Any updates Caillagh de Bodemloze ?
Cheers
Any updates Caillagh de Bodemloze ?
Cheers
Chapter Forty-Two: The Prisoner
We listened at the door and heard nothing. We had no other way to discern whether a detachment of guards was waiting for us on the other side, so Shulgak drew her sword and threw the door open, hoping that we might at least surprise any guards by the suddenness of our entry. Weapons at the ready, Lydia, and then this one, followed Shulgak in, and discovered that we were the ones to be surprised by our arrival.
The door we had passed through had seemed to be the main entrance to the fort, yet there was not one guard in the room we stood in. Indeed, the room looked as if it had been abandoned, left unused for several weeks, at least. To one side stood a table with chairs upturned on top of it. To the other was an assortment of barrels in what looked like a storage area. Perhaps it was intended as a place to keep newly-delivered barrels of supplies until they could be transported to the rooms where they were needed. If so, it seemed that no one was collecting or using the supplies, for there were cobwebs across many of the barrels.
We might have been deceived by this apparent emptiness had it not been for a small sound, perhaps of a chair being shifted, from the passage ahead. We followed the passage downwards as quietly as we could, and discovered another dust-covered room, this one almost round in shape. This one, however, contained two guards. Of course, Shulgak and Lydia had no difficulty in dealing with their belated attempt at an attack on us, and we swiftly put this second room behind us.
Next we came to a place where the passageway turned abruptly right, and the only way onward lay even further underground than we had already come, with a broad, open set of stone stairs taking us downward. Our surroundings were still covered with dust and cobwebs, leading us to think we might already have met the only guards inside the fort. Our previous experience, together with Shulgak politely restraining Lydia and this one, combined to prevent us from reaching this conclusion too rapidly, however.
Although cobwebs hung from the walls and lay thickly on the top two-thirds of the stairs, a clear patch was evident towards the bottom of the staircase. It was impossible for that to be so unless someone had been there very recently. As this one stood, still and apprehensive, in full view of anyone who entered, we heard a noise. The quiet slap of footsteps on stone, gradually growing nearer. Somehow, this broke the paralysis that seemed to have seized us. We moved swiftly to the walls, hoping the shadows gathered at the top of the stairs would hide both us and the footprints we had printed in the carpet of dust.
Imprudently, the sentry walked directly to the bottom of the steps. As he paused, both Shulgak and this one shot at him, while Lydia leapt towards him, sword drawn and teeth bared; a most impressive sight. It was over quickly, but the small noise we had made alerted two other guards. One of them offered little resistance to our attack, but the second was a mage skilled in the art of firing crackling streaks of lightning from his fingertips. His shots never seemed to miss their target, and this one was beginning to fear that we would be outmatched by one man. Lydia, however, had seen where his weakness lay, and she worked her way round behind him while this one and Shulgak kept his attention upon us. He could not manage to defend himself against attacks from three different directions, and at last he fell.
After these fights, we were more cautious, treating the dirt and apparent neglect as a disguise rather than an indication that rooms were not used. Still, it was a relief when we came upon a truly empty room which resembled a tavern, with chairs and tables and a bar. Perhaps it is still used as some kind of dining room; we certainly found some small supplies there, and were able to rest and eat before pressing on to find and release Yannick.
We passed through many further rooms, and through such a quantity of twisting passageways that this one began to fear we would never complete our search of the fortress. Every so often, in the seemingly dead and dusty chambers, we found ourselves defending against attacks from guards wielding swords like lightning, or lightning like an armful of knives. In one deserted hallway, we came upon a recently-dead body cast negligently into a cart. There was no sign of a struggle, and no way to tell why anyone would deliberately deposit a body there, or why the cart had been brought indoors. We could do nothing but wonder, and go on, through the cobwebs and discarded clutter.
At last, when we were beginning to believe that we had all been ensorcelled, and that none of what we saw was real, we came to a junction between two corridors. Ahead of us and to our right was a guard sitting at a table, with the corridor continuing beyond. It seemed to us that this might be a sign we had finally reached the prison area of the fortress. This one has a cousin who was often in some small amount of trouble when she was only just more than a kitten. When retrieving her from her frequent, though thankfully brief, confinements, this one observed that prisons always seem to possess this arrangement with a guard and a table just before the cells. We had cause for optimism; we had almost reached out goal.
To our left, however, was a short corridor leading to a door. We could not merely overpower the guard and take his keys; we would also need to watch for reinforcements arriving from the room behind that door. This seemed straightforward, and so, in principle, it was, and yet it was not, for the closed room to our left contained a more powerful mage than any we had previously met. He, like the other mages of the fortress, seemed to have a preference for lightning spells, but they seemed to range further and in more directions at once than his less-skilled, and therefore deceased, colleagues. He was clearly also proficient with fire, occasionally scything the room with flame and lightning at the same time, which we had not seen any previous mage attempt. It was a difficult and protracted fight, and this one believes that the prison guard was in fact killed by the mage, for his body was marked with charred and blistered burns. As will be apparent from the fact that this one continues to write this account, we were at length victorious, although not without injury. Shulgak has sustained a burn to the leg that will pain her for some time, and will no doubt reduce the speed at which she can travel. Lydia received a knock to the head which has resulted in a lump the size of a goose-egg. This one was most fortunate to escape with only a slash to the ribs and a minor burn to the tail and left arm.
From the tools we found on the body of the mage, it was clear that he was a torturer. We did not want to look into the room he had been working in, but we had come to find Yannick; we needed to know whether we had arrived too late.
To this one’s great shame, this one found himself relieved to discover the torturer had been questioning someone else. Truly, it should not ever be a relief to find that someone has been tortured. And yet this one could not feel otherwise. This one prays to S’rendarr for mercy despite his lack of compassion.
Happily, the man we found was not only alive but still able to walk. We must have interrupted the torturer-mage at an early stage of his interrogation. We agreed that he could travel with us and attempt to escape, for what else could we say? To leave him for the next torturer to find would have been unthinkable. Indeed, we had cause within minutes to be glad we had helped him. We took the keys and released the prisoners from their cells, although some seemed terrified of trying to leave. Yannick was not among them. And this is where our new friend saved us from a dreadful error. There seemed to be nowhere else to go, and we had almost decided, in our despair, that we had been hunting for Yannick in the wrong place, when Thorald – for so his name is – remarked that we should free the prisoner in the hidden cell. It appears that Thorald himself was the previous occupant of this cell, and as the Thalmor were removing him from it to take him to the torture-chamber, he saw the man who was to replace him. A dark man, not tall, perhaps a Breton.
My heart leapt within me, and I saw Shulgak and Lydia raise their eyes to Thorald, and then each other, as hope sprang to life in them. With more energy than any of us could have summoned a moment before, we began to ready ourselves for the next battle, but Thorald assured us no fighting would be necessary. The hidden cell is protected from assault by being hidden, no more. As we had already taken the keys to the whole building from the guard and the torturer, it was a simple matter of finding the trap-door, buried beneath piles of crates set on top of rotting hay. Simple, but pungent.
And there he was. Almost certainly starved, possibly tortured. But alive.
Ah, the search has come to an end! I wonder, are we now going to see everything from Yannick's perspective again? Anyway, great chapter. I like how the dead body in the cart makes no sense to our heros (granted, it does make little sense)... Skyrims dungeons are full of mysteries. Now that he is back, I am anxious to see what's going to happen next.
The Saga of Haraldr Yngling and the Nordmanna - A M2TW Last Kingdom AAR
Thank you!
Will we see everything from Yannick's perspective from now on? Maybe...
The body in the cart is in there because it bewilders me. Why is there a cart there? All the doors into Northwatch Keep are too small for a cart to go through. And, given that somebody built a cart indoors for no apparent reason, why would you leave a dead body in it? Isn't that going to be a bit smelly? (And then messy.) It's very, very odd...
As you say, though, that's perfectly normal for Skyrim, where 'odd' is just how things are.
Great chapter, I enjoyed your descriptions - the shadows on the stairs, the footprints printed in the carpet of dust and Lydia charging the sentry, as well as the way that the guards wielded swords or lightning.
By the Nine, this is a long read! Forty two chapters! I haven't begun reading yet but I intend to do so in the near future. How did I not notice this earlier? I'd comment on your slow upload rates but since it gives me time to catch up, I've got no gripes there...for now
Oh, feel free to comment. I wish I had more time to give to this. I am still writing, though (although there has been a delay due to minor finger injury - it's hard to get screenshots when you can't use a mouse... )
In the meantime, I hope you're having fun catching up. I'll be back with the next chapter as soon as I find the time for it, I promise.
[Merged my own posts, original post on September 25th, 2018]
Oh dear, I do hope you're recovering at a good pace. Fingers are important, can't imagine what life would be with em impaired at the moment. Get better sooner! (Get well soon gets old fast).
No hurry on that latest chapter, I've been a bit behind on reading a few AARs atm. Yours, KnightofDay's and Merchant's over in the Shogun 2 section. Tigellinus' AAR has my attention for the moment, (I blame his good writing) but I should be done reading his AAR by this week or the next. There's always a special place in my heart for Skyrim AARs, so never fear, I shall return.
Who knows, I might even do one in the near future...wink.
Chapter 1 to 5 comments
And that's it for now, will comment more when I have the time! Have a rep on me for now Well of course I gotta spread it around...
Well Caillagh I'm back for more Skyrim! (04/1/19)
Chapter 6 to 11 comments
I'll pause here then, it's time for lunch!
Is it a bird, is it a plane? It's Swaeft! Back for some more Skyrim goodness.
Chapter 12 to 21 comments
Okay, at this point I need to take a break, I really do need to use the loo. And a lot of other stuff. Catch you later!
(8/1/1) Have I said that you can't stay away from this AAR for long?
Chapter 22 to 38
I'll stop here for now, my eyes need a break.
Last edited by Swaeft; January 08, 2019 at 12:30 AM. Reason: Merged posts and edited formatting
I agree with Swaeft and I do have a lot of reading to do, don't I.
Anyway, I read the OP and remember a map someone on AFK Mods posted in the Skyrim Map Markers thread, so I thought to share it with you.
https://www.primagames.com/pages/eld...tion-game-guid
Under patronage of General Brewster of the Imperial House of Hader.
How to make Morrowind less buggy for new players - Of course every player may find it useful.
Under patronage of General Brewster of the Imperial House of Hader.
How to make Morrowind less buggy for new players - Of course every player may find it useful.