Chapter 10: Greedy Bandits

[20th – 21stof Last Seed 4E 201]

Following the group with Faendal, Fiona, and Freya up to Bleak Falls Barrow and hoping to catch up with them before they actually entered the ruin, I had met Faendal alone, half way between the tower and the barrow. The Bosmer had been injured, and he had told me that the two young ladies had been captured by bandits only an hour or two earlier. While I did not really know what bandits in this real Skyrim where going to do to captured women, it could not be good; thus I suggested, pretending to be braver than I actually was:

"Faendal, are you up to going back with me?"

He looked at me and asked:

"You look like a strong fighter; how skilled are you?"

"I am strong, yes, but my fighting skills are seriously lacking" I admitted. "However, if we go back to town for help, this delay may cost them, and I am not sure that the guards will actually come back with us even if we beg them. If we can manage on our own, we may have a change to rescue the ladies before they are harmed much, I should think."

The Bosmer nodded, apparently seeing my point, and he agreed:

"All right, let's see what we can do. But first, do you have any more potions for my leg? I won't be much of a help if I can not walk normally."

As Faendal՚s leg was still not fully good, I handed over my second and last potion of healing, and we slowly made our way up again, still in a raging snowstorm with much reduced visibility. Once we reached the vicinity of the barrow, I could see a vague outline of a person through the snow, close to the top of the first set of stairs; I could not be sure about that, though; even with my great Khajiit eyes, the snow falling down around us made everything further away than a dozen meters or so quite blurry. Normally I would have enjoyed being in weather like that; I had always liked snow. However, with enemies around, I could only hope that they'd have at least as much trouble seeing us as we had seeing them.

Faendal did not have his bow any longer and was unarmed except for a dagger, but he found one of the bandits he had killed earlier, and he took a bow and some arrows from the corpse. It probably wasn't the quality he was used to, but he'd manage, and he proved that by killing the lone guard we had seen so far with two arrows. So far, as much as we could see, there were no other people around outside of the barrow, and this made sense; everyone except the guard would certainly want to be indoors rather than outside. We carefully opened the big stone door to the interior, which fortunately moved without any noise, and we slipped in and closed the door behind us.

Inside, the temperature was a little more comfortable, and I saw the view like in the game – a large hall with stone walls and a few pillars, a couple of holes in the ceiling with just a tiny little bit of daylight shining down and a few occasional snowflakes dropping down, and a campfire at the other end of the hall, maybe one hundred meters from us, with some movement around. We slowly moved forward, staying in the shades, and on the way we passed a couple of more corpses, assumedly bandits, and a number of dead rodents, most likely skeever. They looked like over-sized rats, and I was not specifically looking forward to seeing live specimens. As soon as we got close enough to the campfire we could hear two people talking to each other:

"It's a pity that this wood elf managed to kill our two comrades."

"Yeah, but on the other hand, there are now fewer people to share the treasure with."

"Right, good point. Now, do you think that Scarface outside will keep his eyes open?"

"Oh, come on, that elf who escaped was almost dead. Even if he manages to survive, he will barely make it down to the town, and even if he does, do you really think that the guards will come up here, just on his say-so?"

"No, you are right, and it is very unlikely that somebody else might make it up here either; the barrow's reputation of being haunted sure works nicely for us. But I hope that Arvel is not going to run off with the claw while we are waiting here; I don't understand why he insisted to go in alone."

"Don't worry; he's probably scouting only, and he will need our help sooner or later, even if it's just to help him carry all of the treasure he is going to find. But, while we are waiting, do you see a reason why we can't have some fun?"

"Not sure if Arvel would approve, but he is not here. As Crazy Eyes just decided to also have a look inside, it's just the two of us – yes, let's look at our two 'ladies' here."

The term 'ladies' had been spoken in a kind of lewd way I did not like at all. They got up from around the fire and stepped to a corner where I could now see two people on the ground. We sneaked ahead a little more, and indeed there were Fiona and Freya, both bound and gagged.

"Which one do you want?" one of the bandits asked; his voice sounded almost like he was looking forward to getting some candy.

"I am going to take the tiny elf" the other one replied.

"But I want the elf!"

"Hey, I said it first! Besides, I am stronger than you are!"

While they were arguing, I made a sign to Faendal for him to stay put and slowly sneaked to the side; walking and sneaking quietly almost came natural to me now, and with my Khajiit feet I could actually tread very lightly, much better than I could have done with human feet and boots or sneakers. Without being noticed by the two bandits I managed to get around the fire and much closer to the bound women. I could see their faces, and while Freya showed mostly confusion, Fiona's face reflected sheer horror; she was obviously very scared and afraid. The bandits had just managed to reach an agreement and faced the women again, turning their back to me. I rose up from the ground about a dozen meters behind them and roared, so that my voice echoed back from the walls and ceiling; I had to admit that I very much enjoyed being able to do that. Both men were shocked for a moment, and Faendal picked that opportunity to send one his arrows. The smaller one of the two bandits was hit in the leg and fell down, but the taller one was not so easily discouraged. While I could see some concern on his face, he pulled his sword and quickly moved in my direction. I already had my war axe out, and when he was just about to hit me, I raised my left arm and sent a quick fire blast in his direction from my hand. His hair started to burn and he yelped, dropping the sword to cover his head with both hands, and I forced all objections from my conscience aside and quickly swung my war axe into his chest, which was fortunately protected by fur armor only, so that my weapon was barely slowed down. A lot of blood sputtered from his body, and while the bandit bled to death within seconds, I almost got sick again. I had killed another person, another sentient being, and although I knew that I had not had a choice and killing bandits was something I'd need to do again many times most likely, it was still troubling. Faendal was now next to me and killed the other bandit, and we both looked around to make sure that there was no third enemy lurking somewhere.

The Bosmer smiled at me:

"That's actually not bad – hitting with flames first and then using your weapon. I like it, and it worked just fine for you, didn't it?"

"It sure did, my friend, but the attack exhausted almost all of the magicka I have; I am not a mage."

Some moaning reminded us that the girls were still bound and gagged, and we quickly freed them. From their position, they had been able to see us fighting, and they must have realized that we were on their side. Both girls had been stripped down to their underclothes, and Fiona's panties had big dark blotches, like she had wet her pants; in that situation this was nothing she had to be ashamed of, in my opinion at least, even if it was probably very embarrassing for her.

Freya stood up quickly once she could, bowed to us and said:

"Gentlesirs, my thanks for assisting and coming to our aid. This humble shield-maiden is in your debt."

"You are very much welcome, pretty shield-maiden" I could not resist to reply. I had to admit that I really liked her and the attitude she showed; contrary to Fiona, she actually talked to me, she used polite and refined words, not the typical rough Skyrim way of speaking, and she was somewhat confident. Besides, seeing the tall blond maiden in her skimpy underwear – a very small top and thong like panties – illuminated by the flickering light from the campfire, certainly was a view to enjoy, too; even Faendal seemed to ogle her a little bit at least.

Fiona, on the other hand, obviously embarrassed about being seen in her wet underwear, quickly found a blanket to cover herself and moved closer to the campfire. I could hear her teeth chattering; she was cold, I assumed. Again, this was not how it worked in the game. When playing, one could wear anything and not get cold even in a snowstorm, and I had never observed an NPC either being affected by the weather. Reality was probably more like playing with a survival mod, and obviously a wood elf from warm Valenwood was not comfortable in cold weather. Once again I was glad to have my new Khajiit body and a nice fur, which had so far worked nicely to protect me from the cold. In addition, of course, I wore leather armor and was not in my smalls only.

Soon I could hear Fiona talking:

"Freya, how can you walk around like that in the cold?"

From her point of view the question was justified. Freya had found her shining armor in a nearby chest and was wearing it again, but it was not what some might consider a proper armor, as it left considerable parts of her body uncovered; it almost looked like an armor from one of those 'bikini armor' mods, but it was her choice, and I suspected that the armor might be enchanted, too.

The wannabe shield-maiden laughed and replied:

"I am a Nord woman. Cold does not matter to me."

Yep, that fit. A Nord would not be affected by the cold, and I recalled that I had frequently seen Aela, the Companion huntress, walking around with a similarly skimpy armor, in the game at least.

Faendal was at least dressed properly, and he wore a fur cloak above his leather armor. The Bosmer and I joined Fiona sitting down around the fire, and for some time we were all quiet, warming up and calming down. Freya looked ready to move on:

"Faendal, I am glad that you made it and got help for us. So, what's next?"

I could not resist the temptation to tease her:

"Hm, ready to get captured by the next bandit?"

"Come on, that was just because they came from behind!"

I just looked at her, and she continue sheepishly:

"Okay, I admit, I am not really that good in fighting. They rarely let me practice at home, but I so much want to be a capable shield-maiden."

She was almost in tears now. I stepped to her side, grabbed one of her hands, and suggested:

"I am also not a perfect fighter, but maybe we can learn together?"

Her tears stopped and she smiled at me: "All right, at least until I find the Dragonborn!"

At least Freya was not afraid of me, and we had the need to learn about better fighting in common. While Faendal now talked to the two ladies, I looked around in the big room, and I found a few more chests. One of them had some valuables in it, mostly gems and a few septims, the second one had lots of food in it and a number of various potions. The third chest had the mage robe Fiona had worn before plus some other spare clothes, and the fourth one had various pieces of armor, not in my size of course. However, there were some parts of a simple and small hide armor, almost like made for a child, and I brought the pieces over to Fiona, offering them to her. She looked up at me, took the parts, and moved behind a pillar with her blanket. Five minutes later she was back, dressed in hide armor, fitting her almost perfectly. The armor did not cover all of her body, but she wore the mage robe above it, and that should be good enough. All of that effort finally gained me a weak smile from her, at least.

While I was already up and moving around, I also looked at the corpses we had seen earlier. One of them had a number of injuries likely caused by weapons, but the other one had parts of her body no longer in place, like pieces of skin and flesh had melted or something. I did not know how to interpret that, but when Faendal stepped next to me and also had a look, he said:

"Looks like venom, I should think."

Which animals had such a strong venom around here in Skyrim? Poisonous snakes? Skeever? No, wait – of course, frostbite spiders! I should have thought of that, as I had always collected the venom from them in the game and sometimes used it to apply to arrows and such. Thus I asked the Bosmer:

"Venom? Like from spiders?"

"Yes, indeed. Frostbite spider venom can make a person look like that, if the effects are not treated in time by potion or magic. To disfigure a human body like that, though, you'd need a lot of spiders, or maybe a really big one."

His comment triggered something in me, and I suddenly thought about the giant frostbite spider which might be lurking further down; for now, I decided not to mention that.

When we got back to the campfire, Fiona and Freya both started to yawn, and when we looked up towards one of the holes in ceiling, we could see that daylight was already gone.

"I guess that a good night's rest would be in order, right?" I suggested.

Faendal agreed, and fortunately there were a few bedrolls around. None of them were large enough for me, but I found plenty of blankets instead. We arranged shifts for standing guard, and as we did not trust the girls as guards, Faendal and I decided to split the time. Both of use were early risers, and I volunteered to stay awake for the first half of the night, while Faendal had second watch.

Nothing happened when I was on guard duty, and daylight was back when Faendal woke me up in the morning; the ladies were already sitting around the fire and starting to have breakfast. I had missed a soft ground to sleep on and my back was consequently a little bit sore. Note to self: Get a properly sized bedroll.

We had breakfast together, and we mixed some of our own supplies with more food we had found in the room. One of the chest held a large supply, and the bandits might had planned to stay for a week or so, judged by the amount of food they had brought. At least, up here on the mountain, cold storage was not an issue; after some more searching I located a niche exposed to cold winds from outside through a few gaps in the wall, and somebody had placed large pieces of meat and cheese in there, apparently realizing that this might help keeping the food fresh for a longer time. I still had not learned how people coped with keeping food fresh down in the valleys; maybe there was a spell for something like this?

Anyway, there was more than plenty of food, and we indulged for some time. Then, with a decent rest and a proper meal behind her, Fiona started to ask questions:

"So, who is willing to tell me what is actually going on here? I have realized that this is some kind of fantasy world with magic and all, but why am I here and how is this possible? Does anybody know?"

She was capable of speaking English properly, at least. Well, if she grew up in Germany, she most likely had learned at school. I asked back:

"Kommst Du aus Deutschland?"

{"Are you from Germany?"}

"Nein, ich bin aus Österreich, aus Villach."

{"No, I am from Austria, from Villach."}

"Ah – Villach in Kärnten, mit den vielen schönen Seen."

{"Ah, Villach in Kärnten, with the many scenic lakes."}

"You know the area?"

She spoke in English again now.

"Yes, I do; I have been there and I like it. I am from Bavaria in Germany myself. So you are used to warmer temperatures, aren't you?"

"I am, but are you and I the only ones from Europe here?"

"Maybe so; I have only been around for a few days, same as you. But I don't know where Freya is from; she looks like a Nord and came here, as she claims, from Cyrodiil, but I suspect that she might have a special story of her own, too."

"Okay, but what is this world here?"

"This is the planet Nirn, continent Tamriel, province Skyrim. Inhabitants are Imperials, Nords, Bretons, Argonians, Khajiit, and some elf races, like yourself."

"I have not heard about some of those races you mention, but at least 'elf' sounds familiar. So that's what I am, an elf?"

Faendal was obviously confused about our conversation, but now he chimed in:

"You don't know what you are, really? You are a young Bosmer, or wood elf, same race I am as well. Judged by your looks, you are barely twenty years old."

"I had my seventeenth birthday last month. So, is it bad to be a wood elf?"

"Depends on your point of view" Faendal commented. "Wood elves are small and agile, among a few other things. Besides, we live longer than humans, and a Bosmer can easily surpass 200 years of age."

"Wow, that sounds cool. Are we also good in fighting?"

"Most us are decent in archery, and we prefer to attack from a distance rather than engaging in close combat."

"Archery, like using a bow and arrow?"

The male wood elf nodded, and Fiona beamed now:

"That fits; I had archery lessons at school, and I aced them!"

"So, grab a bow and some arrows when you get a chance." I told her. "I can explain more about Skyrim later, but what are we going to do now? Are we moving on inside or are we turning back?"

Fiona pondered that and stated, once again in her native language:

"Der Chef von der Stadt was so nett zu mir, und ich möchte ihn nicht enttäuschen. Lasst uns den Stein suchen, den der Hofzauberer braucht."

{"The boss of the city was so nice to me, and I don't want to disappoint him. Let us search the stone the court wizard needs."}

Yep, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, at least the one in the game, could be quite a charmer if he wanted, and I was looking forward to seeing him in reality. Of course that might be difficult to arrange, if Khajiit were not allowed in the city of Whiterun. In the game, that had not mattered; as player and Dragonborn, such limitations did not apply, but here, with myself probably not being the Dragonborn – I really hoped to find this confirmed soon, and that was of course my main personal motivation to explore the barrow – I did not know, and my Khajiit body might actually prevent me from going to certain places, like getting into some cities.

I asked her about the Jarl:

"So, in Whiterun you talked to Jarl Balgruuf the Greater and to Farengar, the court wizard, right?"

"Ah yes, his title was Jarl. What is a Jarl? He did not really say, and I forgot to ask."

"A Jarl is the leader of a hold" Faendal explained.

"And a hold is something like a county or district; Jarl Balgruuf reigns over one of Skyrim՚s nine holds. Whiterun."

Fiona nodded, and her curiosity was sated for now. Faendal was fully healed, thanks to the potions we had found, and while he was not totally convinced, he opted for also going in. He was, as he said, not sure about the stories of riches to be found, but we had made it to the entrance room already, and if we faced dangers too big for us, we could still turn back later if we had to. The Bosmer had a point; Freya was of course coming with us, and naturally I opted for going in as well; hopefully the final cavern would tell if Fiona was Dragonborn or not, and I was somewhat curious about the barrow, too. With four people working together, we should be able to cope, even without the option to reload if something went horribly wrong.

We collected our gear, and Faendal asked me:

"So, you are really from another world, both of you?"

"Yes, it appears that we are. Fiona and I seem to come from neighbor countries in our former world, sharing the same native language. I had a dream that some Divine decided to transfer us to Skyrim, but of course I cannot understand their reasoning."

"Then how come you can both speak our language?"

"I don't know, but for some reason it is very similar to a language which is spoken in another country in our world."

"Do they have all of our races in your world, too, or more or less?"

"Actually, we have only one sentient race, and though people have different skin and hair colors, we are all humans. We don't have any Argonians and Khajiit and Elves either. The body I am in is very different from my former body, but this is more than all right for me; I love it."

It seemed not really appropriate to mention my task to support the Dragonborn at this time, so that I decided to be somewhat vague about that topic. My words were good enough for my male Bosmer companion, though.

[Author's Notes: Still some suspense; what is the Word Wall going to reveal? How challenging will the fight with the final draugr in the barrow be?

BTW, Kärnten (Carinthia) is the southernmost state in Österreich (Austria).

I would love to read a few more reviews, if you can find the time!]