9.
A Nord sat at the table and cursed at himself for the Billionth time for not moving his desk from the drippy stalactite above him. No matter how many buckets he placed above the water or how many towels he placed on the Hanging Rock it's still kept dripping. he talked to his crew about drinking the curséd water but they all told them that was unsafe to drink, he also cursed at himself for the thousandth time For not getting a water filter. He was about to place another desperate towel on The Rock when one of his assailants walked up to him.
This Nord is the leader of a bandit group called "remains of Helgen" after the dragon attack that left Helgen in Ruins (though has since been rebuilt). On his desk was a pen and a spool of ink, next to it was a bucket of Rockwater and a gold ingot with the name etched on its side reading "DAG". Next to the etchings were smaller but nevertheless Large writing reading "ger", Giving the impression that his name is "dagger". This was only a prank when he obtained the gold bar and decide to etch his name on it, the next day he discovered that someone had etched "ger" onto the Gold Bar. As soon as he got the joke he laughed the entire day, To this day he doesn't know who did it but he knows that when he does find him he will give him a pat on the back and the stern warning not to touch his stuff.
He stopped admiring his stuff ( and cursing at himself for the hundredth time for not getting more stuff to clutter his desk with) And looked at the person who was addressing him.
"what brings you here to the office?" dagger said. he realized that he sent a mob out to one of the known houses that the Dragonborn resides and became noticeably more gleeful, " did you get her? that sucker cursed me for far too long and now I have the ability to get back on her, that being said please tell me you have gotten back on her."
"Calm down Dag," the Bandit said " we were unable to ascertain the Dragonborn. everyone has been claimed to be dead by our Scouts but one, presumed hostage. there's-".
before the Bandit could finish dagger went in a blind rage, throwing the almost-full bucket into the cave below. He listened to the bucket hitting the ground and a scream coming from the cave. while it was quiet it was still discernible that the person was moaning and, in a less quiet voice, shouted " I just had this meal prepared, hope the boss doesn't mind". Dagger groaned, realizing that he had just made his lunch inedible. After increasing the number of times that he cursed that certain stalactite he let the Bandit continue.
" if I may continue, There appear to be 3 more people, well it's unclear at the moment rumors have spread around saying that the Dragonborn has found The Helgen Breakers and formed an alliance. Before you throw that hammer into the cave kill your right-hand man I should really tell you that this is only a theory."
Dagger put the hammer down and sat down, immediately realizing that is table was wet and screamed with the ferocity of a dragon. it was so loud that it could be heard from the entrance of the cave, those that have heard it also claimed that the greybeards knelt down to cover their ears ( although this would be horribly false).
A former Bandit scurried out the door, hand scabbed over and fingers not moving. He also had several smaller lacerations covering any exposed skin on his body, including some clothing tears where it showed bloody skin. after the Bandit ran like he's never run before 5 people emerged through the door. the Dragonborn was talking to Faendal Explaining how he was in charge of the house in what happens to the house (which is normally what he does anyway), meanwhile, the three Adventures walked out explaining how they just became a Feared group in (a) Bandit Society. After moments of attempting to wrap their heads around the fact that they just became a legend, Faendal walked Back inside the house.
the Dragonborn asked " I'm sure you have lots of questions for the leader when we get there. so before I send them to sovngarde is there any questions you would like to ask him?"
All of them blurted out random consonant sounds and barely intelligible questions before the Dragonborn looked away and regretted asking. most of them were questions that they had already asked the trapped Bandit, almost all of the questions the three Adventures did not believe. They hopped on top of the carriage and started to Hit the road. since the Dragonborn was the strongest of the three and had an innate ability to sense where she's going, they all let her ride the horse while they sat in the carriage. in the time that they held the Bandit in custody, the Dragonborn had time ( and Arago had extra time) to make and enchant weapons. One of the many weapons that they had made was a bow called "the Thu'um stick" Which had a chaos damage enchantment on it, Combine that and the fact that was made from dragon bone made it a powerful weapon indeed.
After riding for a few seconds Kino asked: "where are we going?"
the Dragonborn replied, " someplace called 'cursed Rock cave'."
All three of them said a variance of " I've never heard of that place"
the Dragonborn, again, replied " to be perfectly honest I haven't heard of this place either. I'm not even sure if they're telling the truth, but in any consolation, if that guy gets back they're going to start moving."
while neither of them relished at the fact that they let the Bandit Go, but they all agreed it was the right thing to do (except Oliver who wanted to kill him and rip them to shreds afterward). Oliver carried around a spear and started to play around with it. when they asked to craft the spear the Dragonborn looked confused then facepalmed as she realized what they were talking about.
" I've never really wielded polearms before," the Dragonborn said, " I don't know why it's just that I've never seen anyone use a scythe, a pike, a pole, or as you say a spear."
Upon hearing that everyone in the room ( including the Bandit) laughed at the prospect of the Dragonborn not being able to wield certain weapons. after making fun of her for a long time (both in the house and in the carriage) they continued on. they were still sitting when they heard a wine from the horse, then the weight shifted to make it so that they were tilting towards the driver. suddenly their weight went towards the driver at a rapid rate causing them to shoot through the air. the Dragonborn was hurt the worst since she was in the driver's side and had the weight of the cart slam her into the ground with heavy armor, the three Adventures who is sitting in the carriage shot up into the air and flew like a scattershot from a catapult into some nearby trees. Arago held on using Magic while Kino Extracted all of his claws to stay on the tree. Oliver was not so lucky when he hit the tree in the midsection and immediately fell on a saber tooth tiger, saving Oliver but killing the saber-tooth tiger instantly. After the Dragonborn came to her senses, Kino climbing his way back down the tree, Arago Floating down to the ground below, and Oliver skinning the oversized cat, They discerned what happened and why it happened. It turned out that someone had shot an arrow at the horse, striking the poor creature right in the eye. after a small memorial that consisted of skinning the horse, ripping some edible chunks off of it, and burying the rest in Loosely piled dirt where any creature could feed off the rest of the horse, they got to work on how they were going to finish the trip. they all agreed that they had not made it far, but when Kino spotted a thief he knew what to do.
Kino walked up to the thief that was hiding in the bush ( but still was very visible) and pretended not to notice him. as expected the thief jumped out and demanded gold but stopped mid-sentence when she realized that he was a fellow guild member, she tried ( and failed) to explain so hard that she forgot where her sheath was for the dagger, so she just threw the knife like it was a wooden toy before she finally had the strength to ask "Kino! it's been a while since you've been to the guild, where have you been?"
Kino showed his brothers and the Dragonborn who is drinking a cup of water, the thief seemed conflicted but eventually realized what they were in need of when she saw the empty carriage and the barely showing horse. she motioned for Kino to in the bush, which he did, and saw that a hidden cave was beneath the shrubbery, that's when he knew that she could be trusted ( as ironically as it appeared).