'YOL' shout, and they were down before they had a chance to get real close to us. In a smaller room to the west we found more corpses and another Skill book. Back in the main hall we looked around and found another passage leading to the north; it opened up into a smaller hall, and when we peeked into it, we saw a huge strange animal none of us had seen in Skyrim before. It appeared to be a big white furred predator and looked quite dangerous; it was standing next to a skeleton which was suspended upside down from the ceiling, with the legs encased in the ice. Before we could ponder the situation further, the beast must have spotted or smelled us and turned around, opening its massive jaws in a threatening way, and we did not hesitate to attack. Same as before, we used fireballs, which obviously hurt the animal, but it it still ran towards us. Not sure how strong it was we decided upon a tactical retreat and returned through the passage. While the passage was a tight fit for the beast, it managed to squeeze through, but I had used the time to load my crossbow with a bolt of exploding fire. Just as the beast entered the main hall, I shot and reloaded right away. My first hit staggered it, so that I had time for a second one, and now the animal was clearly injured and slowed down, which gave my companions time to attack from the side. Ria, though, was not keeping enough distance and got hit by the ferocious claws. She went down, apparently unconscious, but I was able to distract the beast with another bolt, and my wife could now deliver another fire shout. Even that was not good enough to bring it down, so that I finally got my huge greatsword out and delivered the final blow.

While I made sure that the animal was really dead, T'mara ran over to where Ria was on the ground and started to check her wounds. "Timotheus", she said, "I guess that this is a perfect opportunity to practice our healing spells, as I believe that she is gravely injured. I will start the healing and you can take over when my magicka is exhausted."

I nodded and she started to cast right away. As we had been taught, T'mara first applied some healing to head and chest to improve the general condition and heart and brain activity, and then moved to the areas which showed the worst injuries. Some minutes later her magicka was down and I took over, focusing on her left leg which appeared to be broken. I was not fully sure if the bones were all in place, and T'mara helped to check; when we were reasonably sure I applied my healing spell mostly to the leg. When my magicka was also down, Ria woke up, and we fed her a healing and a stamina potion to support the recovery. We also spread our sleeping bags to find some rest while Pammy and Bran was guarding. Our two animal companions had not been able to help us against the beast, as it had been too large and intimidating for them to attack; even my Pammy had been reluctant to attack.

After a restful sleep we first checked Ria's condition, and we were happy to see that she looked much better again. We again applied some healing spells to her remaining wounds, and she declared that she was almost fit again. We left Pammy and Bran with her and moved on to investigate the remaining parts of the cave. We found another Skill book, a few coin purses, and a satchel. Finally, when looking at the corpse which was mysteriously suspended from the ceiling, we found a small diary. It did not tell much, but claimed that the person had been in pursuit of a beast he or she called a 'wampa'. The vague description of that 'wampa' matched the beast we had slain, and we could only assume that the beast had won the fight against the hunter. I really hoped that the beast did not have a mate around somewhere close.

With Ria still being a little weak, we decided to find a different way back to the college, by hiking along the coast until we found a path leading up further on. However, when stepping out of the cave, our attention was distracted by a fight going on not far away. A dragon was apparently attacking a group of people with fireballs; getting closer cautiously we noticed that the people were vampires, and there were enough of them to eventually kill the dragon. T'mara was close enough to absorb the soul, even as she had not been involved in the fight, and this got the remaining vampires' attention. There were three of them left 'alive', and one of them seemed to be a powerful vampire lord. Bran and Pammy ran ahead right away and engaged a vampire standing to the side, and the three of us focused on the other two. Knowing a vampire's weakness for fire we basically used the same approach we had used against the beast in the cave, with me shooting bolts of exploding fire with my crossbow, T'mara shouting 'YOL' followed by fireball spells, and Ria joining in with her bow. While this worked fine against the minor vampire, the powerful one managed to dodge most of the shots and came closer faster than we liked. I finally had to throw my crossbow aside and get my greatsword ready, and it turned out that I had to work real hard to keep the vampire away from my neck. However, the vampire lord had not noticed that I was able to yield the greatsword with one hand and thus had the left hand free – I used the chance to load my most powerful fireblast spell and shot it right into the vampire's chest. While this did not kill, it staggered, and the vampire was shocked for a few seconds. While I recovered and had to catch my breath, Ria was approaching behind the vampire's back and swiftly separated the monster's head from the body with her sword. We looked at each other and smiled, and I told her: "Excellent work, Ria!",

Looking around we noticed that T'mara had finished off the third vampire while it was distracted by Bran and Pammy, and the fight was over. We did not find valuable loot on the bodies, but hidden close by there was another treasure map; maybe we could figure it out during lunch break later on, but for now we were eager to start the trip back. While walking Ria asked: "How come that vampires were out in the open during the day? Don't they usually operate at night only, to avoid getting hurt by the sun?"

I looked at her thoughtfully and responded: "Yes, they normally do, as far as I know. However, with a full cloud cover and snow falling, the sun is not going to hurt them much, and it is conceivable that they were just about to move from their lair to the cave we were in when they were attacked by the dragon."

Ria nodded, and we walked on. In a niche we found another Skill book, and we tried out best to avoid the many horkers, as we did not see a need to antagonize them without need. Proceeding northwest we walked past a few ore veins, and mid afternoon we passed under the bridge leading from the city of Winterhold to the college. Right there the cliffs were too steep to ascend, and we moved on. One hour later we found a path leading south and later on southeast, leading upwards, and before the sun was down we managed to enter the city of Winterhold on the north side. Naturally we first delivered Ria to the inn and made sure that she had a few healing and stamina potions with her if needed for final recovery. We sat together in the taproom for a nice dinner to refresh our energies. When Haran, the innkeeper, noticed T'mara and me, she got us two jugs of milk without being asked. While her facial expression made clear that she did not really like our taste, she apparently got used to it. Maybe, with time, we might be able to convince her that drinking milk was not related at all to being weak, as we had been able to convince Wilhelm, the innkeeper in Ivarstead.

Ranmir, Birna's brother, was around again, and drunk as usual. However, I was told by Haran that he had actually paid for his drinks and that she had heard from Birna that he was now doing some work during the day. Dagur, the innkeeper, felt inclined to add a few more details to Ranmir's background:

"See, Ranmir was involved with a pretty young woman named Isabelle Rolaine. The two of them were very happy together, I thought. One day, she just disappeared. Ranmir was convinced she'd run off with someone else, leaving him behind. He turned to drinking, and what's left of him is what you see here every day."

After a break he went on:

"I hoped that maybe if she could be found, if he had some sort of explanation, that maybe he could put himself back together. I'm in no position to go searching for her, but perhaps you could, if you can find the time?"

T'mara and I nodded, promising to keep that in mind. Haran, Ragnur's wife, added that we might be able to get more hints from a woman called 'Vex' in Riften.

Later on, Ranmir was also listening when we told the story of the beast we found in the cave and that the note had claimed it was called a 'wampa'. Ranmir raised his head: "A 'wampa', you say? This might have been one of the beasts I had encountered on a planet called 'Hoth' when I was young and looking for adventures. But it was too cold there to stay long, even colder than here in Skyrim, so that I much prefer to be here."

Confused by his words I looked at him and asked: "What do you mean by 'a planet'?"

Ranmir looked up again: "I do not know – have I really said that?"

T'mara confirmed, but Ranmir was too drunk to provide further information. I guess that he had been just fantasizing while being drunk. A place being colder than Winterhold in Skyrim? Hard to imagine!

[Author's note: I could not resist the temptation to extend the Easter Egg in Bleakcoast Cave a little further]