19th of Sun's Height
We're back at Frostfall and the girls are happy to see us. We'll spend the night here before heading into Whiterun to Jorrvaskr to spend the night there. Vilkas sent a courier to tell me that they've got spaces set for the girls and the Merry Band so we don't have to worry about leaving anyone at the Bannered Mare. Jon Battle-Born and Balgruuf both want to see me while we're there so we might be in Whiterun for day or two while I settle some things. I still need to consult with the Circle. We don't normally train anyone outside our own ranks with some significant pay. I've told Galmar that I'll cover the fees for the Companions to come and teach some skills. I've also told Galmar to be very sure of who he has them train because I'd rather not end up facing them when the time comes for us to invade the Empire.
20th of Sun's Height
A couple of Khajiit and an Argonian have shown up at Jorrvaskr seeking to join the Companions. The Khajiit are brother and sister, Ra'Naar and Rishima. I spoke them both for a while and I've added them to the Merry Band for now. I know that many of the Thalmor skooma spies are Khajiit so we'll be keeping an eye on them for a bit before allowing them into the Companions. Ra'Naar was a caravan guard before bandits and a dragon attacked their caravan. Now they're all that's left of the whole caravan.
The Argonian put me right off. He goes by Tar-Ze but he moves with a silence and a grace that screams assassin. I heard stories that some of the swamp tribes were still producing Shadowscales when I was in Black Marsh with the Jomsbrodirs. I think I've run into one today. They owe no loyalty to anyone other than Sithis, their King and other Shadowscales and maybe the Hist. With their King dead, that leaves other Shadowscales and the Hist. I've asked him why he wanted to join the Companions since he's clearly skilled enough without it. His answers were unsatisfactory. Some trifles about wanting to fight the Empire and the Thalmor. He was very unhappy when I sent him on to Castle Dour because the Companions don't fight in political wars.
I've told Tar-Ze that he should go to Castle Dour where I'm sure Galmar can put him to use training trackers and scouts. In other news, Ralof's joined the Companions which pleases me to no end. He's not as skilled as I'd like yet but he'll be spending some time at Castle Dour too. I've asked him to keep an eye on Tar-Ze and to be wary of him. I've sent a courier to Galmar to explain the situation in a coded message that Galmar will read and understand but no one else will, given our history. To anyone else, it looks like a recipe and some ramblings between friends. You can even make the recipe and it's quite tasty. All in all, not bad for a coded message particularly when Galmar is as fond of his grub as he is.
21st of Sun's Height
I spent most of the day walking the farm fields with Jon. Everything looks to be in quite good order and he's preparing to switch over another field to alchemical ingredients. I handed over a bunch of the things I collected in Bruma and Solstheim to see if they'll grow here. If they will, we can make some nice coin off both the ingredients and the potions. We got back to Jorrvaskr and had to go clean up to meet Balgruuf. I've made myself an ebony version of the Wolf Armor for more formal occasions. I keep it stored at Jorrvaskr since Whiterun is mostly where I end up using it. Instead of the raised designs on the steel versions, I carved them out of the ebony while it was still cooling and filled them with gold. The effect has worked out even better than I had hoped. It's quite impressive, if a bit delicate. While this set is overall quite serviceable, I don't really want to have to replace the gold work every time I get into a fight with something. It looks pretty impressive, especially with the Companion's cloak streaming out behind it.
The dragon bone and ebony set that I wear into battle is quite able to withstand combat but it's not what I'd consider particularly attractive. It looks like what it is - dragon bones, ebony, and steel. It's proof against dragon fire and doesn't really heat up like the metal sets I've made previously. Something about the dragon bones just doesn't conduct heat or cold so that I spend less time frying or freezing. It also doesn't conduct shock quite the same either. Overall, I'm pleased with the sets I've made. Nearly everyone in the Merry Band has a set that I've made for them. Some are dragon hide, some are dragon scales, and some are bone, depending on the wearer's preferences. Lydia, Erik and Kaidan all chided me for lugging all those dragon parts around but now that everyone's wearing most them, the complaining about dragon bones has stopped.
We got to Dragon's Reach and Balgruuf bestirred himself from his throne to greet me before dragging Kaidan and myself into Farengar's laboratory. it seems that there's some fellow from the East Empire company hanging around the Bannered Mare looking for someone to go hunt down a dragon that's causing problems with their shipments. I told Balgruuf that I'd go see about it but that it was going to be some time before that happened. Crippling the East Empire Company is something that Ulfric and I have been discussing for some time now. If they're unable to move shipments and only the East Empire ships and caravans are being targeted, now is a good time to talk to Maomer to see if they'd be interested in taking over the trade routes.
Balgruuf frowned and asked why I'd invite pirates to take over the trade routes. I started laughing and he only frowned more. The East Empire Company is a biggest bunch of pirates around. They just happen to have an Imperial writ that keeps them from being hung for their atrocities, theft, and extortion. I've seen what the East Empire Company does when they move into a port. It's not pretty. I had to help some merchants in Solitude get their items that were being held for "customs fees" aka extortion of extra money. I can promise you that Elisif never saw a single septim of those "customs fees". Plenty of merchants have goods that "get lost" for which they never get reimbursed. Plenty more have to pay the extra customs fees to get their goods once they land and none of those fees are really customs fees. Those fees are generally some bureaucrat at the East Empire Company bucking for a bonus or just straight up skimming the fees into their own pockets. If they weren't, they'd be willing to take a letter of credit or other negotiable form of payment and not just cash. Instead, they refuse anything that might leave some kind of paper trail that a good investigator could find.
Balgruuf thought through this for a moment and nodded. It also makes the nobles of Cyrodiil feel some of the pinch the rest of us have been feeling for a while now. Skyrim can feed itself. Skyrim can produce its own weapons. I can't necessarily say that about Cyrodiil. Given what I've seen in Bruma, the whole structure there seems to be about extracting the maximum amount of taxes so that the layers of nobility can continue their pampered existence. Breaking them down by cutting off a big part of their cash flow seems wise given where things are going.
22nd of Sun's Height
We're headed back to Bruma but we're stopping in Riften at the Bee and Barb before going on. It's the closest in inn to Pale Pass. I'm going hunting for this cave that's supposed to allow passage while going around the gate on this side of Pale Pass and the fort on the Imperial side of Pale Pass. If we can move troops through it in anything vaguely resembling efficiency, we'll have a path laid out to let us take the fort and the pass so that we can move more directly. We can catch them in a pincher movement and cut them off from any and all outside help. We won't be ready to do it for a while but that doesn't mean we can't occupy the caves and drive the bandits out.
If they're smugglers, I can think of a few uses for them that involve running weapons to the resistance in Bruma. Yes, there's a resistance in Bruma. Quite a few of them still worship Talos and they hate the Empire and the Thalmor as much as we do. Done properly, we can rotate the Stormcloaks that the smugglers deal with and keep them out of trouble with the Thalmor and Penitus Oculatus. The Penitus Oculatus might as well be the thrice damned Thalmor. They seem to have adopted a lot of the methods of the Thalmor like making people disappear and Thalmor interrogation techniques of starvation, deprivation, and torture. Even the regular Imperial Army is disgusted with them. The first time we came through the pass, the commander of Fort Pale Pass asked me to speak to a Stormcloak prisoner so that he wouldn't have to hand him over to the Penitus because of how the Penitus asshats handle their prisoners. These Imperials don't seem to know that I'm Storm Blade aka Snow Hammer aka Bone Breaker aka Ice Veins which is a good thing. If they did, they probably wouldn't have allowed me into the prison to talk to this Stormcloak prisoner. Maybe Ulfric was right to keep changing my war name like that. It certainly seems to have hidden me from them. They also don't seem to know that I'm the Dragonborn although the Thalmor seem to be aware of it, since the two Justicars roaming around Bruma have commented on it. The Justicars seem to be unaware that I'm also the Harbinger, so there's that.
The Storm Cloak prisoner recognized me but agreed to keep quiet. I can't get him out of the prison and told him as much. There's not enough of us to fight the whole damn prison, fort, and barracks. I can, however, offer him an honorable death that will take him to Sovengard. I slipped him a weapon and unlocked his cell when none of the guards was looking before I left. My heart weeps over this but it was the best I could do for him. At least the Penitus Oculatus won't get to torture him. it will at least save him that much pain and humiliation. His name goes on my list of things to settle up with the Empire over. We're not ready to launch the offensive to take Bruma yet. We still need to train troops and smith out better equipment so that we'll be successful when we do come to take Bruma. I've already laid this out with the Circle. Farkas laughed and told me that he'll fight with me when the time comes but that he didn't expect me to go picking a fight with an entire army.
I rather suspect that if these two Justicars knew about the Embassy, the fort where Eorlund's boy was being held, Ancano, Estormo, and just how many Justicars I've left in troll dens, they'd be trying to haul me right off to Blue River so I keep my own council on that. We've spent some time whittling down Elenwyn's group of minions whenever the opportunity presents itself. There aren't many Justicars or even regular Altmer army on the road any more. Not many of them are willing to poke their nose outside their embassy, either. We keep watch from time to time on both the embassy itself and the tunnel underneath where we escaped. We've caught a few trying to slip out. The bears and trolls have dined well. The ones who've arrived in Solitude also seem to go missing on their way to the Embassy. Funny thing, that. None of the Merry Band even talks about those things while we're in Bruma. Who knows what walls or trees or rocks have ears so it's best that way.