Upping the Stakes

Velkric had trained around all of Tamriel for many years. He'd seen death, faced killers, delved into caves full of horrors and vicious killers. Even so, the body he saw before him disturbed him.

She's been mutilated. He wasn't squeamish enough to retch, but it made him feel angry. The young girl's body had pieces cut out of it. Blood was splattered everywhere on the street. Her organs, the ones left, could be seen through a couple of the wounds. Who the hell would do this?

Behind him he heard groaning and he rolled his eyes. There had been a guard standing over the body whilst the investigators tried to figure out what happened, and obviously Velkric had needed peace and quiet to examine Fjotli. He'll wake up soon. I need to be quick.

What was strange was that these wounds were all so random, and yet so not. If the killer had intended to kill her via these wounds, they'd certainly gone into the realm of overkill. The girl would've died from the stab through the heart, but she was also missing so many other pieces of her body she'd have bled out multiple times over. Flesh, pieces of muscle, even a handful of her bones. These are deliberate. But why? Why this wounding pattern? And why are all the pieces missing?

He'd never seen the like before. Based on the way the wounds looked, he could also tell it wasn't with any normal weapon. I'll need to find Friga's body in the hall of the dead. If the wounds on her match, or at least resemble what I've found here…

As the guard groaned louder, Velkric stood to his feet. As he turned to leave, he glanced back at Fjotli. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you" he said softly before running away into the night.

X-X-X-X-X

"Sir?" Haldir asked, walking through the door of Velkric's study. The man was sitting in his favourite chair hunched over his favourite desk going over his favourite set of notes, which was nothing abnormal. What was worrying is that he hadn't emerged from the study in at least 4 hours, a long period even for him. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm?" That managed to break Velkric out of his focus. He looked at Haldir, seeming tired and weary. "What is it Haldir?"

"I brought you a drink sir. You've been in here a long time."
"I need to figure this out. The girl, Fjotli, her wounds…" Velkric trailed off. Haldir looked on in sympathy. His master had been around the world, seen much, done much, but there was only so much preparation one could do in order to face the worst in mortalkind. "They were strange. I've never seen anything like that. The way they were cut doesn't match any weapon that I've encountered before, and the placement of the wounds…"

Haldir nodded, moving to set his tea down beside Velkric. He wouldn't claim to be as skilled as him in detective work by any means, but he did his best to keep up in conversation, and provide his own insight where it was welcome. "Perhaps they made a custom weapon to avoid the wounds being examined like you are now?"

"If they did, then looking to identify the weapon is pointless. But the wounds could still warrant looking into." Velkric turned back to reading his books.

"Wounds by themselves don't tell you anything sir."

"True. But if I can cross-reference them with the first victim…"

Haldir sighed. "Sir, you cannot mean to break into the Hall of the Dead."

"You know that I could. Easily in fact" Velkric replied, refusing to look away from his notes. Haldir suspected that it was as much a desire not to look at him when he said that as it was his natural focus.

"Of course you could. But would you? That is the resting place of many honoured dead."

"I'm not going to desecrate corpses. I'm going to investigate a murder victim to help stop more people from ending up in there, in pieces no less" he argued back.

"And how will the people of Windhelm react? The Black Wolf's image will take a hit."

"I'm not trying to become a hero, Haldir!" Velkric replied, a little harshly. "I want to stop a murderer! They can hate me, but they'll be alive to do so!"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a few seconds before Haldir sighed. Clearly this was a subject for another day.

"Sir, I would recommend you talk to Torsten, Fjotli's father. Perhaps he can provide some insight for you?"

Awkward silence broken, Velkric sighed and stood up. "Good idea. I'll get suited up."

"Is it wise to visit him as the Black Wolf sir?" Haldir asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Is it wise to chase a murderer as Velkric?" he replied, not looking at him as he left the room.

That boy worries me...

X-X-X-X-X

It hadn't been hard to find where Torsten lived. He was one of the most famous men in Windhelm and a successful businessman. Neither of those was good for anonymity, seeing as Velkric was now standing in his room, hiding in the shadows under an invisibility spell.

How should this go? I can't scare him off, but I can't appear weak either. How do I…

His train of thought was interrupted as he saw Torsten walk into the room. He looked like a wreck, eyes red with bags under them, indicating a lack of sleep.

This man's daughter was just murdered. Here's hoping his desire for justice, or vengeance, outweighs whatever desire he has to work within the law.

Velkric dismissed the invisibility spell and stepped forward.

"Torsten Cruel-Sea" he spoke. The man jumped, but to his credit, he didn't scream or cry out. He turned and his eyes widened, and Velkric saw a hand move to the dagger on his hip, but that was the only reaction.

"Who are you?" Torsten asked, clearly on edge but not sure if panic was necessary.

Ok, good start. "The Black Wolf."

"You're real? By the gods… why are you here?" Torsten didn't move a muscle, keeping his dagger within reach.

"Your daughter was murdered." That got a reaction.

"Oh what, you think I don't know that?" Torsten replied angrily. "My girl was butchered in the middle of the street just like the Shatter-Shield less than three days ago, and you think I would forget that?"

He drew the dagger. This isn't good. "I'm trying to find the man who did this," Velkric answered back. The man's eyes lost a lot of their rage with that statement, though the weapon was still pointed his way. "I need you to tell me what you know."

"You- you're trying to help?" Torsten asked, stunned. "I thought you were some criminal who beat up people in the night."

"Who told you that? Rolff?" Velkric snorted.

"Well, yes."

"Of course he did. Look, this is the second murder in two months. If this is the same killer, they need to be stopped now. If not, then at least someone will have justice." Torsten was clearly pondering Velkric's words as he stayed quiet. "Mr Cruel-Sea, I need to know who did this" he asked again. As his face was hidden and his voice stuck in 'angry growl to preserve anonymity' mode, he couldn't really convey any emotion.

The man was silent for a good while, and Velkric's eyes never left his weapon. Eventually, he spoke.

"I don't know who it was. But I do know about something else." Evidently, Velkric's silence encouraged him to continue. "There was a precious locket on her body that was stolen after her death."

"A family heirloom?"
"Aye. Worth a fair share in gold. There's a new guild of thieves forming around here, been a lot of robberies" the man explained.

"Not the thieves guild?" Velkric was surprised. He'd never heard of another guild of thieves besides the titular one based in Riften.

"No. I think it's a bunch of Altmer. From what I can tell, they're based only in Windhelm."

"You think one of them stole that locket."

"That's right, and I want it back," Torsten replied. His eyes were angry, his expression serious. "I don't have many leads, but I have an idea." Velkric resisted the minor temptation to roll his eyes.

I don't remember signing up for a fetch quest, but I'll humour him. Torsten began to pace a little and Velkric never took his eyes off him, or his knife.

"There's a High Elf who runs a stall in the Windhelm market called Niranye. She seems unsuspecting on the surface, but her stock is always good. Suspiciously good. If someone needs something, she'll have it within a week." Velkrics eyes narrowed and he looked down in thought.

"So you think she's connected to the guild. That's how she gets her wares."

"Exactly. I know it's not much to go off, but-" Velkric cut him off.

"You'll learn this about me Torsten. 'Not much to go off' is all I need."

He looked surprised. "Um, good. Great! She'll be in the market tomorrow, so you could-"

Velkric didn't wait for him to finish. With a twitch of his hand, he cast invisibility and disappeared.

"I- hey! Where did you- That's rude!" As Torsten looked around for the vigilante, Velkric walked past him, out the door, through his house and into the cold Windhelm night.

X-X-X-X-X

"Hello Niranye" Velkric said. The poor woman nearly jumped out of her skin.

"By the right breast of Nocturnal!" she cried out, spinning around. Her eyes widened when she saw him standing behind her, her hands going for the dagger on her belt.

Not the first thief to invoke that curse, and I doubt you'll be the last. "I mean you no harm."

Niranye narrowed her eyes. "You hunt down criminals, right? Isn't that your whole deal Mr Black Wolf?"
"I mean you no harm right now" Velkric corrected. "I want you to tell me about the Altmer thieves."

"The- the what? I've no idea what you're talking about?" she said, seeming genuinely confused (or at least, that's how a regular person would've seen it).

"The newly established guild of thieves in the Eastmarch area. They're Altmer. They've been active since before Fjotli's death."

"And you're asking me about this why? Because I'm an Altmer?" she replied, seeming quite offended.

Velkric realised he hadn't been the most tactful about this so far, but decided to push on. What is she going to do, report me for racism? A. We're in Windhelm and B. I'm already trespassing.

"Yes. You're an Altmer who's stock just happens to be a little too perfect all the time. In addition, you mentioned Nocturnal, the closest thing thieves have to a patron goddess. Furthermore, I can tell you're lying. I hate that." Throughout his speech, his tone had been getting angrier and by the final sentence, it was practically a growl.

"Now now, let's not do anything rash…" she said nervously, backing up a few steps.

"That depends on your next words."

"Look, I promise I'm not with them! They're crazy! They could kill me!" Despite the lies she'd told earlier, the fear on her face was real.

"I figured as much. Now tell me what you do know."

"They're called the Summerset Shadows! They figure themselves the next thieves guild and they want to make a name for themselves. Their leader, Linwe, he's the one who stole the locket!"

Velkric raised an eyebrow. "Tell me more about Linwe."

Niranye narrowed her eyes in disgust. "He's dreadful. Unscrupulous with no morals. He steals from the dead."

"He's a killer?"
"Well, sort of. But he also steals from corpses other people made. Like Fjotli, the Butcher took her body parts and then he took her locket. He's got no shame…"

Damn. He's not the butcher. But he is a scumbag. "Where is he?"

Niranye eyed him cautiously. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stop him and tear apart their guild. Simple."

"W-what? You can't! There's at least 13 of them and you're one man!"

"13 cowards. They won't be a problem. Now where are they?"

Niranye looked him up and down, likely wondering if he could back up his talk. "If you fail, they'll come and kill me. You know that, right?"

"Of course. Hence why I won't." That stoic confidence seemed to win her over.

"They're based in a cave out west of Windhelm. Uttering Hills Cave or something. I can mark it on a map for you." That got Velkric curious.

"Why would they tell you where to find them?"

"They wanted me to fence for them. I needed to know where to meet them when I'd decided on the deal" she explained, before realising she'd probably said too much if her eye roll was anything to go off.

"So you are a thief" Velkric replied with a smirk. To her credit, she only sighed.

"Let's not put such an ugly label on it. I'm a fence. I deal in stolen goods, I don't actually take anything myself" she explained tiredly. Velkric narrowed his eyes.

"I'd keep to those morals if I were you Niranye. Or I'll have to pay you a visit."

That definitely got her attention. "Y- you're not going to kill me, right?"

No. That's not how I do things. "No. You could be useful. You have ties to several criminals and you'll likely get more. That's not something to be taken lightly."

He could see weighing her options. People like her make deals. They live and breathe pros and cons.

"If you eliminate those maniacs, I think I'd be able to drop you a tip or two in the future" Niranye said after a few seconds of mulling it over.

"They're already gone." And with a quick casting of invisibility, so was he.

X-X-X-X-X

"Gods this is boring. When's our next raid?" Aslilon asked, rubbing his hands together to warm them. We really need to get a better base soon. The Summerset Shadows deserve better than a cold cave in the middle of Eastmarch. That's like the Thieves Guild living in a run-down sewer.

"Suck it up Aslilon" one of his colleagues replied. "The cities in a panic with the murder of that girl a few days ago."

"Exactly! Linwe was able to get in and out with no problem! We should all be in there robbing them blind!"

"Linwe is the best of us," his colleague argued back. "And the city is on high alert! We're not risking our necks for some treasure this early in our guilds lifetime. Let us exercise more caution. Stay here and do your job!" With that, the other Elf turned and walked down one of the cave passages, leaving Aslilon alone. He sighed in frustration, leaning his back on an icy wall.

I had hoped the life of a thief would be filled with more excitement. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, preparing to doze through the rest of the day...

At least before a black armoured hand burst through the ice wall behind him. He barely had time to scream before he was grabbed and pulled through the wall, only to see a flash of black armour and then the ground rushing towards his face before it all went dark.

X-X-X-X-X

Criminals. A cowardly and superstitious lot. They acted so big, so tough when things were going their way. All it took was one little thing to scare them and all that power went away.

It hadn't taken much to spark panic amongst the Summerset Shadows. He'd snuck his way through the caverns with ease and taken out the bigmouth by bursting through a wall. That had gotten their attention.

In the panic he'd managed to hide and observe their reactions. They were afraid, looking at their colleagues unconscious body with a mixture of disbelief and fear. They were thieves, used to sticking in the shadows. In a straight up fight? They were little better than bandits.

After the shock of finding their defeated colleague had worn off, they'd begun spreading out to look for the intruder. One of them walked to the exit, no doubt to take on a patrol route, only for Velkric to leap out from his hiding place and tackle him to the ground. One powerful punch to the forehead and the foe was neutralised. Those who'd chosen to remain around the unconscious Aslilon noticed the commotion and the fear on their faces was delicious.

He ran into their midst, not waiting for them to get over their shock and he threw a strong punch directly into one of their faces. They were thieves, not warriors. Some of them were panicking like they'd never been in a fight before.

He threw a kick behind him into one of their stomachs before throwing another straight punch into the face of his first target, knocking him over. He then did a quick step back out of their midst, keeping some distance between him and them as well as leaving no-one out of view, just like he'd been taught for so long.

Evidently they had not received similar teachings. They followed him as he backed up into one of the smaller hallways he'd scouted earlier, barely wide enough for two people to walk past side by side. The perfect choke point.

As each thief attacked, he knocked them down. Whether it was from the sheer force of his punches, slamming their faces into cold rock or ice or even kicking them into their allies, none of them stood a chance. As one fell, the next attacked to try avenge their comrade, only to meet the same fate. Bones broke, blood spilled from cracked noses or broken teeth, and it kept going. This is… nice.

After 6 of the 8 thieves had been incapacitated, the two left began to realise that perhaps this wasn't a good idea. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough time to run. As they turned their backs, Velkric launched himself at them. He knocked one to the floor, grabbed their hair and smashed their face into the ground twice, content when they stopped making grunts of pain on the second hit. He didn't see their face, but he imagined their perfect Altmer features had been substantially ruined.

Looking at the final enemy, he called some magicka into his hand and cast firebolt, aiming just ahead of the thief. It landed at his feet, making the elf panic and stop, giving Velkric time to run over and throw him against the wall. He then grabbed him by his armour and held him there, staring into his eyes.

"Linwe. Where is he?" he growled.

"T-the centre room! Our treasury!" the elf squeaked. Velkric quickly gave him a headbutt, knocking him out. The second he did, he felt like kicking himself.

Sloppy. What if he lied? Or had more to say? What about traps, reinforcements? He shook it off. I've beaten their entire guild already. Even if I haven't… They couldn't stop me.

He turned his back on the room full of battered bodies and ran down the hallway.

X-X-X-X-X

"By the left breast of Nocturnal!" Linwe gasped as he turned and saw the mountain of a man standing across from him in his room. Velkric smirked.

Two in as many days. Can't say the armour doesn't work.

"Linwe. I'm here to stop you."

To his credit, or perhaps testament to his stupidity, Linwe smirked. "You're going to be swarmed by my guildmates in under a minute. Prepare to die, fool" he snarked. Velkric smirked under the mask.

"You'll be waiting a long time. There's going to be a lot of bodies going to the Windhelm jail tonight." As predicted, it shook Linwe's confidence to see/hear Velkric's own.

To his credit, the Elf still attacked. He grabbed a dagger from his desk and tossed it at Velkric, though it was easily dodged by simply moving his head to the side.

Amateur. Go for the body, easier to hit. Though with my armour, still not much point. In any case, the attack had "diverted" Velkric's attention enough for Linwe to grab his sword. He swung it and Velkric raised a gauntlet in defence. The iron sword was deflected easily and Velkric moved, throwing a powerful right cross to Linwe's nose.

No wonder you rob the dead. They can't fight back. He grabbed Linwe's sword arm, smacked the blade out of his hand, gave him a shove and kicked. It was one hell of a kick. It sent Linwe stumbling back into the wall, stunning him.

However, Linwe had ended up right by his desk. He grabbed his reading lantern and threw it at Velkric. His eyes widened and he quickly brought up his hands to shield himself from the projectile, his armour mitigating all the damage as it shattered on contact. However, Linwe had taken the time to move closer and throw a punch to his face the second he dropped his guard. It made Velkric's head turn and Linwe smirked. He then promptly lost the smirk as Velkric turned his head back, ignoring the fist that Linwe had thrown. If Velkric wasn't helmeted, he imagined the look on his face would've made the Elf pass out.

He smacked Linwe's hand aside, grabbed him by the throat and threw a right hand straight into his nose. Velkric then grabbed him by his armour and maneuvered him down to the ground with a throw. He delivered a quick punch to his ribs before holding Linwe by the robes up to his face, glaring at him heavily through his helmet hole.

"You're the lowest kind of scum" Velkric growled, unable to help himself.

Linwe's only response was to spit at him. It landed on Velkric's helmet and he rolled his eyes in disgust.

"You're lucky that I'm better than you." Before the Elf could ask what that meant, Velkric slammed his forehead into Linwe's nose. The elf went limp, unconscious from that strike. "Or you'd become exactly the kind of thing you liked to rob."

He reached around the elfs neck and tore off the necklace that he'd stolen, clasping it in his hand tightly. He then dropped Linwe to the ground, more roughly than he needed to, and stood tall. He glanced around, taking note of the treasure. Evidently they weren't a very successful band of thieves, there was nothing special here to take note of besides a decent amount of gems, a piece of paper with future heists on it and the Summerset Shadows custom banner.

However, there were some embers on the floor from the lamp he'd shattered, and it gave him an idea. He lit a fire spell in his hand and placed it on the banner, watching it turn slowly to ashes. Despite himself, he grinned inside his helmet.

Let's see them ignore me now.

There we go, Velkric's first big bust! Taking down the entire Summerset Shadows gang hopefully shows that this guy isn't messing around, he's here to wage war. We also see a couple cracks in the relationship between Velkric and Haldir. But I'm sure it won't lead anywhere…. Right? Right?

Not much else to say right now other than if you read this far, thank you. Your support encourages me to make more, and make better stuff! If you have thoughts, please review. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Next time… Someone has a nightmare, someone gets an unexpected visitor, and someone cries in relief.