In later years, stories arose of a wandering Crusader in High Rock
Clad head to foot in the finest armor, his sword an enforcer of righteous law
His shield a bastion for the vulnerable and needy
Many a romantic tale rose from his deeds, from slaying monsters to saving damsels in distress
Many a bard tried in great frustration to commit his saga to a rousing tale
It's hard for listeners to take your song seriously
If the name of the knight is Sir Skib
Claudia sat idly on one of the many crates sitting outside of Sticky's base of operations. This was part of the ebb and flow of working with Sticky. There were times when he would have her and Magar running from one errand to the next. Other days, the best he could tell them was either wait around or even take the day off.
Claudia made sure to maximize every bit of shade offered by the overhead building casting a shadow over her as the noon sun began its descent. There were still many more hours until evening but little to do during that time. She had considered the possibility of leaving the city and searching for this warrior woman Sticky had mentioned two days ago but always thought the better of it. Even if it was Sibylla, and that in itself could not be known with any certainty, there was a general rule about seeking out a warrior known for deadly battle prowess. You only did so at your own risk. Fighters may or may not have good experience with people "searching" for them. Besides, if by all accounts she was making her way to Sentinel, why take the risk of missing her completely when she could just wait for the warrior woman to come to her?
She looked over when she heard Magar make a dry, rasping hiss. Because of his destroyed vocal cords and old throat injury, Magar's vocabulary was rather simple if crude to the point of being almost indecipherable. Claudia learned that a noise like that was his way of conveying a warning. Looking up, she saw a group of men approaching from across the square. She squinted at them and then recognized who they were.
It was inevitable that someone with Sticky's way of doing business would make a few enemies. Claudia had never learned who exactly these people were, only that they were the musclemen of a rival businessman that did not get along very well with Sticky. Granted, the only way to get on Sticky's bad side but not allowing Sticky any means to bully back, was never to do business with the wily Redguard in the first place. Claudia had never been able to get down all the details but she had learned that these men weren't good news and the way to respond in kind was to glare back at them and not allow them anywhere near the warehouse. She did admit she found it rather pathetic. Business rivalry among their thugs were reduced to glorified staring contests but the merchants agreed it was better than risking trouble with the guards. "Scrutiny is so very inconvenient and the judges are so quick to jump to false conclusions," as Sticky often moaned.
"This is all such petty nonsense." Claudia scoffed as the interlopers shuffled back down their own street. Making sure her hood and robes still protected her, she sat cross legged as well as folding her arms in discontentment. With only unlistening passerbys going around and the mute Magar listening, she decided there would be no harm in venting some honest opinions.
"I used to be a Vigilant of Stendarr, you know? I took care of actual problems!" she pouted. Magar only grunted.
"Oh, these are problems too. Someone needs to make sure the money flows around here but still, what am I dealing with? Lazy louts who can't pay on time? Seedy businessmen trying to make a dishonest coin? Staring contests?"
Magar continued to frown and stay silent.
"For gods sakes, I was leading a team that killed vampires, expelled malevolent spirits and eliminated groups of deranged cultists! You will forgive me for finding all of this so petty!" Claudia huffed. Magar rolled his eyes.
"...I guess I'm starting to miss it again."
The next morning Claudia anxiously stalked through the streets towards the gates. She had a few hours in the early morning before Sticky would expect her to be around to report in for the day's assignments. The sun had not come up though the skies were beginning to brighten and she could see the morning mists already starting to dissipate. Arriving at the large iron grate that guarded the city's entrance, she saw that the sentries had already raised it to allow early morning arrivals. They only cast her a momentary glance before going back to watching the horizon. She too watched the road and focused her hearing, trying to discern any faint heartbeats that sounded human out there. If there were any there were none she could pick out yet. She waited a few minutes but saw no sign of this warrior woman that fit Sibylla's description and she would have to return back to Sticky soon. Sighing in discouragement, she turned on her heels and went back the way she came.
Back at the warehouse, she practiced at her makeshift arrow range. There was one section that got little traffic and she wanted to keep her skills sharp. Even the slightest hiatus in practice could erode and disproportionately larger measure of prowess. It was not much, just a simple thick, straw bale with the painted target, something she could prepare at a moment's notice when she got bored. Sticky gave his approval and the others of his operation learned to avoid going down that section if they did not want to risk getting impaled with an arrow. Claudia was probably small and lean but the deadly potent power she could unleash with her bonemold recurve bow gave everyone else a moment of pause.
"Ah, Claudia, could Sticky distract you a moment from your studious practicing and ask a special favor from you?" the shorter Redguard inquired quietly, having snuck up on her.
"Go ahead." she approved, drawing an arrow until the bow refused to bend. She quietly noticed Sticky's heartbeat seemed slightly elevated and wondered what that meant.
"Well, you see, some business friends have come to Sticky. They run an inn of sorts, not a very pretty place but it is one of the oldest in Sentinel. They make money off the sentimentality of it. Anyway, they tell me they have a bit of a problem but they won't elaborate on it." Sticky nervously moaned.
"So...you want me to go there and scare the problem out of them?" the archer woman asked for clarification.
"Ahh, no. Or, maybe yes. Just go there and see if you might be able to solve the problem yourself. Sticky knows you are very capable and a woman of many talents, some he is sure you have not told him. Go there and find out. The place is the Buttress Inn over by southern walls. You can't miss it."
Claudia wasted no time leaving though she decided that if it was a situation involving patrons and uppity hotels then her bow would probably spook the customers and reflect badly on Sticky. Warrior culture or no, Sticky wanted to keep the reputation that he was a businessman, not a thug with a hefty bank account. She left it back at the warehouse and made her way through the rapidly filling streets. Sticky agreed that it was best to leave Magar behind in this situation as well. It was better to approach the unknown being diplomatic and then needing to return for backup rather than scaring off the business by overreacting. It was a risk but Sticky just didn't send anyone into a situation where there was too much missing information. Besides, he needed Magar to go stare off the other business rivals; Magar was the best living gargoyle he had in his employ.
She did not expect what she found when she got to the inn. It was only about three stories tall and was actually built within the walls that surrounded the city. From outside she could see that the rooms were arranged in rows, judging by the neat assortment of windows that look out from the stone barrier. It did not seem overly elegant but even she understood that location, and history, sometimes lent a value all its own. Without a word, she ceased her examination and stepped inside.
She was immediately surprised by how dark and musty it seemed inside the hotel and wondered how that was even possible considering how large the windows outside were. Frowning, she glanced out the door a moment and realized that perhaps the sun was not at the proper angle to flood light into the hotel just yet. She also wondered why there was no one manning the front counter to help visitors. The archer decided to wait. After a few moments she also realized how quiet it was and decided that was in fact not normal. It did not matter that it was still morning, people were getting up, the day was beginning; there should have at least been some noise of people rousing out of bed, getting ready for the day or preparing to continue their journey. The floors clearly were made of wooden boards that should have easily transmitted sound.
Something was wrong.
"Hello?" Claudia called. She strained her ears, further astounded as to how quiet everything was.
"Are...are you here to help?" a voice squeaked behind her.
Claudia forced herself not to jump, as much as she wanted, to, and spun around. She found herself looking at a shorter, pale Breton woman who was clearly distressed. Her countenance was etched in lines of distress while her hair was disheveled.
"Sticky sent me to help, do you work here? What's wrong with this place?" Claudia shot off rapidly.
"Please, come quickly, you must help." the stranger sputtered, motioning frantically for Claudia to follow. She rapidly fell in step behind her as the woman led her down towards one side of the hotel and then up the stairs. Claudia still felt anxious to know what was going on.
"Tell me, what's the problem? Why are you afraid?"
"Please, just follow me." the woman asserted, still distressed.
The woman brought her up to the second floor and then motioned for her to go forward. Claudia immediately noticed that the decor was much more radiant than the lobby downstairs. Where the downstairs was simple wood and stone with hanging tapestries, she saw that this floor was richly arrayed in red, blue and purples, a long carpet running crimson down the length of the floor. There was even a decorative flower on the stand besides...
The Imperial woman stopped, turned and more carefully scrutinized the flower. She immediately placed her hands over her mouth in stunned horror at what she saw. This was not a decoration she had ever seen before. The long, angular petals were in fact tongues supported by a base of flayed skin. A single, bloodshot eye sat staring from the center. Claudia sickly realized that the carpet was just more bloody sheets of skin and a muscle. She looked over at the Breton woman who was simply staring at her listlessly down the hallway.
She realized that this whole time...she had never heard one single heartbeat in this whole hotel.
The woman began to approach her and Claudia did not like the blank look she gave her with those determined half closed eyes. Certain that she heard nothing, she drew her rapier from her side and pointed it at the Breton. Claudia felt no qualms about snarling.
"Stay back!"
"Child of death whose heart still beats; you are needed." the woman moaned.
"Back!"
"You are needed."
Claudia felt the hotel shudder around her and heard a sick, dripping wetness as the carpet and walls seemed to convulse with mucus and villi. The woman was almost upon her. Claudia held the rapier forward and sure and was about to warn her again just as the woman kept right on walking and ran herself through on the sword. Blood beginning to bloom on the stranger's clothes, she continued walking towards Clauda.
"Away!" Claudia screamed making the fluted star sign of Arkay frantically with her hand. The entity stopped as if hitting a barrier, if only momentarily.
The woman's mouth hinged open on an impossibly large maw of jagged teeth and bloodied, rotted gums as her eyes turned bloodshot. A rough, flinty voice of many tones flooded out of her throat.
"Why does the unliving make the sign of the Divine of life?"
Claudia was not sure how she did it, slipping to the side while drawing the rapier with her with a flex of her wrist. She made it to the stairs just as the wooden boards began to grow jagged fangs and broken molars and she was forced to leap down the whole flight. She did not remember the crash on the lobby floor or even running out the door. The next thing she remembered, she was panting and desperately sucking in air on the dusty ground outside as her exposed face began to turn pink in the sun's rays. She quickly threw her hood over her head while cast a backwards glance at the dark hotel. What was she going to tell Sticky?
She decided this was far too removed from her hands to do anything and she might as well report everything she had seen. She did not recall anything like this in the years she served with the Vigilants and foul spirits was not her area of expertise. There was no getting around it. She might as well just tell Sticky everything that happened, believable or no, and just get on with it. Claudia picked herself off the ground and dusted herself off before continuing on back towards the warehouse. She noticed with faint interest that she must have landed hard during the fall down the stairs since she was walking with a limp. That could heal itself.
Claudia made it to the main street running through Sentinel when she had to wait for a large caravan to cross first. Managing to navigate through the crowded streets she continued on the other side before she noticed several of Sticky's lackeys in the corner of her eye. Looking over, she spotted the wily Redgaurd himself...talking with a tall warrior in a long, flowing white tabard. Claudia would not have thought anything of it save for the fact that all those casks of mead Sticky ordered direct from Skyrim were sitting right behind him.
"Really? You bought all of this mead? Just for me? Do you take me for a fool to believe that story?" the warrior asked, head obscured under a helmet clearly made of ebony.
"Please, you must believe Sticky. Sticky is an enterprising and smart businessman. He knows that a gallant crusader was coming and said hero enjoyed mead! There is no trick here." Sticky protested.
"Your name is 'Sticky' now? I have no time for this nonsense." the armored warrior grumbled, taking their camel and walking away.
"You better believe what he says." Claudia puffed, trying to stand as tall as she could despite her earlier ordeal.
"And who are you to persuade me?" the stranger demanded.
"Ah, Claudia, you have returned! Please, tell this knight Sticky is not as sticky as first impressions might give. Is this the knight you were asking about?" Sticky spoke frantically.
"Wait...Claudia? Claudia Vivinicci?" The armored form spoke before quickly removing her helmet.
Claudia, while exhausted, could not help but let out a hoarse bark of laughter. It was Sibylla; same flowing long golden hair, same emerald green eyes and even the diagonal scar going across her lips. However, Claudia noticed she earned another scar, this one going down her right cheek, since they had parted ways.
"Claudia! What are you doing here? It has been a year, hasn't it? What are you doing here in Hammerfell and you seriously know this merchant?" Sibylla asked in happy shock.
"Oh my, Sticky calm your heart. Claudia, you said this was a warrior woman but you said nothing about her beauty. You did not do her justice." Sticky scolded playfully. Sibylla shot him a wry look.
"You can trust him on the mead, Sibylla. Sticky, we have a problem, I have bad news on your friend at the hotel." Claudia sighed, her energy sapping again.
"What? Bad news? You best tell Sticky everything so he can sort this quickly."
"Sticky...it's not exactly normal. It's...rather demonic." she replied nervously.
"Demonic? You better tell me too." Sibylla added sternly.
Back at the warehouse, Claudia drained several cups of water to steady her nerves before giving them both her horrifying tale. Sticky seemed dumbfounded and quite horrified at what he heard when she was done. Claudia had never seen him turn that pale.
"This...this is something different. Sticky knows you are not lying but he does not believe it. We will need an army of holy men to stop this!" the man sputtered.
"Nonsense. I got this." Sibylla announced, standing up straight and re-tightening the straps on her armor.
"You? Sibylla, I thought ghosts and demons were a little beyond your abilities." Claudia said.
"I might have learned a few tricks in a year."
"You're not going alone, I'm coming along."
"Ladies, do try not to get hurt. Sticky would suffer loses too if you got hurt!" Sticky called after them as they closed the door.
Claudia and Sibylla stood outside the hotel once more, Sibylla intent on surveying what she was about to go charging into. Claudia took a moment to actually look at Sibylla and her equipment. The Nord woman had a full suit of ebony armor over which she wore her white tabard that had several sand stains on it. Claudia was also surprised to see Sibylla sporting a single handed ebony ax and round shield.
"I remember you using larger axes." Claudia jibbed.
"Yeah, I do miss Head Reaper but this works just as fine. Also the shield provides more protection." Sibylla chuckled.
"And where did you get the ebony armor?"
"Long story, I'll tell you later."
"So what exactly do you plan on doing in here?" the Imperial asked.
"Expelling a demon or ghost, of course."
"I seem to recall back in the day that was a certain cat's job and that you knew next to nothing about exorcisms."
"Like I said, I learned a few tricks over the past year. Lets just say that ever since that incident where I was powerless to stop a haunt, I've been wanting to make sure I could cover that weakness." Sibylla explained, walking towards the door.
"Have you done this before?"
"Once or twice."
"You'll forgive me for not being entirely confident then." Claudia murmured.
"Someone once told me that when it comes time to these things, it's all about self control. You can come if you want but I'm going to ask that you stay behind while I handle the bulk of it."
"Are you going to tell me at least one of these new things you've learned?"
"Oh, well, my armor and weapons might have been blessed at a shrine of Stendarr." Sibylla replied with a smirk before returning the helmet over her head. Without another word, the two stepped inside.
"That...wasn't there when I first stepped in here." Claudia said furtively upon seeing the interior again.
The red carpet of muscle and flesh had descended down the stairs and a layer of blood and phlegm was starting to creep along the walls. Patches of organic tissue were starting to form in the sticky mire. Sibylla regarded it with a slight grimace.
"I've seen this before." the knight murmured.
"Really?"
"Yes, periodically in my bandit clearings. Every now and then I'd come to a cave or holdout that was...visited by someone else before me. Instead of bandits I'd be attacked by reanimated corpses and have to banish the dark spirit giving life to all of it. This is bad if whoever is doing this has gotten to a city." Sibylla hissed, shaking her head.
"Wait, someone is doing this? Then again, it must be if it keeps happenings. But for what purpose?" Claudia asked, rubbing her head thoughtfully.
Sibylla was about to reply when a dark mist gathered right before them and reappeared as a malformed Breton woman, the same one Claudia saw before. This time, the entity appeared more rotten and diseased, the gaping maw of many teeth now dripping with putrefaction. It let out a hellish scream and Claudia immediately drew her rapier, the blade levelled before her. She was surprise to see Sibylla had not even moved.
"What are you doing?" Claudia screeched as soon as the monster's roar was low enough for Claudia to shout over.
"The problem with demons is that they like to intimidate. They want us to forget that they are trespassing and that this plane does not belong to them." Sibylla replied nonchalantly.
Claudia stared at her bewildered as the spirit raised it's gnarled claws and made to attack the knight first. Sibylla reached up, grabbed the demon by the throat and slammed her forehead into its own. Before the malevolent spirit could recover, the Nord followed through with several quick strikes to its face with her fists. She followed up with a bash of her shield. Enraged, the spirit howled again before dematerializing and billowing to the upper floors as a plume of smoke.
"Did...did you just punch a-"
"Yes, yes I did. I guess a blessing on a weapon can flow to the gauntlets after prolonged handling. If the demon wants to invade, it has to play by a few rules. I say, why fear them when at the end of the day, they just hate us for who we are and can never be like us?" Sibylla shrugged.
"I'm not sure we've expelled it." Claudia murmured, staring up at the ceiling.
"Nope, but you stay down here, try to get clues as to who might have done this. I'll go upstairs and finish this." Sibylla proclaimed, marching up towards the steps.
"Are you sure?"
"Certain. You have your expertise, I have mine."
Claudia was slightly impressed with how much Sibylla had grown within the year but quickly got back to work. As she heard Sibylla's heavy footsteps pounding through the overhead woodwork, she got behind the welcome counter and found the largest book she could get her hands on. Folding the cover open, she smiled seeing it was the guest log. She immediately opened to the last page and growled in frustration upon seeing that the last entry had been smeared in blood stains, obscuring the last entry.
Overhead, she heard a blood curdling scream followed by Sibylla's shout of rage and exertion. Claudia wondered if her friend had been overwhelmed only to see the edge of the ebony ax erupt through the overhead floorboards followed by a tremendous hiss. Lightly suddenly began to flood into the room from the windows. Catching her breath and steadying her heartbeat, she saw that the blood had dried on the floors. It was a disgusting black now but at least it was no longer flowing in an angry red. She could hear Sibylla marching back down the stairs again.
"Got what you came for?" Sibylla asked with a smile as she returned, obviously pleased with herself despite the patches of dark, dried blood on her white robes.
"Partially. I'm going to need to clean up these stains to get our next clue." Claudia admitted, frowning at the book.
"Right. Well, do you think you could do it back at your friend's place? I'm getting a little thirsty and thought maybe I should take him up on his offer with all that mead." Sibylla admitted sheepishly. Claudia just shook her head.
The two returned to the warehouse where Sibylla brought Sticky up to speed before promptly buying as many casks of mead as she cared to. She wondered for a moment how she was going to transport it all with her but decided to take care of one problem at a time. While Sticky might have been slightly consoled with the payoff of a business venture, he was still troubled by the turn of unholy events in his city.
"This is still bothersome, has Claudia been able to make progress with that clue of her's? Oh this is troubling.I'm not sure our temple agents can handle something like this. Sticky will have to look into that." Sticky grumbled. Sibylla found him a bit too dramatic.
"I certainly have." Claudia announced, stepping back into the room with the book.
"You have? Is there anything to be done? Who is the man responsible for this?" Sticky demanded.
"You're going to have to trust me on this, Sticky and follow everything I tell you. But first, please tell me you might have gotten some leads on those two men I mentioned to you, the Khajit and Argonian."
"Actually, yes. Well, slightly. It isn't much, but there's word of a certain mage living in an old Dwarven tower right in the middle of the Alik'r, south of our wonderful city of Sentinel. Caravan teams willing to brave cutting straight across the desolate desert says this mage offers protection against hostile Bedouins and provisions for the journey but...I'm not convinced it was the mage you were looking for." Sticky admitted.
"Why not?" Claudia asked.
"Because...the people who mentioned him...well, they say the lord of the tower is a bit, oh, unstable. It just did not seem like that mage friend of yours." Sticky explained.
Claudia sighed but immediately made a decision. "We have no choice, it's at least something. Sibylla and I will go out and investigate this mage. In the meantime, have your men to be on the looking for a person matching the description I've filled out for you on this paper. Notify the guards as well, but otherwise tell no one." Claudia instructed.
"Oh? And do you know this man? Why all the urgency? Is he really that bad?" Sticky asked curiously.
"I haven't seen that name in over a year. The fact that it showed up in that hotel is not a good turn of events."
The last entry of the guestbook had been Furaldur.