Skyrim Unarmed Build - Part 5: Trouble in the City of Stone

JOURNAL ENTRY 5

 
The College of Winterhold is Skyrim's only school for mages. It sits precariously atop a cliff; the bridge connecting the school to the town having crumbled away with half of the buildings in a recent catastrophe. D'raan stops in for a peek, not that he has any talent in the arcane arts. Luckily you do not need to possess any to walk in the front door, and while poking around the premises, several students remark on how pallor Raan is looking. Apparently all those fights with vampires has left its mark, because Raan has been infected with Sanguinare Vampiris. If not cured within 3 days our kitty will become a full fledged blood-sucking creature of the night. Becoming a vampire would be problematic for this build because vampires need regular blood feedings and are weakened during the day. It is not the easiest affliction to rid oneself of either, requiring black soul gems, human sacrifice, and dark rituals.

Rifling through the potion bottles in the guild hall yields no options for curing disease. The guild doesn't seem to have a shop and most of the staff are unwilling to offer their services to non-members. So out of desperation I steal whatever ingredients are lying around and try to have Raan concoct his own cure. That goes about as well as you would expect from a cat with no alchemy skills. While I'm here, I filch whatever soul gems are left lying around to enchant random gear. Raan's "Enchanter" perk is now at 3/5. He turns in for the night at the Frozen Hearth inn, but not before joining a mage named Sam in a drinking contest.

The Skooma-loving cat wins the contest but blacks out before collecting his prize - a staff (not that he could use it), and awakens sometime later in a temple of Dibella. The temple priestess is none too happy about Raan drunkenly trashing the temple, or his ranting about goats and marriage. After cleaning up the mess, she mentions something vague about the settlement of Rorikstead, suggesting I look there for answers. Fortunately, the goddess Dibella doesn't hold any grudges and cures Do'raan of his Sanguinare Vampiris. Stepping outside of the temple reveals the mountainous city of Markarth; a remarkably beautiful place known for its silver mines and waterfalls.
 

Wandering the streets proves bothersome because of a single man obsessed with an abandoned house.  He won't stop hassling people, bombarding them with questions about the vacant property and things only get worse in the marketplace where a woman is knifed by some guyshouting about Forsworn (a rebel group). The guards assure everyone that this isn't the work of the Forsworn and then return to their patrols, leaving the woman's lifeless corpse in the crowded street. A bystander slips Raan a note, asking him to come to the defunct temple of Talos. Intrigued, the curious kitty does as the note asks and meets with Eltrys - the Breton stranger that handed him the note.

Eltrys is convinced there is a conspiracy in Markarth, claiming events like the one at the marketplace occur often but go unpunished. His father was also murdered under peculiar circumstances and he has been searching for someone (like a certain burly cat) to find out why; offering paid work to anyone willing to investigate the Silver-Bloods (mine owners) and Forsworn rebels. Never one to turn away dangerous work, Raan accepts the job, and while looking into the marketplace incident it becomes apparent the Markarth guards are corrupt, paid off by Thonar Silver-Blood to ignore or cover up murders committed by his agents - among them Forsworn rebels. At one point Raan has to go hand-to-hand with Dryston, a mercenary sent by Nepos, an agent of the Forsworn leader Madanach.

Checklist:

• Mikael (Whiterun)  
• Uthgerd the Unbroken (Whiterun) 
• Rolff Stone-Fist (Windhelm)
• Cosnach (Markarth)
• Chief Burguk (Dushnikh Yal Stronghold)
• Chief Larak (Mor Khazgur Stronghold)
• Chief Mauhulakh (Narzulbur Stronghold)
• Chief Yamarz (Largashbur Stronghold)
• Benor (Morthal)
• Borkul the Beast (Markarth)
• Dryston (Markarth)
• Hofgrir Horse-Crusher (Riften)  

Upon returning to the temple to report in, I find Eltrys dead - slain by the Markarth guards. They frame Raan for the recent murders and sentence him to a life of hard labor in the Cidhna Mine. Raan is more than capable of fighting off the gaggle of guards confronting him, but Cidhna Mine is where the Forsworn leader is imprisoned. He will have answers, so I go quietly. I brawl Madanach's bodyguard Borkul the Beast for an audience with the "King in Rags", and learn Madanach got his orders from Thonar. He then passed Thonar's orders on to Nepos. However, Madanach is done being a pawn and initiates a jail break.

• Mikael (Whiterun)  
• Uthgerd the Unbroken (Whiterun) 
• Rolff Stone-Fist (Windhelm)
• Cosnach (Markarth)
• Chief Burguk (Dushnikh Yal Stronghold)
• Chief Larak (Mor Khazgur Stronghold)
• Chief Mauhulakh (Narzulbur Stronghold)
• Chief Yamarz (Largashbur Stronghold)
• Benor (Morthal)
• Borkul the Beast (Markarth)
• Dryston (Markarth)
• Hofgrir Horse-Crusher (Riften)

The group escapes through a dwemer tunnel they must have burrowed into at some point. Thonar had apparently anticipated the breakout and confronts the group as they exit their tunnel. The Forsworn mercilessly cut Thonar and his guards down, then battle their way through the city streets, leaving a trail of bodies behind them.
 

Somehow this clears Do'raan of all his crimes and the Jarl apologizes for the wrongful imprisonment.

Previous Entry - Part 4: The Curiosities of Windhelm

Next Entry - Part 6: Goats and Deadric Shrines 

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