A changeling's visit to Skyrim

A young boy sat alone in his empty house. There was little furniture, and that which was there was overturned or scattered across the floor in disarray.

In a small side bedroom, a boy by the name of Aventus Aretino knelt in the midst of a circle of candles, slowly burning out as more and more time passed. With him in the circle were the bones of some random person he’d dug up as he fled back home from Riften. A few strips of flesh and a mostly fresh heart lay inside the ribcage; he didn’t want to think back on how he got them.

“Sweet mother, sweet mother send your child unto me. For the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear.” He chanted for what must have been the thousandth time as he stabbed the dagger coated in nightshade into the rotting effigy.

“What in Tartarus are you doing?!” a scratchy voice shrieked from behind him.

Aventus turned around, and to his absolute delight, the answers to his prayers stood before him. It was better than he could ever have hoped for; all those long hours, all the running and gathering body parts had been totally worth it.

“It’s you! You finally came!” he said with utter joy to the creature before him.

This creature had a pair of vicious white fangs and skin like the essence of the blackest night. Its claws were sharp, perfect for ripping flesh, and through its soulless and hollow blue eyes he could see no room for mercy, no hint of the possibility of remorse. He was perfect.

“I have your contract ready, I need you to kill Grelod!” pure despise dripped from Aventus’s voice as he spoke her name.

“Wait, contract? Kill? Your?!” Stross asked in confusion and horror “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah!” Aventus said excitedly “You’re an assassin from the Dark Brotherhood! I did the ritual, and you answered my summons, and you’ll kill Grelod the kind!”

Stross shook his head. “No, I’m not. I just heard from people around town that you were trying to perform some ritual, and since no one else was brave enough to try stop you, I came to talk you out of it.”

Aventus’s deflated as his hopes were crushed. “But… you. And the ritual… and the things.” He shook his head “No!” he shouted and went back to stabbing the skeleton “If you’re not the assassin I’m waiting for, then I’ll just have to keep doing the ritual until the real one comes. Grelod has to die!”

“St-stop that!” Stross yelled and ripped the knife away with his magic.

“Give it back!” Aventus yelled and weakly pounded his fists against Stross’s chest. “I have to kill her. I have to… I have to… she was so mean to us.” his punches slowly grew weaker and less frequent as tears spilled down his face, and he sobbed into Stross’s cloak and chainmail. “Please. She has to pay for the way she treated us, for what she’s still doing to my friends!”

“Hey, hey. It’s alright, just calm down and talk to me. Tell me what happened to you.”

Aventus sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “O- okay.” He paused for a moment to breathe “It all started when my mom died; she got sick last winter and never got any better, even the potions Nurelion made didn’t help. One day she went to sleep and… and then she didn’t wake up.”

“I’m sorry, that must have been hard.” Stross put a hand on the boy’s shoulder in sympathy.

“It was pretty bad. But it was nothing compared to what happened after.” Avnetus’s voice was suddenly filled with anger and he was visibly shaking. “Because my dad died in the war, I was all alone after that. So jarl Ulfric said I had to go to Honorhall, an orphanage in Riften. That’s where I met Grelod, the caretaker there. Everyone calls her Grelod the kind as some kind of stupid joke; she’s a monster and an evil witch!”

“Well there are some pretty bad people out there, I’ll admit. But to want someone dead…”

“Someone like Grelod doesn’t deserve to live one more day! She’s horrible to all of us, she calls us horrible names, makes us stay in that shack of an orphanage all day long, and tells us we’ll never be adopted because no one could ever love us!”

Stross’s eyes hardened at that last sentence, he stood up and clenched his fists. “You stay here kid. I’ll deal with this ‘Grelod the kind’ for you.”

“Yes! Thank you so much! Just make sure not to kill Constance while you’re there, she actually is nice to us.” Aventus called after Stross as he left before turning to the task of cleaning up the gigantic mess in his house.

Stross re-donned his disguise, walked through the streets of Windhelm and out the front gates, his face in a perpetual scowl. He couldn’t know for sure is Aventus was telling the whole truth about Grelod, or if his traumatic experience was making him embellish things, but he prayed to the Fallen that it was the latter. To tell anyone they could never be loved, especially children… it just made him boil under his skin.

“Sir, you seem to have spontaneously combusted.” One of the guards pointed out as he passed. “Try not to walk near any piles of hay.”

“Can do.” Stross grumbled.

Then he realized that he was on fire, and that was a bad thing. He dropped everything he was holding on to, screamed like a little girl and ran around in circles before diving off the bridge into the freezing river below.

Only he missed the actual water and landed on a rock instead.

But it wasn’t just a rock. It was a rock… Lobster!

*Dun nu, duh nu, diddily doo. Dun nu nu, dun nu duh nu, diddily doo.*

Rock Lobster!

…

Okay I’m done. Back to the story.

So after thanking his lucky stars for his changeling durability and healing factor, Stross collected his new gear and trudged through the snow towards the meeting place he had left Fenora and their newest (if temporary and quite possibly expendable) team member.

The place in question was an abandoned, run down house that was positively falling apart and covered in snow. It was filled with bandits when Stross had pulled Fenora out of the water, but Karliah managed to help with that. And by help, Stross meant that she sat hidden in a corner and took shots at them with her bow while he distracted them by being a meat piñata.

Pushing open the non-existant door, he found said elves sitting across a table from one another; Fenora was glaring at the Kerliah hatefully, while Karliah had a rather calm demeanor about her.

“I’m back!” Stross announced.

Fenora gave a small wave to welcome him.

“Ssoooo… wha’cha doin’?” he asked as he walked over to them.

Fenora raised a hand to halt his advance and kept glaring at Karliah, her eye twitching slightly as she maintained her unblinking assault.

“Is- is there a problem? Did something happen while I was gone that somehow made you even more mad at her?” Stross asked, forgetting for a moment that Fenora still couldn’t speak properly. “Was she complaining about stuff too much, or maybe you two tripped over each other? Did she want to see you naked again, ‘cause I know I’d want to. Or maybe-“

Fenora blinked.

Fenora proceeded to bang her head against the table and pound her fist against its surface.

“Yes! Five in a row!” Karliah threw her arms in the air in victory. “I’ve had to sleep with my eyes open for over two decades! Ya had no chance dragonborn, no chance.”

Fenora rolled her head around and gave Stross a look that asked “what took you so long?”

“I had some places to see and people to be. But check this out, you’re going to love this.” Stross said and pulled out the black duster armor, a smile coming to him when he saw Fenora’s eyes light up. “Go ahead, try it on.”

Fenora took it and moved behind one of the still intact walls. She shed the pile of blankets she was using and slipped it on, making a few adjustments here and there so that the armor-weaved coat held onto her body without slipping off or moving around too much.

She walked back out and held her arms out to her sides, giving a small twirl so Stross could she her front and back.

“You look awesome!” The changeling said as he gave a round of applause “Now I just need to find a tailor who can make a cowpony hat. Complete the look you know?”

Fenora smiled and gave a bow.

“Oh, and this. You’re going to love this.” Stross pulled the sword off his back and unwrapped it, holding it out for her to take.

“Woah.” Fenora breathed.

She curiously picked it up, surprised for a moment at how light it was. She held it at various angles to admire the unique design. Taking a few steps back, she took a few practice swings with it in various stances, starting slower and then building up her speed as she got a better feel for it. The sword was a bit long, almost awkwardly so, but it cut through the air easily and was light enough to quickly recover from longer reaching thrusts.

She turned back to Stross with a look that was a mixture of gratitude and wonder that asked either “How much did these even cost?” or “How many people did you have sex with for these?”

Stross nervously chuckled and averted his eyes. “Well umm… all of our septims?” he said unsurely “You’re not mad are-“

He was quickly cut off as Fenora pulled him into a hug. “They’re perfect Stross, thank you.” she said in a hoarse whisper.

Stross hugged her back, the waves of affection coming off her letting him know he’d done good. “Ready to get a tasty slice of vengeance?” he asked once they’d pulled apart.

Fenora nodded and sheathed her new sword before leaping over the nearest broken wall.

Stross turned to their third member, but found her hastily wiping tears out of her eyes. “You alright Karliah?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m fine I just-“ the dunmer sighed “Listen, if anyone other than Fenora ever asks you to come with them alone to an ancient buried ruin, don’t.”

With that, the three of them hopped on the horses Karliah had ‘acquired’ from the Windhelm stables, and rode off to Riften.

“This feels so weird!” Stross yelled as he clung to Fenora’s back while the gigantic steed galloped across the terrain. “Seriously, I used to live in a place full of talking horses! Granted they were a whole lot smaller and didn’t defy gravity as much, but still!”

“At this rate we’ll be in Riften within the hour!” Karliah called to them as they rode on “Just remember that Mercer likely got there first. Don’t expect a warm reception!”

“My loins are getting bruised!” Stross complained.

“I-I don’t know what you mean Sapphire, I thought you’d forgotten my debt.” Shadr stammered as Sapphire backed him against a wooden post of the Riften stables.

“Oh, I have forgotten them, your monetary ones at least.” Sapphire said seductively as she leaned in closer “But I’m here so you can pay up on a different kind of debt, if you know what I mean.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“I really don’t, just please don’t hurt me.” Shadr cowered.

“Ugh, I’m talking about sex, you numbskull!” Sapphire groaned.

However, before Sapphire could proceed to make the poor stable worker do various things for her entertainment, they were interrupted by the sound of hooves racing towards them. Turning to look, she immediately noticed a pair of faces she wasn’t particularly fond of.

“Oh great… it’s you jerkoffs. What do you even-“ she gave pause for a split second and her eyes widened when she saw who was with them “YOU! What in Oblivion are you doing here?!” she turned to our heroes “What is she doing here?”

“Mercer’s betrayed the Guild.” Fenora replied in a rasping whisper.

“It’s true, we’ve come to prove it and help you stop him.” Karliah told her “Take us to the others and I’ll explain everything.”

“You think I’m stupid? Why in the world should I let any of you get two steps from the gate?” Sapphire drew her switchblade, a replacement for the one Fenora took last time.

“We don’t have time for this crap. Stross…” Fenora signaled.

“Sorry about this.” Stross said before coughing up a blob of resin and using it to handcuff Sapphire to the stables. “Let’s get going ladies.”

“Hey! Get back here!” Sapphire yelled after them while they quickly walked off towards the city gates, tugging futilely against the gunk binding her wrist to the framework of the building. “Did this seriously just happen to me?”

“Well, you know.” Shadr twiddled his numbs “As long as you’re like that we could always-“

“Shut up. And get a freaking saw.”

After cocooning Maul and sticking him to a bench, the three of them made their way to the ‘secret’ entrance to the Ragged Flaggon. Fenora and Stross entered first and walked in front to provide a buffer between Kerliah and the entourage of Guild members who would kill her on sight.

“Yew’d better have a dern good reason to bring thaht murderer here!” Brynjolf glowered at them as the rest of the Flaggon crew stood at his side with their weapons at the ready.

“Please, lower your weapons so we can speak. I have proof that you've all been misled!” Karliah said and held out Gallus’s journal.

Brynjolf raised a brow and looked back to the other, who stared right back with slight shrugs. He motioned for her to step forward, and she did so. Brynjolf grasped the book in one hand, and with the other, he signaled to Vex, who grabbed Karliah and pressed a dagger to her neck.

“A’ight then, no tricks Karliah, or I’ll cut ya dune where ya stand.”

Brynjolf held the book at arm’s length as he opened it, half expecting it to be booby-trapped. When it turned out not to be, he looked over the pages. His eyes widened as they scanned back and forth across each page. By the time he was done, he was nearly speechless.

“Don’t leave th’ rest of us hangin’, Bryn? What’s in the book? What did it say?” Delvin asked for the rest of them.

“It... it canno’ be. This can't be true. It says Mercer's been stealing from our vault for years. Gallus was looking into it before he was murdered. Mercer snuffed him out.” Brynjolf said, barely believing the words coming out of his own mouth “And not jus’ him, anyone he even suspected knew the truth ‘bout him; Lil’ Jimmy, Nine-and-a-half Mike, Stitchy Delorah... Mercer mrdered all of them. I can’t believe this... He wouldn’t-”

“It's true, Brynjolf; every word.” Karliah tried to assure him of the harsh truth “Mercer's been stealing from the Guild for years, right under your noses. He never had honor like the rest of you.”

“There's only one way to find out for sure if what the lass says is true.” Brynjolf decided “Delvin, I'll need yer help ta open the Vault. Vex, keep thaht knife on Karliah. If she’s lyin’…”

Vex nodded, and they all followed Brynjolf’s lead into the Flaggon cistern.

Brynjolf stood before them as they reached the deep alcove housing the intricate doors to the Guild’s vault. Across the surface, it seemed like any ordinary door, but the whole Guild knew better, as it was chock full of complex mechanisms just under the surface. Just getting access to it required the skill of a master thief, so to anyone but the most Guild elite it might as well have been a solid wall.

“Al’ight, if what th’ lass says is true, Mercer has already gotten in, so let’s settle this once and for all. Delvin, your key first.” Brynjolf said as he stood ready with his.

“Well there’s my key, still locked up tight though. How could Mercer open up a vault that needs two keys?” Delvin asked “Could he ‘ave picked his way in some’ow?”

“Impossible,” Vex told him “That door has the best puzzle locks money can buy. There's no way it can be picked open.”

“He didn't need to pick the lock.” Karliah told him, only for Vex to shush her with the tightening of her blade grip.

“What is she on about?” Delvin asked “Will you ever stop bein’ so damned cryptic? Use your key on the vault, Brynjolf. We'll open it up and find out the truth.”

Brynjolf put his key in and turned it, but instead of opening the vault outright, it instead let them have access to the next layer of security in the shape of a multicolored dwarven cube with rotating layers.

“Okay then, let me see here…” Delvin cracked his knuckles and began working at the cube.

…

*Half an hour later*

“Alright. Done!” Delvin said, shoving the solved cube back into its slot.

A panel flipped out on the surface of the door, revealing a block of interweaving, black and white numbered rows. Beside it popped a pencil, indicating something needed to be filled out, and a text scroll of hints of what needed to be written.

“Ooh, I love these!” Stross said and took up the pencil “What’s a fourteen letter word for obnoxiously tedious?” he asked the collective of thieves.

“This stupid door.” Fenora rasped.

“Perfect.”

…

*Another three fucking hours later!*

“…Om-ni-potence.” Stross finished the last word as the last few stubborn members of the Guild had decided to either sit or lay down from exhaustion.

The tablets on the door flipped back inside and there was a whirring of gears, and many of the Guild members looked in anticipation of the vault actually opening. But to their dismay, yet another panel flipped open from the door. This one was a shiny black for a second before a colorful display appeared across its surface, accompanied by a catchy tune.

Suddenly a black, flame engraved sword plunged through the screen and was wedged through the crack in the door.

Fenora worked the blade through the mechanisms locking the door, destroying them in the process, but achieving the desired result all the same. She smirked and sheathed her sword which had not suffered a scratch as the vault opened up.

“By the Eight! It's gone, everything's gone! Get in here, all of you!” Brynjolf yelled as he looked around at all the empty and pillaged chests and crates.

“The gold, the jewels... this room was overflowin’, and now it's all gone.” Delvin said as he tipped over an empty jewelry box.

“I guess it was kinda wired how he was moving around at a crawl when he left this morning.” Dirge admitted.

“That son-of-a-bitch! I'll kill him!” Vex yelled and kicked an empty chest across the room “I’m going to shove coal so far up Mercer’s dick-hole he’ll be coughing up diamonds!”

“Vex! Calm yerself down. Right now lass. We can't afford to lose our heads... we need ta calm down and focus, find out how this happened.”

“I know exactly how.” Karliah chimed in “The skeleton key.”

A dark silence washed over the room at the mention of the sacred artifact, and the unspoken relation to the mistress of shadows herself; Nocturnal.

“The what now?” Stross asked obliviously.