A changeling's visit to Skyrim

The trek back to Whiterun was long, tedious, and overall very unpleasant for our heroes. But then again, lugging around roughly twice your own weight in jewelry, gold, and ancient armor hardly ever is.

It was all worth it when they got back however, as they managed to trade it in for enough money to buy a new house/base of operations. And then get nickeled and dimed for all the furniture, because apparently being heroes on a world-saving quest doesn’t grant immunity to people trying to haggle you for all you’re worth. Fenora and Lydia had spent most of the morning doing what you might expect; that is, lying in their new beds and snoring face first into their pillows.

Not needing sleep, Stross had left earlier on in order to find something to occupy his time, like doing all the trivial side-quests that Fenora had decided to ignore. Currently, he’d just finished clearing out the bandits of Halted Stream camp with the Companions, returned Amren’s family sword to him, and finally found a mammoths tusk for Ysolda.

He had to say that all these errands were a good way to make money. That kiss Ysolda gave him was pretty nice too, though it may have been a way to distract him from the fact that she didn’t pay for the tusk. Still, Stross smiled to himself as he walked back to the front gates of Whiterun; he couldn’t help being happy when everyone was so accepting of him and grateful for his help.

“I wish I’d known about this place before. I’d have come here a LONG time ago if I had.”

As he was about to take a break, and maybe see what he could buy with his newly acquired cash (that was earned legally by the way), he noticed a scuffle between the town guards and some men in desert clothes with awesome curved swords.

“How many times have I told you? You’re not allowed in the city.” the guard scolded them “After what happened, you’re lucky I didn’t throw you in jail with your friend. It will take days to scrape all that cheese off the walls, and Irileth is still unconscious. Now get out of here.”

Stross was glad that it wasn’t him getting yelled at or chased by guards for once, he’d had more than his share of that back in Equestria. Still, he couldn’t help but feel sympathy for them, especially since what got them in trouble was so similar to the prank Fenora had originally planned just a couple of days prior. He still couldn’t tell if she would have actually done it had he not reasoned her away, but back to the present, and the warriors.

“Hey, what were you two doing anyway?” Stross asked them before they left.

“We were looking for a fugitive from our homeland of Hammerfell.” one of them responded “She’s redguard like us, and may be using an alias to hide who she really is, but we’re certain she’s in this city. If you find her, let us know immediately; we’ll be in Rorikstead until you do.”

“Hold on,” Stross stopped them before they could leave “what has she done anyway?”

“That is none of your concern, all you need to know is that we’ll pay you for information and-

“I beg to differ, but it is my concern if you want me to help you in any way at all.” Stross told them like the paragon of morality (he thinks) he is “For all I know, you could be hunting down an innocent person who’s done nothing wrong, and I won’t help you if that’s the case.”

“Done nothing wrong?” the Redguard took offence “She betrayed the resistance to the Aldmeri Dominion during the war. The entire city of Taneth was captured by the enemy because of her; it took two whole years to reclaim it, and hundreds died! So don’t tell me she’s done nothing wrong!” he fumed.

“Okay…” Stross recovered from the verbal onslaught “You could have just told me that in the first place and I’d drag her to you myself.”

“I’m sorry, I lost my mother and father during that battle. I’ve been itching to bring justice to the one responsible. Thank you for helping us.” he said before leaving.

About an hour later at Breezehome, Fenora had awoken and was checking over her remaining gear, sharpening the blades and patching armor with the materials she’d bought from the blacksmiths next door. Lydia meanwhile was looking over a set of maps and charting the best course to Ustengrav. They were swiftly pulled from their tasks when there was a thump at the door.

Fenora opened it and found that Stross had tried and failed to dramatically kick it in.

“There’s a knob you know.” she rolled her eyes as he rubbed his aching foot.

“But something this amazing deserves a dramatic reveal.” he told her.

“Well what is it?”

“This!” Stross said as he produced two giant crystals the size of large coconuts, one orange and the other blue, his cloak flourishing as he did so.

The sound Fenora made was something between “Wowzah” and “F*cking ‘blivion”. Not bothering to wipe the drool from her mouth, she snatched one of the gems and pulled Stross inside.

“These things are huge!” she exclaimed as she examined the orange one she’d grabbed “Where did you get them?”

Fenora paused for a second, her eyes wide with realization. “You didn’t steal these, did you? Please tell me you didn’t steal them. At the very least, tell me you didn’t steal them from someone important; someone that would send thugs to break our legs.”

“Fenora… calm down. I didn’t steal them. M’aiq gave them to me.”

Fenora’s fears were instantly replaced with confusion, and Lydia had paused in her work to hear the story as well.

“Okay, let me explain…

*Flashback**screen ripple**woo woo woo*(no I never get tired of this)

So I had just finished browsing through Belathor’s shop for anything worth buying (the prices there were obscene by the way), when a familiar khajiit in orange robes pulled me behind the buildings. Now this was weird, because those merchants told us that the kitty-cat people weren’t allowed in the cities. But I didn’t get to ask him about it before he gave me these things.

“Wow, thanks.” I told him “Umm, what are they.”

“Those are Aperture stones,” he explained in that accent of his “once per day you can open a portal for a short time; with this portal you can move anything between them instantly, no matter the distance.”

As soon as he said that, I started thinking of the possibilities. We could jump from one end of the world to the other in seconds! Or transport huge amounts of treasure and gear from wherever we stash it, right to us! We could even portal giant rocks, trees, or lava, or something heavy to defeat our enemies! You could say that I was “thinking with portals”.

Still, I had to know.

“Why are you giving me these?” I asked him. “Who are you?” And that’s when he smiled.

“It is true I am no mere wandering Kahjiit, but who I really am is unimportant. As for the stones, I give them to you because you will put them to good use, and because I have something I require your assistance with; a favor if you will. Take these with you on your travels as well.”

*end flashback**harp strum*

“Before the guards chased him out he gave me this pelvic bone, this axe, this broken sun-looking thing, and this twenty-seven sided die. It’s stuff that belongs to some Daedric princes that will help us with our stuff if we help them with their stuff, but he also said not to help the other Daedra if we can help it; they’re into some nasty stuff and we don’t want anything to do with nasty stuff. So apparently we’ve got a new list of stuff to do.” Stross concluded.

Fenora just stared at him blankly. “…Are we heroes or a delivery service?”

“Maybe a bit of both, my thane.” Lydia answered.

So after packing some lunch and leaving most of their extra gear at home, the three of them set of on their way to Ustengrav. They would make their way to Morthal by carriage and trek up the mountains from there. But first, Stross insisted that they stop by Rorikstead on the way.

Rorikstead was a small farming town, similar in size to Ivarstead. However, with no shops to buy or sell gear, there wasn’t much reason to visit.

“Why’d you need to stop here again?” Fenora asked as the driver pulled over and they dismounted.

“There’s some people here I need to help, Alik’r warriors from Hammerfell.” He explained as he went to the inn.

Inside was much like any of the other inns Stross had encountered. There were several tables set up, a large fire in the center of the room, and at the far end was a man behind the counter selling food or renting the rooms to travelers. Among the other people staying there were the Alik’r warriors Stross had met in Whiterun.

“Oh, it’s you again.” one greeted him as he approached “Have you any news for us?”

“Sure do, I found the woman you’re looking for, she was working at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun. The second I asked her if she was from Hammerfell she dragged me into the back room, put a knife to my throat, and said she’d gut me if I told anyone who she was.” Stross remembered painfully as he traced the spot where she had carved a line into his neck.

“And get this. After I got her to let me go, she actually wanted me to wipe you guys out for her, saying she was an innocent refugee on the run from Thalmor assassins.”

“I assure you, it’s a lie to cover her trail, and that leaves us with a problem,” one stated “She’s still under the protection of the Whiterun guards, and beyond our reach. After the accident with all that cheese, I doubt they’ll believe us when we say they’re harboring a fugitive.”

“Don’t worry, you just leave that to me.” Stross told them as a grin spread across his face. Pulling out the Aperture stone, he opened a portal back to the other in Whiterun and stepped through.

Several minutes later, the Alik’r were still staring at the portal when a Redguard woman stepped through carrying a large burlap sack.

“That’s her, don’t let her get away!” one yelled as the rest drew their swords.

“This is not the woman you’re looking for .” Stross said, waving his hand in front of them whirl of green flame dispelled his illusion “But this one is.” he opened the sack to reveal the real fugitive, bound and struggling to get free.

“That’s right, no one tries to stab me up and gets away with it… except Fenora, she’s special.”

“Excellent! Thank you my friend!” one of the Alik’r congratulated him “I don’t know how you did what you just did, but we’re all glad you didn’t believe her lies.”

“How could I?” Stross asked rhetorically “Besides the fact that I’m a changeling and can tell when someone’s lying, there were quite a few contradictions in her story.” he explained while a bard played this music in the background.

“You see, first she said that she didn’t even know that you were in the city looking for her, yet she directed me to the member of your group that was in the city prison in hopes that I would shake him down for information.

Secondly, she said that she was being hunted be the Aldmeri Dominion for speaking out against them. But I did my research, and by that I mean I asked someone who knew, and I found out that Hammerfell is not allied with the Dominion or their Thalmor whatsoever, so the idea that they’d send assassins to hunt her down for speaking out against them in Hammerfell is completely ludicrous because everyone in Hammerfell hates them anyways.

Furthermore, I learned that the Alik’r fought against the Thalmor during the war; there’s no way they’d try to send you to do their dirty-work, and no way you’d ever agree to work for them even if they did.”

The warriors and their new captive sat wide-eyed as Stross explained his reasoning.

“W- well in any case, thank you for your help. Please, take this as a token of our thanks, you've earned it.”

Stross smiled at the curved sword he’d earned for a job well done as he walked back out to his friends. He was sure that Fenora would love the new addition to her arsenal once he gave it to her.

“You want to become a what?!” he heard her yell from near the wagon as she talked to a local Nord.

“I want to become an adventurer like you.” he told her excitedly “My da told me it’s too dangerous, but I’m tired of being a farmer, it’s so boring.”

“So you want to kill yourself instead?” Fenora took on a pessimistic stance.

“I- what?”

“Do you have a decent set of armor? How about any experience surviving in the wild, any skill with a blade or bow?”

“Well, I… don’t really have the money for training or armor.” he admitted “But I’m saving up.”

Fenora took in a deep breath and massaged her temples.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out there? Do you? I was just heading back home from Elsweyr not even a week ago when I got dragged into an adventure, and since then I’ve been mauled by bandits, trolls, and the undead more times than I can count already. And to add to that, there are dragons out there now, and I’m expected to kill them!” Fenora went off on one of her rants again.

“My friend from Elsweyr that I was visiting is a treasure hunter, and she can count the stories of how she nearly lost her life on each of her remaining fingers. My own father was an adventurer, one of the best. And he lost both his legs and half his face before he was forced to retire, he’s lucky to still be alive, and for the fact that my mum is blind as a rock. So take my advice Erik, and don’t be reckless with your life, you’ll keep more of your limbs that way.”

“But- that all sounds awesome.” Erik whined at being denied his chance at dismemberment.

“You could always join the Companions,” Stross chimed in “they’re good people to get set on the right path with.”

“And remember, get yourself some good, strong leg armor.” a random guard joined the conversation “Many of us guards have succumb to the same specific injury during our time adventuring due to neglecting this important piece of knowledge.”

“Right, the Companions, and leg armor; I could do that!” Erik said, his spirits lifted again “Now I just need to convince my da to let me travel to Whiterun.”

“Over my dragon-charred corpse!” his father yelled from the inn.