Whiterun
27th of Rain's Hand, 4E
The night approached quickly as Lelia Sibus prepared for her meeting with Brynjolf. She hoped that the conversation would relate to a Thieves Guild problem, such as the upcoming Jester's Day. On days like those, thieves from the Guild have a particular problem with going about their business due raised awareness of them. In turn, the Guild suffers. The harder it is to pick pockets, the harder it is to obtain profit. However, Lelia doubted that Jester's Day was the issue that Brynjolf wanted to talk about. The way that he wrote his letter said as much; wanting to talk on an urgent matter, him wanting her to come alone, even the print of the letter was slightly sloppy compared to his elegant penmanship.
She pushed her doubts aside as she descended from the loft in her Thieves Guild outfit. Lydia was still by the cooking fire, stirring something in the pot. However, Ysolda was nowhere to be found.
"Hey Lydia." Lelia called out. "Where did Ysolda go?"
The Nord turned to her and replied, "She went back to her own home, my Thane. I offered her a place to stay for the night, but she told me not to worry about it."
Lelia frowned. She didn't want Ysolda to be out and about after that incident in the market, but she couldn't stop her from doing so. Ysolda was a grown woman after all, holding her back would just seem childish.
"Well, I'm going out. I'll be back in a little while." Lelia huffed, trying to hide her disappointment.
"Be safe, my Thane." Lydia cautioned as Lelia brushed through the door and into the chilly night.
"Jeez, what's takin' the lass so long?" Delvin muttered under his breath. "She would've been hear before all of us."
"Quit your complaining." Brynjolf shot back, "She'll come."
The two had been slumped against the stone of Whiterun's northern wall since sundown. The chilly breeze clawed at their skin, even through the leather of their Thieves Guild attire. Delvin had warned against waiting for Lelia, for both personal and professional reasons. However, Brynjolf cut the man off time and time again as they sat against the wall.
Both men knew that they needed to talk with the Imperial thief for some time. While she has helped the Guild build up its strength to its formal glory, the dragon menace has ate away at them. They were loosing homes and people to rob. With the dragons killing everyone, simply put, the Guild would crumble as it almost had before. However, Brynjolf hated to bring up dragons in business talks. It had an effect on the room, as if a group of mages blanketed their surroundings with frost spells.
He imagined that this talk would bring just that.
"Hey guys." said a feminine voice out of the darkness, jolting Brynjolf out of his thoughts. A startled Delvin sprung up from his laid-back position and retrieve his hidden dagger from his boot, slightly shaking from the voice.
"The fuck was that!" exclaimed a frightened Delvin.
And just like that, Lelia, in all her glory, appeared in front of the two men. Dressed in full Thieves Guild armor and a potion bottle hanging from her hand, Brynjolf couldn't help but smile at the thief's entrance. It always seemed to scare Delvin, even if he knew she was coming.
"Damn it." Delvin said shakily, "I hate it when she does that."
"Hello again, lass." Brynjolf greeted. "I trust that you understand the importance of this meeting.
The playful look on Lelia's face disappeared instantly. "Yea, I know. You want to talk about the dragons."
The cold air dropped a few degrees, just as Brynjolf predicted. "Yes, how'd you know?"
"What else could it be?" she replied. "I already dealt with those vampires threatening to blot out the sun, the Civil War conflict, and the mutiny of Mercer. Alduin and his dragon buddies are the only things that could threaten the integrity of the Guild."
'Had to give her that one' Brynjolf thought to himself.
"Dragons are starting to get reckless." he explained, "They're starting to attack major cities and territories all across Skyrim. Sooner or later, we need to deal with the menace."
"What about the Brotherhood? Do we need to get them on board as well?"
It was interesting that she brought up the Dark Brotherhood due to the fact that she wasn't affiliated with the faction. Brynjolf seemed to be slightly shocked that she even knew of their presence. Delvin, who was in communication with the leader of the group of assassins, Astrid, didn't even speak of business dealings with the Brotherhood in public or even in front of other Guild members. Delvin and Brynjolf always spoke of them in private, sometimes in the treasure vault if it came to that.
"They've begun to focus efforts on the dragons." said Delvin. "Astrid told me that it took forever to convince their 'Dark Mother' to allow the reallocation of resources. However, she seen reason and allowed it. The assassins are mostly fighting off dragons within the Falkreath Hold. I heard that she even made a deal with the Jarl too, so that their assassin wouldn't get into complications with the local guard."
Lelia seemed to stare at the ground for a moment as she digested the information. In truth, Brynjolf found it hard to believe that their 'Dark Mother' would allow such a task to be handled by the Brotherhood. Usually, people performed the 'Black Sacrament', and in turn, she would tell an assassin to kill whoever the Sacrament was intended for. She wasn't known for doing something without a good amount of coin to get from it.
"Sounds odd of them." Lelia said curiously. "But, I guess the circumstances we're in do make us do things that are unusual. We need a plan of action."
"Agreed, lass." Brynjolf replied. "The problem is, we can't and won't have the same type of amnesty with the Jarl of Riften. It would be stupid and worthless to ask for it. Hell, even if we could convince Maven Black-Briar to make a deal with them, she would make us pay for it dearly. We can try to position scouts along the major roads near the hold, but we won't be able to fight dragons with nothing more than a dagger, a bow, and some leather armor."
"Why not?" Lelia challenged. "I could easily take down a dragon with a bow, even back when I first fought one."
"Because, lass, you're the Dragonborn. You were meant to fight these things. Our thieves weren't made for fighting, they were made for robbery and sabotage."
Lelia stopped and looked at the ground again, attempting to think of something that she could do to improve the Guild's odds of beating the dragons.
"Okay, I have an idea." she said brightly. "But you might not like it…."
"We need everything we can, Lelia." encouraged Delvin. "Tell us."
After a moment of silence, she spoke again. "Back when Alduin attacked Helgen, I ran away with an Imperial soldier named Hadvar. I helped him escape the city and even fight the Stormcloak troops that took shelter from the attack. He said afterward that he owed me for saving him. I could try to convince him to train some of the Thieves to face dragons, give them a better shot at surviving encounters with them."
Brynjolf immediately saw an issue. "An Imperial soldier? He would report us immediately and get us killed."
Lelia disagreed. "They would be in standard leather armor rather than their Guild attire. He wouldn't know the difference."
"Are you sure that we can trust this man?" asked Delvin, being suspicious as always.
"I trusted him with my life during the war; what's so different here? It's like Brynjolf said: we need anything we can to defeat these dragons. Using Guild thieves as soldiers would give us more time while I figure something out with the Graybeards to find a permanent solution."
Brynjolf thought silently to himself for a moment before replying. "If she can trust him, so can I. We would need to find volunteers though, and a place to train them."
"Don't worry, Brynjolf." Lelia said sweetly. "I'll have that covered."
"You better." said Delvin. "I don't really like this idea as it sounds."
Lelia just smiled at Delvin coyly. She couldn't get enough of his distrust in her. Unfortunately for him, that didn't change the plan. They had work to do.
"I'll write the letter to Hadvar while you two find some recruits for our 'training'." Lelia commanded.
"Where and when would this take place?" asked Brynjolf.
Lelia thought for a few moments before answering. "The ruins of Helgen in five days. Think of it as an introduction to the course. The ruins would provide a close to realistic battlefield with the dragons; without actually fighting dragons, of course."
Brynjolf was about to interject the suggestion, but stood firm. Lelia did have a point after all, since she actually fight dragons and was a witness of the dragon attack on Helgen. She knew what she was doing, otherwise she wouldn't be standing here. He acknowledged with a simple nod of the head.
"Oh, and one more thing." said Lelia, stopping the men again. "Delvin would have to run the combat group while I'm gone. He would look more to the part. Brynjolf can take my place as leader of the Guild, bring in Karliah if needed."
That earned a disappointing grunt from both men. Delvin for being sent along with an idea that he didn't fully support, and Brynjolf for the idea of leading the Guild. The entire reason that Lelia was Guild Master over Brynjolf was due to the fact that Brynjolf didn't even want to lead the group. This was obviously pushing his comfort zone, but he didn't have much of a choice.
"Aye aye." said Brynjolf reluctantly.
And with that, the two men walked off towards Whiterun's main gate, hoping to find a room at the Sleeping Giant Inn before the rooms got booked.
"I'll never be drunk enough to agree to one of her ideas again. I mean really! An Imperial soldier! Who knows what can go wrong." Delvin complained.
"Let it rest, lad." Brynjolf reassured. "Did you have anything to suggest in order to help us survive against dragons?"
The anger in Delvin's face fled as he struggled to find an answer. Eventually, he gave one of his famous "screw you" lines and dropped the subject. Brynjolf was nervous, but he had hope in Lelia that her plan would go smoothly. They had no room for error.
The bunker shuddered under yet another salvo of artillery. Dust and rock fell from the ceiling, clouding Jeremy's vision.
"Ugh." he sighed. "This is the third time this week that he bombs us, but he still doesn't know the fruits of his labor are none."
"Agreed." exclaimed Beardo, also known as Jack. "This fortress is strong. The Mad King will never get through!"
Jeremy would've usually rejoiced with the statement. However, other concerns made him think otherwise. They've been stuck in this forsaken bunker for what seemed like an eternity. With the Mad King's constant bombardments, and superior forces, they haven't been able to restore the food stores. But, even if the food could be restored, the few warriors that fled with him and Beardo to the underground bunker were starting to become less confident in victory. If something wasn't done soon, they would loose the fight without the Mad King destroying the bunker.
"I'm not sure about that, dear friend." Jeremy said glumly as he voiced the obvious concerns to the warrior.
"We don't have anyone left to help us." Jack admitted. "The other kings have been defeated by the dreadful Mad King."
"However, I do admit, it was hillarious to see King Gavin's forces kill each other on accident." Jeremy recalled.
"At the time, yes, it was funny. But now, I wished we could've helped him more."
"He wouldn't have listened to us anyway. He was always stubborn."
They continued their long walk down the corridors of their bastion. Once known as Birch Bunker, Jack and Jeremy dug the small outpost into the last place for survivors of the Mad King's reign to reside. When the Mad King attacked Achievement City, arguably the capital of the land, not many made it out. Besides the original kings, who divided the land up into many defensible sectors, only two made it out of the city alive: Matt, a master builder and good friend of Jeremy's, and Kerry, a very experienced warrior.
"Jack, I believe that the time has come, friend." Jeremy said solemnly.
"What do you mean?" asked Jack.
The two stopped in front of an iron door with a code lock. Jeremy stepped to it and rapidly typed something into the pad. The door then opened to reveal a pyramid of gold with a glowing cube on top. Jack stopped and realized Jeremy's intent.
"You know that we can't activate it without being sighted by the Mad King!" the warrior shouted, surprised by the notion.
Jeremy turned to him, "What choice do we have, Jack? Wait down here forever? Starve? Surrender? You know that this," he motioned to the pyramid, "is our only hope. The beacon will call out to anyone and everyone."
"And if it doesn't work?"
Jeremy sighed. "Then the Mad King wins. Like I said, we both know that facing the bastard alone is a suicide mission. We need more warriors, wherever they may hail from."
Jack stared at Jeremy, still shocked by the notion that was being suggested. However, the words made him understand the truth: the bunker would fall one day or another, and they did need the reinforcements.
"Alright." Jack said, defeated by his comrade's argument, "I'll tell the others. You do what you need to do."
And with that, Jack walked out of the beacon room, leaving Jeremy alone with the key to their solution. Jeremy knelt at the base of the tower, pulling a piece of emerald out of his pocket, and holding it high.
"Builders of the great world," he chanted, "hear my plea. Send a cry of help through the heavens, assist us in our time of need. Our situation is dire, and we have no choice. Use this beacon as your courier, and find our solution."
Jeremy placed the emerald piece down in front of him and remained kneeling. The emerald began to glow furiously, levitating in the air as it grew brighter and brighter until the entire room was blinded in glorious light.
"Child," a voice said. "Your call will be answered."
At this, a heavenly rod of bright light shot out from the top of the pyramid, shooting through the room's ceiling and into the sky. The emerald that Jeremy placed disappeared from existence.
Jeremy rose up after the light became manageable, hoping that what the voice said was true.
And that raps it up for chapter 2 of this epic adventure! I do hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review, as all feedback is welcomed. Also, just a quick announcement: for those who reed Feet First into Hell, my Fallout/Halo story, I will get back to it. I just wanted to give this story a few chapters to stand on before I return to it. So don't worry, it isn't dead. Its just on hold while I write these chapters. It will be added to again probably sometime next month.
Anyways,
RNG OUT!