We don't go there.

Hack and Slash. Hack and Slash. Hack and slash all day long.

With Worm Cultists oozing their way through the Skyrim countryside, Seren and I had been asked to assist in dealing with them on account of good reports from our journey in Morrowind and Shadowfens.

As such, we had spent the past several days hacking and slashing our way through them trying to find their leader with minimal success. Whenever we had a solid lead, he'd slip away to our extreme frustration.

For the moment, we are camping out in one of the eastern forests of The Rift, a small fire burning between Seren and I, it's meagre warmth more than satisfying our aching limbs.
"According to local reports, there's another sect of them holed up in an old tomb located roughly around here" Seren said, pointing to a map with her dagger. I shuffled around the fire to be beside her so that I could see.

I know the exact place that she's talking about.
"We aren't going there" I say quietly.
"Why not?" Seren asks in surprise. "It's a solid lead. Better than anything we've had for the past three days."
"And we aren't going there" I say quietly but more firmly. Seren doesn't accept my answer.
"Why?" She asks.
"Because" I say, turning my eyes to the fire. As much as I try to hide it, Seren catches my expression and she knows what I am talking about.
"It's because of her, isn't it?" She asks quietly.
"I don't want to talk about it" I say simply. Seren's rage explodes.

"My gods, you ALWAYS say that! Who is this damn woman you refuse to speak of!" She yells angrily. Several birds fly from the trees in terror. Seren is pointing her finger angrily at me. I remain as stoic as before.
"Why! Why in Oblivion do you always do this! You keep shutting up like a clam at the mention of her! You havent once said it, but I know your comparing me to her in everything I do! You constantly make me feel like I am inferior to her!" Seren yells angrily. Her finger may have lowered, but her face is pure anger mixed with a little hatred.

I shake my head silently. I guess I was going to have to tell Seren eventually.
"You remember how I told you right at the beginning to never say goodbye to me?" I ask, moving to sit against a tall tree.
"I do" Seren says, calming down. "What's the point?"
"I missed my one chance to say goodbye to her" I say quietly.
"Who? This woman I keep getting compared to?" Seren asks, her anger rising slowly.
"That woman you keep asking about. Her name is actually Serenvia" I say slowly.
A wind blows through the camp, quickly extingushing the small fire as if on cue. It seems like the powers of Aetherius itself wants this discussion to cease. Seren immediately recognises the connection between the name and her own.
"Tell me. Tell me everything. And don't lie. Because if you do, I will cut you" She says, sharpening her dagger on a stone. I sigh and shake my head.
"Telling you the whole story is pointless. I'll tell you what happened at that tomb."
"I'm listening" Seren says with an icey tone to her voice.

"The local Thane had been informed by the locals that the place had become haunted by something dangerous. More than the usual spookiness caused by myths and legends. Rather than sending a few members of the town watch, he sent us two. He asked us just to put the fears to rest. Make sure it was locked up nice and tight and to ensure the dead were resting comfortably and not up and about and walking around angrily looking for something alive to kill. Well, we got there and as it turns out, it wasnt locked and the dead were walking around."
"Oh?" Seren asked, now more interested in the tale than her previous anger.
"A necromancer had taken up residence. And a pretty powerful one at that. We had no problem despatching the dead he had risen. The biggest problem was the necromancer himself and his knowledge of the dead. Now that I look back on it, he may have even been related to the worm cult that we are tracking today." I continue, shifting my leg.

"We had a great level of difficulty in defeating him. Well, when I say that, all it took was a blade through the chest to bring him down. The hardest part was defeating the undead faster than he could raise them. Anyway, it wasnt until we were safely back outside that I discovered that my companion had been hit in the leg by an arrow. She had known about it but didn't want to make me worried."

"But you were worried, naturally" Seren said.
"Yes. I took her to the best healers I could find. But none of them could treat the poison that had entered her body through the arrow."
"What?" Seren asked.
"I did everything I could. Searched every tome in Mournhold and consulted with everyone I knew about the lesser known poisons. But as they all said, you can't cure the poison contracted by Jarrin Root. It was a miracle that she had managed to survive for five days."

"She didn't die honourably. She died in bed with her hand on her sword" I said bitterly. Seren had looked away now. In her time with me, Seren had learned what it meant to die honourably. To die in a good battle or to have died doing something right.
"I'm going to bed" I said, moving to the other side of the tree, out of sight of Seren. I still couldnt get over the fact of how they both looked so alike. And I couldnt let Seren see me cry.

Eastmarch

Eastmarch

A region almost consistently dominated by snow year round which recedes only as far as the river on the good years. On the bad years, the snow can pile up so high in one night that it blocks the main gate into the city of Windhelm.

After our recent victory in Shadowfens, Serena and I were asked to guard a special package on it's way to Windhelm by ship. The cruise itself was rather satisfying for me as we plowed through the waves. For Seren... not so much. She immediately took a distaste for being on a ship with the constant sway. After her stomach eventually settled at the end of the first day, I proceeded to sit her down in the least swaying part of the ship and pull out several books that the captain had in his cabin that related to the country Skyrim, advanced techniques on blacksmithing and local nord customs.

Seren was an avid reader, but found it extremely difficult to focus with the rocking and the unstable condition of her stomach.

Having finally arrived at the docks of Windhelm, Seren was the first off the ship, now finding that her slow acclimation to the ship made her even more unsteady on land. Most of the ships crew laughed but I held myself back, full in the knowledge that over the past few months, Seren had developed quite a deathly pale glare that sent most grown men and woman running. Walking past her, I saw her turn back towards the ship where the crew were still laughing. I didn't need to turn around to see the looks on their faces. Their silence told me everything.

"You should lighten up. We won't be going back on any ships for a while" I said after she eventually caught up to me.
"And you should have warned me about all that swaying" She said bitterly.
"I didn't know you hadnt ever been on a ship. And now that we are back on dry land, your smithing training can resume." I replied firmly. Seren groaned.
"This armor does me fine!" She whimpered. "It worked very well back in Shadowfens!"
"Yes. Now it's battered, bruised, slashed and that's just the metal itself. The leather underneath the metal is strained to it's limits and is probably worn down to the point of tearing itself to pieces." I said, pulling on a loose string on her armplates which came away freely, causing her right pauldron to almost completely fall off. The only thing keeping it on was a small sliver of broken leather.

Seren rolled her eyes.
"Besides. I know you like being around the forge. And the nords have the best forges in the world" I said in a more uplifting tone. I could see a small spark in Seren's eyes. She truly was at her best when wielding a hammer.
"Just what sort of quality are we talking about here?" Seren asked.
"We both know from experience what sort of armor the Nords like wearing" I said. "If it's big, looks strong and is made of metal, they'll buy it. I'll find you some buyers if you get straight into it. We'll be here a while"

Seren's mood had been sour for the past week and a half. It was good to see it now so much brighter. It was always good to see her in a good mood.
She was turning out to be so much like someone I used to know, it was actually beginning to frighten me a little.

Adventure Time!

When saga's and stories are told about adventures, they are usually about some brave, heroic hero doing battle with great enemies, nemesis's, giant demons or ant infested garbage cans. The brave hero is travelling across vast mountains and great plains, through beautiful forests and doing... well... great things worthy of saga's and stories.

What history tends to forget is the less interesting ones... mostly because they are more realistic. Like the one where the hero is travelling through a sunsheltered swamp, trying their best to keep their feet dry and fend off rabid attacks by oversized insects.
Seren is a few meters behind me. Her once beautiful brand new armor is now dirtied by mud that refuses to come off and soaked in sweat and swamp water. Fortunately, there's a person back in Stormhold who has the right reagents to clean it. Only problem is that Stormhold also happens to be about two days in the opposite direction.

I don't like to classify myself as a sellsword. A sellsword is usually either a mercenary or hired thug and I'm definately neither of these two. I've been fighting for the pact for the past two years and they pay well. But if the Dominion or the Covenant decided to try and invest in my services, I'd most likely say no. Someone offers work, I take it if I like it... And sometimes if I dont.

Either way, I was extremely skeptical about coming down in Deshaan on this so called roadtrip. Behind me, it's extremely clear that Seren isnt enjoying it either. The expression on her face with every step shows it. But she's a smart woman who's above idle moaning. Besides, I'd like to think that this could be a good experience for her. Learn the bad things so you can cherish the good things even more.

Either way, the pay for this job is actually going to be tremendous. Not only has our... err... 'contractor' firmly stated a good completion pay, but we are entitled to the salvaging anything useful in the current possession of the target location or person. Of course, anyone who works in my profession immediately knows that salvaging is a nice word for repossessing gold, jewellery, useful herbs and anything else that has a good sell price. Even medical supplies are in high demand in this disgusting swamp.
Officially on this job, Seren and I are acting as scouts. Our contractor is wanting us to find where the listed person is hiding with their ill gotten gains and unfriendly comrades. Apparently they stole something very important to the local people of the area any the locals need it back. I listened with interest but the realms of magicka are not something that I am very good with. Suffice to say, the job is to find the target, alert the nearby forces and steal anything of value after eliminating said target. Pretty good deal to me.

So here we are. Trudging through a green swamp looking for our target. Seren and I keep switching places as to whos in front. When I have to push a large branch out of the way, I let her go through first. She does the same for me when she's in front. If anything, I'm glad about the increase in her skills, both combat and herbalism. If for some reason I have to dissappear, I'd prefer that she could look after herself. Also, I'd like to point out that she makes a great goat stew. Seriously.

There's a rise in front of us, out of the swamp. My guess is our friend is just on the other side of it, judging by the obvious cloud of smoke pushing its way through the tops of the trees and laughter coming over the hill.

As it turns out, I was right. Our target is in the middle of the camp beside the campfire, a large number of thugs alongside him. Looks like we are getting paid for this. I like that.

I like that alot.

A Hot Forge

A fresh layer of coal is shovelled onto the fire, the flames eagerly licking at it's new fuel source. I'm sitting at the edge of the building, leaning back on a chair against the wall. It's a bad habit of mine, sometimes the chair collapses and I end up on the floor and having to pay for a broken chair.

Thankfully, today isnt one of those days.

It's late at night and the only light is coming from the forge itself. Between the fire and me is an anvil as well as a young woman working on it.
Since breaking Seren out of prison, she's taken it in her stride to do as much good as she can in this world. Most of her memories from before being taken prisoner are still locked away, unnaccesable in her mind. Only her name and a few others have arisen. Every so often at night she'll wake up sweating profusely and incredibly scared. But from what she doesn't know, or at least certainly doesn't remember.

Thankfully, tonight isn't one of those nights either.

Seren picks up a hammer beside the anvil and starts hitting the metal on it, shaping it into the form that she needs. She experimentally tests the strength of the piece. Before I can see from my side of the room what is about to happen, I can see the look on her face as the metal piece cracks and seperates. Sadly, this now makes the steel useless and she'll need more ingots in order to make anything. It's the second time that it's happened tonight and I'm concerned that Seren is about to get upset and give up.

I sit forward in my chair, letting all four feet rest on the ground. There's a stack of ingots down beside me so I kick one across the floor to her and then fold my arms. Seren looks over to me as the ingot stops half a meter from her foot. The expression on my face is one of daring - one of those "I know you can do it so don't give up yet" looks. Seren picks up the ingot, flips it in her hand and starts working the fire again, smelting the ingot into the shape she needs. I return to leaning back on my chair and I close my eyes, the sound of the hammer working away into the night. Unexpectedly, I fall asleep.

-----

There's the constant beat of the hammer going in the back of my mind. Not an annoying beat, mind you. One of those nice soothing ones. But then something changes. The sound contorts, changes it's feeling and suddenly it's not a hammer beating anymore. It's me getting poked in the shoulder at the same regular intervals.

I wake with a start and immediately fall out of my chair, breaking it.
"Dammit" I say quietly. Tending to the bruise on my arm. Looking up, I see that Seren appears to have taken a step back before I fell out of the chair. I can imagine the local blacksmith isn't going to be happy about that.
"What time is it?" I asked Seren.
"Early morning" She said. "Suns just peaking over the horizon now"
"Did I fall asleep or something?" I ask with a start, jumping up. Seren smiles nervously and shrugs her shoulders.
"Is it done?" I ask, tilting my head slightly and looking at her in the eyes. Seren chews her lips and points to the other side of the forge. There's a set of armor over there that certainly wasnt there last night. The nervousness on Seren's face increases. I can see that she's been up for the whole night, working away very hard on it. Ever since we escaped from the prison, I've taught her the fundamentals of blacksmithing and how to work with metal. Last night Seren wanted to make something by herself and I was fairly convinced that she was more than capable.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" I ask. Seren shakes her head and looks down. I can tell she's still scared of the nightmares. I walk over to the set of armor that Seren has made and briefly look it over. It appears fairly impressive, but when it comes to blacksmithing, there is an extremely strong difference between armor that looks good and armor that can actually withstand the bite of a blade or the crushing blow of a mace. Out of the peripherals of my eyes, I can see Seren's nervousness climaxing and I walk back over to her.

Putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, I look her in the eyes as I say my next statement.
"Go back to the inn, get something to eat and then get some rest. I'll have a look at what you've made."
Seren nods slowly, smiles at me and then leaves. I can tell she already knows that I am impressed. If I wasnt, I wouldnt have told her to leave. I'd have gone over every single crack and error on the piece and had her fix it. You can't learn blacksmithing if you can get away with major imperfections.

The armor itself though, appears flawless. The entire piece has been cleaned with dwarven oil to help clear out the nasty imperfections and fix them. Looking carefully at the chestplate, I can see traces of leftover grain solvent which Seren has almost perfectly integrated with the metal itself. There's always a few loose grains left over from the process so I wipe them away with a clean rag that is hanging near a barrel of water. The leggings also appear to be infused with grain solvent, but I can't find any trace of it on any other piece.
"Just what have you made..." I ask myself quietly.
Seren's armor is truly a masterpiece. I'm so stunned with the quality of this work as I had no idea she had this much skill so quickly after a few weeks, but she's picked up the trade with ease.

If I had to point out one slight flaw in the design, it's that the leather holding the pieces of the chestplate together could have been made stronger. It looks like it may need to be replaced in the future. But I can't really put that down to fault in Seren as I haven't yet covered leatherworking with her yet.

I can hear footsteps behind me. Turning around, it's the blacksmith. He looks over at the armor now behind me and raises an eyebrow, looking mildly impressed.
"How much for the ingots?" I ask, pulling out my small bag of coins.
"One hundred and fifty" He says, extending his hand to take them.
"And the broken chair?" I ask, pointing to it across the room. He hadn't noticed it yet. He raises his eyebrow again and looks surprised.
"One hundred and ninety" He chuckled. "You and your friend got a bit violent?"
"No, I fell off" I laugh. The gold in the bag comes to a total of two hundred and I'm not overly fussed about the extra ten that I am losing out on. His need would be greater than mine.

The blacksmith happily takes the coins and goes over to inspect all his tools. I can safely leave the armor here for now as he won't let anyone else take it. Leaving the forge, I head back to the inn to tell Seren the good news.